Frontstretch Newsletter: June 29, 2026
Volume XX,
Edition CIX |
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 hauling back east from Sonoma at the moment. Entry lists for Chicagoland Speedway should be released later today. We'll have those and more at Frontstretch. |
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| Shane van Gisbergen Scores 2nd Straight Sonoma
Win Shane van Gisbergen led 74 of 110 laps Sunday to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350k for his second straight victory. Chase Briscoe finished second, followed by Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. |
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| Christopher Bell Casts Aside Broken Wrist to Score
50-Point, One-Handed Sonoma Comeback Driving with a broken wrist, Christopher Bell had an excellent day in Sonoma to finish fifth and get back into the top 10 in points. |
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| Connor Zilisch Puts Together Career Day at Sonoma After
Tumultuous Stretch Connor Zilisch has had a miserable rookie season. Sunday saw him finally put together a full race to finish seventh. |
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| Here’s What Happened in the JGR vs. Chris Gabehart/Spire
Lawsuit This Week (June 20-26) Last week, Spire Motorsports and Chris Gabehart filed a countersuit against Joe Gibbs Racing. |
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| Shane van Gisbergen Wins O’Reilly Race at
Sonoma Shane van Gisbergen led 66 of 79 laps Saturday to score an easy win in the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250k. Connor Zilisch was second, then Brent Crews, Anthony Alfredo and Parker Retzlaff. |
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| Viking Motorsports Scores 1st Double Top 5 at
Sonoma Saturday was an excellent day for Viking Motorsports, who managed to finish what they could have had on Coronado Island. Anthony Alfredo finished fourth and Parker Retzlaff fifth. |
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| Austin Green Puts Together Top 15 Amidst Uncertain Future
at Sonoma Austin Green finished 12th Saturday at Sonoma Raceway in what could be his final start for Peterson Racing. |
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| Max Reaves Scores Back-To-Back ARCA Wins With Elko
Triumph Joe Gibbs Racing's Max Reaves continued his strong ARCA form with a victory Saturday night in the Shore Lunch 250. Jake Bollman was second, then Ty Fredrickson, Taylor Reimer and Jason Kitzmiller. |
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| Sam Corry Dominates at Sonoma, Leads Nitro Motorsports 1-2
ARCA West Finish Nitro Motorsports' Sam Corry led flag-to-flag to win the ARCA Menards Series West General Tire 150k, a race marred by a power outage. Mia Lovell was second, then Eric Johnson Jr., Cole Denton and Patrick Staropoli. |
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| George Russell Converts Pole to Win in Tense Austrian
Grand Prix Mercedes' George Russell dominated Sunday to win the Grand Prix of Austria at the Red Bull Ring. Max Verstappen was second, then Kimi Antonelli, Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton. |
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| Action Express Racing Wins Sahlen’s Six Hours at the
Glen Action Express Racing's Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti controlled the proceedings Sunday to win the Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen for their second straight victory. |
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| Broken Curb Sends Winward Racing To Victory At Watkins
Glen Winward Racing's Philip Ellis and Bryce Ward won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge LP Building Solutions 120 Saturday, which was marred by curbs breaking and knocking multiple teams out of the race. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Sean Gardner of Getty Images, Sam Bloxham of LAT Images, and our own Phil Allaway, Josh Calloni and Danny Peters. 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 26-28 |
- Former NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Brandon Gdovic was airlifted to the Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Penn. Saturday after suffering a broken leg in three places, a broken pelvis in three places and a concussion in a nasty crash during Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America at Watkins Glen. Gdovic spun and hit the wall in the Esses after contact from Luke Berkeley. He was then clouted by Avery Towns. James Lawley was also involved. Berkeley was parked for the contact under IMSA's
"Unjustifiable Risk" rule. Additional penalties could result from this crash for the Breathless Racing driver. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spent the weekend at Cedar Lake Speedway for the Independence Spectacular. Friday night's race was dominated by David Gravel, who led flag-to-flag to take the win. Buddy Kofoid was second, followed by Bill Balog, Sheldon
Haudenschild and Carson Macedo.
Saturday night saw Haudenschild and Kofoid duel for the lead late in the going. With two laps to go, Haudenschild swept past on the outside and held on to win. Kofoid was second, then Garet Williamson, Chris Windom and Macedo.
In the points, Gravel continues to lead by 86 points over
both Kofoid and Macedo. Haudenschild is fourth, then Schuchart. - Interstate Batteries High Limit Sprint Car Series teams were at Big Sky Speedway for the Rayce Rudeen Foundation Race. Friday night saw Ryan Timms lead from pole. However, a caution closed things up on lap 19. Timms continued to lead until he jumped the caution twice. The second jump allowed Rico Abreu to get the lead. From there, he held on to take the win. Timms held on for second, then Giovanni Scelzi, Brent Marks and Kerry Madsen. Saturday night's main show was washed out by rain. It will not be made up. The series is hoping to move Night No. 2 of the Rayce
Rudeen Foundation Race to a different venue. - World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTvision teams spent the weekend in North Dakota. Friday night saw Bobby Pierce drive up to the lead on lap 11 and hold on to win the Grand Forks Showdown. Tyler Erb was second, followed by Ethan Dotson and Nick Hoffman. Dennis Erb Jr. was fifth. Sunday night saw the series move to Nodak Speedway in Minot for Minot Mayhem. However, the weather didn't cooperate. It was a race to get the race in.
Here, Pierce was able to pull a slide job to take the lead on Dotson and Tyler Erb on the first lap. He was able to lead until the race was red-flagged due to lighting after 38
laps. When heavy rains erupted, that was the end of the night and Pierce took home his fifth straight win.
Hoffman was second, then Tim McCreadie and Dennis Erb Jr. Tyler Erb was fifth.
In the points, Pierce's lead is up to 67 points over Hoffman. Tyler Erb is third, then McCreadie and Ryan Gustin. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Sonoma and Watkins Glen last weekend. For more from Sonoma, Watkins Glen, 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: Despite Bad Day, Denny Hamlin Takes Point Lead
by Phil Allaway
Tyler Reddick had a fast car Sunday, but was struck down by power steering issues. He set the fastest lap of the race, but finished four laps down in 36th. Denny Hamlin wasn't all that much better with a 26th-place finish, but it was enough to
give him the points lead. Hamlin is a single point ahead of Reddick. Ryan Blaney finished sixth and stays in third. Ty Gibbs won the first two stages and finished third to move to fourth. Kyle Larson finished fourth, but dropped a spot to fifth after scoring two stage points to Gibbs' 20. Chase Elliott is still in
sixth after a late spin dropped him to 17th. Chris Buescher is seventh, followed by Carson Hocevar. Daniel Suarez had tire issues early and finished 31st, dropping him to ninth. Christopher Bell moved up two places to 10th after a fifth-place finish. Chase Briscoe actually dropped to 11th
despite finishing second. William Byron is up one place to 12th after a 12th-place run. Bubba Wallace had some off-course excursions Sunday that resulted in a 22nd-place finish. That dropped him two places to 13th. Shane van Gisbergen's victory moved him back up to 14th. Ryan Preece is up one place to 15th
after finishing ninth. Austin Cindric is back down to 16th, the last driver in the Chase. Cindric has a 12-point lead over Erik Jones, who dropped three spots after finishing 23rd. Brad Keselowski is up one place to 18th, while AJ Allmendinger is 19th. Joey Logano slipped back to
20th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 719, 2) Tyler Reddick -1, 3) Ryan Blaney -104, 4) Ty Gibbs -130, 5) Kyle Larson -148, 6) Chase Elliott
-165, 7) Chris Buescher -201, 8) Carson Hocevar -210, 9) Daniel Suarez -235, 10) Christopher Bell -247, 11) Chase Briscoe -251, 12) William Byron -273, 13) Bubba Wallace -275, 14) Shane van Gisbergen -294, 15) Ryan
Preece -317, 16) Austin Cindric -318. Note: Drivers in italics are either outside of the Chase as they run, or ineligible for points. Stage Points: 1) Kyle
Larson 152, 2) Ty Gibbs -13, 3) Denny Hamlin -14, 4) Tyler Reddick -20, 5) Ryan Blaney -21, 6) Christopher Bell -34, t-7) Chris Buescher -65, t-7) Chase Briscoe -65, 9) Chase Elliott -66, 10) Carson Hocevar -67, 11) Bubba
Wallace -69, 12) William Byron -76, 13) Austin Cindric -78, t-14) Joey Logano -81, t-14) Ryan Preece -81, 16) Daniel Suarez -90.
Outside of the top 16, but Still in the Chase: 19) Shane van
Gisbergen -100.
Note: The Stage Points also include the America 250 Florida Duels at Daytona.
2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin
659, 2) Tyler Reddick -16, 3) Ryan Blaney -59, 4) Ty Gibbs -85, 5) Kyle Larson -88, 6) Chase Elliott -135, 7) Chris Buescher -141, 8) Carson Hocevar -165, 9) Christopher Bell -187, 10) Daniel Suarez -190, 11) Chase Briscoe
-191, 12) William Byron -213, 13) Bubba Wallace -215, 14) Ryan Preece -257, 15) Austin Cindric -258, 16) Shane van Gisbergen -264. Note: These point standings are from the previous point system used from
2014-2025. Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 600, 2) Tyler Reddick -9, 3) Ryan Blaney -49, 4) Chase Elliott -83, 5) Ty Gibbs -85, 6) Chris Buescher -93, 7) Kyle Larson
-100, 8) Carson Hocevar -112, 9) Daniel Suarez -118, 10) Chase Briscoe -141, 11) William Byron -152, 12) Bubba Wallace -162, 13) Christopher Bell -169, 14) Erik Jones -174, 15) Shane van Gisbergen -181, t-16) Ryan Preece
-187, t-16) Michael McDowell -187.
Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Chase: 18) Austin Cindric -201. Note: These standings are based on the old point system that was used before stages were
created. WC Points (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 2635, 2) Tyler Reddick -29, 3) Ryan Blaney -178, 4) Ty Gibbs -272, 5) Chase Elliott -288, 6) Kyle Larson -300, 7) Chris Buescher
-341, 8) Carson Hocevar -394, 9) Daniel Suarez -434, 10) Chase Briscoe -452, 11) William Byron -514, 12) Christopher Bell -530, 13) Bubba Wallace -545, 14) Shane van Gisbergen -598, 15) Erik Jones -611, 16) Michael McDowell
-641. Outside of the top-16, but Still in the Chase: 17) Ryan Preece -680, 19) Austin Cindric -697. 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, Sonoma), 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 Continues To Lead
by Phil Allaway
Justin Allgaier had a spin Saturday and struggled to a 26th-place finish. Despite that, he still holds a 207-point lead over Jesse Love, who finished ninth. Corey Day is still in third after a seventh-place finish. Sheldon Creed is only three points behind him in fourth. Austin Hill is still in fifth, followed by Carson Kvapil, who moved up a spot after finishing sixth. Sammy Smith is up to seventh, while Brandon Jones dropped to eighth after having transmission issues. Parker Retzlaff remains in ninth after a fifth-place finish. Sam
Mayer has sole possession of 10th after an eighth-place finish. Brent Crews finished second and moved up two places to 11th. Taylor Gray ran out of fuel on the final lap Saturday and dropped back to 12th, the last spot in the Chase. Gray has a 20-point lead over William Sawalich, who finished 13th. Rajah Caruth is 14th,
then Ryan Sieg. Anthony Alfredo's fourth-place finish moved him up to 16th. Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 858, 2) Jesse Love -207, 3) Corey Day -213, 4) Sheldon Creed -216, 5) Austin
Hill -247, 6) Carson Kvapil -254, 7) Sammy Smith -280, 8) Brandon Jones -285, 9) Parker Retzlaff -325, 10) Sam Mayer -348, 11) Brent Crews -365, 12) Taylor Gray -366, 13) William Sawalich -386, 14) Rajah
Caruth -392, 15) Ryan Sieg -412, 16) Anthony Alfredo -479. Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 241, 2) Jesse Love -92, 3) Carson Kvapil -100, t-4) Brandon Jones
-115, t-4) Sam Mayer -115, t-6) Corey Day -129, t-6) Brent Crews -129, 8) Sheldon Creed -133, t-9) Austin Hill -141, t-9) Taylor Gray -141, 11) Rajah Caruth -154, 12) Parker Retzlaff -159, 13) Sammy Smith
-166, 14) William Sawalich -167, 15) Anthony Alfredo -193, 16) Ryan Sieg -203. Note: If he were eligible for NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series points, Kyle Larson and Connor Zilisch would be tied for 15th in stage points. 2014 Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 783, 2) Jesse Love -132, 3) Sheldon Creed -156, 4) Corey Day -168, 5) Carson Kvapil -179, 6) Austin Hill -202, 7) Sammy
Smith -205, 8) Brandon Jones -210, 9) Parker Retzlaff -250, 10) Sam Mayer -273, 11) Brent Crews -290, 12) Taylor Gray -306, 13) Rajah Caruth -317, 14) William Sawalich -326, 15) Ryan Sieg -337, 16) Anthony Alfredo
-404. Old School Point Standings (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 626, 2) Sheldon Creed -28, 3) Jesse Love -35, 4) Sammy Smith
-44, 5) Corey Day -45, 6) Austin Hill -62, 7) Carson Kvapil -83, 8) Brandon Jones -95, 9) Parker Retzlaff -99, 10) Ryan Sieg -138, 11) Sam Mayer
-158, t-12) Rajah Caruth -164, t-13) Taylor Gray -166, t-13) William Sawalich -166, 15) Brent Crews -178, 16) Brennan Poole -195. WC
Points (1-16): 1) Justin Allgaier 2787, 2) Sheldon Creed -126, 3) Jesse Love -140, 4) Corey Day -198, 5) Sammy Smith -213, 6) Austin Hill -262, 7) Carson Kvapil -325, 8) Brandon Jones -360, 9) Parker Retzlaff -397, 10) Ryan Sieg
-530, 11) Sam Mayer -544, 12) Taylor Gray -588, 13) William Sawalich -592, 14) Rajah Caruth -604, 15) Brennan Poole -731, 16) Brent Crews -735. Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona,
Coronado), Sheldon Creed (Atlanta), Shane van Gisbergen (Austin, Sonoma), 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: Off-Week Update No. 7
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was off last week. They will return to action at Lime Rock Park on July 11 for the LiUNA! 150. When the teams get to Connecticut, Layne Riggs will have a 65-point lead over Kaden Honeycutt. Chandler Smith is
third, then Gio Ruggiero and Christian Eckes. Jake Garcia is currently the last driver in the Chase. He has a five-point advantage over Grant Enfinger. The ineligible Corey Heim is 12th, then Stewart Friesen, Brenden Queen, Justin Haley and Andres
Perez. 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 Toyota/Save Mart 350k was brought to you by the letter G for Groove. Shane van Gisbergen was threatened on track during the weekend by competitors, but they never took him out of
his comfort zone. As a result, van Gisbergen went back home with two trophies. - Phil Allaway |
Quotes to Remember: Toyota/Save Mart 350k compiled by Phil Allaway
"I think my No. 97 Red Bull Chevrolet team just did an excellent job making it drivable. Yesterday, I wasn't very good at all. There were still better cars than us, but Stephen (Doran, crew chief) and the guys called a great strategy and we had awesome pit stops all day. To get Red Bull in victory lane again, I'm stoked. I am also stoked it wasn't two laps longer, it would have been
interesting with Chase (Briscoe) there." - Shane van Gisbergen, race winner "I was better. I just messed up with three or four to go getting into [turn 1]. I don’t know. I didn’t time my downshift right and about wrecked. I lost a ton of ground and was able to run him back down, but if I don’t make that mistake, I truthfully, probably win the race. That one is going
to sting for a while. Trying to beat him would just be a big accomplishment. Proud of our Columbia Bank Toyota group. That one stings. That one is a tough one." - Chase Briscoe, finished second "It was just a lot of green flag runs. It was hot, but it was a lot of fun. It was fun to get long runs like that where you have to manage your equipment. I thought we had a
really good No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. I felt like I learned the kind of sequence that it took to be a little bit better on the long run. I thought our pit strategy there was going to pay off, but [Shane van Gisbergen and Chase Briscoe] and Ty Gibbs were just better than me on the long run. We’ll take another top-five finish. It’s been a good stretch for this team." - Kyle Larson, finished fourth "I’m just super proud of this Rheem team. We’ve had a lot of adversity this year, and we keep battling back. They brought an amazing Rheem Camry. We had an amazing race car last week in San Diego too. Got a good finish out of it, got a lot of points, which is great. That is what we needed today." - Christopher Bell, finished fifth "Really proud of another solid road course effort from this 12 group and [crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] called a great race to keep our track position inside the top 10 all day. A lot of positives to take out of these last two weeks and just need to keep that type of momentum going through this final run of the regular season." - Ryan Blaney, finished sixth "I felt like I could have been a little better there on that last run. We just got really loose. We’ll have to look at it and see, but it was a good day for this No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet team. At the end, we just needed more rear grip. Overall, our Chevy was good all day, but with that last set of tires, we struggled. It felt good to have a clean run. We needed a day like this to go into next week with something to build on." - Connor Zilisch, finished
seventh Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of
our own Danny Peters.
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