Frontstretch Newsletter: Feb. 20, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition XII |
- Today, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, which is in the former
Daytona USA/Daytona 500 Experience building just outside of Daytona International Speedway. The car will stay there for the next year, covered with whatever confetti and liquids remain on it from victory lane.
- Teams are arriving back at their shops this morning in North Carolina with only a short turnaround
before they have to be back on the road for the long haul to Fontana. Entry lists should be out either today or tomorrow. We'll have the entry lists when they're released and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
| | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wins 1st Daytona
500 JTG-Daugherty Racing's Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was able to sweep past Kyle Busch and Joey Logano on the first Green-White-Checker restart. He was able to keep himself
ahead long enough on the second GWC to be out front when the yellow flew on the final lap to win the Daytona 500. Logano was second, then Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman. |
| | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Gets Last Laugh With Daytona 500
Win Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has traditionally been strong at Daytona and Talladega, but also has a reputation for over-aggressiveness. Sunday saw Stenhouse run a measured
race that allowed him to put himself in position for paydirt. |
| | Travis Pastrana Snags 11th in 1st Daytona 500: “The
Kid’s College Fund is Intact” For Travis Pastrana, Sunday's Daytona 500 was the achievement of a dream. He's confident that he's gotten it out of his system after walking out of Daytona with an
11th-place finish and a not completely totaled Toyota Camry. |
| | Xfinity Introduces 10G Network, Partners With
23XI Comcast announced Friday that they are partnering with 23XI Racing to introduce their new 10G network later this year. They will sponsor Tyler Reddick's No. 45
Toyota at Atlanta and expand their premium relationship with NASCAR. |
| | Austin Hill Wins Again at Daytona, Survives Wild
Finish Austin Hill was able to squeak ahead of John Hunter Nemechek when the yellow flag flew on the final lap. That was all he needed in order to successfully defend his
victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Beef. It's What's For Dinner. 300. Nemechek was second, then Justin Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff and Myatt Snider. |
| | Sam Mayer: From Daytona Xfinity Winner to Upside Down in
a Flash Sam Mayer made his move on the final lap Saturday in order to try to win his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Unfortunately, contact with Justin Allgaier and
Austin Hill resulted in Mayer crashing and ending up on his roof. |
| | Justin Allgaier Bitten Again By Late Daytona
Caution Justin Allgaier had one of the strongest cars Saturday in Daytona. He took the lead from Austin Hill at the white flag, but in the scramble, he fell to third
before the caution ended the race. |
| | Jeffrey Earnhardt Beefs With Parker Kligerman After
Daytona Incident – ‘Just Lack of Talent’ On lap 109, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Parker Kligerman had contact while racing for 10th. Earnhardt ended up with a cut tire and had to make an unscheduled pit stop.
Earnhardt was none too pleased with Kligerman's actions after the race. |
| | MBM Cutting Back Xfinity Operations, No Current Plans
for Cup Effort Frontstretch is reporting that MBM Motorsports will likely have a much smaller effort in 2023. The team is currently only
going to run the No. 66 full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The No. 13 will be part-time, while efforts in the NASCAR Cup Series are not on the schedule for now. |
| | Zane Smith Wins Rain-Shortened Truck Opener at
Daytona Front Row Motorsports' Zane Smith took the lead from Corey LaJoie on lap 65 Friday night and held on until the rains came early. Following two red flags, NASCAR
declared the race complete after 79 laps, giving Smith his second straight Daytona win. Tanner Gray was second, then Christian Eckes, Colby Howard and Grant Enfinger. |
| | Christian Eckes-Zane Smith Friendship Teases
‘Mickey-Mouse’ Win at Daytona After finishing third Friday night and leading the most laps, Christian Eckes took some time during his post-race press conference to joke around, claiming that
Zane Smith's victory was undeserved due to the circumstances under which it came. |
| | Clay Greenfield Running Talladega, Plans Potential
Additional Races for 2023 Clay Greenfield revealed to Frontstretch's own Jared Haas Friday that he will drive the Cook Racing Technologies No. 84 at Talladega later this year. Additional
races are also possible. |
| | Greg Van Alst Wins Daytona for 1st Career ARCA
Victory Greg Van Alst was able to sweep past Jason M. White in turn 3 on the final lap and held on to win the ARCA Menards Series Brandt 200 supporting FloridaFFA for his
first career victory. Connor Mosack was second, then Sean Corr, Lavar Scott and Mandy Chick. |
| | Frankie Muniz Finds Himself ‘In the Middle’ of Intense
ARCA Daytona Action Frankie Muniz made his ARCA Menards Series debut Saturday with Rette Jones Racing. Driving a car once raced by Sterling Marlin, Muniz mixed it up for much of the
day en route to an 11th-place finish. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and our own Daniel McFadin. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Feb. 17-19 |
- The Asian Le Mans Series wrapped up their 2023 season this weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. In Race No. 1 on Saturday, COOL Racing's Alexandre Coigny and Malthe Jakobsen claimed the
overall victory by 34.394 seconds over United Autosports' Oliver Jarvis, Garnet Patterson and Yasser Shahin. DKR Engineering's Charlie Eastwood, Ayhancan Guven and Salih Yoluc were third, followed by Inter Europol Competition's Christian Bogle, Charles Crews and Nolan Siegel. United Autosports' Paul di Resta, Phil Hanson and Jim McGuire.
Algarve Pro Racing's No. 25 was right in the
hunt until the closing laps when Kyffin Simpson spun out of fourth and hit the Tec-Pro barrier exiting the final corner. He would eventually finish three laps down in ninth.
In LMP3, Nielsen Racing's Matt Bell and Tony Wells claimed the class win in their Ligier JS P320-Nissan. They were 14.782 seconds
ahead of MV2S Racing's Jerome de Sadeleer, Viacheslav Gutak and Fabien Lavergne. WTM by Rinaldi Racing's Torsten Kratz, Nico Varrone and Leonard Weiss were third. In GT, Haupt Racing Team's Al Faisal Al Zubair, Martin Konrad and Luca Stolz claimed the win in their Mercedes-AMG GT3. They were 17.875 seconds
ahead of the Porsche of Herberth Motorsport's Harry King, Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm. - Race No. 2 on Sunday saw DKR Engineering claim the overall victory by 1.903 seconds over 99 Racing's Ahmad Al Harthy,
Neel Jani and Nikita Mazepin. COOL Racing was third, then Algarve Pro Racing's Simpson, James Allen and John Falb. United Autosports' di Resta, Hanson and McGuire were fifth. In LMP3, Graff Racing's Francois Heriau, Xavier Lloveras and Fabrice Rossello won by a full lap over COOL Racing's Adrien Chila,
Cedric Ottramare and Marcos Siebert. At the white flag, COOL Racing was 42.617 seconds back, but the overall leaders were between the two. MV2S Racing ended up third.
The GT class saw Haupt Racing Team's Al Zubair, Konrad and Stolz sweep the weekend in their Mercedes. They ended up 27.7 seconds ahead of Walkenhorst Motorsport's Nicky Catsburg, Chandler Hull and Thomas Merrill.
Leipert Motorsport's Lamborghini for Brendon Leitch, Marco Mapelli and Gabriel Rindone were third.
Championship-wise, BKR Engineering won the LMP2 Teams Trophy with 76 points, 22 more than COOL Racing's No. 37. Algarve Pro Racing was third, then 99 Racing and Inter Europol Competition. As a result, BKR Engineering has earned an automatic invite to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2
class.
Graff Racing's victory and COOL Racing's No. 17 overtaking the MV2S Racing No. 29 in the final five minutes means that Graff Racing and MV2S Racing ended up both having 73 points. Graff Racing wins the tiebreaker by virtue of countback. Both teams have one victory, but Graff Racing has two
second-place finishes to MV2S Racing's one. Nielsen Racing ended up third in points, followed by DKR Engineering's Duqueine M30-D08-Nissan. WTM by Rinaldi Racing was fifth. In GT, Walkenhorst Motorsport's BMW earned the automatic berth thanks to their weekend sweep in Dubai. They ended up 11 points ahead of Haupt Racing Team's No. 7 Mercedes. GetSpeed's No. 10 Mercedes was third, then Herberth Motorsport's Porsche. Leipert Motorsport's Lamborghini was fifth. Officially, any of the three teams earning automatic invites to Le Mans can decline these bids. If that happens, it would allow for an additional at-large entry to the race in June. - At Volusia Speedway Park, Hudson O'Neal charged all
the way to the front from 23rd on the grid to take the lead Saturday night on lap 45. From there, O'Neal held on to win the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series finale at the DIRTcar Nationals. He was .608 seconds ahead of Devin Moran at the finish. Ricky Thornton Jr. was third, then Tim McCreadie and Brandon Overton. McCreadie's fourth-place finish was good enough to win him the Gator championship, his second overall, but first in a late model (the other came in the Super
DIRTcar Series in 2018). - In
the Super DIRTcar Series Saturday night, Mat Williamson was able to run down Jack Lehner in lapped traffic and made the pass on the final lap. From there, he held on for his second straight victory and claimed the Gator Championship. Lehner had to settle for second, while Erick Rudolph was third. Max
McLaughlin was fourth, while Peter Britten rounded out the top five. |
This is just a sample of the 101 videos that we have posted to our YouTube channel since Wednesday in Daytona. To check out more of these 101 videos, or other videos that aren't from Daytona, please subscribe and hit the bell to be notified when we post additional videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Joey Logano Claims Points Lead After Daytona 500
by Phil Allaway
Joey Logano had a strong Shell/Pennzoil Ford all week in Daytona. He won his Bluegreen Vacations Duel Thursday night, then finished second Sunday. That
was enough to give him the points lead. His advantage is two points over Chris Buescher, who finished fourth and tied for the most stage points for the week. Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leaves Daytona third in points, while Christopher Bell, who finished third Sunday, is fourth. Alex Bowman finished fifth Sunday and is fifth in points. Ross Chastain won stage two and is sixth in points after finishing ninth.
Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick are tied for seventh after recovering from incidents. Blaney had a sizable crash just after halfway, yet still managed to finish eighth, while Harvick was 12th. AJ Allmendinger recovered from losing the draft and getting lapped early to finish sixth, putting him ninth in
points. Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski are tied for 10th. Truex crashed on lap 182 and finished 15th, while Keselowski was eliminated in the big crash on the final lap. Daniel Suarez recovered from a late spin to finish seventh and leave Daytona 12th in points. Aric
Almirola triggered the last-lap crash and finished 21st. After winning his Duel Thursday night, he leaves Daytona in a tie for 13th in points with Austin Cindric. Corey LaJoie is 15th in points, while Travis Pastrana finished 11th and currently has the final spot in the playoffs in 16th. While Pastrana is not full-time and will drop back next weekend in Fontana, he currently has a two-point advantage over Kyle Larson, who took a nasty hit
into the wall on the final lap Sunday. Cody Ware is 18th after finishing 14th Sunday. Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell round out the top 20. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Joey Logano 52, 2) Chris Buescher -2, 3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -4, 4) Christopher Bell -8, 5) Alex Bowman -11, 6) Ross Chastain -14, t-7) Ryan Blaney
-15, t-7) Kevin Harvick -15, 9) AJ Allmendinger -18, t-10) Martin Truex Jr. -20, t-10) Brad Keselowski -20, 12) Daniel Suarez -22, t-13) Aric Almirola -23, t-13) Austin Cindric -23, 15) Corey LaJoie -25, 16) Travis Pastrana -26. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Cup Series points, Zane Smith and Riley Herbst would be tied for
15th. Stage Points: t-1) Joey Logano 17, t-1) Chris Buescher 17, t-1) Brad Keselowski -17, 4) Austin Cindric -2, 5) Aric Almirola -4, t-6) Kevin Harvick -5, t-6) Michael McDowell -5, t-8) Christopher Bell -7, t-8) Ross Chastain -7, t-8) Martin Truex Jr.
-7, t-8) Ryan Preece -7, 12) Alex Bowman -8, t-13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -9, t-13) Ryan Blaney -9, t-13) Chase Elliott -9, 16) Corey LaJoie - 11.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 44, 2) Joey Logano -4, 3) Christopher Bell -5, 4) Chris Buescher -6, 5) Alex Bowman -7, 6) AJ Allmendinger -8, 7) Daniel Suarez -9, 8) Ryan Blaney -10, 9) Ross Chastain -11, 10) Travis Pastrana -13,
11) Kevin Harvick -14, t-12) Cody Ware -17, t-12) Martin Truex Jr. -17, t-14) Corey LaJoie -19, t-14) Denny Hamlin -19, 16) Kyle Larson -20. Note No. 1: These standings are based on the old point system that was used
before stages were created.
Note No. 2: Had they been eligible for points, Riley Herbst would be 10th in old points, while Zane Smith would be 13th. WC Points (1-16): 1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 180,
2) Joey Logano -5, 3) Christopher Bell -10, 4) Chris Buescher -15, 5) Alex Bowman -20, 6) AJ Allmendinger -25, 7) Daniel Suarez -29, 8) Ryan Blaney -33, 9) Ross Chastain -37, 10) Travis Pastrana -45, 11) Kevin Harvick -48, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -57, 13) Cody Ware -59, 14) Denny
Hamlin -63, 15) Corey LaJoie -65, 16) Kyle Larson -66. Note No. 1: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975.
Note No. 2: If they were eligible for points, Riley Herbst would be 11th in WC points, while Zane Smith would be 13th. Race
Winners: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Daytona)
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 Championship: Austin Hill Charges From Rear To Defend Daytona Victory, Claim Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill had the best car all day Saturday in Daytona. However, a radio issue forced him to stop before the rain for a radio change. That forced him to start from the rear. No worries as he drove from the rear to win stage one, score 18 stage points and win the race. As a result, he leaves Daytona with the points lead. Hill's advantage is six points over Justin Allgaier, who matched Hill with 18 stage points, but finished third. John Hunter Nemechek finished second, but scored only five stage points. As a result, he is third. Riley Herbst finished sixth and leaves Daytona in fourth. Chandler Smith finished 12th with nine stage points and leaves Daytona in fifth. He is one point ahead of a tie for sixth between Parker Retzlaff, Myatt Snider and Jeb Burton. Retzlaff finished a career-best fourth, winning the tiebreaker over Snider, who was fifth and Burton in 11th. Joe Graf
Jr., Cole Custer and Brandon Jones are all tied for ninth. Graf wins the tiebreaker by virtue of finishing seventh to Custer's ninth and Jones' 14th. Ryan Sieg finished eighth, but leaves Daytona in 12th, the last driver in the playoffs. Sieg has a five-point advantage over Stefan Parsons, who was tapped at the last
minute to race Saturday in place of Caesar Bacarella. He would finish 13th. Josh Williams is 14th, followed by Parker Chase. Jeremy Clements and Josh Berry are tied for 16th. Clements wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his 17th-place finish while Berry finished 26th. Point Standings (1-16):
1) Austin Hill 58, 2) Justin Allgaier -6, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -18, 4) Riley Herbst -23, 5) Chandler Smith -24, t-6) Parker Retzlaff -25, t-6) Myatt Snider -25, t-6) Jeb Burton -25, t-9) Joe Graf Jr. -28, t-9) Cole Custer -28, t-9) Brandon Jones -28,
12) Ryan Sieg -29, 13) Stefan Parsons -34, 14) Josh Williams -36, 15) Parker Chase -37, t-16) Jeremy Clements -38, t-16) Josh Berry -38. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Justin Haley would be fifth in points. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 6, 2) Justin Allgaier -1. Stage Points: t-1) Austin Hill 18, t-1) Justin Allgaier 18, t-3) Chandler Smith -9, t-3) Josh Berry
-9, t-3) Sam Mayer -9, t-6) Jeb Burton -11, t-6) Brandon Jones -11, 8) Brett Moffitt -12, t-9) John Hunter Nemechek -13, t-9) Sheldon Creed -13, 11) Riley Herbst -14, 12) Parker Kligerman -15, 13) Cole Custer -16, 14) Myatt Snider -17. Note: If he was eligible for points, Justin Haley would be seventh in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 45, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -5, 3) Justin Allgaier -6, 4) Parker Retzlaff -8, 5) Myatt Snider -9,
6) Riley Herbst -10, 7) Joe Graf Jr. -11, t-8) Ryan Sieg -12, t-8) Cole Custer -12, 10) Jeb Burton -15, 11) Chandler Smith -16, 12) Stefan Parsons -17, 13) Brandon Jones -18, 14) Josh Williams -19, 15) Parker Chase -20, 16) Jeremy Clements -21. Note: If he was eligible for points, Justin Haley would be 10th in old points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 185, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -10, 3) Justin Allgaier -15, 4) Parker
Retzlaff -25, 5) Myatt Snider -30, 6) Riley Herbst -35, 7) Joe Graf Jr. -39, 8) Cole Custer -42, 9) Ryan Sieg -43, 10) Jeb Burton -55, 11) Chandler Smith -58, 12) Stefan Parsons -61, 13) Brandon Jones -64, 14) Josh Williams -67, 15) Parker Chase -70, 16) Jeremy Clements
-73.
Note: If he was eligible for points, Justin Haley would be 10th in WC points.
Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship: Christian Eckes Scores Points Lead In Debut For McAnally-Hilgemann
Racing
by Phil Allaway
Christian Eckes won stage one Friday night in Daytona and claimed 16 stage points. While he did not take the victory, his third-place finish was enough to give him the points lead after Daytona. His advantage is five points over Matt Crafton, who finished ninth and scored the most stage
points (17). Ty Majeski is third in points after finishing sixth. Zane Smith successfully defended his victory from last year, but did not score any stage points in the process. As a result, he leaves Daytona in a tie for fourth in points. Smith is tied with Tyler Ankrum, who won stage two and ended up finishing seventh. Tanner Gray is sixth in the standings despite finishing second. Grant Enfinger finished fifth and walks out of Daytona in seventh. Colby Howard finished a career-best fourth, but that is only good enough for eighth. Ben Rhodes and Carson Hocevar are currently tied for ninth, the final two spots in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs at the moment. Rhodes wins the tiebreaker by virtue of finishing 11th to Hocevar's 12th. Rhodes and Hocevar are one point ahead of Corey
Heim and Chase Purdy. Heim finished eighth, while Purdy finished 17th. Matt DiBenedetto recovered from being involved in two crashes to finish 20th. He's currently 13th in points thanks to eight stage points
in stage one. Pole sitter Nick Sanchez is 14th, then Jason A. White and Timmy Hill.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 50,
2) Matt Crafton -5, 3) Ty Majeski -9, t-4) Zane Smith -10, t-4) Tyler Ankrum -10, 6) Tanner Gray -12, 7) Grant Enfinger -14, 8) Colby Howard -17, t-9) Ben Rhodes -20, t-9) Carson Hocevar -20, t-11) Corey Heim -21, t-11) Chase Purdy -21, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -25, 14) Nick Sanchez
-26, 15) Jason A. White -28, 16) Timmy Hill -29. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Chase Elliott would be 13th in points, while Travis Pastrana would be tied for 15th.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 5, t-2) Christian Eckes -4, t-2) Tyler Ankrum -4. Stage Points: 1) Matt Crafton 17, 2) Christian Eckes -1, 3) Nick Sanchez -4, t-4) Ty Majeski -7, t-4) Tyler
Ankrum -7, 6) Chase Purdy -8, 7) Matt DiBenedetto -9, 8) Hailie Deegan -10, 9) Carson Hocevar -12, t-10) Grant Enfinger -13, t-10) Ben Rhodes -13, t-10) Jack Wood -13, 13) Tanner Gray -14. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 36, 2) Christian Eckes -4, 3) Tanner Gray -5, 4) Colby Howard -6, t-5) Grant Enfinger -8, t-5) Ty Majeski -8, 7) Tyler Ankrum -9, t-8) Corey Heim -11, t-8)
Matt Crafton -11, 10) Ben Rhodes -14, 11) Carson Hocevar -15, 12) Jason A. White -18, t-13) Timmy Hill -19, t-13) Chase Purdy, 15) Derek Kraus -21, 16) Josh Reaume -22.
Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Chase Elliott would be 10th in old points, while Travis Pastrana would be 13th and Sammy Smith 14th. WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 180, 2) Christian Eckes -5,
3) Tanner Gray -10, 4) Colby Howard -15, t-5) Grant Enfinger -25, t-5) Ty Majeski -25, 7) Tyler Ankrum -29, 8) Matt Crafton -37, 9) Corey Heim -38, 10) Ben Rhodes -50, 11) Carson Hocevar -53, 12) Jason A. White -62, 13) Chase Purdy -63, 14) Timmy Hill -65, 15) Derek
Kraus -71, 16) Josh Reaume -74. Note:
If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Chase Elliott would be 10th in old points, while Travis Pastrana would be 13th and Sammy Smith 14th. Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona)
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 Daytona 500 was brought to you by the letter B for Bump. With the Next Gen cars, we've seen that it doesn't take all that much to create some chaos. At
the same, time, it's not even necessary the driver that spins someone out that is truly responsible for the incident. This was the case in the Clash and it was the case Sunday. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Daytona 500
complied by Phil Allaway
"Man, this is unbelievable. This was the site of my last win back in 2017. We’ve worked really hard. We had a couple shots last year to get a win and fell short. It was a tough season, but man, we got it done, Daytona 500.
"Yeah, when [Kyle Busch] went to the bottom there I was able to push [Joey Logano] and [Kyle Larson]. We had a huge run. I was hoping we were going to get to the white there, and we didn’t, so I knew I was going to take the top. I was hoping [Logano] was going to follow, and he did. He was able to push us
out.
"I went to the bottom, [Busch] and [Logano] got a huge run. [Larson] split me in the middle, but another fellow dirt racer [Christopher] Bell gave me a good shot down the little short chute into 1, and we were out front when the caution came out. We were out of fuel
so the fuel light was going crazy.
"I hope y’all had fun. That was a heck of a race." - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., race winner "Second is the worst, man. You’re so close. Leading the white flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle gave me a good push and, yeah, you’re watching in the mirror and you’re three wide across there. I felt like the three wide was going a hurt a lane; looked like Kyle was getting pushed ahead, and then Ricky started getting pushed ahead. I knew if I went to the bottom my car didn’t handle good enough. I already got pushed off the bottom once and I
thought, if I go down there I’m probably going to get wrecked, and I don’t know if I can get down there in time to throw the block and so I didn’t want to wreck my car either. Then you don’t expect them to wreck either. You think you’re racing to the checkered flag and you put yourself in the best position to try to win at the start-finish line, and just caution came out — you wish you could race to the end. Obviously you can’t when they wreck that much. Congratulations to Ricky. There’s nothing
like winning the Daytona 500. That’s why it stings so much finishing second. Still proud of the team, still proud of the effort coming off the championship last year and bringing this Shell-Pennzoil Mustang back toward the front and getting a Ford close to the front. Wish it was in Victory Lane, though." - Joey Logano, finished second "If you would have told me pre-race that I was going to run third, I would have jumped up and down and been smiling ear-to-ear. I’m very happy. I’m very, very thankful that I could get this Rheem and DeWalt Toyota Camry a good solid finish, but just so close to a crown jewel. I feel like if it would have stayed green, I would have been on offense – but who knows. I’m very proud and
thankful to be here at Joe Gibbs Racing. I’m happy for Ricky [Stenhouse Jr.]. That’s really cool. I’m very happy for him." - Christopher Bell, finished third
"We were up front a lot of the day between both of our cars and there is a ton to be proud of. I can’t thank everyone back at RFK enough. The Fastenal Mustang
was quick, and I love that. Just got a little behind there in the first overtime and survived the next one. Somehow we made it through all of that and picked up all kinds of spots. Ultimately even getting back to fourth, it should feel good, but I feel like we had more in us today and just weren’t able to hoist that trophy up." - Chris Buescher, finished fourth "It’s the Daytona 500 and we know how to crash some stuff. It was just super aggressive and a lot of pushing. You know you have to do it and sometimes they go wrong and crashes happen. Just proud of my team and glad we were able to make it out clean." - Alex Bowman, finished fifth
"I’m really pleased with the finish we had. Any time you get to start the season with a top-10 in the Daytona 500 it’s a big deal. Felt like our car handled very well, just tough racing, very track-position oriented. When we got out front, we just lacked a little bit of speed to stay up there; that was
the toughest thing. But overall, our guys did a great job and fought hard through the day, and you just have to be there at the end. We had a shot to win the Daytona 500. That’s pretty freaking cool. I wish we could have done it, but all you can ask for is having a real opportunity and we did tonight. That’s pretty special." - AJ Allmendinger, finished sixth "It was a little bit crazy, but I told the team they did a hell of a job. We lacked track position most of the day, and when it mattered the most, we had it. We just spun out there and I was just struggling with loose balance when people would get to the rear bumper for some reason. That one, the 2 came very close to me, very tight and the car behind me came very close as well and got me loose. We recovered and we are getting better at this kind of racing and we are going to get one of these one day." - Daniel Suarez, finished seventh
"You know, unfortunately getting tore up in the second stage and I thought we did a good job fixing it and staying in it and got a couple of laps back and were able to get it driving decent enough to where we lined up in the top 15 and were able to miss some wrecks and finish okay. I am really proud of the effort to fix it and make it driveable and get a finish. It is unfortunate that we
couldn’t race for a win." - Ryan Blaney, finished eighth "We got the stage two win in our AdventHealth Chevy. That was 10 more points than we left here with last year. With 13 laps to go I was thinking they were going to wreck again, but they didn’t and I was working to get caught up.
Then coming to the white flag, they wrecked. I was a little off on my guessing on when they were going to wreck and when they weren’t (laughs). Proud of everybody at Trackhouse with a top 10 finish. It’s a whole lot better than last year, that’s for sure." - Ross Chastain, finished ninth
"It was long and a lot of
riding, not really racing. I was kind of biding my time and trying to get experience. To finish top 10 was really cool. I am thankful for the opportunity to be here in the Cup Series and really happy with the finish in our first 500." - Riley Herbst, finished 10th "This exceeded all of
my expectations as far as results. These are the best drivers in the world. I’m not a great rear-wheel driver, I’m not a great pavement driver. Restrictor plate racing is a little different. We had a great team with this 23XI Toyota team, and it was an honor to be on the track with these guys. It was amazing that we were able to put it in the top 20. I’m proud of everyone involved and so thankful to be here. "[This is a one] and done. Now if Cody [Efaw] from Niece Motorsports calls me up and says, ‘Hey, what are you doing this weekend?’ I’ll jump in, but I’m not good enough to be the best at this sport with my skill set. The amount of time that this would take right now and I’m trying to slow down. The reason I’m here right now is because I feel like this is the best I’ve ever been as a driver.
We’ve been winning championships on the dirt, and I just wanted to experience the whole Daytona Speedweeks." - Travis Pasttrana, finished 11th
"I don’t know. I just tried to keep it straight as much as I can and wait for when it’s going to happen and eventually it does, and it did again today. So, I tried, and I
don’t know what else to do. Come up short. Let lap 200 and wish it was still 1998 rules.
"Definitely excited for the start of the season and getting to the real racetracks." - Kyle Busch, finished 19th (Crashed out)
"Actually it wasn’t too bad at all. Just hate it for the Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD. I really felt like we could push really well, and we could really make progress through the pack. I just haven’t really been in the lead much at all today – that was the first time I was getting any pushes in the lead and the car seemed a little unstable down the back straightaway into three. Kevin [Harvick] was trying to push me, and
I just lost it. If I would have known that earlier in the day, I would have been more careful about that, but that was the first time I’ve had that experience all day long with that." - Tyler Reddick, finished 39th (Crashed out)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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