Hailie Deegan finishes 12th in Iowa after late penalty

The 18-year old Californian finished the Iowa NASCAR K&N East-West combo in 12th position after a penalty for a loose tire.

NASCAR upcoming star Hailie Deegan finished 12th in the NASCAR K&N Combo (West and East) race at Iowa Speedway on Friday night. The victory went to Sam Mayer with an impressive and dominating performance after starting from the pole position.

Deegan started from ninth and ran steadily into the top ten for the first 100 laps but then hit troubles in the last 50.

She lost the radio with 30 laps to go and then was handed a penalty for uncontrolled tire with 20 laps remaining, which forced the young driver of the #19 Bill McAnally Racing to the back of the field. She was nonetheless able to cross the finish line in twelfth position.

16-years old Sam Mayer took his second career victory in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, as the driver of the #21 Chevrolet led 142 out of 150 laps to gain the lead of the East championship over Deegan's teammate, Derek Kraus.

Kraus entered the combination race leading both the regional championship standings and finished the Iowa round in fourth position, after having suffered a contact from Max McLaughlin in the first part of the race.

Ty Gibbs and Ruben Garcia Jr completed the podium.

Derek Kraus still leads the K&N West by eight points over Deegan.

The East coast entries took nine of the top ten positions, winning the battle with the West.

Hailie Deegan will be back in action at Evergreen Speedway for the next round of the NASCAR K&N West on August 17th.

In Hailie's words:

"It was crazy , but we're gonna keep diggin to get back on top. No matter what, Iowa is still my favourite track. Once that top groove gets movin it's like nothing else"

Ph credits: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR