Frontstretch Newsletter: March 24, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition XXXVI |
- After Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless 400, Kyle Busch sent a message on social media indicating that there will be a big announcement at "18:51" today. On a 12-hour clock, that would indicate 6:51 p.m. ET. Of course, the Nos. 18 and 51 are of specific importance to Busch's career as he drove the No. 18 at Joe Gibbs Racing for 15 years and the No. 51 was what amounted to his personal number in
the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series over the years.
- Preparations are ongoing for this weekend's tripleheader at Martinsville. Entry lists should be released today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Kyle Larson Nabs First Cup Series Win of 2025 at
Homestead-Miami Speedway Kyle Larson took the lead on lap 261 Sunday when Alex Bowman hit the wall in turn 4. From there, he held on to win the Straight Talk Wireless 400. Bowman was second, then Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. |
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| ‘I Guess I Choked That One Away’: Alex Bowman Was Just 5
Laps Short of Homestead Victory Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman was in position to score the victory Sunday in Homestead. However, he hit the wall with six laps to go, allowing Kyle Larson to move past for the win. |
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| ‘I Truly Believe in This Team’: Bubba Wallace Ends Rocky
Start to 2025 with Homestead Top 3 Bubba Wallace has run well in races this year, but didn't have the finishes to show for it. Sunday saw him lead for 56 laps and finish a strong third. |
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| Justin Allgaier Steals Xfinity Win, Dash 4 Cash Bonus at
Homestead JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier took the lead on the final lap Saturday afternoon from Austin Hill and held on to win the Hard Rock Bet 300 for his second straight win. Sam Mayer was second, then Austin Hill, Kyle Larson and Sheldon
Creed. |
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| Botched Restart Costs Kyle Larson Xfinity Win, Chance for
Homestead Sweep Kyle Larson dominated Saturday's Hard Rock Bet 300, leading 132 laps. He had a 16-second lead prior to the final caution, then got jacked up on the final restart, preventing him from winning. |
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| Kyle Larson Steals Truck Win at
Homestead Kyle Larson was able to take the lead from Layne Riggs with two laps to go Friday night and held on from there to win the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead. Riggs was second, then Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Hemric. |
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| ‘It’s the Most a Race Has Stung’ – Engine Gremlins Cost
Corey Heim Homestead Win Corey Heim dominated the Baptist Health 200 Friday night. However, his truck would intermittently shut off, allowing Layne Riggs and Kyle Larson to dispatch of him in the final laps. |
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| Alex Palou Charges to Front Late, Wins Back-to-Back Races
at Thermal Alex Palou took advantage of a fresh set of red tires Sunday to take the lead with 10 laps to go. From there, he pulled away to win The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix. Patricio O'Ward was second, then Christian Lundgaard, Colton Herta and Felix
Rosenqvist. |
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| Will Power Rallies to 6th-Place Finish at Thermal
Club Will Power qualified outside of the top 20 in Thermal Saturday. On Sunday, he drove all the way up to a sixth-place finish without the benefit of a caution. |
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| Felix Rosenqvist & Marcus Armstrong Score Dual Top 10
for MSR at Thermal Club Sunday was a good day for Meyer Shank Racing as Felix Rosenqvist scored a fifth-place finish, while Marcus Armstrong was seventh despite running over an air gun on his final stop. |
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| 1 Bad Tire Undoes Strong Thermal Day for Kyle
Kirkwood Kyle Kirkwood had a quiet day for most of Sunday in Thermal, but an unevenly wearing tire dropped him down from fourth to eighth in the closing laps. |
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| Oscar Piastri Converts 1st F1 Pole to Win in Chinese Grand
Prix McLaren's Oscar Piastri led flag-to-flag Sunday to win the Grand Prix of China at Shanghai Circuit. Teammate Lando Norris was second, then Mercedes' George Russell, Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon. |
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| Lewis Hamilton Takes 1st Ferrari Win in China
Sprint Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was able to hold off an early charge from Max Verstappen, then pulled away to win the Sprint Race at Shanghai Circuit Saturday. Oscar Piastri was second, then Verstappen, George Russell and Charles
Leclerc. |
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| Max Reaves Wins First Career ARCA Race at Five
Flags Joe Gibbs Racing's Max Reaves passed Kole Raz with 30 laps to go Saturday night, then held on from there to win the ARCA Menards Series East Pensacola 150. Raz was second, then Tyler Reif, Connor Mosack and Isaac Kitzmiller. |
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| Connor Mosack Overcomes Cut Tire, Lapped Traffic to Score
Top-5 Finish in ARCA East Season Opener After racing at Homestead Friday night, Connor Mosack traveled to Pensacola, where he ran into tire problems during the ARCA Menards Series East opener. He recovered from a flat tire to finish fourth. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Chris Graythen of Getty Images, Steven Tee of LAT Images, Xavi Bonilla of DPPI, and our own Danny Peters and Reid Scott. 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 21-23 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent the weekend at Cotton Bowl Speedway in Texas for the Federated Auto Parts Texas Two-Step. Friday night saw David Gravel once again assume dominance. Gravel started fourth and drove to the front by lap 10. Despite dealing
with Buddy Kofoid's charges, Gravel was able to hold on for his fourth win of the year. Gravel won by 1.102 seconds over Kofoid. Carson Macedo was third, then Sheldon Haudenschild and Donny Schatz. Saturday night was even more dominant. This time, he
led flag-to-flag to sweep the weekend and take his fifth win of the year. Gravel won by 1.296 seconds over Kofoid. Sam Hafertepe Jr. was third, then Logan Schuchart and Haudenschild. Through 12 races, Gravel now has an 82-point lead over Macedo.
Schuchart is third, then Kofoid and Haudenschild. - Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series teams spent the weekend in California. Here, Brad Sweet won the FK Rod Ends Dash, which gave him the pole for the feature. From there, Sweet led flag-to-flag to take the A-Main win. Sweet's teammate/car owner Kasey Kahne was second, then Brent Marks. Tanner Holmes and DJ Netto rounded out the top-five. Saturday night saw the High Limit sprinters travel to Perris Auto Speedway. Here, Aaron Reutzel made his return to the series after taking a rock to the face at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March
15. Here, Reutzel was fastest in hot laps, time trials, the FK Rod Ends Dash, then led flag-to-flag to take a sweet victory. Austin McCarl was second, then Sweet, Marks and Kaleb Montgomery. Through four races, Sweet has a 45-point lead over Tyler
Courtney. Marks is third, then Rico Abreu and Reutzel. - World of Outlaws Late Model Series teams spent the weekend at Swainsboro Raceway for the Battle of the Crossroads. Here, the race was delayed after a big pileup on the initial start. Everyone was ok. Once the track was cleaned up, Bobby Pierce led flag-to-flag to take the win. Ryan Gustin was 1.263 seconds back in second, then Drake Troutman, Cory Hedgecock
and Wil Herrington. Saturday night saw Gustin take the lead away from Troutman on lap 6. From there, the field took their shots at him, but no one could prevent Gustin from taking his second win of the year. Gustin won by 2.933 seconds over Ashton
Winger. Pierce was third, then Troutman and Nick Hoffman. In the points, Pierce has a 30-point lead after eight races over both Gustin and Hoffman. Troutman is fourth, then Max Blair. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Homestead and Thermal last weekend. For more from Homestead, Thermal, Five Flags Speedway, 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 Maintains Advantage
by Phil Allaway
William Byron was strong for much of the race Sunday in Homestead. However, he faded on the final run of the race and finished 12th. Despite his fade, Byron was able to expand his lead. It is now 36 points
over teammate Kyle Larson. Larson's win moved up him four places. Alex Bowman's second-place finish moved him two positions to third, while Tyler Reddick finished eighth, but dropped a place to fourth. Christopher Bell spun out early Sunday and never really recovered. A 29th-place finish dropped
Bell three spots to fifth. Chase Elliott was quiet Sunday and dropped from a tie for third to sixth. Bubba Wallace's third-place finish moved him up four positions to seventh, while Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher are tied for eighth. Ryan Blaney had the best car for much of Sunday, but another engine failure put
him out. He's down three spots to 10th. Joey Logano drops to 11th after contact multiple times in the pits dropped him back. Josh Berry is up one place to 12th after a mediocre day. Chase Briscoe finished fourth and moved up seven positions to 13th. Michael McDowell and Ross
Chastain are tied for 14th after not so great days. McDowell was 20th and Chastain 31st. Ryan Preece, Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek are all tied for 16th. Preece wins the tiebreaker by virtue of having the best finish this year (his third-place finish at Las Vegas). As a result, he is the last
driver in the playoffs on points at the moment. The trio of drivers are one point ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 19th. AJ Allmendinger moved up three positions to 20th after finishing seventh. Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron
244, 2) Kyle Larson -36, 3) Alex Bowman -39, 4) Tyler Reddick -55, 5) Christopher Bell -58, 6) Chase Elliott -63, 7) Bubba Wallace -78, t-8) Denny Hamlin -80, t-8) Chris Buescher -80, 10) Ryan Blaney
-82, 11) Joey Logano -84, 12) Josh Berry -102, 13) Chase Briscoe -109, t-14) Michael McDowell -110, t-14) Ross Chastain -110, t-16) Ryan Preece -114, t-16) Kyle Busch -114, t-16) John Hunter Nemechek -114. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Christopher Bell 16, 2) Kyle
Larson -9, t-3) William Byron -10, t-3) Josh Berry -10, 5) Ryan Blaney -14, t-6) Bubba Wallace -15, t-6) Joey Logano -15, t-6) Denny Hamlin -15, t-6) Ryan Preece -15, t-6) Austin Cindric -15. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 70, 2) Ryan Blaney -1, 3) Bubba Wallace -9, 4) Austin Cindric -16, 5) Joey Logano -19, 6) Kyle Larson -21, 7) Tyler Reddick -28, 8) Alex Bowman
-30, 9) Chase Elliott -34, 10) Christopher Bell -43, t-11) Josh Berry -45, t-11) Denny Hamlin -45, t-13) AJ Allmendinger -50, t-13) Carson Hocevar -50, 15) Ryan Preece -52, t-16) Kyle Busch -54, t-16) Daniel
Suarez -54. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Playoffs: t-18) Ross Chastain -55, 22)
Chris Buescher -57, t-25) Chase Briscoe -62, t-25) Michael McDowell -62. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 203, 2) Alex Bowman -10, 3) Kyle Larson -18, 4) Christopher Bell -19, 5) Chris Buescher -28, 6) Tyler Reddick -31, 7) Chase Elliott -33, 8) Denny Hamlin
-37, 9) Chase Briscoe -50, 10) John Hunter Nemechek -51, 11) Michael McDowell -52, t-12) Josh Berry -61, t-12) Kyle Busch -61, t-12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -61, 15) Ross Chastain -62, 16) Ryan Preece -64. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Joey Logano -65, 18) Bubba Wallace -71, 22) Ryan Blaney -82. Note: These standings are
based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) William Byron 894, 2) Alex Bowman -39, 3) Kyle Larson -61, 4) Christopher Bell -76, 5) Tyler
Reddick -107, 6) Chris Buescher -112, 7) Denny Hamlin -125, 8) Chase Elliott -131, 9) Chase Briscoe -173, 10) John Hunter Nemechek -190, 11) Michael McDowell -195, 12) Kyle Busch -206, 13) Josh Berry -207, 14) Ross
Chastain -217, 15) Ryan Preece -218, 16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -221. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Joey Logano -230, 18) Bubba Wallace -237, t-21) Ryan Blaney -270. 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), Josh
Berry (Las Vegas), Kyle Larson (Homestead)
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 Playoffs: Justin Allgaier Expands Advantage After 2nd Straight Win
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier ran well all day Saturday, but Kyle Larson getting jacked up on the final restart by Sam Mayer allowed him to snatch his second straight win. That allowed him to expand his lead. The lead is now 29 points over Mayer, who moved up one place
after finishing second. Jesse Love dropped down to third despite finishing sixth. Austin Hill finished third and stays in fourth. Sheldon Creed moved up two places to fifth after finishing fifth. Sammy Smith won stage one, but dropped to a 21st-place finish and fell to sixth in points. Connor Zilisch moved up to
seventh despite a late penalty on his final stop. Ryan Sieg is eighth despite issues dropping him to a 22nd-place finish. Aric Almriola and Taylor Gray are tied for ninth. Almirola sat out Homestead while Gray spun to bring out the final caution and finished 23rd. Harrison Burton is up two positions to 11th after finishing 11th.
Jeb Burton stays in 12th after crashing on the final lap and finishing 15th. Brandon Jones and Carson Kvapil are tied for 13th. Jones wins the tiebreaker by virtue of the better finish (third at Phoenix). As a result, he is the last driver in the playoffs on points at the moment. Jones and Kvapil are four points ahead of Nick
Sanchez, who gained a spot after finishing eighth. Daniel Dye is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 249, 2) Sam Mayer -29, 3) Jesse Love -31, 4) Austin Hill -47, 5) Sheldon
Creed -62, 6) Sammy Smith -65, 7) Connor Zilisch -85, 8) Ryan Sieg -93, t-9) Aric Almirola -98, t-9) Taylor Gray -98, 11) Harrison Burton -104, 12) Jeb Burton -106, t-13) Brandon Jones
-108, t-13) Carson Kvapil -108, 15) Nick Sanchez -112, 16) Daniel Dye -118. Playoff Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 12, 2) Austin Hill -3, 3) Aric Almirola
-6, t-4) Jesse Love -7, t-4) Connor Zilisch -7, t-6) Sammy Smith -11, t-6) Harrison Burton -11. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman would be tied for sixth in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 73, 2) Austin Hill -16, 3) Sam Mayer -20, 4) Sammy Smith -23, 5) Sheldon Creed -28, 6) Aric Almirola -31, 7) Connor Zilisch -37, 8) Jesse Love
-40,t-9) Taylor Gray -48, t-9) Ryan Sieg -48, t-11) Jeb Burton -52, t-11) Carson Kvapil -52, 13) Nick Sanchez -56, 14) Brandon Jones -59, 15) Harrison Burton -60, t-16) Anthony Alfredo -63, t-16) Kyle Sieg -63. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Alex Bowman would be 12th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Jesse Love 212, 2) Justin Allgaier
-10, 3) Sam Mayer -19, 4) Austin Hill -39, 5) Sheldon Creed -45, 6) Sammy Smith -51, 7) Harrison Burton -53, t-8) Connor Zilisch
-56, t-8) Ryan Sieg -56, 10) Taylor Gray -61, 11) Brandon Jones -62, 12) Jeb Burton -65, 13) Carson Kvapil -66, t-14) Nick Sanchez
-68, t-14) Daniel Dye -68, 16) Christian Eckes -71. WC Points (1-16): 1) Jesse Love 913, 2) Justin Allgaier -23, 3) Sam Mayer -42, 4) Austin Hill
-107, 5) Sheldon Creed -151, 6) Sammy Smith -175, 7) Harrison Burton -181, 8) Connor Zilisch -185, 9) Ryan Sieg -190, 10) Taylor Gray -198, 11) Brandon Jones -203, 12) Carson Kvapil -219, 13) Jeb Burton
-225, 14) Nick Sanchez -230, 15) Daniel Dye -235, 16) Christian Eckes -240. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona), Austin Hill (Atlanta), Connor Zilisch (COTA), Aric Almirola (Phoenix), Justin Allgaier (Las Vegas, Homestead) 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: Despite Shut-off Issue, Corey Heim Claims Lead
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim all but had the race won Friday night. Then, the truck started to shut off in turn 1. That allowed Kyle Larson to sweep past and take the win. However, the third-place finish and two stage victories was enough to snatch the points lead. Heim leaves Homestead with an
eight-point lead over Ty Majeski, who finished 11th. Chandler Smith has sole possession of third after finishing eighth, while Grant Enfinger is fourth. Stewart Friesen stays in fifth after a mediocre run to 16th. Tyler Ankrum is up one place to sixth after a fourth-place finish. Teammate Daniel
Hemric is up to seventh after a fifth-place finish. Layne Riggs is up three places to eighth after finishing second. Jake Garcia is up to ninth after finishing seventh. Kaden Honeycutt moved up four places to 10th after finishing 10th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Honeycutt has a two-point advantage over Ben Rhodes, who was involved in a crash on the first lap and later dropped out with suspension issues. Tanner Gray is 12th, then Gio Ruggiero, who crashed with Rhodes and struggled to 29th with a damaged truck. Matt Crafton is 14th, then Matt Mills and Jack Wood. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 177, 2) Ty Majeski -8, 3) Chandler Smith -27, 4) Grant Enfinger -28, 5) Stewart Friesen -39, 6) Tyler Ankrum
-50, 7) Daniel Hemric -52, 8) Layne Riggs -55, 9) Jake Garcia -74, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -76, 11) Ben Rhodes -78, 12) Tanner Gray -80, 13) Gio Ruggiero -83, 14) Matt Crafton -90, 15) Matt Mills
-101, 16) Jack Wood -104.
Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 12, t-2) Ty Majeski -11, t-2) Ben Rhodes -11, t-2) Tyler Ankrum -11, t-2) Jack Wood -11, t-2) Matt Crafton -11. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be second and Kyle Larson third in Playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 49, 2) Tyler Ankrum -3, 3) Stewart Friesen
-12, 4) Tyler Ankrum -19, 5) Chandler Smith -20, 6) Grant Enfinger -23, 7) Ben Rhodes -24, 8) Jack Wood -28, 9) Daniel Hemric -31, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -33, 11) Layne Riggs -36, 12) Connor Mosack -37,
13) Matt Crafton -39, t-14) Jake Garcia -40, t-14) Johnny Sauter -40, 16) Rajah Caruth -41. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Larson would be 10th, Kyle Busch 11th and Ross Chastain tied for 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 116, t-2) Grant Enfinger -7, t-2) Chandler Smith -7, 4) Ty Majeski -8, 5) Layne Riggs -22, 6) Daniel Hemric -23, 7) Stewart Friesen -29, 8) Tyler Ankrum
-32, 9) Jake Garcia -37, t-10) Tanner Gray -40, t-10) Gio Ruggiero -40, 12) Kaden Honeycutt -44, 13) Matt Crafton -54, 14) Ben Rhodes -55, 15) Matt Mills -56, 16) Bayley Currey -60. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 639, 2) Grant Enfinger -27, 3) Chandler Smith -30, 4) Ty Majeski -32, 5) Layne Riggs -77, 6) Daniel Hemric -89, 7) Stewart Friesen -100, 8) Tyler Ankrum -114, 9) Jake
Garcia -138, 10) Gio Ruggiero -140, 11) Tanner Gray -142, 12) Kaden Honeycutt -170, 13) Matt Crafton -193, 14) Ben Rhodes -195, 15) Matt Mills -203, 16) Andres Perez -236. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Homestead) 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 Straight Talk Wireless 400 was brought to you by the letter W by Wall Contact. Not only did hitting the wall change the outcome of Sunday's race, it was a basic consequence of trying to race
right up against the wall. It is literally a game of inches. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Straight Talk Wireless 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"It was far from perfect. I gave up a spot and a half, almost two spots, by hitting the wall too many times. I knew I wasn’t going to get the best restart there, and I knew I wasn’t good on the short runs. I just thought if I could hold off the 11 and the 45 behind me, I could get to running the top. And the 19 too, but then I got in the wall, and I let him by. I just had to keep plugging
away with what I know and what’s good for me. "Just proud of myself, proud of the team. Just a lot of gritty, hard work by the team today. Damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restarts, all that stuff. So just super pumped and one of the coolest wins in my Cup career because of all the heartbreak I have had here, the heartbreak yesterday, and to just keep my head down and
keep digging feels really good." - Kyle Larson, race winner "[Kyle Larson] was way better than us on the long runs all day and he showed up there at the end. I just tried to push a little too hard and kind of hung it in the fence there, so that’s on me. I just didn’t do a good enough job, but congratulations to Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team on getting the
win. "It was a good day for the No. 48 Ally Unrivaled League Chevy team. We have some work to do, for sure. But overall, it was a really good weekend for us at a racetrack that hasn’t been very good to us in the past." - Alex Bowman, finished second "I need to look back [at it], but all-in-all, what a day. Finally got us a good finish! But we need to go back and look at if I burned my stuff up at the start of the final stint]. I thought I got into a rhythm early, but that was a longer run there so thought our capability fell away. I got into the fence there and that allowed [Alex Bowman] to get beside me and then just capability from then on wasn’t there. Hate that I messed up, but I came over the radio and
said ‘I haven’t been in many situations like that to give away a race so a lot to learn today. I can’t even hang my head over that finish. Proud of the effort in Race No. 6. We’ve had fast cars, just nothing to show for it [yet]. But, here we are. Got our Columbia Sportswear Toyota Camry XSE a top-three finish, so a good day." - Bubba Wallace, finished third "It was
for sure a chaotic day for us with the brake issues and tire vibrations. Had three or four bad pit stops, so just had to keep coming from behind, kind of all day long but this is honestly what needed. Our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE just needed a solid finish and a good day when we were up front – I say without anything happening to us but we had a lot happen to us, but we were able to overcome it. Hopefully, we can take this and build on it. We’ve had speed to run in the top-five all year,
just haven’t been able to show it. Have a lot of good race tracks for myself and the team coming up so looking forward to it." - Chase Briscoe, finished fourth "A solid day, just needed a little bit more speed at the end. We would have runs there where I thought we had a top-three car and we had runs where it would end there and it’d be fringe top-five. Overall, great
job by Chris [Gayle] and the whole Progressive Toyota Camry XSE team to bring me a car where we could battle back and obviously, win Stage two there, and at least contend. Certainly a lot better, just need to work on the little stuff and be slightly better to run the kind of speed it takes to win." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"We used this Kroger/Farm Rich Ford Mustang up today, but it was a
pretty fun day. We made some progress on it, but we still have some tweaks to be better. We’ll work on that, but this was a pretty solid Homestead given where we were the last go-round. The team made some good adjustments and we had a strong restart and was able to hang on. I wish we could have gotten one more. We were definitely faster than [Denny Hamlin], but we were kind of stuck in one lane and it’s the lane he wanted to run too. I just couldn’t find a lane to get by, but, overall, it’s good
to be that fast down here. I’m excited." - Chris Buescher, finished sixth
"I didn’t have any warning. It just laid over when I got back to wide-open down the front and that was all she wrote. It just stinks. We had a really fast Dent Wizard Ford Mustang. We led a lot of laps. We lost a little bit of track position there with some stuff on pit road, but got back to third and it was a great race
between me and Bubba [Wallace] and [Kyle] Larson. I’m sure Denny [Hamlin] was gonna get back into it. It was gonna be a heck of a battle the last 60 laps or so, but it just didn’t really work out for us. We’ll continue to keep fighting. I appreciate the No. 12 guys for just giving me a hot rod. It was an incredibly, incredibly fast race car today. We’ll keep our heads up. It’s just one of those things where it’s not really going our way right now, but the good news is we’re bringing fast cars
and that’s all you can ask for. We’ll keep on moving." - Ryan Blaney, finished 36th (Blown engine)
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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