Trevor Bayne, Austin Dillon, Parker Kligerman, Kyle Larson and Regan Smith all shined in Saturday afternoon’s Alliance Truck Parts 250 at Michigan International Speedway, but it would be the No. 7 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet Camaro of Smith that would take the checkered flag first to claim his third career NASCAR Nationwide Series win.
For Smith, the only full-time driver for JR Motorsports, partially owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series icon Dale Earnhardt Jr., it was his second victory of the season and holds a 58-point advantage in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship point standings.
Smith started deep in the field, 20th to be exact, but utilized the 125-lap event to climb through the field with crew chief and Michigan native Greg Ives calling the shots. Ironically, Smith also started 20th at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last month when he scored his first win of the season for JRM.
Turner Scott Motorsports rookie Kyle Larson finished second, again for the second time this season in his No. 32 Cessna Chevrolet Camaro. Larson, the Ganassi Racing development driver also finished second at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in March.
Both drivers paid tribute to Jason Leffler, who died in injuries sustained in a sprint car crash on Wednesday night. In fact, Smith noted that a majority of the race winnings would be donated to the trust fund for Leffler’s son, Charlie.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitor Paul Menard finished third in his No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet Camaro, Kyle Busch was fourth with last weekend’s Iowa Speedway winner Trevor Bayne rounding out the top-five.
JR Motorsports’ other driver, Brad Sweet was sixth, flanked by reigning ARCA champion Chris Buescher, Elliott Sadler, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Brian Scott to comprise the remainder of the top-10.
Sweet matched his career-best NNS finish after notching a sixth-place run in 2012 at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway driving for Turner Scott Motorsports. Roush Fenway Racing driver Chris Buescher tied his best outing which occurred earlier this season at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Nelson Piquet Jr. netted his best finish of the season at the same track he won in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2012.
The fitting with Smith at JR Motorsports has been a comforting one. Smith subbed for Earnhardt Jr., while he recovered from a concussion late in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule last year. That opportunity paid off, when a relationship formed between the two drivers, which ultimately led to Smith getting the nod to drive for JR Motorsports full-time this season.
Smith kicked off the partnership with a popular victory at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway last November and the group hasn’t stopped winning since.
“I’m going to enjoy this one,” said Smith. “I know it’s one of Greg (Ives, crew chief) hometown tracks, he’s from Michigan, so I’m excited about that. Once we got the car out front, it really came to life. It was kinda surprising in qualifying a little bit, we thought we were going to be way better than that. We were scratching our heads a little after that and weren’t too sure what happened, but we knew we had a good racecar still. Greg made some really good adjustments, made some great pit calls to get us the track position and up front.”
Larson’s performance on Saturday afternoon marked his fourth consecutive top-10 in a row, dating back to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway last month. The former diversity driver netted his eighth top-10 of the year. His effort also moved him up one position in the series standings to ninth after 13 races.
Joey Logano finished 11th in the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Fusion, he was the defending champion of the event. Justin Allgaier was 12th in another Turner Scott Motorsports entry, while a commendable run by Jeremy Clements in his family-owned entry with Alex Bowman and Cole Whitt rounding out the top-15.
Last year’s Nationwide race at the two-mile oval proved to be a thriller. Many were hoping for the same and well, it was delivered. Crashes, debris, Mother Nature and strategy all played into the hands of the drivers and teams in the 22nd annual Alliance Truck Parts 250.
It worked for some. Others it didn’t.
Two incidents within the first six laps of the race kept many edgy. Leaders Alex Bowman and Brian Scott tangled, while behind them, Travis Pastrana spun collecting the No. 20 of Brian Vickers and Jeffrey Earnhardt on the opening lap.
Then, shortly after the second restart of the day, Canadian Dexter Stacey blew a tire and slammed the wall to bring out the caution. The race then had a green-flag window for 54 laps until a debris caution slowed the field on lap 65. The event would have two more debris cautions (81 to 87 and 99 to 102) to register all five cautions for 23 laps.
Mother Nature rattled the cage of Austin Dillon and his Richard Childress Racing bunch. With threatening skies overhead and a misleading radar, Dillon, the pole-sitter for the fourth consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series event stayed out under a caution, with much of the fielding pitting behind him. On the restart, Dillon looked like a ping-pong ball, being passed by several race cars, but then had to pit under green for a flat tire. He lost a lap, then became the beneficiary of the lucky dog, only to pound the wall with three laps to go. He finished 20th.
Parker Kligerman, driver of the No. 77 Bandit Chippers Toyota Camry also tried to play the rain dance and stayed out when other pitted. He led the race and had a commanding lead, but had to pit under racing conditions and finished 25th, two laps down.
The margin of victory was 0.330 seconds, the event took 1 hour, 48 minutes and 50 seconds to complete and the average speed was noted as 137.825 miles per hour. Dillon led the most laps of the afternoon with 61.
Smith leads Sam Hornish Jr., who finished 32nd after losing a motor in his No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion by nearly two NNS races. Justin Allgaier is third, 59 markers behind.
Next up for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is the first of three road-course races of the year at Road (Wisc.) America for the running of the Johnsonville Sausage 200 on Saturday, June 22.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01
