Frontstretch Newsletter: Feb. 21, 2022
Volume: XVI, Edition XVI
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- Today, Austin Cindric has a number of responsibilities to perform as the Daytona 500 champion. He received his Rolex watch and the race winning Ford Mustang GT500 was scanned this morning so that the scheme could be placed onto a show car. He'll have plenty of other interviews as the day continues
on.
- Meanwhile, teams are back in Charlotte this morning to make final preparations before putting the cars back in the transporters for the cross-country drive to Fontana, Calif. Entry lists for Fontana should be released today. We'll have those and anything else that breaks today at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: Feb. 18-20
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- Friday night saw the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series continue their time at Volusia Speedway Park as part of the DIRTcar Nationals. Dennis Erb Jr. made use of the middle of the track to take the lead early from Frank Heckenast Jr. From there, Erb held off a mid-race assault from Brandon Sheppard to take his 10th
career victory. Chase Junghans was second, then Darrell Lanigan, Sheppard and Dale McDowell.
- The final feature at Volusia Speedway Park Saturday night saw Chris Madden sweep past McDowell using a crossover move in lapped traffic. From there, Madden used the treacherous outside line to pull away to take the victory. Mike Marlar finished second, then McDowell, Max Blair and Kyle Hammer. Devin Moran, who finished 12th Saturday night,
clinched the Gator Championship as the best late model driver in the DIRTcar Nationals.
Through six events, Madden currently has a 16-point lead over McDowell. Dennis Erb Jr. is third, then Sheppard and Moran.
- Friday night in the Super DIRTcar Series feature, Queensbury, N.Y.'s Demetrios Drellos started from the pole and ran well early on with Max McLaughlin giving chase. Following a caution due to Peter Britten breaking a shock, McLaughlin was able to get past both Drellos and Mat Williamson to take the lead. From there, McLaughlin was able to hold on to
take the win. Jimmy Phelps was second, then Williamson, Larry Wight and Marc Johnson.
- Saturday night's Super DIRTcar Series finale saw Phelps lead flag-to-flag to win the 50-lap feature. The performance also earned Phelps the Super DIRTcar Series Gator championship.
Wight finished second, followed by Stewart Friesen and Mike Mahaney. Rich Scagliotta rounded out the top five.
- At USBank Stadium Saturday night, Honda's Chase Sexton was in good position to take the win. Then, disaster struck with less than two laps to go. Sexton's bike dug into the face of a jump, launching Sexton 20 feet off of his bike. Sexton was reportedly angry afterwards, but physically ok.
The crash gave Kawasaki's Jason Anderson the lead, one that he held to the finish to take the victory. His margin of victory was 2.833 seconds over Cooper Webb. Marvin Musquin was third after a late incident for Malcolm Stewart dropped him to fourth. Justin Barcia was fifth.
Points leader Eli Tomac went down in the first corner and dropped to the rear of the field. From there, he recovered to finish sixth. His points lead is down to three points over Anderson. Stewart is third, then Barcia and Webb.
The 250cc East championship started Saturday afternoon. Here, Austin Forkner won the holeshot, but Jett Lawrence was able to snag the lead less than a minute into the race. From there, Lawrence was able to pull away to take the victory. Lawrence ended up 5.349 seconds ahead of Forkner. Cameron McAdoo and Jeremy Martin, who both returned to
action Saturday after injuries last summer, were third and fourth, while RJ Hampshire was fifth.
- In the Asian Le Mans Series, United Autosports' Paul Di Resta and Josh Pierson led flag-to-flag Saturday to win the first 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi of the weekend. They ended up a full lap and 96.509 seconds ahead of Nielsen Racing's Matt Bell, Ben Hanley and Rodrigo Sales. Graff Racing's David Droux, Sebastien Page and Eric Trouillet were two laps down
in third, best in LMP2 Am.
LMP3 saw DKR Engineering's Sebastian Alvarez, Mathieu de Barbuat and Laurents Hoerr were able to get over the technical issues that plagued them in Dubai to win the class in sixth overall. They ended up 22.957 seconds ahead of Rinaldi Racing's Torsten Kratz, Henrik Still and Leonard Weiss. CD Sport's Christophe Cresp, Antoine Doquin and Steven Palette
were third.
In GT, Herberth Motorsport's Ralf Bohn, Alfred and Robert Renauer took the lead with 35 minutes to go when Inception Racing made their final pit stop. From there, they held on to take the victory by 6.265 seconds over Inception Racing's Ollie Millroy, Ben Barnicoat and Brendan Iribe.
AF Corse's Vincent Abril, Louis Prette and Conrad Grunewald were third in their Ferrari, followed by Optimum Motorsport's Nick Moss, Joe Osborne and Andrew Watson. Oman Racing's Aston Martin for Ahmad Al-Harthy, Sam de Haad and Charlie Eastwood were fifth.
- Race No. 2 on Sunday saw Di Resta and Pierson continue their strong form with a second straight flag-to-flag victory. This race was a little closer than Saturday's. The margin of victory was a full lap plus 3.175 seconds over Bell, Hanley and Sales. Droux, Page and Trouillet were three laps down in third. The second-place finishes for
Nielsen Racing were good enough to earn Bell, Hanley and Sales the LMP2 championship and the automatic bid to the 24 Hours of Le Mans that comes with it.
In LMP3, G-Drive Racing's Xavier Lloveras passed Weiss with 29 minutes remaining. From there, he was able to hold on to claim the LMP3 victory for himself and teammates Viacheslav Gotak and Fabrice Rossello. The margin of victory was 10.981 seconds over CD Sport's No. 27 for Cresp, Doquin and Palette. CD Sport's No. 3 for Nick Adcock, Edouard
Cauhaupe and Michael Jensen was third while Weiss dropped to fourth.
CD Sport's No. 27 finishing in second was enough to claim the LMP3 title and an automatic berth in the LMP2 class at Le Mans by four points over CD Sport's No. 3. Rinaldi Racing ended up third.
Finally, in GT, the Renauer brothers and Bohn took a weekend sweep when they took the lead with 25 minutes to go and held on for the win. The margin of victory was six-tenths of a second over the No. 33 Herberth Porsche of Antares Au, Klaus Bachler and Yifei Ye. Garage 88's Frankie Bird, Marvin Kirchhofer and Alexander West were third, followed by
Al-Harthy, de Haan and Eastwood. Inception Racing's Barnicoat, Iribe and Millroy were fifth.
The top four teams earn Le Mans berths in the GTE-Am class. On the strength of a win at Dubai and two second-place finishes, Inception Racing won the championship by eight points over Herberth Motorsport's No. 91 Porsche. Rinaldi Racing's Ferrari for Rino Mastronardi, David Perel and Davide Rigon were third, while AF Corse's Abril, Grunewald and Prette
were fourth despite Abril crashing out after contact with an LMP2 car Sunday.
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| | Austin Cindric Evades Chaos, Scores 1st Cup Series Win in Daytona
500
Austin Cindric was able to block a move from teammate Ryan Blaney and just barely beat Bubba Wallace to the line to win the Daytona 500, his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory. Chase Briscoe was third, then Blaney and
Aric Almirola.
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| | Austin Cindric Arrives With Daytona 500 Win: ‘We’ve Come a Long
Way’
It was assumed that Austin Cindric would be fairly strong in the NASCAR Cup Series after the form that he showed over the past couple of years in the Xfinity Series. Sunday showed that he is completely ready for the big
time.
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| | Bubba Wallace Left Wanting More After Daytona 500 Runner-Up: ‘I Thought We Had
It’
In 2018, Bubba Wallace was overjoyed to finish second in the Daytona 500. Sunday was quite different. He was frustrated with himself. He felt that, despite missing a fender, he was in position to hit paydirt at
the finish.
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| | Aric Almirola: ‘I’ll Want This One Back For
Sure’
For Aric Almirola, Sunday's Daytona 500 was his final one as a full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. He came home in fifth, but walked away wishing that he could have done more.
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| | Harrison Burton Flips In Wild Daytona 500
Crash
For those of you who really wanted to get a good look at the undercarriage of the NextGen car, you got that opportunity on lap 63 Sunday when Harrison Burton spun after a bump from Brad Keselowski and flipped over in a multi-car
crash.
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| | Chase Elliott Signs 5-Year Contract Extension with Hendrick
Motorsports
Prior to Sunday's Daytona 500, Hendrick Motorsports announced that they have signed Chase Elliott to a contract extension that will keep him in the No. 9 Chevrolet through the end
of the 2027 season.
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| | NASCAR Confiscates Wheels From Team Penske, RFK
Racing
Back on Friday morning, NASCAR confiscated wheels from Team Penske and RFK Racing in Daytona. They apparently saw something with them that they didn't like very much.
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| | Austin Hill Survives Scary Last-Lap Wreck, Wins Xfinity Series Daytona
300-Miler
Austin Hill swept past AJ Allmendinger on the final lap on the backstretch just as Myatt Snider flipped into the catchfence. The yellow flag came out, guaranteeing Hill his first career Xfinity Series victory. Noah
Gragson was third, then Riley Herbst and Justin Allgaier.
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| | Last-Lap Xfinity Wreck at Daytona Rips Engine From Myatt Snider’s
Car
The biggest story to come out of Saturday's Beef. It's What's For Dinner. 300 was Myatt Snider's horrifying crash into the catchfence during the final lap of the race. Snider complained of a sore foot afterwards, but
otherwise walked away from the crash.
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| | Austin Hill’s Gamble Pays Off With Xfinity Daytona
Victory
Austin Hill was in a fairly comfortable place in the Camping World Truck Series with Hattori Racing Enterprises. However, he wanted more, leading him to leave for Richard Childress Racing. He hit paydirt the first
time out Saturday night.
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| | AJ Allmendinger Comes Up Just Short in Xfinity Race at Daytona: ‘We Were About 20 Feet
Away’
AJ Allmendinger has been very close in recent years to winning at Daytona. Kaulig Racing has been extremely strong, but he's always come up short. Saturday was just another example as he was feet away from victory
before it was taken away.
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| | Zane Smith Survives Overtime Finish to Win Daytona Truck Series Season
Opener
Front Row Motorsports' Zane Smith was able to get in front of Christian Eckes Friday night and held on until Jason White and Kris Wright collided just after the white flag. This brought out the yellow and gave Smith his
first win at Daytona. Ben Rhodes was second, then Eckes, Tanner Gray and Parker Kligerman.
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| | Tanner Gray Comes Home 4th at Daytona: ‘It Feels Good to Finally Finish
One’
David Gilliland Racing's Tanner Gray has struggled at Daytona during his time in the Camping World Truck Series. Friday night saw Gray avoid the Big One on lap 99 and bring his Black's Tire Ford home in
fourth.
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| | Parker Kligerman Escapes Chaos, Falls Just Short at
Daytona
Parker Kligerman just barely squeaked into Friday night's NextEra Energy 250 on speed. Once there, he was able to rise to the challenge, getting his Henderson Motorsports Chevrolet into the top five by the
finish.
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| | Mario Andretti Announces that Son Michael Plans To Start F1
Team
In a bombshell tweet Friday afternoon, Mario Andretti announced that Michael Andretti plans to submit an entry for Formula 1 starting in the 2024 season.
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| | COTA, F1 Re-Up Through
2026
Circuit of the Americas announced Friday that they have signed a contract extension that will see the U.S. Grand Prix remain at the 3.427-mile road course through 2026.
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| | Corey Heim Dominates To Win ARCA Season Opener at
Daytona
Venturini Motorsports' Corey Heim was nearly untouchable Saturday afternoon, leading all but six laps to win the Lucas Oil 200, the season opener for the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona. Teammate Parker Chase was second,
then Daniel Dye, Sean Corr and Gus Dean.
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| | Sean Corr Nabs ARCA Top 5 in Late Bob Keselowski Tribute Paint
Scheme
Empire Racing's Sean Corr raced a Bob Keselowski tribute scheme in Saturday's Lucas Oil 200. Running the No. 29, Corr was able to drive his Chevrolet to a strong fourth-place finish.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Getty Images, Chris Owens of INDYCAR Media, LAT Images, and our own Dalton Hopkins, Davey Segal and Zach Sturniolo.
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: Austin Cindric Claims Maiden Cup Victory, Leaves Daytona Tied For Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Team Penske's Austin Cindric was able to hold
off the pack on the Green-White-Checker final restart and claimed victory in the 64th Annual Daytona 500. However, he wasn't the strongest driver all day. That honor went to Brad Keselowski, who led a race-high 67 laps and finished ninth. At the end of the day, they ended up tied for the points lead with 54 points. Cindric officially gets the points lead via the tiebreaker. Cindric and Keselowski are five points ahead of Martin
Truex Jr., who won the first two stages Sunday before getting caught up in a crash. He would still finish 13th. Bubba Wallace finished second for the second time in the Daytona 500 and leaves Daytona in fourth.
Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney are tied for fifth in points. Briscoe wins the tiebreaker since he finished third to Blaney's fourth. Michael McDowell crashed across the line in seventh, which puts him in seventh. Kyle Busch recovered from getting
in an early crash to finish sixth. That puts him in eighth.
Chris Buescher crashed out in a lap 195 crash, but still accumulated enough points between his Duel and the race to leave Daytona ninth in points. Chase Elliott finished 10th Sunday and is 10th in points. Joey Logano finished 21st after crashing with Tyler Reddick.
However, his 17 stage points leaves him in 11th. Aric Almirola is 12th after finishing fifth.
David Ragan finished eighth Sunday, the best-ever Cup finish for Rick Ware Racing. That puts him 13th in points. Ty Dillon is 14th in points after finishing 11th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. crashed out late, but had a great day prior to that and leaves Daytona 15th in
points. Kurt Busch is 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): t-1) Austin Cindric 54, t-1) Brad Keselowski 54, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -5, 4) Bubba Wallace
-7, t-5) Chase Briscoe -13, t-5) Ryan Blaney -13, 7) Michael McDowell -15, 8) Kyle Busch -16, 9) Chris Buescher -19, 10) Chase Elliott -20, 11) Joey Logano -21, 12) Aric Almirola -22, 13) David Ragan -25, 14) Ty Dillon
-28, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -29, 16) Kurt Busch -30.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Daniel Hemric would be tied for
15th.
Playoff
Points: 1) Austin Cindric 5, 2) Martin Truex Jr.
-3.
Stage Points:
1) Brad Keselowski 26, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -1, 3) Joey Logano -9, 4) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -10, t-5) Austin Cindric -12, t-5) Chris Buescher -12, 7) Bubba Wallace -14, t-8) Michael McDowell -17, t-8) Todd
Gilliland -17, t-10) Ryan Blaney -18, t-10) Erik Jones -18, t-10) Kyle Larson -18, t-10) Harrison Burton -18, t-14) Chase Briscoe -19, t-14) Kyle sBusch -19, t-14) Chase Elliott -19.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 44, 2) Bubba Wallace -4, t-3) Chase Briscoe -6, t-3) Ryan Blaney
-6, t-5) Aric Almirola -8, t-5) Kyle Busch -8, t-7) Michael McDowell -10, t-7) Brad Keselowski -10, 9) David Ragan -11, 10) Chase Elliott -13, 11) Ty Dillon -14, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -15, 13) Corey LaJoie -17, 14) Chris Buescher
-19, 15) Cody Ware -20, 16) Daniel Suarez -21.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Daniel Hemric would be tied for 12th and
Landon Cassill would be 15th.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric
180, 2) Bubba Wallace -5, t-3) Chase Briscoe -15, t-3) Ryan Blaney -15, t-5) Aric Almirola -25, t-5) Kyle Busch -25, 7) Brad Keselowski -32, 8) Michael McDowell -34, 9) David Ragan -38, 10) Chase Elliott -46, 11) Ty Dillon
-50, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -51, 13) Corey LaJoie -59, 14) Chris Buescher -65, 15) Cody Ware -68, 16) Daniel Suarez -71.
Note: The WC points are based on the original points
system created by Bob Latford in 1975.
Race Winners: Austin
Cindric (Daytona)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade
Photography.
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Seeking the Xfinity Series Playoffs: AJ Allmendinger Denied Victory, But Strong Run Gives Him Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger came within a whisker of winning Saturday night in Daytona. However, Austin Hill was able to get past right before the yellow came out on the final lap. Despite this, Allmendinger's second-place finish combined with 16 stage points was enough to
give him the points lead. Allmendinger's advantage is four points over Hill, who took home the spoils. Riley Herbst and Justin Allgaier are tied for third, five behind Hill. Herbst wins the tiebreaker due to a better finish (fourth to Allgaier's fifth).
Ryan Sieg finished eighth and scored 12 stage points Saturday, a performance good enough to slot him in fifth. Noah Gragson finished third, but will leave Daytona sixth in points. Ty Gibbs was caught up in the last lap crash and finished 11th, but is seventh in points thanks to nine stage points.
Brandon Brown is eighth after finishing 10th.
Sheldon Creed finished sixth, but failed to score any stage points. As a result, he is ninth in points. Anthony Alfredo had his side window fly out on the first lap of the race. The resulting stop put him two laps down. He recovered from that to finish seventh and leaves Daytona 10th in points.
Daniel Hemric won the first two stages, then got caught up in a crash. Despite finishing 28th, Hemric is 11th in points. Josh Bilicki finished ninth and led laps, putting him 12th in points.
Bilicki is the last driver currently in the playoffs, but will not run full-time. He is three points ahead of Ryan Truex, who started last and finished 12th. JJ Yeley and Josh Berry are tied for 14th, while Landon Cassill is 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 51, 2) Austin Hill -4, t-3) Riley Herbst -9, t-3) Justin Allgaier -9, 5) Ryan Sieg -10, 6) Noah Gragson -11, 7) Ty Gibbs -16, 8) Brandon Brown -17, 9)
Sheldon Creed -20, 10) Anthony Alfredo -21, 11) Daniel Hemric -22, 12) Josh Bilicki -23, 13) Ryan Truex -26, t-14) JJ Yeley -27, t-14) Josh Berry -27, 16) Landon Cassill -28.
Note: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 5, 2) Daniel Hemric -3.
Stage Points: 1) Daniel Hemric 20, 2) AJ Allmendinger -4, 3) Ryan Sieg -8, 4) Justin Allgaier -10, t-5) Riley Herbst -11, t-5) Ty Gibbs -11, t-5) Sam Mayer -11, t-8) Austin Hill -13, t-8)
Brandon Brown -13, 10) Noah Gragson -14, 11) Josh Berry -17, 12) Brandon Jones -18.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 44, 2) AJ Allmendinger -4, 3) Noah Gragson -5, 4) Riley Herbst -7, 5) Justin Allgaier -8, 6) Sheldon Creed -9, 7) Anthony Alfredo -10, t-8) Ryan Sieg -11,
t-8) Josh Bilicki -11, 10) Brandon Brown -12, 11) Ty Gibbs -13, 12) Ryan Truex -15, 13) JJ Yeley -16, 14) Landon Cassill -17, t-15) Jeffrey Earnhardt -18, t-15) Josh Berry -18.
Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 180, 2) AJ Allmendinger -5, 3) Noah Gragson -10, 4) Riley Herbst -20, 5) Justin Allgaier -25, 6) Sheldon Creed -30, 7) Anthony Alfredo -34, 8) Josh Bilicki -37, 9) Ryan Sieg -38,
10) Brandon Brown -41, 11) Ty Gibbs -45, 12) Ryan Truex -53, 13) JJ Yeley -56, 14) Landon Cassill -59, 15) Josh Berry -60, 16) Jeffrey Earnhardt -62.
Race Winner: Austin Hill (Daytona)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the Camping World Truck Series Playoffs: Zane Smith Wins NextEra Energy 250 in Overtime, Takes Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Zane Smith was able to squeeze past Christian Eckes on the final restart and was still ahead when the caution came out on the final lap to take the victory Friday night on debut with Front Row Motorsports. That, combined with stage points, sees him leave Daytona with the points lead. His advantage is two points over
Ben Rhodes, who finished second. Eckes finished third and leaves Daytona third in points. Tanner Gray is fourth after finishing fourth.
Ty Majeski, who started from the pole Friday night, finished seventh and leaves Daytona fifth in points. Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek are tied for sixth in points. Both drivers were caught up in the Big One on lap 99. Chandler finished 21st, while Nemechek was 24th. Parker
Kligerman finished fifth after barely timing into the race to put himself eighth in points.
Jesse Little finished sixth and leaves Daytona ninth in points. He is two points ahead of a three-way tie for 10th between Danny Bohn, Austin Wayne Self and Stewart Friesen. Bohn finished the best of these drivers (eighth, while Self was 13th and Friesen 16th), so he gets the spot, which is technically the final one in the playoffs as of
now.
The trio of drivers are one point ahead of Carson Hocevar in 13th, who finished ninth. Rackley W.A.R.'s Matt DiBenedetto finished 10th and is currently 14th in points. Spencer Boyd is 15th, while Timmy Hill is 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 46, 2) Ben Rhodes -2, 3) Christian Eckes -5, 4) Tanner Gray -10, 5) Ty Majeski -11, t-6) Chandler Smith -13, t-6) John Hunter Nemechek -13, 8) Parker Kligerman -14, 9) Jesse Little -15,
t-10) Danny Bohn -17, t-10) Austin Wayne Self -17, t-10) Stewart Friesen -17, 13) Carson Hocevar -18, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -19, 15) Spencer Boyd -20, 16) Timmy Hill -23.
Note: If he were eligible, Riley Herbst would be 16th in points.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 5, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -3.
Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 20, 2) Chandler Smith -3, 3) Ben Rhodes -11, 4) Stewart Friesen -12, t-5) Christian Eckes -13, t-5) Corey Heim -13, t-7) Zane Smith -14, t-7) Matt Crafton -14, t-9) Ty Majeski -15, t-9) Austin Wayne
Self -15, t-9) Tyler Ankrum -15, t-9) Grant Enfinger -15, t-13) Tanner Gray -17, t-13) Derek Kraus -17, 15) Bret Holmes -18.
Note: If he were eligible, Austin Hill would be tied for 15th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 36, 2) Ben Rhodes -4, 3) Chandler Smith -5, 4) Tanner Gray -7, 5) Parker Kligerman -8, t-6) Jesse Little -9, t-6) Ty Majeski -9, 8) Danny Bohn -11, 9) Carson Hocevar -12, 10) Matt DiBenedetto
-13, 11) Spencer Boyd -14, 12) Austin Wayne Self -16, 13) Timmy Hill -17, 14) Stewart Friesen -18, 15) Hailie Deegan -20, 16) Thad Moffitt -21.
Note: If they were eligible, Riley Herbst would be 12th and Austin Hill 14th in Old Points.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 180, 2) Ben Rhodes -5, 3) Christian Eckes -10, 4) Tanner Gray -20, 5) Parker Kligerman -25, 6) Ty Majeski -29, 7) Jesse Little -30, 8) Danny Bohn -38, 9) Carson Hocevar -42, 10) Matt DiBenedetto -46,
11) Spencer Boyd -50, 12) Austin Wayne Self -56, 13) Timmy Hill -59, 14) Stewart Friesen -60, 15) Hailie Deegan -68, 16) Thad Moffitt -71.
Note: If they were eligible, Riley Herbst would be 12th and Austin Hill 14th in WC Points.
Race Winner: Zane Smith (Daytona)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Daytona 500 was brought to you by the letter S for Surprising. Admittedly, based on Thursday night's Bluegreen Vacations Duels, I figured that the Daytona 500 was going to look like plate races from the mid-to-late 1990s, where it was possible for small groups to get away. That was not
the case as a large group stayed together almost all day. Also, the race ended with the same number of lead changes (35) as last year.. - Phil
Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Daytona 500
compiled by Phil Allaway
"Once I crossed the start-finish line for the white flag, everyone behind me bailed. Everyone started lifting. Everyone was trying to get their runs, and
I was probably 20 percent throttle for most of the last lap, just trying to stay relatively close to where I could at least defend something or be able to be close enough to be able to get to the tri-oval.
"I knew if I got to the tri-oval and I was nose ahead, I would get it. I actually learned that Thursday night. But for me, yeah, just holding off the wolves, it's the race that means everything to everybody. Once you come off of 4, all gloves are off and everybody wants it.
"I think there's a lot of layers to [being a Daytona 500 winner]. I feel like I have perspective on, but I'm certainly in a different category in that respect. I haven't been trying to do this for decades. So from that respect, I'm pretty humbled to have the opportunity, the experience,
what this means at this point in my career.
"I think I still have a lot left to learn from the guys that you've mentioned. There's a long list of drivers that have tried and finished second or led a lot of laps and come really close. Some days it's your day. I'll trade losing the Xfinity championship by four inches for a Daytona 500, I guess, any day.
"Certainly hard to put myself in their shoes, but I have a lot of respect for a lot of the drivers in the field. There's a good chance of me having to go to school for a little while here as far as figuring out what it takes to do this every weekend." - Austin Cindric, race winner
"First of all, that’s pretty damn cool to win the 500 in I think the first attempt, maybe not — but [first] full season for him, so congrats to
Austin [Cindric]. What could have been, right? Man, need to talk about some happy stuff here. Just dejected, but the thing that keeps me up is just the hard work that we put into our speedway stuff and the hard work from everybody at 23XI, proud of them, can’t thank them enough. I knew this was a big move last year for me to go out and be competitive, and we’re showing that. It’s always the first race of the season and you’re getting through everything, but when you come out of the gates like
that, it’s empowering, it’s encouraging. So thanks, everybody, back at the shop, McDonald’s, almost got them another one — back-to-back superspeedway wins. That would have been awesome, especially with it being the 500. But just short. I thought our Toyota teammates did good work until they got picked off one, two, three throughout the race, so we just had to survive." - Bubba Wallace, finished second
"It’s crazy. You dream when you grow up racing just being in the Daytona 500 and I never in a million years thought I would ever get an opportunity to even run in one. To be restarting sixth with a green-white-checkered was pretty surreal in the first
place, but I just couldn’t get to Brad. I kept trying to get there and I just couldn’t. He was having to drag so much brake to get back to me. I just wasn’t much help to him, to be honest with you, and then Kyle got me really good into three and I had such a run that I had to take it. I wish it was Talladega because I felt like if the start-finish line was a little further down I may have had a shot at that thing, but really cool to start our year off with Mahindra Tractors with a third-place
finish in the Daytona 500. It’s cool for one of my best friends to win the race. It’s pretty cool." - Chase Briscoe, finished third
"[On] the last lap I got good pushes on the bottom from [Bubba Wallace] and then I was able to get Austin [Cindric] in front and off of [turn 4] where we were good enough to make a move. I got blocked and I ended up getting fenced. I’m happy for
Roger Penske, winning the 500 on his birthday. I’m happy for Jeremy Bullins and everyone that works on that No. 2 car. It’s just one of those things. It didn’t work out. We still ended up fourth, but I don’t know another perfect position we could have put ourselves in to win the race. It just didn’t work out." - Ryan Blaney, finished fourth
"I honestly thought I was in a really good position. I knew it was gonna get kind of dicey and haywire there with the leaders and I thought that they would kind of shove each other around and come disconnected and I would have a bunch of momentum coming
from behind. We’d seen that in the Duels and other races, so I hate to come up short. I had a really good feeling going into today. I just felt like it was kind of gonna be one of those storybook type deals where the last Daytona 500 I thought we had a shot at going to Victory Lane and just came up a little bit short. Dang, that’s fun. That’s fun." - Aric Almirola, finished fifth
"Overall, a good day and a good effort. I’m pleased with how far we came from behind to get a decent finish there. We were tore up a lot most of the race so that was a good finish.
"[The damage] definitely slowed us down a little bit. Any time you get damage it’s not optimum, but otherwise, we were able to hang in the draft well and race around some of the other guys that were fast, but there were definitely guys that were faster than us and they were noticeable." - Kyle
Busch, finished sixth
"I was not exactly where I wanted to be. I would have liked to been a row or two up. It’s hard to win from sixth, but I had my Ford teammate in front of me, Aric Almirola, and saw that everybody was pushing hard. You can’t see too much through the back
window of the car, so you’re just kind of pushing and hoping it all works out. I thought we were gonna get to the finish line, so as I was crossing the line I just got hooked in the right-rear and went straight in the wall. That was unfortunate because we had a pretty clean race. That’s not what we wanted. We wanted to come back here and challenge for the win, but we were close to being in that position again – being in that top five coming to the white, but we just needed to be a few more spots
further forward. All in all, it was a great race. I thought the Next Gen car did really well and put on a good show. The pack stayed together quite a lot – more than I thought from the Duels and practice, and we had a fast Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang. All in all, other than a destroyed race car, we had a decent day going and it would have been nice to get across the line without destroying the car, but glad to come out of here with a top 10 or a top five, I’m not sure where we ended up and
get ready for California." - Michael McDowell, finished seventh
"For some reason the outside lane just didn’t get the surge that maybe we got two restarts prior. I saw Brad back just a little bit and I was kind of surprised it was that clean on the white flag lap and then coming through three and four no one lifts
and everyone is real aggressive. The first thing that I saw was [Ryan Blaney] come across the racetrack and we all started kind of squeezing down and then I felt Michael McDowell come across my left-front fender and that kind of ran us into the wall. It was right at the start-finish line. That’s unfortunate to tear up a lot of race cars for that reason, but you’re going for the win in the Daytona 500 and no one is gonna lift and everyone is gonna do what they’ve got to do. I couldn’t be more
proud of our effort. We really did a perfect job executing the whole race long. We made some adjustments. We just kept fighting and tried to be careful and get aggressive when it counted, so happy to come home with a top 10, but you’re disappointed to have a torn up race car." - David Ragan, finished eighth
"I thought down the backstretch we were gonna win the race and [Ryan Blaney] and [Austin Cindric] got a really good push from [Bubba Wallace] and basically cleared our lane and then our lane kind of broke up there at the end. It was really close, just
green-white-checkers.
"We did. I hate that [Chris Buescher] got torn up. I was trying to give Stenhouse a push there and I thought we could settle it amongst us three and clear with the top lane, but it didn’t come together." - Brad Keselowski, finished ninth
"Yes, [getting out of here with a clean car and a good finish] was our goal today. Race smart and race when we needed to in order to get to the
finish. I am really proud of these guys because we accomplished what we wanted; to get in position late in the race and have a shot at a good finish. It’s a great start for this team and we are looking forward to Fontana and the rest of the season." - Ty Dillon, finished 11th
"It’s disappointing. I had a run there on [Kevin Harvick]. I didn’t realize how close he was to [Chris Buescher]. I got to him right as he was
getting to him and it got him out of shape. I hate that I did that. It’s so hard to see in front of him, especially on the straightaway like that." - Kyle Larson, finished 32nd (Crashed out)
"It looked like the bottom lane was pushing well; nice, balanced and controlled. The outside lane was getting a little squirrely the last lap or so. I noticed that, but there’s nothing you can really do. You’re just trying to push your guy out front. It
was [Martin] Truex Jr. in front of me and Kyle Busch. We were doing a good job of kind of managing that gap on the bottom. I think [Harrison Burton] just got loose, slid down the track and I slid to the inside wall. There was nothing we could really do. I think we were definitely going to finish in the top-five in that Stage. Our No. 24 Axalta Camaro seemed really fast. It’s disappointing, but we’ll go [to Auto Club Speedway] and we’ll be fast there." - William Byron, finished 38th (Crashed
out)
"I’m fine. I’ve hit a lot harder before, that’s for sure. It’s just unfortunate. I hate it for the Wood Brothers group. They brought a really fast Ford Mustang down here and ended up on our lid, so that’s never good. I’d like to look back and see what
happened. I don’t know, I just got pushed and didn’t take it the right way – the car didn’t take it the right way or got pushed in the wrong spot. I’m not sure. I couldn’t really tell. I was looking out front to see what I had to do next to side draft the next guy that was on me, so just a bummer. I don’t really know what we could have done different, but we’ll move on and get better from it."- Harrison Burton, finished 39th (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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