Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 16, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition CLXII |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops today after yesterday's race in Watkins Glen. We'll have entry lists for Watkins Glen and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
|
| Chris Buescher Uses Bump & Run to Beat Shane van
Gisbergen at Watkins Glen Chris Buescher put the bumper to Shane van Gisbergen on the final lap Sunday and held on to win the Go Bowling at the Glen for his first win of 2024. Van Gisbergen was second, then Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain and Zane Smith. |
|
| Spire Motorsports Gets All 3 Cars in Top 10 at Watkins
Glen Sunday was an exquisite day for Spire Motorsports. Carson Hocevar finished in a career-best third, Zane Smith was fifth and Corey LaJoie eighth, the first time that the team has put all three in the top 10 in the same race. |
|
| Connor Zilisch Scores 1st Xfinity Win in 2 OTs in 1st
Series Start Connor Zilisch, in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, was able to hold off the pack on a series of late restarts to win the Mission 200 at the Glen. Sheldon Creed was second for the 12th time. AJ Allmendinger was third, then Chandler Smith and Shane van
Gisbergen. |
|
| Connor Zilisch: Unreal For His
Age 2024 has shown that Connor Zilisch is an incredibly talented driver. Saturday was just the latest sign of his talent. |
|
| Connor Mosack Driving for Niece at
Bristol Niece Motorsports announced Monday that Connor Mosack will drive the No. 41 in Thursday night's UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bayley Currey will move to the part-time No. 44. |
|
| Alex Palou Clinches IndyCar Title, Colton Herta Wins in
Nashville Colton Herta was able to snatch the lead with less than 10 laps to go Sunday and held on to win the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix presented by Gainbridge. Patricio O'Ward was second, then Josef Newgarden, Kyle Kirkwood and Scott McLaughlin. Alex
Palou was 11th and won his third championship. |
|
| Scott McLaughlin’s Best IndyCar Oval Campaign Ends With
5th-Place Effort Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin was eliminated from championship contention the minute the green flag dropped Sunday, but he still had a good run to finish fifth and take third in the championship. |
|
| ‘They Write It as They Go’ — Santino Ferrucci Rebounds for
Nashville Top 10 AJ Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci finished sixth Sunday in Nashville, but not before he was given a penalty for passing below the yellow line, something that irritated him. |
|
| Conor Daly Ends 2024 IndyCar Season With Top-10
Finish Conor Daly did a fair amount to improve his odds of more regular rides in INDYCAR during his stint with Juncos Hollinger Racing. Sunday was no exception as he drove to a 10th-place finish. |
|
| Oscar Piastri Outduels Charles Leclerc For 26 Laps, Wins
Baku McLaren's Oscar Piastri ran down and took the lead from Charles Leclerc. He then held on to win the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan Sunday. Leclerc was second, then George Russell, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. |
|
| Connor Zilisch Scores Dominant Watkins Glen ARCA
Win Connor Zilisch stomped the field Friday evening, leading flag-to-flag to win the ARCA Menards Series General Tire 100 at Watkins Glen. William Sawalich was second, then Brandon Jones, Andres Perez and Connor Mosack. |
|
| Porsche Wins in Fuji, Moves Closer to Hypercar
Championship Porsche Penske Motorsport's Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor won the 6 Hours of Fuji Sunday for their second win of the FIA World Endurance Championship season. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Travis Hinkle, Chris Jones and Joe Skibinski of Penske Entertainment, Zack Silver and Ed Zurga of ARCA Racing and our own Phil Allaway. 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. 13-15 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent the weekend in California. For Buddy Kofoid, it was a good trip.
Friday night saw the series race at Bakersfield Speedway. Here, Kofoid spent the race battling hard with Giovanni Scelzi. The race was filled with crossovers and slide jobs, delighting the
fans.
Kofoid took the lead for good with eight laps to go and held for the win. He finished 1.797 seconds ahead of Scelzi. Carson Macedo was third, then Logan Schuchart and David Gravel. Saturday night saw the series move to Merced Speedway for the Federated Auto Parts Yosemite
Showdown. Here, Kofoid pulled off the quadrilateral. He was fastest in time trials, won his heat, won the Toyota Racing Dash, then led all 35 laps to win. Kofoid won for the fourth time in five races by .566 seconds over Tim Kaeding. Carson Macedo was third, then DJ Netto and Cole Macedo. Gravel finished 13th and saw his lead cut to 86 points over Carson Macedo. Donny Schatz is third, then Scelzi and Kofoid.
- The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series spent the weekend at Lernerville Speedway for the Commonwealth Clash. Friday night saw Corey Day move up from the third starting spot to battle hard at the front. Day was able to take
the lead away on lap 13, then pulled away to win by 4.5 seconds. Sye Lynch finished second, followed by Tyler Courtney and Anthony Macri. James McFadden was fifth. Saturday night saw the big money come out to play. Day was looking for the sweep and led
the first 17 laps. However, a mechanical failure sent him over the cushion and out of the race. Brent Marks took the lead as a result, but cut a tire shortly afterwards. Courtney inherited the lead and held off Lynch to win the $50,000 jackpot by 2.772 seconds. McFadden was third, then Tanner Thorson and Spencer Bayston. In the points, Brad Sweet continues to lead by 245 points over Courtney. Rico Abreu was third, then Marks and Day. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our suite YouTube channel from Watkins Glen, Nashville and South Boston last weekend. For more from Watkins Glen, Nashville, South Boston, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to
our suite of YouTube channels (Frontstretch, FS Open Wheel and Frontstretch Grassroots) and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future
videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Christopher Bell Takes Points Lead Despite 2 Spins
by Phil Allaway
Ryan Blaney entered the race with the lead, but his race lasted less than a lap before he got caught up in a crash exiting the Inner Loop. He ended up finishing 38th. Also caught up in the crash was Christopher Bell. He ended up spinning twice Sunday, but ended up 14th. That was
enough to give him the points lead. Bell's lead is three points over Austin Cindric, who moved up four places after finishing 10th. Joey Logano and Alex Bowman are tied for third. Logano moved up two places after finishing 15th, while Bowman finished 18th (Logano wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his Atlanta win). Daniel Suarez
is up four places to fifth despite spinning into the gravel, then recovering to 13th. Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott are tied for sixth. Reddick finished 27th after a spin and various issues, while Elliott was 19th. Blaney's DNF dropped him down to eighth. Kyle Larson is up one place to ninth after finishing 12th. William Byron
is down seven places to 10th after a wild crash in the closing laps. He would eventually finish 34th. Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs are tied for 11th. Briscoe was the highest finishing playoff contender and wiped out his losses from Atlanta. Gibbs finished 22nd. Gibbs and Briscoe are the last two drivers in the Round of 12 on points at the moment. They are six
points ahead of Denny Hamlin, who crashed twice and finished 23rd. Brad Keselowski dropped one place to 14th after crashing with Byron and finishing 26th. Martin Truex Jr. won stage two and gained points, but remains in 15th. Harrison Burton is down to 16th after a late tire failure. Outside of the playoffs, Ross
Chastain's fourth-place finish and a tie for the most points earned keeps him in 17th. He's eight points ahead of race winner Chris Buescher. Bubba Wallace is 19th, while Kyle Busch is 20th. Round of 16 Point Standings: 1) Christopher Bell 2089, 2) Austin Cindric
-3, t-3) Joey Logano -5, t-3) Alex Bowman -5, 5) Daniel Suarez -10, t-6) Tyler Reddick -16, t-6) Chase Elliott -16, 8) Ryan Blaney -17, 9) Kyle Larson -20, 10) William Byron -21, t-11) Chase Briscoe -40, t-11) Ty
Gibbs -40, 13) Denny Hamlin -46, 14) Brad Keselowski -52, 15) Martin Truex Jr. -54, 16) Harrison Burton -60. Round of 16 Owners Point Standings: 1) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 2089, 2) Team Penske No. 2
-3, t-3) Team Penske No. 22 -5, t-3) Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 -5, 5) Trackhouse Racing No. 99 -10, 6) Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 -15, 7) Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 -16, 8) Team Penske No. 12 -17, t-9) 23XI Racing No. 45 -21, 10) Hendrick Motorsports No. 24
-21, t-11) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 -40, t-11) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 -40, 13) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 -46, 14) RFK Racing No. 17 -52, 15) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 -54, 16) Wood Brothers Racing -60. Non-Playoff Point
Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 905, 2) Chase Elliott -15, 3) Kyle Larson -17, 4) Christopher Bell -65, 5) Ryan Blaney -95, 6) William Byron -99, 7) Denny Hamlin -122, 8) Brad Keselowski -134, 9) Ty Gibbs
-158, 10) Alex Bowman -160, 11) Ross Chastain -166, 12) Chris Buescher -174, 13) Martin Truex Jr. -178, 14) Bubba Wallace -208, 15) Joey Logano
-213, 16) Kyle Busch -281. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -286, 18) Chase Briscoe -290, 19) Austin Cindric -316, 34) Harrison Burton -559. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest: 17) Ross Chastain 739, 18) Chris Buescher -8, 19) Bubba Wallace
-42, 20) Kyle Busch -115, 21) Todd Gilliland -208, 22) Carson Hocevar -213, 23) Michael McDowell -226, 24) Josh Berry -258, 25) Noah Gragson -279, 26) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -285. 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-12) Martin Truex Jr. -35, 16) Ty Gibbs -36. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 258, 2) Denny Hamlin -16, 3) Ryan Blaney -46, 4) Christopher Bell -61, 5) Tyler Reddick -74, t-6) Chase Elliott -79, t-6) Martin Truex Jr. -79, 8) William Byron -80, 9) Brad Keselowski
-115, 10) Joey Logano -117, 11) Ty Gibbs -127, 12) Alex Bowman -131, 13) Bubba Wallace -140, 14) Austin Cindric -154, 15) Ross Chastain -163, 16) Chris Buescher -179. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 18) Chase Briscoe -188, 19) Daniel Suarez -192, 27) Harrison Burton -232.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 850, 2) Chase Elliott -15, 3) Ross Chastain -80, t-4) Christopher Bell -81, t-4) Chris Buescher -81, t-6) Kyle Larson -98, t-6) Brad Keselowski -98, 8) William Byron
-102, 9) Ty Gibbs -109, 10) Alex Bowman -117, 11) Ryan Blaney -132, 12) Bubba Wallace -147, 13) Denny Hamlin -162, 14) Joey Logano -172, 15) Kyle Busch -179, 16) Daniel Suarez -182. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Martin Truex Jr. -184, 18) Chase Briscoe -191, 21) Austin Cindric -247, 34) Harrison Burton -419.
Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 3840, 2) Chase Elliott -112, 3) Christopher Bell -260, 4) Chris Buescher -309, 5) Ross Chastain -326, 6) Brad Keselowski -344, 7) William
Byron -361, 8) Kyle Larson -366, 9) Ty Gibbs -389, 10) Alex Bowman -431, 11) Ryan Blaney -448, 12) Bubba Wallace -530, 13) Denny Hamlin -582, 14) Joey Logano -598, 15) Kyle Busch -613, 16) Martin Truex Jr.
-636. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -665, 18) Chase Briscoe -693, 20) Austin Cindric -874, 34) Harrison Burton -1414. 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), Chris Buescher (Watkins Glen)
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: Justin Allgaier Expands Lead Rough Day
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier had a rough day in Watkins Glen. He got stuck in the gravel and lost a lap, then spun in the Inner Loop. Despite that, he managed to finish 17th and expand his lead. The advantage is now 43 points over Cole Custer, who finished 20th. Chandler Smith finished fourth and stays in third. Austin
Hill was eliminated in a late crash and stays in fourth. AJ Allmendinger finished third and locks himself into the playoffs on points in fifth. Sheldon Creed finished second again Saturday and stays in sixth. Jesse Love has sole possession of seventh after finishing eighth. He is two points ahead of Riley
Herbst. Parker Kligerman finished seventh and stays in ninth. He's in good position to make the playoffs, but isn't locked in yet. Sammy Smith remains in 10th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Sammy has a
43-point lead over Ryan Sieg. Sieg was decent on Saturday, but got caught up in the crash on the final lap. He'll pretty much need to win Friday night in Bristol to make the playoffs. Shane van Gisbergen finished fifth and remains in 12th. Sam Mayer is 13th, then Brandon Jones, Anthony Alfredo and
Brennan Poole. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 901, 2) Cole Custer -43, 3) Chandler Smith -62, 4) Austin Hill -99, 5) AJ Allmendinger
-123, 6) Sheldon Creed -137, 7) Jesse Love -175, 8) Riley Herbst -177, 9) Parker Kligerman -197, 10) Sammy Smith -239, 11) Ryan Sieg -282, 12) Shane van Gisbergen
-295, 13) Sam Mayer -335, 14) Brandon Jones -387, 15) Anthony Alfredo -419, 16) Brennan Poole -470. 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)
Connor Zilisch -18, 12) Ryan Sieg -22, t-13) AJ Allmendinger -23, t-13) Sheldon Creed -23, t-13) 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 -85, 3) Riley Herbst -99, t-4) AJ Allmendinger
-101, t-4) Chandler Smith -101, 6) Austin Hill -106, 7) Sheldon Creed -146, 8) Jesse Love -171, 9) Sammy Smith -178, 10) Sam Mayer -183, 11) Parker Kligerman -191, 12) Brandon Jones
-206, 13) Ryan Sieg -210, 14) Aric Almirola -213, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -244, 16) Ryan Truex -248. 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 762, 2) Chandler Smith -16, 3) Austin Hill -34, 4) Sheldon Creed -39, 5) Justin Allgaier
-42, 6) Jesse Love -49, 7) Parker Kligerman -55, 8) AJ Allmendinger -70, 9) Shane van Gisbergen -104, 10) Sammy Smith -114, 11) Ryan Sieg -124, 12) Riley Herbst -133, 13) Sam Mayer
-197, 14) Anthony Alfredo -199, 15) Brandon Jones -237, 16) Brennan Poole -240. WC Points (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 3436, 2) Chandler Smith -57, 3) Sheldon Creed
-104, 4) Austin Hill -143, 5) Justin Allgaier -150, 6) Jesse Love -200, 7) Parker Kligerman -255, 8) AJ Allmendinger -271, 9) Shane van Gisbergen -390, 10) Sammy Smith
-416, 11) Riley Herbst -467, 12) Ryan Sieg -475, 13) Sam Mayer -661, 14) Anthony Alfredo -717, 15) Brandon Jones -827, 16) Brennan Poole -863. 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), Connor Zilisch (Watkins Glen) 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. 14
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.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Go Bowling at the Glen was brought to you by the Letter L for Letdown. Going into the race, the talk was all about the new tires and how they were going to revolutionize the on-track
product. That didn't really come to pass. Aside from the final lap, the race looked a lot like last year's race did. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Go Bowling at the Glen compiled by Phil Allaway
"That’s such a good BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang. This team is so great. Our long run speed was just phenomenal. I thought we lost it there on that last one and to stay right there with him. That was the spot he was better than us and he missed it, so I tried a crossover. He went to cut and just hard racing there. It’s just such an awesome finish. To be that good for so much at the end
of the race, all race, to get a win is good. We came here to be a spoiler and we’re gonna do that. "We would have liked to have won a couple weeks ago, but this is huge. It’s such a big win for us. Everybody at RFK has worked so hard and to finally get a road course win. We’ve been so close so many times and to finally pull that off is fantastic." - Chris
Buescher, race winner "Not hit the wall. I don’t know, it was a hard one. I gave him a little bump to get the spot, and I knew it was going to come back. So, I was just pushing the entries and trying to get away and just made an error. Pissed because these races are hard to win, and we have had a rough run in the Cup Series this year. The WeatherTech Camaro
was really good, fastest car all day, and it just didn’t work out." - Shane van Gisbergen, finished second
"I just needed some more confidence into turn one. I did everything right, all the way until turn one, and then I just lifted a little too early. When I lost leverage, it was just game over from there, but I had a really good shot for the win. We were last in practice with a bunch of issues.
I’m just super thankful that we were able to turn the weekend around for the No. 77 Mattress Warehouse Chevy team." - Carson Hocevar, finished third
"Once we had that caution at the end of stage two, it took us out of control of the race, for Shane [van Gisbergen] and I. I would have still been able to restart on the front row, and I messed up with passing [Brad Keselowski] with like 20 to go and
let [Carson Hocevar] get by me. It was just a driver error, and I messed up. Once he was back by me, I didn’t have enough to go back and pass him again. "It was so much fun to take our Busch Light Chevy and put it on the pole, and race with Shane, who has taught me so much in the last year. To be able to pace with him, in front, behind and all around, for about
three quarters of the race. Just fell off too much at the end, but we still had a shot. I saw Shane move [Chris Buescher] on the last restart and I thought, maybe they all crash, but was just stuck behind them." - Ross Chastain, finished fourth
"It was huge. It’s what we needed to do was to score stage points and run good in the race and we were able to do that. It was a really good, solid day for
our HighPoint.com Ford. I felt like I could have got a couple more points, but just didn’t want to risk it there at the end. I knew I was in a pretty good position compared to a lot of the field, so we did what we needed to do and now we just need to go do that same thing next week. We need to just hit singles and doubles and don’t do anything crazy. As long as we just execute all day long, it should be enough. We’ll just go on to Bristol and see what we can do." - Chase Briscoe,
finished sixth "I don’t know. That was our worst road course race that we’ve had in a very, very long time with our DeWalt Camry. That was disappointing, but ultimately if you would have told me that I’m going to come out of here with gaining on the points to the cutline, I would’ve taken it. It wasn’t pretty how we got there, but we got there and now we can go to
Bristol and relax a little bit more." - Christopher Bell, finished 14th
"You get green-white-checkered at the end of the race, and you know people are just going to drive through someone. We were on the wrong lane, on the short end of the stick as usual. We were in a decent spot there with our Reser’s Camry, and you go through the Esses, and they just plow through you and put you in the marbles.
This racing is just ridiculous." - Martin Truex Jr., finished 20th "It was just chaos. We got it pretty good there in the second stage. In the final stage, we made a long stop there and got pretty happy. Drove to around 11th on track, and then some of those guys still had to pit, so felt good about that. And then we came in and took tires and had to restart in the
20s, but it was going to work out I thought. And then those guys got connected together. I am not sure exactly what happened, but I was trying to get to the outside of [Joey Logano] and [Brad Keselowski]. kind of hooked back to the left. Glad we got some points in Stage two, that was helpful. We just have to go to Bristol and have a good weekend. This was just kind of a nightmare weekend." - William Byron, finished 34th "It just felt like it just snapped the axle. It sounded like it pulled the axle out of the transaxle, but there’s more that went off in there. It was violent. I’m just happy that I did catch the race car in front of everybody.. that was going to be big. "It’s disappointing. It’s hard to tell, but I thought the
initial first lap there, it felt like it fired off really well. The No. 13 Go Bowling Chevy, we’ll never know. It was a good weekend. I’m disappointed just because Go Bowling put their belief in me and put their product on the race car. I felt like we were going to at least have a shot at running up front and maybe win this thing. It’s just one of those years." - AJ Allmendinger, finished 36th (Broken Axle) "They didn’t give us a chance to fix it. How are they going to dictate if we are done or not? They have no idea of the damage. They said because I couldn’t drive it back to the pit box that we were done, but if you have four flats you get towed back to the pit box. You can’t drive that back. I don’t know what is going on or why they won’t give us a shot to work on it but I don’t agree with it. I don’t even know what happened, honestly.
We stacked up and I caught someone in the left front and it completely broke the steering. I don’t know if we could have fixed it. But that is the frustrating part, just didn’t even give us a chance and just ended our day without even letting us look at it before it is in the garage. It stinks." - Ryan Blaney, 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.
|
|
|
|
