Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 27, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition CXCI |
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 back at their shops today and are preparing for this weekend's action in Phoenix. We'll have the entry lists for this weekend's events and everything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch. |
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| William Byron Scores Walkoff Win at Martinsville, Advances
to Championship 4 William Byron led 304 of 500 laps Sunday to win the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville, his third win of the year. Ryan Blaney was second, then Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson. |
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| Ryan Blaney Denied 3rd Straight Fall Martinsville Win,
Misses Championship 4 Ryan Blaney did everything that he needed to in order to win from 31st on the grid Sunday. However, he came up just short and failed to make the Championship 4. |
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| Christopher Bell Misses Championship 4 While Toyota Engine
Trouble Strikes Teammates Christopher Bell viewed Sunday's Xfinity 500 as a fight between himself and Kyle Larson to get into the Championship 4. He ended up seventh, not quite enough to advance. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR Antitrust
Case This Week (Oct. 18-24) Last week, NASCAR, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports spent a significant amount of time in court in various hearings. Both sides tried to get summary judgment in their favor, but no decisions were announced. |
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| Taylor Gray Lands 1st Xfinity Victory As Chaotic
Martinsville Race Eliminates 4 Playoff Drivers Taylor Gray took the lead on lap 202 Saturday night, then held on through a series of late restarts to win the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 for his first career win. Sammy Smith was second, then Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed and Aric
Almirola. |
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| Sam Mayer Says Jeb Burton Doesn’t ‘Have the It Factor, He
Has the S–t Factor’ Sam Mayer spent much of Saturday night's IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 battling against Jeb Burton. Mayer spun out Burton twice and was very unhappy afterwards. |
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| After Late-Race Spin, Carson Kvapil ‘Hammered It’ to
Championship 4 Berth Carson Kvapil was forced to scramble after a lap 227 spin to finish 18th and claim the final spot in the Xfinity Series Championship 4. |
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| Harrison Burton Moving to SHR, Dean Thompson Returning for
2026 Sam Hunt Racing announced Saturday that they will expand to two full-time cars in 2026. Harrison Burton will join the team alongside Dean Thompson. |
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| Jesse Love, Whelen Extend for
2026 Richard Childress Racing announced Friday that Jesse Love will return to the No. 2 Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series for 2026 with Whelen Engineering as the primary sponsor. |
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| Ryan Ellis Won’t Return to DGM in
2026 Right before the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 went green Saturday, DGM Racing announced that Ryan Ellis will leave the No. 71 Chevrolet at the end of the season. |
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| Corey Heim a Winner Again at Martinsville; 4 Drivers
Eliminated Before Season Finale Corey Heim swept the stages Friday night to win the Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville for his record-extending 11th Truck win of the year. Kaden Honeycutt was second, then Layne Riggs, Brent Crews and Corey LaJoie. |
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| Kaden (Survives the Playoff)
Honeycutt A second-place finish Friday night allowed Kaden Honeycutt to take the final spot in the Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4. |
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| Layne Riggs’ Heroics All for Naught at Martinsville,
Confirms 2026 Plans Layne Riggs has been the second-best driver all year in the Craftsman Truck Series. However, he lost out on a spot in the Championship 4 due to a tiebreaker. |
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| Lando Norris Leads Wire-to-Wire in Mexico City, Takes
Championship Lead McLaren's Lando Norris led flag-to-flag Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to win the Grand Prix of Mexico City. Charles Leclerc was second, then Max Verstappen, Oliver Bearman and Oscar Piastri. |
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| Jade Avedisian Running ARCA West Finale With
CCR Central Coast Racing announced Friday that Jade Avedisian will drive the team's No. 13 in the ARCA Menards Series West season finale this upcoming weekend at Phoenix Raceway. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Mark Thompson of Getty Images and our own Josh Calloni. Have news for
Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Martinsville last weekend. For more from 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 Wins Round of 8
by Phil Allaway
Chase Briscoe entered the day already locked into the Championship 4 with his win at Talladega. Turns out he needed it. A blown engine put him out early, resulting in a 37th-place finish. Briscoe's engine woes,
combined with a fourth-place finish for Kyle Larson means that Larson won the Round of 8, claiming the only spot in the Championship 4 on points. His margin was seven points over Christopher Bell, who finished seventh. William Byron led a race-high 304 laps Sunday en route to victory. It also moved him up two places to third. Briscoe's engine failure dropped him three places to fourth. Denny Hamlin had his own engine failure while running second Sunday. That dropped him one place to fourth. Joey Logano ended the round in sixth after an eighth-place finish. Ryan Blaney, despite starting 31st, had one of the best cars Sunday and drove to the front. His second-place finish means that he stayed in seventh. Chase Elliott finished
third and ended the round in eighth. Byron, Briscoe, Hamlin and Larson will have their points reset to 5000. From there, the quartet will battle straight up for the championship in Phoenix. Of those who have been eliminated,
Bell is all but locked into fifth in points. He has a 56-point lead over Blaney. Tyler Reddick is up two places to seventh after an 11th-place finish, while Logano is eighth. Elliott is ninth in points, followed by Bubba Wallace. Ross Chastain is 11th after a fourth-place finish, followed by Shane van
Gisbergen. Alex Bowman is 13th, then Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon and Josh Berry. Outside of the playoffs, Chris Buescher had a miserable day on Sunday as he finished 29th. That cut his advantage over teammate Ryan Preece from 56 points to 29.
Ty Gibbs is 19th, while Brad Keselowski is 20th. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Kyle Larson 4155, 2) Christopher Bell -7, 3) William Byron -24, 4) Chase Briscoe -33,
5) Denny Hamlin -45, 6) Joey Logano -49, 7) Ryan Blaney -57, 8) Chase Elliott -63. Championship 4 Point Standings: t-1) William Byron 5000, t-1) Chase Briscoe 5000, t-1) Denny Hamlin
5000, t-1) Kyle Larson 5000. Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 5) Christopher Bell 2371, 6) Ryan Blaney -56, 7) Tyler Reddick -73, 8) Joey Logano -80, 9) Chase Elliott -89, 10) Bubba Wallace -116,
11) Ross Chastain -128, 12) Shane van Gisbergen -173, 13) Alex Bowman -205, 14) Austin Cindric -225, 15) Austin Dillon -236, 16) Josh Berry -251.
Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) William Byron
1151, 2) Kyle Larson -10, 3) Christopher Bell -26, 4) Ryan Blaney -62, 5) Chase Elliott -89, 6) Chase Briscoe -95, 7) Denny Hamlin -103, 8) Tyler Reddick -129, 9) Joey Logano
-229, 10) Bubba Wallace -265, 11) Ross Chastain -285, 12) Chris Buescher -289, 13) Alex Bowman -301, 14) Ryan Preece -318, 15) Ty Gibbs -384, 16) Brad Keselowski -424. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the playoffs, or ineligible for points. Best of the Rest (17-26): 17) Chris Buescher 862, 18) Ryan Preece
-29, 19) Ty Gibbs -95, 20) Brad Keselowski -135, t-21) Michael McDowell -157, t-21) Kyle Busch -157, 23) Carson Hocevar -176, 24) John Hunter Nemechek -204, 25) AJ Allmendinger -214, 26) Erik Jones -218. Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 41, 2) William Byron -1, 3) Ryan Blaney -7, 4) Kyle Larson -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 1070, 2) Chase Briscoe -41, 3) Chase Elliott -59, 4) Kyle Larson -74, 5) William
Byron -93, 6) Tyler Reddick -117, 7) Denny Hamlin -118, 8) Ryan Blaney -126, 9) Chris Buescher -154, 10) Joey Logano -158, 11) Ross Chastain -179, 12) Ryan Preece -182, 13) Alex Bowman
-233, 14) Bubba Wallace -245, 15) Ty Gibbs -247, t-16) Michael McDowell -269, t-16) Kyle Busch -269. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were
created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Christopher Bell 4795, 2) Chase Briscoe -111, 3) Kyle Larson -200, 4) Chase Elliott -220, 5) William Byron
-297, 6) Ryan Blaney -372, 7) Denny Hamlin -397, 8) Tyler Reddick -416, 9) Joey Logano -561, 10) Chris Buescher -576, 11) Ross Chastain -644, 12) Ryan Preece -648, 13) Alex
Bowman -759, 14) Bubba Wallace -805, 15) Ty Gibbs -842, 16) Michael McDowell -936. Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: William Byron (Daytona-1, Iowa, Martinsville-2), Christopher Bell (Atlanta-1, COTA, Phoenix, Bristol-2), Josh Berry (Las Vegas-1), Kyle Larson (Homestead, Bristol-1, Kansas-1), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville-1, 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 Wins Round of 8
by Phil Allaway
Connor Zilisch had a rough Saturday. He crashed in practice, which meant that he started at the rear of the field. He used pit strategy to score stage points, then got caught up in a wreck. Despite all that, he still managed to finish ninth. That performance was good enough
to win him the Round of 8 by 13 points over Justin Allgaier, who dropped back on the final restart to finish 26th after winning stage one. Jesse Love struggled mightily Saturday night, dropping a lap at one point before recovering to finish 23rd to stay in third. Carson Kvapil recovered from a spin to finish 18th and take the last spot in the Championship 4. Kvapil ended up four points ahead of Brandon Jones, who moved up one place with a third-place finish, but it wasn't enough for him. Sammy Smith dropped one place to sixth despite finishing second (he didn't score any stage points). Sam Mayer ended up seventh in the round after finishing seventh Saturday night, but he might have more problems after he intentionally wrecked Jeb Burton after the checkered. Sheldon
Creed ended up eighth. Zilisch, Allgaier, Love and Kvapil will have their points reset to 4000. From there, they'll race heads up for the title Saturday in Phoenix. Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Mayer currently has a two-point lead over both Jones and Austin
Hill. Smith is eighth, followed by Taylor Gray, who scored his first career win and moved up from 11th. Creed is 10th, then Nick Sanchez and Harrison Burton. Outside of the playoffs, Christian Eckes is not locked into 13th, but he's looking good. He has a 45-point lead over Jeb Burton, who scored a
sixth-place finish despite getting wrecked twice by Mayer. Ryan Sieg is 15th, while Dean Thompson is 16th after a top 10 finish. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Connor Zilisch 3178, 2) Justin Allgaier -13, 3) Jesse Love -62, 4) Carson
Kvapil -76, 5) Brandon Jones -80, 6) Sammy Smith -81, 7) Sam Mayer -84, 8) Sheldon Creed -109. Round of 8 Owner Point Standings: 1) JR Motorsports No. 88 3183, 2) JR Motorsports No. 7 -18, 3)
Richard Childress Racing No. 21 -34, 4) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 -45, 5) Richard Childress Racing No. 2 -67, 6) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 -85, 7) Haas Factory Team No. 41 -89, 8) Haas Factory Team No. 00 -115. Championship 4 Point Standings:
t-1) Connor Zilisch 4000, t-1) Justin Allgaier 4000, t-1) Jesse Love 4000, t-1) Carson Kvapil 4000. Owners Championship 4 Point Standings: t-1) JR Motorsports No. 88 4000, t-1) JR Motorsports No. 7 4000, t-1) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 4000, t-1) Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 19 4000 Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 5) Sam Mayer 2204, t-6) Austin Hill -2, t-6) Brandon Jones -2, 8) Sammy Smith -15, 9) Taylor Gray -21, 10) Sheldon Creed -31, 11) Nick Sanchez -38, 12) Harrison Burton -67. Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 1243, 2) Justin Allgaier -56, 3) Sam Mayer -173, 4) Jesse Love -200, 5) Austin Hill -241, 6) Brandon Jones -313, 7) Carson
Kvapil -319, 8) Taylor Gray -386, 9) Sammy Smith -395, 10) Sheldon Creed -404, 11) Nick Sanchez -460, 12) Harrison Burton -465, 13) Christian Eckes -480, 14) Jeb Burton
-525, 15) Ryan Sieg -554, 16) Dean Thompson -573. Best of the Rest: 13) Christian Eckes 763, 14) Jeb Burton -45, 15) Ryan Sieg -74, 16) Dean Thompson -93, 17) William Sawalich -127, 18) Aric Almirola -157,
19) Daniel Dye -168, 20) Brennan Poole -174, 21) Jeremy Clements -266, 22) Parker Retzlaff -294, 23) Josh Williams -300. Playoff Points: 1) Connor Zilisch 71, 2) Justin Allgaier -32, 3) Brandon Jones
-53, 4) Sam Mayer -55, 5) Jesse Love -57, 6) Sammy Smith -62, 7) Carson Kvapil -65, 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 385, 2) Connor Zilisch -83, 3) Sam Mayer -140, 4) Austin Hill -155, 5) Jesse Love
-167, 6) Brandon Jones -188, 7) Aric Almirola -207, 8) Carson Kvapil -208, 9) Sheldon Creed -209, 10) Sammy Smith -223, 11) Taylor Gray -236, 12) Nick Sanchez -244, 13) Ryan Sieg
-284, 14) Christian Eckes -291, 15) William Sawalich -314, 16) Jeb Burton -322. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 1082, 2) Jesse Love
-115, 3) Sam Mayer -122, 4) Justin Allgaier -132, 5) Austin Hill -178, 6) Carson Kvapil -203, 7) Brandon Jones -214, 8) Harrison Burton -228, 9) Taylor Gray -242, 10) Sammy Smith
-250, t-11) Christian Eckes -286, t-11) Sheldon Creed -286, 13) Jeb Burton -298, 14) Nick Sanchez -306, 15) Dean Thompson -342, 16) Ryan Sieg -364. WC Points
(1-16): 1) Connor Zilisch 4722, 2) Justin Allgaier -382, 3) Jesse Love -385, 4) Sam Mayer -389, 5) Austin Hill -617, 6) Carson Kvapil -701, 7) Brandon Jones -733, 8) Taylor Gray
-805, 9) Harrison Burton -822, 10) Sammy Smith -866, 11) Sheldon Creed -947, 12) Christian Eckes -968, 13) Nick Sanchez -1026, 14) Jeb Burton -1047, 15) Dean Thompson -1188, 16) Ryan Sieg -1227. 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 Continues His Annihilation Of The Field
by Phil Allaway
Corey Heim had already clinched the Round of 8 last weekend in Talladega. In Martinsville, he just added to the pot. Sweeping the stages gave him his record-extending 11th win of the year.
He ultimately won the round by a massive 97 points over a tie between Ty Majeski and Tyler
Ankrum. Majeski moved up three places with a seventh-place finish despite late wall contact, while Ankrum finished ninth. Kaden Honeycutt held onto fourth thanks to a second-place finish. That was enough to get him the final spot in the Championship 4 on points.
Honeycutt actually tied with Layne Riggs, 98 points behind Heim. The tiebreaker is the best
finish in the round. Honeycutt's second-place beat Riggs' third-place, so he gets the final spot. Rajah Caruth dropped four spots to sixth after contact with Honeycutt cut his left rear tire and put him in the wall early on. Grant Enfinger ran well, but ended up 42 points behind Honeycutt and Riggs after finishing 12th. Daniel Hemric fell to
eighth after a chain reaction on an early restart caused front end damage that eventually led to an engine failure. The Championship 4 drivers will have their points reset to 4000. It will be a straight up fight Friday night for the title. Of those eliminated, Riggs has already clinched fifth in
points. He has a 68-point lead over Caruth. Enfinger is seventh, then Hemric. Chandler Smith remains in ninth, 23 points behind Hemric. Jake Garcia is 38 points behind Smith in 10th. Outside of the playoffs, Gio Ruggiero finished 11th Friday night. That performance was good enough to lock him into an 11th-place finish in points. He is 71 points
ahead of Ben Rhodes. Tanner Gray is 13th, then Connor Mosack, Matt Crafton and Andres Perez. Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 3227, t-2) Ty Majeski -97, t-2) Tyler Ankrum -97,
t-4) Kaden Honeycutt -98, t-4) Layne Riggs -98, 6) Rajah Caruth -126, 7) Grant Enfinger -140, 8) Daniel Hemric -166. Championship 4 Point Standings: t-1) Corey Heim 4000, t-1) Ty Majeski 4000, t-1) Tyler Ankrum 4000,
t-1) Kaden Honeycutt 4000. Eliminated Driver Point Standings: 5) Layne Riggs 2260, 6) Rajah Caruth -68, 7) Grant Enfinger -75, 8) Daniel Hemric -87, 9) Chandler Smith -110, 10) Jake Garcia -148. Round of 8 Owner Point Standings: 1) TRICON Garage No. 11 3227, 2) Halmar Friesen Racing No. 52 -96, t-3) Front Row Motorsports No. 34 -98, t-3) ThorSport Racing No. 98 -98, 5) McAnally Hilgemann Racing No. 18 -99, 6) Spire Motorsports No. 71 -126, 7) CR7 Motorsports No. 9 -141, 8) McAnally Hilgemann Racing
No. 19 -167. Championship 4 Owner Point Standings: t-1) TRICON Garage No. 11 5000, t-1) Halmar Friesen Racing No. 52 5000, t-1) Front Row Motorsports No. 34 5000, t-1) ThorSport Racing No. 98 5000.
Non-Playoff Point Standings
(1-16): 1) Corey Heim 1169, 2) Layne Riggs -283, 3) Ty Majeski -332, 4) Kaden Honeycutt -387, t-5) Tyler Ankrum -395, t-5) Chandler Smith -395, 7) Grant Enfinger -409, 8) Daniel Hemric
-420, 9) Gio Ruggiero -474, 10) Rajah Caruth -544, 11) Ben Rhodes -545, 12) Jake Garcia -549, 13) Tanner Gray -597, 14) Connor Mosack -665, 15) Matt Crafton -699, 16) Andres Perez -704. Best of the Rest: 11) Gio Ruggiero 695, 12) Ben Rhodes -71, 13) Tanner Gray -123, 14) Connor Mosack -191, 15) Matt Crafton -225, 16) Andres Perez -230, 17) Dawson Sutton -251, 18) Matt Mills
-265, 19) Jack Wood -279, 20) Stewart Friesen -298. Playoff Point Standings: 1) Corey Heim 91, 2) Layne Riggs -59, 3) Daniel Hemric -80, t-4) Tyler Ankrum
-81, t-4) Ty Majeski -81, 6) Grant Enfinger -84, 7) Rajah Caruth -85, 8) Kaden Honeycutt -86. Stage Points: 1) Corey Heim 355, 2) Kaden Honeycutt
-145, 3) Layne Riggs -148, 4) Ty Majeski -163, 5) Chandler Smith -191, 6) Grant Enfinger -203, 7) Tyler Ankrum -217, 8) Daniel Hemric -235, 9) Rajah Caruth -257, 10) Ben Rhodes
-259, 11) Jake Garcia -270, 12) Gio Ruggiero -273, 13) Connor Mosack -281, 14) Tanner Gray -283, 15) Stewart Friesen -298, 16) Brent Crews -325. 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 737, 2) Layne Riggs -147, 3) Ty Majeski -182, 4) Tyler Ankrum
-192, 5) Daniel Hemric -197, t-6) Gio Ruggiero -212, t-6) Grant Enfinger -212, 8) Chandler Smith -214, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -252, 10) Jake Garcia -293, 11) Rajah Caruth -295, 12) Ben Rhodes
-296, 13) Tanner Gray -331, 14) Matt Crafton -390, 15) Andres Perez -394, 16) Dawson Sutton -395. WC Points (1-16): 1) Corey Heim 3976, 2) Layne Riggs
-526, 3) Ty Majeski -647, 4) Daniel Hemric -708, 5) Tyler Ankrum -710, 6) Gio Ruggiero -766, t-7) Grant Enfinger -775, t-7) Chandler Smith -775, 9) Kaden Honeycutt -924, 10) Rajah Caruth
-1049, 11) Jake Garcia -1054, 12) Ben Rhodes -1065, 13) Tanner Gray -1172, 14) Matt Crafton -1379, 15) Andres Perez -1400, 16) Dawson Sutton -1403. Race
Winners: Corey Heim (Daytona, Las Vegas, Texas, Charlotte-1, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Richmond, Darlington, Loudon, Charlotte-2, Martinsville-2), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Larson (Homestead), Daniel Hemric (Martinsville-1), 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 Xfinity 500 was brought to you by the letter T for Temperature. Goodyear introduced a new tire that was supposed to put down more rubber and wear more. It didn't quite work because the
temperatures were about 12° cooler than last year. As a result, less rubber was laid down, despite more tire wear. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Xfinity 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"You're thinking about it's going to be a long run to the end, right? You're just trying to manage your stuff. When I got the lead, How do I manage my tires, manage my stuff, to get through the next lappers that I got to get through? Honestly, you're just kind of counting the laps, trying to match that with what your effort level inside the car is.
"When the caution came out, I told myself before the day started, I'm not going to get anxious about pit calls or cautions or whatever. I'm just going to do whatever it is that I'm told to do. "I was thinking about the possibilities of other guys taking two
tires or whatever it is. I think that's in the back of your mind. Just trying to execute pit road, not speed, have a good rolling time, all those things. Get in the box on the marks. "Our guys had a great pit stop. I felt like pit road in general went really smooth that last time around. Then it kind of shifted to, 'Okay, how do I get through this restart? How do I get a
good launch? What is my balance going to be once I do get clear? All those things.'" - William Byron, race winner "We just came up short. We did a good job and we got control of the race for a bit, but, gosh, his car was really fast. My rears started to go away pretty big on that long run and working through lap traffic he was able to get by
me. Then he got control of the race from there and his car was really fast. I never really thought I had much for him, especially as I think it got cooler I feel like his car got even better, so he just had great rear drive and they were able to utilize it. I’m proud of our effort. I’m proud of coming from where we qualified and getting to lead and leading laps and had a shot at the win. It stinks to come up short, but I’m really proud of the effort and proud of our
year." - Ryan Blaney, finished second "[We just needed to] be positioned better. Obviously, those final laps get tough when the guys out front have a big advantage when the track cleans off like that. It was just going to be difficult. I was just hoping, in my position, to get to a spot where I could maybe capitalize if something crazy
happened. "Outside of that, we just got a little too far behind at the three-quarter mark. We got caught a lap down in the cycle, and then from there, we were just kind of playing catch-up. We just weren’t quite good enough, truthfully. William [Byron] and the No. 24 team did a great job and capitalized on a fast Saturday; put themselves in a good spot and got
it done." - Chase Elliott, finished third "There was a time where when we did the choose for the restart, there was only one car behind us. And then at the end, there was only two cars in front of us. Definitely both ends of the spectrum today for this No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet team. The left side’s torn up from the first half of the race because
we struggled. We were getting beat up pretty bad. We went a lap down; made some good adjustments when we took the wave around. It was a free pit stop, per say, later and Phil Surgen did a bunch of adjustments and it brought the car back to life. We caught that caution, which took us from around 10th into the top-five." - Ross Chastain, finished fourth "I
think it was a little less stressful because I recognized that we were better than Christopher [Bell]. We were in front of him all day, so I knew if we had a good first stage that the math was going to be much easier. I just had to keep him in my sights at that point. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team just did a great job. We didn’t have any hiccups. I definitely could have had better restarts, but like I said, I had out-scored Christopher, so I was just playing it a little easier; tuck
in line and go from there. We had a good long-run car. "Happy to be in the Championship Four. Really proud of William [Byron]. That was a hell of a drive. We have two Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet’s going for the championship and hopefully we can do it for Rick [Hendrick]." - Kyle Larson, finished fifth "Our Ford Mustang was really good. I felt like from the drop of the green between managing the plan we had, we just had a really good race car and it was kind of surprising to me. From there, it was fun to use tools that you learn growing up in racing – how to manage tires and take care of them and do the things that you need to do to keep them on it, so I had a lot
of fun today.
"We had a bad pit stop. We were third and came out ninth, but I was gonna be good those last 30 laps and I’m not entirely sure how they would have been. I took care of my tires to make sure that knowing it was 100-and-however many laps that we needed to be good at the end. It’s a lot easier to pass cars at the end of a run than it is at the beginning, so there were definitely
points during the race when we were really good in the long run and it crossed my mind that we could definitely win today." - Ryan Preece, finished sixth
"It seemed like we were just lacking a little bit of long run pace. When I got the balance close at times, I could take off on tires and do ok and make some passes and maintain my position. And then, the
consistent theme of the day was just falling backwards as the tires got old. We weren’t strong enough at Martinsville this weekend. We practiced in the teens, qualified in the teens and kind of raced back there most of the day. I feel content with the results, the four who are going there are legitimate contenders and whoever the champion is will be well deserved. The 20 team just wasn’t good enough." - Christopher Bell, finished seventh "We pitted in the middle of the second stage there coming to the end when everyone was flipping and all that stuff to the end of the second stage and, I don’t know, I feel like I lost control when the Hendrick cars pulled the okie dokie in front of me and I chose the inside lane, which put me third and that’s what let the 12 get up there and then you just kind of get stuck in dirty
air. I’m kind of kicking myself on that decision, but, outside of that, we just weren’t fast enough. That’s the bottom line. We weren’t good enough to drive back through either way, but I thought I would have had a chance if maybe I could have made that better earlier in the race." - Joey Logano, finished eighth
"I felt like the car
was coming to us, but I know what you are asking. I felt like we were in a good spot there where we just started to close back in on [Ryan] Blaney. We got the track position we needed. I feel bad for King’s Hawaiian, I’m not sure we have finished a race so far with these guys so I hate it for them. I didn’t feel anything, it was running and then it was just no noises, no sounds, no indication. I decelerated into turn 1 and it just shut off, that was it. We’ll work on it I guess and try to get
them next week." - Denny Hamlin, finished 35th (Blown Engine) "No indication [of trouble under the hood]. I was just running around there. I felt really good about coming here and where we were at and racing with [Kyle] Larson there and went to upshift and something happened. I’m not really sure, it’s unfortunate. We’ll go on to next week and that won’t
matter anyways." - Chase Briscoe, finished 37th (Blown Engine)
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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