Frontstretch Newsletter: May 13, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition LXXII |
- Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series teams will be in action tonight at Kokomo Speedway for the Avanti Windows & Doors Midweek MAYhem. Coverage will start tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET on FLORacing. - NASCAR teams are arriving back at their shops today after yesterday's action in Darlington. Preparations are already underway for this weekend's All-Star festivities in North Wilkesboro. We'll have entry lists and anything else that breaks
for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Brad Keselowski Breaks 110-Race Winless Streak at
Darlington, Earns 1st 2024 Win for Ford Brad Keselowski snatched the lead with 10 laps to go when Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick collided. From there, he held on to take his first win since 2021. Ty Gibbs was second, then Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. |
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| After Rebuilding RFK Racing, Brad Keselowski Makes
Triumphant Return To Victory Lane Brad Keselowski's victory in Sunday's Goodyear 400 was his first win in three years. It is also the first for an owner-driver in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2016. |
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| Chris Buescher Confronts Tyler Reddick After Late-Race
Contact at Darlington Sunday's Goodyear 400 will be best remembered for Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher coming together with 10 laps to go while fighting for the lead. Buescher was not happy with Reddick's actions and angrily met him on pit road after the
race. |
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| Justin Allgaier Dominates at Darlington for 1st Win of
2024 JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier led 119 of 147 laps Saturday to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Crown Royal Purple Bag Project for his 24th career Xfinity Series win. Austin Hill was second, followed by Cole Custer, Sam Mayer and Aric
Almirola. |
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| Ross Chastain Wins Darlington Truck Race In
Overtime Niece Motorsports' Ross Chastain was able to get past Ty Majeski on the final restart Friday night, then held on to win the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway. Nick Sanchez finished second, then Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes and
Majeski. |
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| Late Caution Foils Ty Majeski’s Shot at Darlington Truck
Win Ty Majeski was in a good spot to get his first win of the season Saturday night. Then, a caution flew. He ultimately had to settle for fifth. |
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| Alex Palou Goes Back-to-Back on Indianapolis Road Course
to Win Sonsio Grand Prix Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou dominated much of the day Saturday to win the NTT IndyCar Series Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Will Power was second, then Christian Lundgaard, Scott Dixon and Marcus
Armstrong. |
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| Will Power Earns Third Runner-Up Finish of 2024 IndyCar
Season at Indianapolis Road Course Team Penske's Will Power had an excellent race Saturday in Indianapolis. He didn't really have much for Alex Palou, but he scored his third second-place finish of the season. |
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| Colton Herta Finishes Seventh in Chaotic Race at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Andretti Global's Colton Herta had a wild race Saturday in Indianapolis. After starting 24th, then ended up in the gravel after contact from Marcus Ericsson. He recovered from there to finish seventh. |
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| Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy Win Motul Course de
Monterey Porsche Penske Motorsport's Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy took the lead with 20 minutes to go Sunday when Jack Aitken slipped off-course. They held on to win the Motul Course de Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. |
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| Motorsport in Action Wins From Pole at Laguna
Seca Motorsports in Action's Jesse Lazare took the lead away from Trent Hindman with 28 minutes to go Saturday, then held on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 with teammate Michael de
Quesada. |
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| Hertz Team JOTA Wins 6 Hours of
Spa-Francorchamps Hertz Team JOTA inherited the lead after a red flag changed the course of the race in the fifth hour. From there, Callum Ilott and Will Stevens were able to hold on to win the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
Saturday. |
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| William Sawalich Dominates, Wins ARCA East at Nashville
Fairgrounds Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich led all but five laps Saturday night en route to victory in the Music City 150 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Isabella Robusto was second, then Connor Zilisch, Zachary Tinkle and Andrew
Patterson. |
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| Zachary Tinkle Leads ARCA East Underdogs Top 10s at
Nashville Saturday night was a career night for Fast Track Racing's Zachary Tinkle. He scored a fourth-place finish in the ARCA Menards Series East Music City 150 in Nashville. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, IMSA, Chris Jones and Karl Zemlin of Penske Entertainment, Julien Delfosse of DPPI and our own Mark Kristl. 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 10-12 |
- Unfortunately for sprint car fans, rainy weather and wet grounds wiped
out both nights of the Morgan Cup for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
at Williams Grove Speedway. The events will not be made up. - In Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series action, Brad Sweet won Friday night at 34 Speedway in a photo finish by a mere .012 seconds over James McFadden. Brent Marks was third, then Aaron Reutzel and Brian Brown. The series also announced last week that their scheduled race at New York's Fonda Speedway, scheduled for this Saturday night, has been cancelled due
to weather conditions that have made the track's new dirt surface difficult to properly work in. The issue also caused the cancellation of this past weekend's regular card of racing. |
This is just a sampling of the 51 videos that we uploaded to our suite of YouTube channels from Darlington, Indianapolis and Nashville last weekend. For more from Darlington, Indianapolis, Nashville, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe
to our primary YouTube channel, our open wheel channel and our No. 2 channel. Also, don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future
videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Kyle Larson Loses Nothing Despite Crash
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson ran well on Sunday, winning stage one and leading laps. Then, he cut a tire and crashed out. Despite his 34th-place finish, he earned 19 points, enough to not only keep his lead, but slightly expand it. Larson's point lead is now 30 points over Martin Truex Jr. Truex got caught up in a crash on a restart and
finished 25th. Denny Hamlin is up one place to third after finishing fourth. Chase Elliott struggled for much of the day. Despite a 12th-place finish, he dropped to fourth. William Byron is up two places to fifth after a sixth-place finish. Tyler Reddick led the most laps Sunday and
was in position to win before having contact with Chris Buescher with 10 laps to go. He would eventually finish 32nd and dropped one spot to sixth. Ty Gibbs finished second Sunday and moved up to seventh. Ryan Blaney hit the wall in the same crash with Truex and finished 36th. That dropped him two places to eighth. Alex Bowman had a quiet day in Darlington that ended in eighth. That was enough to keep him in ninth. Ross Chastain remains in 10th, while Brad Keselowski's victory moved him up four places to 11th. Buescher ended up 30th after his contact with Reddick and dropped one place to 12th. Kyle Busch is down one place to 13th after a fairly miserable run to a 27th-place finish. Chase Briscoe is still in 14th after finishing fifth. Christopher Bell stays in 15th after a 13th-place finish. Bell has the last spot in the playoffs on points at the moment.
He has a four-point advantage over Bubba Wallace, who finished seventh Sunday. Joey Logano is still in 17th after getting busted late for speeding on pit road and finishing 21st. Daniel Suarez had another poor day and stays in 18th. Noah Gragson is still in 19th, while Austin Cindric is 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 486, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -30, 3) Denny Hamlin -39, 4) Chase Elliott -49, 5) William Byron -86, 6) Tyler Reddick
-90, 7) Ty Gibbs -96, 8) Ryan Blaney -115, 9) Alex Bowman -121, 10) Ross Chastain -128, 11) Brad Keselowski -142, 12) Chris Buescher -155, 13) Kyle Busch -162, 14) Chase Briscoe -164, 15) Christopher Bell
-166, 16) Bubba Wallace -170. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -223. Note: Drivers
in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 18, 2) Kyle Larson -1, 3) William Byron -3, t-4) Christopher Bell -11, t-4) Tyler
Reddick -11, 6) Chase Elliott -12, t-7) Brad Keselowski -13, t-7) Daniel Suarez -13, t-9) Ty Gibbs -16, t-9) Austin Cindric -16, t-9) Martin Truex Jr. -16, t-12) Ryan Blaney -17, t-12) Ross Chastain -17, t-12) Joey Logano
-17, t-12) Michael McDowell -17. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 161, 2) Denny Hamlin -43, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -54, 4) Tyler Reddick
-59, 5) Ryan Blaney -71, 6) Chase Elliott -81, 7) Ty Gibbs -91, 8) William Byron -92, 9) Christopher Bell -96, t-10) Brad Keselowski -105, t-10) Bubba Wallace -105, t-10) Joey Logano
-105, t-10) Austin Cindric -105, 14) Ross Chastain -108, 15) Kyle Busch -110, 16) Alex Bowman -113. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Chris Buescher
-118, 18) Daniel Suarez -131, 19) Chase Briscoe -132.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point
Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 414, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -4, 3) Denny Hamlin -20, 4) William Byron -26, 5) Kyle Larson -27, 6) Ty Gibbs -36, 7) Alex Bowman -44, 8) Ross Chastain
-51, 9) Tyler Reddick -59, 10) Chase Briscoe -66, t-11) Brad Keselowski -69, t-11) Chris Buescher -69, 13) Ryan Blaney -74, 14) Kyle Busch -82, 15) Bubba Wallace -95, 16) Christopher Bell -103. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Daniel Suarez -126.
Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): t-1) Chase Elliott 1819, t-1) Martin Truex Jr. 1819, 3) Denny Hamlin -46, 4) Kyle Larson -58, 5) William Byron -76, 6) Ty Gibbs
-107, 7) Alex Bowman -134, 8) Tyler Reddick -173, 9) Ross Chastain -176, 10) Brad Keselowski -197, 11) Chris Buescher -215, 12) Ryan Blaney -223, 13) Chase Briscoe -233, 14) Kyle Busch -262, 15) Bubba Wallace
-297, 16) Christopher Bell -311. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Daniel Suarez -414. Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona, COTA, Martinsville), Daniel Suarez (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Kansas), Christopher Bell (Phoenix), Denny Hamlin (Bristol, Richmond, Dover), Chase
Elliott (Texas), Tyler Reddick (Talladega), Brad Keselowski (Darlington)
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 Reclaims Lead in Darlington
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith dropped off late Saturday and finished 12th. That was more than enough for Austin Hill to retake the points lead with a second-place finish. His margin is only three points over Cole Custer, who finished third. Chandler Smith dropped down to third with his 12th-place finish. Jesse Love and Justin
Allgaier are tied for fourth. Allgaier is there thanks to his dominant victory Saturday, while Love finished eighth. Riley Herbst remains in sixth after finishing seventh. AJ Allmendinger had mechanical issues late and finished 35th. He stays in seventh, but lost significant ground. Sheldon Creed and Parker Kligerman
are tied for eighth. Kligerman finished sixth Saturday, while Creed was ninth. Anthony Alfredo has sole possession of 10th after a 14th-place finish. Sam Mayer's fourth-place finish moved him up three places to 11th. Brandon Jones remains in 12th after a 10th-place finish, but moves into the final spot in the playoffs thanks to Mayer moving into
the top 12. Jones has a 12-point advantage over teammate Sammy Smith, who finished a lap down in 34th. Ryan Sieg is down one place to 14th after finishing 13th. Shane van Gisbergen remains in 15th, while Brennan Poole is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 430, 2) Cole Custer -3, 3) Chandler Smith -5, t-4) Jesse Love -57, t-4) Justin Allgaier -57, 6) Riley Herbst -93, 7) AJ
Allmendinger -121, t-8) Sheldon Creed -124, t-8) Parker Kligerman -124, 10) Anthony Alfredo -160, 11) Sam Mayer -166, 12) Brandon Jones -168, 13) Sammy Smith -180, 14) Ryan Sieg -181, 15) Shane van Gisbergen
-195, 16) Brennan Poole -217. Playoff Points: 1) Chandler Smith 13, 2) Austin Hill -1, 3) Justin Allgaier -2, 4) Jesse Love -4, 5) Aric Almirola -5, t-6) Sam
Mayer -8, t-6) Ryan Truex -8, 8) Cole Custer -11, t-9) Riley Herbst -12, t-9) Parker Kligerman -12. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson and John Hunter Nemechek would be tied for sixth in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 123, 2) Austin Hill -17, 3) Riley Herbst -19, 4) Cole Custer -22, 5) Chandler Smith -37, 6) Jesse Love -48, 7) AJ Allmendinger
-50, 8) Aric Almirola -59, 9) Sam Mayer -62, 10) Parker Kligerman -65, 11) Brandon Jones -75, 12) Sheldon Creed -78, 13) Sammy Smith -82, 14) Ryan Sieg -87, 15) Ryan Truex -90, 16) Parker
Retzlaff -105. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 383, 2) Cole
Custer -4, 3) Austin Hill -8, 4) Jesse Love -35, 5) Sheldon Creed -75, 6) Anthony Alfredo -80, 7) Justin Allgaier
-82, 8) Parker Kligerman -86, 9) AJ Allmendinger -98, 10) Riley Herbst -103, 11) Shane van Gisbergen -113, 12) Brandon Jones -122, 13) Ryan Sieg
-124, 14) Sammy Smith -127, 15) Sam Mayer -130, 16) Brennan Poole -135. WC Points (1-16): t-1) Chandler Smith 1666, 2) Cole Custer
-12, 3) Austin Hill -19, 4) Jesse Love -130, 5) Sheldon Creed -242, 6) Justin Allgaier -275, 7) Anthony Alfredo -296, 8) Parker Kligerman -306, 9) AJ Allmendinger -340, 10) Riley Herbst -351, 11) Shane
van Gisbergen -394, 12) Sam Mayer -420, t-13) Ryan Sieg -426, t-13) Brandon Jones -426, 15) Sammy Smith -437, 16) Brennan Poole -475. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta), John Hunter
Nemechek (Las Vegas), Chandler Smith (Phoenix, Richmond), Kyle Larson (COTA), Aric Almirola (Martinsville), Sam Mayer (Texas), Jesse Love (Talladega), Ryan Truex (Dover), Justin Allgaier (Darlington) 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: Christian Eckes Retakes Points Lead in Darlington
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim had an excellent truck Friday night, leading a race-high 77 laps. However, he was eliminated in a late crash and finished 28th. As a result, his time with the points lead was very brief. Christian Eckes finished fourth and managed to take the
points lead back that he lost in Kansas. The margin is 14 points. Nick Sanchez finished second and maintains third in the standings. Ty Majeski all but had the race won before a late caution burned him (see above). A fifth-place finish keeps him in fourth. Taylor Gray is up two places to fifth after an eighth-place finish. Rajah
Caruth was eliminated in a crash on lap 98, but stays in sixth. Tyler Ankrum is down two places to seventh after mechanical issues dropped him to a 26th-place finish. Matt Crafton was eliminated in the same crash with Caruth and stays in eighth. Tanner Gray stays in ninth after finishing 10th. Ben Rhodes is back up to
10th after a third-place finish. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Rhodes has a five-point advantage over Grant Enfinger. Enfinger finished 16th after scoring seven stage points. Daniel Dye is down a spot to 12th after finishing 23rd. Stewart Friesen is up two places to 13th after finishing 14th. Bayley Currey is
down to 14th after finishing 22nd. Chase Purdy is up two places to 15th after finishing sixth. Jake Garcia is now 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 387, 2) Corey Heim -14, 3) Nick Sanchez
-57, 4) Ty Majeski -61, 5) Taylor Gray -90, 6) Rajah Caruth -111, 7) Tyler Ankrum -112, 8) Matt Crafton -154, 9) Tanner Gray -159, 10) Ben Rhodes -162, 11) Grant Enfinger -167, 12) Daniel Dye
-182, 13) Stewart Friesen -200, 14) Bayley Currey -203, 15) Chase Purdy -204, 16) Jake Garcia -206. Note: If the were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 12th in points.
Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 14, 2) Christian Eckes -1, 3) Nick Sanchez -8, 4) Rajah Caruth -9, 5) Ty Majeski -12, t-6) Tyler Ankrum -13, t-6) Johnny Sauter -13. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be leading the playoff points with 15. Stage Points: 1) Christian Eckes 115, 2) Ty Majeski -22, 3) Tyler Ankrum -23, 4) Corey Heim
-27, 5) Nick Sanchez -49, 6) Taylor Gray -67, 7) Ben Rhodes -72, 8) Grant Enfinger -77, 9) Rajah Caruth -79, 10) Layne Riggs -87, 11) Chase Purdy -89, 12) Kaden Honeycutt -92, t-13) Matt Crafton
-93, t-13) Stewart Friesen -93, 15) Daniel Dye -97, 16) Tanner Gray -100. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be sixth and Zane Smith seventh in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 254, 2) Christian Eckes -9, 3) Nick Sanchez -20, 4) Taylor Gray -39, 5) Rajah Caruth -49, 6) Ty Majeski -62, 7) Tanner Gray -75, 8) Matt
Crafton -79, 9) Tyler Ankrum -87, 10) Daniel Dye -102, 11) Grant Enfinger -105, 12) Ben Rhodes -107, 13) Bayley Currey -119, 14) Bret Holmes -120, 15) Jake Garcia -121, 16) Stewart Friesen -124. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1418, 2) Christian Eckes -35, 3) Nick Sanchez -75, 4) Taylor Gray -146, 5) Rajah Caruth -196, 6) Ty Majeski -215, 7) Tanner Gray
-292, 8) Matt Crafton -299, 9) Tyler Ankrum -310, 10) Daniel Dye -375, 11) Ben Rhodes -384, 12) Grant Enfinger -385, 13) Bret Holmes -429, 14) Bayley Currey -437, 15) Chase Purdy -448, 16) Jake Garcia
-449. Race Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Texas), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Bristol, Martinsville), Corey Heim (COTA, Kansas), Ross Chastain (Darlington)
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: Sunday's Goodyear 400 was brought to you by the letter R for Relief. When you go multiple years without tasting paydirt, you start to wonder whether you still have what it takes. Brad
Keselowski was squarely in that boat. Not anymore. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Goodyear 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"It’s just so great to be here in Darlington. I love this track. I love coming here. It’s a special place to me whether you win or not, but to run up front all day and have a great car, qualify up front, it was just an awesome day for Castrol. I’m glad for Ford. Ford has been working really hard to get us up here and here we are. We got them a win, so they
don’t have to hear about that anymore. I’m happy for Ford. Hopefully, there are more great things to come. It was a total team effort from the top to the bottom to get us to where we could have a fast car. We executed on pit road, led laps and were there when it counted at the end. "We were all just racing our guts out. I mean, there was
nothing left on the table for any of us. I got underneath Tyler [Reddick]. We were kind of switching back and forth and I felt like he was probably holding me down. He probably felt like he was being pushed up. Chris [Buescher] got by both of us, but Chris’ car was falling off too much. He couldn’t drive away and we were just right there with him and it looked like [Reddick] tried to do a slide job and it just didn’t quite work and both of them had some kind of an issue. We were able to scoot
back by them. A hell of a day. I don’t know if you could have asked for me. We thought Kansas was exciting. I think this was more exciting." - Brad Keselowski, race winner "I feel like I need to get better at passing and driving in dirty air. That is where I feel like I lacked today. My car was really great. Still kind of fighting
some numbers on balance, but I feel like we were really, really good. Thank you to He Get Us. All glory to God. Thanks to Toyota, Monster Energy, Interstate Batteries – and my family and my great mom. Happy Mother’s Day." - Ty Gibbs, finished second "It was just a really good day. We had a really good car yesterday in practice, but
unfortunately didn’t qualify like we should have. There’s a lot to take from that, but, overall, the car was really strong. We feel like we’re capable of days like this. We just have to keep chipping away at it, keep learning, keep getting better week in and week out. I have a great group around me and this is a finish they deserve for sure." - Josh Berry, finished third "I’ve got to look at it. We had a lot of damage from [the Ryan Blaney] incident off of turn 2. It knocked the nose in, knocked the splitter up, so that certainly played a factor, but certainly didn’t feel like we were as strong on the long run like we usually are. Below average day for the Yahoo Camry, but to finish fourth on a below average day – that’s alright." - Denny Hamlin, finished fourth "Our car was extremely good on the really, really long run, it was just the short run that we gave up too much time. It would have been interesting to see how the race played out if it went green until the end, but, overall, it’s a really good weekend for the guys. I wish we could have been a few spots better, but after the last few weeks we needed a solid run." -
Chase Briscoe, finished fifth "We had a really good Rick Ware Racing No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse today. From the moment we unloaded it was just super on the track and fast and kind of followed suit with the 6’s setup and it happened that he won and we had a good race. Overall, it was a good day. We had great execution on pit road.
I feel like we cleaned up a lot of stuff and got a top 10 for Rick Ware. It was a good points day." - Justin Haley, finished ninth "Just getting wiped out. For me, we know it’s gonna be good, hard racing here, but we hit so hard we wheel-hopped into the fence. I don’t get it. We’ve been able to race respectfully for our careers. I try
and do that week in and week out and it’s not getting us anywhere right now. To just get wiped out like that with this Fifth Third Bank Mustang, that’s a big shame. On the flip side, I’m stoked for Brad [Keselowski] and the No. 6 bunch and RFK [Racing] to get a win here. That’s huge, but, right now, selfishly I’m mad for my team and our group. We had a great day there and we didn’t get any finish to show for it." - Chris Buescher, finished 30th "Honestly, I think [the conversation with Chris Buescher] went as probably as good as it could have. Everything he said was accurate to be honest. He raced me respectfully, and I got really aggressive.
"I completely understand where
[Buescher] is coming from. He was running the top, running his own race, running his own line to keep me at bay. I made a really aggressive move and was hoping I was going to clear him, when I realized, I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up to not slide up into him, but yeah, I wish I wouldn’t have done that. I completely understand why he is that mad. He did nothing wrong. Just trying to win the race, and to take myself out – that’s one thing – I can live with that, but just disappointed it
played out the way that it did, and I took him out of the race as well. That was not the goal there. If I was going to go for it, I was hoping I was going to clear him. If I hit the wall, pop a tire – I take myself out, I can live with that – it’s tough to walk away knowing I used someone up, and took away their chance of winning the race, that has raced me really cleanly since he came in the Cup Series. Just have to work on that and try to make some better decisions going forward." - Tyler
Reddick, finished 32nd
"I was struggling. I got really loose at the end of that long run, and William (Byron) caught me. I was just letting him by in (turns) one and two, and I just kind of hung out there. I was trying to be really wide away from him and I just stayed wide for too long; got hung in the marbles and hit the wall. We had bent the toe link or something,
and then pitted and was struggling pretty bad. I don’t know which tire shredded, if it was left-rear or right-rear, but a tire shredded and I spun into turn three. Hate that my mistake, not even really trying hard at all, cost us a race. Just a little bit frustrated with myself right now. "All-in-all, we had a good No.
5 HendrickCars.com Chevy today. I felt like we were running a really good race up to that point, and then just one mistake took us out of it." - Kyle Larson, finished 34th (Crashed out)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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