Mitchell Nabs Home Track ARCA Win At Iowa Speedway

Mason Mitchell celebrates after winning Friday night’s ARCA Racing Series event at Iowa Speedway. Photo courtesy ARCA Media

Mason Mitchell brought out Superman again. And, that meant he was headed to victory lane.

Mitchell, who grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa, won the #ThisIsMySpeedway150 for the ARCA Racing Series at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa Friday night, winning at the .875-mile facility that he considers his home track.

“This is unbelievable,” an emotional Mitchell said after the race. “This was the whole reason we came to this race. These guys worked too hard to come home second. I didn’t care how much damage this car had, I wanted that checkered flag.”

Two late race cautions caused the race to extend beyond its advertised 150 laps. Mitchell passed Kyle Weatherman on the final lap, which was lap 159, for the win. Weatherman finished second, his second runner-up finish at Iowa Speedway in three years. His Cunningham Motorsports teammate Tom Hessert was third. Austin Cindric was fourth. Matt Tifft completed the top five.

Austin Wayne Self, Blake Jones, Grant Enfinger, Todd Gilliland and David Levine rounded out the top ten.

Blake Jones and Levine gave Lira Motorsports two top 10 finishes in a race that saw nine cautions for 56 laps and took one hour and 42 minutes to complete.

Weatherman won the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell but it was Matt Kurzejewski surging to the lead on the first lap – and staying there until a round of pit stops at lap 44. Kurzejewski led a career-best 62 laps before a spin late in the race sent him to the 15th spot, but still on the lead lap.

Weatherman was frustrated, but gracious in defeat. He had the lead on the first green-white-checkered restart and was near the finish when the final caution came out, leading to the last restart.

“It was a fun race,” Weatherman said. “Congratulations to him. They obviously knew Cunningham Motorsports was here. It’s unfortunate one of us didn’t take the trophy home.”

Atlanta, GA’s Brandon Jones led 31 laps in the No. 25 Ansell-Menards Toyota, but, he, too, was shuffled back on a restart, then spun, before finishing 11th.

Cindric led 29 laps in his ARCA Racing Series debut.

“It was lots of fun,” Cindric said. “I learned a ton tonight. I learned about lines and following people through traffic. To be honest I’m a bit frustrated. I led a lot of laps but on that restart, Mason kind of moved me out of the way a little bit.”

Hessert never led but was able to gain some ground on Enfinger’s championship point lead by finishing five spots in front of Enfinger. Josh Williams entered the race at Iowa Speedway in second but an accident sent him to the garage after lap 99. He finished 22nd.

“There were parts of the race where we were pretty good, but overall just a little too tight to contest for the win or to pass those cars,” Hessert said. “A couple of those late restarts helped us and we were able to gain some spots.

“There aren’t a ton of races left, so anytime you can make up some points, it goes a long way.”

The event was the 12th ARCA Racing Series event of 2015 – leaving eight races to go, including the Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 presented by Federated Car Care at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indiana on Friday, July 24.

That race is a long celebration away, however, for Mitchell. The 21-year-old defending ARCA Racing Series champion was racing in just his third race of 2015, but one he has had circled on his calendar for months.

He qualified seventh and seemed to pit on every caution, making changes to the car throughout the race. Suddenly, with about 45 laps to go, he was contending for the lead. It was his second career win – the first coming during his championship season last year while at Chicagoland Speedway. It was at Chicago that he first brought out the ‘Superman’ shirt under his firesuit after a win. He did it again Friday, this time after climbing from the car on the Iowa Speedway front stretch.

“We put it all out there on the line,” he said of the race at Iowa. “I appreciate all of the fan support. It means so much to me to win here. I can’t even put it into words. This is my Daytona 500. This is bigger than the championship. This is huge. I don’t know what is going to happen in the future, but we are going to celebrate like animals tonight.”

Track officials said Mitchell became the second driver from Iowa to win at the track, the other being Brett Moffitt in a NASCAR K&N Pro Series race.

“I can’t thank Karl Chevrolet enough for everything they have done,” Mitchell said, speaking of the local sponsor that came on board recently. “Karl came down to victory lane. He came down to victory lane and gave me a kiss and hug. I’ve never seen him smile so much.”

The win was the second straight for Mason Mitchell Motorsports, following up Self’s win at Winchester Speedway June 28.

ARCA Racing Series
Iowa Speedway – Newton, Iowa
#ThisIsMySpeedway150 – July 17, 2015

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