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NNS: Sorenson Wins Wild One At Road America
NASCAR awards victory to Reed Sorenson in controversial finish…
Three green-white-checkereds.
The leader running out of gas on the final lap – under caution.
One driver taking the checkered flag behind the pace car as the leader and another driver winning.
A former Formula One series champion driving like a wild man over the closing laps and crashing two contenders.
That – and much, much more – happened in the Bucyrus 200 Nationwide Series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI Saturday afternoon. Oh, by the way, Reed Sorenson won the race, although that fact was not at all clear as the field rolled under the checkered flag under caution.
It was one of the strangest closing segments in a NASCAR race in recent history.
Sorenson, winless since 2007, was declared the winner minutes after the completion of the race after NASCAR determined that Ron Fellows, who finished the race first, had passed Sorenson under caution on the final lap as Sorenson was maintaining proper caution speed.
Fellows took the checkered flag as the leader behind the pace car, but Sorenson drove his car alongside Fellows at the finish, in effect stating his case for being the leader.
The unofficial race finish listed Sorenson first, Fellows second, Jacques Villeneuve third, Elliott Sadler fourth and Mike Wallace fifth.
Fellows and Sorenson got chances to win the race only because of the misfortunes of Justin Allgaier and Michael McDowell.
McDowell led much of the race but lost a seven-second lead when a late-race caution flag bunched the field. Then he lost first place and a shot at the victory when over-aggressive driving sent him off the track during a second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish.
Allgaier charged into first place as McDowell lost control in turn five, but then crashes in turn six forced another caution and a third green-white-checkered attempt.
Allgaier led the field into what would be the final two laps of the race, but his car was about to run out of fuel as the day’s final caution flag appeared for yet another crash, thus effectively freezing the field. As Allgaier struggled unsuccessfully to keep his car moving as the field slowed under the yellow, Fellows shot past Sorenson, who was in second, and Allgaier and thus moved into the lead – at least temporarily. He stayed in front until the finish, but NASCAR then declared Sorenson the winner.
“I knew it was close on gas for all of us,” Sorenson said. “I was just able to make it to the end. We had a good car all day, maybe not a winning car but good enough to make it to the end.”
Allgaier shot past McDowell to take the lead on the first lap of the second green-white-checkered attempt, but caution flew seconds later as several cars ran off the course in a mad scramble in turn six, forcing the third green-white-checkered.
Allgaier took the lead in turn five as McDowell ran too hard into the turn and flew off the right side of the track. McDowell then ran off track again in the turn-six mayhem.
McDowell wound up 12th and Allgaier 19th.
On the first green-white-checkered attempt, Villeneuve, once an F1 champion, tried to move up quickly from fifth position entering the first turn, but his car ran onto the grass on the right side of the track, lost traction and slammed into Brian Scott and then Reed Sorenson, sending Papis hard into the fence and leaving him questioning Villeneuve’s skills, to put it mildly.
Scott bumped into Villeneuve’s car on pit road after the race, and Papis stopped his crumpled car near Villeneuve’s pit to discuss the matter.
The nature of the race changed dramatically with three laps to go when Doug Harrington spun off the course for the third time, causing a caution and wiping out the seven-second lead McDowell had built. He appeared to be cruising to the victory before Harrington’s spin into the fence.
That bunched the field for a restart and gave McDowell’s pursuers a final shot.
The victory hopes of Villeneuve, whose Penske Racing Dodge was one of the fastest cars in the race, took a big hit about halfway through the race when he was penalized for an on-track rules violation.
On a restart, Villeneuve, running second to McDowell, moved to the right on the track to fall in behind McDowell, but he made the move before reaching the start-finish line, a violation. NASCAR blackflagged Villeneuve and hit him with a pass-through penalty, dropping him from the lead.
Villeneuve clawed his way from 22nd position into the top five by the end of the race before sparking much of the late-race mayhem.
Papis also was hit with a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes along pit road during a pit-stop sequence.
The race was an adventure for series point leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
He collided with Sorensen on the second lap of the race, causing both cars to spin. The left front of Stenhouse’s car was damaged.
Sorenson rallied from that early incident to put himself in position to win late in the event. The victory was the fourth of his career, and he moved into the series point lead.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
The leader running out of gas on the final lap – under caution.
One driver taking the checkered flag behind the pace car as the leader and another driver winning.
A former Formula One series champion driving like a wild man over the closing laps and crashing two contenders.
That – and much, much more – happened in the Bucyrus 200 Nationwide Series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI Saturday afternoon. Oh, by the way, Reed Sorenson won the race, although that fact was not at all clear as the field rolled under the checkered flag under caution.
It was one of the strangest closing segments in a NASCAR race in recent history.
Sorenson, winless since 2007, was declared the winner minutes after the completion of the race after NASCAR determined that Ron Fellows, who finished the race first, had passed Sorenson under caution on the final lap as Sorenson was maintaining proper caution speed.
Fellows took the checkered flag as the leader behind the pace car, but Sorenson drove his car alongside Fellows at the finish, in effect stating his case for being the leader.
The unofficial race finish listed Sorenson first, Fellows second, Jacques Villeneuve third, Elliott Sadler fourth and Mike Wallace fifth.
Fellows and Sorenson got chances to win the race only because of the misfortunes of Justin Allgaier and Michael McDowell.
McDowell led much of the race but lost a seven-second lead when a late-race caution flag bunched the field. Then he lost first place and a shot at the victory when over-aggressive driving sent him off the track during a second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish.
Allgaier charged into first place as McDowell lost control in turn five, but then crashes in turn six forced another caution and a third green-white-checkered attempt.
Allgaier led the field into what would be the final two laps of the race, but his car was about to run out of fuel as the day’s final caution flag appeared for yet another crash, thus effectively freezing the field. As Allgaier struggled unsuccessfully to keep his car moving as the field slowed under the yellow, Fellows shot past Sorenson, who was in second, and Allgaier and thus moved into the lead – at least temporarily. He stayed in front until the finish, but NASCAR then declared Sorenson the winner.
“I knew it was close on gas for all of us,” Sorenson said. “I was just able to make it to the end. We had a good car all day, maybe not a winning car but good enough to make it to the end.”
Allgaier shot past McDowell to take the lead on the first lap of the second green-white-checkered attempt, but caution flew seconds later as several cars ran off the course in a mad scramble in turn six, forcing the third green-white-checkered.
Allgaier took the lead in turn five as McDowell ran too hard into the turn and flew off the right side of the track. McDowell then ran off track again in the turn-six mayhem.
McDowell wound up 12th and Allgaier 19th.
On the first green-white-checkered attempt, Villeneuve, once an F1 champion, tried to move up quickly from fifth position entering the first turn, but his car ran onto the grass on the right side of the track, lost traction and slammed into Brian Scott and then Reed Sorenson, sending Papis hard into the fence and leaving him questioning Villeneuve’s skills, to put it mildly.
Scott bumped into Villeneuve’s car on pit road after the race, and Papis stopped his crumpled car near Villeneuve’s pit to discuss the matter.
The nature of the race changed dramatically with three laps to go when Doug Harrington spun off the course for the third time, causing a caution and wiping out the seven-second lead McDowell had built. He appeared to be cruising to the victory before Harrington’s spin into the fence.
That bunched the field for a restart and gave McDowell’s pursuers a final shot.
The victory hopes of Villeneuve, whose Penske Racing Dodge was one of the fastest cars in the race, took a big hit about halfway through the race when he was penalized for an on-track rules violation.
On a restart, Villeneuve, running second to McDowell, moved to the right on the track to fall in behind McDowell, but he made the move before reaching the start-finish line, a violation. NASCAR blackflagged Villeneuve and hit him with a pass-through penalty, dropping him from the lead.
Villeneuve clawed his way from 22nd position into the top five by the end of the race before sparking much of the late-race mayhem.
Papis also was hit with a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes along pit road during a pit-stop sequence.
The race was an adventure for series point leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
He collided with Sorensen on the second lap of the race, causing both cars to spin. The left front of Stenhouse’s car was damaged.
Sorenson rallied from that early incident to put himself in position to win late in the event. The victory was the fourth of his career, and he moved into the series point lead.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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