New York State Of Mind:

New York State Of Mind: Elliott, Smith Lead Series To Watkins Glen                                     

North of the bright lights on Broadway and just west of the Finger Lakes in the rolling hills of New York state heads the NASCAR Nationwide Series for its first of back-to-back road courses. First up, Watkins Glen International (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is on deck). The challenge of the consecutive road courses on the schedule could significantly transform a competitor’s championship run, especially JR Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Regan Smith who currently sit 1-2 in the standings and hope to make it through unscathed.

Elliott’s rookie season is continuing to turn heads. In 20 starts, he has posted three wins (tied for the series-most with Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski), eight top fives, 14 top 10s and an average finish of 9.2. His NASCAR Loop Data backs his early success up even more; his season-to-date Driver Rating is 108.5 and his Average Running Position is 7.424 (both are second only to Kyle Busch). Though Elliott faces some uncertainty in making his series debut at Watkins Glen this weekend, he did well at the road course Road America earlier this season, finishing in the top-five.

Elliott can’t let up though. His rear-view mirror is full of a championship hungry Regan Smith. The two JR Motorsports teammates have swapped the series standings lead three times this season. Smith, who calls Cato, N.Y. his hometown, has posted one win, four top fives, 17 top 10s (series-most) and an average finish of 8.9 this season. Smith has three starts at Watkins Glen, posting one top five and an average finish of 15.3 - he finished fourth in this event last season.

The JR Motorsports duo has built a small cushion of points (Smith in second is 10 points ahead of third) between their nearest competitors, but the slightest mistake these next few weeks could open the door for third-place Elliott Sadler and fourth-place Ty Dillon.

Sadler continues to follow in lock-step with the JR Motorsports twosome of Elliott and Smith. He sits just 12 points back from the series lead after posting one win, five top fives, 14 top 10s and an average finish of 9.5 this season. Sadler has made five series starts at Watkins Glen, posting one top-five and two top-10 finishes; including his fifth-place finish last season.

With the momentum of his first series career win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and following it up with a top-five at Iowa last week, Dillon has focused his sights on a legitimate championship run. Dillon, like Sadler, also is just 12 points back from the standings lead after posting one win, three top fives and 14 top 10s. This will be his series debut at Watkins Glen. He finished 19th at Road America earlier this season.