Nationwide @ Mid-Ohio

[HJJ]

First time the Nationwide boys have played in the backyard of their title sponsor.

Looking forward to the race on Saturday.

Some notes from Thursday's test day.

• Allmendinger fastest in second session: #22-A.J. Allmendinger was fastest during the second practice/test session at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a speed of 95.550 mph. #77-Parker Kligerman was second, followed by: #54-Owen Kelly, #18-Michael McDowell, #12-Sam Hornish, Jr., #30-Nelson Piquet, Jr., #32-Kyle Larson, #5-Ron Fellows, #9-Marcos Ambrose, and #20- Brian Vickers. 41 drivers practiced during the session. See complete results on the Mid-Ohio practice 2 speeds page (pdf).(8-15-2013)
• McDowell fastest in first session: #18-Michael McDowell was fastest during the first practice/test session at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a speed of 94.517mph. #12-Sam Hornish, Jr. was second, followed by: #54-Owen Kelly, #30-Nelson Piquet, Jr., #9-Marcos Ambrose, #22-A.J. Allmendinger, #20-Brian Vickers, #77-Parker Kligerman, and #11-Elliott Sadler. 34 drivers practiced during the session. See complete results on the Mid-Ohio practice 1 speeds page (pdf).(8-15-2013)
• Entry List:There are 42 cars on the preliminary entry list for Saturday's Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. A few notes:
  Ron Fellows will be in the #5 for JR Motorsports;
  Marcos Ambrose will drive the #9 for Richard Petty Motorsports;
  Stanton Barrett is in the Rick Ware #15;
  Michael McDowell will drive the #18 for Joe Gibbs;
  A.J. Allmendinger will drive the #22 for Penske Racing;
  Anthony Gandon will return to the #23;
  Max Papis will drive the RCR #33;
  Alx Danielsson is expected to drive the #73 for Creation Cope.(8-12-2013)
  UPDATE: The Jimmy Means #52 team has decided not to attempt this weekend's race.(8-12-2013)
  UPDATE: Jimmy Means will now be attempting the race with Ryan Ellis as the driver. Kevin Lepage will drive the #4 for JD Motorsports. Jason Bowles will be in the #42 for Curtis Key. Andrew Ranger and the #53 team have been added.(8-13-2013)
  See the complete list on the Mid-Ohio entry list page.
• Nationwide Series Making Mid-Ohio Debut: The NASCAR Nationwide Series will race for the first time ever at the historic Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on Saturday, Aug. 17, and ESPN will have a live telecast of the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200. NASCAR Countdown airs at 2 p.m. ET with the race's green flag at 2:49 p.m. Also from Mid-Ohio, ESPN2 will air qualifying on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. All NASCAR programming on ESPN2 is also available on computers, smartphones and tablets through WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app.(ESPN)(8-12-2013)

[gomick]

3rd road course for Nationwide series this year - reckon both this series & cup could afford to have 5 or 6 road course races now, it's exciting with the mandatory NASCAR yellow thrown with 3 to go - good crowd at Watkins Glen too!

[gomick]

Andrew Ranger in a Dodge

[canamman]

7 Smith and 11 Sadler heating it up again. 11 dumped 7 earlier.
Waiting to see if there is a payback.

[Adam43]

Why did the timing graphic just flash "red flag" across the top?

[canamman]

Probably an error.

Seatbelts on. Green White Checkers coming up!

[Adam43]

Loving the coasting

Tense.

[Adam43]

All's well that ends well.

[canamman]

Fans loving Nascar dirt and road courses! Anyone in Daytona taking note?

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by canamman

Fans loving Nascar dirt and road courses! Anyone in Daytona taking note?

I hope so. I'd follow NASCAR closely if they replaced the oval duplicate races with road courses.

I'm glad AJ won... he drove a flawless race and deserved it. In addition to that, I'm getting sick and tired of watching McDowell parading around in his K-Love car. We know you're Christian, Michael... you don't have to be up in our face about it at every given moment. I wonder how he's going to explain this one; he'll probably just say "I am second".

I've completely lost respect for him because of his antics.

Tis a shame Nelson ran out of fuel... judging by his aggressive behavior throughout the race, he would've been a big factor for at least the podium position. :/

[canamman]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Tis a shame Nelson ran out of fuel... judging by his aggressive behavior throughout the race, he would've been a big factor for at least the podium position. :/

I think his team was glad . They had to hand out numbers because the line was so long waiting for him to get back to the transporter.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by canamman

Fans loving Nascar dirt and road courses! Anyone in Daytona taking note?

Not so sure if Nascar made the difference here... Mid-Ohio would pull in a nice crowd for lawnmower racing.

[Mr Pink]

Does anyone of you have any opinion on ALx Danielsson after the race?
I wasn´t able to watch it unfortunatly.

[FPV8U]

Originally Posted by canamman

Fans loving Nascar dirt and road courses! Anyone in Daytona taking note?

Sprint Cup could do with atleast one more Road course in the chase and possibly one more in the regular season, Road America would be a great venue for Sprint Cup and IMO they should do the double with Nationwide at this venue.

Mexico was also a decent course and i'd love to see it back on the calendar, If NASCAR doesn't start to move away from the same cookie cutter tracks from 30 years ago their push for diversity and new fan groups will be wasted.