Frontstretch Newsletter: May 27, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition LXXXII |
- There is dirt racing to be had today. The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is at Ohio's Fremont Speedway for the Rick Ferkel Classic. Meanwhile, the Super DIRTcar Series makes their first-ever visit to Thunder Mountain Speedway in Center Lisle, N.Y. for the Thunder on the Mountain. Both events can be seen right now on
DirtVision. - NASCAR teams are back at their shops today after yesterday's action
in Concord. We'll have Gateway and Portland entry lists, along with anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
|
| Josef Newgarden Wins Indianapolis 500 for the Ages With
Last-Lap Pass Team Penske's Josef Newgarden swept around the around of turn 3 to take the lead on the final lap Sunday, then held on to win the rain-delayed Indianapolis 500 for the second straight year. Patricio O'Ward was second, followed by Scott Dixon, Alexander
Rossi and Alex Palou. |
|
| Kyle Larson Gets 18th in 1st, but Maybe Not Final, Indy
500 Kyle Larson ran well Sunday in Indianapolis, but his day was sullied by a pit road speeding penalty that put him a lap down. He eventually finished 18th. |
|
| Kyle Larson Will Stay in Indianapolis to Focus on Indy
500 The rain Sunday morning could have forced Kyle Larson to abandon racing in the Indianapolis 500 altogether. He chose to wait it out and forfeit his points in the Coca-Cola 600. |
|
| McLaren Teammates Pato O’Ward & Alexander Rossi Share
Emotional Loss in Indy 500 Arrow McLaren SP was the only team late in the race to have two cars in the mix for the win. Alexander Rossi was forced to save fuel, while Patricio O'Ward could taste victory before it was taken away. |
|
| Christian Rasmussen Slips Through Chaos to Lead Rookies at
Indianapolis Sunday had some quiet stories in Indianapolis. One of them was Ed Carpenter Racing's Christian Rasmussen, who scored a 12th-place finish in his Indianapolis debut. |
|
| Rahal Letterman Lanigan Leaves Indianapolis No Better, No
Worse Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing struggled again in qualifying this year at Indianapolis, but things were a little better in the race. The team's three finishers finished 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively. |
|
| ‘I Need Redemption’ – Katherine Legge Plans to Resolve
Unfinished Business at Indianapolis For Katherine Legge, just getting into the Indianapolis 500 this year was a struggle. She started in the last row and lasted less than 25 laps before the engine went south in her car. But, she wants another crack at it. |
|
| Christopher Bell Wins Rain-Shortened Coca-Cola
600 Christopher Bell was declared the winner of the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday night around 11:30 p.m. ET after high humidity made it impossible to dry the track prior to 1 a.m. ET for a restart. Brad Keselowski was second, then William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Denny
Hamlin. |
|
| Coca-Cola 600 Ending Surprises Everyone, Even the
Winners The ending to Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 was rather weird. Winner Christopher Bell found out that the race had been called by watching FOX in his motorcoach. |
|
| Justin Allgaier Holds Down Fort for Kyle Larson, HMS with
13th-Place Showing in Coke 600 With the rain in Indianapolis preventing Kyle Larson from getting to Charlotte in time for the Coca-Cola 600, it was up to Justin Allgaier to steer the ship. He drove up from the rear of the field to finish 13th. |
|
| ‘I Wouldn’t Be Able to Pay the Fine’: Cup Drivers React to
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s $75K Penalty In Charlotte Saturday, a number of drivers were asked about Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s fine following the brouhaha in North Wilkesboro. You got a series of different opinions. |
|
| Chase Elliott Charges to Xfinity Win at
Charlotte Chase Elliott took advantage of fresh tires Saturday afternoon to win the BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Elliott's first NASCAR Xfinity Series win since 2015. Brandon Jones was second, then teammates Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer. AJ Allmendinger
was fifth. |
|
| ‘He Tried to Kill Me on the Backstretch’: Cole Custer
Furious After Austin Hill Dumps Him Late in Saturday's BetMGM 300, Austin Hill and Cole Custer crashed exiting turn 2. Hill then pushed Custer the length of the backstretch before dumping him into the inside wall. Needless to say, Custer wasn't happy about that. |
|
| Nick Sanchez Wins Truck Race in
Charlotte Rev Racing's Nick Sanchez charged up from seventh to snag the lead on the final restart Friday night, then held on to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 for his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of the year. Stewart Friesen was second,
then Grant Enfinger, Matt Mills and Ben Rhodes. |
|
| Corey Heim Comes 1 Spot Short of Charlotte Comeback, Later
DQ’d Corey Heim had a terrible final pit stop Friday night in Charlotte where lug nuts were flying all over the place. Despite that, he drove through the field to finish second...only for that pit stop to get him disqualified. |
|
| Kaden Honeycutt Robbed of Chance for 1st Truck Win After
Extended Pit Stop at Charlotte The box score will say that Kaden Honeycutt finished seventh Friday night and scored the most points (48). That doesn't tell the whole story since a bad pit stop kept him away from potential victory. |
|
| Charles Leclerc Finally Wins at Home in
Monaco Ferrari's Charles Leclerc led flag-to-flag Sunday to win the Grand Prix of Monaco in front of his home crowd. Oscar Piastri was second, then Carlos Sainz Jr., Lando Norris and George Russell. |
|
| Tanner Gray Rebounds to Win ARCA at
Charlotte Joe Gibbs Racing's Tanner Gray recovered from a flat tire that put him a lap down to win Friday's ARCA Menards Series General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Carson Kvapil was second, then Andres Perez de Lara, Will Kimmel and Lavar
Scott. |
|
| Cole Butcher Steals ASA STARS National Win at
Hickory Early Friday morning, Cole Butcher claimed victory in the ASA STARS National Tour Tar Heel 250 at Hickory Motor Speedway. Casey Roderick was second, then Dawson Sutton, Matt Craig and Josh Berry. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, James Black, Matt Fraver, Paul Hurley, Chris Jones, Chris Owens and Justin Walsh of Penske Entertainemnt, Ferrari Media and our own Anthony Damcott and Chase Folsom. 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 24-26 |
- Charlotte Motor Speedway announced Sunday that there will be renovations made to the ROVAL ahead of October's Bank of America ROVAL 400 weekend. The frontstretch chicane will be modified, while the cars will go straight at what is now turn 6 into a different part of the infield.
The course will have a medium right hand turn to join into the 2.44-mile configuration that was
originally going to be used for the race in 2018 before it was changed. There will be a hairpin left to rejoin the quad-oval.
The press release indicates that the track will still be 2.28 miles long. As a result, the race length will not be affected by the changes. That could change down the line, though.
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams spent two nights at Atomic Speedway near Chillicothe, Oh. over the weekend. Friday night saw David Gravel take the lead away from Brady Bacon on lap 9 and pull away to take his eighth win of the year Carson Macedo was second, then Buddy Kofoid and Cole Duncan. Donny Schatz was
fifth. Saturday night saw Sheldon Haudenschild start on pole after flipping Friday night. He proceeded to lead all 30 laps and take home the spoils. Kofoid was second, then Macedo and Duncan. Giovanni Scelzi was fifth. Gravel crashed on lap 8 while racing Haudenschild for the lead and ended up finishing six laps down in 21st.
Through 23 races, Gravel has a 36-point lead over Macedo. Schatz is third, then Scelzi and Kofoid.
- The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series spent last weekend at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Penn. for the Bob Weikert Memorial. Saturday's race was cancelled due to rain, but Sunday saw 53 cars
trying to get into the A-Main. In the A-Main, Danny Dietrich took the lead on lap 30 from Tyler Courtney and was looking good for the win until a caution flew. Dietrich and Courtney ran side-by-side after the restart until another caution set up a two-lap shootout.
Dietrich was able to
get a good jump on the restart and held on to win the Bob Weikert Memorial with a Bob Weikert throwback scheme on his car. The win was worth $76,500.
Courtney just barely held off Rico Abreu for second. Anthony Macri was fourth, while Parker Price-Miller was fifth. In High Limit points, Courtney has taken over the points lead by just one over Brad Sweet through 18 races. Brent Marks is third, then Corey Day and Abreu. |
This is just a sampling of the 61 videos that we uploaded to our suite of YouTube channels from last weekend in Charlotte, Hickory and Indianapolis. For more from either of those tracks, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our
main YouTube channel, our Open Wheel channel and our Grassroots channel. Also, don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future
videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Denny Hamlin Snatches Points Lead After Indianapolis Weather Issues
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson was unable to make it to Charlotte in time for the Coca-Cola 600 due to heavy rains that delayed the start of the Indianapolis 500 for four hours. As a result, Denny Hamlin took over the points lead by virtue of finishing fifth Sunday night. His margin is five points over Martin Truex
Jr., who finished 12th. Larson dropped down to third as a result of not competing Sunday night. Chase Elliott remains in fourth after a seventh-place finish. William Byron is fifth after a third-place finish. Tyler Reddick is still in sixth after coming from the rear to finish fourth. Ty Gibbs finished sixth
and stays in seventh. Alex Bowman moved up one place to eighth after finishing ninth. Brad Keselowski is up two places to ninth after finishing second. Ross Chastain led laps early and finished eighth to stay in 10th. Christopher Bell is up four places to 11th after claiming his second
win of the year. Ryan Blaney crashed out and finished 39th. That dropped him four places to 12th. Bubba Wallace finished 11th with 13 stage points. That was enough to move him up three places to 13th. Kyle Busch is down one spot to 14th after a tough run to 15th. Chris
Buescher finished 23rd and dropped three places to 15th. He is now the last driver in the playoffs on points. Buescher has an 11-point advantage over Chase Briscoe, who finished 25th. Joey Logano remains in 17th, followed by Daniel Suarez. Josh Berry is up to
19th after finishing 10th. Austin Cindric is 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 492, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -5, 3) Kyle Larson
-6, 4) Chase Elliott -17, 5) William Byron -31, 6) Tyler Reddick -55, 7) Ty Gibbs -57, 8) Alex Bowman -84, 9) Brad Keselowski -95, 10) Ross Chastain -100, 11) Christopher Bell
-105, 12) Ryan Blaney -116, 13) Bubba Wallace -137, 14) Kyle Busch -146, 15) Chris Buescher -147, 16) Chase Briscoe -158. Outside of the top 16, but still in the
playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -216. 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 -2, t-4) Christopher Bell -4, 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 -30, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -48, 4) Tyler Reddick -51, 5) William Byron -65, 6) Ryan Blaney -67, 7) Christopher Bell
-69, 8) Chase Elliott -73, 9) Ty Gibbs -77, 10) Brad Keselowski -87, 11) Bubba Wallace -92, 12) Alex Bowman -98, 13) Ross Chastain -103, t-14) Joey Logano -105, t-14) Austin Cindric
-105, 16) Kyle Busch -110. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Chris Buescher -118, 18) Daniel Suarez -131.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 449, 2) Martin Truex Jr.
-9, 3) Denny Hamlin -19, 4) William Byron -22, 5) Ty Gibbs -35, 6) Alex Bowman -47, 7) Ross Chastain -52, 8) Tyler Reddick -57, 9) Kyle Larson -62, 10) Brad Keselowski
-64, 11) Chase Briscoe -85, 12) Chris Buescher -86, 13) Kyle Busch -91, 14) Christopher Bell -93, 15) Bubba Wallace -100, 16) Ryan Blaney -107. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -144.
Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 1970, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -19, 3) Denny Hamlin -42, 4) William Byron -62, 5) Ty Gibbs -103, 6) Alex Bowman -147, 7) Tyler Reddick
-164, 8) Brad Keselowski -173, 9) Ross Chastain -180, 10) Kyle Larson -209, 11) Chris Buescher -272, 12) Christopher Bell -277, 13) Kyle Busch -295, 14) Chase Briscoe -296, 15) Bubba Wallace
-318, 16) Ryan Blaney -328. 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, Charlotte), 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.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Austin Hill Maintains Lead Despite Late Crash
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith had a middling run to 18th Saturday in Charlotte. Meanwhile, Austin Hill got in a late crash with Cole Custer and finished 25th. The result of a pretty bad day for a number of the point contenders is that Hill expanded his lead from three to four points. Smith moved up to second, while Custer dropped to third after crashing
out. Justin Allgaier crashed out as well in a separate wreck, but not before winning the first two stages. That allowed him to claim sole possession of fourth and not lose any ground to Hill. Jesse Love was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop and ended up finishing 28th. That dropped him to fifth. AJ Allmendinger finished fifth and moved up
one position to sixth. He jumped over Riley Herbst, who crashed early and finished 38th. Sheldon Creed has sole possession of eighth, but he dropped out early due to a broken oil cooler. Parker Kligerman crashed out and dropped down to ninth. Brandon Jones finished second and moved up two places to 10th. Sam
Mayer finished fourth and stays in 11th. Anthony Alfredo finished 16th and dropped two places to 12th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Alfredo is two points ahead of Sammy Smith, who finished third. Ryan Sieg finished seventh and stays in 14th. Shane van Gisbergen is 15th and Brennan
Poole 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 454, 2) Chandler Smith -4, 3) Cole Custer -21, 4) Justin Allgaier -57, 5) Jesse Love -70, 6) AJ Allmendinger
-107, 7) Riley Herbst -116, 8) Sheldon Creed -141, 9) Parker Kligerman -147, 10) Brandon Jones -150, 11) Sam Mayer -160, 12) Anthony Alfredo -163, 13) Sammy Smith -165, 14) Ryan Sieg -169, 15) Shane van Gisbergen
-197, 16) Brennan Poole -235. Playoff Points: 1) Chandler Smith 13, t-1) Justin Allgaier 13, 3) Austin Hill -1, 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, Chase Elliott and John Hunter Nemechek would be tied for sixth in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 143, 2) Austin Hill -25, 3) Riley Herbst -39, 4) Cole Custer -41, 5) Chandler Smith -51, 6) AJ Allmendinger -64, 7) Jesse
Love -66, 8) Sam Mayer -75, 9) Aric Almirola -79, 10) Parker Kligerman -85, 11) Brandon Jones -88, 12) Sheldon Creed -92, 13) Sammy Smith -97, 14) Ryan Sieg -101, 15) Ryan Truex -110, 16) Parker
Retzlaff -125. 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
406, 2) Austin Hill -15, 3) Cole Custer -18, 4) Jesse Love -44, 5) Anthony Alfredo -78, 6) AJ Allmendinger -85, 7) Sheldon Creed
-92, 8) Justin Allgaier -96, 9) Parker Kligerman -105, 10) Brandon Jones -106, 11) Shane van Gisbergen -110, 12) Sammy Smith -112, 13) Ryan Sieg
-113, 14) Sam Mayer -121, 15) Riley Herbst -123, 16) Brennan Poole -148. WC Points (1-16): t-1) Chandler Smith 1775, 2) Austin Hill
-40, 3) Cole Custer -54, 4) Jesse Love -155, 5) Anthony Alfredo -290, 6) Sheldon Creed -291, 7) AJ Allmendinger -294, 8) Justin Allgaier -315, 9) Parker Kligerman -363, 10) Brandon Jones -365, 11) Sammy Smith
-381, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -385, t-13) Sam Mayer -389, t-13) Ryan Sieg -389, 15) Riley Herbst -411, 16) Brennan Poole -514. 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), Chase Elliott (Charlotte) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship: Christian Eckes Expands Lead Following Corey Heim's DQ
by Phil Allaway
Christian Eckes should have lost the points lead Friday night. Corey Heim won the first two stages on-track and finished second on the road. Then, he got disqualified for three or more loose lug nuts. As a result, Eckes' 10th-place
finish was enough for him to expand his lead to 30 points over Heim. Without the DQ, it would have been a 24-point deficit to Heim. Nick Sanchez's second win of the year moved him up one place to third. Sanchez jumped over Ty Majeski, who finished 23rd. Taylor Gray finished 12th and stays in fifth. Rajah Caruth
moved up one place to sixth after finishing 16th. Caruth jumped over Tyler Ankrum, who crashed out and finished 32nd. Tanner Gray is up two positions to eighth after finishing 17th, but earning 19 stage points and inheriting a playoff point after Heim's disqualification. Grant Enfinger dropped a spot to ninth despite finishing
third due to no stage points. Ben Rhodes is 10th after a fifth-place finish. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points at the moment. Rhodes has a 32-point lead over Stewart Friesen, who finished second Friday night. Matt Crafton dropped to 12th after crashing and finishing 15 laps down in 31st. Daniel Dye is
13th, then Jake Garcia, Chase Purdy and Bayley Currey. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 453, 2) Corey Heim -30, 3) Nick Sanchez
-50, 4) Ty Majeski -64, 5) Taylor Gray -99, 6) Rajah Caruth -117, 7) Tyler Ankrum -133, 8) Tanner Gray -162, 9) Grant Enfinger -163, 10) Ben Rhodes -164, 11) Stewart Friesen -196, 12) Matt Crafton
-197, 13) Daniel Dye -198, 14) Jake Garcia -216, 15) Chase Purdy -219, 16) Bayley Currey -239. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 19, 2) Christian Eckes
-6, 3) Nick Sanchez -8, 4) Rajah Caruth -14, 5) Ty Majeski -16, t-6) Tyler Ankrum -17, t-6) Tanner Gray -17, t-6) Kaden Honeycutt -17, t-6) Johnny Sauter -18.
Note: If he were eligible for
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be second in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Ty Majeski 131, 2) Christian Eckes -8, 3) Corey Heim -34, 4) Tyler Ankrum -43, 5) Nick Sanchez
-62, 6) Ben Rhodes -71, 7) Taylor Gray -75, 8) Rajah Caruth -79, 9) Layne Riggs -86, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -90, 11) Chase Purdy -91, 12) Grant Enfinger -92, 13) Tanner Gray -94, 14) Stewart Friesen -101, t-15) Jake
Garcia -108, t-15) Dean Thompson -108. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be sixth and Zane Smith 10th in stage points. Old Point
Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 298, 2) Nick Sanchez -2, 3) Corey Heim -6, 4) Taylor Gray -42, 5) Rajah Caruth -56, 6) Ty Majeski -73, 7) Tanner Gray -85, 8) Grant Enfinger -88, 9) Tyler Ankrum
-104, t-10) Matt Crafton -108, t-10) Daniel Dye -108, 12) Ben Rhodes -112, 13) Stewart Friesen -114, 14) Jake Garcia -125, 15) Bret Holmes -141, 16) Bayley Currey -142. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 1682, 2) Nick Sanchez -13, 3) Corey Heim -24, 4) Taylor Gray -159, 5) Rajah Caruth -219, 6) Ty Majeski -250, 7) Grant Enfinger -314, 8) Tanner Gray
-324, 9) Tyler Ankrum -360, 10) Matt Crafton -390, 11) Daniel Dye -395, 12) Ben Rhodes -396, 13) Stewart Friesen -410, 14) Jake Garcia -458, 15) Chase Purdy -492, 16) Bret Holmes -496. Race Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Texas), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Bristol, Martinsville), Corey Heim (COTA, Kansas, North Wilkesboro), Ross Chastain (Kansas) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager.
He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of our own Phil Allaway.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 was brought to you by the letter H for Humidity. I knew ahead of time that there was a good sporting chance that it was going to rain early in the second half of
the race. It happened. What I didn't plan on is that it would be so humid in North Carolina after the rain pushed through that track drying was impossible. It must have been downright swampy at the track before the rains came through. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Coca-Cola 600 compiled by Phil Allaway
"It feels so good. Really the last two Coca-Cola 600s I've felt like we've had the potential to go to Victory Lane, and both times we haven't been able to do it. "To come back in 2024, and we've really been
in a slump the last couple weeks, so to come out here and have a banner day at such a high-profile prestigious event is really big for us. Obviously it was a great points day to get stage points at every stage and then the playoff points that come along with that. It was a much-needed day for sure." - Christopher Bell, race winner
"It’s pretty disappointing. I felt
like we had a car to win the race. We kind of ran down the 20 car twice and just didn’t get to see it play out. So, it kind of slipped through our fingers there. I would have liked to have just had more laps and ran the Coke 600. I think we ran the Coke 350 today, but, all in all, I’m really happy with our performance. The car was really fast. Our pit stops were phenomenal. We just didn’t get to see it through. I’m bummed for our team. I’m
bummed for everybody, but the weather is what the weather is." - Brad Keselowski, finished second "Our race was good. Our No. 24 Liberty University Patriotic Chevy was really good the whole race, but then we got a little bit of wall contact there and bent the toe just a little bit. That was a bummer, but I still feel like we had good
potential in the car. It was just hard to put it all together, but we came home with a third-place finish and that was a solid day for us." - William Byron, finished third "Hate the race got cut short because I feel like our Monster Energy/Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE was really good up front. And I think we could have come
back over the next 150 laps to be competitive at the end. Hate that it ended early, but we’ll get ready for St. Louis." - Ty Gibbs, finished sixth
"It was a really solid day. We qualified well and maintained our track position. Rodney made some really good adjustments to the car overnight. We were just really solid. We’re just getting better and better, and
tonight was a night to be really proud of." - Josh Berry, finished 10th "Even at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, I was pretty confident that I wasn’t going to be driving today. With everything that happened the way that it did and being able to be here – I said it the other day, the attention to detail that Hendrick Motorsports has, they’re always
prepared for all scenarios and we were that tonight. "To be honest with you, at the start of the race, I was pretty disappointed in myself. I was just trying to get acclimated. Cliff Daniels did an amazing job getting me up-to-speed. We were able to look at SMT data and get the car where I needed to be at. We really worked on the balance
throughout the course of the run there. To be able to unlap myself was probably the highlight of the night, to be honest with you. I was able to pass a Hendrick Motorsports teammate [William Byron] to pass Ty [Gibbs], both of which I have a lot of respect for on the racetrack. It just kind of helped how the race went. "You get opportunities
very rarely in life to drive something that’s that good, and it truly was that. It was really, really special; something that I’ll take with me for a number of years as a good opportunity." - Justin Allgaier, finished 13th "Overall, it was kind of just a frustrating night. I felt like everytime we would get track position, we
would end up losing it, whether it was a restart not going our way or pit road. I felt like if we could ever just put it all together we had a car capable of running anywhere from eighth to 12th, but everybody from eighth on back ran the same speed, so wherever you came out on a restart or off pit road is kind of where you ran. We’ve got to clean everything up and definitely felt like we should have finished way better than where we did tonight from a speed standpoint. We just
have to figure out our execution." - Noah Gragson, finished 38th (Crashed out) "I don’t know. We’ll have to look if I hit something or, I don’t know. I just went into three getting up to speed and blew a tire and hit the fence. It’s an unfortunate end to our night. That sucks. We’re not even halfway and
just wanting to work on your stuff all night. I thought we were getting it a little better here and there, but won’t get a shot." - Ryan Blaney, finished 39th (Crashed out) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
|
![Bubba Pollard on If He's Driving for JR Motorsports Again: "No, Carson [Kvapil] Took My Job from Me"](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/74d80ee42fbc42d68679d2c504c0a454.png)
