Elliott Sadler retains Xfinity point lead after rain-filled race at Mid-Ohio

Elliott Sadler is still the leader in the Xfinity Series point standings following his ninth-place finish at Mid-Ohio.

Sadler has a 25-point lead over Daniel Suarez, who finished 23rd.

The top 19 positions in the standings remained unchanged from last week.

Here are the point standings following the 21st race of the year.

Israel native Alon Day impresses in NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Mid-Ohio

Even thought he was half a world away from his native Israel, Alon Day felt right at home in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In making his Xfinity debut, Day became the first Israeli-born driver to compete in a NASCAR race in the United States, finishing a respectable 13th, including challenging for the lead at one point.

Part of the reason Day seemed so comfortable behind the wheel of the No. 40 Dodge is his past experience in road course racing as well as racing in the rain overseas. When the rains came early in Saturday’s race and again heavier late in the event, it actually played to Day’s experience and skill set.

“I knew the rain would come and I could get some spots (to challenge),” Day said. “The moment the rain hits and I realized we would change to rain tires, I knew I had the speed and would attack as soon as possible.

“On the first restart and attacking immediately, I knew some guys would be slow in the rain. I have experience on the rain in Europe, I used to drive in the rain all the time, so I’m really happy. I can’t imagine how excited I am.”

Alon Day finished an impressive 13th during the 4th annual NASCAR XFINITY Series Mid-Ohio Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday.
Day, who is part of the NASCAR Next program, potentially could have finished with a top 5, maybe top 10.

“It was fun until the second rain,” he said. “When the second rain came, someone spun and hit my front suspension and damaged the car and, unfortunately, it was almost impossible to drive the car.

“I knew I had a shot for top-five, but it was impossible to drive from that moment. I just tried to survive and unfortunately it wasn’t the same.”

Day, who previously dabbled briefly (six races in 2012) in the Indy Lights Series, plans to drive in several more Xfinity races between now and the end of the season. His next race is in two weeks at Road America.

He’s also still in a heated championship battle in the NASCAR Euro Series.

“I’m hoping that at Road America, I can do the same – maybe even better,” Day said. “We expect to do five more races, but it all depends on sponsorship and finding the budget.

“My expectation wasn’t that high, to be honest. If I finished 25th, I’d be super high for that. Suddenly, I find myself fighting for the lead, and that’s not bad, you know?”

SAM HORNISH JR. SETS TRACK RECORD, EARNS COORS LIGHT POLE AT MID-OHIO

Sam Hornish Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award Friday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, setting a track speed record as well.

Hornish Jr. wheeled his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet around the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course in Lexington, Ohio, at a track record-setting 96.755 mph in the opening session of qualifying. In the second and final session, with a fast lap of 96.374 mph, he sealed the first starting spot in the Mid-Ohio Challenge (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

"The fact that we're here. We're as good as we have been really is hats off to RCR and all the people that work on the Rheem No. 2 car," the polesitter said post-qualifying. "Right off the bat, this morning I was kind of worried about it being a little bit rusty. It's been a little while since I've been on a road course."

This marks Hornish's eighth career pole and first of 2016.

Sharing the front row will be Owen Kelly, a road specialist who reached 95.877 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Ryan Blaney, (95.739 mph in No. 22 Team Penske Ford), Elliott Sadler (95.675 mph, No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) and Daniel Suarez (95.613 mph, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet) completed the top five, respectively.

Will past success at next four tracks help still-winless drivers make Chase?

While the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series enjoys its final in-season off-weekend, it seems everyone from drivers to crew chiefs to team owners and fans are breaking out their calculators.

They’re all trying to figure out who has the best chance of still making the upcoming 10 race Chase for the Sprint Cup – particularly those drivers who have yet to win a race thus far in 2016.

A total of 16 drivers will qualify for the Chase. As it stands now, 11 drivers are already qualified by virtue of winning at least one race already this season, plus they’re above 30th place, which is the cutoff for Chase eligibility.

A 12th winning driver, Chris Buescher, is not yet qualified for the Chase because he remains three points shy of the 30th place cutoff. If Buescher can leave Richmond in the top-30, he will make the Chase.

One of the most interesting stats is that of the four races remaining before the Chase, several drivers that remain winless this season have enjoyed past victories at those same tracks, particularly Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who both have won in the past at three of the next four tracks.

Can lightning strike again for them?

Here’s how it breaks down:

Bristol: Earnhardt, Kahne

Michigan: Greg Biffle,  Earnhardt, Ryan Newman, Kahne

Darlington: Biffle, Regan Smith

Richmond: Earnhardt, Clint Bowyer, Kahne, Newman

For each of those past winners that might triumph again at those tracks, or for other first-time winners in 2016, it would further reduce the number of drivers who make the Chase solely on points.

It remains uncertain whether Earnhardt will be able to make the Chase after having missed the last several races due to a concussion – and remains sidelined.

Given that Earnhardt is ranked 21st in the standings, 51 points behind 16th ranked Trevor Bayne, it would appear the only way he would make the Chase is to win one of the last four – provided he’s cleared to even race at some point during that period.

Right now, drivers who have yet to win a race this year that appear the safest to make the Chase are Newman (50 points ahead of Bayne on the cutoff line), Chase Elliott (+49), Austin Dillon (+47) and Jamie McMurray (+38).

Kyle Larson is also above the cutoff line, but with only an eight-point edge over Bayne, is the driver in the riskiest position.

Larson is still simmering at how AJ Allmendinger wrecked him on the final lap of Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen. It cost Larson what appeared to be a likely top-five finish and left him with a disappointing 29th-place result – which greatly impacted his Chase chances and ranking.

“Pretty dumb move right there,” Larson said of Allmendinger. “I was the smarter one racing for points, lifted, could have wrecked him, but didn’t.”

Instead, it was Larson who was wrecked by Allmendinger.

“He has run me hard, but we always race pretty well, but today was flat out stupid,” Larson said.

The drivers outside the top 16 with the best chance of still sneaking into the Chase on points are Kahne (three points behind Bayne), Ryan Blaney (-8), Allmendinger (-26), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-37) and Earnhardt (-51).

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not among Xfinity regulars heading into Mid-Ohio

It doesn’t happen that often during a season, so savor it.

This weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will feature just one Sprint Cup regular in the starting lineup: Ryan Blaney.

Blaney will be driving Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford in the race at the 2.258 mile, 13-turn track.

It will be only the third time through 21 races that there’s just one Cup regular in a Xfinity race. The other two races were at Iowa Speedway, where Brad Keselowski drove the No. 22.

Saturday’s race will feature a first-time winner at the track as the victors of the first three races at Mid-Ohio – AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Regan Smith – are not entered into it.

Chances are good that the 75-lap event will feature a win by a Xfinity Series regular, which has only occurred five times in 20 races so far.

Here’s a look at Who’s Hot/Who’s Not among Xfinity drivers heading to the Lexington, Ohio, road course.

Who’s Hot:

Elliott Sadler  – Seventeen top-10 finishes in 2016 (most of all drivers) including eight of the last nine races. Finished in the top 10 in all three past races at Mid-Ohio. Ten top 10s in the last 11 road course races (finished 12th at Road America last year ending a streak of nine straight top 10s on road courses).

Justin Allgaier  – Finished in the top 10 in seven of the last eight races including two top fives. Finished in the top 10 in his last eight starts on road courses including a win at Montreal in August 2012 (most recent win). Finished eighth at Mid-Ohio in 2013 in his only start there.

Daniel Suarez – Has finished in the top five in nine races in 2016; only drivers with more are Erik Jones and Kyle Busch with 11 each. Five top fives in the last eight races. Finished fourth at Watkins Glen, his only top 10 in four races on road courses. Finished 11th in this race last year in his only Mid-Ohio start.

Brennan Poole – Finished in top 10 in five of the last seven races including a fourth at Iowa and a 10th at Watkins Glen last week in his first road course start.

Erik Jones – Eleven top fives in 2016 are tied with Kyle Busch for the most in the series and are two more than any other driver; finished top five in three of the last five races. Six poles and three wins in 2016. Finished 12th last week at Watkins Glen in his only Xfinity road course start (ran out of fuel mid-race).

Ty Dillon – finished top-10 in only four of the last eight races. Finished 11th at Watkins Glen, ending a streak of three straight top-10 finishes on road courses. Finished 19th and third in his two Mid-Ohio starts.

Who’s Not:

Darrell Wallace Jr. – One top-10 finish in the last six races and none in the last four. Finished
29th last week at Watkins Glen. Two top-10 finishes in four Xfinity road course starts. Finished eighth in this race last year in his only Mid-Ohio start.

Brandon Jones  – Only one top 10 in the last seven races (10th at Indianapolis). Started 19th, finished 29th at Mid-Ohio in August 2015 and finished 13th last week at Watkins Glen in only other road course start.

Other interesting notes entering this weekend:

Four drivers fighting for the bubble in the Chase are within 14 points of each other: Ross Chastain (-2), Dakoda Armstrong (-9), Jeremy Clements (-14) and Blake Koch (+2).
Team Penske has an average finish of 2.75 at Mid-Ohio and has led 44 percent of the laps raced there (114 of 259).
Mid-Ohio is one of four tracks Joe Gibbs Racing hasn’t won at in the Xfinity Series (Pocono, Watkins Glen and Road America).

Danica Patrick adds to two NASCAR records at Watkins Glen

On the surface, Danica Patrick had a fairly nondescript 21st-place finish in this past Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International.

Patrick potentially would have finished higher had she not been caught up in a late-race wreck on Lap 83 of the 90-lap race.

Even with her mid-pack finish, Patrick still came away from the race with a pleasant surprise.

Thanks to a strategy call by crew chief Billy Scott that put her at the front of the pack, Patrick led 11 laps (Laps 34 to 45), breaking the previous NASCAR record of seven laps led in a race by a female driver that she set at Talladega in 2014.

That latter mark surpassed the previous single-race record of five laps led by a female set by Janet Guthrie in the 1977 season finale at the now-defunct Ontario Motor Speedway.

Patrick has now led a career-high 21 laps in the first 22 races of 2016 – breaking her own NASCAR single-season record for laps led by a female driver (15) set in 2014. And with 14 races remaining, she has a chance to add to that amount.

“The race didn’t go as well as we’d hoped, but we led some laps and were able to rally back at the end to get a decent finish, considering all of the damage,” Patrick said after the race.

PAINT UNVEIL: JGR GIVES PEEK AT HAMLIN'S DARLINGTON SCHEME

RELATED: See all the Darlington throwbacks | BUY TICKETS: Darlington

Joe Gibbs Racing, often ahead of the curve when it comes to social media, used a modern technological method -- that'd be Facebook Live -- to give fans a look at something honoring the past on Wednesday.

The team used the live stream to unveil Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota paint scheme that will be used at the Bojangles' Southern 500, which will again have the old-school, throwback theme. The Sept. 4 event will honor the years 1975-84. Hamlin's scheme Pays tribute to Darrell Waltrip's early rides.
 

Hamlin's No. 11 was the third of four JGR schemes to be revealed. Previously, the No. 18 of Kyle Busch and the No. 11 of Carl Edwards showed off their historic looks.