Turf wars are nothing new in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. So far this season, the tour’s regulars have prevented their circuit from becoming a playground for moonlighting Sprint Cup stars.
NASCAR At Fontana: Nationwide Series Regulars Holding Their Own
For the first time in 17 years, the season’s first four races have been won by non-Sprint Cup drivers. That includes two victories by points leader Elliott Sadler, one by defending series champ Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and one by James Buescher, who is vying for the title in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
If the trend is to continue in Saturday’s Royal Purple 300 at Auto Club Speedway (ESPN, 5:30 p.m. ET), a Nationwide regular will have to foul up Kyle Busch’s recent run of success at the 2-mile track. Busch has won five of the last six Nationwide races at Fontana, but will be trying to secure victory No. 1 for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports organization.
Busch’s main competition figures to be his former Nationwide team, Joe Gibbs Racing, which will field entries for Joey Logano and Brian Scott at California. Between Busch’s five wins and one each from Logano and Tony Stewart, Gibbs cars have a seven-race Nationwide winning streak at Auto Club Speedway.
“I think if you look at the stats, we’ve been very dominant there for sure,” Logano said. “We’ve been pretty good in the new car, but not as good as we want to be. We’re trying to get these cars a little bit better on the speedways and it looked like from the Vegas race that they’ve done a good job with that.”
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