Frontstretch Newsletter: May 26, 2025
Volume XIX,
Edition LXXXI |
- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams will be back in action tonight at Ohio's Atomic Speedway for the Chillicothe Classic. Coverage from Chillicothe will begin at 6:15 p.m. ET tonight on DirtVision. - NASCAR teams are back at their shops and preparing for a busy weekend at Nashville Superspeedway. Entry lists should be released today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for
you at Frontstretch. |
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| Worst to First: Ross Chastain Captures Coca-Cola 600
Victory Ross Chastain drove up from the rear in a backup car to take the lead with six laps to go Sunday night to win the Coca-Cola 600. William Byron was second, followed by Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski. |
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| William Byron Falls Short of Winning 2nd Crown Jewel of
Season William Byron dominated much of the Coca-Cola 600, leading 283 of 400 laps. However, he faded just enough in the final laps for Ross Chastain to run him and take the victory away. |
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| Fuel Can Mishap Takes Denny Hamlin Out of Coke 600
Contention Denny Hamlin was William Byron's primary competition for much of the race Sunday night. However, his team was unable to get fuel from the second can into the car, resulting in a second pit stop that dropped Hamlin to 16th at the
finish. |
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| Kyle Busch Back With RCR for
2026 Richard Childress Racing announced Saturday that Kyle Busch has signed a contract extension that will see him continue to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet in 2026. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR Lawsuit
This Week (May 17-23) Last week, the Front Row/23XI Racing case against NASCAR saw the Race Team Alliance file a brief to add their side of the story to the case. In addition, both sides are adding lawyers. |
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| RFK, Trimble Partner in Multi-Year Cup
Deal RFK Racing announced Friday that the team has a new multi-year sponsorship deal with Trimble. The company will serve as a primary sponsor on Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece's cars. |
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| A 600-Mile Ride of Freedom, Honor &
Remembrance Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 saw all 40 cars carry the name of a fallen soldier. |
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| Alex Palou Scores 1st Indy 500 Victory, Maiden Oval
Triumph Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou swept past Marcus Ericsson with 14 laps to go for the lead and held on from there to win the Indianapolis 500, his first oval victory and fifth of the year. Ericsson was second, then David Malukas, Patricio O'Ward and
Felix Rosenqvist. |
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| Indy 500 Crash Ends Kyle Larson’s 2nd Double Attempt
Early For Kyle Larson, Sunday's attempt at the Indianapolis-Charlotte double will be something to forget. On a lap 92 restart, an ill-timed downshift resulted in Larson crashing out of the race with Kyffin Simpson and Sting
Ray Robb. |
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| AJ Foyt Racing Longs for More After 1st Indy 500 Double
Top 10 in 25 Years For AJ Foyt Racing, Sunday was the most competitive Indianapolis 500 for the team in many years. David Malukas finished third, while Santino Ferrucci was seventh. |
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| Conor Daly Falters in Indy 500: ‘I Thought This Was the
Year’ In the middle sections of the Indianapolis 500, Conor Daly put himself into position to potentially win. However, an ill-handling car and a fuel conservation strategy dropped him to 10th. |
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| Helio Castroneves Plans To Return for Another Indy 500: ‘I
Will. I’ll Make It Happen’ Helio Castroneves had a quiet day Sunday in his 25th Indianapolis 500. He was able to drive up into the top 10 before settling for 13th. Despite that, he will be back for more in the future. |
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| William Byron Dominates Early, Overcomes Adversity to Win
Xfinity Series Race at Charlotte Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron led 71 laps Saturday, but had to recover from a pit road speeding penalty to win the BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Connor Zilisch was second, then Nick Sanchez, Justin Allgaier and Dean
Thompson. |
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| Pit Road Miscue Upends Justin Allgaier’s Shot at Charlotte
Xfinity Win Justin Allgaier led 103 laps Saturday and seemed on his way to victory until he missed a call to pit for tires under yellow late. He ultimately ended up finishing fourth. |
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| Connor Zilisch Returns to Form in 1st Race Back From
Talladega Crash Saturday marked Connor Zilisch's return to the driver's seat after his back injury at Talladega. He showed that he didn't lose anything as he ran up front most of the day before finishing second. |
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| Lando Norris Wins From the Pole in
Monaco McLaren's Lando Norris led from the pole Sunday in Monaco, but didn't take the lead for good until Max Verstappen pitted in the closing laps. From there, he held on to win the Grand Prix of Monaco. Charles Leclerc was second, then Oscar Piastri,
Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. |
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| Corey Heim Takes Both Stages, Wins at
Charlotte TRICON Garage's Corey Heim was dominant Friday night, leading 98 of 134 laps to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 for his fourth win of the year. Ross Chastain was second, followed by Kaden Honeycutt, Layne Riggs and Kyle
Busch. |
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| Niece Shines with First-Ever Triple Truck Top 10 at
Charlotte For Niece Motorsports, Friday night was one of the team's best-ever races. Ross Chastain finished second, Kaden Honeycutt was third and Matt Mills was seventh. |
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| Austin Green Wins 1st Career ARCA Race at
Charlotte Pinnacle Racing Group's Austin Green led 51 of 100 laps Friday evening to win the General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his first career ARCA win. Grant Enfinger was second, then Lavar Scott, William Sawalich and Andy
Jankowiak. |
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| Jake Bollman Wins Rain-Shortened ARCA West Race at
Colorado Bill McAnally Racing's Jake Bollman was declared the winner of Saturday night's ARCA Menards Series West Colorado 150 after heavy rains ended the race after 60 of 150 laps. Kyle Keller was second, then Trevor Huddleston, Eric Johnson Jr. and
Tanner Reif. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Logan Riely of Getty Images, Travis Hinkle, Chris Jones, Joe Skibinski, Karl Zemlin of Penske Entertainment, Clive Rose of Getty Images 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 23-25 |
- Joe Gibbs Racing announced Friday that Jack Perkins will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Portland International Raceway in August. He will drive the No. 19 Toyota with sponsorship from Shaw and Partners Financial Services.
Perkins is a second generation racer from Australia. His father, Larry, is a former Formula
1 racer from the 1970s and a legendary touring car racer/engineer, best known for winning the Bathurst 1000 six times (1982-1984, 1993, 1995, 1997). Jack Perkins' career in what is now the Repco Supercars Championship dates back to 2006. He has one career victory, Race No. 2 of the Castrol Edge Gold Coast 600 in 2015 with James Courtney.
These days, Perkins is racing part-time, primarily in the Dunlop Super2 Series, the primary support series to the Repco Supercars Championship. He is also a pit road on race broadcasts in Australia.
- After a schedule shuffle, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent Saturday night at Attica
Raceway Park. Here, Sheldon Haudenschild took the lead at the start and was dominant early on.
However, a restart saw Logan Schuchart took the lead away on lap 10. From then on, the duo went back and forth, fighting for the lead. On lap 25, Schuchart was able to dispatch of
Haudenschild for the final time. From there, he was able to hold on to take the win.
Schuchart won by .608 seconds over Haudenschild. Skylar Gee was third, then Giovanni Scelzi and Conner Morrell.
In the points, David Gravel continues to lead by 172 points over Schuchart. Buddy Kofoid is third, then Carson Macedo
and Haudenschild. - The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series spent the weekend at Port Royal Speedway for the Bob Weikert Memorial. It was supposed to be three nights of racing, but rains washed out Friday night's card. Night No. 2 Saturday saw Lance Dewease take the lead away from pole sitter Danny Dietrich at the start and lead early until a caution flew on lap 5. On the restart, Brent Marks took the inside line and was able to slide into the
lead. From there, Marks opened a small advantage over the veteran Dewease. That was enough of a gap for Marks to take the win by 1.255 seconds over Dewease. Ryan Smith was third, sweeping the podium for the Pennsylvania Posse. Justin Peck was fourth, then Logan Wagner.
Sunday night
was the finale at Port Royal. Aaron Reutzel started from pole and led to the lap 15 fuel stop. On the restart, Anthony Macri was able to take the lead briefly, but that was nullified when a flip for Zach Hampton brought out the red flag immediately afterwards. Scoring reverting to the previous lap gave Reutzel the lead back. From there, he was able to hold on to win the Bob
Weikert Memorial and a check for $100,000. Macri was second, then Dewease, Brad Sweet and David Gravel.
Through 15 races, Sweet continues to lead the standings by 32 points over Tyler Courtney. Brent Marks is third, then Rico Abreu and Reutzel. - The Super DIRTcar Series returned to
action Sunday night at Weedsport Speedway, the headquarters for DIRTcar Northeast. Alex Payne started from pole, but immediately lost the advantage to Felix Roy. However, Stewart Friesen was the star of the evening. Despite suffering a broken shock
in time trials, Friesen was able to earn the fifth starting spot for the 100-lap race. From there, he was able to move forward. Friesen was able to take the lead from Roy on lap 24, but lost the lead to Payne on lap 37. Payne looked good to win until he cut a tire as a caution came out on lap 74. That gave the lead back to Friesen, who held on to win the Heroes Remembered
100. Friesen won by 2.189 seconds over Mike Mahaney. Mat Williamson charged from 21st to finish third, while Payne charged back from his flat tire to finish fourth. Erick Rudolph was fifth. Alex Yankowski continues to lead the points by five over
Williamson. Rudolph is third, then Mahaney and Anthony Perrego. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Charlotte and Indianapolis last weekend. For more from Charlotte, 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: William Byron Wins 3 Stages, Retakes Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson entered Sunday with the points lead, but had a miserable day. He led 34 laps, then spun out of the lead. After getting back on the lead lap, he was eliminated in a crash. William Byron led a
race-high 283 laps and won the first three stages. While he came up short, he still scored 65 points. That was more than enough for him to retake the points lead. Byron has a 29-point lead over Larson. Christopher Bell finished eighth and stays in third. Chase Elliott is still in fourth after a sixth-place
finish. Tyler Reddick was a contender until he was busted for speeding on his final stop. He then nearly wrecked right in front of Byron and dropped to 26th. Despite that, he still moved up to fifth after scoring 24 stage points. Denny Hamlin's night was undermined by an extra stop for fuel. Despite that, he's up
one place to sixth. Ryan Blaney crashed out and dropped to seventh, while Ross Chastain's victory moved him up three spots to eighth. Joey Logano had a terrible race, spending most of it a lap down. He remains ninth in points after recovering to 17th. Alex Bowman crashed at the end
of stage one and limped to 29th, dropping two places to 10th. Chase Briscoe finished third and moved up to 11th. Bubba Wallace was collected in a crash and dropped to 12th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 11th and stays in 13th. Ryan Preece moved up one place to 14th after finishing
ninth. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Austin Cindric had a miserable night and dropped down to 15th, while Josh Berry has sole possession of 16th. Preece has a 13-point lead over AJ Allmendinger, who ran well all weekend and finished fourth, gaining eight positions in the
process. Kyle Busch is down to 18th, while Michael McDowell is 19th. John Hunter Nemechek is 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 499, 2) Kyle Larson
-29, 3) Christopher Bell -74, 4) Chase Elliott -84, 5) Tyler Reddick -107, 6) Denny Hamlin -109, 7) Ryan Blaney -136, 8) Ross Chastain -149, 9) Joey Logano -161, 10) Alex Bowman
-166, 11) Chase Briscoe -185, 12) Bubba Wallace -187, 13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -215, 14) Ryan Preece -219, 15) Austin Cindric -220, 16) Josh Berry -230. 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 -12, t-5) Austin Cindric -16, t-5) Joey Logano -16, 7) Josh Berry -17, 8) Ross Chastain -18, t-9) Ryan Blaney -21, t-9) Bubba Wallace -21, 11) Ryan Preece -22. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 137, 2) Kyle Larson -9, 3) Ryan Blaney -27, t-4) Bubba
Wallace -37, t-4) Tyler Reddick -37, 6) Denny Hamlin -42, 7) Alex Bowman -54, 8) Austin Cindric -56, 9) Chase Elliott -57, t-10) Christopher Bell -63, t-10) Joey Logano -63, 12) Carson Hocevar
-72, 13) AJ Allmendinger -86, 14) Josh Berry -88, 15) Ryan Preece -94, t-16) Chris Buescher -106. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona.
Outside of the top 16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Ross Chastain -108, 19) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -115, 24) Chase Briscoe -119. Note: The Stage
Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 424, 2) Christopher Bell -17, 3) Kyle Larson -25, 4) Chase Elliott
-32, 5) Ross Chastain -52, 6) Chase Briscoe -72, 7) Denny Hamlin -73, 8) Tyler Reddick -76, 9) Joey Logano -103, 10) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -110, t-11) Alex Bowman -115, t-11) Ryan Blaney -115, 13) Kyle
Busch -117, 14) Michael McDowell -122, 15) Austin Dillon -132, t-16) John Hunter Nemechek -134. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Ryan Preece -135, 20) Josh Berry
-148, t-22) Austin Cindric -156, t-22) Bubba Wallace -156. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) William Byron 1891, 2) Christopher Bell -73, 3) Kyle Larson -79, 4) Chase Elliott -150, 5) Ross Chastain -205, 6) Denny Hamlin
-248, 7) Chase Briscoe -258, 8) Tyler Reddick -281, 9) Ryan Blaney -381, 10) Joey Logano -384, 11) Alex Bowman -389, 12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -417, 13) Kyle Busch -423, 14) Michael McDowell -451, 15) Ryan Preece
-472, 16) John Hunter Nemechek -486. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Josh Berry -511, 20) Bubba Wallace -530, t-28) Austin Cindric -582. 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: Justin Allgaier Continues To Expand Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier led a race-high 103 laps Saturday. However, William Byron was able to get past with two laps to go. Allgaier ultimately finished fourth, but it was more than enough to expand his lead. The points lead is back up to 72 points, more than a full race over
Austin Hill, who finished seventh. Sam Mayer is still in third after an 11th-place finish. Jesse Love is fourth after finishing 12th. Brandon Jones is still in fifth after a disappointing run to 19th. Connor ZIlisch is up six positions to sixth after finishing second. Ryan Sieg is up one place to seventh after a
14th-place finish. Carson Kvapil is down two positions to eighth after finishing 17th. Jeb Burton is down two places to ninth after finishing 20th. Sheldon Creed is up one place to 10th, while Harrison Burton is down one place to 11th. He is the final driver in the playoffs on points. Harrison is three points ahead of
Nick Sanchez, who gained three places after finishing third. Sammy Smith finished fifth on the road, but failed to make weight after the race Saturday. The disqualification meant that Smith drops from ninth to 13th. Taylor Gray is 14th, then Daniel Dye and Dean Thompson. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 522, 2) Austin Hill -72, 3) Sam Mayer -93, 4) Jesse Love -119, 5) Brandon Jones -170, 6) Connor Zilisch
-171, 7) Ryan Sieg -173, 8) Carson Kvapil -177, 9) Jeb Burton -179, 10) Sheldon Creed -189, 11) Harrison Burton -199, 12) Nick Sanchez -202, 13) Sammy Smith -209, 14) Taylor Gray -219, 15) Daniel Dye
-223, 16) Dean Thompson -241. 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, William Byron fourth
and Alex Bowman tied for 11th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 158, 2) Austin Hill -61, t-3) Connor Zilisch -69, t-3) Sam Mayer -69, t-5) Jesse Love
-84, t-5) Sammy Smith -84, 7) Sheldon Creed -88, 8) Nick Sanchez -92, 9) Carson Kvapil -96, t-10) Ryan Sieg -97, t-10) Aric Almirola -97, 12) Brandon Jones -100, 13) Jeb Burton -109, 14) Taylor Gray
-112, 15) Harrison Burton -125, t-16) Christian Eckes -128, t-16) Anthony Alfredo -128. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be 15th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 425, 2) Austin Hill -15, 3) Sam Mayer -29, 4) Jesse Love -37, 5) Brandon Jones -76, 6) Jeb Burton -77, 7) Harrison Burton
-79, 8) Ryan Sieg -82, 9) Carson Kvapil -87, 10) Daniel Dye -91, 11) Connor Zilisch -107, 12) Sheldon Creed -108, 13) Dean Thompson -113, 14) Taylor Gray -114, 15) Nick Sanchez
-116, 16) Sammy Smith -118. WC Points (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 1908, 2) Austin Hill -75, 3) Sam Mayer -130, 4) Jesse Love -163, 5) Brandon Jones
-296, 6) Harrison Burton -314, 7) Jeb Burton -318, 8) Ryan Sieg -328, 9) Carson Kvapil -336, 10) Daniel Dye -371, 11) Sheldon Creed -395, 12) Taylor Gray -409, 13) Connor Zilisch -428, 14) Nick Sanchez
-430, 15) Dean Thompson -434, 16) Sammy Smith -469. 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), William Byron (Charlotte) 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's Lead Reaches Triple Digits
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim dominated Friday night, leading 98 of 134 laps and scoring a perfect 61 points while claiming his fourth win of the year. That victory, combined with a number of other contenders having bad nights, allowed for Heim's points lead to expand substantially.
Heim's points
lead is now 100 points over Chandler Smith, who was eliminated in a crash and finished 34th. Daniel Hemric finished eighth and stays in third. Tyler Ankrum finished 12th, but struggled most of the night to stay in fourth.
Grant Enfinger finished sixth and stays in fifth. Layne Riggs is up two
places to sixth after a fourth-place finish. Kaden Honeycutt finished third and moved up to seventh, while Jake Garcia slipped to eighth after an 11th-place finish. Ty Majeski was caught up in the same wreck that eliminated Smith and ended up 32nd, dropping him three spots to ninth. Stewart Friesen finished 13th
and remains in 10th, the last driver in the playoffs on points. Friesen has a seven-point lead over Gio Ruggiero, who started from pole, but finished in 21st. Ben Rhodes had a terrible weekend, never factoring into the outcome and finishing 17th, which dropped him to 12th. Rajah Caruth stays in 13th after finishing ninth, followed by Tanner
Gray and Matt Crafton. Matt Mills finished seventh and moved up to 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 511, 2) Chandler Smith -100, 3) Daniel Hemric
-110, 4) Tyler Ankrum -129, 5) Grant Enfinger -140, 6) Layne Riggs -169, 7) Kaden Honeycutt -176, 8) Jake Garcia -179, 9) Ty Majeski -184, 10) Stewart Friesen -220, 11) Gio Ruggiero -227, 12) Ben
Rhodes -230, 13) Rajah Caruth -237, 14) Tanner Gray -258, 15) Matt Crafton -273, 16) Matt Mills -295.
Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 28, 2) Chandler Smith
-17, 3) Tyler Ankrum -22, 4) Daniel Hemric -23, t-5) Grant Enfinger -26, t-5) Layne Riggs -26, t-7) Ty Majeski -27, t-7) Ben Rhodes -27, t-7) Gio Ruggiero -27, t-7) Jack Wood -27, t-7) Matt Crafton -27, t-7)
Bayley Currey -27. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar would be tied for third and Kyle Larson tied for sixth in Playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Corey
Heim 152, 2) Chandler Smith -44, 3) Ty Majeski -68, 4) Kaden Honeycutt -70, 5) Grant Enfinger -74, 6) Daniel Hemric -80, 7) Layne Riggs -85, 8) Tyler Ankrum -88, 9) Stewart Friesen -100, 10) Ben Rhodes
-105, 11) Jake Garcia -110, 12) Tanner Gray -114, 13) Gio Ruggiero -123, t-14) Matt Crafton -125, t-14) Connor Mosack -125, 16) Rajah Caruth -128. Note: If he were eligible
for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Kyle Larson would be 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 326, 2) Daniel Hemric -37, 3) Tyler Ankrum -47, 4) Chandler Smith
-60, 5) Grant Enfinger -71, 6) Jake Garcia -77, 7) Layne Riggs -92, t-8) Kaden Honeycutt -111, t-8) Gio Ruggiero -111, 10) Rajah Caruth -115, 11) Ty Majeski -124, 12) Stewart Friesen -128, 13) Ben Rhodes
-132, 14) Tanner Gray -155, 15) Matt Crafton -157, 16) Matt Mills -163. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1783, 2) Daniel Hemric -148, 3) Tyler Ankrum
-171, 4) Chandler Smith -232, 5) Grant Enfinger -256, 6) Jake Garcia -288, 7) Layne Riggs -322, 8) Gio Ruggiero -398, 9) Rajah Caruth -405, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -406, 11) Ty Majeski -441, 12) Stewart Friesen
-452, 13) Ben Rhodes -471, 14) Tanner Gray -546, 15) Matt Crafton -562, 16) Matt Mills -584. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas, Texas, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Larson
(Homestead), Daniel Hemric (Martinsville), Chandler Smith (Bristol, North Wilkesboro), 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 night's Coca-Cola 600 was brought to you by the letter C for Competitive. The 34 lead changes were the most in the race since 2014 and the racing for position was entertaining. It was possible to
move up the order, seeing as two of the best drivers actually started on the back row. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Coca-Cola 600 compiled by Phil Allaway
"They built a whole new car. They were there when I left the broadcast yesterday, and I drove straight to the shop and sat in this car. It was just a chassis and a body, no wrap. Three-quarters of the suspension was on it. They were on the Hawkeye, and they were just trying to piece it together because the other one was destroyed. So, it took us the entire race —
590-something miles, to get to the lead.
"Holy cow, we just won the Coca-Cola 600. For our No. 1 Jockey Chevy team, for Busch Light, Acceptance Insurance, Wendy’s, the Moose; it’s so cool to do it on Memorial Day. This race is so big.. the Coca-Cola 600. To think about what this weekend means, I drive for a veteran owner in the Truck Series, Al Niece, and he tells me stories. He tells
me some, but he doesn't tell me all. We were in Texas sitting around the campfire and he talks about how proud he is of this country and how he served. I know how proud so many of our service men and woman are, and the ones that didn’t get to come home and paid the ultimate sacrifice, we raced for them this weekend and it’s because of them that we get to race. We get to race the Coca-Cola 600 and we just won it!" - Ross Chastain, race winner "Well, I was just defending. [Ross Chastain] was catching me, and I was trying to just defend. I was getting a little bit tight. Then the scenario there with the cars we were around, it was tough. So, yeah, he got a run on me and was able to get to the bottom and clear me off of [turn 2]. "Disappointing just to lead that many laps, but such a great effort by the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet team. I guess I just could have anticipated that last run a little better. I ran in dirty air for a long time and heated my tires up. Then we lost a chunk of time, and [Tyler Reddick] about crashed in front of us. We'll just keep going and keep trying to put races together like that." - William Byron, finished second "Yeah, on paper, [I] started first and finished third, but there is a lot more to the story. We made it a lot harder 600 miles than we probably needed too. We just had that penalty early and it kind of put us behind. When you start from the front, you kind of set your car up for clean air, we didn’t anticipate 37th. It just took us forever to just slowly creep up on it. We were kind
of out of adjustments. So overall, we were probably a third-place car, realistically – just wish we could have got some stage points in our Bass Pro Shops Toyota. Overall, a good finish, I wouldn’t say it was a great night. Honestly, that is just been how our season has gone – we’ve gotten really good finishes, but we’ve not just had very good day. So, hopefully, we can put one of those all the way together here soon." - Chase Briscoe, finished third "The No. 16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet was good all night. We ran inside the top-five, top-six through most of the race. We needed a little bit more to get to the next level, but I’m super proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing. We had a tough three weeks there, but it’s great to come back and show up with a lot of speed. I told Sgt. Nicole Gee that’s on the side of our race
car, I told her family I was going to do everything I could to try to get them in victory lane. It was close! It meant a lot to be able to meet her family. We know what this day is truly about, so I’m proud I could give her a great ride. Almost got all of us to victory lane." - AJ Allmendinger, finished fourth "We had a really good car. We
got mixed up in some of the different stuff in the midpoint of the race and just clawed our way out. I feel like if we could have got to the lead, we could have won the race. I wish it was a 700 mile race." - Brad Keselowski, finished fifth "Honestly, it felt like we were really good. We were really good compared to the competition the first 200
[laps], but I’ve got to figure out how to qualify better because we had a terrible pit selection with just the situation we were in. We kept going to 12th and then would drop to 28th and then drive forward again. Once we got there and the night cooled things off, I just got too loose for how good I was early and that was the difference. Ultimately, I’m happy with a ninth and we’re gonna continue on." - Ryan Preece, finished ninth "I mean, they are the pros. I’m not a pit guy, but I tried to do everything I could for the National Debt Relief Toyota team. We had a great car, and it was fun battling up front. It was a heck of a battle there. I would have liked to see it through, but unfortunately, just didn’t get enough gas in it and had to come back in." - Denny Hamlin, finished
16th "I don’t know. I saw smoke and I tried to get left through the infield and I just didn’t get far enough left. I got tagged and it ended our night. Just a bummer of a day all around. I just got super loose into turn three out of nowhere early in the race. I caught the wall and got some toe damage. I thought the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team did
a great job in getting us back to where we were somewhat comfortable there the last 200 laps. We just needed to kind of chip away at it and I thought we could still end up OK. "Just not the day that I wanted, but huge thanks to Rick and Linda Hendrick, all of Hendrick Motorsports, Arrow McLaren, Chevrolet, everybody involved in making the day memorable. It’s
just unfortunate, but hopefully we can run it back someday." - Kyle Larson, finished 37th (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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![William Byron 2nd in Coca-Cola 600, Says He "Didn't Know What [Joey Logano] Was Doing" in Final Laps](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/613030de51e94f1c9fcee1122ac0618d.png)
