While Austin Dillon may have won his first career series race last weekend at Kentucky Speedway and look the points lead, it was his post race inspection failure that is still making the headlines. On Monday, Dillon was docked six driver pints, putting him four points behind his RCR teammate Elliott Sadler. Could Dllon be the first NNS champion to win a championship for another series the previous year?
This weekend serves at the qualifying race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash bonus program that awards the highest-finishing eligible driver in each of this season’s four D4C races a $100,000 bonus on top of their race winners. The bonus races are New Hampshire, Chicagoland, Indianapolis, and Iowa.
The rules are simple:
The four highest-finishing NNS driver championship contenders at Daytona will be eligible for the $100,000 D4C bonus at New Hampshire. The driver who finishes the highest among those four at NHMS – he or she does not have to win the race – will win the first $100,000 bonus and also become eligible for the next Dash 4 Cash race at Chicagoland. The next three highest-finishing series regulars at New Hampshire will then be eligible for Chicagoland, and these same rules will apply for Indianapolis and Iowa. Should the same driver capture the three previous D4C bonuses and win the Iowa race outright, he or she will win an extra $600,000, bringing the total payout to $1 million.
Last year, Joey Logano was able to capture his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the 2011 season while some big names, including Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart, and Elliott Sadler were wrecking behind him off Turn 4. Will we get the same excitement this year?
At Daytona anything is possible. My pick for this weekend is Kyle Busch, who will be driving his own car this Friday night while his brother, Kurt, will be driving for James Finch Racing. Who is your race pick?
Entry List:
1 1 Kurt Busch(i) James Finch Nick Harrison 12 Chevrolet HendrickCars.com
2 01 Mike Wallace Johnny Davis Newt Moore 12 Chevrolet TBA
3 2 Elliott Sadler Delana Harvick Luke Lambert 12 Chevrolet One Main Financial
4 3 Austin Dillon Morgan Shepherd Danny Stockman Jr 12 Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops
5 4 Danny Efland Rusty Wallace Thomas Efland Jr 12 Chevrolet TBA
6 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Jack Roush Michael Kelley 12 Ford NOS
7 7 Danica Patrick Kelley Earnhardt-Miller Tony Eury Jr 12 Chevrolet GoDaddy.com/NASCAR Unites-An American Salute
8 108 Bryan Silas(i) Randy Hill George Ingram 12 Ford Randy Hill Racing
9 10 Jeff Green Mark Smith Todd Myers 12 Toyota TBD
10 11 Brian Scott J D Gibbs Kevin Kidd 12 Toyota Dollar General
11 12 Sam Hornish Jr Roger Penske Chad Walter 12 Dodge Wurth
12 14 Eric McClure Mark Smith Wes Ward 12 Toyota Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry
13 15 Jeffrey Earnhardt Rick Ware George Church 12 Chevrolet Tobacco Free Florida.com
14 18 Denny Hamlin(i) Joe Gibbs Matthew Lucas 12 Toyota Dollar General
15 19 Tayler Malsam Mark Smith Eddie Pardue 12 Toyota G-Oil / Ryobi
16 20 Joey Logano(i) Joe Gibbs Adam Stevens 12 Toyota SportClips
17 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Roger Penske Jeremy Bullins 12 Dodge Discount Tire
18 23 Robert Richardson Jr Robert Richardson Sr Greg Conner 12 Chevrolet N TX Pipe
19 124 Casey Roderick Jason Sciavicco Benny Gordon 12 Chevrolet West Virginia Miners Baseball
20 30 James Buescher(i) Harry Scott Jr Trent Owens 12 Chevrolet Ron Jon Surf Shop/Quicksilver
21 31 Justin Allgaier Sandra Turner Jimmy Elledge 12 Chevrolet Brandt
22 33 Kevin Harvick(i) Delana Harvick Ernie Cope 12 Chevrolet Menards
23 136 Bobby Santos III Beth Baldwin Brad Parrott 12 Chevrolet Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
24 38 Brad Sweet Steve Turner Mike Shiplett 12 Chevrolet Great Clips
25 39 Josh Richards Archie St Hilaire Clinton Cram 12 Ford JOY
26 40 Erik Darnell Curtis Key Sr Gary Showalter 12 Chevrolet TBA
27 41 Timmy Hill Rick Ware Jeff Spraker 12 Ford Poynt.com
28 42 Josh Wise(i) Curtis Key Sr Mike Sroufe 12 Chevrolet TBA
29 43 Michael Annett Sandra Turner Philippe Lopez 12 Ford Pilot Flying J
30 44 Mike Bliss Mark Smith Paul Clapprood 12 Toyota TBA
31 46 Chase Miller Curtis Key Sr Jacob Richardson 12 Chevrolet The Motorsports Group
32 47 Scott Speed(i) Curtis Key Sr Chris Bohlman 12 Chevrolet Curtis Key Plumbing
33 50 T J Bell Rusty Wallace Bobby Burrell 12 Chevrolet TBA
34 51 Jeremy Clements Tony Clements Ricky Pearson 10 Chevrolet Clements Automotive
35 52 Kevin Lepage Jimmy Means Tim Brown 12 Chevrolet My Three Sons Vending
36 54 Kyle Busch(i) Kyle Busch Mike Beam 12 Toyota Monster Energy
37 70 Johanna Long Mary Louise Miller Mark Gutekunst 12 Chevrolet Foretravel
38 174 Mike Harmon Mike Harmon Daniel Kolanda 12 Chevrolet Koma Unwind
39 81 Jason Bowles Gina MacDonald John Monsam 12 Toyota American Majority
40 82 Blake Koch Pat MacDonald Doug Howe 12 Dodge SilverSaver.com
41 87 Joe Nemechek Andrea Nemechek Gary Cogswell 12 Toyota AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves
42 88 Cole Whitt Dale Earnhardt Jr Bruce Cook 12 Chevrolet Degree MEN
43 89 Morgan Shepherd Morgan Shepherd Gary Ravan 12 Chevrolet TBA
44 199 John Wes Townley(i) Robby Benton Scott Zipadelli 12 Toyota Barberitos
