THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 12th, 2012
Volume V, Edition XXXVI
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~~~~~~~~~~~
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 12th, 2012
Volume V, Edition XXXVI
~~~~~~~~~~~
ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com for details.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Stewart Smokes The Field In Las Vegas
by Jeff Wolfe
One saying in auto racing is that it doesn't matter where you start, but where you finish.
Tony Stewart put a bit of twist on that Sunday with his NASCAR Sprint Cup win at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was the defending champion's restarts that put him where he wanted to finish, his first victory of the season and first at Las Vegas earned through several tense late-race battles coming to the green.
"Every time the caution came out, you cringed knowing you were giving them another opportunity to take a shot," Stewart said of his 41st career victory. "It seemed like everybody got their turn at it. It was just [a] different person on each restart that we had to hold off."
Stewart used a quick getaway four times in the last 58 laps to clear the field and hang on to the lead. The most notable restart was with 34 laps to go. While almost all of the lead lap cars came into the pits for fuel-only stops, Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski each decided to gamble on fuel. So, with Stewart on the inside of the second row for that restart, he went below the white line to pass the two leaders and take the top spot for good.
"It was nice to be on the inside," he said. "We had a lot of real estate down there. We almost got too good a restart because I got such a good run on Brad. Knowing we can't pull out 'till we cross the start/finish line, I almost got to him too quick. If we would have got there a foot earlier, I was going to have to check up and we probably wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to get underneath him like that."
Stewart's final restart came with four laps to go with Jimmie Johnson as the chief challenger. As he had done on the other restarts, Stewart chose the low side of the double-file line to get an edge. Adding in some of the sprint and midget car tactics he learned in his early days of racing, that allowed "Smoke" to get the jump on the field.
"Our car was so, so strong today on restarts," he said. "We could get to the start/finish line and get to turn one so good today, that was a big key in holding these guys off. It seemed like we were a little bit weaker than the guys behind us for the first three laps. Then the next three laps, we would break even. After six or seven laps, we would start pulling away."
Johnson challenged Stewart on the first lap of that final restart, but couldn't get past him. After that, Stewart opened up about a three-car gap on the way to the win.
"The last two restarts, the second to the last, I just blew it," Johnson said. "He got away from me. The last start, I felt like I got a good one. He still cruised away. My only chance was to be at his outside through one and two. I didn't have that opportunity. He had the lane at that point. Drove my guts out, but just didn't get it done."
Just getting a win was a bit of redemption for Stewart in a couple of ways. It was at this race last year where Stewart led 163 of the 267 laps only to finish second because of late-race strategy by then-crew chief Darian Grubb. Of course, the No. 14 team recovered and went on to win five of the last ten races to capture his third title. But Stewart had already decided early in the Chase that he was going to part ways with Grubb, and kept his word.
That left for a bit of an awkward situation, with the team owner/championship driver firing the championship crew chief. Stewart brought in veteran crew chief Steve Addington to replace Grubb, but Grubb and new driver Denny Hamlin won at Phoenix last week, bringing the change into question again.
Not anymore.
"It was a tough decision to leave with Darian," Stewart said. "From day one, we told Steve that we had an awesome scenario at the end of the year, winning the championship. I guess it's easy for us to not feel that pressure from our side. You understand why the pressure - that Steve puts the pressure on himself in that scenario. We told him from day one we're going to go have fun, race hard, take what it gives us."
"Today was more a day for me personally of winning at a track I haven't won at. For Steve, it's getting that first points win for us."
But Stewart said he was happy for Grubb and Hamlin last week.
"I think it was a pretty cool two weeks," he said. "I was really happy for Darian last week to get that win. I know it was a tough scenario for us to part ways at the end of the year. It was neat to see him and Denny get a win last week. It's neat to see me and Steve get a win this week. Hopefully it will calm everybody down and get back to the task at hand. I'm glad both teams have come out strong like this."
Behind Stewart and Johnson was Greg Biffle in third. Biffle, who leads the points (see below) already has as many top-5 finishes as he had throughout all of 2011. Ryan Newman was fourth, while Carl Edwards rounded out the top-5 drivers.
Clint Bowyer held on to finish sixth, while Paul Menard was seventh. Jamie McMurray was eighth, while Trevor Bayne and Earnhardt, Jr. completed this week's top-10. For all those drivers, one of the keys to running strong Sunday was to find a way to get out front into clean air. That's a big reason the restarts were so important, as passing quickly became difficult for these Sprint Cup cars that seem to struggle in traffic on intermediates.
"As time goes on, the sport evolves, technology gets closer and closer, the rules get closer and closer, that's a variable that's free, is air," Stewart said. "If you can get out front and get in clean air, it's always going to be an advantage. It's been that way in Formula One, IndyCar, sports car racing."
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took advantage of that clean air early on. He led 65 of the first 68 laps and was relatively unchallenged. But when crew chief Steve Letarte decided to go with four tires and a big chunk of the field took two tires on pit stops after a caution on lap 72, Junior came out in 16th place and never led again.
"When were fast and leading the race, the car was really tight," said Earnhardt Jr., who led just 52 laps in all of the 2011 season and has now not won in 132 races. "The track sort of went past us as far as the handling goes. I didn't keep up with the track. I should have given Steve a little more information. If we keep doing that every week, we'll be right there. We're gonna keep trying."
Eight cautions slowed the field for 33 laps, but just three were for accidents. Kurt Busch's was the most serious; his wreck on Lap 256 ended the day for the No. 51 and led to conflicting reports over Busch throwing a water bottle and insulting a female media member outside the racetrack. There remained a lack of clarity over the whole ordeal at press time, as other, unconfirmed reports surfaced Busch lashed out at Las Vegas employees at the Infield Care Center.
The next race for the Sprint Cup Series is Bristol on Sunday, March 18th.
Jeff Wolfe is a New Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
Tracking the Chase: Biffle Assumes the Lead, While Johnson Jumps
by Jeff Wolfe
Here's a look at the winners and losers when it comes to making the top 12 to reach NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup, the final ten races of the season. Remember, the 11th and 12th positions will go to the drivers with the most wins who are in the top-20 in points...
The Big Gainers: The biggest names were the biggest winners in the points race Sunday. Race winner Tony Stewart jumped from a tie for 12th to seventh, teammate Ryan Newman jumped from 18th to 13th, and Jimmie Johnson jumped from 37th to 23rd with his second-place finish. Johnson is now 26 points behind 12th-place Kyle Busch and 36 points behind tenth-place Mark Martin in the standings.
False Positive: Yes, Martin is sitting in tenth, but is only scheduled to drive 26 races this season. His first race off is scheduled to be at Bristol this coming weekend; Brian Vickers is expected to sub.
Biggest Losers: A late-race mechanical issue turned Brad Keselowski from a contender to win into a 32nd-place finisher. That dropped him nine spots to 21st in the standings, part of a 1-2 disappointment for Penske as A.J. Allmendinger also sits well outside the top 20.
New Points Leader: Greg Biffle moved up one place to take the points lead with his third-place finish on Sunday. Biffle unseats Denny Hamlin, who dropped to third in the standings after a subpar 20th-place run.
Top-12 Standings: 1) Greg Biffle 125, 2) Kevin Harvick -10, 3) Denny Hamlin -12, 4) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -18, t-5) Matt Kenseth -23, t-5) Carl Edwards -23, 7) Tony Stewart -25, t-8) Martin Truex, Jr. -27, t-8) Joey Logano -27, 10) Mark Martin -28, 11) Paul Menard -36, 12) Kyle Busch -38.
Race winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas)
Tracking The Top 35: Tough Times Ahead
The top 35 owners in Sprint Cup are guaranteed a starting spot each week; but remember, for the first five races 2011 points are used. Who's in jeopardy of falling out once those 2012 points kick in? Let's take a look:
Lucky 13? The car driven by Casey Mears sits in 35th place with 41 points. Mears had another tough afternoon on Sunday, making an unscheduled stop less than ten laps into the race and never recovering. Mears brought the No. 13 home in 27th, three laps down.
Trevor's time: Trevor Bayne finished ninth to jump the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford from 43rd to 31st. However, Bayne is only scheduled to run 17 races this season, so it's unlikely he'll hold onto the "locked in" spot once Martinsville comes around the end of the month (when 2012 points are first used).
Here's a rundown of who is flirting with that 35th spot:
30) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 6 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 5 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) Phoenix Racing (No. 51 - Kurt Busch), 5 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) Penske Racing (No. 22 - A.J. Allmendinger), 5 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) Richard Childress Racing (No. 33 - Brendan Gaughan), 5 points ahead of 36th.
35) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), 2 points ahead of 36th.
36) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 2 points behind 35th.
37) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 - David Stremme), 3 points behind 35th.
38) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 6 points behind 35th.
t-39) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 10 - David Reutimann), 14 points behind 35th.
t-39) Roush Fenway Racing (No. 6 - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.), 14 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
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Secret Star of the Race: The Run You Never Saw
– Tom Bowles
He's at it again. For much of his career, Paul Menard has been an intermediate track specialist and on Sunday, he didn't disappoint in Sin City. A seventh-place finish, as quiet as it was consistent put the driver of the No. 27 Chevy 11th in the Sprint Cup standings and gave him a second top-10 finish already this season. Sure, two-tire stops certainly helped but it was the driver who persevered through a setup that was less than ideal down the stretch at Las Vegas.
"The sun kind of went in and out with the clouds a little bit; you could definitely tell the balance change with that," he said of a racetrack that was weather-sensitive. "When the sun was out, it got really pushy and pushy-loose in (Turns) 3 and 4 and when the clouds came back, it was OK. About three-quarters of the race, we kind of hit a wall, had to make another [pit road] gamble and was able to drive up there the last couple of restarts."
With the strong start, can Menard keep the good vibes going during the short track portion of the schedule? In 2011, that was a breakthrough specialty for him and a repeat performance could prove the Midwestern native is serious about making the Chase. Not a bad recovery, too, considering he and good friend Regan Smith were involved in a car accident just days before heading to Sin City (both drivers were sore but otherwise OK). - Tom Bowles
by Jeff Wolfe
One saying in auto racing is that it doesn't matter where you start, but where you finish.
Tony Stewart put a bit of twist on that Sunday with his NASCAR Sprint Cup win at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was the defending champion's restarts that put him where he wanted to finish, his first victory of the season and first at Las Vegas earned through several tense late-race battles coming to the green.
"Every time the caution came out, you cringed knowing you were giving them another opportunity to take a shot," Stewart said of his 41st career victory. "It seemed like everybody got their turn at it. It was just [a] different person on each restart that we had to hold off."
Stewart used a quick getaway four times in the last 58 laps to clear the field and hang on to the lead. The most notable restart was with 34 laps to go. While almost all of the lead lap cars came into the pits for fuel-only stops, Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski each decided to gamble on fuel. So, with Stewart on the inside of the second row for that restart, he went below the white line to pass the two leaders and take the top spot for good.
"It was nice to be on the inside," he said. "We had a lot of real estate down there. We almost got too good a restart because I got such a good run on Brad. Knowing we can't pull out 'till we cross the start/finish line, I almost got to him too quick. If we would have got there a foot earlier, I was going to have to check up and we probably wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to get underneath him like that."
Stewart's final restart came with four laps to go with Jimmie Johnson as the chief challenger. As he had done on the other restarts, Stewart chose the low side of the double-file line to get an edge. Adding in some of the sprint and midget car tactics he learned in his early days of racing, that allowed "Smoke" to get the jump on the field.
"Our car was so, so strong today on restarts," he said. "We could get to the start/finish line and get to turn one so good today, that was a big key in holding these guys off. It seemed like we were a little bit weaker than the guys behind us for the first three laps. Then the next three laps, we would break even. After six or seven laps, we would start pulling away."
Johnson challenged Stewart on the first lap of that final restart, but couldn't get past him. After that, Stewart opened up about a three-car gap on the way to the win.
"The last two restarts, the second to the last, I just blew it," Johnson said. "He got away from me. The last start, I felt like I got a good one. He still cruised away. My only chance was to be at his outside through one and two. I didn't have that opportunity. He had the lane at that point. Drove my guts out, but just didn't get it done."
Just getting a win was a bit of redemption for Stewart in a couple of ways. It was at this race last year where Stewart led 163 of the 267 laps only to finish second because of late-race strategy by then-crew chief Darian Grubb. Of course, the No. 14 team recovered and went on to win five of the last ten races to capture his third title. But Stewart had already decided early in the Chase that he was going to part ways with Grubb, and kept his word.
That left for a bit of an awkward situation, with the team owner/championship driver firing the championship crew chief. Stewart brought in veteran crew chief Steve Addington to replace Grubb, but Grubb and new driver Denny Hamlin won at Phoenix last week, bringing the change into question again.
Not anymore.
"It was a tough decision to leave with Darian," Stewart said. "From day one, we told Steve that we had an awesome scenario at the end of the year, winning the championship. I guess it's easy for us to not feel that pressure from our side. You understand why the pressure - that Steve puts the pressure on himself in that scenario. We told him from day one we're going to go have fun, race hard, take what it gives us."
"Today was more a day for me personally of winning at a track I haven't won at. For Steve, it's getting that first points win for us."
But Stewart said he was happy for Grubb and Hamlin last week.
"I think it was a pretty cool two weeks," he said. "I was really happy for Darian last week to get that win. I know it was a tough scenario for us to part ways at the end of the year. It was neat to see him and Denny get a win last week. It's neat to see me and Steve get a win this week. Hopefully it will calm everybody down and get back to the task at hand. I'm glad both teams have come out strong like this."
Behind Stewart and Johnson was Greg Biffle in third. Biffle, who leads the points (see below) already has as many top-5 finishes as he had throughout all of 2011. Ryan Newman was fourth, while Carl Edwards rounded out the top-5 drivers.
Clint Bowyer held on to finish sixth, while Paul Menard was seventh. Jamie McMurray was eighth, while Trevor Bayne and Earnhardt, Jr. completed this week's top-10. For all those drivers, one of the keys to running strong Sunday was to find a way to get out front into clean air. That's a big reason the restarts were so important, as passing quickly became difficult for these Sprint Cup cars that seem to struggle in traffic on intermediates.
"As time goes on, the sport evolves, technology gets closer and closer, the rules get closer and closer, that's a variable that's free, is air," Stewart said. "If you can get out front and get in clean air, it's always going to be an advantage. It's been that way in Formula One, IndyCar, sports car racing."
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took advantage of that clean air early on. He led 65 of the first 68 laps and was relatively unchallenged. But when crew chief Steve Letarte decided to go with four tires and a big chunk of the field took two tires on pit stops after a caution on lap 72, Junior came out in 16th place and never led again.
"When were fast and leading the race, the car was really tight," said Earnhardt Jr., who led just 52 laps in all of the 2011 season and has now not won in 132 races. "The track sort of went past us as far as the handling goes. I didn't keep up with the track. I should have given Steve a little more information. If we keep doing that every week, we'll be right there. We're gonna keep trying."
Eight cautions slowed the field for 33 laps, but just three were for accidents. Kurt Busch's was the most serious; his wreck on Lap 256 ended the day for the No. 51 and led to conflicting reports over Busch throwing a water bottle and insulting a female media member outside the racetrack. There remained a lack of clarity over the whole ordeal at press time, as other, unconfirmed reports surfaced Busch lashed out at Las Vegas employees at the Infield Care Center.
The next race for the Sprint Cup Series is Bristol on Sunday, March 18th.
Jeff Wolfe is a New Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
Tracking the Chase: Biffle Assumes the Lead, While Johnson Jumps
by Jeff Wolfe
Here's a look at the winners and losers when it comes to making the top 12 to reach NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup, the final ten races of the season. Remember, the 11th and 12th positions will go to the drivers with the most wins who are in the top-20 in points...
The Big Gainers: The biggest names were the biggest winners in the points race Sunday. Race winner Tony Stewart jumped from a tie for 12th to seventh, teammate Ryan Newman jumped from 18th to 13th, and Jimmie Johnson jumped from 37th to 23rd with his second-place finish. Johnson is now 26 points behind 12th-place Kyle Busch and 36 points behind tenth-place Mark Martin in the standings.
False Positive: Yes, Martin is sitting in tenth, but is only scheduled to drive 26 races this season. His first race off is scheduled to be at Bristol this coming weekend; Brian Vickers is expected to sub.
Biggest Losers: A late-race mechanical issue turned Brad Keselowski from a contender to win into a 32nd-place finisher. That dropped him nine spots to 21st in the standings, part of a 1-2 disappointment for Penske as A.J. Allmendinger also sits well outside the top 20.
New Points Leader: Greg Biffle moved up one place to take the points lead with his third-place finish on Sunday. Biffle unseats Denny Hamlin, who dropped to third in the standings after a subpar 20th-place run.
Top-12 Standings: 1) Greg Biffle 125, 2) Kevin Harvick -10, 3) Denny Hamlin -12, 4) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -18, t-5) Matt Kenseth -23, t-5) Carl Edwards -23, 7) Tony Stewart -25, t-8) Martin Truex, Jr. -27, t-8) Joey Logano -27, 10) Mark Martin -28, 11) Paul Menard -36, 12) Kyle Busch -38.
Race winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas)
Tracking The Top 35: Tough Times Ahead
The top 35 owners in Sprint Cup are guaranteed a starting spot each week; but remember, for the first five races 2011 points are used. Who's in jeopardy of falling out once those 2012 points kick in? Let's take a look:
Lucky 13? The car driven by Casey Mears sits in 35th place with 41 points. Mears had another tough afternoon on Sunday, making an unscheduled stop less than ten laps into the race and never recovering. Mears brought the No. 13 home in 27th, three laps down.
Trevor's time: Trevor Bayne finished ninth to jump the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford from 43rd to 31st. However, Bayne is only scheduled to run 17 races this season, so it's unlikely he'll hold onto the "locked in" spot once Martinsville comes around the end of the month (when 2012 points are first used).
Here's a rundown of who is flirting with that 35th spot:
30) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 6 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 5 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) Phoenix Racing (No. 51 - Kurt Busch), 5 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) Penske Racing (No. 22 - A.J. Allmendinger), 5 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) Richard Childress Racing (No. 33 - Brendan Gaughan), 5 points ahead of 36th.
35) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), 2 points ahead of 36th.
36) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 2 points behind 35th.
37) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 - David Stremme), 3 points behind 35th.
38) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 6 points behind 35th.
t-39) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 10 - David Reutimann), 14 points behind 35th.
t-39) Roush Fenway Racing (No. 6 - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.), 14 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
~~~~~~~~~~
Secret Star of the Race: The Run You Never Saw
– Tom Bowles
He's at it again. For much of his career, Paul Menard has been an intermediate track specialist and on Sunday, he didn't disappoint in Sin City. A seventh-place finish, as quiet as it was consistent put the driver of the No. 27 Chevy 11th in the Sprint Cup standings and gave him a second top-10 finish already this season. Sure, two-tire stops certainly helped but it was the driver who persevered through a setup that was less than ideal down the stretch at Las Vegas.
"The sun kind of went in and out with the clouds a little bit; you could definitely tell the balance change with that," he said of a racetrack that was weather-sensitive. "When the sun was out, it got really pushy and pushy-loose in (Turns) 3 and 4 and when the clouds came back, it was OK. About three-quarters of the race, we kind of hit a wall, had to make another [pit road] gamble and was able to drive up there the last couple of restarts."
With the strong start, can Menard keep the good vibes going during the short track portion of the schedule? In 2011, that was a breakthrough specialty for him and a repeat performance could prove the Midwestern native is serious about making the Chase. Not a bad recovery, too, considering he and good friend Regan Smith were involved in a car accident just days before heading to Sin City (both drivers were sore but otherwise OK). - Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 3. Ready to play this number in Vegas? Greg Biffle has three consecutive third-place finishes to put him atop the Sprint Cup points. Entering the 2012 season, Biffle had accomplished this feat (three straight top-5s) in his Cup career exactly three other times, the last coming in September/October of 2008: about three 1/2 years ago. And how many RFR cars made contact down the stretch today? 1... 2... OK, that's hokey enough. Think maybe RCR would number swap so Biff could run the No. 33 the rest of the season? – Tom Bowles
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Sunday Quotes To Remember
compiled by the Frontstretch Staff
Here's what some of your favorites were saying after the Kobalt Tools 400:
"If we could have had clean air most of the day, we would have been better, and not having had to fight so hard. We peaked at the right time because we finished fourth and that was the highest we ran all day." - Ryan Newman
"I don't know if Matt was outside of me. They told me that Matt had a run at the top and Carl was inside of me and drifting up. I was just holding my line because I didn't know if Matt was above me and I don't know what happened. I don't know if the 17 wrecked or had a problem or anything. I hope I didn't run him up high. It didn't appear he was out there, so hopefully I didn't." - Greg Biffle, third, on contact between the Roush Fenway cars on the final restart
"I honestly don't really know. Carl just laid back and got by me three-wide and then it just didn't seem like there was a lot of room getting into one. And then I did get clear behind him and he just stopped in the middle of the corner. I don't really know what happened. I got into him a little bit and then I don't know if I got the air pulled off on the right side or what happened. I thought I got a good start. I was right with Tony. I didn't lay back on Tony. They always do that at the end. You've got to be ready for that, so I don't really know what I did up there." - Matt Kenseth's version of the contact that caused him to wreck and wind up 22nd
"Matt spun his tires a little bit and I got a run on him, and then Greg and I went around him and he ended up getting wrecked. I feel terrible. He did a really good job. The whole Roush Fenway team did a good job and at the end it was nice to have three cars up there with a shot at the win. It was a fun race. It's just a really fun race track, so, hopefully, we can go to Bristol and have a good run there." - Carl Edwards' version of the contact (finished 5th)
"[Jamie McMurray] showed up this morning and he was sick. I don't think he slept last night. He hasn't eaten. So, for Jamie to come through like he did for us today was really big like he didn't want to talk on the radio and you know when you're not feeling good, you don't want nothing. And so, he could barely talk after the race. He just had to go, you know?" - crew chief Kevin "Bono" on the No. 1 team's eighth-place finish
"Personally, yeah, I don't have a problem with Mark [Martin] and have so much respect for him. But to me, personally, there is an unwritten etiquette that when the guy is running the top even if you are clearing him or passing him... if you barely clear him off the corner... I'm coming ten miles an hour faster off the top of the racetrack, you stay low. Don't knock a half second off my lap time being a jerk about it. Stay low. You are going to get it in the next corner and the position is going to be yours. Don't pull up in front of somebody when they are going to come off the corner ten miles an hour faster."
"I didn't really mean to put him in the wall but from the cosmetic standpoint, it didn't look like it hurt his car. Probably looked like it knocked some of the right front suspension off of it, and I am sorry about that. But, you know I felt like I was pretty frustrated at the moment before that happened, and that just kind of really sent me over the edge there. We just want to win really bad and felt like we should have finished better than we did today and I was just frustrated at that point and that is just not the way that I understand it to be done and I am sure he feels a different way about it but I think we definitely disagreed right there at that moment." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished 10th on his late-race dustup with Mark Martin
"Our car -- we didn't have very much speed in it when we got here. Usually we can make up a little bit in the race -- we just stayed two-, three-tenths off pretty much all day. Even when the balance wasn't too bad, we were just fighting speed. Guys were just driving around us. We have to go back and analyze it and think about the things we need to work on at these big tracks." - Denny Hamlin, finished 20th
"We started in the back and we were able to move up through the field at the start. We ended up taking four tires on our second stop when everyone else took two and lost our track position. Then we got into the oil from the 93 (Travis Kvapil) car blowing up and I got into the fence. Between that and not being able to keep up with the way the track changed, we just couldn't end up recovering from losing the track position. Just a long and frustrating day." - Kyle Busch, finished 23rd
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Las Vegas Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Kobalt Tools 400
by Amy Henderson
The Right Stuff...For Smoke
by Ron Lemasters
Pace Laps Week 4: Bayne's Bad Break, Sin City Sins And From Mobile To Morris
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Tom Bowles
by Bryan Keith
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The 2004 Sharpie Professional 250 was just another one of those Bristol races full of angry drivers. Martin Truex, Jr. won his first career Busch race, but the finish was overshadowed by a controversial crash at the end of the event. What happened?
Q: The 2004 Sharpie Professional 250 was just another one of those Bristol races full of angry drivers. Martin Truex, Jr. won his first career Busch race, but the finish was overshadowed by a controversial crash at the end of the event. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: Today, Curtis Key owns an underfunded Nationwide Series team that fields three start-and-park entries in order to allow for one car to race full distances. In 1997, he was the owner of the No. 11 Ford driven by Goody's Dash Series graduate Jimmy Foster and sponsored by a combination of Speedvision (now SPEED) and the Outdoor Life Network (now the NBC Sports Network). In Las Vegas, the 20-year old Foster only lasted 35 laps before calling it a day. What happened?
A: In what was unfortunately the norm for Foster in his all too brief Busch Grand National career (of his 16 career starts, out of 21 attempts, he failed to finish ten, and eight of those DNF's were due to wrecks). Losing control on-track, he spun and backed his No. 11 Ford into the Turn 4 wall. Foster was able to drive the car to the garage, but it was damaged too heavily to continue. Foster was credited with a 40th-place finish, ahead of only Doug Taylor and Ed Spencer III, who both S&P'ed second entries for Specialty Racing and Spencer Motor Ventures, respectively. No replays were shown of Foster's crash on TNN's telecast.
Coming Tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Kevin Rutherford
-- Sitting In the Stands: A Fan's View by S.D. Grady
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Coming Tomorrow On The Frontstretch:
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny returns with another thoughtful commentary looking ahead to Bristol.
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup by StarCoach Race Tours: Las Vegas-Bristol Edition by Brett Poirier
With three races in the books, Brett looks at what trends are developing in NASCAR's two top series and which drivers are sizzling hot to start the season... while others are still stuck as if it never began.
Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan is back with his weekly edition of talking points to tie up the Las Vegas weekend and get us set for the first short track raceof the season.
Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series stayed out west to race in Las Vegas. Were the race telecasts for these events up to snuff? Find out in this week's edition of the TV Critique.
This year, we have an interesting new weekly feature for our readers where we'll have a special guest stop by on a weekly basis to discuss the technical aspects of our sport. Find out who and what by checking out this column tomorrow.
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