Frontstretch Newsletter: Aug. 9, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition CXXXIX
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- Cup teams are arriving back at their shops today after Sunday's action at Watkins Glen. Entry lists for this weekend's action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway should be out either this afternoon or Tuesday. We'll have the
entry lists and/or anything else that breaks for you at Frontstretch.
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Around the World in Motorsports: Aug. 6-8
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- Ryan Preece led the first 107 laps Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway, but ended up having to fight it out with Justin Bonsignore. Preece took the lead for good with eight laps to go, holding on to win the Whelen Modified Tour GAF Roofing 150. Bonsignore was second, then Jon
McKennedy, Doug Coby and Ron Silk.
- SRO America's GT America Powered by AWS was on the undercard in Nashville. The two races were crash prone. Race No. 1, which ran into darkness Saturday night, saw roughly 20 minutes of green flag racing. Scuderia Corsa's Bret Curtis took the lead at the start from GMG Racing's
James Sofronas and held onto a caution flew for a crash involving Derek DeBoer and Paul Sparta.
On the restart, Curtis spun and nosed into the wall while getting onto the first bridge crossing. Sofronas re-took the lead and claimed victory when the yellow flew.
Race No. 2 saw Curtis make up for his unenforced error by leading flag-to-flag to claim the victory on the bumpy streets. This race had a long yellow after Elias Sabo backed his Audi R8 LMS GT2 hard into the wall and moved the barrier, then ended up under yellow due to another
wreck.
- The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli's TA2 class had a 38-car field for Saturday's race in Nashville. Mike Skeen led 24 of 42 laps, but had to make a late pass on Connor Mosack with two laps to win the Big Machine Vodka Spiked
Coolers presents the Franklin Road Classic with Race for RP. Alan Merrill was second, then Mosack, Justin Marks and Justin Oakes.
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| | Kyle Larson Surges Late, Wins Watkins Glen in NASCAR’s Return
Kyle Larson was able to jump Martin Truex Jr. during the final round of pit stops and held off a charging Chase Elliott to claim his fifth win of the year in Sunday's Go Bowling at the Glen. Truex, Kyle Busch and Denny
Hamlin rounded out the top five.
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| | Chase Elliott Laments Mistake in Runner-Up Effort at Watkins Glen
Chase Elliott had to come all the way from the rear of the field Sunday to finish second, quite the accomplishment. If you saw him after the race Sunday, you wouldn't have known that. He was upset with himself over
mistakes.
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| | Ty Gibbs Flexes Muscles, Wins at Watkins Glen
Ty Gibbs led 43 of 82 laps Saturday, but had to make two passes for the lead in the final 12 laps to win the Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey 200 at Watkins Glen for his third win of the year. AJ Allmendinger was
second, then Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and Harrison Burton.
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| | Ty Gibbs Impresses Competitors With 3rd Xfinity Win of 2021
The rest of the Xfinity Series contenders are likely happy that Ty Gibbs is not full-time this year in the Xfinity Series. If he were, he would more than likely be the primary competition to Austin Cindric for the
championship. That will have to wait.
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| | Austin Hill Gets 2nd Truck Series Win of 2021 Season at Watkins Glen
Austin Hill had the best truck in the second half of Saturday's United Rentals 176 at Watkins Glen for the Camping World Truck Series. However, the race was stopped with 11 laps to go due to lightning, depriving fans of an
on-track finish. Hill was declared the winner at that point. John Hunter Nemechek was second, then Sheldon Creed, Todd Gilliland and Parker Kligerman.
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| | Parker Kligerman Scores Top 5 at Watkins Glen: ‘It’s Pretty Awesome’
For Parker Kligerman, Saturday's United Rentals 176 was a big charge from the rear as he started in 38th. From there, he moved all the way up a fifth-place finish, enjoying every bit of it in the
process.
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| | Paul Menard Posts 8th-Place Finish in Return to Trucks at Watkins Glen
Paul Menard made a rare Truck start Saturday at Watkins Glen International. Starting on the last row, Menard drove up to an eighth-place finish at a venue that he considers iconic.
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| | Marcus Ericsson Wins in Nashville as Dominant Colton Herta Crashes Out
Chip Ganassi Racing's Marcus Ericsson had a crazy race Sunday. Early on, he climbed up the back of Sebastien Bourdais, yet only broke his front wng. From the rear of the field, he charged up to win the Big Machine
Music City Grand Prix. Scott Dixon was second, then James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal.
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| | Colton Herta Ends Nashville Race Against Turn 9 Wall
All weekend in Nashville, the fastest driver was Colton Herta. He dominated practice and qualifying and could seemingly pull away at will. While trying to run down Marcus Ericsson late, he locked up under braking for
turn 9 and smacked the wall.
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| | After Winchester Incident, Corey Heim Wins ARCA Race at Watkins Glen
Corey Heim was able to snatch the lead late when Chase Briscoe suffered a mechanical failure and held off Ty Gibbs to win Friday evening's ARCA Menards Series Clean Harbors 100 at Watkins Glen International. Austin Hill
was second, then Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar and Brandon Jones.
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| | Ty Gibbs Bested by Corey Heim in Another Heated Battle
Recently, Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim have had a series of fierce battles in ARCA events. Friday's Clean Harbors 100 was no exception. This time, Gibbs was bested by Heim.
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| | Action Express Racing Wins At Road America, Claims 2nd Straight Victory
Action Express Racing's Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani claimed victory in Sunday's Road Race Showcase at Road America when Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Dane Cameron was forced to pit for fuel with two laps to go.
It is the duo's second straight win.
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| | Bill Auberlen, Dillon Machavern Win Road America 120 On Fuel Mileage
Turner Motorsport's Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern won Saturday's Road America 120 in the rain and near-darkness after making their fuel holdout for 78 minutes. KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering's Roy Block and Tim
Lewis Jr. won in TCR.
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| | IMSA Reveals 2022 Schedules, Changes
IMSA held their annual State of the Series presentation Friday night at Road America. Here, a number of announcements were made pertaining to next season. Schedules were released and clarifications on rules for the
new GTD Pro class were made.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Matt Fraver and Chris Jones of INDYCAR Media and our own Phil Allaway and Zach Sturinolo.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: We've Got A Tie!
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson beat Martin Truex Jr. out of the pits Sunday and inherited the lead at the end of the final round of stops. From there, he held on to win the Go Bowling at the Glen. Points leader Denny Hamlin finished fifth. The result of this is that Larson and Hamlin are now tied for the lead. Larson gets the advantage via a tiebreaker thanks to his five victories to Hamlin's
zero. Both drivers are 131 points ahead of William Byron, who finished sixth Sunday. Kyle Busch remains in fourth after finishing fourth.
Joey Logano is still in fifth despite getting taken out late and dropping to a 22nd-place finish. Chase Elliott is sixth after charging from the rear to finish second. However, these standings do not include the penalty coming his way later this week. Truex is seventh for now after finishing third. Ryan Blaney is still eighth after
finishing 14th.
Kevin Harvick is up one place to ninth after finishing eighth. Brad Keselowski dealt with a series of braking issues that led to no less than three spins, the last of which took out Logano. He ended up three laps down in 35th and dropped to 10th in points. Alex Bowman quietly ran well before fading to 20th at the finish. He's still
11th. Tyler Reddick finished 10th and stays in 12th, the last driver in the playoffs on points.
Reddick's advantage over teammate Austin Dillon has grown to 15 points. Dillon finished 15th and scored fewer stage points than Reddick. Kurt Busch is still 14th after finishing 13th. Christopher Bell was right in the hunt until Larson spun him out on lap 55. He still managed a seventh-place finish, which keeps him in 15th.
He'll stay there after points are deducted from his pre-race penalty. Chris Buescher is 16th.
Matt DiBenedetto is still in 17th after finishing 11th Sunday. He is one point ahead of Ross Chastain, who finished 12th. Michael McDowell was nowhere Sunday, but still maintains 19th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is back up to 20th.
Point Standings (1-16): t-1) Kyle Larson 917, t-1) Denny Hamlin 917, 3) William Byron
-131, 4) Kyle Busch -138, 5) Joey Logano -157, 6) Chase Elliott -168, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -177, 8) Ryan Blaney -205, 9) Kevin Harvick -207, 10) Brad Keselowski
-239, 11) Alex Bowman -284, 12) Tyler Reddick -287, 13) Austin Dillon -302, 14) Kurt Busch -341, 15) Christopher Bell -346, 16) Chris Buescher -422.
Outside the Top 16, but still in the Playoffs: 19) Michael McDowell
-453, 24) Aric Almriola -519.
Playoff
Points: 1) Kyle Larson 37, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -17, 3) Alex Bowman -22, 4) Kyle Busch -24, 5) Chase Elliott -26, t-6) Ryan Blaney -28, t-6) Joey Logano -28, t-8) William Byron -29, t-8) Kurt Busch -29, 10) Brad Keselowski -30, t-11) Christopher Bell -32, t-11) Denny Hamlin -32, t-11) Michael McDowell -32, t-11) Aric Almirola -32, t-15) Tyler Reddick -36, t-15) Chris Buescher
-36, t-15) Matt DiBenedetto -36, t-15) Bubba Wallace -36, .
Stage
Points: 1) Kyle Larson 269, 2) Denny Hamlin -8, 3) William Byron -70, 4) Chase Elliott -92, 5) Kyle Busch -98, 6) Joey Logano -107, 7) Martin Truex Jr.
-109, 8) Ryan Blaney -111, 9) Brad Keselowski -134, 10) Kevin Harvick -156, 11) Alex Bowman -161, t-12) Kurt Busch -169, t-12) Tyler Reddick -169, 14) Christopher Bell -193, 15) Austin
Dillon -196, 16) Bubba Wallace -219.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Aric Almirola -235, 21) Michael McDowell -238.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 771, 2) Kyle Larson -20, 3) Kyle Busch
-61, 4) Joey Logano -70, 5) Kevin Harvick -78, 6) William Byron -81, 7) Chase Elliott -86, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -87, 9) Ryan Blaney -120, 10) Brad Keselowski
-125, 11) Austin Dillon -134, 12) Alex Bowman -139, 13) Tyler Reddick -149, 14) Christopher Bell -180, 15) Kurt Busch -210, 16) Chris Buescher -223.
Outside of the Top 16, but still in the playoffs: 19) Michael
McDowell -242, 25) Aric Almirola -315.
Note: The Old Point Standings have Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell's L1-penalties from
Watkins Glen already added in.
Race Winners: Michael McDowell (Daytona-1), Christopher Bell (Daytona-2), William Byron (Homestead), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Charlotte, Sonoma, All-Star Race, Nashville, Watkins Glen), 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 Gives Up A Little To AJ Allmendinger In Watkins Glen
by Phil Allaway
Austin Cindric was disappointed after Saturday's Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey 200. That was despite finishing third. AJ Allmendinger finished and earned one more stage point. As a result, he cut Cindric's point lead from 82
points to 80. Daniel Hemric ran well Saturday dropped back late to finish 22nd. He's still third, but he's now a full race behind Allmendinger. Justin Allgaier finished fourth and stays in fourth.
Harrison Burton finished fifth and keeps fifth in points. Jeb Burton is still sixth after an eighth-place finish. Justin Haley is seventh after another top 10 finish, while Noah
Gragson is eighth.
Brandon Jones finished sixth and stays ninth in points. Jeremy Clements finished 16th, but maintains the 10th spot in points. Michael Annett may be walking around on a cane made out of a hockey stick these days,
but he finished 11th in his first race back. That keeps him in 11th, the last driver in the playoffs on points. He is 30 points ahead of Riley Herbst, who finished 13th, but moved up to 12th in the standings.
Myatt Snider is down to 13th after finishing 15th. Brandon Brown is still in 14th after finishing 12th. The idle Josh Berry remains in 15th, while Ryan Sieg is
16th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 849, 2) AJ Allmendinger -80, 3) Daniel Hemric -141, 4) Justin Allgaier
-156, 5) Harrison Burton -195, 6) Jeb Burton -225, 7) Justin Haley -239, 8) Noah Gragson -265, 9) Brandon Jones -326, 10) Jeremy Clements -360, 11) Michael Annett -370, 12) Riley Herbst -400, 13) Myatt Snider
-401, 14) Brandon Brown -415, 15) Josh Berry -452, 16) Ryan Sieg -455.
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 28, 2) AJ Allmendinger -12, t-3) Ty Gibbs -12, t-3) Justin Allgaier
-17, 5) Josh Berry -22, t-6) Jeb Burton -23, t-6) Myatt Snider -23, t-6) Daniel Hemric -23, 9) Justin Haley -25, t-10) Noah Gragson -26, t-10) Harrison Burton -26, t-11) Brandon Jones
-27.
Note: If they were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would have the most with 29, while Christopher Bell would be 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 240, 2) AJ Allmendinger -38, 3) Daniel Hemric -45, 4) Justin Allgaier
-59, 5) Harrison Burton -70, 6) Noah Gragson -80, 7) Justin Haley -99, 8) Brandon Jones -120, 9) Jeb Burton -146, 10) Michael Annett -164, 11) Ty Gibbs -173, 12) Riley Herbst -179, 13) Josh Berry
-184, 14) Myatt Snider -186, 15) Jeremy Clements -194, t-16) Brandon Brown -213, t-16) Ty Dillon -213.
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 709, 2) AJ Allmendinger -51, 3) Jeb Burton -96, 4) Daniel Hemric
-100, 5) Justin Allgaier -108, 6) Harrison Burton -141, 7) Justin Haley -164, 8) Jeremy Clements -185, 9) Noah Gragson -203, 10) Brandon Brown -218, 11) Brandon Jones -227, 12) Michael Annett -232, 13) Myatt Snider -234, 14) Riley Herbst -246, 15) Ryan Sieg -253, 16) Josh Berry -303.
Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity points for the whole season, Brett Moffitt would be 11th in old
points.
Race Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona-1, Phoenix, Dover, Pocono), Ty Gibbs (Daytona-2, Charlotte, Watkins Glen), 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: John Hunter Nemechek Starts The Playoffs Off In The Lead
by Phil Allaway
John Hunter Nemechek clinched the Camping World Truck Series Regular Season championship a month ago at Knoxville Raceway. Saturday technically didn't matter for him, but he still scored a second-place finish. That means that he won the regular season by 89 points
over Austin Hill, who finished the regular season with two straight victories. Ben Rhodes had a roller coaster day, spinning on the first lap and getting lapped before finishing 15th. That dropped him to third. Todd Gilliland won stage one and finished fourth to lock in the fourth
spot.
Zane Smith is fifth in points after finishing sixth. Sheldon Creed moved up to sixth after finishing third. Matt Crafton dropped to seventh after finishing a disappointing 22nd. Grant Enfinger had
transmission problems early and finished 39th. That didn't cost him a spot, but he lost ground to everyone.
Carson Hocevar finished the regular season in ninth after finishing 10th Saturday. Stewart Friesen finished 20th, but stayed 10th in points. Chandler Smith had a very interesting day Saturday, dropping as far
back as 35th before recovering. However, he was then disqualified when his truck failed the height sticks after the race. Despite that, he was still able to claim the final spot in the playoffs. Smith ended up 28 points ahead of Tyler Ankrum, who moved up to 12th after finishing seventh.
For a time, Derek Kraus had a chance to boot Smith out of the playoffs Saturday. However, an incident on the backstretch dropped him to a 21st-place finish and dropped him to 13th in points. Johnny Sauter was 23rd Saturday and
finished the regular season in 14th. Austin Wayne Self is 15th, while Ryan Truex is 16th.
Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 649, 2) Austin Hill -89, 3) Ben Rhodes -103, 4) Todd Gilliland -145, 5) Zane Smith -160, 6) Sheldon Creed
-187, 7) Matt Crafton -205, 8) Grant Enfinger -235, 9) Carson Hocevar -246, 10) Stewart Friesen -266, 11) Chandler Smith -279, 12) Tyler Ankrum -307, 13) Derek Kraus
-315, 14) Johnny Sauter -336, 15) Austin Wayne Self -342, 16) Ryan Truex -376.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 16th in points.
Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 2049, 2) Austin Hill -28, 3) Ben Rhodes -30, 4) Todd Gilliland
-34, 5) Sheldon Creed -38, 6) Zane Smith -40, 7) Matt Crafton -45, 8) Carson Hocevar -47, t-9) Stewart Friesen -48, t-9) Chandler Smith -48.
Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 49, 2) Austin Hill -28, 3) Ben Rhodes -30, 4) Todd Gilliland -34, 5) Sheldon Creed
-38, 6) Zane Smith -40, 7) Matt Crafton -45, 8) Carson Hocevar -47, t-9) Chandler Smith -33, t-9) Stewart Friesen -48,
Stage Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 176, 2) Austin Hill
-46, 3) Sheldon Creed -52, 4) Ben Rhodes -59, 5) Zane Smith -78, 6) Matt Crafton -80, 7) Derek Kraus -84, 8) Stewart Friesen -86, 9) Matt Crafton -87, 10) Chandler Smith
-108, 11) Grant Enfinger -116, 12) Raphael Lessard -136, 13) Carson Hocevar -139, 14) Tyler Ankrum -142, 15) Johnny Sauter -151, 16) Austin Wayne
Self -157.
Note: If they were eligible for stage points,
Kyle Busch would be 10th and Josh Berry 16th.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 428, 2) Todd Gilliland -49, 3) Ben Rhodes -52, 4) Austin Hill -53, 5) Zane Smith
-89, t-6) Grant Enfinger -118, t-6) Carson Hocevar -118, 8) Matt Crafton -128, 9) Sheldon Creed -131, 10) Tyler Ankrum -171, 11) Stewart Friesen -186, 12) Chandler Smith
-187, 13) Johnny Sauter -198, 14) Austin Wayne Self -200, 15) Ryan Truex -218, 16) Derek Kraus -231.
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, Watkins
Glen)
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 Go Bowling at the Glen was brought to you by the Letter B for Braking. Team Penske had significant problems with their braking systems Sunday. Brad Keselowski started from pole, but spun out on his own
three separate times, finishing 35th. Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney also had incidents as the Captain did not have a good day on the 2.45-mile road course. Then again, Nashville really wasn't much better. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Go Bowling at the Glen
compiled by Phil Allaway
"I was [worried about losing time]. Chase was already catching me pretty quick, even with me being in open track, so when I caught those, I think, four cars and got into [Anthony Alfredo] right here, I thought I would look at my mirror and the 9 would be right on me, but thankfully had a comfortable
enough gap to where I could make a mistake like that.
"Anyways, hats off to Hendrickcars.com. Thanks for everything you guys do for me, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, Rick Hendrick, Jeff Gordon, Cliff Daniels, this whole 5 bunch. Another amazing car. I could tell from about lap 3 after I stopped making a bunch of mistakes that we were going to have a
car that could win today." - Kyle Larson, race winner
"I made too many mistakes to get the win, unfortunately, and made it too late in the race. Super proud of our team. Been kind of an uphill battle all day, but everybody was just super prepared coming into the day, and our NAPA team just did a really good job of fighting
it.
"If I hadn’t have let them down there, I think we would have had a shot at it, but congrats to Kyle [Larson], Cliff [Daniels], all the guys on the No. 5. Happy for everybody at HMS. Hendrick Motorsports has been working extremely hard, and not only do the people deserve to win, but Mr. Hendrick
deserves to win. Really happy for him, and I’ll try to clean some things up and make less mistakes next time. Maybe it’ll work out." - Chase Elliott, finished second
"It was quite a battle. James [Small] did a great job with our Reser’s Fine Foods Camry to get track position to put us where we needed to be. We didn’t quite have the speed on the longer runs to take advantage of that track position. We tried hard and thanks to everybody for working hard. We’re a
little behind [Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott] right now on road courses, they’re really, really fast. I just had to burn my tires off to try to stay with them and then in 20 laps they’re gone. Heck of a fight, but we’ll take a third or a podium as they say in road course racing and go to work and try to get better." - Martin Truex Jr., finished third
"Slick. We just didn’t quite have what we needed. That was not fun. The guys gave me a pretty decent Snickers Camry. Just not quite where we needed it and not quite good enough. Just couldn’t really hang on during the long runs. We’d lose too much time off the corners and be too slick. Fought hard all
day. A lot of green flag action today and a lot of long runs. As much as I workout, I’m out of shape." - Kyle Busch, finished fourth
"We had a solid run and ended up sixth in the No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE. Lost the fifth spot on the last lap, unfortunately. We had a good car and it was a good run for us. We started mid-pack and worked our way forward, so I’m happy with that. Definitely a solid road course finish for us and we’ll
keep moving forward." - William Byron, finished sixth
"I haven’t seen it so I don’t know if I crowded him (Kyle Larson) at all, but he shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. He didn’t really have a run coming off of (turn) seven. We were all packed up. I was faster than the 19
(Martin Truex Jr.) but never could make a run on him to get by him, and same thing with him. It’s very disappointing. Our STANLEY/Pristine Auction Camry was extremely fast and definitely capable of winning the race today. Extremely frustrating, but a lot more racing to go." - Christopher Bell, finished seventh
"Our Busch Light Apple Ford was decent today. We just had to go into fuel mileage savings as soon as we came in the pits that last run, and just kind of ran our pace and finished where we finished because we couldn’t afford to run out of
gas. So, they did a good job and had a good strategy. We scored a few stage points and had a solid finish, so we’ll go to the next one." - Kevin Harvick, finished eighth
"We’ve only got three top 10s now, so you’ll take any of them you can get. I felt like we ran up front a lot of the day, but still weren’t quite good enough. I felt like earlier in the race I was a little bit better and as the race went
on I don’t know if the other guys got better or we just got worse. Obviously, we’re in a position where we’ve got to go win, so ninth doesn’t necessarily cut it for us, but, overall, it was a good day. We got stage points and finished in the top 10, so we’ll go on to Indy. We know we’ve got to get it better if we’re gonna win one of these and just from a balance standpoint I’ve still got to get better, too. We’ll go on to Indy and back home next week. Obviously, that one is super special, so
we’ll try to capitalize there." - Chase Briscoe, finished ninth
"We had some good speed in our No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE today but just needed the balance to be a little better overall. I was really tight throughout most of the day, especially on landing through the turns. It didn’t seem to
matter which way I was turning, I just couldn’t get the front to rotate like I needed it to once I got through the first third of a turn. The adjustments we made during the day seemed to help during the last stage of the race and I was able to grab the tenth spot on the final lap. It’s good that we were able to leave the track
with another top 10 to help us with the playoff cutline. I wish we were able to finish a little higher up, but we will have a good shot next week to show what we can do at another road course. There’s no other group I’d rather be fighting with to make the Playoffs, and I know they’ll all continue to fight through the coming
weeks." - Tyler Reddick, finished 10th
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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