Frontstretch Newsletter: June 13, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition XCVI
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- NASCAR teams are en route back to their shops today after the action in Sonoma. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams may not be going straight back to North Carolina, knowing that they will be racing in Iowa Saturday night. The entry list for the 150-lap race at Knoxville Raceway should be out today. We'll have that and anything else
that breaks for you at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: June 10-12
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- In Formula 2 action, Frederik Vesti was able to hold on in a one-lap shootout Saturday after three successive safety car periods to win the Sprint race in Baku. Jehan Daruvala was second, then Liam Lawson, Marcus Armstrong and Felipe Drugovich.
Sunday's Feature race saw Juri Vips lead for much of the event before clipping the wall in the ultra-narrow castle section with five minutes to go. That allowed Dennis Hauger the chance to slip past and take his second win of the year. Hauger was just under a half-second in front of Logan Sargeant. Drugovich was third, then Daruvala and
RIchard Verschoor.
Through 12 races, Drugovich has a 49-point lead over Theo Pourchaire, who scored a mere two points in Baku to Drugovich's 19. Daruvala is third, then Sargeant and Hauger.
- Saturday saw ARCA Menards Series West teams race 200 kilometers at Sonoma Raceway. Jake Drew led 48 laps and was in front when ARCA officials had to end the race early due to the event encroaching upon NASCAR Cup Series practice. It is Drew's second straight win after winning the Portland 112 on June 4. Colby Howard was second, then Dale
Quarterley, Jack Wood and Joey Iest.
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent the weekend in Knoxville for the Brownells Big Guns Bash. Friday night saw Pennsylvania's Brent Marks set quick time in qualifying, win his heat race, the Dash, and lead flag-to-flag to win the 25-lap feature. Logan Schuchart was second, then Brian Brown, Sheldon Haudenschild and Carson
Macedo.
Saturday night saw the Iowa crowd cheer on as Knoxville Raceway regular Brown passed Brad Sweet on lap 15, then pulled away to take the victory. Sweet was second, then Spencer Bayston, Donny Schatz and Macedo.
Through 26 races, Sweet currently holds a 64-point lead over David Gravel. Macedo is third, then Haudenschild and Schuchart. For more on the action in Knoxville, please check out today's
edition of Thinkin' Dirty.
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| | Daniel Suarez Finally a NASCAR Cup Series Winner at
Sonoma
Trackhouse Racing Team's Daniel Suarez dominated the second half of the race Sunday to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350k, his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory. Chris Buescher was second, then Michael McDowell, Kevin
Harvick and Austin Cindric.
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| | Chris Buescher Finishes 2nd at Sonoma After 2 Rough
Weeks
Chris Buescher returned to the No. 17 Sunday after missing Gateway due to COVID-19. He promptly put together the best race of his career to finish a strong second.
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| | Kyle Busch Wins Truck Race at
Sonoma
Kyle Busch led 45 of 75 laps Saturday at Sonoma Raceway and held off the pack on a Green-White-Checker restart to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series DoorDash 250k at Sonoma
Raceway for his first win of the year and record-extending 62nd of his career. Zane Smith was second, then Ty Majeski, Ross Chastain and Chandler Smith.
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| | Daniel Suarez Finishes 6th in Relief of Carson Hocevar at
Sonoma
Carson Hocevar was forced to take relief from Daniel Suarez 12 laps into the DoorDash 250k Saturday. Once in the truck, Suarez drove up from two laps down to finish a strong sixth.
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| | Josef Newgarden Wins at Road America While Championship Contenders Face
Hardships
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden took the lead from Marcus Ericsson with 13 laps to go Sunday, then held on through two late restarts to win the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America, scoring a $1 million bonus in the process.
Ericsson was second, then Andretti Autosport teammates Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta.
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| | IndyCar Title Contenders Have Trouble at Road
America
Sunday's Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America was not the best day if you were a championship contender not named Marcus Ericsson. Will Power crashed early, Alex Palou ended up in the gravel and Patricio O'Ward
broke.
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| | Graham Rahal Climbs Through IndyCar Field to Finish 8th at Road
America
Graham Rahal qualified a very disappointing 22nd on Saturday. When race time came, he knew that he needed to make hay whenever he could. He was able to drive up from
22nd on the grid to finish eighth.
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| | Max Verstappen Wins As Ferrari Falters at
Baku
Red Bull's Max Verstappen took the lead Sunday in Baku on lap 20 when Ferrari's Charles Leclerc went up in smoke. From there, he held on to win the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan. Sergio Perez was second, then Mercedes'
George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly.
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| | Ferrari Struck by Double Retirement in
Azerbaijan
Sunday was a miserable day for Ferrari. Carlos Sainz Jr. barely got his race started before the hydraulics turned traitor on him. Charles Leclerc was out on lap 20 when his engine failed.
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| | George Russell Leads Strong Performance for Mercedes in
Baku
Mercedes had to deal with pronounced porpoising
Sunday in Baku that aggravated Lewis Hamilton's back. However, George Russell was able to take advantage of Ferrari's issues to score a podium finish. Hamilton was another 26 seconds back in fourth.
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| | Brandon Jones Wins ARCA Menards’ Calypso Lemonade 150 at Iowa
Speedway
In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Kyle Busch Motorsports' Brandon Jones claimed victory in the ARCA Menards Series/ARCA Menards Series East Calypso Lemonade 150 at Iowa Speedway. Sammy Smith was second, then Connor
Mosack, Jonathan Shafter and Connor Jones.
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| | Sammy Smith Finishes 2nd at Iowa, Extends His ARCA East Points
Lead
Sammy Smith finished a strong second Sunday morning in Iowa. While Smith is running the short tracks in the ARCA Menards Series, he is also full-time in ARCA Menards Series East. The run allowed him to expand his
points lead.
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| | Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa Win 24 Hours of Le
Mans
The No. 8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa won the 24 Hours of Le Mans Sunday by just over two minutes over their teammates. JOTA Sport won LMP2,
while Porsche GT Team's No. 91 won GTE-Pro and TF Sport won GTE-Am.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Clive Rose of Getty Images, FIA Images, LAT Images, James Black and Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, Gabi Tomescu of FocusPackMedia.com and our own Mark Kristl.
Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Chase Elliott Expands Lead After Top Drivers Struggle in Sonoma
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott qualified second and ran well Sunday. He would eventually finish eighth, but not earn any stage points. That cost him some points to the drivers immediately around him in the finishing order, but he gained on those around him in points. His advantage is now 16 points over Ross
Chastain. Chastain finished seventh and moved up one place. Kyle Busch ran well early, but never recovered from a spin in turn 7. His 30th-place finish dropped him down to third. Ryan Blaney finished sixth and stays in fourth.
Joey Logano finished 17th, but earned the most stage points Sunday (19). As a result, he moved up to fifth. Martin Truex Jr. is down to sixth after a disappointing 26th-place finish. Kyle Larson stays in seventh after winning stage one, but finishing 15th after losing his right front wheel. As we all know,
that's not all Larson will lose. William Byron is up one place to eighth after finishing ninth.
Byron's teammate Alex Bowman drops down to ninth after finishing 16th. Christopher Bell had to start in the rear and ended up 27th, losing ground to his rivals while remaining in 10th. Aric Almirola scored 15 stage points and finished 14th, which keeps him in 11th, the last driver in the playoffs on points.
Almirola is seven points ahead of Kevin Harvick, who finished fourth.
Chase Briscoe is up one place to 13th after finishing 13th. Tyler Reddick dropped two positions to 14th after mechanical woes resulted in a 35th-place finish. Austin Dillon is up to 15th after finishing 11th, while Erik Jones is down to 16th.
Daniel Suarez's first career victory moved him up to 17th, just two points behind Jones. Austin Cindric remains in 18th after a fifth-place finish, while Kurt Busch dropped to 19th despite being the best finishing Toyota in 18th. Michael McDowell's third-place finish moved him up to
20th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 536, 2) Ross Chastain -16, 3) Kyle Busch -23, 4) Ryan Blaney -25, 5) Joey
Logano -30, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -55, 7) Kyle Larson -60, 8) William Byron -70, 9) Alex Bowman -76, 10) Christopher Bell -92, 11) Aric Almirola -113, 12) Kevin Harvick -120, 13) Chase Briscoe -150, 14) Tyler Reddick -155,
15) Austin Dillon -160, 16) Erik Jones -168.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -170, 18) Austin Cindric
-174, 19) Kurt Busch -181, 21) Denny Hamlin -211.
Playoff Points: t-1) William Byron 13, t-1) Ross Chastain 13, t-3) Denny Hamlin -1, t-3) Joey Logano -1, 5) Chase Elliott -5, t-6) Kurt Busch -6, t-6) Kyle Larson -6, t-6) Daniel Suarez -6, t-9) Alex Bowman -7, t-9) Chase Briscoe -7, t-9) Kyle Busch -7, t-9) Austin Cindric -7, 13) Ryan Blaney -9, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -10, 15) Tyler Reddick -11, 16) Darrell Wallace Jr. -11.
Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott 142,
2) Joey Logano -9, 3) Ryan Blaney -17, 4) Ross Chastain -21, t-5) Kyle Larson -22, t-5) William Byron -22, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -31, 8) Kyle Busch -36, 9) Christopher Bell -47, 10) Tyler Reddick -64, 11) Chase Briscoe
-67, 12) Erik Jones -79, 13) Denny Hamlin -80, 14) Daniel Suarez -83, 15) Aric Almirola -84, 16) Alex Bowman -93.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Austin Cindric -97, 20) Kurt Busch -102.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Busch 483, t-2) Alex Bowman -15, t-2) Ross Chastain -15, t-4) Chase Elliott -18, t-4) Ryan
Blaney -18, 6) Joey Logano -36, 7) Kevin Harvick -39, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -42, 9) Kyle Larson -52, 10) Aric Almirola -53, 11) William Byron -63, 12) Christopher Bell -64, 13) Austin Dillon -68, 14) Chase Briscoe -94, 15) Kurt
Busch -98, 16) Austin Cindric -100.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -107, 23) Denny
Hamlin -151.
Note: These
standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Kyle Busch 2197, 2) Ross Chastain -53, 3)
Ryan Blaney -75, 4) Chase Elliott -105, 5) Alex Bowman -109, 6) Joey Logano -144, 7) Kevin Harvick -165, 8) Kyle Larson -176, 9) Martin Truex Jr. -184, t-10) William Byron -237, t-10) Christopher Bell -237, 12) Aric Almirola -238,
13) Austin Dillon -267, 14) Kurt Busch -345, 15) Chase Briscoe -348, 16) Tyler Reddick -369.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Austin Cindric
-386, 19) Daniel Suarez -388, 22) Denny Hamlin -524.
Note: 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, Talladega), Denny Hamlin (Richmond, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Bristol), Chase Elliott (Dover), Joey
Logano (Darlington, Gateway), Kurt Busch (Kansas), Daniel Suarez (Sonoma)
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. 3
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was off last weekend. They will be back in action at Nashville Superspeedway on June 25.
When the series resumes, AJ Allmendinger will have a 43-point lead over Ty Gibbs. Noah Gragson is third, while JR Motorsports teammates Josh Berry and Justin Allgaier are tied for fourth.
At the playoff cutoff, Ryan Sieg is the last driver in the playoffs at present. He has a 58-point lead over Anthony Alfredo. Alfredo's Our Motorsports teammates Jeb Burton and Brett Moffitt are 14th and 15th, while Brandon Brown is 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 573, 2) Ty Gibbs -43, 3) Noah Gragson -44, t-4) Josh Berry -64, t-4) Justin Allgaier -64, 6) Brandon Jones
-145, 7) Sam Mayer -149, 8) Austin Hill -157, 9) Daniel Hemric -184, 10) Landon Cassill -207, 11) Riley Herbst -209, 12) Ryan Sieg -228, 13) Anthony Alfredo -286, 14) Jeb Burton -295, 15) Brett Moffitt
-299, 16) Brandon Brown -300.
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 18, 2) Noah Gragson -2, 3) Josh Berry -4, 4) AJ Allmendinger -6, 5) Justin Allgaier -10, 6) Brandon Jones -12, 7) Austin Hill
-13, t-8) Daniel Hemric -16, t-8) Trevor Bayne -16, t-8) Sam Mayer -16, 11) Myatt Snider -17.
Note: If they were eligible, Cole Custer would be tied for sixth, Tyler Reddick tied for eighth and John Hunter Nemechek 13th in playoff points.
Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 150, t-2) Noah Gragson -12, t-2) Josh Berry -12, 4) Ty Gibbs -19, 5) AJ Allmendinger -21, 6) Sam Mayer -47, 7) Brandon Jones
-62, 8) Daniel Hemric -71, 9) Austin Hill -82, 10) Landon Cassill -107, 11) Trevor Bayne -110, 12) Ryan Sieg -111, 13) Riley Herbst -115, t-14) Brandon Brown -125, t-14) Ryan Truex -125, 16) Jade
Buford -128.
Note: If he were eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 10th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 508, 2) Ty Gibbs -43, 3) Noah Gragson -52, 4) Josh Berry -74, 5) Justin Allgaier -97, 6) Austin Hill
-99, 7) Brandon Jones -106, 8) Riley Herbst -126, 9) Sam Mayer -128, 10) Landon Cassill -131, 11) Daniel Hemric -139, 12) Ryan Sieg -144, 13) Jeb Burton -182, 14) Anthony Alfredo -186, 15) Brett Moffitt
-189, 16) Sheldon Creed -195.
WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 2191, 2) Noah Gragson -150, 3) Ty Gibbs -156, 4) Josh Berry -253, 5) Justin Allgaier -315, 6) Justin Allgaier
-290, 7) Riley Herbst -309, 8) Austin Hill -316, 9) Brandon Jones -329, 10) Landon Cassill -398, 11) Ryan Sieg -451, 12) Daniel Hemric -458, t-13) Jeb Burton -537, t-13) Anthony Alfredo
-537, 15) Sheldon Creed -556, 16) Brett Moffitt -589.
Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas, Atlanta, Richmond), Noah Gragson (Phoenix, Talladega), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas, Portland), Brandon Jones (Martinsville), Josh Berry (Dover, Charlotte), Justin Allgaier (Darlington), Tyler Reddick (Texas)
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 Hangs On After Dropping Back Late
by Phil Allaway
Ben Rhodes won stage two on Saturday and was very competitive despite significant damage. He dropped back in the closing laps and finished 18th. That was enough for him to keep the points lead, but his advantage is down to just five over Chandler Smith. Chandler brought his Safelite Toyota home in fifth. Zane
Smith is still in third after a second-place finish, just 12 points behind. John Hunter Nemechek is fourth, within striking distance.
Ty Majeski is up two places to fifth after winning stage one and finishing third. Stewart Friesen crashed out late and finished 31st, dropping down to sixth. Christian Eckes is down to seventh after getting taken out by Nemechek in the Esses. Carson Hocevar remains in eighth after having to take relief from Daniel Suarez
early. Suarez recovered from two laps down to finish sixth.
Grant Enfinger finished 11th to move up to ninth in points. Enfinger jumped over Matt Crafton, who dropped out with transmission failure and dropped to 10th, the last driver in the playoffs. Crafton has a 33-point lead over Tanner Gray, who is back up to 11th after finishing 13th. Matt DiBenedetto is up to 12th after finishing
10th.
Derek Kraus ran well Saturday, but couldn't recover from a late spin in turn 7. The 27th-place finish dropped him two places to 13th. Tyler Ankrum is 14th, followed by Chase Purdy. Parker Kligerman's seventh-place finish puts him back up to 16th despite Kligerman only starting six races to this point.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 444, 2) Chandler Smith -5, 3) Zane Smith -12, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -14, 5) Ty Majeski -45, 6) Stewart Friesen
-47, 7) Christian Eckes -61, 8) Carson Hocevar -70, 9) Grant Enfinger -100, 10) Matt Crafton -124, 11) Tanner Gray -157, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -160, 13) Derek Kraus -163, 14) Tyler Ankrum -174, 15) Chase Purdy
-215, 16) Parker Kligerman -238.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 20, 2) Ben Rhodes -7, 3) Corey Heim -11, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -12, t-5) Stewart Friesen -14, t-5) Chandler Smith -14, 7) Ryan Preece
-18, t-8) Carson Hocevar -19, t-8) Ty Majeski -19, t-8) Parker Kligerman -19.
Note: If they were eligible for Playoff Points, Kyle Busch, William Byron and Ross Chastain would be tied for seventh.
Stage Points: 1) Ben Rhodes 139, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -16, t-3) Chandler Smith -43, t-3) Ty Majeski -43, 5) Zane Smith -44, 6) Stewart Friesen -61, 7) Christian Eckes
-65, 8) Carson Hocevar -66, 9) Derek Kraus -79, 10) Matt Crafton -88, 11) Grant Enfinger -91, 12) Corey Heim -96, t-13) Parker Kligerman -98, t-13) Ryan Preece -98, 15) Tanner Gray -101, 16) Tyler
Ankrum -110.
Note: If he were eligible, Ross Chastain would be 16th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 300, 2) Zane Smith -2, 3) Stewart Friesen -24, 4) Christian Eckes -29, 5) John Hunter Nemechek -30, 6) Ben Rhodes
-33, 7) Carson Hocevar -39, 8) Ty Majeski -40, 9) Grant Enfinger -48, 10) Matt Crafton -75, 11) Matt DiBenedetto -89, 12) Tanner Gray -96, 13) Tyler Ankrum -105, 14) Derek Kraus -120, 15) Chase Purdy
-128, 16) Timmy Hill -154.
Note: If he were eligible, Kyle Busch would be 16th in Old points.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 1740, 2) Zane Smith -16, 3) Christian Eckes -89, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -90, 5) Ben Rhodes -96, 6) Stewart Friesen -100, 7) Ty Majeski
-126, 8) Carson Hocevar -133, 9) Grant Enfinger -166, 10) Matt Crafton -278, 11) Matt DiBenedetto -331, 12) Tanner Gray -340, 13) Tyler Ankrum -379, 14) Derek Kraus -429, 15) Chase Purdy -526, 16) Timmy Hill
-532.
Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Circuit of the Americas, Kansas), Chandler Smith (Las Vegas), Corey Heim (Atlanta, Gateway), William Byron (Martinsville), Ben Rhodes (Bristol), John Hunter Nemechek (Darlington), Stewart Friesen (Texas), Ross Chastain (Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Sonoma)
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350k was brought to you by the letter P for Pinata. After Daniel Suarez won the race Sunday, a taco-shaped piece was thrown onto the frontstretch as
Suarez did his victory donuts. After getting out of his car, Suarez picked up the taco-shaped piece, which turned out to be a pinata shaped like a taco. He then busted the pinata. True to form, the pinata contained miniature candies such as Hershey's bars, Reese's Pieces and Kit Kat bars. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Toyota/Save Mart 350k
complied by Phil Allaway
"I didn't know what to do. It was special. Man, I've been working very hard for this moment, not just myself, but my entire team. I am very lucky to have people around me in the team, but outside the team. My family always supporting me, my beautiful girlfriend Julia that she work very hard in the last few months keeping me up and
letting me know that I was doing the right things. We just need to have a clean day. That's what we had today.
So today just felt special. I told her this morning that today felt good. We did it in front of a few hundred Mexicans and Daniel's Amigos. It was just a special day. I have always seen California as my second home. To be able to get the first victory here is quite special." - Daniel Suarez, race winner
"This is difficult to put into words. Daniel Suarez, Travis Mack helped build Trackhouse. They've been working so hard together. They've been so focused, so dedicated to get into Victory Lane.
"The 1 car winning two races this year was tough on on them, but they never gave up. They knew they deserved to be in Victory Lane. I'm so proud and happy for them." - Justin Marks, winning car owner
"This team did a great job and put a really fast Fifth Third Bank Mustang underneath me this weekend. What a way to return and come back to the race track, but I didn’t get the job done there at the end. I feel like we should have had the win and I didn’t get it. We were close, just needed more. I needed to make it happen on that restart and I didn’t. But if we can
keep getting cars like this then a win will come. It was an awesome run, and I should be happy, but I am disappointed to be that close and not get it." - Chris Buescher, finished second
"You know, we just fired off a little on the slow side but we were really good on the long run. We started to reel the leaders in there the last five laps but it just took a little too long to get going. I am proud of the entire team. This was a really solid weekend for our Love’s
Travel Stops Ford Mustang. You have to run second, third, fourth, and fifth consistently to put yourself in a position to win a race and we were close today. We just needed a little more on the front end to challenge. I am really proud of everybody’s effort. We are getting closer. We are doing it week in and week out so I am really proud of everybody." - Michael McDowell, finished third
"Our GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang was good. We had our minimum of once-a-week catastrophic failure on pit road and got back as far forward as we could, as usual. It is what it is, I guess. We didn’t finish where we should have.
"I mean, we took away all of our chances. We should have been second at worst but we keep screwing up every week." - Kevin Harvick, finished fourth
"I would say this weekend was a real team effort. I appreciate Jeremy [Bullins] and the Discount Tire team for believing in me with flipping the stages like we did when we probably could have taken a stage win and a bunch of stage points. We made a lot of adjustments and some bold
decisions honestly, overnight. I am really happy for Daniel Suarez. To see a first-time winner, that isn’t great to have another first-time winner on the season and stacking up on those but otherwise, it was a really solid day and to do it in front of Discount Tire and America’s Tire folks who had a bunch of people out here today. It was good to come out of here with a top five." - Austin Cindric, finished fifth
"Yeah, it’s Team Trackhouse all the way. I’m so happy for this group. Man, so good. The people behind the scenes that put in the time and effort to help us drivers. They’re just total team support. To be this new and special of a group, this is not supposed to happen. Another two fast Chevy’s and I couldn’t be prouder of Daniel (Suarez). I know what he is feeling
right now and gosh, he’s so good. I’m so proud of him and so happy for him." - Ross Chastain, finished seventh
"Our Lenovo Chevy was strong this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. We started the race fifth and spent most of stages one and two in and around the top five. We were running fourth with three laps remaining in stage two when we made a green-flag stop. Unfortunately, we were caught speeding
on pit road and had to restart at the tail end of the field to start Stage 3. We got mirrored back in traffic. Everyone was bunching up and another car ended up making contact with us. It destroyed our left-rear and we had to go to the garage for repairs. We made it back out, but finished 14 laps down in 35th. It’s definitely disappointing to get a finish like that after running so strong today." - Tyler Reddick, finished 35th
"Off weekend, that is what we need to reset. I guess the mustache needs to come off. Really just biding our time. I was doing less shifting than I was doing in practice – just trying to conserve some tire. Never had an overrev, never went the wrong way, and she just blew. I hate it. I
hate it for our team. I hate it for all of our partners. We deserve to be finishing a lot better than we have been these last couple of months. Like you said, the hits keep coming. We’ve got to bounce back. There is nothing like some good adversity to pipe through to get us back where we need to be, but it’s just a bummer. TRD is the best. We will figure it out. We’re all scratching our heads trying to figure it out, but just an unfortunate end to our day." - Bubba Wallace, finished 36th
(Blown engine)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of our own Danny Peters.
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