Frontstretch Newsletter: April 17, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition LII |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops, preparing for this weekend's action in Talladega. Entry lists should be released later today.
We'll have those for you, along with anything else that breaks today at Frontstretch. |
| | Kyle Larson Spoils Dominant Day for Stewart-Haas Racing
at Martinsville Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson was able to take the lead from Joey Logano with 30 laps to Sunday and pulled away to win the NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway
for his second win of the year. Logano was second, then Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. |
| | Cody Ware Faces Additional Charges Following
Investigation Cody Ware turned himself in for a second time Friday in Iredell County (N.C.). This time, misdemeanor charges of assault inflicting serious injury and
communicating threats were levied on the racer. |
| | Chase Overcomes Injury to Nearly Win Martinsville …
Briscoe That Is Chase Briscoe led 109 laps Sunday at Martinsville, but a late caution cost him. He managed to come home in fifth and get himself back up into playoff
contention. |
| | Chase Elliott Exhausted After Earning Top 10 in Return
After Leg Injury Chase Elliott's return to racing in Martinsville was a bit of a struggle, but some luck late in the going allowed him to race up to a 10th-place
finish. |
| | John Hunter Nemechek Dominates at Martinsville, Scores
2nd Win of Season Joe Gibbs Racing's John Hunter Nemechek led 198 of 250 laps Saturday night to win the Call 811 Before You Dig. 250 at Martinsville Speedway, his second win of
the year. Sammy Smith was second, then Cole Custer, Josh Berry and Brandon Jones. |
| | Derek Kraus Joins Kaulig Trio of Top 10s at
Martinsville Derek Kraus has only made two career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series to this point. So far so good. An eighth-place finish means two top 10s in as many
races. |
| | Corey Heim Wins 1st Race with TRICON at
Martinsville TRICON Garage's Corey Heim led a race-high 82 laps in mixed conditions Friday night to win the rain-shortened Long John Silver's 200 at Martinsville, his first
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of 2023. Kyle Busch was second, then Zane Smith, Ty Majeski and Tanner Gray. |
| | Drivers React to NASCAR’s First Oval Race in the
Rain Friday night's truck race in Martinsville will be best remembered for being the first NASCAR oval race in the United States run (partially) on rain tires. Opinions
were mixed on the circumstances. |
| | 16-Year-Old William Sawalich Earns Top 10 in Truck
Series Debut William Sawalich, who is splitting time between no less than five different series in 2023, made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut Friday night. While he did
nearly wipe out after contact on the frontstretch, Sawalich finished a strong ninth. |
| | Kyle Kirkwood Converts Pole to 1st IndyCar Win at Long
Beach Andretti Autosport's Kyle Kirkwood led 53 laps from pole, including the final 30, to win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Sunday for his first career NTT
IndyCar Series victory. Romain Grosjean was second, then Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta and Alex Palou. |
| | Long Beach Runner-Up Romain Grosjean “Didn’t Even Want
to Go For the Win” Andretti Autosport's Romain Grosjean finished second in Long Beach Sunday for the second straight year. While the run was great, Grosjean still feels snakebit
after the first two races of the year. |
| | Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy Claim Maiden Victory for
Porsche 963 at Long Beach Penske Porsche Motorsport's Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy just avoided Ricky Taylor with two laps to go Saturday and held on to win the IMSA WeatherTech
SportsCar Championship Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. It is the first-ever victory for the new Porsche 963. |
| | Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa Claim
6 Hours of Portimao Victory Toyota GAZOO Racing's Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo HIrakawa took the lead 50 minutes into the race Sunday and led the rest of the way to win the FIA
World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Portimao at the Algarve International Circuit. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, IMSA and Jan Patrick Wagner of Focus Pack Media. 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: April 14-16 |
In Friday night's race, Carson Macedo and David Gravel fought hard for the lead early on, swapping it multiple
times. On lap 23, the two drivers had contact in turn 3. The contact cut Gravel's left rear tire and sent the Connecticut racer for a spin. Macedo had to regain control of his car as well and lost the lead to Brad Sweet as a result. From there, Sweet was able to hold on to take his third win of the year. James McFadden was second, then Logan
Schuchart, Macedo and Giovanni Scelzi. With a fresh tire, Gravel was able to recover to finish 10th. In the points, Macedo now has the points lead by 12 over Sweet. Gravel is third, then Schuchart and Buddy
Kofoid. |
This is just a sampling of the 62 videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channel from both Martinsville and Long Beach this past weekend. For more content from this past weekend and other weekends, please subscribe and don't forget to ring the bell to be notified about new videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Christopher Bell Holds Onto Lead Despite Mediocre Day In Martinsville
by Phil Allaway
Christopher Bell had a quiet day in Martinsville Sunday, scoring no stage points and finishing 16th. That cost him part of his lead, but he still has advantage. His lead is down to five points over Ross Chastain, who struggled early before taking advantage of pit strategy to lead before finishing 13th.
Kevin Harvick finished 20th, but won stage two, which allowed him to gain ground in third. Kyle Larson's victory didn't gain him any positions, but he is now only two points behind Harvick and 17 out of the lead. Martin Truex Jr. had a miserable day
for most of Sunday, but got bailed out by a caution. With good track position, he drove up to third by the finish, allowing him to move up two places to fifth. Tyler Reddick is down one place to sixth after finishing 22nd. Joey Logano moved up to seventh after finishing second, but he spent three-quarters of the race outside of the top 20. Kyle Busch got busted for speeding on pit road and never really recovered, finishing 21st. That dropped him
two places to eighth. Denny Hamlin had one of the best cars Sunday, but got stuck down the order late. Despite that, a fourth-place finish moved him up three places to ninth. Ryan Blaney has sole possession of 10th after finishing seventh. Alex Bowman
is down to 11th after finishing 11th. Brad Keselowski pitted from the lead just as Anthony Alfredo had his right rear wheel come off, ruining his race. A 24th-place finish dropped him three places to 12th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished eighth and stays in 13th.
Chase Briscoe's fifth-place finish and 15 stage points moved him up six spots to 14th. William Byron dropped a spot to 15th, while Chris Buescher is still the final driver in the playoffs in 16th. Buescher has a six-point advantage over Daniel
Suarez. Suarez is up two positions after running well early before fading to 17th. Michael McDowell is down one place to 18th, while Austin Cindric is down five spots to 19th after a horrible day that saw him finish 33rd. Ty Gibbs remains in 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 302, 2) Ross Chastain -5, 3) Kevin Harvick -15, 4) Kyle Larson -17, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -36, 6) Tyler Reddick
-37, 7) Joey Logano -44, 8) Kyle Busch -52, 9) Denny Hamlin -55, 10) Ryan Blaney -61, 11) Alex Bowman -65, 12) Brad Keselowski -67, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -79, 14) Chase Briscoe -92, 15) William Byron -94, 16) Chris Buescher -96.
Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson
12, 2) William Byron -2, 3) Tyler Reddick -5, 4) Joey Logano -6, t-5) Christopher Bell -7, t-5) Kyle Busch -7, t-5) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -7, 8) Ross Chastain -9, t-9) Kevin Harvick -11, t-9) Denny Hamlin -11, t-9) Brad Keselowski -11, t-9) Austin Cindric -11, t-9) Ryan Preece
-11. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 85, 2) Kyle Larson -6, 3) Ross Chastain -12, 4) Christopher Bell -19, 5) Kevin Harvick -20, 6) Denny Hamlin
-21, 7) Tyler Reddick -23, t-8) Joey Logano -31, t-8) Brad Keselowski -31, t-8) Alex Bowman -31, 11) Austin Cindric -42, 12) Ryan Blaney -44, 13) Martin Truex Jr. -45, 14) Kyle Busch -52, t-15) Chris Buescher -54, t-15) Daniel Suarez -54.
Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: t-17) Chase Briscoe -57, t-23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -72.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell
278, 2) Ross Chastain -11, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -13, 4) Kevin Harvick -15, 5) Kyle Busch -22, t-6) Kyle Larson -31, t-6) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -31, 8) Joey Logano -33, t-9) Tyler Reddick
-39, t-9) Ryan Blaney -39, 11) Denny Hamlin -47, 12) Alex Bowman -50, 13) Brad Keselowski -53, 14) Ty Gibbs -55, 15) Chase Briscoe -58, 16) Michael McDowell -61. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17)
Chris Buescher -64, 24) William Byron -100. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 1257, 2) Ross Chastain -49, 3) Kevin Harvick -73, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -77, 5) Kyle Busch -96, 6) Kyle Larson -108, 7) Joey Logano -111, 8) Ricky Stenhouse
Jr. -130, 9) Tyler Reddick -135, 10) Ryan Blaney -150, t-11) Alex Bowman -188, t-11) Brad Keselowski -188, 13) Denny Hamlin -193, 14) Chase Briscoe -215, 15) Ty Gibbs -221, 16) Chris Buescher -237. Outside the top-16,
but still in the playoffs: 25) William Byron -382. Note No. 1: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Fontana),
William Byron (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Joey Logano (Atlanta), Tyler Reddick (Austin), Kyle Larson (Richmond, Martinsville), Christopher Bell (Bristol)
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: John Hunter Nemechek Takes Points Lead With Dominant Martinsville Win
by Phil Allaway
John Hunter Nemechek was ready to kick butt Saturday night in Martinsville and no one could touch him. Nemechek
led 198 of 250 laps to take his second win of the year. In the process, he snagged the points lead away from Austin Hill, who had a mediocre run to 16th. Nemechek went from 18 points behind to 21 ahead. Chandler Smith is up one place to third after finishing 10th. Riley Herbst is down two places to fourth after crashing out late and finishing 30th. Josh Berry remains in fifth after finishing fourth. Justin
Allgaier ended up on the wrong tire strategy, but still finished sixth to keep himself in sixth. Sammy Smith is up two places to seventh after finishing second. Cole Custer's third-place finish moved up to eighth. Daniel Hemric is up two places to ninth after finishing seventh. Sheldon Creed crashed on the
final lap Saturday night. The resulting 27th-place finish dropped him three positions to 10th. Sam Mayer is also down three spots to 11th after being eliminated in the same crash as Herbst. Parker Kligerman is still in 12th, the last driver in the playoffs. Kligerman has a nine-point advantage over Brandon Jones, who had his best run of the season to finish fifth.
Ryan Sieg is down one place to 14th after finishing 18th. Jeb Burton and Brett Moffitt remain 15th and 16th, respectively. Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek
319, 2) Austin Hill -21, 3) Chandler Smith -34, 4) Riley Herbst -38, 5) Josh Berry -43, 6) Justin Allgaier -52, 7) Sammy Smith -65, 8) Cole Custer -73, 9) Daniel Hemric -86, 10) Sheldon Creed
-90, 11) Sam Mayer -98, 12) Parker Kligerman -111, 13) Brandon Jones -120, 14) Ryan Sieg -125, 15) Jeb Burton -147, 16) Brett Moffitt -150. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 18, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -5,
3) Chandler Smith -12, 4) Sammy Smith -13, 5) Justin Allgaier -15, 6) Cole Custer -16, t-7) Josh Berry -17, t-7) Sheldon Creed -17, t-7) Parker Kligerman -17. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, AJ Allmendinger would be tied for third in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Riley Herbst 78, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -10, 3) Austin Hill -11, 4) Sheldon Creed -13, 5) Justin Allgaier -15, 6) Cole Custer -16, 7) Chandler Smith -18, 8) Sammy Smith
-26, 9) Brandon Jones -28, 10) Josh Berry -32, 11) Daniel Hemric -34, 12) Sam Mayer -42, 13) Parker Kligerman -47, 14) Ryan Sieg -59, 15) Brett Moffitt -61, 16) Anthony Alfredo -67. Note:
If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 14th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek
290, t-2) Austin Hill -23, t-2) Josh Berry -23, 4) Chandler Smith -28, 5) Sammy Smith -52, t-6) Riley Herbst -53, t-6) Justin Allgaier -53, 8) Daniel Hemric -69, t-9) Cole Custer -70, t-9) Sam
Mayer -70, 11) Parker Kligerman -78, 12) Ryan Sieg -83, 13) Sheldon Creed -91, 14) Jeb Burton -94, 15) Brett Moffitt -106, 16) Brandon Jones -107. WC Points (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 1259, 2) Josh Berry -84, 3) Austin Hill -93, 4) Chandler Smith -107, 5) Justin Allgaier -169, 6) Sammy Smith -187, 7) Riley Herbst -195, 8) Sam Mayer -250, 9) Cole Custer
-251, 10) Daniel Hemric -252, 11) Parker Kligerman -284, 12) Ryan Sieg -311, 13) Sheldon Creed -316, 14) Jeb Burton -351, 15) Brett Moffitt -378, 16) Brandon Jones -379. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Las Vegas, Atlanta), John Hunter Nemechek (Fontana,
Martinsville), Sammy Smith (Phoenix), AJ Allmendinger (Austin), Chandler Smith (Richmond) 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 Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs: Ty Majeski Continues Strong Form In Martinsville
by Phil Allaway
Ty Majeski had a decent night in Martinsville, finishing a strong fourth. However, Zane Smith was second. As a result, Majeski's points lead was cut from 34 points to 26. Ben Rhodes remains in third after finishing sixth. Corey Heim's first win with TRICON Garage
moved him up three places to fourth. Christian Eckes remains in fifth after finishing in 15th. Grant Enfinger was 14th and stays in sixth. Matt Crafton had problems under the hood of his Ford F-150 and ended up
finishing 26th. That dropped the veteran three spots to seventh. Tanner Gray is still in eighth after finishing fifth. Matt DiBenedetto holds onto the last spot in the playoffs on points in ninth after finishing seventh.
DiBenedetto has an 11-point lead over both Nick Sanchez and Chase Purdy. Sanchez finished 11th while Purdy was 10th. Jake Garcia is up three places to 12th after finishing 13th. Carson Hocevar had
a horrible night, including getting parked for two laps for trying to intentionally wreck Taylor Gray. The 34th-place finish dropped Hocevar to 13th. Stewart Friesen made a bad decision to pit late, expecting the race to go the distance. He then got spun out and had to make another stop for a flat left rear and finished 30th. That dropped him to 14th. Hailie Deegan is up one place to 15th after finishing 20th with left rear damage. Tyler Ankrum had a miserable night, including getting lapped prior to lap 25 and dropped to 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ty Majeski 301, 2) Zane Smith -26, 3) Ben Rhodes -49, 4) Corey Heim -71, 5) Christian Eckes -72, 6) Grant Enfinger
-90, 7) Matt Crafton -92, 8) Tanner Gray -100, 9) Matt DiBenedetto -116, t-10) Nick Sanchez -127, t-10) Chase Purdy -127, 12) Jake Garcia -149, 13) Carson Hocevar -151, 14) Stewart Friesen -152, 15) Hailie
Deegan -159, 16) Tyler Ankrum -162.
Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for the playoffs
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 11, 2) Christian Eckes -3, 3) Corey Heim -4, 3) Carson Hocevar -5, 4) Nick Sanchez -9, t-3) Matt Crafton -10, t-3) Tyler Ankrum -10. Note: If he were eligible for playoff points, Joey Logano would be tied for third with seven points, while Kyle Busch would be tied for fifth with six. Stage Points: 1) Ty Majeski 77, 2) Zane Smith -7, 3) Christian Eckes -11, 4) Ben Rhodes -20, 5) Matt Crafton -22, t-6) Corey Heim
-35, t-6) Matt DiBenedetto -35, 8) Nick Sanchez -42, 9) Grant Enfinger -44, 10) Tanner Gray -48, t-11) Chase Purdy -53, t-11) Stewart Friesen -53, 13) Carson Hocevar -54, 14) Tyler Ankrum
-59, 15) Hailie Deegan -60, 16) Dean Thompson -65. Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be ninth and Joey Logano 15th. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ty Majeski 199, 2) Zane Smith
-19, 3) Ben Rhodes -29, 4) Corey Heim -36, 5) Grant Enfinger -48, 6) Tanner Gray -55, 7) Christian Eckes -60, 8) Matt Crafton -70, 9) Jake Garcia -72, 10) Chase Purdy -73, 11) Nick Sanchez -81, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -83, 13) Carson Hocevar
-95, 14) Hailie Deegan -99, 15) Stewart Friesen -101, t-16) Tyler Ankrum -104, t-16) Colby Howard -104. WC Points (1-16): 1) Ty Majeski 1105, 2) Zane Smith -71, 3) Ben Rhodes -116, 4) Corey Heim
-143, 5) Grant Enfinger -186, 6) Tanner Gray -199, 7) Christian Eckes -208, 8) Matt Crafton -256, 9) Chase Purdy -265, 10) Nick Sanchez -287, 11) Matt DiBenedetto -297, 12) Jake Garcia -327, 13) Carson
Hocevar -343, 14) Stewart Friesen -350, 15) Tyler Ankrum -360, t-16) Colby Howard -361, t-16) Hailie Deegan -361. Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Austin), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Atlanta), Carson Hocevar (Texas), Joey Logano (Bristol), Corey Heim (Martinsville)
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 NOCO 400 was brought to you by the letter I for Incremental Improvement. Last year's Martinsville races
were marked by a lack of action. The new lower downforce rules, in raw data, appear to have helped the product as passing was up more than 50% from last year. However, there wasn't all that much action at the front, especially early on - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: NOCO
400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"Just a huge congratulations to this whole No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team and Hendrick Motorsports. I feel like Cliff [Daniels] and everybody did a great job all day on pit road – making the right calls, having great pit stops, and then it all kind of worked out
for me there at the end. We had a great car. That was the best my car had been I think, being able to get out front and manage.
"But, yeah, I never would have thought that I would win here at Martinsville. This place has been so tough on me. Just does not suit my driving style at all. I like to charge the center. I like to roll momentum, and that’s just
not what this place is like. Thanks to Cliff Daniels and everybody for making me feel like I know what I’m doing sometimes around here. I just can’t believe it." - Kyle Larson, race winner
"I knew the only way [that Kyle Larson] was gonna get by me is [that] he was gonna have to get physical. I had to make the car wide. I had very little chance to win it when he had the two tires. He just got through traffic too quick for us, but, overall, it still was the right call to get us on the front row. You never know, you have a caution at the end and some things can happen, but, overall, I’m very proud of the
Verizon Mustang team. We were not good. We went down a lap two times throughout the race and got one lucky dog and one lucky caution and then just some good strategy from Paul and getting the car better. We were awful to start and he did a good job of getting me competitive at least and putting me in position to do something there at the end. There are days when you’re mad about second, most of the time you are, but days like today you’re pretty happy to see the front at the
end." - Joey Logano, finished second
"We kind of had a crazy day with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD. Finally, just got a little bit lucky and got back on the lead lap and we just kept
working on our car. We were so loose all day long, and then there at the end we got a whole lot better. It was fun in the end – passing a lot of cars to get up there, but still needed to be a little bit better. Proud of everyone for sticking with it and grinding one out today." - Martin Truex Jr., finished third "The package was terrible – it’s either the package or the tires. You can’t pass. Cars that I was lapping 10 laps before, we caught a caution, and I couldn’t pass them for second. It’s very difficult. Next Gen racing is all about strategy, execution on pit road – that’s who wins. Rarely does the car that dominates or the best car, win, simply because you can’t control the race when you need too – at least we couldn’t. We
made a great strategy call at the end to get positions back." - Denny Hamlin, finished fourth
"It would have been more of a statement if we won the race, obviously. I thought as a company we had a really good day. All four cars were in contention. I felt like a
Stewart-Haas car probably should have won the race and we just couldn’t catch the breaks we needed there at the end, but, overall, a great day. That’s something that as a company we needed to go and run up front. All four cars were really competitive. I wish one of us would have won the race, but you’ll have that. We’ll go on to next week and hopefully we can continue this speed and this momentum as a company." - Chase Briscoe, finished
fifth "It’s crazy that Martinsville is a track position race. The cars are so close and so competitive. I thought we were arguably the best car the first part of the race and then we got a little bit behind as the track changed and the car changed a little bit. Then after
that, we got the car really good. Drew made some great adjustments and I thought we were arguably the best car. We went through that green flag pit sequence and then a caution comes out for a wheel and gives a lot of those guys just a free gift that stayed out. A lot of those guys we had lapped already in the race and it’s just so hard to pass that you give those guys track position and you start behind them on the same tires. It’s hard to pass." - Aric Almirola, finished sixth
"It was kind of a crazy day. I felt like we were slowly making gains on our Chevy. We got better and better, and then we caught that caution. We had pitted and we had to take the wave around, and we ended up at the very back.
But Mike Kelley and all the guys did a great job. Our war room back at the shop said we should stay out there. They felt like if we stayed out, our lap times would come back around and we’d be able to hang on. Really nice that it went green there.
"Our No. 47 Kroger/Tree Top Camaro was just a little tight in the center all day. We made it a little bit better. It felt like we were definitely the best we’ve been here in a long time, so we’re really happy with our day." - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished eighth
"It was pretty good, honestly. It was about what I expected, so that’s a good thing. It was warm. I’ve been sitting on the couch for six weeks, so I think that probably hurt me more than anything. But our NAPA Chevy, we struggled every run but the last one. We finally got it going there at the end and I was able to make some passes and do things that I didn’t really think I’d be capable of doing, or at least of us
fixing it to that degree here at the race track. So I was pleasantly surprised by that. Got us a top-10 out of our first day back, so that’s definitely something to not be too bummed about." - Chase Elliott, finished 10th
"I sped off pit road, I guess. That ultimately cost us the track position. We had a really fast race car, so once we got in the back it was so hard to do anything, so that’s on me. I’ll take blame for that. I was trying to beat them out and ultimately got snapped speeding. "I didn’t think we could [get caught speeding exiting from our pit box], to be honest with you, but I guess it’s my job to know that. It’s unfortunate, but when we had track position I think it showed that we had a really fast HaasTooling Ford Mustang, but you can’t do those things. You can’t make mistakes." - Ryan Preece, finished 15th
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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