The Frontstretch Newsletter: May 5th, 2011

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 5th, 2011
Volume V, Edition LXXXI
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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
 
Bayne Likely Out For Darlington

 

ESPN.com's David Newton is reporting that Trevor Bayne will likely have to sit out Friday night's Royal Purple 200 due to his mystery illness.  Chris Buescher, who made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut Friday at Richmond in place of Trevor Bayne, will likely sub once again this weekend at Darlington.

As of Wednesday night, Bayne is still hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he has been since last Wednesday.  There is no indication that doctors have made a final diagnosis of Bayne's condition as of yet, or what caused it.  NASCAR Now reported Wednesday that Bayne is likely to be released in the coming days, but may be forced to stay near the Mayo Clinic just in case he needs to be re-admitted.

Bayne himself has not given any updates on his condition over the past few days.  His last Twitter post was from Saturday afternoon.  In it, Bayne stated that whatever is ailing him does not have to do with the insect bite that hospitalized him in early April.  Many drivers, and NASCAR on FOX analyst Darrell Waltrip have sent get well wishes to Bayne via Twitter.

Wiley X to Sponsor Kenseth at Darlington and Dover

Roush Fenway Racing announced on Wednesday that Wiley X Eyewear will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 17 Ford Fusion driven by Matt Kenseth in the next two Sprint Cup races (Darlington on Saturday night, and Dover on May 15).

Wiley X President of Sales and Co-Owner Myles J. Freeman is very excited about the company's upcoming sponsorship.

"We're ecstatic to be the primary sponsor on Matt Kenseth's No. 17 Ford Fusion for not one, but, two races in the month of May," Freeman said.  "To think that Wiley X will be exploited on the national stage is a tribute to how far we've come and a sincere show of support for our massive dealer network and our Armed Forces who make us proud around the globe. To them, we are forever grateful."

This will not be the first time that Wiley X's black and red colors have been on a Cup car.  The company sponsored Ginn Racing's No. 14 Chevrolet for driver Sterling Marlin in one race each in 2006 and 2007.  Unfortunately, Marlin suffered blown engines in both of those races.  The 2006 race at Las Vegas saw Marlin finish 36th, while Sonoma in 2007 saw Marlin finish 43rd.

Entry List Update
Note:  These entries are accurate as of Wednesday evening.  However, they are still subject to change.

Sprint Cup Series Showtime Southern 500:  47 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 09 - Landon Cassill for Phoenix Racing
No. 38 - Travis Kvapil for Front Row Motorsports
No. 50 - T.J. Bell
No. 60 - Mike Skinner for Germain Racing
No. 75 - Derrike Cope for Stratus Racing
No. 81 - Scott Riggs for Whitney Motorsports
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports

Driver Changes: None

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. 50 - T.J. Bell
No. 60 - Mike Skinner for Germain Racing
No. 66 - Michael McDowell for HP Racing, LLC
No. 71 - Andy Lally for TRG Motorsports
No. 75 - Derrike Cope for Stratus Racing
No. 81 - Scott Riggs for Whitney Motorsports
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports
No. 92 - Brian Keselowski for K-Automotive Motorsports

Nationwide Series Royal Purple 200:  41 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 18 - Kyle Busch for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 20 - Denny Hamlin for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22 - Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing
No. 33 - Clint Bowyer for Kevin Harvick, Inc.
No. 38 - Kasey Kahne for Turner Motorsports
No. 60 - Carl Edwards for Roush Fenway Racing

Driver Changes:

No. 18 - Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing Kelly Bires.
No. 23 - Scott Riggs is in the seat, replacing Robert Richardson, Jr.
No. 30 - Jason Leffler returns to the seat, replacing James Buescher.
No. 33 - Clint Bowyer returns to the seat, replacing Paul Menard.
No. 38 - Kasey Kahne returns to the seat, replacing Jason Leffler.
No. 39 - Danny Efland is in the seat, replacing Charles Lewandoski.
No. 70 - Dennis Setzer returns to the seat, replacing David Stremme.

 

Since there are only 41 cars entered, no one will miss the race.  However, these drivers must still qualify on speed:
No. 13 - Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 23 - Scott Riggs for R3 Motorsports
No. 41 - Carl Long for Rick Ware Racing
No. 44 - Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports
No. 52 - Kevin Lepage for Means Motorsports
No. 68 - Matt Carter for Fleur-de-Lis Motorsports/Rick Ware Racing
No. 72 - John Jackson
No. 74 - Mike Harmon for Harmon Motorsports
No. 75 - Johnny Chapman for Rick Ware Racing
No. 79 - Tim Andrews for 2nd Chance Motorsports
No. 89 - Morgan Shepherd for Faith Motorsports

Turner Motorsports Announces Arpin to Drive No. 32 Truck for Five Races

On Tuesday night, Steve Arpin announced on SPEED's NASCAR RaceHub that he has signed a deal to drive Turner Motorsports' No. 32 Truck in five races.  Sponsorship will be provided by Mike's Hard Lemonade, which served as Arpin's sponsor in 14 races last season in the ARCA Racing Series.

Arpin is pleased to join Turner Motorsports' stable of drivers.

"I'm thrilled to be continuing my relationship with Mike's Hard Lemonade as I make my NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut with Turner Motorsports," Arpin said.  "Mr. Turner's dedication to up-and-coming drivers in the sport has been key to making this possible. I want to thank Mr. Turner and Mike's Hard Lemonade for this awesome opportunity."

Arpin's schedule will start off at Texas, symbolic since he started his association with Mike's Hard Lemonade at Texas last season.  He will also drive the No. 32 at Kentucky, Iowa, Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis (formerly ORP and IRP) and Chicagoland.

Last season, Arpin split his time between the Nationwide Series and the ARCA Racing Series presented by Re/Max and Menards.  In 18 ARCA races, Arpin won three races (Salem (April), Texas and DuQuoin), had 7 top-5 finishes and 10 top-10's.  The latter two victories came with Mike's Hard Lemonade support, including winning on debut in Texas.  In the Nationwide Series, Arpin drove seven races for JR Motorsports, five in the No. 7 and two in the No. 88.  In those races, Arpin's best finish was a tenth in the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona in July.

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.  Also Shakedown Session will be seen this week due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control.  However, it will be back next week.
 
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The Critic's Annex:  Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown

by Phil Allaway
 
Hello, race fans.  Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at race broadcasts that we enjoy.  However, before we start, I have some news to share.  According to Leigh Diffey's Twitter page, regular Formula One play-by-play man Bob Varsha appears to be a little under the weather this week.  As a result, Leigh Diffey will take his place in the booth for this weekend's Grand Prix of Turkey. 

 

Last Thursday night, Denny Hamlin put on a special charity race to benefit his own Denny Hamlin Foundation, amongst other benefactors.  The race was originally scheduled to be at Southside Speedway, a one-third mile track in Hamlin's hometown of Midlothian, Virginia.  Unfortunately, the track's owner/promoter, Sue Clements, fell ill and couldn't start the season on time (according to the track's website, they will release a shortened schedule next Tuesday and start up for the year on June 17).  Because of Clements' illness, the Fourth Annual Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown was moved a short distance away from Midlothian to the Richmond International Raceway.

 

The original plan was for a 90 minute telecast that only covered the 75 lap race late model race itself.  Unfortunately, the atmosphere had other plans.  A deluge came down on the three-quarters of a mile oval about 40 minutes before SPEED was scheduled to come on the air.  The Blue Ox 100 for the K&N Pro Series East was in progress at the time and was red flagged due to the rain after 29 laps were completed.

 

At the start of the broadcast, SPEED decided to kill some time first with some discussion in the broadcast booth between Mike Joy, Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace.  On paper, SPEED provided an interesting trio.  Joy and Schrader would serve as calming influences, while Wallace could be his usual excitable self.  In practice, everyone sounded quite excited during both the K&N Pro Series East and the Late Model race..

 

After the booth discussion, SPEED gave viewers 11 interviews with various drivers that were either competing in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown, or in the Blue Ox 100.  Bill Elliott briefly joined the aforementioned trio in the booth to talk about his first time racing against his son Chase.

 

SPEED did leave Richmond for alternative programming for a little while in order to help the track dry.  Episodes of Inside the Headsets from 2010 aired while the track dried.

 

Once the track dried, SPEED provided viewers with what was described as bonus coverage of the remaining 71 laps of the Blue Ox 100.  To get the viewers up to date on the race (that if it didn't rain, would not have aired on television until May 19), there were highlights of the event up to that point shown.  To be fair, there weren't many.  Max Gresham had run away from the field.  Darrell Wallace, Jr. only began to challenge Gresham just as the rain started.

 

Then, the telecast resumed.  I am definitely not under the opinion that SPEED planned to cover the race like they did.  There is a good chance that when SPEED shows the delayed race on May 19, it will be with a different on-air crew calling the race from a studio in Charlotte, much like SPEED's old ProCup telecasts with Rick Benjamin.

 

Regardless, it was still an enjoyable race to watch.  Other than the brief yellow for Ryan Gifford's spin, the race was shown to the finish commercial-free.  Apparently, that threw Dustin Long for a bit of a loop, but that's a good thing.  SPEED's commentators were reasonably prepared to call the race and brought a lot of knowledge to the show.  It did help that there were a few known quantities in the event (by "known quantities," I mean drivers that have driven races in other, higher up series previously, like Matt DiBenedetto).

 

The booth was definitely amazed by the aggressiveness of the racers in the Blue Ox 100.  Throughout the race, there was plenty of contact and sliding around since the cars were racing on bias-ply tires.  There was some confusion over the rules regarding tires in the 100 lap event.  It appears that the rules for the race prohibited tire changes (unless absolutely necessary), like the Camping World Truck Series used to do when they had Halftime Breaks.

 

Now, I'll be honest.  The current TV deal for the K&N Pro Series is not the best.  If there were a network dedicated to NASCAR, I'd like to think that the series (and their Western counterpart) could get a lot more coverage.  Maybe not all the races would be aired live, but at the very least, the West Series wouldn't have to wait two months to get their season opener on television.

 

Post-race coverage included interviews with Darrell Wallace, Jr. and Brett Moffitt, the top two finishers.  There was also a check of the unofficial results before SPEED changed focus to the upcoming Showdown.

 

The Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown had a laid back feel in the broadcast booth, not dissimilar to how the FOX booth has handled the Sprint All-Star Race in the past.  Then again, the race itself seemed to be incredibly laid back.  That can be noted from the sheer amount of times that the rules apparently changed during the race.  For example, information about a caution with ten laps to go was passed along to the booth while the event was running.  Conflicting information was given as to what the race's rules would be for Green-White-Checker restarts (at first, it was a one-and-done, then it went to three attempts before going back to a one-and-done).  I understand that Hamlin wanted a good show, but he needed to come up with rules for the race and stick to them.

 

It should also be noted that the event was also what amounted to a telethon for the Denny Hamlin Foundation.  Joy would remind viewers that they could call a 1-800 number to donate money.  Even that came off with an air of informality when Joy announced on-air that the number displayed on the telecast did not match what he had given in the booth.  Whoops.  Of course, that was just a simple miscommunication.  The number displayed on the telecast was the correct one.

 

Quite a lot of the coverage was focused in on the Sprint Cup drivers that invaded the race at the expense of the late model regulars that had to drive their guts out in qualifying just to get in the race.  That is a disservice to the rest of the drivers in the field.  An event such as the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown is a showcase for those up-and-coming Young Guns.  The only ones that I think got much air time during the race were Chase Elliott (obvious reasons) and Darrell Wallace, Jr.  Wallace, Jr. got his airtime mainly because he won the K&N Pro Series East race earlier and was going for the two-fer.

 

Since SPEED was nearly two hours over the end of their timeslot by the time the race finally ended, post-race coverage was short.  There were interviews with the top three finishers (Denny Hamlin, Michael Waltrip and Chase Elliott) and a check of the unofficial results.  During the interview with Chase Elliott, Hermie Sadler (who drove could be seen in the background interviewing Joey Logano.  According to Hermie, that interview was apparently for some kind of feature for NASCAR RaceDay Built by The Home Depot.

 

I generally enjoyed the action on-track and the booth seemed to really enjoy the race.  That's great to see.  However, there was a lot of discussion about Wallace and the likelihood of him having a good run in the BUBBA Burger 250 the next night.  Now, we know that Wallace most definitely did have a great run Friday (it would have been a top-5 had Scott Zipadelli not made an error in judgment under the second caution), but that shows a degree of favoritism.  That's not cool.

 

Even if next year's Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown is not back at RIR (either Clements' health holds up enough for the race to return to Southside Speedway, or the race goes somewhere else), SPEED should find a way to televise the event next year.  Its a great way to introduce race fans to some new talent.  Also, if the event is paired up with the K&N Pro Series East again, show that entire race live as well.

 

I hope you enjoyed this look back at the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown.  Next week, I'll be critiquing NASCAR Now's Monday Roundtable.  Until then, enjoy the racing this weekend in Darlington and Istanbul, Turkey.

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 Beyond the Cockpit: Jeremy Clements on Surviving As An Independent In NNS

 
"It's been a real pain. With these bodies, the measurements being so freaking close, it's tough for a team like us. We don't have the templates you need, so we have to take our cars to a body man that has them and he's about two hours away." - Jeremy Clements, describing what the Clements Racing team has to do just to get their car approved to race from week to week.

 

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:  Does Darlington Still Matter?

by Matt McLaughlin

 
Potts' Shots:  Back To The Past

by John Potts
 
Fantasy Insider:  Lady In Black Loves To Give Owners A Hard Time

by Brett Poirier
 
Voices From The Heartland:  NASCAR Now Accidently Tells The Truth

by Jeff Meyer

 

Who Am I?  A Return To NASCAR Writing

by Mark Howell

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
 
Q:  If you look at the 1993 Mountain Dew Southern 500 on racing-reference.info, you'll notice that the race ended 16 laps early.  Why was this so?

 
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
 
Wednesday's Answer:
 
Q:  2006 was a great year for Kevin Harvick in the Busch Series, winning nine times and clinching the championship with four races still to run.  The Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington was (for Harvick) a middling race where he finished seventh.  However, something patently ridiculous featuring Harvick was shown on FX prior to the race.  What was it?

 
A:  Prior to the race, Tony Stewart (who just so happened to be driving Harvick's No. 33 in the race) walked up behind him and blatantly grabbed him by the rear end on pit road.  The result was uproarious laughter from everyone involved.  FOX showed this instance on air while Jeff Burton was talking with Jeff Hammond and Chris Myers in the "Hollywood Hotel."  The reaction can be seen here.  Apparently, Stewart's actions referenced a "tradition" that he had before getting with his current girlfriend where he would grab Delana Harvick's rear end for "good luck" before races.  Seems that she wasn't around that night, so Kevin (unexpectedly) had to substitute.

 
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: Darlington by Mike Lovecchio
Mike brings us his look at important things to look forward to at Darlington Raceway this weekend in our racing preview.
 
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns with another interesting commentary.
 
Driver Diary: Casey Mears as told to Amy Henderson

The driver of the No. 13 GEICO Toyota returns to talk about the past few weeks on and off the track.

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