NASCAR 2012 - NWS at Chicago

STP 300




Submitted by Rick A. Talford

NASCAR Enthusiast



JOLIET, ILLINOIS - The Nationwide Series ran this weekends race in Chicagoland. The STP 300 was 200 laps on the mile and a half race track. James Buescher won the Truck race the night prior on the track. On a day when Penn State would remove Joe Paterno’s statue from outside the Beaver Stadium, # 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would take the Pole for the race being held later in the day. This is a track that Jack Roush’s teams have never won a race at, but Stenhouse Jr. was giving them a good chance. # 3 Austin Dillon would start second. The “Dash for Cash” was back again for this race, giving the best finisher among Elliott Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Sam Hornish Jr. a $100,000.0 extra bonus. Dillon won the first round of four that are included in the Dash. # 54 Kyle Busch was the only Cup driver involved in this race, in his own car. The group “Million Dollar Quartet” sang the National Anthem, while a fly over was done by the local T-38’s called the Lucky Devils. The flags were hung at half mass, for the shooting victims in Colorado.



While many drivers were starting their first round of green flag stops, # 23 Jamie Dick stalled his car leaving pit road. This brought out the first caution on lap 53. # 54 Kyle Busch began his day with a penalty for speeding while exiting pit road. # 33 Brendan Gaughn did not have much better luck, as he hit the pit road commitment cone, which he received a penalty also. A second caution came out as pit stops were happening again on lap 112. On lap 130, a third caution came out for # 38 Brad Sweet losing control and spinning out. Again on lap 166, Sweet spun out a second time, bringing out the fourth caution. The final caution came out on lap 192 when # 12 Sam Hornish Jr. ran into the back end of # 54 Kyle Busch, turning him sideways into # 33 Brendan Gaughn. They crashed hard into the outside wall, ending Busch’s race. He would finish in 26th place, after being close to the top ten all day. Busch would go to his trailer without speaking to media, as he does regularly when he doesn’t win a race.



The race would conclude under the Green-White-Checker Rules. # 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dominated the race, but fell short of victory while # 2 Elliott Sadler took off at the restart, and didn’t have to worry about being caught before getting to the checkered flag. Sadler would also take the $100,000.00 extra in bonus money. Stenhouse Jr. finished second. The rest of the top ten were: # 31 Justin Allgaier, # 09 Kenny Wallace, # 43 Michael Annett, # 3 Austin Dillon, # 22 Parker Klingerman, # 12 Sam Hornish Jr., # 88 Cole Whitt and # 18 Ryan Truex. # 7 Danica Patrick ran well, and finished 14th.



The next round for the “Dash for Cash” will be next Saturday, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 3 PM. This will be Nationwide’s first time at the famed race track. Sadler, Stenhouse Jr., Allgaier and Kenny Wallace will be racing for the extra bonus money.