Frontstretch Newsletter: May 15, 2025
Volume XIX,
Edition LXXIV |
- Practice for the Indianapolis 500 continues today with six hours of open practice. Coverage will start at Noon ET on FOX Sports 2. At 4 p.m. ET, the coverage will move to FOX Sports 1. - The race weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway begins today with the zMAX CARS Tour. Coverage
from North Wilkesboro will begin with CARS Tour qualifying for both divisions at 6 p.m. ET on FLORacing. The night will be capped off by the Reverend Sour Smash Whiskey 75 for the Pro Late Model
class. - NASCAR teams are putting final touches on their race cars and trucks before making the short haul to North Wilkesboro Speedway as of this writing. If anything of note breaks, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Chris Buescher & RFK Hit With 60-Point Penalty, Scott
Graves Suspended After Kansas NASCAR announced Thursday morning that Chris Buescher has been docked 60 points and crew chief Scott Graves has been suspended two races due to an L1-penalty for bumper reinforcement. |
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| Alex Palou Fastest in Wednesday Indianapolis 500
Practice In Day No. 2 of Indianapolis 500 practice, Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou was fastest in a rain-shortened session with a lap at 227.546 mph. |
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| Justin Allgaier Returns as Reserve Driver for Kyle
Larson Hendrick Motorsports announced Wednesday that Justin Allgaier has been tapped as Kyle Larson's reserve driver for North Wilkesboro and Charlotte for the second straight year as Larson attempts the Indianapolis-Charlotte double. |
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| Overplay Sponsoring ThorSport in 2 Truck
Races ThorSport Racing announced Wednesday that Overplay, a company with an app that can turn any video into a game, will sponsor a race each for Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes. |
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| Layne Riggs, UNC Charlotte Pair Up For 2-Race
Schedule Front Row Motorsports announced Wednesday that the University of North Carolina at Charlotte will serve as the primary sponsor for Layne Riggs in the next two Truck races. |
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| ARCA East Series Flat Rock Entry
List Saturday's 37.5-mile sprint for ARCA Menards Series East has a small entry list of 14 cars for Saturday's race at the quarter-mile "Level Pebble." |
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| Layne Riggs Withdrawing From CARS Tour Race at North
Wilkesboro Layne Riggs announced Wednesday that he will no longer compete in Friday night's Window World 100 for the zMAX CARS Tour's Late Model Stock division. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, James Black of Penske Entertainment and Nic Antaya of ARCA Racing. 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 14 |
- Wednesday night saw the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series travel to Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario for Night No. 1 of the Federated Auto Parts Showdown at Ohsweken. Here, there was a small chance for a surprise, but it was snuffed out quickly. Jordan Thomas started from the pole and led early. However, David Gravel was able to run him down and take the lead away on lap 12. From there, Gravel held on to take the win. Gravel won by 1.901 seconds over Sheldon Haudenschild. Carson Macedo was third, then Bill
Balog and Thomas. Through 22 races, Gravel's lead is now 158 points over Logan Schuchart. Buddy Kofoid is third, then Macedo and Haudenschild. - The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series races at
Fremont Speedway has been postponed due to weather. It will run (weather permitting) on
July 14. |
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Point Update Following Chris Buescher's Penalty
by Phil Allaway
Naturally, a 60-point penalty being levied on a driver in the playoffs will have a big effect. Today is no different. Chris Buescher was 12th in points prior to the L1-penalty being
assessed. He is now 24th and out of the playoffs. He's tied for 18th in the Old School points and 22nd in the WC points. The penalty moves Buescher's teammate Ryan Preece back into the playoffs on points. He is seven points ahead of Kyle Busch, who is tied for 16th with Las Vegas winner Josh
Berry. 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) Chase Briscoe -191, 13) Austin
Cindric -196, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -211, 15) Ryan Preece -218, t-16) Josh Berry -225, t-16) Kyle Busch -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) Ryan Blaney -88, t-10) Joey Logano -97, t-10) Alex Bowman -97, 12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-110, 13) Kyle Busch -113, 14) John Hunter Nemechek -118, 15) Austin Dillon -123, t-16) Michael McDowell -126, t-16) Zane Smith -126. Outside of the top 16, but still in
the playoffs: t-18) Bubba Wallace -132, 21) Austin Cindric -136, 22) Ryan Preece -137, 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) Alex Bowman -329, 11) Joey Logano -360, 12) Kyle Busch -405, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -411, 14) John Hunter Nemechek -431, 15) Bubba
Wallace -452, 16) Austin Dillon -456.
Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Ryan Preece -474, 21) 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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Frontstretch Line of the Week "It was amazing. Honestly, I was very young. I was 14 or 15 at the time. It was probably one of my happiest times. I had so much fun racing at Hickory. We had around 23 or 24 races a year. We were racing every Saturday night, basically. That’s why my family decided to move here [North Carolina]." - Pietro Fittipaldi on his days racing late models at Hickory Motor Speedway. |
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