Frontstretch Newsletter: April 27, 2026
Volume
XX, Edition LXIV |
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 back at their shops today and preparations are in full swing for this weekend's action in Texas. Entry lists for Texas will be released later today. We will have the entry lists and anything else that breaks for you today at Frontstretch. |
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| Carson Hocevar Wins 1st Career Cup Race at
Talladega Carson Hocevar took advantage of a push from Alex Bowman to win the Jack Link's 500 Sunday for his first career win. Chris Buescher was second, then Bowman, Chase Elliott and Zane Smith. |
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| ‘It’s a Death Trap to Pull Out:’ NASCAR Cup Drivers Sound
Off on Talladega Racing Sunday's Jack Link's 500 saw drivers reluctant to make moves late in the race? Why? Because you would fall like a brick if you did. |
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| Kyle Busch Earns Richard Childress Racing’s First Top 10
of 2026 Despite being a lap down for much of Sunday's race, Kyle Busch managed to bring the No. 8 home in 10th for Richard Childress Racing's first top 10 of the year. |
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| Tyler Reddick Announces Contract Extension With 23XI
Racing During NASCAR RaceDay Sunday, Tyler Reddick announced that he has reached a contract extension with 23XI Racing that will keep him in the No. 45 for years to come. |
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| ‘Never Heard Of Him:’ NASCAR Drivers Respond To Stephen A.
Smith Jab They’re Not Athletes Last week, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith argued that race car drivers (and golfers) are not athletes. Drivers in Talladega responded to Smith's opinion. |
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| Andy Street Named Crew Chief for Kyle
Busch Despite Kyle Busch earning the team's first top 10 of the year Sunday, Richard Childress Racing announced Monday morning that Andy Street will replace Jim Pohlman as Busch's crew chief, effective immediately. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the JGR vs. Chris Gabehart/Spire
Trial This Week (April 18-24) Last week in the Chris Gabehart lawsuit, a temporary restraining order was converted into a preliminary injunction that requires any trade secrets in Gabehart's possession (if any) to be returned to Joe Gibbs Racing. |
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| Corey Day Wins 1st Career O’Reilly Race at
Talladega Corey Day was able to draft past Sheldon Creed on the final lap Saturday, then held on to win the Ag-Pro 300 for his first NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win. Brent Crews was second, then Creed, Sammy Smith and Jeremy
Clements. |
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| Impeding Penalty Leaves JR Motorsports Drivers Confused
& Winless NASCAR cracked down on the blend rules in Talladega, resulting in a number of penalties. These penalties ruined the races for Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil Saturday. |
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| JJ Yeley Gets 11th With No Ford Friends at
Talladega Hettinger Racing these days is going it alone with no other Fords in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series field. JJ Yeley freelanced his way to an 11th-place finish. |
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| Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray Running Truck Races with
Kaulig Kaulig Racing announced Sunday that Clint Bowyer will drive the RAM All-Star Truck at Dover, while Jamie McMurray will race it at Naval Base Coronado. |
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| Katherine Legge Attempting 2026 Indy 500 With AJ Foyt
Racing & HMD Motorsports AJ Foyt Racing and HMD Motorsports are teaming up to field an entry in the Indianapolis 500 for Katherine Legge. |
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| Cassten Everidge Making Truck Series Debut at IRP with
Costner Cassten Everidge announced Sunday that he will attempt to make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in July for Costner Motorsports. |
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| Andy Jankowiak Nips Cleetus McFarland at the Line in ARCA
Talladega Race Andy Jankowiak was able to sweep past the battling Garrett Mitchell and Gus Dean on the final lap Saturday to win the Alabama Manufactured Homes 200 for his first ARCA win. Mitchell was second, then Dean, Isabella Robusto and Gio
Ruggiero. |
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| ‘That Was Probably the Most Fun I’ve Ever Had with Clothes
On’: Cleetus McFarland Finishes Second at Talladega Garrett Mitchell came within less than a car length of winning Saturday's Alabama Manufactured Homes 200 at Talladega. Regardless, he had the time of his life. |
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| Isabella Robusto Comes Close, Falls Just Short at
Talladega Nitro Motorsports' Isabella Robusto had the lead on the final restart at Talladega, but faded to fourth on the final lap. She was disappointed, but happy that she was right there. |
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| Big One Strikes ARCA Talladega Race With 7 Laps To
Go Saturday's Alabama Manufactured Homes 200 was relatively clean until Will Kimmel got in the back of Thomas Annunziata in turn 4. From there, the crashing was on. |
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| Kyle Steckly Pairs with RAFA for 3 ARCA
Starts RAFA Racing Team announced Friday that Canadian racer Kyle Steckly will drive in three ARCA Menards Series races for the team starting at Watkins Glen. |
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| Quinn Davis Gains Dollywood Parks & Resorts
Sponsorship City Garage Motorsports announced Friday that Dollywood Parks & Resorts will serve as the primary sponsor for Quinn Davis in ARCA Menards Series East for the remainder of the year. |
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| Ryan Yardley, Dave Musial Jr. Win GTWCA at
COTA Wright Motorsports' Dave Musial Jr. and Ryan Yardley inherited the overall victory in Sunday's GT World Challenge America powered by AWS race at Circuit of the Americas following a post-race penalty to JMF Motorsports. |
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| Kenton Koch, Sam Craven Win Lonestar
Enduro Kenton Koch took the lead away from Kevin Boehm with nine minutes to go Saturday and held on to win the Pirelli GT4 America Lonestar Enduro with Sam Craven. |
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| Memo Gidley Scores 3rd Straight GT America Win With
Last-Lap Pass Memo Gidley passed Tony Davis on the final lap Saturday to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at Circuit of the Americas. |
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| Memo Gidley Scores COTA GT America
Sweep SKI Autosports' Memo Gidley led flag-to-flag to score his second straight GT America powered by AWS weekend sweep Sunday at Circuit of the Americas. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via David Jensen of Getty Images, NASCAR Media via Adam Glanzman of ARCA Racing, Fred Hardy, Fabian Lagunas and Andrew Miterko of SRO Motorsports Group, and our own Josh Calloni, Dalton
Hopkins, Mark Kristl and Matt Trgovac. 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 24-26 |
- An unusual penalty was levied in Pirelli GT4 America over the weekend at Circuit of the Americas. OGH Motorsports was fined $10,000 for using an unauthorized driver during a Thursday test session. While the unauthorized driver has not been named, he was fastest overall during the test session. As OGH Motorsports fields an all-Amateur lineup, this raised eyebrows. It is possible in Pirelli GT4 America to have a third driver drive the car during a paid test session, but that driver has to be approved by series officials, present a valid racing license and have necessary paperwork on file. None of that happened here. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink
Sprint Car Series teams were at Knoxville Raceway last weekend for their first visit of the year. A part-timer came up and spanked everyone. Brad Sweet, who has slowed down his racing in recent years to focus on the inner workings of High Limit, led flag-to-flag to win Night No. 1 of the Premier Chevy Dealers Clash. David Gravel was 2.188 seconds back in second, then Ryan Timms, Brent
Marks and JJ Hickle. Saturday night saw Gravel sweep into the lead on the opening lap of the 25-lap feature from second on the grid and never look back en route to the win. He won by .724 seconds over Carson Macedo. Timms was third, then Logan Schuchart and Rico Abreu. In the
points, Gravel continues to lead by 70 markers over Macedo. Buddy Kofoid is third, then Donny Schatz and Sheldon Haudenschild. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Talladega last weekend. For more from Talladega, 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 Escapes Talladega With Lead Increase
by Phil Allaway
Tyler Reddick was unable to avoid the Big One, or even the wall afterwards following a tire failure. Despite that, he still managed to finish 14th and eek out small gains in the points. Reddick's point lead is now 110 points over Denny Hamlin, who avoided the wrecks, but
spent the majority of the race a lap down after a penalty on pit road. Ryan Blaney was eliminated in the Big One, but stays in third. Chase Elliott finished fourth and moved up two places to fourth. Ty Gibbs was in the Big One, then crashed out in a big hit in turn 4. He dropped one place to fifth. Kyle Larson
finished 40th after being eliminated in the Big One and dropped one place to sixth. Chris Buescher finished second and gained four places to seventh. Carson Hocevar is also up four places to eighth after earning his first career victory. Christopher Bell was wrapped up in a crash on the final lap. Despite that, he still moved up one
place to ninth. Brad Keselowski dropped one place to 10th after crashing. William Byron is down from a tie for seventh to 11th after crashing. Bubba Wallace was spun out to trigger the Big One. He went from a tie for seventh with Byron to 12th. Ryan Preece won stage one, then got wrecked at the finish. As a result,
he stays in 13th. Daniel Suarez is up two places to 14th after a 12th-place finish. Joey Logano was eliminated in the Big One and dropped to 15th. Austin Cindric recovered from missing his pit under green to finish eighth and move up to the bubble in 16th. Cindric has a four-point lead over Chase Briscoe, who was
eliminated in the Big One and dropped two places as a result. Ross Chastain won stage two and finished seventh, which moved him up two places to 18th. Shane van Gisbergen dropped one place to 19th, while Zane Smith and AJ Allmendinger are tied for 20th. Smith wins the tiebreaker by virtue of the better finishes, including his season-best fifth on Sunday. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 484, 2) Denny Hamlin -110, 3) Ryan Blaney -140, 4) Chase Elliott -144, 5) Ty Gibbs -162, 6) Kyle Larson -169, 7) Chris Buescher -175, 8) Carson Hocevar
-192, 9) Christopher Bell -194, 10) Brad Keselowski -205, 11) William Byron -207, 12) Bubba Wallace -208, 13) Ryan Preece -215, 14) Daniel Suarez -249, 15) Joey Logano -250, 16) Austin Cindric -258. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the Chase as they run, or ineligible for points. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 91, 2) Ryan Blaney -4, 3) Denny Hamlin -8, 4) Tyler
Reddick -13, 5) Christopher Bell -18, 6) Bubba Wallace -20, 7) Ty Gibbs -32, 8) Chris Buescher -33, 9) William Byron -36, 10) Joey Logano -37, 11) Austin Cindric -42, 12) Chase Elliott -43, t-13) Carson Hocevar -49, t-13) Brad
Keselowski -49, 15) Ryan Preece -54, 16) Chase Briscoe -59.
Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Chase: 18) Daniel Suarez -65.
Note: The Stage Points also include the America 250 Florida Duels at
Daytona.
2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 409, 2) Denny Hamlin -50, 3) Ryan Blaney -80, 4) Chase Elliott -84, 5) Kyle Larson -94, 6) Chris Buescher -100, 7) Ty Gibbs
-102, 8) Christopher Bell -119, 9) Brad Keselowski -130, t-10) Carson Hocevar -132, t-10) William Byron -132, 12) Bubba Wallace -133, 13) Ryan Preece -140, 14) Daniel Suarez -174, 15) Joey Logano -175, 16) Austin Cindric
-183. Note: These point standings are from the previous point system used from 2014-2025. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 374, t-2) Denny Hamlin
-53, t-2) Chase Elliott -53, 4) Chris Buescher -79, 5) Ty Gibbs -83, 6) Ryan Blaney -88, 7) Brad Keselowski -93, 8) Carson Hocevar -95, 9) Ryan Preece -100, 10) Kyle Larson -107, 11) William Byron -108, 12) Christopher Bell
-111, 13) Daniel Suarez -124, 14) Bubba Wallace -126, 15) Chase Briscoe -142, 16) Ross Chastain -148. Out of the top 16, but still in the Chase: 17) Joey Logano -153, 18) Austin Cindric
-156. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 1580, 2) Denny Hamlin
-156, 3) Chase Elliott -163, 4) Ty Gibbs -250, 5) Chris Buescher -262, 6) Ryan Blaney -269, 7) Brad Keselowski -303, 8) Carson Hocevar -306, 9) Kyle Larson -319, 10) Christopher Bell -340, 11) William Byron -345, 12) Ryan
Preece -349, 13) Bubba Wallace -410, 14) Daniel Suarez -417, 15) Chase Briscoe -440, 16) Ross Chastain -479.
Outside the top 16, but still in the Chase: 17) Joey Logano -481, 18) Austin Cindric -509. 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, Kansas), Ryan Blaney (Phoenix), Denny Hamlin (Las Vegas), Chase Elliott (Martinsville), Ty Gibbs
(Bristol), Carson Hocevar (Talladega)
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.
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Seeking the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase: Justin Allgaier Loses Points After Penalty
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier won stage two Saturday, but copped an impeding penalty Saturday. That dropped him to 23rd and cost him part of his lead. Allgaier's lead is down to 105 points over Sheldon Creed, who finished third. Jesse Love led the most
laps and finished seventh to stay in third. Corey Day stays in fourth after his first career win, but is now only four points behind Love. Brandon Jones is still in fifth after an eighth-place finish, while Sammy Smith is still sixth. Carson Kvapil was penalized at the same time as Allgaier and stays seventh. Austin
Hill is eighth. Taylor Gray ended up 29th at the end of the day and stays in ninth. Parker Retzlaff moved up to 10th after a ninth-place finish. William Sawalich slipped down to 11th, while Rajah Caruth keeps the final Chase spot in 12th. Caruth has a 14-point lead over Ryan Sieg, who ran well early before being caught up in a late crash. Sam Mayer is 14th and lost ground to Sieg. Brent Crews finished a career-best second and moved up to 15th. He's 43 points out of the Chase despite missing four races. Brennan Poole is 16th. Point Standings (1-16):
1) Justin Allgaier 544, 2) Sheldon Creed -105, 3) Jesse Love -141, 4) Corey Day -145, 5) Brandon Jones -191, 6) Sammy Smith -192, 7) Carson Kvapil -213, 8) Austin Hill -223, 9) Taylor Gray -242, 10) Parker
Retzlaff -252, 11) William Sawalich -264, 12) Rajah Caruth -276, 13) Ryan Sieg -290, 14) Sam Mayer -303, 15) Brent Crews -319, 16) Brennan Poole -323. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier
161, 2) Carson Kvapil -64, 3) Jesse Love -67, 4) Brandon Jones -74, 5) Sheldon Creed -78, 6) Corey Day -96, 7) Rajah Caruth -108, 8) Austin Hill -109, t-9) Taylor Gray -110, t-9) Sammy Smith -110, 11) Sam Mayer
-113, 12) William Sawalich -114, 13) Parker Retzlaff -123, 14) Brent Crews -126, 15) Ryan Sieg -136, 16) Anthony Alfredo -140. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series points, Kyle Larson would be 11th in stage
points. 2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 499, 2) Sheldon Creed -75, 3) Jesse Love -96, 4) Corey Day -115, 5) Brandon Jones -146, 6) Sammy Smith -147, 7) Carson
Kvapil -168, 8) Austin Hill -193, 9) Parker Retzlaff -207, 10) Taylor Gray -212, 11) Rajah Caruth -231, 12) William Sawalich -234, 13) Ryan Sieg -245, 14) Sam Mayer -258, 15) Brent Crews -274, 16) Brennan Poole
-278. Old School Point Standings (1-16): 1) Sheldon Creed 388, 2) Justin Allgaier -1, 3) Corey Day -20, 4) Jesse Love -27, 5) Sammy
Smith -40, 6) Brandon Jones -72, 7) Austin Hill -84, 8) Parker Retzlaff -90, 9) Taylor Gray -104, 10) Carson Kvapil -107, 11) Ryan Sieg -114, 12) Brennan
Poole -122, t-13) William Sawalich -125, t-13) Rajah Caruth -125, 15) Sam Mayer -147, 16) Jeb Burton -156. WC Points (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier
1695, 2) Sheldon Creed -8, 3) Corey Day -90, 4) Corey Day -105, 5) Sammy Smith -153, 6) Brandon Jones -262, 7) Austin Hill -304, 8) Parker Retzlaff -338, 9) Carson Kvapil -368, 10) Taylor Gray -378, 11) Ryan Sieg
-413, 12) Rajah Caruth -440, 13) William Sawalich -442, 14) Brennan Poole -454, 15) Sam Mayer -504, 16) Jeb Burton -551. 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), Taylor Gray (Kansas), Corey Day (Talladega) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase: Off-Week Update No. 5
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action at Texas Motor Speedway May 1 for the SpeedyCash.com 250. When the series arrives in Texas, Chandler Smith will have a slim one-point lead over Kaden Honeycutt. The
part-time Corey Heim is tied for third with Layne Riggs, while Christian Eckes is fifth. Since Heim is ineligible for the Chase due to missing two races, Stewart Friesen in 11th is the final driver currently in the playoffs. He has a three-point lead over Tyler Ankrum.
Tanner Gray is 13th, then Brenden Queen, 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.
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Jack Link's 500 was brought to you by the letter O for Old School. The entire 98-lap opening stage ran caution-free. As a result, you ended up with a race that looked a lot like the
2002 EA Sports 500. This race, the most recent caution-free race in the Cup Series, was run with 13-gallon fuel cells that required extra pit stops. Then, you had the Big One in stage two. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Jack Link's 500 compiled by Phil Allaway
"I feel like every time I've ever just seen the crown, I never really got to hear them. I had this thought up for a while. I've messed it up every which way to not be able to do it. I didn’t care if it took 20 minutes or whatever, I was going to figure out how to do it. It took a while. I'm out of breath.
"I am just so thankful. This is the biggest dream I have ever thought of. Thank you to everybody at Spire Motorsports, Jeff Dickerson and Chevrolet. I couldn't have done it a better way. Hopefully my grandpa's watching. My grandma passed away last year, so I'm so thankful that I can give my grandpa a trophy now. We rode the 'Dente today, that’s for sure. I mean just unbelievable… it’s a dream." - Carson Hocevar, race winner "We were pretty good. To have the day like we had today here and be in the hunt every stage and there at the end, I can’t thank everybody enough at Kroger and Jack Link’s and being here for their entitlement sponsor. This was a big race for us and we just couldn’t quite get this Mustang into Victory Lane. We came off turn four and I felt really good about where we were at and the run that
we were gonna be able to build. [Ricky Stenhouse Jr.] went to make a race winning move and if we would have got clear of [Carson Hocevar], he would have gone for it and it may have been our drag race to the end. I don’t know, but it was a good race. It was good, strong racing all the way there to the end." - Chris Buescher, finished second
"Just happy that we survived. I don’t have many big
hits left in me, so coming home with a solid finish was nice. We found ourselves in a good spot and did what we could there at the end. Congratulations to Carson [Hocevar] and the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team. It’s cool to get the win for Team Chevy and the Hendrick Engine Shop. We did all we could, and glad we could push hard to get a Chevrolet into victory lane. It was a solid weekend and we’re looking forward to building off it." - Alex Bowman, finished
third "It was an OK day for the No. 9 Prime Video Chevrolet team. You try to do the best you can to execute and put yourself on those first couple of rows. We kept getting really close, but we just lacked a little bit there to put ourselves just one row forward. I think that would have made a big difference for us. Nonetheless, it was a solid day. Super happy for Carson
[Hocevar]. He’s been really close many times. Glad to get Team Chevy a win. Between Alex [Bowman] and everyone there on the bottom, I thought we were doing a good job keeping him in it. Happy it worked out for one of us." - Chase Elliott, finished fourth
"Everyone had the same idea in trying to force three-wide through the tri-oval and exiting the tri-oval, but in the Cup Series everyone is good at
defending it. It’s definitely a different feel from how fast the pace is, just running hard that final stage, but with that said it was a good recovery from how our day started. We had another uncontrolled tire and went a lap down, played some strategy that worked out for us and fortunately came back with a top five. I’m happy about our finish, but I just wish we were a couple of lanes forward and I feel like our car was really good and capable of winning. It feels good to
end up in the top-five." - Zane Smith, finished fifth "Obviously, I didn’t get a chance to be part of those last two cycles of that first stage. We got trapped with [Todd Gilliland] to our inside and missed on that execution and it took us about all the way up to the third stage to get back on the lead lap. I’m not sure I’m the best judge of how things went to be
honest. The end of the race I would say played out a similar way to what we thought as far as racing in the lanes and the aggression for sure. We can’t run that many laps without wrecking each other on these. I wish we would have had a gauge of our speed or really anything from today, so other than a good points finish, and we need one of those, especially on tracks like this, so we’ll take that and keep going on." - Austin Cindric, finished eighth "Got wrecked there, unfortunately. Our Xfinity Toyota Camry was a little unstable getting pushed, but manageable. Maybe that hard of a hit was too much, so unfortunately, we wiped out a bunch of cars. Got to debrief, got to be better. Just kind of riding around, not doing much in the first stage – nothing to show for it at Talladega. Unfortunate, it is a place we come to with a lot of confidence,
and it is what it is. We will put this one behind us and go on to Texas and have some fun." - Bubba Wallace, finished 36th "I feel like we all just got pinballing off each other there. [Ross Chastain] got up in front of me. I was coming, so I’m kind of checking and trying to get on him OK, and it looked like [Bubba Wallace] got up in front of him while we
were coming, and then we all just kind of got nose bumper tag there. You’re trying to lift and stabilize it and [Wallace] ended up getting turned in front of everybody and causing a big wreck. I don’t know. It’s not like there’s any blame on anybody. It’s what this thing is. We see each other. We all just kind of get bumping and banging and one guy eventually gets turned with the car being as unstable as it is. It definitely stinks to be out early." - Ryan
Blaney, finished 37th (Crashed out) "They just started wrecking above me. You’re kind of seeing it happen and hope they stay up there and you’re able to get by it. The wreck started moving down the hill and there we were. It’s just unfortunate. That’s Talladega. You start pushing and shoving. We got to the point where we could start racing
and not have to save fuel and we’ve proven with this car we can’t race each other without wrecking. We got maybe 10 or 12 laps of racing in before we wrecked. That’s about as far as I think we’ve ever gone." - Joey Logano, finished 39th (Crashed out) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of NASCAR Media via David Jensen of Getty Images.
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