Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 31, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CXCI |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops in North Carolina today after the short drive back from Martinsville. Entry lists for Championship Weekend in
Phoenix should be released today. We'll have those and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Oct. 28-30 |
- Ferrari officially unveiled the new Ferrari 499P Saturday at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy as part of the Ferrari Challenge Finali Mondiali. The new Hypercar, which will carry the
Nos. 50 and 51 in the WEC, will also sport a throwback paint scheme that dates back to the Ferrari 312P prototypes of the early 1970s. The manufacturer did not announce driver lineups for the two cars. Also, the car is currently only set to race in the WEC although there is a framework
for Hypercars to compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's GTP class. - The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series held their penultimate event of the year Sunday, the Nevada Nationals, in Las Vegas. Brittany Force defeated Mike Salinas with a run at 3.705 seconds at 332.34 mph
for her fifth win of the year in Top Fuel. Force has a seven-point lead over Justin Ashley with one race remaining. Salinas is third, then Antron Brown and Steve Torrence. In Funny Car, Matt Hagan won with a time of 3.896 seconds at 330.23 mph after Robert Hight dropped engine cylinders during
his run to take his fourth win of the season. Hight still holds a 61-point lead over Ron Capps, then Hagan, John Force and Bob Tasca III. Erica Enders clinched the Pro Stock championship in the Semifinals Sunday. She then defeated Troy Coughlin Jr. in the finals with a pass at 6.64 seconds
(206.86 mph) to take her 10th win of the year. Finally, Hector Arana Jr. claimed his second win of the year with a holeshot victory over Matt Smith with a lap at 6.866 seconds (196.42 mph). Matt Smith still holds a 104-point lead over Joey Gladstone. Jerry Savoie is third, then Angie Smith and
Steve Johnson. Outside of the major divisions, Tony Stewart made his NHRA debut in the Top Alcohol Dragster class. Stewart advanced all the way to the finals before losing to Madison Payne. Stewart had a faster time, but Payne beat him off the line by four-thousandths of a second. That ended
up being just enough as the margin of victory was a mere .0002 of a second. |
These are just a sample of the 23 videos that we uploaded this past weekend from Martinsville. For more, please check out our YouTube page. |
| | Christopher Bell Wins at Martinsville; Video Game Move Nets Ross
Chastain Final Transfer SpotJoe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell took the lead from Chase Briscoe with five laps to go and held on to win the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway and lock
into the Championship 4. Kyle Larson was second, then Ryan Blaney. Brad Keselowski was fourth on the road, but was disqualified after failing a weight check. That elevated Ross Chastain, who made a wild move to finish fourth, while Denny Hamlin fifth. |
| | Drivers React to Ross Chastain’s Video Game Move To Make Championship
4Naturally, when something as wild as Ross Chastain's move on the final lap occurs, there are a lot of people that react to it. We've collected some of the driver's
reactions to Chastain's video game move to advance into the Championship 4. |
| | Ty Gibbs Spins Teammate Brandon Jones in Overtime, Wins at
MartinsvilleTy Gibbs intentionally wrecked his own teammate Brandon Jones entering turn 1 on the final lap Saturday to win the Dead On Tools 250. Sheldon Creed finished
second, then Riley Herbst, Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier. |
| | Xfinity Drivers React to Ty Gibbs Dumping Brandon Jones at
MartinsvilleThe end of Saturday's race resulted in a loud chorus of boos from the assembled crowd at Martinsville. Drivers had their own opinions of Ty Gibbs'
actions. |
| | Parker Kligerman Running Full Time for Big Machine Racing in
2023Big Machine Racing announced in a press conference at Martinsville Saturday that Parker Kligerman will drive the team's No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet
full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2023. |
| | Max Verstappen Breaks Wins Record At Mexico
CityRed Bull's Max Verstappen made use of an alternate tire strategy Sunday to win the Grand Prix of Mexico for his record-breaking 14th win of the season. Lewis
Hamilton was second, then Sergio Perez, George Russell and Carlos Sainz Jr. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and Bryn Lennon 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 Wins Round of 8; Ross Chastain Wall Rides To Berth
by Phil Allaway
Joey Logano finished sixth Sunday in Martinsville. That ended up just being enough for him to win the Round of 8 by one point over Ross Chastain. While Chastain claimed after the race that the tactics used were out of NASCAR 2005: Chase For The Cup, it was much more akin to the original 1994 NASCAR Racing game for
PCs. Wherever he got the idea from, he went from 10th to fifth on the final lap, then got bumped up to fourth when Brad Keselowski was disqualified. Chase Elliott finished 10th, but scored 18 stage points to hold onto third and claim the last spot in the Championship 4 on points. Elliott's margin was four points over Denny Hamlin, who finished fifth and was good to go until the final 200 feet of the race. William Byron had a bad qualifying effort Saturday and never really recovered. He ended up finishing seventh, but scored no stage points and ended up missing out by 21 points. Ryan Blaney finished third, but could not move up from sixth. Christopher Bell's victory advanced him into the
Championship 4, but could not move him out of seventh. Chase Briscoe made the right move by gambling on worn tires, but he ended up fading to ninth and finished the round in eighth. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Kyle Larson finished second to stay in ninth.
He ended the round 57 points ahead of Daniel Suarez, who ran well early before fading to 12th. Austin Dillon crashed out hard due to a brake rotor failure, but stayed in 11th. Austin Cindric dropped a lap down early on and ended up 26th with a smashed in nose. He still moved up to 12th. Tyler Reddick was forced to retire from the race due to health issues that likely stemmed from his crash in Homestead. The 36th-place finish dropped him to 13th. Kyle Busch is still in 14th, but had one of the most miserable races of his career Sunday as he lost five laps to the leaders in stage one. Alex Bowman is still 15th, while Kevin Harvick is 16th. Martin Truex Jr. is locked into 17th after a not particularly great performance. He is 193 points ahead of Erik Jones. Bubba Wallace, back from his suspension, had a quiet but successful run up to eighth from 24th. That allowed him to take back 19th from
Aric Almirola. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Joey Logano 4141, 2) Ross Chastain -1, 3) Chase Elliott -3, 4) Denny Hamlin -7, 5) William Byron -24, 6) Ryan Blaney -29, 7) Christopher Bell -36, 8) Chase Briscoe -64.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the Round of 12. Note No. 2: Drivers in italics have been eliminated from the playoffs, or never qualified for the playoffs. Championship 4 Point Standings: t-1) Joey Logano 5000, t-1) Ross Chastain 5000, t-1) Chase Elliott 5000, t-1) Christopher Bell 5000. Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: 5) Denny Hamlin 2350, 6) William Byron -11, 7) Kyle Larson -34, 8) Ryan Blaney -50, 9) Daniel Suarez -91, 10) Chase
Briscoe -106, 11) Austin Dillon -146, 12) Austin Cindric -152, 13) Tyler Reddick -153, 14) Kyle Busch -156, 15) Alex Bowman -246, 16) Kevin Harvick -265. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott
1192, 2) Joey Logano -98, t-3) Kyle Larson -106, t-3) Ryan Blaney -106, 5) Ross Chastain -124, 6) Christopher Bell -159, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -191, 8) William Byron -201, 9) Denny Hamlin
-244, 10) Kyle Busch -285, 11) Daniel Suarez -313, 12) Tyler Reddick -366, 13) Chase Briscoe -380, 14) Erik Jones -384, 15) Austin Cindric -386, 16) Kevin Harvick -409. Playoff Points: 1) Chase Elliott 46, 2) Joey Logano -15, 3) Ross Chastain -25, 4) Christopher Bell -23, 5) Ryan Blaney -30, t-6) William Byron -31, t-6) Denny Hamlin -31, 8) Chase Briscoe -37. Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Martin Truex Jr.
1001, 18) Erik Jones -193, 19) Bubba Wallace -252, 20) Aric Almirola -258, 21) Chris Buescher -290, 22) Justin Haley -312, 23) Michael McDowell -350, 24) Brad Keselowski -374, 25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -426, 26) Cole Custer -433. Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott 298, 2) Ryan Blaney -19, 3) Kyle Larson -22, 4) Joey Logano -27, 5) William Byron -58, 6) Ross Chastain
-64, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -69, 8) Christopher Bell -85, 9) Kyle Busch -95, 10) Denny Hamlin -103, 11) Daniel Suarez -149, 12) Chase Briscoe -157, 13) Tyler Reddick -173, 14) Erik Jones -183, 15) Bubba Wallace -195, 16) Alex Bowman -202.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at
Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 1054, 2) Ross Chastain -65, t-3) Joey Logano -81, t-3) Ryan Blaney
-81, 5) Christopher Bell -82, 6) Kyle Larson -87, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -114, 8) Denny Hamlin -141, 9) William Byron -146, 10) Daniel Suarez -173, 11) Austin Cindric -184, 12) Austin Dillon
-192, 13) Kyle Busch -193, 14) Tyler Reddick -198, 15) Erik Jones -209, 16) Kevin Harvick -216. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott
4733, 2) Ross Chastain -159, 3) Joey Logano -225, 4) Ryan Blaney -244, 5) Kyle Larson -258, 6) Christopher Bell -263, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -430, 8) Denny Hamlin -443, 9) William Byron
-508, 10) Daniel Suarez -600, t-11) Tyler Reddick -605, t-11) Kyle Busch -605, 13) Austin Cindric -650, 14) Kevin Harvick -658, 15) Austin Dillon -676, 16) Erik Jones -730. 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, Homestead), Alex Bowman (Las Vegas-1), Chase Briscoe (Phoenix), William Byron (Atlanta-1, Martinsville-1), Ross Chastain (Circuit of the Americas, Talladega), Denny Hamlin (Richmond-1, Charlotte-1), Kyle
Busch (Bristol-1), Chase Elliott (Dover, Nashville, Atlanta-2, Pocono), Joey Logano (Darlington-1, Gateway, Las Vegas-2), Kurt Busch (Kansas-1), Daniel Suarez (Sonoma), Tyler Reddick (Road America, Indianapolis), Christopher Bell (Loudon, Charlotte-2, Martinsville-2), Kevin Harvick (Michigan, Richmond-2), Austin Dillon (Daytona-2), Erik Jones (Darlington-2), Bubba Wallace (Kansas-2), Chris Buescher (Bristol-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.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Noah Gragson Wins Round of 8; Justin Allgaier Claims Last Spot In Championship 4
by Phil
Allaway
Noah Gragson finished fourth Saturday at Martinsville, but scored only seven stage points. He still managed
to win the Round of 8, but it ended up much closer than it really was. Ty Gibbs scored his sixth win of the year under very controversial circumstances and ended up only 12 points behind. Justin Allgaier finished fifth and moved up to third, the last driver to qualify for the Championship 4 on points. Allgaier ended up 12 points in front of AJ Allmendinger, who was forced to pit due to a flat tire and ended up 16th. Austin Hill got caught up in a couple of late incidents, but still recovered to finish ninth and end up fifth in the round. That might change after he got in a post-race altercation with Myatt Snider on pit road. Josh Berry got spun out in the closing laps and ended up 20th. He's still in the Championship 4 by virtue of his win at Las Vegas. Sam Mayer finished sixth and stayed in seventh. Brandon Jones
probably walked out of Martinsville with more fans Saturday, but he was wrecked out of the lead on the final lap and ended up 23rd. As a result, he finished the round in eighth. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Daniel Hemric came from the rear after a practice crash Friday to finish
eighth. That allowed him to hold onto ninth, 24 points ahead of Riley Herbst, who finished a season-best third. Ryan Sieg had another terrible day with a crash in turn 1 that resulted in a 33rd-place finish to keep him in 11th. Jeremy Clements remains in 12th. Landon Cassill suffered an early mechanical failure that put him in the turn 3 wall and out of the race. He is 21
points ahead of Sheldon Creed, who finished second. Anthony Alfredo is 15th, while Jeb Burton is up to 16th. With the point reset, Allmendinger has a 52-point lead over Hill, assuming HIll doesn't get penalized for his punch. Mayer is
seventh, then Hemric, Jones and Herbst. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Noah Gragson 3209, 2) Ty
Gibbs -12, 3) Justin Allgaier -52, 4) AJ Allmendinger -64, 5) Austin Hill -70, 6) Josh Berry -85, 7) Sam Mayer -91, 8) Brandon Jones -110.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the Round of
8. Note No. 2: Drivers in italics have failed to qualify, or were otherwise ineligible for the playoffs. Championship 4 Point Standings: t-1) Noah Gragson 4000, t-1) Ty Gibbs 4000,
t-1) Justin Allgaier 4000, t-1) Josh Berry 4000 Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: 5) AJ Allmendinger 2297, 6) Austin Hill -52,
7) Sam Mayer -66, 8) Daniel Hemric -106, 9) Brandon Jones -108, 10) Riley Herbst -130, 11) Ryan Sieg -188, 12) Jeremy Clements -238. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger
1301, 2) Noah Gragson -43, 3) Ty Gibbs -46, 4) Justin Allgaier -82, 5) Josh Berry -194, 6) Austin Hill -266, 7) Brandon Jones -325, 8) Sam Mayer -355, 9) Riley Herbst
-425, 10) Daniel Hemric -475, 11) Landon Cassill -567, 12) Ryan Sieg -587, 13) Sheldon Creed -588, 14) Anthony Alfredo -670, 15) Jeb Burton -762, 16) Brandon Brown -764. Best of the Rest: 13) Landon Cassill
734, 14) Sheldon Creed -21, 15) Anthony Alfredo -103, 16) Jeb Burton -195, 17) Brandon Brown -197, 18) Myatt Snider -219, 19) Alex Labbe -292, 20) Brett Moffitt -318, 21) Bayley Currey -324, 22) Trevor Bayne -377. Playoff Points: 1) Noah Gragson 64, 2) Ty Gibbs -19, 3) AJ Allmendinger -20, 4) Justin Allgaier -31, 5) Josh Berry -37, 6) Austin Hill -46, 7) Brandon Jones -52, 8) Sam Mayer -59. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 350, 2) Ty Gibbs -2, 3) Noah Gragson -16, 4) AJ Allmendinger -48, 5) Josh Berry -96, 6) Brandon Jones -132, 7) Austin Hill -153, 8) Sam Mayer
-168, 9) Daniel Hemric -202, 10) Riley Herbst -239, 11) Trevor Bayne -254, 12) Sheldon Creed -255, 13) Landon Cassill -275, 14) Ryan Sieg -280, 15) Brandon Brown -298, 16) Anthony Alfredo -304. Note:
If he was eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 13th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 1138, 2) Noah
Gragson -67, 3) Ty Gibbs -76, 4) Justin Allgaier -136, 5) Josh Berry -141, 6) Austin Hill -157, 7) Brandon Jones -239, 8) Sam Mayer -242, 9) Riley Herbst -244, 10) Daniel Hemric
-326, 11) Landon Cassill -353, 12) Ryan Sieg -362, 13) Sheldon Creed -385, 14) Anthony Alfredo -423, 15) Jeb Burton -500, 16) Jeremy Clements -519. WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 4931, 2) Noah Gragson -185, 3) Ty Gibbs -232, 4) Justin Allgaier -442, 5) Josh Berry -490, 6) Austin Hill -540, 7) Sam Mayer -821, 8) Brandon Jones -848, 9) Riley Herbst -851, 10) Daniel Hemric -1143, 11) Landon Cassill
-1236, 12) Ryan Sieg -1280, 13) Sheldon Creed -1305, 14) Anthony Alfredo -1481, 15) Jeb Burton -1735, 16) Jeremy Clements -1775.
Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, Atlanta-2), Cole Custer (Fontana), Ty Gibbs (Las Vegas-1, Atlanta-1, Richmond, Road America, Michigan, Martinsville-2), Noah Gragson (Phoenix, Talladega-1, Pocono, Darlington-2, Kansas, Bristol, Texas-2, Homestead), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas, Portland, Indianapolis, Talladega-2, Charlotte-2), Brandon Jones (Martinsville-1), Josh Berry (Dover, Charlotte-1, Las Vegas-2), Justin Allgaier
(Darlington-1, Nashville, Loudon), Tyler Reddick (Texas-1), Kyle Larson (Watkins Glen), Jeremy Clements (Daytona-2) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Seeking the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship: Off-Week Update No. 14
by Phil
Allaway
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was off last week. They will decide their champion Friday night at Phoenix
Raceway. When the teams get all the way out to Arizona, Zane Smith, Chandler Smith,
Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski will be vying for the crown. Outside of the Championship 4, John Hunter Nemechek leads the rest of the former playoff contenders by three points over Stewart Friesen. Grant Enfinger is seventh, then Christian Eckes and Matt Crafton. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Zane Smith
3158, 2) Chandler Smith -10, 3) Ben Rhodes -22, 4) Stewart Friesen -23, 5) Christian Eckes -32, 6) Ty Majeski -34, 7) Grant Enfinger -65, 8) John Hunter Nemechek -72.
Championship 4 Point Standings: t-1) Chandler Smith 4000, t-1) Zane Smith 4000, t-1) Ben Rhodes 4000, t-1) Ty Majeski 4000. Eliminated Playoff Driver Point Standings: 5) John Hunter Nemechek 2236,
6) Stewart Friesen -3, 7) Grant Enfinger -9, 8) Christian Eckes -15, 9) Matt Crafton -64, 10) Carson Hocevar -77.
Best of the
Rest (11-20): 11) Derek Kraus 569, 12) Tyler Ankrum -9, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -63, 14) Corey Heim -110, 15) Tanner Gray -111, 16) Chase Purdy -137, 17) Ryan Preece -159, t-18) Parker Kligerman -169, t-18) Colby Howard -169, 20) Timmy Hill
-211.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 857, 2) Chandler Smith -38, 3) Ty Majeski -66, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -74, 5) Stewart Friesen
-92, 6) Christian Eckes -104, 7) Ben Rhodes -115, 8) Grant Enfinger -190, 9) Carson Hocevar -195, 10) Matt Crafton
-256, 11) Derek Kraus -288, 12) Tyler Ankrum -297, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -351, 14) Corey Heim -398, 15) Tanner Gray -399, 16) Chase Purdy -425.
Playoff
Points: 1) Zane Smith 38, 2) Chandler Smith -7, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -13, t-4) Ben Rhodes -20, t-4) Ty Majeski -20, 6) Stewart Friesen -25, t-7) Grant Enfinger -31, t-7) Christian Eckes -31. Stage Points: 1) John Hunter
Nemechek 228, 2) Zane Smith -21, 3) Chandler Smith -37, 4) Ben Rhodes -38, 5) Ty Majeski -47, 6) Stewart Friesen -59, 7) Christian Eckes -69, 8) Carson Hocevar -99, 9) Grant Enfinger
-106, 10) Corey Heim -114, 11) Derek Kraus -125, 12) Ryan Preece -146, 13) Matt Crafton -150,
14) Tyler Ankrum -162, 15) Parker Kligerman -166, 16) Tanner Gray -179. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 577, 2) Chandler Smith -26, 3) Ty Majeski -35, 4) Christian Eckes -57, 5) Stewart Friesen
-64, 6) John Hunter Nemechek -90, 7) Ben Rhodes -101, 8) Grant Enfinger -114, 9) Carson Hocevar -116, 10) Matt Crafton -137, 11) Tyler Ankrum -170, 12) Derek Kraus -190, 13) Matt DiBenedetto
-195, 14) Chase Purdy -250, 15) Tanner Gray -253, 16) Colby Howard -276. WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 3298, 2) Chandler Smith -124, 3) Ty Majeski -158, 4) Christian Eckes -219, 5) Stewart Friesen
-260, 6) John Hunter Nemechek -306, 7) Ben Rhodes -351, 8) Carson Hocevar -407, 9) Grant Enfinger -411, 10) Matt Crafton -528, 11) Tyler Ankrum -649, 12) Derek Kraus -677, 13) Matt DiBenedetto
-728, 14) Tanner Gray -897, 15) Chase Purdy -973, 16) Colby Howard -988. 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, Homestead)
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Xfinity 500 was brought to you by the letter P for Papyrus. Ross Chastain's move on the final lap was
straight out of Papyrus' first NASCAR game, 1994's NASCAR Racing, for the PC. That said, that move typically didn't work well at Martinsville in my experience. It worked best at another track. That was Phoenix. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Xfinity 500
complied by Phil Allaway
"Mom and dad, we did it, wow. I can’t believe it, man. To come here in Martinsville, this place has always been so tough on me. Just pre-race looking up, seeing all the fans, this place is packed. "I don’t even know what to say. Just thank you so much to DeWalt, Rheem, Toyota, everyone on this Joe Gibbs Racing [No.] 20 team. They believed in me since day one. We went to Xfinity and did pretty well, struggled
on the Cup side for the first little bit. They stayed with me. Very appreciative to be here. I don’t even know what to say." - Christopher Bell, race winner "It must have been a little bit easier [to pass today]. [Denny Hamlin] was able to drive to the lead there. The leaders lapped a
lot of cars today. To me, it seemed to be very close to normal Martinsville, but maybe still a little bit harder to pass when you got within a car length. "It’s pretty cool to see Christopher [Bell] earn those two wins to advance; into the Round of 8 and now into the Championship 4. That’s a pretty spectacular job with what
he did there today to get to the lead earlier around the midway point, and there again late. It was fun to be a part of the battle. I was hoping I could edge him out, but it’s really cool to see the job that him and his team did the last month or so." - Kyle Larson, finished second
"It just wasn’t quite enough. It
was a wild day. I didn’t think we were great to start. We kind of faded at the end of that first stage, but we got better throughout the night, which is good, and found ourselves in second on the second-to-last run and kind of ran the 20 down. I got to him and then you burn your stuff up trying to pass somebody. There weren’t many passes for the lead tonight and then the last restart I thought I was in a good spot on the bottom. I thought more pandemonium was gonna happen than that and
[Christopher Bell] got down and he was able to kind of go to work and I couldn’t really get going as good. It’s unfortunate not to transfer, but proud of the effort. I didn’t do a great job the last two weeks and put us in a bad spot, but I’m proud of everyone all year and we’ll try to go run well at Phoenix." - Ryan Blaney, finished third "For me, I back up to the last pit stop and just having a chance. My pit crew gained us a few of spots and gave us a chance. We got in front of the [Denny Hamlin] there and he missed turn three a bit. He fired the first shot and then I returned it. He returned it, I returned and I was finally like ‘you know what, I’m going to wreck’ so I’m just going to let him go and I’ll run right with him. He gained a few spots; he was
just better. "I did everything I could. I couldn’t keep pace and I couldn’t pass. I really struggled to pass all race long. I double-checked off turn 2 that we had to have two spots. We were out and I couldn’t see who the leader was. I grabbed fifth gear, got up against the wall and came to the finish." - Ross Chastain, finished fourth
"You got to execute all day. We just didn’t control the race when we had control of it. Each caution we just kept losing some spots. That’s the way it is. But thank Chris Gabehart (crew chief), the whole FedEx Camry team for giving me a fast car today. It was unbelievable when it was out front. Yeah,
just couldn’t quite hang on to it there on pit road. But congrats to [Christopher Bell], those guys just did an amazing job, really capitalizing and doing well, winning races when they needed to. Hopefully they can carry the banner for us." - Denny Hamlin, finished
fifth
"It was interesting. We were OK. I thought we were capable of running in the top five for sure. We had that fire and had to pit to fix the fire and we lost our track position and then it’s just hard to pass. You get a couple spots here. You get a couple on a restart. You get a couple on pit road and then we kind of found ourselves in the spot
you don’t want to be in – you are the point person. If [Denny Hamlin] passes me, he’s in. If he stays behind me, he’s out. That’s like the last guy you want to be, so I figured I was gonna get knocked out of the way at some point. We accomplished our goal. We did a really good job on pit road. We needed some good stops and got some momentum there. We had a solid race car. I didn’t make any enemies and I still have my crew chief next week. Those were the goals and we did that." - Joey Logano, finished sixth
"Unfortunately, we weren’t really in the game. I knew that early on in the race, we were making some progress, but we just struggled all day. The first three-quarters of the race were pretty miserable. Nothing like what we had in the spring. We were just tight with not a lot of pace. The No. 24 Liberty
University Chevy team kept their heads down and got a decent finish out of it, so that was a good lesson for the day." - William Byron, finished seventh "Yeah, that was kind of the only play I felt like we really had. I was honestly surprised nobody else stayed out in front of me. We
couldn’t really pass all day long, so we knew if we restarted eighth, where I think we were running, we probably would have run seventh or eighth. I thought it was gonna work for a second. I thought if the race was 10 less laps I was probably gonna win, but I just fell off a cliff really hard there at the end. It’s unfortunate, but I had a shot. The penalty early in the race killed us. Like I said, it was really hard to pass and had to scrap and claw position by position and it took us a really long time to get back up there, but I thought our car was pretty good towards the end. It would have been nice to be on even tires, for sure. I felt like we had a car capable of running up front and battling for the win, but that was really the only play we had left." -
Chase Briscoe, finished ninth
"We just need to finish it off better. We have a shot at the championship next week and that’s a big deal. We’ll be ready.
"Making it to the Championship 4 is obviously a big deal. I wish we could have finished better there at the end. We ran first, second or third there all day and just kind of slipped there at the end. It’s frustrating, but like I said, it’s nice to make it through." - Chase Elliott, finished 10th
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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