It’s back to the stand-alone portion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule which draws even more attention to the already closely-contested championship. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads the standings by two points over Elliott Sadler. Reed Sorenson is third, four points out of the lead while Justin Allgaier is 17 points back in fourth. Driver championship contenders have won the last two standalones – Stenhouse at Iowa and Allgaier at Chicagoland.
This weekend at Road America could prove to be a challenge for the series’ top four championship contenders. Stenhouse finished 26th at Road America and 24th at Montreal last season. Allgaier also struggled at Road America, finishing 35th, but managed to find his stride at Montreal, where he finished ninth. Sadler and Sorenson did not enter last year’s event at Road America and will both be making their first laps at the track during practice on Friday, June 24.
“Going up to Road America this weekend is going to be a new challenge for me,” Sorenson said. “It’s one I’m looking forward to, though. I think the first thing I need to do is make sure I have a handle on mapping out the track and which way the turns come at me. Finding out where the passing zones are will be huge as well.”
An unfamiliar dark horse who could steal the checkered flag this weekend: Steve Wallace of Rusty Wallace Racing. He currently is eighth in the standings and has the highest ranked pre-race Driver Rating of the championship contenders with 89.7. He also finished ninth at Road America and ninth at Watkins Glen last season.
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