Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 8, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition CLVI |
And Now A Word From Our Title Partner, My Place Hotels! |
My Place Hotels is a proud to be the official hotel sponsor of Frontstretch. With plush beds, in room kitchens and Pet Friendly Hotels My Place makes for the perfect pit stop when traveling. Racing fans can use Promo Code: Frontstretch to save 10% on your stay at any of our nationwide properties. That’s 10% off nationwide with code FRONTSTRETCH. This racing season, be sure to
Make My Place Your Place! |
- Teams are getting back to their shops today after an all-night drive from Gateway. Meanwhile, preparations are well underway for this weekend's action in Bristol. Entry lists for Bristol should be available later today. We'll have the entry lists and everything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Denny Hamlin Wins Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWTR, Advances To
Round of 12 Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin took the lead away from Brad Keselowski on the restart, then held on to win the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter, his fifth win of the year. Chase Briscoe was second, then Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Joey
Logano. |
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| Kyle Larson Spins Ryan Blaney at Gateway: ‘He Came From
All the Way on the Bottom’ Ryan Blaney finished fourth Sunday at Gateway, but he did so despite getting spun out by Kyle Larson early on. He was not pleased about that. |
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| Daytona 500-Winning Team Owner Bill Davis Passes Away at
74 Former NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Busch Grand National Series team owner Bill Davis died Saturday night at the age of 74. |
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| Four Drivers Face Playoff Elimination After Disappointing
Days at Gateway Bristol next weekend is the final race of the Round of 16. Shane van Gisbergen, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon are below the cutoff line and face elimination there. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR Lawsuit
This Week (Aug. 30 – Sept. 5) Last week was a busy time as 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports continue their court battle against NASCAR. There were a series of filings done more or less in the fallout of the contentious court appearance on Aug. 29 to address potential
moves. |
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| Haas Partners With Chevrolet for
2026 Haas Factory Team announced Friday that they will be switching from Ford to Chevrolet starting in 2026. |
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| Connor Zilisch Wins 9th Race of Season at World Wide
Technology Raceway at Gateway JR Motorsports' Connor Zilisch continued his amazing recent form Saturday night at Gateway, leading 121 of 160 to win the Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog BBQ for his ninth win of 2025. William Sawalich was second, then Christian Eckes, Brandon Jones and
Jesse Love. |
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| Sawalich & Eckes Frown, Harrison Burton Smiles After
Playoff Cut Race William Sawalich and Christian Eckes finished second and third, respectively Saturday night at Gateway. However, Harrison Burton was able to claim the final spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs on points. |
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| Parker Retzlaff, APR Enjoy Cigars After Turnaround Top 10
at Gateway Parker Retzlaff has had a tough season with strong runs overshadowed by DNFs. Saturday night saw him finish a strong eighth at Gateway. |
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| Brenden Queen to Make Xfinity Debut at Bristol With
Kaulig Kaulig Racing announced Friday that Brenden Queen has been tapped to drive the No. 11 Chevrolet in Friday night's Food City 300. He will be making his Xfinity Series debut. |
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| Max Verstappen Takes a Dominant Win at Italian Grand
Prix Red Bull's Max Verstappen ran off and hid Sunday en route to winning the Grand Prix of Italy for Monza for his third win of the year. Lando Norris was second, then Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc and George Russell. |
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| Pierre Gasly Extends Contract With
Alpine Alpine F1 Team announced Saturday that they have reached a contract extension to keep Pierre Gasly with the team through 2028. |
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| What Happened This Week in IndyCar Silly
Season? The first week of the NTT IndyCar Series offseason was a busy time as a number of drivers moved to new places. |
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| Porsche Wins Wet Lone Star Le
Mans In a race that was run in the rain for nearly the complete distance Sunday, Porsche Penske Motorsport's Matt Campbell, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor won the FIA World Endurance Championship Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas
Sunday. |
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| Connor de Phillippi, Kenton Koch Win Barber Park Race No.
1 Random Vandals Racing's Connor de Phillippi and Kenton Koch took the lead with 33 minutes to go Saturday and held on to win GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at Barber Motorsports Park. |
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| JMF Motorsports Dominates GT World Challenge America Race
No. 2 at Barber Park JMF Motorsports' Mikael Grenier and Michai Stephens led nearly flag-to-flag Sunday to win GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Barber Motorsports Park. |
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| Kevin Boehm, Kenton Koch Win Barber GT4 Race No.
1 Random Vandals Racing's Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch took the lead with two minutes remaining Friday to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 1 at Barber Motorsports Park, a makeup race for a scrubbed event at Road America. |
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| ACI Motorsports Wins Barber Park GT4 America Race No.
2 ACI Motorsports' Riley Dickinson and Curt Swearingin claimed the overall victory in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 2 at Barber Motorsports Park Saturday. |
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| Tyler Gonzalez, Gresham Wagner Win Barber Park GT4 Race
No. 3 RAFA Racing Team's Gresham Wagner took the lead from Tony Gaples with 18 minutes to go Sunday, then held on to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 3 at Barber Motorsports Park with Tyler Gonzalez. |
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| Ross Chouest Wins Barber GT America Race No. 1 In Mixed
Conditions A choice to start the race on slicks on a wet track set up Ross Chouest for victory in GT America Race No. 1 Saturday when he was able to skip a mid-race pit stop and go from last to first. |
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| Justin Rothberg Wins Barber Park GT America Race No.
2 Turner Motorsport's Justin Rothberg led flag-to-flag Sunday morning to win GT America Race No. 2 at Barber Motorsports Park. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Joe Portlock of Getty Images, James Black of Penske Entertainment, Renault SAS, Brian Cleary, Fred Hardy and Fabian Lagunas of SRO Motorsports Group, and our own Josh Calloni and Michael
Massie. 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: Sept. 5-7 |
- Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Phil Barkdoll passed away last week at the age of 88. Barkdoll competed part-time in Cup between 1984-1997 as a driver and as a car owner from 1998-1999. As a driver, Barkdoll made 23 career Cup starts, five of which came in the Daytona 500. His best
finishes were a pair of 15ths at Daytona and Talladega in the summer of 1989. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams spent the weekend in Vado, N.M. for the Desert Showdown at Vado Speedway Park. Friday night saw Logan Schuchart start from the pole and led early. Kerry Madsen, driving for Tony Stewart Racing, ran down and passed Schuchart for the lead
on lap 13. Madsen was running hard, but ran into lapped traffic. That allowed David Gravel to enter the mix. With eight laps to go, Gravel was able to move past Madsen to take the lead. From there, he was able to pull away to take his 13th win of the year. Gravel won by 2.171 seconds over Schuchart. Madsen was third, then Buddy Kofoid and Landon Crawley. The primary show of the weekend was scheduled for Saturday night. However, thunderstorms associated with the same system that brought rain to Austin during the FIA World Endurance Championship Lone Star Le Mans Sunday resulted in the race being cancelled. It will not be made up. Gravel's win increased his points lead to 176 points over Kofoid. Carson Macedo is third, then Schuchart and Sheldon Haudenschild. - The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series was at Port Royal Speedway for the Tuscarora 50 weekend. Friday night saw Parker Price-Miller move up to the lead from fourth on the grid on the first lap. He was
able to stay ahead until he got caught lapped traffic. When that happened, Aaron Reutzel pounced and took the lead. From there, Reutzel, driving on a broken foot from a crash during the Kings Royal weekend at Eldora Speedway, held on to take the victory. He ended up .872 seconds ahead of Anthony Macri. Brent Marks was third, then Ryan Smith and
Price-Miller. Saturday night's 50-lap main saw Knoxville Nationals winner Ryan Timms sweep into the lead on the restart after the halfway break. From there, Timms was able to hold on to win the Tuscarora 50 and a check for $58,000. Justin Peck was
second, then Reutzel, Price-Miller and Troy Wagaman Jr. Despite finishing 15th Saturday night, Rico Abreu holds a 45-point lead over Brad Sweet. Marks is third, then Peck and Tanner Thorson. - The Super DIRTcar Series traveled to LaFargeville, N.Y.
Friday night for the R.D. Hutchinson Memorial. Here, Larry Wight started on pole, but Jimmy Phelps was able to snatch the lead early. Alex Yankowski was able to take the lead from Phelps on a lap 23 restart and led until Wight took the advantage back. Lapped traffic allowed Yankowski to get back to Wight, but it was contact between the two with 13 laps to go that gave
Yankowski the lead. From there, Yankowski held on to take his first win of the year and keep his championship chances alive. He ended up .980 seconds ahead of Alex Payne. Mat Williamson was third, then Wight and Mike Mahaney. Saturday night was
supposed to be the Cavalcade 100 at Weedsport Speedway. However, that race has been postponed due to heavy rains. No rain date has been announced. Williamson still holds a 82-point lead over Yankowski. Alex Payne is up to third, then Matt Sheppard and Erick Rudolph. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Gateway last weekend. For more from Gateway, 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: Denny Hamlin Claims Lead With Gateway Victory
by Phil Allaway
Points leader Chase Briscoe had an excellent day Sunday, winning stage one and finishing second. However, Denny Hamlin was able to take the lead on the final restart and hold on to win his fifth race of the year. That was enough to give him the points lead. Hamlin has a five-point lead over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. Kyle Larson stays in third after a 12th-place finish. Bubba Wallace won stage two and finished eighth, moving him up to fourth. Ryan Blaney is up two places to
fifth after a fourth-place finish. William Byron is sixth after a somewhat mediocre day, while Tyler Reddick is down three places to seventh after finishing 16th. Christopher Bell is up two positions to eighth after a seventh-place finish. Chase Elliott is up two places to ninth after finishing
third. Joey Logano is up three places to 10th after a fifth-place finish. Ross Chastain finished 24th and dropped three places to 11th. Austin Cindric moved up two places to 12th. He is the last driver in the Round of 12 on points at the moment. Cindric has an 11-point lead over Austin Dillon,
who had handling issues for most of the day before recovering to finish 18th. Shane van Gisbergen spun out late in the going and finished 25th, dropping two places to 14th. Alex Bowman had pit issues once again and is now 35 points behind Cindric. Josh Berry crashed out and finished 36th, leaving him 45 points out of 12th. Outside of the playoffs, Chris Buescher finished ninth Sunday and expanded his lead over teammate Ryan Preece to 43 points for 17th in points. Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs are tied for 19th. Round of 16 Point Standings: 1) Denny Hamlin 2120, 2) Chase Briscoe -5, 3) Kyle Larson -17, 4) Bubba Wallace -27, 5) Ryan Blaney -35, 6) William Byron -38, 7) Tyler Reddick -40, 8) Christopher Bell
-45, 9) Chase Elliott -49, 10) Joey Logano -56, 11) Ross Chastain -58, 12) Austin Cindric -66, 13) Austin Dillon -77, 14) Shane van Gisbergen -81, 15) Alex Bowman -101, 16) Josh Berry -111.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 913, 2) Kyle Larson -41, 3) Denny Hamlin -44, 4) Ryan Blaney -46, 5) Chase Elliott -57, 6) Christopher Bell -79, 7) Chase Briscoe
-89, 8) Tyler Reddick -109, 9) Bubba Wallace -188, 10) Chris Buescher -203, 11) Alex Bowman -210, 12) Joey Logano -217, 13) Ross Chastain -228, 14) Ryan Preece -246, 15) Austin Cindric -323, t-16) Kyle Busch -328,
t-16) Ty Gibbs -328.
Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 24) Austin Dillon -402, 25) Josh Berry -406, 26) Shane van Gisbergen -411. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Chris Buescher 710, 18) Ryan Preece -43, t-19) Kyle Busch -125, t-19) Ty
Gibbs -125, 21) AJ Allmendinger -142, 22) Brad Keselowski -144, 23) Erik Jones -148, 24) John Hunter Nemechek -153, 25) Carson Hocevar -169, 26) Michael McDowell -173. Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 34, t-2) Kyle Larson -2, t-12) William Byron -2, 4) Ryan Blaney -8, 5) Christopher Bell -11, 6) Shane van Gisbergen -12, 7) Chase Briscoe -16, 8) Chase Elliott -21, 9) Bubba
Wallace -25, 10) Austin Cindric -26, t-11) Ross Chastain -27, t-11) Joey Logano -27, t-13) Josh Berry -28, t-13) Tyler Reddick -28, 15) Austin Dillon -29, 16) Alex Bowman -32. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 255, 2) Ryan Blaney -19, 3) Kyle Larson -48, 4) Denny Hamlin -59, 5) Bubba Wallace -68, 6) Tyler
Reddick -70, 7) Alex Bowman -106, 8) Christopher Bell -108, 9) Chase Elliott -110, 10) Chase Briscoe -116, 11) Austin Cindric -126, 12) Joey Logano -134, 13) Carson Hocevar -148, 14) Ross Chastain -161, 15) Chris Buescher
-166, 16) Ryan Preece -167. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the
Playoffs: 18) Josh Berry -178, 21) Shane van Gisbergen -202, 27) Austin Dillon -224.
Note: The Stage Points also include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 832, 2) Chase Briscoe -19, 3) Christopher Bell -23, 4) Denny Hamlin -47, 5) Kyle Larson -49, 6) William Byron -52, 7) Ryan Blaney
-79, 8) Chris Buescher -86, 9) Tyler Reddick -94, 10) Ross Chastain -130, 11) Joey Logano -133, 12) Ryan Preece -135, 13) Alex Bowman -155, 14) Ty Gibbs -168, 15) Bubba Wallace -174, 16) Kyle Busch
-180.
Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 22) Austin Dillon -240, 23) Austin Cindric -247, 25) Shane van Gisbergen -266, 28) Josh Berry -289. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chase Elliott 3727, 2) Chase Briscoe
-8, 3) Christopher Bell -50, 4) Kyle Larson -105, 5) William Byron -127, 6) Denny Hamlin -139, 7) Ryan Blaney -197, 8) Tyler Reddick -297, 9) Chris Buescher -311, 10) Ross Chastain -438, 11) Ryan Preece
-447, 12) Joey Logano -448, 13) Alex Bowman -460, 14) Bubba Wallace -542, 15) Ty Gibbs -549, 16) Kyle Busch -610. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs:
22) Austin Dillon -812, 23) Austin Cindric -843, 25) Shane van Gisbergen -858, 28) Josh Berry -941. Note No. 2: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona-1, Iowa), Christopher Bell (Atlanta-1, COTA, Phoenix), Josh Berry (Las Vegas), Kyle Larson (Homestead, Bristol, Kansas), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville, Darlington-1, Michigan, Dover, Gateway), Austin Cindric (Talladega), Joey Logano (Texas), Ross Chastain (Charlotte), Ryan Blaney (Nashville, Daytona-2), Shane
van Gisbergen (Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen), Chase Briscoe (Pocono, Darlington-2), Chase Elliott (Atlanta-2), Bubba Wallace (Indianapolis), Austin Dillon (Richmond)
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: Connor Zilisch Wins The Regular Season Championship
by Phil Allaway
Connor Zilisch continues to do Zilisch things. Saturday night saw the rookie racer lead 121 of 160 laps to win his fourth race in a row and seven of the last eight. That was more than enough to win the regular season championship. Zilisch won the regular season title by 53
points over Justin Allgaier, who was caught up in a multi-car crash late in the race and finished 28th. Sam Mayer was eliminated in that same crash and finished the regular season in third. Jesse Love finished fifth and stays in fourth. Austin Hill ended up fifth after a 12th-place finish. Brandon Jones is up a place to sixth
after a fourth-place finish. Carson Kvapil suffered an engine failure in the pits after stage one and finished 37th. That dropped him to seventh. Taylor Gray didn't run all that well, but he finished. That was enough to move him up two places to eighth. Sheldon Creed lost third gear late Saturday night. That ultimately triggered the big restart
crash. He would finish 30th, but finish the regular season in ninth. Sammy Smith finished 33rd and dropped two places to 10th. Harrison Burton had a spin, but finished 22nd and claimed the last spot in the playoffs on points in 11th. Nick Sanchez ended up 12th. Harrison ended up 45 points ahead of his cousin Jeb after Jeb had a
brake failure and crashed out. Christian Eckes finished third and moved up one place to 14th, while Ryan Sieg is down to 15th. Dean Thompson ended up 16th. When the Round of 12 starts Friday night in Bristol, Zilisch will have a 29-point lead over Allgaier. Mayer is third, then Jones and Love are tied for fourth. Gray and Kvapil will start off the round on the bubble in a tie for eighth. They are two points ahead of Creed, then Harrison Burton and Hill. Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 983, 2) Justin Allgaier
-53, 3) Sam Mayer -101, 4) Jesse Love -138, 5) Austin Hill -183, 6) Brandon Jones -237, 7) Carson Kvapil -254, 8) Taylor Gray -304, 9) Sheldon
Creed -314, 10) Sammy Smith -315, 11) Harrison Burton -340, 12) Nick Sanchez -360, 13) Jeb Burton -385, 14) Christian Eckes -387, 15) Ryan Sieg -413, 16) Dean Thompson -426. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Connor Zilisch 2064, 2) Justin Allgaier -29, 3) Sam Mayer -48, t-4) Jesse Love -51, t-4) Brandon Jones -51, 6) Sammy Smith -55, 7) Nick Sanchez -58, t-8) Taylor Gray -59, t-8) Carson Kvapil -59, 10) Sheldon Creed -61, 11)
Harrison Burton -62, 12) Austin Hill -64. Best of the Rest: 13) Jeb Burton 598, 14) Christian Eckes -2, 15) Ryan Sieg -28, 16) Dean Thompson -41, 17) William Sawalich -77, 18) Daniel Dye -78, 19) Brennan Poole -84, 20) Jeremy Clements -149,
21) Aric Almirola -197, 22) Josh Williams -205, 23) Matt DiBenedetto -213. Playoff Points: 1) Connor Zilisch 64, 2) Justin Allgaier -29, 3) Sam Mayer -48, t-4) Brandon Jones
-51, t-4) Jesse Love -51, 6) Jesse Love -55, t-7) Nick Sanchez -55, t-7) Aric Almirola -55, t-9) Carson Kvapil -59, t-9) Taylor Gray -59, 11) Sheldon Creed -61, 12) Harrison Burton
-62, 13) Dean Thompson -63, 14) Austin Hill -65. Note No. 1: Austin Hill earned 21 playoff points previous to Iowa. However, since he was suspended for intentionally wrecking Aric Almirola at Indianapolis, he lost all of his playoff points and cannot earn any until the playoffs start. Note No. 2: Even though Connor Zilisch is credited as the winner of the Wawa 250 at Daytona, he does not earn the five playoff points for winning since he wasn't in the car at the time of the finish. Note No. 2: If they were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be seventh, William
Byron ninth, Shane van Gisbergen tied for 10th and Daniel Suarez tied for 13th in playoff points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 292, 2) Connor Zilisch -63, 3) Sam Mayer -103, 4) Austin Hill
-111, 5) Brandon Jones -124, 6) Sheldon Creed -131, 7) Jesse Love -133, 8) Carson Kvapil -157, 9) Sammy Smith -162, 10) Nick Sanchez -163, 11) Taylor Gray
-168, 12) Aric Almirola -171, 13) Ryan Sieg -207, 14) Christian Eckes -224, 15) William Sawalich -226, 16) Jeb Burton -230. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Harrison
Burton -245. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Xfinity Series points, Kyle Larson would be 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 868, 2) Sam Mayer
-64, 3) Jesse Love -68, 4) Justin Allgaier -111, 5) Austin Hill -143, 6) Harrison Burton -164, 7) Carson Kvapil -167, 8) Brandon Jones -179, t-9) Sammy Smith
-207, t-9) Taylor Gray -207, 11) Jeb Burton -227, 12) Christian Eckes -238, 13) Sheldon Creed -251, 14) Dean Thompson -253, 15) Nick Sanchez -269, 16) Brennan Poole -274. WC Points (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 3785, 2) Sam Mayer -183, 3) Jesse Love -207, 4) Justin Allgaier -306, 5) Austin Hill -481, 6) Carson Kvapil
-562, 7) Harrison Burton -585, 8) Brandon Jones -594, 9) Taylor Gray -665, 10) Sammy Smith -717, 11) Christian Eckes -784, 12) Jeb Burton -789, 13) Sheldon Creed
-816, 14) Dean Thompson -877, 15) Nick Sanchez -882, 16) Ryan Sieg -915. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona-1), Austin Hill (Atlanta-1, Martinsville, Talladega), Connor Zilisch (COTA, Pocono, Sonoma, Dover, Indianapolis, Watkins
Glen, Daytona-2, Portland, Gateway), Aric Almirola (Phoenix), Justin Allgaier (Las Vegas, Homestead, Nashville), Brandon Jones (Darlington), Kyle Larson (Bristol, Texas), Sammy Smith (Rockingham), William Byron (Charlotte), Nick Sanchez (Atlanta-2), Shane van Gisbergen (Chicago), Sam Mayer (Iowa) Note: Connor Zilisch still receives
credit for winning the Wawa 250 in Daytona even though Parker Kligerman took the checkered flag since Zilisch started the race. 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 Championship: Off-Week Update No. 11
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. When the Trucks roll into the high banks, Corey Heim will have a 59-point lead in the playoffs over Layne Riggs. Daniel
Hemric is third, then Grant Enfinger and Tyler Ankrum. Jake Garcia is the last driver currently in the Round of 8 on points. He has a two-point advantage over Chandler Smith, while Kaden Honeycutt is 10th. Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 2124, 2) Layne Riggs -59, 3) Daniel Hemric -64, 4) Grant Enfinger -67, 5) Tyler Ankrum -76, 6) Ty Majeski -81, 7) Rajah Caruth -93, 8) Jake Garcia -95, 9) Chandler Smith
-97, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -102. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 907, 2) Layne Riggs -210, 3) Chandler Smith -256, 4) Daniel Hemric -271, 5) Grant
Enfinger -275, 6) Ty Majeski -277, 7) Tyler Ankrum -304, 8) Kaden Honeycutt -328, 9) Jake Garcia -370, 10) Ben Rhodes -390, 11) Gio Ruggiero -401, 12) Rajah Caruth -443, 13) Tanner Gray -446, 14) Connor Mosack
-498, 15) Stewart Friesen -510, 16) Matt Crafton -527. Best of the Rest: 11) Ben Rhodes 517, 12) Gio Ruggiero -11, 13) Tanner Gray -56, 14) Connor Mosack -108, 15) Stewart Friesen
-120, 16) Matt Crafton -137, 17) Andres Perez -151, 18) Matt Mills -172, 19) Jack Wood -186, 20) Dawson Sutton -196. Playoff Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 71, 2) Layne Riggs
-44, 3) Chandler Smith -52, 4) Daniel Hemric -60, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -61, t-5) Ty Majeski -61, 7) Grant Enfinger -64, 8) Rajah Caruth -66, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -68, 10) Jake Garcia -69. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 283, 2) Layne Riggs -108, t-3) Chandler Smith -136, t-3) Kaden Honeycutt -136, 5) Ty Majeski -140, 6) Grant Enfinger -156, 7) Daniel Hemric -184, 8) Tyler Ankrum -186, 9) Ben Rhodes
-200, 10) Jake Garcia -214, 11) Connor Mosack -216, 12) Tanner Gray -223, 13) Stewart Friesen -226, t-14) Rajah Caruth -233, t-14) Gio Ruggiero -233, 16) Matt Crafton -255. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Carson Hocevar would be 15th and Ross Chastain 16th in stage points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 563, 2) Daniel Hemric -97, 3) Layne Riggs -110, 4) Grant
Enfinger -126, t-5) Chandler Smith -128, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -128, 7) Ty Majeski -147, 8) Jake Garcia -167, 9) Gio Ruggiero -177, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -199, 11) Ben Rhodes -200, 12) Rajah Caruth -218, 13) Tanner Gray
-237, 14) Stewart Friesen -280, 15) Matt Crafton -285, 16) Andres Perez -286. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 2896, 2) Daniel Hemric -351, 3) Layne Riggs -396, 4) Grant Enfinger
-453, 5) Tyler Ankrum -469, 6) Chandler Smith -481, 7) Ty Majeski -525, 8) Jake Garcia -617, 9) Gio Ruggiero -635, 10) Ben Rhodes -722, 11) Kaden Honeycutt -727, 12) Rajah Caruth -770, 13) Tanner
Gray -842, 14) Matt Crafton -1011, 15) Andres Perez -1023, 16) Connor Mosack -1045. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas, Texas, Charlotte, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Richmond, Darlington), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Larson
(Homestead), Daniel Hemric (Martinsville), Chandler Smith (Bristol, North Wilkesboro), Tyler Ankrum (Rockingham), Carson Hocevar (Kansas), Rajah Caruth (Nashville), Stewart Friesen (Michigan), Layne Riggs (Pocono, Lucas Oil IRP) 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 Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter was brought to you by the letter T for Tires. Unlike the first three visits for the NASCAR Cup Series, you could actually benefit from taking fresh tires on
Sunday. Goodyear brought a softer tire this weekend and it did make a difference at times. However, the track surface is still very new at Gateway. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter compiled by Phil Allaway
"I feel okay here. I still don't feel like I'm the best here. I certainly feel like there's a few guys that just are better at this racetrack than what I am. "It's not always based on natural talent. There's all those other things I just talked about that makes the difference
in whether you win or lose. "My team did what they kind of didn't do last week, which is have a nice, solid day on pit road, no mistakes. Some other guys had some issues. That allowed us to capitalize and win the race. "That's what NASCAR has become now. It's such an execution race. Who of the
five fast contenders week in, week out, which one of them is going to stub their toe? That's one gone. Eventually they all start eliminating themselves. If you can do your job, like I did today, the wins will almost fall in your lap." - Denny Hamlin, race winner "[It] just shows how fast our Bass Pro Shops Toyota was. I felt like if we never had to go to the back two or three
different times – if I could have just maintained control of the race, I definitely felt like we had the car to beat. Wish it would have been us. It would have been cool to win the 200th race for Toyota, but it is crazy what a year can make, to be disappointed with second place says a lot. Congrats to Denny [Hamlin], Coach [Gibbs] and congrats to Toyota as well on 200 [wins]." - Chase Briscoe, finished second
"It felt good to just have a solid day for this No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet team. I thought we were really good at times; certainly more competitive than we’ve been in a minute. It was a lot of fun to be up in the mix. We just needed a little bit more there at the end, but we were way, way better than we’ve been here lately, so that’s nice." - Chase Elliott, finished third "I got turned around. He made a mistake but I paid the penalty for it. I am happy we were able to rebound and come away with a pretty good finish. Next week we just want to go run another race and run where we should run. We will approach it like a normal weekend and see where we end up after Bristol." - Ryan Blaney, finished fourth "The
strategy gave us a shot to win. We were up there racing against [Denny Hamlin]. I thought maybe on that green flag cycle we could get him but he short pitted us a lap and we just weren’t able to get ahead of him. That would have been the control of the race. We gave up control on the restart and we just couldn't regain it. Overall, we needed to score points with the Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang here and we did that. We got some stage points in the second stage and a top-five finish. It is a
pretty cool top five string we have going here at Gateway, but wish it was a win." - Joey Logano, finished fifth "Really solid day. Executed strategy very well. I think we knew coming into this race we knew that it would be a strategy, track position type race. I’m really proud of the effort on this No. 42 Pye-Barker Toyota team, everyone at Legacy Motor Club.
Sixth-place finish, another top 10 to add to the year. We ran inside the top 10 almost all day, got stage points and executed very well, so proud of the effort. Proud of the whole team, excited to continue to build on this momentum from Darlington and Gateway. We should be pretty good next week in the metric standpoint for Bristol, hopefully, group two qualifying. That was an emphasis this week. Looking forward to it." - John Hunter Nemechek, finished
sixth
"I think we had pace this weekend, we just couldn’t get our balance. We really struggled the first two stages with that. We started losing track position in the second and third stages, and it was really hard to overcome. In the final stage, we had a pretty good balance on the car, all things considered, and we were kind of able to go forward, if not maintain. I think there was a lot to learn
there in the final stage with how we managed that." - William Byron, finished 11th
"I definitely think we took a massive step in the right direction. I would just love to get to Phoenix to have an opportunity to see. Just proud of this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. It’s been a struggle here [at Gateway] and this particular style of track, but it’s really been a struggle in general for us
at a lot of places lately. Not the finish we obviously wanted, but I feel like we were back to looking like the No. 5 team today." - Kyle Larson, finished 12th "It was just really poor execution on all angles today. It was a bummer. I thought our No. 48 Ally Chevrolet was OK once we were kind of towards the front-half. We just struggled in the back. Super frustrating,
but all we can do is keep digging. There’s a lot of people working really hard to continue to be better. I thought, race car-wise, we were heading in the right direction once we had some air on it. We just have to go to Bristol [Motor Speedway] and go to work." - Alex Bowman, finished 26th
"It's just been a tough couple of weeks for the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang. I feel like we have had
decent cars. We’ve just had issues. Today, you pit there and it's just a chaotic restart. You’re just trying to wait for everything to settle out. [Chase Elliott] got in there, got a little loose, and just slid up and he got into us. Obviously, I don’t think that was intentional or anything. It was just a racing deal and unfortunately we were just on the receiving end." - Josh Berry, finished 36th (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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