Sam Hornish Jr.is a Buckeye through and through.
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“That’s the first time my kids were there when I’ve won a race”, said Hornish, 37, a Defiance native, three-time IndyCar series champion and the 2006 Indianapolis 500 victor.
The 37-year-old Hornish Jr. will start on the pole in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Mid-Ohio Challenge after breaking the track record during qualifying Friday afternoon.
His last pole victory came at Mid-Ohio in 2014 back when it was called the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200. Engine troubles forced him from that race, which was won by Chris Buescher.
“Hopefully the race doesn’t turn out the same way”, Hornish said as he sat in the Cooper Tire Tower on Friday night.
“Last year was an up-and-down day”, Jones said.
“I feel like our auto this time, compared to the competition, is probably a little bit better than what I had at that point in time”, Hornish said.
The No. 40 MBM Motorsports Dodge had a best finish of 30th this year at Talladega coming into Mid-Ohio, something that was not lost on Day.
The Sprint Cup Series is taking some time off.
Dillon enters the season’s second road race third in the standings, still in pursuit of his first win.
Owen Kelly, who finished second in qualifying on Friday, said he hopes it rains. “I said, “‘be careful what you wish for'”. “I’ll be quite ready to wake up, look out the window and see it wet”.
“I knew some guys would be a bit slow on the rain”. “The whole family, my parents, they were there and it was a great moment”.
The Mid-Ohio Challenge is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday where drivers will run 75 laps (169.35 miles) and will be televised by USA Network instead of its usual home on NBC Sports Network due to Olympic coverage.
But the change may have worked in NASCAR’s favor. The Lexington, Ohio track was originally opened in 1962 as a 15-turn course, but it underwent a major refurbishment in 1990 and again in 2006 to its current configuration.
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As part of a 10-city summer tour, McDonald’s is bringing a virtual reality experience to fans attending the Mid-Ohio Challenge this weekend with the McDonald’s Pit Crew Challenge. Kelly has raced in four NASCAR national series races but is appearing for the first time since 2013.
