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NO-WIN SITUATIONNASCAR’S SOLUTION FOR A NATIONWIDE SERIES BOOST HAS CREATED THIS DOWNER: A POINTS LEADER WITH NO CHECKEREDS. By LaRue Cook

for the championship in Nationwide. And anyway, this isn’t as much about wins as about learning the cars and racing against guys as talented as Carl.”

Stenhouse Jr. has a point. Allowing up-and-comers to compete against the Cup leader can only improve their chances to contend at the top level. It also helps raise the profile of young drivers looking for attention and sponsors. Plus, a guy like Sorenson can hit the reset button on a floundering career. Following a strong fourth-place NNS finish in 2005, he got a Cup ride. Five seasons and only one NNS win later, he’s back where he started, trying to prove he’s not done racing with the best.

“All that’s changed is we live for Saturdays and the Cup guys live for Sundays,” Sorenson says, “but we still see them every weekend. To me, it doesn’t feel like a minor league at all.”

Especially if you can add Champ to your résumé along the way.

IF REED SORENSON IS STILL SITTING ATOP THE Nationwide Series standings at season’s end, it will make stock car history. The 25-year-old pilot of the No. 32 Dollar General car for Turner Motorsports has gotten this far without winning a single race. No one has ever driven home a champion without a W.

“I don’t feel weird about it at all,” says Sorenson, who is two points ahead of second-place Elliott Sadler heading to Michigan on June 18. “I want to win, sure, but we’re in a points battle. You have to be smart about every move you make.” Sadler, by the way, is also winless.

Drivers not hell-bent on getting there first? What in the name of Dale Earnhardt is going on? Blame the new pick-your-series era of NASCAR. “There is more emphasis on the Nationwide Series because now fans can focus on regulars rather than Sprint Cup guys,” says NNS director Joe Balash, on the rule requiring drivers to choose the one series in which their points count toward a title.

Problem is, just because Cup drivers like Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch aren’t collecting points for their NNS wins anymore doesn’t mean they haven’t stopped collecting checkereds. The two have snagged eight of the season’s 14 victories between them. Reigning Rookie of the Year Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Allgaier are the only full-time Nationwide drivers who have been victorious.

“I can honestly say fans are paying attention,” says Stenhouse Jr., who earned his fist career win at Iowa on May 22 and is six points behind Sorenson, in third. “At autograph sessions, I hear people talk about the battle

Nationwide Series leader Sorenson hasn’t won a race

since July 2007.