NASCAR Xfinity Series at Iowa 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Nobody could touch Sam Hornish Jr. on Sunday afternoon at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. Hornish led 183 of 250 laps en route to a dominant win in the American Ethanol E15 250.  

The three-time IndyCar Series champion had the result wrapped up well before the finish. Nothing short of a mechanical failure was going to prevent him from getting to Victory Lane for the fourth time in the Xfinity Series. Ty Dillon came in second, finishing 1.444 seconds off the leader, while Brad Keselowski was 2.085 seconds back in third place:

Pos.	Driver	Time Behind (sec.)	Laps Led
1	Sam Hornish Jr.	----	183
2	Ty Dillon	1.444	0
3	Brad Keselowski	2.085	0
4	Daniel Suarez	2.616	62
5	Alex Bowman	3.381	0
6	Elliott Sadler	4.586	0
7	Justin Allgaier	5.581	0
8	Brennan Poole	5.940	1
9	Darrell Wallace Jr.	8.144	4
10	Ben Kennedy	8.628	0

Despite finishing seven laps down, Erik Jones maintains his spot atop the Xfinity Series standings, per ESPN.com:

Pos.	Driver	Points	Wins
1	Erik Jones	411	2
2	Daniel Suarez	490	1
3	Elliott Sadler	469	1
4	Ty Dillon	455	0
5	Justin Allgaier	422	0
6	Brandon Jones	417	0
7	Brendan Gaughan	412	0
8	Brennan Poole	407	0
9	Darrell Wallace Jr.	373	0
10	Ryan Reed	331	0
11	Blake Koch	322	0
12	Ryan Sieg	312	0

The win caps off a wild week for Hornish. The 36-year-old hasn't completely retired from auto racing, but the Associated Press' Jenna Fryer wrote in May about how he is starting to enjoy his life off the track, which includes substitute-teaching at his children's school.

Hornish's last competitive race was the Ford EcoBoost 400 at the end of the 2015 Sprint Cup season in November. But Joe Gibbs Racing called upon him Tuesday to replace Matt Tifft, who sat out for Sunday's race on doctor's orders.

Hornish took full advantage of the opportunity. He was far and away the best driver on the track. The only chance Dillon, Keselowski, Elliott Sadler and Daniel Suarez had of potentially jumping into first place came on the final caution of the race on Lap 217. Most of the field came in for one last pit stop, opening the door for somebody else to take the lead.

However, Hornish held firm after the restart on Lap 224 and didn't look back. The gap between he and Dillon grew incrementally over the final 26 laps, eliminating any remaining doubt—barring an unforeseen catastrophe—as to who would win. FS1 provided a replay of the final lap:

NASCAR captured Hornish's celebrations after the race:

While Hornish had a Sunday he'll never forget, Jones will want to put the race behind him as quickly as possible. After he won the pole Saturday, Joe Gibbs Racing announced the 20-year-old would begin the race in last place after race officials found unapproved body modifications to his car.

After working his way up the leaderboard, Jones had problems with the fuel pressure in his car. As a result, he headed for pit road. While in the pit, his crew refueled the car before the first competition caution. As a result of the infraction, he once again moved to the back of the field, per FS1:

That wasn't the end of the No. 20 car's issues either. On Lap 99, Jones headed for the garage in order for his crew to once again fix the fuel pressure, per NASCAR Xfinity:

A Hornish win was good news for Jones since it meant he'd still be in first place in the Xfinity standings. Plus, he's essentially already booked his place in the Xfinity Series Chase by virtue of his two victories this year.

Jones will look to rebound and a number of other drivers will hope to pick up their first win in a little under two weeks at the Daytona International Speedway in the Subway Firecracker 250 on July 1. Martin Truex Jr. is the last full-time Xfinity Series driver to earn the checkered flag at the event.

Post-Race Reaction

"I was so nervous on Friday, getting into the car and thinking I’m going to make a mistake," said Hornish after the race, per FoxSports.com's Joe Menzer. "Man, to go out there and win the way we did, I just can’t say anything more about it."

He also relished coming out on top on Father's Day:

"Sam did a great job of taking an excellent car and making, at least from my vantage point, no mistakes all day," said Keselowski of the victor, per the Associated Press, via ESPN.com. "It shows how good of a driver he is and, of course, how great of a car that is."

"Not how we envisioned today going but congrats to the 18 team on another win," said Jones on Twitter.