Frontstretch Newsletter: April 29, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition LXII |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops today after an arrival back from Dover in the wee hours of the morning. Preparations are already underway for this weekend's racing in Kansas. We'll have entry lists and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
|
| Denny Hamlin Holds Off Kyle Larson for Dover
Win Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin led 136 laps Sunday and held off a late charge from Kyle Larson to win the Wurth 400 at Dover. Martin Truex Jr. was third, then Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott. |
|
| Kyle Busch Frustrated with Aero Blocking After 4th Place
at Dover Kyle Busch finished fourth in his best run of 2024. However, he was still frustrated with how his competitors were racing Sunday in Dover. |
|
| ‘Drive Like An A**’: Alex Bowman’s Dover Top 10 Not
Without Spotter, Radio Drama Alex Bowman finished eighth Sunday in Dover, but ended up angry during the race due to Kyle Larson blocking him. The situation led to Larson and Bowman's spotters having an argument on top of the spotter's stand. |
|
| Erik Jones Helping Corey Heim, No. 43 Team at Dover While
Out with Injury Erik Jones was forced to miss Dover with a back injury from his crash at Talladega. Despite that, he was in the pits Sunday, helping Corey Heim during his NASCAR Cup Series debut. |
|
| Corey Heim Comes Home 25th in Cup Debut at
Dover The grandmaster plan for Corey Heim Sunday in Dover was to run all the laps and learn all he could. He ended up three laps down in 25th, but he was under power at the finish and educated himself. |
|
| Kevin Harvick Announced as Kyle Larson’s Standby for
NASCAR All-Star Race During NASCAR RaceDay on FOX Sports 1 Sunday, Kyle Larson announced that Kevin Harvick will practice and qualify Larson's No. 5 for the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. |
|
| Ryan Truex Goes Back-to-Back at Dover After Double OT
Finish Ryan Truex passed Carson Kvapil on the final restart Saturday and held on to win the BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway for the second straight year. Kvapil was second, then Sam Mayer, Sheldon Creed and Cole Custer. |
|
| Carson Kvapil Misses Out on 1st Career Xfinity Win at
Dover In only his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start, Carson Kvapil came within a whisker of victory Saturday, but had to ultimately settle for second. |
|
| Justin Allgaier Frustrated with NASCAR’s Handling of Rain
Caution: ‘They Ruined a Fantastic Race’ JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier won stage two and was potentially in position to win late before rain, a late red flag and a crash dropped him to 17th. He was not happy afterwards. |
|
| Mason Maggio Back With RBR Reaume Brothers Racing announced Friday that Mason Maggio will rejoin the team on a part-time basis in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starting at Kansas. |
|
| Connor Zilisch Earns 1st ARCA Win at
Dover Connor Zilisch took the lead with 42 laps to go when contact with William Sawalich put the JGR development driver in the wall. From there, he held on to take his first career ARCA Menards Series win. Gio Ruggiero was second, then Carson Kvapil, Lavar
Scott and Andres Perez de Lara. |
|
| Christian Rose, Amber Balcaen Halt ARCA Dover Race with
Huge Crash The scariest moment in Friday's ARCA race was when Christian Rose blew a tire and pounded the wall exiting turn 4. Amber Balcaen spun to avoid Rose and went head-on into the inside wall. |
|
| Strategy Helps Scott McLaughlin & Will Power to Team
Penske 1-2 at Barber Pit strategy was the name of the game Sunday in Alabama. Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin rebounded from his St. Petersburg DQ to win the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. Teammate Will Power was second, then Linus
Lundqvist, Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou. |
|
| David Malukas Out at Arrow
McLaren Arrow McLaren SP announced Monday morning that David Malukas has been released from the No. 6 in INDYCAR, having never raced the car due to a training injury. |
|
| Georgina the Mannequin Falls From Grace at Barber
Motorsports Park Sunday's Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix will likely be best remembered for a strange instance on lap 52 when Georgina, a mannequin, fell off of the pedestrian bridge she was hanging onto and was clipped by eventual race winner Scott
McLaughlin. |
|
| Scott McLaughlin Leads Penske Charge at Barber After Tough
Week After the disqualification from St. Petersburg, Scott McLaughlin did everything as well as he possibly could, gaining 20 positions in points in the process after his victory. |
|
| Linus Lundqvist Plays Alternate Strategy for 1st IndyCar
Podium Linus Lundqvist finished a career-best third Sunday in Alabama after starting 19th. How was that possible? Fuel saving. |
|
| Josef Newgarden: “I Didn’t Know I Did Something Wrong in
St. Pete” On Friday, Team Penske's Josef Newgarden asserted in a press conference that he didn't realize that he was doing anything wrong in St. Petersburg in regards to his push-to-pass that ultimately resulted in his disqualification. |
|
| Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward Both Skeptical of Josef
Newgarden’s St. Petersburg Explanation Josef Newgarden's peers were able to hear and/or see his explanation for the push-to-pass scandal in St. Petersburg Friday in Alabama. Colton Herta, in particular, called shenanigans on it. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, James Black, Chris Jones, Chris Owens, Joe Skibinski and Karl Zemlin of Penske Entertainment, and our own Phil Allaway and Danny Peters. 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 26-28 |
- The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series was at Georgetown Speedway Friday night for the Melvin L. Joseph Memorial. Here, Ricky Thornton Jr. led flag-to-flag to take the win and a check for $19,049. Devin Moran was second,
then Garrett Alberson, Jonathan Davenport and Ross Robinson. Saturday night's Conococheague 50 at Hagerstown Speedway was cancelled due to
rain. The race will not be made up. Sunday saw the series move to Port Royal Speedway for the Battle in the Borough. The result was similar to Friday night as Thornton led flag-to-flag to win again and pick up $10,000. Mike Marlar was second, then Alberson, Davenport and Marlar. In the points, Thornton has a 95-point lead over Davenport. Moran is third, then Marlar and Hudson O'Neal. |
This is just a sampling of the 36 videos that we uploaded to our regular YouTube channel and our Open Wheel YouTube channel from Dover and Barber Park last weekend. For more from Dover, Barber
Park, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our suite of YouTube channels (including Frontstretch2) and don't forget to click the bells to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Nothing Changes at the Top in Dover
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson won stage two Sunday in Dover and came within a whisker of taking the victory. Martin Truex Jr. finished third and won stage one. Truex also had the most stage points (17), one more than Larson. As a result, nothing changes at the top of the point standings. Larson leaves Dover with the same 15-point lead over Truex that he entered the weekend with. Chase Elliott drove up from 29th to finish fifth and hold onto third. Denny Hamlin's third win of 2024 moved him up two places to fourth. Tyler Reddick finished 11th and stays in fifth. William Byron was eliminated in a late crash and dropped two spots to sixth. Ryan Blaney was the best Ford in eighth, good enough to keep seventh in points. Ty Gibbs finished 10th and stays in eighth. Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain are tied for ninth. Bowman wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his second-place finish in the Daytona 500. Bowman was eighth Sunday, while Chastain was 12th. Kyle Busch's fourth-place finish from pole moved him up six places to 11th. Chase Briscoe stays in 12th after a 19th-place finish. Joey Logano moves up two places to 13th after a 16th-place finish. Chris Buescher moved up to 14th after a quiet day. He is now the last driver in the playoffs on points. Buescher has a two-point lead on Bubba Wallace, who crashed out with Byron, costing him four places in points. Brad
Keselowski had a spin and a separate encounter with the wall. A 30th-place finish dropped him to 16th. Christopher Bell crashed out with Byron and Wallace, dropping four places to 17th. Daniel Suarez stays in 18th after an 18th-place finish. Austin Cindric remains in 19th,
while Carson Hocevar moved up to 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 410, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -15, 3) Chase Elliott -33, 4) Denny
Hamlin -49, 5) Tyler Reddick -56, 6) William Byron -62, 7) Ryan Blaney -68, 8) Ty Gibbs -87, t-9) Alex Bowman -102, t-9) Ross Chastain -102, 11) Kyle Busch -135, 12) Chase Briscoe -136, 13) Joey
Logano -144, 14) Chris Buescher -145, 15) Bubba Wallace -147, 16) Brad Keselowski -149. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Christopher Bell -152, 18) Daniel Suarez
-170. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Denny
Hamlin 17, 2) William Byron -2, 3) Kyle Larson -65, 4) Christopher Bell -10, t-5) Chase Elliott -11, t-5) Tyler Reddick -11, 7) Daniel Suarez -12, t-8) Ty Gibbs -15, t-8) Austin Cindric -15, t-8) Martin Truex Jr.
-15, t-11) Ryan Blaney -16, t-11) Ross Chastain -16, t-11) Joey Logano -16, t-11) Michael McDowell -16. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 128, 2) Denny
Hamlin -31, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -37, 4) Ryan Blaney -41, 5) Tyler Reddick -46, 6) Chase Elliott -49, 7) William Byron -66, 8) Christopher Bell -70, 9) Austin Cindric -72, 10) Bubba Wallace
-75, 11) Joey Logano -79, 12) Alex Bowman -84, 13) Ty Gibbs -85, t-14) Ross Chastain -87, t-14) Kyle Busch -87, 16) Brad Keselowski -89. Outside of the
top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -98, 18) Chase Briscoe -99, 22) Chris Buescher -109.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Martin Truex Jr. 357, 2) Chase Elliott -10, 3) Kyle Larson -22, 4) William Byron -23, 5) Ty Gibbs -28, 6) Tyler Reddick
-35, 7) Denny Hamlin -39, 8) Ross Chastain -47, 9) Ryan Blaney -52, 10) Alex Bowman -54, 11) Chris Buescher -64, 12) Chase Briscoe -65, 13) Kyle Busch -73, 14) Brad Keselowski -87, 15) Joey Logano
-88, 16) Bubba Wallace -97. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -100, 18) Christopher Bell -110.
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. 1571, 2) Chase Elliott -44, 3) Kyle Larson
-56, 4) William Byron -77, 5) Ty Gibbs -101, 6) Tyler Reddick -110, 7) Denny Hamlin -128, 8) Ryan Blaney -162, 9) Ross Chastain -169, 10) Alex Bowman -174, 11) Chris Buescher -220, 12) Chase Briscoe
-240, 13) Kyle Busch -243, 14) Brad Keselowski -264, 15) Joey Logano -288, 16) Bubba Wallace -312. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez
-339, 18) Christopher Bell -342. 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, Dover), Chase Elliott (Texas)
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: Cole Custer Eliminates Almost All of Chandler Smith's Lead
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith finished seventh Saturday in Dover, but failed to score any stage points. Meanwhile, Cole Custer could have won had the race been declared complete during the red flag for rain. He ultimately finished fifth with 18 stage points. That wiped out Chandler's points lead, leaving him with just a one-point advantage. Austin
Hill remains in third after a 15th-place finish. Jesse Love was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop that cost him two laps. He stays in fourth despite a 24th-place finish. Justin Allgaier won stage one, but a crash on the last lap dropped him to 17th. He stays in fifth, though. Riley Herbst remains in sixth, while
AJ Allmendinger is seventh. Sheldon Creed finished fourth and moved up two positions to eighth. Parker Kligerman is still in ninth after a 12th-place finish. Anthony Alfredo and Sammy Smith are tied for 10th. Alfredo wins the tiebreaker after finishing ninth and winning the final Xfinity Dash 4
Cash $100,000 prize of 2024. Sammy Smith crashed out late and finished 33rd. They are the last two drivers in the playoffs on points right now. They are 15 points ahead of Brandon Jones, who finished 19th after late contact. Despite that, he gained a spot in the points. Ryan Sieg's car caught fire early Saturday, resulting in a 37th-place finish
that dropped him to 13th. Sam Mayer is up to 14th after finishing third. Shane van Gisbergen dropped to 15th, while Brennan Poole is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 394, 2) Cole Custer -1, 3) Austin Hill
-17, 4) Jesse Love -57, 5) Justin Allgaier -81, 6) Riley Herbst -91, 7) AJ Allmendinger -99, 8) Sheldon Creed -117, 9) Parker Kligerman -133, t-10) Anthony Alfredo -147, t-10) Sammy Smith -147, 12) Brandon Jones
-162, 13) Ryan Sieg -169, 14) Sam Mayer -178, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -181, 16) Brennan Poole -198. Playoff Points: 1) Chandler Smith 13, 2) Austin Hill
-1, 3) Jesse Love -4, 4) Aric Almirola -5, t-5) Sam Mayer -8, t-5) Ryan Truex -8, 7) Justin Allgaier -9, 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 fifth in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 103, 2) Cole Custer -2, 3) Riley Herbst -3, 4) Austin Hill
-15, 5) Chandler Smith -23, 6) Jesse Love -35, 7) AJ Allmendinger -42, 8) Aric Almirola -49, 9) Sam Mayer -57, 10) Brandon Jones -58, t-11) Sheldon Creed -59, t-11) Parker Kligerman
-59, 13) Sammy Smith -62, 14) Ryan Sieg -67, 15) Ryan Truex -70, t-16) Parker Retzlaff -85. 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 354, 2) Cole Custer -14, 3) Austin Hill -19, 4) Jesse Love -39, 5) AJ
Allmendinger -76, t-6) Sheldon Creed -78, t-6) Anthony Alfredo -78, 8) Parker Kligerman -92, 9) Justin Allgaier -98, 10) Sammy Smith -105, 11) Riley Herbst
-108, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -110, 13) Ryan Sieg -123, 14) Brandon Jones -124, 15) Brennan Poole -127, t-16) Sam Mayer -138. WC Points (1-16): t-1) Chandler Smith 1539, 2) Cole Custer -55, 3) Austin Hill -67, 4) Jesse Love -145, 5) Sheldon Creed -253, 6) AJ Allmendinger -276, 7) Anthony Alfredo -290, 8) Parker Kligerman
-329, 9) Justin Allgaier -333, 10) Riley Herbst -370, 11) Sammy Smith -371, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -385, 13) Ryan Sieg -423, 14) Brandon Jones -433, 15) Brennan Poole -451, 16) Sam Mayer -453. 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) 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: Off-Week Update No. 4
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action May 4 with the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway. Christian Eckes will take a two-point lead in the standings to Kansas over Corey
Heim. Ty Majeski is third, then Nick Sanchez and Taylor Gray. At the playoff cutoff, Grant Enfinger in 10th is the last driver in the playoffs on points. He has a five-point lead over Daniel Dye. Ben Rhodes is 12th,
then Stewart Friesen and a tie for 14th between Bayley Currey and Jake Garcia. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 287, 2) Corey Heim -2, 3) Ty Majeski
-12, 4) Nick Sanchez -27, 5) Taylor Gray -38, 6) Tyler Ankrum -43, 7) Rajah Caruth -54, 8) Matt Crafton -92, 9) Tanner Gray -116, 10) Grant Enfinger -120, 11) Daniel Dye -125, 12) Ben Rhodes
-126, 13) Stewart Friesen -137, t-14) Bayley Currey -144, t-14) Jake Garcia -144, 16) Bret Holmes -156. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be eighth 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 leading the playoff points with 15. Stage Points: 1) Ty Majeski 93, 2) Christian Eckes
-11, 3) Tyler Ankrum -19, 4) Nick Sanchez -31, 5) Corey Heim -43, 6) Taylor Gray -53, 7) Ben Rhodes -59, 8) Grant Enfinger -62, 9) Rajah Caruth -69, 10) Stewart Friesen -73, 11) Layne Riggs
-75, t-12) Matt Crafton -76, t-12) Daniel Dye -76, 14) Tanner Gray -78, t-15) Chase Purdy -80, t-15) Bayley Currey -80, t-15) Jake Garcia -80. Note: If they were eligible for
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be fourth and Zane Smith 10th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 210, 2) Christian Eckes -26, 3) Taylor Gray -27, 4) Rajah Caruth
-28, 5) Nick Sanchez -35, 6) Ty Majeski -48, 7) Matt Crafton -60, 8) Tyler Ankrum -63, 9) Tanner Gray -80, 10) Daniel Dye -93, 11) Grant Enfinger -100, 12) Jake Garcia -106, 13) Stewart Friesen
-107, 14) Bayley Currey -108, 15) Ben Rhodes -110, 16) Bret Holmes -111. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 10th in Old Points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1144, 2) Christian Eckes -96, 3) Taylor Gray -101, 4) Rajah Caruth -119, 5) Nick Sanchez -126, 6) Ty Majeski -165, 7) Tyler Ankrum -224, 8) Matt Crafton
-229, 9) Tanner Gray -298, 10) Daniel Dye -338, 11) Grant Enfinger -358, 12) Stewart Friesen -385, 13) Bret Holmes -388, t-14) Jake Garcia -390, t-14) Bayley Currey -390, t-14) Jake Garcia -390. Race Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Texas), 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 our own Phil Allaway.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Wurth 400 was brought to you by the letter R for the Rear View Camera. For the general public, they're used for backing up and are required in every new car sold in the United States
today. In the NASCAR Cup Series, they are used to block and Kyle Larson doesn't like that at all. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Wurth 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"The winning moment was getting around him on that quick restart we had when we had that caution. He controlled the restart. I got a really good restart on the bottom, and that was a big moment to clear him before that caution came out. Similar to what happened with Chase [Elliott] at Texas, where I was controlling it – till I wasn’t, but the tides turned today, and I was
able to control the restart. Our Mavis Tire Toyota was just so good on the short run. I knew he was going to make a charge, but I just tried to hit my marks. As long as I hit my marks, I felt confident I could hold him off.
"[Chris Gabehart] challenged me to get at least one win in the next three weeks before the All-Star break to not be depressed. You are going to have to go out and do
that for me. I knew that these three tracks coming up – here, Kansas and Darlington – we can win them all." - Denny Hamlin, race winner
"It’s so easy as the leader to shut off the air to the guy behind you at a track like Dover, especially where it’s low on grip as the run progresses. I knew I was going to have an uphill battle once I lost the lead on that restart. I felt like if I
had gotten the lead, I could have maintained my run like I did in the second stage and hold those guys off. It was a good day to get a lot of points and all that, but I would have loved to win obviously. "It’s a little bit easier to pass here than some of the others. It’s just as hard to pass the leader, for sure. Like I said, it’s just so easy for them to
maneuver their car and shut off the air behind him. Yeah, [Denny Hamlin did] it. I don’t think he did anything special, but he was able to run in the middle of the racetrack and close me off on the top. If I ever pulled to the bottom, he could pull down and shut off my air. It’s just a product of the car and all that. We did what we could. I just wish I wouldn’t have given up the lead." - Kyle Larson, finished second
"I mean, at the end, yeah. In the middle of the race, losing the lead was the difference maker. Just lost the lead to [Kyle Larson] there. Once I got close to him, tried to start moving around, I got a little too tight. He was backing up. It just didn’t quite have what I needed to get by him. They all pounced on us, and we lost control of the race. Then I got the nose damage. Feel like we let one get away today. Had a really strong Bass Pro Camry. You
can’t lose control of these races mid stage like that. The track changes, you get behind. Man, just stinks. Overall, a good day. Just keep working on it." - Martin Truex Jr., finished third "I felt like today was a good day overall. There are still things to clean up but I’m proud of a top-five effort. It felt like if we would have restarted third, I
might have been able to keep pace maybe somewhere closer to the front. But starting where I did and having to race the 10 was difficult. I hate it for our guys that we didn’t get a better finish, but the FICO Camaro was good. Just struggled a bit on the long, long run." - Kyle Busch, finished fourth "I was really happy with our car, honestly. A couple of
moves here or there… I needed to just get myself a little further forward. But I’m really happy with the NAPA Chevy. We had a really solid day and it was fun. It’s always fun when you can pass your way to the front." - Chase Elliott, finished fifth
"I thought we qualified really well and then we kind of fell back there the first half of the race. We got really lucky with that caution
coming on the final green flag pit cycle, but the Miller Tech Mustang was good once we got some track position. It just took a little bit, but things fell our way and we were able to come home with a top 10 finish, finishing sixth. It wasn’t looking pretty there in the middle of the race, but I’m thankful things went our way and we were able to get that track position at the end." - Noah Gragson, finished sixth "I still thought we had like fourth to seventh-place potential all day, so I’m proud of the effort by everybody on this team for sticking with it. I really wanted to win one for Wurth. It’s a big race for those guys and they’re a great partner for us, but we just missed out. Hopefully, we can get a redemption shot next year if they do this again, but I appreciate the effort. It was a long day. To run 400 laps around this
place is tough and working on it all day, the 12 boys stuck with it so I appreciate their effort, Ford, Roush Yates, Menards and we’ll go to Kansas next week." - Ryan Blaney, finished seventh
"Yeah, I mean both front fenders are broke too from the deal on pit road, so I’m sure that didn’t help anything. We were really fast in the middle segment of the race. We were probably just a
little too tight on the top. I couldn’t rotate the bottom like I wanted to, but I was too free on entry to really free the car up. I could make a lot of pace up top, but it just hurt the tires pretty bad. "All-in-all, it was an OK day for our No. 48 Ally Chevy team. Eighth-place here [at Dover Motor Speedway] is pretty bad for me, but it was still a good points
day and a step in the right direction. It’s a little more consistent than we’ve seen, so hopefully we can keep plugging away at it." - Alex Bowman, finished eighth "It was definitely a lot different. I’ve been kind of saying it all weekend – a big change compared to what I’m used to. Really from the beginning to middle of the race, I felt like we had a
ton of speed. We kind of got messed up on the cycle there when the leaders pitted. I pitted a lap later and then the caution came out right away, which pinned us an extra lap down. We were beating the guys that finished 15th through 20th, so I think that’s kind of where we were supposed to end up – but that is part of racing. I’m super thankful to Legacy Motor Club for putting me in the Dollar Tree Petty 75 Camry this weekend and believing in me. I feel like we should have been six or seven spot
better, but it just didn’t work out that way." - Corey Heim, finished 25th
"You had the long ride over here on the golf cart to figure out what you want to say, and I guess turning 30, going to be a dad – you’ve got to be more mature. It’s a bummer. I hate it for our Xfinity, U.S. Air Force Toyota. Not the result we needed – back-to-back DNF’s. Bootie [Barker] said it perfect Monday.
I was pissed off and frustrated after Talladega – he said, we are going to have to grind our asses off for Dover – from practice, to qualifying, to the race. It’s not going to be pretty. I don’t think he meant that part – the wrecking out part was not going to be pretty, but we had to grind. I’m proud of the effort we put in every week, just unfortunate that we have no results to show for it. We will just go on to Kansas, where hopefully, we are not around any squirrels and go kick their ass." -
Bubba Wallace, finished 32nd (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.
|
|
|
|
