FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 8, 2020
Volume XIV, Edition LVII
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Around the World in Motorsports: May 29-31
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What to Watch: Monday
- Teams are back at the shops today to prepare for Wednesday night's race at Martinsville. The entry list has already been released (see below). We'll have any news that breaks for you at Frontstretch.
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Monday's TV Schedule can be found here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Kevin Harvick
Takes Control to Win Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Kevin
Harvick found his groove Sunday and used it to his advantage. He led 151 of the 325 laps to win the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 for his second win of the year. Kyle Busch was second, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin. Read more
NASCAR Holds
Moment Of Silence For Racial Inequality At Atlanta
Prior
to the start of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, NASCAR had the field stop on the frontstretch for a moment of silence for racial inequality. In addition, NASCAR president Steve Phelps read a speech and a video was played featuring drivers expressing the need for discussion. Read
more
Bubba Wallace Treated, Released For Fatigue After Atlanta Cup Race
After Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Bubba Wallace felt light-headed on pit road and nearly fainted. He went to the Infield Care Center after the race and has since been released. Read more
Entry List: Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500
For Wednesday night's 500-lap race at Martinsville Speedway, there will be 40 drivers duking it out under the lights. The only question mark at the moment is that no driver is listed in Spire Motorsports' No. 77. Read more
AJ Allmendinger Rings in a Humdinger Xfinity Win at Atlanta
Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger inherited the lead when the top three drivers all got penalized for speeding on pit road during the final round of stops. Once again, Allmendinger pulled away to win his first career NASCAR race on an oval. Noah Gragson was second, then Justin Haley, Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton. Read more
Grant Enfinger Outruns Austin Hill, Wins Vet Tix Camping World 200
ThorSport Racing's Grant Enfinger was able to get past Austin Hill at the white flag and held on to win Saturday's Vet Tix/Camping World 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Hill was second, followed by Christian Eckes, Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith. Read
more
2020 Genesys 300 Recap: Scott Dixon Dominates 2020 IndyCar Season Opener
Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon dominated Saturday night's Genesys 300, leading 157 of 200 to win the season opener for the NTT IndyCar Series. Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden were second and third, then Zach Veach and Ed Carpenter. Read
more
Brandon Lynn Inks 2-Race ARCA Deal With Chad Bryant Racing
Chad Bryant Racing announced Friday that Brandon Lynn will join the team for two upcoming ARCA Menards Series events, the first of which will be at Talladega. Read more
Did you know Frontstretch is now offering the chance to become a Patreon subscriber with paid content? Please click here to learn more about our new service and join the club for exclusive interviews, commentary,
racing audio and more!
Have news for The Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Kevin Harvick Doubles Advantage With Victory
by Phil Allaway
Kevin Harvick is known to be a tough out at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Sunday was no exception as he led a race-high 151 laps and took his third victory on the 1.54-mile quad-oval. That performance allowed him to expand his lead to 48 points over Joey Logano. Logano didn't score any stage points and finished 10th. Chase Elliott led early from the pole and
stayed in the top 10 all day before finishing eighth. That keeps him in third. Brad Keselowski remains in fourth after finishing ninth.
Martin Truex Jr. moved up one place to fifth after winning the first two stages and finishing third. Denny Hamlin is up one place to sixth after finishing fifth. Ryan Blaney is now seventh after finishing fourth. Alex Bowman is down three places to eighth after finishing a lap down in 12th.
Kyle Busch finished second Sunday, but that was only enough to gain one point on Harvick and maintain ninth. Kurt Busch recovered from having to serve a pass-through penalty at the end of the first lap to finish sixth. That keeps him in 10th. Aric Almirola remains in 11th after fading back to a 17th-place finish despite starting on the front row. Clint
Bowyer had a chance to finish in the top 10, but his right rear unwound late, forcing him to pit. He ended up finishing 20th and stays in 12th.
Jimmie Johnson is up two places to 13th after finishing seventh. Austin Dillon finished 11th and is now quietly in 14th. Matt DiBenedetto had a tire issue in the final laps Sunday and dropped to a 25th-place finish. That puts him down to 15th in points. Erik Jones dropped two places to 16th after a tire issue and a speeding penalty resulted in a
28th-place finish.
Jones is the last driver currently in the playoffs. He has a 20-point advantage over William Byron, who cut a tire and hit the wall on Lap 31. He ended up 12 laps down in 33rd. Tyler Reddick ran well early, but faded. A 16th-place finish keeps him in 18th. Chris Buescher is 19th, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s 13th-place finish moved him up to
20th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 421, 2) Joey Logano -48, 3) Chase Elliott -56, 4) Brad Keselowski -75, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -87, 6) Denny Hamlin -99,
7) Ryan Blaney -104, 8) Alex Bowman -107, 9) Kyle Busch -113, 10) Kurt Busch -137, 11) Aric Almirola -161, 12) Clint Bowyer -162, 13) Jimmie Johnson -165, 14) Austin Dillon -174, 15) Matt DiBenedetto -175, 16) Erik Jones
-181.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Playoff Points: t-1) Brad Keselowski 12, t-1) Joey Logano 12,
t-3) Denny Hamlin -1, t-3) Kevin Harvick -1, 5) Chase Elliott -2, 6) Alex Bowman -3, t-7) Clint Bowyer -10, t-7) Martin Truex Jr. -10, t-9) Ryan Blaney -11, t-9) William Byron -11.
Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott 118, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -2, 3) Alex Bowman -8, 4) Joey Logano -9, t-5) Kevin Harvick -20, t-5) Ryan Blaney -20, 7) Kyle Busch -49,
8) Brad Keselowski -56, 9) Denny Hamlin -61, 10) William Byron -67, 11) Aric Almirola -69, 12) Clint Bowyer -70, 13) Jimmie Johnson -72, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -84, 15) Erik Jones -86, 16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
-92.
Old Point
Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 371, 2) Brad Keselowski -41, 3) Joey Logano -60, 4) Denny Hamlin -62, 5) Kurt Busch -69, 6) Chase Elliott -78, 7) Kyle Busch -89, 8) Austin Dillon -106, 9) Martin Truex Jr. -107, 10) Ryan Blaney -111, 11) Matt DiBenedetto -116, t-12) Clint Bowyer -119, t-12) Aric Almirola -119, t-14) Alex Bowman -122, t-14) Erik Jones
-122, 16) Jimmie Johnson -124.
Race Winners: Denny Hamlin (Daytona, Darlington-2), Joey Logano (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Alex Bowman (Fontana), Kevin Harvick (Darlington-1, Atlanta), Brad Keselowski (Charlotte-1, Bristol), Chase Elliott
(Charlotte-2)
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.
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Seeking the Xfinity Series Playoffs: Penalty Nearly Costs Chase Briscoe Points Lead
by Phil Allaway
Chase Briscoe was in position to win on Saturday, but sped off of pit road on his final stop. He was only able to get back to ninth, but that was enough to keep the lead. His advantage is now down to only four points over Noah Gragson, who finished second. Harrison Burton remains in third, but lost some ground after earning only two stage points en route to a
fifth-place finish. Justin Allgaier is still in fourth and effectively stood pat after finishing sixth.
Ross Chastain is still in fifth and gained points after finishing seventh. Austin Cindric had the best car and led the most laps. However, a bad pit strategy early in the race and a speeding penalty left him in the back on old tires at the end. He finished 16th, but didn't really lose any ground as a result. Justin Haley moves up one place to seventh after
finishing third, while Brandon Jones is eighth.
Daniel Hemric moved up two places to ninth after finishing fourth. He is still ineligible for the playoffs due to his part-time schedule. Ryan Sieg suffered an engine failure in the opening laps Saturday and dropped to 10th. Riley Herbst dropped to 11th after spinning early and finishing 17th. Brandon Brown maintained 12th after finishing
12th.
Michael Annett stayed in 13th after finishing right in front of Brown. He is the final driver in the playoffs at the moment. Annett's margin over 14th-place Josh Williams is 34 points. Myatt Snider is 15th and Alex Labbe is 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Briscoe 340, 2) Noah Gragson -4, 3) Harrison
Burton -32, 4) Justin Allgaier -43, 5) Ross Chastain -45, 6) Austin Cindric -55, 7) Justin Haley -73, 8) Brandon Jones -82, 9) Daniel Hemric -118, 10) Ryan Sieg -123, 11) Riley Herbst -139, 12) Brandon Brown -141, 13) Michael Annett -142, 14) Josh Williams -176, 15) Myatt Snider -188, 16) Alex Labbe
-198.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics in the point standing sections are currently outside of the playoffs.
Playoff Points: 1) Noah Gragson 13, 2) Chase Briscoe -2, 3) Brandon Jones -6, t-4) Harrison Burton
-8, t-4) AJ Allmendinger -8, 6) Justin Allgaier -9, 7) Austin Cindric -11, 8) Jeb Burton -12.
Stage Points: 1) Chase Briscoe 99, 2) Justin Allgaier -3, 3) Ross Chastain -4,
4) Noah Gragson -10, 5) Austin Cindric -13, 6) Justin Haley -41, 7) Brandon Jones -42, 8) Daniel Hemric -46, 9) Harrison Burton -54, 10) Ryan Sieg -65, 11) Michael Annett -66, 12) Riley Herbst -71, 13) Jeb Burton -81, 14) Myatt Snider -90, 15) Brandon Brown -93, 16) Alex Labbe -97.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be sixth in stage
points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Harrison Burton 296, 2)
Noah Gragson -11, 3) Chase Briscoe -19, 4) Justin Haley -52, 5) Justin Allgaier -55, t-6) Austin Cindric -60, t-6) Ross Chastain -60, 8) Brandon Jones -61, 9) Brandon Brown -70, 10) Ryan Sieg -79, 11) Riley Herbst -94, 12) Michael Annett -97, 13) Daniel Hemric -98, 14) Josh Williams -100, 15) Myatt Snider -120, 16) Alex Labbe
-123.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Brett Moffitt would be 15th in old school
points.
Race Winners: Noah Gragson (Daytona, Bristol), Chase Briscoe (Las Vegas, Darlington), Harrison Burton
(Fontana), Brandon Jones (Phoenix), Kyle Busch (Charlotte), AJ Allmendinger (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.
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Seeking the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs: Austin Hill Denied Victory, Still Maintains Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Austin Hill was in line to claim a victory Saturday afternoon, but a spin for Chase Elliott resulted in a Green-White-Checker. On that restart, Grant Enfinger was able to get past. A second-place finish allowed Hill to expand his lead slightly. The advantage is now 20 points over Zane Smith, who is now in a standalone second after
finishing fifth. Enfinger's victory moved him up into a tie for third with Brett Moffitt. Moffitt gained two places after finishing eighth.
Ben Rhodes fell one place to fifth after finishing ninth with only one stage point. Christian Eckes is up two places to sixth after leading laps and finishing third. Sheldon Creed is down one place to seventh after finishing in 14th. Johnny Sauter is down to eighth after he was disqualified due to tire
irregularities.
Rookie Derek Kraus finished seventh Saturday to move up to ninth in points. He is followed by Todd Gilliland in the final playoff spot. Gilliland has an eight point lead over Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankrum. Crafton recovered from contact with John Hunter Nemechek on pit road to finish 12th, while Ankrum was
15th.
Stewart Friesen is still struggling with his Toyota, but a 10th-place finish boosted him up three places to 13th. Tanner Gray is up to 14th after finishing 11th, while Raphael Lessard remains in 15th. Ty Majeski is down to 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 163, 2) Zane Smith -20, t-3) Grant Enfinger -31, t-3) Brett Moffitt -21, 5) Ben Rhodes -35, 6) Christian Eckes -30, 7) Sheldon Creed -46, 8) Johnny Sauter -55, 9) Derek Kraus -56, 10) Todd Gilliland -57, t-11) Matt Crafton -65,
t-11) Tyler Ankrum -65, 13) Stewart Friesen -76, 14) Tanner Gray -77, 15) Raphael Lessard -79, 16) Ty Majeski -81.
Note No. 1: Drivers in bold have locked
into the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series playoffs.
Note No.
2: Drivers in italics in the point standing sections are not in the playoffs.
Playoff Points: 1) Grant Enfinger
11.
Stage Points: 1) Christian Eckes 39, 2) Austin Hill -4, 3) Grant Enfinger -8, 4) Ben Rhodes -10, 5) Tyler Ankrum -13, 6) Brett Moffitt -14, 7) Matt Crafton -16, t-8) Zane Smith -20, t-8) Raphael Lessard -20, 10) Johnny Sauter -21, 11) Todd Gilliland -22, 12) Stewart Friesen -30, 13) Derek Kraus -31, 14) Sheldon Creed -32,
15) Ty Majeski -33, 16) Tanner Gray -38.
Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be leading with 46 points. Ross Chastain would be fourth, Chase Elliott ninth and Riley Herbst
16th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 115, 2) Zane Smith -6, 3) Sheldon Creed -19, 4) Brett Moffitt -23, 5) Grant Enfinger -29, 6) Ben Rhodes -30, 7) Derek Kraus -32, 8) Johnny Sauter -39, 9) Todd Gilliland -42, 10) Christian Eckes -43, 11) Tanner Gray
-46, 12) Stewart Friesen -52, 13) Codie Rohrbaugh -54, 14) Ty Majeski -55, 15) Matt Crafton -56, 16) Tyler Ankrum -58.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Ross Chastain would be fourth in old school points while Kyle Busch would be tied for eighth.
Race Winners: Grant Enfinger (Daytona, Atlanta), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas), Chase Elliott (Charlotte)
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was brought to you by the letter H for
Heat and Humidity. This was the first June Atlanta race since 1965 and the first race in a hot month at Atlanta since 1974. It looked like it out on the track as drivers were laboring by the end of the race. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
compiled by Phil Allaway
"I didn’t get a chance to show it very good a couple years ago with my gloves on, so I made sure I took my gloves off this year. Obviously, my first win came for me here at Atlanta and this is
just a race track that I’ve taken a liking to, and you always come back and have those memories and now you want to celebrate everything that Dale Earnhardt did for this sport. To come here and be able to do that with wins and go to victory lane is pretty special, so I just have to thank everybody from Busch Light. We’ve got corn all over our car this week, so Busch Light for the farmer’s campaign. Go buy those corn cans so we can donate $100,000." - Kevin Harvick, race
winner
"We had good speed, you just couldn’t really push too hard. Every time I pushed too hard, it would really hurt my tires in the long run. I think that was for everybody. That last run, I was
trying to keep up with those front guys and as soon as I felt like I was pushing too hard and they were inching out on me, I just gave up and decided just to run and try to make sure I didn’t slip a tire and do the best I could without pushing anything too hard. Was able to get Martin [Truex Jr.] at least there at the end. Can’t say enough about all my guys – Adam Stevens and everybody, they’re doing a really good job. We’re working hard and trying to get it all better. Certainly want to give a
shout out to TRD, Toyota, Rowdy Energy, Rheem, Stanley and everybody that makes this happen for us." - Kyle Busch, finished second
"The last two or three runs there, we just got too tight. Not sure what happened. The car was really good. The guys did a
great job. [The] Auto-Owners Camry was fast all day. Got our first two stage wins of the year, which was huge. We just can’t seem to get over the hump at the finishes. With about 25 [laps] to go, I was clicking off some good lap times, but I knew I was pushing it too hard on the right front tire and with about 10 to go, it said, ‘oh hell no more.’ Just ran out of tires at the end and lost second to Kyle [Busch]. I figured at that point, I could see [Kevin Harvick] and was just going to give it
all I had and see if there was any opportunity, but he was just too good. Just got too tight at the end. I don’t know why, but we’ll go back and look at it. Hell of a job by everybody and a good, solid day." - Martin Truex Jr., finished third
"We started off pretty far off, to be honest with
you, and just really, really loose for the first three or four runs of the day and really wasn’t going anywhere. We were kind of going backwards and then we finally started making some good headway there the second run of the second stage there and were able to close in and finish second in the second stage, which is good. We had a good pit stop and got us out fourth and from there on out just tried to manage our tires. I didn’t think I had anything for the 4 or the 19 or the 18. They were
pretty good, but I felt like a fourth or fifth-place car and that’s where we ended up, so I was really proud of the effort in making our car a lot better throughout the day. That was really big gains that we did." - Ryan Blaney, finished
fourth
"It was okay. Our FedEx Camry got up there on a
restart late in stage one. Thought we had a second or third-place car, somewhere in that range. Then we had a bad pit stop leading into the final stage and that took us back to ninth. Just kind of clawed our way back to fifth. We weren’t stellar, the last run of the day was kind of the worst run that we had. Still good enough for a top-five. Pretty encouraged by that and it looked like all of our cars were running a little bit better. Hopefully this is a good sign for us." - Denny Hamlin,
finished fifth
"We had a full effort from everyone today. We created a deficit for ourselves with issues in pre-race inspection, having to start at the rear and serve a pass-thru penalty to start the race.
The driver did a great job racing to stay in position for the free pass, to get back on the lead lap at the competition caution on lap 25, after that we just worked on trying to make the car better. We had good long run speed, but the short-runs near the stage breaks were tough. Kurt did a great job of driving up through the field on the last long green-flag run to score another top-10 finish. Really proud of this Monster Energy team today." - Matt McCall, crew chief for Kurt Busch, finished
sixth
"It was an up-and-down day for us. We kind of started off the race just a little bit too free. We adjusted the car...really
well in the middle part of the race and then got too tight at the end. We just kind of missed it a little bit. I’m not sure exactly where I lost it, but the middle of the race I felt we were gonna win because we were so fast. Driving through the field after I got a pit road speeding penalty, which is a real bummer. I’m not real sure what happened there because I thought I was going slower than my lights, but apparently I wasn’t, so that kind of put us back. All in all, I don’t know if we could
have beat [Kevin Harvick], but in the middle of the race I felt like we were right there with them. It seemed like he was pretty good there at the end, so it just didn’t come together for us today. Sometimes you run these races and you don’t have no practice and you say, ‘Oh, perfect. Don’t change a thing.’ And then sometimes you run them and you don’t have practices and you say, ‘Man, if I’d have just had one practice I could have dialed it in a bit better.’ It just kind of felt the later of
the two, but some lessons learned and we’ll apply them and move forward." - Brad Keselowski, finished ninth
"Slick. Atlanta. Like normal, which is awesome and
a lot of fun. We started up front there and I was able to maintain some decent track position and then had a not-so-good restart on the top side, spinning our tires coming to the end of the first stage, which put us in a bad spot going down pit road. We hit and crashed with a car exiting their pit box aggressively and I was already three-wide on the bottom and had to move up to not get hit on the inside and ended up getting some damage in the right-rear. We tried to fix it and still felt like we
kind of had a parachute, so we fixed it better and at that point we’re starting the final stage of the race and it’s really hard to pass. It was just a really good long run car is where we were at, so those last 20 laps of the race we were hauling the mail, just a little too little too late to get back up there. I know it feels like a long race, but I wouldn’t have minded another 100 miles to that one. I felt like I had a really good car and something I could probably go up there and compete,
especially on the long haul, maybe not the short run, but on the long haul that thing was special. Just a little bit short. We still got a top 10, but wish it was better." - Joey Logano, finished
10th
"P11, one spot out of a third-straight top-10. Feeling good after the race. All the work we’ve been putting in has paid off, I feel strong. Onto Martinsville and Homestead, and somewhere in
between there, Ace is going to come out. It’s going to be a busy week. Man, I wish we got one more spot. Three-straight top-10’s would have been nice. Thanks to Symbicort and everybody that helps this program – Dow, Bass Pro Shops, we’ve got a great crew. We’ll keep grinding." - Austin Dillon, finished 11th
"We didn’t have the greatest day. Had some ups and downs. Started really loose and got the car better. I think the track tightened up a little bit after that. Got too tight there and got it freed back up there at the end. We tried some pit strategy which is always good to
try, but at least we finished where we ran. Wish we could have been a little better, just not the greatest day for us. We just really struggled through the bumps today." - Alex Bowman, finished 12th
"A lot of challenges again today. We got some damage early, on pit road. We got some damage and lost our track position. We
were trying to battle back from that. I felt like we were pretty close to being a top-10 car and got run into again near the very end, which knocked the front end out of alignment. Kind of a disappointing day, but the finish could be worse. I feel like there are some things that we improved on; we learned about our Credit One Bank Camaro, it's fast, we’ve just got to put a whole race together. I’m looking forward to going to Martinsville Wednesday night." - Matt Kenseth, finished
16th
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: 2020 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at
Atlanta
by Bryan
Keith
by Bryan Gable
by Dustin Albino
by Amy Henderson
by Dustin Albino
by Bryan Nolen
by Bryan Nolen
by Zach Gillispie and Jared Haas
by Jesse Johnston
by Beth Lunkenheimer
by Brittany Frederick
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FRONTSTRETCH
TRIVIA:
Q: In the 1998 Goody's Headache Powders 500 at Martinsville, Jeff Green drove the Bahari Racing No. 30 in place of regular driver Derrike Cope.
Why?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
From Friday:
Q: When Atlanta Motor Speedway was renovated into the current configuration, the decision was made to keep the old frontstretch grandstand (known as the Weaver Grandstand) and the suites. These stands and suites were torn down in 2005, but not because of a lack of attendance. What happened?
A: Atlanta Motor Speedway was hit by a tornado on July 6, 2005 that was spawned by the landfalling Hurricane Cindy. The F2 tornado ripped up the
former frontstretch suites to the beams, knocked over a scoreboard and did extensive roof damage to other suites. Following this incident, the Weaver grandstand and suites above it were torn down and replaced by a parking area for high-end RVs.
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COMING TOMORROW
Newsletter:
We'll cover any news from Monday.
Frontstretch.com:
We'll take a closer look at the action as you saw it on television from Atlanta.
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