Frontstretch Newsletter: May 2, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition LXIII |
- Tonight, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will race at the virtual Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Coverage is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. ET on
both NASCAR and iRacing's YouTube channels. The race itself will start at 9 p.m. ET. We will have a recap of the sim racing action and anything else that breaks today for you at Frontstretch. |
| | Martin Truex Jr. Snaps Winless Streak with Dover
Victory Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr. took the lead late Monday, then held off late charges from Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain to win the Wurth 400
for his first Cup win since 2021. Chastain was second, then Blaney, William Byron and Denny Hamlin. |
| | Meet Ross Chastain’s 2 Newest Enemies: Kyle Larson & Brennan
Poole Monday's Wurth 400 will be best remembered for Ross Chastain taking out Brennan Poole on lap 81 and collecting Kyle Larson in the process. Neither driver was happy
with the new points leader afterwards. |
| | Entry List: 2023 AdventHealth
400 For Sunday's 400-mile race at Kansas Speedway, there are 36 teams entered. The only change has Josh Bilicki back with Live Fast Motorsports. |
| | Blake Bainbridge Moves to GMS As Daniel Dye’s Crew
Chief GMS Racing announced Monday that Blake Bainbridge has been hired to serve as Daniel Dye's crew chief in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, effective
immediately. |
| | Entry List: 2023 Heart Of America
200 For Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Kansas, there are 36 trucks entered. Toni Breidinger will make her series debut for TRICON Garage, while
Johnny Sauter will debut for Roper Racing. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography. 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: May 1 |
Whoever wins the scholarship will earn a benefits package worth $250,000 for the 2024 season, including a full-season premium entry to one of IMSA's three biggest championships (IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Michelin Pilot Challenge or VP Racing SportsCar Challenge). The winner of the scholarship is typically announced during the Petit Le
Mans weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in October. Last year's winner, Courtney Crone, is currently racing full-time in IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge for Forty7 Motorsports. She is currently fifth in the LMP3 standings. |
This is a sampling of the content that we brought to you Monday from Dover on our YouTube channel. For more content from the past weekend and from other races, please subscribe and don't forget to hit the bell to be notified of future uploads. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Despite Angering Many, Ross Chastain Re-Assumes Points Lead In Dover
by Phil Allaway
Christopher Bell had a decent run on Monday, finishing sixth. Ross Chastain, despite causing a big crash on lap 81, finished second. That performance was enough for him to retake the points lead. The advantage is three points over Bell. Kevin Harvick ran decently until a tire unwound right at
the end of stage two, trapping him a lap down. A 19th-place finish keeps him in third, but cost him ground. Martin Truex Jr.'s victory moved him up three places to fourth. Ryan Blaney is up three places to fifth after finishing third. Tyler Reddick
remains in sixth after starting and finishing in seventh. Denny Hamlin is up two places to seventh after finishing fifth. Kyle Busch got busted for speeding after the competition caution and never really recovered. A 21st-place finish dropped him three places to eighth. Brad Keselowski earned a top 10 finish and moved up three places to ninth. Kyle Larson is the big loser, dropping six spots to 10th after being the victim in a crash created by Chastain. William Byron is up three places to 11th after leading the most laps and winning stage one before finishing fourth. Chris Buescher is up four places to 12th after finishing ninth. Joey Logano is down two places to 13th after an absolutely miserable day with bad handling and tire issues. He crashed out with 14 laps to go, but was more than 10 laps down before the crash. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman are tied for 14th. Stenhouse
finished 15th Monday, while Bowman sat out after suffering a vertebra injury in Iowa last Tuesday. Chase Briscoe had a miserable day and dropped to 16th after finishing 30th. Briscoe is currently the last driver in the playoffs on points. He has a 19-point lead over Daniel
Suarez, who crashed out early. Ty Gibbs is up two places to 18th after a 13th-place finish, but it should have been better than that. Austin Cindric is down to 19th and Michael McDowell is 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ross Chastain 370, 2) Christopher Bell -3, 3) Kevin Harvick -38, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -40, 5) Ryan Blaney -44, 6) Tyler Reddick -51, 7) Denny Hamlin -53, 8) Kyle Busch -64, 9) Brad Keselowski -67, 10) Kyle Larson
-70, 11) William Byron -73, 12) Chris Buescher -93, 13) Joey Logano -96, t-14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -100, t-14) Alex Bowman -100, 16) Chase Briscoe -120.
Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 12, 2) William Byron -1, 3) Kyle Busch -2, 4) Tyler Reddick -5, 5) Joey Logano -6, t-6) Martin Truex Jr.
-7, t-6) Christopher Bell -7, t-6) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -7, 9) Ross Chastain -8, t-10)
Kevin Harvick -11, t-10) Denny Hamlin -11, t-10) Brad Keselowski -11, t-10) Austin Cindric -11, t-10) Aric Almirola -11, t-10) Ryan Preece -11, t-9) Chase Elliott -11. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 111, 2) Ross Chastain -14, 3) Kyle Larson -26, 4) Denny Hamlin -29, 5) Kevin
Harvick -35, 6) Christopher Bell -40, 7) Tyler Reddick -46, 8) Alex Bowman -48, 9) Brad Keselowski -50, t-10) Joey Logano -54, t-10) Ryan Blaney -54, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -57, 13) Austin Cindric -63, 14) Chris Buescher -71, 15) Aric Almirola -76, t-16) Chase Elliott -77, t-16)
Ryan Preece -77.
Outside of the top-16, but in the
playoffs: 18) Kyle Busch -78, 20) Chase Briscoe -83, 24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-95. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 347, 2) Ross Chastain -21, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -23, 4) Kyle Busch -26, 5) Ryan Blaney
-29, 6) Kevin Harvick -41, 7) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -48, 8) Tyler Reddick -49, 9) Brad Keselowski -51, 10) Denny Hamlin -54, 11) Chris Buescher -63, 12) Chase Briscoe -78, 13) Joey Logano
-80, 14) Kyle Larson -83, 15) Ty Gibbs -85, 16) Alex Bowman -90. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) William Byron -95. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages
were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 1554, 2) Ross Chastain -72, 3) Ryan Blaney -102, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -107, 5) Kyle Busch
-108, 6) Kevin Harvick -159, 7) Tyler Reddick -171, 8) Brad Keselowski -178, 9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -191, 10) Denny Hamlin -213, 11) Chris Buescher -231, 12) Joey Logano -260, t-13) Kyle Larson
-274, t-13) Chase Briscoe -274, 15) Ty Gibbs -319, 16) Daniel Suarez -349. Outside the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Alex Bowman -356, 18) William Byron -358. 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, Talladega), William Byron (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Joey Logano (Atlanta), Tyler Reddick (Austin), Kyle Larson (Richmond, Martinsville), Christopher Bell (Bristol), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover)
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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Letter of the Race: Monday's Wurth 400 was brought to you by the letter P for Precipitation. It seems like there are a certain group of
races that are really prone to weather issues. The spring race at Bristol is one. So is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona since it became a night race. The fact that three of Martin Truex Jr.'s four wins at Dover have come on Mondays should tell you something. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Wurth 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"Just preserved. Just worked hard all day. James [Small] and all of the guys did a really great job. Stage two started – we were 21st or something like that restarting and had to work our way through the field and be patient. Our car came to life the second half of the race, and then once we got track position it was really
good. Just fortunate to get the lead on that green flag cycle. I don’t think I would have ever passed [Ross Chastain] car if it wasn’t for that. We were both really, really equal. Enjoy racing up there today. The track was fun. Our car was really good. I just have to thank all of our partners – Bass Pro, Auto Owners, Resers, Toyota, TRD, Noble Aerospace, ROC, Textron, Flight Safety, Sherwin Williams and Oakley. It’s hard to remember all of those – all of our partners make this happen. Coach and
our pit crew did a good job today after that first little hiccup. It takes everything to win these things, and today we had all of that and no bad luck, which we have fought for over a year now." - Martin Truex Jr., race winner
"First, I want to say so sorry to Brennan Poole and everybody at Rick Ware Racing. I owe them a big
apology and a bit more. I’ll head over there tomorrow and talk to those guys, and make some of that right.
"We were just so close again for our No. 1 Jockey Chevy team and everybody at Trackhouse Racing, Advent Health, Moose Fraternity, Worldwide Express. It’s surreal to continue to do this and get to race against my heroes. I
guess I told [Martin Truex Jr.] too many of my secrets last year after we went fishing." - Ross Chastain, finished second
"Either two [tires] or we’re staying out was the call, and we came in and took two. It got us on the front row. I think if we had taken four [tires], we would have
lined-up fourth. So, it really wouldn’t have been much different. But, being on the front row gave us a shot to win. I tried to send it into [turn] three to clear [Martin Truex Jr.], and he did the same thing and was able to get around us. It was a really smooth day for us honestly. We ran third all day. Just didn’t have quite enough speed for those top-two guys at the end there. Overall, really great effort – especially for how we’ve been here in the past. It’s kind of been a struggle track for
us, and I’m proud of the gains we made." - Ryan Blaney, finished third
"The middle section – I don’t know, I need to maybe do a little better job on the
feedback, and then just communicating the [necessary] adjustments there. We took off, had clean air and the car was just too loose. I couldn’t load the rear tires and we were just hanging on. That run was obviously really bad – we fell from first to seventh. We just had to work our way up
from there.
"Proud of the effort. Getting a top-five is great. The No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevy was really good today. Definitely needed some more, but we’re having speed at all different kinds of tracks. In our history, this hasn’t been our best track. We came with something a little bit different to try and help that. I think it
did for the majority of the race, but just got too loose." - William Byron, finished fourth
"Yeah, our car was really fast. Long run was pretty good. I’m proud of this FedEx team for bringing me a car capable of winning today, but sometimes you can’t get those last few spots. It is what it
is. We will work hard and try to get better." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"We had a good recovery. Had top-five in the first stage, had a pit road issue, and we recovered from that. Solid top 10 day – drove back through. We’re not far off here. Just looking for a little more, and I felt
like we were pretty close. Excited about that, proud of our day – especially Chris [Buescher] running well. Just a strong showing." - Brad Keselowski, finished eighth
"Yeah, it was a solid day. I’m really proud of our group. This Fastenal Mustang had good speed in it all day – probably fifth
to 10th is probably where we were going to be. Ended up ninth with the late restart, and had a lap-down car racing us pretty hard. Jacked us up there, but at the end of the day it was solid. Everyone did a good job on pit road, kept track position, worked hard on-track, and it’s a solid one. Just wanted to be a little more free on that last race restart to see if we could drive forward a little bit more, but it was good to stay up there all day and in contention." - Chris Buescher, finished ninth
"Happy to get another top 10. I think it was a really solid day for the No. 48 Ally Chevy team. We needed a little bit more there to be a little bit better, but overall with the
amount of experience I have in Cup cars, I feel like to run about where we did was really solid. Just proud of Blake [Harris] and everybody on this team for a great job." - Josh Berry, finished 10th "The conditions were perfect. I don’t think it had anything to do with the track. The track was good, the car was really good. For how quick I lost the car, I think I had a tire going down or something because it happened instantly. My car wasn’t loose and I didn’t have a warning or anything. It’s unfortunate to be out of the race this early at a race track that we normally run very well at." - Daniel Suarez, finished 35th (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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