Frontstretch Newsletter: April 8, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition XLVII |
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 shops today. Preparations are already underway for this weekend's racing in Texas. We'll have entry lists and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| William Byron Victorious in Overtime, Wins in
Martinsville Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron took the lead during the final round of pit stops Sunday, then held on during a Green-White-Checker restart to win the Cook Out 400. Kyle Larson was second, then Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace and Ryan
Blaney. |
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| Hendrick Motorsports Celebrates 40th Anniversary With
Historic 1-2-3 Finish On of the biggest stories Sunday was Hendrick Motorsports' 40th Anniversary celebration. The team did not let the 1500 past and present employees down as the team earned a 1-2-3 finish. |
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| Aric Almirola Survives Late-Race Chaos to Win Xfinity Race
at Martinsville Aric Almirola took the lead away from Sam Mayer on the final restart and held on to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series DUDE Wipes 250 at Martinsville Saturday night. Mayer was second, then Chandler Smith, Carson Kvapil and Justin
Allgaier. |
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| Carson Kvapil Shines In Xfinity Series
Debut Carson Kvapil had a very strong debut in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Saturday night in Martinsville. He managed to keep himself out of trouble all night and finished a strong fourth. |
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| Christian Eckes Dominates, Wins Martinsville Truck
Race McAnally-Hilgemann Racing's Christian Eckes led 133 laps Friday night despite pitting later than his rivals to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Long John Silver's 200 at Martinsville. Ty Majeski was second, then Chase Purdy, Nick Sanchez and Tyler
Ankrum. |
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| Kaden Honeycutt Scores Top 10 After Roller-Coaster Night
at Martinsville Niece Motorsports' Kaden Honeycutt had a rough night in Martinsville Friday. He was involved in multiple incidents and was even given an invite to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series hauler after the race. Despite this, he still brought his Chevrolet home
in ninth. |
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| Max Verstappen Gives Hometown Honda the Win at the
Japanese Grand Prix Red Bull's Max Verstappen led flag-to-flag early Sunday morning to win the Grand Prix of Japan. He won by 12.535 seconds over teammate Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz Jr. was third, then Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. |
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| Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer Win Fanatec GTWCA Sonoma Race
No. 1 Wright Motorsports' Elliott Skeer took the lead from DXDT Racing's Jeff Burton with 30 minutes to go Saturday and held on to win Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at Sonoma with Adam Adelson. CrowdStrike Racing by Riley's Colin
Braun and George Kurtz won the Pro-Am class. |
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| Wright Motorsports Sweeps GT World Challenge at
Sonoma Wright Motorsports' Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer led flag-to-flag Sunday to win Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Sonoma Raceway. |
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| Tyler Gonzalez, John Geesbreght Win Sonoma GT4 America
Race No. 1 Tyler Gonzalez and John Geesbreght claimed the first-ever overall victory in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX competition for Smooge Racing Saturday. BimmerWorld Racing's Tyler McQuarrie and James Walker Jr. won in Pro-Am while The Heart of Racing's
Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham won the Am class. |
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| Zac Anderson, Colin Garrett Win Sonoma GT4 America Race
No. 2 AutoTechnic Racing's Zac Anderson and Colin Garrett won Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 2 at Sonoma Raceway Sunday. MIchael Auriemma and Matheus Leist won in Pro-Am, while Troy Lindstrom and Matt Million won the Am
class. |
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| Jason Daskalos Wins Sonoma GT America Race No.
1 Jason Daskalos led flag-to-flag Saturday to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at Sonoma Raceway. Rotek Racing's Isaac Sherman won in the GT4 class. |
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| Ross Chouest Wins 1st Career GT America Race at
Sonoma Chouest-Povoledo Racing's Ross Chouest assumed the lead after an early penalty to George Kurtz, then held on to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Sonoma Sunday. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Jared C. Tilton of Getty Images, Peter Fox of Getty Images and Brian Cleary, Fred Hardy and Fabian Lagunas of SRO Motorsports Group. 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: April 5-7 |
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams were at US 36 Raceway Friday night for the Wildcat Showdown. The race seemed like it was Sheldon Haudenschild's to win. Then, he spun with Chris Windom. That gave the lead to David Gravel. Gravel held on over the last 15 laps to take the win. Donny Schatz was second, then Buddy Kofoid, James McFadden and Tyler Courtney. Saturday night saw the series move to Arrowhead Speedway for the Jason Johnson Classic. Here, Haudenschild got his groove back. Haudenschild took the lead away from Giovanni Scelzi on lap 16 and held off Gravel for the win and a check for $20,000. Gravel was second,
then Scelzi and Logan Schuchart. Carson Macedo was fifth. In the points, Gravel has a 40-point lead over Schatz. Scelzi is third, then Schuchart and Macedo. |
This is just a sampling of the 20 videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channel from Martinsville and Hickory last weekend. For more from Martinsville, or from other race weekends, be sure to 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 Snatches Lead after Strong Day in Martinsville
by Phil Allaway
Martin Truex Jr. ended up on an alternate pit strategy Sunday. With no cautions for 189 laps, that was not the place to be. He ended up finishing a lap down in 18th. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson led the first 84 laps, won stage one and finished second. That was more than enough for him to claim the points
lead. Larson's point lead is 14 points over Truex. Interestingly enough, Truex had a 14-point lead on Larson entering Martinsville. Denny Hamlin chose to pit under the final caution, giving up fourth to finish 11th. Despite that, he stays in third. William Byron's third win of the year moves him to a
tie for fourth with Ryan Blaney. Byron gets the tiebreaker thanks to his wins. Blaney finished fifth. Chase Elliott is up two places to sixth after finishing third. Ty Gibbs used the same strategy as Truex and got similarly burned. The 19th-place finish dropped him three places to
seventh. Ross Chastain had a quiet day, but moved up a place to eighth after finishing 14th. Tyler Reddick is up one place to ninth after finishing seventh. Alex Bowman also gained a spot by finishing eighth. Christopher Bell had a miserable day. The right front wheel
nut came off early on, putting him multiple laps down. He would finish 35th and drop five spots to 11th. Bubba Wallace had an excellent day to finish as the best non-Hendrick driver fourth and moved up to 12th Chris Buescher struggled to stay on the lead lap all day and finished 15th. That dropped him
one place to 13th. Joey Logano finished sixth and moved up into the top 16 for the first time this year in 14th. Kyle Busch struggled again and dropped to 15th after finishing 16th. He is now the last driver in the playoffs on points. Busch has a one-point advantage over Chase Briscoe, who finished 10th. Daniel Suarez was on the same strategy as Truex, but stayed out all the way to lap 343. He ended up 22nd and dropped to 17th. He is still in the playoffs by virtue of his Atlanta victory. Brad Keselowski is down to 18th, while John Hunter Nemechek dropped down to 19th after his fiery late crash. Erik Jones is 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 309, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -14, 3) Denny Hamlin -17, t-4) William Byron -48, t-4) Ryan Blaney -48, 6) Chase Elliott
-51, 7) Ty Gibbs -55, 8) Ross Chastain -77, 9) Tyler Reddick -80, 10) Alex Bowman -82, 11) Christopher Bell -88, 12) Bubba Wallace -93, 13) Chris Buescher -102, 14) Joey Logano -118, 15) Kyle Busch
-120, 16) Chase Briscoe -121. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -131. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) William Byron 15, 2) Denny Hamlin -3, 3) Kyle Larson -6, 4) Christopher Bell
-8, 5) Daniel Suarez -10, 6) Ty Gibbs -13, t-7) Martin Truex Jr. -14, t-7) Chase Elliott -14, t-7) Ryan Blaney -14, t-7) Austin Cindric -14, t-7) Tyler Reddick -14, t-7) Michael McDowell -14. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 94, 2) Denny Hamlin -18, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -20, 4) Ryan Blaney -37, 5) Tyler Reddick -38, 6) Chase Elliott
-40, 7) Christopher Bell -49, 8) William Byron -51, 9) Bubba Wallace -52, 10) Ty Gibbs -54, 11) Joey Logano -55, 12) Austin Cindric -57, t-13) Alex Bowman -63, t-13) Brad Keselowski -63, 15) Daniel
Suarez -64, 16) Kyle Busch -68. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Ross Chastain -69, 23) Chris Buescher -79. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 260, 2) Denny Hamlin
-4, t-3) William Byron -7, t-3) Kyle Larson -7, 5) Ty Gibbs -11, 6) Ross Chastain -18, 7) Chase Elliott -20, 8) Ryan Blaney -21, 9) Alex Bowman -30, 10) Chris Buescher -34, 11) Christopher Bell
-48, t-12) Tyler Reddick -50, t-12) Bubba Wallace -50, 14) Chase Briscoe -55, 15) Kyle Busch -61, 16) Joey Logano -70.
Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs:
17) Daniel Suarez -77.
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. 1145, 2) Kyle Larson -15, 3) Denny Hamlin -22, 4) William Byron -31, 5) Ty Gibbs -40, 6) Ryan Blaney -64, 7) Ross Chastain -71, 8) Chase Elliott -76, 9) Alex Bowman
-97, 10) Chris Buescher -117, 11) Christopher Bell -143, 12) Tyler Reddick -159, 13) Bubba Wallace -164, 14) Chase Briscoe -202, 15) Kyle Busch -207, 16) Joey Logano -223. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -262. 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), Christopher Bell (Phoenix), Denny Hamlin (Bristol, Richmond)
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: Chandler Smith Retakes Lead with Richmond Victory
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith had a crazy weekend in Martinsville. A crash resulted in a thrash at the shop to repair the car Friday night and a start from the rear. From there, Chandler drove all the way up to a third-place finish. That allowed him to expand his lead up to 35 points over new second-place driver Cole Custer.
Custer led laps early and finished eighth. Austin Hill was eliminated in a chain reaction crash on a lap 71 restart. As a result, he drops down to third. Jesse Love finished ninth and stays in fourth. Justin Allgaier won stage two and finished fifth. That boosted him up two places to fifth.
Riley Herbst crashed on the final lap and was credited with 25th. That dropped him one place to sixth. Parker Kligerman didn't have the best of nights, but managed to finish 12th and move up to seventh. AJ Allmendinger was eliminated in the same crash as Hill was and dropped two spots to eighth. Sammy Smith used pit strategy to get up front and stayed there, finishing seventh to stay in ninth. Sheldon Creed dropped back on the final restart to sixth, but the finish was still good enough to move up to 10th. Aric Almirola's victory moved him up eight places to 11th. However, he is ineligible for the playoffs since he missed three races. Anthony Alfredo holds onto 12th after finishing
15th. Shane van Gisbergen got roughed up a little, but finished 11th. That keeps him in 13th, but since Almirola is ineligible, he is the final driver in the playoffs on points at the moment. Van Gisbergen has a two-point lead over Brandon Jones, who got caught up in Herbst's crash, finished 27th and lost four
spots. Ryan Sieg crashed late and finished 17th, falling to 15th. Sam Mayer's second-place finish moved him up four places to 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 302, 2) Cole Custer -35, 3) Austin Hill
-41, 4) Jesse Love -76, 5) Justin Allgaier -79, 6) Riley Herbst -96, 7) Parker Kligerman -100, 8) AJ Allmendinger -110, 9) Sammy Smith -111, 10) Sheldon Creed -120, 11) Aric Almirola -142, 12) Anthony Alfredo
-144, 13) Shane van Gisbergen -146, 14) Brandon Jones -148, 15) Ryan Sieg -149, 16) Sam Mayer -163. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 16th in points. Playoff Points: 1) Chandler Smith 13, 2) Austin Hill -2, 3) Aric Almirola -5, 4) Jesse Love -10, t-5) Cole Custer -12, t-5) Justin Allgaier -12, t-5) Riley Herbst
-12, t-5) Parker Kligerman -12. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson and John Hunter Nemechek would be tied for fourth in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Riley Herbst 69, 2) Justin Allgaier -1, 3) Cole Custer -3, 4) Aric Almirola -15, 5) Chandler Smith -17, 6) Austin Hill -21, 7) Sam Mayer -25, 8) AJ Allmendinger
-29, 9) Jesse Love -31, 10) Sammy Smith -35, 11) Sheldon Creed -38, 12) Parker Kligerman -39, t-13) Ryan Sieg -49, 14) Ryan Truex -49, 15) Brandon Jones -56, 16) Anthony Alfredo -57. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 13th and Corey Heim 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith
276, 2) Austin Hill -33, 3) Cole Custer -43, 4) Jesse Love -56, 5) Parker Kligerman -73, 6) Justin Allgaier -88, 7) Sammy Smith
-89, 8) AJ Allmendinger -92, 9) Sheldon Creed -96, 10) Shane van Gisbergen -98, 11) Anthony Alfredo -102, 12) Brandon Jones -107, 13) Riley Herbst
-109, 14) Ryan Sieg -114, 15) Brennan Poole -124, 16) Jeremy Clements -129. Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 16th in Old
points.
WC Points (1-16): t-1) Chandler Smith 1177, 2) Austin Hill -114, 3) Cole Custer -157, 4) Jesse Love -202, 5) Parker Kligerman -268, 6) Justin Allgaier -312, 7) Sheldon
Creed -317, 8) Sammy Smith -320, 9) AJ Allmendinger -330, 10) Shane van Gisbergen -343, 11) Anthony Alfredo -370, t-12) Riley Herbst -380, t-12) Brandon Jones -380, 14) Ryan Sieg -405, 15) Parker Retzlaff -439, 16) Brennan Poole
-441. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas), Chandler Smith (Phoenix, Richmond), Kyle Larson (COTA), Aric Almirola (Martinsville) 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: Ty Majeski Claims Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim was strong at times Friday night, but fell back down the order late to finish 10th. Meanwhile, Ty Majeski led 66 laps from pole and finished second. That allowed him to retake the points lead. Majeski has a seven-point lead
over both Heim and Tyler Ankrum. Heim has the tiebreaker by virtue of his win at Circuit of the Americas. Ankrum finished fifth. Christian Eckes' dominant victory moved him up two places to fourth.
Taylor Gray is down one place to fifth despite finishing sixth. Nick Sanchez is up one place to sixth after a fourth-place finish. Rajah
Caruth slipped two places to seventh despite a seventh-place finish. Matt Crafton remains in eighth after finishing 12th.
Grant Enfinger had a pretty miserable night with a couple of spins and a 22nd-place finish. He remains in ninth. Ben Rhodes finished 14th and moved up to 10th. Rhodes is now the last driver in the playoffs on points. He has a six-point lead over Tanner Gray, who finished 16th and dropped a spot in points. Jake Garcia, despite being pile-driven from behind by teammate Cam Waters, moved up two places to 12th after finishing 21st. Daniel Dye is up to 13th after finishing 13th. Stewart Friesen and Bayley Currey are tied for 14th. Friesen had multiple incidents en route to 19th while Currey was 17th. moved up four places to 16th after finishing third. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ty Majeski 248, t-2) Corey Heim -7, t-2) Tyler Ankrum -7, 4) Christian Eckes -11, 5) Taylor Gray -36, 6) Nick Sanchez -39, 7) Rajah Caruth -40, 8) Matt
Crafton -75, 9) Grant Enfinger -94, 10) Ben Rhodes -100, 11) Tanner Gray -106, 12) Jake Garcia -123, 13) Daniel Dye -125, t-14) Stewart Friesen -128, t-14) Bayley Currey -128, 16) Chase Purdy -130. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 11th in points. Playoff Points: 1) Christian Eckes 13, t-2) Corey Heim
-7, t-2) Nick Sanchez -7, 4) Rajah Caruth -8, 5) Ty Majeski -11, t-6) Tyler Ankrum -12, t-6) Johnny Sauter -12. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be second in
playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Ty Majeski 93, 2) Tyler Ankrum -19, 3) Christian Eckes -28, 4) Nick Sanchez -48, 5) Corey Heim -53, 6) Ben Rhodes
-59, 7) Taylor Gray -61, 8) Grant Enfinger -67, 9) Rajah Caruth -69, 10) Matt Crafton -76, 11) Tanner Gray -78, 12) Stewart Friesen -79, t-13) Bayley Currey -80, t-13) Jake Garcia -80, t-13) Chase Purdy
-80, t-16) Kaden Honeycutt -83, t-16) Johnny Sauter -83.. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be fifth and Zane Smith 12th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 179, 2) Rajah Caruth -18, 3) Taylor Gray -22, 4) Christian Eckes -25, 5) Tyler Ankrum -33, 6) Nick Sanchez -35, 7) Ty Majeski -40, 8) Matt Crafton
-47, 9) Grant Enfinger -73, 10) Tanner Gray -74, 11) Ben Rhodes -88, t-12) Jake Garcia -89, t-12) Daniel Dye -89, 14) Bret Holmes -91, 15) Chase Purdy -95, t-16) Stewart Friesen -96, t-16) Bayley Currey
-96. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 15th in Old Points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 974, 2) Rajah Caruth
-76, 3) Taylor Gray -77, 4) Christian Eckes -91, 5) Tyler Ankrum -115, 6) Nick Sanchez -126, 7) Ty Majeski -129, 8) Matt Crafton -177, 9) Grant Enfinger -264, 10) Tanner Gray -270, 11) Ben Rhodes
-311, 12) Bret Holmes -315, 13) Daniel Dye -318, t-14) Jake Garcia -326, t-14) Chase Purdy -326, 16) Stewart Friesen -339. Race Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona), Kyle Busch
(Atlanta), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Bristol, Martinsville), 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 Cook Out 400 was brought to you by the Letter U for Unchanged. Martinsville Speedway was supposed to be one of the main tests for the new short track racing package for the NASCAR Cup
Series. It ended up being almost no different from last year as it was very difficult to pass. The total number of passes was similar to last year and the on-track product was nearly identical. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Cook Out 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"I just want to thank Chase [Elliott] for racing me clean there. Could get really physical at the end. He gave me a shot, which is expected. We all finish it off. "Just so proud of
everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. Grew up a big Hendrick fan. To be here for the 40th anniversary, all that goes into just this organization, all the people, it's all about the people. Just want to thank Mr. Hendrick and Linda and everyone involved. "It's pretty awesome. Bad ass to win at Martinsville. We've been struggling at the short tracks.
Just kept inching up on it. I got a great team. They just kept my head in it. It stunk to do a restart there at the end like that, but that's the way it goes." - William Byron, race winner "[The race was] pretty alright I guess. We had great track position from qualifying, so I was able to maintain that all race and get that
stage one win, which was great. We kind of just lost a few spots there in stage two and was never really able to overcome that small track position loss. "But William [Byron], he did a really good job. He was able to pass cars and they pitted a lap before we did during the green-flag cycle. I really thought that helped him carve his way to
the lead because his tires were just ready before ours were. He did a good job; kind of schooled us all and deserved to win. So that was really cool to see him win." - Kyle Larson, finished second "I just burnt the rear tires off of it a little bit too much. I
had an opportunity. I kind of got William [Byron] up off the bottom and I had a shot at him off of (turn) four, but I just couldn’t get the power down to get underneath him. Really cool for HMS to get a win on the 40th [anniversary] weekend. Wish it could have been us, but I am proud of a couple top fives these last couple weeks. We’ll try to keep it rolling." - Chase Elliott, finished
third
"Hats off to everybody at 23XI [Racing]. I appreciate all of the effort. We do a lot of stuff during the week, and I’m finally starting to understand that it all pays off. You’ve got to give the effort, because these guys are busting their ass. It is days like this that you
appreciate it. I appreciate all of these McDonald’s guys – and the men and women at the shop. We needed that. My Toyota was strong today. We lost a little bit on that last stop. We got too free, but all-in-all, I was content in finishing sixth, and that’s why you never give up. Top-five – good day, and we will go on to Texas." - Bubba Wallace, finished fourth "We got good at the end. It was an uphill battle for sure. We had the issue on pit road and had to restart in the back and nobody could pass anybody. Jonathan made a good call to put two on it at the start of the third stage and we kind of established ourselves a little bit back in the top 10. We were able to work on our car again once we got a little clean air and seeing what the car was doing and how to get it
better. After the green flag stop I was really fast. I passed a handful of guys. I was kind of shocked. I held on pretty good but stalled out when I got to [Denny Hamlin]. Overall, I am proud of the fight back from our group. Obviously not the first half of the race we wanted and we didn’t get any stage points, but I am proud of the fight and perseverance of the Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang No. 12 team. We will go on to Texas." - Ryan Blaney, finished fifth "It was a solid day. I think we got fifth or sixth place points in each stage, somewhere around there. We led a bunch of laps. We got out front, but the tire came apart at the end of that stage there, which cost us a stage win, unfortunately. We took that risk to do it and ended up in the same spot that we were going to be, so really no risk there. After
that, we kind of lost control of the race, and once that happened, once you lost the lead, nobody was going to pass anybody. The only car I saw passing was [Ryan Blaney]. That was pretty impressive. The rest of us just followed each other all day." - Joey Logano, finished sixth "From where we started – 19th – if you would have
told me that we would finish seventh with our MoneyLion Toyota Camry, I would’ve been really, really happy with that – so naturally this whole group is. We just had to chip away at it all day long. We didn’t do a good job in qualifying so that set us behind. It definitely seemed at the start of the race, our car was really, really strong and as we went on the handling kind of went away. It got harder and harder to pass, but we did the important stuff right. We didn’t make mistakes and we were
able to capitalize on others’ mistakes. We were on top of the strategy, so just really proud of everybody – Billy Scott (crew chief), this whole No. 45 team. The strategy call at the end got us four spots, that worked out nice. The day we needed to have." - Tyler Reddick, finished seventh "We were just trying to do
anything we could to steal one with our Sport Clips Toyota. We needed so many cars to do it – even still – the tires didn’t wear enough to matter. We saw when Joey [Logano] stayed out on those 80-lap lefts and led most of the stage. Tires didn’t wear, and we just struggled to pass all day. Once I came out of that cycle – third or fourth – that’s kind of just where I stayed." - Denny Hamlin, finished 11th 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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