NSCS Recap: Allmendinger stakes claim to Chase spot with thrilling win at the Glen

In a battle between two drivers with everything on the line, AJ Allmendinger held off Marcos Ambrose in breathtaking fashion to win Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at the Glen and claim an almost certain spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
 
In the closing laps, Allmendinger and Ambrose bumped each other, leaned on each other, raced each other side-by-side through the esses without wrecking—astoundingly—and swapped the lead before Allmendinger secured his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory with a pass in Turn 6 with just over one lap left.
 
The 2.45-mile road course at Watkins Glen International gave both drivers their best chance to qualify for the Chase, and it was Allmendinger who prevailed in a two-lap battle that that was a long-time coming, thanks to three red-flag periods needed to repair safety barriers at the track.
 
Kurt Busch ran third, hoping during the final two laps that Ambrose and Allmendinger would take their aggression over the line and give him a chance to win. Rookie Kyle Larson kept his Chase hopes alive with a fourth-place run, and Carl Edwards came home fifth.
 
Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers completed the top 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th and took the series lead from pole winner Jeff Gordon, who ran 34th after losing four laps while his team diagnosed and repaired an electrical-system failure.
 
On the next-to-last lap, Allmendinger controlled the restart and held the lead through Turn 1, but Ambrose applied pressure up through the esses, gained ground when Allmendinger ran wide in the bus stop chicane and got past the No. 47 JTG/Daugherty Chevrolet after setting up a pass with a tap at the exit from the bus stop.
 
But Allmendinger stayed to Ambrose’s outside through Turn 5 and leaned on the No. 9 Ford through Turn 6, gapping Ambrose down the front straight and pulling away for the win.(NASCAR Media)

NNS Recap: Marcos Ambrose holds off Kyle Busch for fifth Nationwide Series road course win

Recovering from an early spin after contact with Kyle Busch’s Toyota, Marcos Ambrose held off Busch in the closing laps of Saturday’s Zippo 200 at the Glen to win the series-best fifth road course race of his Nationwide Series career.

The Australian driver has won four consecutive NNS starts at 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International, having triumphed in three straight from 2008 through 2010 and this year after a three-race hiatus from competition at the Glen.

Though Ambrose knows full well the big prizes—a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in the Cheez-It 355 at the Glen (1 p.m. ET on ESPN) and a berth in the Chase—will be contested on Sunday, he was eager to savor the NNS win.

"I just want to enjoy today," Ambrose said. "You get to victory lane, and it’s special. I would love to repeat, but it’s a lot of work tomorrow. I want to think about this and get a good night’s rest and come attack them tomorrow."

During an exchange of pit stops with 32 of 82 laps left, Ambrose surged past Joey Logano as the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford exited pit road. When the sequence of stops cycled through, Ambrose, who had pitted one lap earlier than Logano, held the lead, with Logano running second.

Ambrose kept the top spot after a restart on Lap 63 that followed the fifth and final caution of the race. With five laps left, Busch roared past Logano but couldn’t get to the bumper of Ambrose’s No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford in time to make a move for the win.

Logano came home third, followed by pole winner Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth. Rookie Chase Elliott ran sixth and extended his series lead to 12 points over JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith, who finished 17th.(NASCAR Media)

Saturday gallery from Watkins Glen

Friday gallery from Watkins Glen

National Guard to end sponsorship of Dale Jr., IndyCar’s Rahal

The National Guard has been one of the most prominent sponsors of American motorsports in recent years. But as part of a planned redesign of its sports sponsorship program, it will sever ties with both NASCAR and IndyCar.

That means the end of their sponsorships with HMS driver and NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr., and second-generation IndyCar pilot Graham Rahal.

Both contracts are set to expire at the end of this season according to the Army National Guard’s acting director, Maj. Gen. Judd H. Lyons.

“Significantly constrained resources and the likelihood of further reductions in the future call for more innovative and cost-effective ways of doing business,” Lyons said in a statement released today.

Lyons added: “We believe industry and open competition can help us identify effective and efficient solutions to help us meet our marketing and recruiting objectives within budget constraints.”

This year alone, the Guard spent $32 million on its NASCAR sponsorship with Earnhardt and Hendrick Motorsports, plus another $12 million for its IndyCar sponsorship with Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Earnhardt has enjoyed the Guard’s backing since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, while Rahal and RLL took over the Guard’s IndyCar program this season after it had been with now-defunct Panther Racing from 2009-2013.

However, the Guard’s NASCAR program came under fire in May when USA Today released a report stating that the Guard had spent more than $26 million on that particular sponsorship but failed to sign up a single recruit.

The USA Today report also revealed that out of almost 25,000 recruit prospects that the Guard received through the program in 2012, only 20 of them met the Guard’s entry qualifications – and none of those 20 decided to join.

Despite those numbers, Lt. Col. Christian Johnson, the Guard’s marketing head, maintained in today’s announcement that the Guard racing programs played “an important role” in building brand awareness that “helped us achieve extraordinary recruiting and end-strength objectives over the past decade.”

This year, Hendrick Motorsports has appeared to be working hard to prepare for a post-Guard life. The team has recently brought brands like Nationwide Insurance and DC Comics into the fold, with Nationwide in particular coming on as a primary sponsor for Earnhardt over the next three seasons.

Since 2012, the Guard has drawn down its sports sponsorships to just those in NASCAR and IndyCar while eliminating programs in motorcycle racing and professional fishing.

Today’s announcement from the Guard noted that its marketing budget in the 2015 fiscal year is expected to be about half of what it was in the 2012 fiscal year.(NBC Sports)