Frontstretch Newsletter: March 14, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition XXXI
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- NASCAR Cup Series teams are currently on their way back to North Carolina after Sunday's Ruoff Mortgage 500k. Entry lists should be out later today. We'll have those and anything else that breaks today at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: March 11-13
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- In Bahrain, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. was fastest on Day No. 2 of testing with a lap at 129.440 mph. This lap was nearly a half-second faster than Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll was third, then Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon.
- Saturday saw Verstappen turn in the fastest lap of the whole test, a blistering lap at 131.997 mph. This was nearly seven-tenths of a second faster than Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Alpine's Fernando Alonso was third, then Mercedes' George Russell and Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas.
- The Haas F1 team was given additional testing time in Bahrain due to their freight transportation being delayed. This effectively cost the team the entire first day.
- Monster Energy AMA Supercross teams were at Ford Field in Detroit Saturday for the 10th round of their championship. The 450cc Main saw Justin Bogle lead early on his Suzuki. This kept the field bunched up in the early laps.
Justin Barcia took the lead early from Bogle, but he quickly lost the advantage to Jason Anderson. Points leader Eli Tomac and Malcolm Stewart had mediocre starts, but slowly made their way forward.
Tomac was able to run down Anderson and take the lead. Once out front, the wrecks started behind. Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton crashed hard and put themselves out. Anderson washed out his bike and suffered an injury that put him out. Marvin Musquin crashed as well.
Tomac rode unassailed to his third straight victory. Stewart matched his career-best finish in second, 3.556 seconds back. Barcia ended up third despite a mid-week practice crash that resulted in stitches in his middle finger. Musquin was fourth, while part-timer Justin Brayton was fifth. The crashes broke the points wide open. Tomac now
has a 42-point lead over both Stewart and Anderson. Barcia is fourth, then Webb.
- In the 250cc Main, Husqvarna's Stilez Robertson once again claimed the holeshot. Points leader Jett Lawrence ran him down quickly and took the lead before the first lap was complete. Once up front, Lawrence ran away and took the win. Cameron McAdoo recovered from a mediocre start to finish second, then Pierce Brown, Robertson and Enzo Lopes.
Through four rounds, Lawrence has an eight-point lead over McAdoo. Brown is up to third, then Robertson and Lopes.
- The FIA World Endurance Championship held their annual Prologue test at Sebring International Raceway last weekend ahead of Friday's season opener. Day No. 1 saw Toyota GAZOO Racing's Jose Maria Lopez go fastest in the morning session with a lap at 121.054 mph, four-tenths of a second faster than Realteam by WRT's Ferdinand Habsburg. Signatech Alpine's
Nicolas Lapierre was third, then Team WRT's Robin Frijns and Prema Orlen Team's Robert Kubica.
The afternoon session saw Kubica go fastest overall in his LMP2 class ORECA 07-Gibson with a lap at 123.428 mph. This was one-eighth of a second faster than Signatech Alpine's Matthieu Vaxiviere. Richard Mille Racing Team's Charles Milesi was third, then AF Corse's Nicklas Nielsen. Glickenhaus Racing's Romain Dumas was
fifth.
- Sunday's morning session saw Habsburg top the charts overall in his No. 41 ORECA 07-Gibson with a lap at 124.564 mph. This ended up being the fastest lap of the entire two-day Prologue. Habsburg's lap was nearly three-tenths of a second faster than Team WRT's Rene Rast. Lapierre was third fastest, then United Autosports' William Owen and
Vaxiviere.
The afternoon session saw United Autosports' Filipe Albuquerque top the charts with a lap at 124.162 mph. Albuquerque was one-sixth of a second faster than Signatech Alpine's Andre Negrao. Frijns was third, then Prema Orlen Team's Louis Deletraz and Paul di Resta in the second United Autosports ORECA 07.
For the weekend, Lapierre was fastest in the Hypercar class with a lap at 124.096 mph, followed by Toyota GAZOO Racing's Brendon Hartley. GTE-Pro was topped by Porsche GT Team's Michael Christensen with a lap at 116.758 mph, while GTE-Am had a tie. Both Team Project 1's Matteo Cairoli and Dempsey-Proton Racing's Sebastian Priaulx set laps at 114.516 mph
during the morning session on Sunday to lead the class.
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| | Chase Briscoe Scores 1st Career NASCAR Cup Win at
Phoenix
Chase Briscoe took the lead on lap 230 and held on through a couple of late restarts to win the Ruoff Mortgage 500k for his first NASCAR Cup Series win. Ross Chastain was second, then Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Kurt
Busch.
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| | Kevin Harvick Finishes 6th, Ties Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt for Consecutive Top
10s
Kevin Harvick ran as high as third Sunday in Phoenix, but ultimately finished sixth. This marked his 18th consecutive top 10 finish at Phoenix Raceway.
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| | Boris Said To Drive For MBM Motorsports At COTA, JJ Yeley Returns To Cup at
Talladega
MBM Motorsports announced Saturday morning that Boris Said will drive the No. 66 Ford in the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix. In addition, JJ Yeley will be back in the team's second car at Talladega.
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| | Noah Gragson Wins At Phoenix To Close Xfinity Series West Coast
Swing
JR Motorsports' Noah Gragson led 116 of 200 laps Saturday, but had to overtake Brandon Jones with 15 laps to go to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 200. Jones was second, then Josh Berry, Trevor Bayne and John
Hunter Nemechek.
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| | Trevor Bayne Nearly Completes Comeback in
Phoenix
Despite a scare at the beginning of Saturday's United Rentals 200, Trevor Bayne had one of the best cars in the race. He won a stage and led multiple laps. It was ultimately pit stops that kept him out of victory
lane.
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| | Taylor Gray Earns Emotional 1st ARCA Series Win at
Phoenix
David Gilliland Racing had a horrible week leading up to Friday night's General Tire 150. The team made a collective decision to race after a terrible crash resulted in the death of their hauler driver. Taylor Gray
was able to hold off the pack during a Green-White-Checker restart to take his first career win. Daniel Dye was second, then Sammy Smith, Rajah Caruth and Jake Drew.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Joey Logano Claims Points Lead After Kyle Larson Breaks Valve Spring
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson had to start
at the rear Sunday due to post-qualifying steering rack repairs. From there, he drove into the top 10 before a valve spring broke and ended his day. That allowed Joey Logano to jump to the points lead with an eighth-place finish. He has a two-point lead over Kyle Busch, who finished seventh. Despite a late spin that dropped him to an 11th-place finish, Chase Elliott took advantage of his 17 stage
points to move from seventh to third in points. Larson dropped from the points lead to a tie for fourth after his 34th-place finish. He is tied with race winner Chase Briscoe, who moved all the way from a tie for 14th to a tie for fourth.
Aric Almirola finished 12th and dropped down to sixth in points. Ryan Blaney won stage two, led the most laps and finished fourth. That moved him up from 13th to seventh. Austin Cindric struggled Sunday and finished a lap down in 24th. That dropped him from fourth to
eighth.
Tyler Reddick's third-place finish moved him up from 18th to ninth in the standings. Kevin Harvick is up from a tie for 16th to 10th after finishing sixth. Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch are tied for 11th. Bowman dropped three
places after finishing 14th, while Truex blew a tire and crashed exiting turn 2. The 35th-place finish dropped Truex down from second. Kurt Busch charged on the final restart to finish fifth, which allowed him to keep a share of 11th.
Ross Chastain's second-place finish moved him up from 20th to 14th in points. William Byron dropped back late to an 18th-place finish, but his 17 stage points allowed him to move up to 15th. Austin Dillon's last-lap crash dropped him down seven spots to 16th.
Austin is currently the last driver in the playoffs. He has a four-point lead over Bubba Wallace, who had handling issues for most of the race Sunday en route to a 22nd-place finish. Brad Keselowski dropped six places to 18th after a tough race to 23rd. Erik Jones crashed late and
finished 25th, which dropped him down to 19th. Ty Dillon is now 20th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Joey Logano 136, 2) Kyle Busch -2, 3) Chase Elliott -5, t-4) Kyle Larson
-10, t-4) Chase Briscoe -10, 6) Aric Almirola -14, 7) Ryan Blaney -18, 8) Austin Cindric -20, 9) Tyler Reddick -22, 10) Kevin Harvick -25, t-11) Alex Bowman -27, t-11) Martin Truex Jr.
-27, t-11) Kurt Busch -27, 14) Ross Chastain -35, 15) William Byron -38, 16) Austin Dillon -39.
Playoff Points: 1) Alex Bowman 6, t-2) Kyle Larson -1, t-2) Chase Briscoe -1, t-2) Austin
Cindric -1, t-5) Martin Truex Jr. -4, t-5) Tyler Reddick -4, t-7) Ross Chastain -5, t-7) Ryan Blaney -5, t-7) William Byron -5.
Stage Points: t-1) Kyle Larson
43, t-1) William Byron 43, 3) Chase Elliott -4, 4) Joey Logano -7, 5) Tyler Reddick -8, 6) Ryan Blaney -11, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -13, 8) Chase Briscoe -14, t-9) Brad Keselowski -17, t-9) Erik Jones
-17, 11) Ross Chastain -20, 12) Alex Bowman -22, 13) Austin Cindric -23, 14) Kevin Harvick -25, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -26, 16) Kyle Busch -28.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): t-1) Kyle Busch 135, t-1) Aric Almirola 135, 3) Kurt Busch -15, 4) Joey Logano -16, 5) Chase Briscoe
-21, 6) Austin Cindric -23, t-7) Kevin Harvick -25, t-7) Chase Elliott -25, 9) Ryan Blaney -28, 10) Austin Dillon -29, 11) Alex Bowman -31, 12) Kyle Larson -33, 13) Ty Dillon -34, t-14) Darrell
Wallace Jr. -38, t-14) Tyler Reddick -38, t-t-14) Martin Truex Jr. -38.
Note: These
standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Kyle Busch 587, 2) Aric Almirola
-5, 3) Joey Logano -54, 4) Kurt Busch -55, 5) Chase Briscoe -64, 6) Ryan Blaney -78, 7) Austin Cindric -83, 8) Kevin Harvick -86, 9) Chase Elliott -90, t-10) Kyle Larson -94, t-10) Austin Dillon
-94, 12) Alex Bowman -107, 13) Tyler Reddick -117, 14) Ty Dillon -119, 15) Bubba Wallace -121, 16) Ross Chastain -123.
Note No. 1: The WC points are based on the original points
system created by Bob Latford in 1975.
Note No. 2: If he were eligible for WC points, Daniel Hemric would be tied for
10th.
Race
Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona), Kyle Larson (Fontana), Alex Bowman (Las
Vegas), Chase Briscoe (Phoenix)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade
Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Noah Gragson Continues Excellent Form, Expands Lead in Phoenix
by Phil Allaway
JR Motorsports' Noah Gragson has had an excellent start to 2022 and Saturday was even better. Gragson led the most laps and claimed his first win of the year. That allowed him to boost his points lead from 17 to 39 over Ty Gibbs. Gibbs recovered from an early spin to finish sixth. Justin Allgaier is up
one place to third after starting at the rear of the field and recovering from a late speeding penalty to finish 10th. AJ Allmendinger finished in a quiet seventh and dropped one place to fourth.
Josh Berry came from the rear of the field to finish third, good enough to maintain fifth. Daniel Hemric finished eighth and lost ground, but stays in sixth. Brandon Jones' second-place finish moved him up five places to seventh. Ryan Sieg is up three places to eighth after finishing 11th.
Sam Mayer had a fast car Saturday, but got busted for speeding on pit road all three times he pitted. That dropped him to a 22nd-place finish, but he stays in ninth. Riley Herbst had a mechanical failure early and crashed out. That dropped him to 10th in points from seventh. Austin Hill and Trevor Bayne are tied for 11th. Bayne
recovered from a speeding penalty during the final caution to finish fourth, while Hill finished a distant 17th.
Since Bayne is not eligible for the playoffs due to missing Daytona and Las Vegas, 13th-place Brandon Brown is the last driver in the playoffs at the moment after finishing 13th. He is three points ahead of both Sheldon Creed and Landon Cassill. Cassill finished ninth, while Creed was a lap down in 14th. Jeb Burton is
16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Noah Gragson 203, 2) Ty Gibbs -39, 3) Justin Allgaier -42, 4) AJ Allmendinger -43, 5) Josh Berry -53, 6) Daniel Hemric -68, 7) Brandon Jones -82, 8) Ryan Sieg -105, 9) Sam Mayer -106,
10) Riley Herbst -108, t-11) Austin Hill -109, t-11) Trevor Bayne -109, 13) Brandon Brown -111, t-14) Sheldon Creed -114, t-14) Landon Cassill -114, 16) Jeb Burton -119.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics are ineligible for the playoffs.
Playoff Points: 1) Noah Gragson 8, t-2) Ty Gibbs -3, t-3) Austin Hill -3, t-3) Daniel Hemric -6, 5) Trevor Bayne -6.
Note: If he were eligible, Cole Custer would be second in playoff points.
Stage Points: 1) Noah Gragson 59, 2) Ty Gibbs -16, 3) Daniel Hemric -21, 4) AJ Allmendinger -22, 5) Brandon Jones -24, 6) Sam Mayer -27, 7) Josh Berry -30, 8) Trevor
Bayne -32, 9) Justin Allgaier -34, 10) Austin Hill -41, 11) Ryan Sieg -44, 12) Riley Herbst -49, 13) Ryan Truex -51, 14) Brandon Brown -52, 15) Landon Cassill -53.
Note: If he were eligible, Cole Custer would be 10th and John Hunter Nemechek 12th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Noah Gragson 164, 2) AJ Allmendinger -22, 3) Justin Allgaier -24, 4) Ty Gibbs -25, 5) Josh Berry -26, 6) Daniel Hemric -48, 7) Sheldon Creed -58, 8) Brandon Jones -59, 9) Brandon Brown -61,
t-10) Ryan Sieg -64, t-10) Jeb Burton -64, 12) Riley Herbst -65, 13) Anthony Alfredo -66, 14) Landon Cassill -67, 15) Austin Hill -71, 16) Brett Moffitt -76.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Noah Gragson 705, 2) AJ Allmendinger -90, 3) Justin Allgaier -99, 4) Josh Berry -100, 5) Ty Gibbs -111, 6) Daniel Hemric -177, 7) Brandon Jones -210, 8) Sheldon Creed
-216, 9) Brandon Brown -231, 10) Riley Herbst -237, 11) Ryan Sieg -239, 12) Anthony Alfredo -240, 13) Jeb Burton -245, 14) Landon Cassill -247, 15) Austin Hill -256, 16) Brett Moffitt -278.
Race Winner: Austin Hill (Daytona), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas), Noah Gragson (Phoenix)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs: Off-Week Update No. 2
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was off this past weekend. Their season is scheduled to resume Saturday with the Fr8 Auctions 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
When the teams arrive in Atlanta, Chandler Smith will have the points lead after his victory in Las Vegas. His advantage is five points over Tanner Gray, who has top five finishes in both races thus far. Ty Majeski is third, then Ben Rhodes and Stewart
Friesen.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 87, 2) Tanner Gray -5, 3) Ty Majeski -15, 4) Ben Rhodes -17, 5) Stewart Friesen -22, t-6) Matt DiBenedetto -29, t-6) Carson Hocevar
-29, 8) Austin Wayne Self -30, t-9) Matt Crafton -32, t-9) John Hunter Nemechek -32, 11) Christian Eckes -34, 12) Zane Smith -40, 13) Timmy Hill -45, 14) Tate Fogelman -47, 15) Kris Wright -49, 16) Spencer Boyd -51.
Note: If he were eligible, Kyle Busch would be 12th in points.
Playoff Points: t-1) Zane Smith 5, t-1) Chandler Smith 5, t-3) John Hunter Nemechek -3, t-3) Ben Rhodes -3.
Stage Points: 1) Chandler Smith 31, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -1, 3) Ben Rhodes -2, 4) Tanner Gray -14, t-5) Ty Majeski -16, t-5) Matt Crafton -16, t-7) Christian Eckes -21, t-7) Stewart
Friesen -21, t-9) Jack Wood -24, t-9) Corey Heim -24, t-11) Zane Smith -25, t-11) Carson Hocevar -25, t-13) Austin Wayne Self -26, t-13) Tyler Ankrum -26, t-13) Grant Enfinger -26, 16) Derek Kraus -27.
Note: If he were eligible, Kyle Busch would be seventh in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tanner Gray 58, t-2) Ty Majeski -8, t-2) Matt DiBenedetto -8, 4) Chandler Smith -9, 5) Stewart Friesen -10, 6) Carson Hocevar -13, 7) Austin Wayne Self
-14, t-8) Zane Smith -21, t-8) Christian Eckes -21, t-10) Ben Rhodes -23, t-10) Timmy Hill -23, t-12) Matt Crafton -26, t-12) Tate Fogelman -26, 14) Kris Wright -28, t-15) Parker Kligerman -30, t-15) Spencer Boyd -30.
Note: If they were eligible, Kyle Busch would be 14th and Ryan Preece 16th in Old Points.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Tanner Gray 320, t-2) Chandler Smith -35, t-2) Stewart Friesen -35, t-2) Ty Majeski -35, 5) Matt DiBenedetto -36, 6) Carson Hocevar -53, 7) Austin Wayne Self
-58, 8) Christian Eckes -66, 9) Ben Rhodes -70, t-10) Zane Smith -85, t-10) Timmy Hill -85, 12) Matt Crafton -92, 13) Tate Fogelman -96, 14) Kris Wright -102, 15) Spencer Boyd -108, 16) Bret Holmes -120.
Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona), Chandler Smith (Las Vegas)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Letter of the Race:
Sunday's Ruoff Mortgage 500k was brought to you by the letter F for First-Timer. The top three finishers at Phoenix
Raceway had never previously won a NASCAR Cup Series race. This is an extreme rarity in the Cup Series. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Ruoff Mortgage 500k
complied by Phil Allaway
"That’s unbelievable. I was crying the whole last lap. I mean, this is definitely a team win. I got to thank everyone that has gotten me to this point. Seven years ago, I was sleeping on couching, ready to give up. They gave me an opportunity and it’s led to this.I am so blessed to be driving at the organization, the team, the car that
was my hero growing up. To get this 14 back in Victory Lane, to do it with Mahindra Tractors, their first year in the sport, everybody that’s believed in me. It’s unbelievable." - Chase Briscoe, race winner
"Like a day at the K1 track. That was so much fun to get to race like that at this level. Trackhouse Racing believes in me and AdventHealth and The Moose, these people they believed in me
early in the season when stuff wasn’t going great. That’s so cool to race with Tyler [Reddick] and Chase [Briscoe]. I mean that’s like everything I’ve ever wanted and my crew chief Phil Surgen, like people don’t know how good he is. His adjustments this year have been so incredible and gave me exactly what I needed. Just came up one spot short. I’m so happy." - Ross Chastain, finished second
"I thought we got a good launch considering all things going right there into [turn 1]. I know about how deep I could drive it in turn one all day. I thought I got pretty good heat in
the tires. I still overstepped it. I couldn’t have [driven] it any deeper than I did. I still thought I was going to get him in the fence. Chase was able to drive it off in there, clear, high, take the lead. It was a lot of fun. Great to claw back from the hiccup we had earlier in the race. Everyone on this No. 8 Guaranteed Rate team did a really good job all day. One little miscue that took us from second to 12th. My pit crew did an amazing job, had a good restart at the end to put ourselves in
position. It was a fun day. Nice way to recover from a mistake that late in the race, be battling for the win. Great day. We’ll see what else we can learn from this and see what lies ahead." - Tyler Reddick, finished third
"It is hard to tell. I lost the lead there on pit road and just could never get back. I don’t know. I just didn’t have quite the speed and was kind of too tight. I could drive up through the field and make good spots and nobody could really do that. You would just get really tight behind people. Not a bad day. A good recovery from last
week. We had a fast car, just a shame we couldn’t contend more for the win. It is cool to see Briscoe get his first win and we will go on to next week." - Ryan Blaney, finished fourth
"It was surprising, and it was fun. I’m normally a sticker guy. I need sticker tires and this car reacted really well to scuffs today, so that’s good for our notebook at 23XI. The restarts – I was able to find the right spots to be. Thanks to MoneyLion, Toyota. We were the top Toyota today, which is somewhat of a surprise. We were just
trying to get to 10th, but we will take a top-five. It’s really cool for our program, this car number, number 45. To get a top-five, check mark done. This was a good West Coast swing. Not so much on points with stage one and stage two, but our finishes were there, and we will keep chiseling away." - Kurt Busch, finished fifth
"It was a good day for us. Restarts weren’t 100% our strong point. We had a bit of a brake shake issue that kept pulling the car to the right under braking so I couldn’t get into corners like I wanted to. Still a good day and the car ran good. I just couldn’t really connect all the corners altogether through the day. Putting a SHR car in
victory lane and running inside the top-five all day for us is always a good day." - Kevin Harvick, finished sixth
"It was a rollercoaster, up and down. I don’t feel that we had the greatest speed, probably top-15 somewhere in there. I made a mistake on pit road, the speeding penalty. We had a couple
slow stops. I feel like it was just ups and downs. We were able to recover a little bit. Travis [Mack, crew chief] made a good call right there with the right side tires only and we were able to get a couple spots back. Overall, it wasn’t a good day, we have to learn and come back stronger." - Daniel Suarez, finished ninth
"That was a really solid day. Phoenix is [admittedly] not been my best track, probably one of my worst. To have a day where we come out of here with a top 10 is a small win. I want to be better but definitely a strong Phoenix for us. I am proud of everyone in this group. It was a tough weekend again with just a 15-minute practice and not
much time to work on it but we were able to dial it in and be competitive in the race. I think we learned some good stuff for our short-track program and we have a lot of those coming up shortly." - Chris Buescher, finished 10th
"This No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet team continues to work so hard. We had a top-five run going today so I hate that our day ended the way it did. During the race, we fought a tight-handling condition that caused our tires to chatter and made us snappy loose on exit to the corner in Turn 2. Solid adjustments all day had us running in
the top-five by the time we got to Stage 3. We were as fast as anyone in clean air. Our pit crew fired off great stops all day. On the last restart we were running sixth when the field went three-wide and someone tagged our right-rear. We got collected and it ended our day. Not the way we wanted to end the race after having such a strong run. It’s unfortunate to get tangled in someone else’s mess, but we’ll regroup and head to Atlanta Motor Speedway with even more fire underneath us." -
Austin Dillon, finished 21st (Crashed out)
"I don’t know. I felt it four or five laps before it, well it was just getting worse. Hate that. Our Valvoline Chevy was pretty good, I thought that we were a fourth or fifth place car. Just was just hoping to be a little better than that. I know they’ll address the issue that seems like we have had the last couple of weeks with some of
the engines. We’ll come back strong and reliable. The good thing is we have fast cars, fast engines and great drivers driving these Chevys, so we’ll get some more wins here." - Kyle Larson, finished 34th (Broken valve spring)
"We had been getting really loose all day on the longer runs. I was just out there trying to take care of it, and we gained a few spots on the restart and I was just trying to take care of the rear tires. Coming off of turn two there, I’m kind of neutral free and then all of a sudden it shot straight into the fence. I cut a right front
[tire] down running up there in the glue or something." - Martin Truex Jr., finished 35th (Crashed out)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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