Frontstretch Newsletter: May 5, 2025
Volume XIX,
Edition LXVI |
- Teams will be arriving back at their shops today from Texas. Meanwhile, those who did not go to Texas have been full speed ahead with preparations for this weekend's action in Kansas. Entry lists should be released today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| NASCAR Cup Series Results: Joey Logano Wins Wurth 400 in
Overtime Joey Logano took the lead from Michael McDowell in the closing laps and held on to win the Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Ross Chastain was second, then Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Erik Jones. |
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| Michael McDowell 4 Laps Short of Riding 2-Tire Call to
Texas Upset Spire Motorsports' Michael McDowell used a two-tire stop to get the lead late in the Wurth 400 Sunday. However, what could have been a glorious triumph ended in the turn 2 wall. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR Lawsuit
This Week (April 25-May 2) The ongoing lawsuit between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR has been fairly quiet over the past week, but the discovery portion of the case is proving somewhat problematic. |
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| Kyle Larson Prevails After 2 Xfinity Overtimes in
Texas Kyle Larson, driving in place of the injured Connor Zilisch, took the lead on the final restart and held on to win the Xfinity Series Andy's Frozen Custard 300. Taylor Gray was second, then Riley Herbst, Austin Hill and Sam
Mayer. |
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| Justin Allgaier Leaves Texas Empty-Handed Yet Again After
Kris Wright Collision JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier had the best car Saturday, leading 99 laps. However, his race ended after he ran into the back of Kris Wright, who was nine laps down at the time, and crashed. |
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| Corey Heim Survives OT, Wins Chaotic Texas Truck
Race Corey Heim led 96 of 174 laps to win a crash-strewn NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 Friday night. Daniel Hemric was second, then Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum and Tanner Gray. |
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| Texas Quad Oval’s Wet Grass Proving to Be
Troublesome The DFW Metroplex had a bunch of rain leading into the race weekend. That led to significant trouble both Friday and Saturday from broken splitters due to vehicles entering the grass. |
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| Ben Rhodes Frustrated with Corey Heim After Texas Truck
Finish Ben Rhodes finished sixth Friday night, but had a chance to win. Corey Heim pushed him up the track on the final restart, leaving Rhodes upset. |
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| Patrick Emerling Running North Wilkesboro Truck Race for
Henderson Henderson Motorsports announced Friday that modified racer Patrick Emerling will drive their Chevrolet at North Wilkesboro Speedway later this month. |
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| Alex Palou Wins at Barber, Continues 2025
Dominance Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou led 81 of 90 laps from pole Sunday to win the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. Christian Lundgaard was second, then Scott McLaughlin, Rinus VeeKay and Will Power. |
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| Rinus VeeKay Caps Strong Weekend With a Top 5 at
Barber Rinus VeeKay was right up there will the strongest teams on Sunday, driving his Dale Coyne Racing No. 18 to a fourth-place finish at Barber Motorsports Park. |
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| IndyCar’s Caution-Free Streak
Continues Unlike NASCAR, which had 34 cautions in Texas this past weekend in their three races, the NTT IndyCar Series had their third straight caution-free race Sunday in Alabama. |
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| Alexander Rossi Climbs to an 8th-Place Finish at
Barber Ed Carpenter Racing's Alexander Rossi was able to drive up from 15th on the grid to finish a decent eighth Sunday at Barber Park. |
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| Oscar Piastri Leads McLaren 1-2 in Miami Grand
Prix A safety car period allowed McLaren to dominate the field in Miami Gardens Sunday with Oscar Piastri winning the Miami Grand Prix. Lando Norris was second, then George Russell, Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon. |
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| Lando Norris Wins Chaotic Miami
Sprint In a wild Sprint race Saturday afternoon, McLaren's Lando Norris picked up the victory in mixed conditions. Oscar Piastri was second, then Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Lance Stroll. |
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| Max Reaves Unstoppable in Dominant ARCA East Series Win at
Nashville Fairgrounds Joe Gibbs Racing's Max Reaves was never seriously threatened Sunday, leading 147 of 150 laps to win the ARCA Menards Series East Music City 150. Tyler Reif was second, then Hunter Wright, Isaac Kitzmiller and Zachary Tinkle. |
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| Landen Lewis Cruises To CARS Tour Win At Ace
Speedway Landen Lewis and Carson Ware claimed victories during Saturday night's zMAX CARS Tour Folsom Fence Supply 275 at Ace Speedway, which was rushed along due to the potential for rain. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, James Black, Paul Hurley and Chris Owens of Penske Entertainment, Xavi Bonilla of DPPI, Glenn Dunbar of LAT Images, Alika Jenner of ARCA Racing and our own 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: May 2-4 |
- IDEC Sport's Mathys Jaubert took the lead when Vector Sport's Vladislav Lomko pitted with 64 minutes to go Sunday. From there, Jaubert was able to hold on to win the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Le Castellet at Circuit Paul Ricard with teammates Jamie Chadwick and Daniel Juncadella. Note that this squad is actually a Genesis team preparing for the factory squad's debut in the
FIA World Endurance Championship in 2026. The margin of victory was 1.885 seconds over Nielsen Racing's James Allen, Sergio Sette Camara and Anthony Wells. AO by TF's Dane Cameron, Louis Deletraz and PJ Hyett were third, followed by Inter Europol Competition's Tom Dillmann, Jakub Smiechowski and Nick Yelloly. TDS Racing's Mathias Beche, Clement Novalak and
Rodrigo Sales were fifth.
In LMP2 Pro-Am, Nielsen Racing claimed the subclass victory in second overall. Their margin of victory was 4.280 seconds over Cameron, Deletraz and Hyett. Beche, Novalak and Sales were third, then Proton Competition's Rene Binder, Giorgio Roda and Bent Viscaal. United Autosports' Oliver Jarvis, Marino Sato and Daniel Schneider were fifth. In LMP3, CLX Motorsport's Adrien Closmenil took the lead from M Racing's Quentin Antonel with 40 minutes to go. From there, Closmenil was able to hold on to take the class win in 19th overall with teammates Theodor Jensen and Paul Lanchere. CLX
Motorsport's margin of victory was 24.911 seconds over Antonel and Stephane Tribaudini. Eurointernational's Ian Aguilera and Fabien Michal were third, while Inter Europol Competition's Tim Crestwick, Douwe Dedecker and Reece Gold were a lap down in fourth. DKR Engineering's Wyatt Brichacek, Antti Rammo and Mikkel Pedersen were fifth in the sole Ginetta. Finally, in LMGT3, Richard Mille AF Corse's Lilou Wadoux took over the lead from GR Racing's Riccardo Pera with less than 45 minutes to go. From there, Wadoux was able to hold on to take the class victory with teammates Riccardo Agostini and Custodio Toledo. Richard Mille AF Corse's margin of victory was .305
seconds over the Mercedes of Iron Lynx's Martin Berry, Lorcan Hanafin and Fabian Schiller. Pera, Tom Fleming and Michael Wainwright were third in their Ferrari, followed by Spirit of Racing's Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and David Perel. AF Corse's Conrad Laursen, Davide Rigon and Charles-Henri Samani made it four Ferraris in the top-five.
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car
Series teams were at Eldora Speedway this past weekend for the #LetsRaceTwo. Friday night ended up being a duel between David Gravel and Donny Schatz, two titans of the sport.
Gravel started from the pole and led early. Meanwhile, Schatz started 10th and made his way up the order. By lap 20, Schatz was up to second and started to run down Gravel. However, Gravel was able to open up the gap
and hold on to take the victory. The win completed a sweep where he was fastest in hot laps and time trials, won his heat, won the Toyota Dash, then the feature. The margin of victory was 1.288 seconds over Gravel. Cole Macedo was third, then Logan Schuchart and Buddy Kofoid. Through 19 races, Gravel has an 80-point lead over Schuchart. Carson Macedo is third, then Kofoid and Sheldon Haudenschild. - The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series was Texas Motor Speedway's Dirt Track Saturday night to conclude the Stockyard Stampede.
The A-main took only 450 seconds to run. That said, there was plenty of action to be had in such a short time.
Kyle Larson, fresh off his victory in the Andy's Frozen Custard 300, started from the pole. However, Rico Abreu swept around the outside to take the lead. From there, Abreu, Larson and Brad Sweet battled each other in and around lapped traffic. Ultimately, Abreu was able to hold on for the victory. Larson was 1.02 seconds back in second, followed by Sweet and Sam Hafertepe Jr. Corey Day was fifth. In High Limit points, Sweet continues to lead Courtney by 83 points after eight races. Brent Marks is third, then Abreu and Aaron Reutzel.
- The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series was at Mississippi Thunder Speedway for the Dairyland Showdown. Night No. 1 on Thursday was cancelled due to rain, so the drivers were chomping at the bit for some action. Here, Tyler Erb started from the pole and drove out to a comfortable lead early on.
Following engine issues for Brian Shirley, Erb had to do battle with Nick Hoffman. Once he was able to make the cushion work for him, no one could prevent Erb from taking his first win since 2022. Hoffman was 1.421 seconds back in second at the finish. Bobby Pierce was third, then Tim McCreadie and Ashton Winger.
Saturday night saw McCreadie take the lead on the opening lap and lead for a few laps before Brandon Overton overwhelmed him at the front. However, Hoffman was the man to beat.
Hoffman was able to get past Overton for the lead early on, then proceeded to drive away. Even when a caution bunched the field up, no one could
catch him and prevent him from taking home a check for $75,000.
Hoffman finished 1.741 seconds ahead of Pierce at the finish. Overton was third, then Shirley and McCreadie.
Through 13 races, Pierce continues to lead the points by 76 over Hoffman. Ryan
Gustin is third, then Drake Troutman and McCreadie. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Texas, Barber Park, Nashville and Ace Speedway last weekend. For more from any of the four venues that we covered events from, 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: Pit Road Contact Cuts Into William Byron's Advantage
by Phil Allaway
William Byron had a good car Sunday in Texas until he had contact with Cole Custer on pit road. While he led the field off pit road at that point, he ended up fading to a 13th-place finish. Byron's run resulted in his point lead being trimmed from 31 points to 13 over teammate Kyle Larson, who led the most laps and finished fourth. Denny Hamlin blew his engine near the end of stage one. That dropped him into a tie for third with Chase Elliott, who had a forgettable run to 16th. Tyler Reddick had a strong car, but faded late to a 21st-place finish. Despite that, he still moved up one place to fifth. Reddick jumped over Christopher Bell, who finished ninth, but scored no stage points. Ryan Blaney moved up one place to eighth after finishing third. He jumped over Bubba Wallace, who fell to eighth after crashing out on the backstretch. Joey Logano's victory moved him up one place to ninth, jumping over Alex Bowman, who was eliminated in the same crash as Wallace. Ross Chastain drove up from 31st to second and technically lost ground doing so by falling from a tie for 10th into standalone 11th. Chris Buescher moved up to 12th despite cutting a
tire late in stage two. Chase Briscoe crashed out of the top 10 in stage two and ended up 27th. That dropped him down to 13th. Austin Cindric crashed late and finished 25th, but stays in 14th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., despite a moment with all four wheels off the ground, finished sixth and moved up two
places to 15th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Stenhouse has a 12-point advantage over Kyle Busch, who finished 20th despite multiple incidents. Carson Hocevar is up three places to 17th despite a late crash dropping him to 24th. AJ Allmendinger and Ryan Preece
are tied for 18th, while Michael McDowell dropped to 20th after his late race crash. Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 421, 2) Kyle Larson -13, t-3) Denny Hamlin
-83, t-3) Chase Elliott -83, 5) Tyler Reddick -84, 6) Christopher Bell -86, 7) Ryan Blaney -108, 8) Bubba Wallace -115, 9) Joey Logano -133, 10) Alex Bowman -137, 11) Ross Chastain -140, 12) Chris Buescher
-166, 13) Chase Briscoe -176, 14) Austin Cindric -180, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -181, 16) Kyle Busch -193. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: t-24) Josh Berry
-214. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff
Points: t-1) Christopher Bell 16, t-1) Kyle Larson 16, 3) Denny Hamlin -4, 4) William Byron -8, t-5) Austin Cindric -9, t-5) Joey Logano -9, 7) Josh Berry -10, t-8) Ryan Blaney
-14, t-8) Bubba Wallace -14, 10) Ryan Preece -15. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson
108, 2) William Byron -1, 3) Bubba Wallace -8, 4) Ryan Blaney -13, 5) Tyler Reddick -32, 6) Austin Cindric -33, 7) Alex Bowman -34, 8) Joey Logano -36, 9) Denny Hamlin
-42, 10) Chase Elliott -52, 11) Carson Hocevar -58, 12) Christopher Bell -60, 13) Josh Berry -66, 14) Ryan Preece -70, 15) AJ Allmendinger -73, 16) Chris Buescher -82. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -86, t-20) Ross Chastain -89,
t-23) Chase Briscoe -92.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point
Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 3667, 2) Kyle Larson -17, 3) Christopher Bell -33, 4) Chase Elliott -37, 5) Denny Hamlin -47, 6) Tyler Reddick -58, 7) Ross Chastain -61, 8) Chase Briscoe
-90, 9) Chris Buescher -92, 10) Ryan Blaney -98, 11) Joey Logano -102, 12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -104, t-13) Alex Bowman -106, t-13) Kyle Busch -106, 15) Bubba Wallace -112, 16) Austin Dillon -114. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 24) Austin Cindric -138, 30) Josh Berry -154. Note: These standings are based on
the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) William Byron 1620, 2) Kyle Larson -50, 3) Christopher Bell -124, t-4) Denny Hamlin
-157, t-4) Chase Elliott -157, 6) Tyler Reddick -212, 7) Ross Chastain -223, 8) Chase Briscoe -317, 9) Ryan Blaney -324, 10) Chris Buescher -334, 11) Alex Bowman -354, 12) Joey Logano -368, 13) Kyle Busch
-375, 14) Bubba Wallace -381, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -382, 16) Austin Dillon -418. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 27) Austin Cindric -511, t-29) Josh Berry
-517. 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, Bristol), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville, Darlington), Austin Cindric (Talladega)
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 Shrinks A Little
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier likely had the best car on Saturday in Texas. However, he ran into the much slower Kris Wright and crashed out of the race. The 35th-place finish cut Allgaier's lead from 79 points to 51 over Austin Hill, who finished fourth
Saturday. Sam Mayer finished fourth and stays in third. Jesse Love is still fourth. Brandon Jones finished ninth and moved up from a tie for seventh to fifth in points. Carson Kvapil got caught up in a wreck and dropped to sixth after finishing 19th. Jeb Burton is up to seventh after a 10th-place finish.
Ryan Sieg moved up three places to eighth after finishing eighth. Sammy Smith was involved in multiple incidents Saturday, dropping to ninth as a result. Harrison Burton is up two places to 10th after a sixth-place finish. Sheldon Creed crashed out while racing up front and dropped to 11th. He is now the last driver in the
playoffs on points. Connor Zilisch dropped six positions to 12th after missing the race due to a back injury suffered at Talladega. Creed's advantage is 11 points over Daniel Dye, who finished 11th. Taylor Gray moved up to 14th after finishing a career-best second. Nick Sanchez dropped to 15th, while Dean
Thompson is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 471, 2) Austin Hill -51, 3) Sam Mayer -80, 4) Jesse Love -97, 5) Brandon Jones -145, 6) Carson Kvapil
-147, 7) Jeb Burton -151, 8) Ryan Sieg -154, 9) Sammy Smith -159, 10) Harrison Burton -164, 11) Sheldon Creed -167, 12) Connor Zilisch -172, 13) Daniel Dye -178, 14) Taylor Gray -186, 15) Nick
Sanchez -188, 16) Dean Thompson -222. Playoff Points: 1) Austin Hill 21, 2) Justin Allgaier -7, 3) Connor Zilisch -14, t-4) Sammy Smith -15, t-4) Aric Almirola
-15, t-4) Jesse Love -15, 7) Brandon Jones -16, 8) Harrison Burton -19, t-9) Sam Mayer -20, t-9) Dean Thompson -20, t-9) Nick Sanchez -20. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be third, while William Byron
and Alex Bowman would be tied for 10th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 141, 2) Austin Hill -44, 3) Sam Mayer -64, 4) Sammy Smith -67, 5) Connor Zilisch
-69, 6) Jesse Love -71, 7) Sheldon Creed -73, 8) Nick Sanchez -78, t-9) Carson Kvapil -80, t-9) Aric Almirola -80, 11) Ryan Sieg -89, 12) Brandon Jones -91, 13) Jeb Burton -98, 14) Taylor Gray
-106, 15) Harrison Burton -108, t-16) Christian Eckes -111, t-16) Anthony Alfredo -111. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be 13th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 386, 2) Austin Hill -10, 3) Sam Mayer -20, 4) Jesse Love -27, 5) Jeb Burton -59, t-6) Brandon Jones -60, t-6) Harrison Burton
-60, 8) Daniel Dye -62, 9) Ryan Sieg -70, 10) Carson Kvapil -72, 11) Sammy Smith -82, 12) Taylor Gray -87, 13) Sheldon Creed -100, 14) Connor Zilisch -108, 15) Dean Thompson -110, 16) Brennan
Poole -112. WC Points (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 1738, 2) Austin Hill -51, 3) Sam Mayer -90, 4) Jesse Love -120, 5) Brandon Jones -237, 6) Harrison Burton
-244, 7) Jeb Burton -251, 8) Daniel Dye -271, 9) Carson Kvapil -278, 10) Ryan Sieg -279, 11) Taylor Gray -317, 12) Sammy Smith -348, 13) Sheldon Creed -359, 14) Brennan Poole -416, 15) Dean Thompson
-419, 16) Nick Sanchez -425. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona), Austin Hill (Atlanta, Martinsville, Talladega), Connor Zilisch (COTA), Aric Almirola (Phoenix), Justin Allgaier (Las Vegas, Homestead), Brandon Jones (Darlington), Kyle Larson (Bristol, Texas), Sammy Smith (Rockingham) 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 Expands Lead As Competitors Crash Out
by Phil Allaway
Friday night's action in Texas was rough and tumble as a number of points contenders got caught up in wrecks. Points leader Corey Heim did not.
Heim led 96 laps and claimed his third win of the year. That allowed him to expand his lead from 22 points to 46 over Chandler
Smith, who got caught up in a late crash and finished 16th. Daniel Hemric is up one place to third after finishing second. He jumped over his teammate Tyler Ankrum, who finished fourth.
Ty Majeski is up one place to finish despite getting into the wall at one point en route to a 10th-place finish. Grant
Enfinger was eliminated in a late crash with Smith, but won stage one and still earned 32 points. As a result, he gained two places to sixth. Jake Garcia crashed out late, but remains in seventh. Layne Riggs is down two places to eighth after crashing twice early on. Kaden Honeycutt was eliminated early in a big crash and
finished 32nd. Despite that, he stays in ninth. Ben Rhodes came from the back to finish sixth and moved up to 10th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Rhodes has an 11-point lead over Stewart Friesen, who dropped a spot after crashing out late. Tanner Gray is up one place to 12th after finishing fifth, while
Rajah Caruth is up to 13th. Gio Ruggiero clipping the grass and crashing dropped him from 11th to 14th, while Matt Crafton is back up to 15th. Jack Wood is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim
368, 2) Chandler Smith -46, 3) Daniel Hemric -80, 4) Tyler Ankrum -82, 5) Ty Majeski -106, 6) Grant Enfinger -118, 7) Jake Garcia -124, 8) Layne Riggs -126, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -148, 10) Ben Rhodes
-153, 11) Stewart Friesen -164, 12) Tanner Gray -171, 13) Rajah Caruth -175, 14) Gio Ruggiero -181, 15) Matt Crafton -190, 16) Jack Wood -195.
Playoff
Points: 1) Corey Heim 20, t-2) Chandler Smith -14, t-2) Tyler Ankrum -14, 4) Daniel Hemric -15, 5) Layne Riggs -18, t-6) Ty Majeski -19, t-6) Grant Enfinger -19, t-6) Ben Rhodes -19, t-6) Jack Wood -19, t-6) Matt
Crafton -19, t-6) Bayley Currey -19. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch would be tied for second and Kyle Larson tied for fifth in Playoff points. Stage Points:
1) Corey Heim 104, 2) Chandler Smith -21, 3) Ty Majeski -26, 4) Kaden Honeycutt -45, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -56, t-5) Daniel Hemric -56, t-5) Grant Enfinger -56, 8) Stewart Friesen -60, t-9) Layne
Riggs -63, t-9) Ben Rhodes -63, 11) Jake Garcia -69, 12) Tanner Gray -75, 13) Matt Crafton -77, 14) Connor Mosack -78, 15) Jack Wood -83, 16) Gio Ruggiero -93. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Larson would be 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 240, 2) Chandler Smith -27, 3) Daniel Hemric -28,
4) Tyler Ankrum -29, 5) Jake Garcia -60, 6) Grant Enfinger -66, 7) Layne Riggs -68, 8) Rajah Caruth -84, 9) Ty Majeski -85, t-10) Ben Rhodes -94, t-10) Gio Ruggiero -94, 12) Tanner Gray
-104, 13) Kaden Honeycutt -106, 14) Stewart Friesen -110, t-15) Jack Wood -119, t-15) Matt Crafton -119. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1306, 2) Tyler Ankrum
-101, 3) Daniel Hemric -107, 4) Chandler Smith -108, 5) Jake Garcia -214, 6) Grant Enfinger -232, 7) Layne Riggs -245, 8) Rajah Caruth -289, 9) Ty Majeski -302, 10) Ben Rhodes -330, 11) Gio Ruggiero
-337, 12) Tanner Gray -366, 13) Stewart Friesen -380, 14) Kaden Honeycutt -383, 15) Jack Wood -420, 16) Matt Crafton -421. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas, Texas), Kyle
Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Homestead), Daniel Hemric (Martinsville), Chandler Smith (Bristol), Tyler Ankrum (Rockingham)
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 Wurth 400 was brought to you by the letter D for Dearth of Passing. On social media, you often see fans complaining about a lack of passing in races. Normally, NASCAR's Loop Data doesn't back
up their arguments. Perception actually was reality for Sunday as passing was down 44% from last year. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Wurth 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"The sport changes so quickly. It is crazy how you can just ride these roller coasters. I am so proud of the team. Proud to finally get AAA Insurance into victory lane. They have been a partner of mine since I have been at Penske, so 13 or 14 years and we have yet to win with them so it was awesome to get that done here. The JL Kids Crew is here so we will have fun with them in victory lane. A
lot of people here. My family is at home, but hey, Brittany and the kids, I love you guys. It is going to be a fun night." - Joey Logano, race winner
"Starting 31st, we wanted to go +30 positions today. It’s all on this crew – the engineering group at Trackhouse Racing and the group at Chevrolet. We made an adjustment during the race and it fixed the car. All the problems we had yesterday and the start
of the race, they were gone. I was confident. I was not confident yesterday.. you heard me in the booth say it. With just one adjustment, it brought this Tootsies Chevy to life and that’s why you keep fighting." - Ross Chastain, finished second "I don't know. The one time I didn’t pick the outside, [MIchael McDowell] got the lead and then I couldn’t get it back. Just driver
making dumb decisions and not doing his job. I appreciate the team. The No. 12 car was a fast car today. I just can’t do anything right currently. Hopefully it will work itself out." - Ryan Blaney, finished third "[Michael] McDowell just did a really good job of timing the restarts. He left pretty much when I did, and he had a push behind him. He got clear to the lead and I
just lost control of the race there. It was a bummer to do that. If I could have kept the lead, we would have been hard to beat in clean air like that. Just a little frustrated with myself, but all-in-all, it was a good points day for us today. The No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet team did a great job today. The car was good. We’ll just study it and try to do a better job next time." - Kyle Larson, finished fourth "It was a sloppy day in a lot of ways. We had two pit road penalties, but just happy to come back from it and get a top-five. It would have been pretty disappointing to have a car this good, kind of our first car this year that’s been pretty strong to throw it away. I thought we were headed that way, but it turned out well. Thankful for Advent Health, Legacy Motor Club, and Toyota to get a good run and hopefully we can get rolling. I
would love this to be the start of our summer stretch and just keep it going." - Erik Jones, finished fifth "It means a lot. We unloaded with speed this week, which was nice, in practice. Had good long run speed – guys brought a fast Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE. It was an up-and-down day for us. Just kind of all over the place with what we had. Glad to come home
eighth. The last couple of restarts were tough with the positions that we were in. I’ve got to get better from a driver’s standpoint racing up towards the front, but I haven’t had any chances at that, so progressing and learning." - John Hunter Nemechek, finished eighth "I just really hate it for everyone on this No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet team. We were giving it
everything we had there to try to keep track position. Joey [Logano] got a run there, and I tried to block it. I went as far as I think you could probably go. When [Ryan] Blaney slid in front of me, it just took the air off of it and I just lost the back of it. I still had the fight in me, but I probably should have conceded at that point. "Just proud of everyone at Spire
Motorsports. I know that’s not the day that we wanted, but we had the opportunity to win the race. I’m really proud of everyone at the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop – you guys saw those restarts, the motors were ripping. Just hate that we didn’t get it done, but we knew we had to go for it." - Michael McDowell, finished 26th (Crashed out) "The car was really good. I
could tell early on that our car was really strong, especially after the first pit stop when we made an adjustment it was really good and we got out front and felt really good about it. Just started to approach the lap traffic. You have no choice but to run the opposite lane. Your car is never going to turn if you follow them. I went around [Jesse Love] on the outside and felt pretty decent about it. Then caught [Cody Ware] and was working on [Ware] and hit that bump and got loose. I don't know
what I would do too much different. Obviously in these cars, especially at a place like this you are going to be fast, it is going to be uncomfortable and you are going to be on edge. Unfortunately it bit us today." - Josh Berry, finished 32nd
"It was blowing up for about a lap or so before it really detonated. I tried to keep it off to keep it from full detonating, that was they can diagnose exactly
what happened to it. It’s tough to say exactly what it is, but they’ll go back and look at it and we’ll find out in a few weeks." - Denny Hamlin, finished 38th (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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