Sam Hornish Jr Grabs Pole In The Nationwide Series At Mid-Ohio

Sam Hornish Jr in the #54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry took the pole for Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Mid-Ohio with a blistering lap time.

Hornish Jr was the only driver to post a lap time in the 1:24 range as road course driver Alex Tagliani will start alongside him for the race on Saturday in the #22 car. Tagliani almost took the Coors Light Pole Award from Hornish on his last lap, but lost control going into turn four around the 2.25 mile Mid-Ohio track and ended up in the sand trap.

The highest rookie in the qualifying session was Ty Dillon in the #3 car who will start in 3rd place for the 100 lap race later on Saturday.

The first of the two rounds in the knock out qualifying was 30 minutes long and began with a few of the big names and smaller teams going out onto the 2.5 mile track.

Points leader and rookie in the Nationwide Series, Chase Elliott in the NAPA #9 car, was 3rd quickest after his first run, but Elliott Sadler in the #11 and Justin Marks in the #31 were quicker. Marks, who only runs the road courses during the Nationwide Series season, was top of the board after five minutes in the first round. Sadler, Elliott, Brendan Gaughan in the #62, and James Buescher in the #99 rounded out the top five.

Hornish Jr in the #54 then went to the top of the board with 19 to go with a lap time of 85.904 seconds. Trevor Bayne in the #6, who made no friends in last week's race at Watkins Glen, went into 9th with 18 minutes to to in the round. Then, Tagliani, who finished runner-up at Road America earlier this season, jumped to the lead with 17 minutes left with a time of 85.445 in the #22 car.

At the halfway point in the first round, Tagliani, Hornish Jr, Marks, Sadler, and Elliott made up the top five on the chart, as Kenny Habul in the #20 was on the bubble in 12th with Barrett in the #87 just outside. Rookie Dillon in the #3 went in to 2nd after a poor first lap out on track with 13 minutes to go. Bayne was knocked out of the top 12 by Chris Buescher in the #60 car with 11 minutes to go as C. Buescher went 3rd.

With only ten minutes left in round one, Tagliani remained at the top followed by Dillon, C. Buescher, Hornish Jr, and Marks making up the top five, as rookie Dylan Kwasniewski in the #42 was on the bubble.

There was a new leader with 9 minutes to go when Brian Scott in the #2 car posted a time of 85.436 to put Tagliani into 2nd. Just moments later, Bayne was back into the top 12, as he went into 9th on his third lap around the track.

There was a car in the wall at the final turn when rookie Ryan Reed in the #16 car lost control going around the final bend and went off into the grass. He hit the wall and sustained damage on the back end of the car. Kwasniewski was into the top 12 in 6th with only 6 minutes to go on his next lap around the track to put Elliott on the bubble.

In the final five minutes there were a number of drivers putting themselves into the second round as they managed to get more speed out of their cars.First, Elliott, who was on the bubble, went to 3rd with a quick lap with 3 minutes remaining. Then, J. Buescher went into 8th with 2 minutes left to put Bayne back onto the bubble position and Regan Smith in the #7 jumped to 3rd with only a minute left to knock Bayne out and put Sadler on the bubble.

However, there was more drama for Sadler and Bayne on their final laps when the red and black flag came out. Bayne failed to jump into the top 12 and Sadler failed to advance to the second round by 8 thousandths of a second.

Scott, Tagliani, Smith, Elliott, Dillon, Habul, C. Buescher, Gaughan, Hornish Jr, J. Buescher, and Marks were the top 12 drivers to advance to round two.

Round two began with the final driver to make it through, Marks, in the #31 posting a 85.556 with eight minutes to go. But Tagliani in the #22 had the top time shortly after posting a lap time of 85.092 to go top by almost half a second. Hornish Jr was into 2nd place with a 85.183 in the #54 at the same time.

At the halfway point in round two, Tagliani, Hornish Jr, Dillon, Scott, and C. Buescher made up the top five as eleven of the twelve drivers had posted a lap time. With four minutes to go, Hornish Jr put out the time that got him the pole for Saturday's race, a 84.787 second lap. At the same time, Scott in the #2 car went to 3rd on the board with a 85.165 second lap time, as Gaughan in the #62 who was the last driver to post a time went 7th with a 85.665.

Tagliani was the final driver to try his luck at knocking Hornish Jr from the top of the board and he looked in position to do so until turn four when he wheeled hopped the #22 and sent the car into the sand trap.

Hornish Jr (84.787), Tagliani (85.092), Scott (85.165), Dillon (85.255), C. Buescher (85.320), and Marks (85.865) will make up the front three rows for Saturday's race which gets underway at 2:30 PM ET.