NEWTON, Iowa -- Ben Kennedy's goal was to land a top-10 finish in his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut, and that is exactly what he did in Sunday's American Ethanol E15 250 Presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway.
Kennedy, the son of International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa France Kennedy and the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., battled hard to earn his 10th-place position behind the wheel of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. The ride is -- for the most part -- shared between NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Austin Dillon and Paul Menard.
The 250-lap race proved to be a learning experience for the 24-year-old Florida native, who started sixth.
"I learned a ton on those restarts," Kennedy said on pit road after the race. "Kind of what to expect throughout the run and different lines. We could really utilize that top line. We were one of the first to find it, I think. I think we made a lot of speed with it."
Along with being an immense learning experience, the race was simply fun for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular.
"I would have kept going if we could have," Kennedy said. "That was a blast. I just had fun running this car. These things are so much fun to drive. It really puts it in the driver's hands, in my opinion. I enjoyed running up there with those guys."
Kennedy spent much of the race running in the top 10 and spent the latter stages battling Roush Fenway Racing's Darrell Wallace Jr. and Ryan Reed for position.
Crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. told NASCAR.com that Kennedy's run in his XFINITY Series debut was notable.
"Anybody that comes in this series and performs like he did this weekend from practice to qualifying sixth and finishing 10th, not really a scratch on the car -- that's pretty impressive," Stockman said in the garage after the race.
"I think he's got a lot of potential. He's very eager to learn and he's very level-headed, which is what I feel you need these days."
Stockman said that the car was just a little off.
"I don't feel like the car was where it needed to be," he said. "I think he could have ran in the top five today if we would have had a better piece, but all in all, the kid did a great job and real proud of him."