Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 10, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CLXXVI |
- NASCAR teams are back at work, preparing for Las Vegas. Entry lists for this weekend's races should be released today. We'll have those and
anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Oct. 7-10 |
Jamie Chadwick, by virtue of her performances to this point in the season, has been crowned W Series champion for the third time. She won the title by 50 points over Beitske Visser. Alice Powell was third, then Abbi Pulling and Belen Garcia. - Matt Sheppard swept the two biggest races of Super DIRT Week at Oswego Speedway. He won Saturday's Salute to the Troops 150 for 358 Modifieds and took the lead with 40 laps to go Sunday to win the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 for the Super DIRTcar Series. Read more about the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 in today's edition of Thinkin' Dirty at Frontstretch. - In World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series action, it was a great weekend for Anthony Macri. On Friday night, Macri led flag-to-flag to win Night No. 1 of the Nittany Showdown at Port Royal Speedway. Lance Dewease was second, then Logan Wagner, Justin Whittall and David Gravel in a night dominated by the Pennsylvania Posse. Night No. 2 of the Nittany Showdown saw Macri take the lead on lap 15 from Brent Marks and hold on from there to claim $25,000 and the Nittany Showdown weekend sweep. Marks was second, then Gravel, Donny Schatz and Dewease. Points leader Brad Sweet was a bit off, finishing 13th and ninth. His lead is 66 points over Gravel with six races remaining. Carson Macedo is third, then Schatz and Sheldon Haudenschild. |
This is just a sample of the 34 videos that we posted from Charlotte Motor Speedway over the weekend. Check out our YouTube channel for more! |
| | Christopher Bell Advances to Round of 8 With Charlotte ROVAL
WinJoe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell took advantage of fresh tires late to charge past Kevin Harvick to win the Bank of America ROVAL 400. Harvick was second,
then Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley. |
| | AJ Allmendinger Wins 4th Xfinity ROVAL Race in a
RowKaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger is the king of the ROVAL in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Saturday was no exception. Allmendinger snatched the lead late from
Ty Gibbs to win his fourth straight Drive For The Cure 250k. Gibbs was second, then Gragson, James Davison and Justin Allgaier. |
| | Kaulig Racing Announces Daniel Hemric Return for
2023During a press conference Sunday morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kaulig Racing announced that Daniel Hemric will be back in the No. 11 Chevrolet in
2023. |
| | James Davison Shows No Rust With 4th-Place Xfinity ROVAL
FinishJames Davison made his first NASCAR start of 2022 Saturday in the Drive For The Cure 250k. Despite not racing in NASCAR in nearly a year, Davison was very strong.
Despite running into Riley Herbst at one point, he still managed to finish fourth. |
| | Max Verstappen Wins Japanese Grand Prix, World Championship In
Bizarre FashionRed Bull's Max Verstappen clinched the Formula 1 World Championship in the wee hours of Sunday morning with a dominant victory in a rain-shortened Grand Prix of
Japan. Sergio Perez was second, then Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton. |
| | Nyck de Vries Joins AlphaTauri for
2023AlphaTauri announced Friday that Formula E racer and former Formula 2 champion will join the team full-time in 2023, replacing Pierre
Gasly. |
| | Pierre Gasly to Compete for Alpine in
2023With Nyck de Vries in at AlphaTauri, Gasly didn't take long to find a replacement ride. He'll move over to Alpine to replace Fernando
Alonso. |
| | Sammy Smith Wins Race, Nick Sanchez Wins ARCA Title at
ToledoKyle Busch Motorsports' Sammy Smith executed a bump and run to knock both Jesse Love and Grant Enfinger out of the way with two laps to go to win the ARCA Menards
Series Shore Lunch 200 at Toledo Speedway Saturday. Love was second, then Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Rajah Caruth. Nick Sanchez finished sixth and won the ARCA Menards Series championship. |
| | Craft Bamboo Racing Wins Indianapolis 8
HourCraft Bamboo Racing's Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella and Daniel Morad barely squeaked out the overall victory in Saturday's Indianapolis 8 Hour at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. |
| | George Kurtz Comes From Back Of SRO3 To Win Indianapolis GT America
Race No. 1George Kurtz recovered from a post-qualifying penalty to win GT America Race No. 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Friday afternoon. Ross Chouest won in
GT4. |
| | George Kurtz Scores 10th GT America Win of 2022; Ross Chouest Wins
GT4 ChampionshipGeorge Kurtz won his 10th GT America race of the year Sunday in Indianapolis. Meanwhile, Ross Chouest won the GT4 class on a last lap pass and claimed the GT4
championship. |
| | Flying Lizard’s Andy Lee, Elias Sabo Win Indianapolis Pirelli GT4
America Race No. 1Flying Lizard Motorsports' Andy Lee went from third to first on the final restart Saturday morning to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 1 at Indianapolis for himself and teammate Elias Sabo.
Rennsport One's Eric Filguerias and Stevan McAleer won the Silver class, while Carrus Callas Raceteam's Terry Borcheller and Nick Shanny won in the Am class. |
| | Eric Filguerias, Stevan McAleer Score 11th Win in Pirelli GT4 America
SprintX Season FinaleStevan McAleer passed Austen Smith with 29 minutes to go and held on to win the final Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race of the year Sunday in Indianapolis.
Chouest-Povoledo Racing's Ross Chouest and Aaron Povoledo won in Pro-Am, while AutoTechnic Racing's Alex Filsinger and Rob Walker won the Am class. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Red Bull, Clive Rose of Getty Images, Brian Cleary and Fabian Lagunas of SRO Motorsports Group 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: Chase Elliott Wins Round of 12 Via Tiebreaker
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott led a race-high 30 laps Sunday in Charlotte and looked good to pick up a victory before a debris caution changed everything. A couple of
incidents later and he ended up 20th. That was still enough for him to tie Ryan Blaney for the lead at the end of the Round of 12. Elliott gets the tiebreaker by virtue of his win in Talladega. Joey Logano finished 18th and ended up one point behind Elliott and Blaney in third. Denny Hamlin finished 13th and finished the round in fourth. William Byron got his 25 points back on Thursday and they were critical. He finished 16th and moved up two places to fifth. If he didn't get the points back,
he would have been eliminated. Ross Chastain won stage two, but hit the wall and ended up having to go to the garage for repairs. His 37th-place finish dropped him to sixth. Chase Briscoe finished ninth and moved up to seventh, claiming the last spot in the Round of 8 on points. He beat out Kyle Larson by two points. Larson got too aggressive on the curbs and had to pit due to suspension issues, finishing five laps down in
35th. Daniel Suarez was looking good to advance until the power steering failed on his Camaro. He had to make two unscheduled stops to have fluid put into the
system and finished five laps down in 36th. That dropped him to ninth. Austin Cindric was in position to advance until he got spun out with two laps to go and ended up 21st. That keeps him in 10th. Christopher Bell used fresh tires to come up through the field and claim the win. He stayed in 11th, but it was enough for him to advance. Alex Bowman sat out again due to his concussion and ended the round in 12th. Of those already eliminated from the playoffs, Tyler Reddick ended the round in 13th after finishing eighth. He had a 19-point advantage over his teammate
Austin Dillon. Kyle Busch was 15th, while Kevin Harvick was 16th. Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead those who failed to make the playoffs. He is now 147 points ahead of Erik Jones, who finished 11th.
Bubba Wallace scored a quiet seventh-place finish to stay in 19th, while Aric Almirola is 20th. When the Round of 8 starts next weekend in Las Vegas, Elliott will have a 20-point lead over Logano. Chastain is third, then Bell and a tie for fifth between Blaney and
Byron. Round of 12 Point Standings: t-1) Chase Elliott 3121, t-1) Ryan Blaney 3121, 3) Joey Logano -1, 4) Denny Hamlin -4, 5) William Byron -8, 6) Ross Chastain -13, 7) Chase Briscoe
-17, 8) Kyle Larson -19, 9) Daniel Suarez -26, 10) Austin Cindric -30, 11) Christopher Bell -45, 12) Alex Bowman -106.
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. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Chase Elliott 4046, 2) Joey Logano -20, 3) Ross Chastain -25, 4) Christopher Bell -28, t-5) Ryan Blaney -31, t-5) William Byron -31, 7) Denny Hamlin -33, 8) Chase Briscoe -37. Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: 9) Kyle Larson -2200, 10) Daniel Suarez -38, 11) Austin Cindric -46, 12) Tyler Reddick -47, 13) Austin Dillon -66, 14) Kyle Busch -77, 15) Alex Bowman -96, 16) Kevin Harvick -194. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 1100, 2) Ryan Blaney -111, 3) Joey Logano -121, 4) Kyle Larson -130, 5) Ross Chastain -151, 6) Christopher Bell
-154, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -200, 8) William Byron -211, 9) Kyle Busch -264, 10) Denny Hamlin -273, t-11) Tyler Reddick -318, t-11) Daniel Suarez -318, 13) Austin Cindric -338, 14) Erik Jones
-347, 15) Chase Briscoe -356, 16) Alex Bowman -365. Playoff Points: 1) Chase Elliott 46, 2) Joey Logano -21, 3) Ross Chastain -25, 4) Christopher Bell -28, t-5) William Byron -31, t-5) Ryan Blaney -31, 7) Denny Hamlin -33, 8) Chase Briscoe -37. Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Martin Truex Jr. 900, 18) Erik Jones -147, 19) Bubba
Wallace -192, 20) Aric Almirola -215, 21) Chris Buescher -248, 22) Justin Haley -253, 23) Michael McDowell -308, 24) Brad Keselowski -336, 25) Cole Custer -350, 26) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -376. Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott 272, 2) Joey Logano -26, 3) Ryan Blaney -27, 4) Kyle Larson -35, 5) Ross Chastain -54, 5) William Byron -55, 7) Martin Truex Jr.
-66, 8) Kyle Busch -70, 9) Christopher Bell -77, 10) Denny Hamlin -104, 11) Chase Briscoe -137, 12) Daniel Suarez -147, 13) Tyler Reddick -156, 14) Erik Jones -157, 15) Alex Bowman -176, 16) Bubba Wallace -180. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 975, 2) Ryan Blaney -78, 3) Christopher Bell -85, 4) Kyle Larson -99, 5) Ross Chastain
-103, 6) Joey Logano -104, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -126, 8) Austin Cindric -155, 9) William Byron -159, 10) Tyler Reddick -167, 11) Denny Hamlin -172, 12) Daniel Suarez -180, 13) Austin Dillon
-189, 14) Kyle Busch -196, 15) Erik Jones -197, t-16) Chase Briscoe -220, t-16) Alex Bowman -220. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before
stages were created. WC Points (1-16):
1) Chase Elliott 4373, 2) Ryan Blaney -245, 3) Christopher Bell -279, 4) Joey Logano -304, 5) Ross Chastain -309, 6) Kyle Larson -316, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -474, 8) Tyler Reddick
-516, 9) William Byron -550, 10) Denny Hamlin -559, 11) Austin Cindric -562, 12) Daniel Suarez -621, 13) Kyle Busch -624, 14) Austin Dillon -674, 15) Kevin Harvick -682, 16) Erik Jones -694. Outside of the Top 16, but still in the
Playoffs: 18) Chase Briscoe -768. 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-1), Kyle Busch (Bristol-1), 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, Charlotte-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: AJ Allmendinger Wins Round of 12 With 2nd Straight Victory
by Phil Allaway
AJ Allmendinger took his second straight victory Saturday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That allowed him to break his tie with Noah Gragson and win the Round of 12 by 16 points. Gragson finished third and finished the round in second, 16 points back. Ty Gibbs finished second and ends the Round of 12 in third. Justin
Allgaier finished fifth and moved up two places to fourth. Josh Berry finished eighth and stays in fifth. Austin Hill had power steering issues Saturday and finished 29th, dropping to sixth. Sam Mayer finished 11th and stays in seventh, while Brandon Jones finished seventh to gain two places and claim the last spot in
the Round of 8. Jones ended up two points ahead of Ryan Sieg, who finished ninth. Daniel Hemric dropped one spot to 10th after finishing 17th, ending his championship defense. Riley Herbst was in position to advance until he was hit from behind, damaging his left rear quarterpanel. A couple of incidents later, he ended up 32nd and dropped to
11th. Jeremy Clements ended the round in 12th. Outside of the playoffs, Landon Cassill finished 10th and extended his lead to 16 points over Sheldon Creed. Anthony Alfredo is over 100 points behind Cassill in 15th, followed by Brandon Brown. When the Round of 8 begins in Las Vegas on Saturday, Gragson will have a 12-point lead over Allmendinger. Gibbs will be third, then Allgaier, Berry and Hill. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) AJ Allmendinger 2184, 2) Noah Gragson
-16, 3) Ty Gibbs -26, 4) Justin Allgaier -51, 5) Josh Berry -58, 6) Austin Hill -62, 7) Sam Mayer -66, 8) Brandon Jones -84, 9) Ryan Sieg -86, 10) Daniel Hemric
-95, 11) Riley Herbst -104, 12) Jeremy Clements -138.
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. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Noah Gragson 3056, 2) AJ Allmendinger -12, 3) Ty Gibbs -18, 4) Justin Allgaier -23, 5) Josh Berry -34, 6) Austin Hill -38, 7) Brandon Jones -45, 8) Sam Mayer -51. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 1200, 2) Noah Gragson -95, 3) Ty Gibbs -104, 4) Justin Allgaier -105, 5) Josh Berry -195, 6) Austin Hill -286, 7) Brandon Jones
-312, 8) Sam Mayer -367, 9) Riley Herbst -411, 10) Daniel Hemric -476, 11) Ryan Sieg -497, 12) Landon Cassill -531, 13) Sheldon Creed -547, 14) Anthony Alfredo -632, 15) Brandon Brown
-681, 16) Jeremy Clements -703. Best of the Rest: 13) Landon Cassill 669, 14) Sheldon Creed -16, 15) Anthony Alfredo -101, 16) Brandon Brown -150, 17) Jeb Burton -197, 18) Myatt Snider -210, 19) Alex Labbe -251, 20) Brett
Moffitt -253, 21) Bayley Currey -288, 22) JJ Yeley -336. Playoff Points: 1) Noah Gragson 56, 2) AJ Allmendinger -14, 3) Ty Gibbs -18, 4) Justin Allgaier -23, 5) Josh Berry -34, 6) Austin Hill -38, 7)
Brandon Jones -45, 8) Sam Mayer -51. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 319, 2) Ty Gibbs -22, 3) Noah Gragson -30, 4) AJ Allmendinger -48, 5) Josh Berry
-84, 6) Brandon Jones -125, 7) Austin Hill -156, 8) Sam Mayer -157, 9) Daniel Hemric -182, 10) Riley Herbst -213, 11) Sheldon Creed -228, 12) Trevor Bayne -239, 13) Ryan
Sieg -251, 14) Landon Cassill -257, 15) Brandon Brown -267, 16) Anthony Alfredo -274. Note: If he was eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be 13th in stage points. Old Point
Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 1054, 2) Noah Gragson -106, 3) Ty Gibbs -115, 4) Josh Berry -154, 5) Justin Allgaier -158, 6) Austin Hill -174, 7) Brandon Jones
-233, 8) Riley Herbst -254, 9) Sam Mayer -263, 10) Ryan Sieg -297, 11) Landon Cassill -334, 12) Daniel Hemric -345, 13) Sheldon Creed -368, 14) Anthony Alfredo -413, 15) Jeremy Clements
-460, 16) Brandon Brown -468. WC Points (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 4544, 2) Noah Gragson -328, 3) Ty Gibbs -370, 4) Justin Allgaier -514, 5) Josh Berry -526, 6) Austin Hill -589, 7) Brandon Jones -821, 8) Riley Herbst -880, 9) Sam Mayer -885, 10) Ryan Sieg -1070, 11) Landon Cassill -1168, 12) Daniel
Hemric -1200, 13) Sheldon Creed -1252, 14) Anthony Alfredo -1437, 15) Jeremy Clements -1580, 16) Brandon Brown -1592.
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-1, Pocono, Darlington-2, Kansas, Bristol, Texas-2), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas, Portland, Indianapolis, Talladega-2, Charlotte-2), Brandon Jones (Martinsville), Josh Berry (Dover, Charlotte-1), 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. 13
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was off last weekend. They will be back in action at Homestead-Miami Speedway
with the Baptist Health 200 on Oct. 22. When the teams descend upon Homestead for the final race of the Round of 8, Chandler Smith will have a
12-point lead over Zane Smith. Ben Rhodes currently has the last spot in the Championship 4 on points in third. He has a three-point advantage over both Christian Eckes and Stewart Friesen. Ty Majeski, by virtue of his win at Kansas, is the only driver currently locked into the Championship 4. Round of 8 Point Standings:
1) Chandler Smith 3116, 2) Zane Smith -12, 3) Ben Rhodes -27, t-4) Christian Eckes -30, t-4) Stewart Friesen -30, 6) John Hunter Nemechek -32, 7) Ty Majeski -48, 8) Grant Enfinger -56.
Eliminated Playoff Driver Point Standings: 9) Matt Crafton 2140, 10) Carson Hocevar -6.
Best of the Rest (11-20): 11) Derek Kraus 547, 12) Tyler Ankrum -13, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -59, 14) Tanner Gray -101, 15) Corey Heim
-122, 16) Chase Purdy -136, 17) Colby Howard -174, 18) Parker Kligerman -177, 19) Ryan Preece -179, 20) Timmy Hill -206.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 803, 2) Chandler Smith
-16, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -22, 4) Ty Majeski -68, 5) Stewart Friesen -87, 6) Christian Eckes -90, 7) Ben Rhodes -108, 8) Grant Enfinger -169, 9) Carson Hocevar -183, 10) Matt Crafton -234, 11) Derek Kraus -256, 12) Tyler Ankrum -269, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -315, 14) Tanner Gray -357, 15) Corey Heim -378, 16) Chase Purdy -392
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 37, 2) Chandler Smith -6, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -12, 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 228, 2) Zane Smith
-40, 3) Chandler Smith -42, 4) Ben Rhodes -54, 5) Ty Majeski -63, 6) Stewart Friesen -74, 7) Christian Eckes -79, 8) Carson Hocevar -99, t-9) Grant Enfinger -116, t-9) Corey Heim -116, 11) Derek Kraus
-125, 12) Matt Crafton -153, 13) Ryan Preece -155,
14) Tyler Ankrum -162, 15) Parker Kligerman -168, 16) Tanner Gray -179. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 545, 2) Chandler Smith -17, 3) Ty Majeski -40, 4) Christian Eckes -51, 5) John Hunter Nemechek -59, 6) Stewart Friesen
-62, 7) Ben Rhodes -97, 8) Grant Enfinger -101, 9) Carson Hocevar -105, 10) Matt Crafton -130, 11) Tyler Ankrum -160, 12) Derek Kraus -176, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -177, 14) Tanner Gray -229, 15) Chase Purdy
-235, 16) Colby Howard -264. WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 3123, 2) Chandler Smith -83, 3) Ty Majeski -168, 4) John Hunter Nemechek -189, 5) Christian Eckes -190, 6) Stewart Friesen -250, 7) Ben Rhodes -331, 8) Grant Enfinger -356, 9) Carson
Hocevar -359, 10) Matt Crafton -495, 11) Tyler Ankrum -604, 12) Derek Kraus -620, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -659, 14) Tanner Gray -810, 15) Chase Purdy -913, 16) Colby Howard -937. 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)
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Bank of America ROVAL 400k was brought to you by the letter P for Parity. Parity often sounds like a good thing. Anyone
could realistically have a chance to win. However, it can also lead to a scenario in that everyone is going the same speed and unable to do anything about anyone. That is what you saw for a lot of Sunday's race. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Bank of America ROVAL 400
complied by Phil Allaway
"Oh, man, I don’t even know. Whenever I came off pit road and I was the first car with tires, I was just trying to wait and see where I stacked up. I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires, I was the first one on new tires. I said, I guess we’re going to roll the dice
here and see what happens. When I got into turn 1, my spotter did an amazing job. They all started wrecking. He told me to stay tight to the middle, and that kept me out of all the junk in turn 1. Really proud of everyone on this DeWalt team. They deserve it, man. We’ve been trying so hard to get DeWalt in Victory Lane. We finally got this Camry here.
"Man, you just got to be there at the end of these things. I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength year. We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win, we rolled the dice, gambled, it paid off for us." - Christopher Bell, race winner "I knew we were in a bit of a pickle there with Christopher on new tires and I just didn’t want to blow the first corner, I wanted to give us a chance he was just able to roll more speed than we were and from there it was just kind of like damage control and make sure you bring the thing home and that’s what we did. They did a
good job. They got us in position and that caution coming out killed us there. We were half a lap from coming to the white and caution, so they did a good job." - Kevin Harvick, finished second "It was definitely a
good day for our M&M’S Camry. There at the end, before everything happened, we were just trying to keep it on the track and stay straight. We were really losing rear tire grip and losing time. But we got that late caution, made a pit stop and took advantage of new tires – came up with a third-place finish. Vegas is next week and we always look forward to it. We were fast there in the spring so hopefully we can do the same thing." - Kyle Busch, finished
third "When you are that close to winning, it’s for sure disappointing. But I’m happy with the way this No. 16 Action Industries Chevy was. It was really fast. We just need to work a little bit on pit road. We lost that little bit of track position, and it was a track position game. Once I got around the 8 (Tyler
Reddick), I was burning my stuff up trying to catch the 9 (Chase Elliott). With those restarts, I knew I was kind of used up already. I got a good restart there and when Chase and I touched kind of through (turn) two, I went to set up for three and it turned me sideways and I slid a little more. That was unfortunate because that allowed the 4 (Kevin Harvick) to get to my bumper and we know Kevin is going to do that if he gets any chance. That’s a part of racing and going for the win. That second
restart there, it was just a couple of guys with better tires, and you are just a sitting duck." - AJ Allmendinger, finished fourth "It was the type of day where basically wherever you got placed on the track was where you were going to run, unless someone made a mistake in front of
you. We preferred that kind of day even though it is what it is even though our FedEx team did a great job with strategy and making sure that we junked stage two when we saw we weren’t going to get stage points there. Those guys that were in front of us most of the day ended up behind us and nobody could pass so it worked out nicely for us." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth "That was a rollercoaster of emotions. To be easily in and then that caution came out and the 3 just dumped me. Thinking we were out again. I knew at the end there it was gonna be chaos. I feel like all respect goes out the window every time we have a caution at the end of one of these things. Johnny just did a really good job of giving me the ball there at the end and letting me have tires and
just trying to go for it. I’m sure I made a couple people mad there at the end, but I had no idea – they just kept telling me every point is gonna matter here, so I just kept trying to pass everybody I could and got lucky that a couple of those holes opening up, but I’m just proud of my team. Nobody believed we were gonna get past the Round of 16 and here we are in the Round of 8 and three really, really good racetracks for me coming up, so I’m looking forward to them." - Chase Briscoe, finished ninth
"I thought I had a pretty good launch and thought I got through (turns) one and two good. I thought I gave AJ [Allmendinger] enough room through one and two to not run into the fence. I don’t know if he just got loose, overdrove turn 3 or whatever, but I ended up on the outside. Whatever the reason, he
ran wide and I ended up the track in a super compromised situation.
"Bummer. Alan [Gustafson] called a great race. Our No. 9 NAPA Chevy wasn’t great, but it was plenty good enough to win. Our team called a perfect race to get us the lead, and our pit stops were really good to not to have any mistakes and get us a really nice cushion. We had a lot of laps
on our tires, but I could maintain my pace out there [while keeping] a nice gap. We’ll try again next week." - Chase Elliott, finished 20th "My guys did a great job all weekend. We had a long shot, but had a shot at it and kept ourselves in the game. Obviously, I had a great shot at the
end. That last caution really stung because we would have been in without that last caution. Old tires against new tires. I wish we would have had probably some better track position and probably do a few things right here and there, but, overall, great to have a shot, great to be in the playoff picture. I learned a lot in my rookie season racing against a lot of the best. I was a bit of a bonehead on the last couple restarts just trying to make something happen with 30-lap worse tires than
everybody around me, but, overall, great experience but just a little bit short." - Austin Cindric, finished 21st
"It was nice to come in here with decent points and do a good job in the stages. It’s a shame because I thought our car was super fast, but when you’re stage points racing you just bury yourself and
you’re just trying to stay out of everyone else’s junk there at the end. We still ended up getting in other people’s junk because people are running you over and spinning you out, but luckily we had a good points cushion. It seemed to be exciting on the cut line. We’ll go on to next week and it’ll be good.
"[I got] run over by people just like Indy.
I don’t know who ran me over, but put them on the list I guess." - Ryan Blaney, finished 26th "As soon as I hit the wall. Yeah, you just give up that many spots; you know it’s going to be close and then the caution there. So, yeah, I just made way too many mistakes all year long. Made
another one today and it ultimately cost us a chance to go chase another championship. Just extremely mad at myself because I let the team down a number of times this year and let them down in a big way today. We will keep fighting and we will come back stronger. I will definitely come back stronger, smarter and make better moves out there. Just mad at myself. Bummer." - Kyle Larson, finished 35th
"Very tough. The second half of the race was probably the most difficult race I’ve driven in my life, but it is what it is. Unfortunately, me as a driver, that’s something that’s out of my control.
"The first half of the race was good; and then we had a
mechanical failure with the steering and after that, it was game over. It’s very disappointing to lose a race like that. Our No. 99 CommScope Chevy was good; it was fast. I felt like it was going to be an easy transition based on the speed that we had, but once we lost the steering, I was just trying to survive. My arms are destroyed right now. My hands are destroyed. It’s just unfortunate." - Daniel Suarez, finished
36th
"I’m human, so it hurts to make the mistakes that I made today and yesterday. I’ll take some time here with my guys and when I drive out of this parking lot, I’m going to make a big effort to leave the ROVAL here. Normally, it’s Monday morning when I’m done with it and look through everything, but we’re onto another
round.
"It’s a testament to our season and our finish in points today. The strategy by Phil Surgen and our strategy with Trackhouse and Team Chevy to get the stage win in Stage Two is ultimately the difference that gave me the buffer when I needed it the most. I will drive off the property here in Concord and leave this here. It’s number one
priority." - Ross Chastain, finished 37th
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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