Frontstretch Newsletter: March 10, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition XXVI |
- NASCAR teams are working on getting to the point where they can make their equipment swaps as the transporters will be staying out west this week. Entry lists for this weekend's action in Las Vegas should be released today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Christopher Bell Fends Off Denny Hamlin to 3-Peat at
Phoenix Christopher Bell was able to get back past teammate Denny Hamlin on the final lap Sunday and just barely held on to win the Shriners Children's 500 for his third straight win. Hamlin was second, then Kyle Larson, Josh Berry and Chris
Buescher. |
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| 1st Top 5 for the Wood Brothers in
Phoenix Josh Berry scored a fourth-place finish Sunday in Phoenix. It is the Wood Brothers' best-ever finish at the one-mile tri-oval. |
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| Zane Smith Has Fun Again in Top 10 Run at
Phoenix Zane Smith was able to take advantage of pit strategy and strong form Sunday to score a ninth-place finish in Phoenix. |
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| Lap 99 Crash Ends Promising Day for Spire
Motorsports Spire Motorsports had an excellent Saturday. Sunday was not so great as Michael McDowell hit the wall twice, while Justin Haley and Carson Hocevar were eliminated in a big crash exiting turn 2 on lap 99. |
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| Here’s What Happened This Week With the 23XI/FRM Lawsuit
(March 1-7) The lawsuit against NASCAR from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports ramped up significantly last week as NASCAR countersued and the teams released statements about the countersuit. |
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| Burt Myers Running Martinsville for
AmeriVet Team AmeriVet announced Saturday that the team will return with Burt Myers at Martinsville, where the Modified ace will make his NASCAR Cup Series points race debut. |
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| Aric Almirola Aces Overtime Restart, Scores Xfinity Win at
Phoenix Joe Gibbs Racing's Aric Almirola got past Justin Allgaier on the final restart and bodyslammed Alex Bowman to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series GOVX 200 Saturday. Bowman was second, then Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg and
Allgaier. |
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| An Encouraging 3rd-Place Finish for Brandon
Jones Brandon Jones got a little greedy late in the going, but he managed to finish third Saturday for his first top-five finish in nearly 10 months. |
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| Alpha Prime Racing Finds Redemption in the
Desert Alpha Prime Racing recovered Saturday from what team co-owner Tommy Joe Martins indicated was the worst weekend in the history of the team in Austin to score finishes of 11th and 17th in Phoenix. |
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| Brent Crews Makes Last-Lap Pass to Win ARCA Race at
Phoenix Joe Gibbs Racing's Brent Crews was able to get past Brenden Queen on an overtime restart to win the combination ARCA Menards Series/ARCA Menards Series West General Tire 150 in Phoenix Friday night. Queen was second, then Treyten Lapcevich, Lawless
Alan and Lavar Scott. |
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| Thad Moffitt, Tyler Reif Discuss Their Late-Race Phoenix
Run-in On a late restart, Thad Moffitt and Tyler Reif collided, resulting in Reif spinning into the SAFER Barrier. The two drivers had different views as to what happened. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Bonnie Cash of ARCA Racing and our own Danny Peters. 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: March 7-9 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent last weekend in the Deep South. Friday night saw drivers in action at Talladega Short Track, just down the street from Talladega Superspeedway. Here, Cole Macedo started from the pole and led early. However, Alaska's Bill
Balog was able to run him down and take the lead on lap 17. Balog then had to hold off the charging David Gravel in the closing laps to win the Dega Duel for his first series victory since 2016.
Gravel was .383 seconds back in second at the finish. Logan Schuchart was third, then Cole Macedo and Carson Macedo.
- Saturday night saw the tour move to Magnolia Motor Speedway in Mississippi for the Black Ice Brawl. Here, Gravel returned to form. The Connecticut native pulled off the sweep by setting the fastest lap in time trials, winning his heat, winning the Dash (earning the pole in the process for the feature), then leading all 35 laps to win
the feature. It is his third win of the year. Gravel was 2.015 seconds ahead of Carson Macedo at the finish. Sheldon Haudenschild was third, then Buddy Kofoid and Schuchart. Through eight races, Gravel has a 56-point lead over both Schuchart and Carson
Macedo (Carson has the tiebreaker due to having a win). Kofoid is fourth, while Donny Schatz is fifth. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Phoenix last weekend. For more from Phoenix, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our suite of YouTube channels (Frontstretch, Frontstretch Grassroots, Frontstretch Plus and FS Open Wheel) and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: William Byron Extends Lead in Phoenix
by Phil Allaway
William Byron had the dominant car early on, leading 84 laps and winning stage one. He ultimately finished sixth, which was enough to extend his points lead. His lead is now 13 points over Christopher
Bell, whose third straight win moved him up two places to second. Tyler Reddick dealt with power steering issues and finished 20th, but stays in third. Ryan Blaney blew an engine late Sunday and dropped to fourth. Chase Elliott struggled for much of the day, but salvaged a 10th-place finish, falling to
fifth in the process. Alex Bowman moved up one spot to sixth after finishing seventh. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are all tied for seventh. Hamlin moved up 10 positions after finishing second, while Busch finished eighth. Logano is also up after a 13th-place finish, but ended up further down the order due to running out of option tires. Chris Buescher is up to 10th after finishing a quiet fifth. 0 is up five positions to 11th after finishing third. Bubba Wallace dropped six places to 12th after breaking a brake rotor and crashing out on lap 266. John Hunter Nemechek is
up one place to 13th after a recovery drive to 14th. Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are tied for 14th. McDowell hit the wall twice Sunday and finished 27th, while Stenhouse spun early and finished 21st. Ross Chastain finished 11th and moved up four places to 16th. Chastain is the last driver in the
playoffs on points. He is five points ahead of Todd Gilliland, who moved up a spot after finishing 17th. Carson Hocevar was eliminated in the Big One and dropped to 18th. Erik Jones is 19th, while Chase Briscoe is 20th. Point Standings
(1-16): 1) William Byron 165, 2) Christopher Bell -13, 3) Tyler Reddick -22, 4) Ryan Blaney -29, 5) Chase Elliott -41, 6) Alex Bowman -48, t-7) Denny Hamlin -55, t-7) Kyle Busch -55, t-7) Joey Logano
-55, 10) Chris Buescher -56, 11) Kyle Larson -57, 12) Bubba Wallace -63, 13) John Hunter Nemechek -66, t-14) Michael McDowell -69, t-14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -69, 16) Ross Chastain -77. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Christopher Bell 16, 2) William Byron -10, t-3) Ryan Blaney -15, t-3)
Bubba Wallace -15, t-3) Kyle Larson -15, t-3) Joey Logano -15, t-3) Josh Berry -15, t-3) Ryan Preece -15. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 49, t-2) Joey Logano
-3, t-2) Ryan Blaney -3, 4) Bubba Wallace -8, 5) Tyler Reddick -10, 6) Austin Cindric -15, 7) Christopher Bell -23, 8) Chase Elliott -24, 9) Ryan Preece -31, t-10) Alex Bowman -32, t-10) Kyle Larson
-32, t-12) Kyle Busch -33, t-12) Josh Berry -33, t-14) Denny Hamlin -34, t-14) Erik Jones -34, t-16) Todd Gilliland -35, t-16) Shane van Gisbergen -35. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: 18) Chris Buescher -36, t-21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -39, t-24) Michael McDowell -41, 26) Ross Chastain -42, 29) John Hunter Nemechek -47.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen
Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 143, 2) William Byron -8, 3) Tyler Reddick -22, 4) Alex Bowman -25, 5) Chase
Elliott -27, t-6) John Hunter Nemechek -30, t-6) Denny Hamlin -30, t-6) Kyle Busch -30, 9) Chris Buescher -31, 10) Ryan Blaney -35, 11) Kyle Larson -36, 12) Michael McDowell -39, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -41, 14) Ross Chastain
-49, 15) Chase Briscoe -51, 16) Todd Gilliland -54. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: t-17) Joey Logano -59, t-19) Bubba Wallace -64. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 615, 2) William Byron
-18, 3) Tyler Reddick -66, 4) Alex Bowman -86, 5) Denny Hamlin -94, 6) Chase Elliott -95, 7) Kyle Busch -96, 8) Chris Buescher -107, 9) John Hunter Nemechek -108, 10) Kyle Larson -110, 11) Ryan Blaney
-114, 12) Michael McDowell -139, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -142, 14) Chase Briscoe -166, 15) Ross Chastain -168, 16) Carson Hocevar -188. Outside of the top-16, but still in the
playoffs: 18) Joey Logano -195, 19) Bubba Wallace -212. Note No. 2: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona), Christopher Bell (Atlanta, COTA, Phoenix)
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 our own Danny
Peters.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Jesse Love Reclaims Lead After Austin Hill's Crash
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill had a good car early Saturday in Phoenix. However, he committed an unenforced error on lap 62 and turned into turn 3 too early. He clipped the inside wall and triggered a crash that eliminated himself, Sheldon Creed and Dean Thompson. Hill's 37th-place finish cost him the points lead. Teammate Jesse Love finished ninth and retook the points lead. His advantage is two points over Justin Allgaier, who dominated much of the race, but dropped back on the final restart and finished fifth. Sam Mayer is up one spot to third after finishing seventh. Creed's crash dropped him back to fourth. Sammy Smith moved up one spot to fifth, but he got bailed out by a caution just as he was pitting for a flat tire. Creed dropped four positions to sixth due to the aforementioned crash. Taylor Gray is up to seventh after finishing sixth. Gray jumped over Jeb Burton, who finished 15th. Christian Eckes remains in ninth after finishing eighth. Ryan Sieg is up to 10th after a wild day that saw him go to the rear in a backup car, then drive all the way up to fourth. Aric Almirola is up 16 positions to 11th after taking the victory. He is not eligible for the playoffs due to missing two races. William Sawalich drops down to 12th after finishing 13th. Unlike last week, he is the last driver
in the playoffs on points. Sawalich has a two-point lead over Harrison Burton, who fell three spots after finishing 20th. Connor Zilisch and Josh Williams are tied for 14th. Zilisch finished 16th Saturday while Williams was 12th. Nick Sanchez is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Jesse Love 143, 2) Justin Allgaier -2, 3) Sam Mayer -13, 4) Austin Hill -20, 5) Sammy Smith -22, 6) Sheldon Creed -28, 7) Taylor Gray -34, 8) Jeb Burton
-36, 9) Christian Eckes -40, 10) Ryan Sieg -41, 11) Aric Almirola -46, 12) William Sawalich -51, 13) Harrison Burton -53, t-14) Connor Zilisch -54, t-14) Josh Williams -54, 16) Nick Sanchez -57. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 9, t-2) Jesse Love -4, t-2) Connor Zilisch -4, t-2) Aric Almirola -4, t-5) Justin Allgaier -8, t-5) Harrison Burton -8. Note:
If they were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, William Byron and Alex Bowman would be tied for fifth in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 46, 2) Austin Hill -1, 3) Sheldon Creed -14, 4) Sam Mayer -16, 5) Sammy Smith
-20, t-6) Jesse Love -23, t-6) Aric Almirola -23, 8) Jeb Burton -25, 9) Ryan Sieg -30, t-10) Connor Zilisch -31, t-10) Taylor Gray -31, 12) Harrison Burton -33, 13) Nick Sanchez -34, t-14) Brandon Jones
-36, t-14) Anthony Alfredo -36, t-16) Dean Thompson -37, t-16) Daniel Dye -37. Outside the top-16, but still in the playoffs: t-18) Christian Eckes -38, t-23) William Sawalich -43. Note:
If they were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Alex Bowman would be ninth and William Byron tied for 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Jesse Love 138, 2) Sam Mayer -21, 3) Justin
Allgaier -25, 4) Sammy Smith -26, t-5) Taylor Gray -28, t-5) Christian Eckes -28, 7) William Sawalich -33, t-8) Ryan Sieg -35, t-8) Jeb Burton -35,
10) Josh Williams -36, 11) Sheldon Creed -38, 12) Austin Hill -41, t-13) Harrison Burton -43, t-13) Jeremy Clements -43, 15) Connor Zilisch
-45, t-16) Carson Kvapil -48, t-16) Nick Sanchez -48. WC Points (1-16): 1) Jesse Love 593, 2) Sam Mayer -52, 3) Justin Allgaier -68, 4) Taylor Gray -83, 5) Sammy Smith
-86, 6) Christian Eckes -93, 7) Ryan Sieg -113, 8) William Sawalich -114, t-9) Austin Hill -117, t-9) Jeb Burton -117, 11) Sheldon Creed -120, 12) Josh Williams -127, 13) Harrison Burton -138, 14) Connor Zilisch
-140, 15) Jeremy Clements -146, 16) Carson Kvapil -150. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona), Austin Hill (Atlanta), Connor Zilisch (COTA), Aric Almirola (Phoenix) 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 Playoffs: Off-Week Update No. 2
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They are scheduled to return to action at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 14. When the teams roll into Las Vegas, Grant Enfinger will have a one-point lead over defending champion Ty Majeski.
Chandler Smith is third, then Corey Heim and Ben Rhodes.
At the playoff cutoff, Jack Wood has the 10th and final spot in the playoffs. He is one point ahead of Bayley Currey. Tanner Gray is 12th, then Layne Riggs, Tyler Ankrum, Kaden Honeycutt and and a tie for 16th between
Frankie Muniz and Josh Reaume.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Grant Enfinger 85, 2) Ty Majeski -1, 3) Chandler Smith -6, 4) Corey Heim -16, 5) Ben Rhodes -19, t-6) Gio
Ruggiero -23, t-6) Stewart Friesen -23, t-6) Daniel Hemric -23, 9) Jake Garcia -32, 10) Jack Wood -35, 11) Bayley Currey -36, 12) Tanner Gray -42, 13) Layne Riggs -43, 14) Tyler Ankrum -44, 15) Kaden
Honeycutt -46, t-16) Frankie Muniz -47, t-16) Josh Reaume -47. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be ninth and Michael McDowell 13th. Playoff
Points: 1) Corey Heim 5, t-2) Ben Rhodes -4, t-2) Jack Wood -4, t-2) Matt Crafton -4. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be leading in Playoff points with six. Stage Points: 1) Grant Enfinger 25, t-2) Ty Majeski -4, t-2) Jack Wood -4, 4) Ben Rhodes -6, 5) Chandler Smith -9, 6) Corey Heim -10, 7) Stewart Friesen -12, 8) Connor Mosack
-13, 9) Daniel Hemric -14, 10) Matt Crafton -15, 11) Johnny Sauter -16, 12) Kaden Honeycutt -19, 13) Tanner Gray -20, t-14) Tyler Ankrum -21, t-14) Rajah Caruth -21, 16) Andres Perez -23. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Gio Ruggiero -24, t-18) Jake Garcia -25. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be fifth and Michael McDowell 13th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 58, 2) Ty Majeski -2, t-3) Grant Enfinger -4, t-3) Gio Ruggiero -4, 5) Corey Heim -11, t-6) Daniel Hemric -13, t-6) Jake Garcia -13, 8) Stewart Friesen
-16, 9) Bayley Currey -17, 10) Ben Rhodes -18, 11) Layne Riggs -25, t-12) Tyler Ankrum -27, t-12) Josh Reaume -27, t-14) Frankie Muniz -28, t-14) Tanner Gray -28, t-16) Spencer Boyd -30, t-16) Kaden Honeycutt
-30. Note: If he was eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be 11th in Old School points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 320, 2) Ty Majeski -8, 3) Gio Ruggiero -15, 4) Grant Enfinger -16, 5) Corey Heim -41, 6) Daniel Hemric -49, 7) Stewart Friesen -51, 8) Jake Garcia -55, 9) Bayley Currey
-60, 10) Ben Rhodes -66, 11) Layne Riggs -93 12) Tyler Ankrum -94, 13) Josh Reaume -97, 14) Tanner Gray -100, 15) Frankie Muniz -101, 16) Spencer Boyd -108. Note: If he was eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Michael McDowell would be 16th in WC points. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Atlanta)
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 Shriners Children's 500k was brought to you by the letter T for Tire Wear. The option tire opened up some additional strategy. However, the cautions put teams that tried to be
aggressive with their strategy in trouble, forcing them to go way farther on the softer tire than they could realistically last. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Shriners Children's 500k compiled by Phil Allaway
"I have no idea! I knew it was going to be all about who could get clear. I did everything I could to drive deep in the corner and get clear, and I never got clear. [Denny Hamlin] got back on the outside of me. It was just some hard racing and I really felt like I was in the worst spot coming to the line on the bottom and I just got lucky that [Kyle] Larson tried to dive
three-wide and gave me that shove there. It was like we’re at Talladega again. "My Reser’s No. 20 Camry XSE was incredible, especially on the [primary tires]. It seemed like the [option tires], the field was a little bit closer. I would imagine that’s going to be the tire we race on when we come back [to Phoenix Raceway] in the fall, so have to dig in and see
what we were missing to be a little bit better on the red tires. Super proud of everyone on this No. 20 group. Obviously, the boys are killing it. This was our first race with Reser’s on the car and we got them in victory lane. What a day for [Joe Gibbs Racing]!" - Christopher Bell, race winner
"Great job out of this No. 11 Sport Clips Camry XSE team. Got better and better as [the
race] went. Pit crew did a phenomenal job to keep us in the game, and when we had a bad stop in the middle, they made up for it at the end. First time we were able to get some clean air all day. Obviously, our car was really fast. Really kind of wanted it to stay green there because I thought the long runs is really where we were going to be able to excel, especially on these tires. But we got a good restart. [Kyle Larson] really gave me a great push on the frontstretch on the restart, down the
backstretch. I had kind of position on [Christopher Bell]. I knew he was going to ship it in there. He had to use me. He could. Obviously, we just kind of ran out of racetrack there. Great finish. Great job by the whole Joe Gibbs team to give us some fast cars." - Denny Hamlin, finished second "I don’t know… I felt like I did an OK job to give myself the
best opportunity. I was hoping to help Denny [Hamlin] down the back and then they would get racing, like they did, and then maybe they would make a bigger mistake in front of us and we could sneak by. It almost happened, but we just came up a little bit short. We still have a lot of work to do. William [Byron] seemed decent, but the rest of us [Hendrick Motorsports drivers] weren’t very good. We just have to keep working and try to make things a little bit easier." - Kyle Larson, finished
third
"I am proud of everyone on this 21 team and thank you to eero for coming on board. Our car was really solid. It wasn’t mistake free. We had an issue on pit road with the left rear but we got backed up and got the wheel tight. We had some really good restarts. We had one toward the end that didn’t go our way, but pretty much every one of them we were able to move forward and
fight and claw. It is a credit to everyone on the 21 team and Ford and Wood Brothers Racing and Team Penske. It was a lot of fun." - Josh Berry, finished fourth "I am really proud of this team to take this Ford Mustang and get a top five out of it. It was a fight today. I felt like we were there on the yellows and kept getting run all over by reds and I was just
sitting there waiting our turn. We finally put them on and ended up in a place where it was kind of the same time as everybody else. We didn’t see the big movement, but we had them on at the end when a lot of others ran out. It made it interesting. I am still a proponent of a single tire when we come to a weekend, but Goodyear did a great job. That red tire was a lot of fun." - Chris Buescher, finished fifth "Unfortunately that caution just came out right when we were on pit road. Here at Phoenix [Raceway], you can’t get away with losing a lap. It was just an unfortunate situation there. It was an aggressive call, and I thought that it was going to set us up for a shot. It was just crazy there at the end. We restarted 21st and got up into the top 10 pretty quickly. I feel like we probably used up a lot of tire on the reds to
get the last few spots, so it was hard to get much more. "I’m happy with it. I feel like the No. 24 Z by HP Chevy team put together a good weekend. We learned a ton, and we got a solid finish, so that’s something to be proud of." - William Byron, finished sixth
"Man, since practice I knew I had a really good Mustang. In qualifying, I feel like we all kind of missed it at FRM but I knew our Fords were really good on the long run and it paid off here. It was a lot of fun today. I fought a couple of mistakes throughout the day, but it is really cool to get Aaron’s a good run in my debut with them. Top ten finishes are always great. It is something to build on and a good track to be good at. I am just happy with the
performance all weekend, honestly." - Zane Smith, finished ninth "That’s about the biggest you can crash at Phoenix. Yeah, it was a big one. On that restart, we were three, four-wide and I just climbed over [Justin Haley’s] right front. Yeah, unfortunate. We were able to go from the tail [of the field] up to 12th or 13th and felt good about our No. 19 Bass Pro
Shops Toyota. Yeah, got myself in a bad spot. Was probably trying to fade a little more left with [Carson Hocevar] on my right rear and yeah, just went over [Haley’s] right front. Yeah, unfortunate but try to learn from it and not do it again and go onto [Las] Vegas." - Chase Briscoe, finished 35th (Crashed out) "They just kind of squeezed four-wide.
They wrecked underneath me and that was the end of it. I was in a bad spot. It was tight racing, obviously. Our No. 77 Minor Docks Doors and More Chevy was really fast. We just got behind on a pit stop and then behind on the tire strategy. It would have been nice to see that cycle out because I think a lot of those guys burned up a set of reds that we were going to have in our back pocket. "It’s unfortunate, but our Spire Motorsports Chevy’s are fast and I’m sure they’ll be fast again." - Carson Hocevar, finished 36th (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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