Frontstretch Newsletter: March 21, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition XXXVI
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- NASCAR teams are back at their shops, preparing for this weekend's tripleheader at Circuit of the Americas 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 18-20
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- In Formula 2 action, Trident's Richard Verschoor
drove into the lead at the start on Saturday, then led flag-to-flag to win the 23-lap Sprint race. Verschoor ended up 1.853 seconds ahead of PREMA's Jehan Daruvala. Carlin's Liam Lawson was third, then Campos Racing's Ralph Boschung. MP Motorsport's Felipe Drugovich was fifth.
Sunday's Feature race was a far more wild
affair. Estonia's Juri Vips led early from the third spot on the grid, but had contact exiting the pit lane during the mandatory pit stop with Theo Pourchaire. Vips was forced to pit for a new front wing.
From there, Pourchaire was able to pull away and take the Feature win.
Pourchaire finished just under a second ahead of Lawson, while Vips rebounded from 12th with the new wing to finish third. Boschung was fourth, while Hitech's Marcus Armstrong was fifth. After the first race weekend, Pourchaire leads by one point over Lawson. Vips is third, then Boschung and Drugovich.
- In Formula 3 action, Hitech's Isack Hadjar
inherited the Sprint race victory Saturday after PREMA's Oliver Bearman was penalized for track limits. Bearman had led the vast majority of the race, but got hit with a five-second penalty. Hadjar was in position to capitalize on the penalty.
Despite the penalty, Bearman was still classifed in
second, 1.589 seconds behind Hadjar. MP Motorsport's Alexander Smolyar was third, then Trident's Zane Maloney and PREMA's Arthur Leclerc.
The Feature race on Sunday saw ART Grand Prix's
Victor Martins pass Leclerc on lap 15 of 23 for the lead. From there, he opened up a small gap and held on for the win. He was 1.543 seconds ahead of Leclerc at the finish. Vam Amersfoort Racing's Franco Colapinto was third on the road, but was given a five-second track limit penalty. That rose Martins' teammate Gregoire Saucy to third. Juan Manuel Correa was fourth, then
Colapinto.
Martins leaves Bahrain with a one-point lead over
Leclerc. Bearman is third, then Saucy and Correa.
- At Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday, Yamaha's Eli Tomac
further locked down his points lead by winning his fourth straight 450cc Supercross race. He ended up 1.322 seconds ahead of Justin Barcia, then Marvin Musquin, Chase Sexton and Cooper Webb. Tomac's lead is now 51 points over both Barcia and Jason Anderson. Malcolm Stewart is down to fourth, while Webb is fifth.
- In the 250cc East class, Jett Lawrence didn't
waste any time. He immediately took the holeshot, then proceeded to try to run off and hide. Some early issues in the whoops allowed Cameron McAdoo to take the lead. With eight minutes to go, Lawrence took the lead back and ran away to take the win.
Lawrence ended up 5.945 seconds ahead of
McAdoo. RJ Hampshire was third, then Pierce Brown and Mitchell Oldenburg. They were the only five riders on the lead lap at the finish. Lawrence's point lead is now 11 points over McAdoo. Brown is third, then Hampshire and Enzo Lopes.
- In the wee hours of Sunday morning Eastern time,
KTM's Miguel Oliveira deal with tricky conditions to win the MotoGP Grand Prix of Indonesia at the new Mandalika circuit. The race was delayed due to severe weather, including an actual lightning strike right next to the track.
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| | William Byron Survives to Win Chaotic Atlanta
Race
Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron held off the pack on a wild final restart to win Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. Ross Chastain was second for the second straight week, then Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez and Corey
LaJoie. Christopher Bell finished third on-track, but was penalized for going below the red and white line on the backstretch to pass Chastain.
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| | Trackhouse Keeps Digging, Rallies to 2 Top-5
Finishes
Trackhouse Racing continues to show that they will be force in 2022. Ross Chastain recovered from a cut tire early on to finish second once again, while Daniel Suarez ended up a strong fourth.
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| | Corey LaJoie Nabs First Top-5 Cup Series Result in
Atlanta
Things weren't looking all that great Sunday when Corey LaJoie got caught up in the Big One exiting turn 4 and ended up spinning across the quad-oval grass. However, he was able to recover from there and finish a
career-best fifth.
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| | New Era Draws David Ragan Back Home to
Atlanta
For David Ragan these days, life is quieter. He can pick and choose the races that he competes in. On Sunday, he drove Rick Ware Racing's No. 15 Select Blinds Ford at Atlanta, his home track and a place that means a
lot to him.
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| | Ty Gibbs Continues Xfinity Intermediate Dominance, Wins
Atlanta
Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs swept past Ryan Sieg on the final lap Saturday night and held on to earn his second win of the year in the Nalley Cars 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Austin Hill was second, then AJ
Allmendinger, Riley Herbst and Landon Cassill.
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| | Landon Cassill, AJ Allmendinger Lead Kaulig’s Charge to Front at
Atlanta
Kaulig Racing
continues to be one of the best teams in the Xfinity Series. While Daniel Hemric got crashed out, both AJ Allmendinger and Landon Cassill earned top five finishes.
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| | DGM Racing Scores Double Top 10 at
Atlanta
Saturday's Nalley Cars 250 was rather chaotic late. That allowed for some underdog teams to score good finishes. Mason Massey scored a career-best sixth-place finish, while Kyle Weatherman was
eighth.
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| | Home Cooking for Corey Heim as He Picks Up 1st Truck Series Win at
Atlanta
Corey Heim used some help from John Hunter Nemechek to take the lead from Chandler Smith on the final lap Saturday afternoon and held on to win the Fr8 208 for his first career Camping World Truck Series win. Ben Rhodes
was second, then Ty Majeski, Chandler Smith and Zane Smith.
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| | Chandler Smith Soured By Lack of KBM
Teamwork
One driver that was quite upset with the conclusion of the Fr8 208 was Chandler Smith, who felt that he was screwed over by his own teammate in favor of Corey Heim on the final lap.
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| | Josef Newgarden Edges Out Scott McLaughlin for Dramatic Texas
Win
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden swept past teammate Scott McLaughlin on the outside on the final lap to win Sunday's Xpel 375 at Texas Motor Speedway. Marcus Ericsson was third, then Will Power and Scott Dixon, who
edged Jimmie Johnson for fifth.
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| | Jimmie Johnson Finishes 6th at Texas in IndyCar Oval
Debut
Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series has been a struggle for Jimmie Johnson to this point. Sunday saw him have his best-ever race in INDYCAR. Johnson ran as high as fifth Sunday before finishing
sixth.
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| | 3-Wide Accident Eliminates Contenders at
Texas
Ever since Texas Motor Speedway was re-configured, it has become a very difficult place to race side-by-side at for INDYCAR. There's only so much room. Devlin DeFrancesco made the mistake of trying to go three-wide
into turn 3. That was never going to work, and sure enough, it didn't.
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| | Jack Harvey Crashes on Saturday at Texas, Plus Other
Notes
Saturday was a busy day for INDYCAR in Texas. Felix Rosenqvist won the pole while Jack Harvey had a big crash in the final practice session.
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| | Santino Ferrucci Filling in for Jack Harvey at
Texas
As a result of the big crash that Jack Harvey had Saturday in the final practice session, he was forced to sit out the race. Santino Ferrucci drove in his place.
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| | Charles Leclerc Finds Redemption in Bahrain, Reliability Undermines Red
Bull
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc led flag-to-flag Sunday to win the Grand Prix of Bahrain, the season opener for the Formula 1 World Championship, breaking a 45-race winless streak for Ferrari. Carlos Sainz Jr. was
second, then Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Kevin Magnussen.
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| | Underpowered Mercedes, Savvy Hamilton Steal Podium at
Bahrain
After the past couple of years, it might seem surprising that Mercedes isn't the class of the field in Formula 1. Mercedes is down on power as compared to Ferrari and only squeaked out a podium finish due to Red Bull's
late issues.
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| | Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 02 Cadillac Wins Mobil 1 12 Hours of
Sebring
Chip Ganassi Racing's Earl Bamber, Neel Jani and Alex Lynn recovered from an avoidable contact penalty to win the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Saturday night. PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, Sean Creech Motorsports, Corvette
Racing and Cetilar Racing claimed class victories.
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| | Alpine Wins Lightning-Shortened 1000 Miles of
Sebring
Alpine's Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere won Friday's FIA World Endurance Championship season opener, the 1000 Miles of Sebring. The race was shortened due to lightning.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Joe Skibinski, Chris Owens and Chris Jones of INDYCAR Media, Steve Etherington via Mercedes-AMG F1, FIA Images, IMSA, Marius Hecker of Focus-Pack-Media.de.
Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Chase Elliott Claims Points Lead By Staying Out of Trouble
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott managed to
keep himself out of trouble Sunday and brought his NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet home in sixth. That was enough to move him up into the points lead. His advantage is seven points over Joey Logano, who was leading entering the day. Logano was caught up in a crash on lap 145 exiting turn 4 that cost him a lap. He made it up and finished ninth. Chase Briscoe recovered from a crash to finish 15th and move up to third in
points. William Byron won Sunday and led the most laps (111). That moved him up from 15th to fourth in points.
Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch are tied for fifth in points. Blaney was in position to play a role in the finish Sunday before hitting the wall on the final lap and finishing 17th. Kurt Busch continues to be quiet while earning top five finishes, but he would be higher in the standings if he weren't outside of the top 20 in
stage points. Aric Almirola is seventh after a late spin dropped him to 22nd. Martin Truex Jr. is up to eighth.
Alex Bowman is up from a tie for 11th to ninth after finishing 10th. Ross Chastain finished second for the second week in a row. That moved him up from 14th to 10th in points. Kyle Busch got caught up in an early crash with Austin Dillon and ultimately retired later on. That dropped
the M&M's driver from second all the way down to 11th. Kyle Larson was eliminated in a crash at the end of stage two with Denny Hamlin. That dropped Larson from fourth to 12th.
Daniel Suarez finished a strong fourth Sunday and moved up into a tie for 13th with Kevin Harvick. Harvick finished 21st after getting caught up in a crash. Tyler Reddick was very strong once again, but cut his right rear tire while leading and crashed. Later issues put him out and dropped him
back to 15th in points, the last driver in the playoffs as of now. Reddick has a four-point advantage over Brad Keselowski, who finished 12th.
Austin Cindric got eliminated when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. blew his right rear tire and he got spun into Stenhouse. That dropped him from eighth to 17th in points, but since he won the Daytona 500, he's still in the playoffs. Bubba Wallace was in position to potentially win Sunday, but got drop-kicked on the final lap.
Getting wrecked at the line made it worse. As a result, he's down to 18th. Erik Jones finished 14th and stays in 19th. Chris Buescher spun across the line in seventh, which moved him up to 20th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 171, 2) Joey Logano -7, 3) Chase Briscoe -15, 4) William Byron
-21, t-5) Ryan Blaney -23, t-5) Kurt Busch -23, 7) Aric Almirola -27, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -29, 9) Alex Bowman -31, 10) Ross Chastain -34, 11) Kyle Busch -35, 12) Kyle Larson -36, t-13) Daniel Suarez
-44, t-13) Kevin Harvick -44, 15) Tyler Reddick -45, 16) Brad Keselowski -49.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Austin Cindric
-50.
Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 7, 2) Alex Bowman -1, t-3) Kyle Larson -3, t-3) Chase
Briscoe -2, t-3) Austin Cindric -2, t-5) Martin Truex Jr. -5, t-5) Tyler Reddick -5, t-5) Ryan Blaney -5, 8) Ross Chastain -6.
Stage Points: 1) William Byron
55, 2) Chase Elliott -7, 3) Kyle Larson -10, 4) Ryan Blaney -13, 5) Tyler Reddick -17, 6) Chase Briscoe -18, 7) Joey Logano -19, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -21, t-9) Brad Keselowski -23, t-9) Erik Jones
-23, 11) Alex Bowman -30, t-12) Ross Chastain -31, t-12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -31, 14) Austin Cindric -35, 15) Denny Hamlin -36, 16) Kevin Harvick -37.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Kyle Busch -40, t-20) Daniel Suarez -42, 22) Kurt Busch -44, 23) Aric Almirola -45.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kurt Busch 159, 2) Aric Almirola -4, 3) Joey Logano -7, 4) Chase Elliott -13, 5) Kyle Busch
-15, 6) Chase Briscoe -18, 7) Alex Bowman -24, 8) Daniel Suarez -25, t-9) Ross Chastain -27, t-9) Ryan Blaney -27, t-11) Martin Truex Jr. -28, t-11) Kevin Harvick -28, 13) Bubba Wallace -33, 14) Austin
Cindric -38, 15) Chris Buescher -40, 16) William Byron -41.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Kyle Larson -45, 21) Tyler
Reddick -48
Note: These
standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Kurt Busch 702, 2) Aric Almirola
-18, 3) Joey Logano -26, 4) Kyle Busch -46, 5) Chase Elliott -50, 6) Chase Briscoe -56, 7) Ross Chastain -63, 8) Ryan Blaney -76, 9) Daniel Suarez -78, 10) Alex Bowman -88, 11) Kevin Harvick
-96, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -97, 13) Bubba Wallace -107, 14) William Byron -123, t-15) Kyle Larson -131, t-15) Austin Cindric -131.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Tyler Reddick
-148.
Note No. 1: The WC points are based on the original points
system created by Bob Latford in 1975.
Race
Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona), Kyle Larson (Fontana), Alex Bowman (Las
Vegas), Chase Briscoe (Phoenix), William Byron (Atlanta)
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.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Noah Gragson's Point Lead Halved After Late Crash
by Phil Allaway
JR Motorsports' Noah Gragson was dominant early, had issues, recovered from them, then got involved in a late crash on the backstretch. He would eventually finish 26th and lose a good chunk of his points lead. His advantage is now 19 points over both Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger.
Gibbs swept past on the final lap to earn his second win of the year, while Allmendinger finished third. Justin Allgaier is down one place to fourth after getting eliminated in the same wreck Gragson was in.
Josh Berry remains in fifth despite crashing out with Allgaier. Brandon Jones is up one place to sixth after finishing seventh. Daniel Hemric was eliminated in a crash with Joe Graf Jr. and dropped one place to seventh. Daytona winner Austin Hill finished second moved up from a tie for 11th to
eighth.
Riley Herbst is up one place to ninth after recovering from issues under the hood to finish fourth. Ryan Sieg was leading at the white flag, but ended up finishing 10th. That actually dropped him from eighth to 10th in points. Landon Cassill and Sheldon Creed are tied for 11th. Cassill
finished fifth, while Creed was ninth.
Cassill and Creed are tied for the final spot in the playoffs at the moment. They are two points ahead of Sam Mayer, who finished 21st despite being involved in two separate incidents. Brandon Brown is down one place to 14th after finishing 18th. Jeb Burton is up one place to 15th after finishing 15th,
while Trevor Bayne's late crash dropped him to 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Noah Gragson 223, t-2) Ty Gibbs -19, t-2) AJ Allmendinger -19, 4) Justin Allgaier -51, 5) Josh Berry -59, 6) Brandon Jones -70, 7) Daniel Hemric
-77, 8) Austin Hill -86, 9) Riley Herbst -95, 10) Ryan Sieg -98, t-11) Landon Cassill -101, t-11) Sheldon Creed -101, 13) Sam Mayer -103, 14) Brandon Brown -105, 15) Jeb Burton -111, 16) Trevor Bayne
-114.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics are either ineligible for the playoffs, or outside of the top 12.
Playoff Points: 1) Ty Gibbs 10, 2) Noah Gragson -2, 3) Austin Hill -5, t-4) Daniel Hemric -8, t-4) Trevor Bayne -8, t-6) AJ Allmendinger -7, t-6) Josh Berry -7.
Note: If he were eligible, Cole Custer would be third in playoff points.
Stage Points: 1) Noah Gragson 68, t-2) AJ Allmendinger -21, t-2) Daniel Hemric -21, 4) Ty Gibbs -25, t-5) Josh Berry -29, t-5) Sam Mayer -29, 7) Brandon Jones
-31, t-8) Justin Allgaier -35, t-8) Trevor Bayne -35, 10) Austin Hill -42, 11) Ryan Sieg -53, 12) Brandon Brown -54, 13) Riley Herbst -58, t-14) Jade Buford -60, t-14) Ryan Truex -60, t-16) Landon Cassill
-61, t-16) Tommy Joe Martins -61.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 20) Sheldon Creed -63.
Note: If he were eligible, Cole Custer would be 11th and John Hunter Nemechek 12th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ty Gibbs 183, 2) AJ Allmendinger -1, 3) Noah Gragson -3, t-4) Josh Berry -36, t-4) Justin Allgaier -36, 6) Brandon Jones -43, 7) Sheldon Creed
-44, 8) Riley Herbst -47, t-9) Austin Hill -50, t-9) Landon Cassill -50, 11) Ryan Sieg -51, t-12) Brandon Brown -57, t-12) Jeb Burton -57, 14) Anthony Alfredo -60, 15) Daniel Hemric -61, 16) Brett Moffitt
-68.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Noah Gragson 795, 2) AJ Allmendinger -5, 3) Ty Gibbs -21, 4) Josh Berry -121, 5) Justin Allgaier -128, 6) Brandon Jones -149, 7) Sheldon Creed
-163, 8) Riley Herbst -167, 9) Austin Hill -171, 10) Landon Cassill -182, 11) Ryan Sieg -190, 12) Daniel Hemric -209, 13) Brandon Brown -212, 14) Anthony Alfredo -215, 15) Jeb Burton -217, 16) Brett Moffitt
-247.
Race Winner: Austin Hill (Daytona), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas, Atlanta), 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: Chandler Smith Expands Advantage Despite Missing Out On Paydirt
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith led Saturday afternoon's Fr8 208 at the white flag before Corey Heim drafted past for the win. Chandler still finished fourth and claimed 12 stage points. That allowed him to increase his lead from four to 13 points over Tanner Gray. Gray managed an eighth-place finish. Ty Majeski finished third
and stays in third spot. Stewart Friesen won stage one and finished sixth. This moved him up one place to fourth.
Ben Rhodes is down one place to fifth despite finishing second. He failed to score a stage point during the race. Despite finishing 16th after getting caught up in a crash, Christian Eckes moved up five places to sixth thanks to 14 stage points. Austin Wayne Self moved up one place to seventh after finishing 10th. John Hunter
Nemechek got wrecked late for the third race in a row. Despite this, Nemechek moved up one place to eighth despite not having a top 20 finish yet this year.
Zane Smith is up three places to ninth after finishing fifth. Matt Crafton is down from a tie for ninth to 10th after getting caught up in an incident and finishing 25th. He is the last driver in the playoffs as of right now. Crafton has an eight-point lead over Carson Hocevar, who ran well early before a tire rub ruined his
day. Tyler Ankrum is up to 12th after finishing 11th.
Matt DiBenedetto's day was ruined in less than a minute Saturday. He hit the wall on lap 2 in turn 3, resulting in a number of unscheduled stops. He eventually finished 30th and dropped from a tie for sixth to a tie for 13th with Ryan Preece. Preece finished a strong seventh, but is ineligible for the playoffs since he skipped Daytona. Derek
Kraus finished ninth and moved up to 15th, while Grant Enfinger is 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 132, 2) Tanner Gray -13, 3) Ty Majeski -17, 4) Stewart Friesen -26, 5) Ben Rhodes -27, 6) Christian Eckes -44, 7) Austin Wayne Self -48, 8) John Hunter Nemechek
-52, 9) Zane Smith -53, 10) Matt Crafton -54, 11) Carson Hocevar -62, 12) Tyler Ankrum -64, t-13) Matt DiBenedetto -67, t-13) Ryan Preece -67, 15) Derek Kraus -68, 16) Grant Enfinger -71.
Playoff Points: t-1) Zane Smith 5, t-1) Chandler Smith 5, t-1) Corey Heim 5, t-4) John Hunter Nemechek -2, t-4) Ben Rhodes -3, 6) Stewart Friesen -4.
Stage Points: 1) Chandler Smith 43, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -1, 3) Ben Rhodes -14, 4) Matt Crafton -17, 5) Tanner Gray -18, t-6) Ty Majeski -19, t-6) Christian Eckes -19, 8) Stewart Friesen
-23, 9) Grant Enfinger -29, t-10) Derek Kraus -31, t-10) Tyler Ankrum -31, t-11) Carson Hocevar -35, t-13) Corey Heim -36, t-13) Jack Wood -36, 15) Zane Smith -37, 16) Austin Wayne Self -38.
Note: If he were eligible, Kyle Busch would be 10th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tanner Gray 83, 2) Ty Majeski -2, 3) Chandler Smith -4, 4) Stewart Friesen -6, t-5) Ben Rhodes -16, t-5) Austin Wayne Self -16, 7) Zane Smith -18, 8) Ryan Preece
-26, 9) Christian Eckes -28, 10) Matt DiBenedetto -30, 11) Carson Hocevar -32, 12) Timmy Hill -37, t-13) Jesse Little -38, t-13) Timmy Hill -38, 15) Kris Wright -41, t-16) Matt Crafton
-42, t-16) Derek Kraus -42, t-16) Spencer Boyd -42
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 23) John Hunter Nemechek -53.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Tanner Gray 462, 2) Ty Majeski -7, 3) Chandler Smith -12, 4) Stewart Friesen -17, 5) Ben Rhodes -37, 6) Austin Wayne Self -66, 7) Zane Smith -72, 8) Christian Eckes
-88, 9) Matt DiBenedetto -105, 10) Carson Hocevar -113, 11) Timmy Hill -130, 12) Tyler Ankrum -133, 13) Matt Crafton -141, 14) Derek Kraus -143, 15) Kris Wright -144, 16) Ryan Preece -146.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 20) John Hunter Nemechek -172
Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona), Chandler Smith (Las Vegas), Corey Heim (Atlanta)
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Quotes to Remember: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
complied by Phil Allaway
"I didn’t really have a chance to watch the races because I was racing last night at Hickory, but I watched a little bit of the Truck race. And I saw the last lap with Chandler leading and kind of how that developed.
"So I was always trying to guard against getting too far out in front. But as soon as it got double file, I would say into turn one that really helped my cause to kind of be able to just manage the momentum. But single file, surprisingly, I mean, it might have looked like we were staying single file relatively easy, but it was hard to run single
file.
"It was difficult to manage the lead in the front and not have somebody get a run on you to easily pass you. So I think those things were interesting as the day developed. I felt like single file was my most vulnerable place to be, and then as soon as they would get kind of doubled up throughout the field, that was probably a little bit easier to handle." - William Byron, race
winner
"Maybe second. What a day, Regan. That’s the fight, that’s the fight in Trackhouse. This Gen 7 car to take a lick like that, blow a tire out of nowhere leading. Just cruising, blow a right rear, slam the wall, I thought our day was over. Our guys went underneath the car, got the tow closer and we got the balance back where I could drive it and this Advent Health Chevy was fast. It was so fast. I mean we were fighting with William [Byron]
there at the beginning. So cool to race with buddies again. I only have a few, but the last two weeks I’ve been able to race with buddies. Can’t thank everybody at Trackhouse, the Moose, Advent Health, everybody that’s been on this car. Justin Marks and his family for what they do for me and Daniel Suarez. What a teammate to push me there at the end." - Ross Chastain, finished second
"We were on a different planet today with the draft and the way the cars raced. Wow. I was catching air off of turn two. I had to lift to not hit the rev chip. I just had a little too much damage to not be on offense, and then we were just trying to ride around and pick our poison so to speak with the Monster Energy Toyota. We weren’t on offense, so if you are not on offense, you kind of have to ride and wait for the holes to open up and I
got a top five again. A lot of sarcasm here. We know we need to get better with the handling and some of our race craft, but another top five – we will take it." - Kurt Busch, finished third
"It was just like that, up and down. Our No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet was fast. We did a good job on pit road. We had fast pit stops. When we have a fast Chevrolet Camaro, it makes things easier. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing has been working very, very hard to build cars like this. We just have to keep it up. We have a few trophies coming in the near future." - Daniel Suarez, finished
fourth
"We did exactly what we set out to do today. We made Atlanta Motor Speedway like a superspeedway. We missed the wrecks and put our No. 7 Fraternal Order of Eagles Camaro ZL1 there at the end and got a top-five finish. It’s great to start our season with three top 15’s and now one top five. Hopefully, we can maintain the momentum over the next couple of weeks and put ourselves in a good points position through the summer. Thank you to
everyone at Spire Motorsports and the No. 7 team for all the hard work to continue to build fast Chevys." - Corey LaJoie, finished fifth
"It was crazy, for sure. Hopefully it was fun to watch because I felt like it was wild from my seat. It was very much so like a Daytona or Talladega. Just trying to position yourself there at the right spot and hope it goes your way." - Chase Elliott, finished sixth
"The pylon looks better than our race, probably. It was a hard-fought race. We had a lot of balance gremlins that a lot of the field fought early on. A lot of it was just not knowing what to expect. It got better and were definitely a competitive car at the end. We needed a little more raw speed and then going through one and two coming to the checkered I don’t know what happened there. I haven’t seen all of that yet, but coming to the
finish I had what I felt like was a decent run and went to pull down and go somewhere with it and I don’t think I realized [Justin Haley] was below me there. That was the end of the day. That wreck is probably on me, so frustrating to end that way but a decent finish for us still. I’m missing the old Atlanta a lot right now. To be fair, it was my favorite mile-and-a-half before, so it was gonna be hard for this one to compare and, to me, it doesn’t right now but we’ll keep working on it and see
if we can get it better for next time." - Chris Buescher, finished seventh
"A long day. We spun out and then the engine wouldn’t start. I don’t know why it wouldn’t start, but it wouldn’t start until I got pushed. We lost a lap and then got our lap back. We just battled and battled and finished ninth. No stage points." - Joey Logano, finished ninth
"Obviously, Chris [Buescher] and I were going for the same real estate there at the end, so neither of us were really to blame. I did not want to be forced down below the red and white line. I have been bitten by that rule in the past, so I obviously did not want to go below it, and I was not going to check up either. We had a really strong No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1 all day, but we were just unlucky at the end."
- Justin Haley, finished 11th
"There at the beginning I got a little bit of damage, but our car was honestly really good. We could never lead, but I could shove people really really good and if I had somebody that was good in front of me I could just keep going and keep picking them off. There at the end I felt like with how my car was, and I kept going to the bottom, the top was just so fast down the straightaway so I knew I probably wasn’t gonna win with the damage I
had on the nose, so I was just trying to stay committed to running the top to keep our momentum up. I thought we were gonna come out third or fourth and was trying to help the 12 and, honestly, to shove him to potentially the win and I went in there and I just got him loose into one and obviously we both hit the fence because of it. It’s unfortunate. We were both gonna have a really good day and I kind of shot ourselves in the foot there." - Chase Briscoe, finished
15th
"We had a really fast FedEx Camry. I was just trying to help Kyle [Larson] there and I just needed to let him go off turn four. The track gets light there, the car starts to lift up and that’s where I needed to back off of him and I just didn’t and spun him out. It is a shame. Our car was really fast. We definitely slowed after the first part of the damage – we were involved in that first wreck. Overall, just frustrating, but we are
running well, we are just finishing horrible. I’m just making some bad decisions. It’s easy in retrospect to say I should have done this, and I should have done that, but in the moment, you are trying to battle for some stage points there and we’ve got good grip, and I’m pushing him, and everything is going well and then all of a sudden the car lifts up and he’s gone. Just split-second decision making." - Denny Hamlin, finished 29th (Crashed
out)
"We were just coming to the end of the stage. [Denny Hamlin] was just trying to help me get a run down the front stretch. He just got to me in the corner and got me loose. I hate that happened, but it’s a product of this racing and product of pushing; trying to draft and get your lane going. Nothing is intentional.
"Obviously, I wish we were still out there and both of us racing. The good thing is we have a win already. Two DNF’s in a row isn’t what we want, but our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy is fast. We were able to drive to the front a few different times and avoid a couple different wrecks. I was happy with the car. The handling was off early, but we got it better. I know the speed was there to contend. We’ll move along and go have some fun on a
road course." - Kyle Larson, finished 30th (Crashed out)
"I was just riding around and I felt really good with our No. 47. Kroger/SweetLeaf Camaro. It was really, really fast. We drove right up to the front from the back there at the start of the race. You saw a few tires let go with people leading, running in the front. I don’t know if with all the speed we have here, if the right rear can’t hang on or
what.
"The JTG Daugherty guys brought a really fast car. It was another race where I felt like we were running up front. We’ve done that quite often this year. We missed it last weekend in Phoenix, but we’ll go get them at COTA. Our guys are continuing to build really good race cars and that’s all we can ask for. We’ll keep trying to put ourselves in position. I had fun." - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished
31st
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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