ELKHART LAKE, WI.: What matters most at mammoth Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin? Road course racing skills or experience?
Perhaps a combination of both?
That’s certainly the case for reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion and acknowledged road course star Chase Elliott, who fashioned a pair of fourth-place finishes in 2014 and 2015 when he raced at Road America in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Elliott will be one of the heavy favorites when the Cup Series visits the 4.048-mile road course for the first time since Tim Flock beat Billy Myers to the finish line by 17 seconds in 1956 in the only previous Cup race at the track.
Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Larson, is almost certain to be a contender, too. Larson had his run toward four straight Cup victories foiled by a flat tire on the last lap of last Saturday’s event at Pocono, but he rallied to run second on Sunday.
Included in Larson’s series-best four victories this season is a win at Sonoma in June. His only start at Road America—in the Xfinity Series in 2014—resulted in a seventh-place finish. But Larson has been using simulations to get a feel for the track.
“Kyle has raced there before, and I did in Xfinity as well, but there’s not much you can pull from those past experiences,” says Cliff Daniels, crew chief on Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet. “It’s been such a long time, so we’re trying to take a fresh look at understanding the race.
“We’ll go back and watch some Xfinity races from the past couple of years to try to get a feel for what is important there, what we need to attack and what we need to tune.”
AJ Allmendinger is another likely contender in Sunday’s Jockey Made in America 250 Presented by Kwik Trip (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the road course that winds through the Wisconsin countryside, Allmendinger posted a victory for Team Penske in 2013 and a second place for Kaulig Racing last year.
Allmendinger, who also scored a Champ Car victory at Road America in 2006, will be pulling double duty for Kaulig Racing this weekend, augmenting his full-time Xfinity role with a start in the Cup race. One of Allmendinger’s two Xfinity victories this season came on the road course at Mid-Ohio.
“I’m always looking forward to getting on a road course,” says Allmendinger, whose only Cup Series victory came at Watkins Glen with JTG Daugherty Racing in 2014. “Road America has always been such a cool race track for me, and I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to win there in Champ Car, win there in Xfinity…
“I think having the doubleheader with Cup is going to be an awesome weekend—the Fourth of July weekend. When I think of Road America, you think of camping, Fourth of July, fireworks, things like that. What a perfect venue for it. Overall, pumped up to go there, knowing how we ran at Mid-Ohio and the success we had.”
Other double duty drivers include Kyle Busch (last Sunday’s Pocono winner), Austin Cindric (who led four laps in the rain-drenched inaugural Cup race at COTA before Elliott took control) and Kevin Harvick (who is seeking his first Cup victory of the season after running eighth and fourth in last weekend’s Pocono doubleheader).
Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and Daytona Road Course winner Christopher Bell are two other drivers who have posted Xfinity Series victories at Road America.
Source: Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service
