THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
October 17th, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCXIX
Editor's Note: Due to the events that occurred on Sunday, we have made significant changes for today's edition of the Frontstretch Newsletter. As a result, the Point Standings, Tracking The Top 35, Secret Star/Stat of the Week and Running Their Mouth pieces will all now run in a special second edition of the Newsletter that will be sent out later today.
Dual Tragedies Strike in the Southwest; Wheldon and Huseman Die
by Phil Allaway
On Sunday afternoon, the motorsports community was saddened by the unfortunate death of 2005 IndyCar Series Champion and 2005 and 2011 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon in a horrific 15-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the likes of which have rarely been seen before in motorsports, and one that had been feared in the Izod IndyCar Series for at least a decade. Wheldon was launched into a roll on Lap 13 after he ran over EJ Viso's car and rolled into the catchfence in Turn 2 before coming down onto the track surface upside-down. Two hours later, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard announced the 33-year-old had died of "unsurvivable" injuries from the incident. Wheldon leaves behind his wife, Susie, two sons, and a loving contingent of family and friends heartbroken along with the racing community.
Editor's Note: For those who have not seen the crash, the replay can be viewed here. Viewer discretion is advised.
After the massive crash and subsequent two-hour red flag for crash cleanup, as well as repairs to the SAFER Barrier, catch fence and the track surface, Bernard announced Wheldon's death to the assembled media at the track. At that point, it was also announced that the drivers had voted to not continue the race. As the race did not reach the halfway point, it will go down in history as a fully cancelled event, handing the championship to Franchitti. The five-lap tribute to Wheldon was unanimously agreed to by the remaining 19 drivers whose cars were able to continue. The No. 77 was illuminated to the top of the scoring pylons and the remaining fans in the grandstands stood and applauded while a bagpipe version of "Amazing Grace" played in the background.
Wheldon, although not able to run the full Izod IndyCar Series schedule this season due to a lack of sponsorship, was one of the most highly respected drivers in the Izod IndyCar Series paddock. Being unable to race more than a handful of events this season, Wheldon had spent much of the 2011 season enjoying some of the other aspects of the sport. He was the primary test driver for the new Dallara chassis that will debut in the Izod IndyCar Series next year. Just recently, he tested the 2012 car with the single-turbo Honda engine at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and seemed to be very enthusiastic about the 2012 season and what it could hold. He will be missed terribly in the racing community
After he failed to get a ride for the Firestone Twin 275's at Texas Motor Speedway following his victory in the Indianapolis 500, Wheldon stepped into the broadcast booth to substitute for Wally Dallenbach, who had Sprint Cup commitments with TNT. Despite almost no TV experience (he'd helped out on one Firestone Indy Lights broadcast earlier in the year), Wheldon was a very good color commentator, easily able to use his knowledge of the current and future machinery of the series and his own personal experiences to improve Versus' telecast. At the time, I compared Wheldon's performance to when TNN and TBS had a rotating second analyst spot in the booth in 1994 after Neil Bonnett's untimely death at Daytona, most notably Darrell Waltrip during the Spring race at Dover for the Busch Grand National Series before he gained his penchant for on-air hyperbole. I definitely thought that Wheldon had a future in the broadcast booth as an analyst, if he wanted it. At this time, he didn't. Wheldon definitely would have preferred to have a seat in one of the cars, and admitted as such on-air. However, it is very likely that Wheldon would have ended up in the broadcast booth in some way, shape or form after he retired.
When tragedies such as this occur in motorsports, the outpouring of support and condolences is always substantial. This is no different with Wheldon's untimely death, which is the first notable fatality in a major racing series since the explosion of Twitter. Some of the Izod IndyCar Series drivers did some interviews after the announcement of Wheldon's death was made in Las Vegas, and the reaction was striking. Here, you had some drivers (most notably Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan) literally crying through interviews, something that I honestly cannot recall seeing before. Many of the Izod IndyCar Series teams have issued press releases expressing grief over the sad circumstances. Other drivers and motorsports personalities have taken to Twitter to express their thoughts. Even non-motorsports personalities like LeBron James and Piers Morgan have chipped in with their condolences. Something like what happened Sunday sadly transcends motorsports. As of 2:45am Monday morning, Wheldon's death was still the top story on ESPN.com, despite Sunday being a normal fall day with 12 NFL games on the schedule.
In 133 career Izod IndyCar Series starts, Wheldon won 16 races, including six during his championship season in 2005. He also had 43 career podium (top-3) finishes and earned five career pole positions.
Also on Sunday, news broke that Rick Huseman, a longtime off-road racer in the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series and the CORR (Championship Off-Road Racing) Series, was killed in a small plane crash near Barstow, California along with his brother Jeff and an unidentified third person. According to KTLA (Editor's Note: The KTLA link contains an aftermath picture of the plane. Viewer discretion is advised.), the plane was flying from Las Vegas, where the Huseman's had been for Saturday night's Monster Energy Cup (won by Ryan Villapoto) to Corona, California when it suffered some sort of mechanical issue. The plane went down while attempting to make an emergency landing at Barstow-Daggett Airport, coming up short of the airport by five miles.
Huseman, based out of the Riverside area in California, originally started out driving off-road in the desert Southwest. After watching the SODA races at Glen Helen International Raceway near San Bernardino in the winter of 1996, Huseman and another brother, Danny, built a Class 7s-legal truck to race. After some success racing in the Southwest, the team moved to the Pro-Lite class of the CORR Series in 2000 with their Ford Ranger. After enjoying success at that level racing against drivers like Jeff Kincaid, Huseman eventually moved up to the Pro-4 ranks in 2005 after buying a Toyota Tundra Pro-4 from fellow competitor Johnny Greaves. In 2009, he claimed the Pro 4x4 Championship in the Traxxas TORC Series Championship, claiming six wins and ten podium finishes. Last year, Huseman claimed the Pro-4 Championship in the Lucas Oil Off-Road Championship Series with ten victories, and just missed out on defending his Pro 4x4 title in the Traxxas TORC Series Championship.
Huseman, 38, is survived by his wife and a son. We here at Frontstretch also express our sincerest condolences to both the Wheldon and Huseman families.
Phil Allaway is a Senior Writer and the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Kenseth Claims 3rd Victory of 2011 at Charlotte
by Brody Jones
Matt Kenseth may not have had the most dominant car, but after passing Kyle Busch with a brilliant cross-over move with 25 laps to go, the Cambridge, Wisconsin driver pulled away late to take his third win of the season Saturday night at Charlotte by 0.968 seconds. The win also gave Kenseth the third spot in the point standings, his 21st career Sprint Victory, and his second career victory at Charlotte.
"It was an awesome win for us," Kenseth said post-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."
Lengthy green flag runs were the early theme of the race with much of the first 275 laps run under green-flag conditions and it was hard to pass anyone all night, so clean air was of the utmost importance. Kyle Busch, who battled back from having to start at the rear of the field due to a stripped engine bolt, took the lead at lap 200, leading the next 109 laps until Kenseth passed him with 25 laps to go and managed to pull away late in the race for the win with Busch, despite having led 111 of the 334 laps, being forced to settle for second with current Chase leader Carl Edwards in third position, while Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top-5. Sixth was Kevin Harvick, who now sits five markers back from Edwards. Seventh through tenth were A.J. Allmendinger, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Newman.
The five-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, was in position for another great points night, even leading during the race, until fate dealt him a cruel hand with 17 laps to go. Following contact with Ryan Newman in Turn 2, Johnson's car got sideways, and as the El Cajon, California native tried to save the car, it hooked head-on into the outside wall, lifting the back wheels off of the car.
"Unfortunate that we wrecked," Johnson said after being checked and released from the Infield Care Center. "We got into Turn 1 and the No. 39 (Ryan Newman) was real tight on my outside and pulled me around, from there on I was just hanging on."
Johnson finished 34th and now sits 35 markers back in eighth-place in the Chase, dealing his hopes for a potential sixth-straight title a crushing blow.
"We just have to go racing.That is all there is to it," Johnson emphasized. "Definitely not the night we wanted. This is not going to help us win a sixth championship. Promise you, this team and myself, we won't quit. We will go for every point we can from here on out and hopefully we are still champions at the end of the year."
The night was not kind to teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. either, who had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 252 that would relegate him to a 19th-place finish, one lap off the pace, pretty much ending any real or imagined title hopes for the driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy Drink/National Guard Chevrolet Impala.
"Absolutely, we should have finished on the lead lap, racing around them guys," a frustrated Dale Jr. said after the race. "I think we ran with the No. 20 most of the night. We should have outran him, that would have been where we would have ended up somewhere in front of or right behind him, that is where we ran most of the night before things just started going wrong for us. I would like to improve the cars a little bit, we need to gain a little grip on the left front, working on some good ideas and stuff like that to help the left front work a little bit better, and there is a couple of things that I think we can improve on, in that regard. Minimize mistakes; I have said it all along. T he driver can't make them; neither can the crew, when we don't make them we normally finish pretty well."
The average speed of the race was 146.194 mph, which was slowed by eight cautions for 34 laps. There were 16 lead changes among 10 drivers and the race took 3 hours, 25 minutes, and 37 seconds with an estimated attendance of 105,000 fans.
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
Brief Camping World Truck Series Update: Hornaday Grabs First Career Win at Las Vegas
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Pole-sitter Ron Hornaday, Jr. led 107 of 146 laps Saturday afternoon to score his first career victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, beating out Matt Crafton by more than half-a-second. In a race that was marred by ten cautions, Hornaday led four times including the final 32 laps en route to his third victory in three races. Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter and Todd Bodine rounded out the top-5.
Points leaders Austin Dillon and James Buescher each found themselves caught up in their own adversity, allowing the standings to tighten up considerably. A lead that was 42 points over fifth place Ron Hornaday, Jr. before the race shrank to 25. Despite a 17th-place finish, Dillon increased his lead to five over Johnny Sauter who moved up a spot while Buescher dropped to third after a disappointing 21st-place finish. Ron Hornaday, Jr. cut his deficit in half and moved up to fourth. Timothy Peters rounds out the top-5.
The victory was Hornaday's fourth this season and 51st in his career.
Beth Lunkenheimer is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. She can be reached via e-mail at beth.lunkenheimer@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: Charlotte-2 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
An Open Letter to Race Fans: Did You Cheer Knowing A Driver Could Die?
by Amy Henderson
David vs. Goliath: An Unkind Homecoming
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tragedy In The Face Of Triumph: Dan Wheldon's Tearful Goodbye
by Danny Peters
The Big Six: Questions Answered After The Bank of America 500
by Amy Henderson
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: 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?
Friday's Answer:
Q: In addition to the NASCAR and IRL events, Charlotte Motor Speedway used to host a somewhat successful International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) event on the infield road course. How did the Camel GT drivers describe the 2.25-mile course that was being used?
A: The "roval" at Charlotte Motor Speedway was described as extremely bumpy, especially at two places. One was where the cars re-entered the quad-oval from the infield section in Turn 1 of the superspeedway. The other bumpy place was in Turn 4 of the quad-oval, which was taken flat-out at nearly 190 mph in a Camel GT prototype at the time. It was supposedly the most difficult turn in IMSA at the time. At the 6:30 mark of this clip from 1985, you can see Dave DeSpain talking about the track and a driving tour of the circuit, complete with descriptive graphics from TBS.
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 Tom Bowles
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Charlotte-Talladega Edition by Summer Dreyer
Summer takes a look at post-Charlotte numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into Talladega... and beyond.
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
October 17th, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCXIX
Editor's Note: Due to the events that occurred on Sunday, we have made significant changes for today's edition of the Frontstretch Newsletter. As a result, the Point Standings, Tracking The Top 35, Secret Star/Stat of the Week and Running Their Mouth pieces will all now run in a special second edition of the Newsletter that will be sent out later today.
Dual Tragedies Strike in the Southwest; Wheldon and Huseman Die
by Phil Allaway
On Sunday afternoon, the motorsports community was saddened by the unfortunate death of 2005 IndyCar Series Champion and 2005 and 2011 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon in a horrific 15-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the likes of which have rarely been seen before in motorsports, and one that had been feared in the Izod IndyCar Series for at least a decade. Wheldon was launched into a roll on Lap 13 after he ran over EJ Viso's car and rolled into the catchfence in Turn 2 before coming down onto the track surface upside-down. Two hours later, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard announced the 33-year-old had died of "unsurvivable" injuries from the incident. Wheldon leaves behind his wife, Susie, two sons, and a loving contingent of family and friends heartbroken along with the racing community.
Editor's Note: For those who have not seen the crash, the replay can be viewed here. Viewer discretion is advised.
After the massive crash and subsequent two-hour red flag for crash cleanup, as well as repairs to the SAFER Barrier, catch fence and the track surface, Bernard announced Wheldon's death to the assembled media at the track. At that point, it was also announced that the drivers had voted to not continue the race. As the race did not reach the halfway point, it will go down in history as a fully cancelled event, handing the championship to Franchitti. The five-lap tribute to Wheldon was unanimously agreed to by the remaining 19 drivers whose cars were able to continue. The No. 77 was illuminated to the top of the scoring pylons and the remaining fans in the grandstands stood and applauded while a bagpipe version of "Amazing Grace" played in the background.
Wheldon, although not able to run the full Izod IndyCar Series schedule this season due to a lack of sponsorship, was one of the most highly respected drivers in the Izod IndyCar Series paddock. Being unable to race more than a handful of events this season, Wheldon had spent much of the 2011 season enjoying some of the other aspects of the sport. He was the primary test driver for the new Dallara chassis that will debut in the Izod IndyCar Series next year. Just recently, he tested the 2012 car with the single-turbo Honda engine at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and seemed to be very enthusiastic about the 2012 season and what it could hold. He will be missed terribly in the racing community
After he failed to get a ride for the Firestone Twin 275's at Texas Motor Speedway following his victory in the Indianapolis 500, Wheldon stepped into the broadcast booth to substitute for Wally Dallenbach, who had Sprint Cup commitments with TNT. Despite almost no TV experience (he'd helped out on one Firestone Indy Lights broadcast earlier in the year), Wheldon was a very good color commentator, easily able to use his knowledge of the current and future machinery of the series and his own personal experiences to improve Versus' telecast. At the time, I compared Wheldon's performance to when TNN and TBS had a rotating second analyst spot in the booth in 1994 after Neil Bonnett's untimely death at Daytona, most notably Darrell Waltrip during the Spring race at Dover for the Busch Grand National Series before he gained his penchant for on-air hyperbole. I definitely thought that Wheldon had a future in the broadcast booth as an analyst, if he wanted it. At this time, he didn't. Wheldon definitely would have preferred to have a seat in one of the cars, and admitted as such on-air. However, it is very likely that Wheldon would have ended up in the broadcast booth in some way, shape or form after he retired.
When tragedies such as this occur in motorsports, the outpouring of support and condolences is always substantial. This is no different with Wheldon's untimely death, which is the first notable fatality in a major racing series since the explosion of Twitter. Some of the Izod IndyCar Series drivers did some interviews after the announcement of Wheldon's death was made in Las Vegas, and the reaction was striking. Here, you had some drivers (most notably Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan) literally crying through interviews, something that I honestly cannot recall seeing before. Many of the Izod IndyCar Series teams have issued press releases expressing grief over the sad circumstances. Other drivers and motorsports personalities have taken to Twitter to express their thoughts. Even non-motorsports personalities like LeBron James and Piers Morgan have chipped in with their condolences. Something like what happened Sunday sadly transcends motorsports. As of 2:45am Monday morning, Wheldon's death was still the top story on ESPN.com, despite Sunday being a normal fall day with 12 NFL games on the schedule.
In 133 career Izod IndyCar Series starts, Wheldon won 16 races, including six during his championship season in 2005. He also had 43 career podium (top-3) finishes and earned five career pole positions.
Also on Sunday, news broke that Rick Huseman, a longtime off-road racer in the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series and the CORR (Championship Off-Road Racing) Series, was killed in a small plane crash near Barstow, California along with his brother Jeff and an unidentified third person. According to KTLA (Editor's Note: The KTLA link contains an aftermath picture of the plane. Viewer discretion is advised.), the plane was flying from Las Vegas, where the Huseman's had been for Saturday night's Monster Energy Cup (won by Ryan Villapoto) to Corona, California when it suffered some sort of mechanical issue. The plane went down while attempting to make an emergency landing at Barstow-Daggett Airport, coming up short of the airport by five miles.
Huseman, based out of the Riverside area in California, originally started out driving off-road in the desert Southwest. After watching the SODA races at Glen Helen International Raceway near San Bernardino in the winter of 1996, Huseman and another brother, Danny, built a Class 7s-legal truck to race. After some success racing in the Southwest, the team moved to the Pro-Lite class of the CORR Series in 2000 with their Ford Ranger. After enjoying success at that level racing against drivers like Jeff Kincaid, Huseman eventually moved up to the Pro-4 ranks in 2005 after buying a Toyota Tundra Pro-4 from fellow competitor Johnny Greaves. In 2009, he claimed the Pro 4x4 Championship in the Traxxas TORC Series Championship, claiming six wins and ten podium finishes. Last year, Huseman claimed the Pro-4 Championship in the Lucas Oil Off-Road Championship Series with ten victories, and just missed out on defending his Pro 4x4 title in the Traxxas TORC Series Championship.
Huseman, 38, is survived by his wife and a son. We here at Frontstretch also express our sincerest condolences to both the Wheldon and Huseman families.
Phil Allaway is a Senior Writer and the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Kenseth Claims 3rd Victory of 2011 at Charlotte
by Brody Jones
Matt Kenseth may not have had the most dominant car, but after passing Kyle Busch with a brilliant cross-over move with 25 laps to go, the Cambridge, Wisconsin driver pulled away late to take his third win of the season Saturday night at Charlotte by 0.968 seconds. The win also gave Kenseth the third spot in the point standings, his 21st career Sprint Victory, and his second career victory at Charlotte.
"It was an awesome win for us," Kenseth said post-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."
Lengthy green flag runs were the early theme of the race with much of the first 275 laps run under green-flag conditions and it was hard to pass anyone all night, so clean air was of the utmost importance. Kyle Busch, who battled back from having to start at the rear of the field due to a stripped engine bolt, took the lead at lap 200, leading the next 109 laps until Kenseth passed him with 25 laps to go and managed to pull away late in the race for the win with Busch, despite having led 111 of the 334 laps, being forced to settle for second with current Chase leader Carl Edwards in third position, while Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top-5. Sixth was Kevin Harvick, who now sits five markers back from Edwards. Seventh through tenth were A.J. Allmendinger, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Newman.
The five-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, was in position for another great points night, even leading during the race, until fate dealt him a cruel hand with 17 laps to go. Following contact with Ryan Newman in Turn 2, Johnson's car got sideways, and as the El Cajon, California native tried to save the car, it hooked head-on into the outside wall, lifting the back wheels off of the car.
"Unfortunate that we wrecked," Johnson said after being checked and released from the Infield Care Center. "We got into Turn 1 and the No. 39 (Ryan Newman) was real tight on my outside and pulled me around, from there on I was just hanging on."
Johnson finished 34th and now sits 35 markers back in eighth-place in the Chase, dealing his hopes for a potential sixth-straight title a crushing blow.
"We just have to go racing.That is all there is to it," Johnson emphasized. "Definitely not the night we wanted. This is not going to help us win a sixth championship. Promise you, this team and myself, we won't quit. We will go for every point we can from here on out and hopefully we are still champions at the end of the year."
The night was not kind to teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. either, who had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 252 that would relegate him to a 19th-place finish, one lap off the pace, pretty much ending any real or imagined title hopes for the driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy Drink/National Guard Chevrolet Impala.
"Absolutely, we should have finished on the lead lap, racing around them guys," a frustrated Dale Jr. said after the race. "I think we ran with the No. 20 most of the night. We should have outran him, that would have been where we would have ended up somewhere in front of or right behind him, that is where we ran most of the night before things just started going wrong for us. I would like to improve the cars a little bit, we need to gain a little grip on the left front, working on some good ideas and stuff like that to help the left front work a little bit better, and there is a couple of things that I think we can improve on, in that regard. Minimize mistakes; I have said it all along. T he driver can't make them; neither can the crew, when we don't make them we normally finish pretty well."
The average speed of the race was 146.194 mph, which was slowed by eight cautions for 34 laps. There were 16 lead changes among 10 drivers and the race took 3 hours, 25 minutes, and 37 seconds with an estimated attendance of 105,000 fans.
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
Brief Camping World Truck Series Update: Hornaday Grabs First Career Win at Las Vegas
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Pole-sitter Ron Hornaday, Jr. led 107 of 146 laps Saturday afternoon to score his first career victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, beating out Matt Crafton by more than half-a-second. In a race that was marred by ten cautions, Hornaday led four times including the final 32 laps en route to his third victory in three races. Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter and Todd Bodine rounded out the top-5.
Points leaders Austin Dillon and James Buescher each found themselves caught up in their own adversity, allowing the standings to tighten up considerably. A lead that was 42 points over fifth place Ron Hornaday, Jr. before the race shrank to 25. Despite a 17th-place finish, Dillon increased his lead to five over Johnny Sauter who moved up a spot while Buescher dropped to third after a disappointing 21st-place finish. Ron Hornaday, Jr. cut his deficit in half and moved up to fourth. Timothy Peters rounds out the top-5.
The victory was Hornaday's fourth this season and 51st in his career.
Beth Lunkenheimer is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. She can be reached via e-mail at beth.lunkenheimer@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: Charlotte-2 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
An Open Letter to Race Fans: Did You Cheer Knowing A Driver Could Die?
by Amy Henderson
David vs. Goliath: An Unkind Homecoming
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tragedy In The Face Of Triumph: Dan Wheldon's Tearful Goodbye
by Danny Peters
The Big Six: Questions Answered After The Bank of America 500
by Amy Henderson
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: 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?
Friday's Answer:
Q: In addition to the NASCAR and IRL events, Charlotte Motor Speedway used to host a somewhat successful International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) event on the infield road course. How did the Camel GT drivers describe the 2.25-mile course that was being used?
A: The "roval" at Charlotte Motor Speedway was described as extremely bumpy, especially at two places. One was where the cars re-entered the quad-oval from the infield section in Turn 1 of the superspeedway. The other bumpy place was in Turn 4 of the quad-oval, which was taken flat-out at nearly 190 mph in a Camel GT prototype at the time. It was supposedly the most difficult turn in IMSA at the time. At the 6:30 mark of this clip from 1985, you can see Dave DeSpain talking about the track and a driving tour of the circuit, complete with descriptive graphics from TBS.
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 Tom Bowles
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Charlotte-Talladega Edition by Summer Dreyer
Summer takes a look at post-Charlotte numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into Talladega... and beyond.
Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan's back with his weekly edition of talking points to tie up Charlotte and get us set for the week of NASCAR news ahead.
Talking NASCAR TV by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup Series made their second visit of the year to Charlotte for a 500-mile race, with the Nationwide Series serving as main support. Meanwhile, the Camping World Truck Series raced Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas. Were the race telecasts up to snuff, or were they missing something? Find out in this week's edition of the TV Critique.
Fact Or Fiction by Tom Bowles
Tom's back with a look at some intriguing subplots heading into this weekend's exploits in Talladega.
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