Frontstretch Newsletter: June 2, 2025
Volume XIX,
Edition LXXXVI |
- The Super DIRTCar Series will be back in action tonight at Pennsylvania's Big Diamond Speedway for the Anthracite Assault. Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET tonight on DirtVision. - NASCAR teams are back at their shops and preparing for a busy weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Entry lists should be released today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else breaks for
you at Frontstretch. |
|
| Ryan Blaney Wins Cracker Barrel 400 at
Nashville Ryan Blaney led 139 of 300 laps Sunday night to win the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Carson Hocevar was second, then Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and William Byron. |
|
| Carson Hocevar Equals Career-Best Cup Series Finish After
Run-In With Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar had a career night Sunday night in Nashville as he steered his Chevrolet to a second-place finish while angering some in the process. |
|
| Kyle Larson’s Wild Nashville Night: Two Near Crashes, One
Gritty Top-10 Finish Kyle Larson had a topsy-turvy evening in Nashville. He started badly, dropped to 37th, avoided incidents and dealt with a loose wheel before driving up to an eighth-place finish. |
|
| Justin Allgaier Scores Nashville Xfinity Victory In
Dominant Fashion JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier led 101 of 188 laps Saturday night to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Tennessee Lottery 250, his third win of the year. Connor Zliisch was second, then Sam Mayer, Sheldon Creed and Ross Chastain. |
|
| Clean Air Was King for Connor Zilisch at
Nashville Connor Zilisch claimed his second straight second-place finish Saturday night, but believes that he could have won the race had he been able to keep his Chevrolet in clean air. |
|
| Rajah Caruth Claims 2nd Career Truck Win in
Nashville Rajah Caruth won the race off of pit road with 51 laps to go, then held off Corey Heim and Layne Riggs to win the Rackley Roofing 200 for his first win in over a year. Daniel Hemric was fourth, while Corey Day was fifth. |
|
| ‘I’m Not Usually This Happy to Finish 5th’: Corey Day
Earns First Career NASCAR Top 5 Corey Day's transition to NASCAR has been a struggle at times. Friday night in Nashville was probably his best race to date as he ran well all night and scored a fifth-place finish. |
|
| Kyle Kirkwood Is IndyCar’s ‘King of Street Racing’ With
Detroit Win Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood took the lead away from Santino Ferrucci with 22 laps to go Sunday, then held on with a flapping front wing to win the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Ferrucci was second, then Colton Herta, Will Power and Kyffin
Simpson. |
|
| Kyffin Simpson Scores 1st IndyCar Top-5 Finish at Chaotic
Detroit Grand Prix For Kyffin Simpson, a stroke of luck got him to the front Sunday in Detroit. An early final stop meant that he had already pitted when Callum Ilott crashed. He was able to take advantage of that to finish a career-best fifth. |
|
| Oscar Piastri Wins Another Lights-To-Flag Victory at the
Spanish GP McLaren's Oscar Piastri led flag-to-flag Sunday to win the Grand Prix of Spain for his fifth win of the season. Lando Norris was second, then Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Nico Hulkenberg. |
|
| Lance Stroll Out of Barcelona F1 Race With Wrist
Pain Sunday's Grand Prix of Spain had only 19 cars on the grid. Aston Martin announced Saturday night that Lance Stroll was out of the race due to a wrist injury. |
|
| Meyer Shank Racing Scores Detroit IMSA
Victory Renger van der Zande took the lead away from Ricky Taylor with four laps to go Saturday. From there, he held on to win the IMSA Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic with teammate Nick Yelloly. |
|
| Chase Burrow Wins CARS Tour Race at Langley as Tempers
Boil Chase Burrow took the lead from Connor Hall with 28 laps to go Saturday night, then held on to win the zMAX CARS Tour Visit Hampton VA 125. Jared Fryar was second, then Matt Waltz, Tristan McKee and Chad McCumbee. |
Photos are courtesy of Joe Skibinski of Penske Entertainment, IMSA, Zac Mauger of LAT Images, and our own Chase Folsom and 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 30-June 1 |
- Friday night saw the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series race at River Cities Speedway near Grand Forks, N.D. Here, the 40-lap race was a duel between David Gravel and Buddy Kofoid. Gravel took the inside lane, while Kofoid rode the cushion.
Kofoid used the cushion to snatch the
lead away on lap 6. The rest of the race was a mix of battles and caution flags that pre-empted a potential move for the lead from Gravel. Ultimately, Kofoid was able to hold on to win the Gerdau Metals Recycling presents the Don Mack Classic.
Kofoid won by .303 seconds over Gravel. Donny Schatz was third, then Giovanni Scelzi and Logan Schuchart.
Saturday night saw the tour move to Red River Valley Speedway for the Ellingson presents the Rumble on the Red. Here, Sheldon Haudenschild started second and used the cushion to sweep around pole sitter Schatz on the first lap. From there, he led every lap en route to victory.
Haudenschild won by 1.087 seconds over Gravel. Schatz was third, then Carson Macedo and Scelzi.
Through 27 races, Gravel now has a 188-point lead over Kofoid. Schuchart is third, then Macedo and Haudenschild.
- The Kubota High Limit Sprint
Car Series was supposed to have two races last weekend. However, Friday night's Driven2SaveLives Battle at the Burg at Lawrenceburg Speedway was postponed due to rain. It has been rescheduled for Sept. 17. Saturday night saw the series move up to Butler Motor Speedway in Michigan for the Mace Thomas Classic. Here, Justin Peck won the FK Rod Ends Dash to score
the pole for the feature, then opened a small lead on the pack in the feature. Lapped traffic allowed Brad Sweet to re-enter the picture and take the lead on lap 25. The duo swapped the spot multiple times before Peck took the lead definitively a couple of laps later. From there, Peck held off a charging Aaron Reutzel for the win. Peck won by .588 seconds over Reutzel. Sweet was third at the line, but failed to report to the scales to be weighed. That is one of the few ways that you can get disqualified from a 410 sprint car race. Sweet's disqualification meant that Rico Abreu was credited with third, followed by Tanner Thorson and Tyler Courtney. Sweet's DQ means that Courtney now takes over the points lead. His advantage is six points over Sweet. Abreu is third, then Brent Marks and Reutzel. - Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Matt Tifft announced his acquisition of Mansfield Motorsports Park Sunday. The half-mile oval hosted NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races from 2004-2008, then was converted to dirt and hosted big money
late model races.
Details are scant regarding what Tifft and his partners plan to do with the property, other than an intention to "bring it back." More information will be announced at a later date.
|
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Nashville, Detroit and Hampton last weekend. For more from Nashville, Detroit, Hampton, 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 Expands Advantage With Solid Nashville Run
by Phil Allaway
William Byron had a strong night in Tennessee, scoring 16 stage points and finishing fifth. That allowed him to expand his advantage. Byron's lead is now 48 points over teammate Kyle Larson,
who recovered from a loose wheel and a bad qualifying effort to finish eighth. Christopher Bell stays in third after finishing 10th. Denny Hamlin is up two places to fourth after finishing third. Chase Elliott is down to fifth after a very quiet run to 15th. Tyler Reddick is down one place to
sixth after cutting a tire early, then recovering to ninth. Ryan Blaney scored his first win of the year Sunday, but roughly stood pat in seventh. Joey Logano is up one place to eighth after a fourth-place finish. Ross Chastain dropped one place to ninth after finishing 11th. Bubba Wallace moved
up two places to 10th after finishing sixth. Chase Briscoe is still 11th after a 17th-place finish. Alex Bowman crashed early on and limped to a 36th-place finish, 112 laps down. He dropped to 12th as a result. Austin Cindric is up two places to 13th after taking advantage of pit strategy to score stage points.
Chris Buescher benefited greatly from his penalty from Kansas being reduced. A 14th-place finish Sunday night meant that instead of being tied for 20th, he's now back in the playoffs in 14th. Kyle Busch finished 12th and moved up three places to 15th. He is now the last driver in the playoffs on points. Busch has a two-point
lead over Ryan Preece, who spun and hit the wall on lap 194 and finished 28th. Carson Hocevar's second-place finish moved him up five places to 17th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. crashed out early after contact from Hocevar and dropped five places to 18th. AJ Allmendinger is down two spots to 19th, while Josh Berry and Michael McDowell are tied for 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 547, 2) Kyle Larson -48, 3) Christopher Bell -88, 4) Denny Hamlin -104, 5) Chase
Elliott -105, 6) Tyler Reddick -118, 7) Ryan Blaney -130, 8) Joey Logano -167, 9) Ross Chastain -170, 10) Bubba Wallace -204, 11) Chase Briscoe -205, 12) Alex Bowman -213, 13) Austin Cindric
-244, 14) Chris Buescher -250, 15) Kyle Busch -256, 16) Ryan Preece -258. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: t-20) Josh Berry -269. 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 -10, 4) William Byron -12, 5) Ryan Blaney -15, t-6) Austin Cindric -16, t-6) Joey Logano -16, 8) Josh Berry -17, 9) Ross Chastain -18, 10) Bubba Wallace
-21, 11) Ryan Preece -22. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 153, 2) Kyle Larson
-25, 3) Ryan Blaney -29, 4) Denny Hamlin -40, 5) Tyler Reddick -44, 6) Bubba Wallace -53, 7) Austin Cindric -67, 8) Chase Elliott -68, t-9) Joey Logano -70, t-9) Alex Bowman
-70, 11) Christopher Bell -72, 12) Carson Hocevar -84, t-13) Josh Berry -102, t-13) AJ Allmendinger -102, 15) Ryan Preece -110, 16) Chris Buescher -122.
Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the Playoffs: 17) Ross Chastain -123, t-18) Chase Briscoe -127, 25) Kyle Busch -136. Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 461, 2) Christopher Bell
-23, 3) Kyle Larson -29, 4) Chase Elliott -43, 5) Ross Chastain -59, 6) Denny Hamlin -71, 7) Tyler Reddick -80, 8) Chase Briscoe -84, 9) Joey Logano -102, 10) Ryan Blaney
-107, 11) Kyle Busch -125, 12) Chris Buescher -131, 13) Michael McDowell -139, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -145, 15) Alex Bowman -147, 16) Austin Dillon -156. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: t-18) Bubba Wallace -158, 22) Austin Cindric -169, 24) Josh Berry -174. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were
created. WC Points (1-16): 1) William Byron 2051, 2) Kyle Larson -97, 3) Christopher Bell -99, 4) Chase Elliott -192, 5) Ross Chastain
-235, 6) Denny Hamlin -238, 7) Tyler Reddick -298, 8) Chase Briscoe -301, 9) Ryan Blaney -356, 10) Joey Logano -379, 11) Kyle Busch -456, 12) Alex Bowman -494, 13) Chris
Buescher -498, 14) Michael McDowell -511, 15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -531, 16) Bubba Wallace -540. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 22) Josh Berry -598, t-25) Austin Cindric
-628. 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), Joey Logano (Texas), Ross Chastain (Charlotte), Ryan Blaney (Nashville)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs: Justin Allgaier's Perfect Night Expands His Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier had a perfect haul in Nashville, sweeping the stages, winning the race and clocking the fastest lap of the race. The 61-point haul helped his cause. Allgaier has increased his points lead to 92 points, more than a race and a half more than Austin
Hill, who finished seventh. Sam Mayer finished third and stays in third. Jesse Love is fourth. Connor Zilisch moves up one place to fifth after his second straight second-place finish. Sheldon Creed moved up four positions to sixth after finishing fourth. Carson Kvapil is up one place to seventh after a
ninth-place finish. Brandon Jones got caught up in a restart crash and finished 13th. That dropped him three places to eighth. Jeb Burton and Ryan Sieg are tied for ninth. Jeb was 15th, while Sieg was 21st. Harrison Burton finished 12th to keep himself in 11th, the last driver in the playoffs on points. Harrison has a five-point
lead over Nick Sanchez, who finished 14th. Sammy Smith remains in 13th after a quiet run to 10th. Taylor Gray is still 14th, but lost a bunch of ground with an engine issue in the final couple of laps. Daniel Dye ran well all night, but failed the height sticks after the race. He stays in 15th, but loses a bunch of ground. Dean Thompson is
16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 583, 2) Austin Hill -92, 3) Sam Mayer -110, 4) Jesse Love -151, 5) Connor Zilisch -188, 6) Sheldon Creed
-202, 7) Carson Kvapil -203, 8) Brandon Jones -204, t-9) Jeb Burton -218, t-9) Ryan Sieg -218, 11) Harrison Burton -235, 12) Nick Sanchez -240, 13) Sammy Smith -243, 14) Taylor Gray -267, 15) Daniel
Dye -283, 16) Dean Thompson -298. Playoff Points: t-1) Austin Hill 21, t-1) Justin Allgaier 21, 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 178, 2) Austin Hill -70, 3) Sam Mayer -79, 4) Connor Zilisch -80, 5) Sheldon Creed -93, t-6) Sammy Smith
-104, t-6) Jesse Love -104, 8) Aric Almirola -108, 9) Carson Kvapil -109, 10) Nick Sanchez -112, t-11) Brandon Jones -117, t-11) Ryan Sieg -117, 13) Jeb Burton -129, 14) Taylor Gray -131, 15) Harrison
Burton -145, 16) Christian Eckes -146. 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
470, 2) Austin Hill -26, 3) Sam Mayer -36, 4) Jesse Love -49, 5) Brandon Jones -92, 6) Harrison Burton -95, 7) Jeb Burton -96, 8) Carson Kvapil -100, 9) Ryan Sieg -107, 10) Connor
Zilisch -112, 11) Sheldon Creed -115, 12) Sammy Smith -132, 13) Daniel Dye -133, 14) Nick Sanchez -134, 15) Taylor Gray -143, 16) Dean Thompson -150. WC
Points (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 2093, 2) Austin Hill -114, 3) Sam Mayer -150, 4) Jesse Love -206, 5) Brandon Jones -352, 6) Harrison Burton -372, 7) Carson Kvapil -383, 8) Jeb Burton -385, 9) Ryan Sieg
-413, 10) Sheldon Creed -415, 11) Connor Zilisch -438, 12) Nick Sanchez -494, 13) Taylor Gray -506, 14) Daniel Dye -507, 15) Sammy Smith -520, 16) Dean Thompson -555. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona), Austin Hill (Atlanta, Martinsville, Talladega), Connor Zilisch (COTA), Aric Almirola (Phoenix), Justin Allgaier (Las Vegas, Homestead, Nashville), 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.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs: Corey Heim's Lead Reaches 2 Full Races
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim had another excellent night, winning a stage and finishing second. That allowed him to expand his lead again. His advantage is now 122 points, more than two full races over Daniel Hemric, who moved up one place to second after finishing fourth.
Chandler Smith struggled for most of the night before finishing seventh with no stage points to Heim's 19. Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger are tied for fourth (Ankrum wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his victory earlier this year. Ankrum finished 17th, while Enfinger was 10th. Layne RIggs remains in sixth after posting a
third-place finish. Kaden Honeycutt is seventh after a sixth-place finish, while Jake Garcia remains in eighth. Ty Majeski finished eighth and stays in ninth. He is now the last driver in the playoffs on points. Rajah Caruth's victory moved him up three positions to 10th. Majeski has a 48-point lead over Gio Ruggiero in 11th with six races remaining in the regular season. Stewart Friesen is down two places to 12th after a 21st-place finish. Ben Rhodes is down to 13th, followed by Tanner Gray and Matt Crafton. Jack Wood is back up to 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 566, 2) Daniel Hemric -122, 3) Chandler Smith -125, t-4) Tyler Ankrum -160, t-4) Grant Enfinger -160, 6) Layne Riggs -171, 7) Kaden Honeycutt
-188, 8) Jake Garcia -207, 9) Ty Majeski -210, 10) Rajah Caruth -236, 11) Gio Ruggiero -258, 12) Stewart Friesen -259, 13) Ben Rhodes -261, 14) Tanner Gray -292, 15) Matt Crafton -316, 16) Jack Wood
-334. Playoff Points: 1) Corey Heim 29, 2) Chandler Smith -18, 3) Tyler Ankrum -23, t-4) Daniel Hemric -24, t-4) Rajah Caruth -24, 6) Layne Riggs -26, 7) Grant Enfinger
-27, t-8) Ty Majeski -28, t-8) Ben Rhodes -28, t-8) Gio Ruggiero -28, t-8) Jack Wood -28, t-8) Matt Crafton -28, t-8) Bayley Currey -28. 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 171, 2) Chandler Smith -63, 3) Kaden Honeycutt -77, t-4) Grant Enfinger -85, t-4) Layne
Riggs -85, 6) Ty Majeski -87, 7) Daniel Hemric -89, 8) Tyler Ankrum -103, 9) Stewart Friesen -119, 10) Ben Rhodes -123, 11) Jake Garcia -127, 12) Rajah Caruth -131, 13) Tanner Gray -133, 14) Gio Ruggiero
-142, t-15) Matt Crafton -144, t-15) Connor Mosack -144. 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 358, 2) Daniel Hemric -40, 3) Tyler Ankrum -63, 4) Chandler Smith -66, 5) Grant Enfinger -80, 6) Jake Garcia -88, 7) Layne Riggs -93, 8) Rajah Caruth -110, 9) Kaden
Honeycutt -116, 10) Gio Ruggiero -123, 11) Ty Majeski -131, 12) Ben Rhodes -145, 13) Stewart Friesen -148, 14) Tanner Gray -170, 15) Matt Crafton -181, 16) Matt Mills -184. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1958, 2) Daniel Hemric -163, 3) Tyler Ankrum -234, 4) Chandler Smith -261, 5) Grant Enfinger -297, 6) Layne Riggs -327, 7) Jake Garcia -336, 8) Rajah Caruth
-395, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -431, 10) Gio Ruggiero -449, 11) Ty Majeski -474, 12) Ben Rhodes -525, 13) Stewart Friesen -527, 14) Tanner Gray -606, 15) Matt Crafton -649, 16) Matt Mills -662. 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), Rajah Caruth (Nashville) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of our own Danny Peters.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday night's Cracker Barrel 400 was brought to you by the letter N for Narrowing Groove. The race being held in cooler weather this year led to the race more or less moving to the low line
as the race went on, making it less competitive as it continued on. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Cracker Barrel 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"I never gave up hope, that’s for sure. We’ve had great speed all year, just hasn’t been the best year for us as far as good fortune. The 12 boys are awesome; they stick with it no matter how it goes, and it was great to finish one out tonight. "I thought [the two-tire
stop] was a good call. We drove up to seventh there in the first stage, and I thought two tires were great. I thought my car was really good, and that really set us up for the rest of the race, so great job by him, as always, all the 12 boys, appreciate what they do pit crew was great. Appreciate Menard’s, Cardell, Ford, Ford Motor Company, Roush Yates Engines, Discount Tire, Wabash, Worth, Snap-on, DEX Imaging, Body Armour, Advance Auto Parts, everything what they do. It’s nice that it’s
finally happening, so I’m ready to go celebrate." - Ryan Blaney, race winner "Either I’m really dramatic or they’re really good on adjustments… probably a little bit of both. I’m proud of this No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet team and proud of this car. Nashville Superspeedway is a really, really difficult place to pass, and we were able to go from 26th to second
and have a shot at it. Just really proud of this group. After how last weekend ended, this was a really good reset being able to put together a good and deserved finish." - Carson Hocevar, finished second "We just needed to be a little bit faster there at the end. [Ryan Blaney] had exceptional long run speed there – just couldn’t hang with him after about 40 laps on a
set of tires. They just had a lot of speed. We were just kind of next best there with our Progressive Camry, so we just went long there to kind of gain a tire advantage just in case a caution came out – we line up right behind them if we don’t pit for tires, and then in the end, the track – just a weird thing – everyone went to the bottom, and it created a lot of dust for the middle and top grooves, and we couldn’t get off of the bottom – so everyone just kind of freight trained that last 30
laps." - Denny Hamlin, finished third
"I felt like our car potential was probably third, behind [Ryan Blaney] and [Denny Hamlin]. We just never really got to restart with clean air. I think if we could have restarted with clean air, maybe we could have held them off, but it just seemed like we had to do too much to our car to keep up with those guys. I thought it was a good effort by this No. 24
Raptor High Heat Chevrolet team. We tried something a little bit different on that last stop. It ran long and, honestly, it was going to be good, and then we just kind of had a slow sequence. It was a good day overall. Nashville Superspeedway has been kind of a tough place for us the past couple of years. I felt like we had good speed, we just couldn’t quite get the handling." - William Byron, finished fifth "It was frustrating because I knew that we were fast. It was nice to kind of methodically work our way through the field and make passes. I’ll never understand strategy. I thought we were pitting into 12th, and they were like that is fifth and fourth in front of you, and I was like how did that happen? All-in-all, a good night for our Chumba Casino Camry. Proud to get Chumba Casino a good run – they deserve it. Brand new partner. They
were actually here this weekend, all the way from Australia, so proud to do them a solid. We are going to Michigan." - Bubba Wallace, finished sixth "I’m pretty sure I just kind of cleared myself across the nose of [Brad Keselowski]. A little bit too desperate. We were moving forward really quick and I had a lot of confidence in my Chief’s Camry and thought I could
clear him by the time I got to the wall, and just used too much race track, so sorry to those guys. It looks like I kind of ruined his day too and never want to do that. Just can’t say enough about the speed we had. I think if we didn’t start in 33rd, we could have been battling in the top 10. A lot of positives just screwed it up on my part. Huge thank you to 23XI, Toyota, Chief’s for coming on board. Definitely had a lot of fun, and looking forward to doing again." - Corey Heim, finished
37th (Crashed out)
"I gave him a whole two lanes off the bottom and he just trekked me. It annihilated us. It was so early in the race and that was a hard hit. It is just sort of the story of our year so far. We’ve been running good, running better, then we get taken out by things not of our doing. We just have to go faster to get away from it all. We have been building good cars. We ran good at
Charlotte. I feel like we have good speed at some of these tracks. I am really proud of everyone at Front Row Motorsports. It just sucks to be annihilated like that." - Noah Gragson, finished 38th (Crashed out)
"A lap or two before, he (Carson Hocevar) tried to dive into there from about 10 car lengths back. And then that time, I just opened my entry a little bit and
he overcharged the corner and drilled us in the rear bumper. I’d say it’s not out of the norm from him, but I definitely wasn’t expecting that at that point of the race. It’s just a bummer for us. The No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet wasn’t great, but we were making changes. I felt like after that restart, I was a little bit better than I was the run before. We were just burning our right-rear tire off there throughout the run. "We’ll go back to the shop and regroup. It’s a busy couple of weeks for our team getting ready for Michigan and Mexico City. Those two races back-to-back, we have to have all four cars ready. We’ll refocus and get ready for next weekend. As soon as these races are over, we focus on what’s next. We’ll try and bounce back strong next weekend and get back rolling." - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished 39th (Crashed
out) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of our own Danny
Peters.
|
|
|
|
