Frontstretch Newsletter: Aug. 21, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition CXLII |
Teams are back at their shops today and are prepping for this weekend's action in Daytona. -
Martinsville Speedway is hosting an open test session for Mazda MX-5 Cup cars today. The test is designed to determine the feasibility of holding races for the popular series on the .526-mile oval. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Bobby Labonte are two of the drivers taking part. We will have Daytona entry lists and any other news that breaks for you at
Frontstretch. |
| | William Byron Victorious at Watkins Glen for 5th Win of
2023 Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron dominated Sunday in Watkins Glen, leading 66 of 90 laps to win the Go Bowling at the Glen for his fifth win of the year. Denny Hamlin was second, then Christopher Bell, AJ
Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs. |
| | Michael McDowell Smiles Despite Rollercoaster Day at
Watkins Glen Front Row Motorsports' Michael McDowell was the primary driver that could have challenged William Byron Sunday in Watkins Glen. However, he was eliminated from contention due to penalties and electrical
issues. |
| | AJ Allmendinger Proud of Effort in Solid 4th-Place
Finish Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger had a swell race on Sunday, running right with Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell en route to a fourth-place finish. |
| | Rodney Childers To Miss Cup Race at Watkins
Glen Kevin Harvick had to race at Watkins Glen Sunday without crew chief Rodney Childers, who had to travel back to North Carolina to deal with a family medical issue. |
| | Sam Mayer Turns Ty Gibbs, Wins Xfinity Race at Watkins
Glen Sam Mayer took the lead on a Green-White-Checker restart from Sheldon Creed after spinning out Ty Gibbs in turn 1. From there, he held on to win the Shriners Children's 200 at the Glen. Creed was second, then Parker
Kligerman, Ross Chastain and Connor Mosack. |
| | Contact Between Sam Mayer, Ty Gibbs, Decides Shriners
Children’s 200 at the Glen Saturday's Shriners Children's 200 at the Glen will be best remembered for contact between Sam Mayer and Ty Gibbs on the final restart. Both drivers stated that it was caused by a wheel-hop.
Whether it was an intentional one or not is unclear. |
| | Small Xfinity Teams Share Successes at Watkins Glen: ‘We
Won Today’ With chaos reigning towards the end of the race Saturday, some smaller teams were able to card good finishes. Ross Chastain was fourth for DGM Racing, while JD Motorsports' drivers (Brennan Poole and Kyle
Weatherman) were 12th and 13th. |
| | McLaren Racing, Arrow McLaren File Lawsuits Against Alex
Palou, CGR The chaos surrounding Alex Palou continued to grow Friday as McLaren and Arrow McLaren SP have filed lawsuits for breach of contract against Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing in the United
Kingdom. |
| | Jesse Love Wins ARCA at Watkins Glen on Last Lap
Pass Venturini Motorsports' Jesse Love was able to slip past Connor Zilisch in the wet final corner Friday evening to win the ARCA Menards Series General Tire 100 at the Glen. Brent Crews was third, then William Sawalich and
Dale Quarterley. |
| | Brent Crews Dominates for ARCA Springfield
Win In only his second career ARCA Menards Series start, Venturini Motorsports' Brent Crews scored the victory in Sunday's Dutch Boy 100 at The Springfield Mile. Andres Perez de Lara was second, then Jesse Love, Kelly Kovski
and William Sawalich. |
| | Sean Hingorani Wins ARCA West Race, Takes Points
Lead Venturini Motorsports' Sean Hingorani was able to get past Tyler Reif early on Saturday night, then held on to win the ARCA Menards Series West NAPA Auto Parts ARCA 150 at Evergreen Speedway. Kole Raz was third, then
Landen Lewis and Eric Nascimento. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Chris Jones of INDYCAR Media, Kate Foultz of ARCA Racing and our own Phil Allaway. 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. 18-20 |
- At Road America last weekend, Conquest Racing's Alessandro Balzan and Manny Franco scored a weekend sweep in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS action. They are the first two victories in the United States for the new
Ferrari 296 GT3. - In Pirelli GT4 America SprintX, JMF Racing/Conquest Racing's Michai Stephens won Race No. 1 Saturday from the overall pole in their Mercedes.The Heart of Racing's Roman DeAngelis and Gray Newell finished fourth overall and won the Pro-Am class. BimmerWorld Racing's James Clay and Charlie Postins won in Am (ninth overall). Race No. 2 saw Zac Anderson, driving solo due to co-driver John Capestro-Dubets getting hurt in a Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race at Road America earlier this month, win the race overall. It is the first solo win in what is now Pirelli GT4 America SprintX since Nicolai Elghanayan pulled the feat off at Lime Rock in 2018. BimmerWorld Racing's Tyler McQuarrie and James Walker
Jr. won Pro-Am in third overall, while Clay and Postins swept the weekend in Am. - GT America action saw George Kurtz win Race No. 1 on Saturday with a late pass on Memo Gidley. Elias Sabo led flag-to-flag to win in the GT4 class. Race No. 2 saw Kurtz
claim the weekend sweep in a flag-to-flag romp Sunday morning. Rotek Racing's Robb Holland took his fifth GT4 win of the year in his Porsche. |
This is just a sampling of the 30 videos that we brought to you from Watkins Glen and Tri-County Speedway last weekend on our YouTube channel. Please subscribe and don't forget to click the bell to be informed about future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Martin Truex Jr. Still In Excellent Position To Claim Regular Season Title in Daytona
by Phil Allaway
Martin Truex Jr. had a chance to clinch on Sunday, but didn't qualify all that well. As a result, he was unable to score any stage points. However, he did drive up to a good sixth-place finish. Despite that, his point has dropped down to 39 points over Denny Hamlin, who finished second. He is still looking good to win the regular season
championship in Daytona Saturday night. William Byron's dominant victory Sunday keeps him in third, but he gained nearly half a race's worth of points on Truex. Christopher Bell finished third for his first top-five finish in four months and stays in fourth. Kyle Larson is fifth despite a speeding penalty and
late contact. Brad Keselowski is up two places to sixth after a 15th-place finish, locking himself into the playoffs. Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain are tied for seventh. Buescher is up three places to get there after finishing seventh. Chastain was 18th. Ryan Blaney finished ninth and remains
ninth in points. Kevin Harvick dropped four places to 10th after finishing 21st. He is also locked into the playoffs on points. Kyle Busch remains in 11th after a 14th-place finish, while Tyler Reddick is 12th. Joey Logano stays in 13th, while Bubba Wallace is 14th after a
12th-place finish. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points at the moment. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remains in 15th, then comes Ty Gibbs, who finished fifth Sunday to move up to 16th. He is 32 points behind Wallace for the last spot in the playoffs. Michael McDowell's electrical failure dropped him two places
to 17th. Daniel Suarez is 18th, while AJ Allmendinger moved up two places to 19th after finishing fourth. Alex Bowman is 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 861, 2) Denny Hamlin
-39, 3) William Byron -76, 4) Christopher Bell -109, 5) Kyle Larson -140, 6) Brad Keselowski -164, t-7) Chris Buescher -166, t-7) Ross Chastain -166, 9) Ryan Blaney
-167, 10) Kevin Harvick -168, 11) Kyle Busch -173, 12) Tyler Reddick -178, 13) Joey Logano -195, 14) Bubba Wallace -271, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -295, 16) Ty Gibbs -303. Outside of the top 16, but still in playoffs: 17) Michael McDowell -308. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for
points. Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 28, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -8, 3) Kyle Busch -11, 4) Denny Hamlin -13, 5) Kyle Larson -15, 6) Chris Buescher
-17, 7) Ross Chastain -18, 8) Tyler Reddick -19, t-9) Ryan Blaney -20, t-9) Joey Logano -20, t-11) Christopher Bell -21, t-11) Michael McDowell -21, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -23, 14) Brad Keselowski -25, t-15) Kevin Harvick
-27, t-15) Austin Cindric -27, t-15) Aric Almirola -27, t-15) Ryan Preece -27, t-15) Chase Elliott -27. Note: Prior to Indianapolis, Shane van Gisbergen changed his points eligibility to the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series. His five playoff points prior to last weekend would tie him for 13th. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 226, 2) Denny Hamlin -17, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -30, 4) Kyle
Larson -48, 5) Tyler Reddick -50, 5) Christopher Bell -66, 7) Ross Chastain -78, 8) Ryan Blaney -85, 9) Brad Keselowski -96, 10) Joey Logano -101, 11) Kevin Harvick
-109, 12) Kyle Busch -117, 13) Alex Bowman -134, 14) Michael McDowell -135, 15) Bubba Wallace -137, 16) Daniel Suarez -138. Outside of the
top-16, but in the playoffs: 17) Chris Buescher -147, 25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -192. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 779, 2) Denny Hamlin -44, 3) Chris Buescher -57, 4) Christopher Bell -72, 5) William Byron -90, 6) Kyle Busch
-93, 7) Kevin Harvick -94, 8) Brad Keselowski -97, 9) Ryan Blaney -114, 10) Ross Chastain -118, 11) Kyle Larson -122, 12) Joey Logano -128, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-147, 14) Tyler Reddick -161, 15) Bubba Wallace -171, 16) Ty Gibbs -186. Outside of the top 16, but in the playoffs: 17) Michael McDowell -210. 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.
3479, 2) Denny Hamlin -155, 3) Chris Buescher -242, 4) Christopher Bell -245, 5) Kyle Busch -311, t-6) William Byron -340, t-6) Brad Keselowski -340, 8) Kevin Harvick
-345, 9) Kyle Larson -380, 10) Ryan Blaney -391, 11) Ross Chastain -402, 12) Joey Logano -412, 13) Tyler Reddick -530, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -544, 15) Bubba Wallace
-600, 16) Ty Gibbs -669. Outside the top 16, but in the playoffs: 18) Michael McDowell -726. 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, Watkins Glen), 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), 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 our own Phil Allaway.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Austin Hill Maintains Lead Despite Late Spin
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill had a chance at a good finish Saturday, but got spun out on the final restart and had to settle for 14th. He only lost two points to John Hunter Nemechek and will take a nine-point lead to Daytona. Justin Allgaier crashed late and finished 16th. Stage points mean that he stays in exactly the same place. Cole Custer spun
out Hill on the restart. He finished seventh and stays in fourth. Sam Mayer moved up to fifth with his second win of the year. Josh Berry dropped to sixth after spinning in oil late and finishing 20th. Chandler Smith remains in seventh, while Daniel Hemric is eighth. Sheldon Creed is up to ninth after finishing second in Watkins Glen. Riley Herbst dropped out early due to suspension issues and is now 10th, the last driver in the playoffs on points. Hebrst has a three-point lead over Parker Kligerman, who finished third. Sammy Smith is still in 12th. Brandon Jones is 13th, followed by Jeb Burton and Brett Moffitt. Kaz Grala ran well before crashing out late and stays in 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 886, 2) John Hunter Nemechek
-9, 3) Justin Allgaier -34, 4) Cole Custer -111, 5) Sam Mayer -151, 6) Josh Berry -173, 7) Chandler Smith -235, 8) Daniel Hemric -251, 9) Sheldon Creed -257, 10) Riley Herbst
-276, 11) Parker Kligerman -279, 12) Sammy Smith -300, 13) Brandon Jones -337, 14) Jeb Burton -338, 15) Brett Moffitt -385, 16) Kaz Grala -442. Playoff Points:
1) John Hunter Nemechek 30, 2) Austin Hill -7, 3) Justin Allgaier -17, t-4) Cole Custer -20, t-4) Sam Mayer -20, t-6) Ryan Truex -23, t-6) Chandler Smith -23, t-8) Sammy Smith -24, t-8) Jeb Burton
-24, 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 fourth in playoff points, while Ty Gibbs would be tied for fifth. Kyle Larson would
be eighth, while Aric Almirola would be 13th. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 2493, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -24, 3) Cole Custer -50, 4) Austin Hill -53, 5) Sheldon Creed
-87, 6) Josh Berry -100, 7) Chandler Smith -108, 8) Riley Herbst -112, 9) Sam Mayer -113, 10) Daniel Hemric -143, 11) Sammy Smith -147, 12) Brandon Jones -155, 13) Parker Kligerman
-178, 14) Ryan Truex -208, 15) Ryan Sieg -215, 16) Brett Moffitt -217. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 17) Jeb Burton -223. Note: If they were eligible for
points, Ty Gibbs would be 12th and AJ Allmendinger 14th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 792, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -34, 3) Justin Allgaier -86, 4) Sam Mayer
-95, 5) Cole Custer -110, 6) Josh Berry -126, 7) Parker Kligerman -164, 8) Daniel Hemric -170, 9) Jeb Burton -178, 10) Chandler Smith -181, 11) Sammy Smith -212, 12) Sheldon Creed
-218, 13) Riley Herbst -224, 14) Brett Moffit -228, 15) Brandon Jones -242, 16) Kaz Grala -273. WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 34454, 2) John Hunter Nemechek
-93, 3) Justin Allgaier -256, 4) Sam Mayer -315, 5) Cole Custer -380, 6) Josh Berry -412, 7) Parker Kligerman -564, 8) Daniel Hemric -592, 9) Chandler Smith -615, 10) Jeb Burton
-665, 11) Sammy Smith -717, 12) Riley Herbst -748, 13) Sheldon Creed -752, 14) Brett Moffitt -803, 15) Brandon Jones -841, 16) Kaz Grala -950. Race Winners: Austin
Hill (Daytona, Las Vegas, Atlanta-1, Pocono), John Hunter Nemechek (Fontana, Martinsville. Atlanta-2), 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, Watkins Glen), Ty Gibbs (Indianapolis) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of our own Phil Allaway.
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Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship: Off-Week Update No. 10 by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action this Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile in a standalone event. When the teams get to Wisconsin, Corey Heim will have a three-point lead over Ty Majeski. Christian Eckes is
third, then Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith. At the cutoff, Nick Sanchez currently has the last spot in the Round of 8. He is two points ahead of Matt Crafton with Matt DiBenedetto another point back.
Round of 10 Point
Standings: 1) Corey Heim 2077, 2) Ty Majeski -3, 3) Christian Eckes -8, 4) Carson Hocevar -12, 5) Zane Smith -18, 6) Grant Enfinger -23, 7) Ben Rhodes -43, 8) Nick Sanchez -45, 9) Matt Crafton -47, 10) Matt DiBenedetto
-48.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 663, 2) Ty Majeski -38, 3) Zane Smith -65, 4) Grant Enfinger -88, 5) Ben Rhodes -89, 6) Christian
Eckes -93, 7) Carson Hocevar -129, t-8) Nick Sanchez -184, t-8) Matt DiBenedetto -184, 10) Matt Crafton -186, 11) Stewart Friesen -246, 12) Tanner Gray -253, 13) Chase Purdy -267, 14) Jake Garcia -276, 15) Tyler Ankrum
-298, t-16) Taylor Gray -350, t-16) Rajah Caruth -350.
Best of the Rest: 11) Stewart Friesen 417, 12) Tanner Gray -7, 13) Chase Purdy -21, 14) Jake Garcia -30, 15) Tyler Ankrum -52, 16) Taylor Gray
-104, t-16) Rajah Caruth -104, 18) Daniel Dye -119, 19) Hailie Deegan -134, 20) Colby Howard -162. 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, t-3) Carson Hocevar -9, t-3) Ty Majeski -9, 5) Christian Eckes -11, 6) Grant Enfinger -13, 7) Ben Rhodes -17, 8) Nick Sanchez
-18, t-9) Matt Crafton -19, t-9) Matt DiBenedetto -19. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 177, t-2) Zane Smith -8, t-2) Ty Majeski -8, 4) Christian Eckes -34, 5) Ben Rhodes
-46, 6) Carson Hocevar -71, 7) Grant Enfinger -77, 8) Matt DiBenedetto -88, 9) Nick Sanchez -93, 10) Stewart Friesen -100, 11) Matt Crafton -106, 12) Tanner Gray -124, 13) Tyler Ankrum -131, 14) Chase Purdy
-134, 15) Rajah Caruth -139, 16) Dean Thompson -148. 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 437, 2) Grant Enfinger -27, 3) Ty Majeski -40, 4) Ben Rhodes -55, 5) Zane Smith -67, 6) Carson Hocevar -70, 7) Christian Eckes -71, 8) Matt Crafton -95, 9) Nick Sanchez -101, 10) Matt DiBenedetto
-113, 11) Jake Garcia -137, 12) Tanner Gray -142, 13) Chase Purdy -146, 14) Stewart Friesen -162, 15) Tyler Ankrum -182, 16) Taylor Gray -189. WC Points (1-16):
1) Corey Heim 2456, 2) Ty Majeski -58, 3) Grant Enfinger -83, 4) Zane Smith -155, 5) Ben Rhodes -165, 6) Christian Eckes -178, 7) Carson Hocevar -202, 8) Matt Crafton -311, 9) Nick Sanchez -314, 10) Matt DiBenedetto
-354, 11) Tanner Gray -454, 12) Chase Purdy -467, 13) Stewart Friesen -484, 14) Jake Garcia -514, 15) Tyler Ankrum -592, 16) Daniel Dye -679. 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), Ty Majeski (Lucas Oil IRP) 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 Go Bowling at the Glen was brought to you by the letter H for Historic. The 90-lap race was the fastest race in the Modern Era of NASCAR (since 1972) to run to the full advertised distance. It was nine minutes faster
than the previous quickest Modern Era race, which took place at Watkins Glen in 2017. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Go Bowling at the Glen compiled by Phil Allaway
"It feels really good, man. It's a huge credit to the race team behind me. I want to thank Max Papis for this. This is the first road-course win, and we've worked years and years for this. Just thanks to him. I know he's watching back home. Thanks to all the guys on the team, Valvoline, Liberty, Axalta. I did a lot of laps this weekend on iRacing this week. I got a new simulator at home,
so thanks to those guys. Just thanks to everyone back home who supports me. It's a great win. I don't know what it means and all that. I don't read into that, but I think it shows that when we are at our best we can perform like this. "It feels really good, man. It's a huge credit to the race team behind me. I want to thank Max Papis for this. This is the first road-course
win, and we've worked years and years for this. Just thanks to him. I know he's watching back home. Thanks to all the guys on the team, Valvoline, Liberty, Axalta. I did a lot of laps this weekend on iRacing this week. I got a new simulator at home, so thanks to those guys. Just thanks to everyone back home who supports me. It's a great win. I don't know what it means and all that. I don't read into that, but I think it shows that when we are at our best we can perform like this." - William
Byron, race winner
"I’m happy with my day. It takes me a while to get going. With (Michael) McDowell there at the beginning, he’s ready and he’s on kill and I’m kind of working my way into it and I just hate I lost the lead. I just looked at the 24’s back bumper the rest of the day. It was a fun race. I appreciate all the Mavis guys here and Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing for giving me a good car
and giving me the tools I need to get better." - Denny Hamlin, finished second
"I’m happy that we finished third. The regular season points battle is super, super tight and the guy we’re trying to pass is sitting on the front stretch. He showed up and won the race. I’m really proud of this 20 group. They made some awesome changes overnight and overall, this DEWALT Camry was super fast all
weekend long. It’s crazy to say that 90 laps and I feel like we lost because we didn’t qualify better yesterday. When people don’t make mistakes it’s hard to pass them.
"It’s just very, very nice to finally get a couple races put together without any incident. I was probably happier with Indy last week finishing ninth than I was today. Just because Indy was the first race in a long time
that us as a group were able to put a whole day together without making a mistake. I know that we have all the pieces, and I’ve been saying it for a long time, but they haven’t come together yet and when they do – we’re close – whenever they do come together, we’ll be right there at the front." - Christopher Bell, finished third
"It was tough. These last couple of weeks... these cars
are more physically hard to drive than the old Cup car. With the tires not falling off, you still feel like you're running Q laps. I'm proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing. The Celsius Chevy was fast. I think if we could have gotten up there and cleared the Toyotas there, maybe we had something for William. It's so hard to pass in dirty air. We wanted to win but I'm super proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing. We're getting better. Last week was disappointing. I'm proud of myself. I felt like I made
no mistakes. That was all I had all day today. It's something to build on." - AJ Allmendinger, finished fourth
"I knew we had the speed in our Fastenal Mustang, and I’m proud of everybody for what they did today. It was certainly a better car than we had last year – did it more on speed than strategy. I’m proud of that. It wasn’t a race-winning day, but it was certainly good, strong
and competitive in a lot of different areas. We have a couple things to look at and to focus on so we can be a little bit better. If we can get a few things figured out, then we can be real contenders to win here next year." - Chris Buescher, finished seventh "Overall, not a bad day. We didn’t qualify very well – at all. We kind of had our work cut out
for us, but Jonathan [Hassler] did a really good job of getting us better all day – from practice to qualifying, and into today. We passed some guys in the beginning, did a couple good pit calls there under green and then had a good caution fall our way there. We made our stop and it cycled us ahead of some guys, and then we had the speed for ninth. Overall, I’m proud of the effort from practice to the race. That’s what it is. Trying to work it through and get better. It was a hard day’s work,
and I’m proud of the effort." - Ryan Blaney, finished ninth
"Just the highs and lows of motorsports coming off of last weekend. But, I’m still really proud of my guys. This Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang was really fast. Had that penalty early, and we were still able to drive back through the field. Really proud of this team we have. Just wasn’t our day – a couple of pit road
penalties, and the engine just shut off there. Not sure if it was the engine or electrical. But, I just came out of the carousel and it shut off." - Michael McDowell, finished 36th (Electrical issues)
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