• Saturday’s HYVEE PERKS 250, Iowa Speedway

NEWTON, Iowa — In a race of tire management and hurt feelings, Sam Mayer held o_ Riley Herbst in overtime to win Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 in the X…nity Series’ return to Iowa Speedway a‡er a four-year hiatus.

Mayer’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the …nish line 0.146 seconds ahead of the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Herbst, who felt Mayer had abused him earlier in the race.

The victory was Mayer’s second of the season and the sixth of his career, all coming within the last 29 races in the series.

“We struggled (Friday in practice), and the team went to work,” said Mayer, who started …‡h when qualifying was canceled because of rain earlier on Saturday. “Obviously, we did pretty good overnight, making di_erent changes on this race car.

“I feel really good. I could do another 100 laps — with a race car like this, it would be a lot of fun.”

Mayer held the lead when John Hunter Nemechek slammed the outside wall in Turn 4 with his le‡ front tire down, the result of close quarters racing with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed.

That accident on Lap 245 caused the ninth caution of the a‡ernoon and sent the race three laps beyond its scheduled distance.

In the overtime, Mayer and Herbst took the green œag side-by-side and remained in that posture into Turn 1, but Mayer cleared the race runner-up o_ Turn 2 and held the top spot the rest of the way.

“I like racing Sam, but Stage 1 or 2 he just absolutely brooms me,” Herbst said. “We were racing clean for fourth, and he takes us back to 10th and then doors me down the back straightaway before the green-white-checker.

“It’s just frustrating the way he wants to do that, but all in all, it was fun. I’m happy to be back on ovals. The speed is back in the 98.”

Corey Heim …nished a career-best third a‡er starting 22nd because of the qualifying rainout. Sammy Smith was fourth, followed by Creed, who survived the dust-up with Nemechek a‡er a restart on Lap 238.

Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto, Chandler Smith, Ross Chastain and Daniel Dye completed the top 10.

If any driver had cause for frustration, it was Chandler Smith, who led a race-high 131 laps and swept the …rst two stages. Smith restarted third to begin the …nal stage, but lack of shortrun speed quickly dropped him to 12th, and he never recovered.

Austin Hill likewise had reason to bemoan his result. Overcoming early handling issues, Hill charged into the top …ve in the …nal stage, but a cut le‡ front tire sent him hard into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 218, causing the seventh caution.

Hill …nished 29th and dropped to third in the series standings, 41 points behind Custer, the current leader and defending series champion. Chandler Smith, second in the standings, trails Custer by one point.