Frontstretch Newsletter: May 10, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition LXXI
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- NASCAR teams are back at their shops today, preparing for this weekend's action in Dover. Entry lists should be out either today or tomorrow. We'll have those and anything else that breaks at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: May 8-9
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- In Formula 3 competition, ART Grand Prix Aleksander Smolyar passed Jonny Edgar early on and held onto the advantage until a late safety car period allowed him to win Race No. 1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Saturday at reduced pace. Trident's Clement Novalak was second, then MP Motorsport's Caio Collet. Charouz Racing System's Logan Sargeant was fourth, then Edgar.
The reverse race on Saturday saw Prema Racing's Olli Caldwell claim victory over MP Motorsport's Victor Martins. ART Grand Prix's Frederik Vesti was third, then Novalak and Collet.
Sunday's final race of the race of the weekend saw Prema Racing's Dennis Hauger lead flag-to-flag to pick up the win. Trident's Jack Doohan was second, then HWA Race Lab's Matteo Nannini, Caldwell and Martins.
- In ARCA Menards Series East competition, Joe Gibbs Racing's Sammy Smith took the lead from Mason Diaz just before halfway and led the rest of the way to win the Crosley Record PRessing 200 Saturday night at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Diaz was second, then Mason Mingus, Conner Jones and Joey Iest.
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| | Martin Truex Jr. Throws Back to Dominating
Ways, Crushes Field at Darlington
Martin Truex Jr. stomped the field Sunday in Darlington, leading 248 of 293 laps to win the Goodyear 400. Kyle Larson was second, then Kyle Busch, William Byron and Denny Hamlin.
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| | Bridesmaid Again: Kyle Larson a Close Second
at Darlington
Kyle Larson was the only driver that could run with Martin Truex Jr. late in Sunday's Goodyear 400. He almost got all the way to Truex's rear bumper, but could not make a move on him. Ultimately, he had to
settle for second.
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| | Justin Allgaier Wins Xfinity Race at
Darlington in Dale Earnhardt Throwback
JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier snuck past Josh Berry with a lap and a half to go and held on to take his second win of the year. Berry was second, then Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric and Jeremy Clements.
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| | Noah Gragson Disqualified at Darlington, AJ
Allmendinger Wins Dash 4 Cash
Noah Gragson originally finished fourth in Saturday's Steakhouse Elite 200. However, he was disqualified after post-race inspection discovered that the rear suspension had issues with illegal movement.
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| | Jeremy Clements, Ryan Sieg, Alex Labbe Shine
in Darlington Runs
Saturday afternoon's Steakhouse Elite 200 had a number of solid runs for smaller teams. Jeremy Clements finished a season-best fifth, while Ryan Sieg and Alex Labbe also had top 10 finishes.
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| | Sheldon Creed Wins Darlington Truck Series
Wreckfest
Friday night's LiftKits4Less.com 200 was a slow slog due to 12 cautions flying during the race. GMS Racing's Sheldon Creed took the lead with eight laps to go and held on to take his first win of the year. Ben
Rhodes finished second, followed by Carson Hocevar, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger.
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| | Carson Hocevar Snags Career-Best Finish at
Darlington
Niece Motorsports' Carson Hocevar had an excellent night Friday at Darlington Raceway. Hocevar led one lap and recovered from an unscheduled pit stop to fix a side skirt to finish in a career-best
third.
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| | Timmy Hill Rallies Back to 7th in Darlington
Truck Race
Timmy Hill had a topsy-turvy LiftKits4Less.com 200 Friday night. Hill claimed stage points, got taken out in a crash, then recovered to finish a strong seventh.
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| | Daytona, Darlington, Kansas to Lift COVID-19
Attendance Restrictions
Use this article element to highlight a feature or blog post.
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| | Lewis Hamilton Plays Perfect Strategy to Steal
6th Spanish Grand Prix Victory
Mercedes-AMG's Lewis Hamilton made an extra pit stop with 22 laps to go to get himself on fresher tires. He then ran down Max Verstappen from 20 seconds back and made the pass for the lead with seven laps to go. From
there, Hamilton held on to take his third win of the year. Verstappen was second, then Valtteri Bottas, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and LAT Images via Mercedes-AMG.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Denny Hamlin's Advantage Shrinks After Martin Truex Jr.'s Perfect Score
by Phil Allaway
Denny Hamlin had a strong day once again in Darlington. He brought his Slick Johnson throwback scheme home in fifth. However, teammate Martin Truex Jr. was perfect Sunday, scoring the maximum 60 points in his victory. As a result, Hamlin's lead has been cut to 75 points over Truex. William Byron finished fourth and maintains
third. Joey Logano got caught speeding during his final stop and ended up 13th. He stays in fourth.
Ryan Blaney is still in fifth after finishing eighth. Kyle Larson's second-place finish moved him up from ninth to a tie for sixth. He is tied with Kevin Harvick, who ran well early before fading in the middle in the event. He eventually recovered to finish sixth. Chase Elliott is down one place to eighth after finishing
seventh.
Brad Keselowski, despite starting from the pole, struggled all day and ended up three laps down in 24th. That dropped him from sixth to ninth. Kyle Busch is still 10th after finishing third. Christopher Bell hit the wall in the closing laps and was forced to pit, resulting in a 14th-place finish. However, his five stage points allowed him to move up to
11th. Austin Dillon ended up two laps down in 16th and dropped to 12th.
Chris Buescher finished ninth Sunday and moved up two places to 13th. Alex Bowman had a decent car until a left rear tire rub resulted in an unscheduled stop. The 17th-place finish keeps him in 14th. Michael McDowell had an off-day and finished 27th, dropping him down to 15th. Tyler Reddick was up front until the end of the race Sunday, earning
11 stage points for the second week in a row. His 12th-place finish moved him up to a tie for 16th with Matt DiBenedetto. Reddick wins the tiebreaker due to his second-place finish at Homestead.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is 19 points behind Reddick and DiBenedetto in 18th after a 20th-place finish on Sunday. Ryan Newman is up one place to 19th after finishing 10th. Kurt Busch is down three places to 20th after crashing out.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 529, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -75, 3) William Byron -101,
4) Joey Logano -123, 5) Ryan Blaney -124, t-6) Kyle Larson -144, t-6) Kevin Harvick -144, 8) Chase Elliott -147, 9) Brad Keselowski -150, 10) Kyle Busch -156, 11) Christopher Bell -209, 12) Austin Dillon -213,
13) Chris Buescher -242, 14) Alex Bowman -248, 15) Michael McDowell -251, t-16) Tyler Reddick -261, t-16) Matt DiBenedetto -261.
Playoff
Points: 1) Martin Truex Jr. 18, 2) Kyle Larson -9, 3) Ryan Blaney -10, 4) Joey
Logano -11, t-5) William Byron -12, t-5) Brad Keselowski -12, t-5) Kyle Busch -12, t-8) Christopher Bell -13, t-8) Denny Hamlin -13, t-8) Alex Bowman -13, t-8) Michael McDowell -13, t-12) Chase Elliott -17, t-12) Chris Buescher -17, t-12) Matt DiBenedetto -17, t-12) Bubba Wallace -17.
Stage
Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 172, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -55, 3) Ryan Blaney -57, 4) Kyle Larson -72, 5) Joey Logano -73, 6) William Byron -76, 7) Chase Elliott -83, 8) Brad Keselowski -87, 9) Kyle Busch
-100, 10) Kevin Harvick -120, t-11) Christopher Bell -122, t-11) Alex Bowman -122, 13) Bubba Wallace -133, t-14) Austin Dillon -137, t-14) Kurt Busch -137, 16) Chris Buescher -139.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 17) Tyler Reddick -147, t-21) Michael McDowell -155.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 420, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -29, 3) William Byron -35, 4) Kevin
Harvick -36, 5) Joey Logano -59, 6) Kyle Busch -69, 7) Brad Keselowski -72, 8) Chase Elliott -75, 9) Ryan Blaney -78, 10) Kyle Larson -83, 11) Austin Dillon -89, 12) Christopher Bell -98, 13) Michael McDowell
-110, 14) Chris Buescher -115, 15) Matt DiBenedetto -128, t-16) Tyler Reddick -131, t-16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -131.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Alex Bowman
-150.
Race Winners: Michael McDowell (Daytona-1), Christopher Bell (Daytona-2), William Byron (Homestead), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas), Martin Truex Jr. (Phoenix, Martinsville, Darlington), Ryan Blaney (Atlanta), Joey Logano (Bristol), Alex Bowman (Richmond), Brad
Keselowski (Talladega), Kyle Busch (Kansas)
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: Late Crash Results In Austin Cindric Losing Part Of His Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Austin Cindric ran well for much of Saturday's Steakhouse Elite 200 in Darlington. A bad pit decision put him in the back for the final restart. On the final lap, Cindric got turned into the wall exiting turn 2. This resulted in a 29th-place finish. Daniel Hemric finished fourth and gained 20 points on Cindric. The margin is now 39 points. Harrison Burton finished 10th and stays
in third. AJ Allmendinger finished 12th, good enough to claim the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash jackpot. He also moved up two places to fourth.
Jeb Burton is down one place to fifth after finishing 19th. Justin Haley is down one place to sixth after finishing 13th. Justin Allgaier's victory moved him up from a tie for ninth to seventh. Myatt Snider is down to eighth after a 18th-place finish.
Jeremy Clements actually dropped one place to ninth despite finishing a season-best fifth on Saturday. Brandon Jones is up one place to 10th after finishing third. Noah Gragson originally crossed the line in fourth Saturday. Then, the disqualification came down. The DQ dropped Gragson from a tie for ninth to 11th in points. Michael Annett is back up to 12th after
finishing sixth.
Annett has an eight-point advantage over Brandon Brown for the final playoff spot. Brown ran well for part of the race before fading to 23rd. Riley Herbst dropped down to 14th after finishing a disappointing 27th. Tommy Joe Martins stays in 15th after finishing 14th, while Josh Berry is up to 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 388, 2) Daniel Hemric -39, 3) Harrison Burton -67, 4) AJ Allmendinger -91, 5) Jeb Burton -94, 6) Justin Haley -95, 7) Justin Allgaier -123, 8) Myatt Snider -125, 9)
Jeremy Clements -135, 10) Brandon Jones -155, 11) Noah Gragson -170, 12) Michael Annett -175, 13) Brandon Brown -183, 14) Riley Herbst -201, 15) Tommy Joe Martins -218, 16) Josh Berry -219.
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 Xfinity points for the full season, Brett Moffitt would be 11th in points.
Playoff Points: 1) Austin Cindric 15, 2) Justin Allgaier -5, t-3) AJ Allmendinger -9, t-3) Ty Gibbs -9, t-5) Jeb Burton -10, t-5) Josh Berry -10, t-5) Myatt Snider
-10, 8) Daniel Hemric -12, 9) Noah Gragson -13, t-10) Harrison Burton -14, t-10) Justin Haley -14, t-10) Brandon Jones -14.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Martin Truex Jr. would be tied for ninth in playoff points. If he had run the full season for Xfinity points, Brett Moffitt would be tied for 11th.
Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 110, t-2) Daniel Hemric -26, t-2) Harrison Burton -26, 4) Justin Allgaier -34, 5) Justin Haley -35, 6) Noah Gragson -43, 7) Brandon Jones -52, 8) AJ Allmendinger -57, 9) Myatt Snider
-67, 10) Jeb Burton -68, 11) Michael Annett -69, t-12) Jeremy Clements -77, t-12) Riley Herbst -77, t-14) Brandon Brown -86, t-14) Ty Dillon -86, 16) Ty Gibbs -87.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 325, 2) Daniel Hemric -17, 3) Jeb Burton -36, 4) AJ Allmendinger -42, 5) Harrison Burton -49, 6) Justin Haley -67, t-7) Myatt Snider -68, t-7) Jeremy Clements -68, 9) Justin Allgaier -99, 10) Brandon Brown -105, 11) Brandon Jones -113, 12) Michael Annett -119, 13) Tommy Joe Martins -130, 14) Landon Cassill -135, 15) Ryan Sieg -139, 16) Riley Herbst -141.
Outside of the top 16, but Still In Playoffs: 17) Noah Gragson -141.
Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity points for the whole season, Brett Moffitt would be ninth in old points.
Race Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona-1, Phoenix), Ty Gibbs (Daytona-2), AJ Allmendinger (Las Vegas), Myatt Snider (Homestead), Justin Allgaier (Atlanta, Darlington), Josh Berry (Martinsville), Jeb Burton (Talladega)
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: John Hunter Nemechek Expands Advantage Despite The Big One
by Phil Allaway
John Hunter Nemechek had the best truck Friday night, but spun his tires on a restart with 30 laps to go, triggering the Big One. Despite damage, he recovered to finish eighth. This allowed him to expand his lead up to 46 points over Ben Rhodes, who finished second despite failing to score any stage points. Sheldon Creed's first win of the year moved him back up to third.
Austin Hill is down to fourth after finishing 13th.
Matt Crafton is back up to fifth after finishing fourth. Todd Gilliland is up two places to sixth despite getting caught up in the Big One and finishing 15th. Stewart Friesen and Grant Enfinger are tied for seventh. Friesen was running in the top five late in the race when he was taken out when Parker Kligerman blew his right front tire and took both trucks into the SAFER
Barrier. Enfinger finished a strong fifth.
Zane Smith finished 16th with crash damage and dropped to ninth in points. Johnny Sauter remains in 10th after finishing sixth. A career-best third-place finish has Carson Hocevar back up to 11th, the final driver in the playoffs. Hocevar has a 17-point advantage over Austin Wayne Self, who finished ninth.
Chandler Smith got caught up in the Big One, then got parked for driving too fast near safety workers. This dropped Smith down to 13th in points. Raphael Lessard is still 14th despite not racing Friday night. Hailie Deegan is up to 15th despite getting wrecked at the white flag. Tyler Ankrum is 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 368, 2) Ben Rhodes -46, 3) Sheldon Creed -82, 4) Austin Hill -93, 5) Matt Crafton -121, 6) Todd Gilliland -132,
t-7) Stewart Friesen -135, t-7) Grant Enfinger -135, 9) Zane Smith -138, 10) Johnny Sauter -168, 11) Carson Hocevar -173, 12) Austin Wayne Self -190, 13) Chandler Smith -192, 14) Raphael Lessard -218, 15) Hailie Deegan -237, 16) Tyler Ankrum
-238.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 10th in
points.
Playoff
Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 17,
2) Ben Rhodes -7, 3) Sheldon Creed -12, 4) Raphael Lessard -15, 5) Todd Gilliland -16, t-5) Grant Enfinger -16.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be second in playoff points while Martin Truex Jr. would be fourth.
Stage
Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 128, 2) Sheldon Creed -51, 3) Austin Hill -54, 4) Ben Rhodes -61, 5) Stewart Friesen -70, 6) Matt Crafton -83, 7) Zane Smith -86, 8) Raphael Lessard -88, 9) Grant Enfinger -89, 10) Todd Gilliland -92,
11) Chandler Smith -97, 12) Derek Kraus -112, 13) Johnny Sauter -113, 14) Carson Hocevar -115, 15) Corey Heim -116, 16) David Gilliland -118.
Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be fourth, while Martin Truex Jr. would be 13th and Ross Chastain 16th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 227, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -7, 3) Sheldon Creed -44,
t-4) Austin Hill -55, t-4) Matt Crafton -55, t-6) Todd Gilliland -58, t-6) Grant Enfinger -58, 8) Zane Smith -67, 9) Carson Hocevar -76, 10) Johnny Sauter -77, 11) Stewart Friesen -81, 12) Austin Wayne Self -90, 13) Chandler Smith -106, 14) Tyler Ankrum -125,
15) Ryan Truex -127, t-16) Tanner Gray -134, t-16) Hailie Deegan -134.
Note: If he was eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be ninth in old school
points.
Race Winner: Ben Rhodes (Daytona-1, Daytona-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas, Richmond), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Kansas), Martin Truex Jr. (Bristol), Sheldon Creed
(Darlington)
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 Goodyear 400 was brought to you by the letter T for Tire Wear. The low-downforce package being in play resulted in a substantial increase in tire wear on Sunday. Teams could barely run
40 laps before stopping for another fresh set of tires. In addition, there were different lines in play since there wasn't enough downforce for the cars to truly stick to the inside line. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Goodyear 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"I thought at times it could have been better, but obviously, it was better than everybody else’s and that’s the key with this low downforce. Even this thing was a handful at the end of those long runs. You just have no tires left and you are sliding all over the place and you can’t get ahold of it. You are just trying to manage your stuff. Awesome job by our Auto
Owners Camry team today. Everybody at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). It was definitely a hot rod. It looked like all of our cars were pretty good too. Good day for the company. I’m really happy to win on Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mom’s out there, especially mine." - Martin Truex Jr., race winner
"I was surprised that I was able to get to him. I caught him really; like, I closed on pit road and then I caught him pretty quickly once we were on track. I closed right in, and actually had an opportunity to get by him in the middle of (Turns) 1 and 2, but I thought I’d stay patient and maybe get him to use his stuff up. He was just a little bit better than I was in
the long runs. So, just wish maybe I could have taken advantage of that opportunity, but thought it was going to play out a little differently.
"But it was a great day for our HendrickCars.com Chevy. It was fun to come here to Darlington with low downforce. During the day we were sliding around. I felt like we were not very good all day, but I passed a lot of cars and found myself
towards the front. I was like well, I feel like I’m struggling but I fast. So, it was fun. Hats off to Martin Truex (Jr.) and his team. But yeah, it was a great day for our guys after a few bad weeks in a row. So, I’m happy about that and now we’ll look forward to Dover and hopefully we’ll be really good there." - Kyle Larson, finished second
"Yes, solid day overall. Definitely better than some of our other 750 package races, but just missing a little bit on the long run. It seemed like we could fire off with (Martin) Truex there and
hang with him a little bit. Actually, we would catch him for about five laps and then it was over. Just trying to hold on after that point. Overall, real good day. I’m real proud of Ben (Beshore, crew chief) and the guys. We’ve been doing a lot of work on some stuff. We’ve been talking a lot and communication is going well. It seems like we’re getting a little bit better, overall, clicking as a group which is good. We can build on this momentum here and hopefully take it on into Nashville, which
is a similar package racetrack as this one. Good day, good effort. The M&M’s Camry was fast. Thanks to Interstate Batteries, Rowdy Energy. We will be heading home." - Kyle Busch, finished third
"I thought we were pretty solid all day. We fell back to eighth or ninth early in the race and we were just too loose. We didn’t really have the car fully connected yet, but we just got it better
and better. The long runs were still kind of our weakness. We weren’t super strong on long runs; we were just kind of a fourth-place car. But to finish fourth is good for us. [To get our] 10th top 10 in a row is awesome. I think our team is just super consistent this year. That’s a credit to Rudy (Fugle, Crew Chief) and the guys preparing awesome cars and executing well. We just have to find that little bit to kind of get with [Kyle Larson] and [Martin Truex Jr.]. We’re there at times, but we
can’t really kind of break that seal, which is hard. We just have to continue to build the notebook. It’s Rudy and I’s first time going to these tracks, so I feel like there’s a lot of room to go still. But we’re doing great." - William Byron, finished fourth
"I honestly thought we had the best car for the first 150 (laps) and then we got off-sequence there by staying out, which we thought everyone was going to stay out to save tires. I should have just came when everyone else was coming, but I didn’t
make the call and Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) made it too late. Either way, we stayed in the top-five and then we got third on that restart and I just didn’t have the car that I had before. Lost some grip. I think the track burned in a little bit and we just lost the advantage that we had for the first 100 (laps)." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"That was just a great team effort by the Kohler team today. Darlington is a tough race track and we battled handling for the majority of the race, but we kept plugging away at it and were able to pass some cars there at the end and
bring home a solid top-10 finish." - Ryan Newman, finished 10th
"Our No. 8 Joe Nichols / Quartz Hill Records Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE not only looked good for NASCAR’s Throwback weekend, but was also really fast today at Darlington Raceway. I fired off way too loose and lacked rear grip pretty much from the
start of the day, but we were able to capitalize on a strong starting spot to gain valuable stage points in Stages 1 and 2. This is the second week in a row we’ve scored a lot of stage points, and those have been key to helping climb up through the standings. Once the sun started to set, the handling of my Chevy changed dramatically. It was tough to be able to move around and search for different lines at times, especially when I would get snug on one end of the track and loose on the other. We
kept working at it, and I felt like we were decent on handling at the end of the race, but we just lacked some speed. I wish we could have got back in the top 10 to grab the finish we deserved, but we’ll at least take these stage points and move on to Dover. I really enjoyed throwing it back to Marty Robbins and his iconic pink and yellow machine today with the help of Joe Nichols and Quartz Hill, and I hope all the fans enjoyed it too." - Tyler Reddick, finished
12th
"I was racing hard and there’s no give and take. [Bubba Wallace's] running for the Lucky Dog; you can’t fault him for that. But you still have to race the track and the give the room to the lead
lap guys. But man, just got ran into, got taken out and we’re on this end of it. It’s been too many times. It’s been a rough year and this just adds to it." - Kurt Busch, finished 35th (Crashed out)
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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