This week, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The 14 turn, four mile road course has hosted seven Xfinity Series races in its history, one each year since 2010.
Each of those races has been won by a different driver – Carl Edwards (2010), Reed Sorenson (2011), Nelson Piquet, Jr. (2012), AJ Allmendinger (2013), Brendan Gaughan (2014), Paul Menard (2015) and Michael McDowell (2016).
Only one of these past winners, Gaughan, is entered in the 2017 event, so it is highly likely that the streak of having no repeat winners will continue, although Gaughan’s No. 62 should be considered a strong candidate to contend.
With no Monster Energy Series regulars participating in this weekend’s race, the opportunity exists for a driver not already locked into the Xfinity Series post-season to secure a spot with a win. But, there are several road course “ringers” in the field, some in top tier equipment, who could swoop in and steal a win.
Of the series regulars, Brennan Poole (100.7) and Gaughan (99.0) lead those who have previously raced at Road America in Driver Rating by a fairly wide margin. Of those that are not regulars on the circuit, Justin Marks (98.9) is the only driver within 33.2 rating points, among those with starts here, of the two highest rated regulars.
Several drivers entered this weekend will be making their first start on this road course, including – William Byron, Cole Custer and Daniel Hemric.
Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric come over from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to gain experience and to show that they belong on the next step up the ladder to the Cup series.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series races this Sunday, August 27th, in the Johnsonville 180 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (NBC, 3 p.m. ET).
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