Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 23, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition CLVII |
- NASCAR teams are back at their shops today after Saturday night's race in Bristol. We'll have entry lists for Kansas and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Kyle Larson Dominates at Bristol for 5th Cup Win of
2024 Kyle Larson eviscerated the field Saturday night, leading 462 of 500 laps to win the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Chase Elliott was second, then Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell. |
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| IndyCar Starting Charter
System INDYCAR announced Monday morning that a charter system has been enacted for the NTT IndyCar Series, effective immediately. |
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| No Championship for Martin Truex Jr. in Final Full-Time
Season For about two-thirds of the race Saturday night, Martin Truex Jr. was doing enough to advance. However, a speeding penalty during the final stop under caution doomed him to finish 24th. |
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| No Rear-View Camera, No Problem for Chase Briscoe in
Stellar Bristol Race Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe had his share of issues Saturday night in Bristol. Despite that, he was able to race up to an eighth-place finish and lock himself into the Round of 12. |
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| Cole Custer Wins Bristol, Steals Xfinity Regular Season
Title Cole Custer recovered from a flat tire in the opening laps to win the Food City 300 Friday night. Sheldon Creed was second, then Chandler Smith, Jesse Love and Ryan Truex. |
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| Justin Allgaier’s Crash Opened the Door, Cole Custer
Slammed It Shut It seemed like Justin Allgaier was going to be able to easily cruise to the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season championship Friday night. However, a wreck opened the door just a little bit and Cole Custer drove right through
it. |
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| Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Full Season in 1
Race Inside of the race car, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Friday night was a bit of a mess. Despite radio issues and not being able to see very well after a helmet change, he still managed to finish seventh. |
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| Lando Norris Cruises to the Win in
Singapore McLaren's Lando Norris led flag-to-flag Sunday to win the Grand Prix of Singapore. Max Verstappen was second, then Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Charles Leclerc. |
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| BMW M Team RLL Scores 1-2 Finish at
Indianapolis Philipp Eng took the lead from Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global's Louis Deletraz with 47 minutes to go Sunday and held on to win the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks in Indianapolis. |
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| CarBahn Motorsports Wins IMS 120 on Fuel
Mileage CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing's Jeff Westphal managed to make his fuel hold out for the final 70 minutes to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 Saturday with Sean McAlister. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via James Gilbert of Getty Images, James Black of Penske Entertainment, Joe Portlock of Getty Images 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. 20-22 |
- Last weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series was in Tulare, Calif. for the Dennis Roth Classic, two nights of racing at Thunderbowl Raceway.
Friday night saw the lead swapped between four different drivers in the early laps. However, points leader David Gravel came to the front from sixth on the
grid with a pass of Logan Schuchart on lap 19. From there, Gravel held on for his 14th win of the year.
Schuchart ended up second, 3.938 seconds back. Buddy Kofoid was third, then Sheldon Haudenschild and DJ Netto. Saturday night was the main show in
Tulare. Carson Macedo won the Toyota Racing Dash to get the pole for the feature. He then led flag-to-flag to win the Dennis Roth Classic and a check for $83,000. Kofoid ended up second, 1.515 seconds back. Haudenschild was third, then Gravel and Shane Golobic.
Through 57 races, Gravel
continues to lead the points by 90 over Macedo. Donny Schatz is third, then Kofoid and Giovanni Scelzi.
- The Super DIRTcar Series made their second visit of the year to Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y. as part of Malta Massive Weekend. Here, Demetrios Drellos dominated much of the 100-lap race. However, a caution for Larry Wight brought the field back together with
17 laps to go. On the restart, Matt Sheppard attempted to make a move on Drellos for the lead. The two raced hard, then made contact. That allowed Mat Williamson to take over the lead. From there, Williamson held on to take his seventh victory of the year and a guaranteed starting spot in the Billy Whitaker 200 at Oswego Speedway. Sheppard finished second, followed by Tim Sears Jr., Anthony Perrego and Peter Britten. Drellos ended up sixth. In the points, Sheppard continues to lead by 27 over Williamson. Sears is third, then Perrego and Jimmy Phelps. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Bristol and Indianapolis last weekend. For more from Bristol, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our suite of YouTube channels (Frontstretch, FS
Open Wheel, Frontstretch Grassroots and Frontstretch Plus) and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Christopher Bell Wins Round of 16
by Phil Allaway
Christopher Bell had a steady run Saturday night to finish fifth. That was enough for him to win the Round of 16. His final margin was six points over Kyle Larson, who dominated to win Saturday and moved up seven spots. Alex Bowman finished ninth and ended up with sole possession of third. Chase Elliott finished second and moved
up to fourth. Austin Cindric struggled at times Saturday night, but ended up a lap down in 13th. That dropped him to fifth. Ryan Blaney moved up two places to sixth after a sixth-place finish. Tyler Reddick dropped to seventh after finishing 20th. William Byron was up two places to eighth despite fading late and finishing
17th. Joey Logano crashed late and ended up 28th, dropping him from a tie for third to ninth. Denny Hamlin's fourth-place finish moved him up three places to 10th. Chase Briscoe and Daniel Suarez ended up tied for 11th. Briscoe finished eighth to maintain his position, while Suarez struggled terribly and finished
30th. Briscoe and Suarez were the last drivers to advance to the Round of 12 on points. They ended up 11 points ahead of Ty Gibbs, who faded on the final run to finish 15th. Martin Truex Jr. was in good position to advance until he got busted for speeding on pit road during the final caution. He never recovered any ground and finished 24th. Brad
Keselowski never had it Saturday and ended up 26th to drop to 15th. Harrison Burton had a steering rack failure that put 35th and out of the playoffs. Outside of the playoffs, Ross Chastain finished 10th and holds onto 17th in points. He is 12 points ahead of Chris Buescher. Bubba Wallace stays 19th despite his
third-place finish, while Kyle Busch is 20th. Round of 16 Point Standings: 1) Christopher Bell 2135, 2) Kyle Larson -6, 3) Alex Bowman -10, 4) Chase Elliott
-24, 5) Austin Cindric -25, 6) Ryan Blaney -30, 7) Tyler Reddick -38, 8) William Byron -41, 9) Joey Logano -42, 10) Denny Hamlin -46, t-11) Chase Briscoe
-50, t-11) Daniel Suarez -50, 13) Ty Gibbs -61, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -71, 15) Brad Keselowski -87, 16) Harrison Burton -104. Round of 16 Owners Point Standings:
1) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 2135, 2) Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 -1, 3) Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 -10, 4) Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 -24, 5) Team Penske No. 2 -25, 6) Team Penske No. 12 -30, 7) Hendrick Motorsports
No. 24 -41, 8) Team Penske No. 22 -42, 9) 23XI Racing No. 45 -43, 10) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 -46, t-11) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 -50, t-11) Trackhouse Racing No. 99 -50, 13) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54
-61, 14) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 -71, 15) RFK Racing No. 6 -87, 16) Wood Brothers Racing -104. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Kyle Larson 3047, 2) Christopher Bell -15, 3) Tyler Reddick -19, 4) William Byron
-25, 5) Ryan Blaney -28, 6) Denny Hamlin -32, 7) Chase Elliott -33, 8) Joey Logano -35, 9) Austin Cindric, 10) Daniel Suarez, t-11) Alex Bowman -42, t-11) Chase Briscoe -42. Eliminated Driver Standings: 13) Ty Gibbs 2074,
14) Martin Truex Jr. -10, 15) Brad Keselowski -26, 16) Harrison Burton -43.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 948, 2) Tyler Reddick -19, 3) Chase Elliott
-20, 4) Christopher Bell -62, 5) Ryan Blaney -105, 6) William Byron -116, 7) Denny Hamlin -119, 8) Alex Bowman -162, 9) Brad Keselowski -166, 10) Ty Gibbs
-176, 11) Ross Chastain -182, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -192, 13) Chris Buescher -194, 14) Bubba Wallace -211, 15) Joey Logano -247, 16) Chase Briscoe
-297. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -323, 19) Austin Cindric -335. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for
points. Best of the Rest: 17) Ross Chastain 766, 18) Chris Buescher -12, 19) Bubba Wallace -29, 20) Kyle Busch -130, 21) Carson Hocevar -221, 22) Michael McDowell -227, 23) Todd Gilliland
-230, 24) Josh Berry -277, 25) Noah Gragson -281, 26) Ryan Preece -294. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 47, 2) Christopher Bell -15, 3) Tyler Reddick -19, 4) William
Byron -25, 5) Ryan Blaney -28, 6) Denny Hamlin -32, 7) Chase Elliott -33, 8) Joey Logano -35, t-9) Brad Keselowski -39, t-9) Austin Cindric -39, 11) Daniel Suarez -41, t-12) Alex Bowman -42, t-12) Chase Briscoe
-42, t-12) Harrison Burton -42, t-12) Martin Truex Jr. -42, 16) Ty Gibbs -43. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 278, 2) Denny Hamlin
-23, 3) Ryan Blaney -64, 4) Christopher Bell -67, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -83, 6) Tyler Reddick -87, 7) William Byron -94, 8) Chase Elliott -96, 9) Brad Keselowski
-135, 10) Joey Logano -137, 11) Alex Bowman -138, 12) Ty Gibbs -144, 13) Bubba Wallace -154, 14) Austin Cindric -174, 15) Ross Chastain -183, 16) Chris Buescher -199. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 18) Chase Briscoe -201, 19) Daniel Suarez -212.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 874, 2) Tyler Reddick -2, 3) Christopher Bell -69, 4) Ross Chastain -73, 5) Kyle Larson -77, 6) Chris Buescher
-78, 7) William Byron -102, t-8) Brad Keselowski -107, t-8) Ty Gibbs -107, 10) Alex Bowman -108, 11) Ryan Blaney -121, 12) Bubba Wallace -132, 13) Denny Hamlin -149, 14) Chase Briscoe
-182, 15) Joey Logano -183, 16) Kyle Busch -187. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -196, 20) Austin Cindric -243.
Note: These standings are based on the old
point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 3948, 2) Chase Elliott -50, 3) Christopher Bell -213, 4) Kyle Larson -289, 5) Chris Buescher
-296, 6) Ross Chastain -300, 7) William Byron -357, 8) Brad Keselowski -367, 9) Ty Gibbs -379, 10) Alex Bowman -396, 11) Ryan Blaney -406, 12) Bubba Wallace -468, 13) Denny Hamlin
-524, 14) Joey Logano -627, 15) Kyle Busch -633, 16) Martin Truex Jr. -653. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Chase Briscoe -659, 18) Daniel Suarez -703, 20) Austin Cindric -858. 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, Bristol-2), Christopher Bell (Phoenix, Charlotte, Loudon), Denny Hamlin (Bristol-1, 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.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Cole Custer Wins Regular Season Championship
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier ran well early Friday night, then ended up involved in three separate crashes. Ultimately, he ended up 30th. Cole Custer, despite a cut tire in the opening laps, led the most laps and won the race. That performance was enough to give him the regular season championship by a mere three points. Chandler Smith ended up third, just 22 points back after a third-place finish. Austin Hill finished 14th and held on to fourth. Sheldon Creed finished second once again (for the 13th time in his career) and moved up one place to fifth.
Creed jumped over AJ Allmendinger, who finished 10th. Jesse Love finished fourth and stayed in seventh. Riley Herbst was eighth after a 13th-place finish. Parker Kligerman finished 16th and ended up ninth in points, while Sammy Smith claimed the final spot in the playoffs on points. He ended up 36
points ahead of Ryan Sieg, who simply couldn't over the last couple of weeks despite an eighth-place finish. Shane van Gisbergen finished 18th and ended the regular season in 12th. Sam Mayer ended up 13th in points after finishing in ninth. Brandon Jones finished sixth and stays in 14th, followed by Anthony
Alfredo and Brennan Poole. When the Round of 12 starts in Kansas, Allgaier will have a six-point lead over Custer. Hill will be third, then Chandler Smith and van Gisbergen. Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Cole Custer
911, 2) Justin Allgaier -3, 3) Chandler Smith -22, 4) Austin Hill -86, 5) Sheldon Creed -97, 6) AJ Allmendinger -99, 7) Jesse Love -138, 8) Riley
Herbst -159, 9) Parker Kligerman -185, 10) Sammy Smith -227, 11) Ryan Sieg -263, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -286, 13) Sam Mayer -314, 14) Brandon Jones -366, 15) Anthony Alfredo
-397, 16) Brennan Poole -460. Playoff Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 34, 2) Cole Custer -6, 3) Austin Hill -9, 4) Chandler Smith -10, 5) Shane van Gisbergen -17, 6) Jesse Love
-21, 7) Sam Mayer -23, t-8) Riley Herbst -24, t-8) Ryan Truex -24, 10) Aric Almirola -26, 11) Sheldon Creed -27, t-12) AJ Allmendinger -28, t-12) Connor Zilisch -28, 14) Ryan Sieg
-32, 15) Sammy Smith -33, t-15) Jeremy Clements -33, 17) Parker Kligerman -36. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek and Christopher Bell would be tied for seventh in playoff points, while Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott would be tied for 16th. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Justin Allgaier 2034, 2) Cole Custer -6, 3) Austin Hill -9, 4) Chandler Smith -10, 5) Shane van Gisbergen -17, 6) Jesse Love -21, 7) Sam Mayer -23, t-8) Riley Herbst -24, 9) Sheldon Creed -27, 10) AJ
Allmendinger -28, 11) Sammy Smith -33, 12) Parker Kligerman -36. Best of the Rest: 13) Ryan Sieg 648, 14) Brandon Jones -103, 15) Anthony Alfredo -134, 16) Brennan Poole -197, 17) Josh Williams -223, 18) Leland Honeyman -257, 19)
Parker Retzlaff -261, 20) Jeremy Clements -266, 21) Jeb Burton -282, 22) Ryan Ellis -305. Owners Points Round of 12 Standings: 1) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 2033, 2) JR Motorsports No. 7 -1, 3) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -9, t-4) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 81 -10,
t-4) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 -10, 6) Kaulig Racing No. 97 -16, 7) Richard Childress Racing No. 2 -21, 8) JR Motorsports No. 1 -22, 9) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 98 -24, 10) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 -27, 11) Kaulig Racing No. 16 -28, 12) Big Machine Racing -36. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 297, 2) Cole Custer -72, 3) Chandler Smith -85, 4) AJ Allmendinger -94, 5) Riley Herbst -95, 6) Austin Hill -106, 7) Sheldon Creed
-131, 8) Jesse Love -157, 9) Sammy Smith -178, 10) Sam Mayer -180, 11) Parker Kligerman -190, 12) Brandon Jones -206, 13) Ryan Sieg -210, 14) Aric Almirola -213, 15) Ryan Truex
-238, 16) Shane van Gisbergen -244. 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 807, 2) Chandler Smith -22, 3) Sheldon Creed -44, 4) Austin Hill -52, 5) Jesse Love -56, t-6) Justin Allgaier -75, t-6) Parker Kligerman -75, 8) AJ Allmendinger
-84, 9) Shane van Gisbergen -126, 10) Sammy Smith -133, 11) Ryan Sieg -135, 12) Riley Herbst -150, 13) Sam Mayer -209, 14) Anthony Alfredo -214, 15) Brandon Jones -247, 16) Brennan Poole
-261. WC Points (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 3621, 2) Chandler Smith -72, 3) Sheldon Creed -114, 4) Austin Hill -207, 5) Jesse Love -220, 6) Justin
Allgaier -257, 7) AJ Allmendinger -322, 8) Parker Kligerman -325, 9) Shane van Gisbergen -466, 10) Sammy Smith -483, 11) Ryan Sieg -513, 12) Riley Herbst -528, 13) Sam Mayer
-703, 14) Anthony Alfredo -772, 15) Brandon Jones -862, 16) Brennan Poole -936. 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, Bristol), 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.
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Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Bass Pro Shops Night Race was brought to you by the letter S for Staid. It appeared that a lot of fans were expecting Saturday night's race to look similar to what we saw back in
the spring. However, back in the spring, the thought was that with warmer temperatures, things would be more normal with the tires. That is exactly what we got. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Bass Pro Shops Night Race compiled by Phil Allaway
"I knew I had a great car from the start of practice, but everything has to go right. You just don’t dominate like that without executing the whole weekend. We practiced well and qualified on the front row, which was super important. We got the lead early on, and leading these Next Gen races is really beneficial because you can set your own pace and manage your stuff, especially here at Bristol
because it allows you to work the bottom on the long run. We had a phenomenal No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy. Just can’t say enough about the team. Cool to get win number five on the year and hopefully there is more to come." - Kyle Larson, race winner
"I felt like our car was really, really good, and I was proud of the effort and proud of the execution all night. Kyle [Larson] did a better job than
I did to get through traffic and that was the difference. He got a few cars gap on me, and there was one point in time where we were able to make [up] some time. I pushed really hard when he was hung up with [Martin Truex Jr.] Once he got by [Truex], it was going to be tough. There were always three or four cars in between us and by the time I got there, we were later in the run and it just gets tough. He did a great job, and credit to his team and to Kyle, as well. Proud of our effort; felt
like we were right there in the mix and had a great shot at it. We keep doing that, and we’ll be OK." - Chase Elliott, finished second
"Yeah, it’s good. The Mobil 1 Toyota Camry was okay – just trying to find the right balance. These guys are giving me all of the information, and I’m getting pissed off listening to it – but it is all vital. So, I appreciate them – I appreciate the effort to come up here.
I told Bootie [Barker] that we are a seventh-to-12th place car, coming in here – and we ended up third. It is still not good enough. We have to go to work to figure out how we can be two spots better, but all-in-all – best in class in multiple categories. Just appreciate the effort. It stings, running this well when you are not in the Playoffs, but it just makes you hungrier for next year." - Bubba Wallace, finished third "My aspirations were to win it – but it looked like [Kyle Larson] there was better than all of us. Solid car. I thought we were really good towards the middle of the stages, and then at the end, got too loose and couldn’t hang onto what we had. Overall, top-five day, good stage points – kind of in the mix, just not really as good as we’ve been here the last few times, but overall I want to thank this whole FedEx Toyota team for giving me
something I can move on with." - Denny Hamlin, finished fourth "[Clinching my spot in the Round of 12] really didn’t [change anything]. The way that the yellows played out in stage two, we did jump the stage, but I think the race was pretty straight forward. I’m happy we got out of here with a top-five, but at the same breath, all of us got our butts kicked. [Kyle
Larson] was the class of the field and everyone else was kind of racing to be best of the rest. Good day for our DeWalt Toyota team. Hopefully, we can go to Kansas and have a nice solid day and set us up good for the round of 12." - Christopher Bell, finished fifth "It was a good night overall. We came from not qualifying great and got up to the top 10 that
second stage. I thought we had a really good long run car and the long run at the end was so many laps that we were guarding against blowing a tire, so I just kind of rode around the last 100 laps or so for that run and wound up with a decent finish. It was a good effort from not qualifying well. The speed in our car was pretty decent. It’s something to learn from and nice to go to the next round." - Ryan Blaney, finished sixth "Honestly, it wasn’t really stressful. I knew our Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse was really, really good and even when we had that bad pit stop, we came out 13th or 14th and I felt like I could drive back up there. At the end, probably bled three or four spots just trying to not do anything stupid. It felt like both arms got a Tetanus shot. Overall, it was a great
night for us. Hopefully, people will start taking us serious. I truthfully feel like we can battle for the championship, so hopefully tonight proved that. I hate that we had to kind of dig ourselves out of a hole after Atlanta, but hopefully can go on to Kansas and start this next round strong. I feel like we can beat anybody on any given day when we put it together from start to finish. Obviously, tonight we had some hiccups, but we were still able to have a good
finish and that’s what this championship run is gonna be all about, so go on to the next one." - Chase Briscoe, finished eighth "Honestly the racetrack just rubbered up and we progressively got worse as more rubber laid down, I felt like. Just proud of this No. 48 Ally Camaro team. We did what we needed the whole first round of the playoffs, but also we want to
be better and continue that through the next round. Missed it a little today when it rubbered up, but other than that, really solid points day for us, and we'll keep at it." - Alex Bowman, finished ninth "That was just unfortunate there. I felt like we were really good in practice and qualifying. Just a little too loose tonight and fired off too tight. Unfortunate. Speeding
penalty is on me. You run the lights so close – it’s my fault. Unfortunate. I’m proud of the He Gets Us Toyota guys and all of the effort they put in." - Ty Gibbs, finished 15th "We had a good Bass Pro Shops Camry. We did good in the first two stages – we got a lot of points. I guess we would have had to run second or third to make it through – who knows if we would
have been able to. I wish we could have seen if we could have done that. I’m just gutted for my team. We worked so hard this week. We all put in a lot – all season long, and in the last three weeks, just snake bit. Can’t do anything right. .09 mph hurts really bad to take the chance away to know if we even could have done it. I don’t know if we could have run second – maybe. We were close to it – all day – but in the end, it doesn’t matter. I feel terrible for my guys." - Martin Truex Jr.,
finished 24th "It feels good. It wasn’t pretty, but we knew since practice yesterday that the car wasn’t competitive. It just didn’t have a lot of speed. Luckily, our team did a great job in Atlanta and Watkins Glen, and we were able to build a points cushion. It wasn’t a lot of fun, but it’s good to make it through." - Daniel Suarez, finished
31st 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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