Frontstretch Newsletter: Aug. 28, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition CXLVII |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops, preparing for this weekend's action in Darlington. Meanwhile, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoffs continues tonight at the virtual Dover Motor Speedway. Action will start at 8:30 p.m.
ET on both NASCAR and iRacing's YouTube channels. We will have entry lists for this weekend's races at Darlington Raceway and any other news that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
| | Chris Buescher, RFK Triumph at Daytona, Bubba Wallace
Makes Playoffs Chris Buescher took advantage of a push from teammate/team co-owner Brad Keselowski to win Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 for his third win of the year. Keselowski was second, then Aric Almirola, Chase
Elliott and Joey Logano. |
| | Ryan Preece Released From Hospital After Daytona
Crash Saturday night's race will be best remembered for a scary blowover flip for Ryan Preece on lap 156. Preece was taken to the hospital afterwards, but was released on Sunday. |
| | Kurt Busch Officially Announces
Retirement Kurt Busch announced Saturday in a video that he is officially retiring from racing after being unable to get cleared to return to racing after 13 months of recovery. |
| | Carson Hocevar Joins Legacy for
Darlington Legacy Motor Club announced Monday morning that Carson Hocevar will drive the No. 42 Chevrolet in Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. |
| | Bubba Wallace Relieved After ‘Hardest Week I’ve Had in a
Long Time’ Ends in Playoff Berth Bubba Wallace managed to avoid the late chaos Saturday night to finish 12th. That was enough for him to take the final spot in the playoffs on points. |
| | Chase Elliott Misses Driver Playoffs, Hopes to Compete
for Owners Championship Chase Elliott finished fourth Saturday night and failed to qualify for the playoffs. However, the No. 9 Chevrolet is in the owners' playoffs thanks to his contributions, along with Josh Berry, Corey
LaJoie and Jordan Taylor. |
| | Ryan Preece ‘Pretty Close’ to Contract Extension With
SHR Prior to Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400, Ryan Preece told Frontstretch that he was working on a contract extension that would keep him in the No. 41 Ford next year. |
| | Justin Allgaier Overcomes Penalty, Wins in Daytona Photo
Finish Despite being forced to serve a drive-through penalty on the first lap of the race Friday night, Justin Allgaier recovered from it, avoided chaos and took his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the year in the Wawa
250. Sheldon Creed was second, then Daniel Hemric, Parker Kligerman and Cole Custer. |
| | ‘Lone Duck’ Parker Kligerman Happy to Prevail Without
Help for Top-5 Finish Parker Kligerman was on his own Friday night since even the Richard Childress Racing entries that Big Machine Racing are allied with were working to help Sheldon Creed. Regardless, Kligerman finished
fourth and moved into a playoff position. |
| | Jordan Anderson Racing Celebrates 200th Start: ‘What a
Fun Night’ For Jordan Anderson, Friday night was a big night as he got back in a race car for the first time since his fiery crash at Talladega last year. It also marked the 200th start for Jordan Anderson
Racing. |
| | Brandon Jones Confirms JRM Return in
2024 Brandon Jones confirmed to Frontstretch after crashing out of Friday night's Wawa 250 that he will be back in the No. 9 Menards Chevrolet full-time in 2024. |
| | Grant Enfinger Advances to Round of 8 With Milwaukee
Win GMS Racing's Grant Enfinger dominated Sunday's CleanHarbors 175, sweeping the stages to take his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of the year. Carson Hocevar was second, then Christian Eckes, Corey Heim and Matt
Crafton. |
| | Carson Hocevar Comes Up Short at Milwaukee, Throws Shade
at the No. 98 Team Niece Motorsports' Carson Hocevar was in contention late Sunday in Milwaukee, but ultimately settled for a second-place finish on the flat oval. |
| | William Sawalich Dominates ARCA Race at
Milwaukee Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich led all but nine laps Sunday to win the ARCA Menards Series/ARCA Menards Series East conjunction race at The Milwaukee Mile. Jesse Love was second, then Sean Hingorani, Conner
Jones and Grant Enfinger. |
| | Scott Dixon Doubles Down on Fuel Strategy to Win at
Gateway Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon managed to make one fewer pit stop than the rest of the field Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway. That allowed him to win the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 by 22 seconds over
Patricio O'Ward. David Malukas was third, then Alexander Rossi and Scott McLaughlin, who were a lap down. |
| | Max Verstappen Weathers Multiple Storms to Win at
Zandvoort Max Verstappen dominated at Zandvoort Sunday to take his ninth straight victory and the 14th in a row for Red Bull. Fernando Alonso was second, then Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz
Jr. |
| | Corvette Racing Wins Michelin GT Challenge at
VIR Corvette Racing's Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor won Sunday's Michelin GT Challenge at VIR for their second win of 2023. Paul Miller Racing's Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won the GTD
class. |
| | Robin Liddell, Frank DePew Win Virginia Is For Racing
Lovers Grand Prix With Last Lap Pass Rebel Rock Racing's Robin Liddell took the lead with a half a lap to go Saturday and held on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at VIRginia
International Raceway. JDC-Miller MotorSports' Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor won in TCR. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, Lars Baron of Getty Images and IMSA. 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. 25-27 |
- In European Le Mans Series action Saturday evening, United Autosports' Phil Hanson, Oliver Jarvis and Marino Sato won the 4 Hours of Aragon for their first win of the year. The margin of victory was 14.987 seconds over IDEC Sport's
Paul-Loup Chatin, Laurents Hoerr and Paul Lafargue. Algarve Pro Racing's James Allen, Alex Lynn and Kyffin Simpson were third, followed by Panis Racing's Manual Maldonado, Job van Uitert and Tijmen van der Helm. Duqueine Team's Rene Binder, Neel Jani and Nico Pino were fifth. AF Corse's Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere won the LMP2 Pro-Am class in
fifth overall. Their margin of victory was 14.884 seconds over Nielsen Racing's Ben Hanley, Mathias Beche and Rodrigo Sales. United Autosports' Filipe Albuquerque, Andy Meyrick and Daniel Schneider were third. In LMP3, COOL Racing's Adrien Chila, Alejandro Garcia and Marcos Siebert won the class by a lap over WTM by Rinaldi Racing's Torsten Kratz, Oscan Tunjo and Leonard
Weiss. Ultimate's Eric Trouillet and the Lahaye brothers (Jean-Baptiste and Matthieu) were third. Finally, Kessel Racing's Greg Huffaker, Takeshi Kimura and Davide Rigon won the GTE class in their Ferrari by 10.936 seconds over Proton Competition's Ryan Hardwick, Alessio Picariello and Zacharie Robichon. Proton's No. 93 for Michael Fassbender, Richard Lietz and Martin Rump
were third. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Martin Truex Jr. Wins Regular Season Championship
by Phil Allaway
Martin Truex Jr. was in good position to win the regular season championship Saturday night. He won stage one and easily pulled it off, despite finishing 24th. Truex won the regular season championship by 48 points over Denny Hamlin, who finished 26th. William Byron ended up third, followed by
Christopher Bell.
Brad Keselowski finished second Saturday night and moved up to a season-high fifth in points. Teammate Chris Buescher, whom Keselowski pushed to victory, moved up to sixth. Kyle Larson finished 27th and dropped two places to seventh. Kevin Harvick finished
ninth and moved up two places to eighth. Kyle Busch finished seventh and moved up two places to ninth. Ross Chastain was 17th and dropped from a tie for seventh to 10th. Joey Logano moved up two places to 11th after finishing fifth. Tyler Reddick finished the regular season in 12th. Ryan Blaney dropped four places to 13th after being eliminated in a crash and finishing 36th. Bubba Wallace finished 12th and claimed the final spot in the playoffs on points in 14th. Michael McDowell finished 13th and moved up two places to 15th. Daniel Suarez was the first driver out ot the playoffs in
16th, 47 points behind Wallace. After the points reset. Truex and Byron are tied for the points lead with 2036. Byron wins the tiebreaker due to having five wins to Truex's three. They have an 11-point lead over Hamlin, then Buescher, Busch, Larson, Bell and Chastain. Keselowski starts off in ninth, then Reddick. Team Penske teammates Blaney and Logano will start the Round of 16 tied for 11th, on the bubble. Outside of the top 12 will be McDowell, Stenhouse, Harvick and Wallace. Wallace is the only playoff driver not to score a playoff point during the season to this point. Outside of the playoffs, Suarez has a six-point lead over Ty Gibbs. Alex Bowman is 19th, while AJ Allmendinger and Chase Elliott are tied for 20th. Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin
Truex Jr. 884, 2) Denny Hamlin -48, 3) William Byron -64, 4) Christopher Bell -102, 5) Brad Keselowski -142, 6) Chris Buescher -149, 7) Kyle Larson -153, 8) Kevin Harvick
-155, 9) Kyle Busch -157, 10) Ross Chastain -167, 11) Joey Logano -179, 12) Tyler Reddick -184, 13) Ryan Blaney -189, 14) Bubba Wallace -264, 15) Michael McDowell
-307, 16) Daniel Suarez -311. Outside of the top 16, but still in playoffs: 17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -315.
Round of 16 Point Standings (1-16):
t-1) William Byron 2036, t-1) Martin Truex Jr. 2036, 3) Denny Hamlin -11, 4) Chris Buescher -15, 5) Kyle Busch -17, 6) Kyle Larson -19, 7) Christopher Bell -22, 8) Ross Chastain -25, 9) Brad Keselowski - 26, 10) Tyler Reddick -27, t-11) Joey Logano -28, t-11) Ryan Blaney -28, 13)
Michael McDowell -29, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -31, 15) Kevin Harvick -32, 16) Bubba Wallace -36.
Best of the Rest: 17) Daniel Suarez 573, 18) Ty Gibbs -6, 19) Alex Bowman -41, t-20) Chase Elliott -47, t-20) AJ Allmendinger -47,
22) Austin Cindric -92, 23) Aric Almirola -126, 24) Justin Haley -129, 25) Corey LaJoie -142, 26) Ryan Preece -144. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: t-1) William Byron 36, t-1) Martin Truex Jr. 36, 3) Denny Hamlin -11, 4) Chris Buescher -15, 5) Kyle Busch -17, 6) Kyle Larson -19, 7)
Christopher Bell -22, 8) Ross Chastain -25, 9) Brad Keselowski -26, 10) Tyler Reddick -27, t-11) Joey Logano -28, t-11) Ryan Blaney -28, 13) Michael McDowell -29, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -31, 15) Kevin Harvick
-32, t-16) Austin Cindric -35, t-16) Aric Almirola -35, t-15) Ryan Preece -35, t-15) Chase Elliott -35, 20) Bubba Wallace -36.
Note: Prior to Indianapolis, Shane van Gisbergen changed his points eligibility to
the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. His five playoff points prior to then would tie him for 14th. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 232, 2) Denny Hamlin -20, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -26, 4) Tyler
Reddick -51, 5) Kyle Larson -54, 5) Christopher Bell -63, 7) Ross Chastain -82, 8) Ryan Blaney -91, 9) Brad Keselowski -92, 10) Joey Logano -100, 11) Kevin Harvick
-107, 12) Kyle Busch -114, 13) Alex Bowman -133, 14) Daniel Suarez -135, 15) Bubba Wallace -138, 16) Michael McDowell -141. Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: 17) Chris Buescher -153, 25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -198. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 797, 2) Chris Buescher -31, 3) Denny Hamlin -46, 4) Christopher Bell -65, 5) William Byron
-74, 6) Brad Keselowski -75, 7) Kyle Busch -76, 8) Kevin Harvick -79, 9) Joey Logano -109, 10) Ross Chastain -111, t-11) Kyle Larson -126, t-11) Ryan Blaney
-126, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -157, 14) Bubba Wallace -160, 15) Tyler Reddick -163, 16) Ty Gibbs -198. Outside of the top 16, but in the playoffs: 17) Michael
McDowell -200. 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. 3575, 2) Chris Buescher -158, 3) Denny Hamlin -161, 4) Christopher Bell -226, 5) Kyle Busch -256, 6) Brad Keselowski -261, 7) William Byron -289, 8) Kevin Harvick
-298, 9) Joey Logano -348, 10) Ross Chastain -381, 11) Kyle Larson -394, 12) Ryan Blaney -427, 13) Tyler Reddick -538, 14) Bubba Wallace -569, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-574, 16) Michael McDowell -698. 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, 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, 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: Austin Hill Gains Despite Late Crash In Daytona
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill was one of the dominant drivers Friday night, winning a stage and scoring 19 stage points. However, he got caught up in a wreck and finished 23rd. Despite the wreck, Hill expanded his points lead up to 27 points. That margin is over the new second-place man Justin Allgaier, who scored his second win of the year. John Hunter Nemechek
crashed out late and dropped back to third. Cole Custer remains in fourth after finishing fifth. Sam Mayer was involved in a late crash and finished 19th. He stays in fifth, followed by teammate Josh Berry. Sheldon Creed finished second for the second straight week and moved up two places to seventh. Daniel
Hemric remains in eighth after finishing third. Chandler Smith is down two places to ninth after finishing 22nd. Parker Kligerman finished fourth and moved up one place to 10th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Kligerman has a 20-point advantage over Riley Herbst, who had a "despicable" night due to a steering issue that
resulted in a 24th-place finish. Sammy Smith is still in 12th after finishing 21st. Jeb Burton recovered from having to do a pass-through penalty at the end of the first lap to finish 12th and move up one place to 13th. Brandon Jones crashed out and dropped one place to 14th. Brett Moffitt is 15th, while Kaz
Grala is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 919, 2) Justin Allgaier -27, 3) John Hunter Nemechek -28, 4) Cole Custer -102, 5) Sam Mayer
-164, 6) Josh Berry -186, 7) Sheldon Creed -236, 8) Daniel Hemric -240, 9) Chandler Smith -244, 10) Parker Kligerman -276, 11) Riley Herbst -296, 12) Sammy Smith -310, 13) Jeb Burton
-346, 14) Brandon Jones -364, 15) Brett Moffitt -392, 16) Kaz Grala -458. Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 30, 2) Austin Hill -6, 3) Justin Allgaier
-12, 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, 10) Sheldon Creed -26, 11) 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 249, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -19, 3) Austin Hill -34, 4) Cole Custer -40, 5) Sheldon Creed -68, 6) Chandler Smith -99, 7) Josh Berry -100, 8) Sam Mayer
-111, 9) Riley Herbst -112, 10) Daniel Hemric -133, 11) Sammy Smith -140, 12) Brandon Jones -150, 13) Parker Kligerman -175, 14) Ryan Truex -208, 15) Brett Moffitt -210, 16) Ryan Sieg -215. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 17) Jeb Burton -223. Note: If they were eligible for points, Ty Gibbs would be 13th and AJ Allmendinger 14th in stage points. Old Point
Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 812, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -41, 3) Justin Allgaier -62, 4) Sam Mayer -92, 5) Cole Custer
-93, 6) Josh Berry -122, 7) Parker Kligerman -146, 8) Daniel Hemric -152, 9) Jeb Burton -169, 10) Chandler Smith -181, 11) Sheldon Creed
-198, 12) Sammy Smith -211, 13) Brett Moffitt -225, 14) Riley Herbst -227, 15) Brandon Jones -257, 16) Kaz Grala -272. WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 3549, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -118, 3) Justin Allgaier -180, 4) Sam Mayer -308, 5) Cole Custer -324, 6) Josh Berry -404, 7) Parker Kligerman -503, 8) Daniel Hemric
-531, 9) Chandler Smith -617, 10) Jeb Burton -642, 11) Sheldon Creed -681, 12) Sammy Smith -716, 13) Riley Herbst -761, 14) Brett Moffitt -798, 15) Brandon Jones -890, t-16) Kaz Grala -951,
t-16) Parker Retzlaff -951. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, 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, Daytona-2), 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 Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship: Corey Heim Expands Lead With Strong Milwaukee Run by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim had a strong run Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee to finish fourth. That allowed him to expand his lead to nine points. That margin is over Christian Eckes, who moved up one position to second after finishing third. Grant Enfinger scored a perfect 60 points Sunday in his victory, which not only locked him into the Round of 8, but
also moved him up three places to third. Carson Hocevar remains in fourth after finishing second. Ty Majeski dropped three places to fifth after having a wheel confiscated in inspection and having to start at the rear. This may change later this week. Zane Smith had an off day Sunday and finished 12th, dropping one place to sixth.
Matt Crafton finished fifth and moved up two places to seventh. Despite a late crash, Nick Sanchez maintained eighth thanks to 14 stage points. He has the last spot in the Round of 8 on points. Sanchez has a three-point advantage over Ben Rhodes, who lost two spots after finishing 16th. Matt DiBenedetto had a
terrible day and finished two laps down in 27th. That dropped him 20 points behind Sanchez. Outside of the playoffs, Tanner Gray moved up to 11th after finishing 11th. Chase Purdy moved up to 12th after finishing sixth. Stewart Friesen's free fall continued as a 30th-place finish dropped him to 13th. Jake Garcia is
14th, then Tyler Ankrum and Taylor Gray.
Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 2126, 2) Christian Eckes -9, 3) Grant Enfinger -12, 4) Carson Hocevar -14, 5) Ty Majeski
-18, 6) Zane Smith -41, 7) Matt Crafton -61, 8) Nick Sanchez -67, 9) Ben Rhodes -70, 10) Matt DiBenedetto -87.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
712, 2) Ty Majeski -53, 3) Grant Enfinger -77, 4) Zane Smith -88, 5) Christian Eckes -94, 6) Ben Rhodes -116, 7) Carson Hocevar -131, 8) Matt Crafton -200, 9) Nick Sanchez -206, 10) Matt DiBenedetto
-223, 11) Tanner Gray -274, 12) Chase Purdy -283, 13) Stewart Friesen -288, 14) Jake Garcia -297, 15) Tyler Ankrum -330, 16) Taylor Gray -367.
Best of the Rest: 11) Tanner Gray
438, 12) Chase Purdy -9, 13) Stewart Friesen -14, 14) Jake Garcia -23, 15) Tyler Ankrum -56, 16) Taylor Gray -93, 17) Rajah Caruth -102, 18) Daniel Dye -131, 19) Hailie Deegan -140, 20) Colby Howard -163. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for the playoffs. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 30, 2) Grant Enfinger
-6, 3) Zane Smith -8, 4) Ty Majeski -9, t-4) Carson Hocevar -9, 6) Christian Eckes -11, 7) Ben Rhodes -17, 8) Nick Sanchez -18, t-9) Matt Crafton -19, t-9) Matt DiBenedetto -19. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 193, 2) Ty Majeski -20, 3) Zane Smith -23, 4) Christian Eckes -36, 5) Ben Rhodes -61, 6) Grant Enfinger -73, 7) Carson Hocevar -75, 8) Nick Sanchez
-95, 9) Matt DiBenedetto -104, 10) Stewart Friesen -116, 11) Matt Crafton -119, 12) Tanner Gray -138, 13) Tyler Ankrum -147, 14) Chase Purdy -148, 15) Rajah Caruth -155, 16) Dean Thompson -164. 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 467, 2) Grant Enfinger
-20, 3) Ty Majeski -44, t-4) Carson Hocevar -68, t-4) Ben Rhodes -68, 6) Christian Eckes -70, 7) Zane Smith -76, 8) Matt Crafton -97, 9) Nick Sanchez -122, 10) Matt DiBenedetto -137, 11) Jake Garcia
-143, 12) Chase Purdy -149, 13) Tanner Gray -150, 14) Stewart Friesen -189, t-15) Tyler Ankrum -199, t-15) Taylor Gray -199. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
2621, 2) Grant Enfinger -63, 3) Ty Majeski -77, 4) Christian Eckes -173, 5) Carson Hocevar -192, 6) Zane Smith -193, 7) Ben Rhodes -215, 8) Matt Crafton -321, 9) Nick Sanchez -388, 10) Matt DiBenedetto
-437, 11) Chase Purdy -482, 12) Tanner Gray -489, 13) Jake Garcia -541, 14) Stewart Friesen -576, 15) Tyler Ankrum -654, 16) Daniel Dye -765. 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, Milwaukee), 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: Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 was brought to you by the letter F for Frightening. Superspeedway races make your stomach churn under normal circumstances, but the crash that Ryan Preece had
was one of the most spectacular crashes in recent years. It appears that Preece is going to be ok, but the sight of the crash was on another level. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Coke Zero Sugar 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"It’s so awesome. So proud to get Fifth Third Bank in Victory Lane here with this Ford Mustang. What a heck of a push from Brad in those closing laps for that entire restart. We lined up and worked to get connected. We hardly came disconnected those last couple of laps and it was a little squirrely at times, but that’s what we work so hard to execute superspeedway racing for two years now. We’ve
been so close. We’ve been within the last five laps of so many of these things to finally get it done here tonight is special. "We certainly have the momentum on our side right now. Shoot, for playoff points that’s a huge step in the right direction. That puts us in a great spot here to head through the first round and all the way to Phoenix, but there are so many races
along the way that I feel like we have such a good shot at. To get this done here today, oh man, this is so cool. That’s an RFK win right there. That was as much Brad driving or maybe even more than me down here tonight, but so cool to be right here in Victory Lane." - Chris Buescher, race winner "I’m just dejected. It was such an amazing race car. Drew and all these
guys brought and incredible Smithfield Ford Mustang and we should have won the race. I’m just disappointed. Congrats to RFK. Congrats to Chris Buescher and Brad. I mean, they executed the end of that race flawlessly and they did a great job, but I thought we certainly had a car capable of getting up there and trying to win. Restarting on the third row of a green-white-checker it’s really hard to materialize a run and make something happen and they did a good job." - Aric Almirola,
finished third "I feel like we had an OK chance there, but Brad [Keselowski]) and the [Chris Buescher] just worked so well together there and they were able to stay locked-on. They were so locked-on there.. they just had a strangle-hold on the top lane. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get to Kevin [Harvick] and stay there like that, and just make the bottom lane work. I
kind of bottled it up there and just couldn’t get enough momentum going forward. "But it was a valiant effort and I appreciate the effort from everybody – from the No. 9 team, Team Chevy, Hendrick Motorsports. I thought we all worked really well together tonight. Obviously we came up a little short, but nonetheless – I hate the way the season has gone, but proud to get the
car into the owner’s championship. It’s a big deal to get in on the owner’s side, so hopefully we’ll try and go make some noise on that front, and just keep progressing and pushing to be better for next year. We’ll be better through all of this down the road." - Chase Elliott, finished fourth "If we had the opportunity to win, take it. If not, obviously help [Chase
Elliott]. I feel like we worked together well, just didn’t work on that opportunity. It’s a bummer the last restart just didn’t work out. I feel like we could have been in a little better spot prior to that caution. But [Brad Keselowski] and [Chris Buescher] are phenomenal at being able to push each other. Hopefully we can figure out how to get our stuff there. But it’s not lack of effort from anybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Just appreciate everybody on this No. 48 Ally Chevy team. Wish we
could have come out a little bit better." - Alex Bowman, finished sixth "I’m just relieved. I apologized to my wife (Amanda) all week. I haven’t been myself – I’ve been stressing. Thankful that we are in it. That is the most calm I’ve ever been. It’s ass-backwards. You come to Daytona, and you focus so much on controlling the things that you can control. My stubborn
ass never wants to listen to people telling me that. I finally did that, and we are locked in. What an incredible feat for our No. 23 team. I had a heart-to-heart with my team after Atlanta after qualifying – I said if we got our shit together, we can do great things in the Playoffs. I’m so proud of the team from top down, very thankful. Back to the team – it took longer than I wanted, but to get the 23 and 45 locked in the Playoffs for all our partners, coming off a great week down at the
Grove. Just to be here and get it done. Shout to Chris Buescher – I’ll finally let our Dover beef go. Congrats on the win. We are settled. Good job." - Bubba Wallace, finished 12th "Yeah, the trophy is really cool, but we are focused on the championship again this year, and that feels really good. It’s really awesome to get these bonus points. I’m just really proud of
my team and everybody at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), TRD, Bass Pro, Auto Owners, Resers – all of our partners for giving us the opportunity to be here and to be able to have the season that we had. Hopefully, we can keep it going. It was a little frustrating to not be able to really race tonight after Denny (Hamlin) kind of got in that situation and we got the stage win – that was kind of a bummer, but big picture was the right thing to do. We’ve got to put together 10 great races like we did in
2017 again." - Martin Truex Jr., finished 24th
"Yeah, I’m good. I just wish I would have stayed high there. I saw [Christopher Bell] spin [Ty Gibbs] – just pushing at the wrong spot of the racetrack, which I’ve done here before. Just part of it.
"I was having a blast. Our No. 47 Entenmann’s Kroger Camaro was
really, really fast. I felt like we worked our way from the very back to the very front and got ourselves some good track position, so I was really happy. I was having a blast. It was a lot fun racing three-wide and pushing each other. I felt like everybody was doing a good job of putting on a good race for the fans. It just looked like [Bell] just got him maybe a little too hard, a little too soon. He should have probably waited until we got on the straightaway, but that’s part of it. I had
fun, at least." - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished 34th (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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