Busch, Edwards are obvious favorites in Nationwide race

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Is Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series’ U.S. Cellular 250 a two-person race?

Are Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards just too good to be pushed during Iowa Speedway’s biggest race weekend ever?

Both Busch and Edwards are 1-2 in the point standings, each has fared extremely well in the series this year and both typically run well on short tracks such as Iowa Speedway’s oval.

“I know Carl (Edwards) will be fast because that’s sort of his type race track like Richmond,” Busch said.  “We’ll have a good battle.”

The real question is will anyone battle with them?

The series has run two short track races this season — at Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway — and statistics gleaned from those two events (and short-track events last season) could help pick some favorites.

The first names that jump out are the two at the top of the points standings.

In the two short-track races this season, Busch has a driver rating of 139.6, an average running position of 2.2, 271 laps led and 124 fastest laps run.

Edwards is close behind. He has a driver rating of 130.7, an average running position of 2.6, 146 laps led and 69 fastest laps run.

But watch for two other drivers to stand out this weekend, both of whom have been strong on short tracks this year, and last: Jason Leffler and Steve Wallace.

This season, Leffler has posted a driver rating of 99.2 and an average running position of 7.7. In last season’s six short-track races, he also ranked in the top 10 in short track driver rating with a solid 89.4.

“You can’t really compare this track to anywhere else we go throughout the year,” said Jason Leffler, driver of the No. 38 Great Clips Toyota who participated in a Goodyear tire test at Iowa in May. “I thought it would be like Richmond but it’s a lot bigger and has a different surface.

“With only four cars on the track (during the test) there was only about a lane and a half of a groove, but once we have 43 cars out there, it’s going to get a nice second groove built in. The racing should be pretty exciting.”

Wallace joins Leffler in the short track driver rating top 10 with an 85.3. He also has an average running position of 16.6. Last season, Wallace had a driver rating of 86.8 and an average running position of 14.4.

A wild card for this weekend could be Scott Wimmer who finished 22nd at Bristol and 16th at Richmond. He will be in the No. 5 Fastenal Chevrolet (he drove the No. 40 Chevy at Bristol and Richmond).

Though Wimmer’s short-track numbers this season don’t rank among the best in the series, his stats last season did. In short-track events in 2008, he posted a driver rating of 99.7 and an average running position of 9.6.

“This week will be a little different heading to Iowa with it being a track that the series has never raced on before,” Wimmer said. Fortunately, for me, it’s another short track and I really enjoy short-track racing. Hopefully we can pull some momentum from last week into this weekend at Iowa.” 

Substitute drivers on hand

Three drivers will pull double duty this weekend between Iowa Speedway and Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.

Series standings leader Kyle Busch, second-place Carl Edwards (No. 60 CitiFinancial Ford) and Kevin Harvick will be at Iowa for Thursday’s test session before traveling to and from Iowa and Pocono for the races at each track.

Standing by to practice and/or qualify if necessary are Jeremy Clements for Busch, Auggie Vidovich for Edwards and Cale Gale for Harvick.

In addition to the NASCAR races this weekend, Harvick will head to Wisconsin to run in the Dixieland 150 at Wisconsin International Raceway on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

Dillon sports school colors

Despite the fact that he doesn’t start his freshman year at High Point University, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, for four weeks, Austin Dillon can’t wait to show off his school pride.

His No. 2 Chevrolet will carry the purple-and-black colors of the school. He’s planning on studying at the Nido R. Quebin School of Communications.

I’m not necessarily a typical ‘student-athlete,’ but it’s an honor to show off my Panther pride this way,” Dillon said. “I can’t wait to head to college in four weeks to start classes.”