THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
October 18th, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCXX
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by Tom Bowles
For more Dan Wheldon information, as the motorsports community continues to react click here.
With our NASCAR News postponed from Monday, combined with a medical emergency "Top News" will return in earnest with the latest NASCAR information tomorrow. Our apologies for the inconvenience.
Have news for Tom 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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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' 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 that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
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Tracking the Chasers: Kenseth's Victory Puts Him Squarely in the Championship Hunt
by Mike Neff
There are those days when you bust your hump all day and feel like you didn't accomplish anything, well Carl Edwards started the Bank of America in third position, raced all 500 miles and drove under the checkered flag in third-place. He certainly did quite a bit of work during the 334 laps it took to make up the 500 miles and in the end, he leaves Charlotte Motor Speedway still atop the point standings.
Passing was extremely difficult on Saturday night so Edwards was asked after the race what he thought would help making the competition better at Charlotte. "It would be fine with me if they took the spoilers off and the splitters off and we didn't have any downforce," said Edwards. "The cars are so close that the difference between them is smaller than the difference when you're following somebody. NASCAR has done a really, really good job of making sure that the rules are close and we're all about the same speed, but then when you're going that fast and relying on downforce, it makes it really tough. This track is probably one of the toughest ones to pass on, but it's overall tough almost everywhere we go."
Mr. "Where did he come from" Kevin Harvick had one of those nights on Saturday but it wasn't for a win, it was to finish in sixth. Harvick started in the 14th position and ran around the top-10 for most of the race, but never led a lap. The sixth place finish, combined with Edwards third leaves Harvick five points behind the No. 99 driver for the top spot in the standings.
Matt Kenseth is as quiet and unassuming as anyone in the Sprint Cup garage which certainly contributes to his lack of attention from the media and fans coming into the halfway point of the Chase. After putting his car on the outside of the front row and leading the race three times for 46 circuits, including the last 25 to take the win, it is going to be hard to ignore the former champion any more in the 2011 Chase. Kenseth scored the 21st victory of his career, which is the third for him this season and the second in 25 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway by chasing down Kyle Busch and passing him, then holding him off on a late race restart.
"It was an awesome win for us," Kenseth said in the Media Center after the race. "We had a pretty decent car all night. I felt like we had a car that probably the last 150 laps or so that if we could get it to the front it would be hard to beat, but it was just really hard to pass tonight, especially if you had about 20 laps on your tires. You had to get it done right away and we got a little behind that one time and got back to fifth or sixth and, honestly, it took that last 150 laps or whatever to get back to the lead. It was a good race. I had fun racing with Kyle there. We had a pretty decent restart, the second-to-last one, and got by Denny and Carl and ran Kyle down. It was tough to get by him and I'm glad we could make it happen because it was challenging."
The victory cut Kenseth's deficit to the leader from 12 points to seven with five races left in the season and put him in third-place behind points leader Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick. Kenseth would join Tony Stewart as the only drivers to win a title in both formats if he could add a title won in the Chase format to a title taken under the full season point style.
Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of Kyle Busch's favorite race tracks, but it has never let him taste victory in his Cup career. Saturday night was another in the long line of disappointments as Busch led a race high 111 laps, but was passed by Kenseth after a late race restart and then was unable to get back around the Wisconsin driver on the final restart of the race. The effort allowed Busch to gain two points on Edwards in the standings and leaves him 18 points out of the series lead.
After winning the first two races in the Chase. Tony Stewart had a couple of less successful efforts at Dover and Kansas before coming to Charlotte. The weekend started with Stewart taking the pole position for the race and saw the former series champion lead 94 laps in a little more than the first half of the race. Unfortunately Stewart faded over the last 140 laps and ended up coming home in eighth. The result leaves Stewart 24 points behind Edwards and very close to being unofficially eliminated from title contention. "We still have half of the Chase races to go," Stewart said in post race interviews. "A lot can happen."
A 16th-place finish isn't really making lemonade out of lemons. but Brad Keselowski was not very competitive for most of the race Saturday night so scoring a finish just outside of the top-15 was about as good as the team could do. Keselowski noted that caution flags seemed to catch his team out at almost every turn on Saturday. "We got behind on track position and got about every bad yellow you could catch after pitting under green," Keselowski said. "That's just part of the deal here. Real unfortunate it happened that way, but we did a great job of taking the bad breaks and at least not getting a 20th out of it."
Keselowski's teammate Kurt Busch had an equally frustrating night, being caught by the caution flags on a couple of occasions during the race. Similar to his Penske running mate Busch was able to get the "Lucky Dog", got back onto the lead lap and soldiered home to a solid 13th place finish.
The pursuit of a sixth straight championships is not mathematically over after Saturday night but, for all intents and purposes, it came to an end in Turn 2 on lap 318 when Jimmie Johnson got loose under Ryan Newman and spun out trying to avoid taking Newman with him. Johnson slid down onto the apron and then turned head-on into the outside wall, destroying the front clip on his No. 48 Chevrolet. The 34th-place finish puts Johnson 35 points out of the lead of the point standings, which means he'll have to make up an average of seven points per race over the next five races to be the champion for the sixth straight year.
For the third week in a row, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a loose lug nut cost him lead lap track position and ended up with a finish in the bottom end of the top-20 which leaves him 60 points out of the top spot in the standings. The odds of Earnhardt Jr. overcoming that deficit are extremely slim, so the focus of NASCAR's most popular driver is now solely on winning a race before the season comes to an end.
Ryan Newman had cookies on the side of his car this weekend and he was able to pick up enough crumbs over the course of the event Saturday night to notch a tenth-place finish. The result was a positive night for the Stewart-Haas driver, but is still far from enough to climb him out of the tenth position in the point standings. Newman did gain one spot in the points thanks to Jeff Gordon having another terrible race and finishing 21st. Newman is another driver who has no realistic shot at a title and is just focusing on winning and getting ready for 2012.
Jeff Gordon won his very first race at Charlotte Motor Speedway some 17 years ago, but was unable to turn that knowledge into a strong finish in the Bank of America 500 when he spent most of the night running at the back of the lead lap or a lap down. Gordon has gone from pre-Chase favorite to footnote over the last handful of races. The only thing left at this point in time is to race his way onto the stage in Las Vegas, as only the top-10 drivers get to stroll across the stage during the end of season banquet.
Denny Hamlin had one of his strongest runs in a while during Saturday night's race and during the mid section of the race looked poised for a top-5 finish or better. While he didn't end up among the podium finishers, he did cross under the checkered flag in ninth position, which was his first finish better than 16th in the Chase. Hamlin's finish, combined with Gordon's poor showing still leaves the Virginia driver 20 points behind 11th-place in the standings.
In the best of the rest category, Kasey Kahne finished with that distinction for the second week in a row, coming home in fourth position after challenging at the front of the field for a good portion of the Bank of America 500. That finish leaves Kahne 11 points behind *Clint Bowyer,* who is in 13th in the standings, even after a rough weekend at Charlotte that saw him tear up his primary car in final practice and bring a backup car home in 24th-place. *AJ Allmendinger* capitalized on a fourth-place start to run with the "Big Dogs" all day, ultimately coming home in seventh place.
Standings: 1) Carl Edwards 2203, 2) Kevin Harvick -5, 3) Matt Kenseth -7, 4) Kyle Busch -18, 5) Tony Stewart -24, 6) Brad Keselowski -25, 7) Kurt Busch -27, 8) Jimmie Johnson -35, 9) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -60, 10) Ryan Newman -61, 11) Jeff Gordon -66, 12) Denny Hamlin -86.
Best of the Rest: 13) Clint Bowyer 868, 14) AJ Allmendinger -3, 15) Kasey Kahne -11, 16) Greg Biffle -12, 17) David Ragan -39.
Tracking the Top-35: Yeley Leads Some Laps and Brings the No. 38 Closer to 35th
JJ Yeley was back in the No. 38 Ford for Bob Jenkins and Front Row Motorsports for the Bank of America 500 and he nearly chopped the deficit to 35th-place in half by leading four laps late in the event and coming home in 22nd-place. The No. 71 for TRG was piloted this week by Hermie Sadler with a special pink paint scheme in honor of Breast Cancer Awarenes month, and ran the full distance, coming home in 33rd, 12 laps down.
Germain racing slipped another spot closer to the top-35 cutoff line when Casey Mears lost an engine late in the Bank of America 500 and finished 32nd, two spots behind Mike Bliss, driving for FAS Lane Racing. The two teams are now tied, 23 points ahead of the No. 71 of TRG Motorsports.
Top-35 Summary:
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Gilliland), +114 points ahead of 36th.
32) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), +41 points ahead of 36th.
t-33) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 - Mike Bliss), +39 points ahead of 36th.
t-33) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +39 points ahead of 36th.
35) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 - Andy Lally), +16 points ahead of 36th.
36) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 – JJ Yeley), -16 points behind 35th.
37) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 – Robby Gordon), -95 points behind 35th.
38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), -132 points behind 35th.
39) MaxQ Motorsports (No. 37 - Josh Wise), -224 points behind 35th
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
Numbers Game: Bank of America 500
by Brett Poirier
1
Top-10 for Denny Hamlin in the last seven Chase races. Hamlin finished ninth on Saturday.
2
Chase victories for Matt Kenseth. Before taking the checkered flag Saturday, the Roush Fenway driver hadn't won a Chase race since 2007 at Homestead-Miami.
3
Consecutive top-5 finishes for Kasey Kahne after placing fourth at Charlotte on Saturday.
3
Consecutive top-10 finishes for Marcos Ambrose. Fifth on Saturday night, this is the longest top-10 streak of Ambrose's career.
3
Times Jimmie Johnson has finished outside the top-30 in Chase races dating back to 2006 – the year of his first championship. Johnson finished 34th on Saturday.
3
Active Sprint Cup drivers with 21 wins each. Matt Kenseth joined Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte with his third win of the season on Saturday.
3
Top-5 results for Kyle Busch in the last four races at Charlotte. Busch placed second on Saturday.
6
Top-15s for Joey Logano in six races at Charlotte. Logano was 12th on Saturday and has never finished worse than 13th at the track.
6
Times Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has placed between 15th and 20th in the last eight Sprint Cup Series races. He was 19th on Saturday.
7
Finishes of second or better for Kyle Busch in 31 Sprint Cup races in 2011.
7
Top-10s earned by Carl Edwards in the last seven Chase races.
8
Top-5 finishes for Carl Edwards in nine starts at 1.5-mile tracks in 2011. Edwards was third on Saturday. The Roush Fenway driver also has recorded eight straight top-10 finishes.
11
Consecutive Chase races won by drivers qualified for the playoff. The last non-Chase driver to win a playoff race was Jamie McMurray at Charlotte on
October 16, 2010.
16.7
Average finishing position of Sprint Cup drivers following a win in the previous Sprint Cup race in 2011. After winning at Kansas, Jimmie Johnson wrecked and finished 34th at Charlotte.
125
Victories in Sprint Cup competition as an owner for Jack Roush after Matt Kenseth won on Saturday. Roush ranks fourth all time.
1,149
Laps completed this season by Joe Nemechek through 31 Sprint Cup races. He ran 11 laps at Charlotte and finished 43rd.
1,308
Laps led this season by Kyle Busch in the Sprint Cup Series, a number that leads all drivers. He paced the field for 111 laps and finished second
Saturday at Charlotte, meaning Busch has led in 23 of the 31 races.
Brett Poirier is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brett.poirier@frontstretch.com.
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Today's Featured Commentary
Working Through the Loss of a Family Member
Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' 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 that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
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Tracking the Chasers: Kenseth's Victory Puts Him Squarely in the Championship Hunt
by Mike Neff
There are those days when you bust your hump all day and feel like you didn't accomplish anything, well Carl Edwards started the Bank of America in third position, raced all 500 miles and drove under the checkered flag in third-place. He certainly did quite a bit of work during the 334 laps it took to make up the 500 miles and in the end, he leaves Charlotte Motor Speedway still atop the point standings.
Passing was extremely difficult on Saturday night so Edwards was asked after the race what he thought would help making the competition better at Charlotte. "It would be fine with me if they took the spoilers off and the splitters off and we didn't have any downforce," said Edwards. "The cars are so close that the difference between them is smaller than the difference when you're following somebody. NASCAR has done a really, really good job of making sure that the rules are close and we're all about the same speed, but then when you're going that fast and relying on downforce, it makes it really tough. This track is probably one of the toughest ones to pass on, but it's overall tough almost everywhere we go."
Mr. "Where did he come from" Kevin Harvick had one of those nights on Saturday but it wasn't for a win, it was to finish in sixth. Harvick started in the 14th position and ran around the top-10 for most of the race, but never led a lap. The sixth place finish, combined with Edwards third leaves Harvick five points behind the No. 99 driver for the top spot in the standings.
Matt Kenseth is as quiet and unassuming as anyone in the Sprint Cup garage which certainly contributes to his lack of attention from the media and fans coming into the halfway point of the Chase. After putting his car on the outside of the front row and leading the race three times for 46 circuits, including the last 25 to take the win, it is going to be hard to ignore the former champion any more in the 2011 Chase. Kenseth scored the 21st victory of his career, which is the third for him this season and the second in 25 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway by chasing down Kyle Busch and passing him, then holding him off on a late race restart.
"It was an awesome win for us," Kenseth said in the Media Center after the race. "We had a pretty decent car all night. I felt like we had a car that probably the last 150 laps or so that if we could get it to the front it would be hard to beat, but it was just really hard to pass tonight, especially if you had about 20 laps on your tires. You had to get it done right away and we got a little behind that one time and got back to fifth or sixth and, honestly, it took that last 150 laps or whatever to get back to the lead. It was a good race. I had fun racing with Kyle there. We had a pretty decent restart, the second-to-last one, and got by Denny and Carl and ran Kyle down. It was tough to get by him and I'm glad we could make it happen because it was challenging."
The victory cut Kenseth's deficit to the leader from 12 points to seven with five races left in the season and put him in third-place behind points leader Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick. Kenseth would join Tony Stewart as the only drivers to win a title in both formats if he could add a title won in the Chase format to a title taken under the full season point style.
Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of Kyle Busch's favorite race tracks, but it has never let him taste victory in his Cup career. Saturday night was another in the long line of disappointments as Busch led a race high 111 laps, but was passed by Kenseth after a late race restart and then was unable to get back around the Wisconsin driver on the final restart of the race. The effort allowed Busch to gain two points on Edwards in the standings and leaves him 18 points out of the series lead.
After winning the first two races in the Chase. Tony Stewart had a couple of less successful efforts at Dover and Kansas before coming to Charlotte. The weekend started with Stewart taking the pole position for the race and saw the former series champion lead 94 laps in a little more than the first half of the race. Unfortunately Stewart faded over the last 140 laps and ended up coming home in eighth. The result leaves Stewart 24 points behind Edwards and very close to being unofficially eliminated from title contention. "We still have half of the Chase races to go," Stewart said in post race interviews. "A lot can happen."
A 16th-place finish isn't really making lemonade out of lemons. but Brad Keselowski was not very competitive for most of the race Saturday night so scoring a finish just outside of the top-15 was about as good as the team could do. Keselowski noted that caution flags seemed to catch his team out at almost every turn on Saturday. "We got behind on track position and got about every bad yellow you could catch after pitting under green," Keselowski said. "That's just part of the deal here. Real unfortunate it happened that way, but we did a great job of taking the bad breaks and at least not getting a 20th out of it."
Keselowski's teammate Kurt Busch had an equally frustrating night, being caught by the caution flags on a couple of occasions during the race. Similar to his Penske running mate Busch was able to get the "Lucky Dog", got back onto the lead lap and soldiered home to a solid 13th place finish.
The pursuit of a sixth straight championships is not mathematically over after Saturday night but, for all intents and purposes, it came to an end in Turn 2 on lap 318 when Jimmie Johnson got loose under Ryan Newman and spun out trying to avoid taking Newman with him. Johnson slid down onto the apron and then turned head-on into the outside wall, destroying the front clip on his No. 48 Chevrolet. The 34th-place finish puts Johnson 35 points out of the lead of the point standings, which means he'll have to make up an average of seven points per race over the next five races to be the champion for the sixth straight year.
For the third week in a row, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a loose lug nut cost him lead lap track position and ended up with a finish in the bottom end of the top-20 which leaves him 60 points out of the top spot in the standings. The odds of Earnhardt Jr. overcoming that deficit are extremely slim, so the focus of NASCAR's most popular driver is now solely on winning a race before the season comes to an end.
Ryan Newman had cookies on the side of his car this weekend and he was able to pick up enough crumbs over the course of the event Saturday night to notch a tenth-place finish. The result was a positive night for the Stewart-Haas driver, but is still far from enough to climb him out of the tenth position in the point standings. Newman did gain one spot in the points thanks to Jeff Gordon having another terrible race and finishing 21st. Newman is another driver who has no realistic shot at a title and is just focusing on winning and getting ready for 2012.
Jeff Gordon won his very first race at Charlotte Motor Speedway some 17 years ago, but was unable to turn that knowledge into a strong finish in the Bank of America 500 when he spent most of the night running at the back of the lead lap or a lap down. Gordon has gone from pre-Chase favorite to footnote over the last handful of races. The only thing left at this point in time is to race his way onto the stage in Las Vegas, as only the top-10 drivers get to stroll across the stage during the end of season banquet.
Denny Hamlin had one of his strongest runs in a while during Saturday night's race and during the mid section of the race looked poised for a top-5 finish or better. While he didn't end up among the podium finishers, he did cross under the checkered flag in ninth position, which was his first finish better than 16th in the Chase. Hamlin's finish, combined with Gordon's poor showing still leaves the Virginia driver 20 points behind 11th-place in the standings.
In the best of the rest category, Kasey Kahne finished with that distinction for the second week in a row, coming home in fourth position after challenging at the front of the field for a good portion of the Bank of America 500. That finish leaves Kahne 11 points behind *Clint Bowyer,* who is in 13th in the standings, even after a rough weekend at Charlotte that saw him tear up his primary car in final practice and bring a backup car home in 24th-place. *AJ Allmendinger* capitalized on a fourth-place start to run with the "Big Dogs" all day, ultimately coming home in seventh place.
Standings: 1) Carl Edwards 2203, 2) Kevin Harvick -5, 3) Matt Kenseth -7, 4) Kyle Busch -18, 5) Tony Stewart -24, 6) Brad Keselowski -25, 7) Kurt Busch -27, 8) Jimmie Johnson -35, 9) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -60, 10) Ryan Newman -61, 11) Jeff Gordon -66, 12) Denny Hamlin -86.
Best of the Rest: 13) Clint Bowyer 868, 14) AJ Allmendinger -3, 15) Kasey Kahne -11, 16) Greg Biffle -12, 17) David Ragan -39.
Tracking the Top-35: Yeley Leads Some Laps and Brings the No. 38 Closer to 35th
JJ Yeley was back in the No. 38 Ford for Bob Jenkins and Front Row Motorsports for the Bank of America 500 and he nearly chopped the deficit to 35th-place in half by leading four laps late in the event and coming home in 22nd-place. The No. 71 for TRG was piloted this week by Hermie Sadler with a special pink paint scheme in honor of Breast Cancer Awarenes month, and ran the full distance, coming home in 33rd, 12 laps down.
Germain racing slipped another spot closer to the top-35 cutoff line when Casey Mears lost an engine late in the Bank of America 500 and finished 32nd, two spots behind Mike Bliss, driving for FAS Lane Racing. The two teams are now tied, 23 points ahead of the No. 71 of TRG Motorsports.
Top-35 Summary:
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Gilliland), +114 points ahead of 36th.
32) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), +41 points ahead of 36th.
t-33) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 - Mike Bliss), +39 points ahead of 36th.
t-33) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +39 points ahead of 36th.
35) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 - Andy Lally), +16 points ahead of 36th.
36) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 – JJ Yeley), -16 points behind 35th.
37) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 – Robby Gordon), -95 points behind 35th.
38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), -132 points behind 35th.
39) MaxQ Motorsports (No. 37 - Josh Wise), -224 points behind 35th
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
Numbers Game: Bank of America 500
by Brett Poirier
1
Top-10 for Denny Hamlin in the last seven Chase races. Hamlin finished ninth on Saturday.
2
Chase victories for Matt Kenseth. Before taking the checkered flag Saturday, the Roush Fenway driver hadn't won a Chase race since 2007 at Homestead-Miami.
3
Consecutive top-5 finishes for Kasey Kahne after placing fourth at Charlotte on Saturday.
3
Consecutive top-10 finishes for Marcos Ambrose. Fifth on Saturday night, this is the longest top-10 streak of Ambrose's career.
3
Times Jimmie Johnson has finished outside the top-30 in Chase races dating back to 2006 – the year of his first championship. Johnson finished 34th on Saturday.
3
Active Sprint Cup drivers with 21 wins each. Matt Kenseth joined Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte with his third win of the season on Saturday.
3
Top-5 results for Kyle Busch in the last four races at Charlotte. Busch placed second on Saturday.
6
Top-15s for Joey Logano in six races at Charlotte. Logano was 12th on Saturday and has never finished worse than 13th at the track.
6
Times Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has placed between 15th and 20th in the last eight Sprint Cup Series races. He was 19th on Saturday.
7
Finishes of second or better for Kyle Busch in 31 Sprint Cup races in 2011.
7
Top-10s earned by Carl Edwards in the last seven Chase races.
8
Top-5 finishes for Carl Edwards in nine starts at 1.5-mile tracks in 2011. Edwards was third on Saturday. The Roush Fenway driver also has recorded eight straight top-10 finishes.
11
Consecutive Chase races won by drivers qualified for the playoff. The last non-Chase driver to win a playoff race was Jamie McMurray at Charlotte on
October 16, 2010.
16.7
Average finishing position of Sprint Cup drivers following a win in the previous Sprint Cup race in 2011. After winning at Kansas, Jimmie Johnson wrecked and finished 34th at Charlotte.
125
Victories in Sprint Cup competition as an owner for Jack Roush after Matt Kenseth won on Saturday. Roush ranks fourth all time.
1,149
Laps completed this season by Joe Nemechek through 31 Sprint Cup races. He ran 11 laps at Charlotte and finished 43rd.
1,308
Laps led this season by Kyle Busch in the Sprint Cup Series, a number that leads all drivers. He paced the field for 111 laps and finished second
Saturday at Charlotte, meaning Busch has led in 23 of the 31 races.
Brett Poirier is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brett.poirier@frontstretch.com.
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Today's Featured Commentary
Working Through the Loss of a Family Member
Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady
A friendly wave, familiar smile, and general frenzy of anticipation are the things I look forward to when at the track. As a mere interloper, I am the one who watches from afar and is treated to small glimpses of life as a member of a racing team. Still, in those periodic instances I am welcomed in as one of the family. We share in our passion for this sport in all of its aspects.
It is said often enough, "The NASCAR Family." You can change NASCAR with whatever series you might haunt, including IndyCar. Maybe "the racing family" might do when all is said and done. We—the drivers, teams, crew chiefs, owners, media, track staff, and fans—are family. Every week we stand and say a prayer for a safe race, sing our National Anthem and raise our heads to watch the flyover. There are cheers, boos and moments of frustration. And then…there are tears.
Dan Wheldon's death at Las Vegas on Sunday brought those tears this time.
Whether we stood on pit road, in the stands or watched on television as the field paraded for five laps to salute a fallen driver, we not only shared the moment but also the grief. Families do this.
We take the time to think on the one that has been ripped away too soon, too sudden. We remember his smiles, victories, his young family--Susie, Oliver and Sebastian--and know that we will miss his presence. And then we race.
That is perhaps the most bitter part of Wheldon's death. The IndyCar community does not have the opportunity to carry on this year. With Las Vegas being the final race on the docket for the 2011 season, the fiery crash brought a too abrupt end to many things. The drivers agreed not to finish the event—and no blame can be placed upon competitors who had just lost a close friend. Then on Monday, it was announced that the season's awards ceremony had also been canceled. Nobody wants to party. I certainly have no taste for it at this time. But besides the inevitable obituaries, memorial services and remembrances, grief will eat at this community until they meet again in the garages.
The racing family will disperse to the ends of the world, grieving and unable to face one another again on the field of competition in the near future. No opportunity remains in 2011 to climb in a cockpit, start an engine and take the green flag. Why would anyone want to?
Because we are racers. The need to chase, to fly, to soar above—beyond the touch of mere mortals—beats in our veins. It is where Wheldon lived, loved and yes, died. Should everyone just walk away, we lose touch with that part that changes our lives, and changed his, from the mundane to the extraordinary. It's a reassurance to return to that which brings all of us joy week after week. It's where we go to know that our lives will go on—maybe with a commitment to change, to make sure that the loss of one so young and talented is not in vain. Wheldon's vacant spot on the starting grid will sting—but we will remember. His passion. His love. His part in our now diminished lives. We will grow stronger as we join together and work through the worst of times, as this surely is.
Perhaps the chance will not be afforded us this year to bid farewell in truth, after the initial tears and shock have passed. But we can still say in our hearts what we feel and together that sentiment will be heard at the track and up above. It will help to bridge the gap until we meet again on the asphalt.
I call upon every member of the racing family to join hands, picture sunny blue skies over head and recall the sounds of those engines turning over for the first time on raceday. The stands are full. The day is full of promise. There will be a race. There will be a victor, as there has been before and will be again. It will be a great day.
Dan Wheldon's death did not take that away, it made the wonder of the moment more precious. We are fortunate to have spent time on this earth with him and will never forget.
Rest In Peace, Dan Wheldon. May there always be a green flag flying. And thank you for sharing your joy with us.
by S.D. Grady
A friendly wave, familiar smile, and general frenzy of anticipation are the things I look forward to when at the track. As a mere interloper, I am the one who watches from afar and is treated to small glimpses of life as a member of a racing team. Still, in those periodic instances I am welcomed in as one of the family. We share in our passion for this sport in all of its aspects.
It is said often enough, "The NASCAR Family." You can change NASCAR with whatever series you might haunt, including IndyCar. Maybe "the racing family" might do when all is said and done. We—the drivers, teams, crew chiefs, owners, media, track staff, and fans—are family. Every week we stand and say a prayer for a safe race, sing our National Anthem and raise our heads to watch the flyover. There are cheers, boos and moments of frustration. And then…there are tears.
Dan Wheldon's death at Las Vegas on Sunday brought those tears this time.
Whether we stood on pit road, in the stands or watched on television as the field paraded for five laps to salute a fallen driver, we not only shared the moment but also the grief. Families do this.
We take the time to think on the one that has been ripped away too soon, too sudden. We remember his smiles, victories, his young family--Susie, Oliver and Sebastian--and know that we will miss his presence. And then we race.
That is perhaps the most bitter part of Wheldon's death. The IndyCar community does not have the opportunity to carry on this year. With Las Vegas being the final race on the docket for the 2011 season, the fiery crash brought a too abrupt end to many things. The drivers agreed not to finish the event—and no blame can be placed upon competitors who had just lost a close friend. Then on Monday, it was announced that the season's awards ceremony had also been canceled. Nobody wants to party. I certainly have no taste for it at this time. But besides the inevitable obituaries, memorial services and remembrances, grief will eat at this community until they meet again in the garages.
The racing family will disperse to the ends of the world, grieving and unable to face one another again on the field of competition in the near future. No opportunity remains in 2011 to climb in a cockpit, start an engine and take the green flag. Why would anyone want to?
Because we are racers. The need to chase, to fly, to soar above—beyond the touch of mere mortals—beats in our veins. It is where Wheldon lived, loved and yes, died. Should everyone just walk away, we lose touch with that part that changes our lives, and changed his, from the mundane to the extraordinary. It's a reassurance to return to that which brings all of us joy week after week. It's where we go to know that our lives will go on—maybe with a commitment to change, to make sure that the loss of one so young and talented is not in vain. Wheldon's vacant spot on the starting grid will sting—but we will remember. His passion. His love. His part in our now diminished lives. We will grow stronger as we join together and work through the worst of times, as this surely is.
Perhaps the chance will not be afforded us this year to bid farewell in truth, after the initial tears and shock have passed. But we can still say in our hearts what we feel and together that sentiment will be heard at the track and up above. It will help to bridge the gap until we meet again on the asphalt.
I call upon every member of the racing family to join hands, picture sunny blue skies over head and recall the sounds of those engines turning over for the first time on raceday. The stands are full. The day is full of promise. There will be a race. There will be a victor, as there has been before and will be again. It will be a great day.
Dan Wheldon's death did not take that away, it made the wonder of the moment more precious. We are fortunate to have spent time on this earth with him and will never forget.
Rest In Peace, Dan Wheldon. May there always be a green flag flying. And thank you for sharing your joy with us.
S.D. Grady is a Senior Editor for Frontstretch.com. She can be reached via e-mail at sonya.grady@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
Running Their Mouth: Bank of America 500
by Brody Jones
Best Quote:
"It doesn't really matter to me that much what everybody thinks. We're in it or out of it or whatever. What's important to me is trying to win races and trying to be competitive and go do the best job we can do every week. I don't really care about Wii dance offs or how much coverage you get for doing certain things. If somebody wants to say I'm boring or whatever, I was hired to try to go win races and try to run good and that's what I try to do every week. I take my job real serious when I'm at the race track. Jimmy [Fennig] and I and all the guys work as hard as we can on the common goal of trying to be the best and trying to win and trying to run for a championship and that's who we are at the race track."- Matt Kenseth, winner, on whether it bothers him that he gets lost in the shuffle among the Chase contenders.
Make no mistake, Matt Kenseth will likely never be NASCAR's "class clown," but his uber-serious demeanor has paid great dividends this season. He went into this season with a two-year winless drought, but the Cambridge, Wisconsin driver has had a bit of a career resurgence in 2011 with three wins so far on the season. Kenseth's quote seemed almost like it was a bit of a shot at some of these Chase drivers who participate in these Wii dance-offs and crew chief-driver "Newlywed Games," but the driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion's attitude and demeanor is eerily similar to another former NASCAR champion from Wisconsin in the late Alan Kulwicki. Both were very serious about what they did and both used consistency to win championships. Beware the dark horse, NASCAR, because Matt Kenseth is right in the thick of this Chase!
Most Controversial Quote:
"You know, you make you own luck. Yes, it was bad luck that the 21 ran out of gas and stopped on the back straightaway when people think he could have gone a little differently when all of the Roush cars hadn't pitted, yet so it was just convenient (smiles). If you look past all that, hey, we just weren't fast enough, that's all. Any time you're relying on race conditions to make a race for you, you're not good enough and that's just all it was. It was a matter of lacking some speed and lacking overall grip for the car. We've got to go to work on it and figure out what we missed here this weekend with both of our cars and go on and see what happens at Talladega."- Travis Geisler, Competition Director for Penske Racing, on whether bad racing luck or mechanical woes were what plagued the Penske cars on Sunday night's race.
It certainly seemed as if Travis Geisler was perhaps implying that Trevor Bayne may have intentionally brought out a late race caution that allowed the Roush Fenway car to pit without losing any track position. One can understand the frustration of Geisler and the Penske Racing organization over the timing of the caution during green flag stops, but the notion that Bayne would intentionally bring out a caution is absolutely ludicrous. It wasn't like the Knoxville, Tennessee native was mired back-in-the-pack. In fact, he had been running in the top-10 prior to his fuel pump issues, so what would have have to gain by intentionally bringing out a caution? Chalk this up to simply sour grapes, NASCAR fans.
Crew Chief Quote Of The Week:
"Well, we've just got to go race. It's part of racing. It's not really luck. You put yourselves in the position that you're in and with that one pit call, that's what blew it for us for the day; that put us behind the eight ball and we just weren't able to overcome it."- Chad Knaus, Crew Chief, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Impala of Jimmie Johnson.
If Jimmie Johnson and his crew showed vulnerability last year, this year's disaster at Charlotte might cause some sense of urgency for Johnson, Knaus, and the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Impala over-the-wall crew. Through no fault of the driver's, or the crew chief's, the No. 48 crew once again finds themselves in another hole. A 29 point deficit with eight races to go is one thing to overcome, but a 35 point gap with five races left could be another matter entirely. It's certainly not impossible as the El Cajon, California native has won or ran strongly at each track left in the Chase, but he will need some help in the coming races through other drivers bad luck and misfortune. This is where his trusty crew chief will come into play. It's not like this team has never battled adversity, but this might be the tallest order to overcome yet.
Best Of The Rest:
"We have to keep finishing like this — it's all it takes. It's not that hard. We finally finished where we ran except we didn't. We still lost a position, which is four points essentially because you get three for bonus points of winning a race. Again, it's frustrating, but we'll take it and if we can finish second from here on out then we might win this deal. These other guys — the 99 [Carl Edwards] and the 29 [Kevin Harvick] finished too good tonight too."- Kyle Busch, second, on how he feels about his Chase chances.
"It was a solid night for us and congrats to Matt. This is a big night for Ford. We have five times the points lead we had coming in. We went from one point to five points, so that's something. We didn't know what to expect coming in here, but our Aflac Fusion was fast. My pit crew did a good job. Bob [Osborne] made the right calls on the box and it ended up being a good night. I'm just glad we didn't tear anything up. We dodged a bullet here. This has been a tough track for us. I'm excited, well, I'm stretching the truth there, I'm not too excited to go to Talladega because you never know what's gonna happen there, but it will be fun one way or another."- Carl Edwards, third
"It was tough. You would come off the bottom and for whatever reason you would slide the nose. You weren't even loose up there — you were just tight. It was just tough to pass. Usually there's a top here and there just wasn't tonight, so you had to just rip the bottom all night and try to get people off the corner or when they get hung up or miss the bottom. That was your opportunity. It was frustrating, but these races are so long and you have so much time to move up and think about pit stops and making your car better. When you have 500 miles, you have enough time. When you restart 20th or 24th, you just can't waste it at all because it actually takes a lot longer than you think."- Kasey Kahne, fourth, on how difficult it was to pass Saturday night.
"We made it through the first five chase races this year. We have had a lot of goals that we wanted to achieve this year and that was one of the goals we wanted to achieve was to get through these first five races, with not too much damage, so five points, if you would have told me we would come out of Charlotte with a only a five point deficit going into the next five races, I would be really happy. Everyone did a great job on our Jimmy John's Chevrolet, wasn't great but it was better at the end of the race then it was in the first half."- Kevin Harvick, sixth.
"I don't know. I don't know. They said he hit the wall off of (turn) four. I don't know if he hit the wall and got into us and couldn't get off of us or if…he made contact in (turn) three, but, I don't know. I didn't try to put him in a bad spot. So, I don't know if he thought we did something wrong or not. I honestly don't think we did anything wrong. If I did, I'm sorry."- Tony Stewart, eighth, on whether traffic played into the situation with Greg Biffle.
"It was just a frustrating night for our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. I thought we had the lucky dog there about halfway through the race. We were just tight in and loose off all night. And we got bit twice when the caution came out right after we pitted under green. But, we got the free pass and got back on to the lead lap and we at least came away with a respectable finish. We did lose a few points, but we'll try to get them back next week. Faster race cars will make for better decisions."- Kurt Busch, 13th.
"We missed the setup just a little bit and I did a bad job in qualifying. Between the two, that put us behind. We were a 10th to 15th-place car. On your bad days, a 10th to 15th-place run isn't bad. We got behind on track position and got about every bad yellow you could catch after pitting under green. You can't make up for that when you keep catching those bad breaks. That's just part of the deal here. Real unfortunate it happened that way, but we did a great job of taking the bad breaks and at least not getting a 20th day out of it. If we just didn't catch the yellows the way they came, we would have had probably an eighth or ninth-place day. We caught the strategy wrong every time, but I don't feel bad about the effort, I don't feel bad about the calls. We just got a lot of bad breaks. We still made up some points, at least on Jimmie [Johnson]. We got rid of what could have been a really, really bad day, what looked like for a long time would be a 23rd or 24th-place day. I feel like I know what was wrong; I wish could run this race again tomorrow and come back with a little different setup. We just didn't catch the right breaks."- Brad Keselowski, 16th
"It's very costly. You want to finish as high as you can in the points, no matter where that is. You want to do as best as you can. And we're not doing the best we can and it's just disappointing and frustrating. But, I don't think we need to make any changes on the team. I believe in these guys and believe every time I come down pit road I'm excited about the group that's going to put some tires on my car. We just made a mistake and I'm sure he won't let that happen again. Everybody knows how critical it is in this sport and there's a guy right behind you that is ready to take your spot and is waiting on you to make that mistake. You can't make it too many times before somebody will come in there and fill your place. That's really all Steve's call and decision and how he'll handle it. I understand that everyone is human, but I'm pretty upset that we're just not capitalizing on opportunities. We should finish in the top-10 every single week. We're either beating ourselves or making mistakes or circumstances just aren't happening for us. We can't seem to really put together a clean race and we have to work real hard just to make up for the things that happen to us and the things we do to ourselves. We work really hard at least, so we're definitely learning a lot of lessons in that regard."- Dale Earnhardt Jr., 19th, on how truly costly these mistakes on pit road have been for his team during the Chase.
"It was a pretty good night for the Long John Silver's Ford team. We had a lot of things go right for us with some cautions coming at the right times and a Lucky Dog, and we had a chance to lead some laps. I just wish we had a little bit more for them at the end. Jay Guy and the team did a good job adjusting as the track conditions changed, and the guys did a great job in the pits, too. I t was a good points day for us, which is what this No. 38 team is really working for right now."- J.J. Yeley, 22nd
"That's a bad feeling to run out of gas, especially when you're not expecting it. We weren't even pushing it. It wasn't time for that yet and I think that No. 21 was just fast. It must have been sucking up more fuel than we thought being that fast, but I think something just had to be funky in the fuel cell or something messed up on the can because it just wasn't taking all the fuel we needed it to. We had an easy top-5 car tonight. I feel like this would have been another shot to win a race. That thing was just so fast. It was that way all weekend. On the long runs, it was that good and the whole race we didn't adjust one thing and we were really competitive. There aren't many nights when you get to do that and be that fast. We didn't get the finish we deserved, but it's definitely a confidence builder for the whole team to run that good all night. We want results, but they'll come if we keep running that good."- Trevor Bayne, 31st
"It's obviously disappointing that we didn't really get to race after we suffered the damage on that restart. The 5 car checked up and everyone behind him just wound up in a pile-up. There was nothing we could do. We were just starting to get the Tastykake Ford where we needed it, and then that happened. Peter [crew chief Peter Sospenzo] and the guys did a good job making our car better all weekend. It's too bad we didn't have the chance to do more with it."- David Gilliland, 36th
"It was a tough fight all night. We didn't qualify where we needed to be. Our car wasn't good enough to pass, we were just hoping to get in that sequence where could do a little different strategy to get toward the front. This never played out. We tried short-pitting to gain some track position and the cautions fell wrong. This was a frustrating night. We recovered somewhat at the end. Finishing 16th is not where we wanted. We're on the edge, but we're still in the hunt. We're still within reach, but we have to put together stronger runs to have a shot."- Paul Wolfe, Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger of Brad Keselowski
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com for details.
~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Five Points to Ponder: Departures, the Rocket Goes Leffler, and Dillon's Tarnished Crown
by Bryan Davis Keith
Talking NASCAR TV: Dealing With Tragedy In Las Vegas On-Air
by Phil Allaway
An Ill Wind Blew in Charlotte
by Ron Lemasters
Who's Hot/ Who's Not In NASCAR: Charlotte-Talladega Edition
by Summer Dreyer
Tracking The Trucks: Smith's 350
by Beth Lunkenheimer
~~~~~~~~~~~
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: Jimmy Spencer has had plenty of success at Talladega, winning in July of 1994 and compiling multiple other great finishes. In the 1990 DieHard 500, Spencer, driving the No. 57 Heinz Pontiac for Rod Osterland, finished a mediocre 24th, two laps down. However, his final lap was quite interesting. What happened?
~~~~~~~~~~
Running Their Mouth: Bank of America 500
by Brody Jones
Best Quote:
"It doesn't really matter to me that much what everybody thinks. We're in it or out of it or whatever. What's important to me is trying to win races and trying to be competitive and go do the best job we can do every week. I don't really care about Wii dance offs or how much coverage you get for doing certain things. If somebody wants to say I'm boring or whatever, I was hired to try to go win races and try to run good and that's what I try to do every week. I take my job real serious when I'm at the race track. Jimmy [Fennig] and I and all the guys work as hard as we can on the common goal of trying to be the best and trying to win and trying to run for a championship and that's who we are at the race track."- Matt Kenseth, winner, on whether it bothers him that he gets lost in the shuffle among the Chase contenders.
Make no mistake, Matt Kenseth will likely never be NASCAR's "class clown," but his uber-serious demeanor has paid great dividends this season. He went into this season with a two-year winless drought, but the Cambridge, Wisconsin driver has had a bit of a career resurgence in 2011 with three wins so far on the season. Kenseth's quote seemed almost like it was a bit of a shot at some of these Chase drivers who participate in these Wii dance-offs and crew chief-driver "Newlywed Games," but the driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion's attitude and demeanor is eerily similar to another former NASCAR champion from Wisconsin in the late Alan Kulwicki. Both were very serious about what they did and both used consistency to win championships. Beware the dark horse, NASCAR, because Matt Kenseth is right in the thick of this Chase!
Most Controversial Quote:
"You know, you make you own luck. Yes, it was bad luck that the 21 ran out of gas and stopped on the back straightaway when people think he could have gone a little differently when all of the Roush cars hadn't pitted, yet so it was just convenient (smiles). If you look past all that, hey, we just weren't fast enough, that's all. Any time you're relying on race conditions to make a race for you, you're not good enough and that's just all it was. It was a matter of lacking some speed and lacking overall grip for the car. We've got to go to work on it and figure out what we missed here this weekend with both of our cars and go on and see what happens at Talladega."- Travis Geisler, Competition Director for Penske Racing, on whether bad racing luck or mechanical woes were what plagued the Penske cars on Sunday night's race.
It certainly seemed as if Travis Geisler was perhaps implying that Trevor Bayne may have intentionally brought out a late race caution that allowed the Roush Fenway car to pit without losing any track position. One can understand the frustration of Geisler and the Penske Racing organization over the timing of the caution during green flag stops, but the notion that Bayne would intentionally bring out a caution is absolutely ludicrous. It wasn't like the Knoxville, Tennessee native was mired back-in-the-pack. In fact, he had been running in the top-10 prior to his fuel pump issues, so what would have have to gain by intentionally bringing out a caution? Chalk this up to simply sour grapes, NASCAR fans.
Crew Chief Quote Of The Week:
"Well, we've just got to go race. It's part of racing. It's not really luck. You put yourselves in the position that you're in and with that one pit call, that's what blew it for us for the day; that put us behind the eight ball and we just weren't able to overcome it."- Chad Knaus, Crew Chief, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Impala of Jimmie Johnson.
If Jimmie Johnson and his crew showed vulnerability last year, this year's disaster at Charlotte might cause some sense of urgency for Johnson, Knaus, and the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Impala over-the-wall crew. Through no fault of the driver's, or the crew chief's, the No. 48 crew once again finds themselves in another hole. A 29 point deficit with eight races to go is one thing to overcome, but a 35 point gap with five races left could be another matter entirely. It's certainly not impossible as the El Cajon, California native has won or ran strongly at each track left in the Chase, but he will need some help in the coming races through other drivers bad luck and misfortune. This is where his trusty crew chief will come into play. It's not like this team has never battled adversity, but this might be the tallest order to overcome yet.
Best Of The Rest:
"We have to keep finishing like this — it's all it takes. It's not that hard. We finally finished where we ran except we didn't. We still lost a position, which is four points essentially because you get three for bonus points of winning a race. Again, it's frustrating, but we'll take it and if we can finish second from here on out then we might win this deal. These other guys — the 99 [Carl Edwards] and the 29 [Kevin Harvick] finished too good tonight too."- Kyle Busch, second, on how he feels about his Chase chances.
"It was a solid night for us and congrats to Matt. This is a big night for Ford. We have five times the points lead we had coming in. We went from one point to five points, so that's something. We didn't know what to expect coming in here, but our Aflac Fusion was fast. My pit crew did a good job. Bob [Osborne] made the right calls on the box and it ended up being a good night. I'm just glad we didn't tear anything up. We dodged a bullet here. This has been a tough track for us. I'm excited, well, I'm stretching the truth there, I'm not too excited to go to Talladega because you never know what's gonna happen there, but it will be fun one way or another."- Carl Edwards, third
"It was tough. You would come off the bottom and for whatever reason you would slide the nose. You weren't even loose up there — you were just tight. It was just tough to pass. Usually there's a top here and there just wasn't tonight, so you had to just rip the bottom all night and try to get people off the corner or when they get hung up or miss the bottom. That was your opportunity. It was frustrating, but these races are so long and you have so much time to move up and think about pit stops and making your car better. When you have 500 miles, you have enough time. When you restart 20th or 24th, you just can't waste it at all because it actually takes a lot longer than you think."- Kasey Kahne, fourth, on how difficult it was to pass Saturday night.
"We made it through the first five chase races this year. We have had a lot of goals that we wanted to achieve this year and that was one of the goals we wanted to achieve was to get through these first five races, with not too much damage, so five points, if you would have told me we would come out of Charlotte with a only a five point deficit going into the next five races, I would be really happy. Everyone did a great job on our Jimmy John's Chevrolet, wasn't great but it was better at the end of the race then it was in the first half."- Kevin Harvick, sixth.
"I don't know. I don't know. They said he hit the wall off of (turn) four. I don't know if he hit the wall and got into us and couldn't get off of us or if…he made contact in (turn) three, but, I don't know. I didn't try to put him in a bad spot. So, I don't know if he thought we did something wrong or not. I honestly don't think we did anything wrong. If I did, I'm sorry."- Tony Stewart, eighth, on whether traffic played into the situation with Greg Biffle.
"It was just a frustrating night for our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. I thought we had the lucky dog there about halfway through the race. We were just tight in and loose off all night. And we got bit twice when the caution came out right after we pitted under green. But, we got the free pass and got back on to the lead lap and we at least came away with a respectable finish. We did lose a few points, but we'll try to get them back next week. Faster race cars will make for better decisions."- Kurt Busch, 13th.
"We missed the setup just a little bit and I did a bad job in qualifying. Between the two, that put us behind. We were a 10th to 15th-place car. On your bad days, a 10th to 15th-place run isn't bad. We got behind on track position and got about every bad yellow you could catch after pitting under green. You can't make up for that when you keep catching those bad breaks. That's just part of the deal here. Real unfortunate it happened that way, but we did a great job of taking the bad breaks and at least not getting a 20th day out of it. If we just didn't catch the yellows the way they came, we would have had probably an eighth or ninth-place day. We caught the strategy wrong every time, but I don't feel bad about the effort, I don't feel bad about the calls. We just got a lot of bad breaks. We still made up some points, at least on Jimmie [Johnson]. We got rid of what could have been a really, really bad day, what looked like for a long time would be a 23rd or 24th-place day. I feel like I know what was wrong; I wish could run this race again tomorrow and come back with a little different setup. We just didn't catch the right breaks."- Brad Keselowski, 16th
"It's very costly. You want to finish as high as you can in the points, no matter where that is. You want to do as best as you can. And we're not doing the best we can and it's just disappointing and frustrating. But, I don't think we need to make any changes on the team. I believe in these guys and believe every time I come down pit road I'm excited about the group that's going to put some tires on my car. We just made a mistake and I'm sure he won't let that happen again. Everybody knows how critical it is in this sport and there's a guy right behind you that is ready to take your spot and is waiting on you to make that mistake. You can't make it too many times before somebody will come in there and fill your place. That's really all Steve's call and decision and how he'll handle it. I understand that everyone is human, but I'm pretty upset that we're just not capitalizing on opportunities. We should finish in the top-10 every single week. We're either beating ourselves or making mistakes or circumstances just aren't happening for us. We can't seem to really put together a clean race and we have to work real hard just to make up for the things that happen to us and the things we do to ourselves. We work really hard at least, so we're definitely learning a lot of lessons in that regard."- Dale Earnhardt Jr., 19th, on how truly costly these mistakes on pit road have been for his team during the Chase.
"It was a pretty good night for the Long John Silver's Ford team. We had a lot of things go right for us with some cautions coming at the right times and a Lucky Dog, and we had a chance to lead some laps. I just wish we had a little bit more for them at the end. Jay Guy and the team did a good job adjusting as the track conditions changed, and the guys did a great job in the pits, too. I t was a good points day for us, which is what this No. 38 team is really working for right now."- J.J. Yeley, 22nd
"That's a bad feeling to run out of gas, especially when you're not expecting it. We weren't even pushing it. It wasn't time for that yet and I think that No. 21 was just fast. It must have been sucking up more fuel than we thought being that fast, but I think something just had to be funky in the fuel cell or something messed up on the can because it just wasn't taking all the fuel we needed it to. We had an easy top-5 car tonight. I feel like this would have been another shot to win a race. That thing was just so fast. It was that way all weekend. On the long runs, it was that good and the whole race we didn't adjust one thing and we were really competitive. There aren't many nights when you get to do that and be that fast. We didn't get the finish we deserved, but it's definitely a confidence builder for the whole team to run that good all night. We want results, but they'll come if we keep running that good."- Trevor Bayne, 31st
"It's obviously disappointing that we didn't really get to race after we suffered the damage on that restart. The 5 car checked up and everyone behind him just wound up in a pile-up. There was nothing we could do. We were just starting to get the Tastykake Ford where we needed it, and then that happened. Peter [crew chief Peter Sospenzo] and the guys did a good job making our car better all weekend. It's too bad we didn't have the chance to do more with it."- David Gilliland, 36th
"It was a tough fight all night. We didn't qualify where we needed to be. Our car wasn't good enough to pass, we were just hoping to get in that sequence where could do a little different strategy to get toward the front. This never played out. We tried short-pitting to gain some track position and the cautions fell wrong. This was a frustrating night. We recovered somewhat at the end. Finishing 16th is not where we wanted. We're on the edge, but we're still in the hunt. We're still within reach, but we have to put together stronger runs to have a shot."- Paul Wolfe, Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger of Brad Keselowski
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com for details.
~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Five Points to Ponder: Departures, the Rocket Goes Leffler, and Dillon's Tarnished Crown
by Bryan Davis Keith
Talking NASCAR TV: Dealing With Tragedy In Las Vegas On-Air
by Phil Allaway
An Ill Wind Blew in Charlotte
by Ron Lemasters
Who's Hot/ Who's Not In NASCAR: Charlotte-Talladega Edition
by Summer Dreyer
Tracking The Trucks: Smith's 350
by Beth Lunkenheimer
~~~~~~~~~~~
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: Jimmy Spencer has had plenty of success at Talladega, winning in July of 1994 and compiling multiple other great finishes. In the 1990 DieHard 500, Spencer, driving the No. 57 Heinz Pontiac for Rod Osterland, finished a mediocre 24th, two laps down. However, his final lap was quite interesting. What happened?
Check back Wednesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Monday's Answer:
Q: In 1997, the traditional mid-summer date at Talladega Superspeedway was moved to October, likely to rid the DieHard 500 of the summer thunderstorm threats that delayed and shortened the race the previous year (also, it resulted in the last-ever tape delay of a Cup race since the race did not start until after CBS' timeslot had already ended). That race, won by Terry Labonte, is unfortunately best known for a large crash on the backstretch. What happened to cause the wreck?
A: Jeff Gordon appeared to swerve suddenly to the left on the backstretch, apparently due to a cut tire. Gordon ended up sideswiping John Andretti, correcting the car, then spinning into the side of Sterling Marlin and Dale Earnhardt. From there, the crash was on, blocking the track. By the time the smoke and Alabama clay cleared, over 20 cars had been swept up in the crash. Thankfully, no one was injured. Only Marlin, Chad Little, Greg Sacks were out of the race on the spot. The other teams that were involved in the crash made repairs and at least got their car back onto the track to make some laps before the race ended. The crash can be seen in this clip.
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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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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Tom Bowles
-- Full Throttle by Mike Neff
-- Tweet 'N' Greet by Jay Pennell
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Mirror Driving by the Frontstretch Staff
Follow our writer roundtable this week as they enter into a heated debate about the Nationwide Series adding a second weekend at Kentucky Speedway, who, if anyone, is a favorite to claim the title with five races to go and so much more.
Top 15 Power Rankings by the Frontstretch Staff
Which driver came out of Charlotte on top of our 2011 Power Rankings chart? Jimmie Johnson? Carl Edwards? Kyle Busch? Someone else? Find out who our select Frontstretch experts have labeled as this week's favorite heading into Talladega.
Frontstretch Top Ten by the Frontstretch Staff
Our weekly list based on the latest NASCAR controversy will start your morning off with a laugh -- guaranteed.
Special ARCA News 'N' Notes by Bryan Keith
Bryan has the latest and greatest news from the season championship race out in Toledo.
Foto Funnies: Bank of America 500 Edition by Kurt Smith
Kurt's back to leave you laughing with the best photos you didn't see in the papers from NASCAR recently.
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