The Frontstretch Newsletter: April 18th, 2011

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
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April 18th, 2011
Volume V, Edition LXVII
 
Johnson Squeaks Out Last-Second Talladega Victory

by Brody Jones
 
In the state of Alabama, race fans congregate twice a year to see "The Talladega Tango."  But after 88 lead changes among 26 drivers, at the end of the race, Jimmie Johnson came out of nowhere to lead an eight-car blanket over the finish line by two-thousandths of a second to win the Aaron's 499.  The final margin of victory was tied for the closest finish since electronic scoring was introduced to NASCAR, which was set back in 2003 at Darlington when Ricky Craven nipped Kurt Busch at the line; on Sunday, it was Jimmie Johnson besting Clint Bowyer by inches to take the checkers.

 

Jeff Gordon led the field to the starting line with a qualifying lap of 178.248 mph with teammates Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.in tow; it's just the third time in NASCAR history an organization has started 1-2-3-4 in the race.  After 27 laps of frentic racing action, the first caution of the day came out when Kurt Busch made contact with Landon Cassill, who veered hard to the left toward Brian Vickers' car, sending Vickers for a spin into the wall.

 

Caution number two came out for a five-car pile-up again triggered by Kurt Busch again making contact with another driver, this time it was team-mate Brad Keselowski.  In the after-math of the incident, Trevor Bayne, Marcos Ambrose, Kasey Kahne, and David Ragan were caught up in the incident, with Ragan being swept up in the accident while his car appeared to be blowing an engine.  More fast-paced plate-racing action followed until Lap 129, when debris in turn 3 from Clint Bowyer's car brought out the caution.

 

Twelve laps later, another five-car accident took place, this time when Joey Logano hooked teammate Kyle Busch in the left rear, sending him spinning into the path of Matt Kenseth. Kurt Busch, AJ Allmendinger, and Denny Hamlin also were swept up in the accident.  The pace picked up once more and with 15 laps to go, the "Big One" nearly happened when Kurt Busch accidently, for the third time, hooked a car he was drafting with, this time Ryan Newman, and Newman hit Juan Pablo Montoya, but amazingly managed to save the car from too much damage.  Incredulously, just a couple of laps later, Newman made contact again, this time with Denny Hamlin, and once again got away with a miraculous save.  But, he stalled the car and the caution would come out with 13 laps remaining with Dave Blaney leading the race.

 

Blaney led the field back to the green flag, but quickly lost the lead to Kevin Harvick.  However, two laps later, Blaney was up front again and poised to make another Talladega Cinderella story come true.  He held the lead until four laps to go when Carl Edwards got around him, turning Blaney's golden carriage into the proverbial pumpkin.  Blaney would spin just a lap later following contact with Kurt Busch. The next lap saw Clint Bowyer back up front.  Edwards took the lead back with two laps to go, but Jeff Gordon would be the one leading the field to the white flag.  On the last lap as eight cars frantically chased for the win through Turn 4 and the tri-oval, it would be Jimmie Johnson going to the inside and eking out Clint Bowyer by .002 seconds for the win with Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Mark Martin all in the mad sprint to the line as well with David Gilliland and Joey Logano rounding out the top-10.

 

In Victory Lane, Johnson was quite relieved.

 

"Man, I thought we were in trouble.  Something happened with like two to go and we got disconnected," Johnson said in Victory Lane.  "I had a really tough time hearing Junior on the radio so I didn't know what he was saying or needed but we were disconnected and I got us back together.  We got hooked up and rolling and all of a sudden it was just two groups in front of us.  A big run down the [backstretch], I saw the bottom and they protected it and I just rolled through (turns) 3 and 4 and I'm like 'we'll get another chance, I hope.'  They were worried about each other in that second and third lane and left that bottom open and we had some big momentum on our side and off we went."

 

"It's great how the plan worked out, Johnson continued.  "Can't thank Junior enough.  He made the decision that my car was faster leading and the way these things have been finishing up that lead car is going to have the win so in some respects he was more worried about the team having a good performance than anything. They are responsible for this win today."

 

Bowyer, despite leading 15 times for 38 laps, had to settle for second best.

 

"We did everything we could do. The BB&T Chevrolet, she did everything she could do," Bowyer said.  "I saw them coming in the mirror even through Kevin and I knew.  I was like 'the No. 24 better block them guys, better block them guys' and they were too worried about racing us as we were them. Just all hell broke loose is exactly what happened but that's what makes this place awesome. It is a good finish for us. Very frustrated that we didn't get the win."

 

Johnson averaged a blistering 156.261 mph in victory and led four times for 14 laps en route to the win.  Unlike the Daytona 500 in February, which had a record number of cautions, Sunday's Aaron's 499 had only six cautions for 20 laps.  27 cars finished on the lead lap.  There were also a record-tying 88 lead changes between 26 drivers.

 

Brody Jones is a Website Contributor to Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
 
Tracking the Chase: Edwards Maintains Advantage With Great Run

by Tom Bowles

 
Carl Edwards' late charge through the field at 'Dega kept him firmly in control of the Sprint Cup standings. He has teammate Greg Biffle to thank, convincing the duo to pull in the reins on the radio and focus their timing on a final, ten-lap sprint to the finish that worked like a charm. Hottest when it mattered - at the checkered flag - the No. 99 Ford crossed the line in sixth, leaving Edwards with a five-point margin over a new second-place man in the standings: winner Jimmie Johnson.

Further back, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sits third for his highest position in the points since the 2010 Daytona 500.  A top-5 finish was plenty good enough to keep the momentum rolling for the No. 88 team; they haven't finished worse than 12th since the Great American Race back in February.  Two-time 2011 winner Kevin Harvick sits fourth in the standings, making the most of a top-5 performance at 'Dega (fifth) while Kurt Busch, despite knocking not one, not two, but three cars out of contention in separate Sunday incidents held onto fifth in the standings.  Busch ended the race in 18th place, impressive considering he almost DNF'd multiple times with those mistakes.

Brother Kyle, after getting turned into the wall by Joey Logano dropped down to sixth in points; his 35th-place disaster leaves him 38 points behind Edwards.  Ryan Newman holds seventh after two amazing saves to keep his Haas Automation Chevrolet in one piece; he finished his day 25th, on the lead lap but not climbing out of a wrecked race car which is typically his M.O. in these types of plate events.  Texas winner Matt Kenseth wasn't so lucky; caught up in the Busch incident, he ended the day sitting in the garage and dropped to eighth.  Juan Pablo Montoya, slammed into by Newman after one of his saves limped home as well; the No. 42 Chevy ended the day in 30th, eleven laps off the pace.  He's now ninth in points, over a full race margin's worth behind Mr. Edwards.  Clint Bowyer, the day's runner-up got himself a consolation prize of moving into Chase position; he sits 10th.

Paul Menard remains 11th in points, while Tony Stewart now sits outside the Chase in 12th after a ho-hum 17th on Sunday. Jeff Gordon, in 13th would take the other wild card spot due to his Phoenix victory.

Points:
1) Carl Edwards 295. 2) Jimmie Johnson -5, 3) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -19, 4) Kevin Harvick -27, 5) Kurt Busch -28, 6) Kyle Busch -38, 7) Ryan Newman -42, 8) Matt Kenseth -43, 9) Juan Pablo Montoya -49, 10) Clint Bowyer -50.

Wild Cards: Paul Menard (11th in points, zero wins), Jeff Gordon (13th, Phoenix victory)

Tracking The Top 35: Baldwin Making Sudden Push

The back of Dave Blaney's car was easy enough to read: a top-10 finish meant kids would eat free at Golden Corral.  But for his Tommy Baldwin Racing team, they were crying right along with the children after a 27th-place disappointment Sunday: that cost them a spot inside the coveted top-35 in owner points.

For awhile, it seemed the No. 36 was a certainty to make the jump, leading 21 laps and contending for the victory with Kevin Harvick as a partner.  But during a late-race switch to Kurt Busch, some untimely contact left Blaney pulling a dirt track save, then left with too little time to make it up.  When the smoke cleared, he was at the back of the lead lap, nine points behind the 35th-place owner point team of Germain Racing and wondering simply, "What might have been?"

As for Germain, slow and steady did win the race for Mears (22nd Sunday) as the other challengers, TRG (No. 71 – Andy Lally) and Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 – Travis Kvapil) were never close enough to the front to pose a real threat.  With Tony Raines and his No. 37 failing to qualify, a devastating result for the former top 35 outfit the margin for Germain stands at two over Lally, whose 19th-place finish was a career best on an oval.

A little further up the chain, Regan Smith won the Bubble of the Week award by far; unlike Blaney, he was able to finish off a solid performance for all 500 miles and cross the finish line with their best result since the Daytona 500: 15th.

Bubble Standings Through Talladega:
31) Furniture Row Racing (No. 78 – Regan Smith), +26 ahead of 35th place.
32) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 – Trevor Bayne), +24.
33) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 – Robby Gordon), +12.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Terry Labonte), +4.
35) Germain Racing (No. 13 – Casey Mears), +2 ahead of 36th place.
36) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 – Andy Lally), -2 behind 35th place.
37) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 – Dave Blaney), -11.
38) Front Row/MaxQ Hybrid Team (No. 37 – Tony Raines), -29.
39) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 – Travis Kvapil), -39.

Tom Bowles is the Editor-in-Chief of Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at tom.bowles@frontstretch.com.

Got NASCAR-related questions or comments about 2011? John's got answers!
A new year means a new columnist to answer all your pressing questions about the sport! Our legendary flagman John Potts is taking over our Fan Q & A, so be sure to stack his inbox with plenty of queries and comments for the New Year! Send them his way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans!
 
Secret Star of the Race:  The Race You Never Saw

The last five laps of Talladega were filled with plenty of "Where Did He Come Froms?," superstars going into overdrive after 450 miles of hanging back to contend for the win. But when it comes to Joey Logano, there's another, simpler question in play…

"Where has he been?"

Logano's third season in Cup has been filled with the misery usually reserved for unproven rookies and sophomore slumps. With exactly one top-15 finish, zero laps led and negative momentum entering Sunday, the rookie wasn't exactly high on anyone's list to win at Talladega. Those concerns were only exacerbated midway through the race, as an ill-timed tap from the Home Depot Toyota sent teammate Kyle Busch wrecking.

"I didn't mean to get into my teammate. Kyle (Busch) and I were working good together," he said. "We won yesterday together. We wanted it to go the same way today. Just got out there on the outside and spun him out. It's a product of the racing."

From that point on, it looked the 20-year-old was in serious trouble. With Denny Hamlin struggling, he was left without a date in a race where staying single left you losing precious seconds outside the draft.

Except that's when he picked up the pace. Down the stretch, Logano found an unlikely partner in Ford's David Gilliland, timed his charge through the pack perfectly and ended a solid tenth for his best finish by far this season. Certainly, that's not as good as sitting in Victory Lane but when your year has been one disgusting DNF after another, you certainly have to start somewhere right?

"Something we can build off of, for sure," he confirmed. "And we can keep going from here. We just need to keep backing these things up."

And not hitting the back of teammates, of course. – Tom Bowles

STAT OF THE WEEK: 0. The number of laps led by Brian Vickers after being victimized into a wreck to cause Sunday's first caution at Talladega. That makes him one of two drivers to make every race and fail to lead a lap all season; but considering Joe Nemechek start-and-parks, the expectations for this former Chaser are, well, a bit higher. Not the best number to put forth during contract negotiations, at the very least… - Tom Bowles

Big Six:  Aaron's 499

by Amy Henderson
 
Who…gets my shoutout of the race?

There were a lot of lead changes in Sunday, and a few surprise leaders as well.  One of those surprises came in the form of Dave Blaney, who led 21 laps before all but wrecking in Turn 3 after a mistimed bump from Kurt Busch as the race drew to a close.  For Tommy Baldwin's small operation, it was shaping up to be a huge day-and that it was ended through no fault of Blaney's should cast any pall over it.  At a track that is the great equalizer in terms of equipment, it was interesting to see exactly which cream rose to the top.  Blaney was all cream on Sunday-too bad he got iced at the end.

What… was THAT?

Whether you like Jimmie Johnson or not, you can't argue the excitement of the finish at Talladega.  In fact, Sunday's finish tied a record for the closest margin of victory in NASCAR history.  The only other race to be this close?  The 2003 classic at Darlington in which Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch went door-to-door for the last two laps, trading shoves and the lead.  This time, Johnson edged Clint Bowyer by .002 seconds to lay claim to a piece of the record.  And for the record, NASCAR made the right call on Johnson-while it's true that his wheels touched the yellow line in the closing laps, Johnson did not advance his position in that fraction of a second-making his move legal.  The finish was legit, and it was one of the best we've seen in years.

Where…did the polesitter wind up?

Jeff Gordon wound up within a quarter car-length of victory after winning the pole Sunday.  But when the dust cleared, Gordon had to settle for third-place as both Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer beat him to the line.  Still, It was a great day for Gordon, who was fighting the flu.  He and drafting partner Mark Martin never tipped their hand until it was go time-and when it was, they wasted no time in contending for the win.

When…will I be loved?

Talladega isn't exactly known for incident-free racing, but the early going on Sunday was relatively neat.  The first two crashes did have a common denominator, though:  Kurt Busch.  And as if that wasn't enough, Busch got in one more at the end.  In the early laps, Busch tried to give Landon Cassill a shove and turned him into Brian Vickers instead, ruining Vickers' day and Cassill's chances of a top finish.  Then Busch got into the back of Brad Keselowski, sending his teammate sliding through traffic and collecting several other good cars in the process, including Kasey Kahne, whose car ignited when a fuel line was knocked loose.  Then in the closing laps, Busch turned Dave Blaney, who was having the best race of his season and who races for a team who can ill afford to replace cars.  Sure, bump drafting in a tandem all day is risky business-but Busch's carelessness crossed the fine line between expected risk and taking chances that shouldn't have been taken.

Why…was Ricky Stenhouse on-call in the No 99 pit?

Stenhouse, who is having a stellar year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series after a less-than-auspicious rookie campaign was on standby for Carl Edwards on Sunday.  The reason?  Edwards' wife is due to have the couple's second child any day now.  Edwards had Stenhouse as a backup plan, just in case he had to fly home at a moment's notice to be on hand for the big event.  There are much bigger things than racing, at the end of the day.

How…classy is the Hendrick organization?

Like them or hate them, Hendrick Motorsports showed nothing but class on Sunday.  Coming to the finish, Jeff Gordon could have forced Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. below the yellow line, negating their finishes altogether, but he gave Johnson racing room, opening the door for Johnson's win.  On the final restart, Earnhardt, Jr. could have dictated to Johnson that he wanted the front spot in their tandem, but told Johnson to take it, knowing it could cost him a win, as he felt the two were more likely to get to the front with Johnson at the point; if they could settle it between themselves at that point, fine.  As it turned out, they didn't get the chance, but don't think that nobody noticed Earnhardt's role in Johnson's victory.  After Johnson took the checkers with Earnhardt's help, team owner Rick Hendrick radioed Earnhardt, telling him to join Johnson in Victory Lane, a reminder that Hendrick knew exactly how Johnson got there in the first place.  Finally, Johnson, who always stops off at the flag stand for the checkers after a win, handed the flag over to Earnhardt in gratitude, offering his teammate the trophy as well.  Earnhardt declined, saying he was just doing what teammates do.  Johnson again thanked Earnhardt, adding that he'll be Earnhardt's drafting partner as long as his teammate wants…probably not what the competition wants to hear heading to Daytona this summer.

 
Amy Henderson is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com.  She can be reached via e-mail at amy.henderson@frontstretch.com.

 

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
 
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Talladega Spring Race Recap

by Matt McLaughlin
 
Bowles-Eye View:  The Anti-Daytona: What The 500 Giveth, Talladega Taketh Away?

by Tom Bowles

 

Running Their Mouth: Aaron's 499

by Brody Jones
 
Darlington 2003 vs. Talladega 2011: Two Photo Finishes, One Clear Winner

by Bryan Davis Keith
 
Bubble Breakdown:  Blaney Who? Gilliland, Smith Prove Themselves In Final Results

by Dave Thompson
 
Nationwide Series Breakdown:  Aaron's 312

by Bryan Davis Keith
 
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
 
Q:   This week, the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series will be at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee.  The complex only has a 1.333-mile concrete tri-oval now, but what else was in the original plans for the complex?

Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
 
Friday's Answer:
Q:  Thursday, we asked a question about the 1986 Winston 500.  Although that race by itself was very interesting, something very unusual happened before the race even started.  What was this?

 
A:  During pre-race (which had already been interrupted by a brief power outage at the track), a drunk man somehow stumbled upon the keys to the pace car (a Pontiac Firebird).  He decided to make off with the Pontiac and take it for a joyride around the track.  The inebriated man made roughly three-quarters of a lap before encountering a makeshift road block comprised of a tow truck, an ambulance and a couple of safety trucks.  He then stopped the car, then was apprehended by the local sheriff.  Let's just say they were a little rough with him when they pulled him from the driver's seat.  The incident can be seen here.

 
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs!  If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
 
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Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Garrett Horton

-- Sitting In The Stands:  A Fans' View by S.D. Grady

   This Week's Topic:  The Bargaining for Draft Partners

-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
 
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:

The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters

Danny is back with another captivating commentary.
 
What's Hot / What's Not in Sprint Cup: Talladega-Richmond Edition by Brody Jones

Brody takes a look at post-Texas numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into Richmond... and beyond.

Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan's back with his weekly edition of talking points to get you set for the off-week, then the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
 
Talking NASCAR TV by Phil Allaway
Last weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were back in action at Talladega Superspeedway.  They were joined by the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards with the rare early morning event on the high banks as well. Were these telecasts up to snuff, or were they missing something?  Check out our weekly TV critique to find out.

Fact or Fiction by Tom Bowles

Tom looks at some conclusions that could be made after Sunday's Aaron's 499 and determines whether they're true or not.

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