Frontstretch Newsletter: May 16, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition LXXVI
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- NASCAR teams are arriving back at their shops today after yesterday's race in Kansas. Entry lists for All-Star Weekend should be released later today. We'll have those, along with anything else that breaks at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: May 13-15
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- At the Autodrome
Nazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Sunday, Prema's Louis Deletraz, Lorenzo Colombo and Ferdinand Habsburg claimed victory in Sunday's European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Imola. It is the team's second straight victory to start the season. They ended up 4.659 seconds ahead of United Autosports' Phil Hanson, Tom Gamble and Duncan Tappy. COOL Racing's Niklas Kruetten, Nicolas Lapierre and Yifei Ye were third, then Panis Racing's Julien Canal, Nico Jamin and Job van Uitert. IDEC
Sport's Paul-Loup Chatin, Paul Lafargue and Patrick Pilet were fifth.
In LMP3, United Autosports' Andrew
Bentley and Kay van Berlo led the final 85 laps to take the class victory by a full lap over COOL Racing's No. 27 for Nicolas Maulini, Antoine Doquin and Jean-Ludovic Foubert. COOL Racing's No. 17 for Michael Benham, Malthe Jakobsen and Maurice Smith was third, followed by RLR MSport's Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and Alex Kapadia. DKR Engineering's Sebastian Alvarez, Alexander Bukhantsov and Tom van Rompuy were
fifth.
The GTE class saw Oman Racing with
TF Sport's Ahmad Al-Harthy, Samuel de Haan and Marco Sorensen lead all but one lap en route to the class victory in their Aston Martin. They were a lap ahead of the second Oman Racing Aston Martin of Jonny Adam, Henrique Chaves and John Hartshorne at the finish. The Ferrari of Spirit of Race's Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and David Perel were third, followed by JMW Motorsport's Sean Hudspeth, Matthew Payne and Giacomo Petrobelli. Iron Lynx's Matteo Cressoni, Davide Rigon and
Claudio Schiavoni.
- In Indy Lights competition,
Danial Frost took the lead on lap 9 Friday from Hunter McElrea. From there, he was able to hold on to take the victory. Frost ended up 1.5449 seconds ahead of McElrea. Sting Ray Robb was third, then Christian Rasmussen and Linus Lundqvist.
Indy Lights Race No. 2 was
interrupted after 12 of 35 laps due to lightning. The delay resulted in the race resuming after the NTT IndyCar Series GMR Grand Prix ended.
Despite the wet conditions,
Lundqvist could not be touched as he led flag-to-flag to take the victory. He ended up 3.5993 seconds ahead of Rasmussen. Sting Ray Robb was third, then Benjamin Pedersen. Jacob Abel was fifth.
In the points, Lundqvist has a
36-point lead over Front. Robb is third, then Pedersen and Matthew Brabham.
- In Indy Pro 2000 action,
Salvador de Alba took the lead on lap 12 Friday and just barely held on to take the victory in Race No. 1 of the weekend in Indianapolis. De Alba was .0884 seconds ahead of Yuven Sundaramoorthy at the finish. Colin Kaminsky was third, then Reece Gold and Enaam Ahmed.
Race No. 2 on Saturday morning saw
Gold take the lead from Nolan Siegel on lap 5 and pull out a small gap. He was able to hold on to take the win by 1.4833 seconds over Kaminsku. Siegel was third, then Kiko Porto and Jack William Miller.
Race No. 3 saw Louis Foster take
the lead from Miller on lap 3 and pull away. A late caution for Gold going off-course reulted in a five-lap shootout. Foster pulled away again to take the victory by 2.5609 seconds over Braden Eves. Miller was third, then Wyatt Brichacek and Ahmed.
At present, Siegel has a
three-point lead over Foster. Gold is third in points, then Eves and Ahmed.
- Cooper Tires USF2000
Championship teams also had a tripleheader in Indianapolis. Race No. 1 on Friday morning saw Alex Quinn take the lead from Jagger Jones on lap 10 right before Bijoy Garg spun out and brought out a yellow. Once the race resumed, Quinn slowly pulled away over the final three laps to win. He was 2.4392 seconds ahead of Jones at the finish. Billy Frazer was third, then Christian Weir and Thomas
Nepveu.
Race No. 2 bright and early
Saturday morning saw Jones run into the back of Michael d'Orlando entering turn 1 with three laps to go. D'Orlando spun, while Quinn was able to slip past Jones for the lead. From there, he held on to take the second win of the weekend. Quinn ended up 3.4115 seconds ahead of Frazer. Myles Rowe was third, then Jace Denmark and d'Orlando. Jones was given an avoidable contact penalty and ended up
18th.
Race No. 3 was the quietest of the
three races. Quinn took the lead away from pole sitter Jones on the first lap and led all 15 laps to wrap up the weekend sweep. Quinn ended up 2.2187 seconds ahead of d'Orlando, with Jones in third. Denmark and Nepveu rounded out the top five.
Through seven races, Jones has a
one-point lead over Frazer, with d'Orlando one more point back in third. Rowe is fourth, then Denmark.
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy
Drink Sprint Car Series teams were supposed to race for two nights at Williams Grove Speedway as part of the Morgan Cup. Friday night's race card was cancelled, so it ended up being only one.
Saturday night saw Shark Racing's
Jacob Allen dominate, only to run out of fuel with two laps to go. That gave the lead to Myerstown, Pa.'s Brent Marks, who held on to take the victory and $17,500. Sheldon Haudenschild was second, then Rico Abreu, Donny Schatz and Logan Schuchart.
Points-wise, Brad Sweet finished
seventh and holds a 24-point lead over David Gravel. Carson Macedo is down to third after finishing 26th. Haudenschild and Schuchart round out the top five.
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| | Kurt Busch Takes Lead Late for Kansas
Victory
23XI Racing's Kurt Busch was able to take the lead from Kyle Larson with nine laps to go. Larson then scrubbed the wall while trying to get back by. From there, Kurt
held on to take his first win of 2022. Larson was second, then Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell.
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| | Tire Problems Plague Kansas Cup
Weekend
For NASCAR Cup Series teams at Kansas Speedway, tire issues were unusually common. The issues started in practice Saturday and never really let up. Most of the failures were
left rear tires, likely due to either underinflation or excessive camber.
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| | Emotions Run Over with Kurt Busch’s First 23XI Racing
Win
For Kurt Busch, currently in his 22nd full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, every win could seemingly be his last. Winning Sunday put him in a nostalgic mood. The same goes for the Pettys, who gave Busch and
23XI Racing their blessing for the team to race the No. 45.
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| | Joey Logano, William Byron Agree to Disagree Going into
Kansas
Entering into Kansas, one of the big stories was the ongoing spat between William Byron and Joey Logano from Darlington. The two of them talked about the issue Saturday and made it clear that things aren't necessarily
settled.
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| | Penske, Snap-On Re-Up With Multi-Year
Sponsorship
On Friday, Team Penske announced that they have signed Snap-On Tools to a multi-year contract extension. The tool company will serve as a sponsor with Penske's NASCAR, INDYCAR and IMSA teams.
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| | Zane Smith Dominates, Wins Truck Race at
Kansas
Front Row Motorsports' Zane Smith had his most dominant race to this point in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Saturday. Zane led 108 of 134 laps to win the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway. Ty Majeski
was second, then Grant Enfinger, Chandler Smith and Christian Eckes.
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| | Ty Majeski Scores Career-Best 2nd-Place Finish at Kansas
Speedway
Ty Majeski has been very strong more or less ever since ThorSport Racing gave him the opportunity to drive one of their trucks. Saturday saw him put together his best race of the year, scoring a second-place
finish.
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| | Colton Herta Navigates Chaos to Win at Indianapolis Road
Course
Saturday's GMR Grand Prix was a wild affair with changeable conditions. Colton Herta had the fastest car in the wet and the dry. That was enough to earn him the victory
in a rain-shortened race. Simon Pagenaud was second from 20th on the grid, then Will Power, Marcus Ericsson and Conor Daly.
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| | Will Power Claims IndyCar Points Lead at Indianapolis By Finishing
3rd
After starting from pole Saturday, Will Power was able to keep himself out of trouble to finish third. That performance was enough to give him the points lead.
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| | Conor Daly Climbs Back to Finish 5th at Indianapolis Road
Course
After qualifying fourth, Conor Daly was all over the place during Saturday's rainy GMR Grand Prix. By the time the spray cleared out, he walked out of Indianapolis with a fifth-place finish.
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| | Nick Sanchez Wins the Dutch Boy 150 at Kansas, Corey Heim & Drew Dollar
Crash
Rev Racing's Nick Sanchez dominated the second half of the race Saturday to win the ARCA Menards Series Dutch Boy 150 after primary contenders Corey Heim and Drew Dollar crashed
each other out. Rajah Caruth was second, then Daniel Dye, Gus Dean and Connor Mosack.
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| | Daniel Dye Reinstated By ARCA, Will Race This
Weekend
On Friday, ARCA announced that Daniel Dye has been reinstated after he was indefinitely suspended following his arrest in Daytona Beach. His felony charges were downgraded to misdemeanors.
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| | Daniel Dye Has Up-and-Down Race, Finishes 3rd at
Kansas
Daniel Dye had an interesting race back in the car after his criminal charges were reduced. Dye's crew broke multiple rules during the controlled pit stop, which dropped him two laps down. One was rescinded, but Dye
had to get a Lucky Dog pass to get back on the lead, then race back up to third.
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| | Wayne Taylor Racing Scores 2nd Straight Victory at
Mid-Ohio
Wayne Taylor Racing's Ricky Taylor took the lead from Renger van der Zande with a little more than an hour remaining Sunday. From there, he held on through a round of stops to win the Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio with
teammate Filipe Albuquerque.
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| | Kenton Koch, Eric Foss Win Mid-Ohio 120 on Fuel
Mileage
Murillo Racing's Eric Foss and Kenton Koch dominated much of Saturday's IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Mid-Ohio 120. Foss managed to conserve fuel and hold off a charging Trent Hindman to take the team's first victory
of the year.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via James Gilbert of Getty Images, Travis Hinkle, Chris Jones and Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, IMSA, and our own Beth and Rick Lunkenheimer.
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: Flat Tire Costs Chase Elliott A Chunk of His Lead
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott had a decent
run going Sunday at Kansas. Then, his left rear tire went down at the end of the backstretch and sent him into multiple spins. Getting stuck in the grass (and the wrecker getting stuck as well) only made things worse. As a result, Elliott finished 29th, three laps down. That cost him part of his points lead. Elliott's lead is now 52 points over Ryan Blaney. Blaney finished 12th, but generally stayed out of trouble. Kyle
Busch is up from a tie for fifth to third after finishing third. William Byron was much better than Blaney Sunday, but a cut tire while leading put him a lap down. He would finish 16th and drop from a tie for second with Blaney to fourth.
Ross Chastain has sole possession of fifth in points after finishing seventh. Martin Truex Jr. overcame a flat tire to finish sixth. That moved him up to sixth in points. Joey Logano came back to earth after winning in Darlington. A 17th-place finish dropped him three places to
seventh. Alex Bowman remains in eighth after finishing ninth.
Kyle Larson was very close to taking his second win of the year, but wall contact in the final 10 laps caused him to fade. A second-place finish keeps him in ninth. Christopher Bell started from the pole, led 37 laps and finished fifth to stay in 10th. Kevin Harvick finished 15th and
stood pat in 11th, not losing or gaining on Elliott. Aric Almirola is still in 12th. He is the last driver in the playoffs at the moment on points.
Almirola has an 11-point lead over Austin Dillon, who finished 13th Sunday. Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick are tied for 14th. Briscoe spun in the first 10 laps of the race and ended up 24th. Reddick had multiple meetings with the wall and ended up 30th with a car that could have
won. Austin CIndric finished 11th and used his seven stage points to get back up to 16th.
Erik Jones had the grandpappy of bad pit stops, losing five laps on pit road when they couldn't get the right rear wheel off under caution. That dropped him to a 32nd-place finish and 17th in points. Kurt Busch's victory moved him up three places to 18th. Daniel Suarez was another tire victim
and crashed as a result of his failure. This dropped him to 19th. Denny Hamlin is now 20th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 475, 2) Ryan Blaney -52, 3) Kyle Busch -58, 4) William Byron
-60, 5) Ross Chastain -68, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -75, 7) Joey Logano -79, 8) Alex Bowman -89, 9) Kyle Larson -99, 10) Christopher Bell -116, 11) Kevin Harvick -140, 12) Aric Almirola
-153, 13) Austin Dillon -164, t-14) Chase Briscoe -175, t-14) Tyler Reddick -175, 16) Austin Cindric -184.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Kurt Busch -192, 20) Denny Hamlin
-208.
Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 13, 2) Ross Chastain -1, t-3) Chase Elliott -6, t-3) Denny Hamlin -6, t-5) Joey Logano -7, t-5) Alex Bowman -7, t-5) Kyle Larson -7, t-5) Chase Briscoe -7, t-5) Kyle Busch -7, t-5) Kurt Busch -7, 11) Austin Cindric -8, 12) Ryan Blaney -9, 13) Martin Truex Jr. -10, 14) Tyler Reddick -11, t-15) Daniel Suarez -11, t-15) Darrell Wallace Jr. -11.
Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott
130, 2) William Byron -10, 3) Ryan Blaney -21, 4) Joey Logano -30, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -33, 6) Kyle Larson -35, 7) Ross Chastain -41, 8) Kyle Busch -43, 9) Christopher Bell
-50, 10) Chase Briscoe -71, t-11) Denny Hamlin -77, t-11) Erik Jones -77, 13) Tyler Reddick -79, 14) Alex Bowman -83, 15) Brad Keselowski -94, t-16) Austin Cindric
-95.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: t-19) Aric Almirola -98, 21) Kevin Harvick -101, 22) Kurt Busch -103.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 402, 2) Kyle Busch -11, 3) Alex Bowman -18, 4) Ryan Blaney
-23, 5) Ross Chastain -29, t-6) Martin Truex Jr. -41, t-6) Kevin Harvick -41, t-8) William Byron -46, t-8) Joey Logano -46, 10) Aric Almirola -59, 11) Kyle Larson -60, 12) Austin Dillon
-62, 13) Christopher Bell -65, 14) Kurt Busch -90, 15) Austin Cindric -93, 16) Tyler Reddick -96.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Chase Briscoe -97, 24)
Denny Hamlin -131.
Note: These
standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 1776, 2) Kyle Busch
-7, 3) Ross Chastain -48, 4) Ryan Blaney -50, 5) Alex Bowman -61, 6) Joey Logano -128, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -130, 8) William Byron -132, 9) Kevin Harvick -133, 10) Kyle Larson
-148, t-11) Christopher Bell -191, t-11) Austin Dillon -191, 13) Aric Almirola -205, 14) Tyler Reddick -276, 15) Kurt Busch -278, 16) Chase Briscoe -312.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Austin Cindric
-316, 24) Denny Hamlin -414.
Note No. 1: The WC points are based on the original points
system created by Bob Latford in 1975.
Race
Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona), Kyle Larson (Fontana), Alex Bowman (Las
Vegas), Chase Briscoe (Phoenix), William Byron (Atlanta, Martinsville), Ross Chastain (Circuit of the Americas, Talladega), Denny Hamlin (Richmond), Kyle Busch (Bristol), Chase Elliott (Dover), Joey Logano (Darlington), Kurt Busch (Kansas)
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 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Off-Week Update No. 2
by Phil Allaway
Xfinity Series teams were off last weekend. They will be back in action at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.
When the teams get to Texas, AJ Allmendinger will have a 25-point lead over Noah Gragson. Ty Gibbs is third, then Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry.
At the playoff cutoff, Daniel Hemric is currently the last driver in the playoffs in 12th. He is 22 points ahead of Anthony Alfredo, with Jeb Burton another 40 points back.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 464, 2) Noah Gragson -25, 3) Ty Gibbs -41, 4) Justin Allgaier -92, 5) Josh Berry -93, 6) Brandon Jones
-117, 7) Sam Mayer -131, 8) Riley Herbst -146, 9) Ryan Sieg -147, 10) Austin Hill -162, 11) Landon Cassill -165, 12) Daniel Hemric -178, 13) Anthony Alfredo -200, 14) Jeb Burton -240, 15) Sheldon Creed
-246, 16) Brett Moffitt -249.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics are either ineligible for the playoffs, or outside of the top 12.
Playoff Points: 1) Ty Gibbs 17, 2) Noah Gragson -2, t-3) AJ Allmendinger -10, t-3) Justin Allgaier -10, t-3) Josh Berry -10, 6) Brandon Jones -11, 7) Austin Hill
-12, t-8) Daniel Hemric -15, t-8) Trevor Bayne -15, t-8) Sam Mayer -15.
Note: If they were eligible, Cole Custer would be tied for sixth and John Hunter Nemechek 12th in playoff points.
Stage Points: 1) Ty Gibbs 114, 2) Noah Gragson -4, 3) Justin Allgaier -6, 4) AJ Allmendinger -8, 5) Josh Berry -11, 6) Sam Mayer -33, 7) Brandon Jones
-37, 8) Daniel Hemric -50, 9) Austin Hill -71, 10) Ryan Sieg -75, t-11) Landon Cassill -81, t-11) Trevor Bayne -81, 13) Riley Herbst -82, 14) Brandon Brown -89, 15) Jade Buford -93, 16) Ryan Truex
-94.
Note: If they were eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be ninth in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 410, 2) Noah Gragson -30, 3) Ty Gibbs -49, 4) Riley Herbst -83, 5) Ryan Sieg -86, 6) Brandon Jones -91, 7) Josh Berry
-94, 8) Landon Cassill -102, 9) Austin Hill -103, 10) Justin Allgaier -108, 11) Sam Mayer -110, 12) Anthony Alfredo -115, 13) Daniel Hemric -141, 14) Jeb Burton -149, 15) Brett Moffitt
-154, 16) Sheldon Creed -155.
WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 1767, 2) Noah Gragson -89, 3) Ty Gibbs -185, 4) Riley Herbst -295, 5) Brandon Jones -326, 6) Josh Berry -330, 7) Ryan Sieg
-332, 8) Austin Hill -353, 9) Justin Allgaier -362, 10) Landon Cassill -364, 11) Sam Mayer -375, 12) Anthony Alfredo -424, 13) Daniel Hemric -494, 14) Sheldon Creed -539, 15) Jeb Burton
-544, 16) Brett Moffitt -551.
Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas, Atlanta, Richmond), Noah Gragson (Phoenix, Talladega), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas), Brandon Jones (Martinsville), Josh Berry (Dover), Justin Allgaier (Darlington)
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 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs: Ben Rhodes Loses Portion of Lead Despite Top 10 Finish
by Phil Allaway
Ben Rhodes had a middling night Saturday in Kansas. He scored 10 stage points and ended up finishing 10th. That performance cost him eight points of his lead. John Hunter Nemechek is now 20 points behind after finishing sixth. Zane Smith moved up from a tie for fourth to third after scoring his dominant third win of the
year. Chandler Smith is down one spot to fourth despite a fourth-place finish.
Ty Majeski moved up two places to fifth after finishing a career-best second. Stewart Friesen had a ridiculous Saturday which included missing practice and qualifying due to flight issues. He finished 14th after starting at the rear and dropped to sixth as a result. Carson Hocevar is down one place to seventh after finishing 15th. Christian Eckes
remains in eighth after a fifth-place finish.
Grant Enfinger finished third Saturday night and stays in ninth. Matt Crafton is still 10th after finishing ninth. He is the last driver in the playoffs at the moment. Crafton has a 20-point lead over Tanner Gray, who finished 18th. Derek Kraus is up two places to 12th after finishing eighth.
Tyler Ankrum remains in 13th after finishing 16th. Parker Kligerman dropped three places to 14th after not competing Saturday night. Matt DiBenedetto is still 15th, followed by Timmy Hill.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 319, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -20, 3) Zane Smith -21, 4) Chandler Smith -29, 5) Ty Majeski -48, 6) Stewart Friesen -55, 7) Carson Hocevar
-68, 8) Christian Eckes -69, 9) Grant Enfinger -83, 10) Matt Crafton -87, 11) Tanner Gray -107, 12) Derek Kraus -124, 13) Tyler Ankrum -132, 14) Parker Kligerman -149, 15) Matt
DiBenedetto -153, 16) Timmy Hill -182.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 19, 2) Ben Rhodes -9, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -11, 4) Corey Heim -13, 5) Chandler Smith -14, t-6) Stewart Friesen -18, t-6) Carson Hocevar -18, t-6)
Parker Kligerman -18.
Note: If he were eligible for Playoff Points, William Byron would be tied for fifth.
Stage Points: 1) Ben Rhodes 99, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -11, 3) Chandler Smith -28, 4) Ty Majeski -36, 5) Zane Smith -38, 6) Stewart Friesen -47, 7) Carson Hocevar
-51, 8) Christian Eckes -53, 9) Derek Kraus -59, t-10) Matt Crafton -61, t-10) Tanner Gray -61, 12) Grant Enfinger -63, 13) Parker Kligerman -64, 14) Corey Heim -73, 15) Tyler Ankrum -80, 16) Matt DiBenedetto
-84.
Note: If they were eligible, Kyle Busch would be 15th and Ross Chastain 16th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 212, 2) Ben Rhodes -18, 3) Chandler Smith -21, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -26, 5) Stewart Friesen -29, 6) Ty Majeski -33, 7) Christian Eckes
-36, 8) Carson Hocevar -37, 9) Grant Enfinger -42, 10) Matt Crafton -49, 11) Tanner Gray -67, 12) Tyler Ankrum -75, 13) Derek Kraus -88, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -90, 15) Parker Kligerman -95, t-16) Timmy Hill
-112, t-16) Colby Howard -112, t-16) Chase Purdy -112.
Note: If he were eligible, Kyle Busch would be tied for 16th in Old Points.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 1184, 2) Ben Rhodes -27, 3) Chandler Smith -53, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -54, 5) Ty Majeski -91, 6) Stewart Friesen -99, 7) Christian Eckes
-106, 8) Carson Hocevar -108, 9) Grant Enfinger -129, 10) Matt Crafton -162, 11) Tanner Gray -222, 12) Tyler Ankrum -252, 13) Derek Kraus -293, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -305, 15) Timmy Hill -370, 16) Colby Howard
-374.
Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Circuit of the Americas, Kansas), Chandler Smith (Las Vegas), Corey Heim (Atlanta), William Byron (Martinsville), Ben Rhodes (Bristol), John Hunter Nemechek (Darlington)
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 AdventHealth 400 was brought to you by the letter A for Air Pressure. Prior to the race weekend, Goodyear increased the minimum recommended air pressure for the left rear tire in anticipation of potential issues. A number of teams did not take heed of this change and paid the price. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: AdventHealth 400
complied by Phil Allaway
"It’s family. When we started this car number, I knew we had our work cut out for us. We just had to do simple things to work our way up. Heck, one of the simple things was just making final round in qualifying. We’ve been starting to do that. That leads you into other categories that help you think and get you into more detail about other things. I just thought all a long if we got up front it would be a whole new game of blocking the
air, taking lanes away. Today, this Toyota Camry TRD was fast right off the truck. Stage one I was killer tight. I thought our day was going to be a long day, and I’m just so happy that the car reacted to the changes. Jordan Brand on the hood, that is our DNA at 23XI. Denny Hamlin, thank you. Monster Energy, everybody that is our partners. This is a big win for our team." - Kurt Busch, race
winner
"I mean, we were racing for the win there. He never got into me, so I’m trying to squeeze throttle to get position on him and just got tight. That was fun racing with Kurt [Busch]. You know, the last half of the race I was trying hard the whole time. I about spun out in front of him there at some point in the third stage and then we just kept fighting through
it.
"Thanks to my team for building me a war machine. I hit the wall a lot today and just struggled, like people could put air on me and get me really tight and I hit the wall. We’ll work on that and figure it out, but happy with my car. It was hard to hold off Kyle [Busch] and then I knew when Kurt got by, I knew it was going to be really hard to hold him off. I did my best but came up one spot short." - Kyle Larson, finished
second
"We were in control on that final restart and you want to win the race in that instance, and I felt like our M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota Camry was good enough to do so, but [Kyle] Larson did a good job getting in my left rear in the right spot to drag me back going down the backstretch and I couldn’t retaliate to side draft going into [turn 3], so he beat us right there. Once he got clear it was over. We had a strong Camry."
- Kyle Busch, finished third
"[The win is huge]. I’m so proud of Kurt [Busch] and Bubba [Wallace] as well. Bubba deserved to have a shot at a win today as well. It was so much better than [10th]. Mistakes, and we are working on it, and that’s something I felt like I’ve let these guys down with is – pit road. It’s just part of it. It’s growing pains, but this is what this team is capable of. I’m happy for
Kurt.
"Finally. It wasn’t a day – I mean we went to the back three times. I just never could get an opportunity to get up there and show the speed, but once I was there, I just couldn’t get past the aero side of it. We were all a freight train at the top, and that’s all I had. Our Sport Clips Camry was fast. We had to go to the back three times and that is not ideal, but I just want to think about the positives today." - Denny Hamlin,
finished fourth, winning car owner
"These Camrys are obviously really, really good. I’m really happy to be at Joe Gibbs Racing. This was a long time coming. We’ve had a couple of these races where all of us have been really good, but every car was exceptional today. Our Rheem Camry was really good early, and then when we lost track position, we just kind of lost the balance on it. Whenever we got back up front, it wasn’t quite good enough for the win."
- Christopher Bell, finished fifth
"We started off pretty good and pretty early on in the race, we realized we were capable of a top 10 car. The first stage was good. We had a lug nut not get engaged on the left rear during the green flag stop in stage two, which we got lucky to even get it back on. We were able to cycle back around to about where we should have been, so that was
fortunate.
"From there, there [were] just a lot of ups and downs. We would restart upfront and then we’d restart in the back; and I can’t even remember what all happened exactly. We had a lot of speed in our No. 1 AdventHealth Chevy Camaro. It’s cool to be that fast. I hit a tire on pit road late and that dented in the left front fender; and that ultimately made us too tight to fight for a top five." - Ross Chastain, finished
seventh
"We had a fast No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 today. Greg (Ives, crew chief) and the crew did a good job at keeping me in it and giving me what I needed to stay up front. Super proud of my guys and the hard work they put in each week to continue to learn about the new car and give me what I need to be competitive. The pit crew did a great job on pit road, getting me track position and making solid stops. We will go back to Charlotte and
look over all the notes from today’s race and try to get better for Texas next week." - Alex Bowman, finished ninth
"I think the biggest thing I’m curious about is I felt like the track definitely changed. We were really strong there at the end of Stage 2. I don’t know if it was due to some of the cleaning of the track or what, but we went from being really solid – maybe just a little bit free – to kind of back to where I was at the beginning of the race, really tight. I wish we would have had a little more speed. I think we had to be perfect to run
inside the top five today for sure. We had solid execution. Our guys did a great job during the week and getting used to the changes on the team and had to come back from a few issues and, all in all, a solid day. It’s something we needed to get stage points. I wish we could have gotten a top 10 out of it. We just missed out on that, but, overall, a solid effort." - Austin Cindric, finished
11th
"It was a challenging day for sure. We got a lot better from where we started, so that was good. I thought we were gonna be able to finish pretty decent, but then I got put into a couple of bad spots on that last restart and kind of fell back, and then I tried too hard and hit the wall and ended up 12th. Overall, I appreciate the hard work. We got a lot better from where we started, but we just need to be better overall." - Ryan
Blaney, finished 12th
"Our FOCUSfactor Chevy was decent today. We started out pretty good, but a little on the free side. The guys made good changes and made a pit call to get us in the top 10 and stage points at the end of stage one. Unfortunately, we had the issue with our tire and getting the right rear off. That kind of ended our day after going multiple laps down. We’ll refocus and head to Texas for the All-Star race." - Erik Jones, finished
32nd
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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