Frontstretch Newsletter: May 12, 2025
Volume XIX,
Edition LXXI |
- Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series teams, including Kyle Larson's squad, will be at Kokomo Speedway tonight for the Driven2SaveLives Monday MAYhem. Coverage from the quarter-mile in Kokomo, Ind. will start at 6 p.m. ET on FLORacing. - Teams will be arriving back at their shops today from Kansas. Meanwhile, those who did not go to Texas have been full speed ahead with preparations underway for this weekend's action in North Wilkesboro. Entry lists should be
released today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Kyle Larson Wins AdventHealth 400 in Dominating
Fashion Kyle Larson stomped the field Sunday, leading 221 of 267 laps to win the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway. Christopher Bell was second, then Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman. |
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| Alex Bowman’s Kansas Top 5 Shows Team’s
‘Character’ Alex Bowman was able to recover from early wall contact to bring his Ally Chevrolet home in fifth Sunday, putting himself back on track for success. |
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| Brad Keselowski’s Nightmare Start to 2025 Cup Season
Continues at Kansas Brad Keselowski's season has been miserable to this point. Sunday saw him running with the leaders for much of the race until his tire went down and put him into the wall. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR Lawsuit
This Week (May 3-9) On Friday, NASCAR, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were in appeals court, arguing over whether the two teams should be allowed to race as chartered teams while litigating against NASCAR. |
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| Carson Hocevar Survives Last-Lap Contact With Layne Riggs
For Kansas Truck Win Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar led 75 of 134 laps to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Heart of Health Care 200 Saturday night. Layne Riggs was second on the road, but was disqualified. That gave second to William Byron, followed by Corey Heim,
Gio Ruggiero and Stewart Friesen. |
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| Carson Hocevar, Layne Riggs All Smiles After Kansas
Finish Despite the run to the checkered flag being marked by Carson Hocevar giving Layne Riggs the finger all the way to the start-finish line, both drivers insist that there are no issues between them. |
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| Corey Heim Denied Kansas Hat Trick by Slow Stop, Untimely
Caution & Restart Penalty Corey Heim has been amazing this year, seemingly in contention every week. Saturday night was no different, but a penalty and an issue in the pits dropped him to third. |
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| Brenden Queen Survives Overtime, Wins ARCA Race at
Kansas Pinnacle Racing Group's Brenden Queen dominated much of the race Friday night, but had to survive a one-lap shootout to win the ARCA Menards Series Tide 150. William Sawalich was second, then Mason Mitchell, Lawless Alan and Lavar
Scott. |
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| Alex Palou Wins 3rd Straight Indy
GP Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou was able to get past Graham Rahal late Saturday and held on to win the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his third win in four races. Patricio O'Ward was second, then Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and
Scott Dixon. |
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| ‘It’s Like They Have 10 Extra Pounds of Boost’ – Graham
Rahal Couldn’t Solve ‘Palou Problem’ These days, it seems like Alex Palou is Superman in the NTT IndyCar Series. For Graham Rahal, he led 49 laps Saturday, but just couldn't keep up with Palou in the closing laps. |
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| Felix Rosenqvist Recovers From Spin to Finish 10th in Indy
GP In a race with few interruptions, it's hard to make up for strife. Meyer Shank Racing's Felix Rosenqvist was able to recover after a spin to finish 10th. |
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| David Malukas Breaks IndyCar’s Historic Caution-Free
Streak, Looks Ahead to the Indy 500 The NTT IndyCar Series has had a historic run of clean racing this year. Only the second caution of the entire season came out Saturday when David Malukas' car stalled. |
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| Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet Win at Laguna
Seca Porsche Penske Motorsport's Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet took advantage of pit strategy to order to get the lead Sunday. From there, they held on to win the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna
Seca. |
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| Ferrari Scores Another 1-2 Finish At
Spa Ferrari AF Corse's James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi gambled on pit strategy to get the lead late, then got bailed out by two full course yellows for debris to be able to pit and keep the lead. From there, they held on to
win the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. |
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| Rennsport One Wins Pilot Challenge at Laguna
Seca Rennsport One's Jan Heylen and Luca Mars took the lead during the first round of stops and held on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 for their first win of the year. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Adam Glanzman of ARCA Racing and Jared C. Tilton of Getty Images, Matt Fraver, Joe Skibinski and Karl Zemlin of Penske Entertainment, IMSA, DPPI and our own Danny
Peters. 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 9-11 |
- Alpine F1 announced Saturday morning that Jack Doohan has been demoted.
Franco Colapinto will drive the team's second car in the next five grands prix, starting at Imola this coming weekend. Doohan will assume Colapinto's former role as the primary reserve driver for the team. For more on this, check out this week's edition of Slipstream Saturdays. - Last weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series was at Williams Grove
Speedway for the HVAC Distributors Morgan Cup, a classic showdown between the series regulars and the Pennsylvania Posse. Unfortunately, Friday night's action was wiped
out by rain. On Saturday night, Anthony Macri started on the front row and put himself at the front. There, he fought with both Donny Schatz and David Gravel on the half-mile oval for the lead. Macri was able to use lapped traffic to pad a slight lead and that was just enough for him to win the Morgan Cup and a check
for $20,000. Macri won by 1.785 seconds over Gravel. Danny Dietrich was third, then Schatz and Justin Whittall. Gravel's points lead is now 134 points over Logan Schuchart. Buddy Kofoid is third, then Carson Macedo and Sheldon
Haudenschild. - The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series had a busy weekend. Friday night, the series was at Lakeside Speedway for the Hasty Bake Grills Kansas City Clash, held effectively as support to the NASCAR weekend at nearby Kansas Speedway. This was an excellent race in which Kerry Madsen and Rico Abreu battled hard early on until the two collided on lap 10. Abreu hopped up the track, while Madsen spun. He was hit by Brad Sweet, which resulted in both Madsen and Sweet flipping. Kyle Larson was also caught up in the crash. While Madsen, Larson and Sweet
were all eliminated, Abreu was able to continue and hold onto the lead. With his primary competition eliminated, Abreu was able to lead the rest of the way to take the win. Tyler Courtney was second, then Justin Peck, Spencer Bayston and Scott Bogucki.
Saturday night saw the series move on to Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill. near St. Louis. Here, Corey Day made a swooping maneuver on
lap 10 to get past Sweet and Tanner Thorson to take the leadd. From there, he drove off to victory. Day won by 1.763 seconds over Sweet. Peck was third, then Courtney and Brent Marks.
Through 10 races, Sweet continues to lead the points by 49 over
Courtney. Marks is third, then Abreu and Aaron Reutzel. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Kansas and Indianapolis last weekend. For more from Kansas, Indianapolis, 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: Kyle Larson Claims Points Lead With Perfect Score
by Phil Allaway
William Byron ran well early, but blew a tire late in stage one. He never recovered from it and finished 24th. That cost him the points lead. Kyle Larson scored a
perfect 61 points on Sunday, including the Xfinity Fastest Lap Award. That gives him a 35-point lead over Byron. Christopher Bell moved up three places to third after finishing second. Chase Elliott dropped down to fourth after fading to a 15th-place finish. Ryan Blaney finished third and moved up
two spots to fifth. Tyler Reddick dropped one place to sixth after finishing 17th. Denny Hamlin dropped out due to transaxle issues and dropped from a tie for third to seventh. Alex Bowman was fifth and moved up two positions to eighth. Joey Logano remained in ninth after finishing ninth.
Bubba Wallace dropped down to 10th after a penalty on pit road, then crashing out. Ross Chastain is still in 11th, while Chris Buescher is 12th. Chase Briscoe is still 13th after a fourth-place finish, followed by Austin Cindric. Ricky Stenhouse
Jr. is still in 15th after a 19th-place finish. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Stenhouse has a seven-point lead over Ryan Preece, who gained two spots after finishing seventh. Josh Berry and Kyle Busch are tied for 17th. Berry moved up from 24th after finishing a strong
sixth, while Busch dropped down after a 21st-place finish. John Hunter Nemechek is up to 19th, while Carson Hocevar slips three spots to 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 469, 2) William
Byron -35, 3) Christopher Bell -85, 4) Chase Elliott -91, 5) Ryan Blaney -107, 6) Tyler Reddick -112, 7) Denny Hamlin -123, 8) Alex Bowman -144, 9) Joey Logano -151, 10) Bubba Wallace
-159, 11) Ross Chastain -169, 12) Chris Buescher -185, 13) Chase Briscoe -191, 14) Austin Cindric -196, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -211, 16) Ryan Preece -218. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: t-17) Josh Berry -225. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 23, 2) Christopher Bell -7, 3) Denny Hamlin -11, 4) William Byron -15, t-5) Austin Cindric -16, t-5) Joey Logano
-16, 7) Josh Berry -17, t-8) Ryan Blaney -21, t-8) Bubba Wallace -21, 10) Ryan Preece -22. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 128, 2) Ryan Blaney -18, 3) William Byron -21, 4) Bubba Wallace -28, 5) Alex Bowman -45, 6) Austin Cindric -47, 7) Tyler Reddick -52, t-8) Joey
Logano -54, t-8) Chase Elliott -54, 10) Denny Hamlin -55, 11) Christopher Bell -66, 12) Carson Hocevar -78, 13) Josh Berry -79, 14) Ryan Preece -86, 15) AJ Allmendinger -93, t-16) Chris Buescher
-102, t-16) Brad Keselowski -102. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the
Playoffs: 18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -106, t-20) Ross Chastain -109, t-23) Chase Briscoe -112. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 394, 2) William Byron -11, 3) Christopher Bell -21, 4) Chase Elliott -38, 5) Tyler Reddick -62, 6) Ross Chastain -66, 7) Denny
Hamlin -69, 8) Chase Briscoe -81, 9) Chris Buescher -87, 10) Ryan Blaney -88, t-11) Joey Logano -97, t-11) Alex Bowman -97, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -110, 14) Kyle Busch -113, 15) John Hunter Nemechek
-118, 16) Austin Dillon -123. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Bubba Wallace -132, 21) Austin Cindric -136, t-23) Josh Berry -147. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 1755, 2) William Byron
-44, 3) Christopher Bell -84, 4) Chase Elliott -169, 5) Denny Hamlin -232, 6) Tyler Reddick -235, 7) Ross Chastain -249, 8) Chase Briscoe -292, 9) Ryan Blaney -294, 10) Chris Buescher -327, 11) Alex Bowman
-329, 12) Joey Logano -360, 13) Kyle Busch -405, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -411, 15) John Hunter Nemechek -431, 16) Bubba Wallace -452.
Outside of the top-16, but still in the
playoffs: 22) Josh Berry -502, 23) Austin Cindric -516. 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, Kansas), 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: Off-Week Update No. 1
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was off last weekend. They will return to action at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24. When they return to action Justin Allgaier will have a 51-point lead over Austin Hill. Sam Mayer is third in points,
then Jesse Love and Brandon Jones. As of now, Sheldon Creed in 11th is the last driver in the playoffs in points. He has an 11-point advantage over Daniel Dye in 13th. Taylor Gray is 14th, then Nick Sanchez and Dean Thompson. 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 Continues to Dominate
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim continues to run roughshod over the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field. He was the best regular Saturday night in Kansas, winning stage one and finishing third. As a result, he managed to increase his points lead up to 64 points
over Chandler Smith. Smith finished a disappointing 17th. Daniel Hemric is still in third after a 10th-place finish. Teammate Tyler Ankrum is 15 points behind Hemric in fourth. Grant Enfinger earned a race-high 45 points Saturday. That allowed him to move up one place to fifth. Enfinger jumped over Ty
Majeski, who finished 14th. Jake Garcia remains in seventh after a seventh-place finish. Kaden Honeycutt is up one place to eighth after finishing eighth. Layne Riggs finished second on the road, but got disqualified for issues with the bodywork covering the bed. That dropped him one place to ninth. Ben
Rhodes is the last driver in the playoffs on points in 10th. Rhodes has a nine-point lead over Stewart Friesen, who had a strong fifth-place finish. Gio Ruggiero and Rajah Caruth are tied for 12th. Ruggiero finished fourth, while Caruth ran well early before fading to 21st. Tanner Gray drops down to 14th,
while Matt Crafton and Jack Wood are 15th and 16th, respectively. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 412, 2) Chandler Smith -64, 3) Daniel Hemric -85, 4) Tyler
Ankrum -100, 5) Grant Enfinger -117, 6) Ty Majeski -127, 7) Jake Garcia -138, 8) Kaden Honeycutt -156, 9) Layne Riggs -164, 10) Ben Rhodes -167, 11) Stewart Friesen -176, t-12) Gio Ruggiero -192, t-12) Rajah Caruth
-192, 14) Tanner Gray -196, 15) Matt Crafton -210, 16) Jack Wood -226. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 21, t-2) Chandler Smith -15, t-2) Tyler Ankrum
-15, 4) Daniel Hemric -16, 5) Layne Riggs -19, t-6) Ty Majeski -20, t-6) Grant Enfinger -20, t-6) Ben Rhodes -20, t-6) Jack Wood -20, t-6) Matt Crafton -20, t-6) Bayley Currey -20.
Note: If they
were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar would be tied for second and Kyle Larson tied for sixth in Playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 114, 2) Chandler Smith -25, 3) Ty Majeski
-36, 4) Kaden Honeycutt -48, 5) Grant Enfinger -49, 6) Daniel Hemric -54, 7) Tyler Ankrum -61, 8) Ben Rhodes -69, 9) Stewart Friesen -70, 10) Layne Riggs -73, 11) Tanner Gray -76, 12) Jake Garcia
-79, t-13) Matt Crafton -87, t-13) Connor Mosack -87, 15) Jack Wood -93, 16) Rajah Caruth -94. 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 271, 2) Daniel Hemric -36, 3) Chandler Smith -42, 4) Tyler Ankrum -43, 5) Jake Garcia -65, 6) Grant Enfinger
-72, 7) Gio Ruggiero -96, t-8) Layne Riggs -97, t-8) Ty Majeski -97, t-10) Ben Rhodes -103, t-10) Rajah Caruth -103, 12) Kaden Honeycutt -112, 13) Stewart Friesen -113, 14) Tanner Gray -129, 15) Matt Crafton
-130, 16) Dawson Sutton -134. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1476, 2) Daniel Hemric -143, 3) Tyler Ankrum -156, 4) Chandler Smith -166, 5) Jake Garcia
-238, 6) Grant Enfinger -259, 7) Layne Riggs -345, 8) Gio Ruggiero -347, 9) Ty Majeski -351, 10) Rajah Caruth -359, 11) Ben Rhodes -370, 12) Stewart Friesen -395, 13) Kaden Honeycutt -411, 14) Tanner Gray
-454, 15) Matt Crafton -467, 16) Dawson Sutton -487. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas, Texas), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Homestead), Daniel Hemric (Martinsville), Chandler Smith (Bristol), Tyler Ankrum (Rockingham), Carson Hocevar
(Kansas) 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 AdventHealth 400 was brought to you by the letter C for Coronation. It seemed like everyone was just giving the win to Larson before the race even started Sunday. All he had to do was not blow
a right rear tire and he'd win. As it stands, he darn near did that anyway and still won. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: AdventHealth 400 by Phil Allaway
"Yeah, it was tough. I could get out to a good lead, and I could kind of manage my tires. But Chase [Elliott] was really good at the end of the long runs. We decided to take control of the race, and we kind of lost it a little bit there. We had some restarts work out in our favor, and that last run just played out well enough to get the win. I wasn’t very good again at
the end of the run, but I am just proud of my team and proud of this Hendrickcars.com Chevy team. It’s just been an awesome day. "It’s really cool to head to Indy as the point leader two years in a row in the Cup Series. It’s really tough to do, and it’s really cool for our team and our sport that the Cup Series point leader gets to run the Indianapolis
500. It’s awesome, and thanks again to these guys right here. I won’t get to celebrate with them tonight, but we will do a little celebrating here before we have to leave the track." - Kyle Larson, race winner "I don’t know. I didn’t feel like we were very good today. We qualified well, had good pit stops – never really had any issues to set us
back, but on the track, we were constantly going the wrong direction instead of going forward, but everyone fought hard on this Reser’s Camry and got us a good finish. I don’t know. I’m sure I will be a lot happier about it tomorrow and later in the week, but just didn’t feel like we were very good, and we were still right there, so I think that is a testament to how good this team is." - Christopher Bell, finished second "Overall good day. I think we were third in both stages and finished third and, honestly, we were kind of running those guys down quick there at the end the last handful of laps. I just kind of restarted too far back and had to make up a lot of ground. But really proud of the 12 boys today. Appreciate the Würth Group being on board for it, Menards, BodyArmor, DEX Imaging, everybody. Really good last couple weeks bringing
fast race cars. Hopefully we can continue to do that, keep learning and move forward, but overall a really good weekend." - Ryan Blaney, finished third "We just started in the back, so it made it tough to know what we needed. Even that first stage, we had a terrible pit stop during the green flag pit cycle and we came out about three-quarters of a
straightway behind[Kyle Larson] car and we were able to run him down and pass him and get back on the lead lap, then in the second stage, we kind just lost our magic, I felt like, and then finally the third stage, we kind of found it back and our car started going forward again and was able to go from 17th or 18th back up to fourth. I would have loved to have track position all day – that is the name of the game half of the time, but overall great Bass Pro Shops Toyota. We needed just a good
solid run like this, so that helps." - Chase Briscoe, finished fourth "[I wish that I didn't the car on the stage two restart. We were really good before that, and then we destroyed the race car – the toe’s knocked out of it and the body was killed. While it might not look destroyed and we still ran fifth, these things are just super sensitive. It’s a
bummer that happened. You just don’t get many race cars that are that good. We had one last weekend [at Texas Motor Speedway] and we didn’t capitalize on it. We had one at Bristol [Motor Speedway] and didn’t capitalize on it. Today, we ended up with a top-five, but I don’t feel like we capitalized on it.
"I’m frustrated on that side of things, but super proud of everyone at Hendrick
Motorsports. It’s not something we did or that the car did. Two guys under me decided to drive us straight into the fence. That’s Next Gen racing, though. The restarts get pretty crazy, and unfortunately, it just kind of hurt the rest of our day." - Alex Bowman, finished fifth "I think from the very beginning I was trying to settle in. Such a different
experience than my Truck Series regular style driving. Such a different approach with aero balance and trying to find clean air and trying to get grip. It is tough. We are at the top level, and I had to settle in. It has been about a year since I drove one of these things. First stage was messy to say the least. I went a lap down, but the team stuck with me and made really good adjustments, and we climbed back through the field all day. We kind of just made consistent steps forward. I’m super
proud of everyone at 23XI, Toyota – very thankful for Robinhood for coming on board. The Robin Neon looked great out there running top-15 at the end. Just proud of the consistent progress, and team definitely stuck with me in the first stage. It wasn’t pretty on my part, but grateful for everyone believing in me and grateful for the opportunity." - Corey Heim, finished 13th
"[Ty
Dillon] was on new tires and drove into the corner and wrecked [Cody Ware] and myself there. We were just in the wrong place there, but at the end of the day, it’s our fault. We shouldn’t be in those positions and in those situations. I thought our No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet had decent speed, but we never had a shot. We just fired off today very, very off balance. We were super, super tight. Eventually, we got it a little bit better, but our car was just off on balance. I feel like our
car had potential, but we just didn’t do a good job with our adjustments overnight." - Daniel Suarez, finished 34th (Crashed out) "Yeah, I think eventually just broke the transaxle trying to leave the stall there. Unfortunate for the Progressive Toyota team. Really fast again – just can’t keep it together right now." - Denny Hamlin, finished 36th
(Broken Transaxle) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of NASCAR Media via Jamie Squire of Getty Images.
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