THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 29th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition L
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 29th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition L
~~~~~~~~~~
EDITOR'S NOTE: FRONTSTRETCH HAS A BRAND NEW, REDESIGNED FACEBOOK PAGE! CLICK HERE TO "LIKE" US AND GET A DIRECT CONNECT TO ALL YOUR FRONTSTRETCH FAVORITES ALONG WITH POLLS, INTERACTION WITH FANS AND SO MUCH MORE.
Top News
by Phil Allaway
Breaking This Morning: Commercial Nixed For Nationwide Regular By ESPN
On this morning's FOX and Friends, Nationwide Series regular Blake Koch raised eyebrows by claiming ESPN nixed a commercial for his primary sponsor. Backed by Rise Up And Register, Koch said the network would not allow in-race advertising for the company due to the "strong political and religious overtones" produced by the commercial. Koch did not indicate the future of his relationship with the company, but it was notable the car was unsponsored at Fontana after the incident.
The main website of Rise Up And Register indicates their mission is to get 1,000,000 additional U.S. Citizens to vote before the next election. The company does not appear to support a particular candidate.
Sponsors Re-Up at Tommy Baldwin Racing
Sponsorship has been somewhat difficult for Tommy Baldwin Racing to obtain this season. Instead of one full-time car, the team is now operating two, one of them in conjunction with Stewart-Haas Racing so that Danica Patrick won't have to worry about qualifying on speed. However, despite their limited finances the team got some good news this week.
On Tuesday, the team announced that Ollie's Bargain Outlet would be back to serve as the primary sponsor of Dave Blaney's No. 36 this weekend at Martinsville. Ollie's originally only signed on for a one-race deal in Daytona. However, they have been extremely pleased with the exposure so far, so they have returned for their fourth race of the season.
"Our partnership with Tommy Baldwin Racing has been very rewarding," said Mark Butler, President and CEO of Ollie's Bargain Outlet. "They have been great to us, and our customers are happy we're supporting the team. We got the opportunity to sponsor the No. 36 Ollie's Bargain Outlet Chevrolet again this week, and we took it!"
With the No. 10 team, they have had sponsorship from Accell Construction for three of the four races that Tommy Baldwin Racing has operated the car (the No. 10 is sponsored by GoDaddy in all races in which the team is operated by Stewart-Haas Racing). On Wednesday, Accell Construction extended their deal to include the next three races (Martinsville, Texas and Kansas). Like Ollie's Bargain Outlet, it appears that Accell Construction is happy with the exposure they're receiving.
"Accell Construction is proud to represent the pipeline terminal and bulk storage construction industry in the NASCAR world," said Steve Todhunter, owner of Accell Construction. "Texas and Kansas are like hometown tracks for us, so we are looking forward to competing there. We enjoy taking our customers out to celebrate racing in the Midwest. We have had a good time working with TBR over the past two seasons and are excited to continue that relationship."
Both of the Tommy Baldwin Racing cars are currently in the top 35 in owners points (No. 36 in 28th and No. 10 in 34th), so they are locked into Sunday's Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Its Official: Bristol to be Changed
Last week, we reported about how Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Chairman O. Bruton Smith was very disappointed with the crowd at Sunday's Food City 500 and that he was determined to do something about it. To that end, Bristol's website put up a link where fans could give their input on what has hurt their enjoyment of the track's action recently. To Smith, the results of that fan survey were quite clear: bring the "old Bristol" back.
"The race fans have spoken," Smith reaffirmed Wednesday, making last week's report official that adjustments will be made. "We had input that included a wide range of opinions. But the majority we heard from said they wanted to see changes. As a result, I have ordered the equipment and work will begin within the next two weeks to allow time to have everything ready for August."
Now, Smith did not announce just what kind of work would be done to the half-mile, high-banked oval to make the racing more exciting for the Irwin Tools Night Race. However, he did mention that details of the track's construction project will be unveiled in two weeks. The likely final result of these changes will be a track that more closely resembles the Bristol of Summer 1992 - Spring 2007. Denny Hamlin, upon hearing the news, took to Twitter to give his opinion.
"So Bruton Smith is changing Bristol.. I like it.. Pave that mofo!!! With the most coarse asphalt u can find," Hamlin tweeted. Bristol's racing surface hasn't been asphalt since early 1992, and there was a good reason for the previous track ownership deciding to make the switch. The surface was subject to breaking up under the pressure of race cars and very expensive to maintain with constant resealing required.
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change:
Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Relief 500: 46 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 19 - Mike Bliss for TriStar Motorsports
No. 74 - Reed Sorenson for Turn One Racing
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports
Driver Changes / New Teams:
No. 33 - Hermie Sadler is in the seat, replacing Brendan Gaughan. Sponsorship will come from Anderson's Maple Syrup and AM/FM Energy for a Richard Childress Racing entry that's expected to go the distance.
No. 37 - Tony Raines is in the seat, replacing rookie Timmy Hill. Hill had failed to qualify for three of the last four Sprint Cup events.
No. 52 - Scott Speed is entered for Hamilton Means Racing, as the team makes its Sprint Cup debut. The car has pledged to go the distance for each race it enters.
No. 55 - Brian Vickers returns to the seat, replacing Mark Martin. Martin is running a limited schedule of 24 races this season, with Vickers filling in for roughly half-a-dozen and team owner Michael Waltrip running the rest.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 19 - Mike Bliss for TriStar Motorsports*
No. 23 - Scott Riggs for R3 Motorsports*
No. 26 - Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports*
No. 30 - David Stremme for Inception Motorsports*
No. 37 - Tony Raines for Rick Ware Racing
No. 49 - J.J. Yeley for Robinson-Blakeney Racing
No. 52 - Scott Speed for Hamilton-Means Racing
No. 74 - Reed Sorenson for Turn One Racing*
No. 83 - Landon Cassill for BK Racing
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports*
No. 98 - Michael McDowell for Phil Parsons Racing
Withdrawn:
No. 7 - Robby Gordon for Robby Gordon Motorsports
* - Expected to start and park
Camping World Truck Series Kroger 250: 42 trucks entered
Number Changes:
No. 10 for JJC Racing has acquired the points from Kevin Harvick, Inc./Eddie Sharp Racing No. 8 and has taken that number.
No. 0 for JJC Racing has had the owners points from JJC Racing's No. 10 from 2011 moved to that truck and the number changed to No. 10.
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 2 - Kevin Harvick for Richard Childress Racing
No. 74 - Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 92 - David Reutimann for RBR Motorsports
Driver Changes:
No. 07 - Jake Crum is in the seat, replacing T.J. Duke.
No. 09 - John Wes Townley is in the seat, replacing Travis Kvapil. Townley returns after a DUI incident left him suspended from the team for the season-opening race at Daytona.
No. 2 - Kevin Harvick returns to the seat, replacing Brendan Gaughan.
No. 8 - Jennifer Jo Cobb will be in the seat, replacing Mike Skinner. It appears that Cobb has acquired the rights to the No. 8 from Eddie Sharp Racing, but will continue to run her own truck.
No. 10 - An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Jake Crum.
No. 27 - Jeb Burton is in the seat, replacing father Ward Burton. Jeb will be making his Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 50 - Natalie Sather is in the seat, replacing T.J. Bell. If Sather qualifies, she will be making her Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 74 - Mike Harmon returns to the seat, replacing Wheeler Boys in his self-owned truck.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 09 - John Wes Townley for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard
No. 10 - Unknown driver for JJC Racing
No. 14 - Brennan Newberry for Bob Newberry Racing
No. 15 - Dusty Davis for Arrington Racing
No. 50 - Natalie Sather for MAKE Motorsports
No. 57 - Norm Benning for Norm Benning Racing
No. 65 - Tyler Tanner for MB Motorsports
No. 68 - Clay Greenfield for Clay Greenfield Racing
No. 70 - Jeff Agnew for Level 7 Motorsports
No. 74 - Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 75 - Caleb Holman for Henderson Racing
No. 81 - David Starr for Billy Ballew Motorsports
No. 84 - Chris Fontaine for Chris Fontaine, Inc.
No. 92 - David Reutimann for RBR Enterprises
No. 98 - Dakoda Armstrong for ThorSport Racing
Not Entered:
No. 19 - Brad Keselowski for Brad Keselowski Racing
No. 28 - Wes Burton for FDNY Racing
No. 63 - MB Motorsports
No. 73 - Rick Crawford for Tagsby Racing
No. 76 - Derek White for Ray Hackett Racing
No. 82 - Grant Enfinger for Bragg Racing Group
Izod IndyCar Series Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama: 26 cars
Driver Changes: None
Entries:
No. 2 - Ryan Briscoe for Team Penske
No. 3 - Helio Castroneves for Team Penske
No. 4 - J.R. Hildebrand for Panther Racing
No. 5 - E.J. Viso for KV Racing Technologies
No. 6 - Katherine Legge for Lotus-Dragon Racing
No. 7 - Sebastien Bourdais for Lotus-Dragon Racing
No. 8 - Rubens Barrichello for KV Racing Technologies
No. 9 - Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 10 - Dario Franchitti for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 11 - Tony Kanaan for KV Racing Technologies
No. 12 - Will Power for Team Penske
No. 14 - Mike Conway for A.J. Foyt Racing
No. 15 - Takuma Sato for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
No. 18 - Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 19 - James Jakes for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 20 - Ed Carpenter for Ed Carpenter Racing
No. 22 - Oriol Servia for Lotus-DRR
No. 26 - Marco Andretti for Andretti Autosport
No. 27 - James Hinchcliffe for Andretti Autosport
No. 28 - Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport
No. 38 - Graham Rahal for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 67 - Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
No. 77 - Simon Pagenaud for Sam Schmidt Racing
No. 78 - Simona de Silvestro for Lotus-HVM Racing
No. 83 - Charlie Kimball for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 98 - Alex Tagliani for Bryan Herta Autosport
~~~~~~~~~~
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 Thursday with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
~~~~~~~~~~
Today's Featured Commentary
What NASCAR Really Needs Right Now: A REALITY CHECK
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese
With the Auto Club 400 being abbreviated to the Auto Club 258 this past Sunday at Fontana, it has been a bit of a slow news week across the motorsports media landscape.
Do you know how I can tell? Because everybody is still babbling about Bristol, feigning righteous indignation over the No. 48 team's penalty appeal being overturned, and yet another change to the All-Star race in May. With all of this nonsense swirling about, it's time for a REALITY CHECK.
Bruton Smith announced that Bristol would be reconfigured prior to the August night race, after what appeared to be half of the seats being empty on a rainy, cool mid-March weekend in Thunder Valley. My question is, reconfigured into what, exactly? Three hours of 55 mph caution laps and 90 minutes of follow the leader? If you dig up the track and make it into a one-lane train, how is that going to engender fans to come out to the show? Will the threat of more wrecks draw the morbidly curious out to come see the cautions at the end of summer?
REALITY CHECK:
The problem is not that of concrete; it is one of rubber and metal. Instead of spending a ton of money to fix a perfectly good racetrack, have Goodyear engineer some tires that actually wear out after 100 miles. They're Eagles, not Assuratreds – they don't need to go 70,000 miles, and the whole two-tire/four-tire strategy is part of what helps makes racing interesting on a short track. Besides, let's say you make it a one-groove racetrack again. Is anybody going to beat and bang each other out of the way? No, because ever since about 2005, nobody's ramming into each other during the final three weeks of the year before going into The Chase; they just ride around and try to stay out of trouble. This renovation is simply going to end up being a boon for the excavating company that is going to bust up the track and resurface it. In the end, it will likely end up being another episode similar to that which took place at Charlotte Motor Speedway a few years back: Take the best example of a unique track on the circuit, and destroy it by trying to make it "exciting for the fans."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of Charlotte, there is now yet another change to the All-Star Race on May 19th. Much like the championship points format that nobody can seem to agree on for more than three years, the All-Star race will now allegedly place a premium on winning segments to propel a driver to really try to win the later segments.
Winners of the first four segments will move to the front of the field and line up in positions one through four, before making a required pit road visit for the final mandatory pit stop. There is no requirement to take two or four tires – or just gas – so the pit stop will determine how they line up on the track for the final ten laps. This adjustment, in NASCAR's opinion, will help to regain the excitement that has been missing from the All-Star race for the last few – er – seven years. Singling out four drivers also has nothing at all do to with trying to draw any parallels to The Final Four NCAA Men's Basketball bracket, either, especially announcing this change during the middle of the tournament...
REALITY CHECK:
Why is this new format going to make you try any harder to win the other segments? If the final lineup is determined how you come off pit road, don't take any tires and just get gas to come out first and pick the lane you want for the restart. We all know that tires don't mean squat anymore, as it's aero first on a downforce track, and whoever gets out first is probably going to win on anything 1.0-mile and larger.
If you aren't first, all is not lost; just take four tires because the first two are just going to try and do gas only to beat each other out, and you can probably bury it down in there and nudge them out of the way from third or fourth. If anything it's probably better not to win the preceding segment, because then you make the decision that much easier. Why not just run it like they did in The Winston back in the early 1990s when they had the best races: Segment 1: 30 laps, then invert the field. Segment 2: 30 laps. Segment 3: Final 10-lap shootout. Every time they keep trying to make it better to make it more exciting, they just dilute it and make it lame.
Part of what has really made this race a shadow of its former self is when they ruined the track by taking the bump out of Turn 4, followed by the levigating, which ruined Turns 1 and 2, and then when they had to repave the whole thing because they screwed it up so bad to begin with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The announcement last week that Chad Knaus and Ron Malec would be reinstated – as well as the 25 driver and owner points – for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team, sent many in the media into a tizzy, beside themselves that NASCAR's penalty got more-or-less overturned. With the exception of the $100,000 fine that remained, crew chief Chad Knaus was absolved of wrong-doing – i.e., "cheating" – when the Lowe's Chevrolet was removed from the inspection line prior to practice for Daytona 500 qualifying. Many have cited that John Middlebrook, being a former GM executive was biased as the appellate officer hearing case by General Motors team owner Rick Hendrick, who also owns Chevrolet dealerships. Clearly, he must be on the take and not able to render a verdict with any sort of legitimacy.
REALITY CHECK:
If you work in NASCAR, guess what? You're going to have ties to either the automotive industry or people in NASCAR. When Gary Nelson resigned as crew chief for Kyle Petty and SabCo Racing back in the early 1990s, did he turn a blind eye to the No. 42 Mello Yello Pontiac when it rolled through inspection? Does Robin Pemberton give the Blue Deuce a wink and a nod anytime something questionable comes up since he used to be a crew chief for Roger Penske? Using that same logic, I guess you can invalidate six of Dale Earnhardt's championships since he was friends with Richard Childress as well as Earnhardt, Sr. How many other drivers had a top-tier executive inside the sport once radioing them before a race wishing them good luck?
The fact of the matter is, the motorsports community is a tight one, and you're going to have dealings with a number of people along the way, who might be in positions of power and influence later on down the line. The fact of the matter is, in this instance, despite whatever Knaus had done in the past that warranted a fine or penalty, at least it was something that was caught while inspecting and examining the car by measuring it and using a gauge to confirm a part was out of specification. In this instance, down at Daytona it was eyeballed and the team was told the C-pillars must be removed before it had been subject to any measured evaluation to confirm and document any wrongdoing.
That's why the penalty was overturned.
Vito Pugliese is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at vito.pugliese@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
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EDITOR'S NOTE: FRONTSTRETCH HAS A BRAND NEW, REDESIGNED FACEBOOK PAGE! CLICK HERE TO "LIKE" US AND GET A DIRECT CONNECT TO ALL YOUR FRONTSTRETCH FAVORITES ALONG WITH POLLS, INTERACTION WITH FANS AND SO MUCH MORE.
Top News
by Phil Allaway
Breaking This Morning: Commercial Nixed For Nationwide Regular By ESPN
On this morning's FOX and Friends, Nationwide Series regular Blake Koch raised eyebrows by claiming ESPN nixed a commercial for his primary sponsor. Backed by Rise Up And Register, Koch said the network would not allow in-race advertising for the company due to the "strong political and religious overtones" produced by the commercial. Koch did not indicate the future of his relationship with the company, but it was notable the car was unsponsored at Fontana after the incident.
The main website of Rise Up And Register indicates their mission is to get 1,000,000 additional U.S. Citizens to vote before the next election. The company does not appear to support a particular candidate.
Sponsors Re-Up at Tommy Baldwin Racing
Sponsorship has been somewhat difficult for Tommy Baldwin Racing to obtain this season. Instead of one full-time car, the team is now operating two, one of them in conjunction with Stewart-Haas Racing so that Danica Patrick won't have to worry about qualifying on speed. However, despite their limited finances the team got some good news this week.
On Tuesday, the team announced that Ollie's Bargain Outlet would be back to serve as the primary sponsor of Dave Blaney's No. 36 this weekend at Martinsville. Ollie's originally only signed on for a one-race deal in Daytona. However, they have been extremely pleased with the exposure so far, so they have returned for their fourth race of the season.
"Our partnership with Tommy Baldwin Racing has been very rewarding," said Mark Butler, President and CEO of Ollie's Bargain Outlet. "They have been great to us, and our customers are happy we're supporting the team. We got the opportunity to sponsor the No. 36 Ollie's Bargain Outlet Chevrolet again this week, and we took it!"
With the No. 10 team, they have had sponsorship from Accell Construction for three of the four races that Tommy Baldwin Racing has operated the car (the No. 10 is sponsored by GoDaddy in all races in which the team is operated by Stewart-Haas Racing). On Wednesday, Accell Construction extended their deal to include the next three races (Martinsville, Texas and Kansas). Like Ollie's Bargain Outlet, it appears that Accell Construction is happy with the exposure they're receiving.
"Accell Construction is proud to represent the pipeline terminal and bulk storage construction industry in the NASCAR world," said Steve Todhunter, owner of Accell Construction. "Texas and Kansas are like hometown tracks for us, so we are looking forward to competing there. We enjoy taking our customers out to celebrate racing in the Midwest. We have had a good time working with TBR over the past two seasons and are excited to continue that relationship."
Both of the Tommy Baldwin Racing cars are currently in the top 35 in owners points (No. 36 in 28th and No. 10 in 34th), so they are locked into Sunday's Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Its Official: Bristol to be Changed
Last week, we reported about how Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Chairman O. Bruton Smith was very disappointed with the crowd at Sunday's Food City 500 and that he was determined to do something about it. To that end, Bristol's website put up a link where fans could give their input on what has hurt their enjoyment of the track's action recently. To Smith, the results of that fan survey were quite clear: bring the "old Bristol" back.
"The race fans have spoken," Smith reaffirmed Wednesday, making last week's report official that adjustments will be made. "We had input that included a wide range of opinions. But the majority we heard from said they wanted to see changes. As a result, I have ordered the equipment and work will begin within the next two weeks to allow time to have everything ready for August."
Now, Smith did not announce just what kind of work would be done to the half-mile, high-banked oval to make the racing more exciting for the Irwin Tools Night Race. However, he did mention that details of the track's construction project will be unveiled in two weeks. The likely final result of these changes will be a track that more closely resembles the Bristol of Summer 1992 - Spring 2007. Denny Hamlin, upon hearing the news, took to Twitter to give his opinion.
"So Bruton Smith is changing Bristol.. I like it.. Pave that mofo!!! With the most coarse asphalt u can find," Hamlin tweeted. Bristol's racing surface hasn't been asphalt since early 1992, and there was a good reason for the previous track ownership deciding to make the switch. The surface was subject to breaking up under the pressure of race cars and very expensive to maintain with constant resealing required.
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change:
Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Relief 500: 46 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 19 - Mike Bliss for TriStar Motorsports
No. 74 - Reed Sorenson for Turn One Racing
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports
Driver Changes / New Teams:
No. 33 - Hermie Sadler is in the seat, replacing Brendan Gaughan. Sponsorship will come from Anderson's Maple Syrup and AM/FM Energy for a Richard Childress Racing entry that's expected to go the distance.
No. 37 - Tony Raines is in the seat, replacing rookie Timmy Hill. Hill had failed to qualify for three of the last four Sprint Cup events.
No. 52 - Scott Speed is entered for Hamilton Means Racing, as the team makes its Sprint Cup debut. The car has pledged to go the distance for each race it enters.
No. 55 - Brian Vickers returns to the seat, replacing Mark Martin. Martin is running a limited schedule of 24 races this season, with Vickers filling in for roughly half-a-dozen and team owner Michael Waltrip running the rest.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 19 - Mike Bliss for TriStar Motorsports*
No. 23 - Scott Riggs for R3 Motorsports*
No. 26 - Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports*
No. 30 - David Stremme for Inception Motorsports*
No. 37 - Tony Raines for Rick Ware Racing
No. 49 - J.J. Yeley for Robinson-Blakeney Racing
No. 52 - Scott Speed for Hamilton-Means Racing
No. 74 - Reed Sorenson for Turn One Racing*
No. 83 - Landon Cassill for BK Racing
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports*
No. 98 - Michael McDowell for Phil Parsons Racing
Withdrawn:
No. 7 - Robby Gordon for Robby Gordon Motorsports
* - Expected to start and park
Camping World Truck Series Kroger 250: 42 trucks entered
Number Changes:
No. 10 for JJC Racing has acquired the points from Kevin Harvick, Inc./Eddie Sharp Racing No. 8 and has taken that number.
No. 0 for JJC Racing has had the owners points from JJC Racing's No. 10 from 2011 moved to that truck and the number changed to No. 10.
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 2 - Kevin Harvick for Richard Childress Racing
No. 74 - Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 92 - David Reutimann for RBR Motorsports
Driver Changes:
No. 07 - Jake Crum is in the seat, replacing T.J. Duke.
No. 09 - John Wes Townley is in the seat, replacing Travis Kvapil. Townley returns after a DUI incident left him suspended from the team for the season-opening race at Daytona.
No. 2 - Kevin Harvick returns to the seat, replacing Brendan Gaughan.
No. 8 - Jennifer Jo Cobb will be in the seat, replacing Mike Skinner. It appears that Cobb has acquired the rights to the No. 8 from Eddie Sharp Racing, but will continue to run her own truck.
No. 10 - An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Jake Crum.
No. 27 - Jeb Burton is in the seat, replacing father Ward Burton. Jeb will be making his Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 50 - Natalie Sather is in the seat, replacing T.J. Bell. If Sather qualifies, she will be making her Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 74 - Mike Harmon returns to the seat, replacing Wheeler Boys in his self-owned truck.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 09 - John Wes Townley for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard
No. 10 - Unknown driver for JJC Racing
No. 14 - Brennan Newberry for Bob Newberry Racing
No. 15 - Dusty Davis for Arrington Racing
No. 50 - Natalie Sather for MAKE Motorsports
No. 57 - Norm Benning for Norm Benning Racing
No. 65 - Tyler Tanner for MB Motorsports
No. 68 - Clay Greenfield for Clay Greenfield Racing
No. 70 - Jeff Agnew for Level 7 Motorsports
No. 74 - Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 75 - Caleb Holman for Henderson Racing
No. 81 - David Starr for Billy Ballew Motorsports
No. 84 - Chris Fontaine for Chris Fontaine, Inc.
No. 92 - David Reutimann for RBR Enterprises
No. 98 - Dakoda Armstrong for ThorSport Racing
Not Entered:
No. 19 - Brad Keselowski for Brad Keselowski Racing
No. 28 - Wes Burton for FDNY Racing
No. 63 - MB Motorsports
No. 73 - Rick Crawford for Tagsby Racing
No. 76 - Derek White for Ray Hackett Racing
No. 82 - Grant Enfinger for Bragg Racing Group
Izod IndyCar Series Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama: 26 cars
Driver Changes: None
Entries:
No. 2 - Ryan Briscoe for Team Penske
No. 3 - Helio Castroneves for Team Penske
No. 4 - J.R. Hildebrand for Panther Racing
No. 5 - E.J. Viso for KV Racing Technologies
No. 6 - Katherine Legge for Lotus-Dragon Racing
No. 7 - Sebastien Bourdais for Lotus-Dragon Racing
No. 8 - Rubens Barrichello for KV Racing Technologies
No. 9 - Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 10 - Dario Franchitti for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 11 - Tony Kanaan for KV Racing Technologies
No. 12 - Will Power for Team Penske
No. 14 - Mike Conway for A.J. Foyt Racing
No. 15 - Takuma Sato for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
No. 18 - Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 19 - James Jakes for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 20 - Ed Carpenter for Ed Carpenter Racing
No. 22 - Oriol Servia for Lotus-DRR
No. 26 - Marco Andretti for Andretti Autosport
No. 27 - James Hinchcliffe for Andretti Autosport
No. 28 - Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport
No. 38 - Graham Rahal for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 67 - Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
No. 77 - Simon Pagenaud for Sam Schmidt Racing
No. 78 - Simona de Silvestro for Lotus-HVM Racing
No. 83 - Charlie Kimball for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 98 - Alex Tagliani for Bryan Herta Autosport
~~~~~~~~~~
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 Thursday with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
~~~~~~~~~~
Today's Featured Commentary
What NASCAR Really Needs Right Now: A REALITY CHECK
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese
With the Auto Club 400 being abbreviated to the Auto Club 258 this past Sunday at Fontana, it has been a bit of a slow news week across the motorsports media landscape.
Do you know how I can tell? Because everybody is still babbling about Bristol, feigning righteous indignation over the No. 48 team's penalty appeal being overturned, and yet another change to the All-Star race in May. With all of this nonsense swirling about, it's time for a REALITY CHECK.
Bruton Smith announced that Bristol would be reconfigured prior to the August night race, after what appeared to be half of the seats being empty on a rainy, cool mid-March weekend in Thunder Valley. My question is, reconfigured into what, exactly? Three hours of 55 mph caution laps and 90 minutes of follow the leader? If you dig up the track and make it into a one-lane train, how is that going to engender fans to come out to the show? Will the threat of more wrecks draw the morbidly curious out to come see the cautions at the end of summer?
REALITY CHECK:
The problem is not that of concrete; it is one of rubber and metal. Instead of spending a ton of money to fix a perfectly good racetrack, have Goodyear engineer some tires that actually wear out after 100 miles. They're Eagles, not Assuratreds – they don't need to go 70,000 miles, and the whole two-tire/four-tire strategy is part of what helps makes racing interesting on a short track. Besides, let's say you make it a one-groove racetrack again. Is anybody going to beat and bang each other out of the way? No, because ever since about 2005, nobody's ramming into each other during the final three weeks of the year before going into The Chase; they just ride around and try to stay out of trouble. This renovation is simply going to end up being a boon for the excavating company that is going to bust up the track and resurface it. In the end, it will likely end up being another episode similar to that which took place at Charlotte Motor Speedway a few years back: Take the best example of a unique track on the circuit, and destroy it by trying to make it "exciting for the fans."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of Charlotte, there is now yet another change to the All-Star Race on May 19th. Much like the championship points format that nobody can seem to agree on for more than three years, the All-Star race will now allegedly place a premium on winning segments to propel a driver to really try to win the later segments.
Winners of the first four segments will move to the front of the field and line up in positions one through four, before making a required pit road visit for the final mandatory pit stop. There is no requirement to take two or four tires – or just gas – so the pit stop will determine how they line up on the track for the final ten laps. This adjustment, in NASCAR's opinion, will help to regain the excitement that has been missing from the All-Star race for the last few – er – seven years. Singling out four drivers also has nothing at all do to with trying to draw any parallels to The Final Four NCAA Men's Basketball bracket, either, especially announcing this change during the middle of the tournament...
REALITY CHECK:
Why is this new format going to make you try any harder to win the other segments? If the final lineup is determined how you come off pit road, don't take any tires and just get gas to come out first and pick the lane you want for the restart. We all know that tires don't mean squat anymore, as it's aero first on a downforce track, and whoever gets out first is probably going to win on anything 1.0-mile and larger.
If you aren't first, all is not lost; just take four tires because the first two are just going to try and do gas only to beat each other out, and you can probably bury it down in there and nudge them out of the way from third or fourth. If anything it's probably better not to win the preceding segment, because then you make the decision that much easier. Why not just run it like they did in The Winston back in the early 1990s when they had the best races: Segment 1: 30 laps, then invert the field. Segment 2: 30 laps. Segment 3: Final 10-lap shootout. Every time they keep trying to make it better to make it more exciting, they just dilute it and make it lame.
Part of what has really made this race a shadow of its former self is when they ruined the track by taking the bump out of Turn 4, followed by the levigating, which ruined Turns 1 and 2, and then when they had to repave the whole thing because they screwed it up so bad to begin with.
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The announcement last week that Chad Knaus and Ron Malec would be reinstated – as well as the 25 driver and owner points – for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team, sent many in the media into a tizzy, beside themselves that NASCAR's penalty got more-or-less overturned. With the exception of the $100,000 fine that remained, crew chief Chad Knaus was absolved of wrong-doing – i.e., "cheating" – when the Lowe's Chevrolet was removed from the inspection line prior to practice for Daytona 500 qualifying. Many have cited that John Middlebrook, being a former GM executive was biased as the appellate officer hearing case by General Motors team owner Rick Hendrick, who also owns Chevrolet dealerships. Clearly, he must be on the take and not able to render a verdict with any sort of legitimacy.
REALITY CHECK:
If you work in NASCAR, guess what? You're going to have ties to either the automotive industry or people in NASCAR. When Gary Nelson resigned as crew chief for Kyle Petty and SabCo Racing back in the early 1990s, did he turn a blind eye to the No. 42 Mello Yello Pontiac when it rolled through inspection? Does Robin Pemberton give the Blue Deuce a wink and a nod anytime something questionable comes up since he used to be a crew chief for Roger Penske? Using that same logic, I guess you can invalidate six of Dale Earnhardt's championships since he was friends with Richard Childress as well as Earnhardt, Sr. How many other drivers had a top-tier executive inside the sport once radioing them before a race wishing them good luck?
The fact of the matter is, the motorsports community is a tight one, and you're going to have dealings with a number of people along the way, who might be in positions of power and influence later on down the line. The fact of the matter is, in this instance, despite whatever Knaus had done in the past that warranted a fine or penalty, at least it was something that was caught while inspecting and examining the car by measuring it and using a gauge to confirm a part was out of specification. In this instance, down at Daytona it was eyeballed and the team was told the C-pillars must be removed before it had been subject to any measured evaluation to confirm and document any wrongdoing.
That's why the penalty was overturned.
Vito Pugliese is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at vito.pugliese@frontstretch.com.
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COME JOIN THE FRONTSTRETCH FAMILY!
Hey Frontstretch Readers,
We are looking for someone who shares our enthusiasm for NASCAR and has an experienced background in web design. Specifically, we are looking for someone who can help maintain and enhance our website, increase our SEO, and upgrade our publishing platform while producing a limited amount of content throughout the season. This job presents a perfect opportunity for someone with a technical background, a person who wants their work to gain national exposure.
If you are interested, contact frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com. Please include references to your past work in your e-mail.
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Editor's Note: The Critic's Annex will not appear this week. Look for it to return next week in this space.
Frontstretch Driver Diary: Paulie Harraka
as told to Tom Bowles
It's been a long break for the Camping World Truck Series drivers and teams since the season opener at Daytona. But for Paulie Harraka, finishing up his college career at Duke University the break has been more like "business as usual." In between classes, he sewed up a sponsor deal with MC 10 for Martinsville, did testing for the upcoming race and... spoke at a prestigious MIT conference? Not the type of itinerary you hear from your usual NASCAR driver, especially one that's on Spring Break from school.
In the second edition of our Harraka diary, we talk about his bumpy start to the season, all the busyness that followed and find out what he thinks about Duke's "one and done" system, among other topics.
Let's start with Daytona. Can you describe what happened in that accident that left you simply trying to survive the rest of the race.
I think going into Daytona, there's a lot of unexpected things. We were in just the wrong place in the wrong time. Being in the middle of three-wide as you come off the banking and off of four. I gave the truck on the inside of me plenty of room – I should have actually crowded him a little bit more, so I had more air on the right side of my truck. Lesson learned. A lot of it is feel; no one can explain to you what it's like to get the air taken off of you until you've felt it a few times. So, you've just got to feel it.
From the driver's perspective, describe what it's like to run around a track like Daytona at less than maximum speed. Could you still learn anything after your crash?
It's certainly not fun. You're just out there making laps and fighting for all you can fight for from a position's perspective. You're still out there working hard, trying to get as many spots as you can. But when the damage is extensive enough so that you can't contend for the win anymore, it hampers your day. And you can't really learn anything anymore, even as a rookie.
What's your routine after a bad finish as opposed to a good one? Does it change?
So I have a pretty steady routine that doesn't change whether we win or crash in qualifying. But as far as leaving a bad day at the racetrack, I'm the type of driver who wants to understand. It's behind me now, but I had to watch the tape a few times, and talk to Johnny Benson about it and make sure it doesn't happen again. So, it took a little while to get it behind me but it's certainly behind me now.
What did Johnny (a former Truck Series champion) have to say?
We just talked about the air around the truck and stuff like that. Johnny was with us at Daytona and he'll be with us in Martinsville. It's great to have him. I'm a driver that – I'm not one to just jump in the race truck and run as hard as I can. If I really want to understand the race truck… I feel like the better I understand the truck and the series, the better I'll do, the better I'll communicate with Richie. So in this case, I have somebody like Johnny, who is a driver that understands the technical side of the sport. Obviously, he has had a tremendous amount of success, too, especially in the Camping World Truck Series, so Johnny working with me, even if for just a weekend, just teaching me some of the finer points of these trucks and these tires and this aero platform is really helpful. It helps accelerate my learning curve.
With such a large gap between races, what are the types of things you and your team have done to stay fresh?
I was so busy. I missed being out of the race car for sure – I would like to be in the race car if I could – but there's a lot going on. We announced a new sponsor, a new marketing partner with MC 10. We've got so much cool stuff going on, plus I'm still at Duke so I've just been plenty busy.
We just did a little bit of testing and yeah, that was about it.
Did we learn anything about who's strong in the Camping World Series championship at Daytona? Or is it such an outlier it's hard to take anything away from it?
I think you move on. Listen, Daytona is a huge race, and it's one we all work really hard to win. But ultimately, when you look at that track, there are a lot of ways to prepare for Daytona that require a tremendous amount of resources. And ultimately, in racing you have to decide if Daytona is worth those resources; or, do you want to allot those resources to short tracks, or intermediates, or places we go to a lot more.
So for us, we came to Daytona wanting to win and we worked hard. But we've kept our focus on our short track and intermediate programs because that's where we do the bulk of our racing.
A rookie winning that race… did that surprise you?
It's great for John. I was too busy with my own stuff to know what was going on – I actually didn't find out until the next day who won the race – but I'm really happy for him.
Since we last talked, NASCAR ratings have continued to drop at the Sprint Cup level this season. What, if anything, does the sport need to do at that level to drum up more fan interest?
Well, listen the Daytona 500 was also the second most-watched race in history, and the highest on FOX [in terms of number of people]. So you can write a completely polar opposite story depending on what race you pick. I think sometimes focusing on one event is not a fair indicator.
I think, at a macro level people just overfocus on what the Nielsen numbers are. You look at the sport, there's so many great storylines. You look at how many different winners there have been in the Nationwide Series, you look at Brian Vickers about to win Bristol – there are so many amazing storylines and so many cool things going on right now, more of the focus should be paid towards that.
Let's talk about Duke and the NCAA Tournament. Describe your feelings about the game and how you would gauge the season following the loss to Lehigh.
I got a call, the morning after the Duke game from [NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Director] Wayne Auton. And Wayne's quote was, "Ain't Lehigh a high school?"
That pretty much sums it up. It was just disappointing. Nobody expected Duke to lose, I don't think anybody expected Missouri to lose, let alone both of them to lose in the same day. I think that's the first time in NCAA history that's ever happened.
But yeah, I thought the Blue Devils would go a lot further than they did. I didn't know if they could handle Kentucky, but stuff happens, right? I think they still accomplished a lot. When you look at the team, they exceeded expectations in such a lot of ways. They had a young and inexperienced team, and to be ranked as high as we were in the AP and USA Today rankings, that was a surprise. Has Duke ever lost in the first round? Did I think we would go further? Yeah. But at the same time, you have to keep expectations realistic.
CURRENT EVENTS:
Austin Rivers is expected to declare for the NBA Draft after just one season. As an athlete who's able to make money going to school, how do you feel about the "one and done" atmosphere that's permeated college basketball?
Personally, I don't know what went into Austin's decision to go. That said, when you look at the macro Coach K's teams have produced more graduates than some other programs. But ultimately, to me it's collegiate athletics and players have the option to opt out. I think the NFL and the NFL Players' Union has a little better system that strongly encourages players to stay in college and play through a college career rather than a "one and done." That works well for them.
You know, I will say collegiate athletics is ultimately about developing school spirit and pride. And that can be really hard to do when you have athletes that only stay for a year.
One other thing; going to the top professional rank of any sport is such a major time commitment. It's really difficult to say how you draw a balance there. And there are a lot of players; Kyrie Irving, when he declared for the draft he was still on Duke's campus fairly often taking classes, especially during the lockout. So I know there are a good number of players, it might take a little longer, but they do eventually get their degree.
FAN QUESTION
"What's the toughest racetrack you've ever run on, in any car? What makes it so tough?" – Maggie Jones, Raleigh, NC
I would say probably the toughest racetrack I've ever been to is Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. I ran a K&N Pro Series West car there, and I love that place. I love it because it's so tough. From a driver's perspective, there is every type of corner you can imagine. Lefts, rights, S-turns, hairpins, sweepers, transitions. You name it, it's got 'em. It's challenging because you have to take kind of a different mindset into each corner. That said, that's what makes it fun because you can really outdrive somebody there. You can have a 10th-place car but drive up to fifth or even contend for a win there. That's what makes the challenging tracks in general my favorites.
The toughest corner at Miller is probably the corner getting onto the front straightaway because it's just so, so critical you hit that perfect. It's a tight, tight hairpin and you're switching back off a lefthander, you're coming out of a righthander. So it's really hard to get your entry lined up right, and then you have to get your car turned very quickly so you can get back to the throttle, because that's a particularly long straightaway.
But yeah, every time we went to Miller, we finished in the top 3. So I had a great time at that track.
WHAT'S HOT / WHAT'S NOT IN PAULIE'S WORLD
SPRING BREAK
HOT: So I made the cardinal mistake of going north for Spring Break. I actually spent my time in Boston and New York, but had a blast. Spoke at a conference at MIT, went to a Celtics – Rockets game, went to a concert with my best friend, went out in New York City with some friends. I had a good time and really did enjoy it.
Martinsville is hot in my world right now. I'm anxious to get back in the seat; we tested at Ace Speedway to get geared up and ready for it and that went well. That's what I'm looking forward to most, is getting back in the truck and going racing again.
NOT: Basketball. I probably won't watch any of the Final Four games because, as far as I'm concerned basketball season ended two weeks ago.
OK, well one thing stands out to me… the conference at MIT. Not that many students would say they spent Spring Break doing that; can you tell us a little bit more about it?
Yes, MIT has an annual Sloan Sports Analytics conference. It was really cool because I get to speak alongside some heavy hitters. Michael Wilbon from ESPN, Daryl Morey, GM of the Houston Rockets, Steve Tisch of the New York Giants, the management from the New Orleans Saints. It was a few pro athletes, too. I had the opportunity to go speak there and talk about some NASCAR stuff. It was an opportunity I jumped at and a lot of fun.
WEEKEND PREVIEW
What are the keys to a successful weekend at Martinsville and why?
From everybody I've talked to, and I'm trying to soak in as much information as I can it sounds like certainly qualifying up front and getting on and off pit road well is really important. It's a place where the easiest way to gain spots is that. Hit your marks, do everything right on pit road and in qualifying is important. Then, being in the Truck under green a lot of guys get a little antsy because we're running so tight early on. You need to stay disciplined for the first half of the race, then be in position and have enough Truck left to go for it at the end.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Mirror Driving: Adjusting Auto Club, Points vs. Wins And Martinsville Maniacs
"If I were racing, I'd love to have that surfboard trophy. I'd just have to figure out what the deuce to do with it once I got it." - Phil Allaway's take on winning at Auto Club Speedway, desiring one of the trophies on tap for the race winner, and trying to figure out what to do with it once he had it (can't put it in a trophy case, of course).
~~~~~~~~~~
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 tony.lumbis@frontstretch.com for details.
~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
~~~~~~~~~~
Editor's Note: The Critic's Annex will not appear this week. Look for it to return next week in this space.
Frontstretch Driver Diary: Paulie Harraka
as told to Tom Bowles
It's been a long break for the Camping World Truck Series drivers and teams since the season opener at Daytona. But for Paulie Harraka, finishing up his college career at Duke University the break has been more like "business as usual." In between classes, he sewed up a sponsor deal with MC 10 for Martinsville, did testing for the upcoming race and... spoke at a prestigious MIT conference? Not the type of itinerary you hear from your usual NASCAR driver, especially one that's on Spring Break from school.
In the second edition of our Harraka diary, we talk about his bumpy start to the season, all the busyness that followed and find out what he thinks about Duke's "one and done" system, among other topics.
Let's start with Daytona. Can you describe what happened in that accident that left you simply trying to survive the rest of the race.
I think going into Daytona, there's a lot of unexpected things. We were in just the wrong place in the wrong time. Being in the middle of three-wide as you come off the banking and off of four. I gave the truck on the inside of me plenty of room – I should have actually crowded him a little bit more, so I had more air on the right side of my truck. Lesson learned. A lot of it is feel; no one can explain to you what it's like to get the air taken off of you until you've felt it a few times. So, you've just got to feel it.
From the driver's perspective, describe what it's like to run around a track like Daytona at less than maximum speed. Could you still learn anything after your crash?
It's certainly not fun. You're just out there making laps and fighting for all you can fight for from a position's perspective. You're still out there working hard, trying to get as many spots as you can. But when the damage is extensive enough so that you can't contend for the win anymore, it hampers your day. And you can't really learn anything anymore, even as a rookie.
What's your routine after a bad finish as opposed to a good one? Does it change?
So I have a pretty steady routine that doesn't change whether we win or crash in qualifying. But as far as leaving a bad day at the racetrack, I'm the type of driver who wants to understand. It's behind me now, but I had to watch the tape a few times, and talk to Johnny Benson about it and make sure it doesn't happen again. So, it took a little while to get it behind me but it's certainly behind me now.
What did Johnny (a former Truck Series champion) have to say?
We just talked about the air around the truck and stuff like that. Johnny was with us at Daytona and he'll be with us in Martinsville. It's great to have him. I'm a driver that – I'm not one to just jump in the race truck and run as hard as I can. If I really want to understand the race truck… I feel like the better I understand the truck and the series, the better I'll do, the better I'll communicate with Richie. So in this case, I have somebody like Johnny, who is a driver that understands the technical side of the sport. Obviously, he has had a tremendous amount of success, too, especially in the Camping World Truck Series, so Johnny working with me, even if for just a weekend, just teaching me some of the finer points of these trucks and these tires and this aero platform is really helpful. It helps accelerate my learning curve.
With such a large gap between races, what are the types of things you and your team have done to stay fresh?
I was so busy. I missed being out of the race car for sure – I would like to be in the race car if I could – but there's a lot going on. We announced a new sponsor, a new marketing partner with MC 10. We've got so much cool stuff going on, plus I'm still at Duke so I've just been plenty busy.
We just did a little bit of testing and yeah, that was about it.
Did we learn anything about who's strong in the Camping World Series championship at Daytona? Or is it such an outlier it's hard to take anything away from it?
I think you move on. Listen, Daytona is a huge race, and it's one we all work really hard to win. But ultimately, when you look at that track, there are a lot of ways to prepare for Daytona that require a tremendous amount of resources. And ultimately, in racing you have to decide if Daytona is worth those resources; or, do you want to allot those resources to short tracks, or intermediates, or places we go to a lot more.
So for us, we came to Daytona wanting to win and we worked hard. But we've kept our focus on our short track and intermediate programs because that's where we do the bulk of our racing.
A rookie winning that race… did that surprise you?
It's great for John. I was too busy with my own stuff to know what was going on – I actually didn't find out until the next day who won the race – but I'm really happy for him.
Since we last talked, NASCAR ratings have continued to drop at the Sprint Cup level this season. What, if anything, does the sport need to do at that level to drum up more fan interest?
Well, listen the Daytona 500 was also the second most-watched race in history, and the highest on FOX [in terms of number of people]. So you can write a completely polar opposite story depending on what race you pick. I think sometimes focusing on one event is not a fair indicator.
I think, at a macro level people just overfocus on what the Nielsen numbers are. You look at the sport, there's so many great storylines. You look at how many different winners there have been in the Nationwide Series, you look at Brian Vickers about to win Bristol – there are so many amazing storylines and so many cool things going on right now, more of the focus should be paid towards that.
Let's talk about Duke and the NCAA Tournament. Describe your feelings about the game and how you would gauge the season following the loss to Lehigh.
I got a call, the morning after the Duke game from [NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Director] Wayne Auton. And Wayne's quote was, "Ain't Lehigh a high school?"
That pretty much sums it up. It was just disappointing. Nobody expected Duke to lose, I don't think anybody expected Missouri to lose, let alone both of them to lose in the same day. I think that's the first time in NCAA history that's ever happened.
But yeah, I thought the Blue Devils would go a lot further than they did. I didn't know if they could handle Kentucky, but stuff happens, right? I think they still accomplished a lot. When you look at the team, they exceeded expectations in such a lot of ways. They had a young and inexperienced team, and to be ranked as high as we were in the AP and USA Today rankings, that was a surprise. Has Duke ever lost in the first round? Did I think we would go further? Yeah. But at the same time, you have to keep expectations realistic.
CURRENT EVENTS:
Austin Rivers is expected to declare for the NBA Draft after just one season. As an athlete who's able to make money going to school, how do you feel about the "one and done" atmosphere that's permeated college basketball?
Personally, I don't know what went into Austin's decision to go. That said, when you look at the macro Coach K's teams have produced more graduates than some other programs. But ultimately, to me it's collegiate athletics and players have the option to opt out. I think the NFL and the NFL Players' Union has a little better system that strongly encourages players to stay in college and play through a college career rather than a "one and done." That works well for them.
You know, I will say collegiate athletics is ultimately about developing school spirit and pride. And that can be really hard to do when you have athletes that only stay for a year.
One other thing; going to the top professional rank of any sport is such a major time commitment. It's really difficult to say how you draw a balance there. And there are a lot of players; Kyrie Irving, when he declared for the draft he was still on Duke's campus fairly often taking classes, especially during the lockout. So I know there are a good number of players, it might take a little longer, but they do eventually get their degree.
FAN QUESTION
"What's the toughest racetrack you've ever run on, in any car? What makes it so tough?" – Maggie Jones, Raleigh, NC
I would say probably the toughest racetrack I've ever been to is Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. I ran a K&N Pro Series West car there, and I love that place. I love it because it's so tough. From a driver's perspective, there is every type of corner you can imagine. Lefts, rights, S-turns, hairpins, sweepers, transitions. You name it, it's got 'em. It's challenging because you have to take kind of a different mindset into each corner. That said, that's what makes it fun because you can really outdrive somebody there. You can have a 10th-place car but drive up to fifth or even contend for a win there. That's what makes the challenging tracks in general my favorites.
The toughest corner at Miller is probably the corner getting onto the front straightaway because it's just so, so critical you hit that perfect. It's a tight, tight hairpin and you're switching back off a lefthander, you're coming out of a righthander. So it's really hard to get your entry lined up right, and then you have to get your car turned very quickly so you can get back to the throttle, because that's a particularly long straightaway.
But yeah, every time we went to Miller, we finished in the top 3. So I had a great time at that track.
WHAT'S HOT / WHAT'S NOT IN PAULIE'S WORLD
SPRING BREAK
HOT: So I made the cardinal mistake of going north for Spring Break. I actually spent my time in Boston and New York, but had a blast. Spoke at a conference at MIT, went to a Celtics – Rockets game, went to a concert with my best friend, went out in New York City with some friends. I had a good time and really did enjoy it.
Martinsville is hot in my world right now. I'm anxious to get back in the seat; we tested at Ace Speedway to get geared up and ready for it and that went well. That's what I'm looking forward to most, is getting back in the truck and going racing again.
NOT: Basketball. I probably won't watch any of the Final Four games because, as far as I'm concerned basketball season ended two weeks ago.
OK, well one thing stands out to me… the conference at MIT. Not that many students would say they spent Spring Break doing that; can you tell us a little bit more about it?
Yes, MIT has an annual Sloan Sports Analytics conference. It was really cool because I get to speak alongside some heavy hitters. Michael Wilbon from ESPN, Daryl Morey, GM of the Houston Rockets, Steve Tisch of the New York Giants, the management from the New Orleans Saints. It was a few pro athletes, too. I had the opportunity to go speak there and talk about some NASCAR stuff. It was an opportunity I jumped at and a lot of fun.
WEEKEND PREVIEW
What are the keys to a successful weekend at Martinsville and why?
From everybody I've talked to, and I'm trying to soak in as much information as I can it sounds like certainly qualifying up front and getting on and off pit road well is really important. It's a place where the easiest way to gain spots is that. Hit your marks, do everything right on pit road and in qualifying is important. Then, being in the Truck under green a lot of guys get a little antsy because we're running so tight early on. You need to stay disciplined for the first half of the race, then be in position and have enough Truck left to go for it at the end.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Mirror Driving: Adjusting Auto Club, Points vs. Wins And Martinsville Maniacs
"If I were racing, I'd love to have that surfboard trophy. I'd just have to figure out what the deuce to do with it once I got it." - Phil Allaway's take on winning at Auto Club Speedway, desiring one of the trophies on tap for the race winner, and trying to figure out what to do with it once he had it (can't put it in a trophy case, of course).
~~~~~~~~~~
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 tony.lumbis@frontstretch.com for details.
~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Dollars And Sense: The Making Of The Martinsville Hot Dog
by Jesse Medford
Give 'Em What They Want?
by Mark Howell
Two NASCAR Champions, But Only One Great Escape
by Tom Bowles
Truckin' Thursdays: Sauter, Harvick Look to Defend Martinsville Spring Dominance
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Potts' Shots: Be Careful What You Wish For... And Just Split The Difference?
by John Potts
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Staying with the 1995 Goody's 150 Truck race at Martinsville, that race was supposed to mark a milestone. Unfortunately, circumstances forced "history" to wait a little while. What am I talking about?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: During the inaugural season for the now-Camping World Truck Series in 1995, incidents on track were generally mild in nature. Of course, there were exceptions to this rule (Wayne Jacks' roll in Portland, Oregon and Kerry Teague's bad wreck at Heartland Park Topeka chiefly among them). Rick Carelli had a nasty incident in Martinsville that year, too. What happened?
A: Just before the halftime break, Barry Bodine slowed suddenly on the frontstretch. Carelli didn't see him and effectively ran over him, launching the No. 6 Total Petroleum Chevrolet into the inside wall hard. Jack Sprague also spun and hit the outside wall. Carelli was OK, but his truck was done for the day, along with Bodine's. Sprague continued, but finished three laps down in 20th. The crash can be seen in real time at the 8:40 mark of this clip.
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 tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Jeff Wolfe
-- In Case You Missed It by Nick Schwartz
-- Frontstretch Folio: Goody's Fast Relief 500 by Nick Schwartz
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Four Burning Questions: Martinsville by Summer Dreyer
Summer is back with a four-part look at what we should expect from this weekend's Goody's Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy is back with another interesting commentary.
Friday Fast Forward Into NASCAR's Future by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan returns with another interesting commentary piece on the Nationwide Series to tide you over while the series takes the week off.
Voices From the Heartland by TBD
We'll have a sub for our Midwestern voice turned Tennessee transplant with another interesting take on recent events.
Driver Diary: Kenny Wallace as told to Amy Henderson
Kenny Wallace returns for another edition of his noted diary. He'll discuss the past couple of weeks in the No. 09, and some other things that tickle his fancy. What are they? You'll just have to read to find out.
Formula One Fridays by Andy Hollis
Our newest writer takes some time to tackle the most popular international version of racing: Formula One. In his first column, Andy explains why F1 is the best series you might not be watching... and gives ten reasons why you should.
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 tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Jeff Wolfe
-- In Case You Missed It by Nick Schwartz
-- Frontstretch Folio: Goody's Fast Relief 500 by Nick Schwartz
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Four Burning Questions: Martinsville by Summer Dreyer
Summer is back with a four-part look at what we should expect from this weekend's Goody's Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy is back with another interesting commentary.
Friday Fast Forward Into NASCAR's Future by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan returns with another interesting commentary piece on the Nationwide Series to tide you over while the series takes the week off.
Voices From the Heartland by TBD
We'll have a sub for our Midwestern voice turned Tennessee transplant with another interesting take on recent events.
Driver Diary: Kenny Wallace as told to Amy Henderson
Kenny Wallace returns for another edition of his noted diary. He'll discuss the past couple of weeks in the No. 09, and some other things that tickle his fancy. What are they? You'll just have to read to find out.
Formula One Fridays by Andy Hollis
Our newest writer takes some time to tackle the most popular international version of racing: Formula One. In his first column, Andy explains why F1 is the best series you might not be watching... and gives ten reasons why you should.
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TODAY'S FEEDBACK:
©2012 Frontstretch.com
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
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TODAY'S FEEDBACK:
I like your news letter, glad I signed up. I like reading the tweets. Thanks for the news, it is a good read. - Loyd Whitehead
-----------------------------©2012 Frontstretch.com
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