Frontstretch Newsletter: June 30, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition CVI |
And Now A Word From Our Title Partner, My Place Hotels! |
My Place Hotels is a proud to be the official hotel sponsor of Frontstretch. With plush beds, in room kitchens and Pet Friendly Hotels My Place makes for the perfect
pit stop when traveling. Racing fans can use Promo Code: Frontstretch to save 10% on your stay at any of our nationwide properties. That’s 10% off nationwide with code FRONTSTRETCH. This racing season, be sure to Make My Place Your Place! |
- The Super DIRTcar Series teams hop back across the Canadian border today for the Summer Shootout 75 at Mohawk International Raceway in Hogansburg, N.Y. Coverage from Hogansburg will stream live on DirtVision.com at 5:15 p.m. ET. - Teams are back at their shops and preparing for this weekend's action in Chicago. Entry lists for the street race weekend should be released today.
We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Chase Elliott Survives, Thrives at Atlanta for 1st 2025
Win Chase Elliott was able to make the move to get around Brad Keselowski on the final lap Saturday night in order to win the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart. Keselowski was second, then Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick and Erik
Jones. |
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| Huge Atlanta Wreck Collects More Than 20
Cars Saturday night's Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart was marred by a huge crash entering turn 3 that took out a number of major contenders including points leader William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain and others. |
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| Brad Keselowski, Other Struggling Drivers Miss Out On Big
Opportunities In Atlanta Night Race With all the wrecking that took place Saturday night, Atlanta was an opportunity for drivers to score an upset victory. Chase Elliott made sure that it didn't come to pass. |
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| NASCAR In-Season Challenge: Who Advanced in Atlanta,
Updated Bracket Saturday night was chaotic all over the place. The In-Season Challenge has been turned upside down with a number of stars of the sport being eliminated in the first race. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR Lawsuit
This Week (June 21-27) The 23XI Racing/Front Row Motorsports lawsuit against NASCAR continued last week with the teams' attempt to get NASCAR's claim against them dismissed failing. |
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| Nick Sanchez Claims 1st Career Xfinity Win in
Atlanta Big Machine Racing's Nick Sanchez was able to get the lead late from Jesse Love and hold on to win the Focused Health 250 for his first Xfinity Series win. Carson Kvapil was second, then Sam Mayer, Connor Zilisch and Taylor Gray. |
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| Corey Heim Dominates Trucks Debut at Lime Rock
Park Corey Heim led all but one lap Saturday to win the LiUNA! 150 at Lime Rock Park, his fifth win of the year. Ty Majeski was second, then Gio Ruggiero, Ben Rhodes and Cam Waters. |
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| Thomas Annunziata Spins, Wins ARCA Race at Lime
Rock Thomas Annunziata, in his ARCA Menards Series debut, recovered from a first-turn spin to win the Lime Rock Park 100 Saturday. Alon Day was second, followed by Lawless Alan, Brenden Queen and Ryan Gemmell. |
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| ‘That’s the Games I Guess We Play’: Brent Crews After Late
ARCA Restart Penalty at Lime Rock Brent Crews was black-flagged late Saturday at Lime Rock for jumping the final restart. He was upset afterwards at Thomas Annunziata, who he believed stomped on the brakes to catch him out. |
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| Lando Norris Withstands Race-Long Challenge from Oscar
Piastri to Win the Austrian Grand Prix McLaren scored a one-two finish Sunday at the Red Bull Ring with Lando Norris defeating Oscar Piastri. Charles Leclerc was third, then Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. |
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| Connor Hall Wins Wild Virginia Triple Crown Opener at
SoBo JR Motorsports' Connor Hall took the lead on lap 121 and held on to win the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway Saturday night. Matt Waltz was second, then Darren Krantz Jr., Parker Eatmon and Ryan
Millington. |
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| Entry List: CARS Tour at
Caraway A total of 38 teams (23 Late Model Stock, 15 Pro Late Model) will battle Wednesday night at Caraway Speedway in the zMAX CARS Tour. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Philip Platzer of the Red Bull Ring, and our own Phil Allaway, Chase Folsom and Tanner Marlar. 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: June 27-29 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent last weekend at Cedar Lake Speedway for the Independence Spectacular. Friday night's show saw David Gravel drive up to the lead from third on the grid on the first lap. From there, he pulled away from the pack. However,
Carson Macedo started to run him down late. In addition, his front wing came askew, costing Gravel downforce. That made the race close in the final laps, but Gravel was able to hold on to win his 10th race of the year. Gravel won by 1.605 seconds over Macedo. Buddy Kofoid was third, then Logan Schuchart and Giovanni Scelzi. Saturday night saw Scelzi take the lead from fourth on the grid and set sail. He looked good for victory until a caution came out with 12 laps to go. That brought the field back to Scelzi. Shortly after the restart, Scelzi scrubbed the wall. That allowed Macedo to
sweep past into the lead. From there, he pulled away to take the win. Macedo won by 1.694 seconds over Gravel. Kofoid was third, followed by Sheldon Haudenschild and Bill Balog. Through 38 races, Gravel's point lead is up to 184 points over Kofoid.
Macedo is third, then Schuchart and Haudenschild. - World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series teams had a busy weekend. Friday night saw the tour race at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D. Here, Nick Hoffman started on pole, but
lost the advantage immediately to Ashton Winger. Winger was fast, but a bit rough. There were multiple instances of contact between Winger and would-be-challengers for the lead. A caution for the slow car of Sam Mars bunched the field up with 13 laps to go. That allowed Hoffman to pounce. He executed a slide job in turn 3 just after the restart to take the lead. From there,
Hoffman held on to win. Hoffman won by 1.517 seconds over Dennis Erb Jr. Winger settled for third, followed by Drake Troutman and Brian Shirley. Saturday night saw the tour move to Norman County Speedway in Minnesota. Here, Hoffman had an easier go of
it, leading flag-to-flag to take his second straight win. The margin of victory was 1.201 seconds over Ethan Dotson. Erb was third, then Cody Overton and Jake Timm. Finally, Sunday night saw the series race at Nodak Speedway in Minot for the Minot
Mayhem. Here, Bobby Pierce started on pole, but lost the advantage early to Dotson. Late in the race, Pierce and Dotson fought hard for the lead. That allowed Tim McCredie, who started 12th, to crash the party. With seven laps to go, he went three-wide on the inside on the frontstretch to pass both Dotson and Pierce for the lead. From there, McCreadie held for the win. The margin of victory was 1.443 seconds over Pierce. Hoffman was third, then Ryan Gustin and Troutman. Pierce continues to lead the points by 78 over Hoffman through 21 races. Gustin is third, then Troutman and McCreadie. - Sunday night saw the Super DIRTcar Series travel to Cornwall Motor Speedway for the O Canada 100. The race ended up being a duel for 100 laps between Mario Clair and Dalton Slack. Clair was able to lead most of the race, but had Slack hounding him on and off. On the final lap, Slack made one more move to the inside, but Clair was able
to hold him off to take his first career Super DIRTcar Series win. Slack was second, then Mat Williamson, Alex Yankowski and David Hebert. Yankowski continues to lead the points by 21 over Williamson. Erick Rudolph is third, Mike Mahaney and Alex Payne. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Atlanta, Lime Rock and South Boston last weekend. For more from Atlanta, Lime Rock, South Boston, 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: Atlanta Wrecks Wreak Havoc On Standings
by Phil Allaway
Saturday night's Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart was chaotic. William Byron could not escape the action as he was eliminated in the Big One on lap 69. He ended up being credited with a 37th-place finish. The
crash cost Byron a chunk of his lead. His margin is now 37 points over new second-place man Chase Elliott, who moved up three places after winning for the first time since Texas last year. Kyle Larson is down one place to third after finishing 17th. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell are tied for fourth. Hamlin dropped a spot after crashing and finishing 31st, while Bell had steering issues and finished
30th. Tyler Reddick finished fourth and moved up one place to sixth. Ryan Blaney finished last after crashing early and dropped to seventh. Ross Chastain remains in eighth. Chris Buescher is up
two spots to ninth after a ninth-place finish. Chase Briscoe crashed out early and dropped to 10th. Joey Logano led the most laps, but crashed out and dropped to 11th. Alex Bowman finished third and moved up one place to 12th. Bubba Wallace finished 22nd after being involved in two crashes. That
dropped him one place to 13th, the final place in the playoffs on points. Wallace has a 23-point lead over Ryan Preece, who finished 15th. Austin Cindric won stage one before crashing out and stays in 15th. He is tied with Erik Jones, who finished fifth. AJ Allmendinger remains in 17th, while
Carson Hocevar is up two places to 18th. Josh Berry is down three places to 19th, while Kyle Busch is down to 20th.. Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 631, 2) Chase Elliott
-37, 3) Kyle Larson -42, t-4) Denny Hamlin -80, t-4) Christopher Bell -80, 6) Tyler Reddick -98, 7) Ryan Blaney -127, 8) Ross Chastain -173, 9) Chris Buescher -174, 10) Chase Briscoe
-179, 11) Joey Logano -186, 12) Alex Bowman -187, 13) Bubba Wallace -203, 14) Ryan Preece -226, t-15) Austin Cindric -251, t-15) Erik Jones -251. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 19) Josh Berry -268, 32) Shane van Gisbergen -363. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 23, 2) Denny Hamlin -4, 3) Christopher Bell -7, 4) William Byron -11, t-5) Ryan Blaney -15, t-5) Austin Cindric
-15, 7) Joey Logano -16, t-8) Chase Briscoe -17, t-8) Josh Berry -17, t-8) Shane van Gisbergen -17, t-11) Chase Elliott -18, t-11) Ross Chastain -18, t-13) Bubba Wallace -21, t-13) Ryan Preece -21, t-15) Tyler Reddick
-22, t-15) Chris Buescher -22. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 188, 2) Ryan Blaney
-40, 3) Denny Hamlin -49, t-4) Kyle Larson -54, t-4) Tyler Reddick -54, 6) Bubba Wallace -77, 7) Chase Elliott -79, 8) Austin Cindric -88, 9) Alex Bowman -89, 10) Joey Logano
-93, 11) Carson Hocevar -97, 12) Christopher Bell -98, 13) Josh Berry -118, 14) Chris Buescher -120, 15) Ryan Preece -130, 16) AJ Allmendinger -137. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Chase Briscoe -138, 18) Ross Chastain -144, 21) Shane van Gisbergen -157. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott
563, 2) Christopher Bell -24, 3) Kyle Larson -32, 4) William Byron -36, 5) Ross Chastain -78, 6) Denny Hamlin -79, 7) Chase Briscoe -82, 8) Tyler Reddick -86, 9) Chris
Buescher -90, t-10) Ryan Blaney -132, t-10) Joey Logano -132, 12) Alex Bowman -137, 13) Ryan Preece -142, 14) Kyle Busch -149, 15) Erik Jones -156, t-16) Michael McDowell -164, t-16) Ty Gibbs -164, t-16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-164. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 20) Bubba Wallace -170, 24) Josh Berry -194, 25) Austin Cindric -201, 33) Shane van Gisbergen -253. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 2482, 2) Christopher Bell
-50, 3) Kyle Larson -60, 4) William Byron -65, t-5) Chase Briscoe -244, t-5) Denny Hamlin -244, 7) Ross Chastain -252, 8) Tyler Reddick -270, 9) Chris Buescher -307, 10) Ryan Blaney
-381, 11) Alex Bowman -405, 12) Joey Logano -433, 13) Ryan Preece -458, 14) Kyle Busch -490, 15) Erik Jones -521, 16) Ty Gibbs -531. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Bubba Wallace -532, 24) Josh Berry -623, 27) Austin Cindric -682, 33) Shane van Gisbergen -813. 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-1, COTA, Phoenix), Josh Berry (Las Vegas), Kyle Larson (Homestead, Bristol, Kansas), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville, Darlington, Michigan), Austin Cindric (Talladega), Joey Logano (Texas), Ross Chastain
(Charlotte), Ryan Blaney (Nashville), Shane van Gisbergen (Mexico City), Chase Briscoe (Pocono), Chase Elliott (Atlanta-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 Playoffs: Justin Allgaier Crashes, Sam Mayer Now 2nd
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier was eliminated right after the lightning delay in a crash Friday night. That resulted in the standings closing up. Allgaier's lead is down to 63 points over Sam Mayer, who moved up one place after finishing third. Austin Hill
had a fuel pickup problem and ended up five laps down, dropping to third as a result. Jesse Love stays in fourth after finishing sixth. Connor Zilisch stays in fifth after a fourth-place finish. Teammate Carson Kvapil is still in sixth, followed by Brandon Jones. Taylor Gray is up four places to eighth after a
fifth-place finish. Jeb Burton is down one position to ninth after finishing 16th. Nick Sanchez's breakthrough victory moved him up four positions to 10th. Sheldon Creed and Ryan Sieg are tied for 11th. Creed wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his second-place finish at Martinsville, which gives him the last spot in the playoffs
on points. Creed and Sieg are one point ahead of Harrison Burton, who finished 13th. Sammy Smith dropped three places to 14th after getting eliminated in the same crash as Allgaier. Christian Eckes is 15th, while Daniel Dye is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 624, 2) Sam Mayer -63, 3) Austin Hill -76, 4) Jesse Love -83, 5) Connor Zilisch -98, 6) Carson Kvapil -136, 7) Brandon
Jones -158, 8) Taylor Gray -171, 9) Jeb Burton -179, 10) Nick Sanchez -188, t-11) Sheldon Creed -199, t-11) Ryan Sieg -199, 13) Harrison Burton -200, 14) Sammy Smith -205, 15) Christian Eckes
-250, 16) Daniel Dye -251. Playoff Points: t-1) Austin Hill 21, t-1) Justin Allgaier 21, 3) Connor Zilisch -8, t-4) Brandon Jones -15, t-4) Sammy Smith -14, t-6) Jesse
Love -15, t-6) Nick Sanchez -15, t-6) Aric Almirola -15, 9) Harrison Burton -19, t-10) Sam Mayer -20, t-10) Carson Kvapil -20, t-10) Taylor Gray -20, t-9) Dean Thompson -20. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR
Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be fourth, William Byron fifth, Daniel Suarez 11th and Alex Bowman tied for 13th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 182, 2) Connor Zilisch -59, 3) Austin Hill -66, 4) Sam Mayer
-74, 5) Nick Sanchez -79, 6) Jesse Love -85, 7) Sheldon Creed -86, 8) Brandon Jones -89, t-9) Sammy Smith -90, t-9) Carson Kvapil -90, 11) Taylor Gray -98, 12) Ryan Sieg -109, 13) Aric
Almirola -112, 14) Jeb Burton -130, 15) Christian Eckes -132, 16) Dean Thompson -147. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Sam Mayer 526, 2) Jesse Love -6, 3) Justin Allgaier -7, 4) Austin Hill -23, 5) Connor Zilisch -49, 6) Carson Kvapil -58, 7) Harrison Burton
-63, 8) Jeb Burton -64, 9) Brandon Jones -80, 10) Taylor Gray -90, 11) Ryan Sieg -104, 12) Sammy Smith -115, 13) Daniel Dye -118, t-14) Nick Sanchez -123, t-14) Dean Thompson
-123, 16) Sheldon Creed -126. WC Points (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 2363, 2) Sam Mayer -5, 3) Jesse Love -37, 4) Austin Hill -76, 5) Connor Zilisch
-203, 6) Carson Kvapil -217, 7) Harrison Burton -254, 8) Jeb Burton -268, 9) Brandon Jones -294, 10) Taylor Gray -303, 11) Ryan Sieg -379, 12) Sheldon Creed -428, 13) Nick Sanchez -435, 14) Daniel
Dye -441, 15) Sammy Smith -445, 16) Dean Thompson -456. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona), Austin Hill (Atlanta-1, Martinsville, Talladega), Connor Zilisch (COTA, Pocono), Aric Almirola (Phoenix), Justin Allgaier (Las Vegas, Homestead, Nashville), Brandon Jones (Darlington),
Kyle Larson (Bristol, Texas), Sammy Smith (Rockingham), William Byron (Charlotte), Nick Sanchez (Atlanta-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 Playoffs: Corey Heim Is Untouchable
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim completely dominated the action at Lime Rock Park Saturday. He led all but one lap on a restart en route to his fifth win of the year and a perfect 61 points. That run expanded Heim's lead to 144 points over Chandler Smith, who finished sixth.
Layne Riggs is up one position to third after scoring 18 stage points. Riggs jumped over Daniel Hemric, who finished ninth. Kaden Honeycutt is up one place to fifth despite finishing 12th. Grant Enfinger is down to sixth after an off-course excursion in qualifying and finishing 11th. Tyler Ankrum remains in
seventh after a 10th-place finish. Ty Majeski finished second and stays in eighth, the final driver in the playoffs on points. Majeski has a 38-point lead over Jake Garcia, who got damage on the final restart and finished 24th. Gio Ruggiero is up to 10th after finishing third. Stewart Friesen struggled all weekend and dropped
one place to 11th. Ben Rhodes is up one place to 12th after finishing fourth. Rajah Caruth ran well all day until he got spun out on the final restart. As a result, he dropped two places to 13th. Tanner Gray is 14th, while Connor Mosack is up one place to 15th. Matt Crafton is now 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 690, 2) Chandler Smith -144, 3) Layne Riggs -165, 4) Daniel Hemric -176, 5) Kaden Honeycutt -199, 6) Grant Enfinger
-202, 7) Tyler Ankrum -222, 8) Ty Majeski -228, 9) Jake Garcia -266, 10) Gio Ruggiero -293, 11) Stewart Friesen -295, 12) Ben Rhodes -296, 13) Rajah Caruth -306, 14) Tanner Gray
-329, 15) Connor Mosack -369, 16) Matt Crafton -381.
Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 39, 2) Chandler Smith -28, 3) Layne Riggs -30, 4) Tyler Ankrum -33, t-5) Daniel Hemric
-34, t-5) Rajah Caruth -34, t-5) Stewart Friesen -34, 8) Grant Enfinger -37, t-9) Ty Majeski -38, t-9) Ben Rhodes -38, t-9) Gio Ruggiero -38, t-9) Jack Wood -38, t-9) Matt Crafton -38, t-9) Bayley Currey -38. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar would be tied for fourth and Kyle Larson tied for seventh in Playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 221, 2) Kaden
Honeycutt -90, 3) Layne Riggs -97, 4) Chandler Smith -98, 5) Ty Majeski -116, 6) Grant Enfinger -134, 7) Daniel Hemric -139, 8) Tyler Ankrum -142, 9) Connor Mosack -158, t-10) Stewart Friesen
-164, t-10) Jake Garcia -164, 12) Ben Rhodes -169, 13) Tanner Gray -174, 14) Rajah Caruth -176, 15) Gio Ruggiero -188, 16) Matt Crafton -193. Note: If they
were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Carson Hocevar would be 14th and Kyle Busch 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 386, 2) Daniel Hemric -34, 3) Chandler Smith -43, 4) Grant Enfinger
-60, 5) Layne Riggs -62, 6) Tyler Ankrum -75, 7) Jake Garcia -85, 8) Kaden Honeycutt -101, 9) Gio Ruggiero -107, 10) Rajah Caruth -112, 11) Stewart Friesen -114, 12) Ty Majeski
-117, 13) Ben Rhodes -129, 14) Tanner Gray -150, 15) Matt Crafton -176, 16) Andres Perez -177. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 2361, 2) Daniel Hemric
-191, 3) Chandler Smith -226, 4) Grant Enfinger -283, 5) Layne Riggs -287, 6) Tyler Ankrum -327, 7) Jake Garcia -423, 8) Gio Ruggiero -425, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -437, 10) Ty Majeski
-451, 11) Rajah Caruth -489, 12) Ben Rhodes -499, 13) Stewart Friesen -509, 14) Tanner Gray -601, 15) Matt Crafton -714, 16) Andres Perez -720. Race
Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas, Texas, Charlotte, Lime Rock), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Homestead), Daniel Hemric (Martinsville), Chandler Smith (Bristol, North Wilkesboro), Tyler Ankrum (Rockingham), Carson Hocevar (Kansas), Rajah Caruth (Nashville), Stewart Friesen (Michigan), Layne Riggs (Pocono) 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: Saturday night's Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart was brought to you by the letter W for Wreckfest. There were a lot of damaged Next Gen cars by the time the 400-mile race finally finished up.
Chase Elliott was one of the lucky ones. Not only did he win, but he did it with a spotless car. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart compiled by Phil Allaway
"I just think that, honestly, all the cards fell on the right places there those last couple laps. What a crazy race, man. I don't know if y'all had fun, but it was wild from my seat. I'm so glad we got to run that thing out there to the end. And yeah just again, thank you so much for everybody that has made this possible. This is the ninth year of Desi9n to Drive. What an
incredible way to celebrate that. Some great partners... Chevrolet, say hey to Mr. Hendrick at home. Thanks for sticking with me, pal, and yeah, just again, thanks to all you guys because this right here is... you can't dream of this." - Chase Elliott, race winner "[Chase Elliott] just had [Alex Bowman] behind him giving him a huge push and there
was nothing I could do to cover that. When had our cars linked up at RFK Racing we could do the same thing, but we lost that and it was just kind of a two-on-one and I fought as hard as I could.
"They were able to work together really well and kind of double up on me at the end and there was nothing I could do." - Brad Keselowski, finished second "I needed to not be in the lead as early as I was. I felt like whoever was leading was kind of a sitting duck there at the end with how good everyone’s cars were driving. I just got shuffled back. We were coming back through the field and got back to third. We had a really good No. 48 Ally Chevrolet tonight. Happy for the No. 9 team. It’s a big win for them. Proud of everyone at
Hendrick Motorsports and we’ll keep on digging." - Alex Bowman, finished third "We were really solid. Our Upper Deck, Superman Camry was pretty good. Made the wrong move at the wrong time, most of the night. If I sat and waited, I would get shuffled back, just needed to be a little bit smarter with my move on [Brad Keselowski]. I got shuffled too far
back to fight truly for the win there, so just disappointing for sure, but it was nice to get a Playoff point and score some points at a superspeedway. Just more and more new winners, so we have to find a way to victory lane." - Tyler Reddick, finished fourth "I think [the glass is half-full right now]. Just good runs since Charlotte. After tonight, to
come back and run fifth – we wrecked twice, once on my own and the big wreck at the start – I’m happy with that, and happy with the speed with our Dollar Tree Camry team. It has been a lot of fun to race. It was kind of a weird start – we had to make a lot of changes to the car to fire off, but just really proud of the effort, really proud of what we are doing right now. We’ve made a big climb in points, and we are still going. If we can keep making it better, we are right at the cusp. We are
one good step away from really being contenders, and I hope we can take that step." - Erik Jones, finished fifth "It was a really solid night for us. This is the best race car we’ve had here since the reconfiguration, so I appreciate everybody working hard to make that our reality tonight. We were up there running strong and I was there at the end. I
just needed to keep that track position and a couple cars were able to maneuver a little bit better there at the end." - Chris Buescher, finished ninth "All of us were in the top line pushing off of turn two and some zigged and some zagged and most crashed, so I don’t know. I was on the bumper on [John Hunter Nemechek]. He was on the bumper of somebody
else in front of him and we all kind of, you know, speedway pushing, zigging and zagging, and we all crashed, so it’s just part of it, and now we go and watch the rest of the race." - Denny Hamlin, finished 31st (Crashed out) "I don’t know how bad our damage was. They were fixing it, and we were about ready to go, and I guess NASCAR came over there and
saw that our chassis was broke or bent or something and were like, you can’t go back out. So, kind of a waste of 30 minutes working on it. Just unfortunate night for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota. Kind of missed the balance at the beginning and was behind, and then that big wreck – had nowhere to go. Looking forward to two road courses coming up. I think our road course program has been pretty good. Hopefully a [Joe Gibbs Racing] car or a Toyota can win. Just unfortunate day for us." - Chase
Briscoe, finished 35th "There wasn’t really a whole lot I could see. I was kind of catching [Joey Logano] with a little bit of a run. All the guys at the front had pitted during the stage break and cycled to the mid-20s. We were just running a great race in the top-five. They all stacked up and at that point, I went right a little bit; the wreck was already
happening and I just kind of got shoved into it. "It’s just a bummer that early in the race. I don’t really know what was going on. We were getting up to speed and everyone was throwing a lot of blocks or something, I don’t know. It was fun out there, honestly. The first stage was fun. Handling really mattered. I thought my No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet was good. I
thought our team was calling a great race and we were doing everything we could do." - William Byron, finished 37th (Crashed out) "I got caught up in a wreck. I don’t know. That’s per usual this year. We get caught up in someone else’s mess. "I saw a couple guys spinning and slowing. I got to the apron and there was really nowhere else for me to go but the apron. I tried to get there and get clear of it, but they kind of came down and got me in the right-rear and I ended up in the fence. There was no missing that one." - Ryan Blaney, 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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