Frontstretch Newsletter: April 5, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition XLVI
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Around the World in Motorsports: April 2-5
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- Earlier this morning, Rick Ware Racing announced on FOX & Friends that they will team up with existing sponsor Nurtec ODT and NineLine Apparel to run schemes commemorating four of the six branches of the United States Armed Forces during the
Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway May 30. Garrett Smithley will have the Air Force on the No. 51, while Josh Bilicki will have the Army on his No. 52. The Navy will be on the No. 15, while the Marine Corps will be on the No. 53.
- Last weekend was the very first Extreme E event, the Desert X-Prix in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia. Much of the event was dominated by Rosberg X Racing's Johan Kristofferson and Molly Taylor. They were fastest overall in the first qualifying, won the Semi Final, then won the
Final Sunday by 21 seconds over Andretti United Extreme E's Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings.
Sunday saw MotoGP have their second race of the year at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. There have been times in which riders have dominated here. Sunday was not one of those days. Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo claimed victory in one of the most competitive
MotoGP races in recent memory. Johann Zarco was second, then Jorge Martin, Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales. The top 15 finishers were separated by 8.928 seconds at the finish, an all-time MotoGP record for closest top 15 finish.
- World of Outlaws NoS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams were at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo. for two nights over the weekend. It was a very good weekend for Brad Sweet.
Friday night saw Sweet charge up from ninth on the grid. He took the lead from Kraig Kinser on lap 19 and held on to take the victory. Kinser was second, then Logan Schuchart, Sheldon Haudenschild and Carson Macedo.
Saturday night was more of the same. Sweet led flag-to-flag to sweep the weekend in Pevely and give him his fourth win in a row. Haudenschild was second, then Gio Scelzi. Schuchart was fourth, while James McFadden was fifth.
- The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series was in Illinois for the Illini 100 weekend at Farmer City Raceway. The 100 laps were split into a 25-lap preliminary feature Friday night and a 75-lap feature Saturday.
The Friday feature saw Mike Spatola take the lead on lap 5 and hold off a late charge from last year's ARCA Menards Series Allen Crowe 100 winner Ryan Unzicker to claim his first career World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series victory. Bobby Pierce was third, then
Tanner English and Brandon Sheppard.
Saturday night's 75-lap feature saw Pierce, a veteran of Illinois short tracks, lead flag-to-flag to claim his first World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series victory. Cade Dillard finished second, then Sheppard, Chris Madden and Rick
Eckert.
- Super DIRTcar Series legend "Jumpin'" Jack Johnson died last week at the age of 76 after battling ALS. Johnson was a longtime veteran of Northeast-style Big Block Modifieds, competing in what is now the Super DIRTcar Series from the beginning in the early 1970s out of his hometown of Duanesburg, N.Y. He was a four-time series champion and
won at the New York State Fairgrounds twice (1979 and 1984).
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- Preparations will continue today for the Cup and Xfinity action this weekend at Martinsville. Entry lists will be released either today or tomorrow. We'll have those and anything else that breaks at Frontstretch.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Off-Week Update No. 1
by Phil Allaway
The NASCAR Cup Series took their first weekend off last weekend in order to celebrate Easter. They'll be back in action Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway. When the season resumes, Denny Hamlin
will have a 58-point lead over Joey Logano. Martin Truex Jr. is third, then Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 327, 2) Joey Logano
-58, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -80, 4) Kyle Larson -85, 5) Brad Keselowski -95, 6) William Byron -99, 7) Ryan Blaney -101, 8) Kevin Harvick -102, 9) Chase Elliott -116, t-10) Christopher Bell -141, t-10) Austin Dillon -141, t-12)
Michael McDowell -144, t-12) Kyle Busch -144, 14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -147, 15) Kurt Busch -154, 16) Alex Bowman -155.
Playoff Points: 1) Joey Logano 9, 2) Kyle Larson -1, t-3) William Byron -3, t-3) Ryan Blaney -3, t-3) Martin Truex Jr. -3, t-6) Michael McDowell -4, t-6) Christopher Bell -3, , 8) Denny Hamlin -6, t-9) Brad Keselowski -8,
t-9) Chase Elliott -8, t-9) Chris Buescher -8.
Stage Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 101, 2) Joey Logano -29,
3) Kyle Larson -39, 4) Ryan Blaney -40, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -42, 6) William Byron -46, 7) Chase Elliott -48, 8) Brad Keselowski -49, 9) Kurt Busch -67, 10) Kyle Busch -68, t-11) Kevin Harvick -69, t-11) Austin Dillon -69, 13) Christopher Bell
-70, 14) Bubba Wallace -72, 15) Alex Bowman -75, 16) Chris Buescher -76.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -94, 23) Michael McDowell
-95.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 261, 2) Joey Logano -30,
3) Kevin Harvick -39, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -41, 5) Kyle Larson -47, 6) Brad Keselowski -50, 7) Michael McDowell -55, 8) William Byron -57, 9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -59, 10) Ryan Blaney -66, 11) Chase Elliott -72, 12) Christopher Bell
-77, 13) Austin Dillon -78, 14) Kyle Busch -82, 15) Chris Buescher -87, 16) Alex Bowman -92.
Outside of the top-16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Kurt Busch -95.
Race Winners: Michael McDowell (Daytona-1), Christopher Bell (Daytona-2), William Byron (Homestead), Martin Truex Jr. (Phoenix), Ryan Blaney (Atlanta), Joey Logano (Bristol)
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 Xfinity Series Playoffs: Off-Week Update No. 2
by Phil Allaway
The Xfinity Series was off last weekend. Their next race is scheduled for April 9 at Martinsville Speedway. When the series travels to Southern Virginia, Austin Cindric will have a 46-point lead over Daniel
Hemric. Harrison Burton is third in points, while Kaulig Racing teammates AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley and Jeb Burton are fourth, fifth and sixth.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 277, 2)
Daniel Hemric -46, 3) Harrison Burton -65, 4) AJ Allmendinger -83, 5) Justin Haley -84, 6) Jeb Burton -90, 7) Myatt Snider -98, 8) Justin Allgaier -106, 9) Jeremy Clements -112, 10) Brandon Jones -122, 11) Brandon Brown -135, 12) Riley Herbst -142,
13) Michael Annett -143, 14) Noah Gragson -163, 15) Landon Cassill -165, 16) Tommy Joe Martins -171.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics are ineligible for the playoffs.
Note No. 3: If he were eligible for points, Brett Moffitt would be 12th in points.
Playoff Points: 1) Austin Cindric 14, t-2)
AJ Allmendinger -8, t-2) Ty Gibbs -8, t-4) Myatt Snider -9, t-4) Justin Allgaier -9, 6) Daniel Hemric -12, 7) Brandon Jones -13.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Martin Truex Jr. would be tied for sixth in playoff points, while Brett Moffitt would be tied for eighth with Brandon Jones.
Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 73,
2) Harrison Burton -14, t-3) Daniel Hemric -15, t-3) Justin Allgaier -15, 5) Justin Haley -16, 6) Brandon Jones -26, 7) AJ Allmendinger -40, 8) Riley Herbst -41, 9) Noah Gragson -43, 10) Myatt Snider -45, 11) Michael Annett -48,
12) Jeremy Clements -50, 13) Jeb Burton -54, 14) Ty Dillon -55, 15) Brandon Brown -58, 16) Ty Gibbs -60.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Martin Truex Jr. would be 13th in stage points, while Brett Moffitt would be 16th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 236,
2) Daniel Hemric -35, 3) Jeb Burton -43, 4) AJ Allmendinger -49, 5) Harrison Burton -59, 6) Myatt Snider -61, 7) Jeremy Clements -69, 8) Justin Haley -73, 9) Brandon Brown -83, 10) Justin Allgaier -98, 11) Landon Cassill -101, 12) Brandon
Jones -103, 13) Michael Annett -105, 14) Tommy Joe Martins -106, 15) Josh Williams -107, 16) Riley Herbst -115.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Brett Moffitt would be 12th in old points.
Race Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona-1, Phoenix), Ty Gibbs (Daytona-2), AJ
Allmendinger (Las Vegas), Myatt Snider (Homestead), Justin Allgaier (Atlanta)
Note: Wins that are ineligible for playoff ineligibility are in italics.
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 Camping World Truck Series Playoffs: Off-Week Update No. 3
by Phil Allaway
The Camping World Truck Series was off last weekend for Easter. They will be back in action on April 17 at Richmond Raceway.
When the series resumes there, John Hunter Nemechek will enter the weekend a little fatigued since he's now a father. He'll also have a six-point advantage over Ben Rhodes. Sheldon Creed is third,
then Matt Crafton and Stewart Friesen.
Point Standings (1-16): 1)
John Hunter Nemechek 211, 2) Ben Rhodes -6, 3) Sheldon Creed -21, 4) Matt Crafton -40, 5) Stewart Friesen -53, 6) Austin Hill -55, 7) Zane Smith -74, 8) Grant Enfinger -80, 9) Todd Gilliland -84, 10) Austin Wayne Self -100, t-11) Johnny Sauter -102,
t-11) Carson Hocevar -102, 13) Brett Moffitt -110, 14) Raphael Lessard -112, 15) Chandler Smith -116, 16) Tanner Gray -124.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 10th in points.
Playoff Points: t-1)
Ben Rhodes 10, t-1) John Hunter Nemechek 10, t-3) Raphael Lessard -8.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Martin Truex Jr. would be third in playoff points while Kyle Busch would be fourth.
Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 72, 2) Sheldon Creed -20,
t-3) Ben Rhodes -30, t-3) Stewart Friesen -30, 5) Austin Hill -32, 6) Matt Crafton -38, 7) Raphael Lessard -40, 8) Zane Smith -49, 9) Chandler Smith -53, 10) Grant Enfinger -54, 11) Johnny Sauter -57, 12) Todd Gilliland -61, t-13) Brett Moffitt -62,
t-13) David Gilliland -62, 15) Austin Wayne Self -63, 16) Christian Eckes -65.
Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be sixth, while Martin Truex Jr. would be 10th and Ross Chastain 14th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 144, 2) John Hunter
Nemechek -17, 3) Sheldon Creed -21, 4) Matt Crafton -26, 5) Grant Enfinger -45, t-6) Stewart Friesen -46, t-6) Austin Hill -46, t-6) Zane Smith -46, 9) Todd Gilliland -48, 10) Carson Hocevar -55, 11) Austin Wayne Self -62, 12) Brett Moffitt -71, 13) Johnny
Sauter -74, t-14) Tanner Gray -75, t-14) Parker Kligerman -75, t-16) Chandler Smith -81, t-16) Ryan Truex -81.
Note: If he was eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 14th in old school points.
Race Winner: Ben Rhodes (Daytona-1, Daytona-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas), Kyle Busch (Atlanta),
Martin Truex Jr. (Bristol)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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