Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 9, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition CLVII |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops today after yesterday's race in Atlanta. We'll have entry lists for Watkins Glen and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Joey Logano Advances in NASCAR Playoffs with Atlanta
Win Joey Logano snatched the lead from Daniel Suarez on the final restart and held on to win the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart in Atlanta. Suarez was second, then Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman. |
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| 23XI Racing, Front Row Don’t Sign 2025-2031 Charter
Agreement NASCAR issued a final charter proposal to teams Friday evening, then reportedly provided teams with only six hours to sign. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports did not sign the agreement. |
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| Playoff Drivers Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe Involved in
Violent Atlanta Crash Kyle Larson was running well early on Sunday, but his car suddenly lost control and went hard into the outside wall in turn 2. Chase Briscoe was eliminated in the crash as well. |
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| Alex Bowman Scores Atlanta Top 5 After Week of
Rumors Alex Bowman had to deal with unwanted questions last week after the rumor train ramped up. Sunday saw the Ally driver keep himself out of trouble and start the playoffs with a fifth-place finish. |
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| Indianapolis 500 Competitor Paul Goldsmith Dead at
98 The Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced Friday that former NASCAR and Indianapolis 500 competitor Paul Goldsmith has died at the age of 98. |
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| Austin Hill Sweeps Atlanta, Scores 3rd Xfinity Win of
2024 Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill took the lead with 12 laps to go and held the pack off to sweep Atlanta in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for 2024. Parker Kligerman was second, then AJ Allmendinger, Chandler Smith and Corey
Heim. |
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| Corey Heim Doesn’t Toe Toyota Line, Almost Wins
Atlanta Corey Heim was within a whisper of winning Saturday's Focused Health 250, but got squeezed into the wall on the last lap. Regardless, he still managed to finish fifth. |
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| Justin Mondeik Inks Truck Deal with Young’s
Motorsports Justin Mondeik announced Saturday that he will attempt to make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut for Young's Motorsports at Bristol. |
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| Tommy Milner, Alec Udell Claim 6th Win of 2024 at Barber
Park DXDT Racing's Tommy Milner and Alec Udell held off a late charge to win Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday. |
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| DXDT Racing Claims Unexpected Sweep at Barber
Park Conor Daly was forced to pit with a fuel pickup problem with six minutes to go Sunday. That allowed Tommy Milner and Alec Udell to take their seventh Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS victory in eight races. |
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| AutoTechnic Racing Wins Barber Park GT4 America Race No.
1 AutoTechnic Racing's Zac Anderson took the lead from John Capestro-Dubets with eight minutes to go and held on to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 1 at Barber Motorsports Park with Colin Garrett. |
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| The Heart of Racing Wins Attrition-Filled Barber GT4 Race
No. 2 The Heart of Racing's Roman DeAngelis and Grey Newell won Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 2 at Barber Motorsports Park Sunday after a huge wreck involved the better part of a third of the field. |
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| Jason Daskalos Wins Barber Park Race No. 1 Despite
Collision Justin Rothberg clipped the curb on the final lap Saturday and bounced into Jason Daskalos. Daskalos was able to maneuver around the stricken BMW to win GT America Race No. 1 at Barber Motorsports Park. |
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| Jason Daskalos Sweeps GT America at Barber
Park CRP Racing's Jason Daskalos led flag-to-flag Sunday to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Barber Motorsports Park. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, ISC Archives via Getty Images, Brian Cleary, Fred Hardy and Fabian Lagunas of SRO Motorsports Group and our own Bryan Nolen. 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: Sept. 6-8 |
- IMSA announced Monday morning that The Heart of Racing's No. 27 Aston Martin has been stripped of their second-place finish in the GTD class at VIRginia International Raceway on Aug. 25. In post-race inspection, the car was found to have non-homologated parts. Which part specifically was not stated in the penalty notice. Regardless, the team lost 150 driver and team points as a result of the move. Roman DeAngelis, who is the only full-time driver in the No.
27 this year, drops from sixth to eighth in GTD points as a result of the penalty. In addition, Aston Martin was fined $10,000 for the infraction. The parts that must be used on GT3 cars have to conform to homologation. The investigation came to the conclusion that the out of spec parts came directly from the manufacturer. - AO Racing announced Monday that Michael Christensen will join the team to drive alongside Laurin Heinrich in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Heinrich replaces Klaus Bachler, who will return to MDK Motorsports. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams spent last weekend in California. Friday night was the Stockton Showdown at Stockton Dirt Track. In Stockton, Buddy Kofoid nearly ended his night early when he got up on two wheels. However, he recovered and ran down Shane Golobic to take the lead on lap 15. From there, he held on to take his second straight win. Golobic held on for second, then Justin Sanders and Sheldon Haudenschild. David Gravel was
fifth. Saturday night saw the series move to Kings Speedway for the Tom Tarlton Classic, a race that commemorates the great uncle of Carson Macedo. Macedo made his family proud on this night. Macedo started from the pole and
led flag-to-flag to take his eighth win of the year in front of his hometown fans. Haudenschild was 1.161 seconds back in second, then Kofoid, DJ Netto and Gravel. In the points, Gravel continues to lead by 110 points over Macedo. Donny Schatz is third, then Giovanni Scelzi and Kofoid. - The dirt late model world was focused in on Eldora Speedway Saturday for the 54th Annual World 100. This was held after a memorial service for Scott Bloomqvist that attracted thousands to the track ahead of all the action. Dale McDowell, who would have been a teammate to Bloomqvist,
started from pole, but lost the advantage early to Garrett Alberson. Bobby Pierce was right there as well. In lapped traffic, Pierce and Alberson exchanged the lead multiple times before Pierce cleared him on lap 26. Pierce's time was ultimately short-lived as Jonathan Davenport took the lead.
Pierce got back past with 35 laps to go, then traded the lead again with McDowell. He made the pass for the lead stick with five laps to go and held on from there to win the trophy and $57,000. McDowell was third, then Davenport, Tim McCreadie and Devin Moran.
- The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series was at Port
Royal Speedway this past weekend for the Tuscarora 50. Friday night's action saw Aaron Reutzel go from fourth to the lead in less than three laps, then pull away to win by 2.877 seconds. Justin Whittall was second, then Chase Dietz, Brad Sweet and Brian Brown. Saturday night saw veteran Lance Dewease start from pole and lead early in the 50-lap feature.
However, Rico Abreu was there the whole time. Once Dewease got into lapped traffic, Abreu pounced to take the lead. For the remaining laps, Abreu kept up his pace and dodged lapped traffic to win the Tuscarora 50 and the winner's check for $58,500. TJ Stutts was second, then Anthony Macri, Logan Wagner and Whittall. In the points, Sweet continues to lead by 230 points over Abreu, who jumped over Tyler Courtney (Courtney finished 24th). Brent Marks is fourth, while Corey Day is fifth. |
This is just a sampling of videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channel from last weekend in Atlanta. For more from Atlanta, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our suite of YouTube channels (Frontstretch, FS Open
Wheel, Frontstretch Grassroots) and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Ryan Blaney Recovers From Bodyslam, Snatches Lead
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson ran well early on Sunday in Atlanta. That is until he lost control on lap 55 and went hard into the wall, ending his day on the spot. Larson's 37th-place finish was costly. Despite getting caught up in a crash on lap 205, Ryan Blaney recovered to
finish third. That was more than enough to give him the points lead. Blaney has a five-point lead over Christopher Bell, who finished fourth to stay second. Tyler Reddick and William Byron are tied for third. Reddick wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his sixth-place finish over Byron's ninth. Joey Logano's victory moved him up from a tie for
ninth to fifth. Alex Bowman and Austin Cindric are tied for sixth. Bowman moved up from a tie for 12th with a fifth-place finish that gives him the tiebreaker. Cindric won stage two, led the most laps and finished 10th. Chase Elliott dropped one place to eighth after an eighth-place finish. Daniel Suarez moved up two places to
ninth after finishing second. Larson's early crash dropped him all the way down to 10th. Denny Hamlin rode around all day and crashed on the last lap. His 24th-place finish dropped him five places to 11th. Ty Gibbs faded late and finished 17th, moving him up to 12th from a tie for 15th. Gibbs is the last driver in the Round of 12 on points at the moment. He has
a one-point lead over Brad Keselowski, who finished 19th and dropped down to 13th. Harrison Burton is 14th after crashing on the last lap. Martin Truex Jr. was in the same incident with Blaney and ended up with suspension issues. A 35th-place finish puts him 15th. Chase Briscoe was eliminated in Larson's crash and is 16th. Outside of the playoffs, Ross Chastain finished 13th despite hitting the wall on the final lap and moved up to 17th. He is five points ahead of Chris Buescher, who crashed out in the same wreck with Blaney and Truex. Bubba Wallace dropped to 19th after crashing on the final lap, while Kyle Busch is 20th. Round of 16 Point Standings: 1) Ryan Blaney 2071, 2) Christopher Bell -5, t-3) Tyler Reddick -12, t-3) William Byron -12, 5) Joey Logano -17, t-6) Alex Bowman -18, t-6) Austin Cindric -18, 8) Chase Elliott
-21, 9) Daniel Suarez -28, 10) Kyle Larson -30, 11) Denny Hamlin -43, 12) Ty Gibbs -44, 13) Brad Keselowski -45, 14) Harrison Burton -60, 15) Martin Truex Jr. -63, 16) Chase Briscoe -65. Round of 16 Owners Point Standings: 1) Team Penske No. 12 2071, 2) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 -5, 3) Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 -12, t-4) Team Penske No. 22 -17, t-4) 23XI Racing No. 45 -17, t-6) Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 -18, t-6) Team Penske No. 2
-18, 8) Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 -21, 9) Trackhouse Racing No. 99 -23, 10) Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 -25, 11) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 -43, 12) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 -44, 13) RFK Racing No. 6 -45, 14) Wood Brothers Racing -60, 15) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19
-63, 16) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 -65.
Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 891, 2) Chase Elliott -24, 3) Kyle Larson -31, 4) Christopher Bell -74, 5) Ryan Blaney -82, 6) William Byron
-94, 7) Denny Hamlin -123, 8) Brad Keselowski -131, 9) Ty Gibbs -166, 10) Alex Bowman -177, 11) Martin Truex Jr. -191, 12) Ross Chastain -195, 13) Chris Buescher -200, 14) Bubba
Wallace -214, 15) Joey Logano -229, 16) Kyle Busch -274.
Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -303, 18) Chase Briscoe -319, 19) Austin Cindric -335, 34)
Harrison Burton -563. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest: 17) Ross Chastain 696, 18) Chris
Buescher -5, 19) Bubba Wallace -19, 20) Kyle Busch -79, 21) Todd Gilliland -186, 22) Carson Hocevar -204, 23) Michael McDowell -213, 24) Josh Berry -227, 25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -243, 26) Noah Gragson -262. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 40, 2) Christopher Bell -8, 3) Tyler Reddick -12, 4) William Byron -18, 5) Ryan Blaney -21, 6) Denny Hamlin -25, 7) Chase Elliott -26, 8) Joey Logano
-28, t-9) Brad Keselowski -32, t-9) Austin Cindric -32, 11) Daniel Suarez -34, t-12) Alex Bowman -35, t-12) Chase Briscoe -35, t-12) Harrison Burton -35, t-15) Ty Gibbs -36, t-15) Martin Truex Jr. -36. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 255, 2) Denny Hamlin -14, 3) Ryan Blaney -43, 4) Christopher Bell -58, 5) Tyler Reddick -75, 6) Chase Elliott -81, 7) William Byron -83, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -86, 9) Brad
Keselowski -112, 10) Joey Logano -122, 11) Ty Gibbs -131, 12) Bubba Wallace -137, 13) Alex Bowman -140, 14) Austin Cindric -157, 15) Ross Chastain -170, 16) Chris Buescher -176. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 19) Daniel Suarez -196, 20) Chase Briscoe -197, t-27) Harrison Burton -234. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 836, 2) Chase Elliott -23, 3) Christopher Bell -94, 4) William Byron -95, 5) Brad Keselowski -99, 6) Ross Chastain -105, 7) Chris Buescher
-111, 8) Kyle Larson -113, 9) Ty Gibbs -114, 10) Ryan Blaney -121, 11) Alex Bowman -127, 12) Bubba Wallace -157, 13) Denny Hamlin -166, 14) Kyle Busch -176, 15) Joey Logano -185, 16) Martin Truex Jr. -192. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -196, 18) Chase Briscoe -212, 21) Austin Cindric -264, 34) Harrison Burton -422.
Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before
stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 3758, 2) Chase Elliott -136, 3) Christopher Bell -299, 4) William Byron -340, 5) Brad Keselowski -347, 6) Ty Gibbs
-404, 7) Chris Buescher -407, 8) Kyle Larson -411, 9) Ross Chastain -414, 10) Ryan Blaney -415, 11) Alex Bowman -463, 12) Bubba Wallace -560, 13) Denny Hamlin -594, 14) Kyle Busch -604, 15) Joey Logano
-639, 16) Martin Truex Jr. -662. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -707, 18) Chase Briscoe -761, 21) Austin Cindric -926, 34) Harrison Burton -1423. Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona-1, COTA, Martinsville), Daniel Suarez (Atlanta-1), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Kansas, Sonoma, Indianapolis),
Christopher Bell (Phoenix, Charlotte, Loudon), Denny Hamlin (Bristol, Richmond-1, Dover), Chase Elliott (Texas), Tyler Reddick (Talladega, Michigan), Brad Keselowski (Darlington-1), Austin Cindric (Gateway), Ryan Blaney (Iowa, Pocono), Joey Logano (Nashville, Atlanta-2), Alex Bowman (Chicago), Austin Dillon (Richmond-2), Harrison Burton (Daytona-2), Chase Briscoe (Darlington-2)
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: Justin Allgaier Expands Lead Despite Crash
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier won a stage Saturday and appeared to have the best car. Then, he had contact with Cole Custer entering turn 3 which cut a tire and triggered a crash that put him out. Allgaier finished 30th, but scored more stage points. As
a result, Allgaier extended his advantage to 34 points over Custer, who was also eliminated in the crash and finished 31st. Chandler Smith finished fourth and moved up one place to third. Austin Hill's victory keeps him in fourth, but he made up significant ground on his rivals. AJ Allmendinger is one place to fifth after a
third-place finish. Allmendinger jumped over Sheldon Creed, who ended up 25th. Riley Herbst and Jesse Love are now tied for seventh. Herbst was eliminated in the same crash as Custer and Allgaier, while Love finished sixth. Parker Kligerman remains in ninth after finishing second. Sammy Smith
finished seventh and stays in 10th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. The advantage is 44 points over Ryan Sieg, who crashed out in the Allgaier crash. He has been outscored 83-24 by Sammy in the last two weeks. Shane van Gisbergen is still in 12th. Sam Mayer crashed out again Saturday and remains in 13th.
Brandon Jones finished ninth after stays in 14th. Anthony Alfredo is 15th and Brennan Poole 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 866, 2) Cole Custer -34, 3) Chandler Smith
-67, 4) Austin Hill -71, 5) AJ Allmendinger -122, 6) Sheldon Creed -143, t-7) Riley Herbst -173, t-7) Jesse Love -173, 9) Parker Kligerman -192, 10) Sammy Smith -222, 11) Ryan
Sieg -266, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -292, 13) Sam Mayer -324, 14) Brandon Jones -361, 15) Anthony Alfredo -387, 16) Brennan Poole -449. Playoff Points: 1) Justin Allgaier
24, 2) Austin Hill -6, 3) Shane van Gisbergen -7, 4) Chandler Smith -9, 5) Sam Mayer -13, 6) Ryan Truex -14, 7) Jesse Love -15, t-8) Cole Custer -16, t-8) Aric Almirola -16, 10) Riley
Herbst -17, 11) Ryan Sieg -22, t-12) AJ Allmendinger -23, t-12) Sheldon Creed -23, t-12) Parker Kligerman -23. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek and Christopher Bell would be tied for fifth in playoff points, while Kyle Larson and Chase
Elliott would be tied for 13th and Ty Gibbs tied for 15th. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 282, 2) Cole Custer -80, 3) AJ Allmendinger -86, 4) Riley Herbst -91, 5) Chandler Smith
-93, 6) Austin Hill -94, 7) Sheldon Creed -137, 8) Jesse Love -160, 9) Sammy Smith -163, 10) Sam Mayer -175, 11) Parker Kligerman -176, 12) Brandon Jones -191, 13) Ryan Sieg
-199, 14) Aric Almirola -206, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -229, 16) Ryan Truex -233. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 15th and Ty Gibbs 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 741, 2) Austin Hill -21, 3) Chandler Smith -32, 4) Justin Allgaier -45, 5) Sheldon Creed -57, 6) Jesse Love -61, 7) Parker
Kligerman -68, 8) AJ Allmendinger -88, 9) Sammy Smith -115, 10) Shane van Gisbergen -120, 11) Ryan Sieg -122, 12) Riley Herbst -140, 13) Anthony Alfredo -185, 14) Sam Mayer -198, 15) Brandon Jones
-229, 16) Brennan Poole -237. WC Points (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 3331, 2) Austin Hill -102, 3) Chandler Smith -112, 4) Justin Allgaier -157, 5) Sheldon Creed
-169, 6) Jesse Love -237, 7) Parker Kligerman -296, 8) AJ Allmendinger -336, 9) Sammy Smith -417, 10) Shane van Gisbergen -445, 11) Ryan Sieg -467, 12) Riley Herbst -486, 13) Sam Mayer -664, 14) Anthony
Alfredo -673, 15) Brandon Jones -801, 16) Brennan Poole -852. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, Atlanta-1, Atlanta-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas, Nashville), Chandler Smith (Phoenix, Richmond), Kyle Larson (COTA), Aric Almirola (Martinsville), Sam
Mayer (Texas, Iowa), Jesse Love (Talladega), Ryan Truex (Dover, Daytona-2), Justin Allgaier (Darlington-1, Michigan), Chase Elliott (Charlotte), Shane van Gisbergen (Portland, Sonoma, Chicago), Christopher Bell (Loudon, Darlington-2), Cole Custer (Pocono), Riley Herbst (Indianapolis) 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: Off-Week Update No. 13
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 19.
When the playoffs resume, Christian Eckes will have a 16-point lead over Ty Majeski. Corey Heim is third, then Nick
Sanchez and a tie for fifth between Taylor Gray and Tyler Ankrum.
At the cutoff, Grant Enfinger currently has the last spot in the Round of 8 on points. He is two points ahead of Ben Rhodes and four ahead of Rajah Caruth. Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) Christian Eckes 2090, 2) Ty Majeski -16, 3) Corey Heim -19, 4) Nick Sanchez -26, t-5) Taylor Gray -47, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -47, 7) Daniel Dye
-51, 8) Grant Enfinger -58, 9) Ben Rhodes -60, 10) Rajah Caruth -62. Best of the Rest: 11) Tanner Gray 436, 12) Layne Riggs -31, t-13) Matt Crafton -41, t-13) Stewart Friesen
-41, 15) Chase Purdy -67, 16) Jake Garcia -87, 17) Dean Thompson -102, 18) Ty Dillon -109, 19) Bayley Currey -141, 20) Bret Holmes -151.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes
779, 2) Corey Heim -96, 3) Ty Majeski -150, 4) Nick Sanchez -187, t-5) Grant Enfinger -249, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -249, 7) Rajah Caruth -268, 8) Taylor Gray -269, 9) Ben Rhodes -310, 10) Daniel Dye -322, 11) Tanner Gray
-343, 12) Layne Riggs -374, t-13) Matt Crafton -384, t-13) Stewart Friesen -384, 15) Chase Purdy -410, 16) Jake Garcia -430.
Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim
41, 2) Christian Eckes -2, 3) Ty Majeski -18, 4) Nick Sanchez -23, 5) Rajah Caruth -32, t-6) Grant Enfinger -34, t-6) Tyler Ankrum -34, 8) Taylor Gray -38, 9) Ben Rhodes -39, 10) Daniel Dye -40. Round of 10 Owners Point Standings: 1) McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 19 2090, 2) ThorSport Racing No. 98 -16, 3) TRICON Garage No. 11 -19, 4) Rev Racing -26, 5) McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 18 -47, 6) TRICON Garage No. 17 -48, 7) CR7 Motorsports No. 9
-58, 8) Niece Motorsports No. 45 -60, 9) Spire Motorsports No. 71 -62, 10) Spire Motorsports No. 7 -67. Stage Points: 1) Christian Eckes 236, 2) Ty Majeski -47, 3) Corey Heim -64, 4) Tyler Ankrum
-110, 5) Nick Sanchez -127, 6) Grant Enfinger -134, 7) Ben Rhodes -149, 8) Layne Riggs -152, 9) Taylor Gray -154, 10) Rajah Caruth -158, 11) Daniel Dye -161, 12) Stewart Friesen -186, 13) Tanner Gray
-189, 14) Kaden Honeycutt -193, 15) Chase Purdy -194, 16) Matt Crafton -197. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 12th and Zane Smith 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 495, 2) Corey Heim -39, 3) Nick Sanchez -73, 4) Ty Majeski -110, 5) Rajah Caruth -128, 6) Grant Enfinger -129, 7) Taylor Gray -130, 8) Tyler Ankrum
-152, 9) Tanner Gray -170, 10) Ben Rhodes -179, 11) Daniel Dye -180, 12) Matt Crafton -207, 13) Stewart Friesen -216, 14) Chase Purdy -230, 15) Layne Riggs -239, 16) Jake Garcia -242. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 2742, 2) Corey Heim -171, 3) Nick Sanchez -288, 4) Ty Majeski -402, 5) Grant Enfinger -478, 6) Taylor Gray -485, 7) Rajah Caruth -507, 8) Tyler Ankrum
-561, 9) Tanner Gray -662, 10) Ben Rhodes -666, 11) Daniel Dye -677, 12) Matt Crafton -768, 13) Stewart Friesen -797, 14) Chase Purdy -826, 15) Layne Riggs -849, 16) Jake Garcia -891. Race Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Texas), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Bristol, Martinsville, Nashville), Corey Heim (COTA, Kansas, North Wilkesboro, Gateway, Pocono), Ross Chastain (Kansas), Ty Majeski (Lucas Oil IRP), Layne Riggs (Milwaukee)
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 Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart was brought to you by the letter P for Push. You weren't really going anywhere Sunday without one. Some drivers, like Erik Jones, could make outside moves with
minimal help, but that was the exception to the norm. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart compiled by Phil Allaway
"We didn’t last year and it hurt a lot, but they just give me really fast cars on superspeedways and we always find ourselves towards the front of them, we just end up wrecking more times than not. So, to be able to finally capitalize on a fast race car and win here in Atlanta again, I lived right over there in condo 805 for a long time, waking up dreaming of just racing on this racetrack,
so pulling into Victory Lane here is always a special one. We had such a really good team here today. It’s awesome to get Autotrader into Victory Lane and the JL Kids Crew are here today, so it’s really cool to finally win with them here." - Joey Logano, race winner "No, definitely not satisfied. I am happy with it, but not satisfied. I lost my pusher, my teammate. He
was doing a great job, and I felt like we were going to have a great shot at it. Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough. But, that is part of racing, right? "I can’t thank everyone enough; Trackhouse Racing, all the men and women. I have to give a shout out here
to the race track and Quaker State for helping me design this amazing race car. It was nice to run strong today, but when you are that close and obviously we had a good shot, it’s never too fun." - Daniel Suarez, finished second "Honestly, I can’t believe we got back up to where we did. The 12 boys did a really good job of fixing it. I’m surprised it didn’t have more
damage than what it did. From my seat, I got drilled in the left-rear, or the door I guess where it hit me, and then the right-rear got off the fence. I didn’t know how damaged we were, but I was able to carve up through traffic and kind of get through the middle pretty good. I’m really proud of the effort. I had a thought of going three-wide on the frontstretch and I’m like, ‘Man, this is gonna be tight and we’ve already had a really good day going, great points and all that stuff,’ so third is
a really good day. I appreciate Dent Wizard doing what they do, Menards, Advance Auto Parts, DEX Imaging, the Wurth group, Discount Tire. We’ll move on to Watkins Glen. I’m really happy. Like I said, this thing looks ugly, but a really good finish so I’m proud of the effort by everybody." - Ryan Blaney, finished third "I’ll take it. To walk out of here with a top-five
in probably our worst track on the schedule – that was really good and I’m proud of the effort on this Rheem Camry. We had a lot to overcome with a bad qualifying run, and then really bad pit stall selection. There was a lot of adversity that we had to fight through, and that was a freaking blast. It was so much fun. The whole race was super intense, and everybody did a good job not to wreck more." - Christopher Bell, finished fourth "It was obviously a really good points day and a good day, overall, after the last month of so. Made a couple of moves there during that third-to-last run that just cost us a lot of track position, and we had to restart 13th there that second-to-last run. Obviously got a lot of it back, but couldn’t get it all back. I would have much rather been sitting in victory lane, but I just didn’t put myself
in the best position at the end to be able to do that. "We had a great No. 48 Ally Chevy. It drove great all day. Little bummed, but definitely a good day for this team." - Alex Bowman, finished fifth
"Our Jordan Brand Toyota Camry was really, really good in certain aspects of the
race, but in others – we were a little bit off. It is what it is. I think considering the highs and lows of the day, and the unfortunate circumstances of [Daniel Suarez] being behind us – and [Joey Logano] being in front of me – just being boxed in most of the day on pit road. We didn’t even have green flag stops, so getting boxed in almost every time really hurt us." - Tyler Reddick, finished sixth
"No, we needed to win. We started pretty far off with the No. 8 Global Industrial Camaro, but we really worked on it. The guys made some good adjustments and got it to where it was driving really good. Definitely the second-half of the race and the final stage, I felt really positive about it. But then we had to go into fuel-save mode, so we weren’t really able to kind of stretch our legs there. Just played the way the cards were dealt
and we came home with a top 10. Certainly felt like we had a shot to win. Felt as good, or better, than [Daniel Suarez], so I was just hopeful that we could keep that track position. Just lost a little bit too much there on that second-to-last restart." - Kyle Busch, finished seventh "I didn’t do a good job blocking, and I take responsibility of not finishing great at
all. It is my fault, but I’m glad we finished the race and got some points. It is definitely frustrating. We were up there, and didn’t finish it well, but it is part of it. I’m just glad we can walk out of this place with a good points day with our He Gets Us Camry." - Ty Gibbs, finished 17th
"I thought at the very end we got the Mavis Tire Camry kind of where it needed to be, but by then, you
were kind of dealing with a log jam of a couple of lanes that are kind of blocking things and you couldn’t go much of anywhere, so I just tried to avoid the wrecks. I was trying to get 20 points out of the day. That was my goal – just get 20 however we could, obviously, starting in the back didn’t help with that. We did the best we could, and then got in a wreck that probably cost us eight to 10 spots or so." - Denny Hamlin, finished 24th "I’m OK. Thankfully everything held up well inside the car. That was a huge hit. I’m not really sure what caused it. I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner. And then I was pretty far around the corner and it just stepped out. I don’t know.. it all just happened really fast." - Kyle Larson, finished 37th (Crashed out) "That’s NASCAR. You can be on top one week and you can be at the very bottom of the mountain the next week. It’s unfortunate. I thought our car was an adjustment away from being pretty good. We weren’t very good at all balance-wise and I still felt like I was able to kind of run right there around the seventh to 12th-place guys. I was watching my outside getting into one because somebody kept trying to
get to my outside and was probably a little late just trying to see [Kyle Larson] wrecking. I didn’t expect anybody to wreck because they weren’t really two-wide, and then I saw the smoke and tried slowing down. I knew he was coming down the racetrack and just kept trying to feed the thing left and slow it down and I couldn’t get left quick enough and then he kind of started sliding back down the track at the very last minute, so I tried to turn back right to avoid him and just KO’d him. It was
a big hit. One of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time. I’m glad I’m alright and we just have to go win. That’s what we had to do at Darlington and I know we’re capable of doing it again, so we’ll just have to go to Watkins Glen and Bristol and try to do the same." - Chase Briscoe, finished 38th (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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