Team Sahlen entered the penultimate round at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas with a 1 point lead in the championship.  With a 9^th place finish, that point gap is now a 9 point deficit.  This deficit though is not insurmountable.  And with a 1^st place finish by the #42 Team Sahlen racer and a 6^th place finish by the #56, the championship can be Team Sahlen’s .

The weekend in Austin, Texas started off with rain in the 1^st practice session, which saw Wayne Nonnamaker place the #42 in 4^th place in class.  The rain dried out, and clear skies and a dry track were in order for the 2^nd session. This saw Team Sahlen secure 6^th fastest time.  For Qualifying, Team Sahlen had some brake issues, with a net time that was only good enough for 18^th place.

As the cars lined up for the start of the race, the skies were over cast, but the track was dry.  Will Nonnamaker had an excellent start to the race, passing 5 cars before the 1^st lap was even ½ over.  A full course caution at that point put the race under yellow flag conditions for over 30 minutes.  Team Sahlen choose a strategy to pit at this point, top off with fuel, change drivers and put finishing driver Wayne Nonnamaker in the car. 

“It was a crazy 1^st lap. I passed so many cars, it was just like a video game. In the end, I am just happy that we survived the craziness and had a car in one piece to hand over to Wayne.” – shared Will Nonnamaker

As the race went back to green, Wayne worked his way through the pack.  At the hour and half mark, Wayne had risen all the way to 6^th place.  During this period, Wayne set a time that was good enough for 3^rd fastest race lap at the end of the event. At this point, Team Sahlen choose to make their final pit stop.  As Wayne went back out on track, and on/off spitting of rain turned into a full rain.  But this rain was only occurring on certain parts of the track. This made for some difficult driving conditions.  Wayne held his ground the best he could. But some later stopping competitors had placed rains on their cars, and it was impossible for him to hold of the tire advantage.

“9^th place is not ideal, but we still have a chance going into the last race, and anything can happen then.” – shared Wayne Nonnamaker

The Circuit of the Americas race will be televised tape delayed on Fox Sports 1 at 12 noon EDT on September 28^th.

The season finale will be at Road Atlanta on October 3^rd, with the 2 ½ hour races starting at 1:15 pm EDT. If the #42 can win the race, and the #56 finishes in 6^th place, the championship will be Team Sahlen’s

2014 Team Sahlen Campaign Partners:

Turbo Performance Center, Tarett Engineering, MOMO, Guard Transmission, Forgeline, Porsche of Beachwood, Pittsburgh International Race Complex, HubstandsPRO, MSI Racing Products, NGK Spark Plugs, TheRacingInsiders, CM Racing Products, Mothers Polishes, Winding Road Racing, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Maxima Oil, CV Products, Design Engineering Inc., Hella, Racing Print Media, Hard Brakes, CRC Chemicals, Penske Shocks, Alcon Rotors, Lamin-X, Optima Batteries and TheRaceSite.com.