Frontstretch Newsletter: April 18, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition LVI
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- Teams are back from Bristol and are preparing for this weekend's adventure at Talladega 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 15-17
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- In their series debut, Prema Racing's Louis Deletraz, Ferdinand Habsburg and Lorenzo Colombo won the European Le Mans Series' 4 Hours of Le Castellet Sunday morning at Circuit Paul Ricard. Their margin of victory was 10.936 seconds over Algarve Pro Racing's Sophia Floersch and Bent Viscaal. Panis Racing's Julien Canal, Nico
Jamin and Job van Uitert were third, followed by IDEC Sport's Paul-Loup Chatin, Paul Lafargue and Patrick Pilet. COOL Racing's Niklas Kruetten, Nicolas Lapierre and Yifei Ye rounded out the top five. The top eight teams were on the lead lap at the finish.
In LMP3, COOL Racing's Malthe Jakobsen passed Inter Europol Competition's Nico Pino with less than two laps to go and held on to win the class for himself, Michael Benham and Maurice Smith. The original margin of victory was 3.359 seconds over Pino, Charles Crews and Guilherme Oliveira. However, the car had illegal,
non-conforming parts in the differential. As a result, they were disqualified.
As a result, COOL Racing's official margin of victory is a full lap over United Autosports' No. 2 shared by Joshua Caygill, Finn Gehrsitz and Bailey Voisin. RLR MSport's No. 5 for Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and Alex Kapadia were third, then Eurointernational's Tom Cloet, Xavier Lloveras and Glenn van Berlo. 360 Racing's Ross Kaiser, Terence Woodward
and Mark Richards were fifth.
The GTE class saw the Ferrari of Rinaldi Racing's Patric Verrone just barely hold off the Porsche of Proton Competition's Gianmaria Bruni to take the class victory for himself, Memo GIdley and Pierre Ehret. It was just 0.120 of a second to Bruni, Christian Ried and Lorenzo Ferrari. The second Proton Porsche for Michael Fassbender, Richard Lietz and
Zacharie Robichon was third, then the "Iron Dames" Ferrari for Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey. Kessel Racing's Mikkel Jensen, Takeshi Kimura and Frederik Schandorff were fifth.
- GT America Race No. 1 got off to an inauspicious start when Custodio Toledo crashed on the pace lap, then Utah's Jeff Burton spun as well. Once the race went green, Jason Daskalos was able
to lead the whole 40-minute race to take his second win of the year in his Audi R8 LMS Ultra. George Kurtz was second, just 0.152 seconds behind, then Jason Harward, Mirco Schultis and Burton.
In GT4, BSport Racing's Bryan Putt started on pole in his Aston Martin, but fell like a stone. Robb Holland took the lead in his Porsche, but had to do battle with Ross Chouest. Chouest was able to take the lead just before halfway. Meanwhile, Jason Bell and Gray Newell collided in the chicane, resulting in a spin for Bell.
A caution for a disabled Aston Martin set up a five-minute sprint to the finish. Chouest won the race on the track, followed by Hutton McKenna and Robb Holland. However, all three were judged guilty of false starts and were given 50-second penalties. This resulted in the GT4 win going to CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing's Steve Dinan by 8.675 seconds over Smooge
Racing's Todd Coleman. Coleman's teammate Jose DaSilva was third, then Newell, who was penalized for the aforementioned contact with Bell. Chouest ended up fifth.
Race No. 2 on Sunday morning saw Harward start on pole by virtue of having the fastest lap on Saturday. In a race where more than half of the 40-minute distance was run under yellow, Harward was able to hold off the pack to take the victory.
Harward ended up 5.623 seconds ahead of Daskalos. Burton was third, then Schultis and Justin Wetherill.
In GT4, Dinan jumped the start substantially over Chris Cagnazzi. In the mess that followed, Sean Whalen then took the lead from eighth in class, then lost it to Cagnazzi. Dinan then pulled off-course with a mechanical issue and GMG Racing's Elias Sabo stopped in the Esses to draw a full course caution. All of this happened in five minutes. Right before the yellow
flew, McKenna took the class lead from Cagnazzi
On the restart, Whalen spun out in turn 2. Nick Shanny and Alain Stad collided and went off-course. Neither Shanny or Stad could continue, drawing another yellow.
By the time the cleanup was done, there were only six minutes remaining in the race. McKenna ran off from the pack and took his first career victory by 5.807 seconds over Cagnazzi, who won a seven-way battle for second. Bell was third, then Chouest and Adam Adelson.
- In Pirelli GT4 America SprintX competition, Gavin Sanders led a 41-car field to green Saturday. Sonoma Raceway is a tight circuit and it showed as a number of
incidents on the first lap eliminated three cars (including the Smooge Racing Toyota of Kevin Conway) and brought out a caution.
Shortly after the restart, Ross Chouest and Tim Horrell collided and went into the wall on the run between turns 11 and 12 to bring out a second caution. Chouest and Horrell were out on the spot. Extended cleanup resulted in a brief red flag.
With the crashing, it was a little hard to see who was really quick. However, Rennsport One's Eric Filguerias moved up to second and put the pressure on Sanders for the lead before making his stop on the first possible lap.
Ultimately, Filguerias swapped over to Stevan McAleer while Sanders got stuck behind slower traffic exiting the pits. That allowed McAleer to jump Sanders' teammate Michai Stephens and take the overall lead. From there, McAleer held on to take the overall and Silver victories, the second of the year for the duo after they won the IMSA Michelin
Pilot Challenge opener at Daytona in January.
McAleer and Filguerias were 1.647 seconds ahead of Sanders and Stephens. BSport Racing's Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch finished third to win the Pro-Am class. NOLAsport's Scott Noble and Jason Hart were fifth, while Flying Lizard Motorsports' Andy Lee and Elias Sabo were fifth. BimmerWorld's James Clay and Charlie Postins finished 16th overall and
claimed the Am class victory.
Race No. 2 on Sunday was a much cleaner affair. McAleer started his Porsche from the pole and ran off to hide. An early yellow for a crash involving Thomas Merrill and Cole Ciraulo tempered the advantage, but McAleer drove away from Koch as soon as the green came back out.
When the pit stops were complete, Filguerias ended up with a five-second lead. From there, he continued to expand that advantage as the Rennsport One team swept the weekend.
The final margin of victory was 13.466 seconds over Sanders and Stephens. Putt and Koch finished third and won Pro-Am once again. Chouest and Aaron Povoledo were fourth, while Noble and Hart were fifth. Dexter Racing's Ben Anderson and Matt Rivard finished 13th in their Ginetta G56 GT4, good enough to win the Am class.
- In the first TC America race Saturday, Jacob Ruud took the overall lead at turn 2 on the first lap. From there, he pulled out to a steady lead. Traffic allowed Ruud to expand his lead substantially and
take the win. Ruud's margin of victory was 10.634 seconds over Stephen Cugliari. Lucas Catania was third, then pole-sitter Steve Streimer and Colin Garrett.
In TC, Kevin Boehm started sixth and charged through the field in his Honda Civic Type-R to take the lead. From there, he pulled away to take the win. Boehm ended up eighth overall, 10.89 seconds ahead of LA Honda World Racing's Mat Pombo. MINI JCW Team's Clay Williams recovered from an electrical problem that forced him to slow to under 30 mph in order to recycle the ECU to finish third,
then Ken Fukuda and Mike LaMarra.
TCA saw Carter Fartuch lead flag-to-flag to claim the victory in the race debut for the 2022 Honda Civic Si. Fartuch ended up 7.619 seconds ahead of the Subaru BRZ of TechSport Racing's Gresham Wagner. Spencer Bucknum, grandson of former Formula 1 racer Ronnie Bucknum, was third, followed by Cristian Perocarpi and Sally McNulty.
Race No. 2 on Sunday saw Ruud lead flag-to-flag from the pole to take the weekend sweep. His margin of victory was 9.219 seconds over Catania. Cugliari finished third despite going off-course at turn 1a at the start in a manner not dissimilar to what Jerry Nadeau did at the start of the 1998 Save Mart/Kragen 350 and damaging his nose. Streimer was fourth, while Garrett Adams was
fifth.
Williams ended up winning the class pole by virtue of the fastest lap in class during his charge. However, Boehm was able to take the lead in turn 2 on the first lap. Williams was able to hang with Boehm until the second half of the race. After halfway, Boehm pulled away to sweep the weekend. Boehm ended up seventh overall, 2.273 seconds ahead of Williams. Pombo was third, then
Jeff Ricca and Nicholas Barbato.
In TCA, Wagner was able to take the lead from Fartuch in turn 2 on the second lap of the race, then immediately lost it by going off-course exiting the turn 9a/9b chicane. A few laps later, Wagner was able to come back and make the move on Fartuch for the lead. From there, Wagner pulled away to take his first TCA victory. Wagner's margin of victory was 6.255 seconds over Fartuch, although
that margin was as high as 10 seconds. Bucknum was third, then Devin Anderson and McNulty.
- Monster Energy AMA Supercross teams had to deal with sketchy track conditions Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway after heavy rains doused the course Friday night. When the race went green, Justin Barcia grabbed the holeshot, but lost the lead to Chase Sexton two minutes into the race.
Sexton had a steady lead until he crashed in a bowl turn. This gave the lead to Kawasaki's Jason Anderson. From there, Anderson was able to hold that advantage as rivals faltered to take his fourth win of the year.
Anderson ended up 2.37 seconds ahead of points leader Eli Tomac at the finish. Sexton recovered from his crash to finish third, then Cooper Webb and Malcolm Stewart. With three races remaining, Tomac's lead over Anderson is 53 points, slightly more than two full races. Barcia is third, then Stewart and Marvin Musquin. Tomac can clinch the championship just by keeping Anderson in sight
at Gillette Stadium Saturday.
Saturday was also the first 250cc East/West Showdown of the year. Kawasaki's Jo Shimoda got the holeshot and led early. Meanwhile, 250cc East points leader Jett Lawrence crashed and dropped back.
Hunter Lawrence was able to catch Shimoda and take the lead six minutes into the race. From there, he pulled away to take the win. Hunter Lawrence's margin of victory was 4.055 seconds over Christian Craig. Hunter's brother Jett recovered from his crash to finish third. Shimoda and Nate Thrasher rounded out the top five.
Points-wise, Craig holds a 23-point lead over Hunter Lawrence in the 250cc West points with two races remaining. Michael Mosiman is third, then Vince Friese and Shimoda.
In the 250cc East standings, Jett Lawrence was the highest-finishing East contender. That allowed him to extend his lead to 47 points over RJ Hampshire. McAdoo, who is still out, drops to third, then Pierce Brown and Mitchell Oldenburg. Jett Lawrence will clinch the championship with an 18th-place finish next weekend.
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams were supposed to race Friday and Saturday nights at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo. However, Friday night's race was rained out.
Saturday night brought the sprint cars out for 35 laps around the short track. Unfortunately, the recent rains made for a mess of a track with huge ruts in play. Carson Macedo swept into the lead from third on the first lap, then led all 35 laps to take the win.
Macedo ended up 0.523 seconds ahead of Logan Schuchart. Brad Sweet was third, but Sheldon Haudenschild was the most exciting man all night. He actually flipped his car on lap 5, dropped to the rear, then charged back to finish fourth. James McFadden was fifth.
Through 14 races, Sweet now has a 48-point lead over a tie for second between Macedo and David Gravel. Haudenschild is fourth, while McFadden is fifth.
Pictures are courtesy of Brian Cleary and Fabian Lagunias via SRO America.
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| | Kyle Busch Wins a Thrilling Easter Special at
Bristol
Kyle Busch took advantage of contact on the final lap between Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe to sweep past and score an unexpected victory in Sunday/s Food City Dirt Race. Reddick was second, then Joey Logano, Kyle Larson
and Ryan Blaney.
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| | Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe Spin On Last Lap, Miss Out on Bristol Dirt
Win
In the final stage of Sunday's Food City Dirt Race, Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe were the two best drivers on the track. Briscoe came from 17th on the restart to challenge
for the win. His move on the final lap was a last-ditch effort to win that came up short.
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| | Randy Pemberton, Fan Favorite Broadcaster, Passes Away at
62
RacinToday.com's Deb Williams reported Sunday that former NASCAR pit reporter and TV personality via Sunbelt Video Randy Pemberton died Friday at the age of 62.
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| | Wendy’s Sponsoring Noah Gragson at
Talladega
Beard Motorsports announced Monday morning that Wendy's will serve as the primary sponsor of Noah Gragson's No. 62 Chevrolet in Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega
Superspeedway.
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| | Larry McReynolds Back on the Box for Jeffrey Earnhardt at
Talladega
Richard Childress Racing announced in Bristol that Larry McReynolds will return to the pit box for the first time since 2000. He'll serve as Jeffrey Earnhardt's crew chief in
the NASCAR Xifnity Series at Talladega Saturday.
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| | Ben Rhodes Reigns Supreme, Sweeps All 3 Stages on Bristol
Dirt
ThorSport Racing's Ben Rhodes led a race-high 95 laps Saturday night and scored the maximum 60 points en route to victory in the Pinty's Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. Carson Hocevar was second, then
John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman and Christian Eckes.
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| | Heartbroken: Carson Hocevar Comes Up Short of 1st Career Win on Bristol
Dirt
Niece Motorsports' Carson Hocevar was the only driver Saturday night that really had anything for Ben Rhodes. Hocevar led 55 laps, but could not hold Rhodes back from victory
lane.
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| | K-PAX Racing Scores GT
World Challenge America Sonoma Sweep
K-PAX Racing's Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper scored a weekend sweep in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS season opener at Sonoma Raceway. Wright
Motorsports swept Pro-Am and AF Corse in the Am class.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Harold Hinson Photography, NASCAR Media via NASCAR Public Relations and K-PAX Racing.
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 Keeps Small Lead After Bristol
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott was quiet for much of the night in Bristol, but earned seven stage points in stage two and eventually finished eighth. Ryan Blaney finished fifth and earned four stage points. The result is a wash. Elliott will go to Talladega with the same three-point lead that he took to
Bristol. Joey Logano is up one place to third after finishing third. William Byron drops to fourth after finishing 18th.
Kyle Busch and Alex Bowman are now tied for fifth. Kyle Busch skirted to the win after the last-lap contact, allowing him to gain five spots. Bowman finished sixth despite two incidents. Martin Truex Jr. is still in seventh, but was invisible en route to 21st Sunday. Ross
Chastain dropped three places to eighth after an engine failure put him out.
Kyle Larson moved up four places to ninth after winning stage one and finishing fourth. Chase Briscoe is up one spot to 10th, but it could have quite a bit more had he not spun on the last lap. Had that not happened, he would be seventh. Tyler Reddick is up one place to 11th after his disappointing second-place
finish. Aric Almirola had issues from the start and ended up 23rd, dropping four places to 12th.
Kevin Harvick got caught up in a crash and finished 34th. That dropped him four places to 13th. Austin Cindric is now 14th after a 16th-place finish. Christopher Bell enters the top 16 in 15th after earning the second-most points Sunday (47). He is the final driver in the playoffs at the moment. Bell
is eight points ahead of Daniel Suarez, who finished 12th after leading 64 laps.
Austin Dillon had a mechanical failure late after running very well all night. That dropped him to 17th in points. Chris Buescher is up two places to 18th despite finishing 15th for the third straight week. Erik Jones finished 24th and dropped back to 19th. Kurt Busch's late crash put him
out and dropped him to 20th in points.
Finally, Brad Keselowski finished 11th and raced up to 30th in points, making him eligible for the playoffs if he were to win a race. He is 102 points behind Bell.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 324, 2) Ryan Blaney -3, 3) Joey Logano -21, 4) William Byron -29, t-5) Alex Bowman -51,
t-5) Kyle Busch -51, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -71, 8) Ross Chastain -74, 9) Kyle Larson -75, 10) Chase Briscoe -79, 11) Tyler Reddick -83, 12) Aric Almirola -87, 13) Kevin Harvick -99, 14) Austin Cindric -102, 15) Christopher
Bell -104, 16) Daniel Suarez -112.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: t-23) Denny Hamlin
-165.
Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 12, t-2) Ross Chastain -6, t-2) Alex Bowman -6, t-2) Denny Hamlin -6, t-2) Kyle Larson -6, t-2) Chase Briscoe -6, t-7) Austin Cindric -7, t-7) Kyle Busch -7, t-9) Martin Truex Jr. -9, t-9) Ryan Blaney -9, t-11) Chase Elliott -10, t-11) Tyler Reddick -10, 13) Daniel Suarez
-11.
Stage Points: t-1) Chase Elliott 89, t-1) Ryan
Blaney 89, 3) William Byron -7, 4) Joey Logano -9, 5) Kyle Larson -21, 6) Chase Briscoe -30, 7) Christopher Bell -37, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -38, 9) Kyle Busch -44, 10) Ross Chastain -46, 11) Tyler Reddick -47, 12) Alex Bowman
-51, 13) Brad Keselowski -54, 14) Erik Jones -57, 15) Daniel Suarez -58, t-16) Denny Hamlin -60, t-16) Kevin Harvick -60.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Austin Cindric -61, 19) Aric Almirola -63.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ryan Blaney 278, 2) Chase Elliott -3, 3) Alex Bowman -7, 4) Kyle Busch -10, 5) Joey Logano -13, 6) William
Byron -24, 7) Aric Almirola -30, 8) Ross Chastain -35, 9) Martin Truex Jr. -36, 10) Tyler Reddick -37, 11) Chase Briscoe -43, 12) Kevin Harvick -44, 13) Austin Cindric -47, 14) Austin Dillon -55, 15) Kyle Larson -56, 16) Daniel Suarez
-59.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 19) Christopher Bell -71, 26) Denny
Hamlin -110.
Note: These
standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Ryan Blaney 1257, 2) Chase Elliott -43, 3)
Kyle Busch -53, t-4) Alex Bowman -54, t-4) Joey Logano -54, 6) William Byron -87, 7) Ross Chastain -108, 8) Tyler Reddick -127, 9) Aric Almirola -131, 10) Martin Truex Jr. -144, 11) Chase Briscoe -163, 12) Kevin Harvick -169, 13)
Kyle Larson -184, 14) Austin Cindric -191, 15) Austin Dillon -198, 16) Kurt Busch -213.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Christopher Bell -249, 26) Denny
Hamlin -379.
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), Kyle Busch
(Bristol)
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: Off-Week Update No. 1
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was off last weekend. They will return to action Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway.
When teams get to Talladega, Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger will have a 20-point lead over Ty Gibbs. Noah Gragson is third, then Brandon Jones and Josh Berry.
At the playoff cutoff, Landon Cassill is currently 12th after a career-best second-place finish in Martinsville. He is 15 points ahead of Anthony Alfredo, while Brandon Brown is 14th.
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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Seeking the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs: Ben Rhodes Earns Perfect Score At Bristol, Expands Lead
by Phil Allaway
Ben Rhodes was quite dominant Saturday night, leading a race-high 95 laps and sweeping the stages en route to victory. That win allowed him to expand his points lead. The advantage is now 38 points over Chandler Smith, who finished 19th after crashing late. Stewart Friesen is up one place to third after finishing
11th. Zane Smith is down to fourth despite a 10th-place finish.
John Hunter Nemechek has sole possession of fifth after finishing third. Christian Eckes drops to sixth despite a fifth-place finish. Ty Majeski is up one place to seventh despite crashing late thanks to 18 stage points. Tanner Gray is down to eighth.
Carson Hocevar's second-place finish moved him up three places to ninth. Matt Crafton is 10th, the final driver in the playoffs at the moment. Crafton is nine points ahead of Grant Enfinger, who finished eighth and gained two places. Derek Kraus is down to 12th after a late crash.
Tyler Ankrum fell from a tie for ninth to 13th after a 31st-place finish, three laps down. Parker Kligerman finished fourth and moved up to 14th, despite missing two races. Matt DiBenedetto is down to 15th after getting stuck to Austin Wayne Self and losing multiple laps. Timmy Hill is still
16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 265, 2) Chandler Smith -38, 3) Stewart Friesen -51, 4) Zane Smith -54, 5) John Hunter Nemechek -62, 6) Christian Eckes
-72, 7) Ty Majeski -78, 8) Tanner Gray -85, 9) Carson Hocevar -95, 10) Matt Crafton -102, 11) Grant Enfinger -111, 12) Derek Kraus -125, 13) Tyler Ankrum -127, 14) Parker Kligerman -144, 15) Matt
DiBenedetto -155, 16) Timmy Hill -159.
Note: If he were eligible for Camping World Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 14th.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 13, 2) Ben Rhodes -3, t-3) Chandler Smith -8, t-3) Corey Heim -8, 5) John Hunter Nemechek -10, 6) Stewart Friesen -12.
Note: If he were eligible for Playoff Points, William Byron would be tied for second with the points from winning at Martinsville.
Stage Points: 1) Ben Rhodes 84, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -21, 3) Chandler Smith -27, 4) Stewart Friesen -34, 5) Ty Majeski -37, 6) Zane Smith -41, 7) Christian
Eckes -43, 8) Derek Kraus -52, 9) Matt Crafton -55, 10) Tanner Gray -56, 11) Carson Hocevar -60, 12) Grant Enfinger -62, 13) Tyler Ankrum -65, 14) Parker Kligerman -67, 15) Matt DiBenedetto
-69, t-16) Corey Heim -77, t-16) Jack Wood -77.
Note: If he were eligible, Kyle Busch would be tied for 12th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 162, 2) Chandler Smith -12, 3) Zane Smith -13, 4) Stewart Friesen -19, 5) Christian Eckes -31, 6) Tanner Gray -33, 7) Carson Hocevar
-37, 8) John Hunter Nemechek -41, 9) Ty Majeski -44, 10) Matt Crafton -51, 11) Grant Enfinger -53, 12) Tyler Ankrum -66, 13) Parker Kligerman -73, 14) Derek Kraus -77, 15) Chase Purdy -83, 16) Timmy Hill
-85.
Note: If he were eligible, Kyle Busch would be 13th in Old Points.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 930, 2) Chandler Smith -59, 3) Zane Smith -78, 4) Stewart Friesen -93, 5) Christian Eckes -124, 6) Tanner Gray -138, 7) John Hunter Nemechek -140, 8) Carson Hocevar
-147, 9) Ty Majeski -172, 10) Matt Crafton -201, 11) Grant Enfinger -210, 12) Tyler Ankrum -251, 13) Derek Kraus -287, 14) Timmy Hill -313, t-15) Matt DiBenedetto -327, t-15) Austin Wayne Self -327.
Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Circuit of the Americas), Chandler Smith (Las Vegas), Corey Heim (Atlanta), William Byron (Martinsville), Ben Rhodes (Bristol)
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Letter of the Race: Sunday night's Food City Dirt Race was brought to you by the Letter B for Bad Luck. Bristol Motor Speedway just cannot buy a break for their spring weekend when it comes to weather. Fans dealt with yet another race hampered by rain at the worst possible time. This is no less than the third time that
this has happened in recent years. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Food City Dirt Race
complied by Phil Allaway
"It kind of stems back I think the last 10 laps or so. Hirschman coming over the radio and telling me keep in it, stay in it, keep in position even though the guys behind us, they were falling off of us, getting further away.
"But the guys in front of me, they were running hard, racing for the win obviously. My car would not just refire after the rain delays for whatever reason. Took about 20 laps to get going. The last few laps I feel like we kind of maintained with them, at least kept them in our windshield in case something did happen.
"There you have it. The final corner there was chaos ensued I guess, then we were able to make it through, steal a win, back into one. Feels good to get one here in this Next Gen race car. Feels good to win on dirt. A lot of caveats." - Kyle Busch, race winner
"I don't think I did everything right, to be honest with you. Briscoe was able to run me back down there. Just looking at it, I should have done a little bit better job of just -- I don't know. I shouldn't have let him get that close. He ran me back down. Worked really hard to do that.
"I mean, you're racing on dirt, going for the move on the final corner. It's everything that as a driver you hope to battle for in his situation. Made it really exciting for the fans, so..
"It does suck, but we were able to finish second still. I'm being honest. I should have done a better job and pulled away so he wasn't in range to try to make that move. That's how I look at it." - Tyler Reddick, finished second
"We’ll take that. We weren’t fast enough obviously to win. We had great execution on restarts and kept ourselves towards the front. Paul made a good call leaving us out. The tire was coming apart there at the end, but we did what we had to do to stay towards the front. Track position was so big. It’s so hard to pass and I felt like if I could just get towards the
front, I could try to hold them all off and that’s what we did with our Mustang. We were able to get a top three finish with our Shell/Pennzoil car. It’s OK. We’ll take it. It’s not a win, but we’ve been stringing together some good finishes the last couple of weeks." - Joey Logano, finished third
"We had a good No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy all night. We could have been a lot better, but I still feel like we had a car capable of winning if things played out differently. I think the weather kind of had everyone on the fence on what to do. But either way, it was fun. Getting back up there to the top-five was good. I wasn’t sure if
we could get it done restarting 20-something to start the final stage. I had a lot of fun and hopefully next year, we can get our car a little better and run towards the front even more." - Kyle Larson, finished fourth
"It was a pretty decent race for us. We had to start 25th and come from the back and I thought our car was pretty fast. I kept having to restart on the bottom and kept losing all the spots we’d gain. Our car was good enough there at the end. I thought I was faster than a couple guys ahead of me, but it was a fun race. I thought the track
was really good and you could move around. The track was pretty wide, so I’m happy we got the whole race in. That was nice and not a bad day. We’ll just go on." - Ryan Blaney, finished fifth
"I was running Tyler down and I just tried throwing a slider. I didn’t expect him to drive in there on me and I was spinning out, I think, either way and I hit him. I feel terrible. I was wanting to race him clean. I wasn’t gonna wreck him for the win. That’s why I tried to
slide him and I was trying to leave him enough if I didn’t get there and that was my fault 100 percent. I hate it for Tyler. He’s a good friend of mine and I wanted to see a dirt guy win if it wasn’t me. I’m gonna go down here and apologize and deserve what I get, I guess. That was just racing. I was trying to go for the win and I feel terrible for him." - Chase Briscoe, finished 22nd
"We had such a fast Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet, and I love racing on dirt so I just wish we could have been there for the end. Both of our teams were a little worried about our air boxes because we stayed out at the end of Stage 2
instead of pitting. It didn’t work out for the No. 3 team. Too much dirt got into the engine, and we ended up losing the motor. It’s unfortunate because our No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet was pretty good, and we had a decent restart before it shut down on me. I’m thankful no one ko’d me there. I fell back so fast that I was waiting for somebody to get me big. I tried to hold it straight. I was just completely out of power. I want to congratulate my teammate, Tyler Reddick, on a
great race. He drove his butt off, got up there and was good. He didn’t get his win tonight, but if RCR keeps giving us cars like these we both will be in Victory Lane soon." - Austin Dillon, finished 31st (Engine issues)
"The first thing I can tell you is we did a terrible job prepping the track and full of mud and there was nobody here to pack the track, so we all look like a bunch of bozos coming in to pit because we don’t know how to prep the track. And then we
don’t get the lucky dog for whatever reason with two cars on pit road, and then we got run over. I don’t know who ran us over at the end." - Kevin Harvick, finished 34th (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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