Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 12, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CLVI |
- NASCAR teams are getting back to their shops after yesterday's race in Kansas. Entry lists for this weekend's tripleheader in Bristol should be released
today. We'll have those and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
| | Bubba Wallace Once Again a Playoff Spoiler, Wins Cup Race at
Kansas23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace took the lead prior to the last round of pit stops and managed to hold off Denny Hamlin to win the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas
Speedway for his second career victory. Christopher Bell was third, then Alex Bowman and Martin Truex Jr. |
| | Report: Kyle Busch Moving to RCR in
2023The Athletic's Jordan Bianchi reported Saturday that Kyle Busch will be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the year to drive for Richard Childress
Racing. |
| | Playoff Drivers Continue Opening Round Woes at
KansasSo far, the playoffs have been a tough time for a number of contenders. Kevin Harvick has failed to finish both races. Kyle Busch spun out and finished
26th Sunday, while Chase Elliott has been a bit off of his game. |
| | Noah Gragson Wins 5th Xfinity Race of 2022 After Rain Comes at
KansasJR Motorsports' Noah Gragson took the lead late in stage two Saturday and just so happened to be in position when heavy rains came to Kansas Speedway. NASCAR
called the race official during the stage break after stage two, giving Gragson his fifth win of the year and second straight. Justin Allgaier was second, then Ty Gibbs, Brandon Jones and Ross Chastain. |
| | Dominant Ty Gibbs Fades at Finish of Truncated Kansas Xfinity
RaceTy Gibbs was the man to beat Saturday at Kansas. However, a couple of late cautions in stage two took him out of a chance to win. Despite that, he
finished third and still gained 13 points on AJ Allmendinger. |
| | CMR Re-Ups with Ryan Sieg, RSS for
2023RSS Racing announced Friday that CMR Roofing has re-upped their primary sponsorship with the team for the full 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series
season. |
| | Sage Karam Joins Our Motorsports for Multiple
RacesJayski reported Sunday that Sage Karam has signed a deal that will see him drive the No. 02 Chevrolet in a number of races this
year. |
| | John Hunter Nemechek Beats Carson Hocevar with Last-Lap Pass at
KansasJohn Hunter Nemechek ran down Carson Hocevar from 20+ seconds back to take the lead on the final lap Friday night to win the Kansas Lottery 200. Hocevar was
second, then Ryan Preece, Zane Smith and Grant Enfinger. |
| | Christian Eckes In, Carson Hocevar Out After Kansas Hail Mary Comes
Up ShortCarson Hocevar came within one mile of scoring his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory Friday night. However, his fuel couldn't hold out
and Christian Eckes was able to make gains in the final laps. That allowed Eckes to claim the final spot in the Round of 8. |
| | Alex Palou Wins at Laguna Seca, Will Power Wins 2nd IndyCar
ChampionshipChip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou stomped the field in Salinas Sunday, winning the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey by over 30 seconds. Josef Newgarden was
second, then Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist and Christian Lunggard. Power's third-place finish was enough to win the championship. |
| | IndyCar Title Challengers Find Mixed Luck at Laguna
SecaSunday's Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey had five drivers fighting it out for the championship and the Astor Cup. While Will Power emerged victorious,
here's how the other contenders fared. |
| | Max Verstappen Spoils the Party, Wins in
ItalyRed Bull's Max Verstappen charged from seventh on the grid to easily win Sunday's Grand Prix of Italy in Monza for his 11th win of the year. Charles Leclerc
was second, then George Russell, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lewis Hamilton. |
| | Ferrari Can’t Hold Home, Loses Italian Grand Prix to Red Bull’s Max
VerstappenMonza was more of the same Sunday for Ferrari. Despite starting from pole, they could do nothing to prevent Max Verstappen from winning. Strategy once
again played a role in Ferrari's demise. |
| | Nyck de Vries To Replace Appendicitis-Stricken Alex Albon For Italian
Grand PrixWilliams announced Saturday morning that Alexander Albon came down with appendicitis, forcing him to sit out the weekend. Nyck de Vries was tapped to take
his place, ultimately finishing ninth. |
| | Corey Heim Scores Redeeming ARCA Win at
KansasVenturini Motorsports' Corey Heim dominated Sunday morning to win the ARCA Menards Series Kansas Lottery 150. Nick Sanchez was second, then Sammy Smith,
Daniel Dye and Ryan Huff. |
| | Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa Win 6 Hours
Of FujiToyota GAZOO Racing's No. 8 with Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa scored an easy victory in Sunday's 6 Hours of Fuji, evening up the Hypercar
points with Signatech Alpine with one race remaining. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Chris Graythen of Getty Images, James Black and Chris Owens of INDYCAR Media, James Thompson and Clive Owen of Getty Images, FIA Images and Gabi Tomescu of
FocusPackMedia.com. 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: Christopher Bell Rides 19 Stage Points To Points Lead, Round Of 12 Berth
by Phil
Allaway
Christopher Bell scored a race-high 19 stage points and tied Bubba Wallace for the most points overall in finishing third Sunday in Kansas. That was enough to move him up three places to the points lead. He has also clinched a spot in the Round of 12 on points. Bell's points lead is 10 points
over William Byron, who finished sixth. Denny Hamlin is still in third after finishing second. Joey Logano is down three places to fourth after going long prior to his final pit stop put him a lap down in 17th. Ryan Blaney
is up one place to fifth after finishing ninth. Alex Bowman won stage two, led the most laps (107) and finished fourth in his best race in months. That performance moved him up four places to sixth. Chase Elliott recovered from his Darlington crash to finish 11th and move up two spots to seventh. Kyle Larson is down one place to eighth despite finishing eighth. Ross Chastain is down one place to ninth after finishing seventh. Daniel Suarez is up two spots to 10th after finishing 10th. Tyler Reddick and Austin Cindric are tied for 11th, the final two spots in the Round of 12 on points at the moment. Reddick crashed out
early and dropped down from fifth. Meanwhile, Cindric finished 12th and moved up into the tie. Cindric and Reddick have a two-point advantage over Kyle Busch, who ran well until he spun out on lap 137 exiting turn 4. He was never the same and ended up 26th.
Austin Dillon is still in 14th, followed by Chase Briscoe. Kevin Harvick crashed out and finished last. That leaves him 36 points behind Cindric and Reddick, likely in a must-win situation. Outside of the playoffs, Martin Truex
Jr. is still in 17th after a fifth-place finish. His advantage is now 217 points over Erik Jones, who struggled to a 29th-place finish. Wallace's victory moved him back up to 19th and locked the No. 45 team into the owners playoff Round of 12, while Aric Almirola is 20th. Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 2108, 2) William Byron -10, 3) Denny Hamlin -11, 4) Joey Logano -18, 5) Ryan Blaney -22, 6) Alex Bowman -28, 7) Chase Elliott -30, 8) Kyle Larson -31, 9) Ross Chastain -32, 10) Daniel Suarez -52, t-11) Tyler Reddick -56, t-11) Austin Cindric -56, 13) Kyle Busch -58, 14) Austin Dillon -59, 15) Chase Briscoe -65, 16) Kevin Harvick -91.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the Round of 12. Note No. 2: Drivers in italics are not in the playoffs. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 977, t-2) Joey Logano -103, t-3) Ryan Blaney -103, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -118, 5) Kyle Larson
-130, 6) Christopher Bell -146, 7) Ross Chastain -156, 8) Kyle Busch -214, 9) William Byron -226, 10) Kevin Harvick -262, 11) Alex Bowman -265, 12) Denny Hamlin -282, 13) Tyler Reddick -296, 14) Daniel Suarez
-301, 15) Austin Cindric -317, 16) Erik Jones -335. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 19) Chase Briscoe -366, 20) Austin Dillon -368. 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, t-8) Christopher Bell -28, 11) Kyle Busch -29, 12) Chase Briscoe -31, t-13) Daniel Suarez -33, t-13) Alex Bowman -33, 15) Austin Cindric -34, 16) Austin Dillon -35.
Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Martin Truex Jr. 859, 18) Erik Jones -217, 19) Bubba
Wallace -222, 20) Aric Almirola -241, 21) Chris Buescher -304, 22) Justin Haley -334, 23) Michael McDowell -365, 24) Cole Custer -369, 25) Kurt Busch -374, 26) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -391. Stage Points: 1) Chase
Elliott 246, 2) Ryan Blaney -30, 3) Joey Logano -31, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -43, 5) Kyle Larson -51, 6) William Byron -57, 7) Kyle Busch -62, 8) Ross Chastain -67, 9) Christopher Bell -70, 10) Denny Hamlin
-99, 11) Chase Briscoe -134, 12) Erik Jones -138, 13) Tyler Reddick -141, t-14) Daniel Suarez
-154, t-14) Bubba Wallace -154, t-16) Alex Bowman -160, t-16) Kevin Harvick
-160. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the
Playoffs: 22) Austin Cindric -192, t-25) Austin Dillon -213.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 859, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -66, 3) Ryan Blaney -67, 4) Joey Logano -80, 5) Christopher Bell -82, 6) Kyle Larson
-83, 7) Ross Chastain -95, 8) Kevin Harvick -114, 9) Alex Bowman -125, 10) Austin Cindric -138, 11) Kyle Busch -152, 12) Daniel Suarez -155, 13) Tyler Reddick -160, 14) Austin Dillon -167, 15) William Byron -171, 16) Denny Hamlin
-185. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 20) Chase Briscoe -230. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott
3838, 2) Ryan Blaney -213, 3) Joey Logano -222, 4) Kyle Larson -256, 5) Christopher Bell -262, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -271, 7) Ross Chastain -280, 8) Kevin Harvick -396, 9) Ross Chastain -454, 10) Kyle Busch -478, 11) Tyler Reddick -485, 12) Austin Cindric
-486, 13) Daniel Suarez -526, 14) William Byron -578, 15) Austin Dillon -584, 16) Denny Hamlin -585. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 20)
Chase Briscoe -781. 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-1), Daniel Suarez (Sonoma), Tyler Reddick (Road America, Indianapolis), Christopher Bell
(Loudon), Kevin Harvick (Michigan, Richmond-2), Austin Dillon (Daytona-2), Erik Jones (Darlington-2), Bubba Wallace (Kansas-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 Finishes Well, But Opponents Post Gains In Darlington
by Phil
Allaway
AJ Allmendinger finished a decent sixth in Saturday's rain-shortened Kansas Lottery 300, but nearly all of his immediate rivals finished in front of him. Ty Gibbs won stage one, led the most laps and finished third. That cut Allmendinger's point lead from 51 to 38 with one race remaining in the regular season. He's still looking good to get those
15 playoff points knowing that he won the Bristol race last year, but he's not going where he'd like to be. Justin Allgaier finished second and remains in third. Noah Gragson's second straight victory keeps him in fourth, but puts him only 17 points behind Allgaier. Josh Berry finished seventh and holds onto fifth in
points. He is 97 points ahead of Austin Hill, who finished 12th. Brandon Jones is still in seventh after a fourth-place finish. Sam Mayer is back up to eighth after finishing ninth. He is 100 points ahead of Ryan Sieg and 81 ahead of Landon Cassill, thus locking himself into the playoffs. Riley Herbst dropped back to ninth after finishing 16th. He is also locked into the playoffs on points. Daniel Hemric is still 10th, followed by Cassill and Sieg, the last two drivers in the playoffs. Sieg's advantage continues to shrink. His margin over Sheldon Creed is down to 13 points.
Brandon Brown and Anthony Alfredo are tied for 14th. Brown finished 17th, while Alfredo was 18th. Brett Moffitt, in his first start since Indianapolis, finished 10th and once again has standalone possession of 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger
1003, 2) Ty Gibbs -38, 3) Justin Allgaier -55, 4) Noah Gragson -72, 5) Josh Berry -137, 6) Austin Hill -234, 7) Brandon Jones -247, 8) Sam Mayer
-325, 9) Riley Herbst -330, 10) Daniel Hemric -388, 11) Landon Cassill -406, 12) Ryan Sieg -425, 13) Sheldon Creed -438, 14) Brandon Brown -525, 15) Anthony Alfredo -526, 16) Brett Moffitt -587. 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 38, 2) Ty Gibbs -8, 3) Justin Allgaier -16, 4) AJ Allmendinger -21, 5) Josh Berry -22, 6) Austin Hill -27, 7) Brandon Jones -32, t-8) Daniel Hemric -36, t-8) Trevor Bayne
-36, t-8) Sam Mayer -36, t-11) Ryan Sieg -37, t-11) Myatt Snider -37, t-11) Sammy Smith -37. 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 266, 2) Justin Allgaier -4, 3) Noah Gragson -10, t-4) AJ Allmendinger -48, t-4) Josh Berry -48, 6) Brandon
Jones -101, 7) Sam Mayer -136, 8) Austin Hill -148, 9) Daniel Hemric -165, 10) Riley Herbst -181, 11) Sheldon Creed -186, 12) Trevor Bayne -199, 13) Ryan Sieg -207, 14) Landon Cassill
-209, 15) Brandon Brown -220, 16) Anthony Alfredo -224. Note: If he was eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 13th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger
892, 2) Ty Gibbs -72, 3) Noah Gragson -104, 4) Justin Allgaier -105, t-5) Austin Hill -130, t-5) Josh Berry -130, 7) Brandon Jones -192, 8) Riley Herbst
-204, 9) Sam Mayer -241, 10) Landon Cassill -255, 11) Ryan Sieg -268, 12) Daniel Hemric -273, 13) Sheldon Creed -301, t-14) Anthony Alfredo -355, t-14) Brandon Brown -355, 16) Brett Moffitt -408. WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 3864, 2) Ty Gibbs -241, 3) Noah Gragson -322, 4) Justin Allgaier -336, 5) Josh Berry -439, 6) Austin Hill -456, 7) Brandon Jones -687, 8) Riley Herbst -712, 9) Sam Mayer -812, 10) Landon Cassill -909, 11) Daniel Hemric -955, 12) Ryan Sieg -965, 13) Sheldon Creed -1027, 14) Brandon Brown -1219, 15) Anthony Alfredo
-1229, 16) Myatt Snider -1417.
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,
Kansas), 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.
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Seeking the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship: Perfect Score In Kansas Wins Round Of 10 For John Hunter Nemechek
by Phil
Allaway
John Hunter Nemechek may have had to take the lead on the final lap Friday night to win, but that capped off a
perfect score of 60 points. That was enough for him to rise up from third to win the Round of 10 by nine points over Zane Smith. Chandler Smith dropped from the lead to third after finishing sixth. Ty Majeski moved up one place to fourth after finishing eighth. Grant Enfinger dropped one place to fifth despite finishing fifth. Stewart Friesen stays
in sixth despite finishing in a disappointing 20th. Ben Rhodes ended the round in seventh, while Christian Eckes moved up two places to eighth after finishing 10th to take the last spot in the Round of 8. Carson Hocevar gambled on fuel, but ran dry on the final lap. That, combined with Eckes making late passes,
meant that he missed out on the Round of 8 by three points despite finishing second. Matt Crafton finished 15th and ended the round in 10th. When the Round of 8 starts Thursday night at Bristol, Zane Smith will have a Outside of the playoffs, Derek Kraus finished 21st, but still holds onto the 11th spot. He is nine points ahead of Tyler Ankrum. Matt DiBenedetto is 13th, followed by Tanner Gray. Corey Heim moved up to 15th after finishing seventh, jumping over Chase Purdy. Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 2166, 2) Zane Smith -9, 3) Chandler Smith -21, 4) Ty Majeski -24, 5) Grant Enfinger -30, 6) Stewart Friesen -55, 7) Ben Rhodes -58, 8) Christian Eckes -64, 9) Carson Hocevar
-67, 10) Matt Crafton -74.
Round of 8 Point Standings: 1)
Zane Smith 3037, 2) Chandler Smith -9, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -13, 4) Ben Rhodes -20, 5) Stewart Friesen -24, 6) Ty Majeski -29, t-7) Grant Enfinger -30, t-7) Christian Eckes -30.
Eliminated Playoff Driver Point Standings: 9) Carson Hocevar 2099, 10) Matt Crafton -7.
Best of the Rest (11-20): 11) Derek Kraus
484, 12) Tyler Ankrum -9, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -53, 14) Tanner Gray -74, 15) Corey Heim -106, 16) Chase Purdy -115, 17) Ryan Preece -149, 18) Colby Howard -158, t-19) Parker Kligerman -176, t-19) Timmy Hill -176.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 736, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -15, 3) Chandler Smith -37, 4) Ty Majeski -61, 5) Stewart Friesen
-93, 6) Christian Eckes -102, 7) Ben Rhodes -113, 8) Carson Hocevar -134, 9) Grant Enfinger -155, 10) Matt Crafton -215, 11) Derek Kraus -252, 12) Tyler Ankrum -261, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -305, 14) Tanner Gray -326, 15) Corey Heim -358, 16) Chase Purdy -367.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 37, 2) Chandler Smith -9, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -13, 4) Ben Rhodes -20, 5) Stewart Friesen -24, 6) Ty Majeski -29, t-7) Grant Enfinger -30, t-7) Christian Eckes -30. Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 206, 2) Zane Smith
-30, 3) Ty Majeski -47, 4) Ben Rhodes -50, 5) Chandler Smith -57, 6) Christian Eckes -75, 7) Stewart Friesen -78, 8) Carson Hocevar -85, 9) Corey Heim -103, 10) Grant Enfinger
-106, 11) Derek Kraus -111, 12) Matt Crafton -132, 13) Ryan Preece -133,
t-14) Parker Kligerman -146, t-14) Tyler Ankrum -146, 16) Tanner Gray -167. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 496, 2) Chandler Smith -14, 3) Ty Majeski -38, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -41, 5) Stewart Friesen -52, 6) Christian Eckes
-57, 7) Carson Hocevar -76, 8) Grant Enfinger -85, 9) Ben Rhodes -95, 10) Matt Crafton -121, 11) Tyler Ankrum -156, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -170, 13) Derek Kraus -176, 14) Tanner Gray
-198, 15) Chase Purdy -216, 16) Colby Howard -249. WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 2831, 2) Chandler Smith -65, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -120, 4) Ty
Majeski -155, 5) Christian Eckes -205, 6) Stewart Friesen -207, 7) Carson Hocevar -257, 8) Grant Enfinger -301, 9) Ben Rhodes -323, 10) Matt Crafton -460, 11) Tyler Ankrum
-576, 12) Derek Kraus -612, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -629, 14) Tanner Gray -700, 15) Chase Purdy -845, 16) Colby Howard -878. Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Circuit
of the Americas, Kansas-2), Chandler Smith (Las Vegas, Pocono, Richmond), Corey Heim (Atlanta, Gateway), William Byron (Martinsville), Ben Rhodes (Bristol), John Hunter Nemechek (Darlington, Kansas-2), 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 Hollywood Casino 400 was brought to you by the letter E for Empty Seats. While Kansas Speedway announced over the PA system Sunday that the track will continue to have two NASCAR Cup Series races in 2023, you wouldn't have known it looking at the stands. They were sparse all weekend, likely due to the September date. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Hollywood Casino 400
complied by Phil Allaway
"Man, just so proud of this team, so proud of the effort that they put in each and every week. Just thankful for the opportunity, right? Took this jump from an idea two years ago from a text from Denny before it all even happened. He was ready to get the deal done. Appreciate him. Appreciate MJ, Curtis, Gene. Everybody
on that side of things, everybody at 23XI. Men and women there, they work their tails off. Just so proud. Pit crew was awesome today. We had one loose wheel. Just thankful. Thanks for the opportunity, and thankful to shut the hell up for a lot of people." - Bubba Wallace, race winner
"It’s a good overall day. Just
still frustrated about the first half of the race. We just aren’t executing all that well. Got to thank Acumatica for coming on, if you want to improve your business, they can help you do it. Thank you for coming on for Kansas. Really happy for our 11 Toyota team. They really fought hard and in that last half, they really made the car quite a bit better. Just really happy about the outcome and really happy for the No. 45 team and Bubba Wallace and Bootie [Barker]. Bubba’s just really worked hard
on his craft and we’ve given him fast race cars and now he’s showing what he’s got." - Denny Hamlin, finished second
"Just got off a little bit on our balance that last run, but overall a great points day and very proud of everyone on this DEWALT No. 20 team. Great day for Toyota and happy for Bubba to get a win. He
was really deserving, really fast all day. Great points day. We’ll move on and try and win one. "I’m very happy that we’re finally getting the results that this team deserves. Our speed has been there all year, and I feel like we’ve given up a couple good finishes. Last couple of weeks we’ve been
building on it, and hopefully we can keep the ball rolling." - Christopher Bell, finished third "We had a good day for our No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1. Proud of all of my guys. We had a good weekend – Obviously, we didn’t want to throw those stage points away in stage one like we did, but we
overcame that in a hurry. I’m just proud of Greg (Ives) and the guys. We had a great racecar. The last 15-laps of a run is where we would fall off and get beat, but I’m still proud of all of the guys. We ended up with a solid points day." - Alex Bowman, finished fourth
"For as far off as we started, we definitely made
a really good rally. I just appreciate the adjustments and pit stops by everybody on the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet team. At the beginning, I thought if it was a long run, we would have gotten lapped. But we just got our car so much better through the middle part of the race. Towards the end, it was just really hard to know what we needed to be better.
"I’m happy with the finish and thankful for the effort. It looks like we’re plus 48-points going into Bristol, which is a tough track. It’s been a good two weeks in a row. We just need to put three weeks together and we’ll advance." - William Byron, finished sixth "We
all just high-fived. It feels good. It’s been a rough couple of months here. There were times today where I thought we were going to run 14th and I thought we were just going to keep this going. We had a really good day on pit road. Our No. 1 pit crew is just incredible. We cycled ourselves back up there and we were able to stay plugged in between [Alex Bowman] and [Kyle Larson]. We were running with the guys we are supposed to be running with; and we finished around the guys we are supposed to
finish by. It was a great day for our No. 1 AdventHealth Chevy team." - Ross Chastain, finished seventh "We were okay. We drove up through the field pretty decent there starting off and finished second in the first stage. I was proud of the progress we made. I had to come down pit road
there after the first stage and had to kind of reset in the back. From there we just weren’t quite good enough to get back up into the top-five. I was chasing it and adjusting the car after that. Overall, not a bad day. It was a good points day and we are looking pretty decent going into Bristol. We will have to just go there and have a good day." - Ryan Blaney, finished ninth "Today was very inconsistent. It was a long day. At times, we were OK and then some other times, we weren’t good. We had a couple of situations there on pit road and then we had a tire going down. We had an eventful day. But for a day like that and to finish in the top 10, I’m quite happy. We have some work to do. We are not where we need to be. At times, I felt like we were a top five car; and at
times, we were a 20th-place car. We have to be a little bit more consistent. We don’t really understand why it was so inconsistent, but we’re going to find some answers and move onto Bristol." - Daniel Suarez, finished 10th "Not a great day for us. We were hanging in there in the beginning
for a little bit and it looked like at one point, in the middle of the race, that we were the fastest car on the track. We were up to second and running down the leader and it was good. Caution came out and we put scuffs on and we lost a little bit of track position. Not much. We put new tires on and it just was not good. The balance was off without changing anything. Beats me." - Joey Logano, finished 17th
"Just got really loose and it snapped around me. Then I had damage from going through the grass. Kind of ruined the rest of our day, but it was whatever happened on that pit stop that set us backwards to get us back in traffic there. Tried to make an adjustment to the car to make it faster and it did make it faster, but definitely made it looser." - Kyle Busch,
finished 26th "The right-rear tire just blew like we’ve had a few times. At [Auto Club Speedway], I was able to save it. But here, it snapped at the worst possible point and we just killed the wall. It broke the control arm on the right-front, so our day was over. We leave here with not a lot of points, so we’ll have to
fight hard at Bristol." - Tyler Reddick, finished 35th (Crashed out) "When those two cars came up in front of me I just got super tight. When I lifted it grabbed and got loose. I just wasn’t expecting them to come up and my car getting that tight. "It is what it is. We were racing to win anyway today, so that is what we will do again next week." - Kevin Harvick, finished 36th (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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