Frontstretch Newsletter: May 22, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition LXXVII |
- NASCAR Cup Series teams are back at their shops and preparing for this weekend's actionat Charlotte Motor Speedway. Entry lists should be
released either today or tomorrow. - The 33 teams that successfully qualified for the Indianapolis 500 have a two-hour practice session that is ongoing right now until 3 p.m. ET. The session can be streamed live on Peacock. We'll have the entry lists and anything else that breaks today at Frontstretch. |
| | Kyle Larson Dominates North Wilkesboro For 3rd All-Star
Win Kyle Larson took advantage of an alternate pti strategy to take the lead on lap 55. He led the rest of the way to win the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.
Bubba Wallace was second, then Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott. |
| | Josh Berry Wins 2023 All-Star Open, Ty Gibbs & Noah
Gragson Transfer Josh Berry took advantage of a bumping match between Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell to take the lead with 23 laps to go. From there, he held on to win the NASCAR
All-Star Open in order to lock himself into the All-Star Race. |
| | Goodyear to Change Tire Compound for New Hampshire,
Happy With Rain Tire During a meeting with the media Sunday at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Goodyear Racing director Greg Stucker announced that a new tire with more falloff will be used
on shorter tracks starting with Loudon in July. |
| | Kyle Larson Dominates, Wins North Wilkesboro Truck
Race Kyle Larson, driving in place of the injured Alex Bowman for Spire Motorsports, led 138 laps Saturday to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Tyson 250 at North
Wilkesboro. Ty Majeski was second, then Matt DiBenedetto, Carson Hocevar and Bubba Wallace. |
| | Alex Palou Wins Pole for 2023 Indy 500, Graham Rahal
Fails to Qualify Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou won the pole Sunday afternoon for the Indianapolis 500 with a four-lap average at 234.217 mph, the fastest pole average in
Indianapolis history. Rinus VeeKay starts second, while Felix Rosenqvist will start on the outside of the front row. |
| | Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer Win Wild COTA GT World
Challenge America Race No. 1 Wright Motorsports' Elliott Skeer snatched the overall lead in a middle of scrum after mid-race pit stops. From there, he held on to win Fanatec GT World
Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 1 Saturday with teammate Adam Adelson. |
| | Ashton Harrison, Mario Farnbacher Win COTA GT World
Challenge America Race No. 2 Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR's Ashton Harrison took the lead from Ziad Ghandour Sunday and held off a charging Eric Filguerias to win Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race
No. 2 Sunday at Circuit of the Americas with teammate Mario Farnbacher. |
| | Zac Anderson, John Capestro-Dubets Lead Flag-to-Flag to
Win COTA Pirelli GT4 America Race No. 1 AutoTechnic Racing's Zac Anderson and John Capestro-Dubets could not be touched Saturday as they led nearly the entire race en route to victory in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No.
1 at Circuit of the Americas. |
| | Jason Bell, Michael Cooper Win COTA Pirelli GT4 America
SprintX Race No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports' Jason Bell won the race off pit road Sunday and took advantage of two safety car periods to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 2
with teammate Michael Cooper Sunday. |
| | George Kurtz Dominates COTA GT America Race No.
1 Crowdstrike Racing with Riley Motorsports' George Kurtz took the lead on the second lap Saturday and drove away to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at
Circuit of the Americas by more than 16 seconds. |
| | Jason Daskalos Wins COTA GT America Race No. 2 Under
Unusual Circumstances CRP Racing's Jason Daskalos was declared the winner of GT America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Circuit of the Americas Sunday after SKI Autosports' Johnny
O'Connell was assessed a post-race 10-second penalty for a pre-race infraction. |
| | William Sawalich Wins 1st ARCA Race at Flat Rock
Speedway Since 2000 Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich took the lead from Sean Hingorani with 50 laps to go Saturday night. From there, Sawalich held on to win the ARCA Menards
Series East Dutch Boy 150 at Flat Rock Speedway. Lavar Scott was second, then Hingorani, Billy Venturini and Luke Fenhaus. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via James Gilbert of Getty Images, Travis Hinkle of INDYCAR Media, Brian Cleary and Fabian Lagunas of SRO Motorsports Group and our own Mark Kristl. 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 19-21 |
- Friday night saw Donny Schatz earn his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory of the
year at Attica Raceway Park. Schatz swept around Rico Abreu on the final lap and made it stick. Behind Schatz and Abreu was Carson Macedo in third. Sheldon Haudenschild was fourth, while David Gravel was
fifth. Saturday night saw the outlaws move on to Sharon Speedway. Here, Schatz kept up the momentum by emerging
victorious for the second night in a row after a race-long duel with Macedo and Gravel. Gravel ended up second, followed by Haudenschild. Macedo was fourth, while Abreu was fifth. Through 21 races, Brad Sweet still has the points lead by 20 points over Gravel. Macedo is third, then Logan Schuchart and Schatz. |
This is just a sample of 47 videos that we posted to our YouTube channel over the weekend. For more coverage from North Wilkesboro, Indianapolis and Flat Rock this past weekend and more, please subscribe. Also, don't forget to hit the bell in order to be notified of future releases. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: All-Star Weekend Points Update
by Phil Allaway
While the NASCAR Cup Series was in action as part of All-Star Weekend at North Wilkesboro, no points were on offer there. As a
result, the points remain the same as of Wednesday night. Ross Chastain will enter the Coca-Cola 600 with a 27-point lead over Christopher Bell.
Kevin Harvick is third in points, followed by Denny Hamlin and William Byron. At the cutoff, Chase Briscoe is 16th in points at the moment. He is five points ahead of Alex
Bowman, who has been out since getting injured in a crash at 34 Raceway. His status is currently unknown. Daniel Suarez is 18th in points with Ty Gibbs close behind. Austin Cindric is
20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ross Chastain 429, 2) Christopher Bell -27, 3) Kevin Harvick -29, 4) Denny Hamlin -36, 5) William Byron -42, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -44, 7) Ryan Blaney
-48, 8) Brad Keselowski -64, 9) Kyle Larson -66, 10) Tyler Reddick -68, 11) Kyle Busch -76, 12) Joey Logano -95, 13) Chris Buescher -100, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -104, 15) Bubba Wallace -136, 16) Chase Briscoe -154. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 16, 2) Kyle Larson -4, 3) Kyle Busch -6, t-4) Denny Hamlin -9, t-4) Tyler Reddick
-9, t-4) Joey Logano -9, t-7) Martin Truex Jr. -10, t-7) Christopher Bell -11, t-7) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -11, t-7) Ross Chastain -11, t-11) Kevin Harvick -15, t-11) Brad Keselowski -15, t-11) Austin Cindric -15, t-11) Aric Almirola -15, t-11) Ryan Preece -15, t-11) Chase Elliott -15. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 127, 2) Ross Chastain -11, 3) Kyle Larson -31, 4) Denny Hamlin -34, 5) Kevin Harvick -44, 6) Christopher Bell -45, t-7) Tyler Reddick -53, t-7) Martin
Truex Jr. -53, 9) Brad Keselowski -55, 10) Joey Logano -60, t-11) Ryan Blaney -64, t-11) Alex Bowman -64, t-13) Kyle Busch -79, t-13) Austin Cindric -79, 15) Chris Buescher -82, 16) Daniel Suarez -89.
Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: t-17) Bubba Wallace -92, 23) Chase Briscoe -99, 24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -105. Note: The
Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 380, t-2) Ross Chastain -4, t-2) Kevin Harvick -4, t-2) Ryan Blaney -4, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -10, 6) Denny
Hamlin -13, 7) Kyle Busch -19, 8) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -24, 9) Brad Keselowski -25, 10) Tyler Reddick -37, 11) Chris Buescher -41, 12) William Byron -45, 13) Kyle Larson -53, 14) Joey
Logano -54, 15) Bubba Wallace -66, 16) Chase Briscoe -78. Note: These standings are based on the old
point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 1735, 2) Ross Chastain -12, 3) Ryan Blaney
-25, 4) Kevin Harvick -35, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -61, 6) Denny Hamlin -82, 7) Kyle Busch -85, 8) Brad Keselowski -93, 9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -121, 10) Tyler Reddick -142, 11) Chris Buescher -166, 12) Kyle Larson -167, 13) Joey Logano -177, 14) William Byron -189, 15) Bubba Wallace -236, 16) Chase Briscoe -276. 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, Darlington), Joey Logano (Atlanta), Tyler Reddick (Austin), Kyle Larson (Richmond, Martinsville), Christopher Bell
(Bristol), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover), Denny Hamlin (Kansas)
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: Off-Week Edition No. 3
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was off this past weekend. They will be back in action Saturday at Charlotte Motor
Speedway. When the teams get to Concord, John Hunter Nemechek will have a one-point lead over Austin Hill. Justin Allgaier is third in points, followed by Josh Berry and Cole Custer. Daniel Hemric is the last driver in the playoffs on points in 11th. He has a 33-point lead over Parker
Kligerman. Jeb Burton, the Talladega winner, is 13th, followed by Brandon Jones. Kligerman and Jones are the only drivers outside of the playoffs within a race of Hemric at the moment. Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek
424, 2) Austin Hill -1, 3) Justin Allgaier -53, 4) Josh Berry -57, 5) Cole Custer -59, 6) Chandler Smith -84, 7) Sheldon Creed -94, 8) Sammy Smith -101, 9) Riley Herbst
-111, 10) Sam Mayer -115, 11) Daniel Hemric -117, 12) Parker Kligerman -150, 13) Jeb Burton -151, 14) Brandon Jones -160, 15) Ryan Sieg -180, 16) Brett Moffitt -190. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill
18, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -4, 3) Ryan Truex -11, t-4) Chandler Smith -12, t-4) Jeb Burton -12, 6) Sammy Smith -13, 7) Justin Allgaier -14, 8) Cole Custer -16, t-9) Josh Berry -17, t-9) Sheldon Creed
-17, t-9) Parker Kligerman -17. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Larson would be tied for third in playoff
points. Stage Points: 1) Austin Hill 107, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -3, 3) Sheldon Creed -14, 4) Justin Allgaier -18, 5) Cole Custer -23, 6) Riley Herbst -28, 7) Chandler Smith -29, 8) Josh Berry
-42, t-9) Sammy Smith -47, t-9) Brandon Jones -47, 11) Sam Mayer -48, 12) Daniel Hemric -55, 13) Ryan Truex -66, 14) Parker Kligerman -69, 15) Jeb Burton -82, 16) Ryan Sieg -84. Note:
If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek
373, 2) Austin Hill -6, 3) Josh Berry -22, 4) Cole Custer -43, 5) Justin Allgaier -44, 6) Chandler Smith -61, 7) Sammy Smith -62, t-8) Sam Mayer -75, t-8) Daniel Hemric -75, 10) Jeb Burton
-81, 11) Sheldon Creed -87, 12) Parker Kligerman -92, 13) Riley Herbst -95, 14) Ryan Sieg -107, 15) Brett Moffitt -111, 16) Parker Retzlaff -119. WC Points (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 1646, 2) Austin Hill -36, 3) Josh Berry -82, 4) Justin Allgaier -132, 5) Cole Custer -162, 6) Chandler Smith -222, 7) Sammy Smith -230, 8) Sam Mayer -276, 9) Daniel Hemric
-285, 10) Sheldon Creed -305, 11) Jeb Burton -322, 12) Parker Kligerman -333, 13) Riley Herbst -339, 14) Ryan Sieg -399, 15) Brett Moffitt -407, 16) Parker Retzlaff -429. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Las Vegas, Atlanta), John Hunter
Nemechek (Fontana, Martinsville), Sammy Smith (Phoenix), AJ Allmendinger (Austin), Chandler Smith (Richmond), Jeb Burton (Talladega), Ryan Truex (Dover), Kyle Larson (Darlington) 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: Corey Heim Grabs Points Lead For 1st Time In Career
by Phil Allaway
Zane Smith had another tough day Saturday. After flunking pre-race inspection thrice, he had to
start at the rear of the field. Despite scoring 12 stage points, Smith crashed with 48 laps to go and finished 32nd. That cost him the points lead. Corey Heim won stage one, led 75 laps and finished sixth. That was enough to move him into the lead for the first time. His advantage is seven points over Ty Majeski, who finished second. Smith is down to third, while Grant Enfinger is up to fourth after finishing 10th. Christian Eckes has sole possession of fifth despite a bad day that saw him finish 25th. Ben Rhodes was eliminated in the same wreck as Smith and dropped two places to sixth. Matt Crafton remains in seventh, while Tanner Gray is eighth. Stewart Friesen finished 13th and moved up to ninth, his highest position of the year and the last
spot in the playoffs on points. He has a four-point advantage over Matt DiBenedetto, who moved up a spot after finishing third. Carson Hocevar is up a place to 11th after finishing fourth and scoring 15 stage points, while Nick Sanchez finished 30th after a stint in the garage and dropped three places to 12th. Chase Purdy is up two positions to 13th after finishing eighth. That came despite triggering the crash
that eliminated Smith and Rhodes. Jake Garcia is down to 14th, while Tyler Ankrum and Hailie Deegan round out the top 16. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
371, 2) Ty Majeski -7, 3) Zane Smith -16, 4) Grant Enfinger -41, 5) Christian Eckes -60, 6) Ben Rhodes -66, 7) Matt Crafton -81, 8) Tanner Gray -98, 9) Stewart Friesen -115, 10) Matt DiBenedetto
-119, 11) Carson Hocevar -121, 12) Nick Sanchez -131, 13) Chase Purdy -147, 14) Jake Garcia -160, 15) Tyler Ankrum -162, 16) Hailie Deegan -169.
Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for the playoffs.
Playoff Points: 1) Christian Eckes 14, 2) Zane Smith -3, 3) Corey Heim -6, 4) Carson Hocevar -8, 5) Grant Enfinger -9, 6) Nick Sanchez -12, t-7) Ty
Majeski -13, t-7) Matt Crafton -13, t-7) Tyler Ankrum -13. Note: If he were eligible for playoff points, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch would be tied for fourth
with seven points. Stage Points: 1) Zane Smith 96, 2) Christian Eckes -7, 3) Corey Heim -8, 4) Ty Majeski -9, 5) Ben Rhodes -30, 6) Grant Enfinger
-34, t-7) Matt Crafton -41, t-7) Matt DiBenedetto -41, 9) Carson Hocevar -44, 10) Stewart Friesen -57, 11) Nick Sanchez -59, 12) Chase Purdy -60, 13) Tanner Gray -67, 14) Tyler Ankrum
-68, 15) Rajah Caruth -74, 16) Hailie Deegan -79. Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be 10th and William Byron 11th. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 249, 2) Ty Majeski
-8, 3) Grant Enfinger -19, 4) Zane Smith -26, 5) Tanner Gray -44, 6) Ben Rhodes -45, 7) Matt Crafton -51, 8) Christian Eckes -61, 9) Stewart Friesen -70, 10) Nick Sanchez -79, 11) Jake Garcia -680, 12) Carson Hocevar -85, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -91, 14) Chase Purdy -96, 15) Hailie Deegan -101, 16) Tyler Ankrum -106. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1439, 2) Ty Majeski -1, 3) Zane Smith -71, 4) Grant Enfinger -80, 5) Tanner Gray -145, 6) Ben
Rhodes -157, 7) Matt Crafton -187, 8) Christian Eckes -191, 9) Stewart Friesen -225, 10) Nick Sanchez -268, 11) Carson Hocevar -287, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -302, 13) Chase Purdy -326, 14) Jake Garcia
-340, t-15) Tyler Ankrum -357, t-15) Hailie Deegan -357. Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Austin), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Atlanta, Darlington),
Carson Hocevar (Texas), Joey Logano (Bristol), Corey Heim (Martinsville), Grant Enfinger (Kansas), Kyle Larson (North Wilkesboro)
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 NASCAR All-Star Open and NASCAR All-Star Race was brought to you by the letter S for Snow. This is how a number of drivers described the track surface at North Wilkesboro. Amazingly, some of the
fastest laps of the weekend came during the heat races Saturday night on wet tires. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: NASCAR All-Star Race compiled by Phil Allaway
"I can’t even tell you what it means. This is my third All-Star win and my third different track. In a historical place like this, you guys and the crowd made this weekend so awesome. We could feel the atmosphere all
weekend.
"So much fun there. That was an old-school whipping for sure. We had a great car on the long run there and was just thinking for sure there was going to be a caution. I got out to a big lead and I could see everybody’s cars were driving like crap in front of me, but I cannot thank this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team enough. We were awful all
weekend. In practice, I was like the worst on the 30-lap average, and went backwards in a heat race yesterday. You obviously had some strategy work out there in the beginning, but we drove from dead last to the lead and checked out by 12 or 13 seconds. Then just could pace myself there that last run." - Kyle Larson, All-Star Race winner "I didn’t know anything coming into this race, and after the first run, I had to go into conserve mode – conserve the rear tires. That was the biggest thing. After last night, I was really skeptical on how we were going to run – we weren’t very good. Even saving, I just didn’t have what he had. I
thought we could close the gap a lot more than we did, but just didn’t have it. I’m proud of our efforts. Columbia, I want to get them to victory lane. Toyota – our Toyotas have been really strong. I’m pumped for Tyler [Reddick] finishing third. Just have to continue to carry the momentum and have some fun in Charlotte." - Bubba Wallace, finished second in the All-Star Race
"When we practiced here on Friday, both of our cars were pretty solid. Just needed a little bit on the balance, but The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry TRD was really fast. I made a mistake earlier in the race in the first 100 laps and let Kyle [Larson] squeeze by and he really mowed through the traffic. We lined up behind him on that restart
and could kind of stay in touch, but he was able to keep just far enough away. I was trying to figure out how much to push and how much to save. I had an opportunity to get around [Bubba Wallace] with about 40 to go, and I just made a mistake – one of the few all night – and put us behind. Honestly, a good solid car. I thought [Chase Briscoe] and [Chase Elliott] were going to beat us out. We really started to push there in the end, and I had more in the tank than I thought. I wish I could have
that back, but solid effort by our guys and our team. We stumbled a little bit in the pit crew challenge, and started deep, but we were able to claw our way through it. Billy Scott and everyone on the box did a really good job of getting creative with that strategy earlier in the race to get us going in the right direction." - Tyler Reddick, finished third in the All-Star Race
"Truthfully, this car at every short track has kind of struggled. I think a lack of grip didn’t really fix the issues. I don’t know. It was fun. I still think this has a great opportunity to be an incredible event, but it would be different if every other race on short tracks had been really good. I
think we just need to keep continuing to work on the car. I feel like we made it better on short tracks than what it was last year, but we just need to get it better. We’re slipping and sliding around and doing the things we need to do, but, truthfully, I just feel like this race would have been really, really good if the track had more than one lane. It was almost the track more than the car necessarily. It was just so fast on the bottom groove. If you miss it by six inches, you are a
half-second slower. We all know that and we all just continue to fight for the bottom. I would almost just put it up as the racetrack is so bottom dominant that that’s why it’s really hard to pass." - Chase Briscoe, finished fourth in All-Star Race
"Based on what we saw in practice on Friday, I thought it was about
what we were expecting from there. It was pretty anticlimactic; I would say for the most part. But Kyle [Larson], Cliff [Daniels] and the No. 5 team did a great job and really set the pace there once they took tires at the start and controlled the event from there. These races are hard to win. They’re not always going to be barn burners, side-by-side, banging door finishes. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re still hard to win and that should always be celebrated." -
Chase Elliott, finished fifth in the All-Star Race "[Ty Gibbs] just drove me all the way through the corner and into [Justin Haley] and wrecked both of us. I mean, it’s pretty clear none of us were gonna make the corner with [Gibbs] driving me wide-open into the corner. Listen, it’s
short track racing and we’re all trying to get into the All-Star Race. It’s a big night, so people are gonna leave with hurt feelings and tempers are gonna flare. That’s part of it. It sucks that the guy that moved you and moved a lot of cars made it in, but at the same time I’m not gonna wreck him and send him out or do something stupid with a broken car. I just wanted to let him know that it’s unacceptable and he knows that. He knows what he’s doing out there. He gets away with a lot more than
he should. It was unfortunate. I felt like our FR8 Auctions Ford Mustang was pretty good. We got a good restart and we were making things happen and then we just got nailed." - Michael McDowell, finished 13th in All-Star Open 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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