Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 11, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition CLXXXIV
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- Today is the beginning of a very important test session for the new NextGen car at Charlotte Motor Speedway's ROVAL. 20 cars will be present today and tomorrow to run on the 2.28-mile road course. Two of the cars will be shared. Rick Ware Racing's No. 51 will be shared by Joey Hand and Cody
Ware. Meanwhile, the new No. 27 Hezeberg/Reaume Ford will be shared by Loris Hezemans and Jacques Villeneuve. In addition, Kaz Grala will test the No. 00 Chevrolet for StarCom Racing.
Testing started at 9 a.m. this morning and will run until 7 p.m. The weather is somewhat dicey, so teams will get in as much on-track time as they can. Ticketholders at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be able to get into the track to watch the test sessions for free by showing their tickets at Gate 5a.
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Around the World in Motorsports: Oct. 8-10
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- Mat Williamson slipped past to take the lead on lap 151 Sunday when Tyler Dippel and Peter Britten collided exiting turn 4. From there, Williamson held on to successfully defend his victory in the Billy Whitaker Cars & Trux 200 at Oswego Speedway, the centerpiece of Super DIRT Week XLIX. Billy Decker finished second, followed by Matt
Sheppard, Stewart Friesen and Larry Wight.
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| | Kyle Larson Survives ROVAL Chaos, Wins 7th Race of 2021
Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson overcame a lost alternator belt (replaced on pit road) and battery issues to pass Denny Hamlin for the lead with eight laps to go. From there, he held on to win the Bank of America ROVAL
400k for his seventh win of the season. Tyler Reddick was second, then Chris Buescher in a season-best third, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.
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| | Title Fight Between Kevin Harvick & Chase Elliott Ends in a Knockout at the Charlotte ROVAL
The rivalry between Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick kicked up once again Sunday in Charlotte. Harvick got in the back of Elliott on lap 56, putting him in the wall. While Elliott recovered to finish 12th, Harvick
made an unforced error and slid into the wall late, ending his playoff hopes.
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| | Ty Dillon to Drive for GMS Racing in Cup in 2022
GMS Racing announced Sunday morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway that Ty Dillon will drive for the team's new Cup operation full-time in 2022. The team will use the No. 94, which has not run full-time in the Cup Series since
2000.
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| | Rick Ware Partnering With Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
Rick Ware Racing announced prior to Sunday's Bank of America ROVAL 400k that they are rekindling their alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing to a much higher extent than ever before. As a result, the team will race with Roush-Yates Engines starting next
season.
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| | Loris Hezemans to Run Part-Time Cup Schedule with Team Hezeberg in 2022
On Saturday, Loris Hezemans announced his intentions to run part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series with the new Team Hezeberg operation in 2022. The team will be co-owned by Toine Hezemans (Loris' father) and Ernst Berg and operated by Reaume Brothers Racing.
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| | AJ Allmendinger Wins 3rd Straight Xfinity Race at Charlotte ROVAL
Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger seems to have the ROVAL figured out. Allmendinger took the lead on lap 48 from Ty Gibbs, then held on through a Green-White-Checker restart and fuel concerns to win for the third straight year. Austin Cindric was second, followed by Daniel Hemric,
Justin Haley and Brandon Jones.
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| | Valtteri Bottas Collects 1st Win of 2021 in Turkish Grand Prix
Mercedes-AMG's Valtteri Bottas led 49 of 58 laps Sunday at a wet Intercity Istanbul Park to win the Grand Prix of Turkey. Max Verstappen retook the points lead by finishing second. Sergio Perez was third, then Charles Leclerc and Lewis
Hamilton.
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| | Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy Win Michelin GT Challenge at VIR
Corvette Racing's Nick Tandy passed his teammate Antonio Garcia with 53 minutes to go Saturday, then held on to win the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR for their third win in a row. PFAFF Motorsports' Zacharie Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor came from 13th in class at the start to win in GT
Daytona.
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| | Jan Heylen, Ryan Hardwick Win Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix
Wright Motorsports' Jan Heylen and Ryan Hardwick took the lead with 12 minutes to go Sunday to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at
VIRginia International Raceway. JDC-Miller MotorSports' Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor won in TCR.
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Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, LAT Images via Mercedes-AMG F1 and our own Phil Allaway.
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Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Denny Hamlin Wins Round of 12 After Strong Run; Kyle Larson's Victory Leads To 35-Point Round of 8 Lead
by Phil Allaway
Denny Hamlin led 25 laps Sunday, but faded to fifth in the closing laps. That was more than enough to win the Round of 12 for him. His margin of victory was six points over Kyle Larson, who recovered from a broken alternator belt and battery issues to take his seventh win of the year. Joey
Logano ended the round in third after finishing seventh. Ryan Blaney moved up two places to fourth after finishing ninth and earning 15 stage points.
Kyle Busch moved up two places to fifth after finishing fourth and running very well all day, quite the change after he finished in the 30s at the ROVAL the previous three years. Chase Elliott moved up one place to sixth after recovering from an intentional crash to finish 12th. Brad Keselowski is down
three places from a tie for fourth to seventh after finishing 20th. Martin Truex Jr. dropped down to eighth after finishing a disappointing 29th, but he claimed the last spot in the Round of 8.
Truex ended up 25 points ahead of Kevin Harvick, who was in position to advance until he locked up his brakes with 11 laps to go and slid into the SAFER Barrier in TUMS Heartbreak Turn. He would finish 33rd. Christopher Bell recovered from a speeding penalty to finish eighth, but could not advance out of 10th.
William Byron led the most laps Sunday and was as high as third in the closing laps before crashing in turn 5 and finishing 11th. He ended up staying in 11th. Alex Bowman finished 10th, but that kept him in 12th.
For the Round of 8, Larson will once again start off with the points lead and 65 extra points. That means that he will have a 35-point lead over Hamlin. Truex will be third, then Blaney, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Logano and Keselowski.
Of those who have been eliminated from the playoffs, Harvick will lead that pack by 45 over Bell. Kurt Busch will be 11th, then Tyler Reddick, who finished second on Sunday.
Byron will slot into the 13th position, while Bowman will be two points behind him 14th. Aric Almirola is 15th and Michael McDowell 16th.
Of those drivers who were never in the playoffs, Austin Dillon finished 15th Sunday and saw his lead shrink to 145 points over Chris Buescher, who finished a season-best third. Matt DiBenedetto is one point behind Buescher in 19th, while Ross Chastain is 20th.
Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Denny Hamlin
3148, 2) Kyle Larson -6, 3) Joey Logano -10, 4) Ryan Blaney -15, 5) Kyle Busch -17, 6) Chase Elliott -20, 7) Brad Keselowski -32, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -35, 9) Kevin Harvick -60, 10) Christopher Bell
-63, 11) William Byron -78, 12) Alex Bowman -87.
Note : Drivers in Bold have advanced to the Round of 12.
Drivers in italics have been eliminated.
Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Kyle Larson 4065,
2) Denny Hamlin -35, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -36, 4) Ryan Blaney -41, 5) Kyle Busch -42, 6) Chase Elliott -43, 7) Joey Logano -52, 8) Brad Keselowski -57.
Eliminated Playoff Contender Points: 9) Kevin Harvick 2209,
10) Christopher Bell -45, 11) Kurt Busch -46, 12) Tyler Reddick -49, 13) William Byron -76, 14) Alex Bowman -78, 15) Aric Almirola -92, 16) Michael McDowell -122.
Full Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 1292, 2) Kyle Larson -24, 3) Chase Elliott -239, 4) Ryan Blaney -251, 5) Joey Logano -262, 6) Kyle Busch
-271, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -284, 8) Kevin Harvick -307, 9) William Byron -331, 10) Brad Keselowski -347, 11) Tyler Reddick -419, 12) Austin Dillon -457, 13) Kurt Busch -469, 14) Alex
Bowman -472, 15) Christopher Bell -521, 16) Chris Buescher -602.
Best of the Rest: 17) Austin Dillon 835, 18)
Chris Buescher -145, 19) Matt DiBenedetto -146, 20) Ross Chastain -176, 21) Bubba Wallace -179, 22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -204, 23) Chase Briscoe -245, 24) Erik Jones -271, 25) Daniel Suarez -275, 26) Ryan Preece -313.
Playoff
Points: 1) Kyle Larson 65, 2) Denny Hamlin -35, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -36, 4) Ryan Blaney -41, 5) Kyle Busch -42, 6) Chase Elliott -43, 7) Joey Logano -52, 8) Brad Keselowski -57.
Stage
Points: 1) Kyle Larson 351, 2) Denny Hamlin -8, 3) Chase Elliott -96, 4) Joey Logano -123, 5) William Byron -124, 6) Kyle Busch -129, 7) Ryan Blaney
-143, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -157, 9) Brad Keselowski -166, 10) Kevin Harvick -194, 11) Tyler Reddick -209, 12) Kurt Busch -221, 13) Austin Dillon -234, 14) Christopher Bell
-238, 15) Alex Bowman -240, 16) Bubba Wallace -289.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 1091, 2) Kyle Larson -36, 3) Ryan Blaney
-128, 4) Kevin Harvick -132, 5) Martin Truex Jr. -140, 6) Chase Elliott -142, 7) Joey Logano -152, 8) Kyle Busch -166, 9) Brad Keselowski -192, 10) William Byron
-219, 11) Austin Dillon -240, 12) Alex Bowman -242, 13) Tyler Reddick -244, 14) Kurt Busch -277, 15) Christopher Bell -296, 16) Chris Buescher -305.
Race Winners: Michael McDowell (Daytona-1), Christopher Bell (Daytona-2), William Byron (Homestead), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas-1, Charlotte-1,
Sonoma, All-Star Race, Nashville, Watkins Glen, Bristol-2, Charlotte-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 Wins Round of 12; AJ Allmendinger's Victory Gives Him Lead For Round of 8
by Phil Allaway
Despite scoring no stage points, Austin Cindric was right up there in contention at the end Saturday and finished second. That was enough to win the Round of 12. His margin of 17 points over Daniel Hemric, who won the first two stages Saturday and finished third to move up to second in points. Justin Allgaier dropped to third despite finishing ninth. AJ
Allmendinger's victory gained him some points, but he stayed in fourth.
Justin Haley finished fourth Saturday and ended the Round of 12 in fifth. He was eight points ahead of Noah Gragson, who moved up to sixth after finishing sixth. Brandon Jones dropped to seventh despite finishing fifth. Harrison Burton struggled for much of the day and finished 15th, but that was enough for him to snag the final spot in the Round of
8.
Harrison Burton's margin over his cousin Jeb was nine points. Jeb Burton ended up finishing 13th Saturday. Myatt Snider finished eighth and ended up 10th in the round. Jeremy Clements moved up one place to 11th after finishing 12th, while Riley Herbst broke an axle and had to retire from the race. That dropped him to 12th.
For the Round of 8, Allmendinger's victory will allow him to start the round with a six-point lead over Cindric. Allgaier will be nearly a half-race behind in third, then Gragson, Hemric, Haley, Harrison Burton and Jones.
Outside of the playoffs, Ty Gibbs was in contention for a strong finish before getting spun out late and dropping to 21st. He is still 13th in points. He was lucky to keep the position because Brandon Brown got spun out in the frontstretch chicane on the final lap and backed across the start-finish line in 22nd. The margin is 15 points between the two drivers.
Ryan Sieg had a miserable day to finish 32nd, but stays in 15th. Michael Annett jumps over the idle Josh Berry to move back into 16th after finishing 27th.
Round of 12 Point Standings: 1) Austin Cindric 2166, 2) Daniel Hemric -17, 3) Justin Allgaier -29, 4) AJ Allmendinger -30, 5) Justin
Haley -40, 6) Noah Gragson -48, 7) Brandon Jones -49, 8) Harrison Burton -75, 9) Jeb Burton -84, 10) Myatt Snider -91, 11) Jeremy Clements -120, 12) Riley Herbst -129.
Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) AJ Allmendinger 3050, 2) Austin Cindric -6, 3) Justin Allgaier -29, 4) Noah Gragson -33, 5) Daniel Hemric -34, 6) Justin Haley -35, 7) Harrison Burton -42, 8) Brandon Jones -47.
Eliminated Playoff Contender Points: 9) Jeb Burton 2082, 10) Myatt Snider -7, 11) Jeremy Clements -36, 12) Riley Herbst -45.
Full Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 1155, 2) AJ Allmendinger -20, 3) Justin Allgaier -114, 4) Daniel Hemric -125, 5) Justin Haley -180, 6) Noah Gragson
-191, 7) Harrison Burton -201, 8) Jeb Burton -293, 9) Brandon Jones -412, 10) Jeremy Clements -487, 11) Riley Herbst -495, 12) Myatt Snider -498, 13) Ty Gibbs -566, 14) Brandon Brown
-582, 15) Ryan Sieg -598, 16) Michael Annett -621.
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 589, 14) Brandon Brown -15, 15) Ryan Sieg -32, 16) Michael Annett -55, 17) Josh Berry -64, 18) Josh Williams -118. 19) Tommy Joe Martins -139, 20) Alex Labbe -140, 21) Landon Cassill -168, 22) Jade Buford -180,
23) Brett Moffitt -196.
Playoff Points: 1) AJ Allmendinger 50, 2) Austin Cindric -6, 3) Justin Allgaier -29, 4) Noah Gragson -33, 5) Daniel Hemric -34, 6) Justin Haley
-35, 7) Harrison Burton -42, 8) Brandon Jones -47.
Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 318, 2) AJ Allmendinger -7, 3) Daniel Hemric -29, 4) Noah Gragson -51, 5) Justin Allgaier -74, 6) Harrison Burton
-88, 7) Justin Haley -106, 8) Brandon Jones -166, 9) Jeb Burton -168, 10) Ty Gibbs -181, 11) Riley Herbst -216, 12) Myatt Snider -241, 13) Michael Annett -246, 14) Josh Berry
-250, 15) Jeremy Clements -258, 16) Ty Dillon -282.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 13th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 979, 2) Austin Cindric -13, 3) Justin Allgaier -50, 4) Daniel Hemric -105, 5) Justin Haley -110, 6) Harrison Burton -131, 7) Jeb Burton -144, 8) Noah Gragson -159, 9) Jeremy Clements -256, 10) Brandon Jones -276, 11) Myatt Snider -282, 12) Riley Herbst -309, 13) Brandon Brown -317, 14) Ryan Sieg -332, 15) Josh Williams -406, 16) Michael Annett -431.
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-1, Watkins Glen), AJ Allmendinger (Las Vegas-1, Mid-Ohio, Michigan, Bristol, Charlotte-2), Myatt Snider (Homestead), Justin Allgaier (Atlanta-1, Darlington-1), Josh Berry (Martinsville, Las Vegas-2), Jeb Burton (Talladega), Kyle Busch (Circuit
of the Americas, Texas, Nashville, Road America, Atlanta-2), Christopher Bell (Loudon), Justin Haley (Daytona-3), Noah Gragson (Darlington-2, Richmond)
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. 14
by Phil Allaway
The Camping World Truck Series was off last weekend. They will not be back in action until Oct. 29 at Martinsville Speedway.
When the season resumes, there will be only two races remaining and one left in the Round of 8. John Hunter Nemechek will have a one-point lead over Ben Rhodes. Matt Crafton is third, then Sheldon
Creed. Creed has the final spot by five points over Stewart Friesen.
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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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Bank of America ROVAL 400 was brought to you by the letter O for Overcoming. Kyle Larson's day was nearly completely derailed by an alternator belt coming off of his Chevrolet. That led to the battery being drained. While
teammate Alex Bowman finished 10th despite being unable to really fix his problem, Larson was able to get the belt replaced and drive back through the field to win. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Bank of America ROVAL 400k
compiled by Phil Allaway
"I wouldn’t have believed it, that’s for sure. I don’t know. I didn’t even feel that good early. Started changing some things and they were doing a good job letting me know what to do inside the cockpit to get better. About that time, I noticed my battery was going low, so I was getting stressed out. Like man, I’m not going to get knocked out of the Playoffs like
this. It wasn’t looking too good. Thankfully, everybody on our No. 5 car did a great job of staying calm. Cliff [Daniels] as always, did a great job of communicating with me and what was going on and getting the battery changed and the alternator changed and whatever it takes to get our battery running. But man, my HendrickCars.com Chevy was good. William [Byron] was obviously really good. It’s a bummer to see that not work out for him. But I think [Chase Elliott] ended up making it, so
that was some great perseverance by that team, too. So, it’s just awesome to be with Hendrick Motorsports and glad to get another win and I’m looking forward to the next round a lot." - Kyle Larson, race winner
"I am fired up because we had a really good car today. We had to start 29th because of crashing at Talladega last week and didn’t have a great pit stall because of that as well. So, it really forced our hand to be off sequence and we were in a situation there pretty early in stage one where we were on new tires and I thought I had established myself in the outside and
got in the wall and knocked both sides in and that hurt me a little bit. As the race progressed and we were in that situation where we were trying to chase Kyle [Larson] down and I just knew we couldn’t change anything about what happened. It does leave a ‘what if’ in your mind. It’s like if I hadn’t crashed this car early in the race, and almost ended our day, it should have been a little bit faster." - Tyler Reddick, finished second
"That was a fun time. I’m really appreciative of everybody on this Fastenal Ford Mustang group. We worked hard. We were able to stay on pace all day and had a gameplan and followed through and ultimately got us into the top five. I had a top three there, but it got a little rough there at the end and I made a mistake with probably five to go and unfortunately we
didn’t have a shot to win because of that, but we were definitely in the hunt. That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the day. I’m pretty thankful for everybody." - Chris Buescher, finished third
"We’ve run fair before here. Put [Chase Elliott] back in there and we’re fifth. Overall good day for the M&M’s Camry. We came here with a plan and we tried to execute it as best we could. We’re just okay, I wouldn’t call us stellar. We did lead that stage and get a point there so that was good. It was hard to pass and really hard to make up ground. Once everybody
got spread out, everyone runs really equal. Not a lot of gain throughout the run it seemed." - Kyle Busch, finished fourth
"I feel like we had a good day, just made a few mistakes with missing the chicane and speeding on pit road, but came back from that. Just kind of was in between trying to decide if we should pit or not and who knows, I’m not sure we had enough speed to beat the 5 (Kyle Larson) out right. We held those guys off as long as we could on the older tires. Just fell back to
fifth." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"So much for keeping it clean. That was the plan, but just ended up having a rough day, but ended up finishing seventh and even a shot at a top five or top three towards the end of the race. I’m proud of our Shell/Pennzoil team. I got into Preece and dumped him early in the race and that was my mistake. I just went in there too hard and needed all the racetrack, so
the good thing for him is I don’t think it affected his day, but, overall, we’re moving onto the Round of 8. It’s a great accomplishment. We’re proud of that. It’s onto the next three and try to score a bunch of points maybe or get a win. That might be the easiest way of doing it." - Joey Logano, finished seventh
"Two words, rear grip. I don’t know we just couldn’t quite hit it. We were struggled and I made a lot of mistakes driving too, but ultimately we weren’t fast enough to go up there and compete for the win. Came away with an eighth place finish, which is a lot better than it was looking like we were going to have today.
"You have to be great every time you come to the race track. We have a lot of stuff we can clean up and our potential is a lot better that what we’re performing at right now. I have high hopes moving on in my NASCAR career and hopefully I get more opportunities at [the playoffs]." - Christopher Bell, finished eighth
"It was a solid day. We did well in the stages and got some good stage points. We had to cycle back to the back a couple times, but with the spot we were in a lot of people they just wanted good stage points and we did a good job of that. At the end with all of those late cautions and people in desperation mode you just don’t want to get wrecked. You want to just try
to finish the race and not get turned around and put yourself in a really bad spot, so was kind of little bit cautious at the end, but we did what we needed to do today and move on. It’s nice." - Ryan Blaney, finished ninth
"[The alternator issues hit pretty] early, I would assume. I probably [didn't] catch that until it’s been a bit, right? I’m not sitting there staying at the volt gauge. But there pretty early, we knew we had a volt issue. It acted like it threw the belt, So, we came down and put a belt on it and it didn’t. Don’t know what we had going on, but it’s
unfortunate. It’s tough to make a car live long here without any brake fans and tire cooling, but Greg [Ives] and all the guys on the No. 48 Ally team did such a good job letting me know what I needed to do to get it to the finish line and what I could and couldn’t do with fans; and we put a battery in it at one point and kind of went from there. I hate it. I’m glad we got a top 10. I’m exhausted. I’m just mentally drained after the rollercoaster that [race] was. But it’s good
to get a top 10. I wish we had more. Congrats to [Kyle Larson]. The kid is super-human. It’s cool to see. I’m really happy for Kyle." - Alex Bowman, finished 10th
"It was great. We had a really good car in two of the three races in this Round and today we had an amazing car, probably capable of winning, but just didn’t have things go our way there. At that point when I got up to third, my tires were shot, and there were only two laps to go. I wasn’t going to win, and made a mistake to not finish third, but at that
point I was just mad." - William Byron, finished 11th
"Our team did a great job of putting the car back together and that was really the bottom line. They just took the right amount of time to get it fixed and fixed properly so as to not have tire rubs and cut a tire down and end our day. Super excited about that and excited about three more weeks and another opportunity to win a championship.
"As far as Kevin goes, I want to wish him a merry offseason and a Happy Christmas." - Chase Elliott, finished 12th
"I’m glad I don’t have to do that again. We got out of here and advanced and we’ll move on to Texas and focus on that, but it was not the prettiest of days. Thank goodness we ran so good at Talladega." - Brad Keselowski, finished 20th
"We had to pit for a tire run so we got in the back. I was following [Brad Keselowski] car back through traffic and they were two wide going into the backstretch chicane. They were two-wide and two-wide and there were four cars in front of me and all I could do was slow down and let them figure it out and go. We got in there and [Joey Hand] just drove into the
back of me. I don’t know if he was out of brakes and missed the corner and didn’t expect us. I don’t know. His car was completely destroyed and he was running last all day and he completely ran me over with three of four laps to go. It was crazy, I can’t even believe it happened, but we’re through so it is what it is." - Martin Truex Jr., finished 29th
"I just pushed it in there too hard and I got the tire locked up and I couldn’t stop it once I felt like I needed to go to get a couple spots back that I had lost, and I got the left-front locked up and I couldn’t get it to turn.
(In regards to the incident with Chase Elliott): "Sometimes real life teaches you good lessons." - Kevin Harvick, finished 33rd (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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