Frontstretch Newsletter: March 25, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition XXXVII |
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 arriving back at their shops today after yesterday's action in Austin. Preparations are already underway for this weekend's racing in Richmond. We'll have entry lists and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| William Byron Holds Off Christopher Bell, Wins in
Austin Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron led 42 of 68 laps and held off a charging Christopher Bell to win the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, his second win of the year. Bell was second, then Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman and Tyler
Reddick. |
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| Christopher Bell Runs Out of Laps in Pursuit of William
Byron at COTA Christopher Bell was the only driver on his pit strategy Sunday. With fresher tires, he ran down William Byron from 12 seconds back, but simply ran out of time. |
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| Stage Cautions, Lack of Restarts Lead to COTA
Snoozer Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix was quite a bit more spread out than the previous three visits to Austin. As a result, there were no non-stage cautions and strategy ruled the day. |
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| Justin Haley Disqualified From 17th-Place Finish at
COTA Rick Ware Racing's Justin Haley finished 17th on the road for the second week in a row. However, his car failed to make weight and was disqualified. |
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| Ty Dillon Running 5 Cup Races for
Kaulig Kaulig Racing announced Monday morning that Ty Dillon will return to the team to drive in five Cup races starting this weekend at Richmond. |
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| Kyle Larson Snatches Xfinity COTA Win in 11th-Hour
Pass Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson slipped around both Austin Hill and Shane van Gisbergen on the final lap and held on to win the Focused Health 250k for his first win of the year. Hill was second, then John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer and Parker
Kligerman. |
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| Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Hill Duke It Out Down the
Stretch at COTA Saturday's Focused Health 250k was a duel late between Austin Hill and Shane van Gisbergen down the stretch. That is until Kyle Larson entered the picture. |
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| AJ Allmendinger’s Dominant Day Undone by Late Race Drama
at COTA AJ Allmendinger tied for the most laps led Saturday with teammate Shane van Gisbergen with 20. He was right up in the hunt until a corner cutting penalty ruined his day right before the final restart. |
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| Corey Heim Snags COTA Truck
Win TRICON Garage's Corey Heim led 31 of 42 laps Saturday to take his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of 2024 in the Xpel 225k. Taylor Gray was second, then Ty Majeski, Connor Zilisch and Ross Chastain. |
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| Connor Zilisch Overcomes Early Miscues, Penalties to
Finish 4th in Truck Debut The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut for Connor Zilisch Saturday was a bumpy road with broken suspension parts and penalties. He also was significantly faster than everyone else, which allowed him to still score a great
finish. |
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| TRICON Shines at COTA With 1-2 Finish, 5 Trucks in Top
10 Saturday was a banner day for TRICON Garage. The organization managed an extremely rare feat, putting five trucks in the top 10 of a race. |
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| Connor Zilisch Lit Up the Truck World in COTA Qualifying.
He’s Not Done Yet This past weekend was the first time that Connor Zilisch had ever sat in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck. He wasted no time impressing everyone present. |
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| Alex Palou Maintains Control, Wins at Thermal
Club Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou led flag-to-flag in the 20-lap finale Sunday to win the NTT IndyCar Series $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club. Scott McLaughlin was second, followed by Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta and Marcus
Armstrong. |
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| ‘Nothing to Lose’ Strategy Call Earns Colton Herta
$100,000 Andretti Global's Colton Herta used an alternate strategy Sunday in the Coachella Valley, intentionally lagging back behind the field early. In the second half of the main feature, he was able to recover to finish fourth. |
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| Linus Lundqvist Finishes 6th to Lead IndyCar Rookies at
Thermal Club Chip Ganassi Racing's Linus Lundqvist achieved a small feat Sunday at The Thermal Club. He was the only rookie to make the final feature. He was able to finish sixth. |
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| Carlos Sainz Magnificent in Melbourne, Winning the
Australian Grand Prix Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. took the lead away from Max Verstappen on the second lap and held on to win the Grand Prix of Australia. Charles Leclerc made it a Ferrari 1-2, then Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez. |
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| Gio Ruggiero Takes Maiden ARCA East Victory at Five
Flags Venturini Motorsports' Gio Ruggiero took the lead on the final restart from William Sawalich and held on to win the ARCA Menards Series East Pensacola 150 for his first ARCA East win. Sawalich was second, then Bubba Pollard, Connor Zilisch and Hunter
Wright. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Jonathan Bachman of Getty Images, James Black of Penske Entertainment, Xavi Bonilla of DPPI via Scuderia Ferrari and Ben Branscum of TobyChristie.com. 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 22-24 |
- In World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series action last weekend, Friday night was supposed to be the series' first visit to Big O Speedway for the Bluebonnet Showdown. However, thunderstorms forced the cancellation of the race. Saturday night saw the series travel an hour up to Kennedale Speedway Park,
where the weather finally allowed the series to debut on the track after the first attempt earlier this month was cancelled due to rain. Here, Carson Macedo started on pole and led all 35 laps to win the Cowtown Showdown. David Gravel got close to Macedo late, but had to settle for second. Aaron Reutzel was third, then Bill Balog and Brent Marks. Through eight races, Gravel and Giovanni Scelzi are tied for the points lead. They are 16 points ahead of Donny Schatz. Logan Schuchart is fourth, while Macedo is fifth. In Formula 2 action, Isack Hadjar led flag-to-flag to win the Sprint Race in Melbourne. Then, he
was given a 10-second penalty for causing the start-line crash with Josep Maria
Marti and Gabriel Bortoleto on the initial start of the race. As a result, Trident's Roman Stanek inherited his first career Formula 2 victory by .349 seconds over Dennis Hauger. Kush Maini was third, then Franco Colapinto and Ritomo Miyata. In the
Feature Race, Hadjar recovered from his penalty to take a decisive victory in his Campos Racing entry by 4.454 seconds over Paul Aron. Zane Maloney was third, then Kimi Antonelli and Miyata. Through six of 28 races, Maloney has a 15-point lead over Aron. Hauger is third, then Hadjar and Maini. |
This is just a sampling of the 43 videos that we posted to our YouTube channel this past weekend at both Circuit of the Americas and The Thermal Club. For more coverage from either track, or from any other weekend, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to click on the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Martin Truex Jr. Claims Sole Possession of Lead
by Phil Allaway
Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson traveled to Circuit of the Americas tied for the points lead and had different races Sunday. Truex led two laps and finished 10th while Larson was 17th after a spin early on. As a result, Truex claimed sole possession of the points lead. Truex's point lead is five points over teammate Ty Gibbs, who finished third and moved up one place. Ryan Blaney is up a spot to third after finishing 12th and earning nine stage points. Denny Hamlin is up to fourth after winning stage two. Larson's finish dropped him from a tie for the lead all the way down to fifth, despite being only 15 points behind Truex. William Byron and Christopher Bell are tied for sixth. Byron's second victory of the year not only gives him the tiebreaker over Bell, but moved him up from 10th. Bell was eighth entering the weekend. Ross Chastain is down one place to eighth despite a seventh-place
finish. Chase Elliott had a very anonymous day Sunday, spinning a couple of times and finishing 16th. That dropped him three places to ninth. Tyler Reddick is down one place to 10th despite finishing fifth. Alex Bowman's fourth-place finish moved him up to 11th, while Chris Buescher
gained two places to 12th after finishing eighth. Kyle Busch, despite being quite upset with Bell after the race, moved up three places to 13th after finishing ninth. Daniel Suarez dropped three spots to 14th after an unscheduled stop dropped him to a 31st-place finish. John Hunter Nemechek remains
in 15th, while Brad Keselowski struggled all weekend and dropped to 16th after finishing 33rd. Keselowski is the last driver in the playoffs right now by points. He has a three-point advantage over Chase Briscoe. Bubba Wallace is 18th, while Michael McDowell and Austin
Cindric are tied for 19th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 220, 2) Ty Gibbs -5, 3) Ryan Blaney -9, 4) Denny Hamlin -14, 5) Kyle Larson
-15, t-6) William Byron -37, t-6) Christopher Bell -37, 8) Ross Chastain -38, 9) Chase Elliott -47, 10) Tyler Reddick -49, 11) Alex Bowman -55, 12) Chris Buescher -67, 13) Kyle Busch -70, 14) Daniel
Suarez -72, 15) John Hunter Nemechek -76, 16) Brad Keselowski -86. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 10, t-2) Christopher Bell -3, t-2) Kyle Larson -3, 4) Denny Hamlin -4, 5) Daniel Suarez -5, 6) Ty Gibbs -8, t-7) Chase Elliott -9, t-7) Ryan Blaney
-9, t-7) Austin Cindric -6, t-7) Tyler Reddick -9, t-7) Michael McDowell -6. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 59, 2) Ryan Blaney -2, 3) Denny Hamlin
-3, 4) Tyler Reddick -4, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -8, t-6) Christopher Bell -19, t-6) Ty Gibbs -19, 8) Austin Cindric -22, t-9) William Byron -24, t-9) Chase Elliott -24, 11) Brad Keselowski
-28, 12) Daniel Suarez -29, 13) Kyle Busch -34, 14) John Hunter Nemechek -35, 15) Michael McDowell -38, 16) Ross Chastain -39.
Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Alex
Bowman -41, t-22) Chris Buescher -47. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16):
1) Ty Gibbs 202, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -4, 3) Ross Chastain -13, t-4) Denny Hamlin -21, t-4) Ryan Blaney -21, t-6) William Byron -28, t-6) Kyle Larson -28, 8) Alex Bowman -29, 9) Christopher Bell
-32, 10) Chris Buescher -34, 11) Chase Elliott -38, 12) Kyle Busch -49, 13) Chase Briscoe -52, 14) Tyler Reddick -57, t-15) Daniel Suarez -58, t-15) Bubba Wallace -58, t-15) John Hunter Nemechek -58.. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Brad Keselowski -72. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were
created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Ty Gibbs 884, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -18, 3) Ross Chastain -49, 4) Ryan Blaney -64, 5) Denny Hamlin -76, 6) Alex Bowman
-90, 7) Christopher Bell -95, 8) Kyle Larson -99, 9) William Byron -101, 10) Chris Buescher -112, 11) Chase Elliott -145, 12) Kyle Busch -164, 13) Tyler Reddick -178, 14) Chase
Briscoe -189, 15) Bubba Wallace -192, 16) Daniel Suarez -200. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) John Hunter Nemechek -203, 18) Brad Keselowski -228. Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona, COTA), 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: Austin Hill Reacquires Lead with Strong Run
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith had a decent run Saturday in Austin, but had two different run-ins with Sammy Smith. While he would eventually finish eighth, Austin Hill finished second and reclaimed the points lead. Hill's lead is nine points over Chandler Smith. Cole Custer remains in third after
finishing fourth. Jesse Love is up one place to fourth after earning a sixth-place finish. Riley Herbst was eliminated in a late crash exiting turn 11. The 34th-place finish dropped him one place to fifth, but the pain wasn't as bad since he won stage two and earned 16 stage points. AJ Allmendinger is up to sixth after leading the most laps and finishing 10th
despite a late corner cutting penalty. Parker Kligerman won stage one and finished fifth, which moved him up from 11th to seventh. Justin Allgaier is still in eighth. Brandon Jones nearly won stage two, but a penalty negated his stage honors. He's still in ninth after a 16th-place finish. Sheldon Creed dropped out early Saturday
and dropped four places to 10th. Sammy Smith was eliminated after Chandler Smith spun him out, dropping him to 11th. Anthony Alfredo and Ryan Sieg are tied for 12th in points. Alfredo finished 12th, while Sieg was 14th. Both drivers have a best finish of seventh so far this season, but Alfredo wins the tiebreaker over Sieg for the final spot in the playoffs
on points due to having the better second-best finish (a 10th at Phoenix). Alfredo and Sieg are 15 points ahead of Shane van Gisbergen, who would have been in the top 12 had he not been penalized on the final lap Saturday for cutting the course. Parker Retzlaff is 15th, while Brennan Poole is 16th. Point Standings (1-16):
1) Austin Hill 222, 2) Chandler Smith -9, 3) Cole Custer -30, 4) Jesse Love -56, 5) Riley Herbst -57, 6) AJ Allmendinger -60, 7) Parker Kligerman -75, 8) Justin Allgaier -79, 9) Brandon Jones
-83, 10) Sheldon Creed -87, 11) Sammy Smith -98, t-12) Anthony Alfredo -99, t-12) Ryan Sieg -99, 14) Shane van Gisbergen -114, 15) Parker Retzlaff -119, 16) Brennan Poole -130. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 11, 2) Chandler Smith -3, 3) Jesse Love -8, t-4) Cole Custer -10, t-4) Riley Herbst -10, t-4) Parker Kligerman -10. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, Kyle
Larson and John Hunter Nemechek would be tied for third in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Riley Herbst 64, 2) Cole Custer -17, 3) Justin Allgaier -18, 4) Austin Hill -23, 5) Jesse Love -26, 6) Chandler Smith
-27, 7) AJ Almendinger -30, 8) Parker Kligerman -34, 9) Sammy Smith -39, 10) Sam Mayer -42, 11) Ryan Truex -44, 12) Sheldon Creed -47, t-13) Ryan Sieg -49, t-13) Aric Almirola -49, t-15) Brandon Jones
-55, t-15) Alex Labbe -55. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: t-18) Anthony Alfredo -57. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be ninth in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 203, 2) Chandler Smith -10, 3) Cole Custer -36, t-4) Jesse Love -51, t-4) AJ
Allmendinger -51, 6) Brandon Jones -52, t-7) Sheldon Creed -64, t-7) Parker Kligerman -64, 9) Anthony Alfredo -67, 10) Ryan Sieg -74, 11) Riley Herbst
-80, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -81, t-13) Justin Allgaier -83, t-13) Sammy Smith -83, 15) Parker Retzlaff -87, 16) Brennan Poole -91. Note:
If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 10th in Old points.
WC Points (1-16): t-1) Austin Hill 860, 2) Chandler Smith -33, 3) Cole Custer -126, 4) Jesse Love -178, 5) AJ Allmendinger -189, 6) Brandon Jones
-197, 7) Sheldon Creed -208, 8) Parker Kligerman -229, 9) Anthony Alfredo -247, 10) Ryan Sieg -267, 11) Shane van Gisbergen -274, 12) Riley Herbst -275, 13) Justin Allgaier -290, 14) Sammy Smith -292, 15) Parker Retzlaff
-294, 16) Jeremy Clements -322. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be eighth in WC points. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas), Chandler
Smith (Phoenix), Kyle Larson (COTA) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel
Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship: Corey Heim Snatches Lead with Austin Victory
by Phil Allaway
Tyler Ankrum came back down to earth Saturday, finishing way down in 25th. Meanwhile, Corey Heim led 31 of 42 laps to take his first win of the year.
With that win comes the points lead. Heim's advantage is 10 points over Ty Majeski, who finished third and scored 18 stage
points to move up two spots. Ankrum is down to third, while Taylor Gray is up three places to fourth after finishing second Saturday.
Rajah Caruth is down two places to fifth after a 15th-place finish. Christian Eckes is down one place to sixth after finishing eighth. Nick Sanchez is down to seventh, while Matt
Crafton remains in eighth. Grant Enfinger holds onto ninth, while Tanner Gray had an excellent day Saturday and moved up two places to 10th, the last spot in the playoffs on points. Tanner Gray has only a one-point advantage over Ben Rhodes, who finished seventh and moved up three places to 11th. Bret Holmes finished
four laps down in 29th and dropped back to 12th. Stewart Friesen maintains 13th despite a late incident, while Jake Garcia has sole possession of 14th. Daniel Dye is down four places to 15th, while Bayley Currey stays in 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 207, 2) Ty Majeski -10, 3) Tyler Ankrum -11, 4) Taylor Gray -28, 5) Rajah Caruth -29, 6) Christian Eckes -30, 7) Nick Sanchez
-37, 8) Matt Crafton -59, 9) Grant Enfinger -68, 10) Tanner Gray -86, 11) Ben Rhdoes -87, 12) Bret Holmes -104, 13) Stewart Friesen -105, 14) Jake Garcia -106, 15) Daniel Dye -108, 16) Bayley Currey
-110. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be ninth in points. Playoff Points: t-1) Corey Heim 6, t-1) Christian Eckes
6, t-1) Nick Sanchez 6, 4) Rajah Caruth -1, 5) Ty Majeski -4, t-6) Tyler Ankrum -5, t-6) 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 77, 2) Tyler Ankrum -16, 3) Christian Eckes -32, 4) Nick Sanchez -38, 5) Corey Heim -44, 6) Taylor Gray -47, 7) Ben Rhodes
-48, 8) Grant Enfinger -51, 9) Rajah Caruth -53, 10) Matt Crafton -60, 11) Tanner Gray -62, 12) Stewart Friesen -63, t-13) Bayley Currey -67, t-13) Johnny Sauter -67, t-15) Daniel Dye -68, t-15) Jack
Wood -68. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be fourth and Zane Smith 12th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 156, 2) Rajah Caruth
-21, 3) Taylor Gray -26, 4) Tyler Ankrum -38, 5) Christian Eckes -39, 6) Nick Sanchez -42, 7) Matt Crafton -45, 8) Ty Majeski -49, 9) Grant Enfinger -61, 10) Tanner Gray -68, 11) Bret Holmes
-77, 12) Jake Garcia -78, 13) Johnny Sauter -84, t-14) Daniel Dye -86, t-14) Dean Thompson -86, 16) Stewart Friesen -87. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 11th in
Old Points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 840, 2) Rajah Caruth -88, 3) Taylor Gray -93, 4) Tyler Ankrum -136, 5) Christian Eckes -142, 6) Nick Sanchez
-157, t-7) Ty Majeski -170, t-7) Matt Crafton -170, 9) Grant Enfinger -227, 10) Tanner Gray -251, 11) Bret Holmes -272, 12) Jake Garcia -292, 13) Ben Rhodes -298, 14) Dean Thompson -305, 15) Daniel Dye
-308, 16) Stewart Friesen -311. 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), Corey Heim (COTA)
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 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix was brought to you by the letter T for Track Limits. Circuit of the Americas is considered to be one of the worst road courses in the world for track limit
violations and NASCAR is no different. Mind you, they only officiated the limits in the Esses, but there were a total of 41 drive-through penalties assessed over the three races. Only four of those came Sunday. Imagine if NASCAR officiated all of the track limits at COTA. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix compiled by Phil Allaway
"Just super thankful for this team. Rudy, all the guys on this race team – it’s pretty amazing what we have been able to do the last couple of years, but we just have to keep working hard and keep it going. Nothing is guaranteed in this sport, and we just have to keep it going. "[Christopher Bell] was really fast at the end. The Toyotas had the long run speed kind of all weekend, so for us, it was just trying to get a gap on the short run; manage our tires and just kind of keep our car in a good spot. I definitely gave up a lot of time the last five laps, so we still have work to do." - William Byron, race winner "[Obviously, I needed another lap]. When I got close to him it was going to be tough to pass him. I needed a couple of mistakes. William [Byron] has been really, really good on the road courses and he was flawless when it mattered today." - Christopher Bell, finished second "I don’t think [I could have held
Christopher Bell]. He’s my teammate, and he has new tires on and caught me from like a whole straightaway back. I feel like if I raced him that hard, it would have been kind of mean. I tried to let him by when he got to me, and it was just what it was. We were too loose there. This Monster Energy team is all good and we will keep digging." - Ty Gibbs, finished third "I wouldn’t say I am worn out; I am just bummed. Probably just got stuck out in traffic after our last pit stop. It was a bad spot that I had to run too hard on low air and beat the rear tires up. Kind of inched in on William [Byron] for a bit, but then the rear tires just went away. Yeah, definitely had to manage it some. Definitely some tire fall off here. "We had a good Ally Camaro, we just needed to hold on to rear grip longer. It’s been the same since we unloaded and we definitely made it better, but still kind of fighting the same thing. Blake and the guys called a good race. We had a good day, just sucks to come up a couple short again." - Alex Bowman, finished fourth "[Crew chief] Billy Scott and I were just talking about that. Nothing really sticks out for us in our Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry. The obvious thing is that we just didn’t maintain the lead as much this time around. The downforce level is a little different. I didn’t feel like we were really bad in any one spot – it seemed like we were just decent. I would run were they would put me. I feel like we got behind when I made the mistake at the
beginning of stage three that kind of hurt us for a bit after we came back out on tires there in stage three. I thought we were pretty good, but I don’t know. We will go to work on it and see what we were missing, but a little bit adds up a lot on this big race track." - Tyler Reddick, finished fifth "It was a really solid day for the No. 13 LeafFilter
Gutter Protection Chevy team. We started 14th and got up into the top six or seven. Track position is so critical. On one of the pit stops, we got hung up there and lost about five or six spots, and that kind of put us to the next group of cars. We were able to fight back through that. Just really proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. Of course you always want to win, but it went about as good as it could." - AJ Allmendinger, finished sixth "We were behind the eight ball to get started there, having to drop to the rear. We had a freak deal happen with a parts failure in practice and qualifying. That was unfortunate but I am proud of everybody on this Fastenal Ford Mustang team to pick ‘em off all day long. That was the name of the game. We knew we would be in a really tough spot all day and we knew we would need a
handful of things to fall our way if we were going to compete for a win. I am proud of the top 10 finish. We had some big gains. We have some stuff that we learned and we will be better next time." - Chris Buescher, finished eighth Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of NASCAR Media via Jonathan Bachman of Getty Images.
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