Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 7, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition CLXXXII |
As you're likely aware of by now, Hurricane Helene has devastated a significant chunk of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. In western parts of North Carolina, some areas have experienced flooding that hasn't been seen since the 18th century. To that end, we at Frontstretch want to help the relief efforts. To that end, Frontstretch is supporting Operation Airdrop's Operation Helene, which is organizing donations in the Charlotte area and airlifting supplies to areas that have been cutoff due to flooding. If you are able, you can donate financially to the effort here. If you're local to the
Charlotte area, you can volunteer to help with the effort. In addition, there is a designated spot to drop off donations at the Walmart Supercenter in Concord, N.C. The address is 5825 Thunder Rd. NW, Concord, NC 28027. This is off Exit 49 of Interstate 85 (Concord Mills Boulevard/Bruton Smith Boulevard). The donations are picked up every day at 5 p.m. ET so that they can be hustled to nearby Concord-Padgett Regional Airport (for plane flights) or to Hickory Regional Airport (for helicopters)
for the airlifts. |
- NASCAR teams are arriving back at their shops today after yesterday's race at Talladega. We'll have entry lists for Charlotte and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wins at Talladega in Photo
Finish JTG-Daugherty Racing's Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the lead on lap 184 and held off the pack to squeak out victory in Sunday's YellaWood 400. Brad Keselowski was second, then William Byron, Kyle Larson and Erik Jones. |
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| Talladega Huge One Shakes Up Playoff
Standings Sunday's YellaWood 500 will likely be remembered best for a huge 28-car crash on the backstretch on lap 184 that wrapped up a number of the playoff drivers and stirred conversation about the Damaged Vehicle Policy. |
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| Sammy Smith Wins at Talladega, Advances to Xfinity Series
Round of 8 JR Motorsports' Sammy Smith took the lead on the final lap from Riley Herbst Saturday and just barely held on to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 250 for his second career win. Ryan Sieg was second, then Herbst, Sheldon Creed and Chandler
Smith. |
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| Justin Allgaier’s Playoff Woes Continue After Late
Talladega Crash The past few weeks have not been kind for Justin Allgaier. Trouble the past couple of weeks cost him the regular season championship and put him in point trouble in the playoffs. Talladega didn't help any. |
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| Sam Mayer Disqualified After Talladega Post-Race
Inspection JR Motorsports' Sam Mayer originally finished 16th in Saturday's United Rentals 250. However, his car measured too low in post-race inspection, resulting in his disqualification. |
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| Grant Enfinger Wins Talladega, Advances to Championship
4 CR7 Motorsports' Grant Enfinger took the lead with 15 laps to go Friday and held on to win the Love's RV Stop 225 for his first win of the year, locking himself into the Championship 4 in the process. Taylor Gray was second, then Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth
and Lawless Alan. |
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| Ryan Reed Scores Career-Best Finish in Truck Series
Return Ryan Reed doesn't race in NASCAR much these days, but is competitive when he shows up. Friday saw him finish seventh despite crashing hard at the checkered flag. |
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| Nick Sanchez Sounds Off After Forced Spoiler Check Leads
to 22nd-Place Finish After a rough race with multiple wrecks, Rev Racing's Nick Sanchez was upset with NASCAR because of a forced spoiler check under the final caution that caused him to lose the draft. |
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| Andres Perez Wins ARCA Title, Sawalich Earns Victory at
Toledo In a wreck-strewn affair, Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich won the Owens Corning 200 at Toledo Speedway for his ninth ARCA win of the year. Gio Ruggiero was second, then Kris Wright, Brent Crews and Lavar Scott. Andres Perez clinched the title by starting the
race. |
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| Trevor Huddleston Dominates ARCA West at All American
Speedway Trevor Huddleston led flag-to-flag Saturday night to win the 37-minute long ARCA Menards Series West NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Berco Redwood at All-American Speedway. Eric Nascimento was second, then Tyler Reif, Sean Hingorani and Jack
Wood. |
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| Team WRT Wins Indianapolis 8 Hour After Wright
Penalty Team WRT's Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde and Charles Weerts won the Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour Saturday night by just over a quarter of a second after the Porsche from Wright Motorsports copped a post-race
penalty. |
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| Smooge Racing Wins Indianapolis GT4 America Race No.
1 Smooge Racing's Corey Lewis and Tyler Gonzalez claimed victory in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 1 in Indianapolis Saturday morning. |
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| Matheus Leist, Michael Auriemma Win GT4 America
Finale RENNtech Motorsports' Matheus Leist took the lead with less than four minutes remaining Sunday morning and held on to win the final Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race of the 2024 season with teammate Michael Auriemma. |
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| Justin Rothberg Wins Rough Indy GT America Race No.
1 Turner Motorsport's Justin Rothberg easily won GT America powered by AWS Race No. 1 in Indianapolis Friday afternoon, while penalties shook up the SRO3 championship chase. |
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| Justin Rothberg Sweeps GT America Indianapolis
Weekend Turner Motorsport's Justin Rothberg led flag-to-flag Sunday morning to sweep the GT America weekend in Indianapolis. The SRO3 championship was decided on the first lap in favor of Johnny O'Connell. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Adam Glanzman of ARCA Racing, Alika Jenner of ARCA Racing, Brian Cleary, Fred Hardy and Fabian Lagunas of SRO Motorsports Group. 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: Oct. 4-6 |
- Trackhouse Racing and JR Motorsports jointly announced that WeatherTech will serve as the primary sponsor for both
Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch in 2025. Van Gisbergen will be in Trackhouse's new third full-time Cup entry, the No. 88 Chevrolet. Meanwhile, Zilisch will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams spent the weekend at Williams Grove Speedway for the Weis Markets National Open presented by Sage
Fruit. Friday night's show ended up being postponed to Saturday afternoon due to fog, leading to a doubleheader. Race No. 1 saw Giovanni Scelzi lead early, but Buddy Kofoid ran him down and took the lead just as Scelzi approached the rear of the field. Scelzi was ultimately eliminated from the race after he collided with Chase Dietz and was launched over the wall in turn 4. Scelzi did not roll over, but ended up coming to rest next to a gate. Kofoid held on from there to take the victory. Daryn Pittman was second, then Dietz, Brent Marks and Donny Schatz. Later that night was the main show. Here, Carson Macedo was able to take the lead away from Anthony Macri on lap 8. From there, he held off a late charge from Sheldon Haudenschild to take the win and a
check for $75,000. Haudenschild was second, then Brad Sweet, James McFadden and Macri. Points leader David Gravel was sixth. He continues to lead by 86 points over Macedo. Schatz is third, then Kofoid and Scelzi. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Talladega and Toledo last weekend. For more from Talladega, Toledo, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our suite of YouTube channels (Frontstretch, Frontstretch Grassroots, FS Open Wheel 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 Locks Into Round of 8
by Phil Allaway
William Byron managed to avoid the huge crash on lap 184 and ended up bringing his Raptor Chevrolet home in third. That not only allowed him to expand his points lead, but he has also locked himself into the Round of 8 on points. Byron's lead is 17 points over
Christopher Bell, who came from the rear to finish sixth. Kyle Larson was right there in the mix as well. A fourth-place finish moved him up one place to third. Denny Hamlin got caught up in the crash at the end of stage two and struggled with a hurt car. However, he avoided the big crash and finished 10th. That moved him up to fourth. Alex Bowman was collected in the big crash, but managed to continue and finish 16th. That moved him up one place to fifth. Ryan Blaney was eliminated in the crash at the end of stage two and finished 39th. That finish dropped him four places to sixth. Tyler Reddick was damaged in the big crash and finished 20th. That still moved him up two places to seventh. Chase Elliott ended up five laps down in 29th
after getting stuck after the big crash. That put him in eighth, the last driver in the Round of 8 on points. Elliott has a 13-point lead over Joey Logano, who was eliminated in the big crash. Daniel Suarez never really had a chance. A roof adjustment put him to the rear with a mandatory drive-through penalty on the first lap that eventually got him lapped. Then
he wrecked himself trying to get into line. Suarez ended up two laps down, got one back, but never got back on the lead lap and finished 26th to stay in 10th. Austin Cindric won stage two and was in contention to win before getting spun out to trigger the Big One. He's still up one place to 11th. Chase Briscoe is now in 12th after losing six laps trying to
recover after the Big One. Of those already eliminated from the playoffs, Ty Gibbs went from being out of the draft in the closing laps to finishing 13th. He has a 14-point lead over teammate Martin Truex Jr. Brad Keeslowski finished second and gained on both of the Gibbs drivers, while Harrison Burton is still
16th. Of those who failed to qualify for the playoffs, Ross Chastain was eliminated with Blaney and finished 40th. He is still 17th, but he is only two points ahead of Chris Buescher. Bubba Wallace is still 19th after finishing ninth, while Kyle Busch is 20th. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) William Byron 3122, 2) Christopher Bell -17, 3) Kyle Larson -22, 4) Denny Hamlin -44, 5) Alex Bowman -48, 6) Ryan Blaney -49, 7) Tyler Reddick -60, 8) Chase Elliott -61, 9) Joey Logano -74, 10) Daniel Suarez -81,
11) Austin Cindric -90, 12) Chase Briscoe -93. Eliminated Driver Standings: 13) Ty Gibbs 2144, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -14, 15) Brad Keselowski -40, 16) Harrison Burton -96. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 1001, 2) Chase Elliott -26, 3) Tyler Reddick -38, 4) Christopher Bell -42, 5) William Byron -69, 6) Ryan Blaney -104, 7) Denny Hamlin -109, 8) Alex Bowman
-146, 9) Ty Gibbs -159, 10) Brad Keselowski -163, 11) Martin Truex Jr. -179, 12) Ross Chastain -189, 13) Chris Buescher -191, 14) Bubba Wallace -212, 15) Joey Logano
-264, 16) Kyle Busch -317. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Chase Briscoe -326, 18) Daniel Suarez -341, 19) Austin Cindric -364. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points.
Best of the Rest: 17) Ross Chastain 812, 18) Chris Buescher -2, 19) Bubba Wallace -23, 20) Kyle Busch -128, 21) Carson Hocevar
-233, 22) Todd Gilliland -252, 23) Michael McDowell -264, 24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -290, 25) Noah Gragson -296, 26) Ryan Preece -317. 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 -38, t-10) Daniel Suarez -41, t-10) Alex Bowman -41, 12) Chase
Briscoe -42. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 287, 2) Denny Hamlin -25, 3) Ryan Blaney -53, 4) Christopher Bell -64, 5) William Byron -72, 6) Martin Truex Jr.
-86, 7) Tyler Reddick -91, 8) Chase Elliott -94, 9) Alex Bowman -130, 10) Joey Logano -137, 11) Brad Keselowski -138, 12) Ty Gibbs -139, 13) Bubba Wallace -159, 14) Austin Cindric -167, 15) Ross Chastain
-187, 16) Kyle Busch -197.
Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 18) Chase Briscoe -206, 19) Daniel Suarez -221. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at
Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 919, 2) Tyler Reddick -8, 3) Christopher Bell -43, t-4) William Byron -68, t-4) Chris Buescher -68, 6) Kyle
Larson -69, 7) Ross Chastain -72, 8) Ty Gibbs -87, 9) Alex Bowman -91, 10) Brad Keselowski -92, 11) Bubba Wallace -120, 12) Ryan Blaney -125, 13) Denny Hamlin -129, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -167, 15) Kyle Busch
-186, 16) Joey Logano -191.
Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -198, 18) Chase Briscoe -199, 20) Austin Cindric -271. Note: These
standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 4149, 2) Chase Elliott -32, 3) Christopher Bell -108, 4) William Byron -213, 5) Kyle Larson
-240, 6) Chris Buescher -250, 7) Ross Chastain -273, 8) Brad Keselowski -291, 9) Ty Gibbs -296, 10) Alex Bowman -322, 11) Ryan Blaney -391, 12) Bubba Wallace -414, 13) Denny Hamlin -450, 14) Martin Truex Jr.
-554, 15) Kyle Busch -612, 16) Joey Logano -633. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Daniel Suarez -695, 18) Chase Briscoe -696, 20) Austin Cindric -926. 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-1, 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), 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.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Chandler Smith Avoids Trouble, Takes Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Cole Custer ran well on Saturday until the closing laps. That was when he was caught up in a big crash in turn 1. He was able to finish 26th, but it was costly. Chandler Smith ran well all day Saturday and brought his Toyota home in fifth. That was enough for
Chandler to move into the points lead. His advantage is a healthy 27 points over Custer and Austin Hill. Hill was caught up in the lap 75 crash in the tri-oval and limped home in 23rd (Custer wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his Kansas finish). Sheldon Creed is up one place to fourth after finishing fourth. Jesse Love is up two places to fifth
after leading the most laps and finishing sixth. Riley Herbst is up two places to sixth after finishing third. Sammy Smith's victory moved him up five places to seventh and locked him into the Round of 8. It does not affect the owners playoffs because the No. 8 did not qualify for them. AJ Allmendinger is in eighth, the last spot in the next round on points. Allmendinger has a seven-point advantage over Justin Allgaier, who was caught up in the same crash as Custer and finished 25th. Shane van Gisbergen is down four places to 10th after being eliminated in the lap 75 crash. Sam Mayer originally finished 16th. Had it held up, he would be seventh. However, he was disqualified and is now 11th. Parker Kligerman recovered from a couple of incidents to finish 12th,
but still dropped to 12th in points. Outside of the playoffs, Ryan Sieg tied his career-best finish (second) Saturday and expanded his advantage to 109 points over Brandon Jones, who was eliminated in the turn 1 crash with Custer and Allgaier. Anthony Alfredo is 15th, then Brennan Poole. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Chandler Smith 2122, t-2) Cole Custer -27, t-2) Austin Hill -27, 4) Sheldon Creed -32, 5) Jesse Love -42, 6) Riley Herbst -44, 7) Sammy Smith
-56, 8) AJ Allmendinger -57, 9) Justin Allgaier -64, 10) Shane van Gisbergen -67, 11) Sam Mayer -70, 12) Parker Kligerman -73. Owners Points Round of 12 Standings: 1) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 81 2121, 2)
Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 -11, 3) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -27, 4) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 -31, 5) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 -32, 6) Richard Childress Racing No. 2 -42, 7) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 98 -44, 8) Kaulig Racing No. 16 -57, 9) JR Motorsports No. 7
-65, 10) Kaulig Racing No. 97 -66, 11) JR Motorsports No. 1 -69, 12) Big Machine Racing -73.
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 -8, 4) Chandler Smith
-9, 5) Shane van Gisbergen -17, 6) Jesse Love -21, 7) Sam Mayer -22, 8) Riley Herbst -24, 9) Sheldon Creed -27, 11) Sammy Smith -28, 12) Parker Kligerman -36. Best of the Rest: 13) Ryan
Sieg 705, 14) Brandon Jones -109, 15) Anthony Alfredo -156, 16) Brennan Poole -207, 17) Josh Williams -251, 18) Leland Honeyman -279, t-19) Parker Retzlaff -295, t-19) Jeb Burton -295, 21) Jeremy Clements -311, 22) Ryan Ellis -323. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 308, 2) Cole Custer -62, 3) Chandler Smith -64, 4) Austin Hill -91, 5) AJ Allmendinger -92, 6) Riley Herbst -99, 7) Sheldon Creed -124, 8) Jesse Love -160, 9) Sam Mayer
-175, 10) Sammy Smith -179, 11) Parker Kligerman -200, 12) Aric Almirola -207, 13) Brandon Jones -206, 14) Ryan Sieg -220, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -248, 16) Ryan Truex -249. 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): t-1) Cole Custer 862, t-1) Chandler Smith 862, 3) Sheldon Creed -26, 4) Jesse Love
-42, 5) Austin Hill -54, 6) Parker Kligerman -72, 7) AJ Allmendinger -84, 8) Justin Allgaier -108, t-9) Sammy Smith -125, t-9) Ryan Sieg -125, 11) Riley Herbst -135, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -142, 13) Anthony Alfredo
-231, 14) Sam Mayer -232, 15) Brandon Jones -253, 16) Brennan Poole -261. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 3884, 2) Cole Custer -3, 3) Sheldon Creed -62, 4) Jesse Love
-185, 5) Austin Hill -225, 6) Parker Kligerman -334, 7) AJ Allmendinger -338, 8) Justin Allgaier -372, 9) Sammy Smith -469, 10) Ryan Sieg -486, 11) Riley Herbst -487, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -529, 13) Sam Mayer
-788, 14) Anthony Alfredo -841, 15) Brandon Jones -891, 16) Brennan Poole -952. 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-1), 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), Sammy Smith (Talladega-2) 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: Corey Heim Barely Holds Onto The Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim kept himself out of trouble Friday in Talladega, but ended up finishing 11th. Christian Eckes finished sixth despite getting caught up in a late incident. That cut Heim's point lead to a single point. Grant Enfinger took the first-ever win for CR7 Motorsports in NASCAR Friday. That boosted him from a tie for sixth to third and locked
him into the Championship 4. Ty Majeski finished 12th and dropped to fourth. He is the last driver in the Championship 4 on points at the moment. Majeski has a five-point lead over Rajah Caruth, who finished fourth on Friday. Taylor Gray is up two places to sixth after finishing second. Nick Sanchez dropped three places to
seventh after getting in multiple incidents and finishing 22nd. Tyler Ankrum is in eighth after finishing 14th. Of those already eliminated, Daniel Dye finished third and has a 32-point lead over Ben Rhodes, who got eliminated in a crash near the end of stage two. Outside of the playoffs, Layne Riggs was caught up in the lap 62 crash in turn 1 and was eliminated. Despite that, Riggs still has a 16-point advantage over Tanner Gray, who crashed out in the same wreck. Stewart Friesen is still 13th, but made some gains after finishing 13th. Matt Crafton is 14th, then Chase Purdy. Jake Garcia is back in 16th after earning 17 stage
points. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 3078, 2) Christian Eckes -1, 3) Grant Enfinger -12, 4) Ty
Majeski -25, 5) Rajah Caruth -30, 6) Taylor Gray -38, 7) Nick Sanchez -45, 8) Tyler Ankrum -48. Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: 9) Daniel Dye 2089, 10) Ben Rhodes -32. Best of the Rest: 11) Layne Riggs 515, 12) Tanner Gray -16, 13) Stewart Friesen -43, 14) Matt Crafton -60, 15) Chase Purdy -75, 16) Jake Garcia -109, 17) Dean Thompson -116, 18) Bret Holmes -155, 19) Bayley
Currey -166, 20) Ty Dillon -181. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 918, 2) Corey Heim -93, 3) Ty Majeski -192, 4) Nick Sanchez -232, 5) Grant Enfinger
-281, 6) Rajah Caruth -286, 7) Tyler Ankrum -315, 8) Taylor Gray -317, 9) Layne Riggs -403, 10) Daniel Dye -411, 11) Tanner Gray -419, 12) Ben Rhodes -422, 13) Stewart Friesen -446, 14) Matt Crafton
-463, 15) Chase Purdy -478, 16) Jake Garcia -512. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 48, 2) Christian Eckes -9, 3) Ty Majeski -24, 4) Nick Sanchez -30, 5) Grant Enfinger
-35, 6) Rajah Caruth -38, 7) Tyler Ankrum -41, 8) Taylor Gray -45. Stage Points: 1) Christian Eckes 277, 2) Corey Heim -64, 3) Ty Majeski -67, 4) Nick Sanchez
-146, 5) Tyler Ankrum -151, 6) Grant Enfinger -156, 7) Layne Riggs -167, 8) Rajah Caruth -175, 9) Taylor Gray -183, 10) Ben Rhodes -190, 11) Daniel Dye -201, 12) Stewart Friesen -215, 13) Tanner Gray
-219, 14) Kaden Honeycutt -224, 15) Jake Garcia -228, 16) Dean Thompson -230. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 12th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 583, 2) Corey Heim -36, 3) Nick Sanchez -100, 4) Rajah Caruth -129, 5) Ty Majeski -133, 6) Grant Enfinger -140, 7) Taylor Gray -151, 8) Tyler Ankrum
-179, 9) Tanner Gray -218, 10) Daniel Dye -230, t-11) Ben Rhodes -249, t-11) Matt Crafton -249, 13) Stewart Friesen -250, 14) Layne Riggs -254, 15) Chase Purdy -261, 16) Jake Garcia -303. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christian Eckes 3227, 2) Corey Heim -166, 3) Nick Sanchez -389, 4) Ty Majeski -495, 5) Rajah Caruth -511, 6) Grant Enfinger -528, 7) Taylor Gray
-564, 8) Tyler Ankrum -670, 9) Tanner Gray -830, 10) Daniel Dye -843, 11) Layne Riggs -900, 12) Ben Rhodes -914, 13) Matt Crafton -916, 14) Stewart Friesen -924, 15) Chase Purdy
-942, 16) Jake Garcia -1100. Race Winners: Nick Sanchez (Daytona, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Texas), Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas), Christian Eckes (Bristol-1, Martinsville, Nashville), 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.
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's YellaWood 500 was brought to you by the letter R for Record Breaking. The Big One on lap 184 was officially announced as having involved 28 cars. This is an all-time record for the NASCAR Cup
Series. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: YellaWood 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"It felt really good. We had our Chevy teammates behind us, and I was hoping Kyle [Larson] wasn’t going to push [Brad Keselowski] that hard. I knew [William Byron] was probably going to try and get to the line there. "But, man, this team has put a lot of hard work in.
Obviously we haven’t won since the 500 in ’23. It’s been an up-and-down season. It was a lot of hard work this season just trying to find a little bit of speed, but we knew that this track is one of ours to come get. So for all of our Southern Mississippi people, appreciate you all coming. This means a lot, winning here. "Just proud of this group. The whole Kroger,
Palmolive, NOS Energy Drink. There are so many people. SunnyD. There are so many people that helped this. You know, Campers Inn. Man, there’s just so many great product partners in this Kroger program. Glad to give them another win." - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., race winner
"He [Larson] gave me a good push down the frontstretch, but [William Byron] was able to really stick with [Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]
there and just needed a tiny bit. It’s a good finish for us. We’ve been knocking on the door of these plate tracks. I hate that we didn’t bust through with a win, but I’m happy to be right there in contention. "I knew they were gonna have a really big run and that [Byron] was really tight to him and I was just gonna get split, so I felt like I made the right move, but
there’s only so much you can do when you’re outnumbered." - Brad Keselowski, finished second
"I didn’t have a chance to get the lead myself on the last lap, so that was the thought process. I just couldn’t quite get him clear into [turn] 3, or he didn’t take it into three. And then, I just kind of had to be diligent to push him the rest of the way. I felt like it all worked out. I’m happy for
Ricky [Stenhouse Jr.] and everyone at Chevrolet. They deserve it. Ricky is a really good drafter." - William Byron, finished third "It’s my second top-five on a superspeedway in my career, in general, so I’ll take that. It’s really cool. Obviously there’s a lot of luck that plays into just finishing these races. I’m not going to blame my whole superspeedway career on
bad luck because I know that’s not the case when we finish as bad as we do, as often as we do, on these. I feel like we do a great job and today just showed that. We came from the back of the first stage and had a shot to win the stage. The second stage, we executed as good as we could and got some points. And then there at the end, got lucky on the backstretch finally and got a good finish. I’m proud of the effort from all of Chevrolet, all the key partners and everybody at Hendrick
Motorsports. We had a great Chevy and great power. It’s cool to finally go into the Charlotte ROVAL with a 52-point gap. That race is so stretch. It’s way more stressful to me than Talladega Superspeedway, so glad to not have to worry about it as much." - Kyle Larson, finished fourth
"I just got big damage here [on the hood]. It happened on that [Ryan] Blaney wreck. We just figured the best option
was to race and not fix it. Just, you know, I didn’t have the speed after that wreck I needed to contend.
"If you would’ve asked me about a top-10 before [the race]), I would’ve taken it just because of how this round is. But, either way, we need to go to the ROVAL and have a solid effort." - Denny Hamlin, finished 10th "It was a very difficult day for the No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevy team. We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole with the pass-through penalty. We had a plan and I was expecting everyone to be saving fuel, and I was going to be able to block the lanes and stay in the pack. I just made a mistake. I tried to block when they were coming, but they were just coming too fast. That was on me. We put ourselves in a hole, and
unfortunately we weren’t able to recover. And then in the last wreck, obviously that finished killing our chances." - Daniel Suarez, finished 26th "I thought Ricky [Stenhouse Jr.] and I had a really good system going there. I was really pleased with my spot. I thought I had a lot of what was going to transpire, was in my hands, which is what I want at the end of
these things. Unfortunately what was in my hands ended up biting us. I don’t really know what you do about that. We were in a good position. The No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevy team executed a good second-half of the race. We were right there when it counted. "I’m not sure how I got clipped. I thought I had it missed. Somebody just barely clipped me and it sent me spinning." -
Chase Elliott, finished 29th "I just got turned at the front of the field. Unfortunately, that’s how Daytona ended for us and I think what that says is we’ve got really fast race cars and great execution. As the leader, I was trying to be as predictable as possible as far as taking pushes and it’s just a real shame. I don’t really feel like doing a whole lot of
complaining about what happened or whose fault it is, it doesn’t really matter. It puts us in a must-win situation for the Charlotte Road Course. We’ve brought some exceptionally fast race cars every single race of the playoffs and I cannot understate how proud I am of my race team and we’ll have to bring another one next week." - Austin Cindric, finished 32nd "I’m
not sure what happened there with those guys down there in the middle line. Coming into the tri-oval, I followed [Kyle Busch] and pushed him in the third lane; fanned out to push a Chevy. And yeah, somebody got shucked up. Seeing Ryan [Blaney] in there, I’m guessing he was the yellow blur that I saw.
"For our No. 1 Busch Light Camo Chevy team, to kickoff hunting season with the camo can, I wish
we were more invisible like we will be in the woods with that can than we were there coming to the end. Big hit, but these Next Gen cars are super safe. It kept me safe and they got the fire put out. We’ll go on to next week and get ready for Charlotte." - Ross Chastain, 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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