AJ Allmendinger won the Nationwide Children’s 200 at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course for his second career win and his second win of the season. Almendinger led 73 of the 94 for Penske’s 8th NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) win of the season.
Michael McDowell, Sam Hornish Jr, Max Papis and Brian Vickers rounded out the top-5.
McDowell started on the pole in front of a spectacular crowd for the first ever race at Mid Ohio. Kyle Larson got spun by Nelson Piquet Jr. on lap 1 and had to come in to fix his damage. He was three laps down when he left the pits. Allmendinger took over the lead on lap 9 when he used the bump and run to take the top spot.
Jeffery Earnhardt spun in the esses in his #79 car and the caution came out for the first time in this race. Papis and Austin Dillon did not pit for track position as Dinger had trouble with his left rear in pit lane. Hornish Jr. beat them out of pit lane for the 3rd position.
They went back to green on Lap 23 and Papis had the lead but not for long! Hornish took advantage of Papis’ old tires and took the lead from Mad Max. Another caution waved once again for the teammates of Ron Fellows and Regan Smith get together in turn 4 for the yellows to wave for the second time. Papis and Dillon came in for four tires and fuel. Sadler also came in for his second stop and got some fuel and tires as well. He also had damage on his nose so they put some tape on it and sent him off.
We went back to green and Marcos Ambrose and Justin Allgaier were going at it for a position. Ambrose got him in one corner then Allgaier in the next. Ambrose then tried to make that word in the esses and spun the #31 Turner Scott Chevy into the gravel trap. Caution waved for the third time on lap 31.
Nobody came in to pit so it was a fast yellow and they went back to green two laps later on lap 33. McDowell was back up to second after losing the spot to Hornish and Ambrose was back in the top 10 but the yellow was out again for the #30 of Piquet Jr. for a spin on the track. He got back on the track and continued but the caution still waved.
Green was waving three laps later with Allmendinger still in the lead. Owen Kelly was battling for the lead. Allmendinger kept the top spot but cautions breed cautions and the caution waved once again. This time it was for the #23 of Anthony Gandon running into the gravel trap. Alex Kennedy also had some trouble.
Green was waving once again with 24 laps to go and Allmendinger pulled away with chaos happening behind them. Kilgerman got off the track on turn 4 by Piquet Jr. The next turn, Smith got turned by guess who? Piquet Jr. During that spin, Dillon and Fellows spun out together with Fellows getting some damage to his front bumper.
Green was displayed on Lap 49 with the Dinger still leading it. Vickers had to come in due to a cut tire but was back in 33rd. Travis Pastrana spun on Lap 55 but did not warrant a caution so he went into the pit lane to fix the damage. All of the leaders came in to pit for their green flag pit stops and Allmendinger retained the lead but the caution came out for the 7th time as Kenny Habul in the #75 car had a banner attached to his car after running into it on the race track. Larson will get the free pass for the third straight time and he will be back on the lead lap. What a story this could be if he could get his first win like this!
They went back to green and Allmendinger pulled away but there was still battles all over the track. Larson was battling Vickers for 10th, Piquet was battling Kelly for 4th and Ambrose got spun by Hornish Jr. and then got spun again by Kilgerman. Trevor Bayne also spun into the gravel trap but got it going again. Allmendinger had a pretty good lead over McDowell but the #75 of Habul got spun out into the gravel trap to bring out the caution with two to go.
1st Green White Checkered was green and Allmendinger had a great run into turn 1. Kelly got turned into the gravel trap and Dillon got turned as well. Piquet Jr. ran out of fuel and finished 27th and Larson got spun, finished 14th and then spun out Papis on the cool down lap. In all of that mess, there was one thing that was clear. AJ Allmendinger dominated and won this race at Mid Ohio.
Sam Hornish Jr. leads the point standings by 13 points over Elliott Sadler and 15 points over Regan Smith and Austin Dillon.
Kudos to Ricky Craven and Marty Reid for an excellent calling of the race. Maybe you noticed that they don’t shout, they don’t shoot off their mouth before they know their brains are loaded, and their analysis is usually right on. Now if NBC would pick them up, rather than flopping Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dee over from TNT, or the two who do the pre-race on ESPN. It was refreshing to hear the race called with new and correct observations rather than the same old “cliches.”