Frontstretch Newsletter: March 2, 2026
Volume XX,
Edition XXIX |
And Now A Word From Our Title Partner, My Place Hotels! |
My Place Hotels is a proud to be the official hotel sponsor of Frontstretch. With plush beds, in room kitchens and Pet Friendly Hotels My Place makes for the perfect pit stop when traveling. Racing fans can use Promo Code: Frontstretch to save 10% on your stay at any of our nationwide properties. That’s 10% off nationwide with code FRONTSTRETCH. This racing season, be sure to
Make My Place Your Place! |
- Teams are currently swapping out their equipment in Texas due to the fact that it isn't really worth it for them to drive back to North Carolina, unpack, repack, then drive all the way to Arizona. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams will wrap up the Bike
Week Jamboree at Volusia Speedway Park tonight. Action will start at 6:15 p.m. ET on DirtVision.
We will have entry lists for Phoenix and anything else that breaks for you today at Frontstretch. |
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| Tyler Reddick Wins 3rd Straight, Holds On at
COTA Tyler Reddick led 58 of 95 laps Sunday to win the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix, his third straight win to start the season. Shane van Gisbergen was second, then Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell. |
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| The COTA Cup Race That ‘Could’ve Been’ for Connor
Zilisch The result sheet will say that Connor Zilisch finished 14th Sunday. However, he got spun out twice on restarts and had to charge from the rear to get there. |
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| Shane van Gisbergen Wins O’Reilly Series Race At
COTA Shane van Gisbergen was able to take the lead from Nick Sanchez with five laps to go, then pulled away to win the Focused Health 250k Saturday. Austin Hill was second, followed by Sammy Smith, Corey Day and Brent Crews. |
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| Corey Day Garners More Controversy, This Time with Connor
Zilisch at COTA Corey Day had another strong run in Austin Saturday, finishing fourth. However, he was the story for a different reason after spinning Connor Zilisch into the wall late in the race. |
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| Layne Riggs Wins Truck Race On St. Petersburg Street
Course Layne Riggs charged up from 28th on the grid to lead 41 laps and win the inaugural OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 in St. Petersburg Saturday. Ty Majeski was second, then Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt. |
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| Dario Franchitti ‘Felt Great to Be in That Space Again’ at
St. Petersburg Dario Franchitti made his first major race start Saturday since a devastating crash at Reliant Park in 2013. Driving for TRICON Garage, Franchitti ran well before an unscheduled stop dropped him back. |
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| After 15 Years Away, Colin Braun Returns to Truck Series
with Top-10 Finish Colin Braun made his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start since 2011 Saturday in St. Petersburg. He was able to keep himself out of trouble and finish ninth. |
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| Corey LaJoie To Pilot Kaulig No. 25 RAM Truck at
Darlington Prior to the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 Saturday, Kaulig Racing announced that Corey LaJoie will drive the No. 25 RAM at Darlington Raceway. |
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| Alex Palou Wins 2026 IndyCar Opener at St.
Petersburg A new season and nothing really has changed in IndyCar. Alex Palou dominated the second half of the race Sunday to win the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Scott McLaughlin was second, then Christian Lundgaard, Kyle Kirkwood and Patricio
O'Ward. |
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| Marcus Ericsson Felt ‘Aggressive’ in 6th-Place Finish at
St. Petersburg Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson lost some ground on worn alternate tires Sunday in St. Petersburg, but he managed to hold on for a sixth-place finish. |
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| Josef Newgarden Rallies from Near Last to 7th-Place Finish
at St. Petersburg Team Penske's Josef Newgarden had a miserable qualifying session Saturday. On Sunday, he recovered from the 23rd starting spot to finish a strong seventh. |
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| Mason Massey Opens ARCA West Season With Victory at Kevin
Harvick’s Kern Raceway Mason Massey was able to snatch the lead from Sean Hingorani on a restart, then held on through two overtime restarts to win the ARCA Menards Series West Oil Workers 150 Saturday night. Eric Nascimento was second, then Taylor Mayhew, Trevor Huddleston
and Hingorani. |
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| Nitro Motorsports Files Lawsuit Against Leland
Honeyman A lawsuit has been filed against Leland Honeyman by Nitro Motorsports due to a dispute surrounding his car assignment for his eight-race ARCA Menards Series schedule. |
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| Toney Driver Development Scores COTA 1-2
Finish Toney Driver Development's Wyatt Brichacek scored the first victory in IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Saturday for the new Ligier JS P325-Toyota. Teammate Titus Sherlock was second. |
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| Wyatt Brichacek Earns COTA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge
Sweep Wyatt Brichacek was not threatened Saturday evening en route to the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge sweep at Circuit of the Americas. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, James Black, Chris Jones and Joe Skibinski of Penske Entertainment and IMSA. 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: Feb. 27-March 1 |
- As you're likely aware there have been a significant number of bombings in Iran, Bahrain, Kuwait and Israel since Saturday. Such military activity not only is a clear and present threat to life, but also to athletic events. Both Formula 1 and the FIA World Endurance
Championship have events that are scheduled to take place in the Middle East in the next six weeks. As of now, most of the airspace is closed in the region. The WEC announced
Sunday that they are in direct communication with Qatari authorities in regards to the status of the Prologue and the season-opening Qatar 1812km. The Prologue is currently scheduled for March 22-23, while the 1812km race (or eight hours) is scheduled for March 28. Formula 1 has races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April. While they haven't made a public announcement to this point, they are definitely
paying attention to the situation and how it develops. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams were back at Volusia Speedway Park Sunday night, this time for the first night of the Bike Week Jamboree. However, things were a lot different this time. Sheldon Haudenschild earned the pole in his new ride with KCP Racing, then led flag-to-flag to claim his first victory since leading Stenhouse Jr./Marshall Racing at the end of last year. Haudenschild's margin of victory was .774 seconds over David Gravel. Carson Macedo was third, then Buddy Kofoid and Daison Pursley. Through four races, David Gravel has moved up into the points lead. His advantage is four points over Kofoid. Macedo is third, then Anthony Macri and Garet Williamson. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Austin and St. Petersburg last weekend. For more from Austin, St. Petersburg, 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 Is Stomping The Pack
by Phil Allaway
Tyler Reddick is on a roll. A dominant victory Sunday set an all-time record. He is the first driver ever to win the first three races of the season. With the three consecutive wins comes a 70-point lead over teammate Bubba Wallace, who finished 11th Sunday.
Chase Elliott finished seventh and stays in third. Ryan Blaney finished eighth and moved up three places to fourth. Shane van Gisbergen and Joey Logano are tied for fifth. Van Gisbergen's second-place finish moved him up 10 places and serves as the tiebreaker. Daniel Suarez has sole possession of seventh,
while AJ Allmendinger gained 10 spots to move up to eighth with a ninth-place finish. Michael McDowell finished fifth and moved up 11 places to ninth. Carson Hocevar spun coming to the white flag and finished 31st. That dropped him six spots to 10th, but puts all three Spire Motorsports Chevrolets in the top 10 for the first time. Chris
Buescher dropped to 11th after a 24th-place finish. Brad Keselowski is down to 12th after gutting out a 20th-place finish. William Byron is down to 13th after a 13th-place finish. Zane Smith's day was ruined by a chain reaction on the final restart that led to a spin. A possible top 10 finish became 33rd and dropped him nine spots to
14th. Kyle Larson finished fifth and moved up six positions to 15th. Ryan Preece dropped back to 16th, the final driver in the playoffs. Preece has a three-point lead over a three-way tie for 17th between Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson and Ty Dillon. Gibbs wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his fourth-place finish Sunday.
Ross Chastain dropped back to 20th as a result of losing his right rear wheel and being penalized two laps. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 186, 2) Bubba Wallace -70, 3) Chase Elliott -72, 4) Ryan
Blaney -86, t-5) Shane van Gisbergen -96, t-5) Joey Logano -96, 7) Daniel Suarez -99, 8) AJ Allmendinger -100, 9) Michael McDowell -103, 10) Carson Hocevar -104, 11) Chris Buescher -105, 12) Brad Keselowski -108, 13) William
Byron -110, 14) Zane Smith -111, 15) Kyle Larson -113, 16) Ryan Preece -118. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the Chase as they run, or ineligible for points. Stage Points: t-1) Bubba Wallace 34, t-1) Bubba Wallace 34, 3) Chase Elliott -9, 4) Carson Hocevar -11, 5) Tyler Reddick -13, t-6) Daniel Suarez -15, t-6) Michael McDowell -15, t-6) Austin Cindric
-15, 9) William Byron -16, 10) Ty Gibbs -17, t-11) Shane van Gisbergen -18, t-11) Chris Buescher -18, t-11) Kyle Larson -18, t-14) Joey Logano -19, t-14) AJ Allmendinger -19, 16) John Hunter Nemechek -20. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Chase: t-18) Zane Smith -24, t-21) Brad Keselowski -25, t-21) Ryan Preece -25. Note: The Stage Points also include the America 250 Florida Duels at
Daytona.
2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 186, 2) Bubba Wallace -25, 3) Chase Elliott -27, 4) Ryan Blaney -41, t-5) Shane van Gisbergen -51, t-5) Joey Logano -51, 7) Daniel
Suarez -54, 8) AJ Allmendinger -55, 9) Michael McDowell -58, 10) Carson Hocevar -59, 11) Chris Buescher -60, 12) Brad Keselowski -63, 13) William Byron -65, 14) Zane Smith -66, 15) Kyle Larson -68, 16) Ryan Preece
-73.
Note: These point standings are from the previous point system used from 2014-2025. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 134, 2) Chase Elliott -31, 3) Bubba Wallace
-37, 4) Joey Logano -45, 5) Shane van Gisbergen -47, 6) AJ Allmendinger -49, 7) Brad Keselowski -52, 8) Ryan Blaney -53, 9) Daniel Suarez -54, 10) Zane Smith -55, t-11) Michael McDowell -56, t-11) Chris Buescher -56, t-11) Ty
Dillon -56, 14) Noah Gragson -58, 15) Carson Hocevar -62, t-16) William Byron -63, t-16) Kyle Larson -63, t-16) Ryan Preece -63. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 550, 2) Chase Elliott -104, 3) Bubba Wallace -129, 4) Shane van Gisbergen -142, 5) Joey Logano -148, 6) AJ Allmendinger -169, 7) Brad Keselowski
-175, 8) Ryan Blaney -177, 9) Zane Smith -180, 10) Daniel Suarez -183, 11) Michael McDowell -185, 12) Chris Buescher -190, 13) Ty Dillon -194, 14) Carson Hocevar -201, 15) Noah Gragson -202, 16) Kyle Larson
-208. Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: t-19) Ryan Preece -215, t-19) William Byron -215. Note: The WC points are based on the original points system created by Bob Latford in
1975. Race Winners: Tyler Reddick (Daytona, Atlanta)
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 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase: Austin Hill Expands Advantage With Strong Day
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill is typically strong at Circuit of the Americas and Saturday was no exception. Hill won stage one and finished second. That allowed him to expand his points lead to 28 over Jesse Love, who moved up to second after finishing fourth. Justin Allgaier moved up three places to third after an eighth-place finish and 17 stage points.
Sheldon Creed is down one spot to fourth after a mid-race spin and an 11th-place finish. Carson Kvapil moved up two places to fifth despite a 19th-place finish thanks to 13 stage points. Rajah Caruth got caught up in a late incident while running well. The 31st-place finish dropped him four positions to sixth. Sammy Smith and
Corey Day are tied for seventh. Smith wins the tiebreaker by virtue of his third-place finish on Saturday. Parker Retzlaff struggled Saturday to a 30th-place finish. That dropped him four places to ninth. Sam Mayer scored a race-high 19 stage points Saturday. Despite a late incident with Caruth, he finished 14th and moved up nine spots to 10th.
Brandon Jones had a quiet run to 15th, but that moved him up to 11th. Brennan Poole finished 10th and claimed sole possession of 12th, the final spot in the playoffs at the moment. Poole has a one-point lead over Taylor Gray, who finished 12th. William Sawalich moved up seven positions to 14th after a seventh-place finish
following a chain reaction incident on the opening lap Saturday. Patrick Staropoli is down to 15th, while Blaine Perkins and Ryan Sieg are tied for 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 154, 2) Jesse Love -28, 3) Justin Allgaier
-39, 4) Sheldon Creed -48, 5) Carson Kvapil -59, 6) Rajah Caruth -64, t-7) Sammy Smith -68, t-7) Corey Day -68, 9) Parker Retzlaff -73, 10) Sam Mayer -76, 11) Brandon Jones -81, 12) Brennan Poole
-84, 13) Taylor Gray -85, 14) William Sawalich -88, 15) Patrick Staropoli -94, t-16) Blaine Perkins -97, t-16) Ryan Sieg -97. Note: If they were eligible, Shane van Gisbergen would be 15th and Ross Chastain 16th in NASCAR O'Reilly Auto
Parts Series points. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 47, 2) Carson Kvapil -5, 3) Austin Hill -8, 4) Jesse Love -14, 5) Rajah Caruth -20, 6) Sam Mayer -28, 7) Brandon Jones -30, 8) Parker
Retzlaff -31, 9) Sammy Smith -34, 10) Sheldon Creed -35, t-11) Corey Day -36, t-11) William Sawalich -36, t-13) Jeremy Clements -40, t-13) Taylor Gray -40, t-13) Blaine Perkins -40, 16) Nick Sanchez -41. Note: If he were eligible, Shane van Gisbergen would be 16th in stage points. 2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 139, 2) Jesse Love -13, 3) Justin Allgaier -24, 4) Carson Kvapil -44, 5) Sheldon Creed
-48, 6) Rajah Caruth -49, t-7) Sammy Smith -53, t-7) Corey Day -53, 9) Parker Retzlaff -58, 10) Sam Mayer -61, 11) Brandon Jones -66, 12) Brennan Poole -69, 13) Taylor Gray -70, 14) William Sawalich
-73, 15) Patrick Staropoli -79, t-16) Blaine Perkins -82, t-16) Ryan Sieg -82. Old School Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 116, 2) Jesse Love -9, 3) Sheldon
Creed -25, 4) Corey Day -29, 5) Sammy Smith -30, t-6) Justin Allgaier -34, t-6) Brennan Poole -34, 8) Parker Retzlaff -39, 9) Rajah Caruth
-40, 10) Taylor Gray -41, 11) Sam Mayer -42, 12) Patrick Staropoli -44, 13) William Sawalich -47, 14) Brandon Jones -48, t-15) Carson Kvapil
-49, t-15) Ryan Sieg -49. Note: If he were eligible, Ross Chastain would be 15th in Old School points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 497, 2) Jesse Love
-34, 3) Sheldon Creed -96, 4) Sammy Smith -99, 5) Corey Day -100, 6) Justin Allgaier -111, 7) Brennan Poole -130, 8) Parker Retzlaff -133, 9) Rajah Caruth -141, 10) Sam Mayer -145, 11) Taylor Gray -148, 12) Patrick
Staropoli -161, 13) William Sawalich -162, 14) Ryan Sieg -165, 15) Carson Kvapil -168, 16) Brandon Jones -172. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona), Sheldon Creed (Atlanta), Shane van Gisbergen (Austin) Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of our own Phil Allaway.
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Seeking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase: Chandler Smith Extends Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Chandler Smith had one of the best trucks Saturday, but he faded to fourth late. That was more than enough for him to expand his lead though. The points lead through three races is now 34 points over Ben Rhodes. Rhodes won stage one and finished third to move him
up one place. Ty Majeski is up one spot to third after finishing second. Gio Ruggiero struggled and dropped two places to fourth after finishing 25th. Layne Riggs' victory from 28th on the grid moved him up all the way up to fifth from 23rd. Kaden Honeycutt has sole possession of sixth after finishing fifth. Andres
Perez is now seventh after a seventh-place finish. Stewart Friesen dropped three places to eighth after finishing a lap down in 26th. Christian Eckes moved up one place to ninth after getting in a crash and recovering to finish 15th. Justin Haley finished 12th and moved up three places to 10th, the last driver in the playoffs on
points. Haley has a one-point advantage over teammate Brenden Queen, who finished 24th. Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Dye are tied for 12th (Ankrum wins the tiebreaker thanks to his Daytona finish), while Jake Garcia stays in 14th. Cole Butcher and Kris Wright are 15th and 16th,
respectively. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 152, 2) Ben Rhodes -34, 3) Ty Majeski -50, 4) Gio Ruggiero -54, 5) Layne Riggs -56, 6) Kaden Honeycutt -65, 7) Andres
Perez -67, 8) Stewart Friesen -82, 9) Christian Eckes -83, 10) Justin Haley -85, 11) Brenden Queen -86, t-12) Tyler Ankrum -88, t-12) Daniel Dye -88, 14) Jake Garcia -94, 15) Cole Butcher -100, 16) Kris Wright
-103. Note: If they were eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be eighth, Kyle Busch tied for 10th and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 12th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points. Stage Points: 1) Chandler Smith 33, 2) Ben Rhodes
-7, 3) Ty Majeski -8, 4) Layne Riggs -9, 5) Gio Ruggiero -16, 6) Landen Lewis -17, 7) Stewart Friesen -18, t-8) Christian Eckes -21, t-8) Corey Heim -21, 10) Kaden Honeycutt -23, t-11) Andres Perez -24, t-11) Tanner Gray -24,
t-11) Connor Mosack -24, 14) Dario Franchitti -25, 15) Tyler Ankrum -26, 16) Nick Leitz -28. Note: If they were eligible, Carson Hocevar would be tied for third, Kyle Busch ninth and Michael McDowell tied for 10th. Taylor Gray and John Hunter Nemechek would be tied for 13th in stage
points. 2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 137, 2) Ben Rhodes -19, 3) Ty Majeski -35, 4) Gio Ruggiero -39, 5) Kaden Honeycutt -50, 6) Andres Perez
-52, 7) Layne Riggs -56, 8) Stewart Friesen -67, 9) Christian Eckes -68, 10) Justin Haley -70, 11) Brenden Queen -71, t-12) Tyler Ankrum -73, t-12) Daniel Dye -73, 14) Jake Garcia -79, 15) Cole Butcher
-85, 16) Kris Wright -88. Note: If they were eligible, John Hunter Nemechek would be eighth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 11th in 2014 points. Old School Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith
93, 2) Ben Rhodes -10, 3) Gio Ruggiero -24, 4) Ty Majeski -26, 5) Kaden Honeycutt -27, 6) Andres Perez -29, 7) Justin Haley -36, t-8) Brenden Queen -41, t-8) Daniel Dye -41, 10) Christian Eckes -43, 11) Layne Riggs
-47, 12) Tyler Ankrum -48, 13) Stewart Friesen -49, 14) Jake Garcia -50, 15) Cole Butcher -53, 16) Kris Wright -56. Note: If they were eligible for points, John Hunter Nemechek would be eighth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 11th
in Old School points. WC Points (1-16): 1) Chandler Smith 495, 2) Ben Rhodes -28, 3) Gio Ruggiero -72, 4) Ty Majeski -76, 5) Kaden Honeycutt -93, 6) Andres Perez -107, 7) Justin Haley
-127, 8) Brenden Queen -143, 9) Daniel Dye -147, 10) Christian Eckes -152, 11) Layne Riggs -153, 12) Tyler Ankrum -166, t-13) Stewart Friesen -168, t-13) Jake Garcia -168, 15) Cole Butcher -183, 16) Kris Wright
-192. Race Winners: Chandler Smith (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Atlanta), Layne Riggs (St. Petersburg) 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 DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix was brought to you by the letter U for Unprecedented. No one had ever won the first three races of the NASCAR Cup Series prior to Tyler Reddick pulling off the
feat Sunday. In the pre-modern era, this was literally impossible since the Daytona 500 qualifying races were fully scored events, but in the 50+ seasons since, only a couple of drivers have even had the chance to try to achieve this feat. Reddick not only achieved it, but beat the best on road courses in order to do it. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix compiled by Phil Allaway
"Just [had to]remember everything that I knew was going to be important there at the end and just tried to minimize the mistakes. Shane [van Gisbergen] is — this is what he’s so good at. He does not make mistakes. I certainly made a couple and just doing everything I could to just manage the gap and just stay away from him, if you know what I mean. If I let him get close enough, it was
going to [probably be] hard to hold him off." - Tyler Reddick, race winner "[We just needed] a little bit of everything. We lacked a little bit of turn and a little bit of drive. Tyler [Reddick] was just amazing. The way he was driving was really good and his car was good. We just didn’t quite have enough, but it was a great points day for this No. 97 Safety Culture
Chevrolet team, which is what we need for getting into the Chase. It was still an amazing result, but you’re always disappointed with second when the expectations are so high. But overall, it was a really good day." - Shane van Gisbergen, finished second
"We got really fortunate with the strategy. They dropped the green flag and they had a great start and I’m like ok, we are going to have
something and it just went away. It got tight and it got loose and I’m sliding around and the next thing I know I’m in 12th. We were just super aggressive on strategy jumping the stages keeping out track position the best that we could. We gambled making an extra pit stop there in the third stage and it got us a good finish out of it, but clearly I wasn’t going to run with the top guys in our DEWALT Camry." - Christopher Bell, finished third
"Overall, the No. 71 Katz Coffee Chevrolet was good. We didn’t need that last caution. We were running long there. I don’t know how the math would have worked out, but I think we would have had a good shot of having better tires over everyone else at the end, so that caution really hurt us. I think we restarted 12th or 13th, so to get back up into the top-five is a solid day for this team. But we’re not looking for solid days, we’re
looking for wins. It’s definitely a step in the right direction." - Michael McDowell, finished fifth "Thankfully, I had enough fluids in me. I started feeling progressively better as the race went on with just dumping water on me, putting ice on my chest and drinking a lot of fluids. I felt good there at the end, but I was hot early in the race. I was getting nervous.
But I think it kind of cooled down outside too, which helped.
"All-in-all, it was a great day for this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. It was good to get our first top-10 finish of the season, and hopefully we can just build off of it." - Kyle Larson, finished sixth "I
just lost grip. I don't know. I just kind of lost grip and lost touch with Shane [van Gisbergen] and Tyler [Reddick]. Yeah, it was weird. I wasn't really pushing hard like after the green flag pit stop with Tyler, knowing it was going to be a longer run, no caution or not. [The tires] didn't really fire off very good, and I stayed in touch with those guys for maybe five laps, and they just kind of started to slowly lose and then really fall off the cliff. Overall good weekend. I hate that
we didn't finish top-three like I thought we were, but it's hard to complain about it. We don't have a great track record here, so we put a solid weekend together, and hopefully build on something." - Ryan Blaney, finished eighth "Something in the transaxle I guess broke coming out of the corner. Went to shift and it was like I was in neutral and it was trying to spin
the one side and not the other. It’s really unfortunate, felt like we were good enough to win truthfully, top five car pretty easily. Just frustrating, it will obviously set us back points wise and next week. But Phoenix has been a really good track for us so we will see what we can do. Thanks to Columbia Bank and Toyota for all the support this weekend." - Chase Briscoe, finished 37th (Broxen transaxle)
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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