Auto Racing: William Byron wins in Iowa for 2nd straight NASCAR Truck victory

High school diploma in hand, William Byron seems to have already found his calling. Byron held off the field on a late restart to win the NASCAR Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa, on Saturday night for his second straight victory.

The 18-year-old Byron held off a hard-charging Cole Custer by less than a half-second for his third victory in just nine career starts. Byron also is 2-0 in trucks since graduating from Charlotte Country Day school in North Carolina – and he’s just 11 points behind Matt Crafton in the season standings.

“We’ve kind of hit our stride in May and now June, and we’ve been able to focus on what we need to do better,” said Byron, who will attend Liberty University, the sponsor of his No. 9 truck, in the fall. “I wouldn’t say it’s related to graduating high school, although it’s definitely a relief.”

Custer was second, followed by ThorSport Racing teammates Cameron Hayley and Ben Rhodes.

Formula One

Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg claimed pole position for the European Grand Prix after his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton crashed out of qualifying in an error-strewn performance in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Qualifying was red-flagged when Hamilton clipped his right front wheel on a wall near the Baku fortress in the twisty old-town section of the street circuit. The reigning world champion qualified 10th.

Force India’s Sergio Perez was second but will take a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after also hitting a wall at the end of pre-qualifying practice and severely damaging the rear of the car.

NASCAR Xfinity

Daniel Suarez had his breakout moment last weekend, holding off Kyle Busch at Michigan to become the first Mexican winner in NASCAR national series history.

Suarez can make even bigger history this year if he keeps racing as well as he has.

Daniel Suarez will enter the Xfinity stand-alone race Sunday at Iowa Speedway atop the standings through 13 races in a bid to become the first foreign driver to win a NASCAR series championship.

Erik Jones will start first Sundayafter winning his sixth pole of the season.

Le Mans

Porsche driver Brendon Hartley was in the lead after the first three hours of racing at the 24 Hours Le Mans classic endurance race in Le Mans, France, where actor Brad Pitt was the official starter.

After being overtaken by Audi driver Loic Duval during the second hour, Hartley moved back in front two laps later and was fighting hard for first place with Toyota driver Mike Conway.

Conway took advantage of Hartley’s pit stop to move into the lead but went second when he stopped at the pits a few minutes later.

Neel Jani, who set the pole position in one of Porsche’s 919 hybrid cars, was in fifth place, 50 seconds behind the race leader.

Conway has been performing well at the Circuit de la Sarthe since the weather improved and the track dried out, posting the fastest lap in 3 minutes, 23.010 seconds.