Logano’s Penske teammate Hornish takes over points lead

Related: Complete results | Points standings | Owners standings

JOLIET, Ill. — Some drivers take a vacation on an off week from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, go to the beach, play golf or just take it easy.

Not Joey Logano. Instead of relaxing on the final off-weekend for the Sprint Cup Series, he decided to race in Sunday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series STP 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

It was a wise move on Logano’s part, as he took the lead on the final restart and led the final 15 laps to win his second NNS race of the season. His other win was June 1 at Dover International Speedway.

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"I was OK doing nothing on the off-weekend, but you can’t say no to RP (team owner Roger Penske)," Logano said with a laugh.

"At the start of the race, I thought we had a third-place car, but we made some adjustments and got it a lot better," Logano said.

Race leader Sam Hornish Jr. and Penkse Racing teammate Logano battled hard on the final restart, with Logano finally storming past Hornish coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 186 and never looked back.

"That was a big momentum switch for us after two bad races last weekend at New Hampshire," Logano said. "We’re looking forward to getting to Indianapolis next weekend, we’ll be running both races and hopefully we can get some momentum from this win going forward there."

Hornish finished second, followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott Sadler and Brian Vickers.

"We would have liked to win, but you can’t complain too much with it being a 1-2 Penske finish, it was a really good thing," Hornish said.

More importantly for Hornish, he regained the lead in the Nationwide Series points standings, passing former leader Regan Smith. Hornish now leads Smith by seven points.

"We’ve gone from being 58 points behind after Michigan to seven ahead," Hornish said. "What we do now is try to figure out where to go from here."
 
Sadler dominated early in the race, but struggled at the end. Still, finishing fourth was a shot in the arm, especially after being wrecked out late in last Saturday’s NNS race at New Hampshire.

"(We) should have been in Victory Lane, but I tried to be too greedy and keep my car too low and it bit us there at the end," Sadler said. "We’ll have to take what it gave us, fourth-place and we’ll go on to Indy.”

The only driver in the top 10 who changed position in the standings was Justin Allgaier, who dropped from fourth to fifth in the standings.

Sixth through 10th in the race were Parker Kligerman, Trevor Bayne, Allgaier, Brad Sweet and Matt Crafton.

When Mike Bliss lost a tire on Lap 171 of the scheduled 200-lap event, all leaders pitted on the next lap, all taking four tires.

Sadler exited the pits in the lead, followed by Hornish, Logano, Dillon and Allgaier. Vickers, however, suffered a slow pit stop and dropped four spots to eighth.
 
Four laps later, Sadler overdrove a corner and fell from the lead to fourth, followed quickly by a caution on Lap 179 when the motor in Reed Sorenson‘s car blew up, spewing oil on the track.

Hornish won the Coors Light Pole in qualifying Sunday morning, his first pole of the season, with Sadler alongside him on the front row. Also of note was Travis Pastrana, who started fifth, his third top-five qualifying effort in his last four starts.

Hornish dominated in the early part of the race until he pitted on Lap 49 after a caution for Harrison Rhodes‘ car. Hornish was penalized for entering pit road too fast and, even though he exited in second place, the penalty dropped him back to 20th place on the restart.

But there was some consolation in that Hornish’s teammate, Logano, managed to take the lead shortly after the restart.

Sadler held the lead at the halfway point (100 laps), but a slow pit stop a few laps later cost him and he dropped back to second as Austin Dillon took the lead.

Pastrana’s good start didn’t quite finish that way as he suffered a tire issue on Lap 114 that sent his car careening into the wall, bringing out the fourth caution of the race.

Smith was involved in a solo spin into the infield grass on Lap 128, bringing out the caution, but his Chevrolet suffered minimal damage. Smith was running 12th at the time.

Kyle Larson did not pit, choosing to stay out on old tires and took the lead on the restart on Lap 134, but quickly paid for that decision, dropping 10 spots to 11th in the next eight laps.

Of the four qualifiers in the Dash 4 Cash race-within-a-race promotion — Michael Annett, Brian Vickers, Brian Scott and Austin Dillon — it was Dillon who captured the $100,000 top prize for the second straight week and heading into the final Dash race Saturday at Indianapolis.

It was the third of four races in the Dash 4 Cash. Sadler won the first event at Daytona three weeks ago.

"We had a good run," Dillon said, adding with a chuckle. "That check goes to my grandfather (Richard Childress)."

NOTES: The race had an abbreviated start when Joey Gase blew his motor on the first lap, spewing oil all over the track, bringing out the first caution flag of the day. … Austin Dillon is going to be a very busy man in the next week. After racing Sunday, he has upcoming races Wednesday (trucks race at Eldora Speedway), the NNS race on Saturday at Indianapolis and his first Brickyard 400 on Sunday.

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First pole of the year for Hornish, second of his career

Related: Complete STP 300 lineup | Pit stall assignments

JOLIET, Ill. — Sam Hornish Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award in Sunday morning qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Chicagoland Speedway.

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Hornish, driving the No. 12 Penske Racing Ford, won his first pole of the season and second of his career in the Nationwide tour with a lap at 178.341 mph. He’ll start alongside second-fastest qualifier Elliott Sadler (178.265 mph) of Joe Gibbs Racing in Sunday’s STP 300.
 
Austin Dillon, winner of six poles this season, will start third. Matt Crafton, Dillon’s teammate at Richard Childress Racing, qualified fourth in another Chevrolet. Travis Pastrana completed the top five for Roush Fenway Racing.
 
Series points leader Regan Smith, who led Saturday’s opening practice on the 1.5-mile track, was 13th-fastest. Tim Schendel was the only driver who failed to qualify.
 
The 300-miler, the 18th of 33 races this season, is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET, broadcast on ESPN.

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For the second consecutive week, Austin Dillon takes home the $100,000 prize

Related: Dash 4 Cash page | Video: Dillon’s post-race reaction

JOLIET, Ill. — Austin Dillon has been agonizingly close to his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the season. Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, he came up just short again but his wallet certainly enjoyed the six-figure consolation prize.

Dillon started and finished third in Sunday’s STP 300, collecting the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus from the series sponsor for the second consecutive race. He emerged as the highest finisher from a quartet of eligible drivers, outrunning Brian Vickers (fifth), Brian Scott (11th) and Michael Annett (16th).

Dillon raced among the top five for the bulk of the day, moving up to lead 24 laps in the second half of the 200-lapper. The Richard Childress Racing driver credited not only a No. 3 Chevrolet that was fast from the get-go, but also his team’s ability to adjust to changing track conditions.

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“We had a good car today,” Dillon said. “Started off a little free and made a big swing at it at the beginning, and gave some track position up for that. That turned out to really help. We went right to second. We just got behind one adjustment at the end on the second-to-last run, it was too loose off Turn 2, and we made another adjustment at the end that made it good again. We’re getting closer, inching closer and closer.”

Dillon also qualified himself for the final round of the Dash 4 Cash incentive program, joining race runner-up Sam Hornish Jr., fourth-place Elliott Sadler and fifth-place Vickers as the eligible Nationwide regulars this Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sunday’s result just south of the Windy City gave Dillon a lift in the big-picture view, marking his fourth straight top-10 finish. He remained third in the standings, but was able to cut his deficit off the lead from 12 points to eight.

Dillon will be pulling double duty at Indy, making his first Sprint Cup start at the historic 2.5-mile track. On the Nationwide side, he hopes the head of steam he has built in the last few weeks helps him improve upon the fifth-place finish he scored at Indy in 2012.

“I think it’s good to have momentum going into a big debut at the Brickyard,” Dillon said. “It’s going to definitely be a big learning experience for me going there the first time in a Cup car. I’ve been there once in a Nationwide car. But yeah, it’s a big confidence booster and our cars have been fast in the Nationwide Series.

“We just keep inching on this first win. We’re getting closer and closer. These top-threes, we’ll take ’em all day, just we want to get that win here pretty soon.”

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Driver of the No. 12 grabs top spot in points for first time since May

JOLIET, Ill. — The old stock-car racing adage that the strongest car doesn’t always win bit Sam Hornish Jr. hard Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. Even Penske Racing teammate Joey Logano, fresh from celebrating in Victory Lane, agreed.
 
Logano won the day, but Hornish rallied to mount a major charge that could help win the season-long fight.
 
The former Indy 500 champ, who felt right at home back in the Midwest, recovered from a costly pit-road speeding penalty at the quarter pole of the STP 300 to contend for the win. Although he came up just a few car-lengths shy of Logano in second place at the checkered flag, Hornish leaves Chicagoland with the NASCAR Nationwide Series points lead tucked away.

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“We can’t be disappointed about that,” Hornish said. “When we looked at what the day could bring, we felt like if we continue to just go out there and run the way we have that we’re going to have good days. We were just real, real close and to be back in the points lead is great and that’s what we need to keep doing. Hopefully we don’t have too many more issues.”
 
Hornish won the Coors Light Pole Award for the first time this season in qualifying earlier Sunday, then sprinted away to lead the first 48 laps. The issues began when the race’s second caution, caused by Harrison Rhodes’ engine failure, precipitated the first round of pit stops.
 
Because Rhodes’ car came to rest in the vicinity of the pit exit in Turn 1, Hornish believed that pit road would be closed after the first lap under caution. By the time he found out otherwise and made a hard left turn inside the orange commitment cone, he was carrying far too much speed entering the pit lane.
 
“I was frustrated at the time that it happened, but I knew exactly when I went across the line that I was going to be speeding and that there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it,” Hornish said. “(His crew was) like, ‘I think we’re good. We’re going to be good,’ and I’m like, ‘We’re not good. We’re going to go to the back.’
 
“We had 150 laps to get it done, we had a good race car … the biggest thing was just maintaining the composure to get back up through the field because there was a lot of three-wide racing and guys leaning on each other. We just had to be patient and take our time with it. We knew that we had plenty of time to get there.”
 
Hornish’s car turned out to be as fast in traffic as it was in clean air up front. Dropkicked to the fringes of the top 20 because of the penalty, Hornish made his way back into the top 10 in 15 laps. By Lap 97, he had climbed back into the top five.
 
In the 177th lap, Hornish came all the way back, snagging the lead from Logano on the next-to-last restart. On the final restart, Logano returned the favor by sweeping past his teammate and eventual third-place finisher Austin Dillon in the 186th lap.

It was far from clear sailing for Logano the rest of the way as Hornish closed in and filled his rearview mirror, finishing just .291 seconds behind.
 
“It’s fun racing against your teammate like that, and hard racing,” Logano said after his second Nationwide victory of the season. “I feel like he was faster than us after a few laps there at the end. … I’m glad it wasn’t three or four laps longer because he was catching us, and it was getting to the point where I was going to have to move around to find some speed again.”
 
Hornish heads to Indianapolis next weekend seeking his first win in a stock car at the historic Brickyard. He’ll make the trip carrying a newfound seven-point edge in the series standings over Regan Smith, who survived a midrace spin and handling issues to finish 13th.
 
Hornish has ranked no lower than second in the Nationwide points all season, having led the series from February to May, when a multicar crash at Talladega Superspeedway knocked him down a notch. Sunday’s 1-2 Penske sweep, even with the strongest car in second place, put him back in command for the season’s home stretch.
 
“Really good day for the Penske organization,” Hornish said, “but we always want more.”

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Joey Coulter won’t be a dirt novice when he attempts to pull double duty at Eldora

Related: Eldora entry list | Qualifying format

The technical information might not transfer, but that seat-of-the-pants feel generated from sliding around a dirt track? Can’t beat it says Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Joey Coulter.
 
“It’s a whole different ballgame,” the 23-year-old said, explaining why he purchased a Late Model car, as well as crate and super LM engines, last season.

 

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Coulter will be doing double duty this week at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, competing in the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Mudsummer Classic on Wednesday as well as Tuesday’s Late Model Invitational.
 
The truck series event will mark the first time in 42 years a top NASCAR series has competed on dirt.
 
Coulter will be in one of three KBM entries for the NCWTS event, joining teammate Darrell Wallace Jr. and legendary dirt racer Scott Bloomquist.
 
Although he finished ninth at Iowa in the series’ most recent stop, Coulter lost ground in the points picture, falling from 12th to 13th. He also scored top-10 finishes at Kansas (where he was runner-up to race winner Matt Crafton) and Dover.
 
A year ago, he finished third in points while competing for Richard Childress Racing after placing seventh in 2011 for RCR.
 
Like many of today’s younger racers, Coulter’s background in racing revolved around asphalt tracks. Dirt was an unknown.
 
The decision to compete on dirt when his schedule allowed wasn’t done with Eldora in mind — Coulter made the move long before this year’s NCWTS schedule was put together. But he said he quickly realized racing on dirt could help him with his NASCAR effort.
 
“The thing I liked about (racing on dirt) was it gave me a whole other realm of feels … just more to compare, more differences to see,” Coulter said. “It really helped me be able to diagnose my truck better. Especially when it’s hot and slick and you don’t have a lot of grip you still have to run a really good lap time. The dirt is kind of like that all the time. It really has helped me zero in on how I needed to set my truck up, where I needed to run on the race track and how I needed to run on the race track.”
 
But if most NASCAR tracks are unique, dirt tracks are doubly so, he said.
 
“It’s hard to run all these different places and say ‘well, when I get to Eldora, it’s going to be like this,’” Coulter said. “The biggest thing, whether we were racing Eldora or not, I’d still be running this many races because … it’s just more tools in the toolbox.
 
“Just being around the dirt, seeing how the tracks change … seeing how fast I can see the trends, that’s what I think will help me.”
 
Coulter said he doesn’t believe anyone will have an advantage since the field will be made up of those who have raced trucks and those who have raced on dirt. No one, he said, has raced trucks on dirt.
 
Even Bloomquist and former World of Outlaws champion Dave Blaney will have their work cut out for them, he said. Bloomquist has won big money Late Model races at Eldora in the past; Blaney made the transition to NASCAR after winning the WoO title in 1995.
 
“He’ll be great to have on the team, to watch and listen to his feedback,” Coulter said of Bloomquist. “ But at the same time, what he’s used to driving is built for dirt. These things aren’t. Even with everything he’s done in a dirt car, I don’t see him being way above any one of us because it’s not even close. It’s so different.
 
“With everyone being on the same page and not knowing what will happen, that will make it exciting.”
 
Regardless of the outcome, Coulter said he’s excited just being able to participate in the historic event.
 
“It’s one of those things that’s just going to be cool,” he said. “Twenty years from now I can tell my grandkids, ‘yeah, NASCAR raced on dirt, again; (the) first truck race on dirt and I got to race in it.”

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Coors Light Pole Award winner Sam Hornish Jr. picks first stall at pit out

Related: STP 300 lineup

With just his second career Coors Light Pole in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Sam Hornish Jr. had the No. 1 pit pick for Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway. He chose the No. 2 stall at pit out, which is the first stall heading into Turn 1.

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Austin Dillon to run four races in the next week

In a span of eight days, Austin Dillon is going to be a very busy race car driver. Sunday, he races in the Nationwide Series‘ STP 300 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Chicagoland Speedway.

Wednesday, he climbs back into a truck for the first time since he won the 2011 Camping World Truck Series championship to compete in the first-ever trucks race on dirt in the CarCash Mudsummer Classic presented by CNBC Prime’s The Profit (9 p.m. ET, SPEED) at Eldora Speedway.

"I’m really excited," Dillon said. "I feel like we’ll have a shot to win. Eldora is a place I grew up dirt racing on, set the pole for the World 100 once and feel like it’s an unbelievable opportunity that NASCAR is giving us drivers to go and run on dirt. I’m looking forward to it and I think it’s going to be a great race, and if all goes well, I think you’ll see more of those come around. I’m just excited to be in the inaugural dirt race in the Truck Series."

Three days later, he’ll race in the Indiana 250 (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) at the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway, followed the next day by his first career appearance in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (1 p.m. ET, ESPN) Sprint Cup Series race.

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"It’s going to be a pretty busy week and I’m looking forward to it," Dillon said. "As far as starting the Brickyard 400, I think it’s going to be a very emotional day. Our first one is going to be very special."

Dillon, who has finishes of sixth, fifth and third in his last three NNS races, comes into Sunday’s race third in the NNS standings just 12 points behind series leader Regan Smith.

"We’ve been able to win a truck race here (at Chicago), been successful here in the past and coming to a mile-and-a-half right now I think is really good for our team," Dillon said. "We’ve showed some speed this year at mile-and-a-halfs and I really love this place. It’s got a lot of character; we’ve had a good week leading up to it and I’m just excited about being in Chicagoland."

Dillon, who is one of four drivers in the hunt for the $100,000 Nationwide Dash 4 Cash prize Sunday (along with Brian Vickers, Brian Scott and Michael Annett), is still looking for his first win of the season and thinks he has a pretty good chance to do so at Chicagoland the same day.

"It’s been a real good year as far as speed, a decent year as far as us getting the finishes we deserve. Things are starting to turn at the right time. We’re still going to take our same mentality into everything and just try to win races, because foremost we want to get that first win off our back."

He’d like nothing better than to be singing Frank Sinatra’s famous song, "Chicago, it’s my kind of town," if he is fortunate enough to win Sunday’s race.

"I sure hope so," Dillon said. "I love this town and the city. It’s a great place to come and see and we love coming here to Chicagoland."

Vickers looks to win two in a row

After winning last Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire, Vickers hopes to make it two wins in a row in Sunday’s STP 300.

When asked if, after all the things he’s endured in recent years including health issues, loss of his ride due to the team folding and lack of sponsorship for another Sprint Cup ride, does he feel vindication with his win at New Hampshire, Vickers took pause.

"For me, it was just a very special moment," Vickers said. "I don’t know if that’s a word I’ve thought of. I suppose you could apply that. But I think more than anything for me, it was just enjoy the moment and a very special occasion and I’m very thankful and blessed to be have the opportunity to get back in a race car. To be able to race again period, much less to have the opportunity with a team and crew and a sponsor like Aaron’s that gave me the opportunity to win again."

Vickers is currently sixth in the Nationwide standings, 46 points behind series leader Regan Smith, and is one of four drivers competing for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in Sunday’s race.

"I’m excited about being here," Vickers said. "Chicagoland’s a great race track and obviously the opportunity to race for an extra $100,000 with the Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash is pretty cool. I look forward to accomplishing that goal and capturing victory."

 

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Series points leader Smith is only driver to top 175 mph | FULL PRACTICE RESULTS

JOLIET, Ill. — Brian Scott and Regan Smith divided top honors in Saturday’s pair of NASCAR Nationwide Series practice sessions at Chicagoland Speedway.

Smith, the series’ points leader, paced the opening practice with a blazing lap at 175.953 mph that was fastest overall on the 1.5-mile oval in preparation for Sunday’s STP 300 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN). His No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet posted the time in just its second lap in the early minutes of the opening 2 1/2 -hour session, easily outrunning second-fastest Travis Pastrana.

Scott’s turn at the top of the leaderboard came late in the 90-minute final practice with a fast lap of 173.751 mph. He led a 1-2 sweep of Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets with teammate Austin Dillon second at 173.483.

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Rookie Alex Bowman showed consistency by running third-fastest on the leaderboard in both sessions. Former Chicagoland winner Justin Allgaier was fourth with Dillon fifth in the first session; Trevor Bayne was fourth with Pastrana fifth in session two.

Joey Logano, the only full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver competing here this weekend, was 10th-fastest in the opening session and 13th-best in the final practice. Elliott Sadler, the race’s defending champion, was 13th- and 12th-fastest, respectively.

The session was considered an extended practice, making up for a lost test session because of rain at 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Therefore, the order for Sunday’s Coors Light Pole Award qualifying will be determined by the results of Saturday’s second practice.

 

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X Games star has had an up-and-down adjustment as he tries to transform his success to NASCAR racing

PRACTICE RESULTS | QUALIFYING ORDER

JOLIET, Ill. — The rough-and-tumble nature of Travis Pastrana’s first full season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series has taken some toll on the action sports star, but he still believes he’s making the grade.

And the season is getting better than a passing grade, to boot.

“Honestly, I grade it a C-plus, because I still have really great backing from Roush Fenway,” Pastrana said Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. “(Team owner) Jack Roush is always smiling, which is good. I did not (fore)see a lot of smiles out of him this year so I’m really excited.”

Pastrana enters Sunday’s STP 300 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN) ranked 14th in the points standings as the Nationwide season makes its annual summer turn into the season’s second half. He’s had glimmers of promise in the first 17 races with three front-row starts, including his first Coors Light Pole Award at Talladega in May, but he’s also been sidelined early by four crashes, not all of his making.

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Pastrana realizes it’s also early in the game, just 26 races into his young Nationwide career. But the man who has thus far made his name with motorcycle stunts and jumping out of airplanes is also aware that his fervent fan base and action-sports sponsors are accustomed to seeing him victorious.

“It’s just a different world,” Pastrana said. “I have sponsors who are waiting to see how I do. They want to see a win. They want to see performance. They know they can count on me in X Games so even if we don’t win, we’ll be up front battling and put on a show. In NASCAR, I haven’t proven that yet. I haven’t proven that I can be the guy that they can rely on. They can back (me) for a race, but for an entire season, I’m really looking for a long-term sponsor, someone that kind of fits.

“Eventually, you need to just make do and get to the races, but luckily I’m still in position where I can have a lot of fun and do a lot of other stuff, but I just want to be doing NASCAR. The other stuff’s fun, I enjoy it, and quite frankly, it gets pretty depressing when you want to win every weekend and you want to do well, but the harder you try, the slower you go. The more effort you put in, the more crashes you get into. It’s been a really tough year.”

Pastrana hasn’t doubted his team’s equipment or his willingness to learn, but the quartet of crash-related DNFs has slowed his progress. Regardless of fault, all four wrecks have gone in the record books as finishes outside of the top 30, numbers Pastrana hopes will improve with experience.

“It’s something that, in motocross, I was always able to be in the right place at the right time, since I’d done it since I was four years old,” he said. “Here, I’m always in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Yet Pastrana may have reason for optimism after last year’s performance at the Illinois track. Though he finished a middle-of-the-road 17th place, the finish marked a drastic improvement over his 1.5-mile track debut two months earlier at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he brought out two caution flags before winding up 24th.

“We started off extremely slow. Just wanted to make sure I didn’t spin,” Pastrana said. “I think I spun four times in Charlotte and just didn’t know what to expect at a mile and a half and the aerodynamic game, but by the end of the race, we were running top-10 times. This was actually my favorite mile and a half — this, and Atlanta — from last year, so I’m really excited to come back here.”

What hasn’t changed for Pastrana is his pursuit of the adrenaline rush, which he’s found in learning the stock-car ropes, racing in off-road truck and rallycross events, and two-wheeled motocross exploits.

Pastrana’s love of extreme sports hasn’t waned even though his participation in NASCAR has increased. Yet his attempts to involve his Roush Fenway Racing teammates in his action-filled world haven’t gone over so well.

Carl Edwards said he wanted to go BASE jumping, so I lined it up and (Ricky) Stenhouse (Jr.) said ‘Yeah, I’ll come out!’ ” Pastrana said. “I guess someone in the office got a hold of them the day before I went because I was at the BASE jump place all by myself. I assume (Roush) is OK with me doing it, but he doesn’t want me dragging the rest of the crew into that shenanigans.”

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Even after long phone conversation, the two Nationwide drivers still at odds 

PRACTICE RESULTS | QUALIFYING ORDER

JOLIET, Ill. — It’s been a full week since Elliott Sadler spun off the nose of Regan Smith’s No. 7 Chevrolet on the final restart at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but it doesn’t mean that Sadler is close to letting things slide.

Instead, the two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series runner-up is entering the second half of the season with new guidelines for how he’ll race with the tour’s points leader.

Sadler comes into this Sunday’s STP 300 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN) as the race’s defending winner after his dominant drive in the face of illness secured his third Nationwide victory of the season. But Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway, the focus was more on current events than year-old history.

Sadler was headed for a near-certain top-10 finish last weekend at New Hampshire, but a flash flood of late-race restarts put that result in doubt. On the final restart, Smith nudged inside of Sadler and the two cars touched, sending Sadler into a long slide and leaving him with an 18th-place finish and a two-place drop in the standings behind points leader Smith.

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An angry Sadler dismounted and confronted Smith in the garage area, telling his rival “you will not win this championship, mark my word.” Saturday at Chicagoland, Sadler’s words were reduced by many decibels, but were no less pointed, even after a midweek phone conversation with Smith that lasted 20 to 30 minutes for the purpose of sorting out differences.

“I’m still pissed about it and Regan knows that and he knows where I stand,” Sadler said. “He took 100 percent of the blame and understood why I’m upset and why I was upset."

Fueling Sadler’s ire was his opinion that he had given Smith a break twice earlier — once at Iowa Speedway and once earlier in the day at New Hampshire. The incident was also costly in monetary terms: The spin knocked Sadler from contention for the Nationwide Dash 4 Cash $100,000 payday and kept him from being eligible for the bonus this weekend at Chicagoland.

“For him to do what he did at New Hampshire — I’m still ticked about it,” he added. “But, we talked and we agreed that our racing is going to change a little bit between us, but we know that we’re going to be racing around each other a lot between now and Homestead, and they feel like they have a chance to win the championship. We feel like we have a chance amongst other drivers, so we’re probably going to see each other a lot between now and November.”

Smith reiterated his role in the run-in Saturday, accepting full blame for sliding up into Sadler’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
 
“Was it the right move to make right there? Probably not for our situation with the points, but the fact of the matter is that it happened,” Smith said. I made the move and you can’t take it back. I understand his anger 100 percent and I know exactly where he was coming from. …
 
“It’s a constant battle to have the respect of your competitors and I lost the respect of one of my competitors based on what happened last Saturday. I’m fully aware of that, and I’m also man enough to stand up and say, ‘Hey, I caused a wreck,’ and if that’s what’s going to come back as repercussions, then that’s fine. We both also are smart enough to know that we’re going to race each other a lot this year, and there’s a lot of racing left to go.”

One person thrilled at the development for purely selfish reasons was Austin Dillon, who ranks third in the Nationwide standings, just 12 points out of first place. Only 24 points separate Smith from fifth-place Sadler in the tightly knit battle.

“I love it. I hope they’re mad at each other,” said Dillon, not hiding his hopes of capitalizing behind his wry grin. “If not, I’m going to go tell Elliott that Regan’s talking about him behind his back. I think it’s funny.”

Sadler, a former teammate of Dillon’s at Richard Childress Racing, wasn’t laughing. Instead of harping on the New Hampshire run-in, he indicated he’ll likely remain all business the second half of the season.

“I’m focused on what we’re doing as a team and how we’re running and things that way,” Sadler said. “I think we’re here to win the championship, period. I honestly think as good as we’ve been running the last month or so, I don’t think he’s going to run good enough to run with us anyway. As far as me worried exactly about what they’re doing and where he’s at and all that, that’s not how I do things. I’m worried about winning races first and usually that translates into a good points day, which translates into having a good run in the championship standings and that’s the way we’re going to look at it.”

READ MORE:

READ: First-half
season awards

READ: Memorable moments
of the first half

READ: Eldora qualifying
procedures explained

READ: Complete coverage
from Chicagoland