The Frontstretch Newsletter: May 12th, 2011

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 12th, 2011
Volume V, Edition LXXXVI
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Frontstretch sends its well wishes, prayers, and support to all our Southern fans affected by the swath of tornadoes last week. To help out recovery efforts, text "GIVE" to 80888 to donate $10 towards disaster relief efforts in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama through the Salvation Army.
 
Today's Top News
by Phil Allaway
 
Johnson Named Most Influential Athlete

 

On Wednesday, Forbes Magazine revealed their list of the top 10 most influential athletes in America.  The results came as part of a two-pronged survey, first asking respondents if they had heard of an individual athlete, then asking about their influence.  Athletes had to have a minimum 20 percent familiarity with respondents in order to even be eligible for the list.  Such protocols eliminated multiple candidates, including Manny Pacquiao.

 

After the votes were tabulated, five-time defending Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson was named the Most Influential Athlete.  The reasons are varied.  Although often referred to as "vanilla" at times, Johnson seems to represent an everyman.  Even though he's known for driving at up to 200 mph in close quarters, he's a family man with a wife and a baby daughter.  Many voters can identify with that type of an athlete.

 

However, there are other reasons why Johnson is so visible.

 

"NASCAR has had a bit of resurgence, people are becoming more aware of the drivers this year [after a prolonged slump]," said Gerry Philpott, CEO of E-Poll Market Research, which helped conduct the survey in cooperation with Forbes.

 

Steve Phelps, NASCAR's Chief Marketing Officer (and former Undercover Boss) claims that the competitive early season races have helped to increase interest in the sport.  He also stated that "[the races] help drive storylines."

 

The survey found that a quarter of respondents believed that Johnson is influential.  47 percent find him likable, while only six percent do not.  More notably, Johnson possesses an "N-Score" of 72.  That score represents the endorsement potential of an individual, more than five times the average of a typical athlete. However, J.J. wasn't the only NASCAR driver on the list. Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ranked third in the survey, determined to be influential by 22 percent of respondents.  His N-Score was a massive 217, triple Johnson's score.  Jeff Gordon was eighth, but is also still considered to be twice as marketable as Johnson.

 

Top 10 Most Influential Athletes:  1) Jimmie Johnson, 2) Tom Brady, 3) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 4) Shaquille O'Neal, 5) Michael Phelps, 6) Troy Polamalu, 7) Peyton Manning, 8) Jeff Gordon, 9) LeBron James, 10) Tim Tebow.

 

Prelude to the Dream Lineup Announced

 

On Wednesday, Tony Stewart and Rick Hendrick announced the group of 27 drivers that have been invited to run in the Prelude to the Dream, a charity race held at Stewart's Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.  The race will be held on Wednesday, June 8 (the week leading up to Pocono) and will be televised on Pay-Per-View via HBO Pay-Per-View.  The cost will be $24.95 per subscriber.

 

Like last year, proceeds from the race will benefit four children's hospitals throughout the country.  Those facilities are the Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, the Children's Hospital of Atlanta, the St. Louis Children's Hospital and Children's Medical Center Dallas.

 

Also like last year, the 27 drivers will be spilt into four teams (three seven-man teams, and one six-man team), each racing for one of the four hospitals.  The teams are as follows:

 

Team Levine: Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Bill Elliott, Austin Dillon, David Reutimann, Ray Evernham and Cruz Pedregon

 

Team Atlanta: Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Ken Schrader, David Gilliland and Ron Capps

 

Team St. Louis: Kenny Wallace, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Justin Allgaier, Ricky Carmichael and Ron Hornaday

 

Team Dallas: Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Marcos Ambrose

 

The event is once again a competition.  In the "A" Main, the top-5 finishers from each team will have their finishing positions added up.  The team with the lowest overall number will win.  If there are ties, then the sixth-best driver's finishing position will be factored in solely to break the tie. 

 

All four children's hospitals will receive some of the proceeds from the telecast.  The winning team's hospital will take home 30 percent of the PPV proceeds.  Second place will get 25 percent, while the third and fourth place teams will each get 20 percent shares for their hospitals.  The remaining five percent goes to the overall production of the telecast, and to Eldora Speedway.

 

Stewart has set a very substantial goal for the 2011 Prelude.  He wants to raise one million dollars.

 

"It's an ambitious goal, but if we don't set the bar high, we're not pushing ourselves the way we should," Stewart said.  "That's our goal, and me and everybody else associated with this event is going to do everything we can to meet that goal.  Now, we just need everyone out there to purchase the event, enjoy all the action going on at Eldora, and know that their dollars are going to a very worthy cause."

 

The telecast is currently scheduled to start at 8 PM EDT on June 8th, with an immediate re-air afterwards.  It is unclear what would happen if the event were rained out.  Likely, a September rain date would be used in that case.

 

Kevin Swindell to Drive Nationwide Series No. 16 at Dover

 

Roush Fenway Racing announced on Wednesday that Kevin Swindell will drive the No. 16 Ford Mustang in Saturday's 5-Hour Energy 200 in place of Trevor Bayne.  Bayne, who was released from Rochester, Minnesota's Mayo Clinic last Wednesday, is being held out of the seat for now.  However, he is still solidly in the team's plans for the future.

 

"Trevor's symptoms have subsided and we are very encouraged by his progress," said Steve Newmark, Roush Fenway Racing's President.  "Still, we are going to exercise an element of caution with his return to the track and keep him out of competition for at least another week.  Trevor is itching to get back out on the race track, and, although it's hard to keep someone with his passion away, we feel it is in his best interest to hold off for another week.  As of now, we, along with the Wood Brothers, are planning for Trevor to return next week and compete in the Sprint Cup All-Star event in Charlotte and the Nationwide Series race in Iowa."

 

Swindell will replace Chris Buescher, who has driven the car to 17th-place finishes over the past two weeks.  Buescher cannot be in Dover this weekend due to a conflict with the ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards; that division is racing at Toledo Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

 

Newmark is happy with the performances over the past couple of weeks from Buescher and excited about bringing another development driver into the No. 16.

 

"Chris [Buescher] did a great job filling in for Trevor in the last two races," Newmark said.  "However, he has conflicting commitments in the ARCA Series this weekend, so in traditional Jack Roush fashion, [we are] going to use this opportunity to give another young developmental driver a chance to showcase his skills."

 

Swindell comes to the No. 16 with only three career starts in the Nationwide Series, all with Baker-Curb Racing.  Two of those were start-and-parks, while the other (at then-O'Reilly Raceway Park) ended in a crash and a 33rd-place finish.  He also has two top-5 and six top-10 finishes in 15 starts in the K&N Pro Series East.

Entry List Update:
Note:  These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night.  They are, however, still subject to change.

 

Sprint Cup Series FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks:  44 cars entered

 

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 09 - Landon Cassill for Phoenix Racing
No. 32 - Mike Bliss for FAS Lane Racing
No. 38 - Travis Kvapil for Front Row Motorsports
No. 60 - Mike Skinner for Germain Racing
No. 81 - Scott Riggs for Whitney Motorsports
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports

 

Driver Changes:
No. 32 - Mike Bliss is in the seat, replacing Ken Schrader.

 

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 30 - David Stremme for Inception Motorsports
No. 37 - Tony Raines for Front Row Motorsports/MaxQ Motorsports
No. 38 - Travis Kvapil for Front Row Motorsports
No. 46 - J.J. Yeley for Whitney Motorsports
No. 60 - Mike Skinner for Germain Racing
No. 66 - Michael McDowell for HP Racing, LLC
No. 71 - Andy Lally for TRG Motorsports
No. 81 - Scott Riggs for Whitney Motorsports
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports

 

Nationwide Series 5-Hour Energy 200:  46 cars entered

 

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 18 - Kyle Busch for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 20 - Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22 - Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing
No. 30 - James Buescher for Turner Motorsports
No. 33 - Clint Bowyer for Kevin Harvick, Inc.
No. 60 - Carl Edwards for Roush Fenway Racing
No. 64 - David Reutimann for Rusty Wallace Racing

 

Driver Changes:
No. 0 - Brad Teague is in the seat, replacing James Hylton. This team is expected to start and park.
No. 16 - Kevin Swindell is in the seat, replacing Chris Buescher. Trevor Bayne should return to this ride in two weeks.
No. 20 - Joey Logano returns to the seat, replacing Denny Hamlin.
No. 23 - Alex Kennedy returns to the seat, replacing Scott Riggs. Kennedy brings sponsorship and will be in the seat for several races later this season.
No. 30 - James Buescher returns to the seat, replacing Jason Leffler.
No. 38 - Jason Leffler returns to the seat, replacing Kasey Kahne.
No. 81 - Donnie Neuenberger returns to the seat, replacing Blake Koch.

 

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 0 - Brad Teague for JD Motorsports
No. 04 - Charles Lewandoski for Go Green Racing
No. 13 - Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 14 - Eric McClure for TriStar Motorsports
No. 41 - Carl Long for Rick Ware Racing
No. 44 - Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 52 - Kevin Lepage for Means Motorsports
No. 55 - Brett Rowe for Faith Motorsports
No. 64 - David Reutimann for Rusty Wallace Racing
No. 67 - JR Fitzpatrick for Go Canada Racing
No. 68 - Matt Carter for Fleur-de-Lis Motorsports/Rick Ware Racing
No. 74 - Mike Harmon for Harmon Motorsports
No. 75 - Johnny Chapman for Rick Ware Racing
No. 79 - Tim Andrews for 2nd Chance Motorsports
No. 82 - Blake Koch for MacDonald Motorsports
No. 89 - Morgan Shepherd for Faith Motorsports

 

Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 200:  37 trucks entered

 

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 07 - Johnny Chapman for SS-Green Light Racing
No. 1 - Carl Long for Rick Ware Racing
No. 2 - Kevin Harvick for Kevin Harvick, Inc.
No. 18 - Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports

No. 99 - JR Fitzpatrick for Chase Mattioli Motorsports

 

Driver Changes:
No. 1 - Carl Long is in the seat, replacing Bobby Hamilton, Jr.
No. 2 - Kevin Harvick is in the seat, replacing Cale Gale.
No. 10 - Chris Lafferty is in the seat, replacing Jennifer Jo Cobb.
No. 51 - Chris Fontaine is in the seat, replacing Justin Johnson.
No. 84 - An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Chris Fontaine.  Fontaine owns the truck, but got plucked away to drive the No. 51.  Unclear if the team will attempt the race, or simply withdraw.
No. 99- JR Fitzpatrick is in the seat, replacing Chase Mattioli.  It appears that Chase Mattioli would have been back in this seat, but he decided to skip the race to focus on final exams at Fordham.

 

Drivers that must qualify on speed:
No. 07 - Johnny Chapman for SS-Green Light Racing
No. 5 - Travis Kvapil for Randy Moss Motorsports
No. 10 - Chris Lafferty for JJC Racing
No. 20 - Johanna Long for Panhandle Motorsports
No. 22 - Joey Coulter for Richard Childress Racing
No. 38 - Mike Garvey for SES Motorsports
No. 39 - Ryan Sieg for SES Motorsports
No. 57 - Norm Benning for Norm Benning Racing
No. 66 - Justin Marks for Turn One Racing
No. 84 - An unknown driver for Chris Fontaine Racing
No. 87 - Chris Jones for Chris Jones Racing
No. 99 - JR Fitzpatrick for Chase Mattioli Racing

Have news for Phil and The Frontstretch?  Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
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Hey Frontstretch Readers!
We know you love the roar of raw horsepower under the hood that powers 43 of the best drivers in the world every weekend, but did you ever wonder how the sponsor on top of that hood also contributes to keeping the sport moving? What about the contributions of official NASCAR companies? If you think they are simply writing checks, think again. Check out our newest feature - Sunday Money. This weekly Frontstretch exclusive provides you with a behind the scenes look how NASCAR, its affiliates and team sponsors approach the daunting task of keeping fans interested and excited about the sport for 38 weeks of the year.
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Editor's Note: What's Vexing Vito will not be seen this week.  Vito simply didn't have anything that was Vexing him this week.  Tune in next Thursday to see if something is grinding his gears.

 

Today's Featured Commentary

Men Behaving Badly While A NASCAR Upset Is Virtually Ignored
Shakedown Session

by Brody Jones

In the past couple of weeks, the talk of the NASCAR world has been about drivers behaving badly.  Whether it was Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya allegedly coming to blows in the NASCAR "Oval Office" following their round of bumper cars at Richmond to Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick's machismo contest at Darlington, one huge story from Darlington wound up virtually being ignored.  That was Regan Smith. You had a driver who had only one top-10 finish in his career prior to this past Saturday night, driving for Furniture Row Racing - a team based out of Colorado that has, more or less been a midpack team in their Sprint Cup tenure win one of the most sought after races in NASCAR: the Southern 500.

One has to feel for Smith. Instead of the spotlight being on him for his first official NASCAR victory (or as some fans say, his second win following the controversial ending of the 2008 AMP Energy 500 at Talladega), he has some much-deserved limelight yanked away from him by Busch and Harvick's pit-road scuffle.  Even Harvick seemed to feel sympathy for Smith, stating on his personal Twitter account that he wished people were following the upset winner instead of interviewing him about his latest donnybrook.

To put the magnitude of this upset into perspective, Furniture Row Racing has only been truly in contention to win a race, let alone score a top 10 one other time in the team's history, and that was at Daytona earlier this year where Smith ran among the leaders all race long.  But restrictor plate events, as showcased by Trevor Bayne and Brad Keselowski's lone NASCAR Sprint Cup victories to date, are largely a crapshoot, forced parity and large packs meaning upsets become more common. 

Darlington, of course, is not one of those places, a track where veterans reign and first-time winners are few and far between.  In fact, the last time someone broke through at "The Track Too Tough To Tame" was Lake Speed back in 1988, collecting the lone victory on his Cup resume in the Spring race.  But Speed didn't have a late-race caution to deal with, plus older tires down the stretch which makes this achievement all the more astounding. Thanks to a push by Brad Keselowski on the last restart, Smith held off Carl Edwards for the final two-lap stretch and even kept on the gas after hitting the turn 2 wall on the last lap.  To be able to outdrive the points leader on one of the toughest tracks on the circuit is nothing to sneeze at.

While many consider the Wood Brothers and Trevor Bayne's Daytona 500 win to be one of the biggest upsets of all time, this win by Regan Smith and Furniture Row Racing just might trump that win.  The Wood Brothers are no strangers to Victory Lane, although their victories have grown fewer and further between in the last two decades.  Furniture Row Racing, in comparison, is not a team past or present one would ever consider to win a race of the magnitude of the Southern 500.  Granted, the Southern 500 has lost some luster after its Labor Day date disappeared, but it's still an impressive win for any team nonetheless.  While Furniture Row Racing likely will never be an organization on the same level of Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Fenway, or Richard Childress Racing, they have at least narrowed the gap despite what most people would label a disadvantage: a home base in Denver, Colorado where there's little to no testing of their race cars. 

For years, the Sprint Cup Series has had the same four organizations winning almost every week, but in the 2011 season, there has been a bit of a resurgence by these underdog teams, started with Trevor Bayne and the Wood Brothers storybook Daytona 500 win and now further emphasized by Regan Smith and Furniture Row Racing's triumph at Darlington.  But, because of the antics of other drivers, Smith's victory has largely been ignored and that is an absolute shame. For both the sport's short-term and long-term future, trumpeting the underdog makes a far better story than Juan Pablo Montoya/Ryan Newman or Kevin Harvick/Kyle Busch coming to blows.

 

Brody Jones is a Website Contributor to Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.

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The Critic's Annex:  NASCAR Now Roundtable

by Phil Allaway
 
Hello, race fans.  Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we look into additional motorsports-related broadcasts.  This is the 150th TV critique that I have written for Frontstretch (and the 50th edition of the Critic's Annex).  What will I spend my time discussing this week? NASCAR Now and their special Monday editions.  These broadcasts are the Roundtable episodes, an idea likely ripped off of SPEED, which does something similar to wrap-up their F1 races.

 

The special one-hour episodes typically air at 5 PM on Mondays (although other priorities can push the show to a later airtime).  Allen Bestwick typically hosts the show and serves in a moderator role.  Then, there are a group of rotating guest analysts that discuss the stories from the past weekend.  The rotating guests include some of ESPN's writers, at-track analysts, along with current and former drivers.

 

Two weeks ago, the panel was Ricky Craven, Marty Smith and Ed Hinton for the Richmond roundtable.  The show started off with each of the three guests giving a short spiel about the event and what they noticed.  Hinton talked about how Kyle Busch should lay off the extracurricular activities and focus on the No. 18 M&M's Toyota, something that has probably been said about 49 times in the last couple of years.

 

Following the opening shots, Bestwick started a recap of the race (the Crown Royal presents the Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400) complete with Q&A footage with winner Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.  The recap was followed up with opening discussions from the entire panel.

After the opening discussions, there were pointed questions from Bestwick that were posed to the group at-large.  Topics included Jeff Gordon's hit on an unprotected concrete wall, Kyle Busch's talents, the "Feud of the Week," and more.  Basically, a series of jump-in questions, like the Jump-In What? category on the old game show Tic-Tac-Dough.

 

Interesting thoughts that came out of the segments included Smith wholeheartedly supporting Gordon's opinion on the SAFER Barrier situation at Richmond, along with Hinton's calling out of Newman for being the most inconsiderate driver in all of NASCAR, perhaps ever.  That is probably a stretch on Hinton's part, knowing how many people have driven in NASCAR over the period of time in which Hinton has covered the sport (hundreds), but he has many years on me covering this sport. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

The second half of the show, as you may remember, was focused on Brian France's appearance on the show.  ESPN placed France front and center and started off with Bestwick asking France about his thoughts about the season up to that point (nine races in).  Following Bestwick's question, each of the roundtable members threw questions France's way.  To his credit, the NASCAR CEO did not back away from any of the queries, answering them to the best of his ability.  Some of the topics were repeats from earlier in the show but the restrictor plate package, Cup drivers in the Nationwide Series, the economy, and even fans blaming France for everything was covered.  There was some fan-submitted input via Twitter as well.

 

Admittedly, France is simply not the best public speaker on the planet.  He'd probably get a B- at best in an Oral Communication college course, based on what I've seen in person and on TV.  As a result, he's not really the most engaging guy out there.  Not much that ESPN could possibly do about that.  However, he's the big cheese.

 

This past Monday's Roundtable featured a new group of panelists (ESPN Analysts Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree, along with Ken Schrader).  The format was largely the same for the first half of the show.  However, instead of having an in-studio guest, race winner Regan Smith appeared on the show via satellite (from what looked like an Oak Express, but was described as simply a Furniture Row store) to discuss Saturday night's breakthrough.

 

It should be noted that the show setup used earlier this week is the normal setup.  Having France on the show was a special circumstance, and thus, the broadcast had to adjust.

 

Having said all that, is this format enjoyable to watch?  Sure it is.  All the panelists that are on the show are opinionated and Bestwick gives them the ability to let their opinions be known.  It could be argued that having people like Wallace and Petree on the telecast, especially later in the season, could be considered overkill though since they're already prominently featured in ESPN's NASCAR telecasts from the track each weekend.

 

Hinton is crotchety as heck on the show, which I guess is somewhat typical for him, but I don't know for sure (seen him in person before, but never talked to him).  As a result, he's perfect for this setting.  In an unrelated note, he might be the only traveling NASCAR writer that smokes.  As for Craven, he simply showed more of the poise that we've seen from him in the broadcast booth recently.  His performance begs for a larger on-screen role, but I'm not sure whether there's room at ESPN to do much more than he's already doing.

 

Wallace and Petree showed me nothing that I hadn't already seen in their work on race broadcasts over the past couple of years.  However, Schrader really didn't get all that much time on there.  Coming into this year, Schrader had plenty of experience on a very similar show (Inside Winston Cup Racing/Inside Winston Cup/Inside Nextel Cup on Speedvision/SPEED) that Bestwick hosted.  On there, he was a bit quirky, but he counteracted the somewhat over-the-top Michael Waltrip.  Here, Schrader doesn't have to counteract anyone, not even Wallace, who doesn't cut people off like Waltrip would.  Maybe its still early and Schrader can grow back into the role, but his appearance left me wanting more from him, especially since he was in the race in Darlington Saturday night.

 

Bestwick, having about a decade's worth of experience controlling a very similar format on SPEED, is very good on this show.  It is said that he does not use a teleprompter on a show like this.  He is prepared as always, but more or less stays out of the way.

 

The show works better when on-air personalities that aren't constantly on the race broadcasts are part of the panel.  Because of that, I would prefer that some of ESPN's other analysts, their writers (in addition to Hinton, Ryan McGee should get more airtime, as should Terry Blount) and active drivers should do the show more often.  Emphasis should be taken away from people like Wallace and Petree, not because they're unlikable in this setting, but simply because they already do enough on-air work for ESPN.

 

I hope you enjoyed this look at the weekly Roundtable edition of NASCAR Now.  Check back next Thursday for another edition of the Critic's Annex.  We'll be covering Versus' new weekly IndyCar show, IndyCar Open Wheel Weekly.  Until then, enjoy the action from Dover and VIR.

 

Phil Allaway is a Senior Writer and the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
 
From Mirror Driving:  Regan's WIn, Kevin vs. Kyle and Fuel Injection

 
"It was cool in the post-race press conference when Carl talked about working on [the Mittler Brothers'] truck to set it up for Regan to run it so that Carl wouldn't exceed the number of starts to run for Rookie of the Year." - Mike Neff referencing Carl Edwards' remembrance of working with Darlington winner Regan Smith early on in both of their careers.  Edwards also mentioned it in a post-race interview on FOX.  And yes, it was undoubtedly cool.

 
Have a nominee for Line of the Week? Email Phil Allaway at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com and you may see yourself in this space next week!
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
 
MPM2Nite:  What Is And Isn't Acceptable In The "Have At It" Age

by Kurt Smith

 
Potts' Shots:  Dick Trickle And The Open Road Engine Change

by John Potts
 
Fantasy Insider:  Don't Expect Another Upset At Dover

by Brett Poirier
 
Voices From The Heartland:  Jimmie Johnson Named "Most Influential Athlete" In One Company's Eyes Only

by Jeff Meyer
 
Kickin' It Old School

by Mark Howell
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Get THE ANNUAL, 2011 Racing Preview for your mobile device.

Go to Frontstretch.com and click on "The Annual" link on the right side to order and download this special issue that includes: Track Information, Driver profiles and In-Depth Features.

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
 
Q:  The 2004 MBNA America "A Salute To Heroes" 400 is a race best known for a 19-car pileup that eliminated many of the race's contenders.  However, there was also one of the longest-ever caution periods during the race.  Why?

 
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
 
Wednesday's Answer:
 
Q:  During the 1990 Budweiser 200 Busch Grand National race in Dover, eventual series champion Chuck Bown finished eighth and expanded his points lead from 20 to 34 points.  However, it wasn't easy.  What did Bown run over during the event?

 
A:  On lap 148, Ernie Irvan and Steve Grissom collided on the backstretch while racing for the lead.  While spinning around, the hood off of Irvan's No. 75 U-Can Rent Oldsmobile broke off from the car and slid around on the track.  Bown ended up hitting the hood and having it wedge under the front valence.  The race itself has no coverage on YouTube, but the intro to the next Busch race, held at Orange County Speedway the next week, did show a clip of the incident.  That can be viewed here.

 
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee:  Take 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 tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News by Summer Dreyer
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- In Case You Missed It by Brett Poirier
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
 
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:

Four Burning Questions: Dover by TBA

We'll give you a look at important things to look forward to at Dover International Speedway this weekend in our racing preview.
 
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns with another interesting commentary.

Goin' Green by Garrett Horton

Garrett returns with more commentary and insight. This week, he'll look at the five biggest NASCAR upsets of all time in the last 20 years in light of Regan Smith's surprise victory at Darlington.

 
Driver Diary: Marcos Ambrose as told to Toni Montgomery
Marcos returns to talk about the past few weeks on and off the track.

Tearing Apart the Trucks by Beth Lunkenheimer

Beth returns to take a look inside the Camping World Truck Series ahead of Friday's Lucas Oil 200.

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