Frontstretch Newsletter: June 21, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition CI
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- Cup teams are back at the shop to prepare for the doubleheader this weekend in Pocono. We'll have entry lists later today or tomorrow. We'll also have anything else that breaks at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: June 18-20
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- In Indy Lights action, Kyle Kirkwood took the lead on lap 5 from Linus Lundqvist and drove away from the field to win by 11 seconds over Benjamin Pedersen. Robert Megennis was third, then Lundqvist and Toby Sowery.
- Race No. 2 on Sunday morning saw David Malukas lead flag-to-flag to claim victory by 4.589 seconds over Megennis. Danial Frost was third, followed by Alex Peroni and Lundqvist.
Malukas has an eight-point lead over Kirkwood and Lundqvist with races to go. Sowery is a distant fourth with Megennis in fifth.
- Manuel Sulaiman led flag-to-flag to win the first Indy Pro 2000 presented by Cooper Tires race of the weekend Saturday at Road America. Artem Petrov was second, then Jacob Abel, Braden Eves and Reece Gold. Christian Rasmussen was eliminated in a first-lap crash with Jack William Miller, Kyffin Simpson and Wyatt Brichacek.
- Indy Pro 2000 Race No. 2 saw Rasmussen recover from his crash to take the lead from Gold with five laps to go Sunday. From there, he held on to take the win. Gold was second, then Simpson, Eves and Abel.
Through 10 rounds, Rasmussen has an 18-point lead over Eves. Gold is third, then Petrov and Hunter McAlrea.
- In Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship action, Kiko Porto led all but one lap Saturday to win the first race of the weekend at Road America by seven-eighths of a second over Michael d'Orlando. Spike Kohlbecker was third, then Nolan Siegel and Christian Brooks.
- Race No. 2 on Sunday saw Thomas Nepveu take the lead from Prescott Campbell on lap 6 and just barely hold off Simon Sikes to take the win. Josh Pierson was third, then Josh Green and Porto.
Through 10 races, Porto has taken the points lead by 15 over Yuven Sundaramoorthy. Pierson is third, then d'Orlando and Brooks.
- The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship was in Mt. Morris, Penn. Saturday for the High Point National. In the 450cc class, Dylan Ferrandis claimed the overall victory without winning either of the motos. Husqvarna's Jalek Swoll won the 250cc class.
450cc Moto No. 1 saw Kawasaki's Adam Cianciarulo lead flag-to-flag to take the victory over Ferrandis, Ken Roczen, Chase Sexton and Aaron Plessinger.
Moto No. 2 saw Cianciarulo get past Plessinger and into the lead early, hoping for the sweep. However, teammate Eli Tomac ran him down and took the advantage. From there, Tomac opened up a comfortable lead and held on for his first outdoor win of the year. Ferrandis was second, then Roczen, Cianciarulo and Sexton.
Ferrandis' second overall win of the year gives him a three-point lead in the standings over Roczen. Plessinger is third, then Sexton and Ciancirulo.
- 250cc Moto No. 1 saw Hunter Lawrence win the holeshot with Swoll in tow. However, partway through the first lap, Lawrence crashed, giving Swoll the lead. RJ Hampshire ran Swoll down and took the lead shortly afterwards. Hampshire then ran away to a 10-second on the field before his chain broke, ending his race. The breakage put Swoll back in the lead, an advantage he would not give up
on his way to victory. Colt Nichols was second, then Jett Lawrence, Jo Shimoda and Justin Cooper.
Moto No. 2 saw Cooper take the lead on the first lap from Nichols. From there, he pulled away and took the victory by 4.3 seconds over Jett Lawrence. Swoll was third, then Garrett Marchbanks and Nichols.
In the 250cc points, Jett Lawrence currently has an 11-point lead over Cooper. Hunter Lawrence is third, then Swoll and Nichols.
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| | Kyle Larson Wins 3rd Straight Points Race,
Triumphs in NASCAR’s Debut in Nashville
Kyle Larson was dominant once again Sunday, leading 264 of 300 laps to win the inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Ross Chastain was second, then William Byron, Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick. Chase
Elliott was disqualified after being found with five loose lugnuts after the race.
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| | Ross Chastain Earns ‘Humbling’ Top 5 at
Nashville
Sunday ended up being a career day for Ross Chastain. Taking advantage of the final caution to make a stop and make sure he was good on fuel, Chastain used slightly fresher tires to drive up to a second-place
finish.
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| | Justin Haley Full-Time, AJ Allmendinger
Part-Time in 2022 Cup Season for Kaulig
Kaulig Racing announced in a press conference Friday that they have acquired two charters from Spire Motorsports and will be using them to race full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022. Justin Haley will drive one car
full-time, while AJ Allmendinger will share the second.
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| | Eddie D’Hondt Reinstated By NASCAR After
Charges Dropped
NASCAR officially reinstated Eddie D'Hondt to the sport Friday after assault charges against him were dropped. As a result, D'Hondt was back at Nashville Superspeedway in his regular role as a spotter this past
weekend.
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| | Watkins Glen Allowing Full Capacity in
Grandstands for NASCAR Weekend
Watkins Glen International announced Friday that they will open up the property to full capacity for the upcoming quintuple header featuring all three of NASCAR's National Series in August.
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| | Sweet Sound of Victory: Kyle Busch Bags 100th
Xfinity Win
Kyle Busch had to battle hard with Justin Allgaier for the second straight week, but he was able to lead 122 of 200 laps to take his 100th career Xfinity Series victory in the Tennessee Lottery 250. Allgaier was second,
then Harrison Burton, Josh Berry and AJ Allmendinger.
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| | Josh Berry: Time With JR Motorsports
‘Solidified Me as a Racecar Driver’
Saturday's Tennessee Lottery 250 was the last race of the 2021 season that Josh Berry will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. So far this year, Berry has truly put himself on the map with strong
performances. Now, others can truly see how talented he is.
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| | Crosley Brands Sponsoring Myatt Snider In 4
Races
Richard Childress Racing announced Friday that Crosley Brands, a manufacturer of vintage products such as record players and jukeboxes, will serve as the primary sponsor of Myatt Snider's No. 2 Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series
for four races.
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| | Ryan Preece Wins Nashville Truck Race in 1st
Start
Ryan Preece, in his first career Camping World Truck Series start, passed Grant Enfinger for the lead with eight laps to go and held on to win Friday night's Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. Todd Gilliland
was second, then Enfinger, Zane Smith and Stewart Friesen.
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| | Todd Gilliland Drives From Back to 2nd Place
at Nashville
Todd Gilliland was forced to start in the back Friday night after his truck was discovered to have an illegal body modification in pre-qualifying inspection. After having to start at the rear of the field, Gilliland was
able to charge all the way up to finish second.
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| | Alex Palou Wins at Road America; 2nd Straight
Heartbreak for Josef Newgarden
Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou took the lead when Josef Newgarden had shifting issues with two laps to go and held on to take his second win of the season Sunday at Road America. Colton Herta was second, then Will Power,
Scott Dixon and Romain Grosjean.
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| | Josef Newgarden Suffers Late Heartbreak at
Road America
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden dominated much of Sunday's REV Group Grand Prix at Road America. However, on the final restart, Newgarden's car refused to shift up to sixth gear. That's important on a track with
three long, flat out stretches. The shifting issues dropped Newgarden all the way to 21st.
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| | Max Chilton Scores Long-Awaited Top
10 Finish at Road America
Max Chilton has struggled in the NTT IndyCar Series since he left Chip Ganassi Racing. After more than three years with Carlin Racing, Chilton scored his first top 10 for the team Sunday at Road
America.
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| | Oliver Askew Leads Late, Finishes 12th at Road
America
Oliver Askew was tapped on Tuesday to drive Ed Carpenter Racing's No. 21 after Rinus VeeKay suffered a collarbone injury in a bicycle crash. Despite an interview faux pas Friday, Askew ran decently in the race, using an
alternate pit strategy to finish 12th.
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| | Max Verstappen Plays 2-Stop Strategy to Win
French Grand Prix
Most teams were planning on a one-stop pit strategy Sunday at Paul Ricard. Red Bull split their strategy, keeping Sergio Perez on a one-stop plan while Max Verstappen pitted twice. On softer Medium tires, Verstappen
ran down Lewis Hamilton and passed him with a lap and a half to go to win the Grand Prix of France. Perez was third, then Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris.
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| | Series Co-Founder Tony Stewart Wins SRX Race
at Knoxville
Tony Stewart proved to be a tough out Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway, winning the first heat and leading 43 of 50 laps in the feature to take the victory. Hailie Deegan was second, then Ernie Francis Jr., Helio
Castroneves and Michael Waltrip.
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| | Hailie Deegan Proves She Belongs in SRX
Runner-up Finish at Knoxville
Hailie Deegan competed in the Camping World SRX Series Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway in place of Tony Kanaan. She was far from out of place as she ran up front all night and finished second.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, Mark Thompson of Getty Images, NASCAR Media via Getty Images and our own Tom Bowles and Daniel McFadin.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Denny Hamlin's Point Lead Nearly Wiped Out By Fuel Cell Running Dry
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson continues his roll. Winning for the third straight points race and fourth straight overall dropped Denny Hamlin's point lead, which was once over 100 points, down to only 10. It would have been nine before Chase Elliott's disqualification. Hamlin ran well all day, but ran low on fuel late and had to make a stop
that dropped him to a 21st-place finish.
William Byron is up one place to third after finishing third. Elliott's disqualification dropped him back to fourth. You have to get those lug nuts tight, no questions asked.
Joey Logano remains in fifth after finishing 10th. Kyle Busch was unhappy with his car almost all day, but still managed an 11th-place finish. That moved him up one place to sixth. Martin Truex Jr. had a miserable day that started with a bad qualifying effort. Multiple penalties in the pits resulted in a 22nd-place
finish that dropped him to seventh in points. Kevin Harvick is up one place to eighth after finishing fifth in his Grave Digger special.
Ryan Blaney is down one place to ninth after crashing out of the race due to a brake rotor failure early. He would finish 37th. Brad Keselowski also struggled with braking issues and ended up 23rd. That didn't cost him a spot in points, but he did lose ground. Austin Dillon is up to 11th after earning 15 stage points
(second-most behind Larson) and finishing 12th. Alex Bowman is down one place to 12th after finishing 14th.
Tyler Reddick is still in 13th, but not too pleased with himself after finishing 18th. Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher are tied for 14th. Bell finished ninth, while Buescher was eliminated after crashing early. Buescher is the last driver in the playoffs on points at the moment. Michael
McDowell remains in 16th.
Buescher's advantage is 24 points over Kurt Busch, who had a much needed good run on Sunday. While he did run out of gas coming to the finish, he did still finish eighth. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran in the top 10 all day and finished sixth, moving up to 18th. Matt DiBenedetto dropped two places to 19th after dealing with
engine woes for much of the race before finishing 24th. Ross Chastain remains in 20th after finishing a career-best second.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 686, 2) Kyle Larson -10, 3) William Byron -81, 4) Chase
Elliott -94, 5) Joey Logano -108, 6) Kyle Busch -127, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -144, 8) Kevin Harvick -169, 9) Ryan Blaney -176, 10) Brad Keselowski -195, 11) Austin Dillon -210, 12) Alex Bowman -216,
13) Tyler Reddick -269, t-14) Christopher Bell -294, t-14) Chris Buescher -294, 16) Michael McDowell -310.
Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 32, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -14, 3) Alex Bowman -22, t-4) Ryan Blaney -24, t-4) Joey Logano -24, t-6) William Byron -26, t-6) Brad Keselowski
-26, t-6) Kyle Busch -26, t-6) Chase Elliott -26, t-10) Christopher Bell -27, t-10)
Denny Hamlin -27, t-10) Michael McDowell -27, t-13) Chris Buescher -31, t-13) Matt DiBenedetto -25, t-13) Bubba Wallace -31, t-13) Kurt Busch
-31.
Stage
Points: t-1) Denny Hamlin 201, t-1) Kyle Larson 201, 3) Chase Elliott -47, 4) William Byron -56, 5) Kyle Busch -72, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -73, 7) Joey Logano -76, 8) Ryan Blaney -78, 9) Brad
Keselowski -105, 10) Alex Bowman -114, 11) Kevin Harvick -123, 12) Austin Dillon -134, 13) Kurt Busch -143, 14) Tyler Reddick -149, 15) Christopher Bell -150, 16) Chris Buescher -158.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 20) Michael McDowell -175.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 571, 2) Kyle Larson -18, 3) William Byron -35, 4) Joey Logano -41,
t-5) Chase Elliott -62, t-5) Kevin Harvick -62, 7) Kyle Busch -67, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -81, 9) Austin Dillon -91, 10) Brad Keselowski -101, 11) Ryan Blaney -112, 12) Alex Bowman -127, 13) Tyler Reddick -139, t-14) Michael
McDowell -151, t-14) Chris Buescher -151, 16) Christopher Bell -159.
Race Winners: Michael McDowell (Daytona-1), Christopher Bell (Daytona-2), William Byron (Homestead), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Charlotte, Sonoma, All-Star Race,
Nashville), 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 Continues To Expand Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Austin Cindric was set up for another great day. Then, he fell victim to the squabbling at the front of the field between Kyle Busch and Justin Allgaier. The result was that Cindric ended up in the wall and out of the race. He did score 13 stage points before crashing out, so the pain wasn't so bad, but he did lose some points. Cindric's points lead
over AJ Allmendinger is down to 90 points after Allmendinger finished fifth. Daniel Hemric is still third after finishing 13th. Harrison Burton is fourth after a third-place finish.
Justin Allgaier is still in fifth after finishing second, followed by Jeb Burton, who gained a spot this week. Justin Haley is down to seventh after finishing 19th, while Brandon Jones is still eighth after finishing sixth.
Noah Gragson is still ninth after finishing eighth. Michael Annett has sole possession of 10th after finishing 12th. Jeremy Clements is 11th after finishing 11th. He is the last driver in the playoffs on points. Clements has a 48-point lead on Brandon Brown, who retired from the race with brake issues and finished
35th.
Riley Herbst is up one place to 13th after finishing 10th. Myatt Snider had another tough day, finishing 31st. That drops him back to 14th, while Josh Berry is still in 15th after finishing fourth. Ryan Sieg moved up to 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 628, 2) AJ Allmendinger -90, 3) Daniel Hemric -100, 4) Harrison Burton -127, 5) Justin Allgaier -139, 6) Jeb Burton -171, 7) Justin Haley -173, 8) Brandon
Jones -204, 9) Noah Gragson -237, 10) Michael Annett -240, 11) Jeremy Clements -245, 12) Brandon Brown -293, 13) Riley Herbst -295, 14) Myatt Snider -296, 15) Josh Berry -311, 16) Ryan Sieg -337.
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 21, 2) AJ Allmendinger -8, t-3) Ty Gibbs -10, t-3) Justin Allgaier -10, 5) Josh Berry -15, t-6) Jeb Burton -16, t-6) Myatt Snider
-16, t-6) Daniel Hemric -16, 9) Justin Haley -18, 10) Noah Gragson -19, t-11) Harrison Burton -20, t-11) Brandon Jones -20.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be tied for third 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 182, 2) Daniel Hemric -45, 3) Justin Allgaier -48, 4) Harrison Burton -55, 5) AJ Allmendinger -62, 6) Noah Gragson -67, 7) Justin Haley -71, 8) Brandon Jones -80, 9) Jeb Burton
-113, 10) Michael Annett -116, t-11) Myatt Snider -135, t-11) Josh Berry -135, 13) Riley Herbst -136, 14) Jeremy Clements -137, 15) Ty Gibbs -143, 16) Brandon Brown -155.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 523, 2) AJ Allmendinger -39, 3) Daniel Hemric -60, 4) Jeb Burton -74, 5) Harrison Burton -87, 6) Justin Allgaier -102, 7) Justin Haley -116, 8) Jeremy Clements -124, 9) Brandon Jones -139, 10) Michael Annett -143, 11) Brandon Brown -152, 12) Myatt Snider -177, 13) Riley Herbst -181, 14) Noah Gragson -188, 15) Ryan Sieg -190, 16) Josh Berry -200.
Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity points for the whole season, Brett Moffitt would be 12th 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, Texas, Nashville)
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 Loses Part Of Lead After Tough Night
by Phil Allaway
John Hunter Nemechek had an off-night Friday night, partially caused by a violation in qualifying that resulted in his lap being disallowed. Having to start 34th meant that Nemechek spent most of the night moving forward. He finished 10th, but didn't earn a stage point, the first time all season that has happened. That cost him some of his lead as Ben Rhodes
finished seventh. The margin is now 70 points with three races remaining in the regular season. Austin Hill is still third after finishing ninth, while Zane Smith is up to fourth after finishing fourth.
Despite finishing second, Todd Gilliland dropped down to fifth in points. Grant Enfinger is up one place to sixth after finishing third. Sheldon Creed is down one place to seventh after struggling much of the evening to a 14th-place finish. Matt Crafton remains in eighth after finishing sixth.
Stewart Friesen scored a top five finish and remains in ninth, while Carson Hocevar is 10th after finishing 16th. Chandler Smith remains in 11th after finishing 13th. He is still the final driver in the playoffs. His advantage is 15 points over Johnny Sauter, who finished 12th.
Austin Wayne Self is still in 13th after a 27th-place finish. Tyler Ankrum also finished outside of the top 20 and remains in 14th. Derek Kraus won the pole and led the entire first stage, but a crash took him out of the running. He's still in 15th. Ryan Truex is 16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 497, 2) Ben Rhodes -70, 3) Austin Hill -98, 4) Zane Smith -136, 5) Todd Gilliland -154, 6) Grant Enfinger -155,
7) Sheldon Creed -161, 8) Matt Crafton -171, 9) Stewart Friesen -191, 10) Carson Hocevar -214, 11) Chandler Smith -229, 12) Johnny Sauter -244, 13) Austin Wayne Self -270, 14) Tyler Ankrum -277, 15) Derek Kraus -293, 16) Ryan Truex
-316.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 12th in
points.
Playoff
Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 28,
2) Ben Rhodes -17, 3) Todd Gilliland -21, 4) Sheldon Creed -22, t-5) Raphael Lessard -26, t-5) Zane Smith -26, t-7) Chandler Smith -27, t-7) Grant Enfinger -27, t-7) Derek Kraus
-27.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be second in playoff points while Martin Truex Jr. would be fourth and Ryan Preece seventh.
Stage
Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 153, 2) Austin Hill -44, 3) Ben Rhodes -55, 4) Sheldon Creed -57, 5) Zane Smith -72, 6) Matt Crafton -78, 7) Stewart Friesen -82, 8) Derek Kraus -89, 9) Chandler Smith -93, 10) Todd Gilliland
-94, 11) Grant Enfinger -101, 12) Raphael Lessard -113, 13) Johnny Sauter -128, 14) Tyler Ankrum -130, 15) Carson Hocevar -136, t-16) Austin Wayne Self -140, t-16) Tanner Gray -140.
Note: If they were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be tied for sixth, while Martin Truex Jr. would be 16th. Had Kaz Grala been eligible for points for the full season, he would be 14th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 338, 2) Ben Rhodes -23, 3) Todd Gilliland -46,
4) Grant Enfinger -60, 5) Austin Hill -64, 6) Zane Smith -72, 7) Carson Hocevar -90, 8) Sheldon Creed -103, 9) Matt Crafton -104, 10) Stewart Friesen -116, 11) Johnny Sauter -133, 12) Chandler Smith -139, 13) Austin Wayne Self -144, 14) Tyler
Ankrum -152, 15) Ryan Truex -179, 16) Hailie Deegan -184.
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), Ryan Preece (Nashville)
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 Ally 400 was brought to you by the letter B for Brakes. Unlike the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series races, brakes were a serious issue during the Ally 400. A number of teams apparently
brought the wrong braking package to Nashville, resulting in multiple brake rotor explosions and cut tires for other drivers. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Ally 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"It was another good one. We’ve had probably the best race car on the racetrack for at least a month and a half. Good to take advantage of it, get another win. Able to jump out to a lead right from the get-go, basically lead the rest of the race. If it wasn’t for the cautions at the ends of the stages, we had a near perfect day.
"Just happy with it, happy to get another win. The crowd was awesome, too. Kind of I think the atmosphere felt really high before the race. It was just cool to be here, cool to be in Nashville all week. Always great to get a win." - Kyle Larson, race winner
"Really good. To come to a 750 [horsepower] track – lifting, sliding and moving all over the race track trying to get forward drive, it was really good.
"It’s finally on a circle track, that’s all I’m happy about. I’m happy about the road courses, I just don’t really know what it’s happening. Here, I know why. I know what we did. I know what I’m doing to drive the car. Road courses, it’s not really pre-planned. This is pre-planned. It’s what we all grew up doing." - Ross
Chastain, finished second
"We had a little bit of right-front damage, so honestly we weren’t as good as we probably could have been. We were OK, we just couldn’t finish the corner and just struggled with the right-front all day. Overall, that’s just part of it. It’s hard to start in the back and we learned a
lesson there on adjustments for qualifying. Nothing major, just something to learn from." - William Byron, finished third
"We had a good car, just, my goodness, we don’t have anything for those Chevrolets right now. They’re making grip and they’re getting up off the corner. It’s so hard to race with them. I can roll the center as good as some of the guys in those cars, if not a little better, and then
it’s tough to keep up. But we have made huge strides to close the gap. Our race team is doing a great job scrounging and scrapping to build better race cars and it’s nice to come here and run up front, run in the top five and at least be in the mix, so it feels good. We’ll just keep building on it. The All-Star Race was a good race for us. Today, again, was a good race for us, so we’ll just keep grinding." - Aric Almirola, finished fourth
"Our Monster Jam Grave Digger Ford Mustang was a lot loose at the beginning and really pretty good the second half of the race. We got some damage there when we made a little contact with [William Byron] and that made it a little bit tighter. I thought we were better than
[Byron]. [Ross Chastain] had fresh tires and [Aric Almirola], I thought we were better than those cars. [Kyle Larson] was kind of in a league of his own, but once again the guys did a great job and ground away at it and came away with a top five out of gas." - Kevin Harvick, finished fifth
"It was a challenging day. The cars were not easy to drive and even when we were running second there, we were trying to make adjustments to get better and see if we could catch him. I felt like I was a little better than [Kyle Larson] in one of those stages on the long run and
then we kind of lost our track position and struggled to get it back. I’m glad we were able to make it up into the top- 0 there. Really solid day for our Kroger team." - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished sixth
"It was good. The car was good enough to finish right there in the top 10. I don’t know what it was, but in the last couple of runs, we lost some grip in the front. I don’t know if it was the race track, or what; but the guys did a very good job of making adjustments. The car was
fast; we showed that a couple of times. We’ve just got to continue." - Daniel Suarez, finished seventh
"We ended up eighth. We were trying to save some fuel at the end and lost the race for a top five. Awesome day for [Ross] Chastain. He pitted and got to run hard at the end. I was hoping he would catch [Kyle] Larson; that would have been incredible. We ran out of gas coming
out of turn 4, but had to do what we could with the Monster Energy Chevy. All-in-all, it was fun track to drive. It was a lot of fun just slip-sliding around with all that horsepower at a new track." - Kurt Busch, finished eighth
"Today was all about survival at Nashville Superspeedway. Our No. 8 Joe Nichols / Quartz Hill Records Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE had a lot of speed in it, but we had to overcome a lot of obstacles today. After our first pit stop of the day, there was no grip on the pit axis road while
exiting, and I clipped the grass and spun around. Luckily, I didn’t hit anything and other than some dirt on the windshield, we was able to keep going after pitting for fresh tires. Shortly after that, someone on the track dropped some debris that went through the nose of my car but didn’t hit anything bad enough to end our day. From then on, we had to just race really smart to get our laps back, which we were able to do quickly after a couple cautions came up. Our car was a bit on the tight
side today and needed to be looser, but our adjustments really didn’t seem to help a lot on the short runs like we needed them too. Our long run balance wasn’t bad, but I had a really bad vibration in the final 12 laps or so and had to slow my pace to make sure a tire or brake rotor didn’t blow. We were able to pick up a few extra spots since other guys ran out of fuel at the end, but we’ll definitely have to study this race and figure out how to be better next time." - Tyler Reddick,
finished 19th
"We just lost the brakes getting into turn three. It’s super unfortunate. We had a really really good car. I feel like we were gonna be right there for a top five. We just needed a long run. Even on the short run we made our car so much better, so I really hate it because that was
gonna be our best run of the year for sure and something like that happens. It’s really wild with all the brake issues we’ve had today. We were able to do the Goodyear test and knew that brakes were gonna be way worse than everybody else thought. We beefed them up and it still wasn’t good enough, so it’s unfortunate. We’ll go on to Pocono." - Chase Briscoe, finished 32nd (Crashed out)
"It was not a very good start to our day and not a good end, either. We had an issue before the race and had to come and fix it. Then we had some brake trouble and we came in and pulled tape, and then on the restart I’m not sure if I broke a rotor — I think that’s what happened
because something exploded into one and then no brakes and took a pretty big lick. It’s a shame. Just not a very good day for us and hate that it ended early. I hate it for Menards and everybody in our group and Ford, but we’ll come back strong at Pocono next week." - Ryan Blaney, finished 37th (Crashed out)
"It’s unfortunate. The lug nuts on the No. 9 were loose at the end of the race. At the end of the race Chase had a vibration. There were quite a few tire issues through the course of the day so they were hopeful that it was just a cord or something in the tire that was creating the
vibration so they chose to run the race out. It’s unfortunate that the lug nuts vibrated loose on the left rear and now we are sitting here with a disqualification for the 9 team." - Chad Knaus, on Chase Elliott's disqualification
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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