Frontstretch Newsletter: July 19, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition CXXI
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- Cup teams are arriving back at their shops today after Sunday's action in New Hampshire. We'll
have anything that breaks for you at Frontstretch.- Cup teams are arriving back at their shops today after Sunday's action in New
Hampshire. We'll have anything that breaks for you at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: July 16-18
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- Toyota GAZOO Racing's Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez won Sunday's FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Monza. This came despite the car dying on the side of the road at the beginning of the fifth hour. That cost the team a minute on-track and briefly gave the
overall lead to the No. 709 entry from Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus.
The margin of victory was 60.908 seconds over Signatech Alpine Elf's Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere. The Glickenhaus No. 709 ended up four laps down in third after a garage visit due to brake issues and losing a
cylinder.
United Autosports' Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and Fabio Scherer won the LMP2 class for their second win of the year, finishing third overall. They were 57.696 seconds ahead of Team WRT's Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi and Robin Frijns. Racing Team Nederland was third with Frits
van Eerd and COVID-19 subsitutes Paul-Loup Chatin and Nyck de Vries.
Porsche GT Team's Kevin Estre and Neel Jani won in GTE-Pro by 32.103 seconds over AF Corse's James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi. Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz were third. Finally, AF Corse's Ferrari for Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera claimed their
second win in the GTE-Am class. They finished 44.047 seconds ahead of Aston Martin Racing's Paul Dalla Lana, Augusto Farfus and Marcos Gomes, who just beat out the similar Aston Martin of D'Station Racing's Tomonobu Fujii, Satoshi Hoshino and Andrew Watson.
- Last weekend was a bit of a weather nightmare for the World of Outlaws NoS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. Rainouts on both Thursday and Friday nights resulted in a doubleheader of King's Royals on Saturday. King's Royal No. 1 (which counts as this year's edition) saw FLORacing All
Star Circuit of Champions regular Tyler Courtney sweep past polesitter Justin Peck and took the lead. Brad Sweet followed past and pressured him for the entire first half of the race until he cut a tire.
With Sweet out of the way, Courtney had to hold off a late charge from David Gravel to take his first career World of Outlaws NoS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory and a sweet $175,000 check. Gravel crossed the line second, but came up light at the scales, which resulted in a DQ.
Danny Dietrich inherited second, then Daryn Pittman, Bill Balog and Sheldon Haudenschild.
The second King's Royal (last year's race) saw Kyle Larson charge from ninth on the grid in a repaired car after flipping during the Last Chance Qualifier for the first King's Royal to claim the biggest sprint car victory of his career. Haudenschild was second, then Carson Macedo, Courtney and
Sweet. You can read more about Saturday's 14 hours of racing at Eldora in this weekend's edition of Thinkin' Dirty at Frontstretch.
The Knight Before the King's Royal was postponed to Sunday afternoon. Here, Macedo led all but one of the 25 laps en route to his second win of the week at Eldora (he won the Joker's Wild 25-lap feature Wednesday night). Brian Brown was second, then Sweet, Spencer Bayston and Donny
Schatz.
Through 46 races, Sweet still holds a 114-point lead over Macedo. Gravel is third, then Schatz and Haudenschild.
- The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship visited Spring Creek Motocross Park in Millville, Minn. Saturday for the Spring Creek National. In the 450cc class, GASGAS' Justin Barcia took the holeshot and led early. Meanwhile, Ken Roczen was eliminated in a huge crash at the first
turn.
Barcia was pressured by Kawasaki's Adam Cianciarulo until he crashed out of second. From there, Barcia held off late charges from Dylan Ferrandis and Eli Tomac to win Moto No. 1. Ferrandis was second, then Tomac, Christian Craig and Aaron
Plessinger.
Moto No. 2 saw Barcia win the holeshot once again, but he had to deal with a sore Roczen. Roczen ultimately didn't take long to get past Barcia for the lead. From there, he held on to win by 5.3 seconds over Barcia, Chase Sexton, Tomac and Ferrandis, who crashed twice in the race and
still came back to finish fifth. In the overall, Barcia claimed the round victory with a score of three. Tomac was second, then Ferrandis, Sexton and Craig.
In the 250cc class, Yamaha's Justin Cooper took the holeshot and pulled out to a decent lead. However, Jeremy Martin, whose parents just so happen to own Spring Creek, ran down Cooper in the closing minutes. From there, Martin pulled away to take a very popular over Cooper, Michael
Mosiman and the Lawrence brothers (Jett in front of Hunter).
250cc Moto No. 2 saw Martin continue to benefit from his hometown knowledge, Martin got the holeshot at the start and ran away to sweep the motos and win the round at home. Mosiman was second, then Cooper, Austin Forkner and Hunter Lawrence. For the day, Martin had the minimum
score of two, followed by Mosiman, Cooper, Jett Lawrence and Hunter Lawrence.
Points-wise, Dylan Ferrandis continues to lead the 450cc points by 32 over Roczen. Barcia is up to third, then Tomac and Sexton. Justin Cooper leads the 250cc class by only six points over Jett Lawrence. Hunter Lawrence is third, then Jeremy Martin and RJ Hampshire. The Lucas
Oil Pro Motocross Championship is not taking the Olympics off and will be back in action Saturday at Washougal in Washington.
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| | Aric Almirola Scores Maiden 2021 Victory at New Hampshire
Stewart-Haas Racing's Aric Almirola moved past Brad Keselowski late and held off a charge from Christopher Bell to win Sunday's darkness-shortened Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. Bell was second, then Keselowski, Joey Logano
and Ryan Blaney.
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| | NASCAR’s Scott Miller Explains New Hampshire Stoppage, Protocols
Following Sunday's Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Scott Miller met with the media to explain the decision making that went into starting the race in misty conditions, why the yellow wasn't thrown quick enough, and the decision to
end the race early.
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| | Mother Nature Strikes Early, Chaos Ensues at New Hampshire
Sunday's Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 started under heavy cloud cover with some mist falling. It didn't take long before it turned into actual rain. That caused multiple crashes in turn 1 on lap 6. Let's
just say that Kyle Busch was rather upset afterwards, but showed a lot of restraint.
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| | Christopher Bell Guides the No. 54 to Another Xfinity Win at New Hampshire
Christopher Bell made his first Xfinity Series start since 2018 Saturday. He made the best of it, leading 151 of 200 laps to win the Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200. Justin Allgaier was second, then Daniel Hemric, Austin
Cindric and Harrison Burton.
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| | Justin Allgaier Rides Summer Hot Streak to Runner-Up Finish at Loudon
In the past couple of months, JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier has arisen as one of Austin Cindric's biggest rivals for the championship. Saturday saw him finish a strong second, best of the series
regulars.
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| | Riley Herbst Bounces Back From Early Crash for Top-10 Finish
With Michael Annett out of commission due to his stress fracture, Riley Herbst needed a good day. It didn't look good early after he crashed on a restart. He recovered from there to finish 10th.
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| | Lewis Hamilton Overcomes Penalty to win 8th British Grand Prix
In a rather controversial Grand Prix of Great Britain, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton overcame contact with Max Verstappen on the first lap at Copse and a 10-second penalty to win at Silverstone for his 99th career win. Charles
Leclerc was second, then Valtteri Bottas, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.
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| | Daniel Dye Leads Nearly Every Lap to Win ARCA Race at Berlin
GMS Racing's Daniel Dye led all but two laps Saturday night to win the ARCA Menards Series Zinsser SmartCoat 200 at Berlin Raceway. Ty Gibbs was second, then Corey Heim, Taylor Gray and Jesse Love.
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| | Jordan Taylor, Antonio Garcia Win Lightning-Shortened Northeast Grand Prix
Corvette Racing's Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia led flag-to-flag Saturday at Lime Rock Park to win the Northeast Grand Prix. The Heart Of Racing's Roman DeAngelis and Ross Gunn won in GT Daytona. The race was
shortened from 160 minutes to 88 due to lightning.
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| | Eric Foss, Jeff Mosing Win Lime Rock Park 120
Murillo Racing's Eric Foss and Jeff Mosing took the overall lead a couple of laps after the final restart and pulled away to win the Lime Rock Park 120. It is their first victory in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge's
Grand Sport class. Bryan Herta Autosport's Michael Lewis and Taylor Hagler won in TCR.
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| | Chase Elliott Holds Off Father Bill, Champion Stewart for SRX Win at Nashville
Chase Elliott passed his father Bill with 23 laps to go on a restart, then held on take the victory in the Camping World SRX Series finale at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Tony Stewart finished second and won the
title. Bill Elliott was third, then Bobby Labonte and Paul Tracy.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, LAT Images via Mercedes-AMG F1, IMSA and our own Phil Allaway and Mark Kristl.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Aric Almirola's Victory Causes A Massive Shift
by Phil Allaway
Let's face it. Very few people were expecting Aric Almirola to claim his first career Cup victory outside of a former plate track Sunday. That victory has really changed the points.
Denny Hamlin ran well on Sunday, scoring 11 stage points and running much of the race in the top 10. He ended up finishing 10th. Kyle Larson was very quiet Sunday, scoring only a few stage points, but finishing ahead of Hamlin in seventh. The result of that is that Hamlin expanded his points lead up to 13 over Larson. Despite a very
disappointing day that saw a pit strategy move backfire, William Byron is back up to third after finishing 21st. Kyle Busch got caught out by rain in the opening laps and crashed out of the lead on lap 6. Being unable to continue after the red flag relegated him to a 37th-place finish and dropped him to fourth in points.
Chase Elliott was strong early on, but faded after a pit penalty. He ended up a lap down in 18th, but holds onto fifth. Joey Logano had throttle issues effectively at the start of the race and ended up two laps down. He recovered from that to finish fourth and maintain his place. He even gained one point on
Elliott. Martin Truex Jr. spun and hit the wall from second on lap 6, but recovered to finish 12th to stay seventh. Ryan Blaney had a strong run, leading 64 laps and finishing fifth to keep eighth in points.
Brad Keselowski broke out of a recent slump Sunday, leading 53 laps and battling for the win before settling for third. That moved up him to ninth at the expense of Kevin Harvick. This is despite Harvick having probably his best race of the year. He led the most laps (66) and was in the top five nearly all day before dropping to sixth at the
finish. Alex Bowman is still in ninth, while Tyler Reddick moved up to 12th after finishing 13th. With Almirola's win, he is now the last driver in the playoffs on points.
Reddick is five points ahead of teammate Austin Dillon, who finished a lap down in 17th Sunday. Kurt Busch finished 16th and remains in 14th. Christopher Bell is 15th and made significant gains after finishing second. Chris Buescher crashed early with Bubba
Wallace and eventually finished 29th. He's still in 16th, but nearly a full race behind Bell and more than two races behind Reddick.
Matt DiBenedetto is up one place to 17th after finishing in 11th. Ross Chastain kept himself in the top 10 nearly all day and finished eighth, moving him up to 18th. Michael McDowell struggled to a 25th-place finish and is now down to 19th, his worst position of the season. Wallace remains in 20th.
Almirola entered Loudon 27th in points after a terrible year to this point. He had been showing promise recently, but winning was unexpected. Not only did winning Sunday lock him into the playoffs, he moved up from 27th to a tie for 23rd with teammate Chase Briscoe.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 874, 2) Kyle Larson -13, 3) William Byron
-125, 4) Kyle Busch -134, 5) Chase Elliott -138, 6) Joey Logano -141, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -178, 8) Ryan Blaney -185, 9) Brad Keselowski -198, 10) Kevin Harvick
-201, 11) Alex Bowman -237, 12) Tyler Reddick -278, 13) Austin Dillon -283, 14) Kurt Busch -322, 15) Christopher Bell -342, 16) Chris Buescher -399.
Outside the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 19) Michael McDowell
-426, t-23) Aric Almriola -497.
Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 32, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -13, 3) Alex Bowman -17, 4) Kyle Busch -19, 5) Chase Elliott -21, 6) Ryan Blaney -23, t-7) Joey Logano -24, t-7) William Byron -24, t-7) Kurt Busch -24, 10) Brad Keselowski
-26, t-11) Christopher Bell -27, t-11) Denny Hamlin -27, t-11) Michael McDowell -27, t-11) Aric Almirola -27, t-15) Tyler Reddick -31, t-15) Chris Buescher -31, t-15) Matt DiBenedetto -25, t-15) Bubba Wallace -31.
Stage
Points: 1) Kyle Larson 253, 2) Denny Hamlin -3, 3) William Byron -60, 4) Chase Elliott -79, 5) Kyle Busch -88, 6) Ryan Blaney -95, t-7) Joey
Logano -103, t-7) Martin Truex Jr. -103, 9) Brad Keselowski -118, 10) Alex Bowman -145, 11) Kevin Harvick -148, 12) Kurt Busch -153, 13) Tyler Reddick -160, 14) Austin Dillon
-182, 15) Christopher Bell -186, 16) Bubba Wallace -203.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 18) Aric Almirola -219, 20) Michael McDowell -222.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 734, 2) Kyle Larson -27, 3) Joey Logano
-53, 4) Kyle Busch -61, 5) Kevin Harvick -74, 6) Chase Elliott -78, 7) William Byron -79, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -90, 9) Brad Keselowski -95, 10) Ryan Blaney
-110, t-11) Alex Bowman -123, t-11) Austin Dillon -123, 13) Tyler Reddick -143, 14) Christopher Bell -177, 15) Kurt Busch -202, 16) Chris Buescher -210.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs:
19) Michael McDowell -225, 25) Aric Almirola -303.
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-1), Joey Logano (Bristol), Alex Bowman (Richmond, Dover), Brad Keselowski (Talladega), Kyle Busch (Kansas), Chase Elliott (Circuit of the Americas, Road America), Kurt Busch (Atlanta-2), Aric Almirola (Loudon)
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 Expands Advantage With Solid Day In Loudon
by Phil Allaway
Austin Cindric was not the strongest on Saturday, but plenty solid. He finished fourth and managed to expand his led back to 82 points over AJ Allmendinger. Allmendinger led laps early on, but faded to a 12th-place
finish. Daniel Hemric remains in third after finishing third. Justin Allgaier finished second and holds onto fourth.
Harrison Burton, fresh off the news that he will be moving up to Cup next season, finished fifth Saturday and stays fifth in points. Harrison's cousin Jeb is still in sixth after finishing 11th. Justin Haley is
seventh, followed by Noah Gragson.
Brandon Jones got caught up in an early crash, then blew his engine. The bad finish didn't cost him a place in points, but he's now more than 50 points behind Gragson. Jeremy Clements jumped up to 10th, while the
idle Michael Annett is back to 11th, last driver in the playoffs on points. Annett hopes to be back at Watkins Glen in August. Myatt Snider remains in 12th after finishing seventh.
Annett's advantage over 13th-place Riley Herbst is 32 points. Herbst recovered from an early crash to finish 10th. Brandon Brown is 14th after finishing 17th. Josh Berry is still 15th after finishing
eighth in place of Annett. Ryan Sieg is 16th
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 797, 2) AJ Allmendinger -82, 3) Daniel Hemric -113, 4) Justin Allgaier
-144, 5) Harrison Burton -182, 6) Jeb Burton -208, 7) Justin Haley -220, 8) Noah Gragson -253, 9) Brandon Jones -308, 10) Jeremy Clements -329, 11) Michael Annett -347, 12) Myatt Snider -371, 13) Riley Herbst
-379, 14) Brandon Brown -388, 15) Josh Berry -400, 16) Ryan Sieg -422.
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 have the most with 29, while Christopher Bell's season debut would put him in sixth. Martin Truex Jr. would be tied for 12th. If he had run the full season for Xfinity points, Brett Moffitt would be tied
for 15th.
Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 222, 2) Daniel Hemric -36, 3) AJ Allmendinger -39, 4) Justin Allgaier
-48, 5) Harrison Burton -59, 6) Noah Gragson -72, 7) Justin Haley -81, 8) Brandon Jones -105, 9) Jeb Burton -134, 10) Michael Annett -153, 11) Ty Gibbs -164, 12) Josh Berry -166, t-13) Myatt Snider
-168, t-13) Riley Herbst -168, 15) Jeremy Clements -176, t-16) Brandon Brown -195, t-16) Ty Dillon -195.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be tied for 10th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 670, 2) AJ Allmendinger -52, 3) Daniel Hemric -81, 4) Jeb Burton
-90, 5) Justin Allgaier -106, 6) Harrison Burton -139, 7) Justin Haley -157, 8) Jeremy Clements -170, 9) Noah Gragson -198, 10) Brandon Brown -208, 11) Myatt Snider -221, 12) Michael Annett -223, 13) Brandon Jones -224, 14) Riley Herbst -235, 15) Ryan Sieg -237, 16) Josh Berry -264.
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, Pocono), Ty Gibbs (Daytona-2, Charlotte), AJ Allmendinger (Las Vegas, Mid-Ohio), Myatt Snider (Homestead), Justin Allgaier (Atlanta-1, Darlington), Josh Berry
(Martinsville), Jeb Burton (Talladega), Kyle Busch (Circuit of the Americas, Texas, Nashville, Road America, Atlanta-2), Christopher Bell (Loudon)
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. 9
by Phil Allaway
The Camping World Truck Series was off last weekend. They will not be in action again until the United Rentals 176 at Watkins Glen on Aug. 7. That race will be the final race of the regular
season.
When the teams get to Watkins Glen, John Hunter Nemechek will have an 85-point lead over Ben Rhodes, having already clinched the regular season championship. Austin Hill, who won in Knoxville, is third, followed
by Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith. Only two spots are up for grabs in the playoffs and the chances of Derek Kraus or Tyler Ankrum getting in are not great.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 605, 2) Ben Rhodes -85, 3) Austin Hill -95, 4) Todd Gilliland -147, 5) Zane Smith -154, 6) Matt Crafton
-175, t-7) Sheldon Creed -192, t-7) Grant Enfinger -192, 9) Carson Hocevar -233, 10) Stewart Friesen -241, 11) Chandler Smith -254, 12) Derek Kraus -294, 13) Tyler Ankrum -298, 14) Johnny Sauter
-305, 15) Austin Wayne Self -334, 16) Ryan Truex -353.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 16th in points.
Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 34, 2) Ben Rhodes -23, 3) Todd Gilliland -27, 4) Sheldon Creed
-28, 5) Austin Hill -29, t-6) Zane Smith -31, t-6) Derek Kraus -31, 8) Raphael Lessard -32, t-9) Chandler Smith -33, t-9) Grant Enfinger -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 167, 2) Austin Hill
-47, 3) Ben Rhodes -54, 4) Sheldon Creed -58, 5) Zane Smith -76, 6) Matt Crafton -78, 7) Stewart Friesen -80, 8) Derek Kraus -83, 9) Todd Gilliland -84, 10) Chandler Smith -99, 11) Grant Enfinger
-107, 12) Raphael Lessard -127, 13) Carson Hocevar -134, 14) Tyler Ankrum -138, 15) Johnny Sauter -142, 16) Kaz Grala -153.
Note: If they were eligible for stage points,
Kyle Busch would be 10th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 396, 2) Ben Rhodes -38, 3) Todd Gilliland -47, 4) Austin Hill -58, 5) Zane Smith
-85, 6) Grant Enfinger -87, 7) Matt Crafton -107, 8) Carson Hocevar -110, 9) Sheldon Creed -129, 10) Chandler Smith -156, 11) Tyler Ankrum -165, 12) Stewart Friesen -167, 13) Johnny Sauter -176, 14) Austin
Wayne Self -185, 15) Ryan Truex -202, 16) Derek Kraus -211.
Race Winners: 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), Austin Hill
(Knoxville)
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 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 was brought to you by the letter M for Moist. The race started under adverse conditions that were rather sketchy. It took a matter of three minutes for
heck to go down. A lot of people likely left New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sunday night in a very bad mood. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Foxwoods Resort Casino 301
compiled by Phil Allaway
"Honestly, I did. This is by far one of my favorite racetracks. I love coming up to the New England area and racing. I love this racetrack. I had this race won a couple years ago and I gave it away. I lost it, and I am so glad to win a race here with this race team. God is so good. We’ve been through so much and I’ve just stood
the test and kept the faith. The team, everybody, they’ve just been working so hard. Smithfield, Ford, Go Bowling, Pit Boss Grills, everybody, Honeystinger, Shady Rays Sunglasses. There have been so many people that have just continued to support us through the crappiest year ever, and, man, this feels so good for them. My pit crew, they did a phenomenal job on pit road. All the guys that work on this car, they just keep fighting. They just keep digging, bringing the best race car they can bring
every week and it is no doubt, we have struggled, but, guess what? We’re going playoff racing." - Aric Almirola, race winner
"I didn’t know how may laps they cut it short, but definitely whenever I saw the board and saw that we were eight laps short, it stings man. I felt like I probably had a little better pace than him and I was able to get to him. I know lapped cars were giving him a bad time, but I was able to get to him. It was going to be a heck
of a race, but really proud of everyone on this Rheel Pristine Auction Camry. They did really good. Everyone on this 20 crew – we didn’t start out the greatest and then we were really good, probably the best we were all day right there at the end of the race. That’s all you can ask for is to have a shot at it and just wish we had eight more laps." - Christopher Bell, finished
second
"[Aric Almirola] was just lights-out fast that last run, or the last two runs, and just drove by everybody. It was pretty amazing. We were good, but we weren’t great, so a solid day." - Brad Keselowski, finished
third
"We had a really fast Autotrader Mustang. When you come to your home track all you want to do is win. A straight kick to the gut to start the race with a piece of rubber getting in the linkage, the throttle linkage, and not letting me get wide-open. All we did was take a picture under the red flag, underneath the hood to see what
was under there. We took a picture with a camera phone and they gave us a two-lap penalty for that. I understand the rules are the rules, but it’s also a safety factor and the last thing you want is a throttle to stick and get hurt. I don’t know. Hindsight is 20/20, but you would never know what it was if you didn’t take a picture, but it still had the piece of rubber in it. It’s frustrating. We got a good finish out of it, but it’s frustrating when you’re at your home track and you feel like
you could have got a win out of it, out of a safety issue that we got a penalty for." - Joey Logano, finished fourth
"I thought we were pretty good. We just got loose when the sun started to go down and as it got darker we got looser and just couldn’t really keep up with that. We kind of fell off the pace there at the end. When we had the lead I was kind of riding around and I knew Aric and the 2 were there and I was trying to manage my tires,
but as soon as Aric got by the 2 he was on me incredibly quick and I couldn’t push any harder. Overall, not a bad run. The three best cars in the top five is not bad, just still have to keep doing a little work, but we’re getting there." - Ryan Blaney, finished fifth
"I think we just needed grip. I was just a little bit too free. Once we finally got some grip in it, my long run kind of faded a little bit. My team made some improvements, so that was good. I feel like with the improvements, we probably finished a spot or two better than we maybe would have before. It’s good to get the No. 5
HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE back into the top 10." - Kyle Larson, finished seventh
"A little bit, but I don’t think it’s detrimental or anything like that. We were fortunate. I think we were just far enough up the field to be in the wreck, but far enough back to where I saw the leaders wrecking and were able to check up and brake 100 feet which kept us out of the wall. It was fortunate and unfortunate, but
we’re going to be fine.
"It’s wet. We run slick tires and these cars don’t have any grip on slick tires and wet asphalt. To me, that’s the job of the corner spotter has in NASCAR. They’re sitting over there, they can feel when it’s raining and see when it’s raining. That’s their job to tell NASCAR that it’s raining and we have to stop so we don’t have
that situation. You always in these situations , you want them to air on the side of not looking bad and this is just a bad look." - Denny Hamlin, finished 10th
"It’s just ice. Slicks don’t stick to water. I think the 18 (Kyle Busch) and I had it the worst because we were out front. We’re a half-a-lap ahead of the back of the field so it’s the wettest when we get there. The lap before I went into (turn) one and about did the same thing and I hollered on the radio that the track is wet.
Like wet, wet. I tried to back it down and I got in there and it just kept going. I couldn’t even slow it down. At some point you have to turn the wheel and that’s when it spins out. I don’t know. I hate it for Reser’s Fine Foods. We only have a few races with them and they have a lot of people here. We were excited for the opportunity to race here at one of my favorite tracks. Now we’re out. We’ll be able to get some work done on it, but it’s not pretty." - Martin Truex Jr., finished
12th
"Our No. 8 Caterpillar #WeDigLandscaping Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was really strong today. I told Randall (Burnett) and the guys during the red flag that our car was sporty and could be in contention at the end. The handling built free during a long run, but it wasn’t unbearable or hurt us in any way. We barely adjusted on the
handling during the race which is a sign of a really fast race car. We had to overcome a few different things – overshooting the pit stall and scrubbing the wall – but even though that cost us track position, I steadily worked my way back up inside the top 10. There were a few different strategies in play at the end when we were racing against the darkness. I hate we didn’t get to run the full distance, because I think we could have finished better than 13th. As we get closer to the playoff
cutoff though, we will need to have a clean race and get a win to secure our spot. I know our team can do it and we will keep battling." - Tyler Reddick, finished 13th
"We started the race under a mist. It never should have gone green to begin with, but then it kept getting worse and worse lap over lap. The lap before I went into (turn) one and it shoved the nose really bad and I was able to keep it under control. It wasn’t bad enough. The next time I went down there, hell, I lifted at the flag
stand – maybe a little past the flag stand, don’t get too dramatic – and just backed it in. We’ve been talking about it for two laps that it was raining. There’s no sense in saying what I want to say, it doesn’t do you any good." - Kyle Busch, finished 37th (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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