Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 4, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition CLII |
- With today being Labor Day, it is likely to be a fairly quiet day. Teams are back at their shops, preparing for this weekend's action in Kansas. We will have entry lists for this weekend's races at Kansas Speedway if they are released and any other news that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
| | Kyle Larson Survives for 1st Cook Out Southern 500
Win Kyle Larson took the lead on pit road with 55 laps to go Sunday and held off Tyler Reddick to win the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington. Chris Buescher was third, then William Byron and Ross
Chastain. |
| | Kevin Harvick Hit With Closed Pit Road Penalty After
Reddick, Newman Collision The sixth caution was the turning point of Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500. Not only did Kyle Larson take the lead in the pits, but Kevin Harvick's night was ruined by Tyler Reddick
effectively brake-checking Ryan Newman, which led to a spin for Newman and a penalty for pitting too soon for Harvick. |
| | ‘Just a Bad Day’ – Joe Gibbs Racing Starts Playoff Bid
with Struggles Joe Gibbs Racing was looking really good early Sunday night in Darlington. Then, things fell apart. Denny Hamlin had to make an unscheduled stop, Christopher Bell had multiple issues and Martin Truex Jr. just
wasn't up to snuff. |
| | Harrison Burton Noncommittal About Wood Brothers Return
Despite 2024 Crew Chief Swap In an interview with Frontstretch Sunday, Harrison Burton was unsure whether or not that he would be back in the No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers in
2024. |
| | Denny Hamlin Outduels Austin Hill in Late Restart to Win
Xfinity Race at Darlington Denny Hamlin was able to hold off a charging Austin Hill on a late Green-White-Checker restart to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200. John Hunter Nemechek was
third, then Cole Custer and Josh Berry. |
| | ‘Inside, I’m Livid’ – Smiling Parker Kligerman Upset
with Sam Mayer Parker Kligerman had a decent run going Saturday at Darlington, but contact from Sam Mayer in the closing laps in turn 3 resulted in a spin and a disappointing 24th-place
finish. |
| | Alex Palou Wins in Portland, Secures 2nd IndyCar
Title Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou used impressive pace Sunday to win the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland and clinch the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series championship. Felix Rosenqvist was second, then Scott Dixon, Patricio
O'Ward and Josef Newgarden. |
| | Felix Rosenqvist Uses a Pinch of Racing Luck to Grab 2nd
at Portland For Felix Rosenqvist, Sunday's 110-lap race in Portland ended up being his best race of the whole 2023 season. He was able to drive up to a second-place finish in a race with only two
cautions. |
| | Max Verstappen Wins 10 in a Row at
Monza Red Bull's Max Verstappen took the lead early from Carlos Sainz Jr. and held on to win the Grand Prix of Italy Sunday for his 10th straight victory. Sergio Perez was second, then Sainz, Charles Leclerc and George
Russell. |
| | Jesse Love Wins at DuQuoin For 9th ARCA Win in
2023 Jesse Love dominated Sunday night to win the Southern Illinois 100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds for his ninth ARCA Menards Series win of 2023. Brent Crews was second, then Will Kimmel, William Sawalich and Andres
Perez de Lara. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Karl Zemlin of INDYCAR Media, Peter Fox of Getty Images and Patrick McDermott of ARCA Racing. 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. 1-3 |
- Last weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series was at Skagit Speedway for the Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals. Friday night saw Rico Abreu lead all 30 laps to take a dominant victory. Abreu won by 2.226 seconds over Sheldon Haudenschild. Corey Day was third, then Donny Schatz and David Gravel. Saturday night was the main feature of the Skagit Nationals. Here, James McFadden started on pole and opened a gap while Haudenschild and Brad Sweet
battled. Once Sweet got the spot, he ran off and hid. Late in the race, Day ran Sweet down and a battle began. A mistake for Day with a couple of laps to go was all Sweet needed to pull away to take the win. Day was .882 seconds back in second, then McFadden, Buddy Kofoid and Gravel. For more on the Skagit Nationals, check out This Weekend on Dirt at Frontstretch. - The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late
Model Series had a doubleheader last weekend. Friday night, they raced at Mississippi Thunder Speedway. Here, Brandon Sheppard took the lead from Brian Shirley on lap 17. From there, he was able to hold on to take the win. Bobby Pierce recovered from a cut tire to finish second, 1.031 seconds back. Ryan Gustin was third, then Kyle Bronson and Chris Madden. Saturday night saw the late models move to Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota. Here, Bobby Pierce drew the pole, lost the lead on the first lap to Dustin Sorensen, then immediately took it back and drove away. Pierce was able to lead the remainder of the race to take the win despite having braking issues late in the feature. Pierce won by .508 seconds over Sheppard. Sorensen was third, then Bronson and Gustin. Pierce currently leads the late model points by 138 over both Sheppard and Madden. Gustin is fourth, followed by Brian Shirley. - In the Super DIRTcar Series, Andy Bachetti drew the pole for Mr. DIRT Track USA at Lebanon Valley Speedway. From there, he led flag-to-flag to win the 100-lap race for the third straight year and sixth overall. Bachetti also earned an automatic starting spot in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 at Oswego Speedway, should he choose to take it up. Matt Sheppard was second, then JR Heffner, Adam Pierson and Eddie Marshall. Sheppard's points lead has expanded to 92 points, nearly a full race, over Mat Williamson, who finished a disappointing 16th. Tim Sears Jr. is up to third, then Mike Mahaney and Jimmy Phelps. - Pabst Racing with Force Indy's Myles Rowe wrapped up the title in USF Pro
2000 Championship over the weekend in Portland with finishes of second, third and 10th. winning a scholarship of $664,425 that will pay for a full season of Firestone Indy NXT. He is the first African-American racer to win an American open-wheel racing title. |
This is just a sampling of the 33 videos that we posted this past weekend from Darlington Raceway to our YouTube channel. For more Darlington content, or content from other weekends, please subscribe to our channel and don't forget to hit the bell in order to be notified of future posts. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: William Byron Snags Points Lead With Solid Run in Darlington
by Phil Allaway
Despite a poor qualifying effort, William Byron was able to race through the field to finish fourth Sunday night. That was enough to give him sole possession of the points lead. He has a one-point lead over Kyle Larson, whose victory moved him up four places. Tyler Reddick is up seven spots to third after finishing
second. Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin are tied for fourth. Buescher wins the tiebreaker due to his third-place finish, while Hamlin was a lap down in 25th after a pit stop due to a loose wheel. Luckily, winning the first two stages meant that the bad finish didn't hurt Hamlin all that much. Martin Truex Jr.
entered Darlington tied for the points lead, but had one of his worst races of the year Sunday night. He just never got anything going before finishing 18th. That dropped him to sixth. Kyle Busch came from the rear to finish 11th, but dropped two places to seventh. Brad Keselowski is up one place to eighth after finishing sixth. Ryan Blaney is up two places to ninth after finishing ninth. Despite finishing fifth, Ross Chastain dropped two spots and is now 10th. Joey Logano has sole possession of 11th despite a difficult night following wall contact. Christopher Bell had a terrible night with pit issues, wall contact and a crash dropping him to a 23rd-place finish. That put him down to 12th, the last driver currently in the
Round of 12 on points. Bell has a one-point advantage over Bubba Wallace, who finished seventh. Kevin Harvick is up one position to 14th despite a penalty that resulted in a 19th-place finish. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is down to 15th after a 16th-place finish. Michael McDowell had a miserable night
before crashing out. That dropped him to 16th. Outside of the playoffs, Ty Gibbs got in a crash with Austin Cindric, but still managed to finish 21st. That moved him up to 17th. He is seven points ahead of Daniel Suarez, who crashed out with Alex Bowman late Sunday night. Chase Elliott is up one
spot to 19th after an eighth-place finish. AJ Allmendinger is 20th. Round of 16 Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 2075, 2) Kyle Larson -1, 3) Tyler Reddick -15, t-4) Chris Buescher -18, t-4) Denny Hamlin
-18, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -20, 7) Kyle Busch -25, 8) Brad Keselowski -27, 9) Ryan Blaney -29, 10) Ross Chastain -32, 11) Joey Logano -42, 12) Christopher Bell -44, 13) Bubba Wallace -45, 14) Kevin Harvick -46, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-48, 16) Michael McDowell -63. Round of 16 Owners Point Standings: 1) Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 (William Byron) 2075, 2) Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 (Kyle Larson) -1, 3) 23XI Racing No. 45 (Tyler Reddick) -15, t-4) RFK Racing No. 17 (Chris Buescher)
-18, t-4) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) -18, 6) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) -20, 7) Richard Childress Racing No. 8 (Kyle Busch) -25, 8) RFK Racing No. 6 (Brad Keselowski) -27, 9) Team Penske No. 12 (Ryan Blaney) -29, 10) Trackhouse Racing Team No. 1 (Ross Chastain) -32, 11) Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 (Chase Elliott) -41, 12)
Team Penske No. 22 (Joey Logano) -42, 13) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 (Christopher Bell) -44, 14) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) -46, 15) JTG-Daugherty Racing -48, 16) Front Row Motorsports No. 34 (Michael McDowell) -63. Best of the Rest: 17) Ty Gibbs
583, 18) Daniel Suarez -7, 19) Chase Elliott -24, 20) AJ Allmendinger -33, 21) Alex Bowman -47, 22) Austin Cindric -96, 23) Aric Almirola -112, 24) Justin Haley -126, 25) Corey LaJoie -137, 26) Ryan Preece -145. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 903, 2) Denny Hamlin -35, 3) William Byron -44, 4) Christopher Bell -104, 5) Kyle Larson -115, 6) Brad
Keselowski -123, 7) Chris Buescher -132, 8) Kyle Busch -145, 9) Kevin Harvick -149, 10) Tyler Reddick -152, 11) Ross Chastain -154, 12) Ryan Blaney -170, 13) Joey Logano -173, 14) Bubba Wallace -253, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-312, 16) Ty Gibbs -320. Outside of the top 16, but still in playoffs: 17) Michael McDowell -321. 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 -9, 4) Kyle Larson -14, 5) Chris Buescher
-15, 6) Kyle Busch -17, 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. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 238, 2) Denny Hamlin -6, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -32, 4) Tyler Reddick -41, 5) Kyle Larson
-43, 5) Christopher Bell -66, 7) Ryan Blaney -87, 8) Ross Chastain -88, 9) Brad Keselowski -91, t-10) Joey Logano -106, t-10) Kevin Harvick -106, 12) Kyle Busch -115, 13) Alex Bowman -139, 14) Daniel Suarez
-141, 15) Bubba Wallace -144, 16) Michael McDowell -147.
Outside of the top-16, but in the playoffs: 17) Chris Buescher -157, 25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -203. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 820, 2) Chris Buescher -16, 3) Denny Hamlin
-51, 4) William Byron -60, 5) Brad Keselowski -63, t-6) Kyle Busch -69, t-6) Christopher Bell -69, 8) Kevin Harvick -79, 9) Ross Chastain -98, 10) Joey Logano -103, 11) Kyle Larson -105, 12) Ryan Blaney
-117, 13) Tyler Reddick -146, 14) Bubba Wallace -149, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -155, 16) Ty Gibbs -201. Outside of the top 16, but in the playoffs: 17) Michael McDowell -214. 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. 3684, 2) Chris
Buescher -102, 3) Denny Hamlin -172, 4) Brad Keselowski -220, 5) Kyle Busch -235, 6) Christopher Bell -236, 7) William Byron -238, 8) Kevin Harvick -296, 9) Kyle Larson -323, 10) Joey Logano -330, 11) Ross Chastain
-335, 12) Ryan Blaney -398, 13) Tyler Reddick -472, 14) Bubba Wallace -532, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -568, 16) Ty Gibbs -716. Outside of the top 16, but in the playoffs: 17) Michael
McDowell -740. 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-1, Atlanta-2, Watkins Glen), Joey Logano (Atlanta-1), Tyler Reddick (Austin), Kyle Larson (Richmond-1, Martinsville, Darlington-2), 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 Loses Points Despite 2nd-Place Finish
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill had a strong run Saturday at Darlington, leading 29 laps and finishing second. John Hunter Nemechek finished third, but won the first two stages and led a race-high 99 laps. As a result, he cut five points out of Hill's points lead. With one race left in the regular season, Hill leads by 23 points over Nemechek. Nemechek jumped over Justin
Allgaier Saturday despite Allgaier finishing seventh. Cole Custer is still in fourth after a fourth-place finish. Sam Mayer finished 11th and remains in fifth. Josh Berry finished fifth and stays in sixth. He is 108 points ahead of Riley Herbst and 109 ahead of Parker Kligerman. As a result, he is
locked into the playoffs. Sheldon Creed is still seventh after finishing eighth. Daniel Hemric finished 10th and stays in eighth. Chandler Smith had a mediocre day and finished 12th, good enough to stay in ninth. Herbst is back up to 10th after a sixth-place finish. That broke a streak of bad luck and moved him back into the playoffs. Herbst is
one point ahead of Kligerman, who finished 24th after spinning out in turn 3 due to contact from Mayer. Sammy Smith is still in 12th. Jeb Burton finished 18th and remains in 13th. Brandon Jones is 14th, then Brett Moffitt. Parker Retzlaff moved up to 16th with a 13th-place finish. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 968, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -23, 3) Justin Allgaier -33, 4) Cole Custer -107, 5) Sam Mayer -187, 6) Josh Berry
-203, 7) Sheldon Creed -256, 8) Daniel Hemric -257, 9) Chandler Smith -262, 10) Riley Herbst -311, 11) Parker Kligerman -312, 12) Sammy Smith -339, 13) Jeb Burton -376, 14) Brandon Jones
-390, 15) Brett Moffitt -429, 16) Parker Retzlaff -485. Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 32, 2) Austin Hill -8, 3) Justin Allgaier -14, t-4) Cole Custer -22, t-4) Sam Mayer
-22, t-6) Ryan Truex -25, t-6) Chandler Smith -25, t-8) Sammy Smith -26, t-8) Jeb Burton -26, 10) Sheldon Creed -28, 11) Josh Berry -29, t-12) Riley Herbst -31, t-12) Parker Kligerman -31. 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 and Denny Hamlin would be tied for 13th. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier
2629, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -12, 3) Austin Hill -33, 4) Cole Custer -42, 5) Sheldon Creed -81, 6) Chandler Smith -106, 7) Josh Berry -113, 8) Riley Herbst -122, 9) Sam Mayer
-124, 10) Daniel Hemric -141, 11) Sammy Smith -153, 12) Brandon Jones -163, 13) Parker Kligerman -188, 14) Ryan Truex -221, 15) Brett Moffitt -223, 16) Ryan Sieg -228. Outside
of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 17) Jeb Burton -236. 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
852, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -41, 3) Justin Allgaier -68, 4) Cole Custer -96, 5) Sam Mayer -102, 6) Josh
Berry -126, 7) Daniel Hemric -161, 8) Parker Kligerman -169, 9) Jeb Burton -186, 10) Chandler Smith -192, 11) Sheldon Creed -205, 12) Sammy Smith
-227, 13) Riley Herbst -232, 14) Brett Moffitt -249, 15) Brandon Jones -270, 16) Parker Retzlaff -289. WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill
3724, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -118, 3) Justin Allgaier -209, 4) Cole Custer -339, 5) Sam Mayer -353, 6) Josh Berry -424, 7) Daniel Hemric -572, 8) Parker Kligerman
-587, 9) Chandler Smith -665, 10) Jeb Burton -708, 11) Sheldon Creed -714, 12) Sammy Smith -779, 13) Riley Herbst -786, 14) Brett Moffitt -885, 15) Brandon Jones -944, 16) Parker Retzlaff -997. 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-1), Justin Allgaier (Charlotte, Daytona-2), 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: Off-Week Update No. 11 by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off this past weekend. They are scheduled to return to action Friday night with the Kansas Lottery 200 at Kansas Speedway. When the teams get to Kansas, Corey Heim will have a nine-point lead over
Christian Eckes and has already locked himself into the Round of 8. Grant Enfinger is third, then Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith. At the cutoff, Nick Sanchez in seventh is the last driver in the Round of 8 on points at the moment. He is three points ahead of Ben Rhodes.
Matt DiBenedetto is ninth, then Lucas Oil IRP winner Ty Majeski after his wheel penalty. Round of 10 Driver Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 2126, 2) Christian Eckes -9, 3) Grant Enfinger
-12, 4) Carson Hocevar -14, 5) Zane Smith -41, 6) Matt Crafton -61, 7) Nick Sanchez -67, 8) Ben Rhodes -70, 9) Matt DiBenedetto -87, 10) Ty Majeski -93.
Round of 10 Owner Point Standings:
1) TRICON Garage No. 11 (Corey Heim) 2126, 2) McAnally Hilgemann Racing No. 19 (Christian Eckes) -9, 3) GMS Racing No. 23 (Grant Enfinger) -12, 4) Niece Motorsports No. 42 (Carson Hocevar) -15, 5) Front Row Motorsports (Zane Smith) -41, 6) Rev Racing (Nick Sanchez) -68, 7) ThorSport Racing
No. 99 (Ben Rhodes) -70, 8) Rackley W.A.R. No. 25 (Matt DiBenedetto) -88, 9) ThorSport Racing No. 98 (Ty Majeski) -93, 10) Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 (Matt Mills) -101.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
712, 2) Grant Enfinger -77, 3) Zane Smith -88, 4) Christian Eckes -94, 5) Ben Rhodes -116, 6) Ty Majeski -128, 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) Carson Hocevar -9, 5) Christian Eckes -11, 6) Ty Majeski -14, 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, t-3) Carson Hocevar -68, t-3) Ben Rhodes -68, 5) Christian Eckes -70, 6) Zane Smith -76, 7) Matt Crafton -97, 8) Ty Majeski -100, 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) Christian Eckes -173, 4) Carson Hocevar -192, 5) Zane Smith -193, 6) Ben Rhodes -215, 7) Ty Majeski -308, 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: Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500 was brought to you by the letter L for Lines. Darlington Raceway is known for having the narrowest racing surface of any major oval in the United States.
That said, drivers are experimenting with the various lines in new ways, creating a new way to race - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Cook Out Southern 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"Yeah, finally from start to finish. 18th to third in the first stage, I didn't think that was possible. "Our race car was really good when the sun was out. Just had to work on it. I messed up once and it got hung in neutral, and I slid and hit the wall. I think it bent the toe
link a little bit, so it was kind of a struggle from there. Definitely had to fight it more than I was earlier, but we kept our heads in the game. That was really important. This race is all about keeping your head in it. What a great way to start the playoffs and hopefully we can keep it going." - Kyle Larson, race winner "Man, I don’t know maybe just a little bit
longer run. It had just gotten short enough to where you didn’t save a whole lot I don’t think. Kyle [Larson] and I were pretty close the majority of the day, honestly. He just got ahead of us there unfortunately on pit road, but all in all this is the day that we needed to have. I’m really just thankful for the hard work from the pit crew, the team, everyone at the shop. Days like this with a car like this we haven’t been able to get a second place finish out of it so I’m really glad we’re able
to do that. We’re sitting pretty good. It was a pretty good points day on top of that as well." - Tyler Reddick, finished second
"It was really good. This BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang was strong. I’m really proud of everybody on this team. This is the first time we’ve had Build Subs on board. I know Brad [Keselowski] has had it several times, but I’m proud to have a bunch of them out here with
us and to get a good, solid day. It just goes to show that what we’ve been doing at RFK the last several months is doing a good job, working hard and getting the results. It hurts a little bit to be that close to a win. We had a little bit more speed a couple times there and then [William] Byron was really fast and we had to start defending that and that actually checked us up a little bit [in] the process, but it was a really strong day for us. I’m really proud of that and a heck of a start." -
Chris Buescher, finished third "It was a heck of a battle for the No. 1 Unishippers Chevy team. We needed 1,000 miles to get all the way to the lead. We just weren’t fast. All weekend, I haven’t felt like our balance was super far off, but it just didn’t translate to speed. I’ll take a top-five finish, for sure, and ride home happy." - Ross Chastain, finished
fifth
"It was one of those days where it was just up and down. We got up to I think fourth there with 30 to go when that yellow came out and we pitted and we thought a whole bunch of cars would pit and they didn’t. That dropped us back to 17th or 18th and we were able to get back up to sixth but not all the way back up to where we were running. We just needed a few more cars to pit." - Brad
Keselowski, finished sixth
"I’m not happy with myself. Apologies to Joey [Logano], apologies to AJ [Allmendinger]. I think the important thing to learn here is to not make enemies race one when you’re in the Playoffs because they make it hell, so I deserve everything I got throughout the night. Just did not execute. I’ve got to be better. I appreciate the team for sticking behind me through all of
the mistakes that I caused them. They didn’t let us down and got us back to a top-10 finish. I was trying to hang on for a top-five, but you’re a double-edged sword. You go really hard at the beginning to try to get a gap or save and you’ve got Ross (Chastain) behind you, and you know he’s not going to let you have any breathing room. All in all, a decent day – a really good day for our team, but the driver’s got to go back to the drawing board and just take a step back, take a breath and
regroup and go to Kansas and have a little one-year anniversary tour." - Bubba Wallace, finished seventh "This race is such a weird race. It just goes through so many swings throughout the day and night. You start off the race in the full sun and it’s hot and by the end of the second stage it’s all night time and the track temp changes. This place is really tricky
with how the track changes and it went the complete opposite way of what we thought it was gonna go, so that kind of threw us for a little bit of a loop. It was just a weird pit strategy race, too. You usually don’t get that here, but just the way the cautions fell. There was a group of people with two laps on their tires and then split and it was kind of a wacky race. Luckily, we were able to get back to ninth. It was a hard-fought battle, for sure. I’m proud of the effort and it was a decent
day on points." - Ryan Blaney, finished ninth "Just got in the marbles in turn 2 and damaged the car really. That was pretty much the story of our night." - Christopher Bell, finished 23rd "It’s really tough to tell. It looked like the left
rear was still tightening as we were gone. It’s close enough to where it didn’t matter. What I felt, I was in a crash. I had to bring it in and just turned the day upside down. "I didn’t think the damage was that bad [after the lap 331 crash], but the car drove significantly worse after that incident. Once you damage the splitter on these cars, they’re no good." - Denny
Hamlin, finished 25th "We just didn’t execute tonight. We had one set of tires that just got us really far off. I’m not sure what happened. The car just went really loose and lost a lap there. It kind of spiraled from there. We hit pit road when the caution came out. That’s never good. I sped on pit road. That’s never good. It all came apart. It’s not how we wanted to
start, but we still have two more and we’ll race hard, so we’ll see what we get." - Michael McDowell, finished 32nd (Crashed out) "That depends who you ask. I had a run on him (Alex Bowman). I went to the inside and after that, he blocked me pretty low. I had to lift a little bit to not wreck him and put him into the inside wall. We’re both Chevy partners, so I didn’t
want to do that to him. But then I went high and he blocked me again. You can block once, but you can’t block twice like that. We’ve been racing here three and a half hours and to wreck with 40 laps to go, it’s a little bit dumb. Just have to be smart. "My No. 99 Freeway.com Chevy team did a very good job. I feel like today, we had a great car and all we have to show for it is a
wrecked race car." - Daniel Suarez, 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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