Carl Edwards won.
Nationwide Championship Battle begins calm before the Storm: The OneMain Finacial 200 Review
At this point, the actual winner of the race, which has been a steady slew of Sprint Cup Regulars, doesn’t matter. No one is paying any attention to that aspect of the races. Everyone is keeping an eye on one of the best Nationwide Championship battles since Kenseth vs. Earnhardt Jr years ago. Ricky Stenhouse, Elliott Sadler, and Reed Sorenson all finished pretty steady in this one, and not a single driver changed positions in the top 12 in points. This happens from time to time in a Championship battle. It really is just a calming period before we go all out in the last five races. We now only have 10 drivers that can win the Championship. After Kansas next week, we may see another driver get eliminated from contention. The top three stayed the same, but Reed Sorenson made up some points on Sadler, and only lost two points to Stenhouse. Ricky is driving like a Champion, but I can’t help but feel that having Cup Drivers take the top four spots is the only thing that keeps this Championship battle from being the best in history.
Having so many Cup drivers is taking away from the potential finishes of the Nationwide Regulars. I thank NASCAR for the new rule changes this year, but they didn’t go far enough. Next year, I would love to see the final 10 race Cup Driver free. That way you could watch Ryan Truex, Reed Sorenson, Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse and Elliott Sadler really battle it out. There is still time to make this series truly a stand alone series next year.
Results and More after the JUMP! Plus, An updated Nationwide “Chase”!
| Fin | Str | Car | Driver | Team | Laps | Pts | Status |
| 1 | 2 | 60 | Carl Edwards(i) | Fastenal Ford | 200 | 0 | Running |
| 2 | 8 | 22 | Brad Keselowski(i) | Ruby Tuesday Dodge | 200 | 0 | Running |
| 3 | 4 | 33 | Clint Bowyer(i) | Rheem Heating and Cooling Chevy | 200 | 0 | Running |
| 4 | 7 | 38 | Kasey Kahne(i) | Great Clips Chevy | 200 | 0 | Running |
| 5 | 6 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse | Blackwell Angus Ford | 200 | 39 | Running |
| 6 | 9 | 16 | Trevor Bayne | RickyvsTrevor.com Ford | 200 | 38 | Running |
| 7 | 19 | 32 | Reed Sorenson | Dollar General Chevy | 200 | 37 | Running |
| 8 | 5 | 20 | Ryan Truex # | Heinz 57 Sauce Toyota | 200 | 36 | Running |
| 9 | 13 | 19 | Mike Bliss | TriStar Motorsports Chevy | 200 | 35 | Running |
| 10 | 14 | 31 | Justin Allgaier | Racersites / JustinAllgaier.com Chevy | 200 | 34 | Running |
| 11 | 11 | 11 | Brian Scott | Shore Lodge Toyota | 200 | 33 | Running |
| 12 | 18 | 62 | Michael Annett | RaceWithRusty.com Toyota | 200 | 32 | Running |
| 13 | 3 | 18 | Joey Logano(i) | SportClips / VFW Toyota | 199 | 0 | Running |
| 14 | 1 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | OneMain Financial Chevy | 199 | 31 | Running |
| 15 | 16 | 88 | Aric Almirola | Ragu Chevy | 199 | 29 | Running |
| 16 | 10 | 09 | Kenny Wallace | Federated Auto Parts Toyota | 199 | 28 | Running |
| 17 | 15 | 7 | Jamie McMurray(i) | GoDaddy.com Chevy | 199 | 0 | Running |
| 18 | 23 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Clements Racing Engines Chevy | 199 | 26 | Running |
| 19 | 17 | 30 | Jason Leffler | AccuDoc Solutions Chevy | 198 | 25 | Running |
| 20 | 12 | 66 | Steve Wallace | 5-hour Energy Toyota | 198 | 24 | Running |
| 21 | 22 | 81 | Blake Koch # | DayStar.com Dodge | 197 | 23 | Running |
| 22 | 42 | 15 | Timmy Hill # | Poynt.com Ford | 197 | 22 | Running |
| 23 | 31 | 39 | Fain Skinner | CarPortEmpire.com Ford | 194 | 21 | Running |
| 24 | 27 | 14 | Eric McClure | Hefty BlackOut / Reynolds Chevy | 194 | 20 | Running |
| 25 | 39 | 89 | Morgan Shepherd | ABLE / Victory in Jesus Racing Chevy | 194 | 19 | Running |
| 26 | 41 | 28 | Derrike Cope | MAXelence.com Dodge | 193 | 18 | Running |
| 27 | 37 | 52 | Kevin Lepage | WarrenWoodworking Chevy | 191 | 17 | Running |
| 28 | 36 | 70 | Casey Roderick | RandyHillRacing.com / acu.edu Chevy | 190 | 16 | Running |
| 29 | 21 | 01 | Mike Wallace | I Hate Steven Singer! Chevy | 164 | 16 | Suspension |
| 30 | 24 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | D.A.B. Constructors Toyota | 137 | 14 | Running |
| 31 | 25 | 23 | Scott Riggs | North Texas Pipe Chevy | 128 | 13 | Transmission |
| 32 | 33 | 71 | Matt Carter | Rick Ware Racing Ford | 22 | 12 | Start and Park |
| 33 | 40 | 40 | Josh Wise | Key Motorsports Chevy | 21 | 11 | Start and Park |
| 34 | 34 | 75 | Carl Long | Rick Ware Racing Ford | 16 | 10 | Start and Park |
| 35 | 35 | 41 | Johnny Chapman | Rick Ware Racing Chevy | 10 | 9 | Start and Park |
| 36 | 38 | 49 | Mark Green | Acredale Vending Chevy | 8 | 8 | Start and Park |
| 37 | 26 | 04 | Kelly Bires | Go Green Racing Ford | 7 | 7 | Start and Park |
| 38 | 20 | 47 | Charles Lewandoski # | Key Motorsports Chevy | 6 | 6 | Start and Park |
| 39 | 43 | 46 | Chase Miller | Key Motorsports Chevy | 5 | 5 | Start and Park |
| 40 | 30 | 42 | Tim Andrews | Key Motorsports Chevy | 4 | 4 | Start and Park |
| 41 | 28 | 82 | Scott Wimmer | K Love Dodge | 3 | 3 | Start and Park |
| 42 | 32 | 50 | T J Bell(i) | Liberty Tire Chevy | 3 | 0 | Start and Park |
| 43 | 29 | 44 | Jeff Green | TriStar Motorsports Chevy | 1 | 1 | Start and Park |
Only 31 cars attempted to run the entire race. Pretty sad. We actually had 6 straight laps where a Start and Park car pulled into the garage. It was a ridiculous parade of disrespect. Let’s take a look at that awesome championship battle:
| Pos | Car # | Driver | Points | Ldr | Wins | T5s | T10 |
| 1 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse | 1025 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 21 |
| 2 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | 1003 | -22 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| 3 | 32 | Reed Sorenson | 976 | -49 | 1 | 7 | 18 |
| 4 | 88 | Aric Almirola | 951 | -74 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| 5 | 31 | Justin Allgaier | 939 | -86 | 1 | 6 | 15 |
| 6 | 38 | Jason Leffler | 884 | -141 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| 7 | 09 | Kenny Wallace | 841 | -184 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 8 | 66 | Steve Wallace | 815 | -210 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 9 | 11 | Brian Scott | 811 | -214 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 10 | 62 | Michael Annett | 804 | -221 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 11 | 19 | Mike Bliss X | 720 | -305 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | 16 | Trevor Bayne X | 698 | -327 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| (X)- Eliminated |
As promised:
| Reg Pos | Chase Pos | Numb | Driver | Chase Points | Chase Behind | Reg Behind |
| 1 | 1 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse | 2197 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 2 | 88 | Aric Almirola | 2181 | -16 | -74 |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | 2177 | -20 | -22 |
| 5 | 4 | 31 | Justin Allgaier | 2170 | -27 | -86 |
| 10 | 5 | 62 | Michael Annett | 2155 | -42 | -221 |
| 3 | 6 | 32 | Reed Sorenson | 2154 | -43 | -49 |
| 9 | 7 | 11 | Brian Scott | 2153 | -44 | -214 |
| 11 | 8 | 19 | Mike Bliss | 2151 | -46 | -305 |
| 6 | 9 | 38 | Jason Leffler | 2144 | -53 | -141 |
| 8 | 10 | 66 | Steve Wallace | 2139 | -58 | -210 |
| 12 | 11 | 16 | Trevor Bayne | 2130 | -67 | -327 |
| 7 | 12 | 09 | Kenny Wallace | 2127 | -70 | -184 |
The biggest shock in the new Chase System has to be that both Mike Bliss and Trevor Bayne, who were eliminated from Championship Contention under the old points system, are not only alive and kicking, but within striking distance. Michael Annett remains the highest jumper in points position, and thanks to some rough runs by Kenny Wallace in the last five races, he would sit last in the standings and in need of a lot of help. Eight different drivers could leave Kansas with the points lead under the Chase Format. Under the old points? Just two, Stenhouse and Sadler.
Join us next week for a preview of the Kansas Nationwide Race. Just five races to go before the Championship is decided. Enjoy!
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