The NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) made its first road course stop this weekend at the famed 4.048-mile Road America for the Johnsonville Sausage 200. Nelson Piquet Jr. and his No. 30 Qualcomm team looked to defend their race win from a year ago in the 50-lap race. Piquet Jr. and his No. 30 Qualcomm team started the weekend by qualifying sixth at the Wisconsin road course. After suffering damage to the front end of the car in the middle part of the race, Piquet Jr. and the No. 30 Qualcomm Chevy Camaro were credited with a 21st-place finish.
Once the green flag dropped at Road America, Piquet Jr. and the rest of the field quickly jockeyed for position as they headed down to Turn 1. Once things settled down, Piquet Jr. found himself in the sixth position when the first caution of the day came out on lap 5. Sticking with their pit strategy, crew chief Chris Carrier decided to stay out with the rest of leaders and would re-start from the fifth position. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender continued to hold on to a top-5 position until the second caution of the day came out on lap 16 for a stopped car on the track. Crew chief Chris Carrier called Piquet Jr. down pit road to change four tires and add fuel to the No. 30 Qualcomm Camaro. With teams utilizing different pit strategies, Piquet Jr. restarted the 50-lap race from the 18th spot.
During the restart, Piquet Jr. locked his breaks heading into Turn 1 and accidently made contact with another competitor. The contact caused some front-end damage to the Qualcomm Camaro. Piquet Jr. however was able to gain four spots during the restart and found himself in the 14th position when the field came back across the start finish line. The Brasilia, Brazil was able to maintain that position until the third caution of the day came out on lap 31 for a stalled car in Turn 9. Carrier decided to bring the No. 30 down pit road for tires, fuel, adjustments and to repair the front-end damage. The Turner Scott Motorsports team took their time and made sure all damage was repaired during the pit stop. Piquet Jr. returned to the track and restarted the race on lap 33 in the 18th spot.
Piquet Jr. would continue to battle and found himself in the 12th spot when the fifth caution of the day came out on lap 41. Again, playing pit strategy, Carrier decided to stay out during this caution period. Once the field went back to green on lap 42, The Sunoco Rookie of the Year Contender quickly gained a few spots and found himself in the top-10 when the sixth caution of the day came out on lap 46 for an accident in Turn 7. Piquet Jr. would make one more pit stop during the closing caution-filled laps and would bring home the Qualcomm Chevy in the 21st position.
“I would like to thank all my guys for the hard work they put into this No. 30 Qualcomm Chevy this weekend,” Piquet Jr. said. “My car was really dialed in at the beginning of the race and I was having some fun out there. We suffered some damage during the middle portion of the race and that hurt our car a little bit. This isn’t the finish we were hoping for, but my guys and I will keep our heads up, keep working and move on to Kentucky.”
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