Next stop Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course where the NASCAR XFINITY Series takes the spotlight with both the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series idle this weekend.  Saturday’s 4^th running of the Mid-Ohio Challenge will be contested on a two-point-two-mile natural road course – located in Lexington, Ohio, which features thirteen turns and debuted on the X-FINITY Series schedule in 2013.  Grandstand seating capacity is four thousand with unlimited hillside seating.

Last Year’s Race: Regan Smith pushed race leader Alex Tagliani out of the way in the next-to-last corner of the final lap, ending a fifty-two-race winless streak.  Tagliani started from the pole and led a race-high thirty-eight laps, including a stretch of fourteen straight that carried him to the final lap of the race.  Smith closed on Tagliani on the last trip around the two-point-two-mile road course, and executed the bump-and-run with the checkered flag in sight to claim his fifth career victory and first since February 2014.  Tagliani gathered himself and held on for second place, three-quarters of a second behind at the finish.  Ty Dillon, points leader Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott completed the top five … Buescher’s championship lead remained at twenty-four points over second-place Dillon with Elliott third, twenty-five off the pace … The race included eight cautions for twenty-five laps, one-third of the race distance … Track Position at Mid-Ohio: Winners of the first three races run at Mid-Ohio – Smith, Buescher and A-J Allmendinger – all qualified seventh or better, though none started from the pole