Frontstretch Newsletter: April 11, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition LI
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- Teams are preparing for this weekend's dirt adventure in Bristol at the moment. 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: April 8-10
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- Gresini Racing's Enea Bastianini claimed victory in Sunday's MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of the Americas for his second win of the year. Alex Rins was 2.058 seconds back in second, then Jack Miller, Joan Mir and Francesco Bagnaia. Marc Marquez recovered from problems at the start that left him dead last to finish
sixth.
Through four of 21 rounds, Bastianini has a five-point lead in the standings over Rins. Aleix Espargaro is third, then Mir and Fabio Quartararo.
- In Monster Energy AMA Supercross action, teams competed in the final Triple Crown event of the season Saturday night at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis. KTM's Marvin Musquin picked up his first round victory of the year in the 450cc class, while RJ Hampshire won the 250cc East class for the night.
450cc Race No. 1 saw Honda's Chase Sexton grab the holeshot at the first corner and led gate-to-flag to take the victory by 4.044 seconds over Musquin. Malcolm Stewart was third on his Husqvarna, then Eli Tomac and Justin Barcia.
Race No. 2 saw Musquin win the holeshot and fend off early pressure from Jason Anderson before running away to the victory. He ended up 5.565 seconds ahead of Anderson at the finish. Sexton was third, then Tomac and Barcia. Stewart ended up crashing hard on the fourth lap and ended up failing to finish.
The final race saw Tomac win the holeshot and pulled away after a couple of laps while Musquin had to deal with pressure from Anderson. Once Musquin fully dispatched of Anderson, he tried to run Tomac back down, but ran out of time. The points leader ultimately took the victory over Musquin by 6.845 seconds. Sexton was third after a bad start,
followed by Barcia and Anderson.
With a total score of five, Musquin took the round victory by two positions over Sexton. Tomac was third, followed by Anderson and Barcia.
Tomac has a 56-point lead over Anderson with four rounds remaining. As this is more than two full races, serious ground will need to be made up if Tomac is to be caught. Barcia is third in points, then Stewart and Musquin. Only the top seven riders are still mathematically eligible for the title.
- The 250cc class saw Hampshire win the holeshot and lead most of the race. However, he got off-line late in the race and mistimed a jump. As a result, he landed on a Tuffblox and crashed hard. This allowed Jett Lawrence to get past and claim the the first race. Hampshire recovered to finish second, 5.321 seconds back. Mitchell
Oldenburg was third, then Kyle Chisholm and Phil Nicoletti.
Race No. 2 saw Lawrence run Hampshire down and take the lead halfway through the race. Hampshire haunted Lawrence until the final lap, when he made a move for the win. This move failed and deposited Hampshire on the dirt. Lawrence was able to remount and finish second, 6.486 seconds back. Oldenburg was third, then Chisholm and Jordon
Smith.
Race No. 3 saw Hampshire win the holeshot and spend much of the race doing battle with Pierce Brown. Meanwhile, Lawrence crashed on the first lap and dropped to 20th. Eventually, Hampshire dropped Brown and held on for the win.
Hampshire was 3.838 seconds ahead of of Nicoletti at the finish. Chisholm was third, then Oldenburg. Lawrence recovered from his crash to finish fifth.
With a total score of five, Hampshire took the round win by three positions over Lawrence. Oldenburg was third, with Chisholm and Nicolette rounding out the top five. Points-wise, Lawrence stretched his lead out to 34 points over Cameron McAdoo, who did not compete in St. Louis, with three races remaining. Hampshire is up to third, then Smith and
Brown.
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams had two races scheduled last weekend. Unfortunately, Friday night's race at US 36 Speedway was cancelled due to cold weather.
Saturday night saw the teams compete in the Jason Johnson Classic at Lake Ozark Speedway. Jacob Allen started from the pole and led early, but lost the advantage to Brady Bacon on lap 12 in lapped traffic.
However, Allen kept the pressure on Bacon and got back around Bacon on lap 27 after having some casual contact. Allen was able to hold on from there to earn his second career victory and a check for $15,000. Spencer Bayston was second, then David Gravel, Allen's teammate Logan Schuchart and Brad Sweet. Bacon ended up cutting his right rear tire and finished
17th.
Through 13 races, Sweet currently has a 40-point lead over Gravel. Carson Macedo is third, then Sheldon Haudenschild and Donny Schatz.
- Kelly-Moss Road & Race's Kay van Berlo swept the entire weekend for Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by Visit Cayman Islands in Long Beach. He managed to win both races from the pole and lead every lap. He has four victories this season in as many races.
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| | Hendrick Motorsports Dominates, William Byron Wins Martinsville Cup
Race
Hendrick Motorsports dominated Saturday night in chilly Martinsville, leading 397 of 403 laps. William Byron was able to hold back the pack on a Green-White-Checker restart to
take his second win of the year. Joey Logano was second, then Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain.
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| | Joey Logano Finishes 2nd at Martinsville in
Overtime
Joey Logano was reasonably strong Saturday night in Martinsville and got himself in position to snatch second on the final restart. He tried to put the bumper to William Byron
on the final lap, but came up short of paydirt.
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| | Josh Williams Running Bristol Dirt for Live
Fast
Live Fast Motorsports announced Monday morning that Josh Williams will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in Sunday's Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor
Speedway.
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| | Brandon Jones Uses Last-Lap Pass to Win Xfinity at Martinsville; Ty Gibbs, Sam Mayer Fight on Pit
Road
Joe Gibbs Racing's Brandon Jones was able to slip past teammate Ty Gibbs on the final lap Friday night. From there, he held on to win the caution-strewn NASCAR Xfinity
Series Call 811 Before You Dig 250 at Martinsville. Landon Cassill was second, then AJ Allmendinger, Austin Hill and Sam Mayer.
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| | Ty Gibbs & Sam Mayer Fight After Xfinity Series Race at
Martinsville
After losing the lead, Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer had significant contact on the final lap while fighting for the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus. Neither driver took it home after Gibbs got in the wall (AJ Allmendinger
took the bonus home). Afterwards, Gibbs angrily confronted Mayer on pit road.
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| | Austin Dillon to Compete for Young’s in Truck Race at Bristol
Dirt
Young's Motorsports announced Friday that Austin Dillon will drive for the team in Saturday night's Pinty's Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. Dillon is a past winner on dirt, winning the Inaugural Mudsummer
Classic at Eldora in 2013.
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| | Josef Newgarden Holds Off Romain Grosjean, Wins Maiden Grand Prix of Long
Beach
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden was able to take the lead late Sunday in California and held off a charging Romain Grosjean to win the 47th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Alex Palou was third, then Will Power
and Patricio O'Ward.
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| | Colton Herta Suffers Heartbreak at Long
Beach
Colton Herta dominated much of Sunday's Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. However, he exited turn 9 a little wide and put himself in the wall, ending his day.
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| | Romain Grosjean Charges to 2nd at Long
Beach
Romain Grosjean ended up being the only driver Sunday to finish the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on the Firestone reds. This allowed him to carve up the order late to finish
second.
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| | Friday IndyCar Happenings At Long
Beach
Friday at Long Beach saw Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Simon Pagenaud top the timesheets. It also saw Jimmie Johnson crash in turn 5 and suffer a hand injury when he didn't get his hand off of the steering
wheel quick enough.
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| | Grand Chelem For Charles Leclerc In Dominant Melbourne
Win
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc continued his amazing start to 2022 by winning from pole, leading every lap and claiming the fastest lap in Sunday's Grand Prix of Australia Sergio
Perez was nearly 20 seconds behind in second, then George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
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| | Max Verstappen Retires from Australian Grand Prix, Second Engine Failure in Three
Races
So far, the 2022 World Championship has been a nightmare for defending champion Max Verstappen. The early hours of Sunday morning saw him retire out of second-place due to an
unusual fluid leak and mechanical woes.
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| | Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande Score Long Beach Triumph After Early
Trouble
Chip Ganassi Racing's Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande recovered from an incident in the opening 10 minutes Saturday to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Heart
of Racing's Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas won GTD Pro, while Paul Miller Racing's Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won in GTD.
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| | Bubba Pollard Wins SRX Seat For Five Flags at Five
Flags
Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) announced Saturday that multiple-time champion late model racer Bubba Pollard has earned a spot on the grid for the SRX season opener at Five Flags Speedway.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Chris Jones and Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, NASCAR Media via Jared C. Tilton of Getty Images, IMSA, FIA Images, Mark Thompson of Getty Images and Michael Kristl.
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 Regains Lead With Strong First Half in Martinsville
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott dominated
the first half of the race, leading the first 185 laps and winning the first two stages. However, he faded late and finished 10th. That performance, including the 20 stage points, was enough to break the tie with Ryan Blaney and regain sole possession of the points lead. His advantage is three points over Blaney, who finished fourth. William Byron moved up one place to third after claiming his second win of the
year. Joey Logano is up one place to fourth after finishing second.
Ross Chastain was quiet for much of the night before driving up to a fifth-place finish late. That moved him up one place to fifth. Alex Bowman and Martin Truex Jr. are now tied for sixth. Bowman dropped a lap down at one point, but recovered to finish 12th. Truex struggled for much
of the race, then cut a tire immediately after his stop under green. That resulted in an extra stop and a 22nd-place finish. Aric Almirola is up three places to eighth after running in the top 10 all night and finishing eighth.
Kevin Harvick is down one place to ninth after dropping back in the final 100 laps to 14th. Kyle Busch remains in 10th after finishing seventh. His run might have been better had he not stopped immediately prior to the Green-White-Checker restart. Despite finishing ninth, Chase
Briscoe dropped two spots to 11th due to failing to earn stage points. Tyler Reddick has sole possession of 12th.
Kyle Larson got penalized in the pits and ended up finishing 19th. That dropped him into a tie for 13th with Austin Cindric. Cindric finished 11th to move up from 15th. Austin Dillon is up one spot to 15th after his third-place finish. He is currently the last driver in the
playoffs. Dillon's advantage is 10 points over Kurt Busch, who drove up to sixth after starting 18th.
Erik Jones is still in 17th after struggling for much of the race before catching a break with a caution and getting back on the lead lap. He would finish 13th. Daniel Suarez had a miserable night with handling issues and a terrible decision to take the wavearound on 100-lap tires that cost him three laps. A
29th-place finish dropped him four places to 18th. Christopher Bell is up two places to 19th, while Chris Buescher is 20th.
Outside of the top 20, Denny Hamlin struggled all night with his car, then ran out of gas trying to get a caution. He ended up 28th and dropped down to 21st. Brad Keselowski finished 17th and remains in 31st, seven points behind Corey LaJoie and 105 behind Dillon in
15th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 288, 2) Ryan Blaney -3, 3) William Byron -12, 4) Joey Logano
-27, 5) Ross Chastain -42, t-6) Alex Bowman -51, t-6) Martin Truex Jr. -51, 8) Aric Almirola -65, 9) Kevin Harvick -66, 10) Kyle Busch -67, 11) Chase Briscoe -68, 12) Tyler Reddick -86, t-13) Kyle
Larson -87, t-13) Austin Cindric -87, 15) Austin Dillon -91, 16) Kurt Busch -101.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 21) Denny Hamlin
-131.
Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 12, t-2) Ross Chastain
-6, t-2) Alex Bowman -6, t-2) Denny Hamlin -6, t-5) Kyle Larson -7, t-5) Chase Briscoe -7, t-5) Austin Cindric -7, t-8) Martin Truex Jr. -9, t-8) Ryan Blaney -9, t-10) Chase Elliott -10, t-10) Tyler Reddick -10, 12) Daniel Suarez -11.
Stage Points: 1) Ryan Blaney
85, t-2) Chase Elliott -3, t-2) William Byron -3, 4) Joey Logano -13, 5) Kyle Larson -32, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -34, 7) Ross Chastain -42, 8) Chase Briscoe -45, 9) Tyler Reddick
-47, t-10) Christopher Bell -50, t-10) Brad Keselowski -50, t-12) Alex Bowman -52, t-12) Kyle Busch -52, 14) Erik Jones -53, t-15) Denny Hamlin -56, t-15) Kevin Harvick
-56.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Austin Cindric -57, 18) Aric Almirola -59, 22) Austin Dillon -67.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): t-1) Chase Elliott 242, t-1) Ryan Blaney 242, 3) Alex Bowman -6, 4) Ross Chastain
-7, 5) William Byron -11, 6) Aric Almirola -12, t-7) Joey Logano -15, t-7) Kevin Harvick -15, 9) Kyle Busch -18, 10) Martin Truex Jr. -20, 11) Chase Briscoe -27, 12) Austin Dillon -29, 13) Kurt Busch
-33, 14) Austin Cindric -36, 15) Tyler Reddick -42, 16) Chris Buescher -51.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Kyle Larson -58, 22)
Denny Hamlin -80.
Note: These
standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Ryan Blaney 1102, 2) Ross Chastain
-17, 3) Chase Elliott -30, 4) William Byron -41, 5) Alex Bowman -49, 6) Joey Logano -64, 7) Aric Almirola -70, 8) Kevin Harvick -75, 9) Kyle Busch -78, 10) Martin Truex Jr. -89, 11) Chase Briscoe
-110, 12) Austin Dillon -113, 13) Kurt Busch -125, 14) Austin Cindric -151, 15) Tyler Reddick -152, 16) Daniel Suarez -191.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Kyle Larson
-194, 22) Denny Hamlin -282.
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, Martinsville), Ross Chastain (Circuit of the Americas), Denny Hamlin (Richmond)
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: AJ Allmendinger Stands Pat After Wild Martinsville Affair
by Phil Allaway
Friday night's Call 811 Before You Dig 250 was a ridiculous affair of wrecking and wrecking. AJ Allmendinger came out of the evening with a third-place finish and the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus. That was only enough to keep his 20-point lead and nothing more. Ty Gibbs led a race-high 197 laps before getting beaten on the final Green-White-Checker restart. He finished eighth after
last-lap contact with Sam Mayer. You know what happened next. Noah Gragson was heavily damaged in the Big One and ended up 20th. That cost him points, but he stays in third. Brandon Jones' victory moved him up three places to fourth in the standings.
Josh Berry had a tough night. Contact with team owner/driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. cut his left rear tire and resulted in a spin. Getting caught up in the Big One resulted in a 19th-place finish that dropped him to fifth in points. Mayer stays in sixth after finishing fifth, but came away with a nasty shiner. He told FOX Sports' Bob Pockrass that he was ok afterwards, but it did not look it.
Justin Allgaier dealt with braking issues that resulted in a crash. A 29th-place finish dropped him two places to seventh. Daniel Hemric and Ryan Sieg are tied for eighth.
Hemric finished 13th after spinning out due to a cut tire from contact. Sieg finished ninth. Austin Hill is down one place to 10th despite finishing fourth. Riley Herbst is still in 11th after a sixth-place finish. Landon Cassill finishing a career-best second moved him up four places to 12th, the last driver currently in the playoffs.
Cassill is 15 points ahead of Anthony Alfredo, who is up one place after finishing 14th. Brandon Brown was eliminated in the Big One and ended up 34th, dropping to 14th in points. Sheldon Creed dropped from a tie for 12th to 15th after finishing 30th. Jeb Burton is down one place to 16th after also getting eliminated in the Big One.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 342, 2) Ty Gibbs -20, 3) Noah Gragson -42, 4) Brandon Jones -89, 5) Josh Berry -94, 6) Sam Mayer -107, 7) Justin Allgaier -109, t-8) Daniel Hemric -115, t-8) Ryan Sieg -115, 10)
Austin Hill -116, 11) Riley Herbst -130, 12) Landon Cassill -141, 13) Anthony Alfredo -156, 14) Brandon Brown -168, 15) Sheldon Creed -170, 16) Jeb Burton -187.
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 17, 2) Noah Gragson -9, 3) AJ Allmendinger -10, 4) Brandon Jones -11, 5) Austin Hill -12, t-6) Daniel Hemric -15, t-6) Trevor Bayne -15, t-8) Josh Berry -16, t-8) Sam Mayer -16.
Note: If they were eligible, Cole Custer would be tied for fourth and John Hunter Nemechek tied for ninth in playoff points.
Stage Points: 1) Noah Gragson 79, 2) AJ Allmendinger -1, 3) Ty Gibbs -9, 4) Josh Berry -14, 5) Daniel Hemric -18, 6) Justin Allgaier -20, 7) Sam Mayer -23, 8) Brandon Jones
-25, 9) Ryan Sieg -44, 10) Trevor Bayne -46, 11) Austin Hill -51, 12) Landon Cassill -56, t-13) Brandon Brown -58, 14) Jade Buford -58, 15) Riley Herbst -61, 16) Ryan Truex -63.
Note: If they were eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be ninth and Cole Custer would be 16th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 302, 2) Ty Gibbs -13, 3) Noah Gragson -43, 4) Brandon Jones -67, 5) Austin Hill -70, 6) Ryan Sieg -76, 7) Riley Herbst -79, 8) Josh Berry -84, 9) Sam Mayer -89, 10)
Landon Cassill -94, 11) Anthony Alfredo -95, t-12) Daniel Hemric -101, t-12) Sheldon Creed -101, 14) Justin Allgaier -106, 15) Brandon Brown -115, 16) Jeb Burton -119.
WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 1300, 2) Ty Gibbs -71, 3) Noah Gragson -137, 4) Austin Hill -237, 5) Brandon Jones -241, 6) Riley Herbst -277, 7) Josh Berry
-287, 8) Ryan Sieg -289, 9) Sam Mayer -307, 10) Landon Cassill -329, 11) Anthony Alfredo -348, 12) Daniel Hemric -352, 13) Sheldon Creed -359, 14) Justin Allgaier -362, 15) Brandon Brown -411, 16) Jeb Burton
-431.
Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas, Atlanta, Richmond), Noah Gragson (Phoenix), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas), Brandon Jones (Martinsville)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway was brought to you by the letter L for Lack of Competition. Unlike the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series races, the Cup race was not very competitive, reminding many
of the Martinsville races from 2019 with the ultra-high downforce package that led to a total of six lead changes over two races. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400
complied by Phil Allaway
"It feels awesome. When that last caution came out, I thought everyone behind us would pit and luckily we stayed out. We were aggressive. We felt like we could re-fire on the tires and be okay; and you’ve got one of the most aggressive guys behind you in
[Joey] Logano. I knew I chattered the tires in [turns] 3 and 4 and kind of left the bottom open, but was able to block my exits and get a good drive off.
"This one is for my mom. This same weekend last year she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here and it’s been a crazy year. But she’s doing great. And thanks, everybody, for the support. I kind of
felt like she was riding in there with me. It’s cool to have her here and I’m definitely going to enjoy this one."
"I could have tried to hit him harder. That might have been what I needed to do. William did a good job of executing up front on the restart there. I was able to get to him because he made a mistake off of four taking the white flag and I thought, ‘OK,
this is my chance.’ My car didn’t fire off real fast, but kind of gave me the opportunity to get to him. I got to him and kind of rooted him up a little bit and then he came back down and just brake-checked me pretty good at the two-thirds as he should. I’m not mad about that. He should do that and that just killed my momentum off of two and gapped me by two car lengths almost into the final corner. I was too far back to get to him at that point, so I just hate being that close. It was a solid
run for our car today. Our Mustang was solid, especially on the long haul. We just didn’t fire off as fast as we needed to and it kind of came down to that at the end." - Joey Logano, finished second
"I’m a little bummed. I like to pride myself in when we get in those situations being clutch, and that was anything but that on that last restart. I spun the tires pretty good through the gears. Once I got back in line there, I had some grip, and I feel
like we had good forward drive all night long and I just felt like if we got to the gears we were going to have a shot at him.
"But our Get Bioethanol Chevy was really fast. We’ve been working our tails off. I’m not going to say we haven’t because we’ve been in a simulator, we’ve been working really hard to make this car as good as possible. We want to get RCR a win, and that’s
what we’re here racing for. I want to shout out to my wife and Ace back at home and thank the good Lord for bringing us a good run. That was a lot of fun." - Austin Dillon, finished third
"It was overall a decent night. We had a pretty fast car, but never got out front and never got to where we could race for the lead. You have to be a half-second faster than somebody to pass somebody. You’d run someone down by four seconds and then get
stuck behind them, so that was pretty disappointing. Overall, it was a really good night. I thought our car was fast, just never got the lead or even got a chance at the lead. Overall, not a bad night." - Ryan Blaney, finished fourth
"It took 300-something laps just to where I could see the leaders. I don’t even know if we made any adjustments tonight. I don’t think we did, which was incredible because yesterday we needed a lot. For once I wish one of these Cup races went the full
500. That’s odd, I never think that. Proud of the effort. Proud of the rebound from yesterday for Trackhouse." - Ross Chastain, finished fifth
"I did all that I could on the loose side of things with the 45 Toyota TRD Camry. I mean, I have never been told how to drive so many laps in my life. And then when I go back to my line, I’d feel the most comfortable and the lap time would be off by a
little bit. So it’s like just comfort versus what I know for as many years. It was really fun though to drive Martinsville this way with this Next Gen car, but really had to work hard and I just think we maximized today. Our loose run was stage two, we were 12th and then just couldn’t quite attack you know, steering wheel and throttle at the same time. And I needed the pace to drop off and longer green runs seem to help us. All in all, really happy. We know that sixth is good to right the ship
for what we need to do at 23XI Racing. But overall, we need to pick it up." - Kurt Busch, finished sixth
"We had a great Smithfield Spiral Ham Ford Mustang tonight. It was a challenge at times. The track position game was so tough. I mean, everybody would just start running the same speed after about 30 laps, but our car would take off OK and then it would
just build looser and looser in. I rolled the middle good enough and I launched off the corner good, but I couldn’t quite keep the pace as those guys that were ahead of us. All in all, it was a solid night for us, bouncing back after a couple finishes that weren’t great, so Drew and all the boys have been doing a good job. Hopefully, we can get back on a string of running up front because if we run up front, we’ll have a shot to win." - Aric Almirola, finished
eighth
"I wish I could get my qualifying lap back after seeing how crucial track position was. That was definitely unfortunate. I wish it would have turned out better. We continued to make the car better and was able to make some passes and was really good on
the long run, so we’ll see if we can apply anything when we come back later in the year. Overall, it was great to get another top 10." - Chase Briscoe, finished ninth
"The FOCUSfactor team fought hard for every position tonight. Our Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 fired off tight from the beginning and as the run built, the car would have so much drive off but no turn. During the second stage, the car was loose in and plowing
tight up off. With the race being mostly caution free, there weren’t a ton of opportunities to make adjustments or gain track position, but Dave (Elenz, crew chief) kept working on it every chance he had. He made a great strategy call during the green flag pit cycle that kept us out longer than others which really paid off. When the yellow came, we were able to return to the lead lap and move forward from there. I’m happy to be leaving Martinsville with a 13th-place finish." - Erik Jones,
finished 13th
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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