Frontstretch Newsletter: March 18, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition XXXII |
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. |
- NASCAR teams are back at their stops in North Carolina, preparing for this weekend's tripleheader in Texas. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Denny Hamlin Survives Chaos in Thunder Valley, Wins at
Bristol Denny Hamlin was able to save his rubber and get past teammate Martin Truex Jr. with 13 laps to go to win Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol. Brad Keselowski was third, then Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson. |
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| Josh Berry Ends Up 12th After Roller Coaster Day at
Bristol Josh Berry started second Sunday and had a lot of trouble with tire wear. He was the first driver to make his final pit stop, then barely hung on to finish 12th. |
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| Christian Eckes Earns 1st 2024 Truck Series Win at
Bristol McAnally-Hilgemann Racing's Christian Eckes led 145 of 250 laps Saturday night and outfoxed Kyle Busch to win the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol. Busch was second, then Zane Smith, Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankrum. |
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| The Matt Crafton of Old Shows Up With Bristol Truck Top
5 ThorSport Racing's Matt Crafton had a fairly strong race Saturday night in Bristol. He ran heads up with Kyle Busch for much of the latter portion of the race before finishing fourth. |
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| WTRAndretti Wins 12 Hours of
Sebring Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global's Louis Deletraz snatched the lead from Chip Ganassi Racing's Sebastien Bourdais with six minutes remaining Saturday night and held on to win the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring with teammates Colton Herta and Jordan
Taylor. |
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| Rebel Rock Racing Wins Alan Jay Automotive Network
120 Rebel Rock Racing's Frank DePew and Robin Liddell won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring Friday. JDC-Miller MotorSports' Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor won in TCR. |
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| Presley Sorah Making ARCA East Debut at Five
Flags Presley Sorah, who is likely best known for sim racing, announced Saturday that he will make his ARCA Menards Series East debut with Fast Track Racing at Five Flags Speedway. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Meg Oliphant of Getty Images, IMSA and our own Amy Henderson. 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: May 15-17 |
- In World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series action last weekend, Friday night saw the teams descend upon Paige, Tex. for the Texas Two-Step. Friday night saw Brent Marks charge up from the seventh starting spot to battle with Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild for the lead. The final 10 laps of the feature were a duel as the two drivers feuded for the spot. Marks was able to clear Macedo with three laps to go. A caution then set up a two-lap dash. Marks held on to take the win. Macedo was second, then Giovanni Scelzi and Logan Schuchart. Aaron Reutzel was fifth. Saturday night saw Giovanni Scelzi take the lead on the first laps and pull away. However, the closing laps saw Marks run him down. The two battled until Dominic Scelzi flipped to bring out the red flag with two laps to go. On the restart, Giovanni Scelzi got away and
took the victory. Marks was second, then Donny Schatz, Schuchart and David Gravel. In the points, Giovanni Scelzi has a 16-point lead over Gravel through seven races. Schatz is third, then Schuchart and Macedo. |
This is just a sample of the 24 videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channel over the past couple of days from Bristol Motor Speedway. For more Bristol coverage, or coverage from other race weekends, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr. Share Points Lead After Tricky Bristol
by Phil Allaway
Everyone struggled with their tires Sunday in Bristol. Ryan Blaney, who entered the race with the points lead, struggled more than most. Blaney ended up two laps down in 16th at the finish. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson finished fifth and Martin Truex Jr. was second. As a result, Larson and Truex are tied for the
points lead through five races. Thanks to his victory in Las Vegas, Larson wins the tiebreaker. Larson and Truex are seven points ahead of Ty Gibbs in third. Gibbs led 137 laps Sunday and won the first two stages. However, his tires wore out in the second-to-last run of the race and dropped him off the lead lap. He ended up
finishing ninth. Blaney fell from the lead to fourth. Denny Hamlin's victory moved him up from a tie for seventh to fifth. Chase Elliott finished eighth and moved up three places to sixth. Ross Chastain came from the rear of the field to finish 15th. That was enough to put him in sole possession of
seventh. Christopher Bell is up four places to eighth after a 10th-place finish. Tyler Reddick gambled on staying out early, but got spun out on lap 31 while racing for the lead. He never really recovered and finished 30th, dropping him to ninth. William Byron hit the wall 20 laps into the race and
ended up 35th, dropping him six places to 10th. Daniel Suarez is down one place to 11th after finishing 18th while Alex Bowman moved up to 12th after finishing fourth. Brad Keselowski's third-place finish moved him up nine places to 13th, the first time Keselowski has been in the top 16 this season.
Chris Buescher and John Hunter Nemechek are tied for 14th. Buescher came from 34th to finish seventh Sunday while Nemechek was sixth. Buescher wins the tiebreaker due to his second-place finish in Phoenix. Kyle Busch had another miserable day in Bristol and dropped to 16th after a 25th-place finish. He is now the last driver in the playoffs on points. Busch has a 12-point lead over Michael McDowell, who has sole possession of 17th after an 11th-place finish. Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe are tied for 18th. Wallace struggled on worn tires and ended up 28th while Briscoe was 13th. Erik Jones is down from a tie for 17th to 20th. Point Standings (1-16): t-1) Kyle Larson 185, t-1) Martin Truex Jr. 185, 3) Ty Gibbs -7, 4) Ryan Blaney -8, 5) Denny Hamlin -12, 6) Chase Elliott -33, 7) Ross
Chastain -34, 8) Christopher Bell -47, 9) Tyler Reddick -48, 10) William Byron -49, 11) Daniel Suarez -52, 12) Alex Bowman -53, 13) Brad Keselowski -60, t-14) Chris Buescher -61, t-14) John Hunter Nemechek
-61, 16) Kyle Busch -63. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff
Points: 1) Kyle Larson 7, 2) Christopher Bell -1, t-3) Denny Hamlin -2, t-3) William Byron -2, t-3) Daniel Suarez -2, 6) Ty Gibbs -5, t-7) Chase Elliott -6, t-7) Ryan Blaney -6, t-7) Austin Cindric -6, t-7) Tyler Reddick
-6, t-7) Michael McDowell -6. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 59, 2) Tyler Reddick -6, 3) Ryan Blaney -11, 4) Denny Hamlin -13, 5) Martin Truex Jr.
-16, 6) Ty Gibbs -22, 7) Chase Elliott -24, t-8) Christopher Bell -29, t-8) Austin Cindric -29, 10) William Byron -31, 11) Brad Keselowski -33, 12) Kyle Busch -34, 13) Daniel Suarez -38, 14) John
Hunter Nemechek -39, 15) Ross Chastain -40, 16) Alex Bowman -41. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 21) Chris Buescher -48. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 166, 2) Ty Gibbs -3, 3) Ross Chastain
-12, 4) Denny Hamlin -13, 5) Ryan Blaney -14, 6) Kyle Larson -16, 7) Chase Elliott -27, 8) Alex Bowman -30, 9) Chris Buescher -31, 10) Daniel Suarez -32, 11) Christopher Bell
-36, 12) William Byron -37, 13) John Hunter Nemechek -42, t-14) Brad Keselowski -44, t-14) Chase Briscoe -44, 16) Kyle Busch -45. Outside of the top-16, but still in
the playoffs: 19) Tyler Reddick -58. 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. 727, 2) Ty Gibbs -13, 3) Ryan Blaney -34, 4) Ross Chastain -43, 5) Denny Hamlin -45, 6) Kyle Larson -54, 7) Alex Bowman -93, 8) Chris Buescher -97, 9) Chase Elliott
-103, t-10) Christopher Bell -113, t-10) Daniel Suarez -113, 12) William Byron -129, 13) Brad Keselowski -135, 14) Kyle Busch -145, 15) John Hunter Nemechek -146, 16) Bubba Wallace -153. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Tyler Reddick -181. 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), Christopher Bell (Phoenix), Denny Hamlin (Bristol)
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: Off-Week Update No. 1
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was off last week. They will return to action Saturday in the Focused Health 250k at Circuit of the Americas. When the teams get to Austin, Chandler Smith will hold a one-point lead over Austin Hill by virtue
of his win in Phoenix. Cole Custer is third, then Riley Herbst and Jesse Love. Our Motorsports' Anthony Alfredo is the last driver in the playoffs on points at the moment. He has a two-point lead over Ryan Sieg. Shane van Gisbergen is 14th, then Jeremy Clements and
a tie for 16th between Parker Retzlaff and Brennan Poole. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 183, 2) Austin Hill -1, 3) Cole Custer -33, 4) Riley Herbst -37, 5) Jesse Love
-48, 6) Sheldon Creed -53, 7) AJ Allmendinger -59, 8) Justin Allgaier -64, 9) Brandon Jones -65, 10) Sammy Smith -69, 11) Parker Kligerman -78, 12) Anthony Alfredo -85, 13) Ryan Sieg -87, 14) Shane van Gisbergen
-92, 15) Jeremy Clements -110, t-16) Parker Retzlaff -113, t-16) Brennan Poole -113. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 11, 2) Chandler Smith -3, 3) Jesse Love -8, 4) Cole Custer -10. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be second in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Riley Herbst 48, 2) Justin Allgaier -2, t-3) Jesse Love
-10, t-3) Cole Custer -10, 5) Chandler Smith -11, 6) Austin Hill -12, 7) AJ Almendinger -25, t-8) Ryan Truex -28, t-8) Parker Kligerman -28, 10) Sheldon Creed -31, t-11) Sammy Smith -32, t-11) Sam Mayer
-32, 13) Aric Almirola -33, 14) Ryan Sieg -37, 15) Brandon Jones -39, 16) Anthony Alfredo -41. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be seventh in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 163, 2) Chandler Smith -3, t-3) Cole Custer -33, t-3) Sheldon Creed
-33, 5) Brandon Jones -38, 6) AJ Allmendinger -44, 7) Jesse Love -46, t-8) Riley Herbst -48, t-8) Sammy Smith -48, 10) Anthony Alfredo
-56, 11) Shane van Gisbergen -57, t-12) Parker Kligerman -61, t-12) Ryan Sieg -61, 14) Justin Allgaier -71, 15) Jeremy Clements -74, t-16) Parker Retzlaff -77, t-16) Brennan
Poole -77, t-16) Ryan Ellis -60. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 14th in Old points.
WC Points (1-16): t-1) Austin Hill 685, t-1) Chandler Smith
685, 3) Sheldon Creed -100, 4) Cole Custer -111, 5) Brandon Jones -142, 6) Jesse Love -153, 7) AJ Allmendinger -158, 8) Riley Herbst -166, 9) Sammy Smith -172, 10) Shane van Gisbergen -191, 11) Anthony Alfredo
-199, 12) Ryan Sieg -213, 13) Parker Kligerman -214, 14) Justin Allgaier -239, 15) Parker Retzlaff -249, 16) Jeremy Clements -254. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 14th in WC points. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas), Chandler Smith (Phoenix) 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 Expands Lead
by Phil Allaway
Tyler Ankrum continued his excellent start to the 2024 season Saturday night with a fifth-place finish. That, combined with trouble for Ty Majeski, means that he now has a 17-point lead over Corey Heim. Heim moved up to second after finishing sixth. Rajah Caruth is up one place to third after recovering from a bad
pit stop to finish eighth. Majeski was strong early, but got caught up in a crash, then dropped out due to engine issues. The 34th-place finish dropped him to fourth. Christian Eckes' victory moved him up from a tie for ninth to fifth. Nick Sanchez dropped to sixth after getting caught up in a late crash with Stewart Friesen and
finishing 17th. Taylor Gray is down one place to seventh despite finishing seventh. Matt Crafton finished fourth Saturday night, but still dropped to eighth. Grant Enfinger has sole possession of ninth after a ninth-place finish. Bret Holmes drops to 10th after a disappointing run to 31st. Holmes is the last driver
in the playoffs on points at the moment. He is five points ahead of Daniel Dye. Tanner Gray is up one place to 12th. Friesen is down to 13th following his crash with Sanchez. Ben Rhodes and Jake Garcia are tied for 14th, while Bayley Currey is up to 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Ankrum 174, 2) Corey Heim -17, 3) Rajah Caruth -22, 4) Ty Majeski -29, 5) Christian Eckes -32, 6) Nick Sanchez
-33, 7) Taylor Gray -36, 8) Matt Crafton -44, 9) Grant Enfinger -60, 10) Bret Holmes -79, 11) Daniel Dye -84, 12) Tanner Gray -88, 13) Stewart Friesen -89, t-14) Ben Rhdoes -96, t-14) Jake Garcia
-96, 16) Bayley Currey -98. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be fifth, while Zane Smith would be tied for 15th in points.
Playoff Points: 1) Christian
Eckes 6, t-2) Nick Sanchez -1, t-2) Rajah Caruth -1, 4) Ty Majeski -4, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -5, t-5) Johnny Sauter -5. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be leading
with eight points. Stage Points: 1) Ty Majeski 59, 2) Tyler Ankrum -8, 3) Christian Eckes -20, 4) Nick Sanchez -30, 5) Grant Enfinger -33, 6) Taylor Gray -35, 7) Corey Heim
-36, 8) Rajah Caruth -39, t-8) Ben Rhodes -42, t-10) Stewart Friesen -45, 11) Matt Crafton -46, t-12) Bayley Currey -49, t-12) Johnny Sauter -49, 14) Daniel Dye -50, t-15) Tanner Gray -52, t-15) Jack Wood
-52. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: t-17) Bret Holmes -54. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be third and Zane Smith 11th in stage
points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 119, 2) Rajah Caruth -2, 3) Tyler Ankrum -9, 4) Matt Crafton -18, 5) Taylor Gray -20, 6) Nick Sanchez
-21, 7) Christian Eckes -28, 8) Ty Majeski -43, 9) Bret Holmes -44, 10) Grant Enfinger -45, 11) Daniel Dye -54, 12) Tanner Gray -55, 13) Jake Garcia -60, 14) Stewart Friesen -64, t-15) Bayley Currey
-69, t-15) Timmy Hill -69. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be eighth and Zane Smith 15th in Old Points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
655, 2) Rajah Caruth -21, 3) Tyler Ankrum -39, 4) Taylor Gray -78, 5) Matt Crafton -79, 6) Nick Sanchez -86, 7) Christian Eckes -104, 8) Ty Majeski -155, 9) Bret Holmes -163, 10) Grant Enfinger
-169, 11) Daniel Dye -203, 12) Tanner Gray -206, 13) Jake Garcia -229, 14) Stewart Friesen -235, 15) Timmy Hill -246, 16) Bayley Currey -249. Note: If he were eligible for
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 11th in WC Points. Race Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Bristol) 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 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway was brought to you by the letter T for Tire Wear. No one really expected the tire wear to be what it was Sunday in Bristol. The
result was a completely different race as compared to the last time that NASCAR raced on the high-banked half-mile oval. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Food City 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"Experience was a big part of it for sure. I was trying not to get pushed so much by Ty [Gibbs]. I knew he was going to push a little too hard. Obviously, I knew Martin [Truex Jr.] was going to be the next guy in line that had the experience to challenge. Really proud of the team. Obviously, a really great job on the pit sequence there. Being able to hang on longer than
others was the key to us being able to stop later and have some tires at the end." - Denny Hamlin, race winner
"You know, we just came out too far behind [Denny Hamlin] there on the green flag stop. I was right on his bumper when he pitted and when I came out, he was a straightaway ahead of us and just used my stuff up too much to try to get there. The last five laps, my right rear
was corded. It was close. A great run for our Auto-Owners Camry. Great job by everybody on our team all weekend to put us in this position. I was an interesting race, that’s for sure. Just came up a little bit short there." - Martin Truex Jr., finished second "It was a pretty good day for us with RFK and the No. 6 car here We just kind of ran
top five pretty much the whole race and kept them honest. I got ran into on one of those pit caution cycles. That did a little damage to the front end, otherwise I think I could have had a shot to win it today, but still solid to come home third. It was a really good week.
"It was an interesting day. There was a lot of discipline required and it was a fun race, to be honest, because you
just had to be so smart behind the wheel. It would bite you in a heartbeat and you had to have a good setup. I think we had a good setup and tried to run the smartest race I could." - Brad Keselowski, finished third "We just made our left-front tire last a little longer than some others there. I think it was a good, solid day for the No. 48 Ally Chevy
team. I feel like we had a pretty good Chevy, but we just had to go roll around half-speed and try to make it last. It kind of reminded me of Greenville Pickens (Speedway), short-track racing in the East Series, or something like that. Just had to be really, really, really patient. Obviously that long green-flag run where we all pitted, I think our right-front probably lasted the longest. It got us some track position and we ended up with a fourth-place finish. I don’t really know where my race
car could have ended up, straight-up, because we were never able to run hard, but it was pretty good." - Alex Bowman, finished fourth "Yeah, it was tough.. tough to get a rhythm. I felt like I was kind of in a rhythm when I could run around fourth to sixth behind the Gibbs cars and kind of pace myself. I felt like I was doing a good job of managing my
stuff, we just never got a long run. And then the one time we get a long run is when we had the penalty and we had to go to the back, and abuse my tire to get back to the top-five. "It all just kind of weirdly worked out. I still don’t really know how we ended fifth, but we will take it and move on." - Kyle Larson, finished fifth "The car is in one piece, and finished p6. Solid day. Definitely needed that. Finished top-five in both stages. I was joking with the guys that it’s just an oversized Pensacola with tire wear. I grew up short track late model racing – places that you had to manage tire wear till the end of the run. We were able to do so. My guys gave me a great Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE all day,
and everyone at Legacy Motor Club worked hard. We were able to finish top-five in both stages and finish sixth overall. Great points day. We definitely needed that as a team." - John Hunter Nemechek, finished sixth "That’s just what we had today with our SiriusXM Camry. I felt like we were great all day, just that last run, the right rear just
came apart. We were just two laps late of coming in. When we had that tire come apart, I think I was like four laps down at one point. Just frustrating but you have to work for it here." - Ty Gibbs, finished ninth "That was a good weekend. We had good speed. I was really pretty happy with the car. Obviously, there were a number of issues going on. I’m
really kind of speechless on that part, but I thought we did a good job of managing everything. We made some adjustments at the end which seemed to cause the cording a little bit sooner and that kind of tied our hands a little bit towards the end, but, all in all, it was a great effort. I hate that we didn’t get a top 10, but it was a positive day and, honestly, with everything going on it was a lot of fun." - Josh Berry, finished 12th
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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