Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 1, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition CLI |
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! |
- Teams are back at their shops and preparations for Gateway this weekend are well underway. Entry lists for this weekend's races would normally be out today, but this is Labor Day. There is a chance that they could be delayed to Tuesday. We'll have the entry lists if they come out and everything else breaks for
you at Frontstretch. |
|
| Chase Briscoe Dominates, Wins Second Consecutive Southern
500 Chase Briscoe led 309 of 367 laps Sunday night to win the Cook Out Southern 500 for the second straight year. Tyler Reddick was second, then Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek and AJ Allmendinger. |
|
| Amid Uncertain Future, 23XI Has Great Southern
500 Last week was contentious for 23XI Racing. Sunday night saw the team come out and run competitively with Tyler Reddick finishing second and Bubba Wallace sixth. |
|
| Legacy Motor Club Plays Playoff Spoiler With Pair of Top-5
Finishes at Darlington Likely the biggest surprise Sunday night was the strong form for Legacy Motor Club. Erik Jones finished third, while John Hunter Nemechek was fourth. |
|
| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/Front Row vs. NASCAR
Antitrust Lawsuit This Week (Aug. 23-Aug. 29) Last week was a fiery week in the ongoing court battle between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR. Angry words were traded back and forth as discovery was revealed. |
|
| Connor Zilisch Dominates Portland, Sets Xfinity Series
Rookie Win Record JR Motorsports' Connor Zilisch led 70 of 78 laps Saturday to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation 147 for his sixth win in seven races. William Sawalich was second, then Nick Sanchez, Christian Eckes and Austin
Hill. |
|
| Corey Heim Wins Chaotic Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington
Raceway TRICON Garage's Corey Heim took the lead Saturday when Layne Riggs had a flat tire. From there, he held on to win the Sober or Slammer 200 for his eighth win of the year. Daniel Hemric was second, followed by Grant Enfinger, Ty Majeski and Trevor
Bayne. |
|
| Playoff-Opening Win Slips Away From Layne Riggs Late at
Darlington Layne Riggs seemed to have the best truck Saturday in Darlington. However, contact with the SAFER Barrier with 21 laps to go cut his right front tire and ruined what could have been a winning day. |
|
| Trevor Bayne Gets Top 5 in Return to
NASCAR Trevor Bayne doesn't get to race much these days, but when he does, he makes the best of it. In a one-off appearance for TRICON Garage Saturday, he finished fifth at Darlington. |
|
| Josef Newgarden Finds Happy Tunes of Victory With
Nashville Win Team Penske's Josef Newgarden took the lead from teammate Scott McLaughlin with 21 laps to go and held on to win the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix. Alex Palou was second, then McLaughlin, Kyffin Simpson and Conor Daly. |
|
| ‘Everything but the Color on the Car’ — Numerous Changes
Give Conor Daly a Top 5 in Nashville Conor Daly was able to drive all the way up to a fifth-place finish Sunday in Nashville after starting in Row 13. |
|
| Contact for David Malukas Ruins Promising
Day David Malukas has been very strong on ovals this year in IndyCar. Sunday's Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix ended in a helicopter following contact with Louis Foster that resulted in a crash into the turn 1 wall. |
|
| Oscar Piastri Wins a Hard-Fought Dutch Grand
Prix McLaren's Oscar Piastri outlasted teammate Lando Norris's powerplant, then held off Max Verstappen to win the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort Sunday. Isack Hadjar was a career-best third, then George Russell and Alexander Albon. |
|
| Brenden Queen Extends Points Lead, Wins ARCA Race at
DuQuoin Brenden Queen took the lead late from Lavar Scott Sunday night and held on to win the Southern Illinois 100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Lawless Alan was second, then Kelly Kovski, Isabella Robusto and Tim Monroe. |
|
| William Sawalich Rides Late-Race Contact to ARCA West
Victory at Portland Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich nerfed Thomas Annunziata off the road with a little more than three laps to go Friday to get the lead, then held on to win the Portland 112. Annunziata was second, then Alon Day, Greg Biffle and Trevor
Huddleston. |
|
| Landen Lewis and Keelan Harvick Surge Late For CARS Tour
Florence Wins In Friday night's zMAX CARS Tour Cook Out 225, Landen Lewis won the 125-lap Late Model Stock feature, while Keelan Harvick won the Pro Late Model race. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Joe Skibinski and Aaron Skillman of Penske Entertainment, Joe Portlock of Getty Images, Kostas Lymperopoulos of ARCA Racing and our own Chase Folsom. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Aug. 29-31 |
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams spent the weekend in Brandon, S.D. near Sioux Falls for the Huset's Shootout at Huset's Speedway. Friday night's card ended up being washed out. Saturday night was much drier and the assembled teams took to the short track for the L.G. Everist Huset’s Shootout presented by Myrl & Roy’s Paving. Here, David Gravel, driving for track owner Tod Quiring, was in good
position to win.
However, Kofoid was able to hound Gravel and briefly overtook him before falling back. With five laps to go, Kofoid was able to get to Gravel's inside to take the lead. From there, he held on take his third World of Outlaws win at Huset's Speedway in 2025. Gravel
was seconds back in second, then Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild. Logan Schuchart was fifth. In the points, Gravel continues to lead by 172 points over Kofoid. Macedo is third, then Schuchart and Haudenschild. - Kubota High Limit Sprint Car
Series teams spent the weekend at Skagit Speedway, where big money was on the line. Rico Abreu had a great time in Washington.
After winning Thursday night, Abreu drove up from seventh on the grid and took the lead on lap 22 from Robbie Price. From there, Abreu was able to drive away to win by 3.081 seconds over Price. Tyler Thompson was third, then Jason Solwold and Brenham Crouch. Saturday night's main feature saw Justin Peck start on pole in the Rudeen Racing No. 26 and lead early. Meanwhile, Abreu started third, dropped back early, then got his groove back later on. Peck led until he caught lapped traffic with 10 laps to go.
That allowed Abreu to run him down and make the move on lap 33 for the lead in turn 1. Once out front, Abreu opened a small lead and held on to win the Skagit Nationals and a check for $126,000. The three-night weekend sweep netted Abreu $156,000.
Peck was nine-tenths of a second back in second. Daison Pursley was third, then Thompson and Justin Sanders.
In the points, Abreu's sweep allowed him to take the points lead by 35 over Brad Sweet. Brent Marks is third, then Peck and Tanner Thorson. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Darlington, Nashville, DuQuoin and Florence last weekend. For more from Darlington, Nashville, DuQuoin, Florence, 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: Chase Briscoe Draws First Blood
by Phil Allaway
William Byron and Kyle Larson struggled at times Sunday night. Larson ended up 19th, while Byron was 21st. That will cost them. Meanwhile, Chase
Briscoe led 309 of 367 laps and won the Cook Out Southern 500. That was enough to boost him to the points lead. Briscoe currently has a three-point lead over Denny Hamlin, who finished seventh. Larson is down to third after finishing 19th. Tyler Reddick finished second and rose all the way from a tie for
13th to fourth. Byron and Bubba Wallace are currently tied for fifth. Wallace finished sixth Sunday night while Byron was 21st. Ryan Blaney is down three places to seventh after spinning out in the final stage and finishing 18th. Ross Chastain is up from a tie for 11th to eighth after finishing
11th with 12 stage points. Austin Cindric has sole possession of ninth after a 12th-place finish. Christopher Bell had contact on pit road that ruined his night. An alternate strategy just made things worse and dropped him five spots to 10th. Chase Elliott was nowhere for much of the race. A
17th-place finish dropped him to 11th. Shane van Gisbergen tried an alternate pit strategy and got burned by a caution. The resulting 32nd-place finish dropped him six places to 12th, the last spot in the Round of 12. Van Gisbergen has a three-point lead over Joey Logano, who finished 20th Sunday night.
Austin Dillon is up one place to 14th, while Alex Bowman and Josh Berry both finished in the 30s and are tied for 15th. Outside of the playoffs, Chris Buescher finished 10th and has a 39-point lead over teammate Ryan Preece for the 17th spot in points. Kyle
Busch moved up one place to 19th while Ty Gibbs is 20th. Round of 16 Point Standings: 1) Chase Briscoe 2070, 2) Denny Hamlin -3, 3) Kyle Larson
-8, 4) Tyler Reddick -11, t-5) Bubba Wallace -21, t-5) William Byron -21, 7) Ryan Blaney -24, 8) Ross Chastain -25, 9) Austin Cindric -34, 10) Christopher Bell -35, 11) Chase Elliott -37, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -43, 13) Joey
Logano -46, 14) Austin Dillon -51, t-15) Alex Bowman -62, t-16) Josh Berry -62. Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 880, 2) Ryan Blaney
-49, 3) Ryan Blaney -52, 4) Chase Elliott -62, 5) Denny Hamlin -64, 6) Christopher Bell -86, 7) Tyler Reddick -97, 8) Chase Briscoe -101, 9) Alex Bowman -188, 10) Chris Buescher -198, 11) Bubba Wallace -199, 12) Ross
Chastain -212, 13) Joey Logano -224, 14) Ryan Preece -237, 15) Austin Cindric -308, 16) Kyle Busch -310. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 24) Josh Berry
-374, 25) Shane van Gisbergen -390, 26) Austin Dillon -393. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Chris Buescher 682, 18) Ryan Preece -39, 19) Kyle Busch -112, 20) Ty Gibbs -124, 21) AJ Allmendinger -128, 22) Erik Jones -136, 23) Brad Keselowski -145, 24) John Hunter Nemechek -158, 25) Carson Hocevar -163, 26)
Michael McDowell -168. Playoff Points: t-1) Kyle Larson 32, t-1) William Byron 32, 3) Denny Hamlin -3, 4) Ryan Blaney -6, 5) Christopher Bell -9, 6) Shane van Gisbergen
-10, 7) Chase Briscoe -15, 8) Chase Elliott -19, t-9) Bubba Wallace -24, t-9) Austin Cindric -24, t-11) Ross Chastain -25, t-11) Joey Logano -25, t-13) Josh Berry -26, t-13) Tyler Reddick -26, 15) Austin Dillon -27, 16) Alex Bowman
-30. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 248, 2) Ryan Blaney -18, 3) Kyle Larson
-57, 4) Tyler Reddick -63, 5) Denny Hamlin -64, 6) Bubba Wallace -76, 7) Alex Bowman -99, 8) Chase Elliott -107, 9) Christopher Bell -111, t-10) Chase Briscoe -119, t-10) Austin Cindric -119, 12) Joey Logano
-135, 13) Carson Hocevar -141, 14) Ross Chastain -158, 15) Chris Buescher -159, 16) Ryan Preece -160. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Josh Berry -171, 21) Shane van Gisbergen -195, 30) Austin Dillon -222. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 793, 2) Christopher Bell -18, 3) Chase Briscoe
-20, 4) Kyle Larson -40, 5) William Byron -43, 5) Denny Hamlin -53, 7) Ryan Blaney -78, 8) Chris Buescher -79, 9) Tyler Reddick -80, 10) Ross Chastain -108, 11) Ryan Preece -124, t-12) Joey Logano
-131, t-12) Alex Bowman -131, 14) Kyle Busch -160, 15) Ty Gibbs -161, 16) Bubba Wallace -169. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 22) Austin Dillon
-224, 24) Austin Cindric -230, 26) Shane van Gisbergen -243, 27) Josh Berry -255. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 3557, 2) Chase Briscoe -13, 3) Christopher Bell -26, 4) Kyle Larson -67, 5) William Byron -87, 6) Denny Hamlin
-154, 7) Ryan Blaney -192, 8) Tyler Reddick -242, 9) Chris Buescher -279, 10) Ross Chastain -359, 11) Alex Bowman -375, 12) Ryan Preece -401, 13) Joey Logano -438, 14) Ty Gibbs -518, 15) Bubba Wallace
-519, 16) Kyle Busch -537.
Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 23) Austin Dillon -751, 24) Shane van Gisbergen -776, 25) Austin Cindric -779, 26) Josh Berry -826. Note No. 2: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona-1, Iowa), Christopher
Bell (Atlanta-1, COTA, Phoenix), Josh Berry (Las Vegas), Kyle Larson (Homestead, Bristol, Kansas), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville, Darlington-1, Michigan, Dover), Austin Cindric (Talladega), Joey Logano (Texas), Ross Chastain (Charlotte), Ryan Blaney (Nashville, Daytona-2), Shane van Gisbergen (Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen), Chase Briscoe (Pocono, Darlington-2), Chase Elliott (Atlanta-2), Bubba Wallace (Indianapolis), Austin Dillon (Richmond)
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.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Connor Zilisch Re-asserts His Authority
by Phil Allaway
Connor Zilisch dominated in Portland, leading all but eight laps en route to a perfect score of 61 points Saturday. That performance allowed him to retake the points lead. With one race remaining in the regular season, Zilisch has a 20-point lead over teammate Justin
Allgaier. Allgaier ran well Saturday, but ended up 15th at the finish. Sam Mayer finished 16th and stays in third, while Jesse Love is still in fourth. Austin Hill finished fifth to stay in fifth, while Carson Kvapil has locked himself into the playoffs on points in sixth. Brandon Jones finished 18th
and lost ground to Kvapil while staying in seventh. Sammy Smith is up one place to eighth, but lost 46 points to Zilisch. Sheldon Creed spun late Saturday and finished 27th. That dropped him one place to ninth. Taylor Gray is still in 10th, while Harrison Burton is 11th. He is still the last driver in the playoffs on points.
Nick Sanchez finished third and stays 12th. Harrison Burton has a 31-point advantage over his cousin Jeb. Comfortable, but not a foregone conclusion. Ryan Sieg is 14th, while Christian Eckes jumped over Dean Thompson into 15th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 924, 2) Justin Allgaier -20, 3) Sam Mayer -50, 4) Jesse Love -120, 5) Austin Hill -158, 6) Carson Kvapil -196, 7) Brandon
Jones -215, 8) Sammy Smith -260, 9) Sheldon Creed -262, 10) Taylor Gray -267, 11) Harrison Burton -296, 12) Nick Sanchez -321, 13) Jeb Burton -327, 14) Ryan Sieg -364, 15) Christian
Eckes -366, 16) Dean Thompson -388. Playoff Points: 1) Connor Zilisch 43, 2) Justin Allgaier -19, t-3) Sam Mayer -35, t-3) Brandon Jones -35, t-3) Sammy Smith
-35, t-6) Jesse Love -37, t-6) Nick Sanchez -37, t-6) Aric Almirola -37, t-9) Harrison Burton -41, t-9) Taylor Gray -41, t-11) Carson Kvapil -42, t-11) Sheldon Creed -42, t-11) Dean Thompson -42. Note No. 1: Austin Hill earned 21 playoff points previous to Iowa. However, since he was suspended for intentionally wrecking Aric Almirola at Indianapolis, he lost all of his playoff points and cannot earn any until the playoffs start. Note No. 2: Even though Connor Zilisch is credited as the winner of the Wawa 250 at Daytona, he does not
earn the five playoff points for winning since he wasn't in the car at the time of the finish. Note No. 2: If they were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be third, William Byron tied for fourth, Shane van Gisbergen tied for eighth, Daniel Suarez 12th and Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain tied for 15th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 275, 2) Connor Zilisch -64, 3) Sam Mayer -92, 4) Austin Hill -103, 5) Brandon Jones -111, 6) Sheldon Creed -114, 7) Jesse Love
-125, 8) Carson Kvapil -140, 9) Sammy Smith -145, 10) Taylor Gray -153, 11) Nick Sanchez -154, 12) Aric Almirola -172, 13) Ryan Sieg -190, 14) Christian Eckes -211, 15) Jeb Burton -213,
16) William Sawalich -224. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Harrison Burton -228. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 823, 2) Sam Mayer -25, 3) Jesse Love -59, 4) Justin Allgaier -80, 5) Carson
Kvapil -126, 6) Austin Hill -127, 7) Harrison Burton -138, 8) Sammy Smith -170, 9) Brandon Jones -171, 10) Taylor Gray -186, 11) Jeb Burton -187, 12) Sheldon Creed -217, 13) Christian Eckes
-231, 14) Dean Thompson -233, 15) Nick Sanchez -240, 16) Ryan Sieg -246. WC Points (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 3600, 2) Sam Mayer -56, 3) Jesse Love
-177, 4) Justin Allgaier -205, 5) Austin Hill -423, 6) Carson Kvapil -429, 7) Harrison Burton -497, 8) Brandon Jones -569, 9) Taylor Gray -592, 10) Sammy Smith -596, 11) Jeb Burton
-659, 12) Sheldon Creed -704, 13) Christian Eckes -764, 14) Nick Sanchez -785, 15) Dean Thompson -807, 16) Ryan Sieg -812. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona-1), Austin Hill (Atlanta-1, Martinsville,
Talladega), Connor Zilisch (COTA, Pocono, Sonoma, Dover, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, Daytona-2, Portland), 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), Sam Mayer (Iowa) Note: Connor Zilisch still receives credit for winning the Wawa 250 in Daytona even though Parker Kligerman took the checkered flag since Zilisch started the race. Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship: Corey Heim Continues To Dominate
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim continued his strong form Saturday, taking the lead late when Layne Riggs cut a tire. From there, he held on to take his eighth win of the year and advance to the Round of 8. He now has a staggering 71 playoff points. Heim's
point lead is now up to 59 points over Riggs. Riggs won stage two, but ended up 17th after his tire failure. Daniel Hemric finished second and moved up one place to third. Grant Enfinger is up three places to fourth after a third-place finish. Tyler Ankrum has sole possession of fifth after finishing seventh Saturday. Ty
Majeski finished fourth, but scored fewer stage points than Ankrum, hence the drop to sixth. Rajah Caruth finished 10th and moved up one place to seventh, while Jake Garcia is up two places to eighth after finishing 10th.
Garcia is the last driver currently in the Round of 8 on points. He has a two-point lead on Chandler Smith, who scrubbed the wall
early, then pounded it and put himself out, dropping six places. Kaden Honeycutt had multiple issues and dropped to 10th in points.
Outside of the playoffs, Ben Rhodes finished 11th and maintains an 11-point lead over Gio Ruggiero. Ruggiero ran much better than his 22nd-place finish shows, but he had a flat tire in the final laps.
Tanner Gray is 13th, while Connor Mosack is up a spot to 14th. Stewart Friesen dropped to 15th, while Matt Crafton is 16th. Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 2124, 2) Layne Riggs -59, 3) Daniel Hemric
-64, 4) Grant Enfinger -67, 5) Tyler Ankrum -76, 6) Ty Majeski -81, 7) Rajah Caruth -93, 8) Jake Garcia -95, 9) Chandler Smith -97, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -102.
Non-Playoff Point Standings
(1-16): 1) Corey Heim 907, 2) Layne Riggs -210, 3) Chandler Smith -256, 4) Daniel Hemric -271, 5) Grant Enfinger -275, 6) Ty Majeski -277, 7) Tyler Ankrum -304, 8) Kaden Honeycutt -328, 9) Jake Garcia
-370, 10) Ben Rhodes -390, 11) Gio Ruggiero -401, 12) Rajah Caruth -443, 13) Tanner Gray -446, 14) Connor Mosack -498, 15) Stewart Friesen -510, 16) Matt Crafton -527.
Best of the Rest: 11) Ben Rhodes 517, 12) Gio Ruggiero -11, 13) Tanner Gray -56, 14) Connor Mosack -108, 15) Stewart Friesen -120, 16) Matt Crafton -137, 17) Andres Perez -151, 18) Matt Mills -172, 19) Jack Wood -186, 20) Dawson Sutton -196. Playoff Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 71, 2) Layne Riggs -44, 3) Chandler Smith -52, 4) Daniel Hemric -60, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -61, t-5) Ty Majeski -61, 7) Grant Enfinger
-64, 8) Rajah Caruth -66, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -68, 10) Jake Garcia -69. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 283, 2) Layne Riggs -108, t-3) Chandler Smith -136, t-3) Kaden Honeycutt
-136, 5) Ty Majeski -140, 6) Grant Enfinger -156, 7) Daniel Hemric -184, 8) Tyler Ankrum -186, 9) Ben Rhodes -200, 10) Jake Garcia -214, 11) Connor Mosack -216, 12) Tanner Gray -223, 13) Stewart Friesen
-226, t-14) Rajah Caruth -233, t-14) Gio Ruggiero -233, 16) Matt Crafton -255. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Carson Hocevar would be 15th and Ross Chastain 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 563, 2) Daniel Hemric -97, 3) Layne Riggs -110, 4) Grant Enfinger -126, t-5) Chandler Smith -128, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -128, 7) Ty Majeski
-147, 8) Jake Garcia -167, 9) Gio Ruggiero -177, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -199, 11) Ben Rhodes -200, 12) Rajah Caruth -218, 13) Tanner Gray -237, 14) Stewart Friesen -280, 15) Matt Crafton -285, 16) Andres Perez
-286. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 2896, 2) Daniel Hemric -351, 3) Layne Riggs -396, 4) Grant Enfinger -453, 5) Tyler Ankrum -469, 6) Chandler Smith -481, 7) Ty Majeski
-525, 8) Jake Garcia -617, 9) Gio Ruggiero -635, 10) Ben Rhodes -722, 11) Kaden Honeycutt -727, 12) Rajah Caruth -770, 13) Tanner Gray -842, 14) Matt Crafton -1011, 15) Andres Perez -1023, 16) Connor
Mosack -1045. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas, Texas, Charlotte, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Richmond, Darlington), 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.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500 was brought to you by the letter S for Stagnation. It seemed like there wasn't a whole lot going on at times. Yes, tire wear was high, but actual passing
seem to be really difficult. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Cook Out Southern 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"There at the end, that was way harder than it needed to be. Man, just what an incredible Bass Pro Shops Toyota. As a fan, I have watched Martin [Truex Jr.] dominate a lot of races, and it was fun to finally be behind the wheel of it. It is so cool to win two Southern 500s in a row. This is my favorite race of the year because of the race fans. You come
here and it is sold out. The atmosphere is unlike anything else. Great way to start our Playoffs and man, that was a lot of fun." - Chase Briscoe, race winner "The one time we got ahead of him there, we were just a little too tight. He was able to get back by us. I think for our Pinnacle Financial Partners Camry, we were better than
he was on long runs. He could fire off a whole lot better. I think that was the difference tonight. I could get close. Yeah, I know we had a long run there, but it just unfortunately seemed like the last run the balance wasn’t quite as good as it has been the rest of the night on the long run. All-in-all, a really solid night for points in the Playoffs. Really want to win here. It’s frustrating to finish second, going for it, like I did last spring, doing the wrong thing, ending our day and
finishing 36th. I wish I could have been just a little bit closer. When I dove off in there, I was already sideways. I learned from last spring that that doesn’t work. Yeah, a good solid day, but hopefully one day we’ll win here at Darlington." - Tyler Reddick, finished second "[I Probably needed] to come off in the lead leaving
pit road [to beat Chase Briscoe]. We were all kind of going the same speed. I felt like we were probably a little bit better than both of them. I couldn’t get the run. I thought I had [Tyler Reddick] there with maybe four or five to go. There was a little hole on the top. He squeezed up and filled it. Racing for the win. Yeah, it’s hard to be that close. Would have liked to have had another one. We were right there all day, good speed with the Dollar Tree Camry. We just need more of that.
Hopefully we keep these cars rolling and get one soon." - Erik Jones, finished third
"I wish we more laps. The more that I ran, the better that I was. I hated to see that caution there at the end, because I felt like we were in a really good spot, long run speed wise with the green flag cycle coming and everything else. Just not a lot of short run speed but we
made the most of it. Proud of the effort from everyone at Legacy Motor Club. We continue to get better. It is pretty cool to have [Erik Jones and I] finish in third and fourth at the Southern 500. I know I’m proud of the drive for myself. I’m proud of the effort. I’m proud of Travis [Mack], and everyone that has been putting a lot into our Pye Barker Toyotas and making them faster. It feels good to come home fourth. I think that is my career-best finish in the Cup Series. Hats off to Pye
Barker, everyone that has supported me through my career. Thank you to Jimmie [Johnson] and Toyota for taking a chance on me to kind of revamp my career and getting me back to the Cup Series." - John Hunter Nemechek, finished fourth "It feels awesome to get a top-five finish with our No. 16 Black’s Tire Chevrolet. Darlington [Raceway]
has owned me, and I’ve worked hard trying to study this place. Our Black’s Tire Chevy was awesome all night. Trent Owens did a phenomenal job on the adjustments. We just kept fighting all race long. I’m constantly trying to learn around this place. My pit crew were absolutely phenomenal and that’s what got us near the front, and then we could just hold the track position. I’m just so proud of everyone on this team. It was a well-executed night all around. It just feels good to get around this
place decent and come out with a strong finish." - AJ Allmendinger, finished fifth "I was doing my best to not over drive the corners the last couple of laps. I could see [Tyler Reddick] really challenging [Chase Briscoe], so all-in-all good day for our team. Great Playoff start. Just solid execution. We had a couple of mistakes on
pit road. We had a couple mistakes overall, but we were able to rebound really well. Our U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry was solid. Hats off to Toyota – I let AJ [Allmendinger], old man, get in front of me – otherwise we would have had the top six" - Bubba Wallace, finished sixth "There were multiple instances, one on pit road. We had to
start in the back and then getting spun off turn four killed the splitter, and then we came from the back to 19th and then the caution came out as soon as we got to pit road and sent us all the way back again. Just about everything that could go wrong tonight went wrong. At least we recovered to where we did, which is OK I guess. It just wasn’t a smooth night." - Ryan Blaney, finished 18th "We just struggled all night. I thought the short run was a struggle. I was hoping we’d be able to pay on the backend and have some long run pace, but we would just fall off a cliff. A lot of the time, the pit cycles would kind of save us where we could just pit right when we started to struggle, but the last run was really long. As good as we normally are here, it’s definitely a bummer. Appreciate All-Pro Auto Reconditioning,
Chevrolet and everyone on this No. 24 team. We’ve definitely got some work to do. We’ll go to Gateway and try to be better there." - William Byron, finished 21st "It’s kind of hard to even really know, but it the car bottomed out five or six times and just wrecked. It was definitely unexpected. We didn’t really fight that too bad in
practice. I saw a replay of it when I was sitting in the car while they were fixing it from the 1, and you could tell that it bottomed out four or five times and you can’t save them when they’re like that." - Josh Berry, finished 38th Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
|
