Tagliani Wins his Third XFinity Pole at Mid-Ohio

Montreal, Quebec - Alex Tagliani was not a happy camper as he stepped out of his Team Penske No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang following the end of the NASCAR XFINITY Series' Nationwide Children Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Road Race Course on Saturday. Starting from the pole, his third in XFinity Series, the Quebec driver led the 75-lap three times for a race high of 38 on his way to a possible first win in this series.

Unfortunately, two corners away from the chequered flag, Tag was bumped off of his racing line by eventual winner Regan Smith. Smith went on to cross the finish line seven tenths of a second ahead of Tagliani. The race was run under full course yellow eight times, for a total of 25 laps.

"As usual, Team Penske gave me a flawless car to drive," Tagliani said. "All they did during the second pit stop was adjust the tire pressure. As I have said before, it is always an honour to drive for Team Penske, but I am really crushed that I could not take their car to the Winner's Circle."

"It's really unfortunate what happened at the end. Knowing what I know now, I would have probably been a little less polite when I passed him earlier in the race. I made several passes all day from third and second place and I did not put the bumper to anyone. Prior to passing Regan (Smith) for the lead, I studied him for at least 10 laps to see where I could do it. He did not even try to make a clean pass on me."

Team Penske Crew Chief Greg Ewing was pleased by Tagliani's overall performance at Mid-Ohio, but like his driver, he did not appreciate Smith's move on Alex at the end of the race after reviewing the video sequence of the incident.

"We really have nothing to be ashamed of with a driver that does not have the opportunity to drive these cars every week," said Team Penske Crew Chief Greg Ewing. "He practiced perfectly, he qualified perfectly. I don't know if he made a mistake all day. It's very disappointing for us to see the race decided on a move like that. I would not even call that an aggressive move. I have seen a lot of aggressive moves to win races, but he just took him out for the win. He just dumped him. Alex did not deserve that. He drives people cleaner than that. Unfortunately I know NASCAR is going to turn the other way and really not going to do anything about it."

"Alex just showed he is world class to come and just step in these cars and do what he did today. I appreciate the support from Discount Tire and everything that Alex was able to do this weekend."

Tagliani will have an off-week before returning to action in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series on August 29-30 for round 10 of 11 at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Race Track near Toronto.