Frontstretch Newsletter: May 14, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition LXXX
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- Xfinity Series teams are pulling into Dover International Speedway today to get prepared for tomorrow's Drydene 200. They will not be on the track prior to the race.
- NTT IndyCar Series teams are having their second practice session right now in Indianapolis. Qualifying is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. this afternoon and will be streamed live on Peacock. Tape-delayed coverage will be at 6 p.m. on NBCSN.
- ARCA Menards Series East teams are racing this afternoon at Dover in the General Tire 125. This race will start at 5 p.m. and will be streamed live on NBC Sports' TrackPass service.
- World of Outlaws NoS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams are in Mechanicsburg, Penn. for the Morgan Cup both tonight and tomorrow night. That action can be seen on DirtVision.
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Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for
updates!!
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Around the World in Motorsports: May 14
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- Earlier this morning, Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi was quickest in the opening practice session for Saturday's GMR Grand Prix with a lap at 125.653 mph. This was eight-hundredths of a second faster than Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Jack Harvey. Ed Carpenter Racing's Rinus VeeKay was third, then Team Penske's Josef Newgarden. Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing's
Romain Grosjean was fifth.
- Practice No. 2 in Indianapolis saw Team Penske's Josef Newgarden top the chart with a lap at 126.642 mph. This was seven-hundredths of a second faster than Rinus VeeKay. Will Power was third fastest, then Colton Herta and Scott McLaughlin.
- United Autosports' Phil Hanson was fastest overall in the opening European Le Mans Series Free Practice session at the Red Bull Ring Friday morning. Hanson's lap at 117.717 mph. This was six-hundredths of a second faster than G-Drive Racing's Nyck de Vries. DragonSpeed's Ben Hanley was third, then COOL Racing's Nicolas Lapierre and Team WRT's Yifei Ye.
DKR Engineering's Laurents Hoerr was fastest in LMP3 with a lap at 112.955 mph. This was nearly a full half-second faster than United Autosports' Wayne Boyd. Duncan Tappy in the second United Autosports LMP3 entry was third, then COOL Racing's Niklas Kruetten and Graff Racing's David Droux.
In GTE, AF Corse's Alessio Rovera was fastest in his Ferrari 488 GTE with a lap at 109.114 mph. Rovera was one-sixth of a second faster than Iron Lynx's Giorgio Sernagiotto. Teammate Miguel Molina was third, then JMW Motorsport's Andrea Fontana. Michelle Gatting completed an all-Ferrari top five in the "Iron Dames" No. 83.
- In opening Michelin Pilot Challenge practice at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Wright Motorsports' Jan Heylen was quickest in his Porsche at 91.978 mph. This was nearly two-thirds' of a second faster than Archangel Motorsports' Trent Hindman. Andrew Wojteczko Autosport's Kuno Wittmer was third, then TeamTGM's Hugh Plumn. Turner Motorsport's Bill Auberlen was fifth in his BMW. Riley
Motorsports' Scott Andrews made it six manufacturers in the top six in his Supra.
Bryan Herta Autosport's Michael Lewis was fastest in TCR with a lap at 89.105 mph in his Hyundai Veloster N TCR, good for 15th overall. This was eight-hundredths of a second faster than CB Motorsports' Veloster for Trenton Estep. LA Honda World Racing's Mike LaMarra was third, then Copeland Motorsports' Tyler Maxson. Mark Wilkins was fifth in the best of the Elantras.
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| | Justin Haley to Miss Dover for COVID-19
Protocols, Zane Smith & Josh Berry to Replace Him
Kaulig Racing announced Friday morning that Justin Haley will miss this weekend's action in Dover due to COVID-19 protocols. Zane Smith has been tapped to replace him, while Spire Motorsports has hired Josh Berry to take
his place in the Cup race.
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| | Honda Indy Toronto Canceled for
2021
The City of Toronto has officially cancelled the Honda Indy Toronto for the second year in a row. This comes as all outdoor events in the city have been cancelled through early September.
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| | Turkish GP Dropped From 2021 F1 Schedule,
Replaced With Austria Doubleheader
The Grand Prix of Turkey, itself added to the Formula 1 World Championship as a replacement for Canada, has been cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be replaced by the Grand Prix of
Styria.
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| | Jack Wood Driving 2 Truck Races for
GMS
GMS Racing announced Thursday that Jack Wood, who currently drives for the team in ARCA Menards Series East, will drive in two Camping World Truck Series races in the No. 24 Chevrolet.
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| | Colton Herta Re-Ups With Andretti Through
2023
Andretti Autosport announced Friday that they have signed Colton Herta to a contract extension that will see him stay with the team for two more seasons after this one.
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| | Carlin, Max Chilton to Miss Indy
GP
Carlin Racing announced Friday that they have withdrawn from Saturday's GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This appears to be due to travel issues for Max Chilton.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, INDYCAR Media and Getty Images.
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Frontstretch Folio: Drydene 400
by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup
Series returns to Dover for their only visit of the season. Coverage of the Drydene 400 begins with NASCAR RaceDay at 12:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1. The green should fly around 2:10 p.m. Radio coverage will be provided by local MRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel
90).
Records and
facts
Last year saw 311-lap races (both sponsored by Drydene) run on consecutive
days.
The first Drydene 311 was quite clean. There was only one yellow for
cause all day, which was a wreck involving Kurt Busch and Erik Jones in the opening laps.
Teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin led nearly two-thirds of the
race by themselves. During the 119-lap final green flag run, Hamlin ran down Truex and took the lead with nine laps to go. From there, he held on to win. Truex was second, then Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Chase
Elliott.
Drydene 311 No. 2 saw Harvick dominate the proceedings, leading 223 of 311
laps. No one truly gave him a battle in the final 100 laps, but a late caution saw Jimmie Johnson win the race off of pit road by taking two tires. Harvick made short work of Johnson on the restart and pulled away to take the win. Harvick won by 3.525 seconds over Truex, then Hendrick Motorsports teammates Johnson, William Byron and Alex
Bowman.
Among active drivers, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman and
Martin Truex Jr. each have three Dover victories, which lead the pack. Six others have a win each.
All-time, Jimmie Johnson is the winningest driver at Dover International
Speedway, claiming 11 victories. His 2017 victory is his most recent Cup victory. Richard Petty and Bobby Allison each have seven wins at Dover, tied for the most on the asphalt version of Dover (the track was converted to a concrete surface for 1995). David Pearson and Jeff Gordon each have five wins at
Dover.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1 mile oval, 400 laps (400 miles)
Banking: 24 degrees
Straightaways: 1,076 ft.,
banked 2 degrees
Grandstand Seating:
95,500
Pit Road Speed: 35 mph
Pace Car Speed: 45 mph
Opened: 1969
Website: http://www.doverspeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoverInternationalSpeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MonsterMile
Say What?!
"Dover is just a tough, tough place. There are drastic shifts in the track and you have to be able to pick up on those trends
early in a run. I feel like we have a good package prepared for Dover, though. It goes back to the Chad Knaus days with Jimmie [Johnson] while incorporating in some of Chase [Elliott’s] feedback with his success there. We’ve had really fast cars there and I feel like we’re able to take those setup notes and morph it into something that fits all of our driving styles. I think, because of that, we’ll be strong there again. I feel like there is no reason why we wouldn’t be. It’s going to
be about making your car turn in the right spots and not get it too loose, because once it’s too loose, it’s just a real handful." - William Byron
"It’s a great race track for me. I’ve always run really well there in the Xfinity cars, even in the trucks too. I never did win,
but I had a couple good runs. It’s just a track where you can drive really hard and attack really hard and that’s something that fits my driving style. Going into Dover this year, I’m super excited about it because I just ran really well at Darlington last week, but it was one of my worst race tracks last year in the 95 car. A little bit confused to why that was, but I think us running good this year with the 750 package and especially having a great showing last weekend with the same rules
package at Darlington is going to help us." - Christopher Bell
"I personally really enjoy Dover. It’s one of my more favorite racetracks. It’s definitely in the top half of tracks I enjoy going
to. It’s a place where I feel like it takes a lot of commitment. You have to have high commitment driving down into the corner. Whenever you go to pass somebody if you’re side-by-side, it’s who is braver getting into the corner. It’s that guy who decides not to lift that normally comes out with the position, so Dover is a place that is high commitment. Even when you’re just out there driving around by yourself it’s a high commitment racetrack to go fast. It’s so fast to drive down into the
corner, high banking and you have to have high commitment on getting back into the gas even before you get to the center of the corner, so I think that’s the biggest thing that stands out to me is just the commitment level you have to have whenever you go there, and then it’s just a super tricky place to set up passes. You have to really time everything properly so you can even get beside them. When I go to Dover I just think of the commitment level it takes to go good there." - Chase
Briscoe
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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Seeking the Xfinity Series Playoffs: Point Update After Noah Gragson's Appeal Victory
by Phil Allaway
With NASCAR's rescinding of Noah Gragson's disqualification from last weekend's Steakhouse Elite 200, there have been a bunch of changes to the Xfinity Series point standings. In current points, Gragson has moved up to seventh from 11th. Austin Cindric still has his 39-point lead over Daniel Hemric.
In the stage points, Gragson also gets his 18 stage points back. That moves him up to second from sixth. In the "Old Points," Gragson moves up from 17th to 10th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 386, 2) Daniel Hemric -39, 3) Harrison Burton -67, 4) AJ Allmendinger -92, t-5) Jeb Burton -94, t-5) Justin Haley -94, 7) Noah Gragson -118, 8) Justin Allgaier -122,
9) Myatt Snider -125, 10) Jeremy Clements -134, 11) Brandon Jones -154, 12) Michael Annett -176, 13) Brandon Brown -182, 14) Riley Herbst -201, t-15) Tommy Joe Martins -218, t-15) Josh Berry -218.
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 12th 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 109, 2) Noah Gragson -25, t-3) Daniel Hemric -26, t-3) Harrison Burton -26, 5) Justin Haley -34, 6) Justin Allgaier -35, 7) Brandon Jones -52, 8) AJ Allmendinger -58, 9) Myatt Snider -67, 10) Jeb Burton -68, 11) Michael Annett -70, 12) Jeremy Clements -76, 13) Riley Herbst -77, t-14) Brandon Brown -85, t-14) Ty Dillon -85, 16) Ty Gibbs -87.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 324, 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 -98, 10) Noah Gragson -104, 11) Brandon Brown -105, 12) Brandon Jones -112, 13) Michael Annett -119, 14) Tommy Joe Martins -130, 15) Landon Cassill -135, 16) Ryan Sieg -139.
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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