Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 5, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CLI |
- Labor Day is not an empty day
for race fans. There is a doubleheader today at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds for the ARCA Menards Series and the USAC Silver Crown National Championship. Silver Crown action is live now, while the postponed ARCA race (see below) is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on both MAVTV and FLORacing.com.
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams will be at Grays
Harbor Raceway in Washington tonight for another night of racing. Action starts at 7:30 p.m. ET on DirtVision.
- NASCAR teams are back at their
shops after yesterday's race in Darlington. Entry lists for this weekend's tripleheader in Kansas should be released today. We'll have those and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Sept. 2-4 |
- In Formula 2 action, Hitech Grand Prix's Marcus Armstrong took the lead at the start and led flag-to-flag to win the Sprint Race Saturday at Zandvoort by .88 seconds over Clement
Novalak. Dennis Hauger was third, then Liam Lawson and Juri Vips. Sunday's Feature race had a couple of incidents, including one where Marino Sato went into the tires after losing a wheel. MP Motorsport's Felipe Drugovich claimed his fifth win of the year by 2.405 seconds over
Richard Verschoor. Ayumu Iwasa was third, then Hauger and Enzo Fittipaldi.
Championship-wise, Drugovich has a 69-point lead over Theo Pourchaire in the standings. Logan Sargeant is third, then Jack Doohan and Lawson. With only 70 points on offer for the remaining four races, Drugovich can clinch the Formula 2 title with a seventh-place
finish in Saturday's sprint race in Monza.
- In Formula 3 action, Caio Collet claimed his second win of the season Saturday by 4.057 seconds over Juan Manuel Correa. Zak O'Sullivan was third, then Isack Hadjar and Gregoire Saucy. Race No. 2 Sunday was wreck-strewn with multiple safety car periods. Zane Maloney took the lead from Victor Martins and held on to win his second straight feature race. Martins was second, then Franco Colapinto, Roman Stanek and Hadjar.
With only one race weekend
remaining, Martins has a five-point lead over Hadjar. Stanek is third, then Oliver Bearman and Maloney. Sebastian Montoya, Juan Pablo's son, made his Formula 3 debut in Zandvoort for Campos Racing. Montoya finished eighth in both races, scoring seven points on
debut. |
Videos From Frontstretch: |
These are examples of some of the video footage from this past weekend at Darlington on our YouTube channel. Check it out for these videos and more! |
| | Erik Jones Plays Playoff Spoiler, Emerges Late to Win Southern
500Erik Jones inherited the lead when Kyle Busch blew his engine, then held on to win Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500, his second Southern 500 victory. Denny Hamlin was second, then Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and
Christopher Bell. |
| | Noah Gragson Passes Sheldon Creed on Last Lap, Wins Darlington
Xfinity RaceIn a wild final lap Saturday night, JR Motorsports' Noah Gragson got past Sheldon Creed and Kyle Larson to win the rain-delayed Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A
Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway. Creed was second, then AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier and Larson. |
| | Creed, Larson All Smiles Despite Last-Lap Skirmish at Darlington – ‘I
Had a Blast’Normally, where there is a bunch of contact on the final lap, things can get a little contentious. Not so much Saturday in Darlington, where Kyle Larson and
Sheldon Creed were happy after the last-lap craziness. |
| | Jesse Iwuji on Future of Jesse Iwuji Motorsports: “We Plan on
Eventually Expanding”During the rain delay in Saturday's Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 where Kyle Weatherman eventually finished 16th, Jesse Iwuji told Frontstretch about his team's plans to eventually become a multi-car operation. |
| | Scott McLaughlin Wins in Portland as IndyCar Championship Landscape
ShiftsTeam Penske's Scott McLaughlin led 104 of 110 laps Sunday at Portland International Raceway to win the NTT IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Portland. Will Power
was second, then Scott Dixon, Patricio O'Ward and Graham Rahal. |
| | Max Verstappen Storms to Victory in 2022 Dutch Grand
PrixRed Bull's Max Verstappen was dominant for much of the day Sunday at Zandvoort, but a virtual safety car period put him in the lead for good. From there, he
held on to win the Grand Prix of The Netherlands for his 10th win of the year. George Russell was second, then Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. |
| | ARCA Menards Action From DuQuoin Delayed Until
MondaySunday's ARCA Menards Series Rust-Oleum Automotive Finishes 100 has been postponed due to rain. It will be run Monday starting at 6 p.m.
ET. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via James Gilbert of Getty Images, Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media and Dan Mullan of Getty Images. 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 Championship: Joey Logano Ascends To The Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott had a miserable time in Darlington. A bad qualifying effort (23rd) led to an uphill battle. Right before the end of stage
one, Elliott got loose in turn 1, hit the wall, then spun and collected Chase Briscoe. The team could not fix the car before the new 10-minute clock expired, ending his night. Joey Logano managed to keep himself out of too much trouble and finished fourth. That moved him up from second to
the points lead. Logano's lead is six points over William Byron, who snapped a long streak of mediocrity (one top 10 finish in 18 races) with a stage win and an eighth-place finish to move up three places. Denny Hamlin is up to third after a second-place finish. Christopher Bell is up six places to fourth after finishing fifth. Tyler Reddick is up to fifth after finishing a strong third. Ryan Blaney has sole possession of sixth after finishing 13th and earning
10 stage points. Kyle Larson had apparent engine problems early on. He dropped four laps down, but recovered from that and a crash to finish on the lead lap in 12th. It still dropped him three places to seventh, but he salvaged what could have been a horrible night. Ross Chastain is down five places to eighth after a pin issue in the left rear led to unscheduled stops. He would eventually finish 20th. Elliott's crash dropped him back to ninth with minimum points. Alex Bowman is up to 10th after a 10th-place finish. Kyle Busch
blew an engine while leading with under 25 laps to go. That took away a possible lock-in to the Round of 12, but kept him in 11th. Daniel Suarez had a rollercoaster of a night, recovering from a lap down to get in the top five, then dropping two laps due to a pit penalty and untimely caution, then recovering to 18th. That performance moved him up one place to 12th, last man in the Round of 12 for now. Suarez is two points ahead of Austin Cindric, who was a bit off most of the race and finished 16th. Austin Dillon is up to 14th after
finishing 17th. Briscoe struggled after the aforementioned crash with Elliott and finished 27th, dropping down to 15th. Kevin Harvick had a huge fire while running in the top 10. This dropped him from eighth to 16th in points. Outside the playoffs, Martin Truex Jr. had a belt come
off, resulting in the loss of power steering and an extreme overheating issue. This put him out after leading 48 laps. Truex keeps 17th, but his margin is down from 209 to 185 over race winner Erik Jones. Aric Almirola is 19th, while Bubba Wallace is 20th. Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Joey Logano 2065, 2) William Byron -6, 3) Denny Hamlin -8, 4) Christopher Bell -10, 5) Tyler Reddick -15, 6) Ryan Blaney -18, 7) Kyle Larson -21, 8) Ross Chastain -23, 9) Chase Elliott -24, 10) Alex Bowman -28, 11) Kyle Busch -30, 12) Daniel Suarez -36, 13) Austin Cindric -38, 14) Austin Dillon -40, 15) Chase Briscoe -46, 16) Kevin Harvick -49.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 940, 2) Joey Logano -91, 3) Ryan Blaney -105, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -121, 5) Kyle Larson -126, 6) Ross Chastain -153, 7) Christopher Bell -162, 8) Kyle Busch
-192, 9) Kevin Harvick -226, 10) William Byron -228, 11) Tyler Reddick -261, 12) Alex Bowman -271, 13) Denny Hamlin -285, 14) Daniel Suarez -291, 15) Austin Cindric -305, 16) Erik Jones -306. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Chase Briscoe -354, 19) Austin Dillon
-356. Playoff Points: 1) Chase Elliott 40, 2) Joey Logano -15, 3) Ross Chastain -20, 4) Kyle Larson -21, 5) William Byron -25, t-6) Denny Hamlin -27, t-6) Ryan Blaney -27, t-8) Kevin Harvick -28, t-8) Tyler Reddick -28, 10) Christopher Bell -29, t-10) Kyle Busch -29, 12) Chase Briscoe -31, 13) Daniel Suarez -33, t-14) Alex Bowman -34, t-14) Austin Cindric -34, 16) Austin Dillon -35
Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Martin Truex Jr. 819, 18) Erik Jones -185, 19) Aric Almirola -217, 20)
Darrell Wallace Jr. -235, 21) Chris Buescher -286, 22) Justin Haley -312, 23) Kurt Busch -334, 24) Cole Custer -344, 25) Michael McDowell -346, 26) Michael McDowell -365. Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott 235, 2) Joey Logano -25, 3) Ryan Blaney -30, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -40, 5) Kyle Larson -44, 6) Kyle Busch -55, 7) Ross Chastain -60, 8) William Byron -70, 9) Christopher Bell
-78, 10) Denny Hamlin -93, 11) Chhae Briscoe -123, 12) Erik Jones -127, 13) Tyler Reddick -130, 14) Daniel Suarez -143, 15) Kevin Harvick -149, 16) Kurt Busch
-156. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Alex Bowman -163, 21) Austin Cindric -181, 27) Austin Dillon
-203.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at
Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 829, 2) Ryan Blaney -70, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -73, 4) Joey Logano -75, 5) Kyle Larson -86, 6) Kevin Harvick
-89, 7) Christopher Bell -91, 8) Ross Chastain -99, 9) Alex Bowman -134, t-10) Tyler Reddick -137, t-10) Kyle Busch -137, t-10) Austin Cindric -137, 13) Daniel Suarez -157, 14) Austin Dillon -165, 15) William Byron
-177, t-16) Erik Jones -186, t-16) Aric Almirola -186. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18) Denny Hamlin -194, 20) Chase Briscoe
-228. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 3708, 2) Joey Logano
-209, 3) Ryan Blaney -226, 4) Kyle Larson -268, 5) Ross Chastain -296, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -301, 7) Christopher Bell -302, 8) Kevin Harvick -321, 9) Tyler Reddick -418, 10) Kyle Busch -433, 11) Austin Cindric -483, 12) Alex Bowman -494, 13) Daniel Suarez -535, 14) Austin Dillon -580, 15) William Byron -603, 16) Denny Hamlin -625. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the
Playoffs: 20) Chase Briscoe -775. 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, 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-1, Gateway), Kurt Busch (Kansas), Daniel Suarez (Sonoma), Tyler
Reddick (Road America, Indianapolis), Christopher Bell (Loudon), Kevin Harvick (Michigan, Richmond-2), Austin Dillon (Daytona-2), Erik Jones (Darlington-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.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: AJ Allmendinger Finishes Well, But Opponents Post Gains In Darlington
by Phil Allaway
AJ Allmendinger was able to avoid the late chaos Saturday night and finished third. However, he only earned two stage points. As a result, Ty Gibbs finished sixth and scored 12 stage points, gaining five on Allmendinger. Justin Allgaier finished fourth and also made gains in third. Noah Gragson took his fourth win
of the year and stays in fourth. He gained 23 points on Allmendinger. Josh Berry finished eighth and remains in fifth. Austin Hill is still in sixth after finishing 10th, but he gained on Berry via stage points. Brandon Jones is still in seventh, while Riley Herbst dropped out with crash damage, but remains in
eighth. Sam Mayer is still in ninth after an 11th-place finish. Daniel Hemric is still in 10th, followed by teammate Landon Cassill. Ryan Sieg got a reprieve due to Jeremy Clements' penalty to get the last spot in the playoffs back after Daytona and held on to it with an 18th-place
finish. Problem is, Sieg's margin is shrinking. Sheldon Creed came within a lap of winning Saturday night. His second-place finish closed the gap to only 16 points with two races remaining in the regular season. Anthony Alfredo and Brandon Brown are tied for 14th, 97 points behind Sieg. Alfredo had a medical issue under
yellow that resulted in him crashing into John Hunter Nemechek under caution that ended his day. Brown finished 29th in the BJ McLeod No. 78. Finally, Myatt Snider and Brett Moffitt are tied for 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 887, 2) Ty Gibbs
-51, 3) Justin Allgaier -66, 4) Noah Gragson -92, 5) Josh Berry -134, 6) Austin Hill -224, 7) Brandon Jones -256, 8) Riley Herbst -313, 9) Sam Mayer -316, 10) Daniel Hemric
-371, 11) Landon Cassill -391, 12) Ryan Sieg -409, 13) Sheldon Creed -425, t-14) Anthony Alfredo -506, t-14) Brandon Brown -506, t-16) Myatt Snider -581, t-16) Brett Moffitt -581. 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) Noah Gragson 32, 2) Ty Gibbs
-3, 3) Justin Allgaier -10, 4) AJ Allmendinger -15, 5) Josh Berry -16, 6) Austin Hill -21, 7) Brandon Jones -26, t-8) Daniel Hemric -30, t-8) Trevor Bayne -30, t-8) Sam Mayer -30, t-11) Ryan Sieg
-31, t-11) Myatt Snider -31, t-11) Sammy Smith -31. Note: If they were eligible, Kyle Larson would be seventh, Cole Custer tied for eighth, Tyler Reddick 10th, William Byron tied for 12th and John Hunter Nemechek tied for 15th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Ty Gibbs 248, 2) Justin Allgaier -1, 3) Noah Gragson -11, 4) Josh Berry -36, 5) AJ Allmendinger -38, 6) Brandon Jones -98, 7) Sam Mayer -120, 8) Austin
Hill -134, 9) Daniel Hemric -147, 10) Riley Herbst -164, 11) Sheldon Creed -168, 12) Trevor Bayne -181, 13) Ryan Sieg -189, 14) Landon Cassill -191, 15) Brandon Brown -202, 16) Anthony Alfredo -206. Note: If he was eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 857, 2) Ty Gibbs -77, 3) Justin Allgaier
-109, 4) Noah Gragson -113, 5) Austin Hill -125, 6) Josh Berry -129, 7) Riley Herbst -194, 8) Brandon Jones -195, 9) Sam Mayer -238, 10) Landon Cassill -248, 11) Ryan Sieg
-260, 12) Daniel Hemric -264, 13) Sheldon Creed -296, 14) Anthony Alfredo -343, 15) Brandon Brown -344, 16) Jeb Burton -398. WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 3714, 2) Ty Gibbs -266, 3) Noah Gragson -352, 4) Justin Allgaier -356, 5) Josh Berry -435, 6) Austin Hill -438, 7) Riley Herbst -677, 8) Brandon Jones -702, 9) Sam Mayer -800, 10) Landon Cassill -883, 11) Daniel Hemric -923, 12) Ryan Sieg -936, 13) Sheldon Creed -1007, 14) Brandon Brown -1181, 15) Anthony Alfredo -1188, 16) Myatt Snider -1373.
Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, Atlanta-2), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas, Atlanta-1, Richmond, Road America, Michigan), Noah Gragson (Phoenix, Talladega, Pocono, Darlington-2), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas, Portland, Indianapolis), Brandon Jones (Martinsville), Josh Berry (Dover, Charlotte), Justin Allgaier (Darlington-1, Nashville, Loudon), Tyler Reddick (Texas), Kyle Larson (Watkins Glen),
Jeremy Clements (Daytona-2) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship: Off-Week Edition No. 11
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.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 was brought to you by the letter U for Unexpected. The Next Gen car has
brought a lot of unknowns to the NASCAR Cup Series. Almost no one expected Kyle Busch's engine to go south with 24 laps to go while leading the race Sunday, but that's exactly what happened. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Cook Out Southern 500
complied by Phil Allaway
"I get a hat. [Richard Petty] told me I get a hat if I win. "But Richard hasn’t been to victory lane at Darlington probably since he last won here [in
1967]. It’s just awesome. Just so proud of these guys, Petty GMS and FOCUSfactor Crew. We’ve been so close all year, and I didn’t think today was going to be the day. It was going to be a tough one to win, but no better fitting place. I love this track; I love this race. On that trophy twice, man. I was pumped to be on it once, but to have it on there twice, pretty cool.
"Man, I was focused forward. Honestly that’s the calmest I’ve been in the race car going for a win ever, really. I think back to the last time winning here and I was driving my guts out; my nerves were pounding, my stomach was hurting, and today it was just business as usual.
"Just feel good about this track and knew Denny [Hamlin]
would run me clean. I knew it was going to be tough for him to pass. It was tough to pass all day, and we got a good restart there. "But man, so proud of everybody. Just what a dream come true. That’s all you can say." - Erik Jones, race winner "[I couldn't have gotten around Erik Jones] without contact. Last night in the Xfinity race, there was like two-and-a-half [seconds] of fall off in the last 15-lap run and I think it was about a second for us in a 15-lap run. The speeds are so fast and so much on-throttle time, it’s
just an air game. Erik [Jones] just did a great job. I also have to thank Sport Clips, sorry I couldn’t run the Xfinity race yesterday. Always proud to always carry the Sport Clips colors here at Darlington. Just a great day for Erik and a great day for our team." - Denny Hamlin, finished second "I just couldn’t quite put the whole race together. I didn’t do a good job of getting in the box tonight. I just felt a little inconsistent. Ultimately I wish I could have been better there. Last time we were here, I felt like I was pretty good at that.
"Just have to figure out what exactly changed. Always something to be learned; but considering all things, at one point we were in a pretty tough spot. I think Ty Gibbs, [Austin] Cindric and myself kind of got sandwiched together and got in the wall off [turn] 4. So to rebound like we did and get third out of it, it was a really good night. It’s what we needed in the playoffs; what we didn’t have here last year. So to get that tonight is great, but certainly when you’re that
close and one spot away on a restart from having the lead, it certainly always stings." - Tyler Reddick, finished third
"It’s a solid day but a missed opportunity is probably where I would put it. With so many others having trouble, every time you come to the Southern 500, especially in the playoffs, you’ve just got
to survive and you get a solid finish. That’s what we were able to do is finish fourth after so many teams had issues. We had plenty of our own issues, too. We gave up track position a couple times and then we got caught with that caution and lost track position fairly late in the race, and then we just battled hard. It’s really hard to come up through the field here. It’s really hard to pass and was able to kind of battle back and get a top five out of it, which is OK. I mean, you’ve got to be
happy about it because we scored a lot of points and that’s what it’s all about here in the first round, but also a missed opportunity to win the Southern 500 and I really want that one. That one stings a little bit because I think we were better than the cars in front of us if we had the air. If we were able to stay towards the front we could tune to cleaner air, instead of going in the back and trying to tune to dirty air. We just set ourselves back too far." - Joey Logano, finished fourth
"I don’t know if anybody could pass exceptional, but our teammates could make their way to the front so I’m disappointed with fifth just because of how strong our teammates were and we were always kind of
back there always in that outside of the top-five range. Caught a couple bad breaks, but a couple good ones at the end and ended up fifth with some stage points. Overall, a good day for the Yahoo Camry and we’ll try and build on this and continue the momentum into Kansas." - Christopher Bell, finished fifth
"We had a really fast FR8 Auctions Ford Mustang. We were really good on the long run, but honestly we just needed to execute a little bit better on pit road. We just lost a few spots each time and then had to pass those cars back and lose a little bit of momentum, but Darlington is a tough place. Running 500 miles here is just tough and to run as competitive as we did all night
and run up front I’m really proud of the effort, but I’m not surprised, either. We’ve had speed. We’ve been fast. We’ve had a lot of top 10s this year. That was probably one of our better performances on what I would call a mile-and-a-half style racetrack, so we’re making good gains. Everything is good and in a positive direction, so I’m thankful to get out of here. We had a couple close calls like you would image in a 500-mile race, but I’m proud of the effort." - Michael McDowell, finished sixth "I feel great about leaving here eighth tonight. We’re second in points. Obviously I’m frustrated we didn’t win, especially with how stage one went. I definitely thought we were going to be battling for the win but overall I’m really happy. We executed our race, it was
just that caution that got us behind being caught a lap down. There’s nothing we could do about that but we fought back. I’m proud of my No. 24 team." - William Byron, finished eighth "No, nothing. It felt like it was blowing up. It sounded funny off of (turn) two for a lap and by the
time I got back around, it was really laying down. People are passing me, and I was kind of pulling down and letting people go. We pitted and nothing looked funny. We went back out and it kind of ran crappy for a few laps, and then kind of cleared itself out and it was fine the rest of the race. So, I don’t know yet what it was. If it was fuel pressure, my dash would have been lighting up. So, I don’t know if it was something electrical for a quick second or what. I am sure when they plug in the
data, they will learn the whole story. I am just glad that it wasn’t terminal, and we were able to get back out there and fight back from three laps down.
"We got back to the lead lap by the third stage. I was hoping for a better result, but we restarted like 30th every time, we were just trapped in dirty air and my balance wasn’t great. Finally there at
the end, we were going to have some decent track position, but I wasn’t sure if we had a lug nut tight and we decided to pit to be safe rather than giving up 20 spots for more. So, pretty bummed about it, but also happy at the same time because I thought we were going to have another DNF. So, I just hope they just learn what happened and we can cure the problem." - Kyle Larson, finished 12th "The caution hit us at the wrong time, but we were gonna be fine and then we had to re-pit for a wheel that was gonna be loose. You can’t do that when there are 20 laps to go in the race. It’s just unfortunate, but, like I said, we stayed in it all day and got some decent stage points and at least finished." - Ryan
Blaney, finished 13th
"Just stayed in my bubble and kept my world small. It’s what we prepare for.. for moments like that. It’s not in my control. It’s a freak deal that we haven’t had happen in the whole time we’ve had this car, so it took me a while to describe what was happening. To me, it felt like the left rear was just low on
air. "Our No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet team came back from four laps down, to be one lap down at the end and plenty fast enough to fight with these guys. It’s so cool to race in the Cup Series at Darlington [Raceway], let alone go fast. To come back to 20th and fight the way we fought is just a testament to this team." -
Ross Chastain, finished 20th
"We just really struggled with the balance. At the beginning of the race we were starting off extremely tight and then we got to where we were extremely loose and then we had nowhere to go with the 9 car when he wrecked.
That kind of killed our day, but we were able to get lucky because a lot of those guys had issues, too. It’s not the way we wanted to start the round by any means, but we’re gonna have to improve and we’re probably gonna have to win. I don’t even know what the points look like, but we shouldn’t have been in that situation where we were struggling anyway. We just couldn’t find the balance. It’s unfortunate, but we know what we’ve got to do now and that’s what we’ll try to go do." -
Chase Briscoe, finished 27th "I’m sure it’s just crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times. They haven’t fixed anything. It’s kind of like the safety stuff. We just let it keep going and keep going. The car started burning and as it burned the flames started coming through the dash. I ran a couple laps and then as the flame got bigger it started burning stuff up and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out the brakes and part of the brake line, but the
fire was coming through the dash. What a disaster for no reason. We didn’t touch the wall. We didn’t touch a car and here we are in the pits with a burned up car and we can’t finish the race during the playoffs because of crappy ass parts." - Kevin Harvick, finished 33rd (Burst into flames)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter
manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
|
