THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
July 18th, 2011
Volume V, Edition CXL
FRONTSTRETCH ... and IndyCar? That's right, we're expanding our coverage this week to include a little bit of our open-wheeled companions. Check out the website tomorrow for a special commentary from Kyle Ocker, some pictures from the Iowa race and more from the fastest-growing indie website for auto racing news... Frontstretch.com.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Newman Stretches Fuel to Win Lenox Industrial Tools 301
by Brody Jones
One was far from the loneliest number Sunday afternoon at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway as Ryan Newman led six times for 119 laps en route to win from the pole, leading six times for 119 laps, with teammate Tony Stewart in second, giving Stewart-Haas Racing a one-two sweep of the weekend.
"We did what we had to do." Said an elated Newman. "Just got to thank the U.S. Army, thank you guys. We've been working so hard to get this U.S. Army Chevrolet into Victory Lane. I want to thank Sprint, Tornados, Haas Automation, Coca-Cola, all the people at Bass Pro Shops and all the people who have jumped on this year. A real big team effort. We're proud that we came home one-two just as we started, a great weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing. Good points day. I want to dedicate this win to a good friend of mine, I lost him in April and my grandfather a couple of years ago this weekend so its sentimental for several reasons."
The race started with Newman sitting on the pole with a lap of 135.232 mph with Stewart alongside. Early on, the two Stewart-Haas teammates traded the lead back and forth. The first caution came out on Lap 31 for debris, setting up a split pit strategy that affected a good chunk of the race. Most of the leaders pitted to take two tires. Others took four tires and lost track position. Jamie McMurray chose not to top and ascended to the lead for the restart.
Thirty laps later, the points leader, Kyle Busch popped a right front tire and hit the wall, ending his hopes of a Nationwide and Cup Series sweep of the weekend for the second caution of the afternoon. Afterwards, Kyle was not happy.
"Blew a bead," said a dejected Kyle Busch. "Fastest car here — getting through the field pretty good and kind of the only guy passing guys, I guess. We made some big changes there on that pit stop. We came back and got four (tires) just to make sure that we got all the changes we wanted to. Working our way up through there with the Interstate Batteries Camry. Just blew a bead I guess. Transferring too much brake heat through the wheel. Couldn't tell you anything else besides that. Kind of knew things weren't going to go our way today. This morning, woke up and everything went wrong that could go wrong. Pretty much seemed right."
Another split round of stops occurred. Newman, who had made short work of McMurray on the previous restart, once again took two tires. McMurray, despite not pitting on the first round, was able to keep himself in the top-10 prior to the seond yellow. Mark Martin chose not to pit and took the lead. However, Newman made quick work of him on the restart to regain the lead.
Caution number three came out for debris on Lap 101, resulting in another repeat of tire strategy. Jimmie Johnson took the lead by staying out. However, the next caution did not fall fast enough for the five-time defending Sprint Cup champion, so he was forced to pit under green for fuel and tires and lost a lap.
On Lap 145, the fourth caution of the day came out when Brad Keselowski blew a right front tire and popped into the Turn 3 wall. The crash was very similar to Kyle Busch's incident. Keselowski's crew did get the No. 2 back on track, but Keselowski finished 35th, 44 laps down.
On Lap 172, the sixth caution of the afternoon came out when Juan Pablo Montoya and AJ Allmendinger had contact in Turn 2. The Allmendinger-Montoya contact resulted in Denny Hamlin spinning out. Behind them, Mike Bliss got in the back of Andy Lally and spun out the No. 71. Lally ended up just grazing the back of Hamlin's car. Both Hamlin and Lally continued without losing a lap.
Thirteen laps later, caution number seven came out for a Mark Martin spin. Martin had cut a left rear tire and simply could not control his car. However, the spin, along with a penalty for pitting out of his pit box, cost Martin two laps.
On lap 217, the eighth caution of the afternoon came out for debris. Another split round of stops occurred where many of the leaders made their final stops. However, with 84 laps to go, many of the teams were outside of their range to make it to the end. Joey Logano stayed out to take the lead, along with Marcos Ambrose.
Caution number nine came out after contact between teammates Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers resulted in the No. 83 spinning into the frontstretch wall. Dave Blaney simply had nowhere to go and was collected. The drivers who stayed out under the previous yellow, along with others who chose to top off pitted.
The final caution of the day came out for a Johnson spin on Lap 241, following some contact with Montoya, which put the leaders in fuel-saving mode the rest of the way. Multiple drivers, like Kurt Busch and McMurray, ran out of fuel prior to the finish. However, Newman managed to make his fuel last and held off his hard-charging team-mate Tony Stewart, who finished second.
"Man, this one hell of a perfect weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing," commented Stewart. "It was a sweet one-two in qualifying and one-two in the race. I'm so damn proud I can't see straight. I'm proud of my buddy there (Ryan Newman, race winner) standing on top of his car. He deserved it. He did an awesome job this weekend."
Third place was Denny Hamlin, who recovered from his earlier incident for a podium finish.
"It was a pretty physical race in the sense that guys were really banging into each other," Hamlin said. "I was banging into guys. Just it was one of those days where you just had to do the best you can to keep four fenders on it by the end of the day. We had three, but it was good enough to get us through and have a good come back day finishing third."
Logano finished in fourth, while Johnson rounded out the top-5. Kasey Kahne was sixth, followed by Bobby Labonte with his best unrestricted finish of the season. Martin Truex, Jr. was eighth, followed by Ambrose and Kurt Busch. Jeff Gordon was in the top-5 with a lap to go, but blew a tire and dropped to 11th.
The margin of victory was 0.773 seconds at an average speed of 104.100 mph. The lead changed 21 times amongst 14 different drivers.
Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series takes a short break. Two weeks from now, the series goes back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.
Carl Edwards was nowhere to be seen early in the day, but finally showed some muscle in the second half, running as high as second. However, the No. 99 team was one of many short on fuel, and was forced to run in fuel conservation on the final green flag run. He wound up with only a-13th place result, but it was enough to move him back atop the points, where he has been most of the year.
Sign of the things to come? Jimmie Johnson has back to back top-5 finishes for the first time since the fourth and fifth races of the year, at Fontana and Bristol, repsectively. It was not an easy result for Johnson though, as he had to overcome being a lap down, a pit stop penalty where the crew didn't get all the lugnuts on, and a spin which brought all the final caution of the race. While he was aided by several cars running out of gas, Johnson drove his way from 27th to the top-10 on the last green flag run before coming home in fifth. He now is just seven points behind Edwards for the lead in second place.
Kurt Busch continues his hot streak with a tenth-place finish. After running in the top five all day, Busch was one of the victims of poor fuel mileage that cost him a top five spot. Still, he was able to move up one position and now sits third, which is the highest he has been since race five at Fontana.
Kevin Harvick had an uncharacteristic off day for the second consecutive week, finishing in 21st. He never showed any signs of being competitive, nor did they take advantage of tire strategy. He was even caught a lap down at one point when a caution came out shortly after he made a green flag pit stop. He was able to get back on the lead lap via the wave around, but never worked his way up. After leading the points just two weeks ago, Harvick is now fourth in the standings. Like Kyle Busch, however, his series-high three victories gives him the point lead going into the Chase as it stands right now.
Matt Kenseth was missing in action all day. He was in the top-10 for an occasional period as most drivers were at some point with the unique tire strategy that played out. When he was back in traffic, as he was for most of the afternoon, he was never a factor and ended the day in 20th. Because of Busch's misfortunes though, he didn't lose much ground to the leaders and is 26 points behind Edwards in sixth.
Jeff Gordon looked to be the car to beat in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, even after losing a lap due to voltage problems. He was first of the cars supposedly good on fuel for the final green flag run, but a flat tire on the last lap left him with just an 11th-place run. He remains seventh in points, along with two wins he can fall back on should he fall outside the top-10.
After having a season best fourth-place finish last week at Kentucky, Ryan Newman followed that up with his first victory in 2011. Starting from the pole, Newman led 119 laps, making a statement that he belongs in the Chase. It moved him one spot to eighth in the standings, 16 points ahead of 11th-place Tony Stewart.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continues to fade. In a span of four races, he has fallen back from third to ninth in the standings. More alarming is the fact that he is the only driver in the top-10 without a coveted victory. His 15th-place effort at New Hampshire was his best in five races, but if he continues at that pace, he will be on the outside looking in next time the Sprint Cup series returns here.
Denny Hamlin's race can be listed under the same category as Jimmie Johnson. Much like Johnson, Hamlin was mired back in traffic for most of the day and things bottomed out when he spun on Lap 171. After that, the team made an adjustment on the car that worked, and used that pit stop as a way to stay out later. Hamlin was able to run the last 80 laps in the top-5, saving enough fuel to finish the day third. He is tied with Tony Stewart for 10th in the standings, but takes the spot over Stewart because of his victory at Michigan.
Standings: 1) Carl Edwards 652; 2) Jimmie Johnson -7; 3) Kurt Busch -11; 4) Kevin Harvick -15; 5) Kyle Busch -20; 6) Matt Kenseth -26; 7) Jeff Gordon -65; 8) Ryan Newman -66; 9) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -75; 10) Denny Hamlin -82.
Wildcard Drivers: Tony Stewart (11th in points, zero wins), David Ragan (13th in points, one win)
Note: While Brad Keselowski and Regan Smith both have victories this year, neither would make the Chase because they are not in the top-20 in points. In order to qualify as a wildcard driver, you must be 20th or higher in the standings. Keselowski is currently 23rd, while Smith is 27th. Also, Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne is not eligible for the Chase because he is not running for Sprint Cup points.
Friday's Answer:
Q: The Busch Grand National Series christened the then-brand new New Hampshire International Speedway with the Budweiser 300, a 300-lap race held 21 years ago today. Tommy Ellis survived what was the longest-ever race in series history up to that point (it has since been overtaken by the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Montreal in 2009) to claim the win in the No. 99 Goo-Goo Clusters Buick. However, future Champion Bobby Labonte didn't have the best introduction to New Hampshire. What happened?
A: Just before halfway, a multi-car wreck broke out exiting Turn 2. Bobby Labonte appeared to clip the spun-out No. 25 of Jimmy Hensley. The force of the hit flipped the No. 44 Penrose Oldsmobile onto its roof. Labonte then slid on his roof for a couple of hundred feet before the car flipped back onto its wheels. The wreck can be seen in this clip. No sound is available. Kelly Moore, Morgan Shepherd, Ricky Craven, Dave Rezendes, Bobby Dragon and others were also involved in the wreck. Labonte, Rezendes, Craven and Dragon were all eliminated in the crash.
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!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from TBA
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
This Week's Topic: "Ryan Newman's Magic Touch at the Magic Mile"
-- 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: Loudon-Off Week 3 Edition by Summer Dreyer
Summer takes a look at post-Loudon numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into the off-week... and beyond.
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
July 18th, 2011
Volume V, Edition CXL
FRONTSTRETCH ... and IndyCar? That's right, we're expanding our coverage this week to include a little bit of our open-wheeled companions. Check out the website tomorrow for a special commentary from Kyle Ocker, some pictures from the Iowa race and more from the fastest-growing indie website for auto racing news... Frontstretch.com.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Newman Stretches Fuel to Win Lenox Industrial Tools 301
by Brody Jones
One was far from the loneliest number Sunday afternoon at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway as Ryan Newman led six times for 119 laps en route to win from the pole, leading six times for 119 laps, with teammate Tony Stewart in second, giving Stewart-Haas Racing a one-two sweep of the weekend.
"We did what we had to do." Said an elated Newman. "Just got to thank the U.S. Army, thank you guys. We've been working so hard to get this U.S. Army Chevrolet into Victory Lane. I want to thank Sprint, Tornados, Haas Automation, Coca-Cola, all the people at Bass Pro Shops and all the people who have jumped on this year. A real big team effort. We're proud that we came home one-two just as we started, a great weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing. Good points day. I want to dedicate this win to a good friend of mine, I lost him in April and my grandfather a couple of years ago this weekend so its sentimental for several reasons."
The race started with Newman sitting on the pole with a lap of 135.232 mph with Stewart alongside. Early on, the two Stewart-Haas teammates traded the lead back and forth. The first caution came out on Lap 31 for debris, setting up a split pit strategy that affected a good chunk of the race. Most of the leaders pitted to take two tires. Others took four tires and lost track position. Jamie McMurray chose not to top and ascended to the lead for the restart.
Thirty laps later, the points leader, Kyle Busch popped a right front tire and hit the wall, ending his hopes of a Nationwide and Cup Series sweep of the weekend for the second caution of the afternoon. Afterwards, Kyle was not happy.
"Blew a bead," said a dejected Kyle Busch. "Fastest car here — getting through the field pretty good and kind of the only guy passing guys, I guess. We made some big changes there on that pit stop. We came back and got four (tires) just to make sure that we got all the changes we wanted to. Working our way up through there with the Interstate Batteries Camry. Just blew a bead I guess. Transferring too much brake heat through the wheel. Couldn't tell you anything else besides that. Kind of knew things weren't going to go our way today. This morning, woke up and everything went wrong that could go wrong. Pretty much seemed right."
Another split round of stops occurred. Newman, who had made short work of McMurray on the previous restart, once again took two tires. McMurray, despite not pitting on the first round, was able to keep himself in the top-10 prior to the seond yellow. Mark Martin chose not to pit and took the lead. However, Newman made quick work of him on the restart to regain the lead.
Caution number three came out for debris on Lap 101, resulting in another repeat of tire strategy. Jimmie Johnson took the lead by staying out. However, the next caution did not fall fast enough for the five-time defending Sprint Cup champion, so he was forced to pit under green for fuel and tires and lost a lap.
On Lap 145, the fourth caution of the day came out when Brad Keselowski blew a right front tire and popped into the Turn 3 wall. The crash was very similar to Kyle Busch's incident. Keselowski's crew did get the No. 2 back on track, but Keselowski finished 35th, 44 laps down.
On Lap 172, the sixth caution of the afternoon came out when Juan Pablo Montoya and AJ Allmendinger had contact in Turn 2. The Allmendinger-Montoya contact resulted in Denny Hamlin spinning out. Behind them, Mike Bliss got in the back of Andy Lally and spun out the No. 71. Lally ended up just grazing the back of Hamlin's car. Both Hamlin and Lally continued without losing a lap.
Thirteen laps later, caution number seven came out for a Mark Martin spin. Martin had cut a left rear tire and simply could not control his car. However, the spin, along with a penalty for pitting out of his pit box, cost Martin two laps.
On lap 217, the eighth caution of the afternoon came out for debris. Another split round of stops occurred where many of the leaders made their final stops. However, with 84 laps to go, many of the teams were outside of their range to make it to the end. Joey Logano stayed out to take the lead, along with Marcos Ambrose.
Caution number nine came out after contact between teammates Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers resulted in the No. 83 spinning into the frontstretch wall. Dave Blaney simply had nowhere to go and was collected. The drivers who stayed out under the previous yellow, along with others who chose to top off pitted.
The final caution of the day came out for a Johnson spin on Lap 241, following some contact with Montoya, which put the leaders in fuel-saving mode the rest of the way. Multiple drivers, like Kurt Busch and McMurray, ran out of fuel prior to the finish. However, Newman managed to make his fuel last and held off his hard-charging team-mate Tony Stewart, who finished second.
"Man, this one hell of a perfect weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing," commented Stewart. "It was a sweet one-two in qualifying and one-two in the race. I'm so damn proud I can't see straight. I'm proud of my buddy there (Ryan Newman, race winner) standing on top of his car. He deserved it. He did an awesome job this weekend."
Third place was Denny Hamlin, who recovered from his earlier incident for a podium finish.
"It was a pretty physical race in the sense that guys were really banging into each other," Hamlin said. "I was banging into guys. Just it was one of those days where you just had to do the best you can to keep four fenders on it by the end of the day. We had three, but it was good enough to get us through and have a good come back day finishing third."
Logano finished in fourth, while Johnson rounded out the top-5. Kasey Kahne was sixth, followed by Bobby Labonte with his best unrestricted finish of the season. Martin Truex, Jr. was eighth, followed by Ambrose and Kurt Busch. Jeff Gordon was in the top-5 with a lap to go, but blew a tire and dropped to 11th.
The margin of victory was 0.773 seconds at an average speed of 104.100 mph. The lead changed 21 times amongst 14 different drivers.
Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series takes a short break. Two weeks from now, the series goes back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.
Brody Jones is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
Tracking The Chasers: Point Lead Changes Hands Once Again
by Garrett Horton
Carl Edwards was nowhere to be seen early in the day, but finally showed some muscle in the second half, running as high as second. However, the No. 99 team was one of many short on fuel, and was forced to run in fuel conservation on the final green flag run. He wound up with only a-13th place result, but it was enough to move him back atop the points, where he has been most of the year.
Sign of the things to come? Jimmie Johnson has back to back top-5 finishes for the first time since the fourth and fifth races of the year, at Fontana and Bristol, repsectively. It was not an easy result for Johnson though, as he had to overcome being a lap down, a pit stop penalty where the crew didn't get all the lugnuts on, and a spin which brought all the final caution of the race. While he was aided by several cars running out of gas, Johnson drove his way from 27th to the top-10 on the last green flag run before coming home in fifth. He now is just seven points behind Edwards for the lead in second place.
Kurt Busch continues his hot streak with a tenth-place finish. After running in the top five all day, Busch was one of the victims of poor fuel mileage that cost him a top five spot. Still, he was able to move up one position and now sits third, which is the highest he has been since race five at Fontana.
Kevin Harvick had an uncharacteristic off day for the second consecutive week, finishing in 21st. He never showed any signs of being competitive, nor did they take advantage of tire strategy. He was even caught a lap down at one point when a caution came out shortly after he made a green flag pit stop. He was able to get back on the lead lap via the wave around, but never worked his way up. After leading the points just two weeks ago, Harvick is now fourth in the standings. Like Kyle Busch, however, his series-high three victories gives him the point lead going into the Chase as it stands right now.
Matt Kenseth was missing in action all day. He was in the top-10 for an occasional period as most drivers were at some point with the unique tire strategy that played out. When he was back in traffic, as he was for most of the afternoon, he was never a factor and ended the day in 20th. Because of Busch's misfortunes though, he didn't lose much ground to the leaders and is 26 points behind Edwards in sixth.
Jeff Gordon looked to be the car to beat in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, even after losing a lap due to voltage problems. He was first of the cars supposedly good on fuel for the final green flag run, but a flat tire on the last lap left him with just an 11th-place run. He remains seventh in points, along with two wins he can fall back on should he fall outside the top-10.
After having a season best fourth-place finish last week at Kentucky, Ryan Newman followed that up with his first victory in 2011. Starting from the pole, Newman led 119 laps, making a statement that he belongs in the Chase. It moved him one spot to eighth in the standings, 16 points ahead of 11th-place Tony Stewart.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continues to fade. In a span of four races, he has fallen back from third to ninth in the standings. More alarming is the fact that he is the only driver in the top-10 without a coveted victory. His 15th-place effort at New Hampshire was his best in five races, but if he continues at that pace, he will be on the outside looking in next time the Sprint Cup series returns here.
Denny Hamlin's race can be listed under the same category as Jimmie Johnson. Much like Johnson, Hamlin was mired back in traffic for most of the day and things bottomed out when he spun on Lap 171. After that, the team made an adjustment on the car that worked, and used that pit stop as a way to stay out later. Hamlin was able to run the last 80 laps in the top-5, saving enough fuel to finish the day third. He is tied with Tony Stewart for 10th in the standings, but takes the spot over Stewart because of his victory at Michigan.
Standings: 1) Carl Edwards 652; 2) Jimmie Johnson -7; 3) Kurt Busch -11; 4) Kevin Harvick -15; 5) Kyle Busch -20; 6) Matt Kenseth -26; 7) Jeff Gordon -65; 8) Ryan Newman -66; 9) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -75; 10) Denny Hamlin -82.
Wildcard Drivers: Tony Stewart (11th in points, zero wins), David Ragan (13th in points, one win)
Note: While Brad Keselowski and Regan Smith both have victories this year, neither would make the Chase because they are not in the top-20 in points. In order to qualify as a wildcard driver, you must be 20th or higher in the standings. Keselowski is currently 23rd, while Smith is 27th. Also, Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne is not eligible for the Chase because he is not running for Sprint Cup points.
Tracking The Top 35: Battle Remains Close with RGM and TRG
TRG Motorsports weren't able to gain any ground on Robby Gordon Motorsports Sunday at New Hampshire, but they didn't lose any either. Their driver Andy Lally finished one spot behind Scott Wimmer, who filled in for owner/driver Robby Gordon this weekend, but Lally earned a one point bonus for leading laps 146 and 147. With a 28th-place result, TRG remains 36th in the standings, but is still within striking distance of that 35th-place spot.
It was a relatively tame week amongst the other teams trying to get or stay in the top-35. Dave Blaney and Tommy Baldwin Racing were able to jump two spots to 32nd overall with a 29th-place run, moving ahead of FAS Lane Racing's No. 32 and Germain Racing, who fell out of the race just 83 laps in with brake issues.
Top 35 Summary:
31) Phoenix Racing (No. 51 - Landon Cassill), +99 ahead of 36th place.
32) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 – Dave Blaney), +44 ahead of 36th place.
33) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Mike Bliss), +42 ahead of 36th place.
34) Germain Racing (No. 13 – Casey Mears), +36 ahead of 36th place.
35) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 - Robby Gordon/Scott Wimmer), +7 ahead of 36th place.
36) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 – Andy Lally), -7 behind 35th place.
37) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 – Travis Kvapil), -12 behind 35th place.
38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 – Trevor Bayne), -34 behind 35th place.
39) Front Row/MaxQ Hybrid Team (No. 37 – Tony Raines), -92 behind 35th place.
Garrett Horton is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at garrett.horton@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
For the first 240 laps of Sunday's Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire, Bobby Labonte's day mirrored his 2011 season to date: mediocre at best. Simply struggling to stay on the lead lap at times, his No. 47 Toyota was an evil-handling machine while the crew struggled to get him the proper track position off pit road.
But as old, veteran drivers are wont to do Labonte found a way to outlast the competition in the closing laps: by saving fuel. As many of the other drivers around him ran dry, Labonte's fuel held out in the Capital Window Toyota, allowing Labonte to finish in seventh, only his second top-10 finish of the season.
"There at the end we put four tires on with 81 laps to go and we made it all the way on fuel," he explained after the race. "After 10 laps, there were three or four guys that could beat me really bad -- like the 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya) and some other guys. After a few laps on my tires, my car was decent. When I was in clear traffic and running my own lap times, I could run as fast as I wanted or I could run pretty good lap times. But when I tried to push the car, it just chatters the tires."
Those handling issues have plagued Labonte virtually all season long, but perhaps this Sunday - the best run for him since February's Daytona 500 - can be something to build on going forward.
– Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 3. The number of wins for Ryan Newman in his last 208 Sprint Cup Series starts, from late September of 2005 to now. In comparison, during his first 143 starts in the series (2002-05) he had a dozen victories, along with 33 poles and four finishes of seventh or better in Sprint Cup points. - Tom Bowles
Running Their Mouth: 2011 Lenox Industrial Tools 301
by Brody Jones
Best Quote:
"I think it is pretty big. There is a lot of pride in that. I can tell by looking at all these 48 guys they are scared, they are intimidated right now (laughter). It was a really good day, I am very proud of it right now." - Carl Edwards, 13th, on regaining the points lead
It may barely be past the halfway point in the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, but the mind games between Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson have already started. While Edwards' quote was likely more in playful jest than the psychological warfare of 2010 played by Denny Hamlin and his crew on Johnson, one has to admire the confidence of Edwards at this point. Or, one might shake their head, wondering if he's falling into the same trap that Hamlin and company fell into with four-plus months still to go 'till Homestead. Granted, with the poor finish of Kyle Busch, Edwards does regain the top spot in points. But a 13th-place finish, while not atrocious, usually is about as exciting as receiving junk mail from Publisher's Clearing House.
Worst Quote:
"I don't even need to say anything ….. Looking forward to a week off to regroup and take a break from the world." - Kevin Harvick, 21st
"Happy" Harvick was more like "Pissed-Off" Harvick after Sunday's race. When Harvick is on top of the world, the guy is worthy of his "Happy" nickname. But when things aren't going Harvick's way, he tends to go into "Happy-Smash" mode toward the media, and this was another glaring example of that. This attitude, while less prevalent than in his early years, has still cropped up from time to time and has likely kept Harvick from being fully embraced by the NASCAR fan base. If he's ever going to reach the level of championship-caliber driver, he's got to learn to curb his temper, especially toward the media.
Most Controversial Quote:
"Well, I was just driving my guts out, man. Anything that could have gone wrong today did. It started out with a bad qualifying effort on Friday and we paid the price for that on pit road and track position at the start; and then we had some issues on pit road. And then the No. 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya); I don't think of the three times he's wrecked me it's been intentional, but he's out of Mulligans and I've had enough of oh, I'm sorry, and you're spun out. Its happened way to often to the No. 48. Hopefully we can get that corrected moving forward and still amongst all that stuff going on, we rallied back to fifth. And, we did it the hard way, by passing cars." - Jimmie Johnson, fifth, on Sunday's struggles
It seemed like the never-ending list of NASCAR drivers Juan Pablo Montoya has managed to irk in 2011 has now grown to include Jimmie Johnson. It looks like Johnson has now had enough of getting pushed around by the competition and very well may be poised to strike back in the coming weeks. That said, even with Johnson's spin, he still gets a top-5 out of it. Things like this and overcoming pitting out of sequence show exactly why the No. 48 team has to still be considered the favorite for the championship in 2011. As for Juan Pablo Montoya, if he continues to anger drivers left and right like this, he might get a "true payback" from someone that makes what Ryan Newman did to him look like a limp-wristed slap-fight. Don't expect that part of the deal from Five-time, though... not his style.
Funniest Quote:
"Well, I'm wondering how long Andy Lally is going to take before he starts figuring this stuff out and getting the hell out of the way. We'll move him out of the way; we proved that." - Tony Stewart, runner-up, on his displeasure with lapped traffic
Tony Stewart has never been one to mince his words out of trying to be "politically correct" and this is another example of his brutal honesty. This time, he went after NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie Lally for being in the way during the closing stages of the race. Stewart bumped him out of the way, but Lally holding him up possibly cost "Smoke" his first win of 2011. Stewart has never been one to shy away from his honest feelings on other drivers and now NASCAR's lone full-time Sprint Cup freshman is the latest driver to draw the ire of "Smoke." Although, if the two ever got into a fight, one would think Lally's MMA background just might work to his advantage against Stewart.
Best Of The Rest:
"Oh, this counting yesterday in the Modifieds, yeah, first Cup win. But I'm just really proud of this U.S. Army team and Chevrolet and all the people that help out. Its a big deal for us. Gene Haas is here. Everybody is cutting up having a good time. We had a great weekend at Stewart-Haas Racing and I'm really proud of everybody's effort." - Ryan Newman, race winner, on his first win as a dad
"It was a pretty physical race in the sense that guys were really banging into each other. I was banging into guys. [It was just] one of those days where you just had to do the best you can to keep four fenders on it by the end of the day. We had three, but it was good enough to get us through and have a good come back day finishing third." - Denny Hamlin, third, on how physical Sunday's race was
"Oh, my goodness! What didn't happen today? It was a pretty crazy day for us. But certainly a lot to smile about with how great our car was. My goodness, the car was so good. I could tell at the beginning of the race that we just had to be patient and try to get track position. I thought that Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made some great call there when we took four (tires) and others took two; it was a little risky but it really paid off for us. That got us a big lead. I think all we really had to do was maintain that towards the front and I think that the results might be a little bit different today. But that's what you have to do. You have to survive these races in a lot of different ways and we had a lot of obstacles thrown at us with the alternator issue, which caused me to have to turn my A/C off and brake blowers, which probably ultimately blew that right front tire there at the end. So it was a challenging day in a lot of ways. But it was certainly something. And we're excited about coming back here later in the year to this race track. Our car was fast." - Jeff Gordon, 11th
"Yeah, it was that kind of day today. The hose fell off on lap three for the cooler. It was pretty warm in there. We got it back on for a little bit, but it fell back off again. The car was so fast in the beginning, it was ridiculous. It was a joke actually how fast the car was in the beginning but you have idiots that just panic and try to turn down and stop in the middle of pit road. It is like the seas parted and the 71 was sitting there. I tried to lock it up but I hit him in the exact wrong spot and it killed our fender. From there it was an uphill battle. You get in the back here and you are in trouble. If we would have had no damage and been back there we would have drove back up through the field but the thing was tight. We were gouging each other back there just trying to get anything, any kind of space. Overall, it was a decent day finish wise. I am really proud of all these guys for the race car that they built there. It was ridiculous, it was fast. We just got hosed there. We got something decent out of it, not what we wanted but something decent to salvage and we go on to the next race." - A.J. Allmendinger, 12th, on being mentally and physically exhausted post-race
"No, not really, just real hot. The temperatures are real, real hot. Physically, it was fine, but, you are cooking. Your face is all hot. But, it was good. We got it to drive pretty good a couple of times, but, most of the time, we weren't very good. I think we definitely will try and start from scratch when we come back next time. We struggled all weekend. In practice, we just didn't really have the speed we had last year. We've just got to figure out why. What's the difference in this tire and try to figure it out. I mean, every damn week they change the tire. We had a pretty good running here, but I guess the government is getting on 'em about how they build them, or something and they had to bring a new one here. Some kind of new construction. I didn't like it, but we can figure it out and get a setup going and try to figure it out where it will drive good." -Dale Earnhardt Jr., 15th, on how exhausting his race was
"I don't think 20th is good, no matter what. There were a couple runs where we were okay in the long run and terrible in the short run. It seems like whenever I had track position we are always behind with the way we pitted. Most cars behind me had new tires and we didn't and we just got ate up." - Matt Kenseth, 20th
"Blew a bead. Fastest car here — getting through the field pretty good and kind of the only guy passing guys I guess there. We made some big changes there on that pit stop. We came back and got four (tires) just to make sure that we got all the changes we wanted to. Working our way up through there with the Interstate Batteries Camry. Just blew a bead, I guess. Transferring too much brake heat through the wheel. Couldn't tell you anything else besides that. Kind of knew things weren't going to go our way today. This morning, woke up and everything went wrong that could go wrong. Pretty much seemed right." - Kyle Busch, 36th, after a lap 60 wreck
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
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, it's affiliates and team sponsors approach the daunting task of keeping fans interested and excited about the sport for 38 weeks of the year.
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Loudon-1 Race Recap
by Bryan Davis Keith
Ugly Ending Has Earnhardt Heading Towards Chase Self-Destruction
by Tom Bowles
Monday Morning Teardown: Strategy Is Important, More Than Horsepower
by Ron Lemasters
Bubble Breakdown: Status Quo Retained At Loudon
by Bryan Davis Keith
The Big Six: Lenox Industrial Tools 301
by Amy Henderson
Nationwide Series Breakdown: New England 200
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking The Trucks: Coca-Cola 200 Presented by Hy-Vee
by Beth Lunkenheimer
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The Nationwide Series racing in the Nashville Metro Area precedes the construction of Nashville Superspeedway with a series of races at then-Nashville Speedway USA. What was one of the issues that the short track faced with NASCAR's AAA series, especially after 1998?
"I think it is pretty big. There is a lot of pride in that. I can tell by looking at all these 48 guys they are scared, they are intimidated right now (laughter). It was a really good day, I am very proud of it right now." - Carl Edwards, 13th, on regaining the points lead
It may barely be past the halfway point in the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, but the mind games between Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson have already started. While Edwards' quote was likely more in playful jest than the psychological warfare of 2010 played by Denny Hamlin and his crew on Johnson, one has to admire the confidence of Edwards at this point. Or, one might shake their head, wondering if he's falling into the same trap that Hamlin and company fell into with four-plus months still to go 'till Homestead. Granted, with the poor finish of Kyle Busch, Edwards does regain the top spot in points. But a 13th-place finish, while not atrocious, usually is about as exciting as receiving junk mail from Publisher's Clearing House.
Worst Quote:
"I don't even need to say anything ….. Looking forward to a week off to regroup and take a break from the world." - Kevin Harvick, 21st
"Happy" Harvick was more like "Pissed-Off" Harvick after Sunday's race. When Harvick is on top of the world, the guy is worthy of his "Happy" nickname. But when things aren't going Harvick's way, he tends to go into "Happy-Smash" mode toward the media, and this was another glaring example of that. This attitude, while less prevalent than in his early years, has still cropped up from time to time and has likely kept Harvick from being fully embraced by the NASCAR fan base. If he's ever going to reach the level of championship-caliber driver, he's got to learn to curb his temper, especially toward the media.
Most Controversial Quote:
"Well, I was just driving my guts out, man. Anything that could have gone wrong today did. It started out with a bad qualifying effort on Friday and we paid the price for that on pit road and track position at the start; and then we had some issues on pit road. And then the No. 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya); I don't think of the three times he's wrecked me it's been intentional, but he's out of Mulligans and I've had enough of oh, I'm sorry, and you're spun out. Its happened way to often to the No. 48. Hopefully we can get that corrected moving forward and still amongst all that stuff going on, we rallied back to fifth. And, we did it the hard way, by passing cars." - Jimmie Johnson, fifth, on Sunday's struggles
It seemed like the never-ending list of NASCAR drivers Juan Pablo Montoya has managed to irk in 2011 has now grown to include Jimmie Johnson. It looks like Johnson has now had enough of getting pushed around by the competition and very well may be poised to strike back in the coming weeks. That said, even with Johnson's spin, he still gets a top-5 out of it. Things like this and overcoming pitting out of sequence show exactly why the No. 48 team has to still be considered the favorite for the championship in 2011. As for Juan Pablo Montoya, if he continues to anger drivers left and right like this, he might get a "true payback" from someone that makes what Ryan Newman did to him look like a limp-wristed slap-fight. Don't expect that part of the deal from Five-time, though... not his style.
Funniest Quote:
"Well, I'm wondering how long Andy Lally is going to take before he starts figuring this stuff out and getting the hell out of the way. We'll move him out of the way; we proved that." - Tony Stewart, runner-up, on his displeasure with lapped traffic
Tony Stewart has never been one to mince his words out of trying to be "politically correct" and this is another example of his brutal honesty. This time, he went after NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie Lally for being in the way during the closing stages of the race. Stewart bumped him out of the way, but Lally holding him up possibly cost "Smoke" his first win of 2011. Stewart has never been one to shy away from his honest feelings on other drivers and now NASCAR's lone full-time Sprint Cup freshman is the latest driver to draw the ire of "Smoke." Although, if the two ever got into a fight, one would think Lally's MMA background just might work to his advantage against Stewart.
Best Of The Rest:
"Oh, this counting yesterday in the Modifieds, yeah, first Cup win. But I'm just really proud of this U.S. Army team and Chevrolet and all the people that help out. Its a big deal for us. Gene Haas is here. Everybody is cutting up having a good time. We had a great weekend at Stewart-Haas Racing and I'm really proud of everybody's effort." - Ryan Newman, race winner, on his first win as a dad
"It was a pretty physical race in the sense that guys were really banging into each other. I was banging into guys. [It was just] one of those days where you just had to do the best you can to keep four fenders on it by the end of the day. We had three, but it was good enough to get us through and have a good come back day finishing third." - Denny Hamlin, third, on how physical Sunday's race was
"Oh, my goodness! What didn't happen today? It was a pretty crazy day for us. But certainly a lot to smile about with how great our car was. My goodness, the car was so good. I could tell at the beginning of the race that we just had to be patient and try to get track position. I thought that Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made some great call there when we took four (tires) and others took two; it was a little risky but it really paid off for us. That got us a big lead. I think all we really had to do was maintain that towards the front and I think that the results might be a little bit different today. But that's what you have to do. You have to survive these races in a lot of different ways and we had a lot of obstacles thrown at us with the alternator issue, which caused me to have to turn my A/C off and brake blowers, which probably ultimately blew that right front tire there at the end. So it was a challenging day in a lot of ways. But it was certainly something. And we're excited about coming back here later in the year to this race track. Our car was fast." - Jeff Gordon, 11th
"Yeah, it was that kind of day today. The hose fell off on lap three for the cooler. It was pretty warm in there. We got it back on for a little bit, but it fell back off again. The car was so fast in the beginning, it was ridiculous. It was a joke actually how fast the car was in the beginning but you have idiots that just panic and try to turn down and stop in the middle of pit road. It is like the seas parted and the 71 was sitting there. I tried to lock it up but I hit him in the exact wrong spot and it killed our fender. From there it was an uphill battle. You get in the back here and you are in trouble. If we would have had no damage and been back there we would have drove back up through the field but the thing was tight. We were gouging each other back there just trying to get anything, any kind of space. Overall, it was a decent day finish wise. I am really proud of all these guys for the race car that they built there. It was ridiculous, it was fast. We just got hosed there. We got something decent out of it, not what we wanted but something decent to salvage and we go on to the next race." - A.J. Allmendinger, 12th, on being mentally and physically exhausted post-race
"No, not really, just real hot. The temperatures are real, real hot. Physically, it was fine, but, you are cooking. Your face is all hot. But, it was good. We got it to drive pretty good a couple of times, but, most of the time, we weren't very good. I think we definitely will try and start from scratch when we come back next time. We struggled all weekend. In practice, we just didn't really have the speed we had last year. We've just got to figure out why. What's the difference in this tire and try to figure it out. I mean, every damn week they change the tire. We had a pretty good running here, but I guess the government is getting on 'em about how they build them, or something and they had to bring a new one here. Some kind of new construction. I didn't like it, but we can figure it out and get a setup going and try to figure it out where it will drive good." -Dale Earnhardt Jr., 15th, on how exhausting his race was
"I don't think 20th is good, no matter what. There were a couple runs where we were okay in the long run and terrible in the short run. It seems like whenever I had track position we are always behind with the way we pitted. Most cars behind me had new tires and we didn't and we just got ate up." - Matt Kenseth, 20th
"Blew a bead. Fastest car here — getting through the field pretty good and kind of the only guy passing guys I guess there. We made some big changes there on that pit stop. We came back and got four (tires) just to make sure that we got all the changes we wanted to. Working our way up through there with the Interstate Batteries Camry. Just blew a bead, I guess. Transferring too much brake heat through the wheel. Couldn't tell you anything else besides that. Kind of knew things weren't going to go our way today. This morning, woke up and everything went wrong that could go wrong. Pretty much seemed right." - Kyle Busch, 36th, after a lap 60 wreck
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
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, it's affiliates and team sponsors approach the daunting task of keeping fans interested and excited about the sport for 38 weeks of the year.
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Loudon-1 Race Recap
by Bryan Davis Keith
Ugly Ending Has Earnhardt Heading Towards Chase Self-Destruction
by Tom Bowles
Monday Morning Teardown: Strategy Is Important, More Than Horsepower
by Ron Lemasters
Bubble Breakdown: Status Quo Retained At Loudon
by Bryan Davis Keith
The Big Six: Lenox Industrial Tools 301
by Amy Henderson
Nationwide Series Breakdown: New England 200
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking The Trucks: Coca-Cola 200 Presented by Hy-Vee
by Beth Lunkenheimer
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The Nationwide Series racing in the Nashville Metro Area precedes the construction of Nashville Superspeedway with a series of races at then-Nashville Speedway USA. What was one of the issues that the short track faced with NASCAR's AAA series, especially after 1998?
Friday's Answer:
Q: The Busch Grand National Series christened the then-brand new New Hampshire International Speedway with the Budweiser 300, a 300-lap race held 21 years ago today. Tommy Ellis survived what was the longest-ever race in series history up to that point (it has since been overtaken by the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Montreal in 2009) to claim the win in the No. 99 Goo-Goo Clusters Buick. However, future Champion Bobby Labonte didn't have the best introduction to New Hampshire. What happened?
A: Just before halfway, a multi-car wreck broke out exiting Turn 2. Bobby Labonte appeared to clip the spun-out No. 25 of Jimmy Hensley. The force of the hit flipped the No. 44 Penrose Oldsmobile onto its roof. Labonte then slid on his roof for a couple of hundred feet before the car flipped back onto its wheels. The wreck can be seen in this clip. No sound is available. Kelly Moore, Morgan Shepherd, Ricky Craven, Dave Rezendes, Bobby Dragon and others were also involved in the wreck. Labonte, Rezendes, Craven and Dragon were all eliminated in the crash.
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!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from TBA
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
This Week's Topic: "Ryan Newman's Magic Touch at the Magic Mile"
-- 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: Loudon-Off Week 3 Edition by Summer Dreyer
Summer takes a look at post-Loudon numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into the off-week... and beyond.
Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan's back with his weekly edition of talking points to prepare you for the upcoming off-week.
Talking NASCAR TV by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series raced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, the Camping World Truck Series raced Saturday night at Iowa Speedway. Were the race telecasts up to snuff, or where they missing something? Find out on this week's edition of the TV Critique.
------------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2011 Frontstretch.com
Feel free to forward this newsletter if you have any friends who loves
NASCAR and great NASCAR commentary. They can subscribe to the Frontstetch by visiting http://www.frontstretch.com/notice/9557/.
If you want to stop your Frontstretch Newsletter subscription, we're sorry
to see you go. Just send an email to
TheFrontstretch-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com from the address that you
recieve the Frontstretch Newsletter.
No comments:
Post a Comment