Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 22, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition CLXVI |
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 will be arriving back at their shops today after an overnight haul from New Hampshire. We'll have the entry lists for this weekend's events in Kansas and everything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Ryan Blaney Holds Off Josh Berry, Wins at New
Hampshire Ryan Blaney took the lead away from Josh Berry with 39 laps to go Sunday, then held on to win the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Berry was second, then William Byron, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. |
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| Denny Hamlin & Ty Gibbs Tangle at Loudon as
Frustration Boils Over There appears to be intra-team strife at Joe Gibbs Racing at the moment. Ty Gibbs crashed Sunday after contact from Denny Hamlin, who appeared to believe that Gibbs was racing him too hard. |
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| Josh Berry Falls 1 Spot Short In Comeback Drive at New
Hampshire For Josh Berry, anything would be better than what the Round of 16 brought him. Sunday saw him take the lead with pit strategy, then hold on to finish a strong second. |
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| RWR to Sell, Transfer Charter to
Legacy Rick Ware Racing and Legacy Motor Club announced Friday that they have settled their lawsuit and Legacy Motor Club will take possession of the charter currently used by the No. 51 team. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI Racing/Front Row
Motorsports vs NASCAR Antitrust Case This Week (Sept. 13-19) The ongoing lawsuit between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR had some procedural news. A couple of witnesses' testimony was dismissed from the record and a summary dismissal request date has been set. |
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| 9 Times for Heim Time: Corey Heim Wins Truck Series Clinic
at New Hampshire TRICON Garage's Corey Heim led 124 of 175 laps Saturday to win the Team EJP 175 for his record-tying ninth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of 2025. Chandler Smith was second, then Layne Riggs, Gio Ruggiero and Ty Majeski. |
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| Despite Late Charge, New Hampshire Runner-Up Chandler
Smith Misses Playoff Cut Chandler Smith had an excellent day Saturday in New Hampshire to finish second. However, one good race couldn't make up for two terrible ones. As a result, he was eliminated from the playoffs. |
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| Brenden Queen Scores Seventh ARCA Series Win at Salem
Speedway Brenden Queen was able to get around Lavar Scottt on the final restart and pulled away to win the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 Saturday night for his seventh ARCA win of the year. Andrew Patterson was second, then Leland Honeyman, Scott and Isabella
Robusto. |
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| Lavar Scott Leads Laps at Salem, Fails to Win 1st ARCA
Race Lavar Scott was able to get past Max Reaves for the lead and looked good to win Saturday night at Salem. However, wall contact on the final restart resulted in him dropping back to a fourth-place finish. |
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| Max Verstappen Wins a Lights-to-Flag Victory at the
Azerbaijan Grand Prix Red Bull's Max Verstappen led all 51 laps from pole Sunday to win the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan in Baku. Mercedes' George Russell was second, then Williams' Carlos Sainz Jr., Kimi Antonelli and Liam Lawson. |
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| Action Express Racing Dominates Battle On The
Bricks Action Express Racing's Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti led 210 of 243 laps Sunday to win the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks in Indianapolis, the team's first win since 2023. |
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| Ibiza Farm Motorsports Leads McLaren 1-2 at
IMS Ibiza Farm Motorsports' Michael Cooper passed Robert Noaker with two laps to go Saturday to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 with Moisey Uretsky. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Mark Thompson of Getty Images, NASCAR Media via Adam Glanzman of ARCA Racing, Kostas Lymperopoulous of ARCA Racing and our own Phil Allaway and Chase Folsom. 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. 19-21 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent the weekend at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. Friday night's feature was rained out, but Saturday's Dennis Roth Classic more than made up for it. The first 20 laps of the feature had a back-and-forth battle for the
lead between Kaleb Montgomery and Corey Day. Eventually, the two came together on the backstretch, resulting in Montgomery slowing and bringing out the caution. Day also ended up having to pit for repairs. That gave the lead to David Gravel with Spencer Bayston right behind him. The remainder of the 35-lap feature saw the two drivers duel constantly, pulling slide jobs on
each other. On the final lap, Gravel was held up slightly by a lapped car. That allowed Bayston to attempt to sweep around the outside. However, Gravel just barely held on by .021 seconds to win the Dennis Roth Classic and take home a check for $83,000. Buddy Kofoid was third, then Carson Macedo and Donny Schatz in the No. W. Gravel's 14th win of the year allowed him to expand his lead back to 150 points over Kofoid. Macedo is third, then Logan Schuchart and Sheldon Haudenschild. - The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series was at Eldora Speedway last weekend as part of the 4-Crowns Weekend.
Friday night saw Rico Abreu take the lead away on lap 11 from Anthony Macri and run well. Meanwhile, Macri was eliminated in a crash with two laps to go that resulted in him ending his weekend early. On the restart, Aaron Reutzel was able to pull a slide job on Abreu to take the lead. From there, he was able to hold on to take the victory, a sweet turnaround after he was
injured during the Kings Royal weekend in July. Abreu was second, then Chase Randall, Justin Peck and Brady Bacon. Saturday night saw Reutzel start from pole and lead the first 23 laps. However, Abreu, who started eighth, was able to run Reutzel down. What followed were a series of slide jobs before Abreu was able to clear Reutzel. From there, he held on to take his 11th win of the year. Giovanni Scelzi was second, then Reutzel, Ashton Torgerson and Peck. In the points, Abreu continues to lead by 72 points over Brad Sweet. Brent Marks is third, then Peck and Tanner
Thorson. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Loudon, Salem and Indianapolis last weekend. For more from Loudon, Salem, 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: Ryan Blaney Wins Loudon, Snatches Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Ryan Blaney won the race off pit road late Sunday, then took the lead from Josh Berry on lap 263. From there, he held on to win the Mobil 1 301. The victory was enough to boost him up from fifth
to the points lead. He has a two-point lead over William Byron, who finished third Sunday and is in the same place that he was in entering the race. Kyle Larson finished seventh and stays in third. Christopher Bell is still fourth after a sixth-place finish. Denny Hamlin finished
12th Sunday and dropped down to fifth. As you likely saw above, he's got some other problems to deal with. Joey Logano won stage two and finished fourth, moving up four places to sixth. Chase Elliott stays in seventh after a fifth-place finish. Chase Briscoe finished 10th, but dropped to eighth. He is the last driver in the Round of 8 on points. Briscoe has a 12-point lead over Ross Chastain, who gained a spot after finishing ninth. Austin CIndric is down one place to 10th after finishing 17th. 23XI Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace both finished out of the top 20 Sunday and are currently 11th and 12th in the standings. Of those eliminated, Alex Bowman is still in 13th after a 15th-place finish. He has a five-point lead over Austin Dillon. Shane van Gisbergen qualified well until he got wrecked. A bad finish keeps him in 15th. Josh Berry is still in 16th despite his second-place finish. Outside of the playoffs, Chris Buescher still has a 58-point lead over teammate Ryan Preece. Ty Gibbs crashed out after contact from Hamlin, but stays in 19th. Brad Keselowski is 20th. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Ryan Blaney 3084, 2) William Byron -2, 3) Kyle Larson -8, 4) Christopher Bell -20, 5) Denny Hamlin -22, 6) Joey Logano -25, 7) Chase Elliott -35, 8) Chase Briscoe -37, 9) Ross
Chastain -49, 10) Austin Cindric -56, 11) Tyler Reddick -60, 12) Bubba Wallace -64. Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 13) Alex Bowman 2081, 14) Austin Dillon -5, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -22,
16) Josh Berry -28.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron 996, 2) Ryan Blaney -20, 3) Kyle Larson -75, 4) Christopher Bell -86, 5) Denny Hamlin
-92, 6) Chase Elliott -103, 7) Chase Briscoe -115, 8) Tyler Reddick -152, 9) Joey Logano -216, 10) Alex Bowman -231, 11) Chris Buescher -232, 12) Bubba Wallace -247, 13) Ross Chastain -265, 14) Ryan
Preece -290, 15) Ty Gibbs -363, 16) Brad Keselowski -371. Outside of the top-16, but still in playoffs: 17) Austin Cindric -374. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Chris Buescher 764, 18) Ryan Preece -58, 19) Ty Gibbs
-131, 20) Brad Keselowski -139, 21) Carson Hocevar -148, 22) Kyle Busch -151, 23) AJ Allmendinger -172, 24) Erik Jones -175, 25) Michael McDowell -176, 26) John Hunter Nemechek -178. Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 34, 2) Ryan Blaney -1, t-3) Kyle Larson -2, t-3) William Byron -2, 5) Christopher Bell -6, 6) Chase Briscoe -16, 7) Chase Elliott -21, 8) Bubba Wallace -25, t-9) Austin Cindric
-26, t-9) Joey Logano -26, 11) Ross Chastain -27, 12) Tyler Reddick -28. Stage Points: 1) William Byron
279, 2) Ryan Blaney -7, 3) Kyle Larson -58, 4) Denny Hamlin -79, 5) Bubba Wallace -82, 6) Tyler Reddick -92, 7) Alex Bowman -119, 8) Christopher Bell -127, 9) Chase Elliott -130, 10) Chase Briscoe
-138, 11) Joey Logano -139, 12) Austin Cindric -145, 13) Carson Hocevar -154, 14) Chris Buescher -181, 15) Ross Chastain -185, 16) Brad Keselowski -189. Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 888, 2) Chase Briscoe -10, 3) Chase Elliott -16, 4) William Byron
-41, 5) Ryan Blaney -53, 6) Kyle Larson -61, 7) Denny Hamlin -63, 8) Chris Buescher -89, 9) Tyler Reddick -104, 10) Joey Logano -113, 11) Ross Chastain -132, 12) Ryan Preece -144, 13) Alex Bowman
-151, 14) Ty Gibbs -185, 15) Kyle Busch -200, 16) Bubba Wallace -207. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 23) Austin Cindric -267. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 4007, 2) Chase Briscoe
-6, 3) Chase Elliott -71, 4) William Byron -115, 5) Ryan Blaney -132, 6) Kyle Larson -167, 7) Denny Hamlin -217, 8) Chris Buescher -352, 9) Tyler Reddick -359, 10) Joey Logano -398, 11) Ross Chastain
-474, 12) Ross Chastain -475, 13) Ryan Preece -506, 14) Ty Gibbs -627, 15) Bubba Wallace -671, 16) Kyle Busch -702. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs:
25) Austin Cindric -933. 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, Bristol-2), Josh Berry (Las Vegas), Kyle Larson (Homestead, Bristol-1, Kansas), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville, Darlington-1, Michigan, Dover, Gateway), Austin Cindric (Talladega), Joey Logano (Texas), Ross Chastain (Charlotte), Ryan Blaney (Nashville, Daytona-2, Loudon), 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 our own Chase Folsom.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Off-Week Update No. 5
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was off last weekend. They will return to action at Kansas Speedway Sept. 27. When the series rolls into Kansas, Connor Zilisch will have a 32-point lead over teammate Justin Allgaier. Sam Mayer is third, then
Carson Kvapil and Harrison Burton. Taylor Gray is the last driver in the Round of 8 on points at the moment. He has a three-point lead over both Nick Sanchez and Jesse Love. Austin Hill is 11th, while Sammy Smith is 12th. Of those who failed to make the playoffs, Christian Eckes has an eight-point lead over Jeb Burton. Ryan Sieg is 15th, followed by Dean Thompson. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Connor Zilisch 2116, 2) Justin Allgaier
-32, 3) Sam Mayer -50, 4) Carson Kvapil -69, 5) Harrison Burton -76, 6) Brandon Jones -77, 7) Sheldon Creed -78, 8) Taylor Gray -82, t-9) Nick Sanchez -85, t-9) Jesse Love -85, 11) Austin Hill -98, 12) Sammy Smith
-106. Round of 12 Owner Point Standings: 1) JR Motorsports No. 88 2121, 2) JR Motorsports No. 7 -37, 3) Haas Factory Team No. 41 -55, 4) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 -63, 5) JR Motorsports No. 1 -74, 6) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -76, 7) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 -82,
8) Haas Factory Team No. 00 -84, 9) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 -88, t-10) Big Machine Racing No. 48 -90, t-10) Richard Childress Racing No. 2 -90, 12) JR Motorsports No. 8 -109. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 1035, 2) Justin Allgaier
-56, 3) Sam Mayer -103, 4) Jesse Love -172, 5) Austin Hill -217, 6) Brandon Jones -263, 7) Carson Kvapil -264, 8) Taylor Gray -327, 9) Sheldon Creed -331, 10) Harrison Burton -354, 11) Sammy Smith -366, 12) Nick
Sanchez -387, 13) Christian Eckes -410, 14) Jeb Burton -418, 15) Ryan Sieg -447, 16) Dean Thompson -448. Best of the Rest: 13) Christian Eckes 625, 14) Jeb Burton -8, 15) Ryan Sieg -37, 16) Dean
Thompson -38, 17) William Sawalich -78, 18) Brennan Poole -82, 19) Daniel Dye -94, 20) Jeremy Clements -148, 21) Aric Almirola -172, 22) Josh Williams -223, 23) Matt DiBenedetto -227. Playoff Points: 1) Connor Zilisch
65, 2) Justin Allgaier -29, 3) Sam Mayer -49, t-4) Brandon Jones -52, t-4) Jesse Love -52, 6) Sammy Smith -56, 7) Nick Sanchez -59, t-8) Carson Kvapil -60, t-8) Taylor Gray -60, 10) Sheldon Creed -62, 11) Harrison Burton
-63, 12) 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 did not earn the five playoff points for winning since he wasn't in the car at the time of the finish. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 310, 2) Connor Zilisch -62, 3) Sam Mayer -105, 4) Austin Hill
-129, 5) Brandon Jones -142, 6) Jesse Love -145, 7) Sheldon Creed -149, 8) Carson Kvapil -166, 9) Aric Almirola -177, t-10) Sammy Smith -180, t-10) Nick Sanchez -180, t-10) Taylor Gray -180, 13) Ryan Sieg
-221, 14) William Sawalich -240, 15) Christian Eckes -242, 16) Jeb Burton -248. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Harrison Burton -255. Old
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 906, 2) Sam Mayer -63, 3) Jesse Love -89, 4) Justin Allgaier -113, 5) Austin Hill -159, 6) Harrison Burton -167, 7) Carson Kvapil -168, 8) Brandon Jones -187, 9) Taylor Gray
-218, 10) Sammy Smith -241, 11) Jeb Burton -242, 12) Christian Eckes -243, 13) Sheldon Creed -250, 14) Dean Thompson -262, 15) Nick Sanchez -279, 16) Brennan Poole -281. WC Points (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 3950, 2) Sam Mayer -178, 3) Jesse Love -279, 4) Justin Allgaier -316, 5) Austin Hill -540, 6) Carson Kvapil -567, 7) Harrison Burton -599, 8) Brandon Jones -629, 9) Taylor Gray
-709, 10) Christian Eckes -807, 11) Sheldon Creed -811, 12) Sammy Smith -830, 13) Jeb Burton -845, 14) Dean Thompson -915, 15) Nick Sanchez -923, 16) Brennan Poole -971. 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, Bristol-2), Justin Allgaier (Las Vegas, Homestead, Nashville), Brandon Jones (Darlington), Kyle Larson (Bristol-1, 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: Corey Heim Dominates Round of 10
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim swept the stages Saturday afternoon, led the most laps and had the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the Race en route to his record-tying ninth win of the year. That allowed him to easily win the Round of 10.
The final margin was 81 points over Layne Riggs, who finished third Saturday, but
only scored seven stage points to Heim's 20. Ty Majeski finished fifth and moved up one place to third. Daniel Hemric finished 12th and dropped to fourth.
Grant Enfinger ended up in sole possession of fifth after a sixth-place finish. Tyler Ankrum ended up sixth after an 11th-place finish. Kaden Honeycutt stays
in seventh, while Rajah Caruth had a strong run to take the last spot in the Round of 8.
Caruth snatched the last spot by 10 points over Chandler Smith, who finished second Saturday but couldn't overcome two DNFs. Jake Garcia finished 16th and dropped down to 10th.
Outside of the playoffs, Gio
Ruggiero finished fourth and moved up to 11th. He is six points ahead of Ben Rhodes, who crashed out late Saturday. Tanner Gray is still in 13th, but lost a bunch of ground after crashing early. Connor Mosack crashed on the first lap, but stays in 14th. Andres Perez is up two places to 15th, while Matt Crafton drops to 16th.
When the
Round of 8 starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Heim will have a 47-point lead over Riggs. Hemric will be third, then a tie for fourth between Majeski and Ankrum.
Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 2238, 2) Layne Riggs -81, 3) Ty Majeski
-108, 4) Daniel Hemric -115, 5) Grant Enfinger -133, 6) Tyler Ankrum -138, 7) Kaden Honeycutt -139, 8) Rajah Caruth -142, 9) Chandler Smith -152, 10) Jake Garcia -167. Round of 10 Owner Point Standings: 1) TRICON Garage No. 11 2238, 2) Front Row Motorsports No. 34 -81, 3) ThorSport Racing No. 98 -109, 4) McAnally Hilgemann Racing No. 19 -116, 5) CR7 Motorsports No. 9 -134, 6) Halmar Friesen Racing No. 52
-137, 7) McAnally Hilgemann Racing No. 18 -140, 8) Spire Motorsports No. 71 -142, 9) Front Row Motorsports No. 38 -152, 10) Spire Motorsports No. 7 -159. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 3079, 2) Layne Riggs -47,
3) Daniel Hemric -68, t-4) Ty Majeski -69, t-4) Tyler Ankrum -69, 6) Grant Enfinger -72, 7) Rajah Caruth -74, 8) Kaden Honeycutt -76. Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 9) Chandler Smith 2086, 10) Jake Garcia -15. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1021, 2) Layne Riggs -232, 3) Ty Majeski -304, 4) Chandler Smith -311, 5) Daniel Hemric
-322, 6) Grant Enfinger -341, 7) Kaden Honeycutt -365, 8) Tyler Ankrum -367, 9) Jake Garcia -442, 10) Gio Ruggiero -444, 11) Ben Rhodes -450, 12) Rajah Caruth -492, 13) Tanner Gray
-521, 14) Connor Mosack -577, 15) Andres Perez -590, 16) Matt Crafton -603. Best of the Rest: 11) Gio Ruggiero 577, 12) Ben Rhodes -6, 13) Tanner Gray -77, 14) Connor Mosack
-133, 15) Andres Perez -146, 16) Matt Crafton -159, 17) Stewart Friesen -180, 18) Matt Mills -197, 19) Dawson Sutton -211, 20) Jack Wood -216. Playoff Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim
79, 2) Layne Riggs -47, 3) Chandler Smith -60, 4) Daniel Hemric -68, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -69, t-5) Ty Majeski -69, 7) Grant Enfinger -72, 8) Rajah Caruth
-74, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -76, 10) Jake Garcia -77. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 322, 2) Layne Riggs -129, 3) Kaden Honeycutt -153, 4) Ty Majeski
-157, 5) Chandler Smith -158, 6) Grant Enfinger -194, t-7) Tyler Ankrum -217, t-7) Daniel Hemric -217, 9) Ben Rhodes -233, 10) Jake Garcia -237, 11) Connor Mosack -251, 12) Rajah Caruth
-256, 13) Gio Ruggiero -258, 14) Tanner Gray -262, 15) Stewart Friesen -265, 16) Matt Crafton -294. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points, Carson Hocevar would be 16th in stage
points. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 632, 2) Layne Riggs -113, 3) Daniel Hemric -117, 4) Grant Enfinger -156, 5) Ty Majeski
-159, 6) Tyler Ankrum -162, 7) Chandler Smith -163, 8) Gio Ruggiero -197, 9) Jake Garcia -217, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -221, 11) Ben Rhodes -229, 12) Rajah Caruth -245, 13) Tanner Gray
-275, 14) Andres Perez -311, 15) Matt Crafton -324, 16) Connor Mosack -337. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 3436, 2) Layne Riggs -411, 3) Daniel Hemric
-429, 4) Grant Enfinger -563, 5) Ty Majeski -570, 6) Tyler Ankrum -596, 7) Chandler Smith -598, 8) Gio Ruggiero -711, 9) Jake Garcia -793, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -814, 11) Ben
Rhodes -821, 12) Rajah Caruth -873, 13) Tanner Gray -976, 14) Andres Perez -1118, 15) Matt Crafton -1152, 16) Connor Mosack -1204. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las
Vegas, Texas, Charlotte, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Richmond, Darlington, Loudon), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Homestead), Daniel Hemric (Martinsville), Chandler Smith (Bristol-1, North Wilkesboro), Tyler Ankrum (Rockingham), Carson Hocevar (Kansas), Rajah Caruth (Nashville), Stewart Friesen (Michigan), Layne Riggs (Pocono, Lucas Oil IRP, Bristol-2) Phil
Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of our own Chase Folsom.
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Mobil 1 301 was brought to you by the letter P for Pit Strategy. New Hampshire Motor Speedway has traditionally not been hard on tires. The move by Josh Berry to stay out during the final
could very well have been a winning strategy. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Mobil 1 301 compiled by Phil Allaway
"I don’t know. The way the pit cycles went sometimes. We lost control for a little bit, but then we were able to get it back before the green flag stops in stage three. We were just kind of biding our time after the green flag stop and then the caution came out and two was a great call. We saw two worked well in the first stage for a while and I figured if we could come out on the front
row or something we would have a good shot and Josh definitely didn’t make it easy on me. His car got rolling there for 10 or 15 laps and I really had to find new lanes and push harder. My car was going really free and then we were able to gap him there at the end with his right-rear going away. It was a great race and a cool weekend, honestly. I couldn’t be prouder of everybody." - Ryan Blaney, race winner "I don’t know. We lacked a little bit of fire off, but, honestly, ever since the start of the race we were just mired in so much traffic. It was hard to know what we needed. Our long run seemed really strong, so I think it could have gone a couple different ways. Obviously, if it stays green, I think we have a chance at it. Maybe we should have taken two tires there, but, ultimately, we were down a set from the spin, so we didn’t want to
take our last tires that early. Still, it’s just a great day. We had a great car. Everybody did a great job. The pit stops were awesome and we have a lot to look forward to." - Josh Berry, finished second "It was a good day overall for this No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet team. I felt like a lot of things that we’ve just kind of been building on for the short-tracks were
working for us. I feel like New Hampshire Motor Speedway has been tricky for me in the Cup car. I felt like I was good in the other series, but this place in the Cup car has been tough on us. We’re just trying to build little bits here and there, and I just felt like we could really stack runs together. We had a couple of weak runs in Stage One and the start of Stage Two. But once we got that out of the way, I felt like we were really strong. The Penske guys were super-fast, like they were in
another zip code. But I felt like other than that, we were really competitive. "Just really proud of our team. If we can just build on this, I think our short-track program will start coming together." - William Byron, finished third
"[Ryan Blaney] was wicked fast in practice
and he showed that again in the race. Our only chance was beating him on pit road and beating on details, but they were able to make up their track position when they put four on. Over time they got back up there. That last restart, I could have restarted behind him and probably finished third in the race, but I wanted a chance to win and if I was behind [Blaney], I wasn’t gonna win. I went for it and it cost us a spot, but, overall, I’m proud of the execution. We obviously got a ton of points
today. I think we got a second and a first in the first two stages and a top four finish, so we did what we needed to do. We’re plus the cut line. I’d rather win. That’s just the greed in me, especially when it’s home." - Joey Logano, finished fourth "The day was good for the No. 9 NAPA Chevy team. Just hate we had to not pit for track position because you want to be
up there in the mix. But the way it all worked out, we got some stage points there in stage two and got a good result with a top-five finish. We’ll go to Kansas [Speedway] and try it again." - Chase Elliott, finished fifth "I think from a points standpoint we did well. I know a lot of people are going to look at me and say how can I be frustrated at Gateway and not
today. Well, this weekend really was a whole different story. We just didn’t have the pace. We didn’t have the pace to run with the top competitors. We walked out of here with a lot of points, so I think it was a successful day." - Christopher Bell, finished sixth "It was not a great day for us. On the race track, we never really had any issues, but on pit road we
kept losing positions. Just hard to do that in the Playoffs and not sacrifice a finish because of it. I thought our car was okay. We definitely didn’t have anything for the Penske cars. I would’ve taken a 10th after yesterday but also felt like we kind of left a lot on the table today just on pit road and whatnot. We’ll move on to Kansas. The positive thing is we’re above the cutline. That was the goal of today and we were able to do that. We’ll go on to Kansas where I feel like our car should
be way better and hopefully capitalize on it there." - Chase Briscoe, finished 10th "It’s super unfortunate [that Ty Gibbs] got spun there and obviously the contact came from us. Yeah, I don’t have any other comment other than that. Just had some contact into [turn 1]. It was obviously a really rough race before that. "Well, I mean, we’ll work through it and all but just — we’ll see how it goes. But honestly, it’s unfortunate the contact happened." - Denny Hamlin, finished 12th 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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