Frontstretch Newsletter: July 17, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition CXVII |
- With the torrential rains that fell in New England Sunday wiping out
the NASCAR Cup Series race, we've got 301 laps of action coming up today. Coverage of the Crayon 301 will begin at Noon ET on USA Network. There will be no pre-race coverage as the green flag is expected to fall shortly afterwards.
According to WMUR of Manchester, N.H., the forecast for Monday is for sunny skies with a high of 91 degrees. If you're venturing back to the track, make sure to stay hydrated because not only will it be hot outside, but humid as well. - After the race, Monday Night Racing's MNR Summer Bash continues with their second Gen4 race at Chicagoland Speedway. Coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET on Frontstretch's YouTube channel and on Podium eSports' Twitch channel. Afterwards, our own Brandon Hauff and Michael Massie will host the post-race show. We will provide a full recap of today's Crayon 301 and entry lists for
Pocono if they are released today at Frontstretch for your pleasure. |
| | NASCAR Postpones Cup Series Race at New
Hampshire Sunday's Crayon 301 was postponed due to heavy rains and local flooding in Southern New Hampshire. The race will go off at Noon ET
Monday. |
| | Christopher Bell on Pole for Cup Race at New
Hampshire With a lap at 124.781 mph, the slowest pole speed for a NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell will lead the field to green this
afternoon. |
| | Hendrick Looking for Answers After Lackluster Saturday
Showing at NHMS When the Crayon 301 finally gets underway, Hendrick Motorsports is hoping that the hot and humid weather will help them out as the weekend to this point has been
rather miserable. |
| | John Hunter Nemechek Dominates New Hampshire, Scores 4th
Xfinity Win of 2023 Joe Gibbs Racing's John Hunter Nemechek led 137 laps and held on late to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ambetter Health 200 for his second straight victory and
fourth of the year. Chandler Smith was second, then Austin Hill, Daniel Hemric and Sammy Smith. |
| | Justin Allgaier ‘Felt Like We Gave One Away’ at New
Hampshire Justin Allgaier finished sixth in Saturday's Ambetter Health 200 in Loudon, but his day could have been much different had he not gotten penalized in the pits.
That put him in position to get wrecked, ruining his day. |
| | Overtime Crash Mars Ending of Xfinity Race at Loudon,
Has Possible Playoff Implications Saturday's Ambetter Health 200 was marred by a series of crashes. The race ultimately ended up with another incident involving Cole Custer, Sheldon Creed and Riley
Herbst. |
| | Christian Lundgaard Dominates Toronto for 1st IndyCar
Win Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Christian Lundgaard led 54 of 85 laps from pole to win the Honda Indy Toronto for his first career NTT IndyCar Series
victory. Alex Palou was second, then Colton Herta, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden. |
| | Alex Palou Overcomes Adversity for 2nd Place in
Toronto Points leader Alex Palou finished second and added to his points lead Sunday, but contact with the wall on a restart damaged his front wing. It just barely hung on
long enough for Palou to finish. |
| | Will Power Irate After Fuel Mileage Miscall at
Toronto Team Penske's Will Power was in line for a podium Sunday in Toronto, but was forced to pit at the beginning of the final lap when he ran low on fuel. Afterwards,
he was incensed. |
| | Luke Fenhaus Steals ARCA Iowa Win with Stellar Late Race
Restart Luke Fenhaus was able to snooker William Sawalich on the final restart Saturday night to win the Calypso 150 at Iowa Speedway. Sawalich was second, then Jesse
Love, Lavar Scott and Toni Breidinger. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Jonathan Bachman of Getty Images, Andrew Coppley of Harold Hinson Photography, Chris Jones, Travis Hinkle and Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, Mitchell Bruer of Black Kat Sports and our own Stephen
Stumpf. 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: July 14-16 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series was at Eldora Speedway this past weekend for Kings Royal weekend. Saturday night saw Donny Schatz win the pole, then run off and lead
all 40 laps to win the 40th Annual Kings Royal. It is Schatz's sixth Kings Royal victory. Brent Marks finished second, followed by David Gravel and Sheldon Haudenschild. Kyle Larson was fifth. Friday night was the preliminary feature, the Knight Before the Kings Royal. Here, Carson Macedo held off a late charge from Brad Sweet to take the win and $20,000 by 1.26 seconds. Gio Scelzi was third, then Rico Abreu and Gravel.
Qualifying was rather brutal on
the top points contenders. Five of the top 10 drivers in points, including Sweet, failed to make the Kings Royal A-main. Gravel maintains a two-point lead over Sweet. Macedo is third, then Logan Schuchart and Haudenschild.
- In France Sunday, Algarve Pro Racing's James Allen, Alex Lynn and
Kyffin Simpson won the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Le Castellet at Circuit Paul Ricard. Their margin of victory was 1.078 seconds over Duqueine Team's Rene Binder, Neel Jani and Nico Pino. Racing Team Turkey's Louis Deletraz, Charlie Eastweeod and Salih Yoluc were third overall and winners of the LMP2 Pro-Am class. Inter Europol Competition's Jonathan Aberdein, Oliver Caldwell and Rui Andrade were fourth, while COOL Racing's Rashad de Gerus, Jose Maria Lopez and Viachslav Lomko were
fifth. Racing Spirit of Leman's Antoine Doquin, Jean-Ludovic Foubert and Jacques Wolff won the LMP3 class by 10.442 seconds over WTM by Rinaldi Racing's Torsten Kratz, Oscan Tunjo and Leonard Weiss. COOL Racing's Adrien Chila, Alejandro Garcia and Marcos Siebert were third, then RLR MSport's
Horst Felbermayr, Gael Julien and Mateusz Kaprzyk. DKR Engineering's Alexander Bukhantsov, Pedro Perino and James Winslow were fifth. Finally, Proton Competition's Julien Andlauer, Gianmarco Levorato and team owner Christian Ried won the GTE-class in their Porsche 911 RSR-19 by 11.410
seconds over Iron Lynx's Matteo Cairoli, Matteo Cressoni and Claudio Schiavoni. The Aston Martin of TF Sport's Jonny Adam, John Hartshorne and Ben Tuck were a lap down in third, then Kessel Racing's Greg Huffaker, Takeshi Kimura and Frederick Schandorff. JMW Motorsport's Ferrari of Martin Berry, Lorcan Hanafin and Jon Lancaster were fifth. |
This is just a sample of the 28 videos that were posted from Loudon this weekend to our YouTube channel. For more coverage from Loudon, or from other weekends, be sure to subscribe and don't forget to click the bell to be notified when future videos are posted. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Pre-Race Points Update
by Phil Allaway
A quick check of the points before today's Crayon 301. William Byron is leading
the points by 21 over Martin Truex Jr. after winning in Atlanta. Without the 60-point penalty earlier this season, that would be more than a full race. Kyle Busch is third, then Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain. Things are much tighter at the playoff cutoff. With strong finishes at Atlanta, Daniel
Suarez and Michael McDowell are tied for 15th, holding the final spots in the playoffs. They are three points ahead of Bubba Wallace. AJ Allmendinger is 18th, 13 points behind the duo. Point
Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 628, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -21, 3) Kyle Busch -36, 4) Christopher Bell -37, 5) Ross Chastain -53, 6) Denny Hamlin -67, 7) Ryan Blaney -75, 8) Kyle Larson -97, 9) Kevin Harvick -98,
10) Joey Logano -110, 11) Chris Buescher -122, 12) Brad Keselowski -124, 13) Tyler Reddick -153, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -183, t-15) Daniel Suarez -221, t-15) Michael McDowell -221. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 22, 2) Kyle Busch -5, 3) Kyle Larson
-10, 4) Martin Truex Jr.
-11, 5) Ross Chastain -12, 6) Denny Hamlin
-13, t-7) Tyler Reddick -14, t-7) Ryan Blaney
-14, t-8) Joey Logano -15, t-8) Christopher Bell -15, t-11) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -17, t-11) Shane van Gisbergen -17, 13) Brad Keselowski -20, t-14) Kevin Harvick -21, t-14) Austin Cindric -21, t-14) Aric Almirola -21, t-14) Ryan Preece -21, t-14) Chase Elliott -21. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 186, 2) Ross Chastain -38, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -44, 4) Christopher Bell -45, 5) Denny Hamlin -46, 6) Kyle Larson -57, 7) Ryan Blaney
-61, 8) Tyler Reddick -62, 8) Kevin Harvick -80, 10) Joey Logano -86, 11) Brad Keselowski -93, 12) Kyle Busch -97, 13) Chris Buescher -119, 14) Alex Bowman -120, 15) Austin Cindric -125, 16) Michael McDowell -130. Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: 25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -152. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point
Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Busch 587, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -36, 3) William Byron -43, 4) Christopher Bell -49, 5) Chris Buescher -67, 6) Ross Chastain -71, 7) Denny Hamlin
-72, 8) Ryan Blaney -74, 9) Kevin Harvick -79, 10) Joey Logano -85, 11) Brad Keselowski -88, 12) Kyle Larson -98, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -101, 14) Bubba Wallace -148, t-15) Tyler Reddick
-152, t-15) Justin Haley -152. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -153, 19) Michael McDowell -156. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Kyle Busch 2618, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -116, 3) Christopher Bell
-155, 4) William Byron -170, 5) Ross Chastain -222, 6) Ryan Blaney -236, 7) Chris Buescher -249, 8) Denny Hamlin -251, 9) Joey Logano -265, 10) Kevin Harvick -279, 11) Kyle Larson -290, 12) Brad Keselowski -295, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -367, 14) Bubba Wallace -493, 15) Tyler Reddick -494, 16) Daniel Suarez
-513. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: t-18) Michael McDowell -533
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, Gateway), William Byron (Las Vegas, Phoenix, Darlington, Atlanta-2), Joey Logano (Atlanta-1), Tyler Reddick (Austin), Kyle Larson (Richmond, Martinsville), Christopher Bell (Bristol), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover, Sonoma), Denny Hamlin (Kansas), Ross Chastain (Nashville), Shane van Gisbergen (Chicago)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.
Phil Allaway is the
Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: John Hunter Nemechek Expands Lead With 2nd Straight Victory
by Phil Allaway
John Hunter Nemechek led a race-high 137 laps Saturday and took his second straight victory. That allowed him to expand his lead to 33 points over Austin Hill, who finished third with only one stage point. Despite getting caught up in a chain reaction crash, Justin Allgaier finished sixth and managed to move up one place to third. He jumped over
Cole Custer, who crashed on the final restart and finished 22nd. Chandler Smith finished second Saturday and managed to hold onto fifth. Josh Berry finished 17th and lost significant ground while staying in sixth. Daniel Hemric finished fourth and moved up one place to seventh. Sammy Smith is also up one place
to eighth after winning stage two and finishing fifth. Sam Mayer dropped two places to ninth after getting caught up in a late crash and finishing 18th. Sheldon Creed crashed with Custer on the last lap and finished 21st to remain in 10th. Riley Herbst was in a wreck just after halfway and struggled to finish 20th. That was enough to hold onto
the final spot in the playoffs on points in 11th. His advantage is back up to 18 points over Parker Kligerman, who was eliminated in a chain-reaction restart crash. Jeb Burton finished seventh and stays in 13th. Brett Moffitt was ninth and stays in 14th, just eight points behind Burton. Brandon Jones is 15th, while Kaz
Grala finished 13th and moved up to 16th in points in a backup car. Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 730, 2) Austin Hill -33, 3) Justin Allgaier -60, 4) Cole Custer
-74, 5) Chandler Smith -161, 6) Josh Berry -186, 7) Daniel Hemric -220, 8) Sammy Smith -225, 9) Sam Mayer -228, 10) Sheldon Creed -246, 11) Riley Herbst -273, 12) Parker Kligerman -291, 13) Jeb
Burton -307, 14) Brett Moffitt -315, 15) Brandon Jones -333, 16) Kaz Grala -390. Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 24, 2) Austin Hill -6, 3) Cole Custer
-9, 4) Justin Allgaier -14, t-5) Chandler Smith -17, t-5) Ryan Truex -17, t-7) Jeb Burton -18, t-7) Sammy Smith -18, 9) Sheldon Creed -21, t-10) Josh Berry -23, t-10) Riley Herbst -23, t-10) Parker Kligerman -23. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, AJ Allmendinger would be fourth in playoff points, while Kyle Larson would be sixth. Aric Almirola would be 11th and Ty Gibbs tied for 12th. Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek
181, 2) Justin Allgaier -5, 3) Austin Hill -18, 4) Cole Custer -28, 5) Sheldon Creed -38, 6) Chandler Smith -55, 7) Riley Herbst -74, 8) Josh Berry -82, 9) Sammy Smith
-94, t-10) Daniel Hemric -96, t-10) Sam Mayer -96, 12) Brandon Jones -106, 13) Parker Kligerman -122, 14) Ryan Truex -140, t-15) Brett Moffitt -150, t-15) Ryan Sieg -150. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 17) Jeb Burton -155. Note: If they were eligible for points, Ty Gibbs would be 14th and AJ Allmendinger tied for 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter
Nemechek 634, 2) Austin Hill -18, 3) Cole Custer -52, 4) Justin Allgaier -62, 5) Chandler Smith -109, 6) Josh Berry -110, 7) Daniel Hemric -137, 8) Sammy Smith -138, 9) Sam Mayer
-140, 10) Jeb Burton -165, 11) Brett Moffitt -176, 12) Parker Kligerman -182, 13) Sheldon Creed -207, 14) Riley Herbst -211, 15) Kaz Grala -230, t-16) Brandon Jones -238, t-16) Parker Retzlaff -238. WC Points (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 2765, 2) Austin Hill -76, 3) Justin Allgaier -195, 4) Cole Custer -196, 5) Josh Berry
-382, 6) Chandler Smith -396, 7) Sammy Smith -494, 8) Sam Mayer -495, 9) Daniel Hemric -496, 10) Jeb Burton -622, 11) Parker Kligerman -645, 12) Brett Moffitt -647, 13) Riley Herbst -728,
14) Sheldon Creed -731, 15) Kaz Grala -821, 16) Parker Retzlaff -827. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Las Vegas, Atlanta-1), John Hunter Nemechek (Fontana, Martinsville. Atlanta-2, Loudon), Sammy Smith (Phoenix), AJ Allmendinger (Austin, Nashville), Chandler Smith (Richmond), Jeb
Burton (Talladega), Ryan Truex (Dover), Kyle Larson (Darlington), Justin Allgaier (Charlotte), Cole Custer (Portland, Chicago), Aric Almirola (Sonoma) 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: Off-Week Update No. 7 by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action Saturday in the CRC Brakleen 150 at
Pocono Raceway. When the teams get to Pocono, Corey Heim will have a 26-point over Zane Smith.
Ty Majeski is third in points, then Ben Rhodes and Grant Enfinger. At the points cutoff, things are very close. Nick Sanchez is ninth, just one point ahead of
Matt Crafton, the final driver in the playoffs on points at the moment. Crafton has a one-point lead over Stewart Friesen, while Tanner Gray is 12th. Chase Purdy remains in 13th, while Tyler Ankrum is 14th. Jake
Garcia is 15th, while Daniel Dye is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
530, 2) Zane Smith -26, 3) Ty Majeski -51, 4) Ben Rhodes -53, 5) Grant Enfinger -61, 6) Christian Eckes -80, 7) Carson Hocevar -112, 8) Matt DiBenedetto -141, 9) Nick Sanchez -144, 10) Matt Crafton
-145, 11) Stewart Friesen -146, 12) Tanner Gray -169, 13) Chase Purdy -194, 14) Tyler Ankrum -221, 15) Jake Garcia -222, 16) Daniel Dye -283.
Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for the playoffs. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 15, 2) Christian Eckes -1, t-3) Carson Hocevar -3, t-3) Zane Smith -3, 5) Grant Enfinger -4, 6) Ben Rhodes -9, t-7) Nick Sanchez -13, t-7) Ty Majeski -13, t-9) Matt Crafton -14, t-9) Tyler Ankrum -14. Note: If he were eligible for playoff points, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch would be tied for sixth with seven points while William Byron would be tied for 12th. Stage Points: 1) Zane Smith 144, 2) Corey Heim -5, 3) Ty Majeski -15, 4) Christian Eckes -30, 5) Ben Rhodes -36, 6) Carson Hocevar
-55, 7) Grant Enfinger -65, 8) Matt DiBenedetto -71, 9) Stewart Friesen -78, 10) Nick Sanchez -80, 11) Matt Crafton -84, 12) Tanner Gray -96, 13) Tyler Ankrum -102, 14) Chase Purdy
-104, 15) Rajah Caruth -112, 16) Dean Thompson -115. Note: If they were eligible for stage points, William Byron would be 12th and Kyle Busch 14th. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 350, 2) Grant Enfinger
-13, 3) Ben Rhodes -31, 4) Zane Smith -40, 5) Ty Majeski -50, 6) Christian Eckes -64, 7) Carson Hocevar -70, 8) Nick Sanchez -76, 9) Matt Crafton -77, 10) Stewart Friesen -85, 11) Matt DiBenedetto -88, 12) Tanner Gray -91, 13) Jake Garcia -100, 14) Chase Purdy -104, 15) Tyler Ankrum -137, 16) Daniel Dye -160. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1974, 2) Grant Enfinger -23, 3) Zane Smith -59, 4) Ben Rhodes -68, 5) Ty Majeski
-91, 6) Christian Eckes -147, 7) Carson Hocevar -190, 8) Nick Sanchez -215, 9) Stewart Friesen -224, 10) Matt Crafton -234, 11) Matt DiBenedetto -252, 12) Tanner Gray -260, 13) Chase Purdy
-312, 14) Jake Garcia -374, 15) Tyler Ankrum -422, 16) Daniel Dye -506. Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Austin), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Atlanta, Darlington),
Carson Hocevar (Texas, Nashville), Joey Logano (Bristol), Corey Heim (Martinsville, Mid-Ohio), Grant Enfinger (Kansas, Gateway), Ben Rhodes (Charlotte)
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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