Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 25, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition CXCI
|
- Teams are arriving back at their shops today after Sunday's action in Kansas. Preparation for this weekend's tripleheader at Martinsville Speedway is already underway. Entry lists should be released today. We'll have them and anything else that breaks at Frontstretch.
|
Around the World in Motorsports: Oct. 22-24
|
- Jamie Chadwick successfully defended her W Series title last weekend at Circuit of the Americas with a weekend sweep. Race No. 1 on Saturday saw Emma Kimilainen make a big move from third on the grid to take the lead. However, she went a little too hard into turn 1 on the
first lap. That put Kimilainen and pole sitter Abbi Pulling wide, allowing Chadwick to take the lead and hold on for the win. Kimilainen was second, then Alice Powell, Pulling and Beitske Visser
Race No. 2 on Sunday saw Chadwick get an excellent start from pole and was never threatened en route to her fourth win of the year and the title. Chadwick won by 5.03 seconds over Pulling, then Kimilainen, Sarah Moore and
Visser.
Points-wise, Chadwick won the title by 27 points over Powell. Kimilainen was third, then Nerea Marti and Moore. Fabienne Wohlwend, Pulling (despite being a reserve driver and only starting four of eight races) and Visser all earned automatic spots on the grid for 2022.
Irina Sidorkova, who missed both races this weekend due to the United States disallowing her from entering the country, will also be on the grid next year.
- Phoenix Racing's Mathias Beche and John Loggie claimed victory in the final race of the Michelin Le Mans Cup season at Portimao Sunday after a series of instances of teams running afoul of driver change regulations. The margin of victory was 26.375 seconds over Racing Spirit of
Le Mans' Antoine Jung and Jacques Wolff. WTM Powered by Phoenix's Thorsten Kratz and Leonard Weiss were third, then COOL Racing's Matt Bell and Maurice Smith. CD Sport's Mikkel Jensen and Adam Eteki were fifth. The GT3 class was won by Iron Lynx's Paolo Ruberti and Gabriele Lancieri in a Ferrari 488 GT3.
- Giovanni Scelzi started from pole, then fell back to fourth. In the closing laps Friday night, Scelzi charged back forward and passed Kerry Madsen on the final restart with four laps to go. From there, he held on to take the victory. Donny Schatz was second, then
Madsen, Aaron Reutzel and Logan Schuchart.
With four races remaining, Brad Sweet, who finished sixth Friday night, continues to maintain a 98-point lead over David Gravel. Schatz is third in points, then Carson Macedo and
Schuchart.
|
| | Kyle Larson Comes Out on Top at Kansas, Wins 9th Race of 2021
Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson reigned supreme once again Sunday at Kansas Speedway, winning the Hollywood Casino 400 for his third straight win and ninth of the season. Chase Elliott was second, followed by Kevin
Harvick, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin.
|
| | Martin Truex Jr. Comes Back From Tire Problem to Earn Kansas Top 10
A number of playoff contenders ran into tire issues on Sunday caused by wall contact. While others were unable to salvage their days, Martin Truex Jr. recovered from his cut tire to finish seventh and make things much
easier in regards to making the Championship 4 at Martinsville.
|
| | Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart To Test Next Gen Car at Bowman Gray Stadium
NASCAR announced Monday morning that retired drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart will be on hand Tuesday at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, N.C. to test the new NextGen car ahead of February's Clash
at the Coliseum.
|
| | Ty Gibbs Steals an Xfinity Playoff Win at Kansas
Ty Gibbs snatched the lead away from Austin Cindric with 11 laps to go Saturday, then held on to win the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway, his fourth Xfinity Series win of the year. Cindric was second, then AJ
Allmendinger, Justin Haley and Ryan Sieg.
|
| | Max Verstappen Extends Championship Lead With US Grand Prix Victory
Red Bull's Max Verstappen shook up pit strategy to get himself in front of Lewis Hamilton two separate times Sunday in Austin. Hamilton ran him down from nearly nine seconds back, but could not prevent Verstappen from
winning the United States Grand Prix. Sergio Perez was third, then Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo.
|
| | Nick Sanchez Gets 1st ARCA Win, Ty Gibbs Wins Championship
Rev Racing's Nick Sanchez made a swooping move to the inside on the final restart to get past both Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim to take the lead. From there, Sanchez held on to win the Reese's 150 Saturday night to earn his
first career ARCA Menards Series win. GIbbs, who clinched the title by starting the race, was second. Heim was third, then Drew Dollar and Jean-Phillippe Bergeron.
|
| | United Autosports Wins ELMS 4 Hours of Portimao
United Autosports' Jonathan Aberdein, Tom Gamble and Phil Hanson claimed overall victory Sunday's in the European Le Mans Series season-ending 4 Hours of Portimao at the Algarve International Circuit in a race marred by a red
flag following an early crash into the attenuator at the pit entrance.
|
Seeking the NASCAR Cup Series Championship: Kyle Larson Continues Strong Form, Clinches Round of 8
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Larson once again led the most laps Sunday and claimed his third straight victory. That allowed him to expand his lead in the points up to 74 points. He has already clinched victory in the Round of 8 with a race to spare. Chase Elliott finished second and moved up three spots to second. Denny Hamlin remains in third after finishing
fifth. Kyle Busch had multiple issues with tires Sunday and ended up 28th. However, he wasn't the only driver to have trouble. That allowed him to hold onto fourth, the final spot in the Championship 4.
Kyle Busch has a mere one-point advantage over Ryan Blaney. Blaney crashed out of the race late Sunday and finished 37th, dropping him from second to fifth. Martin Truex Jr. recovered from wall contact and a cut tire to finish seventh and move up to sixth. Brad Keselowski also hit the wall and dropped back to seventh
after finishing 17th. Joey Logano finished ninth and stays in eighth.
Outside of the playoffs, Kevin Harvick finished a strong third to stay in ninth. He is 50 points ahead of Kurt Busch, who finished fourth and gained one spot to put himself in 10th. William Byron is up two places to 11th after finishing sixth. Christopher Bell is down two places to 12th after
an eighth-place finish.
Tyler Reddick is down one place to 13th after a late cut tire dropped him to a 22nd-place finish. Alex Bowman is up to 14th after finishing 11th. Aric Almirola is still 15th, while Michael McDowell is 16th.
Of those who never made the playoffs, Austin Dillon has clinched the 17th spot in points. After finishing 10th Sunday, Dillon is now 154 points ahead of Chris Buescher. Buescher finished 12th and jumped over Matt DiBenedetto, who missed the setup and finished 23rd. Ross Chastain is
20th.
Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) Kyle Larson
4184, 2) Chase Elliott -74, 3) Denny Hamlin -76, 4) Kyle Busch -107, 5) Ryan Blaney -108, 6) Martin Truex Jr. -110, 7) Brad Keselowski 113, 8) Joey Logano -133.
Note : Drivers in Bold have advanced to the
Championship 4.
Eliminated Playoff Contender Points: 9) Kevin Harvick
2293, 10) Kurt Busch -50, 11) William Byron -60, 12) Christopher Bell -66, 13) Tyler Reddick -80, 14) Alex Bowman -124, 15) Aric Almirola -146, 16) Michael McDowell -165.
Full Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kyle Larson 1384, 2) Denny Hamlin -17, 3) Chase Elliott -246, 4) Ryan Blaney -294, 5) Kyle Busch -312, 6) Kevin Harvick -315, 7) Joey Logano
-319, 8) William Byron -323, 9) Martin Truex Jr. -334, 10) Brad Keselowski -379, 11) Tyler Reddick -458, 12) Kurt Busch -481, 13) Austin Dillon -499, 14) Alex Bowman -526, 15) Christopher Bell
-550, 16) Chris Buescher -653.
Best of the Rest: 17) Austin Dillon
885, 18) Chris Buescher -154, 19) Matt DiBenedetto -158, 20) Ross Chastain -189, 21) Bubba Wallace -199, 22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -238, 23) Chase Briscoe -247, 24) Daniel Suarez -276, 25) Erik Jones -288, 26) Ryan Preece
-346.
Playoff Points: 1) Kyle Larson 77, 2) Denny Hamlin -47, 3) Martin Truex Jr. -48, t-4) Ryan
Blaney -53, t-4) Kyle Busch -53, 6) Chase Elliott -55, 7) Joey Logano -64, 8) Brad Keselowski -69.
Stage Points: 1) Kyle Larson 387, 2) Denny Hamlin -27, 3) Chase Elliott -112, 4) William Byron -126, 5) Kyle Busch -152, 6) Joey Logano -159, 7) Ryan Blaney -162, 8) Martin Truex Jr.
-193, 9) Brad Keselowski -195, 10) Kevin Harvick -212, 11) Kurt Busch -231, 12) Tyler Reddick -235, 13) Alex Bowman -268, 14) Austin Dillon -270, 15) Christopher Bell -274, 16) Bubba Wallace
-323.
Note: Stage Points include the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Denny Hamlin 1158, 2) Kyle Larson -13, 3) Kevin Harvick
-125, 4) Chase Elliott -135, t-5) Ryan Blaney -156, t-5) Martin Truex Jr. -156, 7) Joey Logano -175, 8) Kyle Busch -186, 9) Brad Keselowski -197, 10) William Byron -210, 11) Austin Dillon -249, 12) Tyler Reddick
-259, 13) Alex Bowman -271, 14) Kurt Busch -281, 15) Christopher Bell -292, 16) Chris Buescher -323.
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, Texas, Kansas-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-1), 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.
|
|
|
Seeking the Xfinity Series Championship: Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger Tied Entering Martinsville
by Phil Allaway
The Xfinity Series will go to Martinsville this upcoming weekend with nothing decided. Ty Gibbs' victory Saturday means that no one is locked into the Championship
4.
AJ Allmendinger finished third Saturday, while Austin Cindric was second. This has put the two drivers in a dead heat entering Martinsville. They're both pretty comfortable in regards to getting into the Championship 4, but they won't want
to screw up. Justin Allgaier is still in third after a ninth-place finish. Daniel Hemric has the last spot in the Championship 4 after finishing 15th.
Hemric has a seven-point advantage over Justin Haley, who finished fourth. Noah Gragson crashed out late and was credited with 35th. This dropped him from fourth to sixth. Brandon Jones moved up to seventh
after finishing 11th, while Harrison Burton is back to eighth after crashing out with Gragson.
Of those eliminated from the playoffs, Jeb Burton continues to lead the pack in ninth after finishing 12th. He has an 11-point advantage over Myatt Snider, who finished 10th. Riley Herbst is still in 11th,
while Jeremy Clements is 12th.
Outside of the playoffs altogether, Gibbs' fourth win of the year keeps him in 13th. He is 33 points ahead of Ryan Sieg, who scored only second top five finish of the year Saturday. Michael Annett moved up to 15th after finishing seventh,
jumping over Brandon Brown.
Round of 8 Point Standings: t-1) AJ Allmendinger 3139, t-1) Austin Cindric 3139, 3) Justin Allgaier -38, 4) Daniel Hemric -40, 5) Justin Haley
-47, 6) Noah Gragson -64, 7) Brandon Jones -80, 8) Harrison Burton -91.
Eliminated Playoff Contender Points: 9) Jeb Burton 2140, 10) Myatt Snider -11, 11) Riley Herbst -49, 12) Jeremy Clements
-63.
Full Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Cindric 1250, 2) AJ Allmendinger -26, 3) Justin Allgaier -129, 4) Daniel
Hemric -137, 5) Justin Haley -198, 6) Noah Gragson -228, 7) Harrison Burton -256, 8) Jeb Burton -330, 9) Brandon Jones -451, 10) Riley Herbst -536, 11) Myatt Snider -539, 12) Jeremy Clements -551, 13) Ty Gibbs
-605, 14) Ryan Sieg -638, 15) Michael Annett -647, 16) Brandon Brown -648.
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 645, 14) Ryan Sieg -33, 15) Michael Annett -42, 16) Brandon Brown -43, 17) Josh Berry
-120, 18) Josh Williams -145, 19) Tommy Joe Martins -162, 20) Alex Labbe -179, 21) Brett Moffitt -198, 22) Landon Cassill -205, 23) Jade Buford -234.
Playoff Points: 1) AJ Allmendinger 51, 2) Austin Cindric -5, 3) Justin Allgaier -30, 4) Noah Gragson -34, 5) Daniel Hemric -35, 6) Justin Haley -36, 7) Harrison Burton -43, 8) Brandon Jones -48.
Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 328, 2) AJ Allmendinger -8, 3) Daniel Hemric -30, 4) Noah Gragson -50, 5) Justin Allgaier
-74, 6) Harrison Burton -94, 7) Justin Haley -105, 8) Jeb Burton -171, 9) Brandon Jones -176, 10) Ty Gibbs -191, 11) Riley Herbst -221, 12) Michael Annett -246, 13) Myatt Snider -251, 14) Josh Berry
-260, 15) Jeremy Clements -265, 16) Ty Dillon -292.
Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 13th in stage points.
Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) AJ Allmendinger 1015, 2) Austin Cindric -12, 3) Justin Allgaier -49, 4) Daniel Hemric -101, 5) Justin
Haley -112, 6) Harrison Burton -133, 7) Jeb Burton -150, 8) Noah Gragson -157, 9) Jeremy Clements
-280, 10) Brandon Jones -281, 11) Myatt Snider -298, 12) Riley Herbst -316, 13) Ryan Sieg
-341, 14) Brandon Brown -345, 15) Josh Williams -420, 16) Michael Annett -435.
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, Kansas), 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-1, Nashville, Road America, Atlanta-2), Christopher Bell (Loudon), Justin Haley (Daytona-3), Noah Gragson (Darlington-2, Richmond), John Hunter Nemechek (Texas-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 Nigel Kinrade Photography.
|
|
|
Seeking the Camping World Truck Series Championship: Off-Week Update No. 16
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.
|
|
|
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway was brought to you by the letter W for Wind. After the cold front pushed through early Sunday, the on-track product was profoundly
affected by the wind. Multiple drivers were blown into the SAFER Barrier, while Rudy Fugle's pit box decided to attack him, resulting in a brief visit to the Infield Care Center during the early red flag. - Phil Allaway
|
Quotes to Remember: Hollywood Casino 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
Yes, I want to dedicate this win to Rick and Linda [Hendrick]. I didn’t ever get to meet Ricky [Hendrick] or the other men and women who lost their lives that day, but I felt the importance of this race, no doubt. It’s crazy how it kind of all worked out there for me to win. I know they were all
looking down and helping me out there with all the restarts and stuff after getting into the wall. Again, thank you to Rick Hendrick. I know this means a lot to you and I’m glad I could get it done. It’s cool to get another win and I don’t really know how that happened but, our HendrickCars.com Chevy was really fast. I thought we were like a third-place car, really. William [Byron] was really good. I hate to see that unfortunate luck there again for that team. They’ve been really, really strong.
I’m glad we could capitalize and get another win. I hope we can go to Martinsville and get a clock." - Kyle Larson, race winner
"Really proud of the effort. Our entire NAPA Chevrolet team did a great job today and I felt like we had something for Kyle [Larson] there. Just got the wall there off of (turn) two. It’s so hard to get up to him when you are running the fence like that. It’s just tough because every few feet you get
closer, the harder it gets. It was a lot of fun. I’m really proud of the way we ran today. I feel like it was a really nice step in the right direction." - Chase Elliott, finished second
"We were just getting tight at the end of the runs and the 5, 9 and 1 cars could really hold it wide open. I needed to get past the 5 so I was trying to hold it wide open and had a lot of wheel in to it and got a little tight as we went to the last half of that run. I
am really proud of everyone on the Subway Ford Mustang. We closed a huge gap at 1.5 mile race tracks and everyone is doing a great job." - Kevin Harvick, finished third
"We did everything right, we just didn’t combo it all together at the perfect time. Pit road was awesome. Matt McCall and all my guys, sticking together this late in the year with the team switching over. Just thank you to AdventHealth. I wanted to give them a good
run and we were there. We did all of this right and it was so much fun racing right in the mix. It’s the little things that make the big difference. We freed it up on that last run; it got too tight. When you’re running with the big dogs, you have to do everything right." - Kurt Busch, finished fourth
"Just tried to optimize our day, that’s really all we could do. The second half we were much, much better, but by then it’s just so hard to pass. Decent day overall. The FedEx Camry was okay, we optimized. We didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes and we really swung a
whole lot of things at it to try to make it better, but fourth or fifth is about where we were at." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"Yeah, [the last stop] was tough for us. On the first one, we got a good chunk of them and we got inside the top 10 and restarted ninth. Just didn’t really go anywhere on that one and it took us a while to kind of get back up there. But yeah, just a bummer we had that
issue. I feel like we were executing a really good race and probably had the best car. We just had that issue and it took us out. We will rebound. This RaptorTough.com Chevrolet looked really good and we have had so much speed this year. It’s just a bummer to not get more wins, but I feel like our time is coming. We just have to keep at it." - William Byron, finished
sixth
"It was a long day. You never quit fighting in these things and all you can do is the best you can do. Just kept working on it and kept making adjustments and do what we could. We were able to get back on the lead lap there and take the wave around with the quick
caution and battle from there. All the guys did a great job on this Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry and it was pretty fast. Just sixth or seventh, where we finished was about where we were going to be. I would have liked to have done without that damage; it was pretty fast before that. Unfortunate the way that deal worked out, but we’re still in it and we’re still fighting and we look forward to next weekend." - Martin Truex Jr., finished
seventh
"We made decent restarts and our pit crew was good today and got us some spots. We were able to get the restarts and get up to the top four or so and then from lap two to 10 I just couldn’t stay with them. I went to the bottom they would pass me on the top, if I went
to the top they would pass me on the bottom. I just couldn’t hold them off. From lap 10 on, we were as good as the top three or four cars, we just had last the track position at that point. We were too far back to be able to do much and try to strategize ourselves to the lead somehow. We tried the long run there in the first stage. We just didn’t really get the opportunity to do much. On to Martinsville. One more shot to do it. It is crazy watching this thing. They are trying to give it away it
seems like. I have never seen so many issues in this round. Yeah, it seems like survival was the key in this round so far." - Joey Logano, finished ninth
"We had a really fast No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE today at Kansas Speedway. We ended up with damage in Stage 1 and never recovered, so it really says a lot that we were able to finish in the top-10. It was hard-earned by everyone on the team, for
sure. We were running solidly in the top-10 in Stage 1 when another car fenced both of us. We had a lot of right-side damage, but we fixed it the best we could. Most of the rest of the day was a struggle because the damage was affecting our handling. By the end of the race, our car was pretty decent. Late in the race I got into a Playoff contender and I hate it for everyone involved. It was side-drafting. It’s part of what we do, but I still hate that it happened. I tried to save it the first
time, and the second time I just lost it. Overall, it was a good day for the Get Bioethanol team, and I am so proud of everyone at RCR and ECR for preparing fast Chevrolets." - Austin Dillon, finished 10th
"Thanks to Gaunt Brothers Racing, Toyota and Fast Checkout for being awesome to work with today. It was definitely a day where we struggled on the short run and were really fast on the long one. It was just a matter of me learning and trying to figure stuff out in the second half of the race. We needed
a Lucky Dog or something to go our way to get back on the lead lap. We could’ve easily finished in the top 15. I probably asked for one adjustment that made us go back a little bit. Overall, a successful top 20 day. I don’t think that’s a miss at all after hopping back in a Cup car after two years. It was one of the best Cup cars I’ve ever driven." - Parker Kligerman, finished
20th
"Loose and a lot of wind. Just could not get the handle on it with entry or exit with our M&M’s Halloween Camry. Knew it on the get-go within the first 10 laps or so or whatever it was on that first yellow with the weather. Just really, really up on top of the right rear all day and couldn’t feel
it on entry and exit. Bit me twice. The first time it was tolerable and the second time, it was just over.
"I was expecting much worse. Still a shot, it’s just going to be tough. Just going to be a hard-fought dog fight for that final spot." - Kyle Busch, finished
28th
"Yeah, we got run into from two lanes below me. I have no idea. Obviously it hurts. Finishing 37th is not prime. We didn’t have a great day but we did a good job of fighting back and getting back into the top 10 but then just got wiped out when we had plenty of room. That
sucks. It is very unfortunate." - Ryan Blaney, 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.
|
|
|
|
