NASCAR viewer’s guide: Road America

The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series cars are back on the road this weekend — at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

The 67-year-old track will host Cup and Xfinity competition. The Xfinity race is scheduled for Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network), and Cup drivers will race Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network).

The Cup Series returned to Road America last year. Chase Elliott won the race despite starting 34th, the worst starting position by a road course winner in Cup history.

Few things are certain, of course, but picking a winner in a Cup Series road course generally means leaning toward the Hendrick Motorsports camp.

Hendrick cars have won nine of the past 13 road course events. Over that stretch, Trackhouse Racing has won two and Joe Gibbs Racing and Kaulig Racing one each.

Scoring for Hendrick on the road during that 13-race run have been Chase Elliott (six wins) and Kyle Larson (three wins).

Elliott leads the list of active drivers with road wins at seven, and he’s only two wins away from tying Jeff Gordon for the all-time “road” lead at nine. Tony Stewart, the only other driver in front of Elliott, has eight.

The Hendrick team is the runaway leader in road-course wins all-time with 25. Joe Gibbs Racing is a distant second at 13.

A 10th-place finish Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway boosted Kevin Harvick into the 16th (and final) playoff position.

Harvick replaced Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola just above the cutoff line. Almirola enters this week’s race in 17th, nine points behind Harvick and one spot out of the playoffs.

Harvick, mired in a 60-race winless streak, is among several key drivers who haven’t reached victory lane this year. Also on that list are Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher