Frontstretch Newsletter: June 12, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition XCII |
- NASCAR Cup Series teams are currently hauling back across the country to Sonoma. Aside from the truckers, the off-week is already underway. If anything of note
breaks, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch. |
| | Martin Truex Jr. Earns 2nd Win of 2023 With Sonoma
Victory Martin Truex Jr. took the lead from Chase Elliott with 15 laps to go Sunday and held on to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350k for his second win of the year and fourth at Sonoma Raceway. Kyle Busch was second, then
Joey Logano, Chris Buescher and Elliott. |
| | Chris Buescher Finishes 4th at Sonoma, Misses Out on
More After Late Pit Strategy Shuffle Chris Buescher has quietly become one of the best road racers in the NASCAR Cup Series. Sunday saw Buescher drive up to a fourth-place
finish. |
| | Michael McDowell Finishes 7th at Sonoma Despite
Late-Race Pit Woes, Ryan Blaney Contact Sunday was a pretty day on the surface for Michael McDowell. He ran up front all day and finished seventh. However, it should have been better than
that. |
| | Ferrari AF Corse Wins 24 Hours of Le
Mans Ferrari AF Corse's James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi claimed the overall in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Sunday. It is the first-ever
victory for the Ferrari 499P. |
| | NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports Surprise With Next Gen Car
at Le Mans This past weekend saw Hendrick Motorsports make their Le Mans debut with a modified version of the Next Gen Cup car as the Garage 56 entry. The team ran as high as
27th overall before a transaxle dropped them to a 39th-place finish. |
| | Ford Unveils New Ford Mustang
GT3 In Le Mans Friday, Ford Performance publicly revealed the new Ford Mustang GT3 that will race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World
Endurance Championship starting in 2024. |
| | Aric Almirola Stuns Dominant Kyle Larson to Win Sonoma
Xfinity Race Aric Almirola benefitted from a late caution to take the lead, then forced Kyle Larson into an unenforced to win the DoorDash 250k Saturday. AJ Allmendinger was
second, then Larson, Ty Gibbs and Parker Kligerman. |
| | ‘Great Day’ Brings First Xfinity Win for RSS
Racing Aric Almirola's victory Saturday officially will go down as the first-ever victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for RSS Racing. This is despite the fact that
Almirola's No. 28 Ford was prepared by Stewart-Haas Racing. |
| | Sonoma Xfinity Win Slips Out of Kyle Larson’s Fingertips
After Turn 11 Blunder Kyle Larson dominated the DoorDash 250k before losing the lead during the final yellow. However, Larson was gunning for the lead when he hit a tire bundle in turn
11 and damaged his Chevrolet. |
| | Andre Castro Driving Chicago for
Iwuji Jesse Iwuji Motorsports announced Friday that USF2000 Championship racer Andre Castro will drive for the team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series The Loop 121 in
Chicago. |
| | Ryan Preece Dominates ARCA West Race at
Sonoma Stewart-Haas Racing's Ryan Preece led 50 of 64 laps from the pole Friday evening to win the ARCA Menards Series West General Tire 200k at Sonoma Raceway.
Sammy Smith was second, then Riley Herbst, Jack Wood and William Sawalich. |
Photos are courtesy of NASCAR Media via Chris Graythen of Getty Images, Jan Patrick Wagner of Focus Pack Media, Ford Performance, Lachlan Cunningham of ARCA Racing and our own Danny Peters. 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: June 9-11 |
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams were at Knoxville Raceway for the Premier Chevy Dealers Bash. Friday night saw Brian Brown take the lead away from Austin McCarl on lap 2, then pulled away to take the victory, his 63rd career win at Knoxville. Rico Abreu was second, then Brad Sweet, McCarl and Carson Macedo. Saturday night's feature was overshadowed by a frightening crash for Macedo. With 12 laps to go, Macedo spun hard into the turn 3 wall and flipped multiple times. The car then burst into flames. With Macedo unable to get out of the car immediately, several drivers rushed to his aid. Thankfully, he was able to get out of his No. 41 and walked to the ambulance. He was then taken to a local hospital. He was released early Sunday morning and posted a thank you note on his Twitter. David Gravel was able to pull away from Brown on the final restart and held on to take the win. Brown was second,
then Garet Williamson, Cory Eliason and James McFadden. Through 28 races, Sweet has regained the points lead by 14 over Gravel. Macedo is down to third, then Logan
Schuchart and Donny Schatz. |
This is a sampling of the 30 videos posted to our YouTube channel last weekend at Sonoma Raceway. For more content from Sonoma, or from any other weekend, please subscribe to our channel and don't forget to click the bell to be informed when new videos are posted. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Sonoma Victory Gives Martin Truex Jr. Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Ryan Blaney had a miserable weekend in Sonoma. He practiced and qualified poorly, then ran around 26th
for most of the race. Pit strategy put him up front late, but getting spun out on consecutive laps dropped him to 31st. That cost him the points lead. Race winner Martin Truex Jr. jumped three spots to take over the lead. His advantage is 13 points over William Byron, who finished 14th after starting 26th. Blaney is back down to a tie for third with Ross Chastain, who finished 10th.
Kevin Harvick is down two places to fifth despite finishing 11th. Kyle Busch is up one place to sixth after finishing second. Busch jumped over Christopher Bell, who finished ninth. Denny Hamlin crashed out and finished last, but only dropped one place to eighth. Joey Logano is up three places to ninth after finishing third. Kyle Larson is down one place to
10th, while Chris Buescher jumped over teammate Brad Keselowski to take 11th with his fourth-place finish. Tyler Reddick ran well early, then fell off. He was still in position for a good finish until a cut tire forced
him to backtrack in order to pit. NASCAR didn't like that much and penalized him. The 33rd-place finish dropped him from a tie for ninth to 13th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remains in 14th, followed by Bubba Wallace. Alex Bowman moved back up to 16th, the final spot in the playoffs. Bowman has a three-point lead over Daniel Suarez, who finished 22nd, but never recovered from shifting the wrong
direction exiting turn 4 on the first lap. Ty Gibbs remains in 18th, while Michael McDowell's seventh-place finish moved him up to 19th. AJ Allmendinger moves up to 20th after a sixth-place finish. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr.
525, 2) William Byron -13, t-3) Ryan Blaney -24, t-3) Ross Chastain -24, 5) Kevin Harvick -25, 6) Kyle Busch -29, 7) Christopher Bell
-32, 8) Denny Hamlin -63, 9) Joey Logano -81, 10) Kyle Larson -85, 11) Chris Buescher -95, 12) Brad Keselowski -101, 13) Tyler Reddick -105, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -125, 15) Bubba Wallace -171, 16) Alex Bowman -194. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: t-1) William Byron 17, t-1) Kyle Busch 17, 3) Kyle Larson -5, 4)
Martin Truex Jr. -6, 5) Denny Hamlin -9, t-6) Ryan Blaney -10, t-6) Tyler Reddick -10, t-6) Joey Logano -10, t-9) Christopher Bell -12, t-9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -12, t-9) Ross Chastain -12, t-12) Kevin Harvick -16, t-12) Brad Keselowski -16, t-12) Austin Cindric -16, t-12) Aric Almirola -16, t-12) Ryan Preece -16, t-12) Chase Elliott -16. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 165, 2) Ross Chastain -34, 3) Denny Hamlin -41, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -57, t-5) Ryan Blaney -59, t-5) Christopher Bell -59, t-7) Kyle Larson
-61, t-7) Kevin Harvick -61, 9) Tyler Reddick -70, 10) Joey Logano -72, 11) Kyle Busch -80, 12) Brad Kesleowski -82, 13) Alex Bowman -99, 14) Chris Buescher -106, 15) Austin Cindric -115, 16) Daniel Suarez -120. Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: t-19) Bubba Wallace -129, t-21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -131. Note: The
Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 489, 2) Kyle Busch -7, 3) Kevin Harvick -21, 4) Ryan Blaney -22, 5) Christopher Bell
-29, 6) Ross Chastain -43, 7) Chris Buescher -50, 8) William Byron -53, 9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -60, 10) Joey Logano -67, 11) Denny Hamlin -70, 12) Brad Keselowski -74, 13) Kyle Larson
-79, 14) Tyler Reddick -94, 15) Bubba Wallace -103, 16) Ty Gibbs -136. Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: 23) Alex Bowman -162.
Note: These standings are based on the old
point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 2179, 2) Kyle Busch -14, 3) Ryan
Blaney -59, t-4) Kevin Harvick -80, t-4) Christopher Bell -80, 6) Ross Chastain -123, 7) Chris Buescher -176, 8) William Byron -190, 9) Joey Logano -191, 10) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -220, 11) Kyle Larson -226, 12) Denny Hamlin
-233, 13) Brad Keselowski -237, 14) Tyler Reddick -299, 15) Bubba Wallace -335, 16) Daniel Suarez -458. Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: 25) Alex Bowman -651.
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), Joey Logano (Atlanta), Tyler Reddick (Austin), Kyle Larson (Richmond, Martinsville), Christopher Bell (Bristol), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover, Sonoma), 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.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: John Hunter Nemechek Holds Onto Slim Lead
by Phil Allaway
John Hunter Nemechek had a really mediocre day in Sonoma Saturday. A 16th-place finish means that his points
lead is down to just four points over Austin Hill, who finished eighth. Justin Allgaier was seventh and earned the most points of those eligible for them. As a result, he is still third, but only 25 behind Nemechek. Cole Custer remains fourth and gained some ground as well. Josh Berry stopped on course with issues early and ended up finishing 33rd. He stays in fifth, but lost a lot of
ground. Chandler Smith is still in sixth after finishing 14th. Sheldon Creed is right behind him. Sammy Smith had a better day in Sonoma, finishing ninth and holding onto eighth. Sam Mayer is just one point behind Sammy Smith after finishing 10th. Riley Herbst remains in
10th, while Daniel Hemric is still the last man in the playoffs on points in 11th. Hemric has an 18-point lead over Parker Kligerman, who was the best finishing Xfinity regular in fifth. Brandon Jones dropped one place to 13th after finishing 21st. Jeb Burton is down to 14th after
finishing 25th. Brett Moffitt jumped over Ryan Sieg to get up to 15th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek
547, 2) Austin Hill -4, 3) Justin Allgaier -25, 4) Cole Custer -59, 5) Josh Berry -112, 6) Chandler Smith -122, 7) Sheldon Creed -123, 8) Sammy Smith -161, 9) Sam Mayer
-162, 10) Riley Herbst -176, 11) Daniel Hemric -185, 12) Parker Kligerman -203, 13) Brandon Jones -212, 14) Jeb Burton -220, 15) Brett Moffitt -255, 16) Ryan Sieg -262. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill
18, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -4, 3) Justin Allgaier -9, 4) Cole Custer -10, 5) Ryan Truex -11, t-6) Sammy Smith -12, t-6) Jeb Burton -12, 8) Sammy Smith -13, 9) Sheldon Creed
-16, t-10) Josh Berry -17, t-10) Parker Kligerman -17. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson woudl be tied for fourth in playoff points. AJ Allmendinger
would be tied for sixth, while Aric Almirola would be tied for 10th and Ty Gibbs tied for 12th. Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 144, 2) Justin
Allgaier -9, 3) Austin Hill -11, 4) Sheldon Creed -22, 5) Cole Custer -42, 6) Chandler Smith -56, 7) Riley Herbst -57, 8) Josh Berry -70, 9) Sam Mayer -72, 10) Daniel Hemric -80, 11) Brandon
Jones -81, 12) Sammy Smith -83, 13) Parker Kligerman -92, 14) Ryan Truex -103, 15) Jeb Burton -118, 16) Ryan Sieg -121. Note: If they were eligible for points, Ty Gibbs would be 14th and Kyle Larson 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 474, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -3, 3) Justin Allgaier -26, 4) Cole Custer -27, 5) Josh Berry -52, 6) Chandler Smith -75, 7) Sammy Smith
-89, 8) Sam Mayer -101, 9) Sheldon Creed -109, 10) Jeb Burton -117, 11) Daniel Hemric -121, 12) Parker Kligerman -127, 13) Riley Herbst -134, 14) Brett Moffitt -142, 15) Brandon Jones -144, 16) Ryan Sieg
-154. WC Points (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 2080, 2) Austin Hill -8, 3) Justin Allgaier -60, 4) Cole Custer -101, 5) Josh Berry -174, 6) Chandler Smith
-273, 7) Sammy Smith -319, 8) Sam Mayer -353, 9) Sheldon Creed -374, 10) Daniel Hemric -434, 11) Jeb Burton -437, 12) Parker Kligerman -442, 13) Riley Herbst -467, 14) Brett Moffitt
-511, 15) Brandon Jones -514, 16) Parker Retzlaff -547. 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), Cole Custer (Portland), Aric Almirola (Sonoma) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs: Off-Week No. 5 Update
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action June 23 at Nashville
Superspeedway. When the season resumes, Corey Heim will have a one-point lead over Ty Majeski.
Grant Enfinger, coming off a win at World Wide Technology Raceway, is third, then Zane Smith and Ben Rhodes. At the playoff cutoff, Matt DiBenedetto currently has the final spot in the Round of 10. He has a
seven-point advantage over Tanner Gray. Nick Sanchez is 12th, then Chase Purdy. Jake Garcia, who is 58 points out, likely needs to win in order to make the playoffs. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
425, 2) Ty Majeski -1, 3) Grant Enfinger -9, 4) Zane Smith -19, 5) Ben Rhodes -32, 6) Christian Eckes -36, 7) Carson Hocevar -88, 8) Matt Crafton -93, 9) Stewart Friesen -100, 10) Matt DiBenedetto
-107, 11) Tanner Gray -114, 12) Nick Sanchez -118, 13) Chase Purdy -145, 14) Jake Garcia -165, 15) Tyler Ankrum -186, 16) Rajah Caruth -203.
Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for the playoffs. Playoff Points: 1) Christian Eckes 14, t-2) Zane Smith -3, t-2) Grant
Enfinger -3, 4) Corey Heim -6, 5) Carson Hocevar -7, 6) Ben Rhodes -9, 7) Nick Sanchez -12, t-8) Ty Majeski -13, t-8) Matt Crafton -13, t-8) 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 116, 2) Ty Majeski -6, 3) Corey Heim -9, 4) Christian Eckes -15, 5) Ben Rhodes -32, 6) Grant Enfinger
-40, 7) Carson Hocevar -43, 8) Matt DiBenedetto -55, 9) Matt Crafton -56, 10) Stewart Friesen -57, 11) Nick Sanchez -69, 12) Tanner Gray -75, 13) Chase Purdy -77, t-14) Rajah Caruth
-87, t-14) Dean Thompson -87, 16) Tyler Ankrum -88. Note: If they were eligible for stage points, William Byron would be 11th and Kyle Busch 13th. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Grant Enfinger 295, 2) Corey Heim
-13, 3) Ty Majeski -24, 4) Ben Rhodes -29, 5) Zane Smith -48, 6) Christian Eckes -49, 7) Matt Crafton -68, 8) Tanner Gray -71, 9) Carson Hocevar -72, 10) Stewart Friesen -74, 11) Nick Sanchez -76, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -85, 13) Chase Purdy -96, 14) Jake Garcia -108, 15) Tyler Ankrum -130, 16) Daniel Dye -135. WC Points (1-16): 1) Grant Enfinger 1699, 2) Ty Majeski -37, 3) Corey Heim -80, 4) Ben Rhodes -91, 5) Zane Smith
-129, 6) Christian Eckes -131, t-7) Stewart Friesen -218, t-7) Tanner Gray -218, 9) Carson Hocevar -222, 10) Matt Crafton -232, 11) Nick Sanchez -248, 12) Matt DiBenedetto -270, 13) Chase Purdy
-311, 14) Jake Garcia -348, 15) Tyler Ankrum -423, 16) Daniel Dye -449. 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, 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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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350k was brought to you by the letter C for Calm. Compared to previous races at Sonoma Raceway, there wasn't all that much in the way of action. Once Martin
Truex Jr. got the lead, no one could do anything with him. There was also much less wrecking. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Toyota/Save Mart 350k compiled by Phil Allaway
"I felt like our Bass Pro Shops Camry TRD was really close yesterday in practice, if we could make a few adjustments, I thought we would be good. They definitely made the right adjustments. This place is all about rear traction, rear drive and being able to manage that and
keep turning and keep momentum. We were able to do that today. The car was really, really good. Just a total team effort. Everybody works really, really hard. We were awful here last year, and at road course in general, so to come back here – this has kind of been a playground for us before, and to be able to get back here with this car and do it again feels really, really special. It’s really gratifying. We’ve worked hard for this one." - Martin Truex Jr.,
race winner
"Not too bad of a day for the No. 8 McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team at Sonoma Raceway, I just wish we had a little bit more. I tried hard to keep Martin Truex Jr. honest. I felt like I could beat him
a little on a lap, and then I would mess up and he would beat me by more on the next lap. We were trading a little bit, but he was able to pull away late. Overall, great job by all the RCR and ECR guys on this Camaro. I’m proud of the effort. We gave it everything we had. We made a lot of changes. We got a lucky break with the yellow with only three laps on tires. We were able to cycle to the front. Once we got up there, we could maintain pace with some of the good cars and had a good top-three
speed race car. Good fortunes for us, and it’s nice to come out here with a second-place finish after a win last week. We have three wins at this point in the season, and this team is really stringing together some good runs, so I don’t know if I want an off week. It will be good to regroup, focus and set up for the last 18 races of the season, though. Overall, I’m just really proud of the guys on this team, the communication, and the way they are able to go to work, work through some of our
issues and try to improve on what I need to be able to feel in a race car and pull out finishes like the one we had today. If we can keep doing those things, we will be a force for the championship." - Kyle Busch, finished second "You start in the back you’re gonna get beat up a little bit. Overall, I’m very proud of the Autotrader team today. Yesterday was ugly for all the Penske cars, but Paul made some good adjustments and got it to where we were top five speed, legit, and we just had to get there. He made a great call with a four-stop strategy and getting a lucky caution and getting through everything, so luck was on our side a little bit, but
also a decent car. It was nothing to go up there and win with, but we maximized the last two weeks and I’m proud of that, so we’ll go into the off week with a bit of momentum." - Joey Logano, finished third "Everybody did a good job. Our Fifth Third Bank Mustang had really solid speed
on the day. It was a methodical race. I thought we were in a good spot there at the end and got a little caught up in the retaliation stuff going on right in front of us and checked us up a good amount. I don’t know. It’s hard to say if we had anything for [Martin Truex Jr]. We never quite got to him today, so I think we still have a little work to do yet, but it was a good job by everybody." - Chris Buescher, finished fourth "It’s nice to get a top five, no doubt, so proud of that. We were trying to do something a little different with strategy. We had pit about six or eight laps there before that caution. We just felt like our only play was to stay out. I was really hoping that more people would do that with us so we’d have three or four rows. It still probably wouldn’t have
been enough, but I do think it would have been nicer to have a couple more rows and a buffer for those with tires. - Chase Elliott, finished fifth "We started off pretty good there. We got up to fourth there in stage one, and I thought at that point, we were the third- or fourth-
fastest car. We were about one lap away from being really good. I got really loose the second run, so we were going to pit and right before we pit, the caution came out. That made us restart 16th and then it was just kind of a dog fight from there. I felt like we had pretty good pace with short-run speed, but I would get super loose in traffic, so I had to fight that. It’s just so hard to pass.
"I thought the No. 16 Gabriel Glas Chevy team did a great job all day. The pit stops were really good. We had a good stop there at the end – were able to make up a couple of spots and make what we could out of it." - AJ Allmendinger, finished sixth "Here’s the deal. We ran good all weekend. We had a top five, top three car. I think we legitimately had the pace to run with [Martin Truex Jr.] there. We were starting to run him back down on that long run and that last pit stop hurt us. It is what it is. I’m proud of everybody at Front Row. They brought a really fast car and had a shot at it. We almost executed all day, it’s just that last stop. We came off pit road 12th
or 13th and thankfully we were able to get back up to seventh and get a top 10, but I felt like we had a car that could contend today, so proud of the effort. Thanks to Love’s Travel Stops and all of our partners. We needed the win and we just didn’t do it." - Michael McDowell, finished seventh
"I was really close
behind [William Bryon] and I couldn’t really see where I was going and then I went to turn left to try to peak under him, and the wall was there." - Denny Hamlin, finished 36th (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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