Frontstretch Newsletter: Feb. 28, 2022
Volume: XVI, Edition XXI
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- Road crews are back in North Carolina to relax for the week and go back to their day jobs. The Cup and Xfinity transporters will likely still be in Fontana today before making the relatively short haul to Las Vegas later this week. Entry lists for Las Vegas 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. 25-27
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- Monster Energy AMA Supercross teams had their second Triple Crown race of the season at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex. In Race No. 1, Malcolm Stewart took the lead early and looked like he was in position to win. However, Jason Anderson ran down Stewart for the lead with three minutes to go. Contact was made and both riders went
down. That put Justin Barcia in the lead with Cooper Webb giving chase. Webb was able to get past Barcia on the final lap and held on for the win, three-quarters of a second ahead of Barcia. Eli Tomac was third, then Chase Sexton and Stewart. Anderson ended up sixth.
Race No. 2 saw Anderson recover from his Race No. 1 crash to take the lead from Sexton halfway through the feature. From there, he held on to take the victory by 2.749 seconds over Tomac. Sexton was third, then Webb and Dylan Ferrandis.
Race No. 3 saw Ken Roczen and Marvin Musquin immediately eliminated from contention after crashing on the first lap. Musquin complained of lower back pain before retiring from the race. Roczen ended up a lap down in 16th.
Tomac took the lead early on from holeshot winner Shane McElrath, but Anderson stayed in touch. With five minutes to go, Anderson took the lead and held on for his second win of the night. Anderson was 2.566 seconds ahead of Tomac at the finish and 16.806 seconds ahead of Stewart. Webb was fourth, while Sexton was fifth.
With a total score of seven, Tomac took his third round victory of the year over Anderson, Webb, Sexton and Stewart. In the points, Tomac has a six-point lead over Anderson. Stewart is third, then Webb and Barcia.
- In the 250cc East division, Jett Lawrence won the holeshot in Race No. 1, then immediately crashed in the second turn. This gave the lead to Yamaha's Stilez Robertson. Robertson had to do battle with Kawasaki teammates Austin Forkner and Cameron McAdoo. Forkner was able to get around Robertson and hold on for the win. He ended up 1.045
seconds ahead of McAdoo, while RJ Hampshire held off a charging Lawrence for third. Mitchell Oldenburg was fifth.
Race No. 2 saw Lawrence re-assert himself. He took the lead shortly after the start, opened up a comfortable lead and held on for the victory. He was 4.571 seconds ahead of Jeremy Martin at the finish. McAdoo was third, then Forkner and Phil Nicoletti.
Race No. 3 was an adventure. Lawrence wiped himself out in the first turn and dropped to the rear of the field. Meanwhile, Jace Owen got the holeshot and led early. McAdoo appeared to be very strong and took his No. 48 Kawasaki to the lead.
Despite his early fall, Lawrence was still the fastest rider on track. He made his way all the way up to fourth before getting in a fierce battle for third with Forkner. Going over the finish line jump, Lawrence clipped a tuff block. This pitched him into Forkner and created a spectacular crash. Lawrence was able to continue and finished 10th,
but Forkner was injured and out for the evening.
McAdoo was able to hold on to take the Race No. 3 victory. His margin was 6.450 seconds over Pierce Brown. Martin was third, then Jace Owen and Oldenburg.
McAdoo's race win also gave him the round victory with a total of six points. Martin was second, then Lawrence, Oldenburg and Jordon Smith, whose best finish on the night was sixth in Race No. 1. Through two races, McAdoo and Lawrence are tied for the 250cc East points lead. They are five points ahead of Martin, then Forkner and Enzo
Lopes.
- In Indy Pro 2000 action, Josh Green led flag-to-flag Friday to win the season opening Andersen Interior Contracting Grand Prix of St. Petersburg from the pole. He won by 0.615 seconds over Enaam Ahmed. Louis Foster was third, then Braden Eves and Nolan Siegel.
Saturday morning's Race No. 2 saw Siegel lead flag-to-flag from the pole to take his first career Indy Pro 2000 victory. He was three-quarters of a second ahead of Foster at the finish. Eves was third, then Kiko Porto and Wyatt Brichacek.
On the strength of Saturday's win, Siegel has a two-point lead in the standings over Foster. Green is third, then Eves and Porto.
Race No. 2 (the Foundation Building Materials Grand Prix of St. Peterburg) saw Rowe take the lead away from Denmark on lap 13 of the 20-lap race. From there, he held on to take the win. He ended up 1.0493 seconds ahead of Denmark at the finish. Jagger Jones was third, then d'Orlando and Nepveu.
After the first two races of the season, Denmark has a 17-point lead over Frazer. D'Orlando is third in points, then Rowe and Jones.
- Saturday night was the first Short Track Super Series Elite feature of the year, the Rebel 50 at South Carolina's Cherokee Speedway. Ringoes, N.J.'s Ryan Godown took the lead with 13 laps to go and held on through a series of cautions for flat tires to win. Larry Wight was second, then Billy Pauch Jr., Jimmy Horton and Michael Maresca. We have more
on this event in today's edition of Thinkin' Dirty at Frontstretch.
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| | Kyle Larson Surges Late, Begins NASCAR Title Defense with Auto Club
Win
Kyle Larson was able to sweep past Daniel Suarez coming to two laps to go Sunday and held on to win a caution-strewn WISE Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Austin Dillon was second, then Erik Jones, Suarez and Joey
Logano.
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| | Flat Tire & William Byron Prevent Tyler Reddick From 1st NASCAR Cup
Win
Richard Childress Racing's Tyler Reddick was the dominant driver Sunday in Fontana, leading 90 laps. However, he cut a left rear tire on lap 151, then got hit by William Byron, ruining his day. He would finish
24th.
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| | Cole Custer Survives Late Charge, Dominates To Win Production Alliance Group
300
Cole Custer dropped back down to the Xfinity Series this past weekend and showed that he hasn't lost a step. Custer led 80 laps and held on through three Green-White-Checker restarts and 15 extra laps to win the Production
Alliance Group 300. Noah Gragson was second, then Trevor Bayne, Josh Berry and Anthony Alfredo.
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| | Trevor Bayne Brings Home 3rd in Xfinity Return at Auto
Club
Saturday marked Trevor Bayne's first start in the Xfinity Series since 2016. He led laps and finished third in his debut with Joe Gibbs Racing.
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| | Scott McLaughlin Earns First IndyCar
Win
Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin held off a late charge from defending champion Alex Palou to win Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg for his first career NTT IndyCar Series win. Will Power was third, then Colton
Herta and Romain Grosjean.
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| | Alex Palou Finishes Second in St.
Petersburg
Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou didn't have a good time in St. Petersburg last year, or earlier in the weekend this year. But in the race, he came alive, racing up to a second-place
finish.
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| | Matthew Brabham Wins Season-Opening Indy Lights Race in St.
Petersburg
Matthew Brabham took the lead when Christian Rasmussen suddenly slowed on the penultimate lap Sunday morning and held on to win the Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Benjamin Pedersen was second, then Linus
Lundqvist, Sting Ray Robb and Danial Frost.
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| | Jason Daskalos Wins GT America Season Opener in St.
Petersburg
Jason Daskalos held off a late charge from Scott Smithson to win the GT America Powered by AWS season opener in St. Petersburg, Fla. Friday, a race marred by a start crash. George Kurtz was third, then David Askew and Ziad
Ghandour.
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| | George Kurtz Wins St. Petersburg GT America Race No.
2
Crowdstrike Racing with Riley Motorsports' George Kurtz led flag-to-flag Saturday to win the second GT America Powered by AWS race of the weekend in St. Petersburg under caution. Scott Smithson was second, followed by
Justin Wetherill, Ziad Ghandour and David Askew.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, James Black and Chris Jones of INDYCAR Media and SRO Motorsports Group.
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 Gains Sole Possession Of Points Lead Despite Turn 2 Incidents
by Phil Allaway
Austin
Cindric started from the pole Sunday and had some issues. He clipped race winner Kyle Larson in turn 2 when Martin Truex Jr. got in the wall. Later on, he hit the wall when Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace crashed. Despite this, Cindric still managed to finish 12th. That was enough to gain sole possession of the points lead.
Cindric's advantage is eight points over Joey Logano, who came from the rear of the field to finish second and gain nine spots in the standings. Despite his wall contact, Truex still finished 13th and managed to stay in third. Ryan Blaney moved up two places to fourth after finishing 18th.
Chase Briscoe led 20 laps and earned seven stage points. However, staying out on worn tires put him back to 16th. He stays fifth in points. Erik Jones moved up 16 places to sixth after running up front all day and finishing third. Aric Almirola is up five places to
seventh after finishing sixth despite two half-spins in turn 4 (one in qualifying, another in the race). Larson and Wallace are tied for eighth in points. While Larson won, Wallace had a miserable weekend. Just when things were getting good, he crashed in turn 2. He ultimately finished 19th.
Keselowski dropped from a tie for the points lead to 10th after two separate spins Sunday. The crash in turn 2 ultimately left him two laps down in 27th. Kyle Busch had a miserable day, spinning out early on in turn 2, then cutting a left rear tire. He recovered from three laps down to finish 14th. Kurt
Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are tied for 12th. Kurt Busch recovered from three inspection failures Friday to finish eighth, while Stenhouse was 10th.
Austin Dillon gained seven spots to move into a tie for 14th with Daniel Suarez by virtue of his second-place finish Sunday. Suarez finished fourth and moved up from 19th. Cole Custer, off the strength of Saturday's victory, moved up to 16th with an 11th-place
finish.
Custer is the last driver currently in the playoffs. He has a two-point lead over Ty Dillon, who finished 17th. Michael McDowell had electrical problems in the closing laps while running in the top 15. That put him out and dropped him from seventh to 18th in points. Chase
Elliott's multiple incidents dropped him to 19th, while Kevin Harvick drove a repaired car with no laps at speed to a seventh-place finish. That moved him up eight places to 20th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 85, 2) Joey Logano -8, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -12, 4) Ryan Blaney
-15, 5) Chase Briscoe -16, 6) Erik Jones -17, 7) Aric Almirola -19, t-8) Kyle Larson -20, t-8) Bubba Wallace -20, 10) Brad Keselowski -21, 11) Kyle Busch -24, t-12) Kurt Busch -32, t-12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-32, t-14) Austin Dillon -33, t-14) Daniel Suarez -33, 16) Cole Custer -37.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Daniel Hemric would be
seventh.
Playoff
Points: t-1) Austin Cindric 5, t-1) Kyle Larson
5, t-3) Martin Truex Jr. -3, t-3) Tyler Reddick -3.
Stage Points:
1) Joey Logano 29, t-2) Erik Jones -3, t-2) Brad Keselowski -3, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -4, 5) Tyler Reddick -6, t-6) Austin Cindric -20, t-6) Kyle Larson -20, 8) Ryan Blaney -11, 9) Ricky Stenhouse
Jr. -12, t-10) Chase Briscoe -15, t-10) Chris Buescher -15, 12) Bubba Wallace -17, 13) William Byron -19, t-14) Michael McDowell -20, t-14) Todd Gilliland -20, 16) Harrison Burton -21.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 73, 2) Aric Almirola -2, 3) Chase Briscoe -9, 4) Kyle Busch
-10, t-5) Bubba Wallace -11, t-5) Ryan Blaney -11, 7) Daniel Suarez -13, 8) Joey Logano -15, 9) Martin Truex Jr. -16, 10) Austin Dillon -17, 11) Kurt Busch -18, t-12) Kyle Larson -19, t-12) Ty Dillon -19, 14) Erik
Jones -21, 15) Cole Custer -22, 16) Brad Keselowski -25.
Note No. 1: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
Note No. 2: If he were eligible for Old points, Daniel Hemric would be
seventh.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric
307, 2) Aric Almirola -2, 3) Chase Briscoe -22, 4) Bubba Wallace -26, 5) Ryan Blaney -28, 6) Kyle Busch -31, 7) Daniel Suarez -38, 8) Joey Logano -42, 9) Austin Dillon -44, 10) Martin Truex Jr. -54, 11) Kyle
Larson -55, 12) Erik Jones -56, 13) Kurt Busch -59, 14) Ty Dillon -65, 15) Cole Custer -74, 16) Brad Keselowski -77.
Note No. 1: The WC points are based on the original
points system created by Bob Latford in 1975.
Note No. 2: If he were eligible for WC points, Daniel Hemric would be
eighth.
Race Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona), Kyle
Larson (Fontana)
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 Barely Holds Onto The Lead After Recovery Drive
by Phil Allaway
Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger had a strong car o, but was forced to pit on lap 82 due to a loose wheel. He had to battlen Sunday back from a lap down, but the multitude of late crashes allowed him to get back up to a sixth-place finish. That allowed him to hold onto the points lead, but
just barely. He goes to Las Vegas just one point ahead of Noah Gragson, who moved up four places after leading 25 laps and finishing second Saturday. Justin Allgaier finished eighth and stays in third, three points out of the lead.
There is a three-way tie for fourth between Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Ty Gibbs. Herbst's fourth-place finish in Daytona wins the tiebreaker, although he finished ninth Saturday. Sieg finished 10th, while Gibbs actually doesn't have a top 10 finish in the first two races, but a bunch of stage
points. Josh Berry is up seven positions to seventh after finishing fourth. Anthony Alfredo saved a set of tires and put them on late. That boosted him from the 20s to a fifth-place finish, allowing him to move up to eighth.
Daniel Hemric is up two places to ninth despite falling back late to finish 12th. Brandon Brown spun out and ripped up his right front fender. He was able to recover from that to finish 11th and stay in 10th in points. Daytona winner Austin Hill hit the wall twice in the first three laps, ruining
his day in the process. He would continue on to finish three laps down in 27th. As a result, he dropped from second to 11th. Sam Mayer is up to 12th after a solid run to sixth.
Mayer is the last driver in the playoffs at the moment. He is seven points ahead of Trevor Bayne, who finished third Saturday, but only has a seven-race deal at the moment and is ineligible for the playoffs since he missed Daytona. Jeb Burton is up to 14th after finishing 14th. JJ Yeley is 15th,
while Sheldon Creed dropped six spots to 16th after crashing out late.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 90, 2) Noah Gragson -1, 3) Justin Allgaier -3, t-4) Riley Herbst -19, t-4) Ryan Sieg -19, t-4) Ty Gibbs -19, 7) Josh Berry -27, 8) Anthony Alfredo -28, 9) Daniel Hemric
-29, 10) Brandon Brown -30, 11) Austin Hill -33, 12) Sam Mayer -39, 13) Trevor Bayne -46, 14) Jeb Burton -49, 15) JJ Yeley -51, 16) Sheldon Creed -54.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics are ineligible for the Xfinity Series playoffs.
Note No. 3: If he were eligible, Cole Custer would be 11th in Xfinity Series points.
Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 5, 2) Daniel Hemric -3, 3) Trevor Bayne -4.
Note No. 1: If he were eligible, Cole Custer would be leading the Playoff points with the six that he would have earned Saturday in Fontana.
Stage Points: 1) Daniel Hemric 27, 2) AJ Allmendinger -2, 3) Ty Gibbs -6, 4) Noah Gragson -7, 5) Ryan Sieg -12, 6) Sam Mayer -14, 7) Brandon Jones
-16, t-8) Trevor Bayne -17, t-8) Riley Herbst -17, t-8) Justin Allgaier -17, 11) Josh Berry -18, t-12) Austin Hill -20, t-12) Brandon Brown -20.
Note: If he were eligible, Cole Custer would be fifth in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16):
1) Noah Gragson 79, 2) AJ Allmendinger -4, t-3) Anthony Alfredo -9, t-3) Justin Allgaier -9, 5) Riley Herbst -10, 6) Ryan Sieg -15, 7) Josh Berry -16, 8) Brandon Brown -17, 9) Ty Gibbs -19, 10) Austin Hill
-21, 11) Jeb Burton -30, 12) JJ Yeley -32, 13) Sam Mayer -33, 14) Daniel Hemric -34, 15) Sheldon Creed -35, 16) Kyle Sieg -36.
Note: If
he were eligible, Cole Custer would be 15th in old points.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Noah Gragson 345, 2) AJ Allmendinger -19, 3) Justin Allgaier -43, 4) Anthony Alfredo -44, 5) Riley Herbst
-47, 6) Josh Berry -65, 7) Ryan Sieg -69, 8) Brandon Brown -76, 9) Ty Gibbs -81, 10) Austin Hill -83, 11) Jeb Burton -118, 12) Sam Mayer -122, t-13) Daniel Hemric -124, t-13) JJ Yeley -124, 15) Sheldon Creed -128, 16) Kyle Sieg -136.
Race Winner: Austin Hill (Daytona), Cole Custer (Fontana)
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: Off-Week Update No. 1
by Phil Allaway
The Camping World Truck Series was off this past weekend. They are scheduled to be back in action Friday night in the Victoria's Voice 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
By virtue of his victory in Daytona, Zane Smith will enter Las Vegas with a two-point lead over ThorSport Racing's Ben Rhodes. Teammate Christian Eckes is third, then Tanner Gray and Ty Majeski.
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)
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 WISE Power 400 was brought to you by the letter C for Competitive. Despite the tire issues that are an ongoing problem that NASCAR is working on a fix for, this was a thrilling race to watch. There were 32 lead changes, not a track record, but close (the record is 35 back in 2014) and drivers could use multiple lanes to race. Also, no one junked their
cars by hitting the grass. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: WISE Power 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"Yeah, it's definitely edgy. Honestly I enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to. I thought dirty air was going to be really bad behind people, and it didn't seem way worse or
different than normal. So that was encouraging. I thought the runs were equally as big if not bigger down the frontstretch. Restarts were still crazy.
"I thought it was way different, which was good for me anyways, and probably for us drivers. And then you have the part where, yeah, it's on edge where if you get a little too stepped out, you spin.
You have to be aware of that and your aggressiveness on the restarts and try to work on your balance a lot. We did that throughout the day quite a bit. We had runs early on where we'd be tight and then the next run we'd be loose and then we were able to kind of narrow that window down there it seemed like around halfway, and that's when I
felt like we were going to have a decent shot to win.
"Fun race. A lot of hard work by everybody on our team and proud of everybody's effort." - Kyle Larson, race winner
"The pit crew was the story of the day today. They were special. And my teammate [Tyler] Reddick – he balled out all day up there against the fence. I hate it for him what happened to him
and I felt like if we didn’t get up there and get after it for them, it would be a let down for RCR. So, glad to get P2.
"I made a run at him off of (turn) four. I don’t know if I should have ran the bottom. We could really get into turn one pretty good and rotate the bottom better than some guys. But man, that was a fun race. I’m impressed." - Austin Dillon, finished second
"It was good. It feels good to be interviewed after the race, too. It’s awesome, but it’s frustrating too. You’re that close and you have a car that you feel like can do it. The No. 43
FOCUSFactor Chevrolet definitely had it today. It was a matter of getting up front and taking advantage of clean air, and we did that a couple of times. A couple restarts just didn’t go our way. I probably could have done a better job here and there, and it just didn’t add up. I just haven’t raced up front a lot in the last year and a half. There are some things I need to be better at. Hopefully I have a lot of time to work on that. We want to keep running upfront and if we keep doing that,
we’re going to win some races.
"I’m really proud of this whole group. It’s been a big off season with the merger and everything we’ve done, so this is a very satisfying run for everybody and I just hope we can keep going." - Erik Jones, finished third
"We’re going to win a few races very soon here. I just can’t thank everyone enough on my team. We had a fast car, but we went through a lot of adversity. We had a few issues. We hit the wall once. We had an issue with a diffuser.
"My pit crew, those guys are legends; it’s unbelievable. It’s the best pit crew I’ve ever had, and it’s a lot of fun to race like that. Freeway Insurance, Chevrolet, everyone that helps Trackhouse Racing out to be able to be here and perform this way. I can tell you that I’m going to work very, very hard to go to victory lane very, very
soon." - Daniel Suarez, finished fourth
"The guys did a great job of getting the car fixed after I wrecked in qualifying and we were fast right off the get-go. We were okay. The short runs weren’t really our cup of tea with our Auto Club Mustang here. We had a shot there at the end though going down the backstretch two-wide and I thought it was my chance. It was a low
percentage move and it was kind of too late down the straightaway to make the move but I thought I had a big enough run that I could maybe get position going in. It was just too late and I couldn’t get my amigo Daniel Suarez there to get far enough back on my quarter. He was on my door and I had to start chasing it. I don’t know. I probably could have finished second or third if I didn’t make that move but you have to go for the win. We were so close. I probably would do it again but maybe
checked up the entry a little bit anticipating him washing up into Larson. But hey, I tried.
"The guys did a great job of getting the car fixed after I wrecked in qualifying and we were fast right off the get-go. We were okay. The short runs weren’t really our cup of tea with our Auto Club Mustang here. We had a shot there at the end though going down the backstretch two-wide and I thought it was my chance. It was a low
percentage move and it was kind of too late down the straightaway to make the move but I thought I had a big enough run that I could maybe get position going in. It was just too late and I couldn’t get my amigo Daniel Suarez there to get far enough back on my quarter. He was on my door and I had to start chasing it. I don’t know. I probably could have finished second or third if I didn’t make that move but you have to go for the win. We were so close. I probably would do it again but maybe
checked up the entry a little bit anticipating him washing up into Larson. But hey, I tried." - Joey Logano, finished fifth
"We sure had our hands full. It was a crazy day, wow. These cars are certainly a handful and we worked on it all day and made it to where it was driving better. Then we got some damage and the guys worked on it and got it fixed. It was a solid day for us to come out and have a good start to the west coast swing and keep our cars in one
piece." - Aric Almirola, finished sixth
"We actually had a really good car and then every time we would get close we would have something go wrong. So we just had so many things go wrong that it was hard to keep our track position but I am really proud of my team. They did a great job of battling through everything and giving us a shot out there." - Kevin Harvick, finished
seventh
"I can’t describe what we went through today with all the adversity, all of the problems – the self-inflicted things, the odd ball scenarios. Wow. What a top-10. That is a statement piece
for us at 23XI, to get our top-10 like this with everything we have been through. I’ve got to thank all of my guys for staying focused. They showed me the way, and I showed them on what we’ve got to do this year to keep chiseling away. I think we are the highest finishing Toyota, so we know we have some work to do, and the restart fell our way on that last one, but that was the best our car had handled since the first stage, so lots to learn. Lots to go through. Thanks to Monster Energy, Toyota
and everybody that has been working hard on these cars at 23XI." - Kurt Busch, finished eighth
"What a day! I felt like we had a really good car, and we were able to maintain good speed and move forward. Unfortunately, we had an issue with our shifter and lost six laps. I can’t believe we got all of them back and were even able to contend there at the end. I’m super proud of everyone on this No. 16 Poppy Bank Chevy team, My crew
chief, Matt Swiderski, and everyone else at Kaulig Racing put together an incredible race car. It was really good and super fast – it was just a matter of being back on the lead lap." - Daniel Hemric, finished ninth
"Absolutely gutted by how our race unfolded but I couldn’t be prouder of this whole team and what we were able to do a majority of this race today. We will learn from this; we will become stronger from this and be hungrier than ever before. It was really fun having all of the Lenovo guests here today and it was really exciting to have
such a strong run for them today. We will keep this momentum going to Las Vegas next week." - Tyler Reddick, finished 24th
"To use a backup car and start the race without any laps on it was a handful. We were really loose to start and I was not sure if we’d be able to get on the other side of it. My crew chief Phil Surgen and the Trackhouse team kept changing a lot of things on the car and got the balance where I could drive it. At the beginning of the race,
I was pretty worried that we were just going to be loose and slow all day. Obviously, we got a lot better and had a shot at a top-five and I messed up. I made an unforced error running around the sixth spot. I was just riding along and hit a bump wrong and didn’t catch it in time. A mistake on my part. Seeing the transition from the beginning of the race to the end, gives me a lot of hope." - Ross Chastain, finished 29th
"It just looked like they stacked up in front of us there. I don’t know how many crashed but there was a lot of smoke and I couldn’t see where I was going. I kind of had to take a guess on where they wouldn’t be and ended up finding [Bubba Wallace], I think. It was a frustrating day. It felt like we weren’t running as well as we needed
to be anyway. I guess those things happen when you don’t have great track position. We were fighting in the teens and 20s all day and we need to be fighting further up to be able to avoid that mess." - Harrison Burton, finished 33rd (Crashed out)
"So frustrated I made that mistake for our team today. What a fast car and we were making our way back to the front. I got loose getting under the No. 8 (Tyler Reddick) who had a flat. Thankful for such a fast car and I know we’ll be back stronger next week." - William Byron, 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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