NASCAR Nationwide Series Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen Preview

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New York State Of Mind: Elliott, Smith Lead Series To Watkins Glen  

North of the bright lights on Broadway and just west of the Finger Lakes in the rolling hills of New York state heads the NASCAR Nationwide Series for its first of back-to-back road courses. First up, Watkins Glen International with Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on deck. The challenge of the consecutive road courses on the schedule could transform a competitor’s championship run, especially JR Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Regan Smith who sit 1-2 in the standings and hope to make it through unscathed.

Elliott’s rookie season is continuing to turn heads. In 20 starts, he has posted three wins – tied for the series-most with Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski – eight top-fives, 14 top-tens and an average finish of 9.2. His Loop Data backs his early success up even more; his season-to-date Driver Rating is 108.5 and his Average Running Position is 7.424 – both are second only to Kyle Busch. Though Elliott faces some uncertainty in making his series début at Watkins Glen this weekend, he did well at the road course Road America earlier this season, finishing in the top-five.

Elliott can’t let up though. His rear-view mirror is full of a championship hungry Regan Smith. The two JR Motorsports teammates have swapped the series standings lead three times this season. Smith, who calls Cato, N.Y. his hometown, has posted one win, four top-fives, 17 top-tens – a series-most – and an average finish of 8.9 this season. Smith has three starts at Watkins Glen, posting one top-five and an average finish of 15.3 – he finished fourth in this event last season.

The JR Motorsports duo has built a small cushion of points. Smith is second, ten points ahead of third and between their nearest competitors, but the slightest mistake these next few weeks could open the door for third-place Elliott Sadler and fourth-place Ty Dillon.

Sadler continues to follow in lock-step with the JR Motorsports twosome of Elliott and Smith. He sits just 12 points back from the series lead after posting one win, five top-fives, 14 top-tens and an average finish of 9.5 this season. Sadler has made five series starts at Watkins Glen, posting one top-five and two top-ten finishes; including his fifth-place finish last season.

With the momentum of his first series career win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and following it up with a top-five at Iowa last week, Dillon has focused his sights on a legitimate championship run. Dillon, like Sadler, also is just 12 points back from the standings lead after posting one win, three top-fives and 14 top-tens. This will be his series début at Watkins Glen. He finished 19th at Road America earlier this season.

FF-NNS-WGIOwners Title Race ‘Turns Right’ Into Star Heavy Lineup

Some of the hottest names in NASCAR are on the entry list of the ZIPPO 200 at The Glen this weekend. Nine Sprint Cup championship contenders; Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth, Paul Menard, Joe Nemechek and Josh Wise will race in Nationwide this weekend to possibly bend some fenders and log a little extra seat time on the historic road course, Watkins Glen International.

Fresh off his win last week at Iowa, Brad Keselowski straps into Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford this weekend looking to make it two-in-a-row. Keselowski is the defending series winner at WGI and in his five starts has posted one win, three top-fives and five top-tens. His average finish at WGI is 4.4. – second best in the series.

Keselowski leads the No. 22 Ford team into this weekend just one point behind the Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota team in the Nationwide owner standings. Though the all-time winningest driver in the series, Kyle Busch will be piloting the No. 54 Toyota this weekend, defending the owner standings lead from Keselowski will be tough. Watkins Glen is one of only four tracks left on the schedule that Busch has yet to win at in the series, and in his seven starts there, he has posted four top-fives and five top-tens.

Though Keselowski and Busch will have their hands full with each other, they better not take their eyes from road course ace and three-time winner of this event, Marcos Ambrose. Ambrose has made four starts at WGI, posting three wins and a series-best average finish of 4.0.

None of the remaining six aforementioned Sprint Cup contenders have won at WGI yet in the Nationwide Series. Of the six, Menard has the best average finish at Watkins Glen at 12.9.

Will The Next Contender Please Stand Up?

While in recent weeks this year’s title chase has focused on the top-five in points, this time around we’d like to take an in-depth look at the drivers from sixth – tenth in the driver standings.

Sixth – Brian Scott – in his second full-season with Richard Childress Racing, Scott has posted three top-fives and 11 top-tens in 20 starts. Scott is now tied with fifth-place Trevor Bayne in points and is 41 points back from the standings lead. Scott continues to get hot as the season progresses. Of his 11 top-ten finishes, ten of them have come in the last 13 races. In last season’s final 13 events, Scott posted four top-tens and an average finish of 12.5.

Seventh – Chris Buescher – in his Sunoco Rookie of the Year campaign for Roush Fenway Racing, Buescher has posted two top-fives, seven top-tens and an average finish of 13.3 in 19 starts. Buescher is now seventh in points, 87 points back from sixth-place Brian Scott, and is 128 points back from the standings lead. Buescher’s highlight of 2014 so far has been his second-place finish at Talladega. It will be Buescher’s series début at WGI this weekend.

Eighth – Brendan Gaughan – is the veteran driver at Richard Childress Racing these days and his recent success is proving it. Gaughan has posted one win and four top-tens this season. He is now eighth in points, two points back from Chris Buescher, and is 130 points back from the standings lead. Gaughan’s lone win this season came at the last road course the series visited, Road America. He has made three series starts at WGI, posting an average finish of 22.0.

Ninth – Ryan Reed – is Roush Fenway Racing’s second Sunoco Rookie candidate competing this season. Reed’s 2014 season has amassed one top-five and an average finish of 17.2 in 20 starts. Reed is now ninth in points, 46 behind Gaughan and 176 back from the standings lead. Reed’s highlight of 2014 so far has been his fourth-place finish at Daytona in July. It will be Reed’s series début at WGI this weekend.

Tenth – James Buescher – the 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and cousin of fellow driver Chris Buescher has posted one top-ten and an average finish of 17.5 this season. Buescher is now tenth in the standings, five points back from Ryan Reed and 181 points back from the standings lead. James has one series start at WGI in 2011, where he started tenth but finished 17th.

Milestone Watch

Joe Nemechek will attempt to make his 1,100th NASCAR national series start this weekend in the ZIPPO 200 at The Glen. Nemechek is third on the all-time NASCAR national series starts list behind NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty (1,182) and Mark Martin (1,142).