HAMPTON, GA -- The Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Championship doesn't start until after Richmond. But for the super-competitive NASCAR Nationwide Series, the season has been a year-long chase that may have reached its conclusion Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Stenhouse Stakes Major Claim in Natiowide Championship after Atlanta
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Sprint Cup drivers Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch took the top two spots with Series championship leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. taking third. Stenhouse may have also claimed an undeniable stake in the Nationwide Series championship, opening up a 13 point lead over Elliott Sadler and 40 over Reed Sorenson.
Going into Saturday’s Great Clips 300, the three were separated by just 12 points with each driver having led the standings over the course of the season.
Sadler labored to a tenth-place finish on Saturday after hovering in the 15-to-20 range all night. Sorenson’s chances were crushed even harder, by his Turner Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier.
Allgaier made contact with Sorenson’s No. 32 Chevrolet, also collecting Trevor Bayne in an incident that left Sorenson with a DNF and a 32nd place finish.
Stenhouse now takes a 13-point lead into Richmond, with Sorenson falling to 40 markers back.
That’s crippling for a team that led the standings after the season’s first race in Daytona and maintained it for much of the season
For Sadler, his Atlanta race can be summarized in the same tone as his 2011 season - failing to live up to promise and expectations.
A former longtime Sprint Cup Series fixture, Sadler was signed by Kevin Harvick Inc. to run exclusively for the Nationwide Series championship. While maintaining a certain level of consistency, Sadler has failed to look like a contender in every race this season and is missing something that both Stenhouse and Sadler possess - race victories.
As for Stenhouse -- what a difference a year makes.
This is the same driver that couldn’t get out of his own way a year ago and was replaced in the No. 6 for four races by Brian Ickler and Billy Johnson. Despite his struggles, Stenhouse finished that season on a high note, eventually taking rookie of the year honors.
The momentum carried over into 2011 for Stenhouse, with the Olive Branch, MS-native outlasting Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowksi over the final 18 laps to win April’s John Deere 250 at Iowa Speedway. He would win again at Iowa, this time in bizarre fashion, dropping an engine on the final lap, causing Edwards to slam into and push Stenhouse across the line first.
Stenhouse even made his Cup debut in May, filling in for the injured Bayne, at the Coca-Cola 600. He just missed a top 10 in one of the sport’s crown jewels, ending up 11th.
Now following Atlanta, it looks like Stenhouse is in prime position to add another trophy to his fast growing collection:
NASCAR’s Nationwide Series Championship trophy.
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