Frontstretch Newsletter: July 25, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition
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- NASCAR teams are arriving back at their shops after yesterday's race in Pocono. Entry lists for Indianapolis should be released today. We'll have those and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: July 22-24
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- In Formula 2 action, Carlin's Liam Lawson took the lead Saturday on lap 15 from Jehan Daruvala and held on to take the Sprint race victory. He was 3.206 seconds ahead of Daruvala at the finish. Felipe Drugovich was third, then Jack Doohan and Frederic Vesti.
Sunday's Feature race saw Ayumu Iwasa take the lead on the first lap and lead flag-to-flag to take his first-ever F2 victory. He ended up 8.649 seconds ahead of Theo Pourchaire at the finish. Vesti was third, then Drugovich and Doohan.
Through 18 of 28 races, Drugovich continues to lead the points by 39 over Pourchaire. An off-weekend for Logan Sargeant dropped him to third. Daruvala is fourth, then Lawson.
- In Indy Lights action at Iowa Speedway Saturday, Hunter McElrea inherited the victory after Linus Lundqvist was given a post-race three-position penalty due to avoidable contact with Matthew Brabham. In the revised results, McElrea won by 1.2171 seconds over Christian Rasmussen. Brabham was third, despite a damaged wing. Lundqvist ended up
fourth, while Sting Ray Robb was fifth.
Despite the penalty, Lundqvist still has a 77-point lead over McElrea with five races remaining.
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| | Chase Elliott Winner at Pocono After Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch
Disqualified
Denny Hamlin was the winner of Sunday's M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 on the track. However, post-race inspection resulted in disqualifications for both Hamlin and Kyle Busch. As a result, Chase Elliott inherited
the victory, his series-high fourth of the year. Tyler Reddick was second, then Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson.
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| | Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch Disqualified at
Pocono
After finishing first and second on the road in the M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 Sunday, both Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were disqualified after issues were found with the noses
of their cars after the wraps were pulled back.
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| | Kurt Busch Not Cleared for Pocono Cup Race, Ty Gibbs Steps Into No.
45
Kurt Busch was not cleared by NASCAR officials to compete in Sunday's M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 due to potential concussion symptoms after crashing in qualifying Saturday. Ty Gibbs was tapped to make his NASCAR Cup
Series debut in his place.
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| | Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain Tangle at Pocono: “What’d You Expect Me To
Do?”
Before the disqualification, this race came down to a confrontation between Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain on a late restart. Hamlin eased up the track into Chastain, who then
hit the wall. Everyone in the facility and watching on television knew that there was intent to the move since Hamlin had stated that such a move was coming.
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| | PettyGMS Teammates Ty Dillon, Erik Jones Penalized at
Pocono
In pre-qualifying inspection, both PettyGMS Racing cars were found to have unapproved rocker box assemblies. As a result, both teams lost their crew chiefs for Sunday.
They were also hit with 35-point penalties.
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| | Noah Gragson Holds Off Ty Gibbs, Claims Xfinity Win at
Pocono
In a back and forth duel Saturday in Pocono, JR Motorsports' Noah Gragson was able to hold off Ty Gibbs to win the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 for his third win of the
year. Josh Berry was third, then AJ Allmendinger and Sheldon Creed.
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| | Austin Dillon Replacing Brandon Brown in No. 68 at Indy, Brown to Drive for
MHR
Brandonbilt Motorsports announced Friday that due to a lack of sponsorship, Austin Dillon will step into the team's No. 68 Chevrolet at Indianapolis this weekend. Brandon Brown will move to the Mike Harmon Racing team for
the weekend.
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| | Ross Chastain Returning to DGM at Indy
DGM Racing announced Friday that Ross Chastain will be back with the team for this weekend's Pennzoil 150 in the No. 92 Chevrolet.
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| | Chandler Smith Holds Off Ryan Preece at Pocono, Wins 2nd Truck Race of
2022
Kyle Busch Motorsports' Chandler Smith fought hard with Ryan Preece Saturday, but was able to hold on to win the CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway. John Hunter Nemechek was third, then Corey Heim and Carson
Hocevar.
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| | Matt DiBenedetto Staying With Rackley WAR in Trucks in
2023
Catchfence.com's Chris Knight reported Saturday prior to the CRC Brakleen 150 that Matt DiBenedetto will return to Rackley WAR full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2023.
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| | Pato O’Ward Wins, Newgarden Spins, Johnson Finishes 5th at
Iowa
Arrow McLaren SP's Patricio O'Ward benefitted from Josef Newgarden crashing out of the lead to take the advantage and win Sunday's Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 at Iowa Speedway. Team Penske teammates Will Power and Scott
McLaughlin were second and third, then Scott Dixon and Jimmie Johnson.
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| | Josef Newgarden Airlifted to Hospital from Iowa
Speedway
After Sunday's Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 at Iowa Speedway, Team Penske's Josef Newgarden fainted in the garage and reportedly hit his head. He was airlifted to the hospital
in Des Moines.
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| | Mechanical Failure Denies Josef Newgarden Shot at Iowa
Sweep
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden was looking good for a weekend sweep at Iowa Speedway. However, issues in the right rear of Newgarden's car put him in the wall with 64 laps to go, ending his day.
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| | Jimmie Johnson Takes 1st IndyCar Top-5 Finish at
Iowa
Jimmie Johnson has been reasonably competitive on ovals this year and Sunday's Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 was no exception as he drove to a fifth-place finish, his best career run in the NTT IndyCar Series.
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| | Josef Newgarden Dominates 1st Round of IndyCar Iowa
Doubleheader
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden was on a roll Saturday in Iowa, leading 206 of 250 laps to win the Hy-Vee Deals 250 at Iowa Speedway. Patricio O'Ward was second, then Will
Power, Rinus VeeKay and Scott Dixon.
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| | Max Verstappen Wins 2022 French Grand Prix, Extends Points
Lead
Red Bull's Max Verstappen inherited the lead Sunday after an incident for Charles Leclerc on lap 18. From there, he held on to win the Grand Prix of France at Paul Ricard for his seventh win of the year. Mercedes'
Lewis Hamilton was a season-best second, then George Russell, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr.
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| | Charles Leclerc Crashes Out From Lead in French Grand
Prix
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was the class of the field Sunday at Paul Ricard. Then, disaster struck on lap 18 when Leclerc's throttle stuck open. This led to a spin into
the barriers that ended his day.
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| | Taylor Gray Wins Shortened ARCA General Tire Delivers 200 at
Pocono
David Gilliland Racing's Taylor Gray came back from a lap down to win Friday's ARCA Menards Series General Tire Delivers 200 at Pocono Raceway, a race shortened to 64 laps due
to darkness. Nick Sanchez was second, then Brandon Jones, Rajah Caruth and Daniel Dye.
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| | After Xfinity Announcement, Nick Sanchez Finishes 2nd in ARCA Race at
Pocono
Things are going well for Nick Sanchez. He's going to step up to Big Machine Racing in a few weeks in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Friday night saw him finish second in
the General Tire Delivers 200 at Pocono.
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| | Jan Heylen, Charlie Luck Claim Wild Watkins Glen GT World Challenge Race No. 1
Victory
A series of tire issues resulted in Wright Motorsports' Jan Heylen and Charlie Luck claiming the overall and Pro-Am victories in Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS
Race No. 1 Saturday at Watkins Glen. Turner Motorsport's Michael Dinan and Robby Foley won the Pro class.
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| | Colin Braun, George Kurtz Win Watkins Glen GT World Challenge Race No.
2
Crowdstrike Racing with Riley Motorsports' George Kurtz passed a limping Russell Ward with 90 seconds remaining to claim the Pro-Am and overall victory in Fanatec GT World Challenge
America Powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Watkins Glen Sunday. Winward Racing's Ward and Philip Ellis won the Pro class.
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| | Stevan McAleer, Eric Filguerias Remain Tough Out, Win Watkins Glen GT4 America Race No.
1
Rennsport One's Eric Filguerias and Stevan McAleer led flag-to-flag Saturday to win the first Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race of the weekend for their sixth win of the year.
The Heart of Racing's Ian James and Gray Newell won in Pro-Am, while BimmerWorld Racing's James Clay and Charlie Postins won in Am.
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| | Eric Filguerias, Stevan McAleer Claim 7th Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Win of
2022
Rennsport One's Eric Filguerias and Stevan McAleer came from behind Sunday to win Race No. 2 for Pirelli GT4 America SprintX at Watkins Glen, their third weekend sweep of the
overall and Silver class of the year. Pro-Am went to AutoTechnic Racing's John Capestro-Dubets and Tom Capizzi, while the Am class was won by BimmerWorld Racing's James Clay and Charlie Postins.
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| | George Kurtz Wins Watkins Glen GT America Race No.
1
George Kurtz led flag-to-flag and was never threatened Saturday morning en route to the GT America Powered by AWS overall victory at Watkins Glen. Seth Lucas, in his series debut,
won the GT4 class in his Toyota GR Supra GT4.
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| | George Kurtz Wins GT America Watkins Glen Race No. 2 With Last-Lap
Pass
Crowdstrike Racing with Riley Motorsports' George Kurtz was able to get past Zelus Motorsports' Jason Harward with a couple of turns remaining to take the GT America Powered by AWS
weekend sweep Sunday.
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| | Chase Elliott Wins SRX Race at Sharon as Andretti Breaks Wrist en Route to
Championship
Chase Elliott claimed victory in a time-shortened Camping World SRX Series season finale at Sharon Speedway Saturday night. Tony Stewart was second, then Matt Kenseth, Ryan
Hunter-Reay and Greg Biffle. Marco Andretti broke his wrist in a crash, but still won the championship after finishing ninth.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Chris Owens, Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, Mark Thompson of Getty Images, FIA Images, Michael Finley and our own Phil Allaway.
Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Chase Elliott Substantially Expands Lead With Unexpected Pocono Victory
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott had an excellent run on Sunday and finished third on the track. However, when Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified, he inherited his fourth win of the year. With everyone else having trouble, his lead is now up from 67 to 105 points over
Ross Chastain. Chastain was leading with 18 laps to go when he ran afoul of Hamlin on a restart. The resulting crash put Chastain out and resulted in a 32nd-place finish. Ryan Blaney crashed out and finished 33rd, but he remains in third. Kyle Larson finished fifth after winning stage one and moved up to fourth.
Martin Truex Jr. is down one place to fifth after a seventh-place finish. Christopher Bell finished fourth and moved up two places to sixth. Joey Logano remains in seventh, but finished a disappointing 20th. Kyle Busch's disqualification dropped him two places to
eighth.
William Byron is up one place to ninth after finishing 12th. That came at the expense of Kevin Harvick, who was ultimately collateral damage in the latest Chastain-Hamlin spat. He would end up 27th. Harvick is the first driver out of the playoffs on points, 83 points behind Truex. Alex Bowman stays in 11th
after finishing 11th, while Daniel Suarez's third-place finish moved him up three places to 12th.
Aric Almirola is down one position to 13th after finishing 13th. Tyler Reddick moves up to 14th after finishing second. Austin Cindric had trouble in the opening laps and finished 31st, dropping down to 15th. Chase Briscoe moves back up to 16th.
Kurt Busch was forced to sit out Sunday due to concussion symptoms. That dropped him three places to 17th. Erik Jones finished a swell ninth on Sunday after leading laps. However, his point penalty meant that he only stayed in 18th. Had that not happened, Jones would have been 15th in points.
Austin Dillon finished 10th and moved up to 19th in points. Michael McDowell is up to 20th after finishing sixth.
Hamlin is down to 21st after his disqualification. Had the DQ not happened, he would be in the top 16.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 787, 2) Ross Chastain -105, 3) Ryan Blaney -111, 4) Kyle Larson
-126, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -133, 6) Christopher Bell -182, 7) Joey Logano -188, 8) Kyle Busch -192, 9) William Byron -215, 10) Kevin Harvick -216, 11) Alex Bowman -251, 12) Daniel Suarez -261, 13) Aric
Almirola -273, 14) Tyler Reddick -278, 15) Austin Cindric -292, 16) Chase Briscoe -300.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Kurt Busch
-302, 21) Denny Hamlin -344.
Playoff
Points: 1) Chase Elliott 25, 2) Ross Chastain -11, 3) William Byron -12, t-4) Denny Hamlin -13, t-4) Joey Logano -13, 6) Kyle Larson -17, t-7) Kurt Busch -18, t-7) Daniel Suarez -18, t-7) Tyler Reddick -18, t-7) Chase Briscoe -18, t-7) Martin Truex Jr. -18, t-12) Alex Bowman -19, t-12) Kyle Busch -19, t-12) Austin Cindric -19, t-15) Christopher Bell -20, t-15) Ryan Blaney -20, 17) Darrell Wallace Jr.
-24.
Stage Points: 1)
Chase Elliott 203, 2) Ryan Blaney -28, 3) Kyle Larson -44, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -47, 5) Ross Chastain -54, 6) Joey Logano -56, 7) William Byron -58, 8) Kyle Busch -82, 9) Christopher Bell -86, 10) Tyler Reddick
-115, 11) Erik Jones -117, 12) Chase Briscoe -118, 13) Denny Hamlin -119, 14) Kurt Busch -124, 15) Kevin Harvick -130, 16) Daniel Suarez -131.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Alex Bowman -137, 20) Austin Cindric -149.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 679, 2) Ross Chastain -55, t-3) Ryan Blaney -75, t-3) Martin Truex Jr. -75,
5) Kyle Larson -81, 6) Kevin Harvick -94, 7) Christopher Bell -100, 8) Kyle Busch -108, 9) Alex Bowman -132, 10) Daniel Suarez -136, t-11) Joey Logano -141, t-11) Aric Almirola -141, 13) Austin Cindric
-151, 14) William Byron -157, 15) Michael McDowell -163, 16) Tyler Reddick -167.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 18)
Chase Briscoe -177, 19) Kurt Busch -185, 22) Denny Hamlin -227.
Note: These
standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 2992, 2)
Ross Chastain -144, 3) Ryan Blaney -227, 4) Kyle Larson -241, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -297, 6) Kevin Harvick -328, 7) Kyle Busch -329, 8) Christopher Bell -330, 9) Joey Logano -430, 10) Daniel Suarez -457, 11) Alex Bowman -467, 12) Aric Almirola -506, t-13) William Byron -524, t-13) Tyler Reddick -524, 15) Austin Cindric
-525, 16) Michael McDowell -565.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs:
18) Chase Briscoe -600, 19) Kurt Busch -630, 22) Denny Hamlin -741.
Note No. 1: The WC points are based on the original
points system created by Bob Latford in 1975.
Race Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona), Kyle Larson (Fontana), Alex Bowman (Las Vegas), Chase Briscoe (Phoenix), William Byron (Atlanta-1, Martinsville), Ross Chastain (Circuit of the Americas, Talladega), Denny Hamlin (Richmond,
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), Christopher Bell (Loudon)
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 Stands Pat after Pocono
by Phil Allaway
AJ Allmendinger finished fourth Saturday in Pocono. Justin Allgaier was seventh, won a stage and scored more stage points than Allmendinger. As a result, both drivers earned 45 points. Allmendinger maintains the 16-point lead that he entered Pocono with. Ty Gibbs finished second and gained a few
points on Allmendinger. Josh Berry finished third and scored the same 45 points as Allgaier. He remains in fourth.
Noah Gragson's victory gained him nine points on Allgaier, but he remains in fifth, three points behind Berry. Austin Hill is still in sixth after finishing eighth. Brandon Jones finished 17th after a crash. That was good enough to keep him in seventh. Sam Mayer is still in eighth.
Riley Herbst finished 12th and stays in ninth. Daniel Hemric is 10th, then Ryan Sieg and Landon Cassill.
Cassill is the last driver in the playoffs at the moment. He is 47 points ahead of Sheldon Creed, who had his second straight top five finish to move up to 13th. Brandon Brown is down one position to 14th, while Our Motorsports teammates Anthony Alfredo and Brett Moffitt are 15th and 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 702, 2) Justin Allgaier -16, 3) Ty Gibbs -22, 4) Josh Berry -87, 5) Noah Gragson -90, 6) Austin Hill -147, 7) Brandon Jones
-173, 8) Sam Mayer -204, 9) Riley Herbst -229, 10) Daniel Hemric -250, 11) Ryan Sieg -286, 12) Landon Cassill -296, 13) Sheldon Creed -343, 14) Brandon Brown -362, 15) Anthony Alfredo -373, 16) Brett Moffitt -385.
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 23, 2) Noah Gragson -1, 3) Justin Allgaier -2, 4) Josh Berry -8, 5) AJ Allmendinger -11, 6) Austin Hill -12, 7) Brandon Jones
-17, t-8) Daniel Hemric -21, t-8) Trevor Bayne -21, t-8) Sam Mayer -21, t-11) Ryan Sieg -22, t-11) Myatt Snider -22.
Note: If they were eligible, Cole Custer would be tied for seventh, Tyler Reddick ninth, Kyle Larson tied for 10th, and John Hunter Nemechek and William Byron tied for 14th in playoff points.
Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 207, 2) Ty Gibbs -7, 3) Josh Berry -35, 4) Noah Gragson -36, 5) AJ Allmendinger -41, 6) Brandon Jones -83, 7) Sam Mayer
-90, 8) Daniel Hemric -110, 9) Austin Hill -116, 10) Trevor Bayne -140, 11) Riley Herbst -142, 12) Ryan Sieg -156, 13) Sheldon Creed -157, 14) Landon Cassill -159, 15) Brandon Brown -161, 16) Ryan Truex -179.
Note: If they were eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 12th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 660, 2) Ty Gibbs -44, 3) Justin Allgaier -61, 4) Austin Hill -68, 5) Josh Berry -85, 6) Noah Gragson -90, 7) Brandon Jones -127,
8) Riley Herbst -133, 9) Sam Mayer -155, 10) Ryan Sieg -170, 11) Daniel Hemric -180, 12) Landon Cassill -184, 13) Sheldon Creed -225, 14) Brett Moffitt -232, 15) Anthony Alfredo -234, 16) Brandon Brown -241.
WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 2868, 2) Ty Gibbs -140, 3) Justin Allgaier -198, 4) Austin Hill -228, 5) Josh Berry -264, 6) Noah Gragson
-267, t-7) Brandon Jones -454, t-7) Riley Herbst -454, 9) Sam Mayer -505, 10) Ryan Sieg -613, 11) Daniel Hemric -621, 12) Landon Cassill -637, 13) Sheldon Creed -757, 14) Anthony Alfredo -810, 15) Brett
Moffitt -813, 16) Brandon Brown -828.
Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta-2), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas, Atlanta-1, Richmond, Road America), Noah Gragson (Phoenix, Talladega, Pocono), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas, Portland), Brandon Jones (Martinsville), Josh Berry (Dover, Charlotte), Justin Allgaier (Darlington, Nashville, Loudon), Tyler Reddick (Texas)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs: Zane Smith Wins Regular Season Championship
by Phil Allaway
Zane Smith effectively clinched the regular season championship by starting Saturday's CRC Brakleen 150. He ultimately finished 13th, but that was enough to give him the regular season championship by 40 points over Saturday's winner Chandler Smith. Chandler Smith broke the tie with teammate John Hunter Nemechek with the win. Nemechek
finished third and finishes the regular season in third. Stewart Friesen finished 14th and will finish the regular season in fourth.
Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes ended the regular season tied for fifth. Majeski gained a spot after finishing seventh, while Eckes won stage two and finished eighth. Ben Rhodes dropped two places to seventh after finishing 19th. Carson Hocevar earned a fourth-place finish and finishes the regular season in eighth.
Grant Enfinger finished 17th to wrap up the regular season in ninth, while Matt Crafton took the final playoff spot in 10th. Crafton ended up 17 points ahead of Derek Kraus. Tyler Ankrum is 12th in points.
Matt DiBenedetto remains in 13th after finishing 12th. Tanner Gray is 14th in points, then Chase Purdy. Ryan Preece's second-place finish moved him back up to 16th.
When the playoffs start this weekend at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Zane Smith will have a 15-point lead over Chandler Smith. Rhodes will be third, then Nemechek and Friesen.
Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 616, 2) Chandler Smith -40, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -45, 4) Stewart Friesen -71, t-5) Ty Majeski -77, t-5) Christian Eckes
-77, 7) Ben Rhodes -84, 8) Carson Hocevar -108, 9) Grant Enfinger -169, 10) Matt Crafton -186, 11) Derek Kraus -203, 12) Tyler Ankrum -231, 13) Matt DiBenedetto
-256, 14) Tanner Gray -263, 15) Chase Purdy -292, 16) Ryan Preece -328.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 37, 2) Chandler Smith -15, 3) Ben Rhodes -20, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -21, 5) Stewart Friesen -24, 6) Christian Eckes -30, 7) Ty Majeski -31, 8) Carson Hocevar -32, 9) Grant Enfinger -35,
10) Matt Crafton -36.
Playoff Point Standings: 1) Zane Smith 2037, 2) Chandler Smith -15, 3) Ben Rhodes -20, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -21, 5) Stewart Friesen -24, 6) Christian Eckes -30, 7) Ty Majeski -31, 8) Carson Hocevar
-32, 9) Grant Enfinger -35, 10) Matt Crafton -36.
Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 158, 2) Zane Smith -7, 3) Ben Rhodes -15, 4) Chandler Smith -42, 5) Ty Majeski-43, 6) Christian Eckes -45, 7) Stewart Friesen
-52, 8) Carson Hocevar -53, 9) Derek Kraus -70, 10) Corey Heim -83, 11) Grant Enfinger -87, 12) Matt Crafton -95, t-13) Ryan Preece -98,
t-13) Parker Kligerman -98, 15) Tyler Ankrum -110, 16) Tanner Gray -120.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 412, 2) Chandler Smith -20, 3) Stewart Friesen -32, 4) Ty Majeski -37, 5) Christian Eckes -39, 6) John Hunter Nemechek
-51, 7) Carson Hocevar -60, 8) Ben Rhodes -77, 9) Grant Enfinger -95, 10) Matt Crafton -105, 11) Tyler Ankrum -138, 12) Derek Kraus -144, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -145, 14) Tanner
Gray -158, 15) Chase Purdy -165, 16) Colby Howard -195.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 2363, 2) Chandler Smith -46, 3) Stewart Friesen -132, 4) Christian Eckes -133, 5) Ty Majeski -151, 6) John Hunter Nemechek
-156, 7) Carson Hocevar -203, 8) Ben Rhodes -258, 9) Grant Enfinger -333, 10) Matt Crafton -394, 11) Derek Kraus -492, 12) Tyler Ankrum -503, 13) Matt DiBenedetto
-530, 14) Tanner Gray -556, 15) Chase Purdy -668, 16) Colby Howard -694.
Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Circuit of the Americas, Kansas), Chandler Smith (Las Vegas, Pocono), 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)
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 M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono Raceway was brought to you by the letter
D for "Don't mess with the bull, or you'll get the horns." NASCAR was serious when they told teams not to mess around with the Next Gen car as they would have no patience for it. Joe Gibbs Racing found that out the hard way on Sunday. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: M&M's Fan Appreciation 400
complied by Phil Allaway
"Yeah, definitely a bit of a battle for our NAPA team today. I’m pretty happy with third after that. I didn’t think we were all that good through the mid-portion of the race and I was struggling in traffic trying to get back up through there. We had some restarts go our way there towards the end and was able to get some spots back,
which was nice. It was good to get a topfive, but certainly could be a little better." - Chase Elliott, race winner post-disqualifications
"We definitely maximized our day in our No. 8 Sheetz Chevrolet that’s for sure. I think we only struggled a little bit at times in the race just with track position. It may look that way, but honestly our team did a good job and got better the further we went. If the cautions would have played out differently, I think we could have been in position at the end of the
race.
"All-in-all, we passed a lot of cars today and we did that well on the race track and on pit road. It was a great day for our team." - Tyler Reddick, finished second
"It was a good day for our No. 99 CommScope Chevy team. I thought we had a top five, top 10 car all day long. At the beginning, I thought we had a winning car. We made the right adjustments and all-in-all, it was a solid day all around for our team." - Daniel Suarez, finished third
"It was a good day. I had a couple good restarts that got us track position, then I had one really bad one where we got hit in the left rear and about spun out and went back to last. That hurt us really bad. My guys called a good race and we tried some different strategies to try to get track position. We stayed out on old tires but I felt like if I got a good restart and got into the top 10 I
could hold on. We restarted 16th with no tires and drove up to eighth so I am really proud of that finish. It is still not the day you want. You don’t want to be eighth, you want to win the race, but we are doing a great job and I feel like we are getting close."- Michael McDowell, finished sixth
"The mid part of the race we were really good and I was really happy with it. Just got tight at the end of the race. It cooled down a lot and we probably didn’t stay ahead of that enough. The FOCUS Factor Chevy was good. Frustrated. We had the speed, kind of all weekend, and then hacked up qualifying a little bit, had to start at the back and found our way back to the
front and then just got behind. A good weekend in the fact we did have good speed. It’s been a minute since we’ve had that kind of speed and I was happy with that. It’s frustrating that we came home 11th. You want to come home better than that with a car like that. Just got behind. It was a big day. Dave [Elenz] was enjoying his time off today and Danny [Efland] was enjoying his time on the box today so we had a lot of different stuff going on. I don’t think that was any benefit to our
situation, but a good day. We’ve got to keep pushing, got to keep going. We’ve got to win at the point so hopefully we can find ourselves in that spot." - Erik Jones, finished ninth
"First of all, I want to say thank you to God for giving me this opportunity. Thank you to Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. Everybody at 23XI. The most important thing right now is about Kurt’s health and hopefully he can get back in this seat. He drives way better than me so he deserves this. He’s been awesome. He’s helped me out so much. I want to say thank you to
him. We had a fast McDonald’s Camry TRD. I had a great time so Michael [Jordan], if you’re watching I want to say thank you. It’s a big pleasure to wear this on my shoulder and on my shoes. I had a great time and I learned a lot so it was awesome. Thank you to Monster Energy.
"[The biggest surprise to me was the dirty air and how bad that affects you. Just being able to make sure I was getting out far enough. I was a little bit tight all day, so just trying to get front turn and trying to get more center turn which would help me. It was a learning day. I felt like I learned a lot. I’m very thankful. It was close to almost a top 15. It
was fun racing with Brad [Keselowski]. Never thought I’d race with these guys. It was just cool being next to them on the track. So, to 10-year-old Ty that means a lot. I don’t think I would ever expect that." - Ty Gibbs, finished 18th
"It was something that has been owed to me for a few months now. I’m proud of the effort by Trackhouse Racing and everybody on this No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevy. It’s week in and week out that we keep bringing fast Chevy Camaro’s. Everybody at Advent Health, Moose Fraternity and Jockey – to keep bringing bullets like that and keep bringing fast cars is a testament to
everybody at Chevrolet." - Ross Chastain, finished 32nd (Crashed out)
"I just got loose. It was one of those things. You get loose off three and think you can save it but you can’t. I just couldn’t save it. Gosh, I hate it for everyone on the 12 group. We finally got the car decent and we were running top five there and had a flat tire and had to come in and then I just tried too hard and it stepped away from me. I hate it for Menards
and Ford and everybody. That was my mistake. We will go at it again next week." - Ryan Blaney, finished 33rd (Crashed out)
"I’ve been blessed to be with a great race team my entire career and that’s carried me a long way. But today was definitely a team thing. This guy right here, Chris Gabehart, just made some great strategy calls to make up the positions that I lost when I spun out. Wow, just a great team effort.
"We drove in deep and [Ross Chastain] drove in deep and I’m not even sure if we made contact, maybe we did. He ended up running out of race track. He knew I was going to race him hard, what else do you want me to do after the wrecks that I’ve had and that’s what we did today." - Denny Hamlin, finished 37th (Disqualified). Comments are from before the
DQ.
"The second-to-last run there where we had [Ross Chastain] car there trailing us, he was a little better than us. It’s hard to pass, but having the car trending loose on me, we made an adjustment for that with as many laps as there was going to be to go with that last pit stop, but we just over did it I guess and missed it on that last run unfortunately. I was just
way too tight and didn’t have the roll speed that I needed through the corners. The guys did a great job and bust their tails for me every week and do a really great job for me on this M&M’s Camry. Appreciate all of them and their support and what they do. Obviously, wish we had a little bit more today and of course with the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 race, it would have been nice to honor all the associates that were here in attendance to give them something to celebrate with us in
victory lane. Just one spot short in qualifying and one spot short in the race." - Kyle Busch, finished 38th (Disqualified)
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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