Posted on by Zack Albert

‘Six-Time’ shows some spunk with top-10 finish

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BROOKLYN, Mich. — After four wrecks in the preceding five races, Jimmie Johnson needed a jolt, a silver lining … anything to register a positive as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs draw near. What he got Sunday was the solid top-10 finish he needed, but the roundabout way he arrived there made for a rough ride.

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Johnson rallied past a heavy helping of obstacles for a ninth-place finish in the Pure Michigan 400, overcoming a broken shifter just before the halfway point and a frenzied battle with Ryan Newman in the race’s final stages. The former required clamping a tool in place mid-race for a makeshift level; the latter issue prompted a testy post-race meeting between the two drivers.

Johnson snatched a spot among the top 10 finishers after a handful of instances of contact between his No. 48 and Newman’s No. 31. Newman faded to an 11th-place effort and declined comment after hastily walking from the Sprint Cup garage to a waiting SUV.
 
"Everyone that’s ever been in a race car out there understands the frustration that comes along with racing Ryan. Just normal Ryan stuff," Johnson said. "And I don’t want to take away anything from what this awesome race team did. Granted, we put ourselves in a bad position with the shift level breaking off and were able to rally back and get ourselves a good finish. Unfortunate we didn’t get any further up in the field, but still salvaged a lot today."

Johnson’s whole weekend was a self-contained comeback in its own right. Despite claiming his first Michigan win in June, the six-time Sprint Cup champ mustered just the 39th-fastest speed in Friday’s opening practice and followed that with a 30th-best effort in Coors Light Pole Qualifying. Saturday’s ranks of 13th and eighth in practice offered hope for improvement, but any gains would have to come from deep in the field.
 
Johnson steadily worked his way up to take the lead as alternate pit strategies unfolded, but radio-ed to his crew on Lap 45 of 200 that his shifter had fallen off shortly after a restart for the race’s fourth caution period. He didn’t stop again until the 76th lap, but by then crew chief Chad Knaus had already hatched a game plan for the team to hand Johnson wire-cutters and vice grips to rig a stopgap shift lever.
 
Johnson lost the lead and plenty of ground after the four-tire change and a push off pit road to get the car going led to a sluggish return to speed. Though chances of a Michigan season sweep suddenly grew dim, the effort to salvage a solid result was already under way. After getting the upper hand in the late-race fight over racing room with Newman, the comeback was as complete as the 400-mile distance would allow.
 
"I think what they show is they can battle back, figure out a way not to lose with the shifter broken in the car, not to lose laps, then Chad focuses on trying to get him back on the lead lap, get him in position with tires at the end of the race to maybe even get a top five," said team owner Rick Hendrick. "I think that’s just calling a great race and Jimmie not giving up. Hopefully we have all the bad luck behind us now. They’ll be able to go to the next race feeling great."
 
Johnson faced a similar rough patch in the schedule last year, when he closed out the regular season with four finishes of 28th or worse. He rallied then to notch his sixth championship in the Chase, in another show of perseverance.
 
All things considered, a reprise of 2013 wouldn’t be all that bad.
 
"Yeah, we have fast cars, it’s just unfortunate that we’ve got to dig out of holes each weekend," Johnson said. "At least we were able to leave under the checkered flag today and get a decent finish out of it, with a ton of adversity thrown at us."

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Catch up quickly before Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 (1 p.m. ET, ESPN)

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What: 45th annual Pure Michigan 400.
Where: Michigan International Speedway, 2-mile oval in Brooklyn, Michigan.
When: Sunday, Aug. 17, 1 p.m. ET.
TV/Radio: ESPN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Distance: 200 laps, 400 miles.
 
Pit road speed: 55 mph.
Caution car speed: 65 mph.
Fuel window: 40 laps.
 
On the front row | Full lineup
Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet (206.558 mph).
Joey Logano, Team Penske No. 22 Ford (206.381 mph).

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Fastest in practice
First practice: Joey Logano, Team Penske No. 22 Ford (204.545 mph).
Second practice: Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet (203.183 mph).
Final practice: Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet (200.156 mph).
 
Driver rating
 (Best driver rating average at Michigan based on past 19 races):
Greg Biffle, 107.8.
Matt Kenseth, 104.5.
 
Last year’s winner
Joey Logano, Team Penske No. 22 Ford.
 
They said it I: "We’ve talked about confidence in the past. You can’t just have all this confidence and not have the car to go along with it. You’ve got to have the whole package. And right now, I feel like we’re bringing the whole package." — Four-time champion Jeff Gordon, a two-time winner this season
 
They said it II: "To be able to this year kind of look at it differently, have a different perspective, but to be able to say as a whole as a race team that we are winners in the Sprint Cup Series, which is hard to do, that has probably been the most enjoyable thing. Waking up each day knowing that I don’t have to have you guys ask me when I’m going to win again, or ‘are you going to be the next first-time winner.’ I don’t have to do that any more. I’m good with that now." — AJ Allmendinger, who scored the first Sprint Cup victory of his career last weekend at Watkins Glen International
 
They said it III: "I think it is safe to say that is the fastest lap I have ever made in a race car. I am not sure but I think it is. You can’t argue with the time sheet." — Carl Edwards, after registering a lap at 204.111 mph in opening Sprint Cup practice. He qualified third at 206.115.
 
Longevity and success: Jeff Gordon leads active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers with 43 career starts and 18 top-five finishes at Michigan International Speedway. In the track’s all-time record books, Bill Elliott (61 Michigan starts) and Cale Yarborough (21 top-fives at MIS) top those lists; both are NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees.
 
Girl power: Four women have competed in NASCAR’s top division at Michigan — Janet Guthrie (four starts), Danica Patrick (three), Robin McCall (two) and Shawna Robinson (one). Guthrie hold the distinction of having the best finish among the four — 10th in August 1977. Patrick’s best effort was 13th in her Michigan debut in 2013. McCall, who later married former driver and current TV commentator Wally Dallenbach Jr., competed in both Michigan races in 1982 for the only NASCAR starts of her career. Robinson’s lone 2001 start at MIS was her first race in NASCAR’s premier series.
 
History lesson: Michigan International Speedway opened in 1968 with a D-shaped layout designed by Charles Moneypenny, who also helped design Daytona International Speedway.  The facility first hosted NASCAR’s top series the following year. Cale Yarborough won the track’s inaugural stock-car event — the 1969 Motor State 500 — in the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Mercury after a fierce last-lap battle with LeeRoy Yarbrough. Since then, it’s hosted 89 more races for the Cup series.
 
Former Michigan winners in the field: Greg Biffle (4); Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman (2); Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Brian Vickers (1).

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Posted on by Brad Norman

Popular driver deferred to their eyes over his ears

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BROOKLYN, Mich. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt his tire coming apart. His No. 88 crew didn’t see it.

Thus began a long, productive conversation over the radio in which crew chief Steve Letarte detailed why he thought Junior should stay out on the track before ultimately leaving the decision solely to the driver, who said he was coming in to pit.

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"Just go with what you feel," Letarte concluded, "and know that we’ll support you 100 percent with whatever decision you make."

Earnhardt changed his mind and stayed out — his tire held up and showed no external damage on his next pit stop. The result of that change-of-mind led to the team’s continued off-cycle pit strategy, and a late-race caution on Lap 169 of 200 allowed Junior to stay out. It shot the driver up to sixth-place when the field restarted, and Earnhardt drove up to a fifth-place finish.

It was Earnhardt’s second top-five in the past three races and it came at a track where the No. 88 struggled in Friday qualifying, not advancing out of the first round and starting Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 from the 25th position.

"There’s only one guy that knows what the car really feels like, and that’s the guy behind the wheel," Letarte said after the race. "We talked about the facts. The facts are that we were in a pit window and the risk would be that we go a lap down. The second thing I wanted him to know that if he feels he has a tire coming apart, then he needs to pit.

"We’re not at Martinsville. When you’re running 200-plus (mph) into the corner, you need to leave that up to him, and I would do that with any driver. And Dale used his best judgment, and fortunately we didn’t have a big problem."

It’s another instance of the symbiotic relationship between this driver and crew chief, the result of which has Earnhardt tied for the series lead with three wins and second in the driver standings, three points behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon.

It’s why Junior was able to compartmentalize what his own ears heard — his right front tire snapping in Turns 1 and 2 — and rely on the words and observations of his crew chief.

"Yeah, hearing that (over the radio), it gives me a lot of confidence," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I just trust what he says. I really don’t worry about it. He’s seeing the race from a different perspective. I don’t really question his choices, and what he says I go with.

"I feel like he’s a good strategist and he makes good calls, so he keeps us moving forward. We had some trouble today, and he gave us a strategy to get a top-five."

Some of that trouble included an on-track incident with Denny Hamlin in which Junior drove the No. 11 up the track. Hamlin noted he was a "little disappointed" but that the drivers had a post-race discussion on pit road and moved on — Hamlin’s frustrations of not being able to keep up with the Hendrick engines caused his anger, he said.

"Yeah, I ran him up the track a little bit early in the race," Junior said, adding that he was trying to pass while avoiding a three-wide situation. "It was way, way early, and he didn’t like it too much. I mean, I’ve been run up the track too, and I didn’t like it either."

The more tangible trouble came after the No. 88 and No. 42 Chevrolet of Kyle Larson collided on pit road on Lap 22, with Larson exiting his stall as Earnhardt was coming in.

Both cars incurred damage, with Junior needing a trip back down pit road. He restarted 39th on Lap 25, having already been in a problematic pair of episodes with the race not even a quarter of the way finished.

"Everybody was on pit road," Larson said. "I was leaving my box and looked in my mirror and saw the 27 (of Paul Menard) and somebody else coming to my outside, so I was leaving them room. Then the 88 came out, and we just kind of met right there. It happened really quick."

The damage moved the steering wheel around, Earnhardt said, and also dented the quarter-panels. That resulted in his car being loose into the corners the rest of the day.

So how did the No. 88 team overcome that one? Much like his driver did when discussing strategy, Letarte said the other party deserved the credit.

"We really just acted like there was no damage the rest of the race," Letarte said. "We worked on our car, we called our pit strategy and Dale drove it like it was a perfectly fine car, and I think that confidence led us to a top-five finish."

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Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

ThorSport Racing scores 1-2 finish at the Irish Hills

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BROOKLYN, Mich.—Johnny Sauter‘s new crew chief started work eight days before Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Careers for Veterans 200.
 
So much for a getting-to-know-you period.
 
Sauter’s Toyota Tundra went to the front after leader Matt Crafton pitted with three laps left and the veteran claimed his first Truck Series victory of the season at Michigan International Speedway.
 
His 161.087 mph average speed is the fastest in series history, breaking the 154.737 record he set in 2012 when he won at Texas.

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"When I was out front leading, I could go where I wanted and do what I wanted," Sauter said. "The last 40 laps of the race I was running wide open."
 
Crafton, Sauter’s ThorSport Racing teammate, finished second after pulling in for a quick splash of fuel. He had a 31-second lead when he entered the pits and was passed as he emerged from the lane after stopping for less than three seconds.
 
The win vaulted Sauter into the first place in the season standings, seven points ahead of Crafton, who moved from third to second. Pole winner Ryan Blaney started the race with the points lead but lost it after finishing 21st.
 
"This is great, this is the thing we needed to swing it," Sauter said after leading 21 laps in his 10th career series win. "We’ve been consistent. We finally got speed this weekend."
 
The win ran Sauter’s streak of seasons with at least one truck victory to six.
 
Ron Hornaday Jr.‘s Chevy was third, followed by Tayler Malsam and Kyle Busch. Busch was seeking his sixth victory in as many starts this season in the Truck Series.

Following post-race inspection, NASCAR announced the triangular filler
panel in Busch’s No. 51 Toyota will be taken back to the R&D
Center for review.
 
ThorSport brought in Jeff Hensley to replace Dennis Connor as crew chief despite the fact Sauter was second in the points standings. Sauter said there were no hard feelings.
 
"It was just something we thought would make the whole organization stronger," he said.
 
Hensley, of course, enjoyed his first race in the pit box.
 
"I thought we could win, but I sure as heck didn’t think it would be the first time out," he said.
 
Crafton was happy the team, based in nearby Sandusky, Ohio, had the top two spots – though he would’ve rewritten the ending if it was up to him.
 
"It was very eventful, without a doubt," he said. "All in all, not a bad day. It’s nice to see ThorSport one-two. I just wish it was the other way around."
 
The race’s only caution flag came nine laps in after Travis Kvapil’s engine failed and left oil on the track. The last 86 laps of the record-setting race were green.
 
The long stretch of green-flag laps seemed to benefit Sauter and other drivers who ducked into the pits during the lone caution period.
 
"It sure seemed like there was more passing in the pits than on the track with everyone so spread out," he said. "Sometimes it’s good to have a race like that."
 
Darrell Wallace Jr. led a race-best 48 laps but finished a lap down in 11th.
 
Blaney won the pole just by showing up for the final qualifying session. He was the only driver to attempt a lap before time ran out. His 173.152 mph pole speed was significantly slower than the track record 187.647 turned by Joey Logano in the second session.
 
Jeb Burton set the record during last year’s stop here.

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Pair of Nationwide title contenders both finished in top three

LEXINGTON, Ohio — For a pair of top-three finishers, Regan Smith and Brian Scott sure were grumpy.

To be fair, nearly every driver save for the one standing in Victory Lane after a road course race such as Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course typically is, so they had every right to be.

Smith, a longtime critic of how drivers tend to act towards the end of such races, certainly didn’t gain any evidence to the contrary as things got chippy towards the end of the race as he fought to catch up to eventual race-winner Chris Buescher.

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Meanwhile, Scott was forced to recover from a bizarre tangle with road course specialist Alex Tagliani, piloting last year’s race-winning Team Penske No. 22 Ford, in which the Canadian driver appeared to intentionally run Scott off the road — with no penalty.

"First off, I was proud of how we ran today," said Scott, who is fifth in the Nationwide Series standings. "I was proud of the speed we had. It was a special race for us. To have (Nationwide Children’s Hospital ‘patient champion’) Avery Neely design our car, make it out from Nationwide Children’s Hospital and be our special guest was really cool and really neat to meet her family. I really wanted to celebrate with them in Victory Lane. I guess that’s why it makes it all the more heartbreaking when I felt like we were the car to beat.

"I just had a run-in with a guy that doesn’t race in our series regularly. Even still, he got into the side of me and I didn’t hurt him, he missed a corner then drove me into the grass. Then (he) put me in the grass more and clogged our grille and made us change our pit strategy because we were blowing water and that chain of events right there put us behind the guys that we ultimately were racing with at the end to win. I don’t think that would have happened had that incident not happened."

Tagliani finished fifth, lining his car up on pit road two spots behind that of the Richard Childress Racing driver. And while — somewhat surprisingly — there were no post-race fireworks between the drivers, it still left a sour taste in Scott’s mouth.

To have a non-series regular come in and nearly risk his shot at a competitive finish in the midst of a championship race would be enough to irk anyone, let alone a race car driver.

"It’s just the nature of the beast when those guys come in and they’re supposed to be the road course specialists and they only do the one-off races. I think they feel like they have something to prove and they certainly drive like they do. He kind of squeaked it in a corner that you normally wouldn’t have and I swung wide and gave him room and I guess he proceeded to miss the corner and he drove us into the dirt on exit and that happened, but then while I was in the dirt, he was still driving me deeper into the dirt. So I guess just getting four (of my) tires off the pavement wasn’t good enough for him. It’s just how it is."

As for Smith, his runner-up finish keeps him within reach of his JR Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott‘s points lead, which is now down to 10 after Elliott finished fourth.

However, it’s just his second top-five finish across eight series starts at Mid-Ohio, Road America and his home track Watkins Glen, something that he doesn’t necessarily attribute to the speed of his car.

"I’m happy and frustrated all at the same time," Smith said. "…I think our average start (on road courses) has been sixth, our average mid-race has been fourth and our average finish before today has been like 17th. So, I don’t like what happens at the end of the races when cautions start flying and guys just start using everybody up and forgetting that this is still a race and we should race the same way here as we do at other places. Just because you can drive into the back of somebody and push three cars out of the way doesn’t mean you should. So that’s the part of road racing I don’t like."

While Smith continues his search for win number two of the season, he seemed to know in the closing laps that it wasn’t coming at Mid-Ohio unless Buescher either ran out of gas or a caution was thrown in the final three laps.

He admitted that his car wasn’t as fast as the 60 — largely due to Buescher having the advantage of clean air — but he also gave credit to the Roush Fenway Racing driver for not making the kinds of mistakes typically shown by drivers leading late, knowing that their first win is around the corner.

It also might have to do with the fact that Buescher, who flat out didn’t make the cut for the Daytona season-opener, might just be improving.

"He’s shown a lot of speed at places this year," Smith said. "He’s come a long ways fast throughout the course of the (22 races) we’re into it. So that didn’t surprise me. I was surprised that he made it (on fuel). I didn’t have much more for him at the end there. I was sitting there watching and thinking that at any point he was going to run out and I saw him shaking there once on the last lap and thought he was running out there so I launched it into the carousel and about wrecked myself right there so that wasn’t too smart.

"The record book doesn’t say how you won. It just says you won."

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Initiative pairs drivers with kids, who are front and center on race weekend

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LEXINGTON, Ohio — Front and center.

The spot typically reserved in a NASCAR driver’s meeting for celebrities and CEOs attending the race was instead occupied by a group of children, ages 2 1/2 to 10 years old. None of them could hide the nervous smiles on their faces, knowing they were about to address a group of people that stretched well into the hundreds and included some of their favorite professional drivers.

"Welcome to Mid-Ohio!" they shouted in unison, instantly lifting everyone off their feet in an infield tent Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and drowning out every noise in the immediate area with uproarious applause.

The applause would seem out of place for just an ordinary ‘Welcome’, but these were no ordinary kids — they were champions. Patient champions, to be exact.

With the NASCAR Nationwide Series spending the weekend in the series’ title sponsor’s backyard, just outside of its home base in Columbus, Ohio, more than 4,000 Nationwide associates were on hand for Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200. Ten ‘patient champions,’ brave children who’ve been diagnosed with various life-altering diseases, were each paired up with a series driver who gave them a VIP experience at the race track as honorary members of each team for the weekend.

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Dalton Miller wears gloves given to him by driver Ryan Reed. He sits next to fellow Patient Champion Luke Benner, who was paired with Reed’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate Chris Buescher

In an effort to celebrate the miraculous patients and their courage while raising awareness for the hospital and the care provided to children from all over the world, the 10 drivers/teams/sponsors donated their time and paint schemes to honor those involved. Each paint scheme was specifically designed with each child in mind, including input from each child, too.

From the minute the children were introduced, it was clear that racing took a back seat this weekend.

"We had a little girl named Allie (Norman), who is our patient champion and she has (Acute Lymphoblastic) Leukemia," said Brendan Gaughan, driver of the No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. "Right now, she is in maintenance, which, anybody that’s a daddy in the room, you’ll get a tear in your eye. It’s a 10-year-old girl with leukemia. You just can’t help but crying. But she’s doing fantastic.

"I met her (Thursday) at the hauler parade. I went to the baseball game with her, spent some time with her. Amazing little girl. It’s amazing how positive most of these children are when they’re like that. I got a great stat from Nationwide Children’s yesterday. Leukemia, when I was growing up, had a 10 percent mortality rate. So if you got leukemia, it was a 10 percent chance of living. They have that number in pediatric leukemia up to 90 percent. So that’s just absolutely amazing how far research has come. The hospital itself is unreal. Totally different than most hospitals you’re ever going to see."

Nationwide Children’s Hospital, America’s third-largest pediatric hospital and research center, has been named one of the best children’s hospitals by both U.S. News & World Report and Parents magazines and has more than 1 million patient visits each year from all 50 U.S. states and more than 30 foreign countries.

Researchers at the hospital are also discovering cures for some of the most challenging diseases and complications impacting children, from prematurity to cancer.

"We went to their NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and I’ve got a 4 year old and a 2 year old and when we were pregnant, (doctors) told us that 26 weeks is the cutting edge of where they’re taking children and they’re surviving. I got to see a child born at 22 weeks. The baby was born at 12 ounces. That’s your Coca-Cola can," said Gaughan Friday during an emotional press conference. "I used to be stronger at doing this, until I had kids. I used to be able to leave and cry. You know, talk about it and not cry. Now, after having kids, you just think about this stuff, and it’s like, ‘Oh, man. I’m lucky and happy that mine are healthy.’

"Throughout the year, we go to a lot of places and do a lot of things and a lot of children’s deals and it’s separate from the race track. It’s just something we want to do or NASCAR puts together or a sponsor puts together, but Nationwide Insurance is one of those companies that has committed to spending God knows how many millions of dollars in this hospital. What makes this event special is this series sponsor, how much they’ve committed to not only the sport of NASCAR and what a great job they’ve done in our sport, but where they choose to spend their money and their marketing people and their strategic development people, I’ve got to say (it) might be one of the best in the country when they try to do these things. I’m super impressed with them. We do love coming here, not only because it’s a road course, but it is special to be able to do this stuff with the kids."

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Patient Champion Sean Tibbs sits in Elliott Sadler’s cockpit before the race

Sean Tibbs is a 10-year-old boy from Blacklick, Ohio, who loves Legos, soccer, golf, video games and reading — you know, the normal stuff — but, like Allie Norman, has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. After seeing signs of improvement in his condition over the past two years, he and his family learned that his leukemia had returned in January, which was then followed by intense treatment and a bone marrow transplant.

He spent Saturday with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Elliott Sadler, getting a tour of the No. 11 hauler and even getting to sit atop the pit box for the race, sporting a smile so big you’d think he was just any other 10-year-old kid at his first NASCAR race.

"This is bigger than the race," said Sadler, who gave Tibbs an autographed helmet and even let him sit inside his Toyota Camry and grip the steering wheel. "I think what the Nationwide Children’s Hospital does this weekend is absolutely amazing. My son was in the NICU for nine weeks, so I understand a little bit about what these families are going through. For them to be able to come out here and to be a part of our pit crew, for us to show them a little bit of what we do every weekend is definitely a blessing. It’s just such a special race. It’s so neat that it’s so close here to the Nationwide headquarters and the Children’s Hospital. They do a good job getting all the families out here to watch the races. It’s definitely a neat deal."

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Patient Champion Sean Tibbs visits with Elliott Sadler before the race

Regardless of the outcome of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 on Saturday, there were 10 winners. Actually, strike that.

There were 10 champions.
 
———–
 
The following teams and drivers have generously offered to partner with a Nationwide Children’s Hospital Patient Champion for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 16, 2014:

— No. 2 of Brian Scott and Richard Childress Racing — Paired with Patient Champion Avery Neely See the special No. 2 paint scheme

– No. 6 of Trevor Bayne and Roush Fenway Racing — Paired with Patient Champion Blake Hames See the special No. 6 paint scheme

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Patient Champion Sean Tibbs visits with Elliott Sadler before the race

— No. 11 of Elliott Sadler and Joe Gibbs Racing — Paired with Patient Champion Sean Tibbs See the special No. 11 paint scheme

— No. 16 of Ryan Reed and Roush Fenway Racing — Paired with Patient Champion Dalton Miller See the special No. 16 paint scheme

— No. 22 of Alex Tagliani and Team Penske — Paired with Patient Champion Blaine Snodgrass See the special No. 22 paint scheme

— No. 42 of Dylan Kwasniewski and Turner Scott Motorsports — Paired with Patient Champion Reid Zupanc See the special No. 42 paint scheme

— No. 43 of Dakoda Armstrong and Richard Petty Motorsports — Paired with Patient Champion Sydney Huber See the special No. 43 paint scheme

— No. 60 of Chris Buescher and Roush Fenway Racing — Paired with Patient Champion Luke Benner See the special No. 60 paint scheme

— No. 62 of Brendan Gaughan and Richard Childress Racing – Paired with Patient Champion Allie Norman See the special No. 62 paint scheme

— No. 99 of James Buescher and RAB Racing — Paired with Patient Champion Tarissa Suchecki See the special No. 99 paint scheme

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Posted on by Staff Report

Triangular filler panel for the No. 51 truck taken for further review

BROOKLYN, Mich. — For the third time in the past five races, a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck had something in post-race inspection that caught the eye of NASCAR.

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On Saturday at Michigan, it was a triangular filler panel from Kyle Busch‘s No. 51 Toyota that will be taken back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further review.
 
Busch finished fifth in in the Careers for Veterans 200 at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway.
 
At Kentucky on June 26, Busch’s race-winning truck came in too low. At Iowa on July 11, Erik Jones‘ race-winning truck also came in too low (he was driving the No. 51 for KBM at Iowa). The penalties fell under the heading of a P2 under NASCAR’s new deterrence system.

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See where your favorite drivers will be pitting at the road course

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By winning the Coors Light Pole Award for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (2:45 p.m. ET, ESPN), Sam Hornish Jr. got his pick of pit stalls for Saturday’s Nationwide Series race.

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Hornish will have the pit stall closest to the pit road exit at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Hornish is not the only driver that will have an opening in front of him on pit road. Alex Tagliani (starting second), Brendan Gaughan (starting seventh) and Regan Smith (starting eighth) will also have opening in front of them.

Tagliani was in contention for a win at Road America in June, his only other Nationwide Series start this season. Gaughan won the race at Road America this year.

Ryan Reed has the pit stall closest to the entrance on pit road.

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Victory is his first NASCAR national series win

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LEXINGTON, Ohio — The math didn’t add up.
 
Crew chief Scott Graves was in NASCAR Nationwide Series rookie Chris Buescher‘s ear, telling him he was two laps shy of making the finish. The thing was Buescher was in the lead by more than two seconds when he got the news.
 
"Not going to lie. Scott about had my nerves shot there at the end," Buescher said. "We were trying to save all we could there knowing that we were trying to keep the distance on the guys behind us."
 
Somehow, someway Buescher did the job, coaxing his No. 60 Ford to the finish line to win the first race of his Nationwide Series career, taking the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He is the third rookie to win this season and the 14th different driver to do so in 2014.
 
Turns out all the figuring was off a bit.

"It was cool to pull it off and have plenty left over for a good burnout at the end," Buescher said.
 
In the 90-lap race, Buescher last pitted on Lap 52 during the fourth caution of the day. The fifth and final caution for Jeff Green hitting the wall in the Esses (Turn 5) lasted three laps and it was a key three laps.
 
"The way the race played out helped us as well," Graves said. "When everybody did pit, we had a big enough lead, and I think that allowed him to save a little bit more for a few laps."
 
His closest rivals, Regan Smith and Brian Scott, marveled at the mileage he squeaked out of his fuel tank.
 
"I don’t know for the life of me how the 60 made it on fuel because nobody else in the field was even near that fuel mileage," Smith said after finishing second in the No. 7 Chevrolet. "That was pretty interesting."
 
Smith wasn’t surprised by the speed Buescher showed in the last third of the race, saying the rookie has come a long way this season.
 
"I was surprised that he made it. I didn’t have much more for him at the end," Smith said.
 
Buescher gave the car a little shake on the last lap which Smith thought was a signal that the leader was out of gas, but it was for naught. Buscher got around Tim Cowen in the Carousel and crossed the finish line with 1.114 seconds to spare.
 
"Sometimes the race comes to you," Scott said, the third-place finisher in the No. 2 Chevrolet. "I think all the circumstances happened for him. Right place at right time."
 
Early in the race Scott, polesitter Sam Hornish Jr. and Alex Tagliani had the fastest cars
 
Hornish led or battled for it for more than 50 laps, but a missed shift hurt the engine and he had to park his No. 54 Toyota in the garage.
 
"I didn’t give them what they deserved," Hornish said.
 
Scott and Tagliani briefly tangled, sending Scott off course and clogging his air intake with grass. He started to overheat but made it to the pits in time to save his race. From there he battled through the field to land on the podium.
 
"It’s the nature of the beast when these guys come in and are supposed to be road course specialists and are only doing one-off races. They feel they have something to prove and they drive like they do," Scott said.
 
Points leader and rookie Chase Elliott was fourth and Tagliani fifth. 

As for Buescher, he had the added pressure of winning his first race while driving for the race and series title sponsor on the side of his car.
 
"It was a really humbling experience and really cool to get our first win here under these circumstances," he said.

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Tagliani spins out in attempt at fastest lap

RELATED: Starting lineup

Sam Hornish Jr. earned the Coors Light Pole Award ahead of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 24.787 seconds. Hornish was fastest in the opening practice session for the weekend, and his speed hasn’t waned since.

Alex Tagliani will also start on the front row, with a speed just .305 seconds off Hornish’s pace. As the clock wound down, Tagliani looked to earn the pole, but instead spun out into the dirt, requring a tow off the track.

Brian Scott was fastest in the first round, but couldn’t hold his place atop the leaderboard in the second. He will start third with a lap of 1 minute, 25.092 seconds.

As the first round came to a close, Elliott Sadler bumped out Justin Marks as the clock went to 0, but Marks was still on the track and took the position away from Sadler as he finished his lap. Trevor Bayne also did not advance past the first round.

The Nationwide Children’s Hopsital 200 is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET and will be aired on ESPN.

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