AJ Alimendinger “Dinger” won the fourth Annual NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Johnsonville Sausage 200 Presented by Menards at Road America. This is Alimendinger’s first career win in NASCAR.
Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, Owen Kelly and Sam Hornish Jr rounded out the top 5.
Alimendinger won the pole early Saturday morning for his first career pole in the NNS in nine starts. Dinger lead the first lap and pit strategy already was in the works. Alex Bowman, Trevor Bayne and some others came in on lap-1 to top off the fuel.
The first caution waved when the No.18 of Michael McDowell stopped on the racetrack in turn-5. He was one of the favorites in this race. Only three of the front runners came in to pit as everybody has a different strategy.
They went back to green on lap 6 with Dinger still leading and McDowell headed to the garage. Dinger got his tires locked up and went into the grass and Billy Johnson took advantage and got the lead from him. Kelly took second while Dinger went back to the third spot.
The top-3 all came in on lap 15 and got four tires and fuel and when all of them were leaving pit road, the caution came out for the No.53 of Andrew Ranger. Ranger stopped on the racetrack and had to get towed in which resulted in the caution to be waved. This is a good break for Johnson and Austin Dillon since they both had speeding penalty and have to come back to pit road. Sadler and others that have not pitted, went in and got their pit stops completed. During the caution, Brian Vickers is called back to pit road for a missing lug nut.
We went back to green on lap 19 after a long caution flag due to drivers figuring out where they should be starting for the restart. Nelson Piquet Jr wheel hopped into the corner and ran into the back of Brian Scott and just smashed the front of his car.
Caution came out on lap 30 when the driver in second place, Kelly, stopped in turn-5. He was another front runner who had a great shot at winning. He ran out of fuel and he got fuel before the pace car got back to the pit lane so he did not lose a lap. Â Most everybody came in except for Hornish Jr. which stayed out due to getting a bonus point for the point race.
They went back to green with 17 laps to go and Dinger took back the lead with Smith right behind him. Hornish Jr. went in right as the green flag waved but then got a speeding penalty so it did not work out for Hornish.
The caution waved when the No.32 of Kyle Larson was involved in two incidents. He went hot into the turn and got into the No.5 of Johnny O’ Connell and then spun trying to avoid the No.21 of Brendan Gaughan.
The caution waved again when the 75 of Kenny Habul got loose and got into the grass and put debris on the racetrack. Back to green and Dinger got into the No.16 of Johnson and Johnson got loose, Dinger got around him. Dinger had a pretty big lead but the No.51 of Jeremy Clements smacked the tire barriers and the caution waved with five laps to go.
Green flag waved with four laps to go and Dinger leading. They restarted cleanly but in turn 5, Kligerman got loose and smacked into Kelly which smacked the No.7 car of Smith who bumped the No.16 of Johnson. That was not the caution though. The caution was for the No.26 of John Young who stopped between turns 5 and 6.
Green flag waved with two to go with this being the first GWC. Dinger had a good lead and was pulling away but Kelly spun out Annett and Larson got into Kelly. Papis also spun in turns 7 and 8. This will be the No.2 green-white-checkers now.
Dinger led the field to the second and he pulled away and had enough fuel to win his first career race in NASCAR. Max Papis slaps Johnson, who still had his helmet on to receive the slap.
Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 55 laps, 150 rating, 0 points, $59,325.
2. (4) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 55, 103.2, 43, $43,225.
3. (3) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 55, 89.1, 42, $33,925.
4. (2) Owen Kelly, Toyota, 55, 126.8, 41, $28,275.
5. (8) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 55, 108.4, 40, $23,775.
6. (9) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 55, 94.4, 38, $23,425.
7. (13) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 55, 101, 37, $21,825.
8. (17) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 55, 90.4, 36, $20,100.
9. (22) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 55, 87.9, 35, $20,825.
10. (14) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 55, 80, 34, $20,775.
11. (26) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 55, 73.8, 0, $13,475.
12. (12) Johnny O’Connell, Chevrolet, 55, 92.2, 32, $19,400.
13. (31) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 55, 68.7, 31, $19,300.
14. (29) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 55, 58.9, 0, $13,175.
15. (7) Billy Johnson, Ford, 55, 113.3, 30, $18,575.
16. (19) Travis Pastrana, Ford, 55, 71.1, 28, $19,025.
17. (10) Max Papis, Chevrolet, 55, 88.3, 27, $18,925.
18. (28) Kenny Habul, Toyota, 55, 52.8, 26, $12,825.
19. (25) Stanton Barrett, Ford, 55, 54.3, 25, $18,750.
20. (18) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 55, 71.3, 24, $19,375.
21. (6) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 55, 80.5, 23, $18,625.
22. (37) Kevin O’Connell, Chevrolet, 55, 38.3, 22, $18,585.
23. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 55, 61, 21, $18,550.
24. (15) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 55, 49.2, 20, $18,490.
25. (40) Dexter Stacey, Ford, 55, 37.2, 19, $12,895.
26. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ford, 55, 44.4, 18, $18,385.
27. (35) Eric McClure, Toyota, 55, 40.5, 17, $18,350.
28. (34) John Young, Dodge, 55, 51.7, 16, $12,320.
29. (21) Andrew Ranger, Dodge, 55, 60.2, 15, $12,285.
30. (11) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 55, 63.7, 14, $18,540.
31. (27) Kyle Kelley, Chevrolet, 54, 54.4, 13, $18,195.
32. (16) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 54, 90.9, 12, $18,150.
33. (23) Mike Bliss, Toyota, overheating, 53, 64.8, 11, $18,120.
34. (5) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 52, 58.3, 0, $18,100.
35. (20) Michael Annett, Ford, accident, 50, 66.7, 9, $18,068.
36. (38) Derek White, Toyota, oil leak, 37, 30.9, 8, $17,255.
37. (33) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 31, 37, 7, $17,235.
38. (39) Tony Raines, Toyota, rear gear, 20, 28.7, 6, $11,216.
39. (30) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, engine, 7, 30.3, 5, $11,075.
40. (36) Jeff Green, Toyota, brakes, 2, 29.2, 4, $10,975.
