Frontstretch Newsletter: March 27, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition XXXVII |
- NASCAR Cup Series teams are still hauling back to North Carolina after Sunday's action in Austin. Entry lists for this
weekend's races at both Richmond Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway should be released either today or tomorrow. We'll have the entry lists and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
| | Tyler Reddick Avoids Mayhem, Wins at
COTA 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick snatched the lead on lap 64 from William Byron, then held on through a series of restarts to win the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
Sunday at Circuit of the Americas. Kyle Busch was second, then Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and William Byron. |
| | The Melon Comeback: Ross Chastain Battles up the Field
in Overtime to Re-Gain Points Lead On lap 60, Ross Chastain spun on a restart and dropped to the rear. Over the final 15 laps and a number of restarts, Chastain was able to work his way back to the
front and finish fourth. |
| | Kurt Busch Emotional in FOX Booth as Former Team
Wins Kurt Busch spent Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in the broadcast booth for FOX Sports. However, it was quite evident that he wished that he could be out
there, especially knowing that Tyler Reddick won in a car that, had he not been injured last year, would likely have been his car. |
| | AJ Allmendinger Dominates COTA, Scores Xfinity
Win In his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the year, Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger led 28 of 46 laps to win the Pit Boss 250k for his record-extending 11th
career Xfinity road course victory. William Byron was second, then Ty Gibbs, Sammy Smith and Justin Allgaier. |
| | Sheldon Creed Ends Promising COTA Xfinity Race in 9th
After Contact With AJ Allmendinger Richard Childress Racing's Sheldon Creed earned the most points in Saturday's Pit Boss 250k with 47. However, a chance to potentially win the race outright went
away when he was spun by AJ Allmendinger while racing for the lead. |
| | FRS Announces Kyle Weatherman as Driver for Richmond
Debut FRS Racing announced that they will make their NASCAR Xfinity Series debut next weekend at Richmond Raceway. Kyle Weatherman will
drive. |
| | Zane Smith Scores 2nd Straight COTA Truck Series
Win Pit strategy put Front Row Motorsports' Zane Smith in front Saturday, but once there, no one could touch the defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion as he
held on to successfully defend his victory in the Xpel 225. Kyle Busch was second, then Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Ross Chastain. |
| | Kyle Busch Burned by Caution, Ben Rhodes Breaks
Driveshaft at Finish of COTA Truck Race Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Xpel 225k may have been decided on lap 26 when Kyle Busch chose not to pit and stayed out to win stage two. A caution came
out almost immediately afterwards, putting him way back. |
| | William Sawalich Leads Every Lap, Wins ARCA East Five
Flags Race Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich led flag-to-flag Saturday night to win the ARCA Menards Series East season opener, the Pensacola 200, at Five Flags
Speedway. Luke Fenhaus was second, then Jake Finch, Sean Hingorani and Lavar Scott. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and Brayton Laster. 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: March 24-26 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series was in action Friday night at Alabama's Talladega Short Track. Here, Buddy Kofoid led flag-to-flag to win the Talladega Sprint Car
Showdown. He was 1.238 seconds ahead of Brad Sweet at the finish. Spencer Bayston was third, then David Gravel and Donny Schatz. You can read more about this sprint in Eastaboga, Ala. here. - Saturday night saw the World of Outlaws Sprints cross the state line into Mississippi to race at Magnolia Motor Speedway, often referred to as "The Mag." Here, Sweet lost the lead on the opening lap to Sheldon Haudenschild, then got it back on lap
10. Once back out front, Sweet pulled away for his first win of the year. Gravel was second, then Haudenschild, Schatz and Carson Macedo. For more on this race, check out Bryan Keith's This Weekend on Dirt at
Frontstretch.
Through eight races, Gravel has a 28-point lead over Macedo. Sweet is third in points, then Logan Schuchart. Kofoid remains in fifth.
|
This is just a sampling of the 56 videos that we posted this past weekend onto our YouTube page. For more coverage from Circuit of the Americas, or from other race weekends, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future postings. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Ross Chastain Recovers From Spin To Reclaim Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Joey Logano spent the majority of Sunday's race on an alternate pit strategy. This came back to bite him at the end as he finished 28th. That cost him the points lead. Ross Chastain recovered
from a spin on a lap 60 restart to finish fourth. That was enough for him to jump two spots to take the points lead back. His advantage is 19 points over Kyle Busch, who finished second and gained five spots. Logano fell into a tie with Kevin Harvick. Harvick finished 13th Sunday. Christopher Bell dropped three places to fifth after getting involved in multiple on-track incidents late in the race Sunday and finishing 31st. Ryan Blaney is down two places to sixth after having his share of late incidents. Austin Cindric is up four places to seventh after scoring nine stage points and finishing sixth. Martin Truex Jr. remains in eighth despite a late spin dropping him to
17th. Brad Keselowski had a horrible weekend. A bad qualifying effort, then spinning three times in the race before the driveshaft broke dropped him four places to ninth. Race winner Tyler Reddick is up from 15th to a tie for 10th with Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin finished 16th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished seventh and stays in 12th. Chris Buescher remains in 13th, while Daniel Suarez dropped four places to 14th after crashing late and finishing 27th. In addition, Suarez hit Alex Bowman
on pit road after the race. That could cop a penalty. More to come later this week. Corey LaJoie fell one position to 15th despite finishing 11th on Sunday. He is the last driver currently in the playoffs on points. He is currently 13 points ahead of Bowman, who finished third. This
is despite the 100-point penalty for the louvers. If the penalty is struck down via appeal in early April, he would be back in the points lead. Michael McDowell is up one place to 17th after finishing 12th. Ty Gibbs is 18th, while Bubba Wallace and AJ
Allmendinger are tied for 19th. Wallace suffered a couple of mechanical failures that sent him careening into Kyle Larson and Erik Jones Sunday to put him out. Allmendinger was eliminated late after contact on a restart. Point Standings
(1-16): 1) Ross Chastain 211, 2) Kyle Busch -19, t-3) Joey Logano -25, t-3) Kevin Harvick -25, 5) Christopher Bell -27, 6) Ryan Blaney -34, 7) Austin Cindric -45, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -46, 9) Brad Keselowski
-49, t-10) Tyler Reddick -50, t-10) Denny Hamlin -50, 12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -52, 13) Chris Buescher -54, 14) Daniel Suarez -67, 15) Corey LaJoie -72, 16) Alex Bowman -85. Outside of the top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 22) William Byron
-114. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Joey Logano 6, t-1) Tyler Reddick 6, t-3) Kyle Busch -1, t-3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -1, 5) William Byron -2, 6) Ross
Chastain -3, t-7) Brad Keselowski -5, t-7) Austin Cindric -5, 8) Kyle Larson -15. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 65, 2) Ross Chastain -11, 3) Joey Logano
-17, t-4) Alex Bowman -19, t-4) Kyle Larson -19, t-6) Austin Cindric -22, t-6) Denny Hamlin -22, 8) Christopher Bell
-23, t-9) Kevin Harvick -24, t-9) Brad Keselowski -24, 11) Ryan Blaney -33, 12) Chris Buescher -34, t-13) Martin Truex Jr. -36, t-13) Tyler Reddick -36, 15) Daniel Suarez -44, 16) Michael McDowell -45.
Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: 17) Kyle Busch -46, t-18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -52, 25) Corey
LaJoie -57.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Busch 198, 2) Ross Chastain -12, 3) Kevin Harvick -25, 4) Ryan Blaney -26, 5) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -27, 6) Christopher Bell
-28, 7) Joey Logano -31, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -36, t-9) Tyler Reddick -43, t-9) Corey LaJoie -43, 11) Chris Buescher -45, 12) Denny Hamlin -46, 13) Brad Keselowski -47, 14) Daniel Suarez -49, t-14) Austin Cindric
-49, 16) Ty Gibbs -49. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 30) WIlliam Byron -115. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Kyle Busch
863, 2) Ross Chastain -33, 3) Christopher Bell -71, 4) Kevin Harvick -80, 5) Ryan Blaney -81, 6) Joey Logano -90, 7) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -96, 8) Tyler Reddick -128, 9) Martin Truex Jr.
-129, 10) Brad Keselowski -141, 11) Chris Buescher -146, 12) Corey LaJoie -149, 13) Daniel Suarez -158, 14) Austin Cindric -162, 15) Denny Hamlin -169, 16) Ty Gibbs -208. Outside the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 30) William Byron
-430. 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)
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.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Austin Hill Keeps Lead Despite Engine Woes
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill was strong early on Saturday at Circuit of the Americas, but he missed multiple shifts from first to second gear. That ultimately resulted in an engine problem that put him out early. Despite being credited with a 37th-place finish, Hill still maintains his points lead. His advantage is down to only 15 points over Riley Herbst, who claimed sole
possession of second after finishing 10th. John Hunter Nemechek spun late and had to make an unscheduled stop with a flat tire. He ended up 27th and dropped to third. Justin Allgaier is up one place to fourth after finishing fifth. Chandler Smith dropped one place to fifth after finishing 12th, while Sam Mayer stays in sixth.
Sammy Smith was the best finishing Xfinity regular Saturday in fourth, but stays in seventh. Sheldon Creed scored the most points Saturday (47) and moved up four places to eighth. Josh Berry is down from a tie for seventh to ninth after an eventful day with contact on multiple occasions before finishing eighth. Daniel Hemric
remains in 10th after late contact with Nemechek. Parker Kligerman had a very strong car, but lost a gear in his transmission and putted around to a 31st-place finish. He remains in 11th. Cole Custer spun and got stuck in the gravel in the Esses after contact from Berry. He was unable to get his lap back and finished 32nd, dropping to 12th. He is the last driver currently in the playoffs. Custer has a nine-point advantage over Ryan Sieg, who scored nine stage points, but finished 23rd after a spin with a little more than three laps to go. Anthony Alfredo is up one place to 14th, while Brandon Jones is now 15th. Brett Moffitt dropped back to 16th after dropping out with engine problems. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 249, 2) Riley Herbst -15, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -29, 4) Justin Allgaier -49, 5) Chandler Smith -53, 6) Sam Mayer -62, 7) Sammy Smith
-64, 8) Sheldon Creed -65, 9) Josh Berry -66, 10) Daniel Hemric -73, 11) Parker Kligerman -93, 12) Cole Custer -97, 13) Ryan Sieg -106, 14) Anthony Alfredo -120, 15) Brandon Jones -121, 16) Brett Moffitt
-123. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 18, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -12, 3) Sammy Smith
-13, 4) Justin Allgaier -15, 5) Cole Custer -16, t-6) Sheldon Creed -17, t-6) Parker Kligerman -17. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, AJ Allmendinger would be tied for second in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Austin Hill 67, 2) Sheldon Creed -6, 3) Justin Allgaier -11, 4) Riley Herbst -15, 5) John Hunter Nemechek -23, 6) Chandler Smith -29, 7) Sammy Smith -31, 8) Cole Custer
-33, 9) Daniel Hemric -37, t-10) Sam Mayer -39, t-10) Parker Kligerman -39, 12) Brandon Jones -40, 13) Josh Berry -47, t-14) Ryan Sieg -50, t-14) Brett Moffitt -50, 16) Anthony Alfredo -56. Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 13th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 209, 2) Riley Herbst -2, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -4, 4) Josh Berry
-19, t-5) Chandler Smith -23, t-5) Sam Mayer -23, 7) Sammy Smith -34, 8) Justin Allgaier -37, 9) Daniel Hemric -39, 10) Parker Kligerman -54, t-11) Sheldon Creed -59, t-11) Ryan Sieg -59, 13) Cole Custer
-64, 14) Anthony Alfredo -65, 15) Jeb Burton -69, 16) Jeremy Clements -72. WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 908, 2) John Hunter Nemechek
-9, 3) Riley Herbst -16, 4) Josh Berry -68, 5) Chandler Smith -75, 6) Sam Mayer -81, 7) Justin Allgaier -102, 8) Sammy Smith -122, 9) Daniel Hemric -138, 10) Parker Kligerman -187, 11) Sheldon Creed
-197, 12) Ryan Sieg -215, 13) Cole Custer -225, 14) Anthony Alfredo -232, 15) Jeb Burton -248, 16) Jeremy Clements -257. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Las Vegas, Atlanta), John Hunter Nemechek (Fontana),
Sammy Smith (Phoenix), AJ Allmendinger (Austin) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs: Zane Smith Retakes Points Lead With COTA Victory
by Phil
Allaway
Christian Eckes won stage one Saturday, but ended up having suspension issues that put him out of the race. Those issues cost Eckes the points lead. Zane Smith's second win of the year and second straight win at Circuit of the Americas allowed him to take the points lead back. Smith's advantage is
two points over Ty Majeski, who finished third. Ben Rhodes is up one place to third after finishing 10th. That should have been a top five, but Rhodes broke his driveshaft under braking for the final turn of the race. Eckes' issues dropped him down to fourth. Grant Enfinger is up one place to fifth after finishing 12th. Matt Crafton dropped out early due to overheating from a spin that blocked up his grille. The 33rd-place finsih dropped Crafton four places to sixth. Tyler Ankrum is up four spots to seventh after a fourth-place finish. Matt DiBenedetto is down one place to eighth. Corey Heim moved up three places to ninth after a sixth-place finish. Tanner Gray and Chase Purdy are tied for 10th. Gray gets the final spot in the playoffs on points for the moment due to his second-place finish in the season opener at Daytona.
Both drivers have a nine-point advantage over Nick Sanchez, who finished seventh Saturday. Stewart Friesen is up three places to 13th after a 14th-place finish. Carson Hocevar had a terrible day Saturday. A combination brake and
power steering failure saw him spin into the gravel early on. The team was unable to make repairs, resulting in a 34th-place finish. That dropped him five places to 14th. Timmy Hill is 15th, while Colby Howard is down to 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 168, 2) Ty Majeski -2, 3) Ben Rhodes -18, 4) Christian Eckes -20, 5) Grant Enfinger -37, 6) Matt Crafton -38, 7) Tyler Ankrum
-54, 8) Matt DiBenedetto -56, 9) Corey Heim -58, t-10) Tanner Gray -61, t-10) Chase Purdy -61, 12) Nick Sanchez -70, 13) Stewart Friesen -85, 14) Carson Hocevar -86, 15) Timmy Hill -91, 16) Colby Howard
-93.
Note No. 1: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for the playoffs Note No. 2: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be
13th.
Playoff Points: 1) Zane Smith 11, 2) Christian Eckes -3, t-3) Matt Crafton -10, t-3) Tyler Ankrum
-10, t-3) Carson Hocevar -10.
Note: If he were eligible for playoff points, Kyle Busch would be third with six points. Stage Points: 1) Matt Crafton 44, 2) Ty Majeski -1, t-3) Zane Smith -8, t-3) Christian Eckes -8, t-5) Ben Rhodes -13, t-5) Matt DiBenedetto -13, 7) Grant
Enfinger -16, t-8) Tyler Ankrum -26, t-8) Chase Purdy -26, t-8) Carson Hocevar -26, 11) Nick Sanchez -29, 12) Corey Heim -30, 13) Stewart Friesen -31, 14) Hailie Deegan -32, 15) Rajah Caruth
-34, 16) Lawless Alan -36. Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be 11th and Ross Chastain would be 16th. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 118, 2) Ty Majeski -9, 3) Ben Rhodes -13, 4) Christian Eckes -19, 5) Grant
Enfinger -30, 6) Tanner Gray -33, 7) Corey Heim -36, 8) Tyler Ankrum -37, 9) Chase Purdy -44, 10) Matt Crafton -45, 11) Nick Sanchez -49, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -53, 13) Timmy Hill -56, 14) Colby Howard -58, 15) Stewart Friesen -63, 16) Jake Garcia -66. Note: If he were eligible for Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be tied for 11th in Old Points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Zane Smith 643, 2) Ty
Majeski -33, 3) Ben Rhodes -49, 4) Christian Eckes -60, 5) Grant Enfinger -112, 6) Tanner Gray -116, 7) Tyler Ankrum -129, 8) Corey Heim -130, 9) Chase Purdy -156, 10) Nick Sanchez -159, 11) Matt Crafton
-163, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -187, t-13) Colby Howard -196, t-13) Timmy Hill -196, 15) Stewart Friesen -220, 16) Carson Hocevar -234. Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona,
Austin), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Atlanta)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade
Photography.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix was brought to you by the letter F for Flowing. The elimination of stage
breaks on road courses this year opens the race up quite a bit more this year. In addition, it means that there isn't a 20-minute break at the end of the stages. It led to a strategic race that was very interesting to watch. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: EchoPark Automotive Grand
Prix compiled by Phil Allaway
"It means the world. This whole 23XI [Racing] team has been working so hard all winter long to make the road course program better. Was extremely motivated to come in here and prove that performance, too. Just so proud of this Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD.
Toyota, everybody, all the resources they’ve been putting into this to help turn around the road course program means a lot. I’m out of gas. But I feel a little bit better with Monster Energy." - Tyler Reddick, race winner
"I don’t
know if we could have [passed Tyler Reddick], even if we were on equal tires. When we tested here, they were lights out. We had speed on the front side of the runs. We needed longer runs. But even today for some reason we didn’t have really great long-run speed. We had good middle-run speed. Overall and for as much effort everything that we’ve put into coming here and focusing on this place with all the testing and everything we’ve been able to do over the offseason, we came out of here with a
really good finish. Tyler obviously is a really good road racer. He proved it driving this car here last year. I was able to get in it and run right back to him. I’ve been trying to emulate the things that he did in order to make this car fast last year and just not quite all the way there. They had a whale of a car." - Kyle Busch, finished second
"We didn’t have anything for [Tyler Reddick], but we had a good No. 48 Ally Camaro. Just need to be a little better. We have some malfunctions inside the race car that we have to work on to be better for the next hot day, but we’ll just keep digging. Proud of all my guys." - Alex Bowman, finished third
"For our Worldwide Express Chevy, heck of a recovery. I thought we were a top five car. Nobody had anything for [Tyler Reddick]. [Reddick] and those guys were on it all weekend. Congrats to Tyler and that whole group, but the rest of us, there was a group of Chevy’s there, and we were second through sixth all in a line and it was a lot of
fun managing the racing. Getting spun, the engine went into low-wheel protection mode because it spun backwards. Finally got the ECU cycled and got it back going, and somehow rallied back for a top five. I have no idea how we got through all of that." - Ross Chastain, finished fourth
"It was alright. I probably
could have done better on those restarts. I gotta look. I just kept getting pushed wide, and it seemed like the last one didn’t happen for some reason. I just gave up too much track position… it was really my only option. Good to get a top-five. We had a good racecar… I think a top two racecar I think, really, with [Tyler Reddick]. He was a lot better than everybody but I thought we were a close second. Good day for the Liberty University Chevrolet, and we’ll keep building on it." -
William Byron, finished fifth
"Great to lay some laps. Good to be able to show some speed in our Discount Tire Ford Mustang. It’s one of those days where you win or lose as a team. There were quite a few miscues on pit road that probably kept us from having the track position. Then, it’s a fight. Fair recovery to
finish sixth. A lot of things had to go our way for those restarts. But for a long, hot day, we never gave up." - Austin Cindric, finished sixth
"It was our first bumper car race of the year. Our Fifth Third Ford Mustang ended up pretty solid there towards the end. We got a solid top 10 out of it. That’s a big
testament to this team and its ‘never give up’ attitude. I started into the 30’s for the day, 32nd. I had to really power through, and we had some issues there that probably came from getting run into… backwards a couple times. But, I’m proud of everybody. That was a good finish for a really hard-fought day." - Chris Buescher, finished eighth "The restarts were really good for us, even in the very beginning of the race. We were able to fire off and gain a lot of spots right off the bat. So, after that, we had fallen off a little worse than everyone else, but our fire-off speed was probably top five to [top] 10 every time. It was really nice to have some speed there, and to be really aggressive on the restarts. Most of them worked out really well. I got spun
once, but we were able to rebound up to 10th or so. That’s good – 15th and 10th the last two races. That’s something to build on." - Todd Gilliland, finished 10th "It was an emotional rollercoaster. First, it was terrible. I mean, I must’ve been last by the end of it. And I was just
like, ‘Everyone: Go. I just need to drive and find a rhythm.’ I’ve never gone through a corner too wide, so often. And trying to place my car in the right place – I just got it wrong every time. Normally, if you’re a little bit slow through a corner, nobody tries to overtake you from the outside. Because they’re not going to make it all the way on the next one. But here they do, because they get a wheel inside for the next one, and if you turn in, you turn around. The first stint was really bad
– it was embarrassing for me. I was like, ‘All right guys, we need to pit, freshen the tires and I need some air – I need some fresh air.’ I got that. The pace was good, consistency was good. I was really happy… and passed a few cars which was nice. We got a little bit unlucky with the safety car because it was just two laps before our window. Pitted, then the next stint was mayhem. We also made a couple of changes that just didn’t work. Big oversteer – went from the car feeling great to really
difficult to drive. I also had a massive whack from Kimi [Räikkönen], and it fell off after that. The car wasn’t quite right. Everytime I turned in, the rear tires would chatter, then immediately to oversteer. It was really difficult, but towards the end, we made some good calls stopping and putting on fresh tires. I enjoyed the last three restarts – got good placement and good overtaking moves from the outside. Finished 18th after almost stopping because I had heat exhaustion. It was so hot, I
don’t have a fan in my seat which really didn’t help me too much. It was so hot, I thought I was going to faint in the car. So, I stopped twice for a minute. They put ice on me, gave me loads of water, and I went back out. I was so close to getting out of the car because I thought I was going to faint. I must’ve drank eight… nine bottles of water during the race. The team kept me calm, and it’s the reason why we got a good result in the end. So, I was happy." - Jenson Button, finished 18th
"Yeah, it was definitely wild. I wouldn’t say I survived; I feel like I’m beat up pretty much. Every restart, you just get smashed in the front, rear, side. So yeah, it was pretty much just survival. The guys knew I’d be a little bit more hesitant, so they would take advantage of it. At the end, I got
more aggressive and made our way almost back to the top 10. On the last restart, I don’t know who went down on the inside, but they were never going to make the corner and used us to stop themselves. "I’d say it was a disappointing day. I made a couple big mistakes early on that probably put us back there, but the No. 9
UniFirst Chevy was fast. I need to thank UniFirst and Hendrick Motorsports for giving me the opportunity. We had good pace, but we just got shuffled back every restart. Tough day." - Jordan Taylor, finished 24th "I think it wasn’t too bad. We got unlucky with the incidents that
happened. It was one of those things, unfortunately. Then there were no tires left. They kept coming, getting more restarts and more restarts, so I think after the spin I had, the tires were just done. It’s a shame because when we were there, but then we restart, and just wrong place, wrong time. It was a case of trying to stay out of the issues in the first corners and every time. It looked like you’d be very good, then three corners later, somebody’s going the wrong direction. There’s a bit of
mess and lock involved." - Kimi Raikkonen, finished 29th "What a disappointing finish. Unfortunately we got off to a slow start yesterday and qualified poorly. We all know what happens when you start in the back and unfortunately we were caught up in
that.
"Just a wild and crazy first lap that was taking place. I thought I had the wreck missed, but I just saw a flash of red out of nowhere. I guess there was more going on the outside of [Brad Keselowski] as it was spinning, and I saw him and just got collected." - Jimmie Johnson, finished 38th (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.
|
|
|
|
