Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 30, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition CLXXII |
- NASCAR teams are arriving back at their shops today after yesterday's race in Kansas. Due to the devastation of North Carolina and Tennessee, they'll have to take a circuitous route to do it. We'll have entry lists for Talladega and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Ross Chastain Holds Off William Byron for 1st Win of
2024 Ross Chastain took the lead on the final restart Sunday and held off a late charge from William Byron to win the Hollywood Casino 400 presented by ESPN Bet at Kansas Speedway. Byron was second, then Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs. |
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| Kyle Busch’s Kansas Dreams Evaporate After Spin, Tight
Squeeze With Chase Briscoe Kyle Busch had a great chance Sunday to win his first race of the year. However, he ended up brushing the wall and spinning out of the lead late while trying to lap Chase Briscoe. |
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| Ty Dillon Returns to Full-Time Cup Racing With Kaulig in
2025 Kaulig Racing announced Saturday morning that Ty Dillon will replace Daniel Hemric in a renumbered No. 10 Chevrolet full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025. |
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| Aric Almirola Stumps Playoff Drivers at Kansas, Wins 2nd
Xfinity Race Aric Almirola took the lead away from Cole Custer with three laps to go Saturday and held on to win the Kansas Lottery 300 for his second win of the year. Custer was second, then Chandler Smith, Connor Zilisch and Sheldon Creed. |
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| Playoff Top Seed Justin Allgaier Continues Miserable Month
With Kansas Crash Justin Allgaier entered the Round of 12 with the points lead. He left Kansas ninth in points after crashing out of the race and finishing 36th. |
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| Cole Custer Angered by Chandler Smith’s ‘Clown’ Driving at
Kansas Cole Custer spent a number of laps trying to get around Chandler Smith for the lead. While he eventually got past, it wasn't before Smith eased Custer into the wall. Custer will not abide by that. |
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| Half of Xfinity Playoff Field Angry With Each Other After
Kansas Opener The biggest takeaway from Saturday's Kansas Lottery 300 was that a number of people walked away from the race upset due to on-track issues with other playoff drivers. |
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| Corey Heim Wins 6th Race of the Season at Kansas in
Dramatic Fashion Corey Heim came from the rear of the field Friday night and took the lead when Ty Majeski ran out of gas with a lap to go to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kubota Tractor 200. Layne Riggs was second, then Christian Eckes, Kaden Honeycutt and Dawson
Sutton. |
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| Ty Majeski’s Kansas Fuel Gamble Falls One Lap Short of
Paying Off Ty Majeski had already locked into the Round of 8 in stage one. So, he felt the freedom to gamble. Unfortunately, he ran out of gas coming to the white flag, losing the victory. |
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| Michael Andretti Relinquishes Control of Andretti Global
to Dan Towriss The AP reported Friday that Michael Andretti has stepped down from the head of Andretti Global as part of a reorganization of the company. |
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| Tanner Gray Survives Late-Race Restart, Wins ARCA Race at
Kansas Tanner Gray barely held on with a left rear tire going flat Friday to win the ARCA Menards Series Reese's 150 at Kansas Speedway. Connor Zilisch was second, then Lavar Scott, Corey Day and Gio Ruggiero. |
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| 2025 ARCA Schedule Released; Menards Returns as Title
Sponsor ARCA announced the 2025 ARCA Menards Series schedule Friday in Kansas. In addition, Menards has re-upped as title sponsor and the series will remain with FOX Sports through 2028. |
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| Trevor Huddleston Dominates ARCA West at
Madera Trevor Huddleston dominated the proceedings Saturday night at Madera Speedway, leading 145 of 153 laps to win the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame 150. Sean Hingorani was second, then Ethan Nascimento, Eric Johnson Jr. and Kyle
Keller. |
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| Carson Kvapil Outduels Mike Looney to Win 1st Grandfather
Clock Carson Kvapil took the lead Saturday night with 64 laps to go and held off Mike Looney to win the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. Mike Looney was second, then Treyten Lapcevich, Casey Kelley and Bobby
McCarty. |
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| Peyton Sellers Wins Record 5th Virginia Triple Crown at
Martinsville Peyton Sellers' ninth-place finish in Saturday night's ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway won him the Virginia Triple Crown championship. |
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| Cannon McIntosh Wins BC39 With Last Lap
Pass Connor McIntosh took the lead on the final lap Sunday night from Chase McDermand and held on to win the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship Driven 2 Save Lives BC39 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Chris Owens and Joe Skibinski of Penske Entertainment, Jeff Dean and Alika Tanner of ARCA Racing and our own Chase Folsom. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our suite of YouTube channels from Kansas and Martinsville last weekend. For more from Kansas, Martinsville, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our 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: William Byron Snatches Lead After Kansas
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson had a miserable day Sunday in Kansas. He smacked the wall early on and struggled to a 26th-place finish. Meanwhile, teammate William Byron finished second and walked out of Kansas with the points lead. Byron's lead is six points over Ryan
Blaney and Christopher Bell. Blaney wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his fourth-place finish as compared to Bell's seventh. Larson dropped to fourth due to his contact. Denny Hamlin is up one place to fifth after finishing eighth. Alex Bowman is up five places to sixth after finishing sixth. Chase Elliott and
Joey Logano are tied for seventh. Elliott wins the tiebreaker due to finishing ninth to Logano's 14th. They are the last two drivers currently in the Round of 8 on points. Elliott and Logano are four points ahead of Tyler Reddick, who ran well early on, but dropped back to a 25th-place finish and dropped six places. Daniel Suarez finished 13th
and remains in 10th. Chase Briscoe has sole possession of 11th after finishing 24th. Finally, Austin Cindric crashed on the backstretch just after halfway and finished four laps down in 34th. That finish dropped him to 12th. Of those eliminated, Ty Gibbs finished fifth and keeps 13th. He is now 16 points ahead of Martin Truex
Jr., who finished third. Brad Keselowski is 15th and Harrison Burton 16th. Outside of the playoffs, Ross Chastain's first win of the year keeps him in 17th. He is 26 points ahead of Chris Buescher. Bubba Wallace is 19th and Kyle Busch 20th. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) William Byron 3074, t-2) Ryan Blaney -6, t-2) Christopher Bell -6, 4) Kyle Larson -16, 5) Denny Hamlin -23, 6) Alex Bowman -26, t-7) Chase Elliott -30, t-7) Joey Logano -30, 9) Tyler Reddick -34, 10)
Daniel Suarez -44, 11) Chase Briscoe -55, 12) Austin Cindric -59. Eliminated Driver Standings: 13) Ty Gibbs 2120, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -16, 15) Brad Keselowski -51, 16) Harrison Burton -75.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 959, 2) Chase Elliott -1, 3) Tyler Reddick -18, 4) Christopher Bell -37, 5) Ryan Blaney -67, 6) William Byron -75, 7) Denny Hamlin -94, 8) Alex Bowman -130, 9) Ty
Gibbs -141, 10) Ross Chastain -153, 11) Brad Keselowski -156, 12) Martin Truex Jr. -163, 13) Chris Buescher -179, 14) Bubba Wallace -202, 15) Joey Logano
-226, 16) Chase Briscoe -294.
Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Daniel Suarez -310, 19) Austin Cindric -339. Note: Drivers
in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points.
Best of the Rest: 17) Ross Chastain 806, 18) Chris Buescher -26, 19) Bubba Wallace -49, 20) Kyle Busch -148, 21) Carson Hocevar -250, 22) Michael McDowell
-259, 23) Todd Gilliland -260, 24) Noah Gragson -302, 25) Ryan Preece -313, 26) Josh Berry -316. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 47, 2) Christopher Bell -15, 3) Tyler Reddick
-19, 4) William Byron -24, 5) Ryan Blaney -28, 6) Denny Hamlin -32, 7) Chase Elliott -33, 8) Joey Logano -35, 9) Austin Cindric -39, t-10) Daniel Suarez -41, t-10) Alex Bowman -41, 12) Chase Briscoe -42. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 278, 2) Denny Hamlin -16, 3) Ryan Blaney -48, 4) Christopher Bell -61, t-5) William Byron -77, t-5) Martin Truex Jr. -77, 7) Tyler Reddick -87, 8) Chase
Elliott -94, 9) Alex Bowman -126, 10) Joey Logano -128, 11) Brad Keselowski -129, 12) Ty Gibbs -130, 13) Bubba Wallace -154, 14) Austin Cindric -170, 15) Ross Chastain -183, 16) Kyle Busch -196. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 18) Chase Briscoe -200, 19) Daniel Suarez -212. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 906, 2) Tyler Reddick -17, 3) Ross Chastain -61, 4) Christopher Bell -65, 5) Chris Buescher -80, t-6) Kyle Larson -94, t-6) William Byron -94, 8) Ty Gibbs
-102, 9) Alex Bowman -104, 10) Ryan Blaney -115, 11) Brad Keselowski -119, 12) Bubba Wallace -140, 13) Denny Hamlin -147, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -184, 15) Joey Logano -187, 16) Kyle Busch -196. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Chase Briscoe -197, 18) Daniel Suarez -200, 20) Austin Cindric -268. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were
created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 4041, 2) Chase Elliott -5, 3) Christopher Bell -150, 4) Ross Chastain -213, 5) Chris Buescher -259, 6) William Byron
-275, 7) Kyle Larson -297, 8) Ty Gibbs -312, t-9) Ryan Blaney -334, t-9) Alex Bowman -334, 11) Brad Keselowski -358, 12) Bubba Wallace -449, 13) Denny Hamlin -476, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -576, 15) Joey Logano
-594, 16) Kyle Busch -615. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Chase Briscoe -661, 18) Daniel Suarez -672, 20) Austin Cindric -890. 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-1, 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), Ross Chastain (Kansas-2)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility. Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Cole Custer Takes Lead After Justin Allgaier Crashes
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier ran well early on Saturday, but he lost control of his car and hit the inside wall on lap 70. After repairs, Allgaier blew his left front tire and hit the wall in turn 3, ending his day. Meanwhile, Cole Custer was close to
his second straight victory before Aric Almirola snatched it away. The second-place finish was enough to give him the points lead. Custer has a five-point lead over Chandler Smith, who finished third. Austin Hill remains in third after finishing seventh. Sam Mayer is up three places to fourth after winning stage two and finishing 13th. Sheldon Creed is up four spots to fifth after finishing fifth. Shane van Gisbergen is down one place to sixth despite racing up from 22nd on the grid to finish eighth. Jesse Love is down one place to seventh after finishing ninth. Riley Herbst has sole possession of eighth after finishing 10th. He is the last driver in the Round of 8 on points at the moment. Herbst is one point ahead of Allgaier. His 36th-place finish cost him his entire cushion and dropped him to ninth. AJ Allmendinger struggled Saturday and stays in 10th after finishing 17th. Parker Kligerman is up one place to 11th after a 12th-place finish. Sammy Smith hit the wall in the opening laps after contact from Allmendinger, then spun out. A
22nd-place finish dropped him to 12th. Outside of the playoffs, Ryan Sieg finished 16th and maintains a 84-point lead over Brandon Jones, who finished sixth. Anthony Alfredo is 15th, followed by Brennan Poole. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Cole Custer 2079, 2) Chandler Smith -5, 3) Austin Hill -15, 4) Sam Mayer -28, 5) Sheldon Creed -31, 6) Shane van Gisbergen -33, 7) Jesse Love -38, 8) Riley Herbst -40, 9) Justin Allgaier
-41, 10) AJ Allmendinger -53, 11) Parker Kligerman -55, 12) Sammy Smith -63. Owners Points Round of 12 Standings: 1) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 2092, 2) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 -18, 3) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 81
-19, 4) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -29, 5) JR Motorsports No. 1 -41, 6) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 -45, 7) Kaulig Racing No. 97 -46, 8) Richard Childress Racing No. 2 -52, 9) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 98 -54, 10) JR Motorsports No. 7 -56, 11) Kaulig Racing No. 16
-67, 12) Big Machine Racing -69.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Cole Custer 962, 2) Chandler Smith -23, 3) Justin Allgaier -50, 4) Austin Hill -98, 5) Sheldon Creed -107, 6) AJ Allmendinger -130, 7) Jesse
Love -161, 8) Riley Herbst -181, 9) Parker Kligerman -210, 10) Sammy Smith -263, 11) Ryan Sieg -292, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -308, 13) Sam Mayer -325, 14) Brandon Jones -376, 15) Anthony Alfredo -426, 16) Brennan Poole
-492. 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 -22, 8) Riley Herbst
-24, 9) Sheldon Creed -27, 11) Sammy Smith -33, 12) Parker Kligerman -36. Best of the Rest: 13) Ryan Sieg 670, 14) Brandon Jones -84, 15) Anthony Alfredo -134, 16) Brennan Poole -200, 17) Josh Williams -219, t-18) Leland Honeyman -267, t-18)
Parker Retzlaff -267, 20) Jeremy Clements -278, 21) Jeb Burton -290, 22) Ryan Ellis -309. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 300, 2) Cole Custer -59, 3) Chandler Smith -72, 4) Riley Herbst -96, 5) AJ
Allmendinger -97, 6) Austin Hill -100, 7) Sheldon Creed -125, 8) Jesse Love -160, 9) Sam Mayer -167, 10) Sammy Smith -181, 11) Parker Kligerman -192, 12) Aric Almirola -197, 13) Brandon Jones -199, 14) Ryan Sieg
-212, 15) Ryan Truex -241, 16) Shane van Gisbergen -247. 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 847, 2) Chandler Smith -22, 3) Sheldon Creed -48, 4) Austin Hill -58, 5) Jesse Love -64, 6) Parker Kligerman -86, 7) AJ Allmendinger -100, 8) Justin Allgaier -110, 9) Shane van Gisbergen -133, 10) Ryan
Sieg -150, 11) Sammy Smith -154, 12) Riley Herbst -159, 13) Sam Mayer -220, 14) Anthony Alfredo -228, 15) Brandon Jones -251, 16) Brennan Poole -278. WC Points (1-16):
1) Cole Custer 3796, 2) Chandler Smith -72, 3) Sheldon Creed -134, 4) Austin Hill -236, 5) Jesse Love -257, 6) Parker Kligerman -373, 7) Justin Allgaier -377, 8) AJ Allmendinger -385, 9) Shane van Gisbergen -499, 10) Sammy Smith
-561, 11) Riley Herbst -569, 12) Ryan Sieg -573, 13) Sam Mayer -749, 14) Anthony Alfredo -829, 15) Brandon Jones -882, 16) Brennan Poole -1002. 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, Kansas), 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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Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship: Christian Eckes Wins Round of 10
by Phil Allaway
Christian Eckes had another strong night in Kansas, scoring 17 stage points and finishing third. That was more than enough for him to win the Round of 10. Eckes won the round by eight points over Corey Heim, who came from the rear Friday night to win his sixth race of the year. Nick Sanchez finished 12th, but still finished third in the round.
Ty Majeski came within a whisker of winning, but ran out of fuel with a lap to go. Despite finishing 15th, Majeski still finished the round in fourth. Rajah Caruth finished seventh and finished the round in fifth. Taylor Gray finished 18th, but scored 10 stage points. That was enough for him to jump over Tyler Ankrum and finish
the round in sixth. Ankrum struggled for most of Friday, but still finished 14th. Grant Enfinger finished ninth and claimed the final spot in the Round of 8. Enfinger ended up 25 points ahead of both Daniel Dye and Ben Rhodes. Rhodes tried to make it on fuel late, but ran out. He ended up 22nd. Meanwhile, Dye hit the wall twice in the opening
laps and ended up three laps down in 27th. Outside of the playoffs, Layne Riggs finished second and stays in 11th. He is 17 points ahead of Tanner Gray. Stewart Friesen remains in 13th, then Matt Crafton and Chase Purdy. Dean Thompson is up one place to 16th. When the Round of 8 begins this weekend at Talladega, Heim will have a nine-point lead over Eckes. Majeski will be third, then Sanchez and Caruth. The two teams that qualified for the owners' playoffs (Spire Motorsports No. 7 and Niece Motorsports No. 45) and not the regular playoffs were both eliminated Friday night in Kansas. As a result, the two rankings are equal. Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) Christian Eckes 2191, 2) Corey Heim -8, 3) Nick Sanchez -48, 4) Ty Majeski -49, 5) Rajah Caruth -80, 6) Taylor Gray -94, 7) Tyler Ankrum -98, 8) Grant Enfinger -111, t-9) Daniel Dye -136, t-9) Ben Rhodes -136.
Round of 10 Owners Point Standings: 1) McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 19 2191, 2) TRICON Garage No. 11 -8, 3) Rev Racing No. 2
-48, 4) ThorSport Racing No. 98 -49, 5) Spire Motorsports No. 71 -80, 6) TRICON Garage No. 17 -95, 7) McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 18 -98, 8) CR7 Motorsports No. 9 -111, 9) Spire Motorsports No. 7 -115, 10) Niece
Motorsports No. 45 -116.
Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 3048, 2) Christian Eckes -9, 3) Ty Majeski -24, 4) Nick Sanchez -30, 5) Rajah Caruth -38, t-6) Grant Enfinger -41, t-6) Tyler Ankrum -41, 8) Taylor Gray
-45. Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: t-9) Ben Rhodes 2055, t-9) Daniel Dye 2055. Best of the Rest: 11) Layne Riggs 505, 12) Tanner Gray -17, 13) Stewart Friesen
-57, 14) Matt Crafton -64, 15) Chase Purdy -77, 16) Dean Thompson -122, 17) Jake Garcia -124, 18) Bayley Currey -157, 19) Ty Dillon -171, 20) Bret Holmes -175. Non-Playoff Point Standings
(1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 880, 2) Corey Heim -85, 3) Ty Majeski -183, 4) Nick Sanchez -209, 5) Rajah Caruth -286, 6) Tyler Ankrum -300, 7) Grant Enfinger
-302, 8) Taylor Gray -316, 9) Layne Riggs -375, 10) Ben Rhodes -386, 11) Tanner Gray -392, 12) Daniel Dye -407, 13) Stewart Friesen -432, 14) Matt Crafton -439, 15) Chase Purdy
-452, 16) Dean Thompson -497. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 48, 2) Christian Eckes -9, 3) Ty Majeski -24, 4) Nick Sanchez -30, 5) Rajah Caruth -38, t-6) Grant Enfinger
-41, t-6) Tyler Ankrum -41, 8) Taylor Gray -45, 9) Ben Rhodes -46, 10) Daniel Dye -47. Stage Points: 1) Christian Eckes 270, 2) Corey Heim -61, 3) Ty
Majeski -64, 4) Nick Sanchez -139, 5) Tyler Ankrum -144, 6) Layne Riggs -161, 7) Grant Enfinger -168, 8) Rajah Caruth -173, 9) Taylor Gray -178, 10) Ben Rhodes -183, 11) Daniel Dye
-194, 12) Stewart Friesen -208, 13) Tanner Gray -216, 14) Kaden Honeycutt -217, 15) Chase Purdy -225, 16) Matt Crafton -228. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle
Busch would be 12th and Zane Smith 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 555, 2) Corey Heim -30, 3) Nick Sanchez -84, 4) Ty Majeski -126, 5) Rajah Caruth
-131, 6) Grant Enfinger -149, 7) Taylor Gray -154, 8) Tyler Ankrum -170, 9) Tanner Gray -193, 10) Ben Rhodes -222, 11) Layne Riggs -231, 12) Matt Crafton -232, 13) Daniel Dye
-233, 14) Chase Purdy -242, 15) Stewart Friesen -243, 16) Jake Garcia -278. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 3072, 2) Corey Heim -141, 3) Nick
Sanchez -336, 4) Ty Majeski -467, 5) Rajah Caruth -521, 6) Grant Enfinger -558, 7) Taylor Gray -579, 8) Tyler Ankrum -636, 9) Tanner Gray -748, 10) Ben Rhodes
-817, 11) Layne Riggs -824, 12) Daniel Dye -858, 13) Matt Crafton -860, 14) Matt Crafton -880, 15) Stewart Friesen -898, 16) Jake Garcia -1021. Race
Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Texas), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Bristol, Martinsville, Nashville), Corey Heim (COTA, Kansas, North Wilkesboro, Gateway, Pocono), Ross Chastain (Kansas), Ty Majeski (Lucas Oil IRP), Layne Riggs (Milwaukee)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter
manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 presented by ESPN Bet was brought to you by the letter E for Exciting. This was a race with good racing at the front for much of the day. You had 30 lead changes, the second-most of
the year outside of a superspeedway race. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Hollywood Casino 400 presented by ESPN Bet compiled by Phil Allaway
"This is incredible! To drive into victory lane in the Cup Series, it’s just so challenging. It’s so tough. That process I talked about last year in Nashville, we all stayed on it. We haven’t gone anywhere. We keep showing up. It’s not easy when you’re failing or struggling at something, and you just can’t get to where you want to get to. "Our No. 1 Kubota Chevy today, we had what we needed to have, when we needed it. After practice and qualifying, I didn’t think we had the best car, but we kept working on it. I have to be honest; it was some of the most motivating on-radio stuff that Phil Surgen has ever had. We manifested the front-two rows when we weren’t up there, and then we manifested the front row and we took
the lead on it. For everything that this means for Worldwide Express and Busch Light – a brand like that, to buy into me, it’s absolutely incredible." - Ross Chastain, race winner
"I don’t know. I think just him being able to get out front and control his pace definitely helped. Just kind of being stuck in his dirty air, it seemed like the top got really dominant there at the
very end. The shade just started creeping in and it was just hard to work other lanes. That is probably some of it, but just a little bit here and there. Had a good restart and that was nice to go from third to second and to be able to chase him down, but just needed a little more." - William Byron, finished second
"I just didn’t quite get the restart I
needed or the help on the restart that I needed. Just not quite good enough on the short runs all day on the restarts. It took us 10 to 15 laps to get going. A couple of those guys could get by us, so that’s kind of what happened there. [Ross Chastain] and [William Bryon] got away and then we were catching them back, but just ran out of time." - Martin Truex Jr., finished third "We definitely have some things we have to work on, for sure. Having a loose wheel and having to come in under green there. A couple of things we have to address. Overall, at the end of the day, I thought our car was really good. I kind of fenced it there after we came out of the pits after the loose wheel and I think I kind of hurt it a little bit. Our long-run car was great. I think we were better when the temp was up a little bit and I could kind of
run the bottom of three and four really well because guys were slipping. At the end I think it cooled off a little and that advantage kind of went away. All in all, it was a good day. We caught a break with the caution. I am proud of the fast cars and we just have to clean a couple of things up." - Ryan Blaney, finished fourth "We had a really fast
Monster Energy Camry. I feel like we were pretty solid and in the top five most of the day. Just needed a little bit more to compete up front for the win and have the strategy kind of go our way. I feel like we were pretty solid and just needed a little bit more." - Ty Gibbs, finished fifth
"They brought the heat, that’s for sure. I don’t know. Just obviously wish I had a couple
corners back because there were a couple of them where I made mistakes and let a lot of track position go. Yeah, to come back and finish seventh after getting mired back in the back is something that is good but definitely left what could’ve been." - Christopher Bell, finished seventh
"I don’t know.. I am sure he was racing to stay on the lead lap with whoever was in front of him
there. Granted they have a race to run, but back in the old days when you were under 30 to go or whatever it was, lap traffic would kind of lay over and give you a lane and let the leaders race. I just wasn’t getting that, so I tried to force my hand into getting that and get to his outside, and for whatever reason, it just gave all the air in all the wrong places and I spun out." - Kyle Busch, finished 19th "I don’t know if we ever touched. I haven’t seen it still but these cars are so sensitive when you are off to the right. I couldn’t really run on the wall so I was trying to give him a car width and a couple inches and saw him get loose as soon as he got to my right rear. It didn’t feel like I was trying to do anything. I literally left him the top lane. These cars as soon as you get off to the right, especially here when
you are running the wall, they just get really loose. I hate it for him. He has been so close all year long and I am a Kyle Busch fan and wanted to see him win to keep the streak alive. I hate that we are a part of the conversation. That was a really bad day for us. It was not what we needed, and certainly not what we wanted. We will go to work. We are 25 out but we can still do it, it just wasn’t the day we wanted, for sure." - Chase Briscoe, finished 24th "It was just a long day for our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team. Our team did a really good job fighting and clawing to get better where we ended up. I was just really tight there on that last restart and gave up everything. I wish it would have just went green to the end, instead of having those couple cautions. It is what it is, but we’ll regroup and move on to
Talladega." - Kyle Larson, finished 26th "That was an experience like none other. Obviously we got clipped and spun and we had four flat tires. I assumed they were going to tow the car to the pits, which is what I was asking for, and then they dropped my window net and told me to get out. Rodney [Childers] was telling me to stay in because all we needed
was tires. They were telling me to get out. Then they towed me into the campground, so I was just out there chilling with the fans. At that point they said they had to get a rollback and they finally made me get out. Rodney was trying to talk to somebody and couldn’t get anybody on the phone. I don’t know what I am missing. I have seen plenty of cars get towed to the pits and get tires put on, so I don’t know if I am missing something or if there was something different than normal, but that was
an experience for sure. "[The safety crew] said the tire was off the wheel, which it is flat so of course it is off the wheel. They just refused to tow the car. They tried hooking it up on both ends which I knew wasn’t going to work. I don’t know why they didn’t just hook it up with the rear and tow it to the pit box and let us get tires on it. That is
disappointing." - Josh Berry, finished 38th (Ruled 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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