Frontstretch Newsletter: Nov. 11, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition CCVII |
- NASCAR teams are on their way back to North Carolina in order to continue preparations for the 2025 season. If anything of note breaks, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch. |
|
| Joey Logano Holds Off Ryan Blaney To Win 3rd Cup
Championship Joey Logano snatched the lead on the final restart Sunday, then held off teammate Ryan Blaney to win the NASCAR Cup Series season finale in Phoenix and win his third championship. William Byron was third, then Kyle Larson and Christopher
Bell. |
|
| NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison Dead at
86 1983 Cup Series champion Bobby Allison died Saturday after a long illness at the age of 86. |
|
| Judge Denies 23XI, FRM Preliminary
Injunction Back on Friday, NASCAR, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were in court for more proceedings. The judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction without prejudice. |
|
| Ryan Blaney Gave It All He Had in Runner-Up Finish to Joey
Logano Team Penske's Ryan Blaney did everything that he could to prevent Joey Logano from winning Sunday, but he used his stuff up trying to run the champ down. |
|
| Jimmie Johnson Plans Cup Return in
2025 After Sunday's race, Jimmie Johnson indicated to Frontstretch that he will be back in a part-time schedule for Legacy Motor Club in 2025. |
|
| The 2024 State of the Sport Address,
Summarized On Friday, Steve Phelps and Steve O'Donnell addressed the assembled media in Phoenix as part of the annual State of the Sport address. A number of issues were broached, including the playoffs and the manipulation in Martinsville. |
|
| Justin Allgaier Wins 1st Xfinity Title As Riley Herbst
Scores Phoenix Victory Stewart-Haas Racing's Riley Herbst passed Justin Allgaier on the final lap Saturday night to win the Xfinity 200 in Phoenix. Aric Almirola was third, then Connor Zilisch and Chandler Smith. Allgaier won his first Xfinity Series
championship. |
|
| Ty Majeski Dominates Phoenix Finale To Win 2024 Truck
Title ThorSport Racing's Ty Majeski led 132 of 150 laps Friday night to win the Championship 150 in Phoenix and his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship. Corey Heim was second, followed by Christian Eckes, Nick Sanchez and Grant
Enfinger. |
|
| Connor Zilisch Dominates ARCA at Phoenix, Sean Hingorani
Clinches Championship Connor Zilisch led all but one lap Friday afternoon to win the ARCA Menards Series West Desert Diamond West Valley Casino 100 at Phoenix Raceway. William Sawalich finished second, then Sean Hingorani, Giovanni Ruggiero and Brent
Crews. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and NASCAR Media via Sean Gardner, James Gilbert and Jared C. Tilton of Getty Images. 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: Nov. 8-10 |
- By virtue of his 21st-place finish in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings, Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar was named the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year Sunday evening. Hocevar had one top-five (a third at Watkins Glen) and six top 10 finishes in the No. 77 Chevrolet. His season allowed the No. 77 team to improve from 33rd to 21st in owners points. - The World of Outlaws World Finals continued over the weekend for DIRTcar's top-three series, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series, and the Super DIRTcar Series. There was plenty of action to be had in Charlotte. Friday night for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series saw Carson Macedo start from the pole and immediately end up in a battle with Buddy Kofoid. Kofoid was able to get past early on, but Macedo used a slide job to get him back and take his 12th win of the year.
Kofoid ended up second, 1.04 seconds behind, followed by Justin Peck,
David Gravel and Kasey Kahne. Gravel's fourth-place finish was enough to clinch the 2024 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship.
Saturday night saw Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series regular Tyler Courtney win the Toyota Racing Dash and claim the pole for the final feature of the year. From there, Courtney was able to hold off Gravel, then pull away to
win.
Courtney won by 2.041 seconds over Gravel, then Macedo. Ryan Timms was fourth, followed by Brian Brown.
In the final standings, Gravel won the championship by 80 points over Macedo. Donny Schatz finished third, then Kofoid and Sheldon Haudenschild. - In World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series action, Cade Dillard started from pole and led for the first 22 laps. However, he jumped the cushion and allowed Mike Marlar and Bobby Pierce to pass.
Marlar led with Pierce giving chase until Marlar jumped the cushion with four laps to go.
That allowed Pierce to take the lead and run away to take the win.
Pierce won by 3.276 seconds over Dillard. Marlar dropped to third, then Ricky Thornton Jr. and Kyle Bronson. Saturday night saw Chris Madden use the inside line to get past Thornton and Pierce to take the lead
early. From there, he was able to drive away and take the victory in the 50-lap finale. Thornton was second, then Marlar, Jonathan Davenport and Daulton Wilson.
Brandon Sheppard, who did not have the best World Finals, finished ninth Saturday night. That was enough for him to win the championship by 38 points over Pierce. Nick Hoffman was third, then Bronson and Dillard.
- In Super DIRTcar Series action in Charlotte, Mat Williamson, who had taken the points lead from Matt Sheppard Thursday night, led flag-to-flag to win Friday night's 30-lap feature. Sheppard was second, then Demetrios Drellos, Jimmy Phelps and Alex Yankowski. Saturday
night's season finale saw Thursday's winner Tim Fuller start from the pole and led early. Anthony Perrego was right there and ready to pounce, but couldn't do so. Jeff Taylor brought out a caution with 11 laps to go and bunched up the pack. On the restart, Fuller spun his tires up and lost momentum. That was all that Perrego needed to get past for the lead. From there, he
held on to win.
Fuller ended up second, followed by Williamson. Sheppard was fourth, then Yankowski. The third-place finish was enough to give Williamson the Super DIRTcar Series championship by 33 points over Sheppard. Perrego finished third in points, then Phelps and Tim Sears
Jr. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Phoenix last weekend. For more from Phoenix, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our suite of YouTube channels (Frontstretch, Frontstretch Grassroots, Frontstretch Plus and FS Open Wheel) and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Joey Logano Wins His 3rd Title
by Phil Allaway
Joey Logano made an excellent move on the final restart Sunday to take the lead from fifth. From there, he was able to hold off teammate Ryan Blaney to win in Phoenix and claim his third championship. Logano's final margin was five
points over Blaney, who finished second. William Byron finished third Sunday and ended up third in points, while Tyler Reddick didn't seem to have the pace of the rest of the championship contenders. A sixth-place finish means that Reddick ends the season in fourth. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Christopher Bell led the
most laps Sunday and finished fifth to claim fifth in points. He ended up 34 points ahead of Kyle Larson, who finished fourth. Chase Elliott finished eighth Sunday and ended up seventh in points. Denny Hamlin moved up one place to eighth after finishing 11th. Hamlin jumped over Alex Bowman, who fell to ninth after
finishing 14th. In his final full-time Cup start, Martin Truex Jr. ran well early from pole, but faded to 17th to stay 10th in points. Austin Cindric finishes 11th in points, while Daniel Suarez is 12th. Brad Keselowski finished 13th, then Chase Briscoe. Ty Gibbs crashed out on the second lap of the race to stay in
15th, while Harrison Burton is 16th. Outside of the playoffs, the penalties handed down last week took away any semblance of a race for 17th. Chris Buescher ran strongly to finish ninth to lock it down. He ended up 52 points ahead of Bubba Wallace despite Wallace finishing seventh. Ross Chastain is 19th, while
Kyle Busch is 20th. Championship 4 Point Standings: 1) Joey Logano 5040, 2) Ryan Blaney -5, 3) William Byron -6, 4) Tyler Reddick -9. Eliminated Driver Standings: 5)
Christopher Bell 2412, 6) Kyle Larson -34, 7) Chase Elliott -70, 8) Denny Hamlin -84, 9) Alex Bowman -94, 10) Martin Truex Jr. -155, 11) Austin Cindric -165, 12) Daniel Suarez -186, 13) Brad Keselowski -204, 14) Chase Briscoe -228, 15) Ty Gibbs -243, 16) Harrison Burton
-290. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 1185, 2) Christopher Bell -22, 3) Chase Elliott -26, 4) William Byron -38, 5) Tyler Reddick -78, 6) Ryan Blaney
-90, 7) Denny Hamlin -117, 8) Alex Bowman -206, 9) Martin Truex Jr. -236, 10) Brad Keselowski -243, 11) Chris Buescher -255, 12) Joey Logano -256, 13) Bubba Wallace
-307, 14) Ty Gibbs -318, 15) Ross Chastain -333, t-16) Daniel Suarez -419, t-16) Kyle Busch -419. Note: Drivers
in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest: 17) Chris Buescher 930, 18) Bubba Wallace -52, 19) Ross Chastain -78, 20) Kyle Busch -164, 21) Carson Hocevar
-254, 22) Todd Gilliland -300, 23) Michael McDowell -306, 24) Noah Gragson -318, 25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -340, 26) Ryan Preece -346. Stage Points with Phoenix
Corollary: 1) Kyle Larson 314, 2) Denny Hamlin -20, 3) Christopher Bell -37, 4) Ryan Blaney -39, 5) William Byron -61, 6) Chase Elliott -69, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -80, 8) Tyler Reddick -81, 9) Joey Logano
-135, 10) Alex Bowman -143, 11) Brad Keselowski -146, 12) Ty Gibbs -157, 13) Bubba Wallace -168, 14) Austin Cindric -185, 15) Chris Buescher -209, 16) Ross Chastain -214. Stage Points without Phoenix Corollary: 1) Kyle Larson 314, 2) Denny Hamlin -20, 3) Ryan Blaney -24, 4) Christopher Bell -37, 5) William Byron -47, 6) Chase Elliott
-69, 7) Tyler Reddick -76, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -80, 9) Joey Logano -117, 10) Alex Bowman -143, 11) Brad Keselowski -146, 12) Ty Gibbs -157, 13) Bubba Wallace -168, 14) Austin Cindric
-185, 15) Chris Buescher -209, 16) Ross Chastain -214. Note No. 1: Championship contenders at Phoenix are not allowed to score stage points in the season finale. Note No. 2: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen
Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 1074, 2) Christopher Bell -22, 3) William Byron -37, 4) Tyler Reddick -38, 5) Kyle Larson
-42, 6) Chris Buescher -99, 7) Ryan Blaney -115, 8) Alex Bowman -117, 9) Denny Hamlin -118, 10) Brad Keselowski -139, 11) Ross Chastain -154, 12) Bubba Wallace -169, 13) Joey Logano
-181, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -205, 15) Ty Gibbs -209, 16) Daniel Suarez -229. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 4823, 2) Chase Elliott -5, 3) Tyler Reddick -80, 4) William Byron -82, 5) Kyle Larson -130, 6) Ryan Blaney
-329, 7) Chris Buescher -349, 8) Alex Bowman -396, 9) Denny Hamlin -401, 10) Brad Keselowski -433, 11) Ross Chastain -564, 12) Joey Logano -592, 13) Bubba Wallace -603, 14) Martin Truex Jr.
-666, 15) Ty Gibbs -669, 16) Daniel Suarez -783. 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-1), Daniel Suarez (Atlanta-1), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas-1, Kansas-1, Sonoma, Indianapolis, Bristol-2, Charlotte-2), Christopher Bell (Phoenix-1, Charlotte-1, Loudon), Denny Hamlin (Bristol-1, Richmond-1, Dover), Chase Elliott (Texas), Tyler Reddick (Talladega-1, Michigan, Homestead), Brad Keselowski (Darlington-1), Austin Cindric (Gateway), Ryan
Blaney (Iowa, Pocono, Martinsville-2), Joey Logano (Nashville, Atlanta-2, Las Vegas-2, Phoenix-2), Alex Bowman (Chicago), Austin Dillon (Richmond-2), Harrison Burton (Daytona-2), Chase Briscoe (Darlington-2), Chris Buescher (Watkins Glen), Ross Chastain (Kansas-2), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Talladega-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.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Justin Allgaier Wins The Championship With Incredible Evening
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier had a wild weekend in Phoenix. A crash on Friday forced him to a backup car. He then came from the rear to the front before back-to-back penalties put him a lap down. A fortuitous caution put him back on the lead lap. From there,
Allgaier raced up to the lead. While he lost it on the final lap to Riley Herbst, the second-place finish was good enough to win the championship. Allgaier's final margin was six points over Cole Custer, who finished eighth. AJ Allmendinger finished third in points, seven behind Allgaier, while Austin Hill finished 10th and ended up fourth in
points. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Chandler Smith easily ended up fifth in points after finishing fifth. He ended up 50 points ahead of Sheldon Creed. Herbst scored a perfect 60 points with his victory Saturday and moved up one place to seventh. Herbst jumped over Jesse Love, who was right up in the
hunt late, but dropped to sixth at the finish. Sam Mayer finished ninth in points after an 11th-place finish, while Parker Kligerman wrapped up his full-time career with a 10th-place finish in points. Sammy Smith is 11th, while Shane van Gisbergen is 12th. Outside of the playoffs, Ryan Sieg had already wrapped up 13th in points in Homestead. After a 23rd-place finish, he ended up 160 points ahead of Brandon Jones, who recovered from being in the same crash with Allgaier Friday to finish 18th. Anthony Alfredo crashed out when he blew a tire, but stayed 15th in points. His point total may change since he intentionally wrecked Stefan
Parsons prior to his own wreck. Brennan Poole is 16th. Championship 4 Point Standings: 1) Justin Allgaier 4035, 2) Cole Custer -6, 3) AJ Allmendinger -7, 4) Austin Hill -8. Owners Points Championship 4 Point Standings: 1) JR Motorsports No. 7 4035, 2) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 -1, 3) Kaulig Racing No. 16 -7, 4) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -8. Eliminated Driver Standings: 5) Chandler Smith
2314, 6) Sheldon Creed -50, 7) Riley Herbst -60, 8) Jesse Love -67, 9) Sam Mayer -109, 10) Parker Kligerman -124, 11) Sammy Smith -129, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -157. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Cole Custer
1180, 2) Chandler Smith -2, 3) Justin Allgaier -20, 4) Austin Hill -98, 5) Sheldon Creed -109, 6) AJ Allmendinger -130, 7) Jesse Love -173, 8) Riley Herbst -184, 9) Parker Kligerman -262, 10) Sammy
Smith -317, 11) Ryan Sieg -324, 12) Sam Mayer -395, 13) Shane van Gisbergen -415, 14) Brandon Jones -484, 15) Anthony Alfredo -539, 16) Brennan Poole -608. Best
of the Rest: 13) Ryan Sieg 856, 14) Brandon Jones -160, 15) Anthony Alfredo -215, 16) Brennan Poole -284, 17) Aric Almirola -296, 18) Josh Williams -341, 19) Jeb Burton -344, 20) Jeremy Clements -379, 21) Parker Retzlaff -388, 22) Leland Honeyman -399. Stage Points with Championship Corollary: 1) Justin Allgaier 370, 2) Cole Custer -82, 3) Chandler Smith -90, 4) AJ Allmendinger -110, 5) Riley Herbst -117, 6) Austin Hill -123, 7) Sheldon Creed
-135, 8) Jesse Love -193, 9) Aric Almirola -211, 10) Sam Mayer -214, 11) Sammy Smith -231, 12) Ryan Sieg -252, 13) Brandon Jones -259, 14) Parker Kligerman -262, 15) Shane van Gisbergen
-297, 16) Ryan Truex -311. Stage Points without Championship
Corollary: 1) Justin Allgaier 376, 2) Cole Custer -78, 3) Chandler Smith -96, 4) AJ Allmendinger -112, 5) Riley Herbst -123, 6) Austin Hill -125, 7) Sheldon Creed -141, 8) Jesse Love -199, 9) Aric
Almirola -217, 10) Sam Mayer -220, 11) Sammy Smith -237, 12) Ryan Sieg -258, 13) Brandon Jones -265, 14) Parker Kligerman -268, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -303, 16) Ryan Truex -317. Note No. 1: Championship contenders at Phoenix are not allowed to score stage points in the season finale. Note No. 2: If he were eligible for Xfinity Series points, John Hunter Nemechek would be 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 1040, 2) Cole Custer -4, 3) Sheldon Creed -58, 4) Austin Hill -60, 5) Jesse Love -61, 6) Parker Kligerman -86, 7) Justin Allgaier -103, 8) AJ Allmendinger -109, 9) Riley Herbst -159,
10) Ryan Sieg -160, 11) Sammy Smith -178, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -212, 13) Sam Mayer -266, 14) Anthony Alfredo -297, 15) Brandon Jones -319, 16) Brennan Poole -348. WC Points (1-16):
1) Chandler Smith 4658, 2) Cole Custer -19, 3) Sheldon Creed -174, 4) Jesse Love -256, 5) Austin Hill -260, 6) Justin Allgaier -353, 7) Parker Kligerman -395, 8) AJ Allmendinger -421, 9) Riley Herbst
-578, 10) Ryan Sieg -610, 11) Sammy Smith -652, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -766, 13) Sam Mayer -920, 14) Anthony Alfredo -1075, 15) Brandon Jones -1127, 16) Brennan Poole -1253. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, Atlanta-1, Atlanta-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas-1, Nashville), Chandler Smith (Phoenix-1, Richmond), Kyle Larson (COTA), Aric Almirola (Martinsville-1, Kansas, Martinsville-2), Sam Mayer (Texas, Iowa, Charlotte-2), Jesse Love (Talladega-1), Ryan Truex (Dover, Daytona-2), Justin Allgaier (Darlington-1, Michigan), Chase Elliott
(Charlotte-1), Shane van Gisbergen (Portland, Sonoma, Chicago), Christopher Bell (Loudon, Darlington-2), Cole Custer (Pocono, Bristol), Riley Herbst (Indianapolis, Phoenix-2), Connor Zilisch (Watkins Glen), Sammy Smith (Talladega-2), AJ Allmendinger (Las Vegas-2) 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: Ty MajeskI Wins The Championship
by Phil Allaway
Ty Majeski may have gotten into the Championship 4 due to Christian Eckes getting dirty in Martinsville, but he took full advantage of it. He led 132 of 150 laps and took the championship by the horns. His final margin in the points was five points over
Corey Heim, who finished second. Eckes, who dominated much of the season, ended up third in points after finishing third. Grant Enfinger was fifth Friday night and ended the year fourth in points. Of those eliminated, Nick Sanchez finished fourth and locked up fifth in points. He ended up 33 points ahead of Taylor Gray, who was
sixth. The top-six finishers Friday night ended up being the top-six drivers in points. Rajah Caruth ended up 13th and finished seventh in points. Tyler Ankrum was eliminated in the big crash on the backstretch, but still finished eighth in points. Ben Rhodes finished ninth and moved up to ninth in points, while Daniel Dye moved
out of line on a restart, got penalized and finished 24th. That dropped him to 10th in points. Outside of the playoffs, Layne Riggs recovered from a late spin to finish 10th and take 11th in points. He ended up 38 points ahead of Stewart Friesen, who was strong early before dropping back to 18th. Tanner Gray finished 12th and ends the year in
13th, while Matt Crafton is 14th. Chase Purdy is 15th, while Dean Thompson is 16th.
Championship 4 Point Standings: 1) Ty Majeski 4040, 2) Corey Heim -5, 3) Christian Eckes -6, 4) Grant Enfinger -8. Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: 5) Nick Sanchez 2280, 6) Taylor Gray -33, 7) Rajah Caruth -67, 8) Tyler Ankrum -97, 9) Ben Rhodes -130, 10) Daniel Dye -139. Best of the Rest: 11) Layne Riggs
595, 12) Stewart Friesen -38, 13) Tanner Gray -45, 14) Matt Crafton -71, 15) Chase Purdy -82, 16) Dean Thompson -126, 17) Jake Garcia -136, 18) Bayley Currey -203, 19) Kaden Honeycutt -211, 20) Bret Holmes -235.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 1068, 2) Corey Heim -95, 3) Ty Majeski -189, 4) Nick Sanchez -260, 5) Grant Enfinger -305, 6) Taylor Gray -354, 7) Rajah Caruth
-373, 8) Tyler Ankrum -398, 9) Layne Riggs -473, 10) Ben Rhodes -479, 11) Daniel Dye -509, 12) Stewart Friesen -511, 13) Tanner Gray -518, 14) Matt Crafton -544, 15) Chase Purdy -555, 16) Dean
Thompson -599. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 50, 2) Christian Eckes -4, 3) Ty Majeski -20, 4) Grant Enfinger -31, 5) Nick Sanchez -32, 6) Rajah Caruth
-40, 7) Tyler Ankrum -43, 8) Taylor Gray -47. Stage Points with Championship Corollary: 1) Christian Eckes 311, 2) Corey Heim -67, 3) Ty Majeski -68, 4) Nick Sanchez -147, 5) Grant
Enfinger -174, 6) Tyler Ankrum -183, 7) Layne Riggs -184, 8) Taylor Gray -195, 9) Rajah Caruth -205, 10) Ben Rhodes -219, 11) Daniel Dye -231, 12) Kaden Honeycutt -236, 13) Stewart Friesen
-241, 14) Tanner Gray -253, 15) Dean Thompson -258, 16) Jake Garcia -262. Note No. 1: Championship contenders at Phoenix are not allowed to score stage points in the season finale. Note No. 2: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 14th in stage points. Stage Points without Championship Corollary: 1) Christian Eckes 325, 2) Corey Heim -62, 3) Ty Majeski
-63, 4) Nick Sanchez -161, 5) Grant Enfinger -178, 6) Tyler Ankrum -197, 7) Layne Riggs -198, 8) Taylor Gray -209, 9) Rajah Caruth -219, 10) Ben Rhodes -233, 11) Daniel Dye -245, 12) Kaden
Honeycutt -250, 13) Stewart Friesen -255, 14) Tanner Gray -267, 15) Dean Thompson -272, 16) Jake Garcia -276. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 675, 2) Corey
Heim -39, 3) Nick Sanchez -115, 4) Ty Majeski -135, 5) Grant Enfinger -143, 6) Taylor Gray -162, 7) Rajah Caruth -174, 8) Tyler Ankrum -217, 9) Ben Rhodes -264, 10) Tanner Gray -271, 11) Stewart
Friesen -277, 12) Matt Crafton -285, 13) Daniel Dye -286, 14) Layne Riggs -291, 15) Chase Purdy -295, 16) Dean Thompson -349. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes
3720, 2) Corey Heim -168, 3) Nick Sanchez -443, 4) Ty Majeski -503, 5) Grant Enfinger -543, 6) Taylor Gray -603, 7) Rajah Caruth -668, 8) Tyler Ankrum -802, 9) Ben Rhodes -967, 10) Tanner Gray
-1014, 11) Stewart Friesen -1024, 12) Daniel Dye -1032, 13) Layne Riggs -1037, 14) Matt Crafton -1049, 15) Chase Purdy -1058, 16) Dean Thompson -1259. Race
Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Texas), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Bristol-1, Martinsville-1, Nashville, Martinsville-2), Corey Heim (COTA, Kansas-1, North Wilkesboro, Gateway, Pocono, Kansas-2), Ross Chastain (Darlington), Ty Majeski (Lucas Oil IRP, Richmond), Layne Riggs (Milwaukee, Richmond-2), Grant Enfinger (Talladega)
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 Season Finale 500k was brought to you by the letter R for Rising to the Occasion. Joey Logano's 2024 season is not a great season by championship standards. As you
can see above, if the points had played out for the full season, he wouldn't have even been in the top 10. He just won at the right times. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Season Finale 500k compiled by Phil Allaway
"I love the playoffs. I love it, man. What a race. What a Team Penske battle there at the end. I had a good restart and was able to get in front of [Ryan Blaney]. He had a lot of long run speed there and that was all I had there to hold him off. We have three of them. That’s really special. What a team to fight through today. We went through a little bit of adversity in
throughout the race. I can’t thank Ford enough and Shell and Pennzoil and Hunt Brother’s Pizza. Paul Wolfe, what a crew chief I have. I’ve got the best team. I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but I’ve got the best team and together we’re very well-rounded and can show up when it matters the most. We’ve got a mentally tough team that can make things happen when it matters. "The race started in Vegas for us. The amount of work and effort that went into building this race car right here, the amount of time, I don’t think anyone works harder than us. We were up at 6 o’clock in the morning going over stuff and the guys just want it bad. I’m glad we delivered. It was looking iffy there for a minute, but that late-race restart was really the difference maker. I’m so proud of the team." - Joey Logano, race
winner
"I was worried they were going to get together at the end, but I think Joey had a little bit left there. Ryan [Blaney] did a great job because he was held up a little bit there at the beginning, but great racing all day long. I can only thank everybody upstairs. They were tremendous and these Ford engines and obviously our Shell sponsor. Think about that. They were on the car at
Indy for the 500 and for here, so a pretty good day. "It’s all about the people. My name might be on the door, but it’s all about the people who make the difference and we sure have them on this team." - Roger Penske, championship winning car owner
"I’m just worn out. I just couldn’t quite get there. I tried really had to do so, but the restart didn’t really work out and just got too far away from me. It took me a while to pass a couple guys and I just could never get by Joey and I ran out of time. Congrats to him. Congrats to the No. 22 team and Pennzoil and Ford. They put together a great playoffs and we’re happy. If we’re gonna race somebody, I’m happy it was him for the championship and happy
to be 1-2 for Roger. Three in a row for Roger. It’s super amazing and Ford, but on my side I hate it for Menards, Advance Auto Parts, BodyArmor, DEX Imaging, Wabash and Wurth group – everybody who puts a lot of effort into our program and just super fast, just didn’t quite have enough there at the end. At least a Penske car won it, but it was a heck of a battle. Hopefully, the fans enjoyed it and hopefully we can come back even stronger next year." - Ryan Blaney, finished
second
"I don’t know. I know that our No. 24 Axalta Chevy team worked really hard all day, and I feel like we maximized the most part of what we had. We just didn’t quite have enough. Those guys were just faster than us. We would have a short, little surge there in the middle part of the run, and then they would start to drive away on the short and long
runs.
"We just didn’t have enough, but I’m really, really proud of our team. We fought hard. It was a great strategy there in the final stage to do something different, but we just didn’t have enough." - William Byron, finished third "I felt like
our DeWalt, Interstate Batteries Camry was fine, but we definitely lost the handle of it on that last run. I knew that I was getting a little bit worse compared to the competition as the race went. We needed to take a step and make it a little bit better, and it seemed like I got a little bit slower in the end." - Christopher Bell, finished fifth
"I feel like we kept making our
balance on The Beast Camry better and better all day – it was a bit telling in stage two here on that restart when we got to [William Bryon], [Ryan Blaney] and [Joey Logano] – I wouldn’t say they were doing anything much different, but they were able to get away from us after a while. It was good year for us. Won in the right moments, just hoping for a little bit more of that magic today and wasn’t meant to be." - Tyler Reddick, finished sixth "I’m happy with our day. Just like at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, I feel like we maximized the potential of our No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevy, so that’s good. We had a 10th-place car, or so, and that’s exactly where we finished. I’m really proud of this team. We had a good year, and it’s definitely something good to build off of for the future." - Daniel
Suarez, finished 10th "Oh man. I wanted it to go better than that. We were pretty good early and then lost track position and then the track just continued to rubber up and get hotter. At least that’s what I felt like it was doing. I kept losing the grip. I kept losing more balance. I just [kept] losing track position. It just all magnifies with this
thing. We got caught by the caution there and had to stay out on old tires and get the wave around and we couldn’t even race to try to go forward. It was just not a good day. Not a good day to end on. I’m proud of the effort of my team. At least we got to lead a few laps at the beginning." - Martin Truex Jr., finished 17th "It was definitely a big hit. I
made contact with the wall, but I didn’t think it was necessarily too bad, and I went off into the dogleg. We’ve been really hard on the track there all week and I think I just caught it at a bad angle, and it just took off from me. I had no control there. It was a really, really big hit though." - Ty Gibbs, 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.
|
|
|
|
![Kyle Larson: "I Deleted Twitter [X] a Few Weeks Ago, I'm in the Dark on a lot of Stuff"](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/b8946c19e2044863b0f7cb29ab72b745.png)
