Finally, a late lead didn’t disappear for Michael McDowell at Road America. Michael McDowell edged teammate Brendan Gaughan by 0.534 seconds for his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory. Michael McDowell held on through the critical eighth turn, and cut off Gaughan’s passing lanes. As a result, Gaughan couldn’t catch up despite racing with fresher tires.
Micheal McDowell has the ending that he sorely wanted after five other attempts at the sprawling road course. McDowell finished second in 2012. Furthermore, he dominated most of the race the previous year before losing the lead on the second of three attempts at a green-white-checkered overtime finish.
“I’ve been so close here at Road America the last few years. To finally finish it off and also close it out was huge. It’s been the plan for about five years now.” said McDowell, a 31-year-old from Phoenix who began his racing career in sports cars. “Leading so many laps and just not finishing it off, today was a great day. Furthermore, I can finally can check it off the box. It’s hard to go back and watch replays and videos and see the green-white-checkered you get passed or great restart. Finally, I’ll be able to go back and watch this and that’s going to be awesome.”
Brenden Gaughan, the race winner’s teammate, nearly ruined Michael McDowell’s race. The 2014 Road America 180 victor spent most of the race running in the second. In the closing laps, Gaughan moved from fourth place to second. The experienced driver completed a three-wide pass of Daniel Suarez and Justin Marks in Turn 5.
Consequently, Michael McDowell was the only racer between him and the victory. Michael McDowell refused to suffer another late race defeat and pushed the Childress Racing winning streak at Road America to three straight.
“When you’re racing your teammate you’ve got to have a little more respect maybe than normal,” Gaughan said. “I almost got close enough to him to make him make a mistake. I knew we had fresher tires, so I knew that we had a good shot. And after the one lap, I also could tell that Turns 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 I was better than him. That’s where I was hoping I could make my move. I tried, and I tried one more time in 14, but his old Goodyear tires had enough good in ’em.”
Alex Tagliani from Team Penske, started from the pole position for the second time in two NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Road America. He insisted that Michael McDowell intentionally tangled with him on lap 29. Tagliani, who finished second here in 2014, wound up seventh. McDowell was questioned about the tussle during his post-race interview. McDowell maintained that the incident wasn’t intentional.
“He went wide in Turn 5 and I got under Justin Marks and Alex Tagliani,” McDowell said. “I was alongside of him and he just decided to turn in. Once we made contact, I just came off the brake and pushed him out of the way. And the reason I did that is because if had I not, I’d have been stuck there too and I would have got run over.”
JR Motorsport’s Elliott Sadler managed to keep his 47 point lead over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Suarez. Sadler guided his OneMain Chevrolet to an eighth place finish. Suarez gained a little ground on the savvy veteran when he placed his #19 ARRIS Toyota in the fifth position.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Road America 180 took two hours and 36 minutes to complete. The average speed of the field was 74.573 miles per hour and the margin of victory was .534 seconds. There were six lead changes between five different drivers. Furthermore, Alex Tagliani took home the Coors Light Pole Award for his qualifying efforts earlier that day.
The Final Results for the Road America 180:
1. (2) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 48 laps, 0 rating, 0 points.
2. (8) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 40.
3. (12) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 38.
4. (5) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 48, 0, 37.
5. (7) Ryan Reed, Ford, 48, 0, 36.
6. (11) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 35.
7. (1) Alex Tagliani, Ford, 48, 0, 35.
8. (14) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 33.
9. (13) Darrell Wallace Jr, Ford, 48, 0, 32.
10. (17) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 48, 0, 31.
11. (25) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 30.
12. (6) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 29.
13. (27) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 48, 0, 28.
14. (39) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 27.
15. (24) Ray Black Jr, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 26.
16. (22) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 25.
17. (4) Owen Kelly, Toyota, 48, 0, 24.
18. (9) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 23.
19. (18) James Davison, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 22.
20. (21) Alex Kennedy, Ford, 48, 0, 0.
21. (10) Erik Jones, Toyota, 48, 0, 21.
22. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 19.
23. (31) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 0.
24. (32) David Starr, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 17.
25. (16) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 16.
26. (28) Tomy Drissi, Toyota, 48, 0, 15.
27. (26) Stanton Barrett, Ford, 48, 0, 14.
28. (35) B J McLeod, Ford, 48, 0, 13.
29. (20) Scott Heckert, Ford, 48, 0, 12.
30. (40) Alon Day, Toyota, 48, 0, 11.
31. (38) Paige Decker, Chevrolet, 48, 0, 10.
32. (3) Justin Marks, Chevrolet, 47, 0, 9.
33. (15) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 43, 0, 8.
34. (19) Kenny Habul, Chevrolet, suspension, 26, 0, 7.
35. (37) John Jackson, Dodge, brakes, 22, 0, 6.
36. (33) Nicolas Hammann, Dodge, reargear, 22, 0, 5.
37. (34) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, fuelpump, 20, 0, 4.
38. (23) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, electrical, 6, 0, 3.
39. (30) Jeff Green, Toyota, brakes, 4, 0, 2.
40. (29) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, accident, 2, 0, 1.
