Frontstretch Newsletter: Aug. 15, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CXXXVI |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops after yesterday's race in Richmond. Entry lists for Watkins Glen should be released today. We'll have those and
anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Aug. 12-14 |
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams were at Knoxville Raceway to finish off the NOS Energy
Drink Knoxville Nationals last weekend. Friday night was the FVP Hard Knox event, which locked four teams into the Knoxville Nationals.
In the 25-lap Hard Knox event, Rico Abreu led flag-to-flag to take the win and lock himself into the 21st starting
spot for the A-main. Kerry Madsen was second, then Sheldon Haudenschild, Brian Brown and Anthony Macri.
Donny Schatz was able to get past David Gravel on lap 46 Saturday night and hold on to win his 11th Knoxville
Nationals A-main. He was .747 seconds ahead of Gravel at the finish. Logan Schuchart finished third after winning the B-main earlier in the evening. Tyler Courtney was fourth, while Jacob Allen was fifth. Kyle Larson, after winning the pole for Sunday's Federated Auto Parts 400 in Richmond, blew a right rear tire early in the A-main, but recovered to finish sixth.
- Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship teams were in New
Berlin, N.Y. Saturday for the Parts Unlimited Unadilla National. In the 450cc class, Dylan Ferrandis, in his season debut, won the holeshot for Moto No. 1. However, he quickly lost the lead to Ken Roczen.
Roczen eventually lost the lead to Eli Tomac, but Chase Sexton was the man to beat. He ran down Tomac and took
the lead with seven minutes to go. From there, Sexton pulled away to win by 12.858 seconds over Tomac. Jason Anderson was third, then Ferrandis and Roczen.
Moto No. 2 saw Tomac win the holeshot and lead early. Tomac led for the first 10 minutes before Sexton ran him
down and dispatched him with ease. From there, Tomac shadowed Sexton until they caught the rear of the field. Sexton then ran away and hid, taking the victory by 15.8 seconds over Tomac. Anderson was third, then Aaron Plessinger and Justin Barcia.
With a minimum score of two, Sexton took his third round victory of the year. Tomac was second, then
Anderson. Ferrandis was fourth, then Plessinger. Points-wise, Sexton has a four-point lead over Tomac with rounds to go. Anderson is third, then Roczen and Christian Craig.
- In the 250cc class, Jo Shimoda was able to take the lead a couple of laps into Moto No. 1 after Justin Cooper
crashed. He then pulled away to a big lead, then relaxed to a 7.84-second victory over Hunter Lawrence. RJ Hampshire was third, then Nick Romano and Cooper.
Moto No. 2 saw Cooper lead flag-to-flag to claim the win by more than seven seconds over Jett Lawrence.
Shimoda was third, then Cameron McAdoo and Hunter Lawrence. For the round, Shimoda claimed his second round win of the season with a total score of four. Cooper was
second, then Hunter Lawrence, Jett Lawrence and Hampshire. Points-wise, Jett Lawrence still has a 26-point lead over his brother Hunter. Shimoda is third, then Cooper and Hampshire. |
| | Kevin Harvick Goes Back-to-Back, Wins
RichmondKevin Harvick was able to run down Joey Logano and pass him for the lead late Sunday in Richmond. He then held off a charging Christopher Bell to win the
Federated Auto Parts 400 for his second win in a row. Chris Buescher was third, then Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott. |
| | Ryan Blaney Extends Cut Line Lead Over Martin Truex Jr.,
Avoids New WinnerTeam Penske's Ryan Blaney is in position to have to play both offense and defense these days. He was able to finish 10th Sunday, but he managed to gain
points on Martin Truex Jr. despite Truex beating him on the track. |
| | Chris Buescher Hounds Kevin Harvick For Win, Finishes 3rd at
RichmondRFK Racing's Chris Buescher was very close in the final laps Sunday to pulling an upset and getting himself into the playoffs. He ultimately faded to third
by the finish, but he was right there in the hunt. |
| | Bubba Wallace Signs Multi-Year Extension With
23XI23XI Racing announced Friday in Richmond that Bubba Wallace and the team have agreed to a multi-year contract extension that will see Wallace remain in the No. 23
Toyota. |
| | Chandler Smith Dominates Truck Playoff Race at
RichmondChandler Smith won the race off pit road at the end of stage one, then could not be touched for the rest of the race en route to victory in the Worldwide Express
250 for Carrier Appreciation. John Hunter Nemechek was second, then Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger and Corey Heim. |
| | John Hunter Nemechek Comes Up on Short End of KBM 1-2
Finish at RichmondJohn Hunter Nemechek wanted to redeem himself Saturday night after he ended up in the wall at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on a Green-White-Checker.
He was fast, but no match for teammate Chandler Smith as he ended up as the back half of a Kyle Busch Motorsports one-two finish. |
| | Ty Majeski Cruises Early, Falls Short at
RichmondSaturday night saw ThorSport Racing's Ty Majeski lead the entire first stage at Richmond Raceway. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite deal with the KBM
onslaught. Regardless, he still managed to walk out of Richmond with a third-place finish. |
| | Kris Wright To Drive 9 Races for Brandonbilt
MotorsportsBrandonbilt Motorsports announced Saturday morning that Kris Wright will drive the team's No. 68 Chevrolet in nine of the remaining 12 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
this year in place of Brandon Brown. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Chase Elliott Within A Couple Points of Clinching Regular Season Championship
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott had another quiet day Sunday, but moved up late in the race to finish fifth. A lack of stage points means that Elliott lost three points of his lead, but he still has a hefty advantage of 116 over Ryan Blaney, who finished 10th. Elliott will almost certainly clinch the regular season
championship next weekend in Watkins Glen. The only way that it will not come to pass is if Blaney sweeps the stages en route to victory in Watkins Glen and Elliott finishes 34th or worse. Blaney is still the last driver in the playoffs on points. Kyle Larson is up
two places to third despite fading late to a 14th-place finish. Martin Truex Jr. is still in fourth after finishing seventh. He is 26 points behind Blaney. Ross Chastain led the entire first stage Sunday, but faded with handling issues to an 18th-place
finish. That dropped him two places to fifth. Joey Logano led the most laps (222) Sunday and finished sixth. That keeps him in sixth. Christopher Bell is still seventh after his second-place finish, while Kevin Harvick moves up to eighth after his second straight win. Kyle Busch had an early spin after contact with Chastain, but recovered to finish ninth. That still cost him a spot. William Byron is still in 10th, followed by teammate Alex Bowman. The biggest mover of the week is Denny Hamlin, who gained five places to move into a tie for 12th, his best points position of the whole season, after finishing
fourth. Hamlin is tied with Daniel Suarez, who had handling issues and ended up two laps down at one point outside of the top 25 before recovering to 19th. Tyler Reddick spun out in the opening five laps and never really recovered. A 31st-place finish
dropped him two places to 14th. Austin Cindric is up one place to 15th after finishing 12th. Aric Almirola is up two positions to 16th after coming from 32nd on the grid to finish eighth. Chase Briscoe had a chance to win Sunday, but a
fire broke out on his rocker panel, necessitating a stop under green to put it out. He ended up three laps down in 23rd and dropped to 17th. Erik Jones had contact with Chastain and broke his toe link, putting him out of the race and dropping him four places to 18th. Bubba Wallace's streak of top 10 finishes ended Sunday, but he still finished 13th and stays in 19th. Austin Dillon is back up to 20th, displacing the idle
Kurt Busch. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 882, 2) Ryan Blaney -116, 3) Kyle Larson -137, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -142, 5) Ross Chastain -143, 6) Joey Logano -164, 7) Christopher Bell -179,
8) Kevin Harvick -217, 9) Kyle Busch -219, 10) William Byron -233, 11) Alex Bowman -290, t-12) Denny Hamlin -308, t-12) Daniel Suarez -308, 14) Tyler Reddick -319, 15) Austin Cindric -326,
16) Aric Almirola -330. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Chase Briscoe -333, 21) Kurt Busch -397. Playoff Points: 1) Chase Elliott 25, 2) Ross Chastain -10, t-3) William Byron -12, t-3) Denny Hamlin -12, t-3) Joey Logano -12, 6) Tyler Reddick -13, 7) Kevin Harvick -15, t-8) Kyle Larson -17, t-8) Chase Briscoe -17, t-10) Kurt Busch -18, t-10) Daniel Suarez -18, t-10) Martin Truex Jr. -18, t-10) Christopher Bell -18, t-14) Alex Bowman -19, t-14) Kyle Busch -19, t-14) Austin Cindric -19, 17) Ryan Blaney -20, 18) Darrell Wallace Jr. -24. Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott 219, 2) Ryan Blaney -24, 3) Kyle Larson -31, 4) Joey Logano -48, t-5) Martin Truex Jr. -54, t-5) William Byron -54, 7)
Ross Chastain -55, 8) Christopher Bell -75, 9) Kyle Busch -85, 10) Denny Hamlin -94, 11) Chase Briscoe -117, 12) Erik Jones -118, 13) Tyler Reddick -131, 14) Kevin Harvick -136, 15) Daniel Suarez -138,
16) Kurt Busch -140. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Alex Bowman -147, 21) Austin Cindric -165.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at
Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 771, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -78, 3) Ryan Blaney -83, 4) Kevin Harvick -89, 5) Ross Chastain -91, 6) Kyle
Larson -105, 7) Christopher Bell -107, 8) Joey Logano -124, 9) Kyle Busch -133, 10) Alex Bowman -162, 11) Austin Cindric -171, 12) Daniel Suarez -176, 13) William Byron -180, 14) Aric Almirola -190,
15) Tyler Reddick -192, 16) Austin Dillon -200. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Chase Briscoe -211, 18) Denny Hamlin -214, 23) Kurt Busch -277. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 3397,
2) Ryan Blaney -248, 3) Ross Chastain -257, 4) Kevin Harvick -304, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -306, 6) Kyle Larson -316, 7) Christopher Bell -343, 8) Joey Logano -365, 9) Kyle Busch -411, 10) Alex Bowman
-564, 11) Austin Cindric -581, 12) Daniel Suarez -584, 13) Tyler Reddick -598, 14) William Byron -602, 15) Aric
Almirola -659, 16) Austin Dillon -678. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Denny Hamlin -685, 18) Chase Briscoe -709, 26) Kurt Busch -1035. 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-1, Martinsville), Ross Chastain
(Circuit of the Americas, Talladega), Denny Hamlin (Richmond-1, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Bristol), Chase Elliott (Dover, Nashville, Atlanta-2, Pocono), Joey Logano (Darlington, Gateway), Kurt Busch (Kansas), Daniel Suarez (Sonoma), Tyler Reddick (Road America, Indianapolis), Christopher Bell (Loudon), Kevin Harvick (Michigan, Richmond-2)
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. 5
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was off last weekend. They will be back in action Saturday at Watkins Glen International for a
200-mile race. When they get there, Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger will have a 19-point lead over Justin
Allgaier. Ty Gibbs is third in points, followed by Noah Gragson and Josh Berry. Ryan Sieg is the last driver in the playoffs at the moment. He has a 52-point lead over Sheldon
Creed, with Anthony Alfredo another 23 points back. Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 835, 2) Justin
Allgaier -19, 3) Ty Gibbs -28, 4) Noah Gragson -87, 5) Josh Berry -98, 6) Austin Hill -171, 7) Brandon Jones -201, 8) Riley Herbst -252, 9) Sam Mayer -257, 10) Daniel Hemric -290, 11) Landon Cassill -322, 12) Ryan
Sieg -336, 13) Sheldon Creed -388, 14) Anthony Alfredo -411, 15) Brandon Brown -423, 16) Brett Moffitt -452. 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 28, 2) Noah Gragson
-3, 3) Justin Allgaier -7, 4) AJ Allmendinger -11, 5) Josh Berry -12, 6) Austin Hill -17, 7) Brandon Jones -22, t-8) Daniel Hemric -26, t-8) Trevor Bayne -26, t-8) Sam Mayer -26, t-11) Ryan Sieg
-27, t-11) Myatt Snider -27. Note: If they were eligible, Cole Custer would be tied for seventh, Tyler Reddick ninth, Kyle Larson tied for 10th, and John
Hunter Nemechek and William Byron tied for 14th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 223, 2) Ty Gibbs
-10, 3) Noah Gragson -22, 4) Josh Berry -28, 5) AJ Allmendinger -39, 6) Brandon Jones -94, 7) Sam Mayer -105, 8) Daniel Hemric -122, 9) Austin Hill -128, 10) Riley Herbst -152, 11) Trevor
Bayne -156, t-12) Landon Cassill -166, t-12) Ryan Sieg -166, 14) Sheldon Creed -170, 15) Brandon Brown -177, 16) Anthony Alfredo -190. Note: If they were eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 14th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 740, 2) Ty Gibbs -45, 3) Justin Allgaier -62, 4) Austin Hill -79, 5) Noah Gragson -99, 6) Josh Berry -101, 7) Brandon Jones -144, 8) Riley Herbst -146,
9) Sam Mayer -193, 10) Landon Cassill -203, 11) Daniel Hemric -208, 12) Ryan Sieg -209, 13) Sheldon Creed -257, 14) Anthony Alfredo -263, 15) Brandon Brown -286, 16) Brett Moffitt -287. WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 3204, 2) Ty Gibbs -144, 3) Justin Allgaier -189, 4) Austin Hill -266, 5) Noah Gragson -294, 6) Josh Berry -319, 7) Riley Herbst -502, 8) Brandon Jones -512, 9) Sam Mayer -631, 10) Landon Cassill -709, 11) Daniel
Hemric -718, 12) Ryan Sieg -744, 13) Sheldon Creed -869, 14) Anthony Alfredo -911, 15) Brandon Brown -979, 16) Brett Moffitt -1034.
Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta-2), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas, Atlanta-1, Richmond, Road America, Michigan), Noah Gragson (Phoenix, Talladega, Pocono), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas, Portland, Indianapolis), Brandon Jones (Martinsville), Josh Berry (Dover, Charlotte), Justin Allgaier (Darlington, Nashville, Loudon), Tyler Reddick (Texas) 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 Championship: Chandler Smith Takes Points Lead With Dominant Win
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith had the best race of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career Saturday night in Richmond. Leading 176 of 250 laps and winning vaulted him from a tie for fifth to the points lead and locks him into the Round of 8. He is two points ahead of Zane Smith, who was fairly ordinary on Saturday night. John Hunter Nemechek
finished second and moved up from a tie for fifth to third. Grant Enfinger finished fourth, but dropped to fourth in the standings. Ty Majeski won stage one and finished third, enough to move up two places to fifth. Stewart Friesen is down from a tie for third to sixth after finishing 11th. Ben Rhodes ended up
two laps down in 18th and dropped from second to seventh. Matt Crafton finished seventh and moved up to eighth, the last spot in the Round of 8. Crafton has a three-point advantage over Carson Hocevar, who finished 10th after wrecking Nick Leitz late in the race to avoid getting lapped. Christian Eckes is still in 10th, three points
further back. Outside of the playoffs, Derek Kraus is still in 11th after finishing 12th. He has a 13-point lead over Tyler Ankrum. Matt DiBenedetto is nearly a full race behind Kraus in 13th, followed by Tanner Gray, Chase Purdy and Corey Heim. Round of 10 Point Standings:
1) Chandler Smith 2111, 2) Zane Smith -2, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -5, 4) Grant Enfinger -7, 5) Ty Majeski -12, 6) Stewart Friesen -17, 7) Ben Rhodes -27, 8) Matt Crafton -45, 9) Carson Hocevar -48, 10) Christian Eckes -51.
Best of the Rest (11-20): 11) Derek Kraus 461, 12) Tyler Ankrum -13, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -55, 14) Tanner Gray -73, 15) Chase Purdy -104, 16) Corey Heim -126, 17)
Colby Howard -163, 18) Timmy Hill -171, 19) Ryan Preece -173, 20) Parker Kligerman -179.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 688, 2) Chandler Smith
-23, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -27, 4) Ty Majeski -56, 5) Stewart Friesen -62, 6) Ben Rhodes -89, 7) Christian Eckes -96, 8) Carson Hocevar -122, 9) Grant Enfinger -139, 10) Matt Crafton -193, 11) Derek Kraus -227, 12) Tyler Ankrum -240, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -282, 14) Tanner Gray -300, 15) Chase Purdy -331, 16) Corey Heim -352.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 37, 2) Chandler Smith -9, t-3) Ben Rhodes -20, t-3) John Hunter Nemechek -20, 5) Stewart Friesen -24, 6) Ty Majeski -29, t-7) Grant Enfinger -30, t-7) Christian Eckes -30, 9) Carson Hocevar -32, 10) Matt Crafton -36. Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 186, 2) Zane Smith -25, 3) Ben Rhodes -30, 4) Chandler Smith -40, 5) Ty Majeski -41, 6) Stewart Friesen -58, 7) Carson Hocevar
-66, 8) Christian Eckes -70, 9) Grant Enfinger -86, 10) Corey Heim -96, 11) Derek Kraus -98, 12) Matt Crafton -116, t-13) Ryan Preece -126,
t-13) Parker Kligerman -126, 15) Tyler Ankrum
-130, 16) Tanner Gray -148. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 466, 2) Chandler
Smith -11, 3) Ty Majeski -34, 4) Stewart Friesen -35, 5) John Hunter Nemechek -48, 6) Christian Eckes -51, 7) Carson Hocevar -78, 8) Grant Enfinger -84, 9) Ben Rhodes -85, 10) Matt Crafton -109, 11) Tyler Ankrum
-145, 12) Derek Kraus -158, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -161, 14) Tanner Gray -185, 15) Chase Purdy -194, 16) Colby Howard -243. WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 2666, 2) Chandler Smith -50, 3) Ty Majeski
-137, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -140, 5) Stewart Friesen -145, 6) Christian Eckes -179, 7) Carson Hocevar -267, 8) Ben Rhodes -282, 9) Grant Enfinger -296, 10) Matt Crafton -413, 11) Tyler Ankrum -532, 12) Derek Kraus
-547, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -591, 14) Tanner Gray -650, 15) Chase Purdy -768, 16) Colby Howard -851. Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Circuit of the
Americas, Kansas), Chandler Smith (Las Vegas, Pocono, Richmond), Corey Heim (Atlanta, Gateway), William Byron (Martinsville), Ben Rhodes (Bristol), John Hunter Nemechek (Darlington), Stewart Friesen (Texas), Ross Chastain (Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Sonoma), Todd Gilliland (Knoxville), Ryan Preece (Nashville), Parker Kligerman (Mid-Ohio), Grant Enfinger (Lucas Oil IRP) 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 FireKeepers Casino 400 was brought to you by the letter T for Tire Strategy. The race ultimately came
down to when the final stop was made. With 18-year old pavement at Richmond Raceway, wear was high. Any extra laps on the tires would slow you down. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Federated Auto Parts 400
complied by Phil Allaway
"I didn’t know [that we would win back-to-back]. It’s like I said last week, the cars have been running good week in and week out, and you see that we have a lot better understanding of what’s going on with how we adjusted on the car after the first run and were able to get our car handling a lot better. I think as it got dark, the racetrack really came to our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang.
Just got to thank Mobil, Busch Light, GearWrench, Hunt Brothers, Rheem, Ford, Xfinity, Morton Buildings, E-Z-Go, everybody who helps Stewart Haas on this [No. 4] car.
"I knew [Christopher Bell] was coming, but I forgot to shift down the front straightaway the last time. I was not paying attention and he got closer than he should have. I made a mistake there a couple laps doing the same
thing. I wasn’t shifting on the back and I was shifting in the front. There was a lot going on, and made a couple mistakes, let him get too close." - Kevin Harvick, race winner "I got held up pretty bad at the beginning of the run by a couple slower cars and that was ultimately the difference when you get beat by a couple car lengths. Just really fun and
really fun race when you have different strategies and you have guys coming and going. I love whenever the races stay green and you’re able to play your cards a little bit different. Really proud of everyone on this 20 crew to be able to come back from how we started. Very tough weekend for us. We didn’t practice very well and we didn’t qualify very well. And the guys did a really good job getting this Rheem Camry up front and where we needed to be at the end." - Christopher Bell, finished
second
"[We were] really close. Everyone on our Fastenal Mustang did such a tremendous job overnight because we didn’t know we were in this position yesterday. I didn’t qualify real well, and everyone worked hard and had a fantastic race car today. I think it’s a little easy with this format to feel like third place doesn’t matter, but it’s nice to be close and to keep progressing and
getting better as we’ve gotten through the summer. Really neat to finish here. Really proud of everybody. Just burned the rear tires up. Ultimately that’s on me. Lap traffic didn’t do us any favors, either, but ultimately just got to keep the rears under us a little bit better so we can have a little bit better shot there to get after him for the win." - Chris Buescher, finished third "We had the winning strategy. I think we played it great. The fall-off was nearly as great those last couple runs, really for the last 100 when the track was shaded over. So I thought that going long was actually the right play and the team did a great job with that call for sure and just had a slow stop on that last one. We ended up three-and-a-half second behind." - Denny Hamlin, finished fourth
"The track was very similar there early and late, if anything, I feel like it got a little faster. It wasn’t a huge deal, just needed to be a little more forward there to have a shot. It was really odd, I didn’t think it was driving any better, but in comparison to people around us, we were going forward. So, just normal Richmond. Just more confusing I feel like. I have been here and had cars like that where you are not
driving good, but you are moving forward. Then you will have days where you feel like your car is driving good and you are not going anywhere or vice versa. This place is really strange and the track had gained a lot of grip there at the end too. There were obviously a lot of different strategies going on, and it was nice to get a top five out of a tough day yesterday." - Chase Elliott, finished fifth
"Yeah, I think just as the sun went down and the track cooled off and lost some turn on our car. Kevin [Harvick] and some others got a lot better the last couple of runs in the race. When it was hot and slick that was probably our strength with the Shell Pennzoil Mustang. We had good turn and then once it cooled off we lost the turn but still weren’t real good on the exits. Then you start playing defense and running too hard. It was a downhill slope
from there. I was hoping for a late race caution, that was our only prayer at the end there. Overall we got a stage win and playoff points and that is something to be proud of. It stinks when you say we led 222 laps but not the right one." - Joey Logano, finished sixth "When the clouds came and the track cooled we kind of lost it. The first couple runs
of the race we were so fast. We drove from 32nd up to the top-five. Our Smithfield Ford Mustang was really good on the long run. We took care of the tires really well and it did everything I needed it to do. As the pace picked up and the track cooled off I just couldn’t get the car to rotate like I needed it to and just couldn’t quite carry the speed those other cars could. It was a good day. We have had a rough month, so to come here and rebound and have a good run — we need a win, but to have
a good run is a confidence booster." - Aric Almirola, finished eighth "We were looking okay, and in a good spot just coming up through there working our way methodically through the field with our M&M’s Toyota Camry, and we got ‘Chastained’ this week. We were his victim this week. And then that didn’t hurt us too bad. We restarted back in a decent
spot. But then the next spin I think, was Christopher [Bell]. That allowed the guys that were around us that we were kind of racing some of our team guys to come get tires and then they had 10 fresher laps on tires the whole rest of the day. So that kind of hurt us if we would have been on that strategy we would have run out of tires, but we also probably would have been in the top five. So just wrong side of the strategy there. At the end, nothing, nothing to do really to flip that but good
fight all day long. You know, the top 10 is about what we had anyway, I figured the best we were it was about a seventh you know, but barring a strategy call, we could have probably been top five. So that’s all we had anyway." - Kyle Busch, finished ninth "We were just in the wrong spot and got caught in someone else’s mess. We made contact and killed
the right front. We struggled all day with our FOCUSfactor Chevy, just couldn’t find the balance we needed to run up front. Not our day. We’ll load up and get ready for Watkins Glen next weekend." - Erik Jones, finished 35th (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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