Allmendinger wins at Mid Ohio
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.
Matty’s Picks Vol. 19 – Pure Michigan 400 – Michigan International Speedway – August 18, 2013
Off to Michigan this week for the second and final stop in The Great Lakes State this season and Michigan International Speedway is the 2.5-mile D-shaped superspeedway with 18 degrees of banking in the corners, 12 on the frontstretch, and 5 on the long backstretch. We see speeds top 210 MPH at MIS, making it the fastest track on the schedule.
Qualifying is fairly important this week, but not nearly as important as last week as 16 of the 88 races at Michigan have been won from the pole – unlike 9 of 30 last week at Watkins Glen. 66 of the 88 have been won from inside the top 10 however, but Mark Martin won from the furthest back – 32nd – in the spring race of 2009.
As far as the manufacturers go, Ford has the edge by winning 33 of the 88 races all-time but only three of the last 10 races with the next best being Chevrolet with 20 wins. Ford driver Greg Biffle will go for his 3rd straight victory at MIS this week, also for Roush Fenway Racing who happens to have the most wins of any team at Michigan, with 13 wins all-time.
In news outside of Tony Stewart, it was announced on Tuesday, Juan Montoya would not return to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in 2014. Juan came to EGR in 2007, his first ride in a stock car – he made The Chase in 2009, but has not finished better than 17th in the points since then for car owner Chip Ganassi.
My thought is the departure could open the seat for it’s 21-year-old development driver Kyle Larson, who currently competes in the Nationwide Series for Turner Scott Motorsports. Chip Ganassi was actually at Larson’s car, giving him a pep-talk for the majority of the pre-race at Watkins Glen this past weekend before the Nationwide race, so to me he’s probably at the top of the list to replace Juan next season.
We’ve seen these mid-season announcements before – this season even with Kevin Harvick going to Stewart-Haas – we’ve seen what he’s done sitting 4th in points for RCR and even Ryan Newman losing his ride at SHR and winning the Brickyard. Bottom line is these guys are competitors and they want to win today, next week, next month, and next year. There are no discounted parts put on these cars to guys who are leaving at the end of the season, and these guys without rides next season want a win now more than ever.
Watkins Glen Recap
It was a fantastic weekend last week for me at my hometown track, and I was 50/50 on my picks last week at Watkins Glen.
It was extremely difficult to go to The Glen and not look at Marcos Ambrose to win. He had won back-to-back races at Watkins Glen and was the overwhelming favorite going into last week’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen for a number of reasons, mainly because he had won those two previous races and because he put his No.9 Ford on the pole, the most proficient starting spot for race-winners over the years at Watkins Glen.
Well, if the race last week was 51 laps instead of 92, Marcos Ambrose would have been a fantastic pick last week as he completely dominated the early stages of the race last week at Watkins Glen. An unfortunate caution for Ambrose came out in the middle of pit sequences for the majority of the field, and Ambrose was shuffled back in the pack after leading the majority of the early stages of the race.
Being shuffled back at Watkins Glen is never a good thing, due to the limited passing opportunities, and Ambrose learned the hard way after being tangled up in an accident between Turn 2 and 3 on lap 84. The wreck would end Ambrose’s march towards the front last week and would land him a disappointing 31st place finish.
As far as my Dark Horse goes, Martin Truex Jr’s. race at Watkins Glen was much less eventful, running in the top 5 all day, and being in the front of the field for the majority of the day paid its dividends as Truex would score a 3rd place finish behind Kyle Busch and Brad Kesolowski. I’m not sure I’ll be allowed to call Truex a Dark Horse next season with his win at Sonoma in June and his 3rd place finish at The Glen last week, bringing his season road-course average finish to runner-up finish.
Michigan Picks
Winner Pick
Up until this year, Matt Kenseth added to the dominance of Roush-Fenway Racing at Michigan International Speedway, winning twice for Jack Roush in 2002 and 2006. On top of the wins, he’s got 12 Top 5’s and 18 top 10’s at MIS in 28 races, making him the 2nd best driver overall at Michigan all-time.
Kenseth is in the top 5 in ALL BUT ONE….of the pre-race loop stats, he’s second in Average Running Position and Driver Rating, he’s third in Average Green Flag Speed, Laps in the top 15, and quality passes, and the one loop stat he’s not in the top 5……Fastest Laps Run – he’s got 159 and that’s good enough for 6th on the list. He’s qualified 12th which doesn’t scare me because of the great passing stats he has over the years at Michigan.
He was 7th at California in March, 6th at Michigan earlier this year in June, and with the way he’s running this season, it’s been 5 weeks since he’s won and without a win this week, he’ll tie his longest stretch this season without a win….so I’m going with Matt Kenseth as my top pick this week.
Dark Horse Pick
On Thursday while previewing this week’s race at Michigan with Greg on the Prime Sports Network, I picked Joey Logano as my longshot play of the week. Qualifying has really helped my cause with Logano because yesterday in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, Logano shattered the track record at Michigan International Speedway and captured the Coors Light Pole, another week for me picking the pole-sitter before any cars hit the track.
Logano won the Nationwide race at Michigan last season, but MIS hasn’t been too kind to him in the cup series. Besides his 9th earlier this season, he’s finished 31st, 35th, and 21st in his previous 4 starts at Michigan. He did lead 21 laps in that race in June race, the only laps he’s ever led at Michigan, and with his teammate Brad Keselowski coming alive down the stretch here this season, I think this team is only going to get better. Considering 16 of the 88 races at Michigan have been won from the pole position, I like my chances this week with Logano, he’ll stay my longshot play of the week.
That’s all for this week, so until we head for the Hills of Tennessee…..You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!
