Frontstretch Newsletter: July 5, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition CXI
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- Cup and Xfinity teams are back at their shops to prepare for this weekend's hot action in Atlanta. Meanwhile, Camping World Truck Series teams are prepping for Friday night's action
in Knoxville. 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: July 2-4
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- In Indy Lights competition, Kyle Kirkwood led flag-to-flag to win Race No. 1 at Mid-Ohio Saturday. Danial Frost was second, then David Malukas, Linus Lindqvist and Devlin
DeFrancesco.
Race No. 2 Sunday morning saw Kirkwood pass Frost on the first lap and hold on for the weekend sweep. Frost was 4.166 seconds behind in second, then Malukas, Lundqvist and DeFrancesco
again.
Through 12 of 20 rounds, Kirkwood has an 11-point lead over Malukas. Lundqvist is third, then Frost and Toby Sowery.
- Christian Rasmussen led flag-to-flag from pole to win Race No. 1 for Indy Pro 2000 presented by Cooper Tires Saturday morning at Mid-Ohio. He was just under a second ahead of Artem Petrov at the finish. Jacob Abel was third, then Hunter McElrea and Braden
Eves.
McElrea led flag-to-flag early Sunday to win Race No. 2 over Petrov and Kyffin Simpson. Reece Gold was fourth, then Rasmussen.
Through 12 of 18 rounds, Rasmussen has a 39-point lead on Eves. Gold is third, then Petrov and McElrea.
- In Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship action, Michael d'Orlando took the lead from lap 14 from pole sitter Kiko Porto and held on to claim the victory Friday afternoon in Race No. 1 of the weekend. Porto was 1.614 seconds behind in second, followed by Simon Sikes, Billy Frazer and Nolan
Siegel.
Race No. 2 on Saturday saw Porto lead flag-to-flag in a caution-free race to claim the victory by a couple of car lengths over d'Orlando. Sikes was third, followed by Matt Round-Garrido and Thomas
Nepveu.
Finally, Race No. 3 at 8:05 Sunday morning saw a similar performance to Race No. 1. D'Orlando was able to run down Porto and take the lead on lap 12. From there, he held on to claim his second win of the weekend. Sikes was 1.072 seconds back in second, then Yuven Sundaramoorthy,
Round-Garrido and Porto.
Through 13 of 18 races, Porto has a 19-point lead over d'Orlando. Sundaramoorthy drops to third, followed by Josh Pierson and Christian Brooks.
- MLT Motorsports' Dakoda Dickerson and Josh Sarchet took the lead during the race's second full course yellow Friday afternoon and held for the rest of the way to win Round No. 4 of IMSA Prototype Challenge at Watkins Glen. The duo finished 18.736 seconds ahead of Muehlner Motorsports
America's Moritz Kranz. Performance Tech Motorsports' Dan Goldburg and Rasmus Lindh were third, followed by JrIII Racing's Ari Balogh and Garret Grist. Robillard Racing's Stevan McAleer and Joe Robillard were fifth.
- In World of Outlaws NoS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series action, Brad Sweet swept the weekend at Cedar Lake Speedway, bringing his total to five consecutive wins at the New Richmond, Wisc. dirt
track.
Friday night saw Carson Macedo led the first 33 laps before both David Gravel and Logan Schuchart cut tires to bring out the yellow. Sweet pulled a slide job on Macedo in turns 3 and 4 after the restart to take the lead and the victory. Aaron Reutzel was third, then Sheldon Haudenschild
and Parker Price-Miller.
Saturday saw another duel between Sweet and Macedo. Sweet got the lead by lap 13, then lost it. On lap 21, Sweet got the lead back and opened enough of a gap to hold on for the win. Macedo was second, then Gio Scelzi, Schuchart and
Gravel.
Through 40 of 81 scheduled races, Sweet has a 94-point lead over Gravel. Macedo is third, then Haudenschild and Schuchart.
- In FIA Formula 3 Championship action, Matteo Nannini and Clement Novalak crashed late in the race Saturday morning. That cleared the way for Prema's Dennis Hauger to take the win after starting 12th. Teammate Olli Caldwell was second, then Trident's Jack Doohan, Enzo Fittipaldi and
Victor Martins.
Race No. 2 on Saturday saw Trident's David Schumacher take a dominant victory to earn his first-ever F3 points. Frederik Vesti was second, then Hauger, Roman Stanek and Jonny
Edgar.
Race No. 3 on Sunday saw Vesti dominate to claim the victory over Hauger. Caldwell was third, then Aleksandr Smolyar and Nannini.
- Much like Alice Powell did on June 26, Jamie Chadwick claimed her own Grand Slam to win Round 2 of the W Series Saturday at the Red Bull Ring. Chadwick finished 6.606 seconds ahead of Irina Sidorkova. Emma Kimilainen was third, then Sarah Moore and Bruna Tomaselli.
Through two rounds, Chadwick has a three-point lead over Moore. Powell is third, followed by Sidorkova and Fabienne Wohlwend.
- Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship competitors descended upon Redbud in Buchanan, Mich. for a full day of action Saturday. 450cc Moto No. 1 saw Yamaha's Aaron Plessinger take the holeshot, but he immediately ended up in a fierce battle with Cooper Webb. Plessinger lost the lead early
on to Ken Roczen.
Roczen led until Dylan Ferrandis ran him down and took the lead with three laps to go. From there, Ferrandis pulled away to take the win by 2.9 seconds over Roczen. Plessinger was third, then Eli Tomac and Christian
Craig.
In 450cc Moto No. 2, Plessinger again took the holeshot, but Tomac took the lead on lap 2. From there, Tomac held on to take the win by 1.5 seconds over Ferrandis, Plessinger, Chase Sexton and Craig. With a combined score of three, Ferrandis took the round victory over Tomac, Plessinger,
Roczen and Craig. Ferrandis now has a 13-point lead over Roczen, then Plessinger, Sexton and Tomac.
In 250cc Moto No. 1, RJ Hampshire crashed out of the lead, giving the advantage to Jett Lawrence. While Hampshire and Jett's brother Hunter were both able to put pressure on the No. 18 Honda, Jett Lawrence was able to hold on for the victory by 2.2 seconds. Hampshire was second, then
Hunter Lawrence, Justin Cooper and Jeremy Martin.
250cc Moto No. 2 saw Cooper claim the holeshot, but Hampshire ran him down and took the lead. Unfortunately, similar to the first moto, Hampshire went down and gave the lead back to Cooper. From there, Cooper pulled away to win by 12.9 seconds over Hampshire, Martin, Hunter Lawrence and
Jo Shimoda.
Despite crashing in both motos, Hampshire's second-place finishes were enough to give him the overall victory for the day with a score of four. Cooper was second, then Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence and
Martin.
Jett Lawrence heads to The Wick 338 in Southwick, Mass. with an eight-point lead over Cooper. Hunter Lawrence is third, then Hampshire and Martin.
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| | Chase Elliott Drives From Back, Wins Cup Series’ Return to Road America
Chase Elliott recovered from being unable to turn in a complete lap in qualifying due to red flags to win Sunday's Jockey Made in America 250 from 34th on the grid. Christopher Bell was second, then Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch
and Denny Hamlin.
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| | Christopher Bell Stops Skid with Road America Runner-Up Finish
Things have not been great recently for Christopher Bell. He's been in a slump. Sunday saw Bell move up late to snag a second-place finish, his first top five in months.
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| | Kyle Busch Overcomes Spins, Damage to Win Road America Xfinity Race
Despite a couple of spins and off-course excursions, Kyle Busch used a set of fresh tires to get past AJ Allmendinger with five laps to go and held on to win Saturday's Henry 180 at Road America. It is his fourth win of
the year and 101st of his career. Daniel Hemric was second, followed by Michael Annett, Allmendinger and Harrison Burton.
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| | Parker Price-Miller Debuting for Jordan Anderson at Knoxville
Jordan Anderson Racing announced Friday that sprint car and midget racer Parker Price-Miller (often referred to as simply PPM), will attempt to make his Camping World Truck Series debut Friday night at Knoxville
Raceway.
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| | Josef Newgarden Wins Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, Snaps Heartbreak Streak
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden led 73 of 80 laps Sunday and finally held on to win the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Marcus Ericsson was second, then Alex Palou, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi.
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| | Engine Change Helps Josef Newgarden Win at Mid-Ohio
Josef Newgarden dominated Sunday's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, but his team made a race-saving find Saturday night. That prompted a late night engine change.
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| | Marcus Ericsson Comes Up Short, Finishes 2nd at Mid-Ohio
In the closing laps, Chip Ganassi Racing's Marcus Ericsson was running down Josef Newgarden and looking to rain on his parade. He came up just short, finishing second in his Huski Chocolate-sponsored No.
8.
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| | Max Verstappen Sweeps the Triple Header, Claims Austrian Grand Prix Victory
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was in control Sunday at the Red Bull Ring from the second the red lights went out. He earned himself the Grand Slam (winning from pole, leading every lap and having the fastest lap of the
race). Valtteri Bottas was second, then Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz Jr.
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| | Lewis Hamilton Signs With Mercedes For 2 More Seasons
Mercedes-AMG announced Saturday that Lewis Hamilton has signed a contract extension that will see him continue to drive for the team through the end of 2023.
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| | Pit Strategy Takes Action Express to Lightning-Delayed WeatherTech 240 Victory
Action Express Racing used a three-stop strategy Friday evening to get Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani into the overall lead. Nasr was then able to hold off Mazda Motorsports' Harry Tincknell to win the WeatherTech 240 at the
Glen.
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| | Turner Motorsport Dominates Sahlen’s 120 at the Glen
Turner Motorsport's Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern led flag-to-flag Friday afternoon to win the Michelin Pilot Challenge Sahlen's 120 at the Glen. Atlanta Speedwerks' Brian Henderson and Robert Noaker won in
TCR.
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| | Ernie Francis Jr. Holds Off the Field, Wins SRX Race at Lucas Oil
Ernie Francis Jr. dominated the Camping World SRX Series feature at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, but ended up in a bumping duel with Scott Speed. After Speed spun out, Francis held off Bobby Labonte to take the
win. Speed was third, then Marco Andretti and Bobby Santos III.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, IMSA, Joe Skibinski of INDYCAR Media, Christian Bruna of Getty Images, Steve Etherington via Mercedes-AMG F1 and our own Phil Allaway and Tom Bowles.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Kyle Larson's Late Spin Preserves Denny Hamlin's Point Lead
by Phil Allaway
Denny Hamlin had a good day Sunday. While he did damage his front nose in the closing laps, Hamlin brought his FedEx Toyota home in fifth. Kyle Larson was better than Hamlin all day, but got spun out in turn 5 with six laps to go after Alex Bowman had braking issues. Larson finished 16th, but had 15 stage points to Hamlin's five. As a result, it's
basically a wash. Hamlin gained one point on Larson, giving him a three-point lead entering Atlanta. William Byron won stage one, but missed turn 5 at one point and never recovered. His 33rd-place finish and 19 stage points keeps him in third. Kyle Busch's third-place finish from the rear of the field moved him up one place to fourth.
Joey Logano dropped one spot to fifth after finishing 15th. Chase Elliott's victory keeps him in sixth. Martin Truex Jr. is still in seventh, while Ryan Blaney is eighth.
Kevin Harvick struggled all weekend and finished 27th. He remains ninth in points. Brad Keselowski is still in 10th after finishing 13th. Bowman finished 22nd after running into braking issues in the final laps while battling for a spot in the top five. He remains in 11th. Austin Dillon is still in
12th.
With 46 points, Tyler Reddick actually earned the most points Sunday at Road America. That allowed him to make some point gains after finishing eighth, but he's still 13th in points. Kurt Busch finished fourth and continues to hold the final spot in the playoffs on points. Christopher Bell's second-place finish moved
him back up to 15th in points, while Chris Buescher is 16th, 25 points behind Kurt Busch.
Michael McDowell made a late pit stop to try to capitalize on a caution that never came. As a result, he finished 30th and remains in 17th. Ross Chastain gained four positions and is now 18th after finishing seventh with what was probably the second or third best car out there. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is still 19th after
battling from the rear to finish 12th, while Matt DiBenedetto is back up to 20th after finishing 10th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 798, 2) Kyle Larson -3, 3) William Byron
-85, 4) Kyle Busch -113, 5) Joey Logano -120, 6) Chase Elliott -124, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -164, 8) Ryan Blaney -195, 9) Kevin Harvick -199, 10) Brad Keselowski
-205, 11) Alex Bowman -237, 12) Austin Dillon -254, 13) Tyler Reddick -277, 14) Kurt Busch -327, 15) Christopher Bell -335, 16) Chris Buescher -352.
Outside the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 17) Michael McDowell
-372.
Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 32, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -13, 3) Alex Bowman -17, 4) Kyle Busch -20, 5) Chase Elliott -21, t-6) Joey Logano -24, t-6) Ryan Blaney -24, t-6) William Byron -24, 9) Brad Keselowski -26, t-10) Christopher Bell -27, t-10) Denny Hamlin -27, t-10) Michael McDowell -27, 13) Kurt Busch -30, t-14) Tyler Reddick -31, t-14) Chris Buescher -31, t-14) Matt DiBenedetto
-25, t-14) Bubba Wallace -31, .
Stage
Points: 1) Kyle Larson 236, 2) Denny Hamlin -11, 3) William Byron -46, 4) Chase Elliott -75, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -89, t-6) Kyle Busch -90, t-6) Joey Logano
-90, 8) Ryan Blaney -100, 9) Brad Keselowski -123, 10) Alex Bowman -143, 11) Kevin Harvick -148, 12) Kurt Busch -156, 13) Tyler Reddick -163, 14) Austin Dillon -167, 15) Christopher Bell
-174, 16) Bubba Wallace -186.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Michael McDowell -205.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 673, 2) Kyle Larson -23, 3) Kyle Busch
-45, 4) Joey Logano -51, 5) William Byron -59, 6) Chase Elliott -76, 7) Kevin Harvick -80, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -96, 9) Brad Keselowski -104, 10) Austin Dillon -115, 11) Ryan Blaney
-122, 12) Alex Bowman -131, 13) Tyler Reddick -145, 14) Chris Buescher -186, 15) Christopher Bell -188, 16) Michael McDowell -194.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs:
18) Kurt Busch -212.
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, Road America)
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 Loses Some Of His Lead After Contact
by Phil Allaway
Austin Cindric was quick Saturday, but his immediate rivals had the measure of him. Cindric was damaged in an early incident, then recovered to finish eighth. That dropped his points lead from 101 to 89 over AJ Allmendinger, who won the first
two stages and finished fourth. Daniel Hemric finished second and also made up some ground in third. Justin Allgaier is still in fourth despite a 12th-place finish.
Harrison Burton finished fifth and stays fifth in points. Jeb Burton is in sixth, but teammate Justin Haley moved up to seventh after finishing 10th. Haley displaced Brandon Jones, who
finished 19th.
Noah Gragson finished fourth and hangs onto ninth in the standings, while Michael Annett is still 10th after a third-place finish. Jeremy Clements had mechanical issues and finished a lap down in 28th. He's still
in 11th, but he lost a lot of ground to Annett. He's also the last driver in the playoffs on points. Clements' advantage has been trimmed to 33 over Brandon Brown, who finished 11th Saturday.
Myatt Snider finished 23rd Saturday and dropped down to 13th in points. Riley Herbst finished seventh and moves past the idle Josh Berry into 14th in points. Ty Gibbs remains in 16th
after a transmission failure ruined what could have been a great day.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 721, 2) AJ Allmendinger -89, 3) Daniel Hemric -105, 4) Justin Allgaier
-151, 5) Harrison Burton -175, 6) Jeb Burton -197, 7) Justin Haley -222, 8) Brandon Jones -236, 9) Noah Gragson -250, 10) Michael Annett -271, 11) Jeremy Clements -305, 12) Brandon Brown -338, 13) Myatt Snider
-341, 14) Riley Herbst -348, 15) Josh Berry -373, 16) Ty Gibbs -391.
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 15th in points.
Playoff Points: 1) Austin Cindric 27, 2) AJ Allmendinger -12, t-3) Ty Gibbs -16, t-3) Justin Allgaier
-16, 5) Josh Berry -21, t-6) Jeb Burton -22, t-6) Myatt Snider -22, t-6) Daniel Hemric -22, 9) Justin Haley -24, t-10) Noah Gragson -25, t-10) Harrison Burton -25, t-11) Brandon Jones
-26.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be second 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
14th.
Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 206, 2) Daniel Hemric -47, 3) Justin Allgaier -50, 4) AJ Allmendinger
-57, 5) Harrison Burton -67, 6) Noah Gragson -72, 7) Justin Haley -79, 8) Brandon Jones -91, 9) Jeb Burton -122, 10) Michael Annett -137, 11) Ty Gibbs -148, t-12) Myatt Snider -152, t-12) Riley Herbst
-152, 14) Josh Berry -156, 15) Jeremy Clements -161, 16) Brandon Brown -179.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 15th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 602, 2) AJ Allmendinger -43, 3) Daniel Hemric -63, 4) Jeb Burton
-93, 5) Justin Allgaier -112, 6) Harrison Burton -125, 7) Michael Annett -155, t-8) Brandon Jones -161, t-8) Justin Haley -161, t-8) Jeremy Clements -161, 11) Brandon Brown -175, 12) Noah Gragson -196, 13) Myatt Snider -207, 14) Riley Herbst -220, 15) Ryan Sieg -226, 16) Josh Berry -247.
Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity points for the whole season, Brett Moffitt would be tied for 12th in old points.
Race Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona-1, Phoenix, Dover, Pocono), 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, Road America)
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. 8
by Phil Allaway
The Camping World Truck Series was off last weekend. They will return to action Friday night at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.
When they get to the Marion County Fairgrounds, John Hunter Nemechek will have an 86-point lead over Ben Rhodes, and will have the momentum from a victory at Pocono Raceway. Austin Hill is third in points,
then Zane Smith and Todd Gilliland.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 575, 2) Ben Rhodes -86, 3) Austin Hill -106, 4) Zane Smith -147, 5) Todd Gilliland -167, 6) Sheldon Creed -169, 7) Matt Crafton
-183, 8) Grant Enfinger -202, 9) Stewart Friesen -225, 10) Carson Hocevar -240, 11) Chandler Smith -261, 12) Johnny Sauter -292, 13) Tyler Ankrum -294, 14) Austin Wayne Self -302, 15) Derek
Kraus -316, 16) Ryan Truex -347.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 15th in
points.
Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 34, 2) Ben Rhodes -23, 3) Todd Gilliland -27, 4) Sheldon Creed
-28, 5) Zane Smith -31, 6) Raphael Lessard -32, t-7) Chandler Smith -33, t-7) Grant Enfinger -33, t-7) Derek Kraus -33.
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 163, 2) Austin Hill
-44, 3) Ben Rhodes -51, 4) Sheldon Creed -59, 5) Zane Smith -72, 6) Stewart Friesen -80, 7) Matt Crafton -81, t-8) Todd Gilliland -97, t-8) Chandler Smith -97, 10) Derek Kraus -99, 11) Grant Enfinger
-109, 12) Raphael Lessard -123, 13) Johnny Sauter -138, 14) Tyler Ankrum -140, 15) Carson Hocevar -146, t-16) Austin Wayne Self -150, t-16) Tanner Gray
-150.
Note: If they were eligible for stage points,
Kyle Busch would be eighth. Had Kaz Grala been eligible for points for the full season, he would be tied for 15th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 374, 2) Ben Rhodes -42, 3) Todd Gilliland -55, 4) Austin Hill -72, 5) Zane
Smith -82, 6) Grant Enfinger -95, 7) Carson Hocevar -106, 8) Sheldon Creed -108, 9) Matt Crafton -113, 10) Stewart Friesen -151, 11) Tyler Ankrum -159, 12) Austin Wayne Self -166, 13) Chandler Smith
-167, 14) Johnny Sauter -168, 15) Ryan Truex -200, 16) Tanner Gray -210.
Note: If he were eligible for Old School points, Kyle Busch would be
16th.
Race Winner: Ben Rhodes (Daytona-1, Daytona-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas, Richmond, Charlotte, Pocono), 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 Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip was brought to you by the letter C for Curbs. Road America is known for some of the nastiest curbs in road
racing. It's not bad if you just clip them, but the further you go onto them, the rougher they get. They bit a couple of drivers, most notably Austin Cindric, on Sunday. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip
compiled by Phil Allaway
"Yeah, it’s just this track has a lot of character to it. It’s so long. You have a lot of opportunity to make mistakes or be good whenever you hit
it.
"I mean, four miles is a long course. Just has a lot of character to it, a lot of bumps, a lot of sections that are really tricky to get through. I think conserving your tire was actually a little bit of a thing today, which to be honest we don’t have much of that I feel
like any more.
"It was a little different race. Like I said, proud of our group. Most importantly, thanks everybody for coming out. Thanks to our partners, everybody back at Hendrick Motorsports. Been doing a phenomenal job. Bodies, chassis, engines, fab shops. It’s just been
incredible. Looking forward to more." - Chase Elliott, race winner
"Yeah, we just had a really, really good Camry. Our SiriusXM Camry was really strong, and this place has been really good to me in the past. I knew that we would be pretty fast coming in here. In practice and qualifying, I felt like I under drove the car a little bit, but
through practice and the race I knew we would be pretty good.
"Yeah, I think it was close, closer than anyone else was to [Chase Elliott]. That was good. At the end of the race everyone was telling me that I was matching if not a little better lap times, so never had track position to start up
there with him and see what we had against the whole run. I’m sure he was saving a little bit to make sure if there was a restart there or something, but that was a lot of fun. The SiriusXM Camry was really good, and I knew that we would have a really good week this weekend." - Christopher Bell, finished second
"I don’t know. We kept working on it, making adjustments there. We just did not have the tire life [that Chase Elliott] did. That was incredible. He was able to drive away from us. His braking was really good, but his drive off was awesome. They beat us by far today, but
proud of the Skittles bunch, everybody on this Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry did a good job. We all ran up front. We all had good speed. It showed that we were close. That was all we had, but overall good day fighting through traffic. It was really uneventful because we jumped the stages, so that kind of gave us that track position there at the end. We didn’t get very many points today doing that, but I feel like we are in a good spot. Hopefully, we will go get them next week." - Kyle
Busch, finished third
"It was fun. I really enjoyed Road America and just the whole challenge of running here; posting good laps early with fresh tires and then managing the tires on the long run. I knew our strategy was to go for Stage points; which man, I was going to have to work hard
today. I gave it everything I could. So, I think we got a lot of points with the Monster Energy Chevy.
"I’m just really proud of our group to come here. I worked through the simulator work and worked through everything we could. I put one tire wrong today and gave up one point to [Kyle] Larson in stage two. I really enjoyed coming up here today and the Wisconsin people
were great. There were tons of old school gear that I saw from racing back in my Penske days. The fans here were just ecstatic that the Cup Series was here. It was a lot of fun." - Kurt Busch, finished fourth
"Yeah, pretty much. I thought that was kind of what I was capable of and what the car was capable of. A combination of both. I’m proud of our FedEx Toyota team. They gave me a good car; I just need to find three or fourth tenths here and there at this big of a track. It’s
like three hundredths at an oval track. If I can do that, I will be right in the game.
"[I feel good about this], considering I have never been here before. Look at the guys in front of me, they have raced here before, so yeah, I feel good about it." - Denny Hamlin, finished
fifth
"I thought we were good enough to run fourth there at the end but my engine shut off. It was really cool to run sixth and be the best Ford today. We definitely had a lot of adversity with not getting a qualifying lap in and then the penalty at the beginning. I felt like
we had a really good car on the long run. I am proud of that. It was a good day overall. We needed that. We will go on to the next one and see if we can get better." - Chase Briscoe, finished sixth
"Seventh-place here at Road America in our No. 42 AdventHealth Camaro ZL1 1LE. We got good stage points and a good finish. Proud of the effort from all the men and women at Chip Ganassi Racing to bring two really fast hotrods. Kurt Busch and the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevy
was fast and we were too. We were around each other all day and had speed passing a lot of cars." - Ross Chastain, finished seventh
"We worked really hard on prepping for these road course races over the off-season, and it’s great to see all the hard work pay off when we have a solid day like today. I was really happy with the speed and handling of our No. 8 Kalahari
Resorts & Conventions Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE right from the start of the race today. It handled so well that I was worried about adjusting on it at all today, but my crew chief, Randall Burnett, and the team made some good changes on air pressure throughout the race that helped me with all around rotation through the course. We stayed out during Stage 2 and played a little bit of strategy to grab our first Stage Win of the year, which is great for our points situation in the standings. By
doing that, we did trade-off a little bit and have to climb back up through the field in the final stage, but I was confident we had both the speed and handling to do so today. It got a little tough during the final laps of the race when I felt like my brakes were starting to fade, but we were able to fight through it and grab another top-10 finish." - Tyler Reddick, finished
eighth
"I thought the adjustments we made and everything we did to get the car ready to qualify were great and the race, it was pretty clear we were a short-run car. That was very evident. But we made the most of it all day. The adjustments
were good. The guys did a great job all weekend. We have been working hard to get our road course cars better and it was nice to get a glimpse of some hope and speed and to lead laps. I know we have to work on our long run speed a little bit. That was cool. I wanted to get Menards and Dutch Boy a good run because we have had some bad circumstances this year so it was nice to get a top 10 and lead laps." - Matt DiBenedetto, finished
10th
"Yeah, we hate to give up points, but there’s still a lot of racing left before the Playoffs start. We’ll just keep trying to do a good job in the Stages. It would be nice to get back and win some Stages, win some more races and pad our
bonus points. Obviously, it would be good to beat Denny (Hamlin) and get those five extra. Really shooting for it. You can tell he’s really shooting for it too. He was really aggressive today. Those five bonus points are important.
"No, I don’t think I could have raced Chase [Elliott]. He’s so good at road courses. I don’t know – I felt like we were a fifth-place car. Not bad, but I think there’s a lot of areas that I need to get better. I feel like our team did a
really good job of improving it from practice. It definitely drove better today than it did yesterday, so I was happy with that. I think we still have some room to improve all around; myself and the car a little bit." - Kyle Larson, finished 16th
"I only had one wheel drive and when you only have two other ones spinning with 750 horsepower it is a bit challenging. It was quite dramatic taking the lead and then immediately losing everything. Not a weekend I am necessarily happy
about. To have the opportunity to show up at this race track with extremely well-prepared race cars and have a shot to win both races is really great for someone in my position. But I want to make the most of it and I put way too much into it to have it go that bad, especially when you get moved out of the lead and then take it back as clean as possible and then this is all you’ve got. That is racing. That is my motto for the weekend. I appreciate Pirtek and everyone at Road America for coming
out to support us. It has been a great weekend." - Austin Cindric, finished 38th (dropped out with axle failure)
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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