Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 Preview - Speedway Digest

The NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) heads to its final road course race this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

No big name Sprint Cup Series drivers are entered in Saturday’s race, so expect a NNS regular or another driver to end up in victory lane. Rookie Chase Elliott was the highest finishing NNS driver at Watkins Glen International (WGI) with a sixth-place finish and extended his points lead over JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith. Elliott finished fourth and sixth in the races at Road America and Watkins Glen respectively.

Marcos Ambrose was victorious the last time NNS ran a road course last weekend at WGI in his only scheduled apperance of the season.

The owner points battle between the No. 22 and 54 teams is starting to heat up. Both teams will have the same drivers who ran at Road America in June. Alex Tagliani returns to the 22 Penske car, with Sam Hornish, Jr. in the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR).

The 22 team is the defending winner of the race, as A.J. Allmendinger led 73 of the 94 laps to win in dominating fashion. However, Hornish was the highest finisher from last year enetered in Saturday’s race with a third place.

Last year’s Mid-Ohio runner-up Michael McDowell is not entered in Saturday’s race, but his 2013 NNS team, JGR, have three entries filed for this weekend.

In addition to Hornish, Elliott Sadler and Kenny Habul are also represting JGR this weekend. Sadler is locked up in a tight points batte with Elliott, Smith and Ty Dillon. The top four in points are only separated by 13 points. Habul returns to the No. 20 Sun Energy 1 Toyota for his second of two scheduled races. He also ran last weekend’s race at Watkins Glen and finished 26th in his own No. 75 Toyota.

The Turner Scott Motorsports lineup is also different at Mid-Ohio, with Kyle Larson racing at Michigan. Dylan Kwasniewski returns to the No. 42, as road-course ace Justin Marks is back in the No. 31. Kwasniewski hopes for better luck in the No. 42 this time around after qualifying second at Road America and having transmission problems early in the race.

NNS road course races have provided two different winners at Road America and Watkins Glen. Brendan Gaughan held on to win at Road America for his first career NNS win, as Marcos Ambrose won his fourth consecutive NNS race at Watkins Glen after not running since his last win there in 2010.

Stanton Barrett also returns to the No. 87 Toyota for NEMCO Motorsports and Jay Robinson Racing. The Hollywood stuntman wheeled the car to an 18th-place finish at Watkins Glen.

Only four drivers entered in this year’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 finished in the top-10 in the 2013 race.

Nationwide Insurance is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is located only an hour north. Mid-Ohio was added to the 2013 NNS schedule after Montreal dropped its traditional August date.

The green flag for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 will drop at 2:45 p.m. ET Saturday with live TV coverage on ESPN.

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Kyle Magda

Currently, I’m a journalism student in college who enjoys the sport of racing. I've been following NASCAR in-depth since 2001.Along with my love of racing, I’m also into baseball, football (college & pro), and college basketball.I also have my own website, The Life of Kyle, where I write about various topics.And to get my feet wet into radio, I have my own show called Overdrive. I started it with my friend. Since we can’t record together most of the time, we have our own versions. I cover NASCAR and ARCA, and he takes Formula One and IndyCar.Not forgetting to mention, I have my own YouTube channel as well.As for race tracks, I’ve gone to races at Pocono, Watkins Glen, Daytona, Dover, Loudon and a few local short tracks as well. I hope to cross the Indianapolis 500 off my list in the future. I hope to become a man of many hats.