How Iowan Brett Moffitt won Sunday's truck race at Iowa Speedway without leading a lap

NEWTON, Ia. — Moments after his race ended, Brett Moffitt was surly about finishing behind rival driver Ross Chastain in Sunday’s M&M’s 200.

About 90 minutes later, he was being escorted to the Iowa Speedway media center — carrying two Bud Lights — as a back-to-back winner at his home track.

Moffitt was awarded his first NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory of 2019 after Chastain’s No. 44 Chevrolet failed its post-race inspection. Series managing director Brad Moran said the front end of Chastain’s truck was “extremely low,” well below NASCAR's allowable standard, triggering the overturned result.

“I was already changed in the motor home, drinking some beers and headed to the airport and mad as hell,” Moffitt said. “I didn’t know. The team called me and said, ‘Head back this way.’”

What already had been a bizarre race became an unusual finish. NASCAR said it was the first disqualification of a winner in the series, which dates to 1995.

The reversal had to be a stunning development for Chastain, too — an affable driver who had already smashed a watermelon in victory lane and conducted lengthy, joyful victory interviews. This was seemingly his triumphant moment after recently declaring he would make a long-shot run for a trucks championship.

He had seemingly gotten the win he needed after starting in 19th Sunday. Chastain was 35-to-1 to win the race, according to early betting odds.

“There weren’t a lot of lead changes. I’m glad I stunk up the show,” Chastain joked after leading 141 of 200 laps. “I’m good with it.”

Instead, the local guy who didn't officially lead a lap (belatedly) took the checkered flag.

“It’s great, but I want to win on the racetrack,” said Moffitt, who is from Grimes — about 45 miles west of this 7/8-mile, Rusty Wallace-designed racetrack. “We had 100-some people here, and I missed out taking them to victory lane. Obviously, that’s frustrating. But you know, to be a back-to-back winner at Iowa Speedway is great for me and great for our team.

“We’ll take it how we can get it.”

It was quite the contrast of emotions for Moffitt, who earlier was angry about his second-place run in his No. 24 Chevy. He was especially upset that Chastain was the driver who'd beaten him to the line. The two were within 0.3 seconds of each other for long stretches midway through Sunday's final stage, but Moffitt couldn't make the pass.

“He put me in the fence last week,” Moffitt said, “and he races like that every week.

“I don’t like that guy. He races like an … interesting person sometimes. So I hate losing to him, and I hate losing here.

"I could have wrecked him. I just decided not to."

Chastain’s team wasn’t declaring defeat just yet. Niece Motorsports said in a statement that it would appeal NASCAR’s ruling.

“Both of our Chevrolets passed opening- and pre-race inspections,” team owner Al Niece said in a statement. “We believe that the No. 44 truck sustained minor damage during the event, which left the truck too low, following the race.”

It’s hard to believe that NASCAR will overturn its overturned result, but who knows after Sunday's race? It was weird from the get-go.

Pole-sitter Chandler Smith lost his radio as soon as the green flag dropped at 11:10 a.m. local time. He led the first 55 laps, but never could recover after his team took extra time on a pit stop to fix the problem.

Later, there were on-track fireworks as Johnny Sauter rammed his No. 13 Ford into Austin Hill’s No. 16 Toyota under caution, an extreme measure of retaliation that got Sauter parked for the day. Sauter, a past series champion, could face further discipline.

“I don’t know how old he is, but he doesn’t act his age (41),” said Hill, who rallied to finish 13th. “I can tell you that.”

But well after the watermelon was cleaned up from victory lane and the dust settled, Moffitt was your winner. The Johnston High School graduate cranked up his Truck Series championship run with a win here last June. And now, in a strange way, he’s done it again.

With the victory (assuming it stands), Moffitt would be locked into the eight-driver race for the series title. He also picked up a $50,000 bonus for his GMS Motorsports team as part of the series Triple Truck Challenge program.

“I went from drinking my sorrows away,” Moffitt said, “to being happy.”