Frontstretch Newsletter: June 7, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition XCI
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- Cup teams are still en route back to North Carolina as of this writing from Sonoma. Truck and Xfinity teams are preparing at their shops for their upcoming races in Texas. We'll have entry lists later today or tomorrow. We'll also anything else that breaks at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: June 4-6
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- VIRginia International Raceway was a dangerous place on Saturday. Both the TC America and GT America Powered by AWS events ended early due to scary crashes.
In the TC America race, Mark Pombo barrel-rolled his MINI on a restart multiple times. He was transported to the hospital and was placed in SRO America's concussion protocol.
In the GT America race, Notlad Racing with RS1's Matt Dalton had an apparent failure in the right front corner of his Aston Martin. The car flew off-course in the Roller Coaster section of the circuit and busted the Armco barrier before apparently heading into the woods. Dalton was transported to the hospital and according to SRO America, where at last update, he was alert and
communicating.
- Pirelli GT4 America SprintX competition saw Murillo Racing's Christian Szymczak take the overall lead from Classic BMW's Stevan McAleer with nine laps to go. From there, Szymczak held on to take the overall and Silver-class win for himself and Kenny Murillo. NOLAsport's Matt Travis and Jason Hart won the Pro-Am class while Smooge Racing's Kevin Conway and John Geesbreght won in
Am.
Race No. 2 on Sunday saw BSport Racing's Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch take their maiden victory over Silver-class winners McAleer and Toby Grahovec. Capstone Motorsports' John Allen and Kris Wilson won the Am class.
- GT America Powered by AWS Race No. 1 saw Wright Motorsports' Charlie Luck win overall in a race that was ultimately overshadowed by Dalton's crash. Brendan Iribe was second, then Jeff Burton, Kyle Washington and CJ Moses. Race No. 2 saw Iribe claim the win in his McLaren over Luck, Burton, Moses and Jason Harward
- TC America saw Classic BMW's Jacob Ruud sweep the weekend in the TCX class. Austen Smith also swept the TC class in a BMW M240iR from AutoTechnic Racing.
In TCA, Forbush Performance swept the weekend with their Hyundai Velosters. Caleb Bacon won Race No. 1 on Saturday, while teammate Luke Rumburg won on Sunday.
- G-Drive Racing's Franco Colapino, Nyck de Vries and Roman Rusinov won Sunday's European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Le Castellet at Paul Ricard by 6.385 seconds over United Autosports' Phil Hanson, Jonathan Aberdein and Tom Gamble. Teammates Job van Uitert, Nico Jamin and Manuel Maldonado was third.
LMP3 saw DKR Engineering's Laurents Hoerr and Jean-Philippe Dayraut claim the win by 23.819 seconds over COOL Racing's Matt Bell, Niklas Kruetten and Nicolas Maulini. United Autosports' Wayne Boyd, Edouard Cauhaupe and Robert Wheldon were third.
Finally, Iron Lynx's Matteo Cressoni, Rino Mastronardi and Miguel Molina emerged victorious in GTE in their Ferrari. They were 14.678 seconds ahead of Spirit of Race's Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and David Perel. AF Corse's Emmanuel Collard, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera were third.
- In FIA Formula 2 Championship action, Prema Racing Team's Robert Shwartzman dominated Saturday to win Sprint Race No. 1 in Baku over Dan Ticktum by 5.144 seconds. Guanyu Zhou was third, then Jehan Daruvala and Theo Pourchaire.
Sprint Race No. 2 saw Hitech Grand Prix's Juri Vips move up from third on the grid to take the lead, then hold on through two restarts to win. David Beckmann was second, then Daruvala, Bent Viscaal and Shwartzmann.
- Sunday's Feature Race saw Vips claim his second straight victory by 6.152 seconds over Prema's Oscar Piastri. Shwartzman was third, followed by UNI-Virtuosi Racing's Felipe Drugovich. Ralph Boschung was fifth.
The race had a crash on the first lap involving Pourchaire, Ticktim and Marcus Armstrong. While Pourchaire was able to drive back to the pits and retire for the race, he later was taken to The Central Hospital of Oil Workers in Baku. According to the FIA's statement, Pourchaire suffered a fractured arm in the crash.
- Miguel Oliveira passed Jack Miller on the first lap and held on to Sunday's MotoGP Grand Prix of Catalunya. Johann Zarco was second, followed by Fabio Quartararo. Quartararo was then penalized twice, first for a shortcut and then for unzipping his leathers under green and taking his chest protector off. That moved Miller up to third, followed by Joan Mir and Maverick Vinales.
Quartararo ended up sixth.
- In Lucas Oil Pro Motocross action, Moto No. 1 for 450cc teams was a three-man race between Adam Cianciarulo, Dylan Ferrandis and Ken Roczen. Roczen was able to force Ferrandis into a mistake to take the lead with two minutes remaining and hold on for the win. Ferrandis was second, then Cianciarulo, Chase Sexton and Aaron Plessinger.
Moto No. 2 saw Roczen quickly get past Cooper Webb for the lead and pull away from the pack. He was never threatened en route to the moto victory and the sweep for the day. Ferrandis was second, then Justin Barcia, Plessinger and Sexton. In the overall for the day, Roczen won with the perfect score of two (the total of the finishing positions in the two motos). Ferrandis was second,
then Cianciarulo, Barcia and Plessinger.
- In the 250cc class, Jeremy Martin took the lead 15 minutes into the first moto from Justin Cooper and pulled out a small lead. Cooper and RJ Hampshire were able to use lapped traffic to run down Martin in the final laps, but could not prevent him from taking the victory. Martin ended up winning by three seconds over Cooper, Hampshire and the Lawrence brothers (Jett in front of
Hunter).
Moto No. 2 saw Martin out on the second lap after crashing his Husqvarna. He was credited with a 40th-place finish, but that was still good enough to finish eighth for the day.
Jett Lawrence was able to get past Cooper and pulled away to take a dominant victory by 15.6 seconds over Cooper, Hunter Lawrence, Jo Shimoda and Colt Nichols. Cooper's dual second-place finishes were enough to give him the win for the day over Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence, Shimoda and Nichols.
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| | Kyle Larson Leads 57 Laps, Survives Late-Race
Carnage to Win at Sonoma
Kyle Larson was dominant Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, sweeping the stages to claim his second straight victory. Chase Elliott was second, then Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.
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| | Hendrick GM: Owe Chip Ganassi Racing ‘Big
Apology’ After Coke 600 Engine Problems
It is rare that apologies are issued in motorsports after mechanical failures, but that is pretty much the case from Friday. Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Andrews issued such an apology to Chip Ganassi Racing Friday on
SiriusXM NASCAR Radio after both Ganassi cars had broken engine belts in the Coca-Cola 600.
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| | AJ Allmendinger takes Mid-Ohio Xfinity Win;
Kaulig Racing finishes 1-2
Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger came back from a penalty at the end of stage two to win Saturday's B&L Transport 170 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Teammate Justin Haley was second, then Ty Gibbs, Brandon Jones and
Andy Lally.
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| | Austin Cindric Sees Mid-Ohio Victory Slip
Through Fingers in Final Laps
Team Penske's Austin Cindric led a race-high 30 laps Saturday and seemed to have the race won. A late caution brought everyone back together, then he got wrecked on the restart. What should have been a win ended up
being a 14th-place finish.
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| | Ty Gibbs Wins ARCA Race at Mid-Ohio for 4th
Straight Victory
Ty Gibbs was never seriously threatened Friday afternoon en route to victory in the ARCA Menards Series Dawn 150, his fourth straight and fifth win of the year. Austin Hill was second, then Thad Moffitt, Brandon Jones and
Nick Sanchez.
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| | Sergio Perez Steals Azerbaijan Victory as Max
Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton Suffer Bad Luck
The emotions at Red Bull were all over the place Sunday. A left rear tire failure ended Max Verstappen's race in the closing laps, but Sergio Perez was able to hold on to win the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan. Sebastian
Vettel was second, then Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.
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| | F1 Singapore Grand Prix Cancelled Due to
COVID-19 Concerns
The FIA announced Friday that the Grand Prix of Singapore has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| | Andrea Caldarelli, Jordan Pepper Continue
Domination With 4th Win of 2021 at VIR
K-PAX Racing's Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper claimed victory in Saturday's Round 5 of Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS at VIRginia International Raceway. DXDT Racing's Michael Cooper and Erin Vogel
won in Pro-Am.
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| | HTP Winward Motorsport Snaps K-PAX’s Streak,
Wins At VIR
HTP Winward Motorsport's Mikael Grenier and Russell Ward won Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Race No. 2 at VIRginia International Raceway Sunday. Compass Racing's Michael Di Meo and Matt McMurry won in
Pro-Am.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Sean Gardner of Getty Images via NASCAR Media, Mark Thompson of Getty Images via Red Bull Racing, K-PAX Racing, Mercedes-Benz USA via Brian Cleary and Angela
Carter.
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 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Kyle Larson Cuts Denny Hamlin's Points Lead To Under A Full Race
by Phil Allaway
Denny Hamlin started well, but struggled for much of Sunday. The late race chaos allowed him to move up to finish eighth, but he still lost a good chunk of his lead. Kyle Larson's second straight perfect score (this time, it's 60 points instead of 70) allowed him to break the tie with teammate William Byron and move up to
47 points behind Hamlin. Chase Elliott is up one place to third after finishing second. Byron was eliminated in a turn 11 crash and finished 35th. That dropped him to fourth in points.
Joey Logano finished fourth and maintains fifth in the standings. He gained 11 points on Hamlin. Martin Truex Jr. is still in sixth after coming from 19th to finish third. Kyle Busch is up one place to seventh after finishing fifth. Ryan Blaney is down to eighth after finishing
10th.
Kevin Harvick's Busch Ford was damaged in the same crash that eliminated Byron. He struggled to finish 22nd. While this didn't cost him a spot, he did lose points. Brad Keselowski pitted in the final few laps and recovered to finish 15th. He is still 10th. Alex Bowman used his car like a battering ram at times
Sunday, but still finished ninth. That allowed him to move up to 11th. Bowman jumped over Austin Dillon, who struggled with battery issues nearly all day before rising up to finish 13th.
Tyler Reddick had a chance at a top 10, but faded late to 19th. He's still in 13th, while Chris Buescher is 14th after finishing 17th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Christopher Bell got caught up in a late crash with Anthony Alfredo and ended up finishing 24th. He's now 300 points
behind Hamlin in 15th. Michael McDowell was looking to finish in the top 10, but got spun out by Daniel Suarez in turn 11 on the last lap. That dropped him to a 28th-place finish, but he is still 16th.
Buescher's advantage over 17th-place Matt DiBenedetto is a full race, 60 points. DiBenedetto finished 23rd after late contact with Ryan Preece. Kurt Busch moved up one place to 18th after finishing a strong sixth. That move came at the expense of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who crashed early and finished 37th. Ross
Chastain is up to 20th after a seventh-place finish Sunday.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 664, 2) Kyle Larson -47, 3) Chase Elliott -73, 4) William
Byron -100, 5) Joey Logano -116, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -137, 7) Kyle Busch -144, 8) Ryan Blaney -155, 9) Kevin Harvick -181, 10) Brad Keselowski -191, 11) Alex Bowman -217, 12) Austin Dillon -228, 13) Tyler
Reddick -266, 14) Chris Buescher -273, 15) Christopher Bell -300, 16) Michael McDowell -309.
Playoff
Points: 1) Kyle Larson 26, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -8, 3) Alex Bowman -16, t-4)
Ryan Blaney -18, t-4) Joey Logano -18, t-6) William Byron -20, t-6) Brad Keselowski -20, t-6) Kyle Busch -20, t-6) Chase Elliott -20, t-10) Christopher Bell -21, t-10) Denny Hamlin -21, t-10) Michael McDowell -21, t-13) Chris Buescher -25, t-13) Matt DiBenedetto -25, t-13) Bubba Wallace -25.
Stage
Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 195, 2) Kyle Larson -13, 3) Chase Elliott -41, 4) William Byron -57, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -67, 6) Ryan Blaney -72, 7) Joey Logano -73, 8) Kyle Busch -79, 9) Brad
Keselowski -103, 10) Alex Bowman -108, 11) Kevin Harvick -119, t-12) Austin Dillon -143, t-12) Tyler Reddick -143, 14) Christopher Bell -144, t-15) Kurt Busch -148, 16) Chris Buescher
-152.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Michael McDowell -169.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 551, 2) Kyle Larson -43, 3) Chase Elliott -44, 4) Joey Logano -52,
5) William Byron -53, t-6) Kyle Busch -78, t-6) Kevin Harvick -78, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -80, 9) Ryan Blaney -96, 10) Brad Keselowski -99, 11) Austin Dillon -100, 12) Alex Bowman -134, 13) Chris Buescher -136, 14)
Tyler Reddick -142, 15) Michael McDowell -156, 16) Christopher Bell -171.
Race Winners: Michael McDowell (Daytona-1), Christopher Bell (Daytona-2), William Byron (Homestead), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Charlotte, Sonoma), Martin Truex Jr. (Phoenix,
Martinsville, Darlington), Ryan Blaney (Atlanta), Joey Logano (Bristol), Alex Bowman (Richmond, Dover), Brad Keselowski (Talladega), Kyle Busch (Kansas), Chase Elliott (Circuit of the Americas)
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: Austin Cindric Has Largest Lead Of 2021
by Phil Allaway
Austin Cindric was more or less the best driver Saturday at Mid-Ohio. He had an 11-second lead when Jeb Burton spun into China Beach late in the race to bring out the yellow. A spin on the restart dropped him way back. In the final couple of laps, he recovered to finish 14th. This performance was enough for Cindric to expand his
lead to 96 points over race winner AJ Allmendinger. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton are tied for third. Hemric recovered from a cut left rear tire that littered the track with debris to finish 12th while Harrison Burton was eliminated early after junking his front end.
Despite spinning into the gravel late in the race, Jeb Burton recovered to finish 16th and moved up one place to fifth in points. Justin Haley is up one place to sixth after earning the most points and finishing second despite late damage. Justin Allgaier had a rear end failure early on and had to spend time in the garage. He would finish
35th and dropped two places to seventh as a result. Brandon Jones finished fourth and moved up three places to eighth.
Jeremy Clements had electrical problems Saturday and stalled two separate times. His 33rd-place finish dropped him to ninth. Michael Annett finished seventh and moved up two places to 10th. Noah Gragson's race lasted about 12 seconds Saturday as he ripped the splitter and a bunch of other stuff out of his car exiting
turn 1 on the first lap. The 40th-place finish that resulted dropped him to 11th, the last driver in the playoffs on points. Myatt Snider dealt with mechanical issues and finished 29th. That dropped him two places to 12th.
Gragson is 15 points ahead of Brandon Brown, who had another good run to finish sixth Saturday. Riley Herbst spun into the gravel in the Keyhole on the final lap after contact with Andy Lally. He would finish 21st, but stay in 14th. Ty Gibbs finished third and stays in 15th, while Josh Berry's eighth-place
finish keeps him in 16th. The finish also moves Jordan Anderson Racing up to 40th in owners points, locking them into Saturday's ALSCO Uniforms 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 558, 2) AJ Allmendinger -96, t-3) Daniel Hemric -121, t-3) Harrison Burton -121, 5) Jeb Burton -139, 6) Justin Haley -157, 7) Justin Allgaier -163,
8) Brandon Jones -213, 9) Jeremy Clements -224, 10) Michael Annett -232, 11) Noah Gragson -234, 12) Myatt Snider -237, 13) Brandon Brown -249, 14) Riley Herbst -279, 15) Ty Gibbs -286, 16) Josh Berry -302.
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 20, 2) AJ Allmendinger -7, t-3) Ty Gibbs -9, t-3) Justin Allgaier -11, 5) Josh Berry -14, t-6) Jeb Burton -15, t-6)
Myatt Snider -15, t-6) Daniel Hemric -15, 9) Justin Haley -17, 10) Noah Gragson -18, t-11) Harrison Burton -19, t-11) Brandon Jones -19.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be tied for sixth in playoff points, while Martin Truex Jr. would be tied for 11th. If he had run the full season for Xfinity points, Brett Moffitt would be tied for 13th.
Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 151, 2) Justin Allgaier -41, t-3) AJ Allmendinger -44, t-3) Noah Gragson -44, 5) Harrison Burton -47, t-6) Daniel Hemric -48, t-6) Justin Haley -48, 8) Brandon Jones -65,
9) Jeb Burton -85, 10) Michael Annett -95, 11) Myatt Snider -105, 12) Jeremy Clements -106, 13) Riley Herbst -107, 14) Ty Gibbs -112, 15) Josh Berry -114, 16) Brandon Brown -124.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 474, 2) AJ Allmendinger -62, 3) Jeb Burton -68, 4) Daniel Hemric -78, 5) Harrison Burton -88, 6) Justin Haley -122, 7)
Jeremy Clements -132, 8) Justin Allgaier -133, 9) Brandon Brown -137, 10) Myatt Snider -146, 11) Michael Annett -154, 12) Brandon Jones -162, 13) Riley Herbst -192, 14) Ryan Sieg -196, 15) Landon Cassill -201, 16) Noah Gragson -207.
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, Dover), Ty Gibbs (Daytona-2, Charlotte), AJ Allmendinger (Las Vegas, Mid-Ohio), Myatt Snider (Homestead), Justin Allgaier (Atlanta, Darlington), Josh Berry (Martinsville), Jeb Burton (Talladega), Kyle Busch (Circuit of the Americas)
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. 7
by Phil Allaway
The Camping World Truck Series was off this past weekend. They will be back in action this upcoming weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
When they get there, John Hunter Nemechek will have a 44-point lead on Ben Rhodes. Austin Hill is third, then Sheldon Creed and Todd Gilliland.
After his huge crash at Charlotte, Johnny Sauter is the last driver currently in the playoffs. He has a two-point lead over Austin Wayne Self. Chandler Smith is 10 points behind Sauter, while Tyler Ankrum is 17 points out. Hailie Deegan in 15th is 42 points behind Sauter with five races remaining before the playoffs
begin.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 445, 2) Ben Rhodes -44, 3) Austin Hill -98, 4) Sheldon Creed -106, 5) Todd Gilliland -116, 6) Zane Smith -143,
7) Matt Crafton -145, 8) Stewart Friesen -152, 9) Grant Enfinger -154, 10) Carson Hocevar -181, 11) Johnny Sauter -224, 12) Austin Wayne Self -226, 13) Chandler Smith -234, 14) Tyler Ankrum -241, 15) Hailie Deegan -266, t-16) Ryan Truex -268,
t-16) Derek Kraus -268.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 12th in
points.
Playoff
Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 22,
2) Ben Rhodes -11, 3) Todd Gilliland -15, 4) Sheldon Creed -16, 5) Raphael Lessard -20, t-6) Zane Smith -16, t-6) 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 140, 2) Sheldon Creed -44, 3) Austin Hill -50, 4) Ben Rhodes -55, 5) Matt Crafton -71, 6) Stewart Friesen -75, 7) Zane Smith -82, 8) Todd Gilliland -83, 9) Grant Enfinger -99, 10) Raphael Lessard
-100, 11) Derek Kraus -105, 12) Chandler Smith -109, 13) Tyler Ankrum -118, 14) Carson Hocevar -123, 15) Johnny Sauter -125, t-16) Ryan Truex -128, t-16) Corey Heim -128.
Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be fifth, while Martin Truex Jr. would be 15th. Had Kaz Grala been eligible for points for the full season, he would be 14th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Ben Rhodes 281, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -3, 3) Todd Gilliland -47, 4) Austin
Hill -61, 5) Grant Enfinger -64, 6) Sheldon Creed -66, t-7) Zane Smith -72, t-7) Carson Hocevar -72, 9) Matt Crafton -87, 10) Stewart Friesen -89, 11) Austin Wayne Self -111, 12) Johnny Sauter -118, 13) Tyler Ankrum -130, 14) Chandler Smith -132, 15)
Ryan Truex -146, 16) Hailie Deegan -148.
Note: If he was eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 13th in old school
points.
Race Winner: Ben Rhodes (Daytona-1, Daytona-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas, Richmond, Charlotte), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Kansas), Martin Truex Jr. (Bristol), Sheldon Creed (Darlington), Todd Gilliland (Circuit
of the Americas)
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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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 was brought to you by the letter S for Slippery. The combination of softer tires and the low downforce rules package led to a very different race as compared to the 2019 visit. It was a little more competitive, but also saw drivers sliding around as their tires struggled to adhere to the gritty surface. -
Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Toyota/Save Mart 350
compiled by Phil Allaway
"It was not easy. Any road course isn’t easy, just trying to keep it on track is tough; especially when you’ve got two of the best behind you on the last restart, [Chase Elliott] and [Martin Truex Jr.]. I felt like I did a good job at the one before and stretched it out a little bit and didn’t want to give him another try at it, but he kept the pressure on. Martin was
strong too, but what a car. This HendrickCars.com Chevy, thank you Mr. Hendrick. The is unbelievable. I thought I would be okay today, but I just didn’t know how I would race. I don’t think of us really do with no practice. But our car was really good there and I can’t say enough about it." - Kyle Larson, race winner
"I wish I knew. I would have tried to give him a little better run. But congratulations to [Kyle Larson], [Cliff Daniels, crew chief] and everybody on the No. 5 team. They’ve been doing an amazing job. I’m really proud of our NAPA group, though. I feel like we were a lot better there at the end than we were at the beginning; and definitely the best I’ve ever been
here, I feel like, at Sonoma, in particular. I’m pleased with that. I wish we could have gotten another spot, but we’ll try again." - Chase Elliott, finished second
"I think [the Hendrick cars were better] just a little bit everywhere. Right-handers, I just couldn’t lean on the left rear like I needed too. I didn’t quite have the drive off. Moreso than that, I didn’t have the short-run speed. I think the really long runs was really our only chance there. All of those cautions at the end killed any chance we had. I’m proud of the
guys on the Bass Pro Toyota, JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), TRD, everybody that makes this possible. Just not quite good enough. The Hendrick cars are really strong right now. They are really fast. They are making a lot of grip. They are making our job tough. We definitely needed long runs at the end, not all of those cautions." - Martin Truex Jr., finished third
"We’ll take it. We had the tire issue the first run and that got our strategy off. Paul did some different things and we were able to get some stage points in the second stage. We had nothing to beat the 5, if I’m being honest, but our Autotrader Mustang was good enough to finish top three or four. We kind of did that one stop strategy the last run there and got to
where we were probably a third-place car if we had the same tires as the cars racing around us, but, overall, we’ll take that considering how it was looking in the beginning. It’s fun to be out here in Sonoma again and great to see so many fans back out in the grandstands and around this racetrack." - Joey Logano, finished fourth
"We’re number two, right. I feel like that’s where we’re at. Those guys, we know they’ve got a good road course program, we saw the 9 (Chase Elliott) finish second again today. If the 5 (Kyle Larson) wasn’t even here, he would have won. The 5 got just super fast. I don’t know where he’s at, but different zip code from all of us. The 5 was on his own level and the 9
and the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) seem to be equal, we were a little off the 19, I don’t know why. We were just overall too loose all day." - Kyle Busch, finished fifth
"We had a smooth day. We figured out how to have a nice easy execution. I worked with [Ross Chastain], our teammate to get two top 10’s. It was almost a top five type car, just needed better drive off the corners. To be in the mix and have the right strategy and have a smooth day, we’ll take it, and we;re going to build on it." - Kurt Busch, finished
sixth
"Whoa!, seventh on a dry road course! This No. 42 team is so good, they gave me a Clover Chevy that I can go out and race with the best Cup Series guys; it just seems wild. The pit sequences were crazy; the car is pretty clean. A good day for both the No. 1 and 42 teams. I got to race with the No.1 car a lot there at the end, and only touched a little bit, which is
hard to do here. A good teammate day and good building day for CGR." - Ross Chastain, finished seventh
"I got a lot of damage early on, but we never really had anything for [Kyle Larson]. We ran down [Chase Elliott] after the first 10 laps but then we got off sequence and got in the mid 20s and got a bunch of damage. Our FedEx Toyota wasn’t just as fast after that. To get back into the top 10 with a car as torn up as that, I guess that’s an okay day." - Denny
Hamlin, finished eighth
"We were never on the right tires with the right track position. We were kind of all over the place. I thought we were in a pretty good spot with 25-30 to go and we kept delaminating tires. We had a delaminated rear and I was in the dirt with no grip, and then we got sandwiched there and that’s kind of just what happens. That’s probably the ugliest top 10 car I’ve
ever had, that’s for sure, but I’m proud of them for sticking with it. I just wish the strategy worked out a little bit better than what it did. We just couldn’t really catch a break at the right time, but, overall, ending up in 10th isn’t too bad." - Ryan Blaney, finished 10th
"It was an up-and-down day. I feel like we deserved a top 10 out of today. It was really hard there at the end, just pushing and banging. The car was good on the short run, but it was very bad on the long runs. We’ll have to keep working. We’ll try to make our cars a little bit better. I feel like today, we deserved a few spots better. I’m very proud of this team, we
just have to keep getting better." - Daniel Suarez, finished 12th
"We lost the alternator as soon as the race started. It just started to lose voltage. The guys did a great job changing batteries and we were able to get sixth-place stage points that first stage. We just had to grind it out; battle it out. We kept losing track position, but we fought hard all day." - Austin Dillon, finished 13th
"It was a hard fought day. Shout out to Chris Cook (road course instructor). We came out here two weeks [ago] and ran a TA2 car and really just gained a ton of confidence with being on road course. I had a lot of fun. I was able to bring it over today. I just felt comfortable. We’ve still got some room to go. We’ve still got to figure out what we need in our Toyota
Camry to make me a little bit better, but when they are telling me that I’m better than 10 cars on a road course, it’s a pretty damn good day. It was a good day for our DoorDash team. We will go on to Texas." - Bubba Wallace, finished 14th
"That was super unfortunate there at the end. We were running eighth coming to the white flag. We had a really good Love’s Travel Stops Mustang and got track position at the end. The last couple of restarts went well, but bumper cars didn’t work out there on the last lap and, unfortunately, it didn’t work out. We had another top 10 going, but didn’t finish it off.
You’ll have that. They’ve gone our way a lot this year, so still proud of everybody with the effort. We were in position to do it again, but it just didn’t go our way." - Michael McDowell, finished 28th
"I was trying to roll the outside of [Erik Jones] and [Kevin Harvick] was in front of me. I thought he was going to run the bottom and obviously somebody spun in front of him and caused a big pileup. At that point, you’re just a passenger. You’re obviously going to knock the radiator in and be done for the day.
“It stinks, but we were struggling all day to be honest. So, we have to go back and work on that. Definitely learned some lessons. Thanks to Axalta, Chevrolet and everyone. We’ll re-group. It was really the first bad weekend of the year, so we’ll re-group from it." - William Byron, 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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