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Before the race could begin, a rare moment for NASCAR Nationwide Series road course racing would occur. Usually, the series has sets of wet weather tires ready and they did, but the conditions around the track weren't cooperating. The track was wet in some places, but the track was rather dry in some places. Because of this, the teams couldn't put wet or dry tires on the cars. NASCAR decided it would be best to bring the cars down pit road and delay the start of the event. After an hour of waiting, NASCAR decided all of the track was dry enough to try and run the slick tires. The engines were fired for a second time and the cars headed on track. Alex Tagliani started on the pole. It was his second career NASCAR Nationwide Series pole and it was his first race since 2012 in the series. Tagliani took the green flag, but he took it easy going into the first turn due to the treacherous conditions on track. Dylan Kwasniewski passed him for the lead in the first turn and the rookie looked to lead his first lap of road course competition in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Tagliani began to fall back as Sam Hornish Jr. made his ascent. Hornish was able to pass Kwasniewski for the lead in turn 6 on the first lap and he looked to lead the first lap. Hornish maneuvered through the rest of the corners and he was able to lead the first lap of the event. He fell into place at the front of the field as strategy became the talk of the event and strategy would decide the race.
Early in the race, a few drivers decided to use a different strategy to try and win the event. Chris Buescher, Dakoda Armstrong, and a few others decided to come down the pit road in the first ten laps of the event. Unfortunately for Buescher, the move didn't work out for him as he ended up speeding on pit road and he would have to come back down. This move cost him a lot of time and he would have to fight his way back into the event. Another driver who came down in the first ten laps of the event was Brendan Gaughan, but Gaughan didn't come down due to strategy. He ran off track in the early laps of the event and he was forced to come down pit road and have his grille cleaned off. He returned to the track without much time lost and a clean grille to fight back to the front with. Meanwhile, Sam Hornish Jr. continued to lead the field around the four mile road course. After a rather long green flag run to begin the event, the first caution of the event waved on lap 12. Stanton Barrett drove into turn 13 and his car went straight. He slid through the grass and towards the outside barrier. He hit the wall pretty hard and came to a stop in the gravel trap. His car was heavily damaged and his race was over. A few other incidents happened during the caution. Just as the caution waved, Carlos Contreras and Kenny Habul made contact entering turn 5. Habul spun around in the corner and he managed to corral his car. He continued on without damage after straightening out his car. Dylan Kwasniewski wasn't as lucky as Habul. He came to a complete stop in turn 13 without any gears. He was pushed to the garage and he needed his rear gears replaced after the treacherous road course broke them. This cost him a good many laps and he would be out of contention for the win, even though he had a fast car. Joey Gase received the lucky dog. The caution brought some strategy with the pit stops and they were very important at the end of the event.
Brendan Gaughan, Andy Lally, Dakoda Armstrong, James Buescher, and others who had pitted under green before the caution stayed on the track while the rest of the drivers decided to come down pit road for the first time. All the rest of the drivers came down track for four fresh tires with Brian Scott coming out as the leader ahead of Sam Hornish Jr. and others. Scott would not line up first as Gaughan stayed out and took the lead away. The field was quickly lined back up and the race went green with Brendan Gaughan holding onto the lead. As Gaughan looked to run away, the drivers on fresh tires began to fly up towards the front. Sam Hornish Jr. began to charge up towards Brendan Gaughan heading towards the kink on track. Gaughan slipped off track slightly and Hornish was able to pass him for the lead with ease while Gaughan fell into second. Hornish began to run away as the second place driver was debating whether to come down pit road. On lap 19, Gaughan made the decision to come down pit road to have his grille cleaned along with four fresh tires. Again, he would have to head to the back of the pack and fight his way back to the front. This left Hornish out front with the field starting to race behind him. Around lap 25, though, something began to fall around the road course: rain. The second caution waved on lap 25 due to the rain starting to pour around the track. Bobby Reuse received the lucky dog. Usually, rain during a NASCAR race would cause the race to be stopped, but road course races are a different story.
Due to the NASCAR Nationwide Series being at a road course, Goodyear and NASCAR had rain tires available in case the weather did not cooperate. It didn't and the rain caused the track to become wet enough for the rain tires. NASCAR called all the drivers down pit road to put on four wet weather tires. Positions would be swapped on pit road and Brian Scott come out as the leader after the stops. Unfortunately for Scott, he would make a mistake. He was testing the tires in one of the turns on track and he went sliding off the course. Scott's grille became covered with grass and he lost the lead to second place Trevor Bayne. Fortunately for Scott, though, his grille became cleaned off due to the rain and he would be okay on the restart. The race did go back green and the field immediately faced what was ahead of them. Sam Hornish Jr. jumped ahead of Trevor Bayne as the field went sliding around the course. Just as the race restarted, Kenny Habul went spinning around, but he was able to continue on. On the first restart lap, Dakoda Armstrong went sliding into the grass in turn 5, but he was able to corral his car and continue on with only grass on his grille. Hornish looked to be a good leader at the front, but Alex Tagliani used his experience on a wet track to take the lead from Hornish on lap 30. Behind him, the field continued to slip and slide around the course. Dakoda Armstrong went off track again, but he was able to continue on. A lap or so later, Ryan Reed broke loose on track and he slammed into Brendan Gaughan's right side door. Both had rather heavy damage, but they would continue on in the event. Chase Elliott also spun around and into the grass, but he was able to continue on. After a few laps of slick rain racing, the third caution of the race waved on lap 38.
Bobby Reuse's car lost power heading into turn 12. He slowed down and came to a stop in the grass. NASCAR was forced to wave the caution to move his stopped car. Landon Cassill received the lucky dog. The caution brought the drivers a calm moment after eight or nine laps of tough rain racing. The caution also brought some strategy that would end up deciding the race winner. Alex Tagliani, Sam Hornish Jr., Justin Marks, and others stayed on track while Chase Elliott, Brendan Gaughan, Elliott Sadler, and others came down pit road. It would be interesting to see who came out on the winning end of this strategy move. The field was lined back up in the rain and Alex Tagliani held onto the lead on the restart. Only with ten laps to go, the race for the win was just starting to heat up on the restart. On the first restart lap, Ty Dillon dumped Trevor Bayne entering turn 6. Bayne slid into the grass and corralled his car to continue on without damage and a caution. A lap or two later, Bayne ended up crashed on pit road after a incident on track. The wreck ended his afternoon and took him down in the points battle. Meanwhile, Tagliani continued to set a torrid pace with his wet weather tires. On lap 43, Elliott Sadler came down pit road due to a flat right rear tire. His team replaced the tire, but he lost a ton of time on track. On the same lap, Justin Marks slid off track in turn 6, Sam Hornish Jr. slid off track in turn 9, and Mike Bliss and James Buescher slammed into each other and spun off track in turn 6. Tagliani continued to lead and the caution didn't wave as the sun started to dry the track. Also, Brendan Gaughan began to fly towards the front on fresh tires and Chase Elliott was also running up front. On lap 45, Regan Smith came down with an overheating problem and he would lose a good bit of time on track. Still, Tagliani led Gaughan and Elliott around track as the race approached only five laps to go.
The sun was starting to dry the track completely as Alex Tagliani led the other drivers around Road America. Four laps to go flashed on the board and Tagliani was holding station, but Brendan Gaughan was coming. He moved into second as questions of Tagliani's fuel remaining began to be asked. Gaughan closed as only three laps remained at the road course of Road America. Gaughan was hoping for a break, but two laps to go flashed across the board and it didn't seem like a break was coming. Then, his break came with the fourth and final caution of the event on lap 49. Justin Marks ran out of gas and he pulled into the grass in turn 6. He stopped and NASCAR was forced to throw a caution to move his car. Dakoda Armstrong received the lucky dog. This meant a green-white-checkered flag would be coming, but Tagliani wouldn't be the leader for it. As the field was heading onto the frontstretch just as the caution waved, Tagliani ran out of fuel as well. This meant he would need a push to pit road and he received the push, but he would have to fall back in the pack after getting fuel in the tank. This meant Brendan Gaughan would move into the lead. Along with that, the caution also brought some strategy. Brian Scott, Sam Hornish Jr., Ryan Reed, and others on the same strategy as Marks and Tagliani came down pit road. Some of the drivers took wet weather tires while some took regular slick tires. This put Brendan Gaughan out front with Chase Elliott behind him and a lot of drivers with fresh tires behind them. The race went green for the final time and Elliott managed to take the lead from Gaughan on the first lap of the restart. This didn't bother Gaughan as he charged back to the lead and Kevin O'Connell, who had played the strategy card right, moved into second. The line up stayed this way while the leaders took the white flag. Meanwhile, Alex Tagliani was coming. He had moved from about twenty fourth on the restart to about fourteenth in one lap. Gaughan continued to try and hold O'Connell off through the turns as Tagliani advanced his position. Gaughan was leading with only a couple of turns left, but Tagliani found his way to second. He gave a valiant effort on the frontstretch to pass Gaughan for the win, but he ran out of time and Brendan Gaughan took his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series win. It was a very deserving win for Gaughan and one that he fought hard for all race long.
It had been a little over ten years since Brendan Gaughan won in NASCAR until Saturday. Since his win in the Truck Series in 2003, Gaughan had bounced around in all three of NASCAR's series. Now, he has found his home at Richard Childress Racing in the Nationwide Series and he has a win to his name in 2014 and a chance for the title. Based on his showing at Road America, Gaughan could be looking at a good many more wins throughout the rest of 2014. If he does rattle off a few more wins, Brendan Gaughan could become a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver once again. Alex Tagliani battled hard for his first win in NASCAR to go with his storied wins in other series of auto racing, but he only mustered a second place finish after a hard charge late. Kevin O'Connell made only his fifth start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, but he used his road course expertise and good strategy to finish third in an underfunded race machine. Chase Elliott continued to prove he can run at all types of tracks with a fourth place finish of his own at Road America. J.J. Yeley also used the right strategy move and took a fifth place finish in an outdated and underfunded Dodge Challenger. Other underdog drivers like Jeremy Clements, Andy Lally, Landon Cassill, Mike Bliss, Matt DiBenedetto, and Carlos Contreras took great top fifteen finishes for their teams. Some championship competing drivers struggled while these guys did well to add to the unpredictability of the road course races in NASCAR. After an unexpected race at Road America, the Nationwide Series heads to the mile and a half track in Kentucky. Kentucky is one of the bumpiest tracks on the circuit and it will be a battle for all the Nationwide drivers to win in the Bluegrass State. Will Brad Keselowski repeat at Kentucky after a win in the rain last year, will Chase Elliott win and close in on Regan Smith for the points lead, or will another driver win at Kentucky. We only have to wait a few days to find out these answers and a whole lot more.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 12- Stanton Barrett drove off track in turn 13 and slammed into the outside barrier where he came to a rest in the gravel trap.
2nd Caution: Lap 25- Rain began to fall around the course.
3rd Caution: Lap 38- Bobby Reuse stopped on track in turn 12 after losing power.
4th Caution: Lap 49- Justin Marks ran out of fuel and stopped on track in turn 6.
Lucky Dogs:
1st Caution: Joey Gase
2nd Caution: Bobby Reuse
3rd Caution: Landon Cassill
4th Caution: Dakoda Armstrong
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Brendan Gaughan
2nd: Alex Tagliani
3rd: Kevin O'Connell
4th: Chase Elliott
5th: J.J. Yeley
Notables Not in Top 5:
9th: Elliott Sadler
12th: Sam Hornish Jr.
13th: Regan Smith
16th: Brian Scott
19th: Ty Dillon
26th: Dylan Kwasniewski
27th: Trevor Bayne
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Track Map:
http://porschebahn.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/road-america-circuit.jpg
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-live.html
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/lapbylap/view-all-laps.html?intid=lapbylap_lapbylapleaderboard_08292013
http://racing-reference.info/race/2014_Gardner_Denver_200/B
-Image:
http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/451011734-brendan-gaughan-driver-of-the-south-point-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QQxFXcyTdynhY7o%2F25gcySM7JAm%2ByDFhPFJ3FoFCLkYz
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