Frontstretch Newsletter: Feb. 20, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition XIII |
Welcome our New Presenting Sponsor, Race Face Digital! |
The Frontstretch Newsletter is presented by Race Face Digital, the ultimate entertainment platform for race fans and collectors to collect, buy, sell and trade digital MP4 collectible racing cards. |
- Teams are back at their shops after a rather expensive time in Daytona. The day will likely be rather quiet. If anything of note breaks, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch. |
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| William Byron Starts 2024 Off Right With 1st Daytona 500
Win William Byron took the lead on the final restart from Ross Chastain and was just barely ahead on the final lap when the caution came out to win the 66th running of the Daytona 500. Alex Bowman was second, then Christopher Bell, Corey LaJoie and Bubba
Wallace. |
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| From Big One to Big Win: William Byron Reflects On Daytona
Triumph For William Byron, Monday night's victory in the Daytona 500 was the biggest victory of his career. It also could have ended in a pile of bodywork as he was inches away from being swept up into the Big One. |
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| Spin Through Grass Foils Daytona 500 Dreams for Ross
Chastain, Austin Cindric Austin Cindric and Ross Chastain had legitimate chances to win the Daytona 500 Monday night. However, the two made contact coming to the white flag and spun out, bringing out the yellow and putting them outside of the top 20. |
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| Big Wreck Turns Brad Keselowski’s Terrific Run Tragic: ‘I
Was Making the Pass for the Lead in the Daytona 500’ The outcome of Monday night's Daytona 500 likely would have been quite different had the Big One not occurred on lap 192. Brad Keselowski felt he had a good chance of winning before being eliminated. |
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| Jet Driers Collide During Drying Efforts for 66th Daytona
500 Prior to Monday's Daytona 500, there was an unusual incident in turn 1 when two jet dryers collided and slid down the banking, dumping jet fuel onto the track. |
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| Entry List: 2024 Ambetter Health
400 For Sunday's 400-mile race in Atlanta, there are 37 teams entered. Kaz Grala moves to Rick Ware Racing's No. 15 in place of Riley Herbst, while Josh Williams will make his Cup debut for Kaulig Racing. |
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| Austin Hill Wins Xfinity Opener for 3rd Daytona
Win Austin Hill, despite a damaged right front fender, charged to the front in the closing laps to win the United Rentals 300 at Daytona for the third straight year. Sheldon Creed was second, then Parker Retzlaff, Jordan Anderson and Chandler
Smith. |
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| Frankie Muniz Announces Phoenix as Part of 2024 Racing
Schedule Frankie Muniz announced Monday to Frontstretch that he will be racing a limited schedule in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024. His next race is scheduled to be at Phoenix. |
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| Entry List: 2024 Raptor King of Tough
250 For Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Atlanta, there are 38 teams currently entered. JJ Yeley will drive the SS-Green Light Racing No. 14, while Jeffrey Earnhardt rejoins Sam Hunt Racing. |
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For Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, there are only 32 teams entered. Conner Jones will make his first start of the year for ThorSport Racing, while Colby Howard replaces Toni Breidinger at TRICON
Garage. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and Greg Engle of Forbes. 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: Feb. 19 |
There are 23 Hypercars on the entry list. 19 of those are full-time WEC teams. The others are from Action Express Racing by virtue of their WeatherTech championship last year, along with one extra factory
Cadillac (No. 3), Porsche (No. 4) and Lamborghini (No. 19). There are 16 LMP2 entries, up one from what the WEC originally announced. 11 of them are full-time teams in the European Le Mans Series. CrowdStrike Racing by APR is entered via George Kurtz's auto-invite. Algarve Pro Racing has a second auto-invite by virtue of winning the European Le Mans Series LMP2 title, AF
Corse for winning the ELMS LMP2 Pro-Am title and COOL Racing has one thanks to winning the ELMS LMP3 title. CrowdStrike Racing by APR is not using their auto-invite from winning the Asian Le Mans Series title. In LMGT3, there are 23 teams entered. Inception Racing is entered via Brendan Iribe's auto-invite with their Michelin Endurance Cup lineup. Proton Competition
has an auto-invite thanks to winning the ELMS GTE championship, giving them a third Ford Mustang GT3 on the grid. A couple of teams chose not to take up their auto-invites. In addition to CrowdStrike Racing by APR not using the Asian Le Mans invite, Pure Rxcing is not using their two auto-invites from the Asian Le Mans Series' GT class and from the Bronze Cup of Fanatec GT
World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup. Those auto-invites not being used allowed three additional teams into the race. Those teams are JMW Motorsport, GR Racing and Spirit of Race, all of whom will be racing Ferrari 296 GT3. There are also seven teams that are on the Reserve List. If any of the 62 teams currently on the list withdraw, they will be replaced by a
car on the list. The first team on the list is Proton Competition's No. 79 Porsche 963. If chosen, it would likely mean a 24-car Hypercar grid. |
This is just a sampling of the 96 videos that we posted from Daytona to our YouTube channel. For more Daytona content, or content from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our channel and don't forget to click the bell to be notified for future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: William Byron Wins Daytona 500, Takes Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
William Byron was able to take the lead away on the final restart from Ross Chastain and managed to still be in front when the yellow flag ended the race with a little less than a lap to go. Winning the Daytona 500, plus points from Thursday night means that Byron leaves Daytona with the points lead. His
advantage is four points over teammate Alex Bowman, who finished second. Christopher Bell is third after finishing in third, followed by Chase Elliott, who finished 14th, but won stage one and claimed nine points in his duel. Bubba Wallace got bailed out by a late caution, then
recovered to finish fifth. That will mean that he leaves Daytona fifth in points. John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch are tied for sixth. Nemechek gets the tiebreaker by virtue of finishing seventh to Larson's 11th and Busch's 12th. Erik Jones got caught in the Big
One, but recovered to finish eighth and leave Daytona in ninth. Corey LaJoie and Austin Cindric are tied for 10th. LaJoie tied his career-best finish with a fourth while Cindric spun coming to the white flag and finished 22nd. Denny Hamlin finished 19th and leaves Daytona in 12th. Chase
Briscoe and Zane Smith are tied for 13th in points. Briscoe finished 10th, while Smith was 13th. Noah Gragson is 15th, while Chastain, Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddick are all tied for 16th. Truex finished 15th and takes the spot on the tiebreaker. Truex, Chastain and Reddick are one
point ahead of Ty Gibbs in 19th. Chris Buescher and Daniel Hemric are tied for 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 54, 2) Alex Bowman -4, 3) Christopher
Bell -10, 4) Chase Elliott -12, 5) Bubba Wallace -15, t-6) John Hunter Nemechek -17, t-6) Kyle Larson -17, t-6) Kyle Busch -17, 9) Erik Jones -19, t-10) Corey LaJoie -21, t-10) Austin Cindric -21, 12) Denny Hamlin
-24, 13) Chase Briscoe -25, t-13) Zane Smith -25, 15) Noah Gragson -26, t-16) Martin Truex Jr. -30, t-16) Ross Chastain -30, t-16) Tyler Reddick -30. Note: Drivers
in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Note No. 2: If he were eligible for points, AJ Allmendinger would be tied for 10th in points. Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 5, t-2) Chase Elliott -4, t-2) Ryan Blaney -4. Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott 19, 2) Austin Cindric
-1, 3) Tyler Reddick -3, 4) Alex Bowman -4, t-5) William Byron -5, t-5) Daniel Suarez -5, t-7) Kyle Busch -7, t-7) Denny Hamlin -7, 9) Kyle Larson -8, t-10) Christopher Bell -9, t-10) Ryan Blaney
-9, 12) Ross Chastain -11, t-13) Bubba Wallace -12, t-13) John Hunter Nemechek -12, t-13) Carson Hocevar -12, t-16) Erik Jones -13, t-16) Harrison Burton -13. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 44, t-2) Alex Bowman -5, t-2) Christopher
Bell -5, 4) Corey LaJoie -6, 5) Bubba Wallace -7, 6) John Hunter Nemechek -10, t-7) Noah Gragson -11, t-7) Erik Jones -11, t-9) Chase Briscoe -13, t-9) Kyle Larson -13, 11) Kyle Busch -14, t-12) Chase Elliott -16, t-12) Zane Smith
-16, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -18, 15) Daniel Hemric -19, 16) Ty Gibbs -20. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: t-17) Denny Hamlin -21, 21) Austin Cindric -24 Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. No. 2: If he were eligible for Cup points, AJ Allmendinger would be sixth in Old points. WC Points (1-16): 1) William Byron 180, t-2) Alex Bowman -10, t-2) Christopher Bell -10, 4) Corey LaJoie -15, 5) Bubba Wallace -20, 6) John Hunter Nemechek
-34, 7) Noah Gragson -37, 8) Erik Jones -38, 9) Kyle Larson -45, 10) Chase Briscoe -46, 11) Kyle Busch -48, 12) Chase Elliott -54, 13) Zane Smith -56, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -62, 15) Daniel Hemric -65, 16) Ty Gibbs
-68.
Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Denny Hamlin -69, 21) Austin Cindric -78. Note: The WC points are based on the
original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. No. 2: If he were eligible for Cup points, AJ Allmendinger would be sixth in WC points. Race Winner: William Byron
(Daytona)
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 Continues Streak, Claims Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill has been strong at Daytona for the whole time that he's driven for Richard Childress Racing. Monday night was no exception as he was able to put himself up front at the finish to win the United Rentals 300 for the third year in a row. That, combined with 19 stage points, means that he leaves Daytona with an 11-point lead over Sheldon
Creed, who finished second. Riley Herbst is third despite a late restart penalty. He recovered from it to finish sixth. Parker Retzlaff and Justin Allgaier are tied for fourth. Retzlaff gets the tiebreaker by finishing third to Allgaier's eighth. Retzlaff's car owner, Jordan Anderson, led on the
final restart and had a legitimate chance to win. He had to settle for fourth and ends up sixth in points. Chandler Smith and AJ Allmendinger are tied for seventh. Smith gets the tiebreaker by virtue of his fifth-place finish over Allmendinger's 10th. Cole Custer, despite crashing late in the race on the backstretch, leaves Daytona
ninth in points. Brandon Jones had a quiet race to ninth and is currently 10th in points. Jesse Love led all of stage two, then crashed almost as soon as stage two started. He ended up finishing 20th, but his 10 stage points boosted him to 11th. Ryan Ellis used an alternate pit strategy to finish 11th and take 12th in points. Ellis
is the last driver in the playoffs at the moment on points. He has a one-point advantage over Shane van Gisbergen, who had a rough introduction to superspeedway racing, but still managed to bring his WeatherTech Chevrolet home in 12th. Blaine Perkins and Sammy Smith are tied for 14th, while BJ McLeod and Ryan Truex are tied for 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 59, 2) Sheldon Creed -11, 3) Riley Herbst -24, t-4) Parker Retzlaff -25, t-4) Justin Allgaier -25, 6) Jordan Anderson -26, t-7) Chandler Smith -27, t-7) AJ Allmendinger
-27, 9) Cole Custer -28, 10) Brandon Jones -30, 11) Jesse Love -32, 12) Ryan Ellis -33, 13) Shane van Gisbergen -34, t-14) Blaine Perkins -36, t-14) Sammy Smith -36, t-16) BJ McLeod -37, t-16) Ryan Truex -37.
Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be fifth in points.
Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 6, 2) Jesse Love -5. Stage Points:
1) Austin Hill 19, 2) Sheldon Creed -6, 3) Jesse Love -9, 4) Sammy Smith -10, 5) Parker Kligerman -11, t-6) Cole Custer -12, t-6) Anthony Alfredo -12, t-8) Ryan Truex -13, t-8) Ryan Sieg
-13, t-8) Jeb Burton -13, t-11) Justin Allgaier -14, t-11) AJ Allmendinger -14, 13) Riley Herbst -15, 14) Brandon Jones -18, 15) Ryan Truex -318, 16) Ryan Sieg -325. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 13th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 44, 2) Sheldon Creed -4, t-3) Parker
Retzlaff -6, t-3) Jordan Anderson -6, 5) Chandler Smith -7, 6) Riley Herbst -8, 7) Justin Allgaier -10, t-8) Brandon Jones -12, t-8) AJ Allmendinger
-12, 10) Ryan Ellis -13, t-11) Shane van Gisbergen -15, t-11) Cole Custer -15, 13) Blaine Perkins -17, 14) BJ McLeod -18, 15) Garrett Smithley
-19, t-16) Patrick Emerling -20, t-16) Natalie Decker -20. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Jesse Love -21. Note: If he were eligible for
Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be eighth in Old points.
WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 180, 2) Sheldon Creed -5, t-3) Parker Retzlaff -15, t-3) Jordan Anderson -15, 5) Chandler Smith -20, 6) Riley Herbst
-25, 7) Justin Allgaier -33, 8) AJ Allmendinger -41, 9) Brandon Jones -42, 10) Ryan Ellis -45, 11) Cole Custer -51, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -53, 13) Blaine Perkins -59, 14) BJ McLeod -62, 15) Garrett Smithley
-65, 16) Natalie Decker -66. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Jesse Love -67.
Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be eighth in WC points.
Race Winner: Austin Hill (Daytona) 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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Letter of the Race: Monday's Daytona 500 was brought to you by the letter P for Pokey. The first caution (the Harrison Burton-Carson Hocevar crash) came out at a strange time. The entire field needed to save fuel. That
resulted in the race literally running in slow motion. The pace of the race slowed to nearly 175 mph, likely the slowest racing in the Daytona 500 since the 1960s. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Daytona 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a blur to think about the last few laps, but I just remember the lineup change right after the red flag, they said we were second, and in my head, the whole time I had just preparing for what I was going to choose on the second row. I felt like everything I had studied all week was leading me to choose fourth.
"I think that was my plan, and then when they said we were second, kind of regrouped and just thought about, okay, how can I get a good launch here, how can I get connected with [Austin Cindric]. [Cindric] gave me a great push for a lap and a half really. We were locked on. I felt like that was really good. "Well, no one told me. Rudy was crying on the radio, and I was like, dude -- I hope he's crying for a good reason. But I guess he was. He was a ball of emotion there. "I was still like, 'did we actually win or not,' and then I think Branden came on the radio and said that we were first or whatever. It still hasn't sunk in yet, so I feel like
it's just kind of a blur, and I feel like there's just so many things that have to go your way to win a race like this. "It's special. This is the biggest race. Stuff happens so fast." - William Byron, race winner "Proud of William [Byron] and his team
– they deserved it there at the end. They did all the right things, and I feel like we did too there at the end. Had to go up and block the top lane and that just killed the middle for a bit. We got the middle back rolling and then they all started crashing. "Just proud of everybody on this No. 48 Ally Chevy team. Super pumped for everybody at Hendrick
Motorsports – it’s 40 years to the day since the first HMS race, so really cool to see William in victory lane, and obviously a good day for our Ally Camaro, as well." - Alex Bowman, finished second
"Honestly, we got really fortunate. With those two wrecks, you know. The race was not playing out our way at the end. And after the green flag stop, I was pretty much in the back. But
being on the bottom lane, I was able to squeeze by that last wreck. I don’t know, we had an awesome Interstate Batteries DEWALT Camry. We showed a lot of pace between the Duel and the early part of the race. When we had track position, we were fast. But I don’t know, didn’t go our way and we need to study it." - Christopher Bell, finished third
"Really stoked to start the year with a
top five in our Chili’s Catch a Rita Chevy Camaro. Super happy with our team’s execution to start the season. Our Spire Motorsports team brought a great race car with good speed & executed throughout the course of the day. We gained some track position, led some laps and after getting shuffled back continued to fight & claw our way to the front. The 500 begins a marathon season, so it’s great to start off on the right foot. We have 35 more to execute one run at a time & one race at a
time to keep this [No. 7] car up front where should be." - Corey LaJoie, finished fourth
"Got to give yourself a chance if you want more. We don’t give ourselves chances in the 500. We’re always trying to come from behind, whether that’s my doing or just not executing. Unfortunate, you know? We got lucky with that big caution as we were going to need to pit for an unscheduled stop.
Luck was on our side, but that’s not something we needed because we lost all our track position there. Feel like you need to be in the top three rows to have a shot at this race. While we came from 14th, our McDonald’s Toyota Camry was fast enough to get to fifth, but you don’t know, right? What if we restarted fourth or in the lead? I don’t know, man. I’m so frustrated, but proud of this team. This was the cleanest 500 car I’ve ever had. That’s nice! Lot of positives. The team, 95% execution,
but you got to have 100%. I don’t know exactly what happened. Just didn’t need that, but proud of the race we ran. Have a full race under us to go debrief and come back stronger for the next race here." - Bubba Wallace, finished fifth "I made a mistake and I saw Kyle [Larson] was coming really hard on the top and I tried to pick that lane up and he gave
me a big shove down the short shoot, and I thought I could sneak back to the middle but [Christopher Bell] was wanting to be there too. Just made a mistake there on the last lap and not sure I would have got to the front row, but certainly would have been a better finish for us. I hate that because we had a solid day otherwise. Happy for William [Byron] to kick off the 40th year of Hendrick Motorsports with the win." - Chase Elliott, finished 14th
"I am [satisfied with how I raced]. To learn the fuel saving game and really get aggressive and match these guys, so that we can pit when we need to…..I have burned up too much fuel in the past couple of races and to put ourselves in position on the final pit stop to come out with the lead, cover the other OEM when they caught up to us, and just work with some legends of the sport, and have control over the race there at
the end. I know the top is the logical thing and it makes sense when the third lane is split up. It just pulls us back and we still had a shot though. I really do feel content. It’s weird to say it, but we did everything right." - Ross Chastain, finished 21st "Me getting wrecked. [Ross Chastain] didn’t see that. It’s just a really unfortunate end. We had
a shot to win the Daytona 500. We were really in great position with the outside lane breaking up and kind of one-on-one with [William Byron] with the whole pack behind, so you can’t really ask for anything else other than that out of myself and the team. It just sucks a little bit. "[Chastain] tried to fit a car where there wasn’t a car and just continued to
push through my left-rear until I wrecked. I understand trying to shuck me out or put up an opportunity because I was in probably the best spot possible coming to the white, but I’m in the care center and I don’t even know where I finished, so it really sucks but that’s racing." - Austin Cindric, finished 22nd
"You know, you get to the end there and no one’s really lifting, right?
We’re pushing really aggressively, trying to be in the conversation, right? Trying to be one of the front cars in the top or bottom lane. Looks like [William Byron] and [Alex Bowman] are pushing really hard and you know, at some point when you’re pushing that hard, you’re going to get out of shape a little bit. Unfortunately, I got into [Brad Keselowski]. I saw everyone wrecking there in front of me, just got caught up in it." - Tyler Reddick, finished 29th (Crashed
out) "Speedway racing again. It’s a lot of fun until this happens. It was pretty interesting with a lot of pushing and shoving there at the end. Our car was able to take it. Our Mustang was so fast. It could lead a line really well. I kind of thought I had the cars I wanted around me. I had at least one I wanted around me, but just couldn’t make it
work. "That’s very much how speedway racing is – boom and bang and crash and all that. It’s part of it. You’re pushing and shoving there at the end. We had the cars that could take it and were doing really well. I had Blaney behind me. I thought, ‘Man, if I could pick one, that’s the one I want. I’m in a great position here’ and just had to find the right
opportunity to slip the 1 again because the 6 wasn’t working with us, so I felt if I could keep the 12 with me I’m gonna be in a decent spot, but it just didn’t work out. The car was so fast. The car was the fastest car on the track. I could lead a line. Whenever we weren’t saving fuel she was a rocket ship. It’s just how this game works. The wreck always starts in the front and you hope you’re in front of it. Second place isn’t far enough ahead." - Joey Logano, finished 32nd (Crashed
out)
"I haven’t seen it yet. I felt contact on the right side. I don’t know exactly, I guess it was [John Hunter Nemechek]. I don’t know. It’s frustrating. Once I got in the grass I couldn’t slow down because it was so wet and I just slid and slid and slid and came across the rest of the field. It’s just a bummer. I don’t know what to say or to do different. I don’t even thing I got
wide open at that point. I was just saving fuel and that’s it. That’s the nature of these beasts. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do but just move on and try to win next week." - Harrison Burton, finished 39th (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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