Frontstretch Newsletter: July 8, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition CXII |
- NASCAR teams are arriving back at their shops today after yesterday's race in Chicago. We'll have anything that breaks for you, including entry lists for Pocono at Frontstretch. |
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| Alex Bowman Beats The Clock In
Chicago Alex Bowman took the lead away from Joey Hand with eight laps to go Sunday. From there, he held on to win the rain/darkness-shortened Grant Park 165 in Chicago. Tyler Reddick was second, then Ty Gibbs, Joey Hand and Michael
McDowell. |
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| Joey Hand Finishes 4th, Wins Stage in First Cup Race Since
2022 Joey Hand has served as a development driver in recent years for Ford in both NASCAR and IMSA. Sunday saw Hand, making his debut for RFK Racing, win stage two and finish a career-best fourth. |
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| Shane van Gisbergen Wrecks Out Of Chicago Cup
Race Entering Sunday's Grant Park 165, Shane van Gisbergen was considered to be the prohibitive favorite. He won stage one, then was eliminated when Chase Briscoe wiped out in the wet and clipped him. |
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| Drivers React to Carson Hocevar’s Penalty: ‘That’s
Something I’ve Seen Too Many Times Out of That Guy’ Prior to the race, one of the main topics of discussion during the bullpen sessions was Carson Hocevar's 25-point penalty for spinning out Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville. |
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| Shane van Gisbergen Drives Through the Field for 3rd
Xfinity Win of 2024 Shane van Gisbergen was able to make his way through the field late Saturday and take the lead with three laps to go to win The Loop 110. Ty Gibbs was second, then Kyle Larson, Parker Kligerman and Jesse Love. |
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| Hailie Deegan, AM Parting
Ways AM Racing announced Monday morning that they have parted ways with Hailie Deegan, effective immediately. |
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| Shane van Gisbergen Outduels Kyle Larson In Windy City
Weekend Round 1 Saturday's The Loop 110 was billed as a race-long battle between Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Larson. The race, especially the early portions, lived up to that hype. |
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| Pato O’Ward Defends to the End to Best Alex Palou at
Mid-Ohio Arrow McLaren SP's Patricio O'Ward was able to beat Alex Palou out of the pits on his final stop Sunday, then held off the points leader to win the NTT IndyCar Series Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Scott McLaughlin was third, then Colton Herta and Marcus
Ericsson. |
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| Christian Rasmussen Earns 1st IndyCar Top 10 Finish at
Mid-Ohio For Christian Rasmussen, Sunday's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio was a career-day. The rookie racer kept himself out of trouble and brought his car home in ninth. |
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| Lewis Hamilton Performs Undercut, Wins 2024 British Grand
Prix Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was able to jump Lando Norris during the final round of pit stops Sunday, then held off Max Verstappen to win the British Grand Prix for his 104th career victory. Norris was third, then Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz
Jr. |
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| Sean Hingorani Wins to Sweep ARCA West Races at
Irwindale Venturini Motorsports' Sean Hingorani took the lead Saturday night after Isabella Robusto had a mechanical failure. He held on to take the ARCA Menards Series West weekend sweep at Irwindale Speedway. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Meg Oliphant of Getty Images, Chris Owens of Penske Entertainment, LAT Images and Adam Glanzman of ARCA Racing. 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: July 5-7 |
- In Sunday's European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Imola, Panis Racing's Manuel Maldonado, Charles Milesi and Arthur Leclerc won the race on the track. However, it was not over. Officials determined that Milesi illegally accelerated too quickly at the end of a full course caution
period. As a result, a post-race 35-second penalty was assessed. That resulted in the victory going to AO by TF [Sport]'s Louis Deletraz, Jonny Edgar and Robert Kubica. AO by TF's margin of victory was 11.621 seconds over Vector Sport's Ryan Cullen, Felipe Drugovich and Stephane Richelmi. Inter Europol Competition's Sebastian Alvarez, Tom Dillmann and Vladislav Lomko were
third, then IDEC Sport's Reshad de Gerus, Marcos Siebert and Job van Uitert. The penalty dropped Panis Racing back to fifth. In LMP2 Pro-Am, Algarve Pro Racing's Richard Bradley, Kriton Lentoudis and Alex Quinn took the class victory in ninth overall. They won by 3.664 seconds over AF Corse's Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Richard Mille by TDS'
Mathias Beche, Rodrigo Sales and Gregoire Saucy were third. Eurointernational's Adam Ali and Matt Bell won the LMP3 class in their Ligier JS P320-Nissan. The margin of victory was 13.921 seconds over Team Virage's Julien Gerbi, Gillan Henrion and Bernardo Pinheiro. Ultimate's Paul Lanchere and the Lahayes (Jean-Baptiste and Matthieu) were a lap down in third, then RLR
MSport's Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and Gael Julien. WTM by Rinaldi Racing's Torsten Kratz, Oscar Tunjo and Leonard Weiss were fifth. LMGT3 came down to a duel between Iron Dames' Michelle Gatting in a Porsche, a couple of Aston Martins driven by Racing Spirit of Leman's Valentin Hasse-Clot and Grid Motorsport by TF [Sport]'s Lorcan Hanafin, and Kessel Racing's Daniel
Serra. While Gatting dealt with Hasse-Clot, Serra dispatched Hanafin and ran in the duo. Gatting was able to hold on to win with teammates Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey. The margin of victory was .771 seconds over Hasse-Clot, Derek DeBoer and Casper Stevenson. This is despite Serra hitting Hasse-Clot on the final lap and ripping his bumper off.
Serra, Takeshi Kimura and Esteban Masson were third in their Ferrari, followed by Hanafin, Jonny Adam and Martin Berry. AF Corse's Emmanuel Collard, Charles-Henri Samani and Nico Varrone were fifth.
- World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series teams spent the weekend in Minnesota for the NAPA
Auto Parts Gopher 50. A rainout Thursday night created a Friday doubleheader. Race No. 1 Friday afternoon came down to a duel between Nick Hoffman and Ryan Gustin. The drivers swapped slide jobs until the final lap when Gustin went for all the marbles in turn 4. He pulled off the slide and beat Hoffman to the line by .009 seconds to win. Bobby Pierce finished third, followed by Dennis Erb Jr. Chad Simpson finished fifth. Later that evening, Brandon Sheppard drew the pole for the regularly scheduled preliminary feature. From there, he led flag-to-flag to take the checkered flag. Pierce was second, then
Gustin, Tyler Erb and Kyle Bronson. Finally, you had the 75-lap main on Saturday night. Here, Pierce drove up from the second row and put the pressure on Sheppard. On lap 62, Pierce was able to make a move for the lead. From there, Pierce held on to
win the NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 and took home a check for $50,000 for the second straight year. Sheppard was second, then Tyler Erb, Gustin and Hoffman. In the points, Sheppard leads by 18 points over Hoffman. Pierce is third, then Cade Dillard and Bronson. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Kyle Larson Keeps Lead Despite Crash
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson had one of the best cars Sunday in Chicago, but he locked up his wheels and went head-on into the tires on lap 34 and put himself out of the race. Despite finishing 39th, Larson was able to hold onto the lead. His lead has been cut to 11 points over Chase Elliott, who finished 21st. Tyler Reddick was unhappy with a
second-place finish Sunday, but that moved him up one place to third. Denny Hamlin dropped to fourth after a couple of late incidents dropped him to a 30th-place finish. Martin Truex Jr. finished 33rd after late contact with Christopher Bell, but maintains fifth in points. William Byron is up one place to sixth
after coming from the rear to finish eighth. Ryan Blaney is up one place to seventh after a 10th-place finish. Bell's contact with Truex put him in the wall and broke parts in his car. He was forced to retire with three laps to go, was credited with 37th and dropped two places to eighth. Ty Gibbs is up one place to ninth after finishing third and
leading the most laps. Brad Keselowski drops to 10th despite restarting third after running into late trouble and finishing 18th. Alex Bowman's first win of the year moved him up two places to 11th. Ross Chastain hit the tires on the last lap and dropped to 12th. Chris Buescher is down to 13th after a 20th-place
finish. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Joey Logano stays in 14th after a miserable run to 23rd. Buescher's lead is 45 points over Bubba Wallace in 15th. Wallace finished 13th, but was not pleased with Bowman after Bowman spun him out of the top 10 early. Chase Briscoe is still in 16th. Kyle Busch
finished ninth and stays in 17th. Daniel Suarez is in 18th, while Todd Gilliland is up two places to 19th after a seventh-place finish. Austin Cindric inherited 20th after Carson Hocevar was penalized for spinning out Harrison Burton under yellow in Nashville. He remains there after a 15th-place finish. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 664, 2) Chase Elliott -11, 3) Tyler Reddick -23, 4) Denny Hamlin -42, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -70, 6) William Byron -72, 7) Ryan Blaney
-84, 8) Christopher Bell -85, 9) Ty Gibbs -111, 10) Brad Keselowski -113, 11) Alex Bowman -118, 12) Ross Chastain -142, 13) Chris Buescher -150, 14) Joey Logano
-187, 15) Bubba Wallace -195, 16) Chase Briscoe -238 Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Daniel Suarez -261, 20) Austin Cindric -282. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Christopher Bell 24, 2) Kyle Larson -1, 3) Denny Hamlin
-5, 4) William Byron -8, 5) Tyler Reddick -16, t-6) Ryan Blaney -17, t-6) Austin Cindric -17, t-8) Chase Elliott -18, t-8) Joey Logano -18, t-10) Brad Keselowski -19, t-10) Alex Bowman
-19, t-10) Daniel Suarez -19, t-13) Ty Gibbs -22, t-13) Martin Truex Jr. -22, t-13) Chris Buescher -22, t-15) Ross Chastain -23, t-15) Michael McDowell -23, t-15) Joey Hand -23. Note: If he were eligible for playoff points, Shane van Gisbergen would be tied for 15th. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 213, 2) Denny Hamlin -39, 3) Christopher Bell -55, 4) Ryan Blaney
-61, 5) Tyler Reddick -69, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -74, 7) Chase Elliott -85, 8) William Byron -101, 9) Brad Keselowski -103, 10) Ty Gibbs -112, 11) Joey Logano -126, 12) Alex Bowman
-129, 13) Bubba Wallace -133, 14) Austin Cindric -141, 15) Ross Chastain -147, 16) Chris Buescher -151. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 19) Daniel Suarez -171. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 621, 2) Tyler Reddick
-24, 3) William Byron -48, 4) Ross Chastain -70, 5) Alex Bowman -71, t-6) Denny Hamlin -73, t-6) Ty Gibbs -73, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -75, 9) Chris Buescher -76, 10) Kyle Larson
-78, 11) Brad Keselowski -85, 12) Ryan Blaney -98, 13) Christopher Bell -102, 14) Joey Logano -134, 15) Bubba Wallace -138, 16) Chase Briscoe -145. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -169, t-24) Austin Cindric -221.
Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points
(1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 2752, 2) Tyler Reddick -42, 3) William Byron -150, 4) Denny Hamlin -213, 5) Ty Gibbs -226, 6) Alex Bowman -234, 7) Chris Buescher -236, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -237, 9) Brad Keselowski
-246, 10) Ross Chastain -250, 11) Kyle Larson -258, 12) Christopher Bell -293, 13) Ryan Blaney -301, 14) Joey Logano -431, 15) Bubba Wallace -454, 16) Chase Briscoe -489. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -571, 24) Austin Cindric -727. 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, Kansas, Sonoma), Christopher Bell (Phoenix, Charlotte, Loudon), Denny Hamlin (Bristol, Richmond, Dover), Chase Elliott (Texas), Tyler Reddick (Talladega), Brad Keselowski (Darlington), Austin Cindric (Gateway), Ryan Blaney (Iowa), Joey Logano (Nashville), Alex Bowman
(Chicago)
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: Cole Custer Expands Lead in Chicago as Chandler Smith Blows Engine
by Phil Allaway
Cole Custer had a spin Saturday afternoon and ended up finishing 18th. Despite that, Custer expanded his points up to 38 points over new second-place man Justin Allgaier. Allgaier started from the rear in a backup car and finished ninth. Chandler Smith blew his engine in the opening laps and finished 38th, which dropped him to third.
Austin Hill stays in fourth and gained some ground on Custer after winning stage two and finishing seventh. Jesse Love is up one place to fifth after finishing fifth. Love jumps over Riley Herbst, who got in a bumping match with Sheldon Creed early on, then dropped out with overheating issues. AJ Allmendinger
had a great car, but crashed it. He recovered to finish 11th and stays in seventh. Creed is still in eighth after a 26th-place finish. Parker Kligerman came from the rear of the field to finish fourth Saturday. That keeps him in fourth, but cut his margin to Creed from 31 points to 10. Sam Mayer is still in 10th after finishing 19th. Shane van
Gisbergen's third win of the year moved him up two places to 11th. Van Gisbergen jumped over Sammy Smith, who dropped to 12th after finishing 13th with an alternate pit strategy. Sammy is the last driver in the playoffs on points. He has a 23-point lead over Ryan Sieg, who finished 16th. He is the only driver outside of the playoffs within a full
race of Sammy. Brandon Jones is 14th, then Anthony Alfredo and Brennan Poole. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 657, 2) Justin Allgaier -38, 3) Chandler Smith -39, 4) Austin Hill
-60, 5) Jesse Love -109, 6) Riley Herbst -134, 7) AJ Allmendinger -135, 8) Sheldon Creed -152, 9) Parker Kligerman -162, 10) Sam Mayer -183, 11) Shane van Gisbergen -200, 12) Sammy Smith
-202, 13) Ryan Sieg -225, 14) Brandon Jones -269, 15) Anthony Alfredo -287, 16) Brennan Poole -331. Playoff Points: 1) Shane van Gisbergen 17, t-2) Justin Allgaier
-2, t-2) Chandler Smith -2, 4) Austin Hill -4, 5) Sam Mayer -6, 6) Jesse Love -8, 7) Aric Almirola -9, 8) Ryan Truex -12, 9) Cole Custer -15, t-10) Riley Herbst -16, t-10) Parker Kligerman
-16. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be tied for fifth in playoff points, while Christopher Bell would be ninth, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott tied for 10th and Ty Gibbs tied for 13th. Stage Points:
1) Justin Allgaier 202, 2) Cole Custer -47, 3) Austin Hill -58, 4) Chandler Smith -61, 5) Riley Herbst -68, 6) AJ Allmendinger -84, t-7) Jesse Love -100, t-7) Sam Mayer -100, t-7) Sheldon Creed
-100, 10) Sammy Smith -117, 11) Parker Kligerman -122, 12) Brandon Jones -133, 13) Aric Almirola -138, 14) Shane van Gisbergen -155, 15) Ryan Sieg -156, 16) Ryan Truex -166. Note: If they were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Gibbs would be tied for 14th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 586, 2) Chandler Smith -36, 3) Austin
Hill -45, 4) Jesse Love -58, 5) Justin Allgaier -86, 6) Parker Kligerman -95, 7) Shane van Gisbergen -100, 8) Sheldon Creed -105, 9) AJ Allmendinger -106, 10) Riley Herbst -122, 11) Ryan Sieg
-125, 12) Sam Mayer -130, 13) Sammy Smith -139, 14) Anthony Alfredo -158, 15) Brandon Jones -194, 16) Brennan Poole -197. WC Points (1-16): 1) Cole Custer
2586, 2) Chandler Smith -113, 3) Austin Hill -155, 4) Jesse Love -204, 5) Justin Allgaier -278, 6) Sheldon Creed -324, 7) Parker Kligerman -347, 8) Shane van Gisbergen -358, 9) AJ Allmendinger
-375, 10) Riley Herbst -413, 11) Sam Mayer -425, 12) Ryan Sieg -449, 13) Sammy Smith -469, 14) Anthony Alfredo -561, 15) Brandon Jones -660, 16) Brennan Poole -692. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Atlanta), 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), Justin Allgaier (Darlington), Chase Elliott (Charlotte), Shane van Gisbergen (Portland, Sonoma, Chicago), Christopher Bell
(Loudon) 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. 8
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action Friday evening at Pocono Raceway.
When the tour rolls into Pocono, Christian Eckes will have a 40-point lead over Corey Heim with three races remaining in the regular season. Nick
Sanchez is third, then Ty Majeski and Rajah Caruth.
Tanner Gray is the last driver in the playoffs on points. He has a 14-point advantage over Daniel Dye, then Stewart Friesen and Matt Crafton. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 566, 2) Corey Heim -40, 3) Nick Sanchez -89, 4) Ty Majeski -92, 5) Rajah Caruth -163, 6) Tyler Ankrum -189, 7) Taylor Gray
-198, 8) Ben Rhodes -202, 9) Grant Enfinger -203, 10) Tanner Gray -222, 11) Daniel Dye -236, 12) Stewart Friesen -239, 13) Matt Crafton -276, 14) Chase Purdy -283, 15) Jake Garcia -289, 16) Layne Riggs
-302. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 24, 2) Christian Eckes -4, 3) Nick Sanchez -13, t-4) Rajah Caruth -19, t-4) Ty Majeski -19, t-6) Tyler Ankrum -22, t-6) Tanner Gray
-23, t-6) Kaden Honeycutt -23, t-6) Johnny Sauter -23. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be second in playoff points. Stage Points:
1) Christian Eckes 161, 2) Ty Majeski -6, 3) Corey Heim -35, 4) Tyler Ankrum -70, 5) Nick Sanchez -76, 6) Ben Rhodes -86, 7) Rajah Caruth -96, 8) Grant Enfinger -100, 9) Taylor Gray -101, 10) Layne Riggs
-107, 11) Stewart Friesen -116, 12) Chase Purdy -119, t-13) Tanner Gray -120, t-13) Kaden Honeycutt -120, 15) Daniel Dye -124, 16) Dean Thompson -133. Note: If they were
eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be eighth and Zane Smith 12th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 367, 2) Corey Heim -8, 3) Nick Sanchez -20, 4) Rajah Caruth
-79, 5) Ty Majeski -88, 6) Taylor Gray -107, 7) Tanner Gray -112, 8) Grant Enfinger -114, 9) Daniel Dye -125, 10) Tyler Ankrum -126, 11) Ben Rhodes -128, 12) Stewart Friesen -136, 13) Matt Crafton
-154, 14) Jake Garcia -162, 15) Chase Purdy -172, 16) Ty Dillon -188. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 2042, 2) Corey Heim -34, 3) Nick
Sanchez -79, 4) Rajah Caruth -304, 5) Ty Majeski -307, 6) Taylor Gray -385, 7) Grant Enfinger -412, 8) Tanner Gray -428, 9) Tyler Ankrum -442, 10) Daniel Dye -458, 11) Ben Rhodes -459, 12) Stewart Friesen
-498, 13) Matt Crafton -553, 14) Jake Garcia -593, 15) Chase Purdy -597, 16) Ty Dillon -680. 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), Ross Chastain (Kansas) 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 Grant Park 165 was brought to you by the letter S for Suds. Sounds unusual, right? It is, but they were evident. It had to do with the black paint used to paint over some of the crosswalks
on the track. When it rained, it made for extra standing water with bubbles. Ty Gibbs referenced this on the radio during the race. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Grant Park 165 compiled by Phil Allaway
"Oh gosh, Blake [Harris'] call, I never would have thought rain tires in the dry like that would have worked. So, just so proud of this No. 48 Ally Chevy team. I mean I made a big mistake earlier and tore the whole left-front off the car and ruined other people’s day. Just unacceptable and a mistake on my end. I have had a lot of screw ups lately and just happy to be here and get another
trophy for these guys.
"I don’t even know. I really don’t know what to say. I am just really proud of this team, and it means a lot to win here and finally get a win at a road course. To do something like this is really special." - Alex Bowman, race winner "Yeah, I’m upset. I
was catching Alex [Bowman] by a large margin there. I don’t know. That puzzles me. I clearly just screwed up. Trying to stay in the dry groove and I had more than enough room of dry groove. Yeah, I cut the wheel a little too hard — just not focused enough, I guess. I knew I was going to get to him and the earlier I could get to him the more options I would have, and it was going to get a little bit more slick off line beyond turn 8. Yeah, just didn’t even give ourselves a shot to race him
unfortunately. I hate it. Not what this Jordan Brand Toyota Camry is about and what this team is about. Just got to start capitalizing on these ones." - Tyler Reddick, finished second "We had a really good weekend and I’m thankful to have two great race cars that my team brought me. It’s kind of rare, right, to have two great cars to make speed off of. You know, I
feel like we were really fast in both races. We’re just so close, super close both days. I mean, all I can ask for is a win, but we’re right there. It’s been really fun running the Cup Series. Just appreciative of what I get to do and thankful for what I get to do. "I feel like it’s kind of like a dirt track, honestly. Pick and choose your lines, see what lane is drying up
and is faster. You have to look around, which makes it fun as we don’t get to do that a lot. I like that and it takes a lot of racing awareness to do that, and it’s fun to be looking and saying, ‘that line is drying up’ and you hit that line and I just gained two car-lengths on the guy in front of me, so it’s really fun to do that." - Ty Gibbs, finished third "It was
a great day. I am all grins. That was a lot of fun. It is fun when you have a car that is going forward. RFK, this Stage 60 car and this group of guys and gals was awesome. We had such a good time together. We didn’t qualify well, but I told them that we were way better than that. I laid in bed last night and dreamt about driving to the front. It was a lot of fun. I love those conditions where everyone has to find a different way and it isn’t set in stone what you are going to do. I
have won a lot of races like that in my life. I thought there was a chance was going to win another one which was going to be huge. To run fourth, starting 38th, with this car, it was a ton of fun. BuildSubmarines.com has a ton of people here and we were in a Ford Mustang. What can you say. We went to the front and I am happy about it." - Joey Hand, finished fourth "Yeah, we needed a few more laps. I am just proud of the effort. Early on, when we went to wets and it didn’t rain we were in trouble and lost a lap. We rebounded and got the wave around and after that rain delay we restarted 32nd, so I am happy to get back up into the top five. I am proud of the effort. Everybody fights hard on our No. 34 Ford Mustang. We called a great race at the end to get us on the slicks before everybody so that we could try to leapfrog some
guys and that worked out. Those last 10 laps, our car was coming in as everyone else was struggling and it was a lot of fun. But it isn’t what we needed today. We needed a win and we didn’t get it but we will just keep fighting the rest of the season." - Michael McDowell, finished fifth
"It was wild. I felt like our car was really good early on. We drove through the field; got to 15th or so and we
kind of stayed there. Then when the rain came, [Denny Hamlin] missed his braking mark there into [turn] 6, and I kind of thought we were done because I couldn’t get fired back up. But once we got it back going, we could run a lot better lap times and the strategy just worked out perfect there. I didn’t think it was quite ready to go to dry tires that early. Obviously it was there at the end, so my guys made a good call to keep us out on the wets and get Stage points. Then they told me, ‘hey,
those guys are going to catch you with three or four laps to go, but that is the best shot at having a good finish’. So, all-in-all, it was really cool to come out of Chicago this year with a good finish. That is what our car was capable of, so that was fun." - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished sixth
"It is really disappointing actually. I didn’t help us any with that last caution. I didn’t mean to
get into the 4. I was trying to go to the right and get under him under braking, and I pounded him. That is not what I wanted to do whatsoever and it definitely didn’t help us at all. Overall, our car was really strong. I am really proud of that. We have been bringing a lot more speed to the race track so that is a lot of fun." - Todd Gilliland, finished seventh "I assume I just locked it up. As soon as I hit the brakes, it was not slowing down. I was just going to try and end up wherever I ended up. But yeah, it smashed the car up pretty good. It’s just unfortunate.. I’m bummed. It just caught me off guard. You push the brake zones a little bit more each lap as you’re getting more comfortable, but it just surprised me." - Kyle Larson, finished 39th (Crashed out) "I don’t know, I just sort of turned in; it looked pretty good and then just got smacked by someone. It’s gutting. The No. 16 Wendy’s Saucy Nuggs Camaro was really good. We were in the lead for a lot of that race. I felt good taking off in the rain, so that sucks. It’s an unfortunate mistake by him. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. But yeah, when he just clipped me, there wasn’t anything I could
do. "Of course I’m disappointed. We had a really amazing Camaro there. Kaulig Racing and Trackhouse Racing, they gave us a great car. We were able to lead and I felt like I was driving well with it, so yeah, it’s a shame to be out so early. It’s a shame we couldn’t have a proper crack at it at the end." - Shane van Gisbergen, finished 40th (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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