Sam Hornish Jr. is sidelined early
Joe Gibbs Racing loses valuable ground in Nationwide owner point standings
Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 team took a huge hit in the NASCAR Nationwide owner point standings on Saturday.
JGR had a 33-point lead over the No. 22 Team Penske Ford following the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend. After problems at Chicagoland Speedway, Gibbs' advantage has dropped to five markers.
Sam Hornish Jr. completed just seven laps before the engine failed in his Toyota Camry at Chicagoland Speedway. Hornish struggled with a track bar issue prior to the event and was forced to start at the back of the field. He battled into the top 25 prior to the engine failure but was scored 36th.
“I thought we were going to have a really good day,” Hornish said. “The Monster Energy car was really awesome in practice and I felt like this was going to be a race that we had a great opportunity to not only lead laps but go out there to win the race.
“It’s unfortunate that it ended so soon. It’s definitely not what these guys or myself deserve but we’ll keep our heads up and move on to the next one. Unfortunately, I have to wait a couple of weeks for that.”
Hornish’s next start in the No. 54 Toyota for JGR comes on August 2 at Iowa Speedway.
“We’re working really hard to try to win the owner’s points championship with this car and it’s not what any of us at Joe Gibbs Racing needed. But we got speed. We’ll just work on getting to the end next time.”
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