Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 4, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition CLXXIX
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What to Watch: Monday
- Rains prevented the YellaWood 500 from even starting on Sunday. They will try again Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET. The race will air live on NBCSN.
FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN TALLADEGA THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUE:
Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates!!
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| | John Wes Townley Shot, Killed in Athens Shooting
The Athens
Banner-Herald is reporting that former Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series driver John Wes Townley died Saturday at the age of 31 after being shot at a residence near the University of Georgia in Athens.
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| | YellaWood 500 at Talladega Postponed to Monday
Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway got within a lap of going green before rain showers put an end to the festivities. The race is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET Monday on NBCSN.
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| | Brandon Brown Scores 1st NASCAR Xfinity Series Win at Talladega
Brandon Brown put himself up at the front of the field late in Saturday's Sparks 300 at Talladega. A late crash forced NASCAR to call the race seven laps early due to darkness, giving Brown his first career Xfinity Series
win. Brandon Jones was second, then Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and Jordan Anderson.
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| | Tate Fogleman Survives Talladega to Win Camping World Truck Series Race
Saturday's crash-filled Chevy Silverado 250 came down to the final 1000 feet. After John Hunter Nemechek spun, Tate Fogleman got to the line first to claim his first career win...before crashing exiting the tri-oval.
Tyler Hill was second, then Todd Gilliland, Nemechek and Ryan Truex.
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| | Talladega Wrecks Mar Chevy Silverado 250 for Playoff & Non-Playoff Drivers Alike
Saturday's Chevy Silverado 250 was a chaotic event. All eight playoff drivers and 34 of the 40 drivers that started the race were involved in at least one incident.
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| | Grant Enfinger Joins GMS Racing for 2022 & Beyond
In an announcement in the Talladega Garage Experience Friday, GMS Racing announced that Grant Enfinger will drive the No. 23 Chevrolet full-time in the Camping World Truck Series in 2022 and 2023. Champion Power Equipment
will be the full-time primary sponsor.
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| | Jesse Love Wins ARCA 2021 Sioux Chief PowerPex 200 at Salem
Venturini Motorsports' Jesse Love made the only pass of the night on Ty Gibbs with 45 laps to go Saturday night. From there, he held to win the Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 presented by Scott County Tourism at Salem
Speedway. Gibbs was second, then Rajah Caruth, Will Kimmel and Gracie Trotter.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and our own Phil Allaway, Amy Henderson and Mark Kristl.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Rain Delay Update
by Phil Allaway
With Sunday's YellaWood 500 being postponed, we'll like to give a quick update on where we are entering the race. Kyle Larson has a 14-point lead over Denny Hamlin after Hamlin's win in Las Vegas. He's in good position at the moment. Kyle Busch is third, then Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney.
Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Kyle Larson 3096,
2) Denny Hamlin -14, 3) Kyle Busch -22, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -26, 5) Ryan Blaney -33, 6) Chase Elliott -35, 7) Joey Logano -51, 8) Brad Keselowski -53, 9) William Byron -57, 10) Kevin Harvick -60, 11) Alex Bowman -66, 12) Christopher Bell
-78.
Note : Drivers in Bold have advanced to the Round of
12.
Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Kyle Larson 3059,
2) Martin Truex Jr. -30, t-3) Denny Hamlin -35, t-3) Ryan Blaney -35, 5) Kyle Busch -37, 6) Chase Elliott -38, 7) Alex Bowman -44, 8) William Byron -45, 9) Joey Logano -46, 10) Brad Keselowski -51, 11) Christopher Bell -54, 12) Kevin Harvick
-57.
Eliminated Playoff Contender Points: 13) Tyler
Reddick 2118, 14) Kurt Busch -14, 15) Aric Almirola -25, 16) Michael McDowell -74.
Full Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 1226, 2) Kyle Larson -4, 3) Chase Elliott -225, 4) Ryan Blaney -255, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -261, 6) Kyle Busch -262, 7) Joey Logano
-289, 8) Kevin Harvick -293, 9) William Byron -296, 10) Brad Keselowski -354, 11) Tyler Reddick -395, 12) Alex Bowman -412, 13) Austin Dillon -439, 14) Kurt Busch -463, 15) Christopher Bell -533, 16) Matt
DiBenedetto -571.
Best of the Rest: 17) Austin Dillon 787,
18) Matt DiBenedetto -131, 19) Ross Chastain -149, 20) Chris Buescher -177, 21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -193, 22) Bubba Wallace -204, 23) Chase Briscoe -235, 24) Daniel Suarez -265, 25) Erik Jones -273, 26) Ryan Preece -288.
Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 60, 2) Denny Hamlin -30, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -31, 4) Ryan
Blaney -36, t-5) Kyle Busch -39, t-5) Chase Elliott -39, 7) Alex Bowman -45, 8) William Byron -46, 9) Joey Logano -47, 10) Brad Keselowski -52, 11) Christopher Bell -55, 12) Kevin Harvick -58.
Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 346, 2) Denny Hamlin -7, 3) Chase Elliott -114, 4) William Byron -123, 5) Kyle Busch -138, 6) Joey Logano -147, 7) Ryan Blaney
-158, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -162, 9) Brad Keselowski -182, 10) Kevin Harvick -208, 11) Tyler Reddick -210, 12) Austin Dillon -229, 13) Kurt Busch -230, 14) Alex Bowman
-238, 15) Christopher Bell -239, 16) Ross Chastain -290.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 1019, 2) Kyle Larson -13, 3) Kevin Harvick
-103, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -110, 5) Ryan Blaney -115, 6) Chase Elliott -123, 7) Kyle Busch -147, 8) Joey Logano -154, 9) Brad Keselowski -181, 10) William Byron -184, 11) Alex Bowman -205, 12) Tyler Reddick
-214, 13) Austin Dillon -224, 14) Kurt Busch -260, 15) Matt DiBenedetto -286, 16) Christopher Bell -294.
Race Winners: Michael McDowell (Daytona-1), Christopher Bell (Daytona-2), William Byron (Homestead), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas-1, Charlotte, Sonoma, All-Star Race, Nashville, Watkins Glen, Bristol-2), Martin Truex Jr. (Phoenix, Martinsville,
Darlington-1, Richmond-2), Ryan Blaney (Atlanta-1, Michigan, Daytona-3), Joey Logano (Bristol-1), Alex Bowman (Richmond-1, Dover), Brad Keselowski (Talladega), Kyle Busch (Kansas), Chase Elliott (Circuit of the Americas, Road America), Kurt Busch (Atlanta-2), Aric Almirola (Loudon), AJ Allmendinger (Indianapolis), Denny Hamlin (Darlington-2, Las Vegas-2)
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 Avoids Trouble, Extends Lead
by Phil Allaway
Austin Cindric managed to avoid the wrecks Saturday and posted a ninth-place finish. AJ Allmendinger crashing near the end of stage one meant that he claimed minimum points. Cindric will enter the ROVAL with a 22-point lead over Justin Allgaier, who finished third. Daniel Hemric is up to third after finishing fourth, while
Allmendinger's 39th-place finish dropped him to fourth.
Justin Haley is up one place to fifth after finishing in sixth. Brandon Jones gained two places after his second-place finish. Noah Gragson is down three places to seventh after crashing out late. Harrison Burton also lost a place after crashing. He is the last driver currently in the Round of 8 on
points.
Harrison Burton has an eight-point lead on his cousin Jeb. Myatt Snider was eliminated in the Gragson crash and drops back to 10th. Riley Herbst crashed out and is now 32 points behind Harrison Burton. Jeremy Clements is 12th.
Outside of the playoffs, Ty Gibbs was idle this week, but maintains 13th. He is four points ahead of Saturday's winner Brandon Brown. Ryan Sieg is down one place to 15th, while Josh Berry is now 16th.
Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Austin Cindric 2131, 2) Justin Allgaier -22, 3) Daniel Hemric -36, 4) AJ Allmendinger -44, 5) Justin Haley -53, 6) Brandon Jones -56, 7) Noah
Gragson -59, 8) Harrison Burton -69, 9) Jeb Burton -77, 10) Myatt Snider -93, 11) Riley Herbst -101, 12) Jeremy Clements -117.
Full Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 1120, 2) AJ Allmendinger -34, 3) Justin Allgaier -107, 4) Daniel Hemric -144, 5) Justin Haley -193, 6) Harrison Burton -195, 7) Noah Gragson
-202, 8) Jeb Burton -286, 9) Brandon Jones -419, 10) Riley Herbst -467, 11) Jeremy Clements -484, 12) Myatt Snider -500, 13) Ty Gibbs -557, 14) Brandon Brown -561, 15) Ryan Sieg -568, 16) Josh Berry
-595.
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 14th in points.
Best of the Rest: 13) Ty Gibbs 563, 14) Brandon Brown -4, 15) Ryan Sieg -11, 16) Josh Berry -38, 17) Michael Annett -39, 18) Tommy Joe Martins -117. 19) Josh Williams -118, 20) Alex Labbe -137, 21) Landon Cassill -162, 22) Brett Moffitt
-171, 23) Jade Buford -175.
Playoff Points: 1) AJ Allmendinger 45, 2) Austin Cindric -1, 3) Justin Allgaier -24, 4) Noah Gragson -28, 5) Justin Haley -30, 6) Daniel Hemric -31, 7) Jeb Burton
-36, 8) Harrison Burton -37, 9) Myatt Snider -40, 10) Brandon Jones -42, 11) Riley Herbst -44, 12) Jeremy Clements -45.
Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 317, 2) AJ Allmendinger -15, 3) Daniel Hemric -48, 4) Noah Gragson -65, 5) Justin Allgaier -73, 6) Harrison Burton -94, 7) Justin Haley -120, 8) Jeb Burton
-171, 9) Brandon Jones -175, 10) Ty Gibbs -190, 11) Riley Herbst -219, 12) Michael Annett -245, 13) Myatt Snider -248, 14) Josh Berry -249, 15) Jeremy Clements -264, 16) Ty Dillon -281.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 13th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 938, 2) AJ Allmendinger -26, 3) Justin Allgaier -41, 4) Daniel Hemric -103, 5) Justin Haley -106, 6) Harrison Burton -116, 7) Jeb Burton
-131, 8) Noah Gragson -154, 9) Jeremy Clements -244, 10) Brandon Jones -271, 11) Myatt Snider -274, 12) Riley Herbst -275, 13) Brandon Brown -295, 14) Ryan Sieg -300, 15) Josh Williams -395, 16) Michael Annett -404.
Note: If he were eligible for Xfinity points for the whole season, Brett Moffitt would be 15th in old points.
Race Winners: Austin Cindric (Daytona-1, Phoenix, Dover, Pocono, Indianapolis), Ty Gibbs (Daytona-2, Charlotte, Watkins Glen), AJ Allmendinger (Las Vegas-1, Mid-Ohio, Michigan, Bristol), Myatt Snider (Homestead), Justin Allgaier (Atlanta-1, Darlington-1), Josh Berry (Martinsville, Las Vegas-2), Jeb Burton (Talladega-1), Kyle Busch (Circuit of the
Americas, Texas, Nashville, Road America, Atlanta-2), Christopher Bell (Loudon), Justin Haley (Daytona-3), Noah Gragson (Darlington-2, Richmond), Brandon Brown (Talladega-2)
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 our own Phil Allaway.
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Seeking the Camping World Truck Series Playoffs: Everyone Wrecks, But John Hunter Nemechek Regains The Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Saturday saw nearly everyone find trouble. John Hunter Nemechek nearly won, but contact exiting the tri-oval on the final lap dropped him to fourth. Regardless, that was enough to give him the points lead over Ben Rhodes by one point. Rhodes, third-place Matt Crafton and fourth-place Sheldon Creed got caught in the same wreck in turn 3 on the final
lap.
Creed is the final driver in the Championship 4 right now. He has a five-point advantage over Stewart Friesen, who was eliminated in the crash with Grant Enfinger. Chandler Smith managed to finish with a beat up Tundra and moved up to sixth. Carson Hocevar was eliminated in the crash with Friesen and dropped to seventh. Zane Smith was eliminated in
the big wreck on lap 58 and drops to eighth.
Outside of the playoffs, Todd Gilliland finished third and expanded his advantage to 40 points over Austin Hill. Enfinger is still 11th, tops of those who were never in the playoffs. He is 84 points ahead of Johnny Sauter. Derek Kraus is 13th, then Austin Wayne Self, Tyler Ankrum and Ryan Truex.
Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 3105, 2) Ben Rhodes -1, 3) Matt Crafton -26, 4) Sheldon Creed -31, 5) Stewart Friesen
-36, 6) Chandler Smith -65, 7) Carson Hocevar -68, 8) Zane Smith -71.
Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have advanced to the Round of
10.
Note No. 2: Drivers in Italics have been
eliminated.
Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: 9) Todd Gilliland 2187, 10) Austin Hill
-40.
Full Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 779, 2) Ben Rhodes -99, 3) Austin Hill -112, 4) Todd Gilliland -114, 5) Sheldon Creed -152, 6) Matt Crafton
-168, 7) Zane Smith -180, 8) Stewart Friesen -219, 9) Grant Enfinger -251, 10) Carson Hocevar -252, 11) Chandler Smith -319, 12) Johnny Sauter -338, 13) Derek Kraus -352, 14) Austin Wayne Self -369, 15) Tyler Ankrum
-397, 16) Ryan Truex -429.
Best of the Rest: 11) Grant Enfinger 547, 12) Johnny Sauter
-84, 13) Derek Kraus -103, 14) Austin Wayne Self -128, 15) Tyler Ankrum -149, 16) Ryan Truex -165, 17) Hailie Deegan -225, 18) Chase Purdy -258, 19) Tanner Gray -260, 20) Tate Fogleman -286.
Playoff
Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek
51, 2) Sheldon Creed -24, 3) Ben Rhodes -31, 4) Zane Smith -42, 5) Chandler Smith -44, 6) Matt Crafton -47, 7) Carson Hocevar -48, 8) Stewart Friesen -49.
Stage Points:
1) John Hunter Nemechek 226, 2) Sheldon Creed -23, 3) Austin Hill -54, 4) Ben Rhodes -65, t-5) Matt Crafton -82, t-5) Zane Smith -82, 7) Stewart Friesen -83, 8) Todd Gilliland -92, 9) Chandler Smith
-126, 10) Derek Kraus -129, 11) Grant Enfinger -157, 12) Carson Hocevar -166, 13) Tyler Ankrum -177, 14) Johnny Sauter -185, 15) Raphael Lessard -186, 16) Ty Majeski
-203.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 503, 2) Todd Gilliland -38, 3) Ben Rhodes -40, 4) Austin Hill
-63, 5) Matt Crafton -93, 6) Grant Enfinger -101, 7) Carson Hocevar -106, 8) Zane Smith -109, 9) Sheldon Creed -115, 10) Stewart Friesen -145, 11) Johnny Sauter -162, 12) Austin Wayne Self -188, 13) Chandler Smith
-193, 14) Tyler Ankrum -228, 15) Ryan Truex -231, 16) Derek Kraus -235.
Race Winners: Ben Rhodes (Daytona-1, Daytona-2), John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas-1, Richmond, Charlotte, Pocono), Kyle Busch (Atlanta, Kansas), Martin Truex Jr. (Bristol-1), Sheldon Creed (Darlington-1, Gateway,
Darlington-2), Todd Gilliland (Circuit of the Americas), Ryan Preece (Nashville), Austin Hill (Knoxville, Watkins Glen), Chandler Smith (Bristol-2), Christian Eckes (Las Vegas-2), Tate Fogleman (Talladega)
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of our own Phil Allaway.
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