Frontstretch Newsletter: March 4, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition XXI |
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. |
- With the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series racing in Phoenix this weekend, you're seeing a variety of strategies as teams prepare for this weekend. Some teams are traveling to a swap point at the moment, while others are settling in at a rented place to prepare.
- Night No. 2 of
the World of Outlaws Bike Week Jamboree is scheduled to start tonight at 6:15 p.m. ET with live streaming on DirtVision. Entry lists should be released today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Kyle Larson Dominates at Las
Vegas Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson led 181 of 267 laps Sunday to win the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube for his second straight win in Las Vegas. Tyler Reddick was second, then Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs. |
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| Hometown Top 10 Shows Noah Gragson Is
Back After a 2023 season full of struggles, Noah Gragson is showing signs of life. Sunday saw him score a sixth-place finish in his home race. |
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| John Hunter Nemechek Wins 1st Xfinity Series Race of
2024 Joe Gibbs Racing's John Hunter Nemechek led 99 of 200 laps Saturday to win The LiUNA!, the third NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the year. Cole Custer was second, then Chandler Smith, Austin Hill and Riley Herbst. |
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| Down on Power, Justin Allgaier Hangs On for 10th at
Vegas JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier had a number of issues in Las Vegas, including a cut tire on his qualifying lap. Saturday saw him struggle to a 10th-place finish with a car that appeared to be laying down. |
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| Rajah Caruth Breaks Through For 1st Career Truck Victory
at Vegas In his 30th career start, Spire Motorsports' Rajah Caruth was able to hold Tyler Ankrum to take his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the Victoria's Voice Foundation 200. TRICON Garage teammates Corey Heim, Taylor Gray and Christopher
Bell were third, fourth and fifth. |
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| Rejuvenated Tyler Ankrum Gets Vegas Runner-up, Leads
Points The move to McAnally-Hilgemann Racing has been excellent so far for Tyler Ankrum. He's finished in the top 10 in all three races so far, including a second-place finish Friday night in Las Vegas, and leads the points. |
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| Jack Hawksworth Attempting Truck Debut at
COTA TRICON Garage announced Monday morning that Vasser Sullivan's Jack Hawksworth will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Circuit of the Americas. |
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| The Max Verstappen Reign Continues in
Bahrain Red Bull's Max Verstappen led flag-to-flag from the pole Saturday to win the Grand Prix of Bahrain, the first race of the Formula 1 season. Sergio Perez was second, followed by Carlos Sainz Jr., Charles Leclerc and George
Russell. |
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| Carlos Sainz Starts Ferrari Farewell Tour on the Podium in
Bahrain For Carlos Sainz Jr., 2024 is a lame duck season since we already know that Lewis Hamilton will be replacing him for 2025. Despite that, Sainz went out and scored a strong third-place finish. |
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| Porsche Penske Motorsport Dominates in
Qatar Porsche Penske Motorsport's Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor claimed overall victory in Saturday's season opener for the FIA World Endurance Championship in Qatar. Manthey PureRxcing won the LMGT3 class. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Clive Rose of Getty Images, Ferrari Media, IMSA and our own Danny Peters. 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: March 3 |
- Night No. 1 of the World of Outlaws Bike Week Jamboree for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series was cancelled due to
rain Sunday night. They'll try again tonight with a much more favorable forecast. |
This is just a sampling of the 32 videos uploaded to our YouTube channel from Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Southern National Motorsports Park this past weekend. For more coverage from either Las Vegas or Kenly, N.C., please subscribe to our channel and don't forget to click the bell in order to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Kyle Larson Uses Perfect Score to Snatch Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
William Byron had a fast car, but picked up a garbage bag on his grille. That forced an unscheduled pit stop and required him to spend the rest of the race catching up. He would eventually finish 10th, but couldn't keep the lead. Teammate Kyle Larson led 181 of 267 laps and won with the full 60 points. That
boosted him from 11th to the points lead. Larson's advantage is eight points over Ryan Blaney, who finished third. Martin Truex Jr. is up from a tie from ninth to third after finishing seventh. Byron dropped from the lead to fourth. Ross Chastain used a two-tire gamble on his final stop to finish
fourth. That boosted him from eighth to fifth. Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott are tied for sixth. Busch was penalized for pitting outside of the box under green and finished 26th. Elliott finished 12th. Atlanta winner Daniel Suarez dropped one place to eighth after finishing 11th. Joe Gibbs Racing
teammates Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin are tied for ninth. Gibbs finished fifth despite losing first gear while Hamlin was eighth. Austin Cindric is down from a tie for second to 11th after getting penalized under green and finishing 29th. Tyler Reddick is up 13 places to 12th after finishing second. Alex Bowman is down to 13th after finishing 18th. Bubba Wallace dropped 10 spots due to issues with lugs on multiple occasions dropped him from the lead lap to 13 laps down. Erik Jones is up to 15th after scoring a stage point and finishing 14th. John Hunter Nemechek is down to 16th after an anonymous run to 22nd. Nemechek is currently the last driver in the playoffs on points. He has a two-point lead on Corey LaJoie, who ran well Sunday until he spun to bring out the final yellow. He would finish as the first driver a lap down in 32nd. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is 18th, followed by Daniel Hemric. Chase Briscoe is 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 118, 2) Ryan Blaney -8, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -14, 4) William Byron -15, 5) Ross Chastain
-20, t-6) Kyle Busch -23, t-6) Chase Elliott -23, 8) Daniel Suarez -28, t-9) Ty Gibbs -31, t-9) Denny Hamlin -31, 11) Austin Cindric -32, 12) Tyler Reddick -34, 13) Alex Bowman -36, 14) Bubba Wallace -42, 15) Erik Jones
-47, 16) John Hunter Nemechek -50. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 7, t-2) William Byron -2, t-2) Daniel Suarez -2, t-4) Chase Elliott -6, t-4) Ryan Blaney -4, t-4) Austin Cindric -4, t-4) Michael McDowell -4. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 47, t-2) Tyler Reddick -13, t-2) Ryan Blaney -13, 4) Austin Cindric -17, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -20, 6) Denny Hamlin -21, t-7) Kyle Busch
-22, t-7) Chase Elliott -22, 9) Daniel Suarez -26, 10) Ross Chastain -28, 11) Alex Bowman -29, 12) William Byron -31, 13) Christopher Bell -36, t-14) Bubba Wallace -37, t-14) Michael McDowell
-37, 16) Harrison Burton -38. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: t-17) Ty Gibbs -39, t-19) John Hunter Nemechek -40, t-19) Erik Jones -40. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 100, 2) Ross Chastain
-7, t-3) Martin Truex Jr. -9, t-3) Ty Gibbs -9, 5) Ryan Blaney -10, 6) Kyle Larson -14, 7) Kyle Busch -15, t-8) Daniel Suarez -17, t-8) Chase Elliott -17, 10) Bubba Wallace -20, 11) Alex Bowman
-23, t-12) Denny Hamlin -24, t-12) Erik Jones -24, 14) Corey LaJoie -25, 15) John Hunter Nemechek -27, 16) Daniel Hemric -29. Outside of the top-16, but still in the
playoffs: t-17) Austin Cindric -30, 19) Tyler Reddick -37 Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) William Byron 431, 2) Ryan Blaney -13, 3) Ross Chastain -15, t-4) Martin Truex Jr. -30, t-4) Ty Gibbs -30, t-6) Kyle Larson -39, t-6) Kyle Busch -39, 8) Daniel
Suarez -50, 9) Bubba Wallace -53, 10) Chase Elliott -60, 11) Alex Bowman -65, 12) Denny Hamlin -74, 13) Corey LaJoie -75, 14) Erik Jones -80, t-15) Austin Cindric -88, t-15) John Hunter Nemechek -88. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Tyler Reddick -107. Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob
Latford in 1975. Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona), Daniel Suarez (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas)
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 Expands Lead with Strong Las Vegas Run
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill didn't quite have the speed to win his third race in a row, but a strong fourth-place finish allowed him to extend his points lead. He is now 22 points ahead of Chandler Smith, who won the first two stages and finished third. Riley Herbst remains in third after finishing fifth. AJ Allmendinger is up
four places to fourth after finishing sixth. Cole Custer finished second and moved up from a tie for 11th to fifth. Sheldon Creed and Jesse Love are tied for sixth. Creed had a terrible day and finished 26th, while Love was 17th. Justin Allgaier is up from 11th to eighth after finishing 10th with a lack of
power. Sammy Smith is up one place to ninth after an eighth-place finish. Brandon Jones finished ninth and moved up three places to 10th. Parker Kligerman is up four places to 11th after finishing 11th. Anthony Alfredo and Ryan Sieg are tied for 12th at the moment. Alfredo crashed in practice Friday and had to race the car originally meant for Phoenix Saturday. Despite that, he was able to finish 16th. He wins the tiebreaker over Sieg for the final spot in the playoffs as a result of his seventh-place finish at Atlanta. Alfredo and Sieg are
three points ahead of Parker Retzlaff, who had a horrible day Saturday. He spun in the opening laps in turn 4 and was hit by Sam Mayer. His day ended early when a fuel line broke. Ryan Truex, who did not race Saturday, is down to 15th. Shane van Gisbergen is down to 16th after breaking a value spring in his engine. Point
Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 146, 2) Chandler Smith -22, 3) Riley Herbst -27, 4) AJ Allmendinger -43, 5) Cole Custer -49, t-6) Sheldon Creed -52, t-6) Jesse Love -52, 8) Justin Allgaier -54, 9) Sammy Smith
-62, 10) Brandon Jones -67, 11) Parker Kligerman -72, t-12) Anthony Alfredo -77, t-12) Ryan Sieg -77, 14) Parker Retzlaff -80, 15) Ryan Truex -84, 16) Shane van Gisbergen -88. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 11, 2) Jesse Love -8, 3) Chandler Smith -9. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be second in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Riley Herbst 36, 2) Austin Hill -1, 3) Jesse Love -2, 4) Justin Allgaier -7, 5) AJ Allmendinger -13, t-6) Chandler Smith -16, t-6) Parker Kligerman -16, t-6) Ryan Truex -16, 9) Cole
Custer -17, 10) Sheldon Creed -19, 11) Sammy Smith -20, 12) Ryan Sieg -25, 13) Sam Mayer -28, 14) Anthony Alfredo -29, 15) Jeb Burton -30, 16) Brandon Jones -34. Note: If he
were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 126, 2) Chandler Smith -11, 3) Riley
Herbst -28, 4) AJ Allmendinger -30, 5) Cole Custer -33, 6) Sheldon Creed -34, 7) Brandon Jones -35, 8) Sammy Smith -43, 9) Parker Retzlaff
-46, 10) Justin Allgaier -47, 11) Jesse Love -48, 12) Anthony Alfredo -50, 13) Ryan Sieg -53, 14) Shane van Gisbergen -55, 15) Parker Kligerman
-57, 16) Ryan Ellis -60. WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 525, 2) Chandler Smith -25, 3) Riley Herbst -97, 4) Sheldon Creed -105, 5) AJ Allmendinger -107, 6) Cole
Custer -111, 7) Brandon Jones -128, 8) Parker Retzlaff -147, 9) Sammy Smith -150, 10) Justin Allgaier -160, 11) Jesse Love -163, 12) Anthony Alfredo -173, 13) Ryan Sieg -180, 14) Shane van Gisbergen -181, 15) Parker Kligerman
-196, 16) Ryan Ellis -205. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas) 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: Tyler Ankrum Maintains Advantage with Strong Las Vegas Run
by Phil Allaway
Tyler Ankrum likely had the best truck at the end of the race Friday night. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite catch Rajah Caruth for the win. Ankrum's second-place finish was enough for him to retain the points lead, but his advantage is down to five points over Ty Majeski. Majeski won the first two stages, but got penalized for
speeding on pit road on his final pit stop and finished 10th. Corey Heim is up one place to third after finishing third. Caruth moves up to fourth after claiming his first career win. Nick Sanchez is down two places to third after also getting penalized on his final pit stop.. He would finish a lap down in 17th. Taylor Gray is up
two places to sixth after a fourth-place finish. Matt Crafton remains in seventh after finishing seventh, while Bret Holmes drops down to eighth. Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger are tied for ninth. Eckes finished sixth and wins the tiebreaker over Enfinger, who finished ninth. Eckes and Enfinger have the final
two spots in the playoffs on points. They are 19 points ahead of Daniel Dye and Stewart Friesen. Dye wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his finish in Daytona. Tanner Gray now has sole possession of 13th in points, but didn't particularly run well Friday night. Spencer Boyd and Dean Thompson are tied
for 14th. Boyd was off the pace and finished six laps down in 29th, while Thompson hit the wall at the beginning of the final stage and finished 30th. Timmy Hill dropped four places to 16th after retiring with electrical issues. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Ankrum 133, 2) Ty
Majeski -5, 3) Corey Heim -7, 4) Rajah Caruth -10, 5) Nick Sanchez -29, 6) Taylor Gray -30, 7) Matt Crafton -39, 8) Bret Holmes -44, t-9) Christian Eckes -48, t-9) Grant Enfinger -48, t-11) Daniel Dye
-67, t-11) Stewart Friesen -67, 13) Tanner Gray -69, t-14) Spencer Boyd -78, t-14) Dean Thompson -78, 16) Timmy Hill -80. Playoff Points: t-1) Nick
Sanchez 5, t-1) Rajah Caruth 5, 3) Ty Majeski -3, t-4) Tyler Ankrum -4, t-4) Christian Eckes -4, t-4) Johnny Sauter -4. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be leading with the six points he
would have earned in Atlanta. Stage Points: 1) Ty Majeski 45, 2) Tyler Ankrum -3, 3) Grant Enfinger -20, 4) Corey Heim -22, 5) Christian Eckes -23, 6) Rajah Caruth
-25, 7) Taylor Gray -26, t-8) Nick Sanchez -33, t-8) Ben Rhodes -33, t-10) Matt Crafton -35, t-10) Stewart Friesen -35, t-10) Bayley Currey -35, t-10) Johnny Sauter -35, 14) Daniel Dye -36, t-15) Tanner Gray
-38, t-15) Jack Wood -38. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: t-17) Bret Holmes -40. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be
fourth in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): t-1) Rajah Caruth 92, t-1) Corey Heim 92, t-3) Nick Sanchez -10, t-3) Tyler Ankrum -10, 5) Ty Majeski -17, t-6) Taylor Gray
-19, t-6) Bret Holmes -19, 8) Matt Crafton -20, 9) Christian Eckes -38, 10) Grant Enfinger -42, 11) Tanner Gray -46, 12) Daniel Dye -47, 13) Stewart Friesen -48, 14) Spencer Boyd -49, 15) Chase Purdy
-50, 16) Timmy Hill -51. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 505, 2) Rajah Caruth -13, 3) Tyler Ankrum -44, 4) Nick Sanchez -48, 5) Ty Majeski
-66, 6) Taylor Gray -74, 7) Bret Holmes -83, 8) Matt Crafton -89, 9) Christian Eckes -139, 10) Grant Enfinger -157, 11) Tanner Gray -173, 12) Daniel Dye -176, 13) Spencer Boyd -177, 14) Stewart Friesen
-181, 15) Chase Purdy -183, 16) Timmy Hill -187. Race Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas) 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 Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube was brought to you by the letter L for Larson. Kyle Larson is literally a late caution last year away from three straight wins in Las Vegas. He more or
less controlled the entire race Sunday and was able to block Tyler Reddick from making any kind of move for the lead. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube compiled by Phil Allaway
"I knew it was going to be cat and mouse. I knew I was going to have to kind of catch him off guard with a late kind of block. "Yes, the bottom was good, but he was making some time up top in [turns] 3 and 4, and I felt like going back to the fall,
[Christopher] Bell was catching me around the top and I didn't quite move up early enough or thought at the time that I could have maybe not had that last-lap battle if I moved around a bit more. "I thought I had a decent gap with eight-ish laps left, and I was like, I need to get going up top in [turns] 3 and 4 to try and build some momentum. That was the wrong move, and it really
allowed him to get much closer to me. And then I was like, crap, all right, now I've got to block, air block him. "But there with two to go, he expected I think me to run the middle or top or something, and I was able to do kind of a nice lazy arc to the bottom and take his air away in the center of 3 and 4 and got him tight. "That killed his run down the frontstretch, and thankfully that was the white flag. I knew as long as I hit my marks I was going to be safe to the checkered." - Kyle Larson, race winner "It’s just the Next Gen racing game, right? Get the lead and got to hold onto it. Yeah, Kyle [Larson] did a really
good job there taking away pretty much every option I had there to close the gap. He seemed pretty good in the middle and I was obviously really good on the bottom, and he just never let me have it, right? I kept trying to run higher and higher and you know, he’s kind of running in the middle of the race track, which is pretty efficient to block both lanes. Every time I sort of got close, I mean, we’re running just wide open enough in [turns 1 and 2], you can kind of defend pretty well. It’s
frustrating. I feel like we were never up front really all day long, until it got to the stage ends. We had a really good Nasty Beast Toyota Camry. Just stupid mistakes on pit road. Same shit, different year, right? Kind of frustrating. We’ll continue to work on it, but a good rebound for our team today." - Tyler Reddick, finished second "It was a long
day. We started 15th and just kind of slowly worked our way up. The top two guys were pretty quick. It was hard to catch them. We never really had the speed of those guys, but I’m proud of the effort. We got better all day, which was good. I didn’t think we were great early and we continued to get better, so that’s all you can ask for. It was a good day for the Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. We definitely have a decent idea of where to go from here going forward." - Ryan Blaney, finished
third "This speed. I mean the handling of the car is incredible for our Kubota Chevy. It’s everything that I wanted, dream about, and wake up and train for is to drive cars like this. That’s what makes it hurt so much worse. When we finish fourth and we were legitimately an eighth-place car, it’s something we’re high-fiving. You all have seen me in my
career, I’d jump up and down for a fourth place finish. If someone is just glancing at my interviews, they’re going to say, “Well, Ross is changing,” but I’m not. When I have a car capable of fighting for the win, and I take ourselves out, that’s what I can get down about right now, but excited about because I know how good the car was and how much speed it has." - Ross Chastain, finished fourth "Yeah, I kind of stuck us in a hole there and we broke the transmission, which is kind of unfortunate that has to happen, that’s just part of it and we fought back. I put my team in a hole there. No excuses. And we just kind of fought back and my team gave me a really great He Gets Us Camry XSE this weekend and we drove back to the front. So, just need a little bit more to get to the lead so we can go get a win, but really happy with my team." - Ty
Gibbs, finished fifth "These guys are good. It feels good to do it in front of the hometown crowd. I was battling Ty and Ross there at the end for a top five. I really wanted a top five, but coming from 30th to sixth I’m just really proud of everyone’s effort.
"This is the first true testament. I don’t know. Blaney was up there and maybe a couple other guys in the Ford camp, but this Mustang Dark Horse is bitchin’. It’s fast and it’s been really good. You can see the speed that it’s had in qualifying, not for me because I drove like a sissy out there, but with the other guys they have three poles so far this year, so we’re going good." - Noah Gragson, finished sixth "We lost the nut and lost half the wheel. I think the tire stayed up under the fender. I’m not exactly sure just yet, but it looks like the nut came off and something in the suspension actually cut the wheel in half. It’s definitely not what we wanted with our Fastenal Ford Mustang out here today. We had a strong day yesterday. I was really proud of that effort. We got a good bunch
here and we’re gonna be contenders. We’re gonna win some races, but it’s not gonna happen today." - Chris Buescher, finished 37th (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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![Ross Chastain on What He Can Do to Improve: "Slow Down, [I'm] Trying Too Hard"](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/60e4adaee335447fac73824cba8e85df.png)
