Photo – Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Going into this weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race, only two drivers entered have visited victory lane at Road America before.
Roush-Fenway Racing rookie Chris Buescher won last year’s ARCA race in thrilling fashion and Alex Tagliani won his only Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race at the track.
Buescher wasn’t even in the hunt toward the end of the race. He was running fifth saving brakes before a late caution bunched up the field and wiped out Austin Dillon’s big lead.
On the ensuing restart, Chase Elliott made contact with Dillon in turn one sending him around. Dillon wound up in the sand trap and limped home with a sixth-place finish.
Andrew Ranger took the lead and battled with Elliott up front. In turn five, the two made contact allowing Buescher to slip by for the top spot..
He never looked back and became the eighth driver in ARCA history to win on all types of tracks, including a paved short track, a dirt track, a superspeedway and a road course.
“The guys got to racing real hard up front and they made a mistake there in the closing laps and we did it,” Buescher said about the victory on the Speedy Digest show Wednesday night. “It was cool getting our first win on a road course with me with the Roulo Brothers.”
The same team he won the 2012 ARCA championship was no stranger to victory lane at a road course. The Roulo Brothers also won the Greater Des Moines Grand Prix in 1994 with Scott Lagasse.
The other winner in Saturday’s field is Alex Tagliani, who has run IndyCar and CART in the past. He shocked the racing world by winning the pole for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with his Sam Schmidt Motorsports team.
Tagliani will run the No. 22 Ford for Penske Racing and at Mid-Ohio in August.
The Canadian-born driver grabbed his only CART win at Road America in 2004. It was no easy task as he had to start 13th in the 18-car field.
Tagliani started to make noise around half-way in the 48-lap event, by taking the lead for the first time on lap 23. He would lead the next seven circuits until Paul Tracy took the race lead.
Nicknamed “Tags,” the Canadian got around Rodolfo Lavin for the last time as Tagliani registered his only CART Series victory at the 4.048 mile road-course.
Both Buescher and Tagliani will look to add another victory at Road America in Saturday’s NNS race.
2013 Scott 160 Top-Ten versus 2004 Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America Top-Ten
1. #99 Chris Buescher 1. #8 Alex Tagliani
2. #53 Andrew Ranger 2. #3 Rodolfo Lavin
3. #77 Tom Hessert 3. #2 Sebastien Bourdais
4. #9 Chase Elliott 4. #4 Ryan Hunter-Reay
5. #22 Ryan Blaney 5. #55 Mario Dominguez
6. #52 Austin Dillon 6. #11 Oriol Servia
7. #44 Frank Kimmel 7. #34 Justin Wilson
8. #25 Justin Boston 8. #12 Jimmy Vasser
9. #43 David Levine 9. #9 Michel Jourdain, Jr.
10.#32 Mason Mingus 10.#17 Guy Smith