The Frontstretch Newsletter: May 21st, 2011

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 21st, 2011
Volume V, Edition LXXXVII

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Newsletter Correction: A quote from our pit crew competition last night was attributed to the wrong person. The quote, incorrectly distributed by the AP was attributed to Denny Hamlin's jack man Nate Bolling instead of gas man Scott Wood. Also, Hamlin's quote of "We know where the weakest link [on Johnson's team] is, obviously. This is their main stage. This is not my main stage. Obviously we had a great shot and a great year last year. This was kind of the spot we really started hitting our stride last year. So hopefully that momentum keeps going." was misinterpreted. Hamlin PR explained to Frontstretch the driver was talking about himself as a driver... not Johnson.

We here at Frontstretch regret the errors and, as always, strive for factual perfection going forward with our reporting.

DON'T FORGET! OUR NEW FRONTSTRETCH PODCAST IS UP! DOUG TURNBULL HOSTS THE MAY 20th EDITION WITH SPECIAL GUEST BRYAN DAVIS KEITH. Find it at: http://www.frontstretch.com/podcasts/34044/

At-Track News
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Crew Grab the Pole for Sprint All-Star Race
by Jay Pennell

In one of the most unique qualifying formats in NASCAR, the 18 teams in the Sprint All-Star Race completed three laps and one four tire pit stop to set the field for Saturday night's race. The 18th and final team to post a time was the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team with Kyle Busch behind the wheel, and they posted one heck of a time, dging out Clint Bowyer and his No. 33 Richard Childress Racing team by 0.475 seconds as Busch earned his second career pole in the Sprint All-Star Race.

"We all love this kind of format and enjoy it," Busch said. "To come out here and have a good car off the truck that Dave (Rogers, crew chief), Chris (Gayle, engineer) and the guys brought for me makes my job easier and makes Dave's job a little bit less stressful today."

"That Kyle Busch is a pain in everybody's butt isn't he?" Bowyer said.

"My pit crew, it seems we talk about them every week and they deserve it," Busch said. "Today, just being able to put a really fast lap down, come to pit road fast – and fortunately clean – and then have my guys give me a great pit stop and come back around. Really, really fast car and pretty uneventful lap for me, but a lot going on, which all put together was fastest today."

"That is a fun, fun qualifying effort," Bowyer said. "I've got to tell it's nerve-racking on everybody's part. You have to hit your marks right, you do everything you normally do, but it's such a different format that coming off pit road you're thinking, 'hit your marks and don't stop too soon.' Just a fun, fun atmosphere to be involved in."

Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Mark Martin rounded out the top 5, followed by Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon,  Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Regan Smith and David Reutimann.

Ragan, Allmendinger Score All-Ford Front Row for Sprint Showdown
by Mike Neff

David Ragan and AJ Allmendinger claimed the front row for the NASCAR Sprint Showdown race, the latest accomplishment for a resurgent Ford Racing program in 2011.

"Hopefully, we're a part of the real big event tomorrow at Charlotte, but our UPS Ford was fast in our one and only practice we had today," Ragan said.

"It's very important (to get in the All-Star Race)," he continued. "That's the number one thing on our to-do list right now besides the Daytona 500, which we've already run. I think this is the next important race that's here because it kind of sets the tone for the Coke 600 next week."

"To be on the front row of the Showdown with it being such a short race is a good thing," Allmendinger, the 2008 Showdown winner, said. "For us, we just have to keep working on our mile-and-a-half program. It's been our biggest struggle this year on the 43 side of it, so it's kind of the same thing Paul (Menard) said, if we can go out there and get some notes and, hopefully, race our way into the All-Star Race, but, more importantly, just get some good notes and try to make our Ford run better for the 600 and on."

Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski and Jeff Burton rounded out the top five, followed by Marcos Ambrose, Martin Truex Jr., David Gilliland, Joey Logano, Brian Vickers, Casey Mears, Mike Skinner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Landon Cassill, Travis Kvapil, Todd Bodine, J.J. Yeley, Joe Nemechek, Andy Lally, T J Bell, David Starr, Tony Raines, Boris Said, Derrike Cope, David Stremme and Brian Keselowski.

The winner and runner-up of the Sprint Showdown will transfer into the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, along with the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote.

Truck Series Recap: Busch Wins Another One
by Mike Neff

Kyle Busch "didn't have the truck to beat tonight" but he managed to find a little extra after the last restart, passing Clint Bowyer and pulling away for the Victory in the Truck Series' 200-mile affair at Charlotte. The race was marred by 10 cautions, which tied the Truck race record but still maintained 10 lead changes in the race among seven different drivers throughout the night. Bowyer led the most laps in the race and finished second ahead of Cole Whitt who took over the points lead with his third-place finish. James Buescher crossed the line in fourth place while Ron Hornaday rounded out the top-5 finishers.

Johnny Sauter ended up sixth in the race and payed a visit to Hornaday on pit road after the race to voice his displeasure with some of Hornaday's tactics. Austin Dillon brought his RCR truck home in seventh place in front of Parker Kligerman. Finishing off the top 10 were Justin Marks and Brad Sweet.

This is Busch's 28th victory in 91 Camping World Truck Series starts and his fourth in seven races at Charlotte. The win moved Busch into a tie for second on the all-time win list in the Truck Series with Mike Skinner and Jack Sprague, also marking his 97th win in the national touring series of NASCAR - a number which ties him for third all-time with Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip.

Busch's victory had special meaning for him because the Kyle Busch Foundation had Zahra Baker's name on the side of his truck. Baker is a young girl from Hickory, NC who was killed in 2010. Busch's foundation works with kids who are in living situations that are not ideal and not of their own doing; with all of the attention to Baker's death in the area, Busch and his wife Samantha thought the victory would be a fitting tribute to her after all she went through. Busch felt like Baker rode along with him and helped find the little bit extra he needed at the end of the race because his truck was not as good as Bowyer's.

Bowyer figured out when it was too late what Busch had working for him. "We were too loose. He ran me down there at the end and when he passed me I  figured out why. He was way tighter than we were. They obviously made an adjustment when he spun there and tightened him up a lot."

Bowyer and Busch both echoed the sentiments of a majority of the drivers in the race who felt the tire was lacking. "I don't know what the deal was with the tire. This tire was down a ton on grip," Bowyer said. "The Cup tire has a lot more grip. It is asking a lot for these kids in this series to learn with this tire but, you learn from your mistakes and we all had the same tire."

Busch noticed the same thing in his truck. "Tonight was especially hard to pass," he explained. "When you got close to another truck you just lost the truck and had to search everywhere to find a way to get past the other truck. When I got in the truck for practice I thought it was going to be a long day, but when I got in the Cup car it had a ton more grip. Goodyear missed it with this tire tonight."

Whitt was pleased with his night and felt he learned a lot from his first test on a true intermediate circuit. "Points lead is pretty amazing for our team," he said. "This was really the first true test on a mile-and-a-half track for me. We went to Homestead but this place is so different. The corners are so long and sweeping and you race it completely different. When you get around other trucks it takes the air off of your truck and you have to get used to that. We got behind in the pits on strategy and we moved up to that top groove and we were the first ones up there and that made a big difference because of the clean air up there." Whitt is the first rookie to lead the series points and is also the youngest driver to ever lead the series points.

Whitt does feel as though a win is coming in the future. "I feel like we could win at any time. When Kyle and Clint show up, it makes it tougher but I feel like we can win any time we show up at the race track."

Busch's crew chief Eric Phillips had a long day trying to make the truck work for him. "Struggled all day to get the truck Kyle wanted. The tires threw us for a loop and we were loose all day. We made the adjustments when he spun that finally got him tight and that helped us win."

Busch was asked about his win total in relation to some of the bigger names in the sport. "You look at the names that you're chasing," he said. "Earnhardt had like 10 Nationwide wins and the rest Cup (actually it was 21 and 76) and Darrell had like 13 and 84. So you look at that and you say wow. Then you look at Richard Petty who had 200 wins and you say wower."

Finally Busch was asked about the possibility of Raikkonen running a Nationwide car next week. "There is a Nationwide car in our shop," he said. "I don't own it but there is a Nationwide car in our shop and it is not a Joe Gibbs car. If Kimi makes the transition to Nationwide next week and they are on the Cup tire he'll be able to handle a little better."

A View From The Top 12
by Mike Neff

Every week, the top 12 drivers in Sprint Cup points pay a visit to the media center or hold court at their hauler to allow the assembled masses of media the opportunity to answer their questions. Here are a few of the highlights from this week's sessions at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Carl Edwards: When you found out we were going to Kansas twice this year, what did that mean to you? "That means a lot. A win at Kansas in the Cup series, you guys don't know how much that would mean to me. It would be huge. I am excited we are running twice there. I think our program is suited very well to those types of tracks and we should be very good here. It gives us twice as many opportunities to get a win. We have been very close there. We have been close on fuel mileage and close in the race with Jimmie. Still to this day that truck race there was one of the greatest moments of my career. That was a big win."

Jimmie Johnson: Talk about coming to Charlotte this weekend. "I'm excited to come back and have some fun with the No. 5 car and the program that Lowe's is putting on and the 5% rebate. So it's different. At the All-Star race we can always count on something different and I commend Lowe's for doing something outside of the ordinary here. Hopefully I'll walk to the right car and climb in the right car. I'm excited for it. This race is a lot of fun as everyone knows. At the same time, it's great for us to get out and practice and try some things that we can come back to the 600 with. So, I love this race track. And from what I hear, it's aged some and is a little bit rougher and hopefully it's lost some grip but it's coming back to the old track when I had so much success at. I'm eager to get out there and get going."

Kyle Busch: Can you explain having Zahra Baker on your truck tonight? "It's through the Kyle Busch Foundation and what we do is we help kids that are in residential homes or have living situations that aren't to their doing. Working with my foundation, we actually had Brian Ickler and Tayler Malsam last year that they went to an event and they got the history on the Zahra Baker story as well as my foundation lady that works for me. They brought it back to me and Samantha (Busch's wife) and I talked about it and we really wanted to do something in her remembrance and what all she went through. Knowing that she wasn't around long enough to live a full, happy life. We thought it would be good with the 'Riding Shotgun with Kyle Busch' program that we've set up at Kyle Busch Motorsports this year with the 18 truck to put her name on the side. We're really pleased to have her name on there and to hopefully have her guided spirit help us this weekend and be able to bring her to victory lane."

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: What specifically do you remember about the last few laps in 2000 as you were coming to get the checkered flag? "I do remember, you  know  we ran the first couple of segments and I hit the wall and even before we hit the wall and even before we hit the wall we were running as hard as we could to run third. I was just thinking we have a good car but I"m running really hard to run third and I just don't know how I'm gonna win the race. Then we had the 10-lap segment specifically. We applied those things and it worked. I just remember catching Dale Jarrett, I was seeing the smoke as he was having trouble with his car and I was catching him at a really fast rate and I remember passing dad and all those guys, Jerry Nadeau, I just remember how fast the car was and just being in panic mode. I'm running out of time, running out of time, I've got to hurry, gotta hurry, when I catch him I don't need to lose my momentum, I need to get around him. If I lose my momentum will he hold me off or how savvy is he going to be. What kind of tricks does he got up his sleeve? Just in panic mode to take the lead, go, go, go. It was like a huge relief when we went by him in turns three and four and put the separation. I come off four and looked in the mirror and saw the separation I put on him in just that one corner. It was a big relief and then you start hearing all the noises in the car and wondering what's going to fall off and what you broke and what's breaking now and what's going to break. I don't know. It was just panic mode the whole time, just really frantic inside the car."

Kevin Harvick: How much different really is the race compared to any other race that you guys race? "I think the pressure is  more tension than it is anything just because you've got to put it all on the  line every lap. Not that we don't put it all on the line every lap, but you've got to put it on the line and take chances and put yourself in a position that you probably don't want to be in at some point during the All-Star race. I would agree that there is definitely tension and it's just tense and you know you don't have a lot of time to make something happen. As far as how we would prepare for this race. It's really not any different. It's the same car we would bring to a 600-mile race or a 100-mile race, the biggest difference is the engine guys have a little bit of leeway on the mileage of the motors and things to maybe try some things if you need to. It's a good time to try some different parts on the car that you maybe haven't had on there before to try to get an initial an idea of where you think you are and as far as what you need to do to the part. It's a short race so you cannot put a bunch of miles on it and not worry about it breaking hopefully."

Matt Kenseth: As much as everybody says you race all out every week, it seems we see a new level of intensity in this race. Do you feel that's the case? "The racing is a little bit different with the format, the pit stops and the pit stop qualifying and all that. If you're in a position to win the race at the end, you're gonna race as hard as you can. Really, I think that happens every week. This kind of racing is really competitive and if you have a chance to win and you're in a position to win, you're gonna do everything possible to try and win that race. I don't see it being a lot different. If you're running 10th with five laps to go or four laps to go, you're not gonna win anyway so you still have to have yourself in a position to win. There's hopefully gonna be a few  cars that are in that position at the end and they're gonna race all out to try to win that race. You take maybe a little bit more risk out here or there's a little less penalty if something happens to you because there are no points involved and it's a shorter race. All of these races are big races and you want to try and win every week."

Ryan Newman: Where does the All-Star win rank in your career victories, how big of a night was it for you? "It was a huge night. For us as a team we didn't even know if we were going to be in the race because we raced our way in. We started last and I think at the end of the first or second segment whatever it was we just barely made the cut then we raced our way up into the invert, got the invert and started on the pole and won the thing. We won it in a little bit of fashion too. We stayed on old tires and Junior (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) came up on our back door with new tires, so as a team it was huge for us for two reasons. We felt like we redeemed ourselves from the year before when we blew up leading the Open and felt like we should have been in the race that day, that year but also as a team it was our first victory together. To get that first victory at the All-Star race when you're not even supposed to be in the race was really cool. That was something special. To me that's similar to Kasey Kahne's fan vote to get in after he didn't make the race then comes in and wins the race. Those nights are special in everybody's minds."

Clint Bowyer: What's the most difficult thing about racing in the Coca-Cola 600? "Just making sure your car is good. If your car is good and you're handling good and you've got a good balance on it, it doesn't seem any longer than any other race. They all seem long. But man, I'm telling you, if you're having a long day and things aren't going good, oh you thing it's never going to end. I've been on both sides of that fence and I'm pretty excited about which side of the fence I think I'm going to be on. We've got a good car. It's the same car we ran second with in Texas. Things are good. This is not our typical spring race in Charlotte. Usually we're here and then we're struggling for speed and miserable already talking to you guys (media) and the All-Star practice. And after one practice our car is good and it's got good speed and I'm looking forward to tonight and also the 600."

Kurt Busch: Can you talk about all the excitement of All-Star weekend and coming back to Charlotte Motor Speedway? "It's great to go out there and race for no points and a million bucks. It's a great atmosphere. I love running under the lights here at Charlotte – the energy level, the excitement. It's a week-long event of fun that leads up to Memorial Day – of course it's the Coca-Cola 600. First things first, we're looking for a great run. We've been throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the car recently and this is a nice weekend for us to try and fins some small adjustments that will make our car better and find more of a direction to head with our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. It's good to come back to a track where we've had some success and evaluate where we are."

Tony Stewart: Talk about your birthday today. "I've had three cakes during the week, but I've been sensible about it and had three small pieces. It is just another day. Everybody goes 'well it is too bad you have to be at the race track on your birthday' and I'm kind of looking at it the opposite way, this is what I have grown up loving. I love what I do. I love being with the people that I am around and most of my friends are in the garage area so I can't think of a better place to spend my birthday."

Mark Martin: Tell us your feelings on the All-Star race. "I've said many times, in my opinion; this is the coolest venue in the world. I've always loved this race track. I think it's a great facility. The track is great to race on. It represents our sport well. And I love the fans here and their enthusiasm. So it's great that we race here and it's really great to have the Sprint All-Star race here. There is no better place for it."

Greg Biffle: Intermediates have been Roush's forte'. The FR9 seems to have helped that; do you have added confidence now that you have a stretch of those coming up? "Yeah, that is definitely what we like. I was really excited about Darlington and Dover because those have been two of my best tracks and we failed to capitalize on those tracks. You know, Charlotte has not been the top of our list on intermediates for Roush Fenway. We have run good there as an organization but we don't have thie wins here like we do at Texas and Kansas or other mile-and-a-half tracks. This one has eluded us a little bit. We are pretty dang good here but we don't live up to our record here as good as we are on the other intermediates. I am happy to be here and I think that our cars are running very good. I am excited for the 600 to see how we run there."

Regan Smith (not in the top 12, but a recent winner at Darlington): What sort of extra motivation and confidence has it given your crew and your team? "I think the best answer I could give to that question was when we got to Dover last week, everybody is being congratulated and talking to people throughout the garage and everything but when practice started, there was a different feel to our team. It was more of a feeling...I don't want to say it was like 'hey, we belong here': it was just a confident swagger and it seemed like the changes went quicker. It seemed like things that took 20 minutes in the past took 15 minutes and everything flowed better so there was...there was just more of a air of confidence about the guys. A lot of guys on our team had never won before at anything. There are a couple of them that have been to Victory Lane with other teams, in different circumstances. But it was most of us first experience and that same confidence that I gained as a driver, I can see that same confidence within them as a team, which was really cool to see happen."

News and Notes: Charlotte
by Bryan Davis Keith

* One major rule change for the Sprint Showdown this year concerns the Fan Vote. Whereas in the years since the implementation of the fan vote the winner had to finish on the lead lap of the Showdown to become eligible, this year the only requirement for the winner of the vote is to be able to present a car for the All-Star Race that the race director deems "raceable." No details were readily available on what standards will be used to evaluate the equipment to determine raceability. The rule change it has been widely speculated was implemented to ensure that Dale Earnhardt Jr., should he find trouble in the Showdown, will still be able to utilize the fan vote that he is leading heading into Saturday's All-Star Race.

* Brian Keselowski is back at the track after enduring a vicious wreck in the USAR Pro Cup race at Rockingham this past weekend, no worse for the wear sans a sore shoulder. The owner/driver was the slowest car in Showdown qualifying, and told Frontstretch that the No. 92 team may be changing manufacturers in the very near future as a means to improve the team's engine program. See full details in a special edition Beyond the Cockpit.

* David Stremme and the Inception Motorsports team are planning to race the distance should they qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 next weekend. Stremme informed Frontstretch that the team is currently focused on its short track and intermediate packages, and will not be fielding cars in the road course or superspeedway races upcoming on the Cup schedule's summer stretch. See full details in a special edition Beyond the Cockpit.

* MAKE Motorsports, which fields the No. 50 Truck Series team with driver T.J. Bell, has a car lined up to field a Nationwide Series entry when the series returns to the Daytona International Speedway in July, Frontstretch has learned. Bell is slated to drive that entry as well. The team's next Truck race is currently slated to be the Bristol night race in August, though team ownership told Frontstretch that discussions are ongoing to add a race date in July. The team is also hoping to contest Truck Series events at Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Talladega and Texas later this season.

Have news for 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 at 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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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Frontstretch Podcast: May 20th Edition
by Doug Turnbull

Big Six: North Carolina Education Lottery 200
by Amy Henderson

Beyond the Cockpit: Brian Keselowski on Hard Wrecks and Hard Knocks
by Bryan Keith

Beyond the Cockpit: David Stremme on His New Home at Inception Motorsports
by Bryan Keith

Older, Wiser Earnhardt, Jr. Looking At A Bigger Picture This Time Around
by Amy Henderson
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Coming Monday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Sprint All-Star Race Recap by TBA
-- Big Six: Sprint All-Star Race by Amy Henderson
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
 
Monday on the Frontstretch:

Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Sprint All-Star Race by Matt McLaughlin
Matt will be here with his overall thoughts about the action from Saturday night's action from Charlotte.

Monday Morning Tear-Down by Amy Henderson
Filling in for Bryan, Amy takes a look at the biggest story from the weekend and analyzes it without pulling punches.

Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles
Tom brings back his weekly post-race commentary with all of the insight you need from a weekend of racing at Charlotte.

Running Their Mouth: Sprint All-Star Race by Brody Jones
Did he really say that?  You bet he did! Brody brings you the most interesting, unusual, and downright crazy quotes to come from the drivers after Saturday night's race from Charlotte.

Tracking the Trucks: North Carolina Education Lottery 200 by Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth has all the post-race analysis you need after Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race from Charlotte.
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