Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 2, 2023
Volume
XVII, Edition CLXXII |
- Teams are back at their shops, preparing for this weekend's action in Charlotte. We'll have entry lists for this weekend's races and any other news that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Ryan Blaney Wins by a Foot at Talladega Ryan Blaney took the lead with two laps to go Saturday and managed to hold the pack off to win the YellaWood 500 for his third career Talladega victory. William Byron was second, then Denny Hamlin, Corey LaJoie and Austin
Cindric. |
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| Kevin Harvick Disqualified After 2023 YellaWood 500 at
Talladega Kevin Harvick actually finished second on-track in Talladega Sunday, .012 seconds behind Ryan Blaney. However, Harvick was disqualified after the race due to a windshield fastener issue. |
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| Ryan Blaney, DQ Thwart Kevin Harvick’s Blaze of Glory at
Talladega Prior to the disqualification, Kevin Harvick was right in position to snag his first win of the year. However, Ryan Blaney was able to reclaim the lead on the final lap and just barely prevent a popular victory. |
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| Despite Spin, Riley Herbst Scores Career-Best Finish of
9th In his limited starts in 2023, Riley Herbst has surprised many. Sunday saw him push Ryan Blaney to the victory. He was then spun out by Corey LaJoie coming to the line and finished ninth. |
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| Harrison Burton Sticks With Wood Brothers in
2024 Harrison Burton confirmed Saturday that he has signed a one-year deal that will keep him in the No. 21 Ford for the 2024 season. |
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| FIA Approves Andretti Application The FIA announced Monday that they have approved the application of Andretti Global to enter Formula 1. That allows Michael Andretti and Andretti Global to move on to the next step in the process. |
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| Brett Moffitt Survives Carnage, Wins Talladega Truck
Race Brett Moffitt, making a one-off appearance for Front Row Motorsports, took the lead on the white flag Saturday to win the Love's RV Stop 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. Ben Rhodes was second, then Dean Thompson, Chandler Smith and Corey
Heim. |
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| Blood, Sweat & Tears: Matt Crafton, Nick Sanchez Clash at
Talladega Saturday's Love's RV Stop 250 will be remembered most for a late crash triggered by contact between Matt Crafton and Nick Sanchez. Afterwards, there was an extremely violent confrontation between the two in the garage. |
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| Matt Crafton Releases Statement on Talladega
Incident ThorSport Racing's Matt Crafton released a statement Sunday morning which tells his side of the story from Saturday's confrontation with Nick Sanchez. |
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| Greg Van Alst Released From Hospital After Talladega
Crash Greg Van Alst was released from UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Ala. Sunday morning after suffering a fractured vertebrae in a lap 92 crash in Saturday's Love's RV Stop 250. |
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| Stewart Friesen Released From Hospital Following Talladega
Crash Halmar Friesen Racing's Stewart Friesen was released from UAB Hospital just before Midnight Saturday night local time after complaining of pain after crashing early in the Love's RV Stop 250. |
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| Zane Smith Leaves Talladega in Must-Win Scenario for Truck Title
Defense Saturday was a near-worse case scenario for Zane Smith in Talladega. Smith spun on pit road and hit his rear tire carrier, damaging his truck. Then, his truck wouldn't stay in gear, leading to a long stay in the garage. |
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| Jesse Love Wins at Salem, Locks Up 2023 ARCA
Championship Venturini Motorsports' Jesse Love led flag-to-flag to win the ARCA Menards Series Atlas 200 Saturday night at Salem Speedway, clinching the championship in the process. Andres Peres de Lara was second, then Christian Rose, Toni Breidinger and Conner
Popplewell. |
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| Kaden Honeycutt Scores ARCA West Victory at All American
Speedway Kaden Honeycutt managed to survive a series of late restarts to win the ARCA Menards Series West NAPA Auto Parts 150 at All-American Speedway for his first career victory. Sean Hingorani was second, then Tanner Reif, Joey Iest and Buddy
Shepherd. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Adam Glanzman of ARCA Racing and our own Dalton Hopkins. 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: Sept. 29-Oct. 1 |
- This past weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series was at Williams Grove Speedway for the Champion Racing Oil National Open, two nights of fast action. Or, what was supposed to be two nights. Rains ultimately postponed Friday night's feature until after Saturday night's main
show. Saturday night's 40-lap feature saw Brent Marks get the pole in the redraw, drop back to third, then reclaim the lead on lap 23 from Daryn Pittman. From there, he held on for the win. Marks won by 2.431 seconds over Pittman. Rico Abreu was third, then Sheldon Haudenschild and Brad Sweet. Less than an hour later, it was time to make up Friday's action. Here, Sweet took the lead on lap 6 from Tyler Courtney and ran away to take the win in a 25-lap feature. Carson Macedo was second, then David Gravel, Courtney and Marks. Through 64 races, Sweet has a 90-point lead over Gravel. Macedo is
third, then Giovanni Scelzi and Donny Schatz. For more from Williams Grove, check out This Weekend in Dirt at Frontstretch. |
This is just a sampling of the 36 videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channel last weekend in Talladega. For more Talladega coverage, or videos from other race weekends, please subscribe to our channel and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: William Byron Expands Lead with Strong Talladega Run
by Phil Allaway
William Byron was able to avoid trouble all day in Talladega and finished a strong second. That allowed him to expand his lead up to 28 points over Denny Hamlin. Hamlin finished third, but failed to score any stage points due to a speeding penalty that put him a lap down. Christopher Bell is up
one place to third after finishing 14th. Ryan Blaney's victory moved him up seven spots to fourth and locked him into the Round of 8. Chris Buescher is down two places to fifth after finishing 19th. Martin Truex Jr. was 18th and dropped one place to sixth. Kyle Larson is up one
place to seventh after getting crashed at the finish and sliding across in 15th. Brad Keselowski won stage two, but was eliminated in a lap 161 crash and dropped to eighth, the last spot in the Round of 8 on points. Keselowski has a two-point lead over Tyler Reddick. Reddick finished 16th and gained a spot. That
spot came at the expense of his teammate Bubba Wallace, who dropped back late to finish 23rd. Ross Chastain dropped five spots to 11th after crashing out at the end of stage one. Kyle Busch remains in 12th, 26 points out of eighth. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Kevin
Harvick finished second on the track and would have ended up 13th in points. However, he was disqualified. The DQ means that Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently tied for 13th. Harvick and Michael McDowell are tied for 15th. Outside of the playoffs entirely, Chase
Elliott has a 35-point lead over Daniel Suarez after finishing seventh. The seventh-place finish ties the No. 9 team for third in owners points, putting them in good position to advance to the Round of 8. Ty Gibbs is down to 19th after crashing out, while Alex Bowman is 20th. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) William Byron 3136, 2) Denny Hamlin -28, 3) Christopher Bell -56, 4) Ryan Blaney -58, 5) Chris Buescher -59, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -61, 7) Kyle Larson -63, 8) Brad Keselowski -76, 9) Tyler Reddick -78, 10) Bubba Wallace -85,
11) Ross Chastain -86, 12) Kyle Busch -102. Round of 12 Owners Point Standings: 1) Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 (William Byron) 3136, 2) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) -28, t-3) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 (Christopher Bell)
-56, t-3) Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 (Chase Elliott) -56, 5) Team Penske No. 12 (Ryan Blaney) -58, 6) RFK Racing No. 17 (Chris Buescher) -59, 7) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) -61, 8) Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 (Kyle Larson) -63, 9) RFK Racing No. 6 (Brad Keselowski) -76, 10) 23XI Racing No. 45 (Tyler Reddick) -78,
11) Trackhouse Racing Team No. 1 (Ross Chastain) -86, 12) Richard Childress Racing No. 8 (Kyle Busch) -102. Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: t-13) Joey Logano 2111, t-13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2111, t-15) Michael McDowell -8,
t-15) Kevin Harvick -8. Best of the Rest: 17) Chase Elliott 710, 18) Daniel Suarez -35, 19) Ty Gibbs -55, 20) Alex Bowman -83, 21) AJ Allmendinger -121, 22) Aric
Almirola -161, 23) Austin Cindric -165, 24) Justin Haley -176, 25) Ryan Preece -181, 26) Corey LaJoie -183. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin
1005, 2) William Byron -39, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -61, 4) Christopher Bell -73, 5) Kyle Larson -112, 6) Brad Keselowski -117, 7) Chris Buescher -147, 8) Tyler Reddick -153, 9) Ross Chastain -168, 10) Kevin Harvick
-178, 11) Kyle Busch -197, 12) Ryan Blaney -202, 13) Joey Logano -221, 14) Bubba Wallace -273, 15) Chase Elliott -338, 16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -345. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 41, 2) Martin Truex Jr. 36, 3) Denny Hamlin -9, 4) Kyle
Larson -17, 5) Chris Buescher -20, 6) Kyle Busch -22, 7) Christopher Bell -25, 8) Tyler Reddick -27, 9) Ryan Blaney -27, 10) Brad Keselowski -29, 11) Ross Chastain -30, 12) Bubba Wallace -41. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 273, 2) Denny Hamlin -11, 3) Kyle Larson -35, 4) Tyler Reddick -48, 5) Christopher Bell -64, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -65, 7) Ryan Blaney -91, 8) Brad Keselowski
-95, 9) Ross Chastain -108, 10) Joey Logano -127, 11) Kevin Harvick -133, 12) Kyle Busch -150, 13) Bubba Wallace -159, 14) Chase Elliott -163, 15) Alex Bowman -168, 16) Daniel Suarez -170. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: t-17) Chris Buescher -171.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at
Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 928, 2) Chris Buescher -21, 3) William Byron -26, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -34, 5) Christopher Bell
-38, 6) Brad Keselowski -61, 7) Kyle Larson -96, 8) Kyle Busch -98, 9) Kevin Harvick -107, 10) Ross Chastain -116, 11) Ryan Blaney -120, 12) Joey Logano -129, 13) Tyler Reddick -141, 14) Bubba Wallace
-161, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -162, t-16) Chase Elliott -223, t-16) Daniel Suarez -223. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 4192, t-2) Martin Truex Jr. -126, t-2) Chris Buescher -126, 4) William Byron -135, 5) Christopher Bell -136, 6) Brad Keselowski
-225, 7) Kyle Larson -288, 8) Kyle Busch -340, 9) Ross Chastain -398, 10) Kevin Harvick -399, 11) Joey Logano -421, 12) Ryan Blaney -423, 13) Ryan Blaney -469, 14) Bubba Wallace -573, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -608,
16) Daniel Suarez -766. Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Daytona-1), Kyle Busch (Fontana, Talladega-1, Gateway), William Byron (Las Vegas, Phoenix, Darlington-1, Atlanta-2, Watkins Glen, Texas), Joey Logano (Atlanta-1), Tyler Reddick (Austin, Kansas-2), Kyle Larson (Richmond-1, Martinsville, Darlington-2), Christopher Bell (Bristol-1), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover, Sonoma, Loudon), Denny Hamlin (Kansas-1, Pocono, Bristol-2), Ryan Blaney (Charlotte, Talladega-2), Ross
Chastain (Nashville), Shane van Gisbergen (Chicago), Chris Buescher (Richmond-2, Michigan, Daytona-2), Michael McDowell (Indianapolis)
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 Update No. 5
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was off last weekend. They will return to action Saturday in the Drive for the Cure 250k at Charlotte Motor Speedway's ROVAL. When the teams return to action, John Hunter Nemechek will have the points lead by 11 over Justin
Allgaier and is already locked into the Round of 8 thanks to his win in Texas. Cole Custer is third, then Austin Hill and Chandler Smith. Daniel Hemric is the last driver currently in the Round of 8 on points. He has a one-point advantage over Parker Kligerman, followed by Jeb Burton,
Josh Berry and Sam Mayer. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 2148, 2) Justin Allgaier -11, 3) Cole Custer -31, 4) Austin Hill -50, 5) Chandler Smith -62, 6) Sammy Smith
-76, 7) Sheldon Creed -85, 8) Daniel Hemric -93, 9) Parker Kligerman -94, 10) Jeb Burton -112, 11) Josh Berry -120, 12) Sam Mayer -127. Round of 12 Owner Point Standings: 1) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 (John Hunter Nemechek) 2148, 2) JR
Motorsports No. 7 (Justin Allgaier) -11, 3) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 (Cole Custer) -31, 4) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 (Austin Hill) -50, 5) Kaulig Racing No. 16 (Chandler Smith) -64, 6) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 (Sammy Smith) -76, 7) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 (Trevor Bayne) -80, 8) Richard Childress Racing No. 2 (Sheldon Creed) -86, 9) Kaulig Racing
No. 10 (Daniel Hemric) -90, 10) Jordan Anderson Racing No. 27 (Jeb Burton) -112, 11) JR Motorsports No. 8 (Josh Berry) -121, 12) JR Motorsports No. 1 (Sam Mayer) -128. Best of the Rest (13-22): 13) Riley Herbst 706, 14) Brandon Jones -40, 15) Brett Moffitt -92, 16) Parker
Retzlaff -166, 17) Kaz Grala -174, 18) Ryan Sieg -189, 19) Jeremy Clements -247, 20) Anthony Alfredo -318, 21) Kyle Sieg -323, 22) Josh Williams -336. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek
1104, 2) Justin Allgaier -23, 3) Austin Hill -35, 4) Cole Custer -133, 5) Josh Berry -282, 6) Sheldon Creed -295, t-7) Sam Mayer -316, t-7) Chandler Smith -316, 9) Daniel Hemric -338, 10) Parker Kligerman
-354, 11) Sammy Smith -392, 12) Riley Herbst -398, 13) Brandon Jones -438, 14) Jeb Burton -457, 15) Brett Moffitt -486, 16) Parker Retzlaff -564.
Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek
54, 2) Austin Hill -15, 3) Justin Allgaier -20, 4) Cole Custer -36, 5) Sam Mayer -39, t-6) Chandler Smith -45, t-6) Josh Berry -45, 8) Sheldon Creed -46, t-9) Sammy Smith -48, t-9) Jeb Burton -48, 11) Daniel Hemric
-51, 12) Parker Kligerman -52. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 317, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -22, 3) Cole Custer -52, 4) Austin Hill -53, 5) Sheldon Creed -128, 6) Chandler Smith
-149, 7) Josh Berry -153, 8) Riley Herbst -172, 9) Sam Mayer -176, 10) Sammy Smith -189, 11) Daniel Hemric -192, 12) Brandon Jones -196, 13) Parker Kligerman -230, 14) Ryan Truex -276, 15) Brett Moffitt
-277, 16) Ryan Sieg -283. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 18) Jeb Burton -291. Note: If they were eligible for points, Ty Gibbs would be 13th, AJ Allmendinger 15th and Kyle Larson 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 939, 2) Austin Hill -9, 3) Justin Allgaier -48, 4) Cole Custer
-103, 5) Josh Berry -159, 6) Parker Kligerman -169, 7) Sam Mayer -176, 8) Daniel Hemric -184, 9) Sheldon Creed -191, 10) Chandler Smith -197, 11) Jeb
Burton -206, 12) Sammy Smith -237, 13) Brett Moffitt -246, 14) Riley Herbst -264, 15) Brandon Jones -278, 16) Parker Retzlaff -309. WC Points (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 4141, 2) Austin Hill -52, 3) Justin Allgaier -162, 4) Cole Custer -376, 5) Josh Berry -554, 6) Parker Kligerman -599, 7) Sam Mayer -611, 8) Daniel Hemric -662, 9) Sheldon Creed
-694, 10) Chandler Smith -700, 11) Jeb Burton -804, 12) Sammy Smith -830, 13) Brett Moffitt -907, 14) Riley Herbst -915, 15) Brandon Jones -987, 16) Parker Retzlaff -1093. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, Las Vegas, Atlanta-1, Pocono), John Hunter Nemechek (Fontana, Martinsville. Atlanta-2, Loudon, Michigan, Kansas, Texas), Sammy Smith (Phoenix), AJ Allmendinger (Austin, Nashville), Chandler Smith (Richmond), Jeb Burton (Talladega), Ryan Truex (Dover), Kyle Larson (Darlington-1), Justin Allgaier (Charlotte, Daytona-2, Bristol), Cole Custer (Portland, Chicago), Aric Almirola
(Sonoma), Sam Mayer (Road America, Watkins Glen), Ty Gibbs (Indianapolis), Denny Hamlin (Darlington-2) 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 Championship: Corey Heim Makes Small Gains in Talladega by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim was able to keep himself out of trouble Saturday in Talladega and brought his SafeLite Toyota home in fifth. That allowed him to increase his lead to 10 points over Carson Hocevar. Hocevar finished 11, but scored 17 stage points to move up a spot. Christian Eckes is down to third after a failed move for the lead
dropped him to 19th at the finish. Nick Sanchez scored a race-high 49 points Saturday and moved up three places to fourth, last spot in the Championship 4 on points. Having said that, he might not be feeling so great after what happened post-race (see above). Sanchez has a three-point lead over Grant Enfinger, who was caught up in multiple incidents and
finished 13th. Ben Rhodes finished second Saturday, but that was only enough for him to stand pat in sixth. His margin to fourth did drop from 19 points to five, though. Ty Majeski has sole possession of seventh after crashing out late. Zane Smith had a miserable after he spun on pit road and hit his tire carrier. A transmission issue put him in the garage shortly afterwards and dropped him to eighth, 36 points behind Sanchez. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Matt Crafton jumped over the idle Matt DiBenedetto into ninth. DiBenedetto is locked into 10th in points unless he can get a ride for the final two races. Outside of the playoffs, Chase
Purdy was eliminated in a late crash. However, he lasted longer than Stewart Friesen, who was eliminated in a crash at the end of stage two. As a result, his advantage over Friesen has increased from 20 points to 26. Tanner Gray is up one place to 13th. Tanner jumped over Jake Garcia, who qualified third and had mechanical problems before the race even started. Taylor Gray has moved up to 15th, while Tyler Ankrum is down to 16th. Rajah Caruth is one point behind Ankrum in 17th. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 3121, 2) Carson
Hocevar -10, 3) Christian Eckes -24, 4) Nick Sanchez -30, 5) Grant Enfinger -33, 6) Ben Rhodes -35, 7) Ty Majeski -49, 8) Zane Smith -66. Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: 9) Matt
Crafton 2103, 10) Matt DiBenedetto -1. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 851, 2) Christian Eckes -109, 3) Grant Enfinger -123, 4) Carson Hocevar -138, 5) Zane Smith
-150, 6) Ben Rhodes -158, 7) Ty Majeski -191, 8) Nick Sanchez -212, 9) Matt DiBenedetto -299, 10) Matt Crafton -301, 11) Chase Purdy -345, 12) Stewart Friesen -371, 13) Tanner Gray -372, 14) Jake Garcia
-376, 15) Taylor Gray -406, 16) Tyler Ankrum -423. Best of the Rest: 11) Chase Purdy 506, 12) Stewart Friesen -26, 13) Tanner Gray -27, 14) Jake Garcia -31, 15) Taylor Gray
-61, 16) Tyler Ankrum -78, 17) Rajah Caruth -79, 18) Daniel Dye -138, 19) Hailie Deegan -152, 20) Dean Thompson -187. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for the
playoffs. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 35, 2) Christian Eckes -9, 3) Grant Enfinger -11, t-4) Carson Hocevar -13, t-4) Zane Smith -13, 6) Ty Majeski
-19, 7) Ben Rhodes -22, 8) Nick Sanchez -28. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 227, 2) Zane Smith -30, 3) Ty Majeski -31, 4) Christian Eckes -39, 5) Carson Hocevar
-67, 6) Ben Rhodes -75, 7) Nick Sanchez -83, 8) Grant Enfinger -92, 9) Matt DiBenedetto -136, 10) Stewart Friesen -150, 11) Matt Crafton -153, 12) Tanner Gray -162, 13) Chase Purdy -166, 14) Rajah Caruth
-179, 15) Tyler Ankrum -181, 16) Taylor Gray -193. Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be 14th and William Byron tied for 15th. Old
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 561, 2) Grant Enfinger -47, 3) Christian Eckes -80, 4) Carson Hocevar -82, 5) Ben Rhodes -96, 6) Zane Smith -130, 7) Nick Sanchez -137, 8) Ty Majeski -153, 9) Matt Crafton -163, 10) Matt
DiBenedetto -177, 11) Jake Garcia -189, 12) Chase Purdy -192, 13) Taylor Gray -218, 14) Tanner Gray -223, 15) Stewart Friesen -237, 16) Tyler Ankrum -258. WC
Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 3121, 2) Grant Enfinger -157, 3) Christian Eckes -202, 4) Carson Hocevar -242, 5) Ben Rhodes -306, 6) Zane Smith -370, 7) Nick Sanchez -442, 8) Ty Majeski -493, 9) Matt Crafton -546, 10) Chase Purdy
-630, 11) Matt DiBenedetto -633, 12) Jake Garcia -705, 13) Tanner Gray -730, 14) Stewart Friesen -748, 15) Tyler Ankrum -858, 16) Rajah Caruth -873. Race
Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Austin), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, Pocono), Christian Eckes (Atlanta, Darlington, Kansas-2), Carson Hocevar (Texas, Nashville, Richmond), Joey Logano (Bristol-1), Corey Heim (Martinsville, Mid-Ohio, Bristol-2), Grant Enfinger (Kansas-1, Gateway, Milwaukee), Kyle Larson (North Wilkesboro), Ben Rhodes (Charlotte), Ty Majeski (Lucas Oil IRP), Brett Moffitt (Talladega) 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 YellaWood 500 at Talladega was brought to you by the letter A for Active. This race had the most lead changes (70) since rules were instituted to cut down on tandem drafting. There was very little
sitting around and waiting. The Next Gen car and how it races has killed that type of racing. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: YellaWood 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"It was a pretty wild restart, but let alone the last couple of laps losing momentum and getting it back, just getting clear to the bottom to get to the front row and drag race it out with Kevin. I’m just proud of the whole 12 group. Pennzoil, Menards, BodyArmor, Dex Imaging, Advance Auto Parts, Wurth, everybody who makes this possible. To win here three
times at Talladega is super cool. I have to give a big thanks to Riley Herbst. He did a really good job there the last couple restarts. He doesn’t have a lot of Cup starts, but he did a great job and pushed me so thanks to him. This is so cool." - Ryan Blaney, race winner "Yeah, it was really intense there at the end. I just couldn’t quite get
pushes as square as those guys, and I felt like where they could get connected and just create runs, they just got us there. On the backstretch, [Kevin Harvick] actually got in front of me and that allowed I think [Ryan Blaney] to get in front of me and [Harvick] actually went back in the middle. "Our Axalta Chevrolet was really good all day. Just needed a
little bit more to get those runs generated to keep the bottom going like it was. Good effort and proud of the team and we will go onto the Charlotte ROVAL." - William Byron, finished second "Not how we drew it up, but a dub is a dub and that was a dub in our book – it’s as close as it gets to it. I’m proud of this whole Mavis Toyota team for bringing me
a car fast enough to win. When I had to go there, I could and made the right moves at the right time and a top-five is a long way from where we were with about 15 laps to go." - Denny Hamlin, finished third "It’s certainly good to get a top 10 with the Discount Tire Ford. Who’d have thought that Talladega would be the first place we would get
a finish in a month without any damage or hitting anything. I put us behind with a speeding penalty and was still able to recover at the end. I’m super happy for Ryan and everybody on the 12 team to be able to come out and knock off a win into the next round. It’s very well deserved. We brought some really fast cars at Team Penske, Ford Performance, Roush Yates Engines, everybody did a great job this weekend and it paid off." - Austin Cindric, finished
fifth "It was just one of those Talladega pushing and shoving deals. I just gave a really light push to the 42 car and it turned around on him, so unfortunate for us. We were able to win the second stage and were in a pretty good position there. It sucks. It sucks for everybody. I hate it for him. I hate it for us, but it is what it
is. "I just feel bad for Carson. I gave him a little push and it just took off on him. It wadded up a bunch of cars and it’s unfortunate, but we were having a good day with our Solomon Plumbing Ford. We were leading laps and won the second stage. I got shuffled there a few laps earlier and were trying to claw back and it all just gathered up." - Brad
Keselowski, finished 32nd (Crashed out) "It’s just the way it goes. Nothing personal with it.. I don’t take any of this personally here [Talladega Superspeedway]. I could have stayed on the bottom a few laps earlier probably and would have been safer. I just had a couple of cars land in my lap there and I went for the gap. Obviously I wish I would have lifted now, but
I’ll study that and be better next time." - Ross Chastain, finished 37th (Crashed out) "I just tried to block the lanes and then I was kind of late blocking the 12 there and he got to the outside of us, but it actually worked out OK because the 24 was a great pusher, and then it got shuffled again and I had Riley behind me. I thought I was in a
really good spot headed down the back straightaway with everything that was happening because I knew I could get off the tri-oval with Riley right on my bumper I was still gonna be OK and then he got spun in the middle of the tri-oval, so I’ve just got to thank everybody on our Busch Light Ford. They did a great job. Right about there I said, ‘Man, we’re sailing. The spotter is yelling at me to side draft. I’m like, ‘We aren’t gonna need to sidedraft, and then Riley got loose
and spun out and I’m like, ‘We’re all alone here with two of them below me.’ But it was a great day, a great way to end at Talladega. I always want to win, but it is what it is." - Kevin Harvick, finished 38th (Disqualified) 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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![Nick Sanchez: "I Was Walking To My Hauler, Tap On The Back, Got Punched In The Face [Matt Crafton]"](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/b60924043ba2405787f4c5dee9a49fd7.png)
