Frontstretch Newsletter: July 28, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition CXXVI |
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 World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series will be at Wisconsin's Wilmot Raceway tonight for a regular night of racing. Action from Wilmot will stream live at DirtVision.com starting at 7:15 p.m. ET tonight. - The Super DIRTcar Series travels to Quebec for the two-night King of the North at Autodrome Drummond outside of Drummondville. Coverage of Night No. 1 of the King
of the North will begin at 5:45 p.m. ET on DirtVision. - Teams are back at their shops today, preparing for this weekend's action in Iowa. Entry lists for this weekend's races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park should be released today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for
you at Frontstretch. |
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| Bubba Wallace Saves Enough Gas to Win Brickyard
400 Bubba Wallace just barely had enough fuel to hold on Sunday to win the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG, his first Cup win since 2022. Kyle Larson was second, then Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski. |
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| Kyle Larson Falls 1 Spot Short of Back-to-Back Brickyard
400s Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson had a real chance late to successfully defend his Brickyard 400 victory after rain stopped the race briefly. However, he came up just short in his quest for victory. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM Lawsuit vs NASCAR
This Week (July 19-25) Last week was quite busy in the ongoing legal proceedings between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR. Schedules were set for pre-trial hearings and clerical issues. |
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| Connor Zilisch Earns 100th Race Win for JRM with
Indianapolis Triumph Connor Zilisch took the lead from Taylor Gray on the final restart Saturday and held on to win the Pennzoil 250 for his third straight victory. Sam Mayer was second, then Taylor Gray, Kyle Larson and Ryan Sieg. |
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| Austin Hill Turns Aric Almirola to Spark Violent
Indianapolis Crash Saturday's Pennzoil 250 will be remembered best for a bumping match between Austin Hill and Aric Almirola that eventually resulted in Hill turning Almirola head-on into the wall in turn 4. |
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| Justin Allgaier Wrecks Out at Indianapolis After Contact
with Kyle Larson Justin Allgaier was in position to win Saturday in Indianapolis until he had contact with Kyle Larson that put him in the wall late. He ultimately ended up in 36th. |
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| Layne Riggs Dominates IRP, Claims 2nd Win of
2025 Front Row Motorsports' Layne Riggs led 160 of 200 laps Friday night to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Corey Day was second, then Corey Heim, Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski. |
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| Corey Day Earns Career Best NASCAR
Finish Friday night was a career night for Corey Day. He was able to bring his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet home second at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. |
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| Alex Palou Comfortably Wins Laguna Seca From
Pole Alex Palou moved one step closer to his fourth championship Sunday by leading 84 of 95 laps to win the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey, his eighth win of the year. Christian Lundgaard was second, then Colton Herta, Patricio O'Ward and Scott
Dixon. |
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| Callum Ilott Scores PREMA’s Best IndyCar Finish With 6th
at Laguna Seca 2025 has been a learning year for PREMA Racing. Sunday saw Callum Ilott finish sixth at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the team's best finish of the year. |
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| Oscar Piastri Wins the Belgian Grand
Prix McLaren's Oscar Piastri was able to get around teammate Lando Norris early in wet conditions and held on to win the Grand Prix of Belgium. Norris was second, then Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and George Russell. |
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| Max Verstappen Wins F1 Sprint in
Belgium Red Bull's Max Verstappen took the lead away from Oscar Piastri on the first lap Saturday and held on to win the Belgium Sprint Race. Piastri was second, then Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon. |
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| Brent Crews Outshines Brenden Queen for ARCA Win at
IRP Joe Gibbs Racing's Brent Crews was able to take the lead away from Brenden Queen with 58 laps to go Friday. From there, he held on to win the LiUNA! 150 presented by Dutch Boy. Lawless Alan was second, then Queen, Isabella Robusto and Lavar
Scott. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Justin Casterline of Getty Images, Andy Hone of LAT Images, Ryan Pierse of Getty Images, and our own Daniel McFadin, Danny Peters and Stephen Stumpf. 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: July 25-27 |
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams spent part of the weekend at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Penn. for the C&D Rigging Summer Nationals. As always, it was billed as a battle between the Outlaws regulars and the Pennsylvania Posse. Unfortunately, both legs of the Summer Nationals were rained out. Neither race will
be made up. The series had better luck getting onto the track Sunday night, when they made their only visit of the year to Weedsport Speedway for the Empire State Challenge. Here, David Gravel swept the evening, winning his heat race, the Dash, then led all 30 laps to win. It is his third win at Weedsport in four races and fifth win overall. The
margin of victory was 6.12 seconds over Buddy Kofoid. Sheldon Haudenschild was third, followed by Carson and Cole Macedo. Through 44 races, Gravel's point lead is 182 points over Kofoid. Carson Macedo is third, then Logan Schuchart and Haudenschild. -
The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series was at Fairbury American Legion Speedway last weekend for one of their crown jewel events, the Prairie Dirt Classic. Friday night saw teams compete in four features to set the field for Saturday night. Feature No. 1 saw Brian Shirley move up the order to engage in a battle for the lead with Jonathan Davenport. After
a number of laps, Shirley was able to take the lead away and hold on for the win. Davenport was second, then Dennis Erb Jr., Josh Rice and Garrett Alberson. Feature No. 2 saw Bobby Pierce lead flag-to-flag to take the victory by two seconds over Mike Marlar. Jason Feger was third, then Daulton Wilson and Tim McCreadie. Feature No. 3 saw Brandon Sheppard lead all 25 laps, but he had to hold on in a one-lap shootout to take the win over Jason Jameson. Nick Hoffman charged from 13th to finish third, then Chris Simpson and Shannon Babb. The final feature saw Hudson O'Neal blast the
cushion and drive away from the field to take a dominant victory over Max Blair. Gordy Gundaker was third, then Tanner English and Clay Harris. The 100-lap feature Saturday night was a start-and-stop affair. Rain stopped the race early. Once it resumed, there were a number of incidents that led to additional cautions. Many of the contenders ended up getting eliminated in a
crash on a restart with 15 laps to go. The remainder of the race was a duel between Shirley and Sheppard. Shirley ultimately used the cushion to hold on to take the win. The margin was .307 seconds over Sheppard. Erb was third, then Hoffman and McCreadie. - The Super DIRTcar Series were also at Weedsport Speedway Saturday night. Here, Stewart Friesen, fresh off of a disqualification in Friday night's TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, passed Mat Williamson for the lead on lap 57. From there, he pulled away to win the Hall of Fame 100. Friesen won by 1.985 seconds over
Williamson. Matt Sheppard was third, then Alex Yankowski and Alex Payne.
In the points, Yankowski continues to lead by only two points over Williamson. Erick Rudolph is third, then Sheppard and Payne.
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This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Indianapolis, Laguna Seca and Anderson last weekend. For more from Indianapolis, Laguna Seca and Anderson, 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 Playoffs: The Standings Close Up With Chase Elliott's Quiet Day
by Phil Allaway
Chase Elliott had a very quiet day Sunday. He scored no stage points and ended up a lap down at one point due to pit strategy. He ultimately recovered to finish 13th. As a result, Elliott's points lead is down to
just four points over teammate William Byron, who finished 16th, but scored 15 stage points. Kyle Larson finished second and gained significant ground on his teammates in third. Denny Hamlin came from the back in a backup car with no practice to finish third. That keeps him in fourth. Christopher Bell moved up one place to fifth after finishing eighth. He jumps over Tyler Reddick, who was eliminated in a late crash on the backstretch. Ryan Blaney stays in seventh after winning stage two and finishing seventh. Chase Briscoe led 34 laps, but didn't have a good car in traffic. An 18th-place finish keeps him in eighth. Alex Bowman is ninth after finishing ninth, followed by Chris Buescher. He is now the last driver in the playoffs on points. Bubba Wallace's victory Sunday not only broke a 100-race winless streak, but moved him up two places to 11th. Joey Logano was eliminated in the same wreck with Reddick and dropped to 12th. Ross
Chastain crashed out early and finished 39th, dropping to 13th in the process. Buescher's lead is 42 points over Ryan Preece in 14th. Preece had a strong fourth-place finish Sunday, but will have to dig to make the playoffs. Kyle Busch struggled with damage after a restart chain reaction and finished 25th. He stays in
15th, followed by Ty Gibbs, who won the In-Season Challenge. Austin Cindric led the most laps and finished 15th, moving himself up two spots to 17th. AJ Allmendinger is 18th, while Michael McDowell dropped to 19th after cutting his right rear tire early on. John Hunter
Nemechek is back up to 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 726, 2) William Byron -4, 3) Kyle Larson -15, 4) Denny
Hamlin -20, 5) Christopher Bell -62, 6) Tyler Reddick -71, 7) Ryan Blaney -110, 8) Chase Briscoe -127, 9) Alex Bowman -146, 10) Chris Buescher -167, 11) Bubba Wallace -186, 12) Joey
Logano -194, 13) Ross Chastain -208, 14) Ryan Preece -209, 15) Kyle Busch -248, 16) Ty Gibbs -262.
Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 17) Austin Cindric -287, 21)
Josh Berry -312, 27) Shane van Gisbergen -334. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 24, 2) Kyle Larson -1, t-3) Shane van Gisbergen -7, t-3) Christopher Bell -7, 5) William Byron -12, 6) Ryan Blaney -14, 7) Austin Cindric
-16, t-8) Joey Logano -17, t-8) Chase Briscoe -18, t-8) Bubba Wallace -18, t-11) Ross Chastain -18, t-11) Josh Berry -18, t-11) Chase Elliott -18, 14) Ryan Preece -22, t-15) Tyler Reddick -23, t-15) Chris Buescher -23,
t-15) Michael McDowell -23. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 222, 2) Ryan Blaney
-47, 3) Denny Hamlin -54, 4) Kyle Larson -60, 5) Tyler Reddick -65, 6) Bubba Wallace -79, 7) Chase Elliott -91, 8) Alex Bowman -96, 9) Christopher Bell -112, t-10) Austin Cindric
-122, t-10) Joey Logano -122, 12) Carson Hocevar -123, 13) Chase Briscoe -128, 14) Chris Buescher -143, 15) Josh Berry -152, 16) Ryan Preece -158. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Ross Chastain -163, 19) Shane van Gisbergen -172. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott
691, 2) Christopher Bell -41, 3) Kyle Larson -48, 4) Denny Hamlin -66, 5) Chase Briscoe -87, 6) William Byron -95, 7) Tyler Reddick -100, 8) Chris Buescher -111, 9) Alex
Bowman -138, t-10) Ross Chastain -147, t-10) Ryan Preece -147, 12) Ryan Blaney -157, t-13) Joey Logano -162, t-13) Ty Gibbs -162, 15) Kyle Busch -164, 16) Bubba Wallace -191. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 24) Austin Cindric -251, 26) Josh Berry -255, t-27) Shane van Gisbergen -259. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 3046, 2) Kyle Larson -102, 3) Christopher Bell
-107, 4) Denny Hamlin -195, 5) Chase Briscoe -245, 6) William Byron -259, 7) Tyler Reddick -316, 8) Chris Buescher -388, 9) Alex Bowman -408, 10) Ryan Blaney -465, 11) Ross Chastain
-476, 12) Ryan Preece -478, 13) Ty Gibbs -519, 14) Joey Logano -541, 15) Kyle Busch -547, 16) Bubba Wallace -601. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 24) Josh Berry -826, 25) Shane van Gisbergen -833, 26) Austin Cindric -848. 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, Dover), Austin Cindric (Talladega), Joey Logano (Texas), Ross Chastain (Charlotte),
Ryan Blaney (Nashville), Shane van Gisbergen (Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma), Chase Briscoe (Pocono), Chase Elliott (Atlanta-2), Bubba Wallace (Indianapolis)
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's Lead Is Shrinking
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier won stage two Saturday and earned a race-high 19 stage points. However, contact with Kyle Larson resulted in him hitting the wall and dropping out of the race late. Allgaier's 36th-place finish and teammate Connor Zilisch winning his third
straight race means that Allgaier's lead is down to only 21 points, the smallest margin that he's had since March. Sam Mayer finished second and is now within a race of Allgaier. Jesse Love is up one spot to fourth after finishing ninth. Love jumped over his teammate Austin Hill, who got parked for five laps after wrecking Aric Almirola. It is
possible that more punishment could be coming Hill's way later this week. If that happens, we'll have that news for you. Brandon Jones finished three laps down in 32nd Saturday. He stays in sixth, but lost ground to those around him. Carson Kvapil is still in seventh, while Sheldon Creed is eighth. Taylor Gray is only eight points behind Creed in ninth after a third-place finish. Sammy Smith is still in 10th, while Jeb Burton moved up one place to 11th after a 15th-place finish. He is still the last driver in the playoffs on points. Nick Sanchez finished 33rd and dropped down to 12th. Jeb Burton currently has a 10-point lead over his cousin Harrison in the standings. Ryan Sieg finished fifth and stays in 14th, followed by Dean Thompson. Christian Eckes is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier
750, 2) Connor Zilisch -21, 3) Sam Mayer -48, 4) Jesse Love -96, 5) Austin Hill -100, 6) Brandon Jones -155, 7) Carson Kvapil -163, 8) Sheldon Creed -174, 9) Taylor Gray
-182, 10) Sammy Smith -205, 11) Jeb Burton -231, 12) Nick Sanchez -233, 13) Harrison Burton -241, 14) Ryan Sieg -251, 15) Dean Thompson -288, 16) Christian Eckes -300. Playoff Points: 1) Connor Zilisch 29, 2) Justin Allgaier -7, 3) Austin Hill -8, 4) Brandon Jones -21, 5) Sammy Smith -22, t-6) Jesse Love -23, t-6) Nick Sanchez -23, t-6) Aric Almirola
-23, 9) Sam Mayer -26, t-10) Harrison Burton -27, t-10) Taylor Gray -27, t-12) Carson Kvapil -28, t-12) Sheldon Creed -28, t-12) Dean Thompson -28. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would
be fourth, William Byron tied for fifth, Shane van Gisbergen tied for eighth, Daniel Suarez 12th and Alex Bowman tied for 16th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 229, 2) Connor Zilisch -58, 3) Brandon Jones -87, 4) Sam Mayer
-90, 5) Sheldon Creed -92, 6) Austin Hill -96, 7) Jesse Love -111, 8) Sammy Smith -112, 9) Nick Sanchez -115, 10) Carson Kvapil -117, 11) Aric Almirola -126, 12) Taylor Gray -127, 13) Ryan
Sieg -148, 14) Jeb Burton -169, 15) Christian Eckes -179, t-16) Dean Thompson -194, t-16) Anthony Alfredo -194. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Sam Mayer 653, 2) Connor Zilisch -2, 3) Jesse Love -26, 4) Justin Allgaier -37, 5) Austin Hill -49, 6) Harrison
Burton -89, 7) Carson Kvapil -90, 8) Taylor Gray -102, 9) Jeb Burton -109, 10) Brandon Jones -110, 11) Sammy Smith -125, 12) Sheldon Creed -126, 13) Dean Thompson -144, 14) Ryan Sieg
-151, 15) Daniel Dye -161, 16) Nick Sanchez -165. WC Points (1-16): 1) Sam Mayer 2919, 2) Connor Zilisch -34, 3) Justin Allgaier -87, 4) Jesse Love
-96, 5) Austin Hill -160, 6) Carson Kvapil -325, 7) Taylor Gray -331, 8) Harrison Burton -347, 9) Brandon Jones -384, 10) Jeb Burton -418, 11) Sheldon Creed -426, 12) Sammy Smith
-480, 13) Ryan Sieg -523, 14) Dean Thompson -533, 15) Nick Sanchez -560, 16) Daniel Dye -582. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona), Austin Hill (Atlanta-1, Martinsville, Talladega), Connor Zilisch (COTA, Pocono, Sonoma,
Dover, Indianapolis), 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), Shane van Gisbergen (Chicago) 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 Wins Regular Season Championship
by Phil Allaway
With a third-place finish Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, TRICON Garage's Corey Heim clinched the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Regular Season Championship with two races still to run. Compared to his form for much of the season, Heim appeared rather vincible. The third-place finish meant that his lead more or less remained the same. He has a 143-point lead over Chandler Smith, who finished sixth. Layne Riggs swept the stages to take his second win of the year, but stays in third. Daniel Hemric finished seventh after a number of internal team chances and stays fourth. Grant Enfinger finished fourth and moved up one place to fifth. He jumped over Kaden Honeycutt, who finished 14th. Ty Majeski is up one place to seventh after a fifth-place finish, while Tyler Ankrum dropped to eighth. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Ankrum has a comfortable 55-point
advantage over Jake Garcia, who finished a lap down in 15th. Ben Rhodes is up two spots to 10th after a great run for much of the night before dropping to 11th. Rajah Caruth remains in 11th after a run into the top 10 after starting 19th, while Gio Ruggiero is down two places to 12th after a 25th-place finish. Stewart Friesen
finished third on the road, but failing post-race inspection dropped him two places to 13th. Tanner Gray is still 14th, then Connor Mosack and Matt Crafton. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 735, 2) Chandler Smith
-143, 3) Layne Riggs -150, 4) Daniel Hemric -191, 5) Grant Enfinger -199, 6) Kaden Honeycutt -215, 7) Ty Majeski -227, 8) Tyler Ankrum -233, 9) Jake Garcia -288, 10) Ben Rhodes
-304, 11) Rajah Caruth -320, 12) Gio Ruggiero -326, 13) Stewart Friesen -339, 14) Tanner Gray -349, 15) Connor Mosack -392, 16) Matt Crafton -407.
Playoff
Points: 1) Corey Heim 39, 2) Layne Riggs -23, 2) Chandler Smith -28, 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 231, 2) Layne Riggs -87, 3) Chandler Smith -93, 4) Kaden Honeycutt -94, 5) Ty Majeski -112, 6) Grant Enfinger
-129, 7) Tyler Ankrum -147, 8) Daniel Hemric -149, 9) Connor Mosack -166, 10) Ben Rhodes -168, 11) Jake Garcia -173, 12) Stewart Friesen -174, 13) Rajah Caruth -182, 14) Tanner Gray -183, 15) Gio
Ruggiero -198, 16) Matt Crafton -204. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Carson Hocevar would be 15th and Kyle Busch 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16):
1) Corey Heim 454, 2) Daniel Hemric -52, 3) Chandler Smith -57, 4) Layne Riggs -72, 5) Grant Enfinger -77, 6) Tyler Ankrum -95, t-7) Ty Majeski -126, t-7) Jake Garcia
-126, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -129, 10) Gio Ruggiero -137, 11) Rajah Caruth -145, 12) Ben Rhodes -146, 13) Stewart Friesen -171, 14) Tanner Gray -179, 15) Matt Crafton -215, 16) Andres Perez -218. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 2531, 2) Daniel Hemric -215, 3) Chandler Smith -246, 4) Layne Riggs -272, 5) Grant Enfinger -293, 6) Tyler Ankrum
-355, 7) Ty Majeski -466, 8) Jake Garcia -475, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -486, 10) Gio Ruggiero -507, 11) Rajah Caruth -525, 12) Ben Rhodes -539, 13) Stewart Friesen -621, 14) Tanner Gray
-647, 15) Matt Crafton -775, 16) Andres Perez -793. 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, Lucas Oil IRP) 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 Brickyard 400 presented by PPG was brought to you by the letter N for None. The race may have had 15 lead changes Sunday, but none of them were fully-fledged lead changes. 14 occurred during
green-flag pit sequences or under caution. The other one was when Denny Hamlin beat Kyle Larson to the line on a restart at the end of lap 105, then immediately lost it. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Brickyard 400 presented by PPG compiled by Phil Allaway
"I’m worn out! I thought things every which way besides driving a race car during that red flag. So proud of this Chumba Casino Toyota team. The adrenaline rush is crazy! I want to thank all these people behind me, all the men and women of Airspeed for making this possible. Welcome to victory lane, Becks! It’s pretty cool. To overcome so much and to put these people in
victory lane, that’s what it’s all about. These people keep pushing me, believing in me. Man, just so proud. Thank you!" - Bubba Wallace, race winner
"There’s nothing you can do here [at Indianapolis Motor Speedway] to pass, so no, I don’t really think there was anything I could do differently. I was [in] second gear on the first restart, and honestly, that one worked out a little
bit better, but he almost got clear of me down the front stretch. And then on the second restart, he brought the pace down a little bit slower, so I needed to be first gear. It was kind of the same thing with me last year – he had the preferred lane on the inside and it’s really hard to beat that." - Kyle Larson, finished second "A little bit of both!
Great day for our Progressive Toyota team. I have to say thank you to everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing for chipping in yesterday, and 23XI [Racing] for wrapping the car. Yesterday [was] a huge team effort. I’ve never seen so many people come together to get this done. It needed a lot of work, and they gave me something I could contend with. Not a lot I could complain with. Think we set the fastest lap there on the last lap. The car is capable, we just needed a little track position. We had to take a
little extra fuel on that last stop as we had to ‘pay that fuel tax’ at some point. All we needed is for me to not mess up yesterday and have a little better track position, have more options with the fuel and we would’ve had a winner. But I’m going to be kissing the bricks in street clothes rather than a driver suit." - Denny Hamlin, finished third "For a car that doesn’t have track position and is starting 23rd, being able to finish fourth and execute it through strategy and restarts, that shows we have a really strong core. I feel like, ultimately, the finish was a good ending for us." - Ryan Preece, finished fourth
"Solid day for us. We were in position. At certain points we showed
a lot of speed. We needed to catch a few breaks to win, which is normal for this race. We didn’t catch enough breaks but we caught some good breaks to finish in the top five with both RFK cars." - Brad Keselowski, finished fifth "It’s great! Want to first say, all glory to God. And, $1 million is a lot of money so I’m going to donate $10,000 to
whichever charity Ty Dillon wants to give to. It’s his choice. But we had a fast SAIA Toyota Camry. Didn’t end up where we wanted to in the end. We just lost track position and was out of the way to win the race. Had to play it a little but safe but I want to thank everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, Ray (Raymond Ramu, executive vice president and chief customer officer, SAIA LTL Freight), Fritz (Fredrick Holzgrefer, president and chief executive officer, SAIA LTL Freight), Dave Gellen (Monster
Energy), Tom Norwood (Monster Energy), Mitch Covington (Monster Energy), Rodney (Monster Energy), everyone a part of it. Thank you to TNT and NASCAR for this opportunity. It’s awesome to win it!" - Ty Dillon, finished 21st, won In-Season Challenge
"I went into turn 3 and I think I got run into. It was a tough weekend for our No. 1 Busch Light Lime Chevrolet team. It felt
the same, balance-wise and grip-wise, as the next couple of cars in front of us and we were just plugging along. We’ll regroup and get ready for Iowa Speedway next weekend." - Ross Chastain, finished 39th (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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![Kyle Larson on Brickyard 400 Overtime & Ending: "I Was Hoping He'd [Bubba Wallace] Run Out"](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/1d88fabd7a534e44b95385c416999b6a.png)
