Frontstretch Newsletter: April 13, 2026
Volume
XX, Edition LIX |
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! |
- NASCAR teams are hard at work preparing for this weekend's action in Kansas. Entry lists will be released later today. We will have the entry lists and anything else that breaks for you today at Frontstretch. |
|
| Bristol Breakthrough: Ty Gibbs Captures 1st NASCAR Cup
Series Win Ty Gibbs stayed out on tires under a late caution, then held on to win the Food City 500 for his first career win. Ryan Blaney was second, then Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe. |
|
| Ty Gibbs’ Long-Anticipated 1st Cup Win an Emotional
One Ty Gibbs scored his first win Sunday in Bristol. For all of Joe Gibbs Racing, the triumph in Gibbs' fourth full-time season was a time to celebrate those who are no longer present. |
|
| 2 Champions Outdueled by Old
Tires The new Goodyear tire was a big story Sunday in Bristol. The tires laid rubber down, preventing the issues of recent years. Falloff was low enough that Ty Gibbs used 90+ lap tires to hold off Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson for the
win. |
|
| Here’s What Happened in the JGR vs. Chris Gabebart/Spire
Lawsuit This Week (April 4-10) Last week, both parties were back in court regarding discovery of evidence from cell phones and whether Chris Gabehart's request to voluntarily submit his own phone for forensic evidence would be accepted. |
|
| Connor Zilisch Holds Off Kyle Larson to Win NASCAR
O’Reilly Bristol Race Connor Zilisch took the lead with seven laps to go Saturday night and held on to win the Suburban Propane 300 in Bristol. Kyle Larson was second, then Brent Crews, Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil. |
|
| Chris Hettinger Confirms O’Reilly Team Will Run Kansas
& Talladega Amid rumors that the team might be parked soon, Hettinger Racing owner Chris Hettinger confirmed to Frontstretch in Bristol that the No. 5 team will be at Kansas and Talladega at minimum. |
|
| Dominance But No Victory for Kyle Larson in Bristol
O’Reilly Race Friday night's Suburban Propane 300 was dominated by Kyle Larson, who led 230 laps. However, he lost control of the proceedings late and finished second. |
|
| Got Your Back: Brad Perez Subs for Logan Bearden in
Bristol NOAPS Race Saturday night saw Logan Bearden make his O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season debut with Young's Motorsports. However, back issues forced him to step out of the car after stage two. |
|
| Christopher Bell Wins Bristol Truck Race for Halmar
Friesen Racing Christopher Bell took the lead from Christian Eckes on lap 188 and held on to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol. Chandler Smith was second, then Gio Ruggiero, Ross Chastain and
Eckes. |
|
|
Friday night's Tennessee Army National Guard 250 will be best remembered for Corey Heim crashing out of the lead after contact from Christian Eckes, taking out Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs in the process. |
|
| ‘I Feel Like We Had the Truck to Beat’: Failing Alternator
Costs Ben Rhodes at Bristol ThorSport Racing's Ben Rhodes had a strong run Friday night in Bristol. However, a bad alternator dropped him to an 11th-place finish. |
|
| Parker Kligerman To Drive Kaulig No. 25 Truck at
Texas Kaulig Racing announced Friday that Parker Kligerman will drive their all-star No. 25 RAM at Texas on May 1. |
|
| Cole Denton Wins First Career ARCA Race at
Tucson Cole Denton was able to overcome substantial tire wear Saturday night to claim his first career ARCA Menards Series West victory at Tucson Speedway. Trevor Huddleston was second, then Eric Johnson Jr., Robbie Kennealy and Gavin
Ray. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and NASCAR Media via Adam Glanzman of ARCA Racing. Have news for Frontstretch?
Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at [email protected] with a promising lead or tip. |
Around the World in Motorsports: April 10-12 |
- Forestier Racing by Panis' Esteban Masson was able to snatch the lead away from Inter Europol Compeition's Reshad de Gerus with seven laps to go Sunday. From there, Masson was able to pull away to win the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Barcelona with teammates Oliver Gray and Louis Rousset. The margin of victory was 13.398 seconds over de Gerus and Bijoy Garg. United Autosports' Ben Hanley, Griffin Peebles and Gregoire Saucy. IDEC Sport's Jamie Chadwick, Laurents Hoerr and Valerio Rinicella were fourth, while Inter Europol Competition's Tom Dillmann, Jakub Smiechowski and Nick Yelloly were fifth. In LMP2 Pro-Am,
Algarve Pro Racing's Malthe Jakobsen, Mikkel Jensen and Enzo Trulli picked up the class victory in seventh overall. Their margin of victory was 19.029 seconds over AF Corse's Antonio Fuoco, Francois Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Duqueine Team's Doriane Pin, Giorgio Roda and Richard Verschoor were third, then TDS Racing's Scott Huffaker, Sami Meguetounif and Steven Thomas. Rossa Racing by Virage's Manuel Espirito Santo, John Falb and Rik Koen were fifth. Rinaldi Racing's Jose Cautela, Mikkel Pedersen and Alvise Rodella took honors in the LMP3 class. Their margin of victory was 11.881 seconds over R-ace GP's Fabiel Michal, Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Hugo Schwarze. Inter Europol Competition's Alexander Bukhantsov, Chun-Ting Chou and Henry Cubides were third, followed by Eurointernational's Matt Bell, Douwe Dedecker and Max van der Snel.
Team Virage's Daniel Nogales, Louis Stern and Matteo Quintarelli were fifth. Finally, Proton Competition's Porsche for former Brad Keselowski protege Matt Kurzejewski, Richard Lietz and Tom Sargent took the victory in the LMGT3 class. They won by 3.004 seconds over the McLaren of United Autosports' Michael Birch, Wayne Boyd and Garnet Patterson. Kessel Racing's Ferrari for
Mathys Jaubert, Takeshi Kimura and Daniel Serra was third, then Team Qatar by Iron Lynx's Mercedes for Abdulla Al-Khelaifi, Adam Christodoulou and Julian Hanses. Richard Mille AF Corse's Riccardo Agostini, Francesco Castellacci and Custodio Toledo were fifth. The goal of Ford Racing's effort in LMP2 with Proton Competition was to get experience in prototype racing ahead of
the debut of their new hypercar next year. Sunday was not how it was supposed to work. Jonas Ried was involved in a crash on the first lap of the race that ended the team's day. As a result, they did not get any reps. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams spent the weekend in Pevely, Mo. for the Federated Auto Parts Spring Classic. It was an excellent
time for Buddy Kofoid. Friday night's feature was a rough one that featured multiple red flags. A flip for Cole Macedo set up a green-while-checker restart. Here, Kofoid was able to hold on to take the victory after leading every lap. Kofoid won by
1.534 seconds over Carson Macedo. Spencer Bayston was third, then Donny Schatz and Ryan Timms. Saturday night saw Kofoid engage in a fierce battle with David Gravel. Gravel took the lead from pole sitter Kasey Jedrzejek on lap 7. Kofoid was fourth, but inherited second when Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild had contact and were forced to pit. A series of crossovers and slide jobs marked the battle between Gravel and Kofoid after the halfway point. On lap 27, Kofoid used lapped traffic to take the lead for good. From there, Kofoid was able to hold on to take the weekend sweep. Kofoid was just .146 seconds
ahead of Gravel at the finish. Schatz was third, then Bill Balog and Bayston. Through 13 races, Gravel has a 42-point lead over Carson Macedo. Kofoid is third, then Schatz and Haudenschild. - World of Outlaws Dirt Late Model Series presented by
DIRTvision teams were at Farmer City Raceway for the Illini 100 last weekend. Friday night saw Brandon Sheppard have a perfect night. He was fastest in hot laps, won his heat and led all 40 laps to win the preliminary feature. The margin of victory was 1.307 seconds over Tim McCreadie. Nick Hoffman was third, then Daulton Wilson and Ethan Dotson. Saturday night saw Drake Troutman start on pole and lead the first 22 laps before Sheppard dispatched of him. Further back, Bobby Pierce moved up from 10th on the grid to approach the leaders. On lap 41, Pierce caught Sheppard and took the lead away with a slide job a
lap later. From there, Pierce was able to hold on to win the main feature of the Illini 100 and take a check for $25,000 home. Pierce won by 1.337 seconds over Hoffman. Sheppard was third, then Wilson and Tyler Erb. In the points, Nick Hoffman has
taken the points lead by two points over Pierce. McCreadie is third, then Wilson and Erb. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Bristol and Nashville last weekend. For more from Bristol, Nashville, 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 Chase: Tyler Reddick Continues To Lead
by Phil Allaway
Tyler Reddick struggled in the middle of Sunday's 500-lap race in Bristol, but he managed to come back to life late and finish fourth. It was not enough to keep all of his points lead, though. Reddick continues to lead the points, but his advantage over
Ryan Blaney is down to 62 points. Denny Hamlin finished ninth and maintains third in points, while Ty Gibbs' first career victory moved him up two places to fourth. Chase Elliott spun late in the race and ended up 22nd. That dropped him one place to fifth. Kyle Larson is up to sixth after leading
the most laps and finishing third. William Byron had a horrible weekend marked by a bad qualifying effort, a steering rack change, then finishing five laps down in 30th. That performance dropped him two spots to seventh. Bubba Wallace finished 11th and has sole possession of eighth. Christopher Bell hit the wall and spun early. He
then limped a damaged car to 27th, dropping two places to ninth. Chris Buescher is 10th, followed by Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Carson Hocevar and Ryan Preece are tied for 13th. Hocevar wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his fourth-place finishes at Atlanta and Darlington. Daniel
Suarez is up one place to 15th after a 12th-place finish. Shane van Gisbergen crashed on lap 312 and ended up finishing 170 laps down. Getting back out allowed him to stay in the top 16 in the final Chase spot. Van Gisbergen has a one-point lead over Chase Briscoe, who gained four places after finishing fifth. Austin
Cindric is still in 18th, followed by Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 386, 2) Ryan Blaney -62, 3) Denny Hamlin -86, 4) Ty
Gibbs -105, 5) Chase Elliott -122, 6) Kyle Larson -126, 7) William Byron -141, 8) Bubba Wallace -150, 9) Christopher Bell -155, 10) Chris Buescher -156, 11) Brad Keselowski -157, 12) Joey Logano -168, t-13) Carson
Hocevar -177, t-13) Ryan Preece -177, 15) Daniel Suarez -194, 16) Shane van Gisbergen -209. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the Chase as they run, or ineligible for points. Stage Points: 1) Ryan Blaney 81, 2) Kyle Larson -9, t-3) Denny Hamlin -17, t-3) Bubba Wallace -17, 5) Tyler Reddick -23, 6) William Byron -26, 7) Christopher Bell -29, t-8) Ty Gibbs
-32, t-8) Austin Cindric -32, 10) Joey Logano -35, 11) Chris Buescher -40, 12) Carson Hocevar -43, 13) Chase Elliott -47, 14) Brad Keselowski -52, 15) Chase Briscoe -53, 16) Daniel Suarez -55. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Chase: 18) Shane van Gisbergen -57, 19) Ryan Preece -59. Note: The Stage Points also include the America 250 Florida Duels at Daytona.
2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 326, 2) Ryan Blaney -17, 3) Denny Hamlin -41, 4) Ty Gibbs -60, 5) Kyle Larson -66, 6) Chase Elliott -77, 7) William Byron -81, 8) Bubba Wallace
-90, 9) Christopher Bell -95, 10) Chris Buescher -96, 11) Brad Keselowski -97, 12) Joey Logano -108, t-13) Carson Hocevar -117, t-13) Ryan Preece -117, 15) Daniel Suarez -134, 16) Shane van Gisbergen -149. Note: These point standings are from the previous point system used from 2014-2025. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 302, 2) Ryan Blaney -37, 3) Denny Hamlin -47, t-4) Chase Elliott
-51, t-4) Ty Gibbs -51, 6) Brad Keselowski -66, t-7) Kyle Larson -76, t-7) William Byron -76, 9) Chris Buescher -79, 10) Ryan Preece -82, 11) Christopher Bell -87, 12) Joey Logano -95, t-13) Bubba Wallace -96, t-13) Carson Hocevar
-96, 15) Daniel Suarez -104, t-16) Shane van Gisbergen -116, t-16) Michael McDowell -116. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 1274, 2) Ryan Blaney -106, 3) Denny Hamlin -143, 4) Ty Gibbs -148, 5) Chase Elliott -159, 6) Brad Keselowski -217, 7) Kyle Larson -231, 8) William Byron -243, 9) Christopher
Bell -262, 10) Chris Buescher -270, 11) Ryan Preece -287, 12) Joey Logano -299, 13) Carson Hocevar -309, 14) Bubba Wallace -319, 15) Daniel Suarez -349, 16) Shane van Gisbergen -369. Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in 1975. Race Winners: Tyler Reddick (Daytona, Atlanta, Austin, Darlington), Ryan Blaney (Phoenix), Denny Hamlin (Las Vegas), Chase Elliott (Martinsville), Ty Gibbs (Bristol)
Note: Race
wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase: Justin Allgaier Continues To Run Away
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier finished a strong fourth Saturday night in Bristol. Not only did he take home the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash Bonus, but he also extended his advantage. His points lead is now 130 points over Sheldon Creed, who moved up to second after a sixth-place
finish with 18 stage points. Creed jumped over Jesse Love, who finished 12th in a tough night for the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets. Corey Day is up one place to fourth after an eighth-place finish. Carson Kvapil is up to fifth after a fifth-place finish. Austin Hill dropped two spots to sixth after a tough run to 21st.
Sammy Smith remains in seventh after a 13th-place finish. Brandon Jones scored 10 stage points and that helped keep him in eighth. Parker Retzlaff finished ninth and stays ninth in points. William Sawalich moved up one spot to 10th after a seventh-place finish. He jumped over Rajah Caruth, who came from the rear
to finish 14th. Taylor Gray keeps the 12th and final spot in the Chase. Gray's advantage is 28 points over Ryan Sieg, who gained a spot after leading 13 laps and finishing 11th. Sam Mayer struggled to 20th and dropped to 14th. Brennan Poole is 15th, while Jeb Burton moves back up to 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 470, 2) Sheldon Creed -130, 3) Jesse Love -146, 4) Corey Day -166, 5) Carson Kvapil -170, 6) Austin Hill -177, 7) Sammy
Smith -186, 8) Brandon Jones -195, 9) Parker Retzlaff -213, 10) William Sawalich -216, 11) Rajah Caruth -232, 12) Taylor Gray -240, 13) Ryan Sieg -268, 14) Sam Mayer -275, 15) Brennan Poole -289, 16) Jeb Burton
-307. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series points, Kyle Larson would be 16th. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 135, 2) Carson Kvapil -53, 3) Jesse Love
-57, 4) Brandon Jones -68, 5) Sheldon Creed -81, 6) Austin Hill -84, 7) Corey Day -85, 8) William Sawalich -88, 9) Rajah Caruth -89, t-10) Taylor Gray -93, t-10) Sam Mayer -93, 12) Sammy Smith -98, t-13) Parker Retzlaff
-103, t-13) Brent Crews -103, 15) Ryan Sieg -119, 16) Anthony Alfredo -120. Note: If they were eligible for NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series points, Kyle Larson would be tied for seventh and Chase Briscoe 16th in stage points. 2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 425, 2) Sheldon Creed -100, 3) Jesse Love -101, 4) Corey Day -121, 5) Carson Kvapil -125, 6) Sammy Smith -141, 7) Austin Hill -147, 8) Brandon
Jones -150, 9) Parker Retzlaff -168, 10) William Sawalich -186, 11) Rajah Caruth -187, 12) Taylor Gray -195, 13) Ryan Sieg -223, 14) Sam Mayer -230, 15) Brennan Poole -244, 16) Jeb Burton -262. Old School Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 330, 2) Sheldon Creed -21, 3) Corey Day -36, 4) Jesse Love -43, 5) Sammy
Smith -45, 6) Austin Hill -62, 7) Parker Retzlaff -69, 8) Carson Kvapil -73, 9) Brandon Jones -82, 10) Rajah Caruth -99, 11) William Sawalich
-101, 12) Taylor Gray -103, 13) Ryan Sieg -108, 14) Brennan Poole -113, 15) Sam Mayer -138, 16) Jeb Burton -142. WC Points
(1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 1431, 2) Sheldon Creed -89, 3) Corey Day -138, 4) Jesse Love -162, 5) Sammy Smith -169, 6) Austin Hill -230, 7) Carson Kvapil -258, 8) Parker Retzlaff -267, 9) Brandon Jones -292, 10) Rajah Caruth
-354, 11) William Sawalich -360, 12) Taylor Gray -375, 13) Ryan Sieg -388, 14) Brennan Poole -419, 15) Sam Mayer -471, 16) Jeb Burton -501. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona), Sheldon
Creed (Atlanta), Shane van Gisbergen (Austin), Justin Allgaier (Phoenix, Darlington, Martinsville), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas), William Sawalich (Rockingham), Connor Zilisch (Bristol) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase: Chandler Smith Regains Lead After Leaders Wreck
by Phil Allaway
Friday night's Tennessee Army National Guard 250 was thrown upside-down when Christian Eckes had contact with Corey Heim, putting him into the wall and collecting Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs in the process. Heim and Honeycutt were out on the spot, while Riggs continued with damage.
Chandler Smith avoided that wreck and finished second. That allowed him to retake the points lead by only one point over Honeycutt. Heim (still ineligible for the Chase) drops to a tie for third with Riggs, four points back.
Eckes finished fifth after the contact and moved up two places to fifth. Gio Ruggiero finished third and gained 20
points on the leaders while staying in sixth. Ty Majeski dropped two spots to seventh due to an unscheduled stop for a flat tire. Ben Rhodes is still in eighth after an 11th-place finish. Jake Garcia moved up four places to ninth after finishing sixth. Justin Haley stays in 10th after a 15th-place finish. Stewart
Friesen slipped down two spots to 11th after a 16th-place finish. He is the last driver in the Chase at the moment.
Friesen has a four-point advantage over Tyler Ankrum, who finished 13th Friday night. Brenden Queen is up three places to 14th, followed by Grant Enfinger and Daniel Hemric.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 208, 2) Kaden Honeycutt -1, t-3) Corey Heim -4, t-3) Layne Riggs -4, 5) Christian Eckes -17, 6) Gio Ruggiero -21, 7) Ty Majeski
-26, 8) Ben Rhodes -27, 9) Jake Garcia -62, 10) Justin Haley -64, 11) Stewart Friesen -68, 12) Tyler Ankrum -71, 13) Tanner Gray -85, 14) Brenden Queen -88, 15) Grant Enfinger -89, 16) Daniel Hemric -92. Stage Points: 1) Layne Riggs 58, t-2) Layne Riggs -2, t-2) Kaden Honeycutt -2, 4) Corey Heim -4, t-5) Christian Eckes -15, t-5) Ben Rhodes -15, 7) Chandler Smith -25, 8) Gio Ruggiero
-35, 9) Tanner Gray -36, t-10) Stewart Friesen -39, t-10) Jake Garcia -39, 12) Landen Lewis -41, 13) Tyler Ankrum -46, t-14) Grant Enfinger -49, t-14) Andres Perez -49, t-14) Connor Mosack -49. Outside of the top 16, but still in the Chase: 17) Justin Haley -50. Note: If they were eligible, Carson Hocevar would be seventh and Kyle Busch ninth. Ross Chastain would be 15th and Michael McDowell would be tied for 16th in stage points. 2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kaden Honeycutt 207, 2) Chandler Smith -14, 3) Christian Eckes -16, 4) Layne Riggs -18, 5) Gio Ruggiero -20, 6) Ty Majeski -25, 7) Ben Rhodes
-26, 8) Corey Heim -33, 9) Jake Garcia -61, 10) Justin Haley -63, 11) Stewart Friesen -67, 12) Tyler Ankrum -70, 13) Tanner Gray -84, 14) Brenden Queen -87, 15) Grant Enfinger -88, 16) Daniel Hemric
-91. Old School Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 141, 2) Gio Ruggiero -1, 3) Kaden Honeycutt -9, 4) Christian Eckes -10, 5) Ben Rhodes -19, 6) Justin Haley -27, 7) Layne Riggs
-33, 8) Corey Heim -35, t-9) Ty Majeski -37, t-9) Jake Garcia -37, 11) Tyler Ankrum -40, 12) Stewart Friesen -43, 13) Brenden Queen -47, t-14) Grant Enfinger -54, t-14) Daniel Hemric -54, 16) Andres Perez
-59. WC Points (1-16): 1) Gio Ruggiero 842, 2) Chandler Smith -10, 3) Kaden Honeycutt -20, 4) Christian Eckes -40, 5) Ben Rhodes -76, t-6) Layne Riggs -111, t-6) Justin Haley
-111, 8) Ty Majeski -117, 9) Jake Garcia -133, 10) Tyler Ankrum -148, 11) Stewart Friesen -152, 12) Brenden Queen -171, 13) Grant Enfinger -184, 14) Daniel Hemric -198, 15) Andres Perez -208, 16) Tanner Gray
-220. Race Winners: Chandler Smith (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Layne Riggs (St. Petersburg), Corey Heim (Darlington, Rockingham), Christopher Bell (Bristol) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He
can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Food City 500 was brought to you by the letter M for Medium. While the race was infinitely less chaotic than the recent Bristol races with high tire wear, you ended up with something of a
happy medium between the races where no one can pass and races where tires struggle to last 10 minutes at speed. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Food City 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"It’s awesome. It’s awesome to be with great people. To be in this position is great. I’d love for my father to have seen this. I knew he knew it was going to happen and expected it as well. It was [a] great day for us. My boys didn’t give up. Pit crew is just amazing. This is our family. It’s been great. So it’s just such [a] great deal. "Honestly, I didn’t really know or care if I was going to win or not. I thought the race was awesome. I thought we all put on the racing was great. Feel like it’s been us the whole year. I really appreciate always racing Ryan Blaney and Kyle [Larson] too. Those guys always run me real well. We all run together and hard. Hopefully we put a great show on for the fans. Thank you for Team 54, everybody
that’s a part of this whole deal. What a great day." - Ty Gibbs, race winner "Before the last yellow I was side-by-side for the lead and I slipped into three and that kind of cost us a shot to get it before that last yellow. I thought I had a good restart, but the bottom was just hard to hit. I didn’t maybe get the best one and two the last lap and
didn’t have a far enough position, and then I really got a good three and four coming to the checkered, but it was a little bit too late. I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but, overall, I’m really proud of the effort. I had a great day and got better all day. It’s definitely something to be proud of." - Ryan Blaney, finished second "It was just really
aggressive, hard racing there at the end. Ty [Gibbs] did a great job of hanging on with fresher tires behind him. Just proud of this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. We had a great day. [Ryan] Blaney probably had the best car, but his pit crew was putting him behind all day, which allowed us to lead a lot of laps and win both stages. I knew he’d be hard to beat. I was watching my mirror; he’d have a bad pit stop and drive right back up to second with no problem. We were just a little too
free to run the pace he was running around the bottom, even on the top, too. All-in-all, we’ll take it – two stage wins and a third-place finish." - Kyle Larson, finished third
"It feels really good. For me, unfortunately, miscommunication before that first pit sequence. Just had my wrong mark. It was a really good bounce-back for our Toyota Camry. Billy [Scott], everybody on this 45 team did a
really good job. Yeah, we had to fight for it all day long. We had more speed this time around, which was great, but unfortunately still fighting brake and steering issues along the way. Very physical day inside the race car. I may even take a day off tomorrow." - Tyler Reddick, finished fourth
"Yeah, a clean, solid executed race. It’s what we needed. We weren’t good enough speed-wise for the top
two or three guys. We just hung around that fifth to seventh place all day long. Needed a little bit more. It was a clean, solid day. That’s what we needed. Super happy for Ty [Gibbs]. It’s been a long time coming. To do it the way he did it, on old tires, to beat the two guys that dominated all day long, that I was impressive. Just super happy for him and the whole family. Looking forward to seeing him in Victory Lane." - Chase Briscoe, finished fifth "We weren’t great to start and that’s kind of how we were in practice, but it seemed like when the groove moved up to the top for us we were way better. It was like a different car It’s a pretty awesome day for us. To recover from qualifying 35th at Bristol is tough to do, so, honestly, I’m just so proud of my team. We’ve got to work on qualifying. I think a lot of
it is on me. That’s not a great feeling to have as a driver, but I’m so proud of our fight today.
"You hate to say [that you were content] as a driver, but for the day that we had, I was content. I’m proud of my crew chief, Chris [Lawson for] those calls. We were on the same page for two tires. Immediately when the caution came out, I said, ‘I think two tires or even stay out here.’ I’m
thankful he didn’t let me stay out, but two tires was definitely the right call and I’m just really proud." - Todd Gilliland, finished sixth "I don’t know if we kind of just misjudged it, being in Group A [in practice]. I thought we were OK in practice, but to start the race, we were in trouble. It’s a bummer that we didn’t get a chance to work on it. I know Blake [Harris]
and this No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team would have liked some pit stops to try and make the car better and get going back in the right direction. We were just struggling, and then got caught up in somebody else’s mess.
"We really need one good week to start getting the ball rolling in the right direction again. Honestly, I thought this could be a really good one for us, even after qualifying. I think this is
a good place for us, historically, but we just didn’t have it today. Hopefully we can get things pointed in the right direction next weekend at Kansas {Speedway]." - Alex Bowman, finished 37th (Crashed out) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
|
![Kyle Larson: "[The Ryan Blaney] Pit Crew Was... Putting Him Behind & Having to Work"](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/3bf20a73882447aaaef25608dd472e55.png)
