Trevor Bayne, driver of the #60 Yourracecar.com Ford, and Joey Logano, driver of the #18 Dollar General Toyota, lead the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Nationwide Series Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 24, 2012
Photo – Jason Smith/Getty Images
NASCAR’s Nationwide Series drivers are ready for their next race at the world’s fastest half-mile – Bristol Motor Speedway, Friday, August 23rd. Television coverage starts at 7:30pm ET on ESPN (check your local listings) and radio coverage is on PRN, Sirius XM, channel 90.
The Nationwide Series’ points battle is narrowing to just five contenders: Sam Hornish Jr, Elliott Sadler, Regan Smith, Austin Dillon and Brian Vickers. With just 18 points separating them, all five drivers have a real shot at capturing the title.
At this stage of competition, what is the determining factor? Well this year’s championship battle may come down to just one difference – who has championship-battle experience?
The series is in Bristol for Friday night’s Food City 250, and four of the five drivers in the top-five have some type of championship battle experience.
The one without that experience is Smith, now tied for third (-15). Smith returned to the series full-time this season after six years in the Sprint Cup Series. Smith’s six years in the top series, seven earlier years in the Nationwide Series (only one full-time before this season) and five years in the Camping World Truck Series, has not put him into the title conversation. Smith’s best points finish in NASCAR’s three national series is 20th in 2006. That stat will shatter this season, with Smith now sitting third in Nationwide Series ranking.
Although Hornish, now the points leader, has never been in a battle for the points lead during his time in NASCAR (he finished fourth in 2012, but never made it higher than third in points during the season), he did win the IZOD IndyCar Series title three times – 2001, 2002 and 2006.
Sadler gained his experience fighting for the title the last two seasons and much to his dismay his efforts fell short both times, finishing as runner-up to Ricky Stenhouse Jr in the end-of-season point standings.
Dillon found himself in the thick of the Nationwide championship hunt last season up until the end and ultimately finished third. The year before, he held off a hard-charging competitor, Johnny Sauter, to take the 2011 Camping World Truck Series title.
Vickers won the Nationwide Series championship in 2003 and is pulling double-duty for remaining weekends this season. He is returning to Sprint Cup Series competition full-time in 2014, so this may be his last chance at another Nationwide Series crown.
The championship battle is so close that one mulligan can be the tipping point among those in contention, as indicated by Dillon dropping from first to fourth at Mid-Ohio. There are two short tracks on the schedule (Bristol and Richmond) and no one is safe in the lead.
Throughout summer competition, only one team has held the top-spot in the series owners’ point standings – the No. 54 of Joe Gibbs Racing. That is until last Saturday at Mid-Ohio when the No. 22 Penske Racing team took over the lead with a 22-point cushion.
The No. 54 team first held the owner’s lead after the season’s sixth race at Texas, which Kyle Busch won. The point margin reached a high of 51 points in mid-July at New Hampshire.
Since that time, the drivers of the No. 22 car have kept chipping away at the No. 54’s lead, bringing it down to five-points entering Mid-Ohio’s road race. AJ Allmendinger‘s win in the début Nationwide race at the Lexington, Ohio road course, pushed the No. 22 into the top spot in the owners’ point standings.
At Bristol the No. 22 will attempt to keep their hot streak alive, having won four of the last five events. Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger and Sam Hornish Jr have together won eight races in 2013 with seven of them coming in the No. 22.
Veteran crew chief Pat Tryson returns this weekend to call shots for the No. 30 Turner Scott Motorsports car driven by Nelson Piquet Jr. Piquet won last year’s K&N Pro Series East race at the .533-mile track. In 11 earlier races atop the pit box in the series (2005-2007), Tryson’s cars have visited victory lane twice – both with Mark Martin in 2005. He spent 17 years as a crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series, winning eight times with three different drivers – Elliott Sadler, Martin and Kurt Busch. His first national series win came at Bristol with Sadler in 2001.
Tryson was also the crew chief for David Reutimann’s No. 83 BK Racing car in the Sprint Cup Series for the first 19 races of the 2013 season before leaving the team.
Piquet’s former crew chief, Chris Carrier will serve as the crew chief for the No. 96 car driven by Ben Kennedy, the great-grandson of NASCAR founder, Bill France Sr.
Announcing that he will move to the Nationwide Series full-time in 2014, Ty Dillon will compete for Richard Childress Racing in both the Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series’ at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.
Martin Roy of Napierville, Quebec, a Canadian Tire Series driver, will attempt to make his first national series start this weekend in the Food City 250.
