The Frontstretch Newsletter SPECIAL EDITION: July 2nd, 2011

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
July 2nd, 2011
Volume V, Edition CXXII

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Stories to Watch: Saturday
by Phi Allaway

 

Tonight, the Sprint Cup Series will be in action at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400.  Pre-race coverage will be begin with SPEED's weekly telecast of NASCAR RaceDay Built by The Home Depot at 4:30pm EDT.  TNT's Countdown to Green Delivered by Pizza Hut will begin right after RaceDay finishes up at 6:30.  Finally, TNT's coverage of the Coke Zero 400 is scheduled to begin at 7:30.  It is Wide Open Coverage this week, meaning limited commercial interruption.

 

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Nationwide Race Recap:  Logano Wins Subway Jalapeno 250 From The Rear

by Phil Allaway

 

After qualifying 18th for Friday night's Subway Jalapeno 250, Joey Logano reported issues with his clutch while getting up to speed.  The team was forced to change the clutch and start from the rear of the field.  However, with the tandem drafting in use at Daytona today, getting to the front would not be too much of a problem as long as you had a good drafting partner.

 

Kevin Harvick started from the pole, part of a record-breaking sweep of the top-4 starting spots by his race team.  Although all four KHI cars would be up front at the start of the race, they would all end up in a heap of twisted metal by the end of the night.  For Clint Bowyer, his night could have ended very early.  A couple laps into the race, Bowyer cut a tire, which forced him to pit and lose a lap.  Bowyer spent nearly half the race trying to get the Free Pass, but eventually got back up front.

 

For the most part, the frontrunners kept their tandems almost all night.  Carl Edwards worked almost exclusively with Jamie McMurray.  Patrick worked with Stewart, then switched to teammate Aric Almirola late.  Before switching to Patrick, Almirola worked with Brad Keselowski.  Both of the NEMCO Motorsports ExtenZe-sponsored cars worked together.  Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Trevor Bayne worked together.

 

For Logano, starting at the rear was no problem at all.  He weaved his way through traffic like a madman in the first ten laps, moving up from the rear to 13th by Lap 10.  By Lap 20, he was firmly in the top-10.  However, he made some aggressive moves to get up front, and that aggressiveness came back to haunt him on Lap 26.  Logano got below the yellow line trying to pass the lapped car of Kevin Lepage.  Knowing that he couldn't make the pass that way and still make it through Turn 3, he turned up the track to give himself a proper corner entry.

 

Unfortunately, Brian Scott was there.  Scott hooked Logano in the right rear corner, sending the No. 20 on a slide through Turn 3, bringing out the first yellow.  The car was relatively undamaged, but Logano had to regroup from the rear once again.

 

To get back to the front of the field, Logano drafted anyone he could.  For instance, he spent a significant amount of time bumping Blake Koch towards the front.  That got the No. 20 back in the top-15 within ten laps of the restart.

 

Ricky Carmichael had high hopes entering Friday night's race, but the night ended early for the Camping World Truck Series regular.  On Lap 34, Carmichael cut a left rear tire and spun off of Turn 2.  Carmichael's car backed into the outside wall and then hit it with the driver's side.  Danny Efland also spun to the inside of Turn 2.  Extensive damage forced Carmichael to retire for the night, while Efland continued without issue.

 

After the yellow, Danica Patrick made her move to head up the field for the first time, passing Elliott Sadler for the lead on Lap 40 with help from Tony Stewart.  Patrick would lead the race five times for 13 laps on the night.

 

The third yellow flew on Lap 45 for a wreck on the frontstretch that was a true cautionary tale of the new tandem drafting.  Mike Bliss was pushing his teammate Eric McClure through the tri-oval when he dipped his nose out to get some air.  When he did this, his car inched in front of McClure's rear bumper.  The result was that Bliss hooked McClure in the right rear corner and McClure crashed hard into the outside wall before spinning into the grass inside of Turn 1.  McClure was transported to Halifax Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a concussion.

 

On the restart from the McClure caution, a stack-up resulted in Jennifer Jo Cobb smashing into the back of Tim George, Jr.  The hit ended up breaking something internally on Cobb's No. 13, oiling down the apron of the track and bringing out another yellow.

 

Following a long run of green-flag action, another mistimed bump draft brought out the fifth yellow.  Bowyer and teammate Harvick were trying to get a run on Edwards and McMurray for the lead on the backstretch.  Unfortunately, Harvick got into Bowyer on the rounded corner of the rear bumper and turned Bowyer into the outside wall, ending his night with 20 laps to go.

 

A late quick-trigger caution thrown by NASCAR with ten laps to go for an incident involving the two NEMCO Motorsports cars driven by Joe Nemechek and Kevin Conway set up a seven-lap sprint to the finish.  It appeared at first that the tandems of Sadler-Stewart and Patrick-Almirola were going to settle the race amongst themselves.  However, Logano finally hooked with teammate Kyle Busch with a couple of laps to go and blasted by Sadler for the lead on the final lap.  The Turner Motorsports tandem of Jason Leffler and Reed Sorenson followed the Gibbs cars by.

 

Coming to the line, Leffler and Sorenson had a huge run on the Gibbs duo.  Kyle Busch moved up to block Leffler, giving Logano just enough steam to beat Leffler to the line for the win.

 

Behind the lead foursome, an eight-car crash coming to the line shuffled the final finishing order.  Mike Wallace's No. 01 was thrown around like a rag doll coming to the line, possibly due to a broken rear track bar.  A series of side-bumps culminated in the No. 01, two of the remaining Kevin Harvick, Inc. Chevrolets (Stewart and Sadler), and the two JR Motorsports Chevrolets (Patrick and Almirola) all crashing into the outside wall just short of the start-finish line.  Steve Wallace was also involved.  Kenny Wallace went into the grass to avoid the crash, while Brian Scott followed.  Kenny got through the crash, but Scott was hit by Steve Wallace.  Jamie McMurray was also collected by the No. 66.  All of the drivers were ok.

 

After the race, Logano was very pleased to have avoided the big crash and gone to Victory Lane.

 

"This is Daytona -- I'm pumped up right now.  Its so cool," Logano said in the post-race press conference.  "Got to thank Kyle [Busch] obviously, for pushing me.  Its nice to be on the other side of the fence.  Usually, I'm the pusher and finish second every time.  So, to be on the other side here and get the win, man, this is great."

 

Behind Logano and Leffler was Reed Sorenson in third.  Kyle Busch finished fourth after being shoved into the outside wall at the finish.  Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-5.  Michael Annett was sixth, followed by Kenny Wallace in seventh.  Elliott Sadler, Aric Almirola and Danica Patrick rounded out the top-10.  All three of those drivers were involved in the big crash at the end.

 

Sorenson's third-place finish allowed him to expand his points lead to nine over Sadler.  Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. is still third, followed by Turner Motorsports teammates Justin Allgaier and Aric Almirola.

 

Next week, the Nationwide Series will be in Sparta, Kentucky for the Feed The Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

 

Sprint Cup Qualifying:  Martin Takes 50th Career Sprint Cup Pole

 

Prior to the Nationwide race on Friday, Mark Martin won the pole for tonight's Coke Zero 400 in his No.5 CARQUEST Auto Parts Chevrolet with a lap of 49.433 seconds (182.065 mph).  It is his 50th career Sprint Cup pole, putting him in eighth on the all-time list.  Trevor Bayne, fastest of those who had to qualify on speed will start on the outside pole.

 

Following his lap, Martin was happy to have the top starting spot, but was a little surprised that he actually won the pole.

 

"I really didn't expect to get the pole.  When I ran it, [I thought the lap] could have been first or 21st," Martin said in the post-qualifying press conference.  "[My crew] didn't tell me what my first lap was, that it was actually the quickest of the first laps, so I had no idea.  You just go out and do your thing."

 

Behind Martin and Bayne was Clint Bowyer with the third quickest lap at 49.553 seconds (181.624 mph).  Jeff Gordon was fourth, while David Ragan rounded out the top-5.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was sixth, while Andy Lally qualified a career-best seventh in the Interstate Moving Services Ford.  Jimmie Johnson will start eighth, while AJ Allmendinger and Paul Menard rounded out the top-10.

 

One team that had a horrible qualifying session was Joe Gibbs Racing.  All three of their cars qualified outside of the top-35 on Friday.  However, it could be beneficial for the race because they're all grouped together.

 

The impound procedure used at Daytona had the potential to create a jumbled grid.  This did not turn out to be the case, but Andy Lally did surprise many with his seventh-place run.  The other drivers to qualify on speed were Kevin Conway (22nd), Travis Kvapil (27th), Mike Skinner (29th), Michael McDowell (33rd), Geoff Bodine (35th), and Joe Nemechek (37th).  The two drivers that failed to qualify were Tony Raines and J.J. Yeley.

 

Here's The Starting Lineup:

 

Row 1:  No. 5- Mark Martin             No. 21- Trevor Bayne

Row 2:  No. 33- Clint Bowyer          No. 24- Jeff Gordon

Row 3:  No. 6- David Ragan            No. 88- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Row 4:  No. 71- Andy Lally             No. 48- Jimmie Johnson

Row 5:  No. 43- AJ Allmendinger     No. 27- Paul Menard

Row 6:  No. 39- Ryan Newman        No. 31- Jeff Burton

Row 7:  No. 4- Kasey Kahne           No. 99- Carl Edwards

Row 8:  No. 9- Marcos Ambrose      No. 17- Matt Kenseth

Row 9:  No. 16- Greg Biffle              No. 1- Jamie McMurray

Row 10:  No. 14- Tony Stewart        No. 83- Brian Vickers

Row 11:  No. 51- Landon Cassill      No. 97- Kevin Conway

Row 12:  No. 00- David Reutimann   No. 47- Bobby Labonte

Row 13:  No. 22- Kurt Busch           No. 2- Brad Keselowski

Row 14:  No. 38- Travis Kvapil          No. 78- Regan Smith

Row 15:  No. 60- Mike Skinner         No. 42- Juan Pablo Montoya

Row 16:  No. 29- Kevin Harvick         No. 13- Casey Mears

Row 17:  No. 66- Michael McDowell  No. 56- Martin Truex, Jr.

Row 18:  No. 35- Geoff Bodine          No. 11- Denny Hamlin

Row 19:  No. 20- Joey Logano          No. 18- Kyle Busch

Row 20:  No. 34- David Gilliland        No. 36- Dave Blaney

Row 21:  No. 32- Terry Labonte         No. 7- Mike Bliss

Row 22:  No. 87- Joe Nemechek

DNQ:  No. 37- Tony Raines, No. 46- J.J. Yeley

 

News And Notes

 

- David Gilliland's No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports is running without their normal sponsorship from Taco Bell.  It is an attempt by the team to show that they have sponsorship opportunities available on the car, and to capitalize on Gilliland's run last weekend at Infineon Raceway.  Although Taco Bell logos normally adorn the No. 34, the company itself does not sponsor the team.  Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins is a franchisee of multiple Yum! Foods (Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, etc.) restaurant locations, and thus, runs his race cars with the logos of the restaurants he operates. 

 

- Mike Bliss' No. 19 for TriStar Motorsports carried the colors of Racing 4 Education on Friday.  The new group, a joint venture between Diversity Motorsports, Bob Schacht Racing and the Mary McLeod Bethune Legacy Preservation Institute, is using motorsports in order to raise funds for less fortunate individuals to be able to attend college.  The group's website describes their effort as "an opportunity for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU's) to develop a funding stream that is not held hostage to the political climate."

 

- Speaking of Bliss, he is behind the wheel of Robby Gordon's No. 7 this weekend.  The No. 7 does not have any sponsors on the quarter-panels in addition to Gordon's own SPEED Energy.

 

- In somewhat late-breaking news, Bobby Labonte's JTG-Daugherty Racing team has been forced to change an engine.  As a result, the No. 47 will have to drop to the rear of the field for the start of the race.

 

Have news for Phil and The Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashland10@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.

 

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Coming Monday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Coke Zero 400 Race Recap by Phil Allaway

-- Mouthing Off: Ford 400 by Brody Jones

-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, Stat of the Week and more!

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Monday on the Frontstretch:

Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Daytona Night Race Recap by Matt McLaughlin
Matt will be here with his overall thoughts about the action from Saturday's night.

 

Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles

Tom's back with another interesting commentary about Saturday night's action.

Special Commentary by Ron Lemasters
Ron returns for a website look at one of the big stories from Saturday night's big race in Daytona.

 

Big Six: Coke Zero 400 by Amy Henderson
Amy is back with the who, what, when, where, why and how of Saturday night's race from Daytona International Speedway.

 
Bubble Breakdown by Bryan Davis Keith
Who's hot and who's not towards the back end of the owner points battle? Bryan brings the stories you didn't hear about into print from Sunday's race at Infineon Raceway.

 

Nationwide Series Breakdown: Subway Jalapeno 250 by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan has all the post-race analysis you need after Friday night's Nationwide Series race from Daytona International Speedway.

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