Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 20, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition CLXXXVI |
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
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- Teams are en route back to their shops today and are preparing for this weekend's action in Martinsville. 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 Briscoe Wins Talladega, Clinches Championship 4
Berth Chase Briscoe was able to sweep around Bubba Wallace on the final lap Sunday and held on to win the YellaWood 500 to lock himself into the Championship 4. Todd Gilliland was second, then Ty Gibbs, Wallace and Cole Custer. |
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| Hendrick Motorsports’ Season on the Brink After Talladega
Goes Sour Hendrick Motorsports was looking good to get at least one team into the Championship 4 entering Talladega. After bad finishes for all four of their drivers, they're looking at a real possibility of no Hendrick drivers in the Championship
4. |
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| Todd Gilliland Shows Shades of Father David With Runner-Up
at Talladega Todd Gilliland had an excellent day Sunday, spending much of the second half of the race in the hunt before finishing a career-best second. |
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| AJ Allmendinger One of 7 Drivers Collected in Early
Talladega Crash Towards the end of stage one, a seven-car crash wiped out the chances for Chase Elliott and pitched AJ Allmendinger hard into the wall, causing his car to burst into flames. |
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| Casey Mears Looks To Keep NASCAR Cup Career Going In
2026 Casey Mears indicated to Frontstretch after Sunday's YellaWood 500 that he is trying to lock down a six-race schedule for 2026. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR Lawsuit
This Week (Oct. 11 – 17) Last week, both NASCAR and the teams filed motions for summary judgment for part of their ongoing litigation. Both sides then filed motions against the other's motion. |
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| Austin Hill Wins Crash Filled Xfinity Race at
Talladega Austin Hill continued his superspeedway dominance Saturday by sweeping the stages en route to winning the United Rentals 250 for his fourth win of the year. Carson Kvapil was second, then Justin Allgaier, Christian Eckes and Caesar
Bacarella. |
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| William Sawalich Transferred to Hospital for Evaluation
After Talladega Wreck Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich was sent to a local hospital for observation after a big crash late in stage two. He was released late Saturday night. |
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| Talladega Trifecta: Three Xfinity Series Drivers Have
Career Days Talladega Superspeedway brings the possibility of underdog drivers scoring great finishes. Saturday's United Rentals 250 is no exception as Caesar Bacarella scored a career-best fifth-place finish. |
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| Josh Williams’ Talladega Thrill Months After Being ‘Fired
Because He Couldn’t Drive’ Josh Williams has had a tough year after getting dropped from Kaulig Racing. Saturday saw him finish 14th, but score the fastest lap of the race and keep himself in contention all day. |
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| Gio Ruggiero Claims 1st Truck Series Victory at
Talladega TRICON Garage's Gio Ruggiero scored his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory Friday at Talladega. Corey Heim was second, then Ty Majeski, Dawson Sutton and Layne Riggs. |
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| Daniel Hemric Faces ‘Must-Win’ After Talladega
Misfortune Daniel Hemric had a terrible day in Talladega, struggling early before crashing with Toni Breidinger late. He's now 32 points out of fourth in points. |
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| Norm Benning OK After Fiery Talladega
Incident Norm Benning was ok Friday after an engine failure resulted in a fire in his truck during the Love's RV Stop 225. He's more concerned about getting the money to get a new Ilmor engine. |
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| Frankie Muniz Has ‘a Few Options’ in Different NASCAR
Series for 2026 Prior to Friday's Love's RV Stop 225, Frankie Muniz told Frontstretch that he is currently working on a number of opportunities for the 2026 season. |
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| Max Verstappen Cruises at COTA to Take USGP
Win Red Bull's Max Verstappen scored a dominant victory Sunday in the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Lando Norris was second, then Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri. |
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| Max Verstappen Wins F1 Sprint at
COTA Max Verstappen led all 19 laps from pole Saturday to win the Sprint Race at the United States Grand Prix. George Russell was second, then Carlos Sainz Jr., Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. |
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| Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri Collide & DNF at Start of
COTA F1 Sprint Saturday's Sprint race will be best remembered for an incident in turn 1 on the final lap where Nico Hulkenberg got in the back of Oscar Piastri and launched Piastri into teammate Lando Norris. |
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| Strategic Genius in Rain Nets Team WRT Indianapolis 8 Hour
Victory Team WRT's Valentino Rossi, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts won Saturday's Indianapolis 8 Hour, a race plagued by lightning and heavy rain, thanks to a bit of strategy under the safety car. |
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| Gonzalez, Wagner Win Penalty-Strewn Indy GT4 America Race
No. 1 In a race marked by time penalties, RAFA Racing Team's Tyler Gonzalez and Gresham Wagner won Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 1 Saturday morning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. |
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| JMF Motorsports Wins Pirelli GT4 America Season
Finale JMF Motorsports' Braden Arthur and Mike David Ortmann won Sunday morning's Pirelli GT4 America SprintX season finale in Indianapolis after their teammate Jesse Webb was penalized for spinning out the leader. |
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| Memo Gidley, Ross Chouest Split Indianapolis GT America
Victories Last weekend's GT America powered by AWS season finale at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were won by Memo Gidley (Friday) and Ross Chouest (Sunday). |
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| Kvapil, Harvick Claim CARS Tour Finale; Lewis, Maier
Crowned Champions At North Wilkesboro Speedway Saturday, Caden Kvapil won the final zMAX CARS Tour late model stock race of the year, while Keelan Harvick won the 100-lap pro late model race. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Sam Bloxham, Simon Galloway of Andy Hone of LAT Images, Brian Cleary, Fred Hardy and Fabian Lagunas of SRO Motorsports Group, and our own 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: Oct. 17-19 |
- The FIA World Endurance Championship's 2026 regulations were released Friday. In them, a new "success handicap" system will be introduced for the Hypercar class next season. There is already a similar system in place for the LMGT3 class. In addition, Article 5.3's wording has been changed. As a
result, new Hypercars going forward will have to have some type of Energy Recovery System (ERS) onboard the cars. This means that all new Hypercars will have to be Hybrids. As of now, the only Hypercar running without a hybrid system is the Aston Martin Valkyrie, which runs a 6.5-liter V12 engine. Previously, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus and Vanwall have run non-hybrid Hypercars. Since
the Valkyrie has already been homologated, it will be grandfathered in. - The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent the weekend in the midwest. Friday night saw the tour race at Indiana's Lincoln Park Speedway. What followed was an entertaining duel between David Gravel and Buddy Kofoid. Gravel started from pole, but Kofoid took the lead on lap 2. Gravel eventually ran Kofoid back down in lapped traffic and took the lead back on lap 13. Gravel pulled away, but Kofoid ran him back down in the closing laps. The two crossed each other over with two laps to go, then had their battle interrupted when Brady Bacon rolled his
car just after the white flag flew. Following a cleanup, the two went back at it. In turns 3 and 4 on the final lap, contact was made. Kofoid spun out, while Gravel continued on to win. Carson Macedo inherited second as a result. Bill Balog was third, then Cole Macedo and Garet
Williamson.
Saturday night was supposed to be a race at LaSalle Speedway, but that race was wiped out due to severe thunderstorms. It will not be rescheduled.
Sunday night, the tour returned to Angell Park Speedway in Wisconsin for the rescheduled final night of the Badger State Triple. Here, Emerson Axsom started
from pole and led early. Meanwhile, Sheldon Haudenschild quickly moved up the order and eventually swept into the lead.
Haudenschild and Axsom ultimately went back and forth at the front for a number of laps before Haudenschild finally cleared him. In the final laps, Axsom moved back in on Haudenschild, but was unable to prevent the NOS Energy Drink-sponsored driver from taking the win.
Axsom was just .181 seconds back in second, followed by Gravel, Logan Schuchart and Kofoid.
Through 65 races, Gravel continues to lead by 138 points over Kofoid on the strength of 16 wins. Carson Macedo is third, then Schuchart and Haudenschild.
- The Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series wrapped up their season this past weekend at Texas Motor Speedway's Dirt Track. Friday night saw Rico Abreu work his way around Daryn Pittman halfway through the feature in lapped traffic and hold on to take his 12th win of the year. Pittman was second, then Giovanni Scelzi, Brad Sweet and Daison Pursley. Saturday night's
season finale saw Abreu sweep into the lead at the start of the 30-lap feature, then lead flag-to-flag to sweep Championship All-In Weekend and take home a check for $50,000. Pittman was once again second, then Sweet. Justin Sanders and Scelzi rounded out the top-five. The wins
were critical to earn Abreu the Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series championship by 49 points over Sweet. Brent Marks finished third, then Justin Peck and Tanner Thorson. - During Sunday's Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series banquet, Brad Sweet announced his retirement from full-time racing. He intends to continue to race part-time, while concentrating on his business interests. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Talladega and North Wilkesboro last weekend. For more from Talladega, North Wilkesboro, 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: Chase Briscoe Takes Lead With Talladega Win
by Phil Allaway
Denny Hamlin had a decent car Sunday, but issues with the starter put him a lap down late. While he did get his lap back, he ended up finishing 24th. Chase Briscoe's move to win
the YellaWood 500 Sunday not only locked him into the Championship 4, but it also gave him the points lead. He is nine points ahead of teammate Christopher Bell, who gained a spot by finishing eighth. Kyle Larson dropped one spot to third after running out of fuel on the final lap and finishing 26th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Hamlin's issues dropped him from the points lead to fourth. Larson has a 36-point advantage over Willam Byron, who spun in the tri-oval on the final lap and dropped back to 25th. Joey Logano is up one place after leading the most laps Sunday and finishing 16th. Ryan Blaney is up one place to seventh after a 23rd-place finish, while Chase Elliott dropped to eighth after getting eliminated in an
early wreck. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Tyler Reddick finished seventh and maintains ninth in points. He is still 34 points ahead of Bubba Wallace, who finished fourth. Ross Chastain is still 11th, followed by Shane van Gisbergen. Alex Bowman struggled with an engine miss and finished six laps down. He's still in 13th, while Austin Cindric crashed out with Elliott and stays in 14th. Austin Dillon is 15th and Josh Berry 16th. Of those that did not qualify for the playoffs, Chris Buescher crashed out from the lead late and finished 30th. Despite that, he still has a 56-point lead over teammate Ryan Preece. Ty Gibbs is 19th after a third-place finish, while Brad Keselowski is 20th. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Chase Briscoe 4116, 2) Christopher Bell -9, 3) Kyle Larson -10, 4) Denny Hamlin -13, 5) William Byron -46, 6) Joey Logano -48, 7) Ryan Blaney -57, 8) Chase Elliott -72. Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 9) Tyler Reddick 2270, 10) Bubba Wallace -34, 11) Ross Chastain -60, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -98, 13) Alex Bowman -118, 14) Austin Cindric -147, 15) Austin Dillon -156, 16) Josh Berry -177. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 1092, 2) William Byron -2, 3) Christopher Bell -8, t-4) Chase Briscoe -42, t-4) Ryan Blaney
-42, 6) Denny Hamlin -51, 7) Chase Elliott -78, 8) Tyler Reddick -98, 9) Joey Logano -208, 10) Bubba Wallace -225, 11) Chris Buescher -238, 12) Alex Bowman -256, 13) Ross Chastain -259, 14) Ryan
Preece -294, 15) Ty Gibbs -356, 16) Brad Keselowski -382. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Chris Buescher 854, 18) Ryan Preece -56, 19) Ty Gibbs -118, 20) Brad Keselowski -144, 21) Michael McDowell -162, 22) Kyle Busch -173, 23) Carson Hocevar -174, 24) John Hunter Nemechek
-212, 25) Erik Jones -214, 26) AJ Allmendinger -215. Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 41, 2) Ryan Blaney -7, t-3) Kyle Larson -8, t-3) William Byron
-8, 5) Christopher Bell -13, 6) Chase Briscoe -17, 7) Chase Elliott -23, 8) Joey Logano -33. Stage Points: 1) William Byron 306, 2) Ryan Blaney -12, 3) Kyle Larson -26, 4) Denny Hamlin -72, 5) Tyler Reddick -89, 6) Bubba Wallace -93, 7) Christopher Bell -111, 8) Chase Elliott
-125, 9) Chase Briscoe -126, 10) Alex Bowman -141, 11) Joey Logano -147, 12) Carson Hocevar -169, 13) Austin Cindric -172, 14) Ross Chastain -190, 15) Chris Buescher -205, 16) Brad Keselowski
-216.
Note: The Stage Points include the Duels at Daytona. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 1036, 2) Chase Briscoe
-11, 3) Chase Elliott -63, 4) Kyle Larson -76, 5) Denny Hamlin -90, 6) William Byron -104, 7) Tyler Reddick -114, t-8) Ryan Blaney -132, t-8) Chris Buescher -132, 10) Joey Logano -157, t-11) Ryan Preece
-183, t-11) Ross Chastain -183, 13) Alex Bowman -217, 14) Bubba Wallace -234, 15) Ty Gibbs -242, 16) Michael McDowell -253. Note: These standings are based on
the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 4649, 2) Chase Briscoe -17, 3) Kyle Larson -209, 4) Chase Elliott -239, 5) Denny
Hamlin -309, 6) William Byron -336, 7) Ryan Blaney -401, 8) Tyler Reddick -405, 9) Chris Buescher -506, 10) Joey Logano -557, 11) Ryan Preece -652, 12) Ross Chastain -663, 13) Alex Bowman -707, 14) Bubba
Wallace -768, 15) Ty Gibbs -823, 16) Michael McDowell -886. Note: 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-1), Kyle Larson (Homestead, Bristol-1, Kansas-1), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville, Darlington-1, Michigan, Dover, Gateway, Las Vegas-2), Austin Cindric (Talladega-1), Joey Logano (Texas), Ross Chastain (Charlotte-1), Ryan Blaney (Nashville, Daytona-2, Loudon), Shane van Gisbergen (Mexico City,
Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Charlotte-2), Chase Briscoe (Pocono, Darlington-2, Talladega-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 Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier Clinch Championship 4 Spots On Points
by Phil Allaway
Connor Zilisch ran strong Saturday, but ended up with a tire rub that resulted in wall contact in turn 2. Zilisch ended up 23rd, but that enough to lock into the Championship 4 on points. Despite that, Zilisch's substantial lead is all but gone. Justin
Allgaier finished third Saturday and cut his deficit from 38 points to seven. Jesse Love finished 10th and holds onto third. Carson Kvapil finished a career-best second and moved up three places to fourth. He is the last driver in the Championship 4 on points at the moment. Kvapil has an 11-point lead over teammate Sammy Smith, who
gained three places with a ninth-place finish. Brandon Jones crashed early and struggled to a 26th-place finish, dropping one place to sixth. Haas Factory Team teammates Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed were eliminated in a lap 16 crash and are now seventh and eighth. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Austin Hill's sweeping of
the stages Saturday not only locked the No. 21 team into the Owners Championship 4, but moved him up two places to ninth in points. He is 29 points ahead of Nick Sanchez. Taylor Gray dropped two places to 11th after a rear end failure, while Harrison Burton is still in 12th. Outside of the playoffs, Christian Eckes finished
fourth and extended his lead to 55 points over Jeb Burton. Ryan Sieg is 15th, while Dean Thompson is 16th. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Connor Zilisch 3145, 2) Justin Allgaier -7, 3) Jesse Love -43, 4) Carson Kvapil -72, 5)
Sammy Smith -83, 6) Brandon Jones -92, 7) Sam Mayer -94, 8) Sheldon Creed -113. Round of 8 Owner Point Standings: 1) JR Motorsports No. 88 3150, 2) JR Motorsports No. 7 -12, 3) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -26, 4) Richard
Childress Racing No. 2 -48, 5) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 -56, 6) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 -97, 7) Haas Factory Team No. 41 -99, 8) Haas Factory Team No. 00 -119. Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 9) Austin Hill 2177, 10) Nick Sanchez -29, 11) Taylor Gray -40,
12) Harrison Burton -70. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 1210, 2) Justin Allgaier -50, 3) Jesse Love -181, 4) Sam Mayer -183, 5) Austin Hill -233, 6) Carson
Kvapil -315, 7) Brandon Jones -325, 8) Sammy Smith -397, 9) Taylor Gray -399, 10) Sheldon Creed -408, 11) Nick Sanchez -445, 12) Harrison Burton -462, 13) Christian Eckes -468, 14) Jeb Burton -523, 15) Ryan
Sieg -543, 16) Dean Thompson -569. Best of the Rest: 13) Christian Eckes 742, 14) Jeb Burton -55, 15) Ryan Sieg -75, 16) Dean Thompson -101, 17) William Sawalich -106, 18) Daniel Dye -151, 19) Brennan Poole -154, 20) Aric
Almirola -180, 21) Jeremy Clements -248, 22) Parker Retzlaff -281, 23) Josh Williams -288. Playoff Points: 1) Connor Zilisch 71, 2) Justin Allgaier -33, 3) Brandon Jones -53, 4) Sam Mayer
-55, 5) Jesse Love -57, 6) Sammy Smith -62, 7) Carson Kvapil -66, 8) Sheldon Creed -68. Note: 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 370, 2) Connor Zilisch -73, 3) Sam Mayer -138, 4) Austin Hill -140, 5) Jesse Love -152, 6) Brandon Jones -184, 7) Sheldon Creed
-198, 8) Carson Kvapil -203, 9) Aric Almirola -204, 10) Sammy Smith -208, 11) Taylor Gray -227, 12) Nick Sanchez -229, 13) Ryan Sieg -269, 14) Christian Eckes -287, 15) William Sawalich
-299, 16) Jeb Burton -307. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 1050, 2) Jesse Love -101, 3) Justin Allgaier -116, 4) Sam Mayer -125, 5) Austin
Hill -175, 6) Carson Kvapil -195, 7) Brandon Jones -220, 8) Harrison Burton -227, 9) Taylor Gray -255, 10) Sammy Smith -257, 11) Christian Eckes -268, 12) Sheldon Creed -291, 13) Nick Sanchez -297, 14) Jeb
Burton -301, 15) Dean Thompson -343, 16) Ryan Sieg -358. WC Points (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 4584, 2) Justin Allgaier -334, 3) Jesse Love -341, 4) Sam Mayer
-404, 5) Austin Hill -606, 6) Carson Kvapil -677, 7) Brandon Jones -760, 8) Harrison Burton -819, 9) Taylor Gray -852, 10) Sammy Smith -898, 11) Christian Eckes -912, 12) Sheldon Creed -969, 13) Nick Sanchez
-999, 14) Jeb Burton -1059, 15) Dean Thompson -1197, 16) Ryan Sieg -1207. Race Winners: Jesse Love (Daytona-1), Austin Hill (Atlanta-1, Martinsville, Talladega-1, Talladega-2), Connor Zilisch (COTA, Pocono, Sonoma, Dover, Indianapolis, Watkins
Glen, Daytona-2, Portland, Gateway, Charlotte-2), Aric Almirola (Phoenix, Bristol-2, Las Vegas-2), Justin Allgaier (Las Vegas-1, Homestead, Nashville), Brandon Jones (Darlington, Kansas), Kyle Larson (Bristol-1, Texas), Sammy Smith (Rockingham), William Byron (Charlotte), Daniel Suarez (Mexico City), 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 Wins Round of 8
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim continues to run roughshod over the rest of the field. A second-place finish allowed him to clinch the Round of 8 with one race still to go.
He still has a 71-point lead, but now, that lead is over Rajah Caruth. Caruth gained two places after winning stage one Friday and finishing
ninth. Tyler Ankrum is down to third after finishing sixth. Kaden Honeycutt is up from a tie for seventh to fourth after a 10th-place finish. He is the last driver in the Championship 4 on points at the moment.
Honeycutt has a five-point lead over Ty Majeski, who finished third despite being caught up in an early crash and moved up one place.
Layne Riggs had a bunch of problems Friday, yet still managed to finish fifth. Despite that, he dropped to sixth. Daniel Hemric and Grant Enfinger dropped out due to crashes and are now far enough behind that they'll likely need to win Friday night to make the Championship 4. Of those already eliminated, Chandler Smith expanded
his advantage over Jake Garcia to 26 points. Outside of the playoffs, Gio Ruggiero's first career win allowed him to expand his advantage to 66 points over Ben Rhodes. Tanner Gray is 13th, followed by Connor Mosack. Matt Crafton jumped over Andres Perez to take
15th. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 3167, 2) Rajah Caruth -71, 3) Tyler Ankrum -77, 4) Kaden Honeycutt -80, 5) Ty Majeski -85, 6) Layne Riggs -86, 7) Daniel Hemric -112, 8) Grant Enfinger -120. Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 9) Chandler Smith 2119, 10) Jake Garcia -26.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1109, 2) Layne Riggs -271, 3) Ty Majeski
-320, t-4) Daniel Hemric -366, t-4) Chandler Smith -366, 6) Kaden Honeycutt -369, 7) Tyler Ankrum -375, 8) Grant Enfinger -389, 9) Gio Ruggiero -443, 10) Rajah Caruth -489, 11) Jake Garcia -508, 12) Ben Rhodes
-509, 13) Tanner Gray -578, 14) Connor Mosack -612, 15) Matt Crafton -647, 16) Andres Perez -653.
Best of the Rest: 11) Gio Ruggiero 666, 12) Ben Rhodes -66, 13) Tanner Gray
-135, 14) Connor Mosack -169, 15) Matt Crafton -204, 16) Andres Perez -210, 17) Dawson Sutton -240, 18) Matt Mills -246, 19) Stewart Friesen -269, 20) Jack Wood -274. Playoff Point Standings:
1) Corey Heim 84, 2) Layne Riggs -52, 3) Daniel Hemric -73, t-4) Tyler Ankrum -74, t-4) Ty Majeski -74, 6) Grant Enfinger -77, 7) Rajah Caruth -78, 8) Kaden Honeycutt -79. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 335, 2) Kaden Honeycutt -132, 3) Layne Riggs -141, 4) Ty Majeski -161, 5) Chandler Smith -171, 6) Grant Enfinger -198, 7) Tyler Ankrum -209, 8) Daniel Hemric -215, 9) Rajah Caruth
-239, 10) Ben Rhodes -240, 11) Jake Garcia -250, 12) Gio Ruggiero -256, 13) Connor Mosack -261, 14) Tanner Gray -275, 15) Stewart Friesen -278, 16) Matt Crafton -306. 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 700, 2) Layne Riggs -141, 3) Daniel Hemric -162, 4) Ty Majeski
-172, 5) Tyler Ankrum -179, 6) Grant Enfinger -196, 7) Gio Ruggiero -198, 8) Chandler Smith -205, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -246, 10) Rajah Caruth -259, 11) Jake Garcia -271, 12) Ben Rhodes -278, 13) Tanner Gray
-319, 14) Matt Crafton -357, 15) Andres Perez -362, 16) Connor Mosack -363. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 3791, 2) Layne Riggs -511, 3) Daniel Hemric -593, 4) Ty Majeski
-613, 5) Tyler Ankrum -663, 6) Gio Ruggiero -716, 7) Grant Enfinger -717, 8) Chandler Smith -745, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -909, 10) Rajah Caruth -925, 11) Jake Garcia -978, 12) Ben Rhodes -1001, 13) Tanner
Gray -1129, 14) Matt Crafton -1270, 15) Andres Perez -1294, 16) Connor Mosack -1304. Race Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas, Texas, Charlotte-1, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Richmond, Darlington, Loudon, Charlotte-2), 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), Gio Ruggiero (Talladega) 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 YellaWood 500 was brought to you by the letter F for Fuel Mileage. Even with the cautions that they had, fuel was critical. You saw some of the pack slowing tactics that have been detested
in recent years, but you also saw Kyle Larson run out on the final lap while trying to go for the lead. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: YellaWood 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"I don’t know what’s more unbelievable – the fact that we’re going to the Championship 4 or that I won a superspeedway race. It’s unbelievable. What an amazing day. I wish so badly my family was here. Normally, I have at least one person here and everybody’s kind of been under the weather, so nobody is here. But so glad that Johnny Morris is here. I’ve never been able to win with Johnny
here and I know how special this place is to him and the Bass Pro Shops brand. Unbelievable that we’re going to be able to race for a championship in this thing. What an amazing day, an amazing car. I can’t thank Ty Gibbs enough. He was an incredible teammate there at the end. Honestly, it was just so selfless. He could’ve easily tried to make a move to try and win the race and he pushed me to the win. Just an unbelievable day." - Chase Briscoe, race
winner
"I’m definitely excited, but maybe wishing a little bit what I could’ve done differently. I’m sure in 10 or 15 minutes it will sink in and I’ll be pretty happy. I mean, that’s just the dream, right? To be in contention to win a race like this, and I certainly think we had everything to get it done in our Ford Mustang. We just came up a bit short." - Todd Gilliland, finished
second
"It was awesome. We’ve been really good at the speedways this year, and we just bought our time and were there at the very end, trying to be smart. Our guys have brought really fast Ford Mustangs to the track. It’s been fun and so awesome to have Sysco on the hood this weekend at the racetrack and giving them a good run. We wish we were five spots better, but it was definitely a great way to get a solid
finish here and hopefully carry that momentum into Martinsville." - Cole Custer, finished fifth "It’s pretty apparent the second we lost control of the race. I’m only driving one car, so I couldn’t really control the race. The car behind me was saving gas, that didn’t help us and killed the whole bottom lane. Cars were pulling in front of us and we were just getting demoted from
the first two cars in line to the back of the line. "We just can’t be saving gas at the end of the race. Ryan was not, but I was frustrated. You just get demoted in the lane as cars move to the front. You’re helpless. You’re sitting there just driving in circles knowing the right thing to do and just can’t do it. I drive one car." - Joey Logano, finished 16th "Certainly, a finish would have helped us be a little bit closer on the points side of things. We just lost control of the race. We just couldn’t get the pushes going the way we needed to on the bottom lane. We got the outside lane clear down in front of us, and then [Kyle Larson] ran out of fuel there on the backstretch and that kind of broke up the energy a little bit more. We just couldn’t get
it linked back together. It was just wrong place, wrong time. I felt like we were in a good spot where I was on the bottom, but we just couldn’t get linked up." - William Byron, finished 25th "[The fuel light] was flashing at me through [turns 1 and 2]. I was just hoping that maybe we could make it, but midway down the back, it started stumbling and I just got
out of the way. It’s unfortunate. I’d rather have a bigger points cushion heading into next weekend, but we’ll regroup and focus on Martinsville [Speedway]." - Kyle Larson, finished 26th
"We had a really fast Ford and we were up there where we needed to be and just took a bad push down the back there. It ended up being a hard hit. The car was really fast and the RFK guys did a great job
today. Just the way these things keep going. Ultimately, it was another fast Ford Mustang here. I appreciate the team doing such a good job and we will just try again." - Chris Buescher, finished 30th (Crashed out)
"I feel alright, it just knocked the air out of me. As I stopped, it felt like the car was catching on fire, so I got out and tried to get my breath back. I feel OK now, probably just going to
be sore from a hard hit for the whole body. "I am proud of this No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet team. We got it up front there. You get to the front and hope that maybe you’ll run to the end of the stage. I think we were leading there. Joey [Logano] was doing a really good job of pushing me in the right areas. I felt like we could kind of direct both lines. Obviously, Noah
[Gragson] was next to me, and it looked like Noah got turned getting into the corner and it turned me straight into the fence. It’s disappointing, but it’s part of this racing. At least we were up front a little bit there. You always expect the worst here [at Talladega Superspeedway] and hope for the best, but today we got the worst." - AJ Allmendinger, finished 37th
"I saw someone get turned
sideways. I was trying to get slowed up like normal. I ended up getting turned sideways into some other cars, and then they slid back into me. I’m not really sure… I hate it. I felt like we had ourselves in a good spot before the pit cycle. I didn’t feel like we executed the cycle very well and that put us back in the back again. I’m not sure if that would have helped us miss the wreck or not. Obviously, all of that is very circumstantial, but nonetheless, it is what it is. I can’t change it
now, so we’re just all eyes on Martinsville [Speedway] and we’ll try to go there and get a win." - Chase Elliott, finished 40th (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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