Frontstretch Newsletter: Aug. 7, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition CXXXII |
- The NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 is scheduled to continue
starting at Noon ET on USA Network. The weather forecast for Monday is not the best. It calls for cloudy skies with a 60% percent chance of rain with a high of 67 degrees. Most of the predicted rain will fall in the morning before the race is scheduled to restart, but it will be a damp and humid day.
- Monday Night Racing's MRN Summer Bash resumes tonight with the final
Next Gen superspeedway race at the 2007 scan of Daytona International Speedway. It will be very bumpy.
Coverage is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET on Frontstretch's YouTube channel and Podium eSports' Twitch channel, however it is possible that the start time could be pushed back due to the Cup race being postponed. We'll have a full recap of the FireKeepers Casino 400 and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH AT MICHIGAN THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUE: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from Michigan. |
| | Persistent Rain Postpones NASCAR Cup Series Race at
Michigan Sunday's FireKeepers Casino 400 was stopped after 74 laps Sunday due to rain. It will restart Monday at Noon ET on USA Network. When the race restarts, Tyler
Reddick will be in the lead. |
| | Noah Gragson Suspended by Legacy for
Michigan Legacy Motor Club announced Saturday morning that Noah Gragson has been suspended due to a behavioral violation stemming from liking a racially insensitive
Instagram post. NASCAR has also suspended the rookie driver. |
| | Winning Is Chase Elliott’s ‘Only Option’ After Crash at
Michigan Chase Elliott had a realistic chance of getting into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs on points entering Michigan. A blown right rear tire and crash on lap 35 Sunday
dashed those hopes. |
| | Martin Truex Jr. to Return to Joe Gibbs Racing for
2024 During media availability Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. announced that he will return to Joe Gibbs Racing full-time in
2024. |
| | John Hunter Nemechek Overcomes Early Spin, Dominates
Late for Xfinity Win at Michigan Joe Gibbs Racing's John Hunter Nemechek recovered from an early spin to lead 65 laps to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Cabo Wabo 250 for his fourth win of the
year. Josh Berry was second, then Brandon Jones, Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer. |
| | Ryan Ellis Returns With APR Full Time in
2024 Alpha Prime Racing announced Friday that Ryan Ellis will drive the No. 43 Chevrolet full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in
2024. |
| | Greg Van Alst To Attempt Truck Debut in
Indianapolis Young's Motorsports announced Sunday that Greg Van Alst will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut Friday night in the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis
Raceway Park. |
| | Derek Kraus Returns to Truck Series with Spire at
Milwaukee Spire Motorsports announced Saturday morning that Derek Kraus will join the team to drive the No. 7 Chevrolet at The Milwaukee
Mile. |
| | Kyle Kirkwood Wins 2nd Career IndyCar Race at Music City
Grand Prix Andretti Autosport's Kyle Kirkwood took the lead with 27 laps to go Sunday and held on to win the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville for his
second career victory. Scott McLaughlin was second, then Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou and Scott Dixon. |
| | Jesse Love Captures ARCA Michigan Victory in a
Thriller Venturini Motorsports' Jesse Love took the lead from Connor Mosack on a late restart Friday afternoon and held on to win the ARCA Menards Series Henry Ford Health
200 for his sixth win of the year. Gus Dean was second, then Mosack, Andy Jankowiak and Frankie Muniz. |
| | Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr Claim 1st Win of 2023 At Road
America Porsche Penske Motorsport's Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr dominated Sunday to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship IMSA SportsCar Weekend Sunday at
Road America. |
| | 2024 IMSA Schedules
Unveiled IMSA revealed the schedules for their top series Friday at Road America. Highlights include the Indianapolis race being expanded into a six-hour enduro and
Michelin Pilot Challenge headlining a weekend at Mid-Ohio. |
| | Rebel Rock Racing’s Robin Liddell, Frank DePew Win Road
America 120 After Winward DQ Rebel Rock Racing's Robin Liddell and Frank DePew inherited the victory in Sunday's IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120 after Winward Racing were
disqualified. KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering's Tim Lewis Jr. and Roy Block won the TCR class. |
| | Johnny O’Connell Wins Nashville GT America Race No.
1 SKI Autosports' Johnny O'Connell took the lead Saturday night when Jason Daskalos nosed into the tires, then held on to win GT America Race No. 1 in
Nashville. |
| | Jason Daskalos Wins Nashville GT America Race No.
2 Jason Daskalos led flag-to-flag Sunday to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 2 in Nashville to take over the points
lead. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Travis Hinkle of INDYCAR Media, IMSA, Adam Glanzman and Eric Bronson of ARCA Racing, and Fabian Lagunas of SRO Motorsports Group. 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: Aug. 4-6 |
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams spent the weekend at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 for Ironman weekend. Fans were treated to
two interesting races. Friday night saw an extremely bumpy track surface in Pevely, Mo., courtesy of heavy rains the night before. The track was borderline unraceable at times, but Spencer Bayston was able to work his way up the order to take the lead on
lap 4 after both Brad Sweet and Cole Macedo nearly crashed due to ruts. As the race was past halfway and the fence repairs would have been extensive, the race was declared complete and Bayston declared the winner. Giovanni Scelzi ended up second, then Sweet, James McFadden and
Macedo. Saturday night's Ironman 55 was the scene of an epic duel between Shark Racing's Logan Schuchart and Kyle Larson, who made the trip to Missouri after qualifying for the FireKeepers Casino 400. The two drivers fought for nearly 30 laps, performing slide
jobs on each other in front of a raucous crowd. On the final lap, Schuchart was able to get ahead of Larson in turns 1 and 2. However, Larson slid him back in turns 3 and 4. From there, Larson outdragged Schuchart to beat him by .166
seconds. Sweet finished third, while Day recovered from his aforementioned big wreck on Friday night to take fourth from 15th on the grid. Carson Macedo was fifth. In the points, Sweet holds a 14-point lead over David Gravel through 46 races. Carson Macedo is third, then Schuchart and Scelzi. |
This is just a sampling of the 21 videos that we posted to our YouTube channel this past weekend from Michigan International Speedway. For more content from Michigan, or from other venues, please subscribe to our channel and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Mid-Race Points Update
by Phil Allaway
With the FireKeepers Casino 400 postponed after 74 of 200 laps, there is no official points update. Tuesday's Newsletter will have
a full update for you. However, we can update the situation entering the race. Martin Truex Jr. entered Michigan with a 39-point lead over Denny
Hamlin. William Byron was third, then Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch. At the playoff cutoff, Michael McDowell had the last spot in 16th and an 18-point advantage over Ty
Gibbs. AJ Allmendinger was 18th, then Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott. Based on the opening 74 laps, there will be changes. Both Byron and Busch have already crashed out of the race, while Bell has
also wrecked, but continued. Chase Elliott also blew a tire on lap 35 and crashed out, resulting in him requiring a win to make the playoffs. On the other hand, Truex won stage one and claimed 10 stage points. Bubba Wallace claimed nine, then Gibbs with
eight. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 744, 2) Denny
Hamlin -39, 3) William Byron -43, 4) Christopher Bell -91, 5) Kyle Busch -96, 6) Kevin Harvick -110, 7) Ross Chastain -118, 8) Kyle Larson -125, 9) Ryan Blaney -130, 10) Joey Logano -135, 11) Brad Kesleowski -141, 12) Tyler Reddick -142, 13) Chris Buescher -146, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -230, 15) Bubba Wallace -238, 16) Michael McDowell -274. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff
Points: 1) William Byron 22, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -4, 3) Kyle Busch -5, 4) Denny Hamlin -8, 5) Denny Hamlin -9, 6) Ross Chastain -12, 7) Tyler Reddick -13, t-8) Ryan Blaney -14, t-8) Joey Logano -14, 10) Christopher Bell -15, 11) Chris Buescher -16, t-12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -17, t-12) Shane van Gisbergen
-17, 14) Brad Keselowski -19, t-15) Kevin Harvick -21, t-15) Austin Cindric -21, t-15) Aric Almirola -21, t-15) Ryan Preece -21, t-15) Chase Elliott -21. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 207, 2) Denny Hamlin -28, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -32, 4) Tyler Reddick -43, t-5) Kyle Larson -59, t-5) Ross
Chastain -59, 7) Christopher Bell -60, 8) Ryan Blaney -66, 9) Joey Logano -86, 10) Kevin Harvick -90, 11) Brad Keselowski -99, 12) Kyle Busch -113, 13) Chris Buescher
-129, 14) Alex Bowman -141, 15) Bubba Wallace
-149, 16) Michael McDowell -155. Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: 25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -173. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at
Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr.
670, 2) Kyle Busch -20, 3) Denny Hamlin -37, 4) Kevin Harvick -56, 5) Chris Buescher -57, 6) William Byron -59, 7) Christopher Bell -63, 8) Brad Keselowski -73, 9) Joey Logano
-84, 10) Ross Chastain -91, t-11) Kyle Larson -98, t-11) Ryan Blaney -98, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -102, 14) Tyler Reddick -134, 15) Bubba Wallace -138, 16) Michael McDowell -169. 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.
3008, 2) Kyle Busch -70, 3) Denny Hamlin -140, 4) Kevin Harvick -210, 5) Christopher Bell -211, 6) Chris Buescher -232, 7) William Byron -233, 8) Brad Keselowski -255, 9) Joey Logano
-257, 10) Kyle Larson -296, 11) Ross Chastain -303, 12) Ryan Blaney -325, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -385, 14) Tyler Reddick -439, 15) Bubba Wallace -479, 16) Michael McDowell -591. Note: 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-1, Martinsville), Christopher Bell (Bristol), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover, Sonoma, Loudon), Denny Hamlin (Kansas, Pocono), Ross
Chastain (Nashville), Shane van Gisbergen (Chicago), Chris Buescher (Richmond-2)
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: John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill Are Tied Once Again
by Phil Allaway
John Hunter Nemechek spun out early in a Joe Gibbs Racing chain reaction incident exiting turn 2. He then got out front thanks to pit strategy and stayed there, leading 65 laps en route to his fourth win of the year. Austin Hill finished 11th and that means that Nemechek and Hill are tied for the points lead for the second time this
year. They are both 34 points ahead of Justin Allgaier, who likely had the best car, but managed to get spun out on pit road, then got penalized. Despite that, he still finished 14th. Cole Custer finished 16th after a late vibration and stays in fourth. Josh Berry finished second and stays in fifth. Sam
Mayer finished fifth and gained some more ground in sixth. Chandler Smith hit the wall on the final lap, but stays in seventh. Daniel Hemric is in eighth. Riley Herbst moved up to ninth after finishing sixth. Sammy Smith was eliminated in the crash with Nemechek and dropped back to
10th. Sheldon Creed finished 12th and stays in 11th, the last spot in the playoffs on points. Creed's advantage is down to 18 points over Parker Kligerman, who finished eighth. Brandon Jones is up to 13th after finishing a strong third. He jumped over Jeb Burton, who was 10th. Brett
Moffitt is still in 15th, while Kaz Grala is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): t-1) Austin Hill 811, t-1) John Hunter Nemechek 811, 3) Justin Allgaier -34, 4) Cole Custer
-86, 5) Josh Berry -151, 6) Sam Mayer -181, 7) Chandler Smith -199, 8) Daniel Hemric -210, 9) Riley Herbst -237, 10) Sammy Smith -253, 11) Sheldon Creed -259, 12) Parker Kligerman
-277, 13) Brandon Jones -304, 14) Jeb Burton -311, 15) Brett Moffitt -345, 16) Kaz Grala -404. Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 30, 2) Austin Hill
-7, 3) Cole Custer -15, 4) Justin Allgaier -17, t-5) Chandler Smith -23, t-5) Ryan Truex -23, t-7) Jeb Burton -24, t-7) Sammy Smith -24, 9) Sam Mayer -25, t-10) Sheldon Creed -27, t-10) Josh Berry -27, t-12) Riley Herbst
-29, t-12) Parker Kligerman -29. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, AJ Allmendinger would be fifth in playoff points, while Kyle Larson would be sixth. Aric Almirola would be 11th and Ty Gibbs tied for 13th. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 227, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -13, 3) Cole Custer -37, 4) Austin Hill -50, 5) Sheldon Creed -78, 6) Josh Berry -91, 7) Chandler Smith
-93, 8) Riley Herbst -99, 9) Sam Mayer -121, 10) Sammy Smith -125, 11) Daniel Hemric -131, 12) Brandon Jones -133, 13) Parker Kligerman -165, 14) Ryan Truex -186, 15) Ryan Sieg
-193, 16) Brett Moffitt -195. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 17) Jeb Burton -201. Note: If they were eligible for points, AJ Allmendinger would be 14th and Ty
Gibbs 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 728, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -33, 3) Justin Allgaer -84, 4) Cole Custer -101, 5) Josh Berry
-111, 6) Sam Mayer -115, 7) Daniel Hemric -139, 8) Chandler Smith -157, 9) Jeb Burton -170, 10) Parker Kligerman -172, 11) Sammy Smith -184, 12) Riley Herbst -195, 13) Brett Moffitt
-207, 14) Sheldon Creed -227, 15) Brandon Jones -228, 16) Kaz Grala -254. WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 3164, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -86, 3) Justin Allgaier -250, 4) Cole Custer -336, 5) Josh Berry -360, 6) Sam Mayer -389, 7) Daniel Hemric -492, 8) Chandler Smith
-537, 9) Parker Kligerman -594, 10) Sammy Smith -624, 11) Jeb Burton -633, 12) Riley Herbst -652, 13) Brett Moffitt -732, 14) Sheldon Creed -788, 15) Brandon Jones -790, 16) Kaz Grala -886. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Las Vegas, Atlanta-1, Pocono), John Hunter Nemechek (Fontana, Martinsville. Atlanta-2, Michigan), 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), Sam Mayer (Road America) 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: Off-Week Update No. 8
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action
Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, where the playoffs will get underway. When the playoffs start at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Corey
Heim will have an eight-point lead over Zane Smith. Carson Hocevar is third, then Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger. Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 616, 2) Ty Majeski -51, 3) Zane Smith -56, 4) Ben Rhodes -63, 5) Grant Enfinger -78, 6) Christian Eckes -96, 7) Carson Hocevar
-126, t-8) Nick Sanchez -164, t-8) Matt DiBenedetto -164, 10) Matt Crafton -167, 11) Stewart Friesen -206, 12) Tanner Gray -233, 13) Chase Purdy -243, 14) Tyler Ankrum -254, 15) Jake Garcia
-259, 16) Taylor Gray -320.
Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 2030, 2) Zane Smith -8, 3) Carson Hocevar -9, 4) Christian Eckes -11, 5) Grant Enfinger -13, 6) Ty Majeski -16, 7) Ben Rhodes -17, 8) Nick Sanchez -25, t-9)
Matt DiBenedetto -28, t-9) Matt Crafton -28. Best of the Rest: 11) Stewart Friesen 410, 12) Tanner Gray -27, 13) Chase Purdy -37, 14) Tyler Ankrum -48, 15) Jake Garcia -53, 16) Taylor Gray -114, 17) Daniel Dye -127, 18) Rajah Caruth -130, 19) Hailie Deegan -133, 20) Colby Howard -157. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or
ineligible for the playoffs. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 30, 2) Zane Smith -8, 3) Carson Hocevar -9, 4) Christian Eckes -11, 5) Grant Enfinger -13, 6) Ty Majeski
-16, 7) Ben Rhodes -17, 8) Nick Sanchez -18, t-9) Matt Crafton -19, t-9) Matt DiBenedetto -19. Stage Points: 1) Zane Smith 164, 2) Corey Heim -5, 3) Ty Majeski -15, 4) Ben Rhodes -33, 5) Christian Eckes -36, 6) Carson
Hocevar -69, 7) Matt DiBenedetto -75, 8) Grant Enfinger -76, 9) Nick Sanchez -81, 10) Stewart Friesen -87, 11) Matt Crafton -93, 12) Tanner Gray -116, 13) Tyler Ankrum -118, 14) Chase Purdy
-121, 15) Rajah Caruth -129, 16) Dean Thompson -135. Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be 12th and William Byron 13th. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
411, 2) Grant Enfinger -22, 3) Ben Rhodes -46, 4) Ty Majeski -51, 5) Zane Smith -69, 6) Carson Hocevar -73, 7) Christian Eckes -77, 8) Matt Crafton
-93, 9) Nick Sanchez -97, 10) Matt DiBenedetto -110, 11) Jake Garcia -131, 12) Tanner Gray -134, t-13) Stewart Friesen -139, t-13) Chase Purdy -139, 15) Tyler Ankrum -157, 16) Taylor Gray -176. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
2309, 2) Grant Enfinger -63, 3) Ty Majeski -96, 4) Ben Rhodes -133, 5) Zane Smith -163, 6) Christian Eckes -206, 7) Carson Hocevar -215, 8) Nick Sanchez
-297, 9) Matt Crafton -302, 10) Matt DiBenedetto -341, 11) Stewart Friesen -410, 12) Tanner Gray -425, 13) Chase Purdy -441, 14) Jake Garcia -491, 15) Tyler Ankrum -506, 16) Daniel Dye
-629. Race Winners: Zane Smith (Daytona, Austin), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, Pocono), Christian Eckes (Atlanta, Darlington), Carson Hocevar (Texas, Nashville, Richmond), 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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![Chase Elliott Out After Tire Failure At Michigan: "[Winning Is] Our Only Option"](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/2ec9290a1c6e48ecb434ec03be67f7a7.png)
