NXS: Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville Race Preview

The NASCAR XFINITY Series will return to a road course for the sixth annual Road America 180 presented by Johnsonville. Road America will mark the final road course race of the season for the series. Brendan Gaughan comes into the weekend as the defending race winner.

The entry list features 40 different drivers. Some of those include Lawson Aschenbach, Tim Cowen, Kevin O’Connell, Stanton Barrett, Kenny Habul, Ryan Blaney, Dylan Lupton, Tomy Drissi, Paul Menard, Justin Marks, Boris Said, Roger Reuse, Ben Rhodes, Andy Lally and Dylan Kwasniewski. There will be no DNQ’s after qualifying on Saturday.

Lawson Aschenbach will make his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut on Saturday at Road America. Aschenbach, a native from the state of Maryland, made numerous starts in the TUDOR United Sports Car Series from 2007 to 2013. The opportunity to run a stock car came about after some of his racing friends suggested that he should try it out. Aschenbach and J.D. Motorsports announced the one race deal on Monday.

The NASCAR XFINITY Series standings continue to get closer and closer as the season continues. Buescher, who leads the series standings coming into Road America, had a very tough weekend last week at Bristol after a bad restart late in the race.

“It’s unfortunate. I’m really upset,” Buescher said. “We had the speed, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m glad we took the chance. I wouldn’t change it if we could do it over again, but unfortunately it (gamble on fuel) knocked us right out of a top-10 and out of a win.”

Buescher sits ahead by only 19 points over Ty Dillon with 11 races remaining in 2015. Defending champion Chase Elliott is only four points behind Dillon as the series heads to Wisconsin. Regan Smith and Elliott Sadler round out the top five.

Paul Menard is spending his Sprint Cup Series off weekend by participating in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race. Menard, a native from Wisconsin, will pilot the No. 33 Chevrolet with the Richard Childress Racing organization. The 34-year old will be the only Sprint Cup Series regular to participate in the race on Saturday.

The NASCAR XFINITY Series race will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET. on Saturday. Fans can watch the event live on NBCSN and Live Extra. The Motor Racing Network will carry the live radio broadcast.

Brett Winningham
Follow Me