Frontstretch Newsletter: Aug. 22, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CXLI |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops after yesterday's race in Watkins Glen. Entry lists for Daytona should be released today. We'll have those and
anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Aug. 19-21 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series 44th Annual AGCO Jackson Nationals was shortened to one
day due to rain, run as a doubleheader.
Race No. 1 Saturday afternoon saw Logan Schuchart pass Carson Macedo on the final lap while using lapped traffic as
a pick. He was able to beat Macedo to the line by .435 seconds for the win. Schuchart's teammate Jacob Allen was third, then Donny Schatz and Sheldon Haudenschild. The main event of the weekend Saturday night saw Macedo charge from eighth on the grid to claim the big win and the
$25,000 check. Allen was second, then David Gravel, James McFadden and Spencer Bayston. Points-wise, Brad Sweet has a 60-point lead over Gravel through 50 races. Macedo is third, then Haudenschild
and Schatz. |
| | Kyle Larson Holds Off AJ
Allmendinger for Watkins Glen Weekend SweepKyle Larson swept his teammate Chase Elliott aside on the final restart Sunday to win the lightning-delayed Go Bowling at the Glen. AJ Allmendinger was
second, then Joey Logano, Elliott and Daniel Suarez. |
| | Kimi Raikkonen’s Day Ends Early at
Watkins GlenKimi Raikkonen's NASCAR Cup Series went decently. He was able to move up the order from 27th on the grid and was very competitive. Then, his day ended
right before halfway when he rode up the rear end of Loris Hezemans and slid into the tires exiting the Inner Loop. |
| | AJ Allmendinger Finishes Second
Again After Early SpinKaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger got spun out in the opening laps Sunday at Watkins Glen. It took nearly all day to make up the track position, but
Allmendinger was able to get all the way back to finish second. |
| | Aric Almirola Delays Retirement, Will Be Back for
2023 |
| | Aric Almirola’s Return in 2023 Not
FinalOr is it? During a press conference Saturday at Watkins Glen International, Aric Almirola stated that his plans for 2023 are up in the air, but that he
hasn't determined whether or not he will be back full-time, refuting the aforementioned Motorsport.com report. |
| | Kyle Larson Wins at Watkins Glen After Ty Gibbs, William Byron
CollideKyle Larson was the recipient of some good luck Saturday afternoon. He took the lead after Ty Gibbs and William Byron spun out in the Inner Loop late.
He then held on to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco GO Rewards 200 at the Glen. AJ Allmendinger was second, then Sammy Smith, Noah Gragson and Kaz Grala. |
| | Sammy Smith Sails to 1st Xfinity
Top 5 at Watkins GlenThis past weekend was very busy for Sammy Smith. After dominating the ARCA race Friday night in Watkins Glen before running into trouble, Smith won a stage
Saturday and finished a strong third in the Sunoco GO Rewards 200 at the Glen. |
| | Josef Newgarden Wins at Gateway;
David Malukas Storms to 2ndTeam Penske's Josef Newgarden took the lead away from teammate Scott McLaughlin with 36 laps to go and held on from there to win the Bommarito Automotive Group
500k at World Wide Technology Raceway Saturday night. David Malukas finished a career-best second, then McLaughlin, Patricio O'Ward and Takuma Sato. |
| | Brandon Jones Steals ARCA Win at
Watkins GlenBrandon Jones benefitted from contact on the final restart between Sammy Smith and Taylor Gray to take the lead and win the General Tire Delivers 100 at Watkins
Glen Friday evening. Nick Sanchez was second, then Jesse Love, Daniel Dye and Smith. |
| | Taylor Gray, Sammy Smith Collide on
Last Lap at Watkins GlenMost of Friday's General Tire Delivers 100 was a duel between Sammy Smith and Taylor Gray. On the final restart, Gray went too hot into turn 1 and booted
himself and Smith out of the way. Naturally, Smith wasn't too pleased about that. |
| | Jesse Love Leads Every Lap at
Springfield Mile, Wins Abbreviated ARCA RaceVenturini Motorsports' Jesse Love led to flag-to-flag Sunday to win the ARCA Menards Series Atlas 100 at the Springfield Mile. The race was
shortened to 74 laps due to a late start, a Sammy Hagar concert and a nasty crash at the finish. Buddy Kofoid was credited with second, then Ryan Unzicker, Sammy Smith and Nick Sanchez. |
| | Winward Racing Wins Road America GT
World Challenge America Race No. 1Winward Racing's Philip Ellis and Russell Ward led nearly flag-to-flag Saturday to win Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Race No. 1 at Road
America, completely overshadowing the frustrating way that Watkins Glen ended for the team. |
| | Winward Racing Claims Road America
GT World Challenge America Weekend SweepWinward Racing's Philip Ellis and Russell Ward dominated the proceedings Sunday at Road America, winning Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Race No.
2 by 27.393 seconds to take the weekend sweep. |
| | Eric Filguerias, Stevan McAleer Continue Dominant Form, Claim 8th
Pirelli GT4 America Win of 2022Rennsport One's Eric Filguerias and Stevan McAleer continued their dominant form Saturday by running away from the field to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race
No. 2 at Road America. |
| | Bryan Putt, Kenton Koch Win Road America Pirelli
GT4 America SprintX Race No. 2BSport Racing's Bryan Putt ran down SMOOGE Racing's Todd Coleman and took the lead with 20 minutes to go. He held on to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race
No. 2 along with teammate Kenton Koch. |
| | Andy Pilgrim Wins Road America GT
America Race No. 1SKI Autosports' Andy Pilgrim avoided a collision between Jason Daskalos and Jason Harward to take the lead Saturday afternoon. From there, he held to earn
his first GT America Powered by AWS victory at Road America. |
| | George Kurtz Wins Road America GT
America Race No. 2Crowdstrike Racing with Riley Motorsports' George Kurtz led flag-to-flag to win GT America Powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Road America Sunday. The race ended
with a massive crash on the frontstretch involving The Heart of Racing's Gray Newell. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Jeff Curry of ARCA Racing, Sean Birkle of INDYCAR Media, Brian Cleary and Regis Lefebure of SRO Motorsports Group and our own Michael Finley. 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 Clinches Regular Season Championship
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott had to do the bare minimum Sunday to clinch the regular season championship. He did a lot more than that, leading a race-high 29 laps and was in position to win before getting pushed out of the way on the final restart. Regardless, a fourth-place finish gives Elliott the regular season championship and
a 134-point lead. That lead is over teammate Kyle Larson, who pushed him wide to win. Ryan Blaney finished a disappointing 24th Sunday and fell to third in points. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points right now. Joey
Logano finished third and scored a race-high 15 stage points to move up two places to fourth. Ross Chastain remains in fifth after a disappointing race with multiple instances of contact, getting lapped on the track and finishing 21st. Martin Truex Jr.
struggled as much as Blaney and finished 23rd, dropping two places to sixth. He is 25 points behind Blaney for the final spot in the playoffs at the moment. Christopher Bell remains in seventh after an eighth-place finish, while Kevin Harvick is still eighth. Kyle Busch ran well early, but spun and hit the wall late. He ended up finishing a lap down in 32nd, but remains in ninth. William Byron finished 22nd after getting lapped early and stays in 10th. He is 49 points ahead of teammate Alex Bowman in 11th. Daniel Suarez has sole possession of 12th after finishing a strong fifth. Tyler Reddick is up one place to 13th after leading laps early and finishing seventh. Denny Hamlin is down to 14th after a miserable day where he ended up 20th. Austin Cindric is still in 15th after a middling day. Chase Briscoe is up one place to 16th
after he won stage one Sunday. A series of mechanical issues and a spin dropped him back to a 25th-place finish. Erik Jones is up one place to 17th after finishing 10th Sunday. Aric Almirola getting a strike in the Esses was just about the best part of his
weekend as Sunday was miserable. As a result, he's down to 18th. Austin Dillon jumped over Bubba Wallace into 19th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 922, 2) Kyle Larson -134, 3) Ryan Blaney -143, 4) Joey Logano
-155, 5) Ross Chastain -161, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -168, 7) Christopher Bell -189, 8) Kevin Harvick -232, 9) Kyle Busch -243, 10) William Byron -258, 11) Alex Bowman
-307, 12) Daniel Suarez -308, 13) Tyler Reddick -320, 14) Denny Hamlin -331, 15) Austin Cindric -342, 16) Chase Briscoe -351. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 22) Kurt Busch
-437. Playoff Points: 1) Chase Elliott 25, 2) Ross Chastain -10, 3) Joey Logano -11, t-4) William Byron -12, t-4) Denny Hamlin -12, t-4) Kyle Larson -12, t-7) Tyler Reddick -13, 8) Kevin
Harvick -15, 9) Chase Briscoe -16, 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 226, 2) Ryan Blaney -31, 3) Kyle Larson -35, 4) Joey Logano
-40, 5) Ross Chastain -56, t-6) William Byron -61, t-6) Martin Truex Jr. -61, t-8) Christopher Bell -81, t-8) Kyle Busch -81, 10) Denny Hamlin -101, 11) Chase Briscoe
-114, 12) Erik Jones -125, 13) Tyler Reddick -129, 14) Daniel Suarez -137, 15) Kevin Harvick -143, 16) Kurt Busch -147. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Alex Bowman -154, 21) Austin Cindric -172. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 810, t-2) Kevin Harvick -99, t-2) Martin Truex Jr. -99, 4) Kyle Larson -100, 5) Ryan Blaney
-105, 6) Ross Chastain -110, 7) Christopher Bell -113, 8) Joey Logano -124, 9) Kyle Busch -163, 10) Alex Bowman -174, 11) Daniel Suarez -179, 12) Austin Cindric
-182, 13) Tyler Reddick -196, 14) William Byron -200, 15) Austin Dillon -214, 16) Aric Almirola -217. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Denny Hamlin -232, 18) Chase Briscoe -233, 25) Kurt Busch -316. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 3567, 2) Kyle Larson -306, t-3) Ross Chastain -327, t-3) Ryan Blaney -327, 5) Kevin Harvick
-347, 6) Joey Logano -365, 7) Christopher Bell -371, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -382, 9) Kyle Busch -514, 10) Daniel Suarez -599, 11) Alex Bowman -613, 12) Tyler Reddick -617, 13) Austin Cindric -627, 14) William Byron -675, 15) Austin Dillon -731, 16) Denny Hamlin -752. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Chase Briscoe -786, 28) Kurt Busch -1205. 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, Watkins Glen), 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: AJ Allmendinger's Points Lead Explodes After Rivals Find Trouble In Watkins Glen
by Phil
Allaway
AJ Allmendinger finished a strong second Saturday behind Kyle Larson. This completely opened the points up as most of his immediate competition had bad finishes. Ty Gibbs is back up to second, but he spun in the closing laps with William Byron in the Inner Loop and ended up 27th. As a result, Allmendinger's points lead has ballooned from 19 points to
61. Justin Allgaier crashed on the fifth lap of the race and finished last. That dropped him to third. Noah Gragson finished fourth and holds onto fourth in points. Josh Berry is still in fifth spot after finishing ninth. Austin Hill had a bad race, finishing 30th. As a result, he is now 98 points
behind Berry in sixth. Brandon Jones spun out on the final lap and dropped back to 24th. He is still seventh in points. Riley Herbst finished seventh and still is eighth. Sam Mayer finished sixth and is just four points behind Mayer. Daniel Hemric crashed out of the race, but remains in 10th.
Landon Cassill is 11th, while Ryan Sieg has the last spot in the playoffs in 12th. Sieg has a 39-point lead over Sheldon Creed, who scored eight stage points and finished eighth. Anthony Alfredo is 14th, while Brandon Brown is 15th. The idle Brett Moffitt holds onto
16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 887, 2) Ty Gibbs -61, 3) Justin Allgaier -70, 4) Noah Gragson -99, 5) Josh Berry -118, 6) Austin
Hill -216, 7) Brandon Jones -240, 8) Riley Herbst -274, 9) Sam Mayer -278, 10) Daniel Hemric -336, 11) Landon Cassill -353, 12) Ryan Sieg -364, 13) Sheldon Creed -403, 14) Anthony Alfredo -444, 15) Brandon Brown
-470, 16) Brett Moffitt -504. 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, t-11) Sammy Smith -27. Note: If they were eligible, Kyle Larson would be seventh, Cole Custer tied for eighth, Tyler Reddick 10th, William Byron 14th
and John Hunter Nemechek tied for 15th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 223, 2) Ty Gibbs -1, 3) Noah Gragson -15, 4) AJ Allmendinger -22, 5) Josh Berry
-24, 6) Brandon Jones -94, 7) Sam Mayer -105, 8) Daniel Hemric -122, 9) Austin Hill -128, 10) Riley Herbst -152, 11) Trevor Bayne -156, 12) Sheldon Creed -162, t-13) Landon Cassill -166, t-13) Ryan
Sieg -166, 15) Brandon Brown -177, 16) Anthony Alfredo -190. Note: If he was eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger
780, 2) Ty Gibbs -70, 3) Justin Allgaier -99, 4) Noah Gragson -102, 5) Austin Hill -108, 6) Josh Berry -109, 7) Riley Herbst -151, 8) Brandon Jones -167, 9) Sam Mayer
-198, 10) Landon Cassill -218, 11) Ryan Sieg -221, 12) Daniel Hemric -238, 13) Sheldon Creed -264, 14) Anthony Alfredo -280, 15) Brandon Brown -317, 16) Brett Moffitt -327. WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 3379, 2) Ty Gibbs -232, 3) Noah Gragson -309, 4) Justin Allgaier -315, 5) Josh Berry -356, 6) Austin Hill -368, 7) Riley Herbst -526, 8) Brandon Jones -596, 9) Sam Mayer -656, 10) Landon Cassill -769, 11) Ryan Sieg -795, 12) Daniel Hemric -823, 13) Sheldon Creed -902, 14) Anthony Alfredo -977, 15) Brandon Brown -1087, 16) Jeremy Clements -1189.
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), Kyle Larson (Watkins Glen) 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: Off-Week Edition No. 9
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was off this past weekend. They are not scheduled to race again until
the Kansas Lottery 200 at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 9. When the teams get to Kansas, Chandler Smith will be leading the Round of 10 by two points over
Zane Smith. John Hunter Nemechek is third, then Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski. At the cutoff, Matt Crafton has the last spot in the Round of 8. He is three points ahead of
Carson Hocevar, while Christian Eckes is another three points back in third. 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 Go Bowling at the Glen was brought to you by the letter C for Changeable Conditions. Thunderstorms
brought a bunch of rain to Watkins Glen Sunday. That delayed the start of the race. Any real racing in falling rain was eliminated due to lightning, though. Drivers had to deal with a drying track and the ones that dealt with the conditions the best were the ones to succeed. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Go Bowling at the Glen
complied by Phil Allaway
"I knew that was kind of my only opportunity. I’m not proud of it. But being in the inside lane or the right lane.. being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. But when it gets too late in the race, it’s definitely risky. "The restarts kept me in it and kept our team in it. Proud of our guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen and get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs, which we haven’t had many of those this year. Hopefully this will build on some momentum and we can keep racking up some more points." - Kyle Larson, race winner "I don’t think [I could have done anything differently]. Obviously, Kyle [Larson] drove it in quite deep to get the lead there on Chase [Elliott] and I was getting shoved in the corner. Maybe if I could have gotten the car squared off a little bit earlier in the corner.. but obviously I was getting run into so hard that I was happy just to keep it on the race track and not have anybody next to me off the
corner.
"Just proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. This is absolutely one of the most fun cars I have ever driven in my life. I was hustling it and it was fast. The Action Industries Chevy, can’t thank them enough. To finish second in a Cup race in your first year as a team isn’t bad. But god, when you are that close, it’s disappointing." - AJ Allmendinger, finished
second "It was crazy and I am ecstatic about what we did. We got the stage win, and usually, if you get a stage win here you bury yourself, which we did. We were 27th at the start of the third stage. We passed a bunch of cars and got to 17th and then we got stuck around 15th or so. I have to give it to Paul [Wolfe],
he put two tires on it and gave us some track position and then we had a couple of more good restarts and it ended up as a top three. Pretty good." - Joey Logano, finished third
"Just a huge congratulations to Kyle (Larson) and everybody on the No. 5 team. Congratulations to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for getting another win. Appreciate Kelley Blue Book for being on our car
this weekend.
"He did a great job. Seriously, they deserve it. Looking forward to going to Daytona next week and trying to get one for our team." - Chase Elliott, finished fourth. He was clearly ticked off and didn't want to talk about anything after the race. "Our No. 99 Princess Cruises Chevy was good. It was a little bit tight, a little bit loose. I felt like we had to play with the balance of the car quite a bit. But overall, I felt like our car was good. Probably not a winning car, but a solid top-five car. With the right circumstances, we probably could have won the race, but we just spent too much time trying to gain track position." - Daniel Suarez, finished
fifth
"It is disappointing. I don’t think we quite had enough for the 9 or the 5. I tried to hold them off as long as I could, they just had a bit of pace on me. They were pushing me hard enough that I was getting wide and making mistakes. I tried to make a move on that second-to-last restart there and got a pretty good run on the 5 and went to the inside and it just didn’t work out.
We got jammed up on the bottom and everyone was smashing into each other and we lost a couple of spots. That was pretty much it at that point. It is just disappointing. We’ve gotta win to get into these playoffs. But I am proud of everybody at Front Row. We had a fast car and we were in the hunt. It just wasn’t quite enough." - Michael McDowell, finished sixth "We had a really good Fastenal Ford. I am so proud of everybody. Just didn’t need that caution at the end. We needed a green flag run. We were running down the next several ahead of us and we had tires. That was working for speed. I don’t know if I could have gotten to the lead with green flag runs but it definitely would have been better than we finished. It didn’t play out the way we needed it to, but still a really solid day." - Chris
Buescher, finished ninth
"Best road course car we’ve had all year. Thanks to the 43 guys, the hard work is paying off. We need to qualify a little better, but a good day and finish for our FOCUSfactor Chevy. Honestly, I was kind of hoping for more rain. I was having fun when the track was wet. Watkins Glen is one of my favorite road courses, so I’m glad to leave with a top 10 and
head to Daytona next weekend." - Erik Jones, finished 10th
"I wasn’t really involved with it. I had a good line there, but everybody seemed to be coming on the left of me, and unfortunately I had no time to react. The first impact, somebody hit the tires or the wheels directly, the wheels spun and something was wrong with the race car, but that how it goes. "Yeah, it was good fun. I felt more confidence all of the time. We had some good laps. It’s a shame. The car felt like it had a lot of speed, but that’s how it goes sometimes." - Kimi Raikkonen, finished 37th (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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