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Tag: Chase Elliott

  • Hendrick Motorsports Fills a Fifth Chair

    Hendrick Motorsports Fills a Fifth Chair

    Charlotte, NC – There was lots of news during Hendrick Motorsports’ presentation at the 2015 Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour on Thursday. The biggest news of the day was what we all knew was going to happen. Chase Elliott will be driving the No. 24 Chevrolet in 2016. It’s a year off yet, but that was the buzz around the Charlotte Civic Center.

    Before Thursday afternoon’s presentation from Hendrick Motorsports, five director’s chairs stood empty on the stage, one earmarked for team owner Rick Hendrick and the rest for his four drivers. One chair rested to the side, awaiting its moment to join the group.

    In the same way, Chase Elliott has waited for his seat in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. And now his time is just around the corner.

    Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that Elliott, the defending NASCAR XFINITY Series champion, will join the sport’s premier circuit full-time in 2016 after running a partial schedule of five races this season in the No. 25 Chevrolet. In making the step forward, Elliott, 19, will take over the Hendrick-owned No. 24 Chevrolet made famous by four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who announced last week that this will be his last full-time season in NASCAR’s top division.

    Elliott said he was informed of his impending promotion to Sprint Cup by a phone call from Hendrick, shortly after Gordon made his intentions known to his team. As big a shock as news of Gordon’s decision was, Elliott said the piece of the story involving him was an even bigger surprise.

    “That’s a phone call I was not expecting that day. That is for sure,” Elliott said. “I didn’t know anything about Jeff’s announcement until that morning and to have Mr. Hendrick tell me that he wanted me to be that person to go in and drive that car whenever Jeff got done was just an unbelievable phone call — one that I was not expecting and something that I couldn’t have dreamt happening.”

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sporting his new primary sponsor’s logo on his firesuit, but wanted to talk about his new crew chief, Greg Ives. It appears Earnhardt and Ives hit it off quickly.

    “We’ve run things over in our mind about things to try and all that,” Earnhardt said. “We’re going to be fine and I think Greg will be beneficial to both Jimmie (Johnson) and I.”

    It will be the first season in a long time that anyone other than Kenny Francis has been Kasey Kahne’s crew chief. In 2015, Francis moves on to other duties at Hendrick Motorsports and Keith Rodden takes over the reins. Kahne was confident that the turnaround in the No. 5 Chevrolet will be dramatic.

    Gordon revealed that he had made up his mind to retire last summer, and only timed his announcement when he thought it was best. Car owner Rick Hendrick said he tried to get his star driver and had been trying for some time.

    “You know I’m a pretty good car salesman, and I was very persuasive for awhile, but I ran out of good lines, I guess.”

    Gordon apparently had been pondering this for several years, but came to his decision this year. When that decision was made and the announcement became public, Hendrick wasted no time in calling young Chase Elliott to place him in the No. 24 for 2016, a phone call that Elliott didn’t expect. It happened on the same day that Gordon made his announcement.

    After the blockbuster news, the typical excitement for Jimmie Johnson was kind of lost in the dust. Johnson and Hendrick did pledge that the No. 48 would be back in the thick of things next year, but Hendrick did say what he thought would be a fitting end to an awesome career for Jeff Gordon.

    Without blinking, Hendrick said, “Fourteen wins and a championship.” Now, THAT would be the way to go out.

  • Odds and Ends as the New NASCAR Season Prepares to Crank it Over

    Odds and Ends as the New NASCAR Season Prepares to Crank it Over

    A new season, with a new defending champion, will be soon upon us. Kevin Harvick and the rest of the boys, and girl, will be in Daytona in less than a month to kick things off. According to Jayski, 43 teams have dreams of running full-time in 2015, with more than a dozen seeing drivers with new crew chiefs, and a handful of wheel men changing seats.

    Former Daytona winner Trevor Bayne goes full-time with Roush, returning in Mark Martin’s old No. 6. Sam Hornish Jr. makes a return to Cup driving the Petty No. 9. Carl Edwards moves on to Gibbs and the No. 19. Brian Vickers is out of Waltrip’s No. 55 until he mends from a heart repair. Nineteen-year-old Chase Elliot should get some seat time with Hendrick, while driving for Junior in the minor series. In the trucks, Junior will have soon-to-be 17-year-old Cole Custer running about 10 races. Cole Custer. If that isn’t the best damned name in NASCAR, I don’t know what is.

    Danica Patrick will be back. She will continue to be back regardless as to what she does, or does not do on the track, as long as fans and sponsors love her and pay her way. You could say she is a lot like Dale Earnhardt Jr. in that way, albeit minus the iconic father, the two Daytona 500 wins, five Talladega triumphs, 23 career victories, and seven appearances in the season’s top ten rankings.

    As I mentioned, while Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus continue their most successful racing marriage, others will be in new relationships. Danica, Junior, and Cousin Carl will be amongst those with new crew chiefs. So will Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr. and both Busch brothers. That could prove interesting, especially in the early going.

    Some get going, some get gone, and sometimes somebody is not happy the ways things turned out. As none of us were witness to the alleged altercation between Kurt Busch and his ex, we are left following along the court case. To be honest, as long as the guy is shown not to be a menace to society, as long as what may have happened is all that may have happened, I really do not care. As much as it is serious business for the principles involved, it is nothing more than a sideline event for the rest of us. An outcome to take notice of if we so wish, but not much more.

    It would be nice to owe millions, if only for having the chance to have spent millions in the first place. We try to live within our means, so that means my family is not bogged down in debt. Still, it would be nice to know that if I completely blew it there might be a bank or two willing to forgive millions in loans they gave me. It must be sweet to be in a position to forgive such a loan.

    The NASCAR Hall of Fame has been a white elephant from the beginning, with even its location suspect. It would seem the 25 minute drive from the track in Concord to downtown Charlotte is a trek many are not interested in making. Even the Daytona Experience, rejected as a site for the Hall, closed its doors and it was located right beside that track. I understand it will re-open again next year as the home of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. That is irony. Oh well, all is forgiven, I guess, to the tune of nearly $20 million. Now if they can only attract some paying customers, or the Convention Center there might wind up with tons of space for it to expand.

    It would be nice to say the new season means a change in the seasons, but for those of us in the lands of snow and ice, it does not. At least it gives us an idea what clear pavement, green grass, and shirt sleeves might look like. That, and a return of our favorite drivers, is good enough.

  • Kenseth Wins Nationwide Finale; Elliott and Penske Celebrate Championships

    Kenseth Wins Nationwide Finale; Elliott and Penske Celebrate Championships

    In a thrilling green-white-checkered finish, Matt Kenseth, behind the wheel of the No. 20 GameStop/Rock Candy Toyota, held both Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson at bay to win the 20th annual Ford EcoBoost 300.

    This was Kenseth’s first win of the 2014 Nationwide Series season and his second victory in 13 races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    “Well, we kept getting those restarts at the end of the race, and the first couple got away okay,” Kenseth said. “I felt good about it.”

    “We had a really good car tonight, especially on a short- to mid-range run, and that kind of fell into our hands except for the last two or three cautions we didn’t need, but it kind of worked out where we got in the front and had the speed on the front side of the run where we needed it.”

    ”It’s been a long time since I’ve won a race in anything.”

    Following closely behind race winner Kenseth, with what has become known as the ‘Kyle and Kyle show’, Busch and Larson finished second and third respectively. This was Busch’s seventh top-10 finish in eight races and Larson’s seventh top-10 finish in just two races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    “Yeah, we had a strong car,” Kyle Busch said. “Somewhere in the middle part of the race we started falling behind a little farther than I wanted to, just ill handling, being loose, tight, loose, and everything going on. But Adam made some great race calls and some good adjustments to get our car handling a little bit better, to get ourselves farther up toward the front. The 20 was kind of off there early on in the race, but there at the end he really came on strong and the 42 was really good.”

    “So it was kind of a race amongst us three, I thought, and that’s kind of what it came down to there at the end,” Busch continued. “All in all, can’t be prouder of my team, Adam Stevens and Curtis and everyone that works so hard on the Monster Energy 54 at Joe Gibbs Racing, all the guys at the shop.”

    “We did our part and we had some great races, and we did have a successful year, so nothing to hang our hats about, but there’s one other guy or team out there that was a little bit better than us.”

    “Yeah, we were able to lead a lot of laps today, a lot more than I’ve probably ever led in my career,” Kyle Larson said. “That was fun. I had good restarts up there until the last 50 laps or so, and then I finally got a good one underneath Matt, was able to get to the lead, and was about 15 feet short of the win.”

    “Almost had second, but Kyle was able to squeeze around me,” Larson continued. “I probably could have shut the door on him, but we weren’t going to win, so there was no point in maybe tearing up two cars. Disappointed, super disappointed. Really close to a win today.”

    The Homestead finale race also officially crowned Chase Elliott as the Nationwide Series champion, an honor he had clinched last weekend. In spite of finishing 17th in the last race of the season, Elliott still made history as the youngest champ in NASCAR history.

    “I know it was ugly,” Elliott said. “We didn’t have a very good run, but we’ll take it.”

    The title was not just special for Chase Elliott and his family, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott and wife Cindy, but was also the first ever for the team owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., his sister Kelly and Rick Hendrick.

    Roger Penske also clinched a championship, that of the Nationwide owner’s title. He did so with six wins and not just with one, but five different drivers, in the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang.

    “It was a great day,” Penske said. “I thought that race would never get over. I think we had a green-white-checker and all we had to do was finish 25th, but you never know with all the action up front.”

    “Brad (KeselowskI) ran a great race and when you think about five different drivers it’s really a credit to Jeremy Bullins and the job he’s done in preparing the car for different drivers and with six wins.”

    “So, to me, this was a team effort at Team Penske,” Penske continued. “Everyone did so much to make this happen and obviously it didn’t come down until the last lap there that we knew we had it.”

    With the final race in the books, NASCAR also bid a fond adieu to Nationwide, who has ended their title sponsorship, turning the reigns over to Xfinity.

    “We have truly enjoyed our time as the series sponsor and are grateful for the relationships we’ve made with the drivers, teams, owners, and fans,” Jim McCoy, director of sports marketing for Nationwide Insurance, said.

    The full race and points results are as follows:

    2014 NNS Ford EcoBoost 300 Race Results

    Fin Str Car Driver Team Lap Pts BPts Status TLd LLd
    1 3 20 Matt Kenseth(i) GameStop/Rock Candy Toyota 206 0 Running 3 52
    2 6 54 Kyle Busch(i) Monster Energy Toyota 206 0 Running 2 5
    3 2 42 Kyle Larson(i) Cartwheel by Target Chevrolet 206 0 Running 5 111
    4 5 12 Ryan Blaney(i) Discount Tire Ford 206 0 Running 1 24
    5 10 60 Chris Buescher # Humalog Ford 206 39 Running
    6 15 7 Regan Smith TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 206 38 Running
    7 21 3 Ty Dillon # WESCO Chevrolet 206 37 Running
    8 1 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Hertz Ford 206 0 Running 1 5
    9 4 11 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Toyota 206 35 Running
    10 7 2 Brian Scott Shore Lodge Chevrolet 206 34 Running
    11 13 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 206 34 1 Running 1 3
    12 31 33 Paul Menard(i) Alert Today Florida/Boy Scouts of America Chevrolet 206 0 Running 3
    13 20 51 Jeremy Clements All South Electric/Repairable Vehicles Chevrolet 206 32 1 Running 1 1
    14 25 10 Ross Chastain(i) watermelon.org Toyota 206 0 Running
    15 30 93 TJ Bell(i) Dedicated to Electrical Linemen Dodge 206 0 Running
    16 17 28 JJ Yeley Texas 28 Spirits Stage Toyota 206 28 Running
    17 14 9 Chase Elliott # NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 206 28 1 Running 1 1
    18 24 99 James Buescher Rheem Toyota 206 26 Running
    19 9 31 Dylan Kwasniewski # Rockstar/AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet 206 25 Running
    20 19 43 Dakoda Armstrong # WinField Ford 206 24 Running
    21 28 4 Jeffrey Earnhardt GCL/Polyglass Chevrolet 206 23 Running
    22 22 44 Blake Koch Celsius Flo Fusion Toyota 206 23 1 Running 1 1
    23 18 19 Mike Bliss Tweaker Energy Shot Toyota 206 21 Running
    24 35 26 Jake Crum(i) MyFreedomSmokes.com Chevrolet 206 0 Running
    25 12 5 Josh Berry Ragu Chevrolet 206 19 Running
    26 27 14 Eric McClure Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Toyota 206 18 Running
    27 11 16 Ryan Reed # ADA Drive to Stop Diabetes/Lilly Diabetes Ford 206 17 Running
    28 33 36 Ryan Preece Accell Construction/East West Marine Chevrolet 206 16 Running
    29 8 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 205 15 Running
    30 29 55 David Starr Niece Equipment Chevrolet 205 14 Running
    31 40 17 Tanner Berryhill # New Gulf Resources Toyota 204 13 Running
    32 37 23 Carlos Contreras Circle K Chevrolet 203 12 Running
    33 26 25 John Wes Townley(i) Zaxby’s Toyota 201 0 Running
    34 39 87 Milka Duno CanTV Toyota 201 10 Running
    35 23 1 Landon Cassill Flex Seal Chevrolet 190 9 Engine
    36 32 39 Ryan Sieg # Huntinator Chevrolet 179 8 Suspension
    37 16 98 Corey LaJoie(i) Medallion Financial/Smithfield Ford 116 0 Accident
    38 36 40 Matt DiBenedetto Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet 57 6 Transmission
    39 38 52 Joey Gase FindDieselEngines.com Chevrolet 54 5 Engine
    40 34 91 Jeff Green SupportMilitary.org Toyota 3 4 Vibration

    # = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

    2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Unofficial Point Standings Final

    Pos Driver BPts Points Ldr Nxt Starts Poles Wins T5s T10s DNF PPos G/L
    1 Chase Elliott # 26 1213 0 0 33 2 3 16 26 0 1 0
    2 Regan Smith 13 1171 -42 -42 33 0 1 7 26 0 2 0
    3 Elliott Sadler 13 1154 -59 -17 33 1 1 7 25 1 4 1
    4 Brian Scott 10 1154 -59 0 33 3 0 6 23 1 3 -1
    5 Ty Dillon # 11 1148 -65 -6 33 3 1 7 24 1 5 0
    6 Trevor Bayne 7 1086 -127 -62 33 1 0 5 21 3 6 0
    7 Chris Buescher # 9 1014 -199 -72 32 0 1 5 14 1 7 0
    8 Brendan Gaughan 14 954 -259 -60 33 0 2 2 7 2 8 0
    9 Ryan Reed # 1 889 -324 -65 33 0 0 1 1 2 9 0
    10 James Buescher 3 868 -345 -21 33 0 0 0 2 1 11 1
    11 Dylan Kwasniewski # 0 867 -346 -1 33 1 0 0 3 4 10 -1
    12 Landon Cassill 0 800 -413 -67 33 0 0 0 3 7 12 0
    13 Dakoda Armstrong # 2 788 -425 -12 33 1 0 0 3 1 13 0
    14 Mike Bliss 1 779 -434 -9 33 0 0 0 1 4 14 0
    15 Jeremy Clements 8 757 -456 -22 33 0 0 0 2 2 15 0
    16 Ryan Sieg # 1 682 -531 -75 33 0 0 1 2 5 16 0
    17 Jj Yeley 2 651 -562 -31 30 0 0 1 2 5 17 0
    18 Jeffrey Earnhardt 1 586 -627 -65 33 0 0 0 0 9 18 0
    19 Eric McClure 0 521 -692 -65 28 0 0 0 0 4 19 0
    20 Joey Gase 1 482 -731 -39 33 0 0 0 0 11 20 0
    21 Matt Dibenedetto 0 369 -844 -113 29 0 0 0 0 17 22 1
    22 Tanner Berryhill # 1 365 -848 -4 29 0 0 0 0 14 23 1
    23 Derrike Cope 0 364 -849 -1 28 0 0 0 0 12 21 -2
    24 Blake Koch 2 317 -896 -47 28 0 0 0 0 18 25 1
    25 Jamie Dick 1 314 -899 -3 21 0 0 0 0 7 24 -1
    26 David Starr 2 293 -920 -21 14 0 0 0 1 1 26 0
    27 Sam Hornish Jr. 10 242 -971 -51 8 2 1 4 4 3 27 0
    28 Mike Wallace 1 229 -984 -13 11 0 0 0 1 2 28 0
    29 Chad Boat 1 227 -986 -2 14 0 0 0 0 6 29 0
    30 Carlos Contreras 0 204 -1009 -23 14 0 0 0 0 5 30 0
    31 Jeff Green 0 172 -1041 -32 20 0 0 0 0 16 31 0
    32 Kevin Swindell 0 157 -1056 -15 10 0 0 0 0 4 32 0
    33 Mike Harmon 0 153 -1060 -4 16 0 0 0 0 13 33 0
    34 Kevin Lepage 0 137 -1076 -16 14 0 0 0 0 10 34 0
    35 Tommy Joe Martins 0 124 -1089 -13 11 0 0 0 0 8 35 0
    36 Josh Reaume 0 116 -1097 -8 11 0 0 0 0 8 36 0
    37 Ryan Ellis 0 104 -1109 -12 12 0 0 0 0 10 37 0
    38 Carl Long 0 104 -1109 0 16 0 0 0 0 16 38 0
    39 Alex Tagliani 1 82 -1131 -22 2 1 0 2 2 0 39 0
    40 Austin Theriault 0 78 -1135 -4 3 0 0 0 0 0 40 0
    41 Will Kimmel III 0 74 -1139 -4 5 0 0 0 0 1 41 0
    42 Robert Richardson Jr. 0 72 -1141 -2 7 0 0 0 0 4 42 0
    43 Cody Ware 0 71 -1142 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 43 0
    44 Kenny Habul 0 61 -1152 -10 3 0 0 0 0 1 44 0
    45 Justin Marks 0 58 -1155 -3 2 0 0 0 1 0 45 0
    46 Daniel Suarez Garza 0 54 -1159 -4 2 0 0 0 0 0 46 0
    47 Morgan Shepherd 0 54 -1159 0 8 0 0 0 0 8 47 0
    48 Kelly Admiraal 0 53 -1160 -1 3 0 0 0 0 1 48 0
    49 Martin Roy 0 53 -1160 0 5 0 0 0 0 3 49 0
    50 Josh Berry 0 51 -1162 -2 2 0 0 0 0 0 59 9
    51 Stanton Barrett 0 49 -1164 -2 3 0 0 0 0 2 50 -1
    52 Kevin O’connell 0 48 -1165 -1 2 0 0 1 1 1 51 -1
    53 Ryan Preece 0 46 -1167 -2 2 0 0 0 0 0 61 8
    54 Ruben Garcia Mateos 0 41 -1172 -5 3 0 0 0 0 1 52 -2
    55 Harrison Rhodes 0 40 -1173 -1 6 0 0 0 0 6 53 -2
    56 Daryl Harr 0 39 -1174 -1 3 0 0 0 0 1 54 -2
    57 Andy Lally 0 37 -1176 -2 1 0 0 0 1 0 55 -2
    58 Hermie Sadler III 0 37 -1176 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 56 -2
    59 Bobby Reuse 0 35 -1178 -2 2 0 0 0 0 1 57 -2
    60 Hal Martin 0 34 -1179 -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 58 -2
    61 Scott Lagasse Jr. 0 31 -1182 -3 2 0 0 0 0 0 60 -1
    62 Matt Frahm 0 28 -1185 -3 3 0 0 0 0 2 62 0
    63 Tim Cowen 0 26 -1187 -2 1 0 0 0 0 0 63 0
    64 Paulie Harraka 0 25 -1188 -1 1 0 0 0 0 0 64 0
    65 Kenny Wallace 0 25 -1188 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 65 0
    66 Jason White 0 25 -1188 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 66 0
    67 Ryan Gifford 0 24 -1189 -1 1 0 0 0 0 0 67 0
    68 Bobby Gerhart 0 19 -1194 -5 2 0 0 0 0 1 68 0
    69 Mackena Bell 0 15 -1198 -4 1 0 0 0 0 0 69 0
    70 John Jackson 0 15 -1198 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 70 0
    71 Matthew Carter 0 15 -1198 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 71 0
    72 Roger Reuse 0 14 -1199 -1 2 0 0 0 0 1 72 0
    73 Tim Schendel 0 14 -1199 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 73 0
    74 Milka Duno 0 14 -1199 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 76 2
    75 Kyle Fowler 0 12 -1201 -2 1 0 0 0 0 0 74 -1
    76 Richard Harriman 0 12 -1201 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 75 -1
    77 Kyle Busch(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 26 7 7 25 25 0 77 0
    78 Brad Keselowski(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 11 5 5 10 11 0 78 0
    79 Kevin Harvick(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 15 1 4 12 15 0 79 0
    80 Kyle Larson(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 28 1 2 14 21 2 80 0
    81 Ryan Blaney(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 14 1 1 10 13 0 81 0
    82 Matt Kenseth(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 19 0 1 10 15 1 87 5
    83 Paul Menard(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 8 0 1 3 5 0 82 -1
    84 Kasey Kahne(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 3 0 1 2 2 1 83 -1
    85 Marcos Ambrose(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 1 1 1 0 84 -1
    86 Joey Logano(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 10 3 0 8 9 0 85 -1
    87 Michael McDowell(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 3 0 0 1 3 0 86 -1
    88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 4 0 0 3 3 0 88 0
    89 David Ragan(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 6 0 0 1 2 0 89 0
    90 Erik Jones(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 3 0 0 0 3 0 90 0
    91 Cale Conley(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 11 0 0 0 1 2 91 0
    92 Joe Nemechek(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 6 0 0 0 1 0 92 0
    93 Darrell Wallace Jr.(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 2 0 0 0 1 0 93 0
    94 Austin Dillon(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 0 0 1 0 94 0
    95 Justin Boston(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 2 0 0 0 1 0 95 0
    96 Ross Chastain(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 7 0 0 0 1 0 96 0
    97 Alex Bowman(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 3 0 0 0 0 0 97 0
    98 Matt Crafton(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 0 0 0 0 98 0
    99 Aric Almirola(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 2 0 0 0 0 0 99 0
    100 John Wes Townley(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 11 0 0 0 0 2 100 0
    101 Chase Pistone(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 3 0 0 0 0 0 101 0
    102 Johnny Sauter(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 3 0 0 0 0 0 102 0
    103 Josh Wise(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 17 0 0 0 0 6 103 0
    104 Tj Bell(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 2 0 0 0 0 1 117 13
    105 Jeb Burton(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 0 0 0 0 104 -1
    106 Corey Lajoie(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 5 0 0 0 0 3 105 -1
    107 Brennan Newberry(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 4 0 0 0 0 1 106 -1
    108 Danica Patrick(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 0 0 0 0 107 -1
    109 Tomy Drissi(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 2 0 0 0 0 0 108 -1
    110 Timmy Hill(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 7 0 0 0 0 4 109 -1
    111 Jake Crum(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 4 0 0 0 0 1 111 0
    112 Jennifer Jo Cobb(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 0 0 0 0 110 -2
    113 Todd Bodine(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 2 0 0 0 0 1 112 -1
    114 Chris Cockrum(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 2 0 0 0 0 0 113 -1
    115 Caleb Roark(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 0 0 0 1 114 -1
    116 Denny Hamlin(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 0 0 0 1 115 -1
    117 Derek White(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 2 0 0 0 0 2 116 -1
    118 Jimmy Weller(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 1 0 0 0 0 1 118 0
    119 Willie Allen(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 0 0 0 0 0 0 119 0
    120 Benny Gordon 0 0 -1213 -12 0 0 0 0 0 0 120 0
    121 Clay Greenfield(I) 0 0 -1213 -12 0 0 0 0 0 0 169 48

    BPts – Bonus Points, -Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, PPos = Previous Position, G/L = Points standing gain/loss, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

    Source: Timing and Scoring provided by NASCAR Media/NASCAR Statistics

     

  • The Final Word – At Phoenix we Learned Being Liked and Respected can Earn Forgiveness

    The Final Word – At Phoenix we Learned Being Liked and Respected can Earn Forgiveness

    There are drivers you like and there are drivers you do not. If a driver should be a whiney revisionist weasel who does his best to avoid cashing the checks his mouth keeps on writing, I am not a fan. This is how I once viewed Kurt Busch, and it is how I presently see Brad Keselowski. For him to not make the Chase finale came as a welcome conclusion to the activities at Phoenix.

    I love Kevin Harvick. He does what he does and if you do not like it, you know where you can find him. At Phoenix, that would have been up front. He dominated the Harvick 500 from start to finish and every restart to win his fourth of the season to punch his ticket into the final four.

    I am not a fan of Denny Hamlin or Joey Logano. To be honest, I cannot tell you the deep dark reasoning behind it. I guess I just need some black hats out there on the range to go with the cowboys in white. They finished fifth and sixth respectively and had enough in the bank to go through to the final round themselves. Only tough luck has kept Hamlin from taking a championship in the past, while the 24-year old Logano is a legitimate contender no matter what measurement one wishes to use. One day, I might even get excited when they take the checkered flag.

    Jeff Gordon has been outstanding in 2014, robbed of something better by Keselowski at Texas. Ryan Newman, whose eight win season in 2003 was trumped by Matt Kenseth’s title run, used Kyle Larson’s car as a buffer on the final turn on Sunday to pick up the spot that got him in. In doing so, he also put Gordon out. Fan reaction to that move, and the end result in the Chase standings, I dare say, is much different than if it were Keselowski bouncing off Larson to end the dream for Gordon.

    By in large, it comes down to one driver being basically liked while the other is essentially not. It is not a universal feeling, granted, but by enough that it matters. While it might affect how many t-shirts he sells, being liked by the fans is not as important as being respected by your peers. They do not have to love you, but they need to have an appreciation for you that, despite his unquestionable talent, Keselowski still appears to have failed to earn.

    What the boy needs is charm and the cojones to meet head on any challenges that comes his way. Sure, he might get shaken like a rag doll from time to time, but he won’t get punched, unless someone has the cash to spend. With his talent in the car and his gift of the gab outside of it, he has the tools to jaw and charm his way through damn near anything. J.R. Ewing did it. So did Dale Earnhardt. Why not Brad? Heck, he could even continue to wear the black hat.

    Why was Brad driving the winning Nationwide car at Phoenix on Saturday? Why are any Cup guys running that circuit enough to claim 21 of 32 events this season, and nine of the past 10? Maybe NASCAR just wants to kill the circuit and this is what they have come up with. Chase Elliott has already claimed the season crown, winning three races in Texas, Darlington and Chicago against Cup talent. The lad turns 19 at the end of this month. We need to see more young talented drivers in this circuit like Chase Elliott, and less of the likes of Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski.

    To see either in more than one race at Homestead is likely, but neither will be in the running for a title in the season finales. What we will have will be four drivers, each seeking this first Cup championship, and come Sunday one of them will be successful. Nothing to not like there.

    CHASE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR…
    1 – Kevin Harvick – 1 WIN – 4102 Points
    2 – Denny Hamlin – 4112 Pts
    3 – Joey Logano – 4111 Pts
    4 – Ryan Newman – 4103 Pts

    FOUR SHOWN THE DOOR…
    5 – Jeff Gordon – 4102 Pts
    6 – Matt Kenseth – 4100 Pts
    7 – Brad Keselowski – 4095 Pts
    8 – Carl Edwards – 4088 Pts

  • Chase Elliott Becomes Youngest NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion

    Chase Elliott Becomes Youngest NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion

    It’s just a peachy situation for the entire Elliott family, right?

    On Saturday afternoon at Phoenix International Raceway, Chase Elliott started 10th and kept himself solidly in the top-10 throughout the day. He would fall back just outside of the top-10 when he took two left side tires, but would make his way back up through the field after a four-tire change. When the checkered flags were flown, he would be in the fifth spot, but more importantly, ahead of his teammate Regan Smith.

    As a result of holding a 52 point lead heading into next weekend’s final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Elliott clinched the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship.

    “Just honestly disbelief,” Elliott commented. “I’ve never been apart of anything like this, and just to have the opportunity to work these guys has been a blessing to just be here. I don’t know what to think. I don’t even know how to feel right now. I didn’t know if I was allowed to do a burnout, but I did one anyone. This is pretty cool. I really appreciate Regan and the way he raced me all year.”

    Elliott becomes the first rookie to a win championship, as well as the youngest champion at the age of 18 years, 11 months and 18  days. His season has featured three victories, 16 top-fives and 26 top-10s in the 32 races. 

    “I’m so in disbelief right now that I don’t know what to feel,” Elliott continued. “It’s a true blessing to be here. I really can’t believe it. This is really a testament to everybody that works on this car every week. They always make me a look a heck of a lot better than I am.”

    With his father Bill already having won a championship, the Elliott family becomes the fifth father-son duo to be champions.

    “A year ago at this time, we had nothing. Everything just came together with NAPA and JRM,” Bill Elliott said. “To have anything, it was a miracle. Then to come into this year and have the year that he has had, it is just unbelievable. I just hope that he keeps his head on straight. He is really good behind the wheel, and knows what he needs from the car. That’s 90 percent  of the battle. If he keeps that, he’s going to be great.”

    “Unbelievable. I don’t know what to say,” Chase’s mom Cindy commented. “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts –everyone out there. I asked Bill this morning when we got up, I asked him if he imagined that we’d be going to the race track and see our son with a NASCAR championship. Its so great to see his dreams come true.”

    The young man is already signed to a developmental contract with Hendrick Motorsports that will see him one day drive in the Sprint Cup Series for Rick Hendrick.

    “At this time a year ago, we were trying to figure out what to do – thankfully NAPA came along,” Hendrick said. “Man, what a great young man and a racer that he is.”

    Hendrick was asked whether the championship would change plans for Elliott in staying in Nationwide for another year or moving up to Sprint Cup next year. “I think we got another year here so we’ll see,” Hendrick commented.

  • Kyle Busch Scores a Nationwide Fiver at the Monster Mile

    Kyle Busch Scores a Nationwide Fiver at the Monster Mile

    Kyle Busch behind the wheel of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, scored his fifth Nationwide season win to take the 29th Annual Dover 200 at the Monster Mile. And with that fiver, he also broke a tie with Joey Logano to become the all-time win leader at Dover.

    “Our day was really good,” Busch said. “We were a little skeptical of it yesterday but the guys did a good job of making adjustments for today.”

    “From the start of the green flag, we had a good race,” Busch continued. “I was biding my time early and we missed that first wreck. We were able to pit, get out front and set sail from there.”

    “It was nice to put together a good run and hopefully carry that into tomorrow.”

    Joey Logano, who led laps early in the race, finished second in his No. 22 Hertz Ford. This was his ninth top-10 finish at Dover and his eighth top-10 finish for the season.

    “The first half of the race went perfect and we were able to go out there and lead a lot of laps and be very, very fast,” Logano said. “But as the race went, we put four tires on and lost the lead. Our car was really tight from there on out. I’m not really sure what happened but we will try to figure it out.”

    “We just stayed tight there the last run,” Logano continued. “Overall, it’s second but we come here and expect to win. We began the race well but we lost the handle.”

    Chase Elliott, in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, finished third and also was the highest finishing rookie. Elliott did, however have his share of adversity, getting into a wreck early and suffering some damage that hindered his progress forward.

    “I’m proud and frustrated at the same time,” Elliott said. “We had a super-fast car from the get-go.”

    “We were just biding our time that first run,” Elliott continued. “I made a mistake following those guys way too closely and that was completely my fault. I drove ourselves into a wreck and then we couldn’t get back up to the front.”

    “We had a really good car from the drop of the green and the guys did a fantastic job getting it taped back up in a way that the fender wasn’t going to fly apart on us.”

    “We tried to battle as hard as we could but it just wasn’t enough.”

    Chris Buescher, driving the No. 60 Roush Performance Parts Ford, finished fourth as the second highest finishing rookie.

    “That was a lot of fun,” Buescher said. “We were really good on pit road and nice and consistent. Every week you have to get better and our consistency has been there. This is our best finish since Mid-Ohio.”

    Elliott Sadler, behind the wheel of the No. 11 SportClips Toyota, rounded out the top five, a position that he had not been in for quite some time.

    “It’s been too long for this race team,” Sadler said. “We made a lot of adjustments today. Top five at Dover is the best we’ve ran here.”

    Kyle Larson overcame two penalties, one for leaving the pit box with equipment and the other for speeding, came back to finish sixth in his No. 42 Cartwheel by Target Chevrolet.

    Another driver that had a world of trouble was Brendan Gaughan. The driver of the No. 62 South Point Chevrolet had a rear suspension issue, sending him to the garage and putting him nine laps down to finish 28th.

    With his third place finish, Chase Elliott maintained his lead in the championship point standings, now 26 points ahead of teammate Regan Smith.

    The full Nationwide Series results for the Dover 200 are as follows:

    1. Kyle Busch
    2. Joey Logano
    3. Chase Elliott
    4. Chris Buescher
    5. Elliott Sadler
    6. Kyle Larson
    7. Brian Scott
    8. Regan Smith
    9. Trevor Bayne
    10. Ty Dillon
    11. Cale Conley
    12. Justin Boston
    13. Aric Almirola
    14. Ryan Sieg
    15. James Buescher
    16. Landon Cassill
    17. Dakoda Armstrong
    18. Jeremy Clements
    19. Alex Bowman
    20. Jeffrey Earnhardt
    21. Dylan Kwasniewski
    22. JJ Yeley
    23. Blake Koch
    24. Ryan Reed
    25. Timmy Hill
    26. Jeff Green
    27. Joey Gase
    28. Brendan Gaughan
    29. Mike Bliss
    30. Matt DiBenedetto
    31. Kevin Lepage
    32. Carl Long
    33. Kevin Swindell
    34. Tanner Berryhill
    35. Morgan Shepherd
    36. Harrison Rhodes
    37. Derrike Cope
    38. Jamie Dick
    39. Mike Harmon
    40. Ryan Ellis
  • Brendan Gaughan Powers his way to the Win at Kentucky Speedway

    Brendan Gaughan Powers his way to the Win at Kentucky Speedway

    Brendan Gaughan won his second Nationwide Series race of the 2014 season passing Chase Elliott and teammate Ty Dillon for the lead late in the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at the Kentucky Speedway  Saturday night. His other victory was at Road America in June. Brian Scott finished second with Dillon finishing third making a 1-2-3 sweep for Richard Childress Racing. Elliott finished fourth and Regan Smith rounded out the top five.

    Dillon was the class of the field all night leading 155 of the 200 lap race. Elliott had gained the lead from Dillon on lap 174 when Eric McClure hit the wall bringing out the caution flag. Two caution periods, one for Sam Hornish Jr., driving the No.54 Kyle Busch Motorsports entry, who hit the wall after contact with Regan Smith, and the second for debris, closed up the field with less than 20 laps to go. On the last restart, when Elliott and Dillon were battling for the lead, Gaughan pounced, passing them both and pulled away.

    “I love restarts, and when that caution came out and we were fourth, I got really excited because I knew we were on the outside and thought we had a good group, and we did,” said Gaughan.”  You have to choose a teammate, so I chose Ty and pushed him down the back straightaway, and he had a launch into turn three, but it was just too much. When they got side by side and I’ve been doing this a long time and an area opened up just enough, I couldn’t believe we were able to take off like that.”

    Scott said after the race, “I thought it was the right call to take four tires at the end. I restarted sixth and got a good restart and got up to fourth and I thought we were going to win this race. But, unfortunately, we didn’t get any long runs and our Shore Lodge Camaro was a little too tight.”

    Dillon clearly disappointed after his dominant performance said, “I spun the tires a bit there at the end and it really cost us. Elliott was able to get a nose ahead of us there before that last caution came out, and that gave our teammate with four tires a chance to get up there and take the win.”

    “It was really good, hard racing there at the end,” Dillon continued. “These cars are under-powered and aero becomes a big deal, and on the restarts, when you get the side draft on those guys and the guy behind you get such a great run, it’s hard to hold them both of them off.”

    The four cautions over the last 31 laps had significant impact on the outcome of the race but it was Gaughan’s restart and power move that won him the race.

    Elliott retains the series lead by 20 points over Regan Smith. Ty Dillon, (-38), Brian Scott (-55) and Elliott Sadler (-51) round out the top five.

    The Nationwide Series travels to Dover International Speedway September 27. The race is scheduled for 3:30 pm ET and will be televised on ESPN2.

    Complete Finishing Order:

    POS. CAR DRIVER
    1 62 Brendan Gaughan
    2 2 Brian Scott
    3 3 Ty Dillon
    4 9 Chase Elliott
    5 7 Regan Smith
    6 33 Cale Conley
    7 60 Chris Buescher
    8 22 Michael McDowell
    9 20 Justin Boston
    10 80 Ross Chastain
    11 16 Ryan Reed
    12 42 Dylan Kwasniewski
    13 11 Elliott Sadler
    14 99 James Buescher
    15 6 Trevor Bayne
    16 4 Jeffrey Earnhardt
    17 39 Ryan Sieg
    18 5 Austin Theriault
    19 43 Dakoda Armstrong
    20 31 Chase Pistone
    21 51 Jeremy Clements
    22 93 Kevin Swindell
    23 28 J.J. Yeley
    24 19 Mike Bliss
    25 44 Blake Koch
    26 40 Matt DiBenedetto
    27 55 Jamie Dick
    28 52 Joey Gase
    29 1 Landon Cassill
    30 54 Sam Hornish Jr
    31 14 Eric McClure
    32 23 Cody Ware
    33 70 Derrike Cope
    34 17 Tanner Berryhill
    35 72 Harrison Rhodes
    36 89 Morgan Shepherd
    37 87 Josh Reaume
    38 74 Mike Harmon
    39 46 Ryan Ellis
    40 10 Jeff Green

     

  • Kevin Harvick Dominates the Great Clips 300 With Decisive Win at Atlanta

    Kevin Harvick Dominates the Great Clips 300 With Decisive Win at Atlanta

    Atlanta Motor Speedway is good to Kevin Harvick as he takes his third Nationwide Series win of the year in the Great Clips 300 to Benefit Feed the Children. He started the race in eighth place but quickly took over the lead from pole winner Chase Elliott on lap 37 and he was gone, leading an incredible 159 laps out of the 195 lap race.

    He is now tied with Mark Martin for all-time Nationwide Series wins at Atlanta. Harvick gave JR Motorsports their eighth win of the year. There were only two minor cautions, both for debris but a light rain extended the second caution to a total of 13 laps. At the restart it was clear that Harvick was the man to beat.

    “This thing was bad fast from the drop of the green flag,” Harvick said.  “This is just one of those race tracks where I like the challenge of everything you get to do here. Ernie (crew chief Ernie Cope) and I have found a great setup over the years back into the trucks (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), and it’s still working today.”

    Joey Logano started fourth in his No. 22 and brought home second place, but by the time he got his car handling to where he could gain on Harvick, it was too late.

    “I just ran out of time,” he said. “I wish there were five or seven more laps, and I could have got to him and tried to do something with him. We were catching him two or three tenths (of a second) a lap there at the end and having some fun with it, but it was too little, too late.”

    Kyle Larson, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet started the race in second and finished in third place. Larson was running up in the high groove, but clearly the bottom was where you needed to be.

    “Here at Atlanta for whatever reason; it’s a really wore out track but the bottom seems to be a little faster,” stated Larson. “I tried to learn to run the bottom but you have to have your left sides on the paint and it’s really narrow down there so it’s hard, but Kevin is really good at it for whatever reason.”

    Kyle Busch brought his No. 54 car home in fourth place while the series points leader Chase Elliott came home in fifth place, retaining the points lead.

    Regan Smith finished in sixth followed by Brian Scott in seventh place and David Ragan in eighth. Rounding out the top ten finishing order were Ty Dillon and Elliott Sadler, in ninth and 10th respectively.

    Your top five in the points standings are as follows:

    1) Chase Elliott 874  2) Regan Smith -15  3) Ty Dillon -35  4) Elliott Sadler -48  5) Brian Scott- 54

    The Nationwide Series’ next race will be the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Speedway on September 5th.

    Complete Finishing Order:

    Position Car No. Driver
    1 5 Kevin Harvick
    2 22 Joey Logano
    3 42 Kyle Larson
    4 54 Kyle Busch
    5 9 Chase Elliott
    6 7 Regan Smith
    7 2 Brian Scott
    8 98 David Ragan
    9 3 Ty Dillon
    10 11 Elliott Sadler
    11 20 Matt Kenseth
    12 6 Trevor Bayne
    13 60 Chris Buescher
    14 62 Brendan Gaughan
    15 01 Landon Cassill
    16 28 JJ Yeley
    17 19 Mike Bliss
    18 16 Ryan Reed
    19 99 James Buescher
    20 39 Ryan Sieg
    21 31 Dylan Kwasniewsk
    22 51 Jeremy Clements
    23 17 Tanner Berryhill
    24 14 Eric McClure
    25 4 Jeffrey Earnhardt
    26 40 Matt DiBenedetto
    27 55 Jamie Dick
    28 44 Blake Koch
    29 87 Chris Cockrum
    30 52 Joey Gase
    31 70 Derrike Cope
    32 25 John Wes Townley
    33 43 Dakoda Armstrong
    34 74 Mike Harmon
    35 89 Morgan Shepherd
    36 82 Kevin Swindell
    37 23 Carlos Contreras
    38 72 John Jackson
    39 46 Carl Long
    40 10 Jeff Green
  • NNS Notebook – Food City 300

    NNS Notebook – Food City 300

    The NASCAR Nationwide Series travels to the World’s Fastest Half-Mile this week for the 23rd race of the 33 race season. Bristol Motor Speedway has long been considered a “wildcard” race on the schedule. Wildcard … because anything can happen here.

    This year at Bristol we have the Food City 300. No, that’s not a typo, 50 extra laps have been added to the race (just like in the spring race) this year to give drivers a few more laps to battle and, of course, to give fans a few more laps of excitement. Just imagine what could happen with an additional 50 laps!

    JR Motorsports sits atop the points standings with two drivers, Chase Elliott and Regan Smith. Currently, Elliott leads Smith by 10 points. It is then an additional 16 points back to Elliott Sadler in third.

    Given how fast Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson were in practice, we may very well see another Kyle vs. Kyle show. Busch competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Wednesday night. Busch ran strong leading 81 laps, but cut down a tire late in the race and finished 24th.

    It’s also great to see another female racer working her way up the ranks in NASCAR. The fact that she is from Venezuela, is an additional bonus. NASCAR is becoming more and more diverse every day.

    Ryan Blaney is behind the wheel of the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford this week. The No. 22 is leading the owner’s standings with a 21 point lead over the No. 54 fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. This battle will definitely be one to watch on Friday night. With Kyle Busch piloting the No. 54, Blaney will have a tough job stretching that points lead.

     

    Here are your quick notes for the event:

     

    • Chase Elliott has just one start at Bristol. He started 15th and finished ninth.
    • Regan Smith has nine starts at Bristol with two top-10’s and zero laps led.
    • Kyle Busch has won the last three races at Bristol
    • Kyle Larson finished second to Busch in the last race.
    • Larson was fastest in final practice. . .  Busch was second fastest.
    • Larson has three starts at Bristol and has scored three top five’s
    • 45 cars are attempting to make the field this week. 40 will start.
    • Milka Duno is attempting to make her first start in NNS. She was 36th fastest in final practice.
    • Duno, the forty-two year old from Venezuela, has 47 ARCA starts, as well as 43 starts in the Verizon Indycar Series and 44 starts in the Grand-Am Series.
    • Ryan Blaney is driving the No. 22 for Penske Racing this week. Blaney was fourth fastest in practice.
    • Chris Buescher, the most recent winner in the series, was 28th fastest in practice.
    • Phil Parsons won the first NNS race at Bristol in 1982.
    • This week’s race will be the 65th NNS race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
    • The green flag drops on the Food City 300 at 7:30pm local time on Friday night.

     

     

  • Gaughan Wins in Thrilling Finish at Road America

    Gaughan Wins in Thrilling Finish at Road America

    Nationwide Series Race Recap by NASCAR

    June 21, 2014

    ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin – Brendan Gaughan survived two early off-track excursions and a race in which much of the second half was contested in rain as cars rode on wet weather tires to win Saturday’s Gardner Denver 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Road America.

    It was the third time in NASCAR history – all on road courses and all on the NNS circuit – that a race has been run in rain. The other two were in Montreal in 2008 and 2010, also on a road course (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve).

    Racing in the rain ignited something in Gaughan that helped overcome and forget his early misfortune and go on to earn his first career win on the Nationwide circuit in 98 starts (he also has eight career wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series).

    “I love racing in the rain, it’s fun,” said Gaughan, who was in the 2010 Montreal race, and has driven in rain several other times in other series. “And when you’re good at it, it makes it even more fun.

    “I haven’t smelled blood in a long time, that’s something I’ve been lacking lately, that killer attitude. When it started to rain, even without the wiper blade (was broken), I started to smell blood and said, ‘I’m coming.’

    “It’s fun to watch guys who haven’t done it in the rain. They don’t understand the rain line, and fortunately for me, I did.”

    Gaughan passed Chase Elliott for the lead on Lap 51 and held on for the two remaining laps to win.

    Gaughan beat runner-up Alex Tagliani by .820 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish that took the race to 53 laps, three more than the scheduled 50. It appeared it would be Tagliani’s race to win, as he was leading in the closing laps when he ran out of fuel on lap 49.

    Just seconds before, a caution flag was thrown when Justin Marks also ran out of fuel. Just past the pit entrance when his car stopped, Tagliani was able to roll his car down the downward sloping frontstretch, his crew pushed him into his pit stall, he took on fuel and switched from rain tires back to slicks and proceeded to roar through the field, restarting 23rd and ending up second three extra laps later.

    Such a tough defeat might be hard for some drivers to swallow, but Tagliani took the loss in stride.

    “It was pretty intense,” Tagliani said. “The wet was tricky, but obviously we were good. Maybe I threw a bad spell on myself because I said it was impossible that I was going to win this race, like something’s going to happen, and then on the white flag, something happened (ran out of gas).

    “It’s what it is. It’s not in the cards. You have to be quick, you have to have a good car and it has to be in the cards, and if it’s not, you just have to take whatever comes to you.”

    Tagliani came into the race hoping to be the fourth driver to win from the pole in the last five NNS races at Road America, but came up one spot short.

    The race was put under caution on Lap 25 and NASCAR mandated all cars switch to wet weather tires two laps later. They remained on rain tires until the final four laps, when teams had the option to switch back to slicks after Marks brought out the caution.

    Kevin O’Connell finished third, followed by Chase Elliott and J.J. Yeley.

    Sixth through 10th were Jeremy Clements, Andy Lally, Landon Cassill, Elliott Sadler and Mike Bliss.

    Of note about Cassill: Not only did he compete in Saturday’s race, he hopped a plane afterward to the west coast to be in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Sonoma Raceway.

    NOTES: Regan Smith, who finished 13th, retained his lead in the NNS points standings. Elliott Sadler (finished ninth) is second in the points, 10 points behind Smith, while Chase Elliott remains in third place (11 points back). The only drivers to make upward movement in the points in the top-10 were Brian Scott (sixth to fifth) and Cassill (11th to 10th).