Nelson Piquet Jr. wins Road America, sets sight on full-time Nationwide ride
Nelson Piquet Jr. won Saturday's Nationwide Series Sargento 200 from Road America in Elkhart Lake. In doing so, he became the first Brazilian to win a race in one of NASCAR's premier national touring series.
There wasn't much mystery to the outcome of Saturday's race. Piquet won in dominating fashion, taking the pole on Friday, leading the most laps (19 of 50), and leading the most important lap - the final one.
Even when pit strategy shuffled Piquet out of the lead, you never got the impression that he was struggling to regain his poise. He was patient in traffic and crew chief Trent Owens made the right calls.
“I could have fought harder in the middle of the race but there was no reason why,” Piquet said. “I wasn’t going to accomplish anything. I just held back a little bit and when it was the right moment I attacked. It was on one of the restarts where I passed Jacques [Villeneuve] and moved quick through the field and led the race at the end.”
The win served as a showcase performance for Piquet, who by virtue of winning, convinced team owner Steve Turner to enter the duo in the next road course event at Watkins Glen in August. The win also increases the chances that Piquet may be able to graduate to Nationwide, full-time, by 2013.
Piquet is affable, good-natured, and a hard-worker, two of which are surprising given his Formula 1 background. Piquet has meticulously studied NASCAR to figure-out stock car racing and today's win couldn't have happened to a better guy.
A 'better guy' was not the best way to describe Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian legend was already standing on thin ice with his peers after causing several accidents in last year's Road America race and the carnage continued on Saturday.
Villeneuve made contact with several drivers, climaxing by turning Danica Patrick on the last lap. The two were competing for fourth place and eliminated what had been a stellar run for Patrick. She finished 12th.
"I ran top-five all day, led for a few laps, and that’s the bummer," Patrick said. "We weren’t able to finish off the top-five. People say we don’t get good results but today we ran well and like all season, we just didn’t get the results."
Championship notes and a complete finishing order can be found beneath the jump.
The championship battle closed up as a result of Saturday’s race. Elliott Sadler, Austin Dillon, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. all finished outside of the top-10 while fourth-place Sam Hornish finished in fifth. Sadler’s lead over Dillon has steadied at -11, but the top-four are all within a 34-point blanket.
[Updated Championship Standings]
The championship battle is sure to evolve next week as points become even scarcer with Cup Series regulars returning to the fold at Kentucky Speedway. NASCAR Ranting and Raving will be live on-site all weekend at Sparta, Ky. and will provide content across all our mediums. Keep reading the blog and follow us on Twitter at @MattWeaverSBN and @NASCARRnR.
Congratulations again to Nelson Piquet Jr., finally a winner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Use this post to discuss his victory or preview this afternoon's Toyota/Save Mart 350. A race thread will be up later today.
#WeWantRightTurns
Race Results
Road America
3rd Annual Sargento 200
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics Saturday, 6/23/2012 @ 6:43 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
Road America
3rd Annual Sargento 200
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics Saturday, 6/23/2012 @ 6:43 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
| Fin | Str | Car | Driver | Team | Lap | Pts | BPts | Status | TLd | LLd | |
| 1 | 1 | 30 | Nelson Piquet Jr.(i) | Qualcomm/Autotrac Chevrolet | 50 | 0 | Running | 2 | 19 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 18 | Michael McDowell(i) | Pizza Ranch Toyota | 50 | 0 | Running | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 5 | Ron Fellows | AER Manufacturing Chevrolet | 50 | 42 | 1 | Running | 1 | 4 | |
| 4 | 5 | 33 | Max Papis | Menards/Rheem Chevrolet | 50 | 41 | 1 | Running | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | 8 | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Alliance Truck Parts Dodge | 50 | 40 | 1 | Running | 1 | 3 | |
| 6 | 4 | 22 | Jacques Villeneuve | Discount Tire Dodge | 50 | 39 | 1 | Running | 1 | 10 | |
| 7 | 6 | 11 | Brian Scott | Dollar General Toyota | 50 | 38 | 1 | Running | 1 | 5 | |
| 8 | 22 | 54 | Kurt Busch(i) | Monster Energy Toyota | 50 | 0 | Running | ||||
| 9 | 14 | 88 | Cole Whitt # | VooDoo Ride Chevrolet | 50 | 35 | Running | ||||
| 10 | 7 | 31 | Justin Allgaier | Brandt Chevrolet | 50 | 34 | Running | ||||
| 11 | 11 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford EcoBoost Ford | 50 | 33 | Running | ||||
| 12 | 10 | 7 | Danica Patrick | GoDaddy.com Chevrolet | 50 | 32 | Running | ||||
| 13 | 19 | 44 | Mike Bliss | Mark Smith Toyota | 50 | 31 | Running | ||||
| 14 | 15 | 81 | Jason Bowles # | American Majority Toyota | 50 | 30 | Running | ||||
| 15 | 13 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | Charter Chevrolet | 50 | 29 | Running | ||||
| 16 | 20 | 75 | Kenny Habul | SunEnergy 1 Racing Toyota | 50 | 28 | Running | ||||
| 17 | 17 | 99 | Victor Gonzalez Jr.(i) | Delta Commercial/IMCA Toyota | 50 | 0 | Running | ||||
| 18 | 23 | 3 | Austin Dillon # | Advocare Chevrolet | 50 | 26 | Running | ||||
| 19 | 28 | 01 | Mike Wallace | G&K Services Chevrolet | 50 | 25 | Running | ||||
| 20 | 16 | 38 | Brad Sweet # | Great Clips Chevrolet | 50 | 24 | Running | ||||
| 21 | 29 | 14 | Eric McClure | Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota | 50 | 23 | Running | ||||
| 22 | 25 | 41 | Timmy Hill | Poynt.com Ford | 50 | 22 | Running | ||||
| 23 | 33 | 40 | Erik Darnell | SheboyganAuto.com Chevrolet | 50 | 21 | Running | ||||
| 24 | 37 | 70 | Tony Raines(i) | Country Inn & Suites Dodge | 50 | 0 | Running | ||||
| 25 | 26 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Clements Automotive Chevrolet | 50 | 19 | Running | ||||
| 26 | 12 | 43 | Michael Annett | Pilot/Flying J Ford | 48 | 18 | Running | ||||
| 27 | 36 | 23 | Bill Prietzel | R3 Motorsports Chevrolet | 48 | 17 | Running | ||||
| 28 | 27 | 26 | John Young | Eklekt Technologies Group Dodge | 47 | 16 | Out Of Fuel | ||||
| 29 | 9 | 32 | Miguel Paludo(i) | Duroline Brakes Chevrolet | 47 | 0 | Running | 1 | 4 | ||
| 30 | 24 | 19 | Tayler Malsam | G-Oil/Ryobi Toyota | 46 | 14 | Running | ||||
| 31 | 32 | 39 | Josh Richards | NSW Kids Ford | 41 | 13 | Running | ||||
| 32 | 34 | 24 | Casey Roderick # | West Virginia Miners Baseball Chevrolet | 40 | 12 | Running | ||||
| 33 | 18 | 87 | Alex Kennedy | Global Barter/St.Baldrick's Toyota | 38 | 11 | Running | ||||
| 34 | 42 | 4 | Matthew Bell | Extreme Bidder Chevrolet | 36 | 10 | Running | ||||
| 35 | 21 | 59 | Kyle Kelley | Jamison Eng./UPR.com Chevrolet | 29 | 9 | Engine | ||||
| 36 | 41 | 89 | Morgan Shepherd | Schneider Electric Chevrolet | 26 | 8 | Handling | ||||
| 37 | 43 | 50 | TJ Bell | Beaver Bail Bonds Chevrolet | 24 | 7 | Rear End | ||||
| 38 | 40 | 08 | Matt Frahm | Randy Hill Racing Ford | 14 | 6 | Brakes | ||||
| 39 | 35 | 52 | Ryan Ellis | Cobblestone Inn Chevrolet | 4 | 5 | Ignition | ||||
| 40 | 39 | 46 | Chase Miller | TheMotorsportsGroup.com Chevrolet | 4 | 4 | Brakes | ||||
| 41 | 31 | 47 | Matt DiBenedetto | Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet | 3 | 3 | Overheating | ||||
| 42 | 38 | 42 | Tim Schendel | SheboyganAuto.com Chevrolet | 3 | 2 | Vibration | ||||
| 43 | 30 | 10 | Jeff Green | TriStar Motorsports Toyota | 2 | 1 | Vibration | ||||
# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Average Speed: 85.171 MPH Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 22 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.258 Seconds
Lead Changes: 9 among 8 drivers Cautions: 5 for 8 laps Attendance: 56,000
Audiovisual
Final Laps: Piquet captures victory, Danica gets dumped (via TheOfficialNASCAR)
Victory Lane: Nelson Piquet Jr. (via TheOfficialNASCAR)
Johanna Long takes week off, returns home
Johanna Long during pre-race of Saturday’s Miller Lite 100 at Mobile International Speedway (Matt Weaver/NASCAR Ranting and Raving)
NASCAR Nationwide Series part-timer Johanna Long did not participate in the Sargento 200 road course race, instead opting to return home to the Gulf Coast to compete in a tandem of 100-lap late model races. Long finished eighth in her return to Five Flags Speedway on Friday and recorded a sixth on Saturday at Mobile International Speedway.
“We were just too free on exit, both nights really,” Long said. “We don’t get to do this often and it was great to race in front of my home fans.”
Long will return to the Nationwide Series on Friday at Kentucky Speedway.
Johanna Long gets service from her Panhandle Motorsports Racing Team pit crew on Saturday at Mobile International Speedway. (Matt Weaver/NASCAR Ranting and Raving)
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