Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 16, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CLX |
What to Watch: Sept. 16-18 |
- Today, the NASCAR Xfinity Series takes center stage at Bristol Motor Speedway. Teams will practice briefly this afternoon starting at 2:35 p.m. ET. This will be
streamed on NBCSports.com and on the NBC Sports App (authentication is required). Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards. Coverage of the Food City 300 tonight will begin with Countdown to Green at 7 p.m. ET on USA. Race coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the green flag
around 7:45 p.m. - NASCAR Cup Series teams will practice today starting at 4:35 p.m. ET. This session will start off exclusive to NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App, but USA will pick up coverage in progress, followed by qualifying. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams are at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif. tonight for the Tom Tarlton Classic. Coverage will start at 9:15 p.m. ET on DirtVision.tv (subscription required). FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND AT BRISTOL THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUES: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter
page, @Frontstretch as well for updates on Bristol! |
These are just some examples of our video content from Bristol Motor Speedway Thursday night from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series/ARCA Menards Series East races. For more content, check out our YouTube page! |
| | Ty Majeski Takes Maiden Truck Series Victory at
BristolThorSport Racing's Ty Majeski took the lead from Zane Smith with 45 laps to go and held on late to claim his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
victory in Thursday night's UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics. Smith was second, then Parker Kligerman, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton. |
| | Kyle Larson Staying With Hendrick Through
2026Hendrick Motorsports announced Friday morning that Kyle Larson has signed a contract extension that will see him stay in the No. 5 Chevrolet through the end of the
2026 season. |
| | Strategy Thwarts Chandler Smith’s Dominant
DayKyle Busch Motorsports' Chandler Smith likely had the best truck Thursday night, winning the first two stages and leading 89 laps. However, he couldn't get
back to the front and had to settle for ninth. |
| | Ryan Ellis Returning to Alpha Prime in
2023Ryan Ellis announced to Jayski Thursday that he will return to Alpha Prime Racing in 2023 for a schedule of at least 15 races. Keen Parts will return as a
sponsor. |
| | Sammy Smith Wins at Bristol, Scores Showdown & ARCA East
TitlesKyle Busch Motorsports' Sammy Smith dominated Thursday night's Bush's Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading 189 of 200 laps en route to the win in the ARCA
Menards Series/ARCA Menards Series East combination race. Brandon Jones was second, then Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth and Daniel Dye. |
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 Camping World Truck Series Championship: Chandler Smith Snatches Lead After Winning Opening 2 Stages In Bristol
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith had likely the best truck Thursday night. However, pit strategy dropped him back to a ninth-place finish. Despite this, Chandler moved up into the points lead. He is three points ahead of Zane Smith, who started from the rear due to a rear end seal failure and finished second. Stewart Friesen finished seventh
and scored 18 stage points. That was enough to move him up to third. Ty Majeski's victory locked him into the Championship 4 and moved him up two places to fourth. John Hunter Nemechek crashed in practice and had to start in the rear. He was able to race up to 12th, but that dropped him to fifth, first driver out of the Championship 4 on
points. He is currently nine points behind Friesen. Christian Eckes is up to sixth after finishing eighth, while Grant Enfinger remains in seventh and stood pat points-wise after finishing fourth. Ben Rhodes finished 18th and dropped down to eighth. Outside of the playoffs, Matt Crafton moved up to ninth with a
fifth-place finish, jumping over Carson Hocevar. Of those who were never in the playoffs, Derek Kraus started from the pole, led 27 laps and finished sixth. He is 22 points ahead of Tyler Ankrum, who finished 11th. Matt DiBenedetto ran very well until he had to make an unscheduled stop due to a loose wheel.
He's still 13th, but lost a lot of points. Tanner Gray is 14th, then Corey Heim and Chase Purdy. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Chandler Smith 3076, 2) Zane Smith -3, 3) Stewart Friesen -15, 4) Ty Majeski -23, 5) John Hunter Nemechek
-24, 6) Christian Eckes -28, 7) Grant Enfinger -30, 8) Ben Rhodes -33. Eliminated Playoff Driver Point Standings: 9) Matt Crafton 2125, 10) Carson Hocevar -8.
Best of the Rest (11-20): 11) Derek Kraus 523, 12) Tyler Ankrum -22, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -75, 14) Tanner Gray -89, 15) Corey Heim
-115, 16) Chase Purdy -142, 17) Parker Kligerman -181, 18) Colby Howard -184, 19) Ryan Preece -188, 20) Timmy Hill -204.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 772, 2) John Hunter Nemechek
-23, 3) Chandler Smith -25, 4) Ty Majeski -52, 5) Stewart Friesen -81, 6) Christian Eckes -97, 7) Ben Rhodes -123, t-8) Grant Enfinger -152, t-8) Carson Hocevar -152, 10) Matt Crafton -218, 11) Derek Kraus -249, 12) Tyler Ankrum -271, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -324, 14) Tanner Gray -338, 15) Corey Heim -364, 16) Chase Purdy -391.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 37, 2) Chandler Smith -7, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -13, 4) Ben Rhodes -20, t-5) Stewart Friesen -24, t-5) Ty Majeski -24, t-7) Grant Enfinger -30, t-7) Christian Eckes -30. Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 209, 2) Zane Smith -32, 3) Chandler Smith -40, 4) Ty Majeski -45, 5) Ben Rhodes -46, 6) Stewart Friesen -63, 7) Christian
Eckes -66, 8) Carson Hocevar -88, t-9) Grant Enfinger -103, t-9) Corey Heim -103, 11) Derek Kraus -106, 12) Matt Crafton -134, 13) Ryan Preece -136, t-14) Parker Kligerman -149, t-14) Tyler Ankrum
-149, 16) Tanner Gray -166. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 528, 2) Chandler
Smith -20, 3) Ty Majeski -34, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -52, 5) Stewart Friesen -58, 6) Christian Eckes -64, 7) Grant Enfinger -88, 8) Carson Hocevar -94, 9) Ben Rhodes -112, 10) Matt Crafton -125, 11) Tyler Ankrum
-166, 12) Derek Kraus -180, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -196, 14) Tanner Gray -214, 15) Chase Purdy -245, 16) Colby Howard -272. WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith
3006, 2) Chandler Smith -92, 3) Ty Majeski -150, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -168, 5) Stewart Friesen -236, 6) Christian Eckes -238, 7) Grant Enfinger -316, 8) Carson Hocevar -326, 9) Ben Rhodes -389, 10) Matt Crafton
-480, 11) Tyler Ankrum -621, 12) Derek Kraus -632, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -722, 14) Tanner Gray -763, 15) Chase Purdy -947, 16) Colby Howard -962. 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-1), 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), Ty Majeski (Bristol-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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Frontstretch Folio: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series makes their second visit of the season to Bristol Motor Speedway in Eastern
Tennessee. Coverage of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race starts on USA with Countdown to Green at 6:30 p.m. ET. Race coverage is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled to drop around 7:50 p.m. Saturday night. The
race can also be heard on PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
Records and facts Last year's Bass Pro Shops/NRA
Night Race came down to a duel between Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick. The two drivers had contact numerous times in the closing laps, including one time in which Harvick nearly hooked Larson into the outside wall. Using his car control, Larson was able to keep his Valvoline Chevrolet off of the wall and keep on going. With four laps to go, Larson was able to slip past Harvick and hold on for the victory. He
finished .227 seconds ahead of Harvick, while William Byron was third. Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five. Amongst active drivers, Kyle Busch has the most victories at Bristol with nine, eight on concrete and the dirt race back in April. Older brother Kurt has six career victories on the high banks. Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have three each. All-time, Darrell Waltrip is the winningest driver in the history of Bristol Motor Speedway with
12 wins, including seven in a row at one point. Busch, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace all have nine wins, followed by Kurt Busch with his six victories, then Jeff Gordon and David Pearson with five each. Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 0.533-mile oval, 500
laps (266.5 miles)
Banking: 24-30 degrees
Straights: 650 ft., banked 4-9 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 153,000
Pit Road Speed: 30 mph
Pace Car Speed: 35 mph
Opened: 1960 (first Cup race in 1961)
Website: http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bristolmotorspeedway Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMSUpdates Pre-Race
Schedule: Practice: Friday, Sept. 16, 4:35 - 5:15 p.m. ET on NBCSports.com (joined in progress on USA at 5 p.m.) Qualifying: Friday, Sept. 16 at 5:20 p.m. ET on USA Say What! "I would like to get back to victory lane at Bristol, no doubt. We’ve had some decent runs there the last several years and hope we can do the same there this year. We were obviously there earlier this year but that was a completely different kind of race on the dirt surface, but never hurts to get a win there no matter what the
surface looks like. There are a lot of unknowns going into this race since there hasn’t been a race with the NextGen car on the concrete surface, so a lot of unknowns, for sure. It’s always a great racetrack to circle on the calendar and know it’s a time when we can shine. We also have M&M’S on board again this weekend, so hoping we can have a solid finish and get us through to the next round. "Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the best racetracks on the circuit. All the fans love it
because of the excitement, the run-ins and the close-quarter action with all the cars being packed on top of one another at a half-mile racetrack with us 40 lunatics running around in a tight circle. With the fans, the atmosphere there always makes for a good time, and sometimes a frustrating time when things don’t always go your way." - Kyle Busch "I’m so happy to be racing on the concrete at Bristol this time. It’s going to be an
intense race because it’s an elimination race and I’m sure NASCAR knew what they were doing when they made it an elimination race. The atmosphere is always a little wild – walking through all of the fans and their excitement. "I don’t think I have an answer for [what the race will be like]. With the new car its changed how we drive so many tracks with the shifting and different things, so only time will tell, especially on the concrete at Bristol." - Ross Chastain "No, I don’t think there’s anything that you can use [from the Gen6 this weekend]. We know what racing at Bristol is like. It’s a fast short track with a lot of banking and guys trying to figure out how to make passes without a lot of time to figure it out. You typically have to put yourself in a position you may not want to be in to get where you want to be. But as far as what we do with the car, I think we’ll
have to rely a little on what we’ve seen at some other tracks this year and a lot on sim data. This car has shown it races a lot differently than what we’ve had in the past and you definitely can’t compare to anything that happened in the dirt race. "I don’t think [I'm nervous]. I’ve done well at Bristol, it’s one of my stronger tracks, and I enjoy racing there. I think we’ve done well on the short tracks, which is definitely not my strength. We certainly can’t
afford to have a bad race and we’ll need to be aware of what is going on with other guys. You’ve got to be focused on running your race just as much as you’re trying to stay out of other people’s messes, and things happen quickly. We’ll have to do that without compromising our chances of moving on. I feel good about it, I know the guys on this team are going to give me what I need and I’m excited to get to Bristol." - Chase Briscoe "I’m really looking to Bristol this weekend with our U.S. Airforce Chevy team. It’s been one of my better tracks through the years in every series. I just really enjoy racing there. I don’t know what the Next Gen car is going to race like there, that’s going to be a pretty new experience for everybody and trying to figure out how it’s going to work. I always look forward to getting to Bristol and look forward
to seeing what this car is going to race like there. Hopefully it has some similarities to what the old car was there." - Erik Jones Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for
Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of NASCAR Media via Brian Lawdermilk of Getty Images.
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