It was looking like in an uncharacteristically clean Ford EcoBoost 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, where the Roush Fenway Racing duo of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne would be battling for the trophy. But, a gutsy call by crew chief Luke Lambert to keep his driver on the racetrack during the last caution flag of the afternoon, propelled Elliott Sadler back to victory lane for the second time in four races this season.
Sadler, driving the No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet Impala, took the victory two weeks ago at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway in the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200, putting an exclamation point on the Richard Childress Racing team’s focus in winning the 2012 Nationwide Series championship.
In 2001, Sadler scored his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at BMS driving for the legendary Wood Bros. Racing, and ironically it was a similar call 11 years ago that would send the Emporia, Virginia native back to victory lane at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”
“This is a strong race team and this damn sure feels good,” said a jubilant Sadler in victory lane, who led the final 35 of the race’s 300 circuits. Also, for the first time in his NASCAR career, Sadler’s mother and father were in attendance to see their son’s seventh (but first in person) career Nationwide win in 168 starts.
Kasey Kahne, driving the No. 38 Great Clips Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports finished second.
Brad Keselowski in the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T was stalking the Fords of Stenhouse Jr. and Bayne late in the fourth race of the season, when the final caution waived for an incident involving former series champion Kyle Busch. Lighting nearly struck on-track under the breather when Keselowski and Sadler nudged as their cars began to enter pit road. Keselowski chalked it up to a racing deal and strictly enforced “I’m not sure what happened, I knew I was coming to pit road, I’m not sure what really happened there, I don’t want to speak for Elliott (Sadler).”
Joey Logano in the No. 18 GameStop Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, who literally dominated the early stages of the Ford EcoBoost 300, had to settle for fourth with Dale Earnhardt Jr., finishing fifth afer starting 16th in his No. 5 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet Impala.
Pole-sitter Logano led the first 66 laps of the 300-lap rumble before Kyle Busch made a daring move in traffic, shooting between several lap cars to steal the lead from his fellow Toyota teammate to lead through lap 106 – all under green flag racing conditions.
The first yellow flag of the day waived on lap 106 when Joey Gase, a rookie driver in the No. 39 Go Green Racing Ford Mustang, slapped the wall in turn four. With much of the field off the lead circuit, pit stops began with Logano beating the pack off pit lane to reassume control of the event.
On the restart, Logano would again whisk away from the pack and lead for 53 laps before Trevor Bayne, who, thanks to last minute sponsorship, was in attendance and was able to boot his No. 60 yourracecar.com / Crawdads Classics / Lally Horse Stables Ford Mustang into the lead. Behind Bayne would be the reigning NASCAR Nationwide Series champion, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who patiently but aggressively kept his No. 6 Cargrill / Blackwell Angus Ford Mustang directly behind Bayne’s No. 60. Stenhouse would take the lead on lap 224 and hold it for 41 laps before the yellow flag waived.
Rewinding back for a second, Kyle Busch’s chances of winning at Bristol Motor Speedway would take a plunge in the middle of the race, when he was forced to bring his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry to pit road under green following a pit stop where it was determined that the former series’ champion had a loose wheel. With Busch now off the lead circuit, he would have to wait for a wave-around to make his return to the lead lap. However, after slapping the wall in turn four on lap 264 and bringing out the event’s final yellow, Busch would exit from the winner’s radar and settle for a discouraging 17th place finish.
Meanwhile, because of Busch’s misfortune, pit road was open with Lambert electing to keep his driver out and a host of automobiles thundering to pit road for their final stop of the day all with different agendas. Some took two, others took four, one thing was for certain, the restart was setting up to be exciting nonetheless.
Almost immediately, in clean air, Sadler’s blue and white Chevrolet bowtie inched away from the field while the battle was on for the runner-up spot between Kahne and Keselowski. As for the two Roush Fenway Racing talents, their pit strategy proved to backfire as they found themselves mixed in heavy traffic and beating and banging for their rightful placement in “Thunder Valley.”
With the short-track chaos behind him, Sadler would be able to cruise to victory for the second time at Bristol Motor Speedway edging Kahne by 1.159 seconds when the checkered flag was thrown.
Stenhouse Jr. finished sixth with Justin Allgaier, a former Nationwide winner at Bristol, sandwiched in-between his teammate Bayne who claimed eighth. Kevin Harvick recovered from a speeding penalty on pit road to finish ninth with Ryan Truex in his No. 20 Grime Boss Toyota Camry for JGR comprising the top-10.
Michael Annett, the former two-time ARCA Racing Series winner continues a solid start to his season and posted an 11th place finish in the No. 43 Pilot Travel Centers Ford Mustang for Richard Petty Motorsports with, Austin Dillon, teammate to Sadler ranking 12th.
Sam Hornish Jr. recovered from a spin during the race to bring home an evil-handling No. 12 Alliance Auto Parts Dodge Challenger R/T home in 13th ahead of Turner Motorsports’ James Buescher and Tri Star Motorsports’ Mike Bliss in 15th.
The females struggled at BMS Saturday afternoon. Despite being out-qualified by Johanna Long, Danica Patrick was able to persevere in the race and finish 19th two laps off the pace in her No. 7 which was sprinkled with shamrocks to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day. Long, in her Nationwide Series short-track debut couldn’t find the comfort she was looking for and swallowed a 29th place finish.
Brian Scott, a favorite in the NASCAR Nationwide Series garage, continues to fight hardship on the tour in 2012. After being involved in incidents at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway last weekend, Scott’s No. 11 Dollar General Toyota Camry despite showing extreme speed would this week fall victim to mechanical failure with his clutch thus resulting in a 35th place finish after starting fifth.
Blake Koch, in the No. 41 RiseUpAndRegister.com Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, qualified a welcomed 19th and remained safely and competitively inside the top-20 before the engine seized in his machine on lap 117 thus ending what looked to be a promising day for the Florida native. He would suffer an undeserving 38th place finish.
Leaving Bristol, Sadler increases his points lead over Stenhouse Jr. by 25 markers with Bayne in third, just 29 points behind the top spot. Rookies Austin Dillon (-30) and Cole Whitt (-41) round out the top-five in the championship chase. Whitt finished 16th in his Nationwide debut at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Next up for the Nationwide Series is a return trip out west for the running of the Royal Purple 300 at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway next Saturday, March 24th.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
