Road America has never had a repeat NASCAR winner in 14 races. Will that change this weekend?
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When NASCAR brought its premier Cup Series to Road America last season after 10 years of standalone Xfinity Series weekends, victory lane had yet to see a repeat winner.
No repeat NASCAR winner, anyway. A.J. Allmendinger had the distinction of being victorious in Champ Car at the rolling 4-mile track in Elkhart Lake five years before taking the checkered flag in a stock car.
Given the Xfinity Series (known as the Nationwide Series when it arrived in 2010) is in part a development division, that makes some sense. Drivers most often are trying to move up, and winners are more likely to get that opportunity. The race also produced some surprise winners who rarely or never got back to victory lane. But several winners have had other chances at Road America and didn't close the deal.
More: What you need to know about NASCAR weekend at Road America and how to watch in person or on TV
The chances to break that streak went up in 2021 with a doubleheader weekend with many Cup Series stars racing Saturday for practice, but no one could. So the track’s record stands at 14 NASCAR races with 14 winners – including Tim Flock in the 1956 one-off event – with the Xfinity Series Henry 180 on Saturday and Cup Series Kwik Trip 250 on Sunday.
Here’s a look at the modern-era races:
2010 Nationwide Series Bucyrus 200
Who won?
Carl Edwards
With his time at the track interrupted by a trip to California for Cup Series practice, the full-time double-duty driver Edwards won the pole and the race, finishing 4.3 seconds ahead of Ron Fellows. Edwards' biggest challenge came from Jacques Villeneuve, whose car succumbed to mechanical trouble a half-lap from the finish. Edwards had won the series’ previous Wisconsin stop at the Milwaukee Mile.
What became of the winner?
Edwards didn’t race again at Road America, missing the next year to stay in California to concentrate on Cup. He retired after 2016 with 28 wins in the Cup Series, 38 in Nationwide and six in trucks, a Nationwide title and a near-miss in Cup when he lost the 2006 title in a tiebreaker. He has stayed away from racing in retirement.
2011 Nationwide Series Bucyrus 200
Who won?
Reed Sorenson
The better question might be, what didn’t happen in the race?
Sorenson led only a fraction of the final lap of a race that went seven laps beyond its scheduled distance for three attempts to have an at-speed finish. And then his victory celebration was interrupted when he got sick.
But let’s back up.
Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve caused a pileup in the first-turn gravel pit on a late restart. Then Michael McDowell, an accomplished road racer who had dominated, slid off in Turn 5. Justin Allgaier was pulling away at the white flag when another yellow came out, but then he ran out of gas under the caution flag. Ron Fellows in third thought Sorenson ran out too, so he passed them both and took the checkered flag only to be corrected afterward.
What became of the winner?
Although Sorenson continued to race at least part time into 2020 in the Cup Series and 2017 in the Nationwide (by then Xfinity) Series, Road America 2011 was the last of his four Nationwide wins. He also has continued to work in NASCAR as a spotter.
2012 Nationwide Series Sargento 200
Who won?
Nelson Piquet Jr.
Driving for the team with which Reed Sorenson had won the previous year, the second-generation Formula One driver became the first Brazilian driver to win in any of NASCAR's three national series. And he did so with apparent ease in just his third start in the series. Piquet won the pole, led 17 of 50 laps and built a lead of more than four seconds before easing off to make sure he had enough gas to get to the finish.
What became of the winner?
Piquet would go on to win twice in the truck series in 2012 and race full-time in Nationwide in 2013 (finishing 21st at Road America) before all but disappearing from the American racing scene. He won the Formula E title in 2014-15 and has raced sports cars internationally and stock cars in Brazil.
2013 Nationwide Series Johnsonville Sausage 200
Who won?
A.J. Allmendinger
An Indy-car winner at the track five years earlier, Allmendinger was racing for redemption this time, having been given a second chance by Roger Penske, who had released him a year earlier after a failed drug test. (Allmendinger said he had an attention-deficit medication in his system). Allmendinger led the final 11 laps, getting the jump on each of three late restarts, two in overtime, and beating Justin Allgaier by 1.372 seconds.
What became of the winner?
Allmendinger latched on with JTG Daugherty in a ride that lasted five-plus Cup Series seasons. When that went away, he did some TV work and then settled into a full-time Xfinity and part-time Cup schedule with fast-growing Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger has raced three more NASCAR events at RA, finishing second in the Xfinity (formerly Nationwide) in 2020 and fourth last year.
2014 Gardner Denver 200
Who won?
Brendan Gaughan
The onetime Road America driving instructor survived his own mistakes in a race delayed for and plagued by intermittent rain and then escaped with victory in a two-lap overtime shootout.
Alex Tagliani was in control but needed to stop for gas when the race went into overtime. He came out 23rd on fresh slick tires on a drying track and ripped his way through the field to second place, less than a second behind, in two laps.
What became of the winner?
Gaughan won once more that season and subsequently raced four more times at Road America with a top finish of second in 2016. He stayed in the Xfinity Series full time through 2017 and then raced only a handful of Cup races through 2020. The son and grandson of Las Vegas gaming magnates, Gaughan is an entrepreneur and is involved in the family’s casino business.
2015 Xfinity Series Road America 180
Who won?
Paul Menard
Helped by a six-lap caution period that helped him save gas, Menard was able to stretch his final tank for 21 laps and then hold off Ryan Blaney for another win on home-state soil. An Eau Claire native and Cup Series regular, Menard had won at the Milwaukee Mile in 2006.
Blaney had plenty of fuel and got from sixth to second in the final four laps but couldn’t close. Chase Elliott built a 13-second lap early, saw it wiped out by a caution, later slipped off course while leading and finally recovered to finish fourth.
What became of the winner?
Road America 2015 was the last of Menard’s four national series victories and the last of his two starts at the track. He stepped away from full-time racing in the Cup Series at the end of 2019. Menard made two truck series starts last season but has generally been out of the public eye.
2016 Xfinity Series Road America 180
Who won?
Michael McDowell
In a one-off start, McDowell bulled his way past pole-sitter Alex Tagliani in Turn 6 on the 29th lap to take the lead for good and avoided the problems he’d encountered in his previous tries to score his first NASCAR victory.
He did have to survive an overtime shootout and hold off teammate Brendan Gaughan, who was on fresher tires.
What became of the winner?
A NASCAR journeyman, McDowell was racing full time in the Cup Series that season and has every year since. The second of his two national-level wins came in the 2021 Daytona 500. McDowell didn’t return to Road America until last season, when he finished 17th in the Cup race.
2017 Xfinity Series Johnsonville 180
Who won?
Jeremy Clements
Clements and his low-dollar family team pulled off what even he called “a miracle” in a 9-year-old car for his first and thus far his only NASCAR victory.
Clements drove the race of his lifetime in gobbling up Matt Tifft’s eight-second lead in five laps but then spun out himself and Tifft in Turn 14 a lap from the finish. He was able to re-fire his engine, though, and had enough of a gap over third place to recover for a five-second victory over Michael Annett.
What became of the winner?
A survivor – Clements nearly lost his right hand in a dirt late model accident in 2004 and was suspended for two races in 2013 for using a racial epithet – he has soldiered on, finishing in the second 10 in the standings every full-time season of his career. His high finish in the five subsequent Xfinity races at Road America has been eighth in 2019.
2018 Xfinity Series Johnsonville 180
Who won?
Justin Allgaier
A solid road race with near misses at the track in 2011 and ’13, Allgaier got a bit of relief when James Davison and Justin Marks spun off course together while chasing him. He stayed mistake-free, and his fuel concerns were unfounded despite having pitted for the final time two laps ahead of the other leaders. Allgaier beat Matt Tifft by more than five seconds for the fourth victory in a five-win season.
What became of the winner?
Allgaier is a regular title contender in the Xfinity Series and has finished ninth, 30th and 12th at Road America since his victory.
2019 Xfinity Series CTECH Manufacturing 180
Who won?
Christopher Bell
After a dirt-track upbringing, Bell passed an important test in the learning process, for an all-around racer with his first road-course victory after two runner-up finishes. Bell held off several charges from road-course ace A.J. Allmendinger and then drove away from him over the final two laps after a restart.
What became of the winner?
Bell moved up to the Cup Series the following season and ironically picked up his first Cup victory on a road course (Daytona infield) in 2021. He finished second at Road America in the Cup Series in his only start since his win.
2020 Xfinity Series Henry 180
Who won?
Austin Cindric
Cindric took the lead for the final time just after the white flag and beat 2013 winner A.J. Allmendinger for his fourth win in a span of five races and his sixth on the season. Cindric had made his series debut three years earlier at Road America at age 18.
The exciting finish capped 4½-hour marathon of stop, starts, stalls, crashes, rain and lightning in front of the first full crowd for NASCAR in five months. Races had been canceled or attendance limited early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
What became of the winner?
Cindric claimed the title that season with six wins, and he finished second last season before moving full-time to Cup this year and winning the Daytona 500. Last year at RA, he finished eighth in Xfinity and led laps in the Cup race before dropping out with mechanical trouble.
2021 Xfinity Series Henry 180
Who won?
Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch, who crashed in Cup practice earlier in the day and had been off course several times in this race, ran down A.J. Allmendinger on fresher tires and passed him for the win with five laps to go. Busch, who had entered mainly to learn the unfamiliar track for the Cup race the next day, finished 3.522 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Hemric.
What became of the winner?
Busch’s quest to become not only the first repeat winner but to do it in two days fell short when the strategy that got him to the lead left him on older tires and left him to be no match for Chase Elliott. Busch finished the year 5-for-5 in the Xfinity Series and ended up ninth in the Cup Series standings with two wins.
2021 Xfinity Series Jockey Made in America 250
Who won?
Chase Elliott
Uncomfortable in practice and unable to get in a qualifying lap at speed, Elliott found his rhythm in the race and methodically drove through the field from his 34th-place start to earn an immensely popular victory. He led 24 of the 62 laps in front of the track’s largest crowd in decades if not the biggest of all time.
What became of the winner?
Elliott would go on to finish fourth in a championship battle won by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson. After Road America, Elliott suffered a 23-race winless streak, but he comes back fresh off a victory at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday night, his second of the season, and as the points leader.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Road America NASCAR history since 2010 includes no repeat winners
