Nationwide Breakdown: O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge

The sun was shining at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon for the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ 31st race of 2014. But it was bright as ever on the Monster Energy Toyota after its driver won the Camping World Truck Series event on Friday night and followed it up with another win the next day.

Kyle Busch piloted his No. 54 car to Victory Lane in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway by approximately one and a half seconds over Joey Logano.

Busch captured his seventh win of the year for Joe Gibbs Racing, and ever so slightly closed the gap in the owner points between the Nos. 22 and 54 teams. The triumph marks Gibbs’ 100th career win as an owner in the Nationwide Series, now 33 victories behind Roush Fenway Racing for the series lead.

After leading 116 laps at Texas, Busch has 70 career wins in NASCAR’s second-tier division. In 18 Nationwide Series events at Texas, he now has seven victories, which ranks as the most at the 1.5-mile speedway over Kevin Harvick, who has five wins at the track.

Logano took charge for 59 laps, including holding the lead with less than 40 laps remaining in the race. However, Busch drove around the No. 22 Ford with 31 laps to go. With green-flag pit stops occurring late in the race, the leaders came down at the same time, but Logano wasn’t able to keep up with his fellow Sprint Cup Series competitor.

The race lasted approximately two hours and 15 minutes, which was five minutes longer than the April event at the track. With 13 lead changes between five drivers, the race had one fewer swap for the lead compared to the last event at the track. However, the 13 lead changes is also above Texas’ average of 11.21 in 28 events at the track.

Chase Elliott, who finished the day in fourth place, now holds a 54-point advantage over teammate Regan Smith entering Phoenix – the second to final race of the year. Brian Scott sits third in points, 15 markers behind Smith, with Elliott Sadler fourth and Ty Dillon fifth. Trevor Bayne, Chris Buescher, Brendan Gaughan, Ryan Reed and Dylan Kwasniewski round out the top 10 in the point standings with two races left in the year.

The Good

Chase Elliott was racing outside of the top 10 for the majority of the race. However, after major changes to his No. 9 car, he was able to work his way into the top 10, and eventually the top 5. He was able to extend his championship points lead over JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith in the process with a 54-point advantage entering Phoenix. But Elliott and crew chief Greg Ives showed exactly why they are leading the standings heading into the final pair of races in the season with 15 top-5 results on the year.

Ryan Blaney, running his 13th Nationwide Series event of the year, finished the day with a third-place finish for Team Penske. Although the No. 54 team closed the gap on the No. 22 in the owner’s standings, Blaney was up there all day long as he attempted to keep Busch behind Logano. It was Blaney’s ninth top-5 result of 2014, yet it was the first time since Chicago that he has not led a lap in a Nationwide Series race (he’s run two races since then).

The Bad

Trevor Bayne led 15 laps early in the race, appearing as if he was going to be one of the cars to beat during the 300-mile spectacle. However, on lap 48, Bayne blew a right-front tire. When he hit the wall in turn 1, the No. 6 car caught fire, which forced Bayne to pull his car onto the apron on the backstretch. After the incident, he said that it was the best Nationwide Series car he has ever driven. Prior to Saturday’s race, he has led just 62 laps this year, which is his lowest since leading 34 laps in his rookie season in 2009.

The Ugly

Elliott Sadler suffered from food poisoning throughout the day. Clint Bowyer qualified for him in the No. 11 Toyota. Prior to the race, Sadler went to the infield care center, receiving treatment, but it wasn’t enough to get him better for the race. On lap 10, Bowyer took the helm of the Joe Gibbs Racing car. Although he went on to finish ninth, it disabled Sadler from racing with a team that he is departing at the end of the year.

Ryan Sieg was running in 21st when he spun out. He was on the low side of Corey LaJoie, causing his car to get loose. Sieg’s left-rear tire flew off of the car onto the backstretch. As he went back up the race track, the No. 39 car slammed into the left-rear of LaJoie’s car. Both drivers were fine after the wreck, but their cars were not. Sieg ended up finishing 33rd, while LaJoie ended the day one better in 32nd.

Underdog Performer of the Race

Dakoda Armstrong earned his third career top-1o finish at Texas. The No. 43 team was able to finish 10th after not pitting during the final round of green-flag pit stops. Armstrong’s team has notably struggled at intermediate tracks this year, recording a mere 10 top 20s. But the team was running outside of the top-15 throughout the day, and took a chance on strategy by having the risk of running out of fuel.

Along with Armstrong’s solid run, Brian Scott finished the day in the sixth position. After running third for a chunk of the race, Scott fell back during the final restart on lap 136. However, with Richard Childress Racing’s consistency at intermediate tracks this year, the No. 2 team was able to tally up their 21st top-10 finish, which is a career-high for Scott.

Double Duty and Start-and-Park Effect

Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth represented the Sprint Cup Series inside of the top 5 on Saturday afternoon. Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Landon Cassill, JJ Yeley and Trevor Bayne are also running the Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday as well with Logano, Kenseth and Harvick fighting to advance to the final round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Five of the 40 cars opted to start-and-park at Texas. The five drivers to end their day prematurely were Ryan Ellis, Blake Koch, Carlos Contreras, Joey Gase and Martin Roy.

The Final Word

Chase Elliott is closer than ever before to clinching his first career championship in a NASCAR-sanctioned division. He has been the most consistent driver in the field on a weekly basis, but what has stood out is his raw speed no matter what track the division has raced at. In order to clinch the title at Phoenix, he’ll need to be 48 points ahead of Smith. The No. 7 team will need to be eight spots ahead of the No. 9 if neither of them leads a lap. If Smith leads a lap and Elliott does not, he’ll need to be seven spots ahead of Elliott. However, if Elliott leads a lap and Smith doesn’t, Elliott will need to be seven positions ahead of the No. 7 car.

But with all this discussion about the championship, most have forgotten about what is going to happen next year. Elliott and Smith are each returning to JR Motorsports in 2015. They are expected to be just as competitive next season, but they have to work on their intermediate track program. Although Elliott has run rather well on those tracks, Smith has struggled, which has been the game changer in the championship race this year. With a possibly strong JR Motorsports, everyone else in the Nationwide Series field is going to be aiming to keep up with it in 2015.

Sadler is moving over to Roush Fenway Racing next year, but he has come short of the championship for the last few years. Dillon is going to likely be stronger next year, yet his team is going to need a drop more speed after being one of the most consistent drivers on the circuit with 22 top-10 results. There will be a few more drivers competing for the title next year such as Chris Buescher and Brendan Gaughan, but the outlook is amazing for JR Motorsports as it has the strongest equipment at the majority of the tracks.