2009 U.S. Cellular 250

The 2009 U.S. Cellular 250 was a NASCAR Nationwide Series race held at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa on August 1, 2009. The race was the first ever Nationwide Series race to be held in Iowa. It was also the 21st race of the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., making his 6th career Nationwide Series start, won the pole for the race but it was Brad Keselowski who would dominate the race, leading the most laps and winning the first ever race in Iowa.

Background
Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, approximately 30 miles (48 km) east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretch. The premiere event of the track is the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend held yearly in July since its inaugural running in 2007.

The track opened in September 2006 with the Soy Biodiesel 250, won by Woody Howard, for the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Four Champions playoff. The Indy Racing League announced a race there on June 24, 2007, the Iowa Corn Indy 250, which was won by Dario Franchitti, who barely nipped Marco Andretti at the finish line. The track also secured a combined NASCAR Camping World East-West race where results counted towards both series' championships. That race delivered a dramatic battle between 17-year-old Joey Logano from the Busch East Series, who defeated Daytona 500 champion Kevin Harvick, 1998 West Series champion, who represented the West Series at the end of the race. The track was awarded a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and a NASCAR Xfinity Series race in 2009.

Entry list

 * (R) denotes rookie driver

Qualifying
Both Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Allgaier tied for the pole position with a time of 23.310 and a speed of 135.135 but Stenhouse got the tiebreaker and Stenhouse won his first career Nationwide Series pole in just his 6th start.

* – Made the field via owners points

** – There were 4 different driver changes by Raceday as there were drivers qualifying the cars for the Cup Series drivers. Jeremy Clements qualified for Kyle Busch, Cale Gale qualified for Kevin Harvick, Kevin Hamlin qualified for Tony Raines, and Auggie Vidovich qualified for Carl Edwards. This was during the peak of the Buschwhacker era where Cup Series drivers would drive in the Busch Series and would ask for other drivers to qualify their Busch Series car while they tried to qualify the Cup Series race which would be the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.

*** – Tony Raines, Coleman Pressley, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, and Mike Harmon all had to start at the rear of the field. Harmon and Pressley had an unapproved impound adjustment while Busch, Harvick, Raines, and Edwards had driver changes.

Race
Pole sitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the first lap of the race. The first caution flew on lap 3 when John Wes Townley crashed off of turn 2 after his rear track bar broke. The race restarted on lap 8. On the restart, Justin Allgaier took the lead from Stenhouse. On lap 11, the second caution flew when Sean Murphy, making his Nationwide Series debut, crashed in turn 2. The race restarted on lap 16. On lap 39, the third caution flew when Casey Atwood crashed in turns 1 and 2. Brad Keselowski won the race off of pit road and led the field to the restart on lap 45. On lap 74, the 4th caution flew when Aric Almirola blew a front right tire and hit the outside wall in turn 3. Erik Darnell won the race off of pit road. Mike Bliss and Austin Dillon did not pit and Bliss led the field to a restart on lap 79. On lap 80, Kyle Busch took the lead. On lap 93, the 5th caution flew when Michael McDowell spun down the front-stretch after getting bumped by Tony Raines. The race restarted on lap 98. On lap 105, Brad Keselowski took the lead from Kyle Busch. On lap 108, Brendan Gaughan cut a tire off on turn 4 after he had contact with Brian Ickler. Gaughan went into turn 1 and spun where he collected Ken Butler III that caused Butler to spin while the wreck also collected Austin Dillon, Stephen Leicht, and Matt Carter, bringing the 6th caution of the race. The race restarted on lap 114.

Final laps
On lap 145, the 7th caution flew for debris in turn 1. Kyle Busch won the race off of pit road and led the field to the restart on lap 150. On lap 153, the 8th caution flew when Mike Bliss and Trevor Bayne crashed off of turn 4. The race restarted on lap 158. On lap 166, the 9th caution flew when Brad Coleman and Brian Ickler crashed in turn 2. The race restarted on lap 173. On lap 179, Brad Keselowski attempted to take the lead from Kyle Busch but failed to get in front of him. Keselowski tried again, on lap 186, and battled with Busch until lap 189, when Keselowski was able to get past him. On lap 211, the 10th caution flew when Austin Dillon cut a front left tire and hit the outside wall in turn 2. The race restarted on lap 219. On lap 224, Kyle Busch took the lead from Keselowski. On lap 229, the 11th caution flew when Morgan Shepherd spun down the front-stretch. The race restarted on lap 234. On the restart, the 12th and final caution flew when Justin Allgaier slid up into Erik Darnell and pinned Darnell and Steve Wallace into the outside wall down the back-stretch. The race restarted on lap 240. On lap 241, Brad Keselowski passed Kyle Busch for the lead. Busch tried to pass him in the closing laps but was unsuccessful. Keselowski took the first checkered flag at Iowa in Nationwide Series history and Busch finished in second. This would be Keselowski's 2nd win of the season and the 4th of his career since 2008. Jason Leffler, Carl Edwards, and Kelly Bires rounded out the top 5 while Jason Keller, Kenny Wallace, Michael McDowell, Scott Lagasse Jr, and Stephen Leicht rounded out the top 10.