Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 21, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition CXCII |
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 on their way back to their shops today after yesterday's race in Las Vegas. We'll have entry lists for Homestead and anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Fuel Gamble Nets Joey Logano Las Vegas Win, Championship 4
Berth Joey Logano pitted under the final yellow Sunday, then made his fuel hold out to win the South Point 400 and lock into the Championship 4. Christopher Bell was second, then Daniel Suarez, William Byron and Alex Bowman. |
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| NASCAR Fuel Mileage Giveth & Taketh
Away Christopher Bell was the dominant driver Sunday in Las Vegas, leading 155 of 267 laps. However, pitting under green with 40 laps to go left him just a little too far behind to catch everyone that had stopped on the final caution. |
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| Many NASCAR Playoff Drivers Come Up Snake Eyes in Las
Vegas Sunday's South Point 400 saw a number of the championship contenders run into trouble. Three of them were caught up in a crash in stage two, while Kyle Larson had trouble on pit road. |
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| AJ Allmendinger Clinches Xfinity Championship 4 Spot with
Las Vegas Win Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger led 102 of 201 laps and held off the pack on the final restart to win the Ambetter Health 302 Saturday night to lock into the Championship 4. Ryan Sieg was second, then Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Parker
Kligerman. |
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| “This is The Toughest One” – Ryan Sieg Falls Just Short of
First Win… Again Ryan Sieg briefly had the lead in the final 10 laps Saturday night. But, a late caution may have prevented him from claiming his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win. |
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| Charles Leclerc Dominates COTA for 3rd Win of
2024 Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took the lead at the first corner from fourth on the grid and drove away to win the United States Grand Prix Sunday from Circuit of the Americas. Carlos Sainz Jr. was second, then Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar
Piastri. |
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| ‘It Felt Like Old Times’ in Max Verstappen Sprint Win at
COTA' Red Bull's Max Verstappen dominated Saturday from pole to win the Sprint race at Circuit of the Americas. Carlos Sainz Jr. was second, then Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and George Russell. |
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| Brenden Queen, Kaden Honeycutt Win CARS Tour Championships
at North Wilkesboro At North Wilkesboro Speedway Saturday night, Kaden Honeycutt won the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model championship, while Brenden Queen won the Late Model Stock championship. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Jared C. Tilton of Getty Images, Ferrari Media 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. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Oct. 18-20 |
- The European Le Mans Series schedule wrapped up Saturday at the Algarve International Circuit with the 4 Hours of Portimao. Here, a full course yellow for United Autosports' Oliver Jarvis spinning into the gravel after contact with Racing Spirit of Leman's Derek DeBoer came out with 65 minutes to go. That resulted in a number of teams coming into the pits for what was their final
stops.
Not all of the LMP2 teams could go the distance. When Duqueine Team's James Allen was forced to pit for fuel with two laps to go, COOL Racing's Malthe Jakobsen took the lead. From there, he held on to win with teammates Lorenzo Fluxa and Ritomo Miyata.
COOL Racing's margin of victory was 2.499 seconds over
AO by TF's Louis Deletraz, Jonny Edgar and Robert Kubica. COOL Racing's No. 47 for Carl Bennett, Ferdinand Habsburg and Frederik Vesti were third, then Inter Europol Competition's No. 43 for Sebastian Alvarez, Tom Dillmann and Vladislav Lomko. Inter Europol's No. 34 for Luca Ghiotto, Oliver Gray and Clement Novalak recovered from a first-lap incident to finish fifth. AO by
TF's second-place finish was enough to win the LMP2 championship for Deletraz, Edgar and Kubica by 12 points over Alvarez, Dillmann and Lomko. That gives both AO by TFand Inter Europol's No. 43 team automatic entries to the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans. In LMP2 Pro-Am, a last lap pass saw Proton Competition's Bent Viscaal get past Algarve Pro Racing's Alex Quinn and hold
for the victory with Rene Binder and Giorgio Roda in eighth overall. The margin of victory was .995 seconds over Quinn, Richard Bradley and Kriton Lentoudis.
Nielsen Racing's John Falb, Colin Noble and Nick Yelloly were third, then AF Corse's Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Richard Mille by TDS' Mathias Beche, Rodrigo Sales and Gregoire Saucy were fifth.
The fourth-place finish for AF Corse was just enough to get them the LMP2 Pro-Am title and the Le Mans auto invite. They ended up two points ahead of Algarve Pro Racing's No. 20, three points ahead of Proton Competition and four points ahead of Richard Mille by TDS. LMP3 saw
COOL Racing's Manuel Espirito Santo take over the lead from Eurointernational's Adam Ali with 41 minutes to go. From there, he was able to hold on to take the class victory with Miguel Cristovao.
The margin of victory was 10.685 seconds over RLR MSport's Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and Gael Julian. Ali and Matt Bell were third, then WTM by Rinaldi Racing's Torsten Kratz, Oscar Tunjo and Leonard Weiss. DKR
Engineering's Wyatt Brichacek, Guilherme Oliveira and Alexander Mattschull were fifth.
The second-place finish was just enough for RLR MSport to win the title by one point over Eurointernational. Team Virage's Julien Gerbi and Gillian Henrion were third. The most exciting class race was the LMGT3 race for victory between the Iron Dames' Michelle Gatting and Iron Lynx's Andrea Caldarelli. The two drivers fought hard over the final half hour of the race until the final lap. With two corners to go, Gatting still led in her Porsche.
However, with the overall leader closing in, Caldarelli made the move to take the lead away from Gatting entering the final turn. Since Jakobsen swept past shortly afterwards, Gatting could not prevent the trio of Caldarelli, Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Axcil Jefferies from taking the
win. Iron Lynx's margin of victory was .195 seconds over Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey. Proton Competition's Julien Andlauer, Matteo Cressoni and Claudio Schiavoni were third in their Porsche, then Formula Racing's Conrad and Johnny Laursen. Kessel Racing's Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra. Caldarelli's pass on Gatting did prove to swing the entire championship. Iron Lynx ended up winning the title because of that pass by two points over Kessel Racing. Racing Spirit of Leman was third. The five automatic entries to Le Mans are joined by the winners of the Truman and Akin Awards for bronze-rated drivers in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship, settled at the Motul Petit Le Mans on Oct. 12. Those winners are Nick Boulle (Truman) and Orey Fidani (Akin). In a post-race press conference at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Boulle indicated that he will use his invite. Fidani appears likely to use his as well, based on an Instagram post from Andrew Wojteczko Autosport. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams were at Dirt Oval 66 in Joliet, Ill. this past weekend for the Federated Auto Parts Route 66 Showdown. Friday night saw Aaron Reutzel win the pole and lead flag-to-flag to take the
win.
Reutzel won by .306 seconds over David Gravel. Carson Macedo was third, then Logan Schuchart and Sheldon Haudenschild.
Saturday night saw Haudenschild start from the pole, but Buddy Kofoid was able to take the lead away on the first lap. From there, he was able to hold off the pack to
take his seventh win of the year.
Haudenschild was .647 seconds back in second, then Gravel and Donny Schatz. Macedo was fifth. In the points, Gravel's lead is back up to 78 markers over Macedo. Schatz is third, then Kofoid and Giovanni Scelzi. |
This is just a sampling of the videos from Las Vegas, Indianapolis and North Wilkesboro that we uploaded to our YouTube channels last weekend. For more from Las Vegas, Indianapolis, North Wilkesboro, 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: Christopher Bell Claims Round of 8 Lead With Dominant Car
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson had a good car, but a terrible pit stop put him a lap down out of the hunt. He would eventually get back to 11th at the finish, but it was too little, too late. Christopher Bell dominated the day Sunday, leading 155 of 267 laps. He ended up second due to a split pit strategy, but
that was more than enough to give him the points lead. Bell's advantage is seven points over Larson. William Byron is up one place to third after finishing fourth. He is the last driver in the Championship 4 on points at the moment. Joey Logano's victory moved him up four places to fourth in addition to locking him in. Byron has a 27-point lead over
Denny Hamlin, who didn't have the greatest car on Sunday, but used an alternate pit strategy to finish eighth and move up one place to fifth. Tyler Reddick won stage one, but was eliminated in a crash that saw him roll over. The 35th-place finish dropped him from third to sixth. Ryan Blaney got clipped in that same crash and ended eight laps down in 32nd. That dropped him to seventh. Chase Elliott was also in the crash and
dropped to eighth. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Alex Bowman finished fifth and keeps ninth in points. He has a 38-point lead over Martin Truex Jr., who gained two places to 10th after finishing sixth. Austin Cindric was eliminated in the big crash and dropped down to 1th. Daniel Suarez's third-place finish moved him up
to 12th. Ty Gibbs dropped two spots to 13th after a late spin and toe link damage dropped him to a 30th-place finish. Brad Keselowski was eliminated in the big crash, but stays in 14th. Chase Briscoe is 15th, while Harrison Burton is 16th. Of those who did not qualify for the playoffs, Chris Buescher continues to lead that group in 17th after a 10th-place finish. He is 17 points ahead of a tie for 18th between Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace. Chastain wins the tiebreaker via his victory at Kansas. Kyle Busch is 20th. Round of
8 Point Standings: 1) Christopher Bell 4086, 2) Kyle Larson -7, 3) William Byron -15, 4) Joey Logano -25, 5) Denny Hamlin -42, 6) Tyler Reddick -45, 7) Ryan Blaney -62, 8) Chase Elliott -68. Eliminated Driver Standings: 9)
Alex Bowman 2232, 10) Martin Truex Jr. -38, 11) Austin Cindric -53, 12) Daniel Suarez -68, 13) Ty Gibbs -70, 14) Brad Keselowski -105, 15) Chase Briscoe -111, 16) Harrison Burton -145.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson
1076, 2) Christopher Bell -28, 3) Chase Elliott -49, 4) William Byron -62, 5) Tyler Reddick -65, 6) Denny Hamlin -131, 7) Ryan Blaney -134, 8) Alex Bowman -183, 9) Martin Truex Jr. -190, 10) Chris Buescher
-208, 11) Brad Keselowski -215, 12) Ty Gibbs -216, t-13) Ross Chastain -225, t-13) Bubba Wallace -225, 15) Joey Logano -243, 16) Kyle Busch -341. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points.
Best of the Rest: 17) Chris Buescher 868, t-18) Ross Chastain -17, t-18) Bubba Wallace
-17, 20) Kyle Busch -133, 21) Carson Hocevar -250, 22) Michael McDowell -277, 23) Todd Gilliland -283, 24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -315, 25) Noah Gragson -327, 26) Ryan Preece -345. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 52, 2) Christopher Bell -19, 3) Tyler Reddick -22, 4) William Byron -29, 5) Ryan Blaney -33, 6) Joey Logano -35, 7) Denny Hamlin -37, 8) Chase Elliott -38. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 296, 2) Denny Hamlin -33, 3) Ryan Blaney -49, 4) Christopher Bell -54, 5) William Byron -66, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -78, 7) Tyler Reddick -80, 8) Chase
Elliott -87, 9) Joey Logano -119, 10) Alex Bowman -134, t-11) Ty Gibbs -139, t-11) Brad Keselowski -139, 13) Bubba Wallace -159, 14) Austin Cindric -168, t-15) Ross Chastain -196, t-15) Chris Buescher
-196.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 963, 2) Christopher Bell -6, 3) Tyler Reddick
-14, 4) William Byron -36, 5) Kyle Larson -37, 6) Chris Buescher -57, 7) Ross Chastain -69, 8) Alex Bowman -96, 9) Bubba Wallace -103, 10) Denny Hamlin -112, t-11) Ty Gibbs -113, t-11) Brad Keselowski
-113, 13) Ryan Blaney -128, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -155, 15) Joey Logano -158, 16) Kyle Busch -174. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 4396, 2) Tyler Reddick -49, 3) Chase Elliott -60, 4) William Byron -130, 5) Kyle Larson -167, 6) Chris Buescher -251, 7) Ross Chastain
-295, 8) Alex Bowman -365, 9) Brad Keselowski -389, 10) Bubba Wallace -396, 11) Ty Gibbs -407, 12) Denny Hamlin -429, 13) Ryan Blaney -432, 14) Martin Truex Jr. -546, 15) Joey Logano -558, 16) Kyle
Busch -613. 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-1, Kansas-1, Sonoma, Indianapolis, Bristol-2, Charlotte-2), Christopher Bell (Phoenix, Charlotte-1, 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, Las Vegas-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: Justin Allgaier Finds His Mojo In Las Vegas
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier has struggled mightily in the playoffs, but he seemed to find some of his early season form Saturday. Allgaier led 42 laps, won stage two, earned 19 stage points and finished third. That allowed him to expand his points lead to 16 points over Cole Custer, who won stage one and eventually finished eighth. Chandler
Smith is up one place to third after finishing fourth. He is the last driver in the Championship 4 on points at the moment. AJ Allmendinger's victory moved him up three places to fourth. Chandler Smith is eight points ahead of Austin Hill, who dropped two places to fifth after finishing 10th. Jesse Love remains in sixth
after finishing sixth. Sam Mayer dropped two places to seventh after finishing 14th. Sammy Smith got damage in a restart stack up, then failed to repair it and lost multiple laps. A battery failure in the final laps dropped him to a 32nd-place finish, which puts him 53 points behind Chandler Smith. Of those already eliminated from the playoffs,
Sheldon Creed moved up to ninth after finishing ninth. He is five points ahead of Riley Herbst, who finished seventh. Parker Kligerman finished fifth and moved up to 11th. Shane van Gisbergen dropped from ninth to 12th after mechanical problems resulted in a 38th-place finish. Outside of the playoffs, Ryan
Sieg's second-place finish expanded his advantage up to 122 points over Brandon Jones. Anthony Alfredo is 15th, while Brennan Poole is 16th. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Justin Allgaier 3088, 2) Cole Custer -16, 3) Chandler Smith -24, 4) AJ
Allmendinger -25, 5) Austin Hill -32, 6) Jesse Love -37, 7) Sam Mayer -47, 8) Sammy Smith -77. Owners Points Round of 8 Standings: 1) JR Motorsports No. 7 3086, t-2) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 -19, t-2) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 -19, 4) Joe
Gibbs Racing No. 81 -23, 5) Kaulig Racing No. 16 - 24, 6) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -31, 7) Richard Childress Racing No. 2 -36, 8) JR Motorsports No. 1 -45. Eliminated Driver Standings: 9) Sheldon Creed 2131, 10) Riley Herbst -5, 11) Parker
Kligerman -19, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -28. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 1062, 2) Cole Custer -16, 3) Justin Allgaier -29, 4) AJ Allmendinger -85, 5) Austin Hill
-97, 6) Sheldon Creed -124, 7) Jesse Love -160, 8) Riley Herbst -194, 9) Parker Kligerman -222, 10) Sammy Smith -281, 11) Ryan Sieg -289, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -351, 13) Sam Mayer -352, 14) Brandon Jones
-411, 15) Anthony Alfredo -474, 16) Brennan Poole -547. Playoff Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 36, 2) Cole Custer -7, 3) Austin Hill -10, 4) Chandler Smith -11, 5) Sam Mayer
-19, 6) Jesse Love -23, 7) AJ Allmendinger -24, 8) Sammy Smith -30. Best of the Rest: 13) Ryan Sieg 773, 14) Brandon Jones -122, 15) Anthony Alfredo -185, 16) Brennan Poole -258, 17) Josh Williams -296, 18)
Parker Retzlaff -323, 19) Jeb Burton -328, 20) Leland Honeyman -331, 21) Jeremy Clements -344, 22) Aric Almirola -366. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 326, 2) Cole Custer -84, 3) Chandler
Smith -91, 4) AJ Allmendinger -98, 5) Austin Hill -118, 6) Riley Herbst -123, 7) Sheldon Creed -150, 8) Jesse Love -184, 9) Sam Mayer -203, 10) Sammy Smith -216, 11) Aric Almirola -231, 12) Brandon Jones
-234, 13) Parker Kligerman -237, 14) Ryan Sieg -244, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -272, 16) Ryan Truex -286. Note: 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 936, 2) Cole Custer -12, 3) Jesse Love -58, 4) Austin Hill -60, 5) Sheldon Creed -62, 6) AJ Allmendinger -72, 7) Parker Kligerman
-73, 8) Justin Allgaier -108, 9) Ryan Sieg -135, 10) Sammy Smith -158, 11) Riley Herbst -165, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -174, 13) Sam Mayer -235, 14) Anthony Alfredo -258, 15) Brandon Jones -272, 16) Brennan Poole
-312. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 4204, 2) Cole Custer -52, 3) Sheldon Creed -186, 4) Jesse Love -244, 5) Austin Hill -251, 6) AJ Allmendinger
-293, 7) Parker Kligerman -339, 8) Justin Allgaier -371, 9) Ryan Sieg -519, 10) Sammy Smith -583, 11) Riley Herbst -589, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -630, 13) Sam Mayer -807, 14) Anthony Alfredo -940, 15) Brandon
Jones -964, 16) Brennan Poole -1123. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, Atlanta-1, Atlanta-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas-1, Nashville), Chandler Smith (Phoenix, Richmond), Kyle Larson (COTA), Aric Almirola (Martinsville, Kansas), 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), 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.
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Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship: Off-Week Update No. 16
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 26. When the teams get to Homestead, Corey Heim will have a one-point lead over Christian Eckes. Grant Enfinger, who
is locked into the Championship 4 after winning in Talladega, is third, followed by Ty Majeski. Majeski is the last driver in the Championship 4 on points at the moment. He has a five-point lead over Rajah Caruth. Taylor Gray is sixth, then Nick Sanchez and Tyler
Ankrum. 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 South Point 400 was brought to you by the letter T for Trouble. Of the eight playoff drivers, four of them ran into trouble Sunday and three of them finished in the 30s. It will
definitely have an effect on the rest of the round. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: South Point 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"Oh my gosh. It’s an incredible turn of events coming from what was at the end of last weekend and what it was like Sunday night after a couple hours after the race and to this Sunday. This sport is just incredible. Things change, but what a team I’ve got. I stood out there at the start-finish line and it takes a total effort. Obviously, the car had to be pretty good. It was solid, but
when you think about what it takes to win a fuel mileage race, you’ve got to have a good engine. You’ve got to have good engineers calculating stuff. You’ve got to have good communication communicating what they see and being able to make sure that I only gave up the right amount of spots on the racetrack and trying to get to [Daniel Suarez] in front and keep [Christopher Bell] behind. Coleman, Paul, Joe, Nick Hensley, our gas man making sure it’s full. It takes everybody to do it, so we’re in
the Championship 4 again. I’m so proud of this team. We just find a way and that’s what I’m most proud of. I said it as we entered this thing this week that we may be the underdogs, but I don’t think so anymore." - Joey Logano, race winner "I don’t know. I don’t know, and I don’t think I’ve come to terms with it yet. Just a bummer. Everyone on this team did everything
perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails, the pit crew did an amazing job, Adam [Stevens] called an amazing race. We did everything we needed to put the Rheem Camry into victory lane, and unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today." - Christopher Bell, finished second "It’s a little heartbreaking. We had a great No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevy. I think we
could have won it. We just needed the bottom lane. A couple of cars right there, they were stuck on the bottom and I was in very dirty air. [Joey Logano] was a little faster than us right there at the end. I felt like if I had the bottom, Joey wasn’t going to be able to pass me, but you never know. "Our Chevy was good, but on the very last run, it was falling off. I’m very
proud of my team because they won it again today with the strategy. The car was fast.. it was a top 10 car. But top-three is a solid finish. I’m very proud of my team." - Daniel Suarez, finished third "We really improved a lot as the day progressed. That was a lot to be said about this No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevy team, and our ability to get the balance close and get
the speed once we had the balance close. We just started the race a little bit off, but I’m really, really happy with how we came on. I thought we were going to have a shot to compete for a win there in the final stage, but it turned into a fuel mileage race.
"Just sucks. It’s going to take a win, I feel like, so we have to keep working for it and keep running up front. If we run up front, it will do two
things – we’ll be able to compete for a win and score a lot of points. We just have to keep running like this." - William Byron, finished fourth
"I mean obviously they made it on fuel, so that’s what got those guys there. But hats-off to them for taking advantage of that opportunity. The second-to-last run, we were super-fast. And then on the last run, I don’t know if
just coming out in some clean air or if I built the right-rear up too quick or what happened, but I was just too loose the last run. I struggled to run the wall in (turns) three and four like I could the run previously. I had some big moments behind Christopher (Bell) and kind of just melted the right-rear off the thing. "Bummed that we’re not a couple spots better at least,
but it was a solid top-five effort for the No. 48 Ally Chevy team. We’ll keep on digging." - Alex Bowman, finished fifth
"Not a clean day. That certainly sums it up. You’ll have that. We did the best we could to get the best finish. I thought Chris [Gabehart] did a great job to get some sort of finish. Once we lost the track position early, he was doing the best he could to try to get it back
through strategy, and then it goes long there, and we fall to the back. Just part of it." - Denny Hamlin, finished eighth "It was a messy, messy day. None of the first races in the rounds have been clean, at all, for us. But this was a long, hard-fought 11th-place finish. We just had a lot of unfortunate things happen with the debris that got stuck on our nose. We
were able to overcome that and I thought we were going to be fine. We had a strong finish in the second stage, and then we had the issues on the pit stop and just had to fight from there. "We got the most we could out of the rest of the day. I’m proud of this No. 5 HendrickCars.com 00Chevy team for the rebound and having a clean rest of the race." - Kyle Larson,
finished 11th "We’re still alive. It’s definitely not the best of days. It was just a rough weekend overall. I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest with you, running over something and having a hole in it in practice. And then just getting clipped by [Brad Keselowski] there. I thought I could get around him and didn’t know if he’d come up the racetrack and then
by the time he was kind of on the track it was too late. I got clipped and bent everything all to hell, so it was just a rough weekend. We still have two more weeks, so we’re definitely not out of it." - Ryan Blaney, finished 32nd
"Yeah, you just have to be aggressive on restarts. It’s how the Next Gen racing has been from the beginning. I kind of saw them both have a moment, and I just had to
split second make a decision. You have to be aggressive on the restart. It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive – by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) started sliding and the 9 (Chase Elliott) was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident – just not who I am,
but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race. We had a really, really fast Jordan Brand Toyota Camry, probably would have been in the mix all race long, but we will go to Homestead – a place where I have had to get it done before and go for it there." - Tyler Reddick, finished 35th (Crashed out)
"[Daniel Hemric] flat-out wrecked me.. no clue why. He’s got three races left, and I don’t know if
was just over his head. He stays in the gas into [turn 3] until he hits me. I don’t know what that was." - Austin Dillon, finished 37th (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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