Elliott, Smith take Nationwide points battle to Kentucky

Sep 19, 2014 - 7:36 PM Sparta, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Saturday night's 300-mile race at Kentucky Speedway will be the last "stand-alone" event for the Nationwide Series this season.

The Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series are racing at New Hampshire this weekend.

After Kentucky, Nationwide will join Sprint Cup at Dover, Kansas and Charlotte and then take two weeks off before it rejoins Cup at Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.

Of the final seven Nationwide races this season, five of them will be contested on 1.5-mile tracks, including Kentucky. Dover and Phoenix are both one mile in length.

Chase Elliott comes to Kentucky with an 18-point lead over second-place and JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith. Last Saturday, Smith finished eighth while Elliott placed 10th at Chicagoland. Both drivers have scored top-10 finishes in each of the last five races.

When Nationwide last ran at Kentucky in June, Smith had his worst result of the season with a 28th-place finish. Several Sprint Cup regulars competed in that event, including winner Kevin Harvick. Landon Cassill, a Nationwide regular, is the only driver who is attempting the New Hampshire/Kentucky combo.

"Kentucky is our last non-companion race, so naturally it's going to be a big opportunity for everybody to go out there and either gain a bunch of points or lose them," Smith said. "It's so tough without somebody having a problem to make points up the way the structure is, and the way the races play out in the Nationwide Series. If you're making up three or four points a week, that's been a good day. And that's the way you have to look at it."

Elliott, a rookie in Nationwide this season, finished 12th in his first start at Kentucky earlier this year.

"I've been eyeing this date for a while because we had a terrible run the first time we raced at Kentucky this year," Elliott said. "I finished 12th after starting sixth and just never put it together to get the finish we could have. My team and I are looking to bounce back from that poor performance and improve as much as possible Saturday night."

Ty Dillon, also a rookie this year, is third in the point standings (-40), followed by Elliott Sadler (-51) and Brian Scott (-56).

"I would say there is probably four or five of us that still have a shot at it (the Nationwide championship)," Smith said. "Realistically, maybe a couple of those guys need some bad luck from cars ahead of them. If somebody rolls off three or four wins in a row, those bonus points are huge and you're going to jump right back up into it pretty quickly."

Forty-one teams are on the entry list for the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300.

Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, Sept. 20. Race: VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300. Site: Kentucky Speedway. Track: 1.5-mile oval. Start time: 7:30 p.m. ET. Laps: 200. Miles: 300. 2013 Winner: Ryan Blaney. Television: ESPNEWS. Radio: Performance Racing Network (PRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.