Frontstretch Newsletter: Sept. 29, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition CLXXI |
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 back at their shops today and are preparing for this weekend's action on Charlotte Motor Speedway's ROVAL. We'll have the entry lists for this weekend's events and everything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| Chase Elliott Steals Kansas Win, Advances to Round of
8 Chase Elliott slipped past Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin on the final lap Sunday to win the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Hamlin was second, then Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Wallace. |
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| ‘He’s a Dumbass for That Move’: Contact with Denny Hamlin
Costs Bubba Wallace Kansas Victory Bubba Wallace was quite angry with his team owner Denny Hamlin after Hamlin ran him into the wall on the final lap Sunday. That prevented him from winning and advancing to the Round of 8. |
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| Zane Smith Goes for Zany, Wild Ride on His Side at
Kansas One of the more unusual incidents happened late Sunday when Zane Smith was squeezed into the wall in turn 3 by John Hunter Nemechek. The car then rode the wall onto its side, then rolled over twice. |
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| SVG Scores First Top 10 on a Cup Oval at
Kansas Shane van Gisbergen effectively started Sunday's race a lap down after inspection issues. From there, he charged up through the field to finish 10th, his best finish on an oval to this point. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/Front Row vs. NASCAR
Antitrust Lawsuit This Week (Sept. 20-26) Last week, there were a number of filings in the 23XI Racing/Front Row Motorsports lawsuit against NASCAR in regards to information that can be shared in the case. |
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| Brandon Jones Wins Kansas Xfinity Race from
Pole Brandon Jones took the lead on the final restart and held on to win the Kansas Lottery 300 for his third Kansas Xfinity win. Connor Zilisch was second, then Austin Hill, Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed. |
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| Jesse Love Treated for Dehydration at
Kansas Jesse Love finished seventh Saturday afternoon in Kansas, but after the race, he was exhausted and had to be treated by the AMR Safety Team on pit road. |
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| Nick Sanchez Finishes 8th, Sees Route to Advancement in
Xfinity Series Playoffs Nick Sanchez finished a decent eighth Saturday in Kansas. It leaves him outside of the cutoff, but he feels confident that he can advance in Charlotte. |
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| Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen Earns 1st Career Xfinity Top 10
in Kansas Brenden Queen had an excellent weekend in Kansas. That trip was topped off with a ninth-place finish in the Kansas Lottery 300, his first top 10 in the series. |
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| Brenden Queen Sweeps ARCA Races at
Kansas Brenden Queen took the lead from Gio Ruggiero with 11 laps to go Friday and held on through multiple restarts to win the Reese's 150 for his eighth ARCA win of the year. Ruggiero was second, then Leland Honeyman, Kris Wright and Taylor
Reimer. |
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| Alpine Wins 6 Hours of Fuji, 1st Win Since
2022 A two-tire pit stop allowed Alpine's Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi to win Sunday's 6 Hours of Fuji for the French team's first win in over three years. |
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| Trevor Huddleston Goes Back-to-Back at Madera
Speedway Trevor Huddleston held off Kyle Keller Saturday night to win the Madera 150 for his third ARCA Menards Series West win of the year. Eric Johnson Jr. was third, then Robbie Kennealy and Joey Iest. |
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| Landon Pembelton Wins at Martinsville, Connor Hall Claims
Triple Crown Title Landon Pembelton executed a bump-and-run on the final lap to take the lead and win the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville. Lee Pulliam was second, then Jared Fryar, Andrew Grady and Parker Eatmon. |
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| Sam Yarbrough Angry With Tristan McKee After Martinsville
Right-Rear Hook The midpoint of Saturday night's ValleyStar Credit Union 300 was marred by Sam Yarbrough's crash on the frontstretch after contact from Tristan McKee. Needless to say, there were some angry people afterwards. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Lachlan Cunningham of ARCA Racing, DPPI and our own Chase Folsom, Dalton Hopkins 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: Sept. 26-28 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent last weekend in Ohio. First up was MIllstream Speedway for Sheldon Haudenschild's Buckeye Brawl. Here, Buddy Kofoid started on pole and led early while David Gravel gave chase. When the leaders caught slower traffic,
Kofoid slipped on lap 9. That allowed Gravel to move past into the lead. From there, Gravel could not be caught as he drove away to his 15th win of the year. The margin of victory was .671 seconds over Kofoid. Logan Schuchart was third, then Garet Williamson and Kasey Jedrzejek. Saturday night saw the series move over to Sharon Speedway for the Federated Auto Parts Showdown. The hometown chap came out to play. Dale Blaney, who co-owns Sharon Speedway with his family, was clearly the fastest man all night. He started fifth in the feature and slowly moved towards the front. On lap 11, he was able to take the lead
away from Cole Macedo. From there, Blaney was able to hold on for the win. It is his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win since 2001 and at age 61, he is the oldest driver ever to win a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature. Blaney won by .136 seconds over a charging Kofoid. Sheldon Haudenschild was
third, then Gravel and Schuchart. In the points, Gravel has a 150-point lead after 59 races over Kofoid. Carson Macedo is third, then Schuchart and Haudenschild. - The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series spent the weekend in the Mid-Atlantic states.
Friday night saw the series race at New Jersey's Bridgeport Motorsports Park. Here, Giovanni Scelzi started from the pole and led early before Danny Sams III took the lead on lap 8. After the 10th lap was completed, the caution flew due to rain. That led to a red flag. After an hour, the race was called and Sams declared the winner. Scelzi was second, then Brent Marks, Brad
Sweet and Rico Abreu. Saturday night saw the series move to Path Valley Speedway Park. Here, it did not rain, but things were very interesting. Scelzi started from pole and led early with Sweet and Chase Randall giving chase. Randall ultimately
eliminated himself from contention when he spun out while trying to get second. After the restart, Tanner Thorson was able to dispatch of his rivals and took the lead from Scelzi on lap 22. From there, he held on for the victory. Thorson won by .933
seconds over Brady Bacon. Scelzi was third, then Danny Dietrich and Ashton Torgerson. In the points, Abreu continues to lead by 52 points over Sweet. Marks is third, then Justin Peck and Thorson. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Kansas and Martinsville last weekend. For more from Kansas, Martinsville, 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: Kyle Larson Snatches Lead
by Phil Allaway
Ryan Blaney crashed in practice Saturday and had to start at the rear. From there, he was able to drive into the top 10 before being caught up in a restart crash. He eventually finished 24th and dropped back in the standings. Kyle Larson didn't have the cleanest day, but brought his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet home in sixth. That was good enough to give him the points lead. Larson leads by six points over Denny Hamlin. Hamlin led the most laps, won the first two stages and
ended up in second to move up three places. Christopher Bell finished third, and moved up one place to third. William Byron struggled for most of the day before rallying to finish ninth. Despite that, he still dropped two spots to fourth. Chase Elliott's last-lap triumph locked him into the Round of 8 and moved him up two places to
fifth. Blaney's trouble dropped him back to sixth. Chase Briscoe is up one place to seventh after finishing fourth. Joey Logano was caught up in the same crash as Blaney and finished 21st. That dropped him to eighth, the last driver in the Round of 8 on points. Logano has a 13-point lead over Ross
Chastain, who finished 11th. Bubba Wallace nearly won, but ended up settling for fifth. That moved him up one place to 10th. Tyler Reddick stays in 11th, while Austin Cindric crashed and is 48 points out of eighth. Of those already eliminated, Alex Bowman got squeezed into the wall and
ended up 28th. He is five points ahead of a tie for 14th between Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Dillon. Van Gisbergen moved up a spot after his first top 10 on an oval. Josh Berry crashed out late and stays in 16th. Outside of the playoffs, Chris Buescher now has a 72-point lead
over teammate Ryan Preece. Brad Keselowski is 19th, then Ty Gibbs. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Kyle Larson 3124, 2) Denny Hamlin -6, 3) Christopher Bell -10, 4) William
Byron -14, 5) Chase Elliott -20, 6) Ryan Blaney -25, 7) Chase Briscoe -33, 8) Joey Logano -41, 9) Ross Chastain -54, 10) Bubba Wallace -67, 11) Tyler Reddick -70, 12) Austin Cindric -89.
Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 13) Alex Bowman 2091, t-14) Shane van Gisbergen -5, t-14) Austin Dillon -5, 16) Josh Berry -34.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) William
Byron 1024, 2) Ryan Blaney -33, 3) Kyle Larson -55, t-4) Christopher Bell -64, t-4) Denny Hamlin -64, 6) Chase Elliott -76, 7) Chase Briscoe -99, 8) Tyler Reddick -150, 9) Joey Logano -220, 10) Chris Buescher
-235, 11) Bubba Wallace -238, 12) Alex Bowman -249, 13) Ross Chastain -258, 14) Ryan Preece -307, 15) Brad Keselowski -370, 16) Ty Gibbs -379.
Outside of the
top-16, but still in playoffs: 18) Austin Cindric -395. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Chris Buescher 789, 18) Ryan Preece -72, 19) Brad Keselowski -135, 20) Ty Gibbs -144, 21) Kyle Busch -158, 22) Carson Hocevar -164, 23) Michael McDowell -179, 24) Erik Jones -180, 25) AJ
Allmendinger -197, 26) John Hunter Nemechek -199. Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 36, 2) Ryan Blaney -3, t-3) Kyle Larson -4, t-3) William Byron -4, 5) Christopher Bell
-8, t-6) Chase Elliott -18, t-6) Chase Briscoe -18, 8) Bubba Wallace -27, t-9) Austin Cindric -28, t-9) Joey Logano -28, 11) Ross Chastain -29, 12) Tyler Reddick -30. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 279, 2) Ryan Blaney -5, 3) Kyle Larson -41, 4) Denny Hamlin -59, 5) Bubba Wallace -77, 6) Tyler
Reddick -92, 7) Christopher Bell -111, 8) Chase Elliott -115, 9) Alex Bowman -118, 10) Chase Briscoe -127, 11) Joey Logano -131, 12) Austin Cindric -145, 13) Carson Hocevar -153, 14) Ross Chastain -176, 15) Chris
Buescher -178, 16) Brad Keselowski -189.
Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher
Bell 927, t-2) Chase Briscoe -11, t-2) Chase Elliott -11, 4) William Byron -48, 5) Denny Hamlin -61, 6) Kyle Larson -64, 7) Ryan Blaney -74, 8) Chris Buescher -102, 9) Tyler Reddick -109, 10) Joey Logano
-132, 11) Ross Chastain -141, 12) Ryan Preece -168, 13) Alex Bowman -177, 14) Ty Gibbs -208, 15) Bubba Wallace -209, 16) Kyle Busch -217.
Outside of the top 16, but
still in the playoffs: t-23) Austin Cindric -295. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 4177, 2) Chase Briscoe -11, 3) Chase Elliott -61, 4) William Byron -147, 5) Kyle Larson -182, 6) Ryan Blaney -206, 7) Denny Hamlin -207, 8) Tyler Reddick
-383, 9) Chris Buescher -404, 10) Joey Logano -468, 11) Ross Chastain -514, 12) Alex Bowman -566, 13) Ryan Preece -591, 14) Bubba Wallace -681, 15) Ty Gibbs -709, 16) Kyle Busch -766.
Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 26) Austin Cindric -1030. 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-1), 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, Kansas-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 Danny Peters.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Connor Zilisch Locks Into Round of 8 On Points
by Phil Allaway
Connor Zilisch ran well Saturday, leading 42 laps and finishing second. While he didn't win, he did do two things. First, he set an all-time record for the Xfinity Series with his 16th straight top-five finish. Secondly, he locked himself into the Round of 8 on points. Zilisch's lead in the round is now 37 points over teammate Justin Allgaier, who won the first two stages, then got caught out on a bad strategy and finished 13th. Sam Mayer finished 16th, but stays in third. Brandon Jones' third career win at Kansas locked him into the Round of 8 and moved him up two places to fourth. Taylor Gray is up three places to fifth after a sixth-place finish. Sheldon Creed is up one spot to sixth after finishing fifth. Carson Kvapil is down three spots to seventh after a 15th-place finish. Jesse Love had to deal with exhaustion Saturday, but managed to finish seventh and move up to eighth, the last spot in the Round of 8 on points. Love has a five-point lead over Nick Sanchez, who finished eighth. Austin Hill moved up one place to 10th after a third-place finish, while Harrison Burton finished 20th and dropped from fifth to 11th. Sammy Smith remains in 12th. Outside of the playoffs, Christian
Eckes has a 24-point lead over Jeb Burton. Dean Thompson jumped over Ryan Sieg to take 15th. Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Connor Zilisch 2165, 2) Justin Allgaier -37, 3) Sam Mayer
-62, 4) Brandon Jones -67, 5) Taylor Gray -89, 6) Sheldon Creed -93, 7) Carson Kvapil -96, 8) Jesse Love -100, 9) Nick Sanchez -105, 10) Austin Hill -107, 11) Harrison Burton -108, 12) Sammy Smith -114. Round of 12 Owner Point Standings: 1) JR Motorsports No. 88 2170, 2) JR Motorsports No. 7 -42, 3) Haas Factory Team No. 41 -67, 4) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 -72, 5) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -85, 6) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 -95, 7) Haas Factory Team No. 00 -99,
8) JR Motorsports No. 1 -101, 9) Richard Childress Racing No. 2 -105, t-10) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 -110, t-10) Big Machine Racing No. 48 -110, 12) JR Motorsports No. 8 -117. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch
1084, 2) Justin Allgaier -61, 3) Sam Mayer -115, 4) Jesse Love -187, 5) Austin Hill -226, 6) Brandon Jones -253, 7) Carson Kvapil -291, 8) Taylor Gray -334, 9) Sheldon Creed -346, 10) Sammy Smith
-374, 11) Harrison Burton -386, 12) Nick Sanchez -407, 13) Christian Eckes -436, 14) Jeb Burton -460, 15) Dean Thompson -465, 16) Ryan Sieg -478. Best of the Rest: 13) Christian Eckes
648, 14) Jeb Burton -24, 15) Dean Thompson -29, 16) Ryan Sieg -42, 17) William Sawalich -75, 18) Daniel Dye -92, 19) Brennan Poole -96, 20) Jeremy Clements -166, 21) Aric Almirola -195, 22) Josh Williams -233, 23) Matt DiBenedetto -236. Playoff Points: 1) Connor Zilisch 65, 2) Justin Allgaier -27, 3) Brandon Jones -47, 4) Sam Mayer -49, 5) 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. 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 330, 2) Connor Zilisch
-68, 3) Sam Mayer -109, 4) Austin Hill -143, 5) Brandon Jones -144, 6) Jesse Love -161, 7) Sheldon Creed -167, 8) Carson Kvapil -186, 9) Taylor Gray -189, 10) Sammy Smith -192, 11) Aric Almirola
-197, 12) Nick Sanchez -200, 13) Ryan Sieg -241, 14) William Sawalich -260, 15) Christian Eckes -262, 16) Jeb Burton -268. Outside of the top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Harrison Burton
-275. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 946, 2) Sam Mayer -78, 3) Jesse Love -95, 4) Justin Allgaier -123, 5) Austin Hill -161, 6) Carson Kvapil
-182, 7) Brandon Jones -183, 8) Harrison Burton -186, 9) Taylor Gray -222, 10) Sammy Smith -244, 11) Sheldon Creed -254, 12) Christian Eckes -255, t-13) Jeb Burton -271, t-13) Dean Thompson -271, 15) Nick
Sanchez -285, 16) Brennan Poole -308. WC Points (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 4125, 2) Sam Mayer -238, 3) Jesse Love -308, 4) Justin Allgaier -357, 5) Austin Hill
-550, t-6) Brandon Jones -624, t-6) Carson Kvapil -624, 8) Harrison Burton -671, 9) Taylor Gray -729, 10) Sheldon Creed -831, 11) Sammy Smith -845, 12) Christian Eckes -856, 13) Jeb Burton -947, 14) Nick Sanchez
-951, 15) Dean Thompson -956, 16) Ryan Sieg -1055. 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: Off-Week Edition No. 12
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They'll be back in action Friday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway. When the teams get to Charlotte to start the Round of 8, Corey Heim will have a 47-point lead over Layne
Riggs. Daniel Hemric will be third, while Ty Majeski and Tyler Ankrum will be tied for fourth, the final spot in the Championship 4. Majeski gets the tiebreaker by virtue of the better finish within the Round of 10. Majeski and Ankrum are three points ahead of Grant Enfinger. Rajah Caruth
is seventh, then Kaden Honeycutt. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Chandler Smith leads Jake Garcia by 15 points. Outside of the playoffs, Gio Ruggiero leads by six points over Ben Rhodes. Tanner Gray is more than a race back in 13th. 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 Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 was brought to you by the letter L for Leaning. The only reason Chase Elliott won Sunday is because Denny Hamlin leaned on Bubba Wallace and put him in the wall on the
final lap. That, and the fact that the extra restart allowed him to make use of his fresh tires. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Hollywood Casino 400 compiled by Phil Allaway
"Everything worked out perfect for me. Had a great push through [turns 1 and 2]. That kind of all started with [Brad Keselowski]. I had a big run off of [turn 2]. The seas kind of parted and I just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it. Obviously, we still had pretty good tires compared to those guys, but what a crazy finish. Hope you all enjoyed that. I certainly did. Really
proud of this No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet team. Had a really solid weekend, win or no win. Really nice to qualify really well. We’ll certainly enjoy this, man. This is pretty cool. Just never take this stuff for granted because it’s hard to come by. Learned that the hard way. Always enjoy it. Always appreciate it." - Chase Elliott, race winner
"It’s super disappointing. Obviously I wanted it
bad. It would have been 60 [wins] for me. The team just did an amazing job with the car. It was really, really fast. They gave me everything I needed. Got the restart I needed, I just couldn’t finish there on the last corner. I got really, really, tight with [Bubba Wallace] and let [Chase Elliott] win." - Denny Hamlin, finished second "I honestly don’t know what I
could have done. I’m leaving here feeling pretty satisfied. That was a bummer when I lost the lead on the restart when I caught the wrong timing line. Looking back, it was such a 50/50 call on those restarts whether you wanted to be on the outside or the inside. I don’t know what I would have done differently. I felt like we left it all on the table." - Christopher Bell, finished third
"It was
tough. I’ve never really been in a situation like that, where I needed really anybody but Bubba to win in that situation. I wanted to still put it in a position where I could still win the race too. It was just tough with those restarts. They’re so circumstantial. One thing goes your way, and you can end up winning the race. One bad thing goes your way, and you end up running fifth to seventh. Just crazy the runs and how fast they develop. I thought I was going to still have a really good shot
to win the race and when Bell got in the fence off of [turn 4]0, I had to all but stop, and it just ruined my momentum. Scrappy day for our Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota. Would have loved to be obviously a little bit better today. Crazy, I think we’re averaging a top-five finish in the playoffs and we’re only 20 points above. Never feel safe at the Roval, but go there and try to do our job. Our road course stuff is pretty good there. See what we can do." - Chase Briscoe, finished
fourth "To say we had a shot at the win with the way we started, you could have fooled me. We were not good. We missed it on the fire-off speed. I just really appreciate the team. Two years ago I’d probably say something dumb. Or say he’s a dumbass for that move. I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. But we’re going for the win. I hate that we gave it away there. Toyotas
were super-fast, and proud to be driving one. I thought it was meant to be, and then it wasn’t. All in all the positives were we are minus 26 coming in — or minus 27 coming in. We’re minus 26 leaving. We gained a point." - Bubba Wallace, finished fifth
"[Scraping the wall] didn’t affect my ride, I don’t think. I actually felt pretty good after it. My No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was
good all race long. I just couldn’t go for 15 laps like the Toyota’s could, but I felt like after that, we were really good. We could kind of move around and get some lines going. It’s just really difficult to pass. But overall, our team brought a really fast Chevy. I just need to study the restarts and those first handful of laps on each restart to see what I could do better with the balance that I had. But overall, it was a great day. We’re 54 points above the cutline, happy about that heading
into the Charlotte ROVAL." - Kyle Larson, finished sixth
"I just tried to give [Bubba Wallace] the best push I could. I was really fortunate the previous restart that he was able to hold the lead. I don’t know, I tried to push him and we just got separated. Obviously I want to push him out, try to help him win and then obviously keep the gap closed up to try
to be in second and have a shot at it myself. "It was a tough day. I really thought our Beast Toyota Camry was really fast. We just had struggles on pit road. That’s part of racing. It’s tough. Obviously, there’s only one thing we can do at Charlotte and that’s what we’ll be focused on." - Tyler Reddick, finished seventh "At the end of stage two the car got a lot better. We were trapped a lap down with how the lucky dog and stuff played out and we fought through that and got to the lead lap and started picking them off. And then on the last few restarts we picked off a few more and got a decent finish out of it." - Brad Keselowski, finished eighth
"It was a hard weekend. I thought we were recovering pretty well scoring stage points in both stages after starting in the back. I’m like, ‘Alright, we’re OK here. We can kind of roll through here and we’ll be alright,’ and I just got caught up in that wreck on the restart and tore something up. I don’t know, but it wouldn’t turn after that. We tried to throw a Hail Mary with two tires, but there were too many restarts and you can’t hold
them off. I kept getting used up, so it sucks." - Joey Logano, finished 21st "I thought we probably could have run eighth to 10th. That was kind of our max potential with this thing. I thought we got a little better through the day, which was good. We did two on the last stop and tried to get some track position and make something happen, but I sped. I was just trying
to be aggressive knowing that I really didn’t have much to lose, but I’m proud of the effort with this backup car and coming from the back. I just made a little mistake." - Ryan Blaney, finished 24th "It was a wild ride, no doubt. Before I knew it, I had a decent restart going and I just get wrecked by [John Hunter Nemechek]. He just drives through me and then I was
sliding on the wall. I was just mad at that point from how our day was going and this just pissed me off even more because that’s what really hurt was just flipping down the track. It was violent, no doubt, but we had such a fast Speedy Cash Ford today. It’s just a bummer. Right before that caution came out we were gonna have a top 10 day, racing up inside the top 10 a majority of the day and it’s a shame that it has to come to an end out there. I want to give a shout out back to everyone at FRM
for bringing another really good car, especially at a mile-and-a-half. Hopefully, five more. Hopefully we bring some more good ones." - Zane Smith, finished 31st (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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