Justin Marks Wins in the Rain

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Photo credit: (Tom E. Puskar/Associated Press)

Justin Marks wins XFINITY race at Mid-Ohio: #42-Justin Marks won the Mid-Ohio 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. It is his 1st XFINITY Series win. Pole sitter #2-Sam Hornish, Jr finished second, followed by #22-Ryan Blaney, #3-Ty Dillon, #7-Justin Allgaier, #20-Erik Jones, #90-Andy Lally, #62-Brendan Gaughan, #1-Elliott Sadler, and #48-Brennan Poole.
#40-Alon Day, making his XFINITY Series debut, finished 13th.
The race started under dry conditions, but the first caution came out on lap 3 for rain. Teams switched to rain tires and ran with them through the halfway point of the race. The track dried and teams went back to slick tires before rain returned near the end of the race.
There were 8 cautions for 32 laps and 13 lead
With the rain falling harder, Marks cautiously negotiated the slippery final laps. He led 43 laps in Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 42 Chevrolet.
“My hats off to Justin Marks,” Hornish said. “I generally hold myself as a pretty decent rain racer and even given the opportunity there at the end, I couldn’t do anything with him. I would have had to take massive chances with our car to be able to do anything and you still got to pass him to keep up with him. ... Justin just went out there and was just a monster in the wet.”
Hornish was driving Richard Childress Racing’s No. 2 Chevrolet. The three-time IndyCar season champion and 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner is from Defiance, Ohio.

 Finished 17th and started  24th  01 Ryan Preece # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 75 Running