Frontstretch Newsletter: June 22, 2026
Volume XX,
Edition CIV |
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! |
- World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTvision teams will be at Ogilvie Raceway in Minnesota tonight for the Land of Lakes Classic. Coverage from Ogilvie will stream live tonight at 7:15 p.m. ET on DirtVision. - NASCAR teams are working out swap out logistics so that they'll
have fresh equipment for this weekend in Sonoma. Truck teams, if they didn't get back to their shops Sunday, will arrive back today. Entry lists should be released later today for this weekend's action in Sonoma. We'll have those and more at Frontstretch. |
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| Corey Heim Sails to 1st Cup Victory at
Coronado Corey Heim was able to get past Tyler Reddick with three laps to go Sunday for the lead, then drove away to win the Anduril 250 Race the Base for his first Cup win. Bubba Wallace was second, then Kyle Larson, Zane Smith and AJ
Allmendinger. |
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| Early Cup Coronado Crash Takes Out Top 3
Drivers The complexion of Sunday's Anduril 250 Race the Base was changed on a lap 32 restart when Austin Hill missed the apex of turn 1 and forced Connor Zilisch into the wall. The resulting crash eliminated a number of contenders. |
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| Bubba Wallace Wants More Despite Impressive Coronado Rally
to 2nd Place Bubba Wallace rallied from two laps down after losing his right front wheel to finish second Sunday. He still walked away from the race unhappy. |
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| AJ Allmendinger ‘100% Certain’ on Driving with Kaulig in
2027 During media availability Saturday, AJ Allmendinger indicated that he will return to Kaulig Racing to drive the No. 16 Chevrolet in 2027. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the JGR vs. Chris Gabehart/Spire
Lawsuit This Week (June 13-19) Last week in the Joe Gibbs Racing lawsuit against Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports, JGR has filed documents seeking $8 million in damages when the trial goes forward next year. |
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| Austin Hill Wins San Diego O’Reilly Race With Last-Lap
Pass on Taylor Gray Austin Hill took the lead from Taylor Gray in turn 3 on the final lap Saturday. From there, he held on to win the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250. Gray was second, then Sheldon Creed, Carson Kvapil and Sammy Smith. |
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| Carson Kvapil & Taylor Gray Sound Off After Both Come
Up Short at Coronado Following Late-Race Contact Carson Kvapil and Taylor Gray came together Sunday while racing for the lead with three laps to go. Kvapil spun and Gray took the lead. Needless to say, Kvapil was not pleased. |
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| Corey Day Survives Weekend from Hell to Earn Coronado Top
10 Corey Day's weekend in California was eventful, to say the least. A crash in practice put him in a backup car, then a manhole cover ripped up his radiator. Despite this, he still finished 10th. |
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| Layne Riggs Survives Chaotic Finish to Win at Naval Base
Coronado Front Row Motorsports' Layne Riggs took the lead away from Tyler Reif exiting turn 15 Friday on the final lap and held on to win the Navy 250 for his fourth win of the year. Daniel Hemric was second, then Kaz Grala, Landen Lewis and Ty
Majeski. |
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| Al Niece Misses Out on Win in Return to Naval Base He Once
Served On Niece Motorsports owner Al Niece once served at Coronado Naval Base decades ago. On Friday, his No. 42 Chevrolet with Tyler Reif driving came within a couple of turns of winning the Navy 250. |
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| Jimmie Johnson Puts on a Spectacle in Truck
Return Jimmie Johnson made his first Truck start since 2007 Friday and he was right at the front for much of the race before trouble struck late. |
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| Max Reaves Leads Most Laps, Wins ARCA Race at
Berlin Joe Gibbs Racing's Max Reaves led 162 of 200 laps, including the final 45 laps to win Saturday's ARCA Menards Series Herr's Snacks 200 at Berlin Raceway. Thomas Annunziata was second, then Jake Bollman, Taylor Reimer and Isabella
Robusto. |
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| Christian Lundgaard Wins Despite 1st-Lap Damage at Road
America Christian Lundgaard recovered from a first-lap incident Sunday to win the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America for his first win of the year. David Malukas was second, then Will Power, Kyffin Simpson and Alex Palou. |
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| Heartbreak on Highway 67 for Marcus Armstrong & Meyer
Shank Racing Marcus Armstrong was looking good to win Sunday's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America until the engine failed in his No. 66 with three laps to go. |
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| Graham Rahal & Will Power Collide in Last-Lap Crash at
Road America Graham Rahal was looking good for another podium finish Sunday until contact with Will Power entering Canada Corner put him into the gravel trap. He was not pleased afterwards. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Chris Jones and Joe Skibinski of Penske Entertainment, Carl Jones II of ARCA Racing and our own Dalton Hopkins. 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: June 19-21 |
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent the weekend at Huset's Speedway for the BillionAuto.com Huset's High Bank Nationals. Friday night saw Logan Schuchart start on pole and lead early. Sheldon Haudenschild started fifth, slipped to seventh, then quickly
moved up the order. He was able to run down Schuchart in lapped traffic and take the lead with six laps to go. From there, he barely held on to take the win. Haudenschild won by .094 seconds over Donny Schatz. Schuchart was third, then David Gravel and Spencer Bayston. Saturday night was the big show. $300,000 was on the line. Points leader David Gravel won the King of the Hill battle (a series of one-on-one duels) to win the pole for the 40-lap feature. While he faced a battle with Tyler Courtney, Gravel was able to hold on to win the High Bank Nationals. Naturally, since his car owner Tod Quiring owns Huset's Speedway, it's a big deal for the champ to win at the boss's track. Gravel won by .935 seconds over Courtney. Schatz was third, then Giovanni Scelzi and Buddy Kofoid. Gravel continues to lead the points by 82 over Carson Macedo. Kofoid is third, then Haudenschild and Schatz. - World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTvision teams spent the weekend at 141 Speedway, roughly 25 miles outside of Green Bay. It was supposed to be a two-night show, but Friday night's card was washed out. Saturday night's Maribel Late Model Showdown saw Bobby Pierce start from the pole and lead all 60 laps en route to victory and a check for $25,000. It is his 11th win of the year. Pierce won by 2.211 seconds over Tim McCreadie. Nick Hoffman was third, then Ethan Dotson and Tyler Erb. In the points, Pierce continues to lead by 51 points over Hoffman, Erb is third, then McCreadie and Drake Troutman. - In IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge action, Toney Driver Development's Garret Grist took the lead with 18 minutes to go when GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports' Danny Soufi made his final stop. From there, Grist held on to win Round 3 of the championship Sunday afternoon at VIRginia International Raceway with Ari Balogh. Balogh and Grist won by 40.611 seconds over Soufi and Jake Williamson. Valentino Catalano and Oscar Tunjo finished third in their Duqueine D09, while Forte Racing's Patrick Kujala and Brian Thienes were a lap down in fourth. Shopify Racing's Nicole Havrda and Travis Hill were fifth. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Coronado and Road America last weekend. For more from Coronado, Road America, 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: It's Down To Single Digits
by Phil Allaway
Tyler Reddick had a very good chance to win on Sunday, but a cut tire with two laps to go dropped him back to a 25th-place finish. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin finished 14th and closed the gap even more. As a result, Reddick's lead is down to
only eight points over Hamlin. Ryan Blaney won stage one and led the most laps Sunday to gain significant ground. Kyle Larson finished third and moved up two places to fourth. Ty Gibbs, despite getting caught up in the big crash, finished 15th and stayed in fifth. Chase Elliott slipped two places to sixth after a
12th-place finish. Chris Buescher remains in seventh after a strong day, while Daniel Suarez is eighth. Carson Hocevar had a chance to win before spinning late. A 19th-place finish keeps him in ninth. Chase Briscoe is up two places to 10th after a decent run from the back. Bubba Wallace moved up two
places to 11th after finishing second. Christopher Bell had a terrible day. He was forced to exit his car in favor of Brent Crews, then the engine blew. A 37th-place finish dropped Bell to 12th. William Byron ended up seven laps down in 32nd due to mechanical issues. That dropped him two places to 13th. Erik Jones is up to 14th,
while Austin Cindric has sole possession of 15th. Ryan Preece used 19 stage points to move back up to 16th. He is once again the final driver in the Chase at the moment. Preece has a five-point lead on Shane van Gisbergen, who likely had the best car Sunday, but was eliminated in the big crash and dropped three spots to 17th.
Joey Logano remains in 18th, while Brad Keselowski slipped to 19th. AJ Allmendinger is back up to 20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 716, 2) Denny Hamlin -8, 3) Ryan Blaney
-133, 4) Kyle Larson -180, 5) Ty Gibbs -181, 6) Chase Elliott -182, 7) Chris Buescher -216, 8) Daniel Suarez -238, 9) Carson Hocevar -240, 10) Chase Briscoe -285, 11) Bubba Wallace -287, 12) Christopher Bell -294, 13) William
Byron -295, 14) Erik Jones -344, 15) Austin Cindric -346, 16) Ryan Preece -349. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the Chase as they run, or ineligible for points. Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 150, 2) Denny Hamlin -12, 3) Tyler Reddick -18, 4) Ryan Blaney -20, 5) Ty Gibbs -31, 6) Christopher Bell -50, 7) Chris Buescher -63, 8) Chase Elliott -64, 9) Chase
Briscoe -65, 10) Bubba Wallace -67, 11) Carson Hocevar -72, 12) William Byron -74, 13) Joey Logano -79, 14) Austin Cindric -83, 15) Ryan Preece -85, 16) Daniel Suarez -88. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the Chase: 23) Erik Jones -115. Note: The Stage Points also include the America 250 Florida Duels at Daytona.
2014 Point Standings
(1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 629, 2) Denny Hamlin -4, 3) Ryan Blaney -80, 4) Kyle Larson -112, 5) Ty Gibbs -128, 6) Chase Elliott -144, 7) Chris Buescher -148, 8) Daniel Suarez -185, 9) Carson Hocevar -187, 10) Chase
Briscoe -217, 11) Bubba Wallace -219, 12) Christopher Bell -226, 13) William Byron -227, 14) Erik Jones -276, 15) Austin Cindric -278, 16) Ryan Preece -281. Outside of the top 16, but Still in the
Chase: 17) Shane van Gisbergen -283.
Note: These point standings are from the previous point system used from 2014-2025. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 586, 2) Denny Hamlin
-1, 3) Ryan Blaney -71, 4) Chase Elliott -93, 5) Chris Buescher -101, 6) Ty Gibbs -110, 7) Daniel Suarez -114, 8) Kyle Larson -124, 9) Carson Hocevar -128, 10) Chase Briscoe -166, 11) Bubba Wallace -167, 12) William Byron
-168, 13) Erik Jones -178, 14) Christopher Bell -191, 15) Michael McDowell -205, 16) Ryan Preece -206. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Chase: t-18) Austin Cindric -215. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Tyler Reddick 2551, 2) Denny Hamlin -1, 3) Ryan Blaney
-249, 4) Chase Elliott -316, 5) Ty Gibbs -358, 6) Chris Buescher -363, 7) Kyle Larson -381, 8) Daniel Suarez -420, 9) Carson Hocevar -440, 10) Chase Briscoe -538, 11) Bubba Wallace -558, 12) William
Byron -562, 13) Christopher Bell -601, 14) Erik Jones -621, 15) Michael McDowell -695, 16) Shane van Gisbergen -699. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Chase: 19) Austin Cindric -737, 20) Ryan
Preece -738. 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, Nashville, Michigan, Pocono), Chase Elliott (Martinsville, Texas), Ty Gibbs (Bristol), Carson Hocevar (Talladega), Shane van Gisbergen (Watkins Glen), Daniel Suarez (Charlotte), Corey Heim (Coronado)
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 Tough Day
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier had a pretty miserable day in California, getting caught up in multiple incidents before an engine failure ended his day. However, with everything going on like it did, he didn't lose too much of his massive lead. Allgaier still holds a 224-point lead over
Jesse Love, who came from the rear of the field to finish sixth. Corey Day held onto third despite a manhole cover damaging his radiator in the opening laps. As this was a track issue, Day's team was allowed to fix his car and he was able to finish 10th. Sheldon Creed finished third and stays in fourth. Austin Hill's victory
moved him up to fifth in points. Brandon Jones drops down to sixth after finishing 12th. Carson Kvapil is down to seventh despite finishing fourth. Sammy Smith is still in eighth. Parker Retzlaff is back up to ninth after a strong run to seventh with 18 stage points. Taylor Gray and Sam Mayer
are tied for 10th. Gray is up from 13th after finishing second and leading the most laps. Mayer dropped from ninth after he triggered the Big One after clipping the inside wall in turn 1 on a restart. William Sawalich was eliminated in the Big One and dropped to 12th. He is the final driver in the Chase on points. Sawalich has a five-point lead over teammate Brent
Crews, who dropped out due to engine failure. Rajah Caruth is back down to 14th, but is only nine points out of the Chase. Ryan Sieg is 15th, while Brennan Poole is still 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 847, 2) Jesse
Love -224, 3) Corey Day -238, 4) Sheldon Creed -240, 5) Austin Hill -256, 6) Brandon Jones -275, 7) Carson Kvapil -280, 8) Sammy Smith -304, 9) Parker Retzlaff -353, t-10) Taylor Gray -371, t-10) Sam Mayer
-371, 12) William Sawalich -399, 13) Brent Crews -404, 14) Rajah Caruth -408, 15) Ryan Sieg -426, 16) Brennan Poole -506. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier
241, 2) Jesse Love -92, 3) Carson Kvapil -106, 4) Brandon Jones -115, 5) Sam Mayer -120, 6) Corey Day -135, 7) Sheldon Creed -141, t-8) Austin Hill -145, t-8) Brent Crews -145, 10) Taylor Gray -148, 11) Rajah
Caruth -158, 12) Parker Retzlaff -166, 13) William Sawalich -167, 14) Sammy Smith -175, 15) Anthony Alfredo -203, 16) Ryan Sieg -206. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series points, Kyle Larson would be 14th and Connor
Zilisch 16th in stage points. 2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 772, 2) Jesse Love -149, 3) Sheldon Creed -180, 4) Corey Day -193, 5) Brandon Jones -200, 6) Carson Kvapil
-205, 7) Austin Hill -211, 8) Sammy Smith -229, 9) Parker Retzlaff -278, 10) Sam Mayer -296, 11) Taylor Gray -311, 12) Brent Crews -329, 13) Rajah Caruth -333, 14) William Sawalich -339, 15) Ryan Sieg
-351, 16) Brennan Poole -431. Old School Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 611, 2) Sheldon Creed -44, 3) Jesse
Love -53, 4) Sammy Smith -59, 5) Corey Day -64, 6) Austin Hill -66, 7) Brandon Jones -85, 8) Carson Kvapil -103, 9) Parker Retzlaff
-120, 10) Ryan Sieg -149, 11) Taylor Gray -163, t-12) Sam Mayer -176, t-12) Rajah Caruth -176, 14) William Sawalich -179, 15) Brennan
Poole -197, 16) Brent Crews -202. WC Points (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 2702, 2) Sheldon Creed -175, 3) Jesse Love -198, 4) Sammy Smith -258, 5) Corey Day
-259, 6) Austin Hill -274, 7) Brandon Jones -330, 8) Carson Kvapil -390, 9) Parker Retzlaff -467, 10) Ryan Sieg -563, 11) Taylor Gray -579, 12) Sam Mayer -601, 13) William Sawalich -631, 14) Rajah Caruth
-670, 15) Brennan Poole -767, 16) Brent Crews -850. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona, Coronado), Sheldon Creed (Atlanta), Shane van Gisbergen (Austin), Justin Allgaier (Phoenix, Darlington, Martinsville, Nashville, Pocono), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Texas), William Sawalich
(Rockingham), Connor Zilisch (Bristol, Watkins Glen), Taylor Gray (Kansas), Corey Day (Talladega, Dover), Ross Chastain (Charlotte) 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: Layne Riggs Extends Advantage With Last-Lap Pass
by Phil Allaway
Layne Riggs was able to snatch the lead Friday with two turns to go to win the Navy 250. Taking the victory allowed him to extend his advantage. The lead is now 65 points over Kaden Honeycutt, who was right there until he crashed on the restart and finished 23rd.
Chandler Smith is still in third, followed by Gio Ruggiero.
Christian Eckes finished ninth and stays in fifth. Ty Majeski moved up one place to sixth after a fifth-place finish. Majeski jumped over Ben Rhodes, who dropped to seventh after finishing eighth. Daniel Hemric's second-place finish moved him up to
eighth.
Tyler Ankrum is down to ninth after a late crash that opened up a gap in the pit wall. Jake Garcia dropped out late Friday and dropped to 10th. He is the last driver in the Chase at the moment. Garcia has a five-point lead over Grant
Enfinger, who ran well early before running into issues. The idle Corey Heim is down to 12th, while Stewart Friesen had electrical issues that put him out and dropped him to 13th. Kaulig Racing teammates Brenden Queen and Justin Haley are 14th and 15th, while Andres Perez is 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Layne Riggs 562, 2) Kaden Honeycutt -65, 3) Chandler Smith -128, 4) Gio Ruggiero -152, 5) Christian Eckes -154, 6) Ty Majeski -209, 7) Ben Rhodes -213, 8) Daniel Hemric -249, 9) Tyler
Ankrum -261, 10) Jake Garcia -279, 11) Grant Enfinger -284, 12) Corey Heim -288, 13) Stewart Friesen -289, 14) Brenden Queen -290, 15) Justin Haley -301, 16) Andres Perez -312. Stage Points: 1) Layne Riggs 136, 2) Kaden Honeycutt -6, t-3) Christian Eckes -50, t-3) Chandler Smith -50, 5) Ty Majeski -51, 6) Gio Ruggiero -64, 7) Ben Rhodes -67, 8) Corey Heim -68, 9) Grant Enfinger -91,
10) Tyler Ankrum -96, t-11) Jake Garcia -105, t-11) Tanner Gray -105, 13) Andres Perez -107, 14) Stewart Friesen -108, 15) Daniel Hemric -110, 16) Landen Lewis -117. Note: If
they were eligible, Carson Hocevar would be third, Ross Chastain 10th, Kyle Busch 12th and Christopher Bell 14th in stage points. 2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Layne Riggs 502, 2) Kaden Honeycutt -20, 3) Chandler Smith -83, 4) Gio Ruggiero
-92, 5) Christian Eckes -94, 6) Ty Majeski -149, 7) Ben Rhodes -153, 8) Daniel Hemric -189, 9) Tyler Ankrum -201, 10) Jake Garcia -219, 11) Grant Enfinger -224, 12) Stewart Friesen -229, 13) Brenden Queen
-230, 14) Justin Haley -241, 15) Andres Perez -252, 16) Tanner Gray -256. Old School Point Standings (1-16): 1) Layne Riggs 318, 2) Kaden Honeycutt -9, 3) Gio Ruggiero
-29, 4) Chandler Smith -32, 5) Christian Eckes -41, t-6) Ben Rhodes -81, t-6) Daniel Hemric -81, 8) Ty Majeski -98, 9) Brenden Queen -100, 10) Tyler Ankrum -108, 11) Justin Haley -114, 12) Jake Garcia
-118, 13) Stewart Friesen -123, 14) Grant Enfinger -141, 15) Andres Perez -149, 16) Tanner Gray -152. WC Points (1-16): 1) Layne Riggs 1866, 2) Kaden Honeycutt
-3, 3) Gio Ruggiero -113, 4) Chandler Smith -123, 5) Christian Eckes -159, 6) Ben Rhodes -286, 7) Daniel Hemric -296, 8) Ty Majeski -333, 9) Brenden Queen -369, 10) Tyler Ankrum -387, 11) Justin Haley -409, 12) Jake
Garcia -417, 13) Stewart Friesen -435, 14) Grant Enfinger -487, 15) Andres Perez -523, 16) Tanner Gray -530. Race Winners: Chandler Smith (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Dover), Layne Riggs (St. Petersburg,
Charlotte, Nashville, Coronado), Corey Heim (Darlington, Rockingham, Michigan), Christopher Bell (Bristol), Carson Hocevar (Texas), Kaden Honeycutt (Watkins Glen)
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 Anduril 250 Race the Base was brought to you by the letter M for Massive Undertaking. It appears that even with two years of planning, there was an absolute minimum amount of time given to
setting up the track due to the needs of Naval Base Coronado. That said, the race turned out to be quite a bit more competitive than anyone thought it was going to be. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Anduril 250 Race the Base compiled by Phil Allaway
"I’m speechless. I mean, we started the race, I mean, I think we started 13th. We fell straight back to 20th. Then put on our scuffs from qualifying, struggled just as bad. I don’t know if we made any adjustments. Bootie [Barker] kept telling me these were our worst two sets of tire, we were going to be fine. He was right. I couldn’t believe it. We strapped another set of tires on, and we
were just fine. Hit the wall a couple of times and maybe knocked some good into the car. I have no idea. After stage two, I just took a deep breath. I had high expectations coming into this race. Even playing field for me. You don’t see that every day for a young driver like myself. Just kind of took a deep breath, reset and went after it. Caught a couple breaks with some of the good guys out." - Corey Heim, race winner "We are all busting our ass to perform and to have a little thing not go our way. I got to focus on what we can control, but all in all a good day for Toyota and a good day for Xfinity and a good day for our team. I believe that’s the first 1-2 finish for our team, but I could be wrong. Good to come out of here in San Diego and have a bit of fun, appreciate NASCAR and appreciate the Navy for everything they did here this weekend." -
Bubba Wallace, finished second "I’m surprised how scuffed up it is because we had a super-clean day, as clean of a race you can have on a street course. All-in-all, it was a great day for this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. We had a shot at the win there, if the strategy would have played out. I think it was between us and the [Corey Heim]. You never know how
it might go on that run there, but the caution kind of broke it up. They were just super-strong. We were surrounded by 23XI cars. They had a great package for the street course here. "Overall, it was just a lot of fun this weekend. It was an unreal atmosphere, probably one of the coolest atmospheres I’ve been a part of in a long time. Kudos to NASCAR, the Naval Base Coronado
and all the men and women who serve. I was hoping we could get this Chevy to victory lane, but we’ll take a third-place finish." - Kyle Larson, finished third
"It feels great. It’s just an amazing racetrack, a crazy racetrack. It’s fun to be back home and have a good run, but none of the cautions really feel for us, it seemed like. Ryan Bergenty did a phenomenal job to put me in the best position
possible, to stay on offense and not just put me in a bad spot where things get a little chaotic. Road courses have been horrible for myself and this 38 team and we learned some in practice and made a good run out of it, so that makes me so excited. Whether we had a bad finish or a good finish, we showed a lot of speed today and I felt like that was the final area our team had to check that box of being really good. I’m just proud of this team. I love working with them week in and week out, and
it’s an awesome run for Hard Rock, too. The Tejon tribe, it’s cool to go support them next week. We’ll be out in Bakersfield doing an appearance out there on Wednesday. Knowing we’ll have this paint scheme next week, hopefully we get another good run like this." - Zane Smith, finished fourth "We were able to run some good laps in this No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet. Trent
Owens and this entire team did a great job with strategy and pit stops. We know we lack rear grip late in a run, and that’s what we were fighting there at the end. Getting points in both stages and finishing in the top-five, these are the days we have to have at racetracks that we can be pretty good at." - AJ Allmendinger, finished fifth "That last caution certainly
did not fall when we needed it. That was kind of the deal breaker for us, but it was so much fun. The weekend was a blast. Practice and qualifying I just didn’t come up to speed quick enough and wasn’t where we wanted to be. We got in the race and we just started driving through the field. It was so much fun. I’d take this Body Guard by Fastenal Ford Mustang and do that every time we had cycles and it was just a really strong day. It’s just that last caution wasn’t what we needed. We needed it
about eight laps later and we would have been in a heck of a spot. That’s how it falls. Everybody did a nice job and it was a solid day from start to finish." - Chris Buescher, finished sixth "We were involved in so much today. To even have a shot at it at the end was really nice. I thought I was going to be able to hold him off there. Yeah, we kind of just struggled
with rear tire life all weekend long. I got beat by our own stuff. We’ll try to figure this out. It definitely stings. First and foremost, congratulations to Corey. I tried to battle back and overdid it. I really did it. I ran him straight in the wall. That wasn’t right. I wasn’t going to pass him for the win that way, especially a teammate. It’s a real shame. I don’t know if I cut the tire during, before or after. I’m not really sure. Really needed good points day. Had another really bad one.
We’ll try and scrape together and have a decent finish in Sonoma." - Tyler Reddick, finished 25th "We had a really good car with our Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet. With the strategy that we were on, we were going to have at least an extra set of tires laying towards the end. I got into turn 1 a little deep and started sliding. I was sliding the rears and I slid
the fronts a little bit. On corner exit, I was fully locked to the right just trying to stay off [of Connor Zilisch]. It’s one of those racing deals. If I had that extra car width and [Zilisch] wasn’t there, I would have cleared fine but knowing that he was out there, I carried a little too much entry pace compared to what I had been doing all day. Right when I touched him and he got in the wall, it sucked me into him and I couldn’t stay off of him. I hate it for Connor and the No. 88 team, and
I apologize to those guys. We could have had a really strong day for everybody at RCR and ECR. We’ll go again next week in Sonoma. It was a lot of fun running up front and showing speed though. I’m starting to figure out these Cup cars a little bit more, especially on the road courses, so that's a good sign." - Austin Hill, finished 36th (Crashed out)
"It’s just unfortunate to end the day like
that for both Red Bull Chevrolet’s with Shane [van Gisbergen] and I. We had a really fast car today. We got out front and it felt really good, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I had a lot of fun leading my first career Cup Series laps. Just super proud of this entire No. 88 team, but hate to see the day end this short. When you have a chance to go win a race and you’re in a prime spot to do so, but get put in a position like that, it’s extremely tough. It’s been a big weekend for all of us at
Trackhouse Racing and Red Bull, and I just hate that both cars get taken out like that. We’ll put our heads down, put this weekend behind us and move onto the next [one at Sonoma Raceway]." - Connor Zilisch, 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.
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