The pressure cooker is whistling, which means with six races to go on the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule, time is running out for the top three championship contenders. Only 14 points separate series standings leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and second place Elliott Sadler; while 47 markers stand between third-place Reed Sorenson and the standings lead.
Consistency and the acquisition of bonus points have been the keys to Stenhouse’s success this season. He has accumulated a series’ high 22 bonus points and has posted two wins (Iowa sweep), 12 top fives, 20 top 10s and three Coors Light poles.
Stenhouse’s late season dominance is backed up by his season-to-date Loop Data stats. He leads all championship contenders in five major Loop categories: Driver Rating (107.1), Average Running Position (8.296), Laps in the Top 15 (4,790 laps), Fastest Lap Run (526) and Laps Led (424 laps).
If recent history is any indication, Stenhouse’s outlook is bright. Of the three championship contenders – Stenhouse, Sadler, Sorenson – Stenhouse has the best average finish at the upcoming six tracks with an 11.6 compared to Sorenson’s 14.7 and Sadler’s 22.0.
Dover is the first of the remaining six races of the season and Stenhouse has improved each time out at the one-mile speedway. He was 18th in his track debut in the 2010 spring race, finished 11th in this event last year and jumped to fourth in May. His average finish at Dover is 11.0 and his pre-race Driver Rating 91.4.
Saturday’s event is sponsored by the same company – OneMain Financial – that adorns the hood of Elliott Sadler’s No. 2 Chevrolet. Sadler finished sixth at Dover in May, his first top-10 at the track since a sixth-place finish in this race in 1997. Driving for JR Motorsports last fall, he was relegated to 31st due to an accident. His average finish at Dover is 15.0 and his pre-race Driver Rating is 83.3 – both are the worst among the top three championship contenders.
| 
|