Xfinity cars will be on track just one day
The Henry 180 on Saturday headlines a weekend that has been restructured, like just about everything else this year in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is on track just one day, with no practice or qualifying before the start on the 4.048mile road course in Elkhart Lake. The 45-lap race is the 18th of 31 on schedule that has changed numerous times.
Other series in action over the threeday weekend will be the popular Stadium Super Trucks, Trans Am and Lamborghini Super Trofeo.
Nuts and bolts
When: The Henry 180 is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday.
Broadcasts: TV – NBCSN. Radio –
MRN, including AM-920 in Milwaukee.
2019 recap: Christopher Bell held off road-racing veteran A.J. Allmendinger lap after lap and then beat him on a late restart and drove away for the first roadcourse victory of his promising career. Allmendinger got bounced around and fell to 24th.
Support series: Testing and practice Thursday, practice and qualifying Friday. Lamborghini races are set for 4:15 p.m. Friday and 9:15 a.m. Saturday. Trans Am is set for 8 a.m. Saturday to start the day, with the separate TA2 race following NASCAR. Super Trucks have races at 10:15 a.m. and 3:35 p.m. Saturday.
Five storylines
Practice, practice: Well … actually no practice, at least in Xfinity cars, for the entire field, including a drivers who may never seen Road America in person. Rookies Riley Herbst and Harrison Burton both are entered in Trans Am’s TA2 race, which has testing, practice and qualifying sessions totaling 3 hours on the track before the first lap of the Henry 180.
Leader of the pack: Austin Cindric sits atop the standings after winning three straight races in July. He finished second last year, giving up third place for fresh tires with two laps to go and then storming through the field. But Cindric’s previous results and average finish of 18.3 are deceiving. In his series debut in 2017, he started from the pole and got caught up in an accident while running in the top five. In 2018, he led two laps and had a competitive run ended by an engine failure.
Do-able double? Road America begins its second decade in the series and has had different drivers win each of the first 10 races. Three drivers could end that streak: A.J. Allmendinger (2013),
Justin Allgaier (2017) and Jeremy Clements (2018).
Student of the sport: Chase Briscoe, who came into NASCAR off open-wheel short-track racing, has developed into a solid road racer. The most recent of his series-best five victories came on the infield course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with mirrors full of Cindric. He led two laps and finished seventh last year in his first Road America race and was back last weekend with IMSA to reacquaint himself with the layout.
The start of something messy: Because of the varying degrees of experience and road-racing acumen in the field and the fact that the lineup will be set by draw rather than qualifying, expect a jumble – or maybe complete chaos – when the green flag flies. Think of Allmendinger desperate to pick his way through the field from the rear onethird while young newcomers tread lightly at the front.