THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
April 16th, 2012
Volume V, Edition LXIII
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~~~~~~~~~~~
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
April 16th, 2012
Volume V, Edition LXIII
~~~~~~~~~~~
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: Biffle has Enough Bullets for Texas Win
by Jeff Wolfe
Greg Biffle wasn't sure how many bullets he would have for Jimmie Johnson. So, when he got a shot to take the lead, he didn't waste it Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway. The result was that Biffle ended up shooting the traditional shots from six shooters in Victory Lane, his first win since winning at Kansas in 2010.
Biffle took the lead for good with 30 laps to go, going low to make a pass on Johnson, who led a race-high 156 laps in front of 159,200 fans on windy night at the 1.5-mile oval.
"I said I've gotta go now or I'm never going to get it," Biffle said of his winning pass. "I figured if I got right in front of him, I could get it. I just put the throttle to the floor and prayed it was going to stick."
Biffle came into the race as the Sprint Cup points leader, but with no wins in the first six races. That's why he didn't hesitate to go for the victory when he had the chance.
"I knew I had to do it and I kept trying and trying and trying," Biffle said. "I knew the team would forgive me if I wrecked it trying to beat him so I just gave it all I had."
It was Biffle's second win at Texas and increased his points lead to 19 over Roush-Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Biffle, who has 17 career victories, thinks he will have more visits to Victory Lane this year.
"I promise you this is not our last win of the season," he said. "I'm so lucky I'm getting to drive this car right now. I'm going to drive my heart out to get some wins and put is in the Chase (for the Sprint Cup)."
Biffle and the rest of the field spent a good portion of the night chasing Johnson. The No. 48 Chevrolet, also looking for its first win of the season and the 200th Sprint Cup win for Hendrick Racing, led 156 laps, many of them in the final 234 laps, which were all under green.
But Johnson's dominance might have actually hurt him a little when it came to dealing with lapped traffic, causing him to slow a bit and givie Biffle a chance to gain ground.
"I'm definitely disappointed," Johnson said. "We had a great race car and our pit stops were amazing. A little more respect from lapped traffic, and it might have been a little different. I just got tangled up in some lapped traffic and the 16 (Biffle) made a great move and got by me. I just didn't have anything left to get him. I tried, but I ran out of grip going into Turn 3 and drilled the fence."
Johnson's scrape with the wall wasn't enough to bring out a yellow flag. In fact, there were only two yellows for 10 laps on the night in the 334 lap race, neither of which came out due to wall contact. The previous record for fewest yellows at Texas was five.
The long green flag runs also put some extra pressure on the pit crews. But that was fine with Biffle, who has a new crew chief this year in Matt Puccia along with almost all new personnel working on the car.
"The team has done a tremendous job," said Biffle, who led 90 laps Saturday. "We have all new guys except three. We have a whole new race group and new chemistry. And that lucky break, we're getting it now."
Pit road issues cost Biffle's Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards any chance at challenging for his first win of the year. Edwards had to take a drive-through penalty which put him back to 30th. He spent the rest of the race catching up and ended up in eighth.
"That is kind of fun racing like that," Edwards said of his journey back into the top-10. "I don't know what it is like to watch, but as a race car driver that is neat to run the whole race. A caution would have helped us. We had a very fast race car. An eighth-place finish after having to go to the end of the field, from the back to eighth under green, I am proud of that."
Jeff Gordon was also proud of his fourth-place finish. That's because he started 34th.
"It was nice to have everything come together tonight," said Gordon, who has had his share of tough luck this season and was 21st in the point standings going into the race. "Starting 34th, we had our work cut out for us. We had a great night. We've had this kind of car many times, but just haven't been able to get to the finish. Tonight, we did it and hopefully this is something we can build on."
The rest of the top-10 were Mark Martin in third, Kenseth in fifth, Martin Truex, Jr. in sixth, Kasey Kahne in seventh, Kevin Harvick in ninth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. tenth.
It was also the fastest race in Texas history with an average speed of 160.577 mph. That suited Biffle just fine.
"It was a great win for us," he said of Roush-Fenway's ninth Sprint Cup victory at Texas. "We've been trying so hard on the 16 team and the fans and everybody has stuck behind us. It sure is great to win like we did tonight."
Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series travels to Kansas Speedway for the STP 400. Coverage is due to start on FOX at 12:30pm EDT (11:30am EDT) on Sunday.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
Camping World Truck Series Recap: Kahne Flies in from Texas, Wins Without Practice at Rockingham
by Mike Neff
The Camping World Truck Series' inaugural visit to Rockingham Speedway was a rousing success with a crowd of 27,500 fans filling the stands. Kasey Kahne flew to Rockingham after competing in the Sprint Cup event at Texas and, after 4.5 hours of sleep, jumped behind the wheel of the No. 4 Rockwell Tools Chevrolet and led the last 46 laps of the race to score the win. James Buescher turned a 16th-place start into a second-place finish while Matt Crafton led 40 laps before settling for a third-place result. Johnny Sauter was forced to make a second pit stop on the final caution of the race due to a refueling issue, started at the rear of the field and raced his way to a fourth-place finish. Timothy Peters started the race in the third slot, led for seven caution flag laps in the middle of the race, and managed to wrangle a fifth-place finish.
Nelson Piquet, Jr. started the race on the pole and ran away from the field at the drop of the green flag. By lap 61, Piquet had lapped all but the top-10 cars and held a lead of nearly a half a lap before the caution flag flew for debris. Piquet kept the lead through pit stops, but was passed shortly after the restart by Crafton on lap 68. Piquet then battled back and regained the lead on lap 82. However, Piquet's truck was not as fast as in the first run. Crafton stayed close and retook the lead briefly on lap 108 when Piquet got loose in Turn 1.
The third caution on Lap 122 for an incident involving David Reutimann and Bryan Silas brought the leaders back to pit road for their second stop. Peters led the race back to green, but Crafton reassumed the lead on the restart. Piquet came out of the pits in fifth after making a major chassis adjustment and worked his way back to the front. Meanwhile, Kahne completed his charge up through the field when he passed Crafton to take the lead on Lap 155.
The caution flew a final time on lap 174 for debris, bringing everyone back for their final stops. Kahne easily won the race off pit road, with Piquet in second. However, Piquet was clocked at 40.08 mph in the final segment, thus earning a penalty. Piquet had to start at the tail end of the longest line on the restart and was out of contention as a result. Kahne led the final 20 green flag laps to take the win.
Piquet was very disappointed with himself after the race.
"Got caught up in some traffic and I tried to make up one of the spots in the pits," Piquet bemoaned after the race. "Somebody said I was too fast exiting the pits. Which, I don't know, happens. It is the first time I've sped since I came to NASCAR."
"The race turned out to be eerily similar," Parker Kligerman observed about his day at Rockingham. "The first half of the race we ran top three, top five the whole time. Had a great truck, especially in that third run when we were four tenths faster than the leader at the end of the run for 20 laps. I took the experience of saving the right rear on that run and sure enough it paid off with 20 laps to go."
"It is fun when your truck is as good as ours was," Sauter observed after coming through the field when he had to overcome a bad pit stop. "Proud of everybody on this Hot Honeys/Curb Records Toyota. Just couldn't kind of get the balance right all day. Just a little too tight, a little too loose, just back and forth."
The Camping World Truck Series is back in action Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway. The SFP 250 is scheduled to start at 2:00pm EDT.
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
Tracking the Chase: Biffle Back in Charge after Win; Stewart, Keselowski Tumble
by Jeff Wolfe
By winning his first Sprint Cup race of the season Saturday night at Texas, Greg Biffle reasserted control of the points lead. After going into the race with a six-point lead over Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Biffle's win now gives him a 19-point lead over Earnhardt Jr. and Roush-Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth.
Two top-tier drivers having a rough night in the points standings were Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski. Stewart finished 24th and dropped from third to seventh in the standings, while Keselowski experienced mechanical issues throughout the night and finished 36th to drop from 12th to 15th in the standings.
Two top-tier drivers who gained were Hendrick Racing teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Johnson finished second and is now up to eighth in the points, even though he has yet to win this year. Jeff Gordon saw his string of bad luck end to finish fourth and jumped from 21st to 17th. Gordon is also without a win this season.
Standings: 1) Greg Biffle 273, t-2) Matt Kenseth -19, t-2) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -19) 4) Martin Truex Jr. -20, 5) Kevin Harvick -24, 6) Denny Hamlin -31, 7) Tony Stewart -39, 8) Jimmie Johnson -40, 9) Ryan Newman -48, 10) Clint Bowyer -54, 11) Carl Edwards -58, 12) Paul Menard -81.
Wild Cards: Brad Keselowski 1 win, 15th in points; Carl Edwards 11th in points.
Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana), Brad Keselowski (Bristol), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas).
Tracking The Top 35: Reutimann's Multiple Issues Puts the No. 10 Out To Pasture
David Reutimann accomplished his mission Saturday night at Texas with no controversy. He finished 26th in the No. 10 car for Tommy Baldwin Racing, putting the car back into the top-35 in owners points and guaranteeing it a spot in Sunday's race at Kansas. The No. 10 car is slated to be driven by Danica Patrick in select races this season, so keeping the machine in the top-35 is top priority for the Stewart-Haas affiliated Tommy Baldwin Racing team. The car has a four-point lead over the 36th-place No. 33 car being driven by Tony Raines.
Living on the edge is the No. 83 car driven by Landon Cassill, which sits in the 35th spot, one point ahead of the No. 33. Also, with the No. 21 car driven by Trevor Bayne on a limited schedule, it is now 38th in points, 31 behind the No. 83, meaning Bayne will have to qualify on time.
Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff.
t-29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 19 points ahead of 36th
t-29) Front Row Motor Sports (No. 34 - David Ragan) 19 points ahead of 36th
t-31) Tommy Baldwin Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), 14 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 -Reed Sorenson), 14 points ahead of 36th.
33) BK Racing (No. 93 - Travis Kvapil), 13 points ahead of 36th.
34) Tommy Baldwin Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 - David Reutimann), 4 points ahead of 35th.
35) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 1 point ahead of 36th.
36) Richard Childress Racing/ LJ Racing (No. 33 - Tony Raines), 1 point behind 35th.
37) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 - David Stremme), 28 points behind 35th.
t-38) Robinson-Blakeney Racing (No. 49 - J.J. Yeley), 31 points behind 35th.
t-38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne) 31 points behind 35th.
40) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 40 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!
~~~~~~~~~~
UARA Late Model Recap: Corey LaJoie Wins Third Straight Race at Rockingham
by Mike Neff
Three wins in a row is impressive at any track but it is especially impressive at Rockingham where tire management is imperative and it is easy to get caught up in someone else's mess. LaJoie has managed to do both extremely well in his last three starts in the UARA series at Rockingham, and has won all three races. LaJoie didn't take the lead until the very end of the race but the only lap that pays prize money is the last one, and LaJoie was the first across the line on that lap. Ronnie Bassett Jr. spun coming out of turn four during his first qualifying lap and started shotgun on the field as a result. Through patience and smart driving Bassett managed to come home in second position. Travis Swaim led most of the race with a borrowed motor but stumbled on the last restart, due to a faulty clutch, and ended up finishing third. Tim George Jr. finished his first of two races this weekend in the fourth spot while Jake Morris managed to persevere to the final spot in the top five.
The race went green with Travis Swaim and Clay Rogers leading 25 other cars into turn one and Rogers was able to come out of turn four to the start/finish line with the lead. Rogers led a handful of laps before Swaim was able to get past him and dominate the middle portion of the event. Swaim went on to lead a race high 56 laps while Rogers was on point for 18. There were five caution flags during the event with the final caution flying during the green-white-checker finish to end the event. The first caution of the race was for a spin off of turn two just before the midway point of the race. As the field went back to green the pack bottled up heading into turn one and a fender ended up laying in the groove, which brought out the second caution. The third caution of the event was for Andy Mercer, whose engine expired in true mosquito fogging fashion. Mercer dove to the infield grass on the front straight because there were flames shooting out from the firewall. In the end the fire went out and Mercer was uninjured.
As the race went back to green, Swaim's car struggled to get up to speed, thanks to a faulty clutch, and Rogers was able to swing past and assume the lead. The penultimate caution of the race flew as Rogers lost control of his car from the lead with four laps to go in the race as he exited turn four. The spin cost him the lead and set up a green white checkered finish. As the green came out for the final time of the event, Swaim again stumbled on the start, and surrendered the lead to LaJoie. As the field came around toward the checkered flag, the cars of Rogers and Brandon Jones got together on the back stretch to bring out the final caution of the event. As soon as the caution flew the race was over and LaJoie was declared the winner.
LaJoie was reminded in the post race press conference that this was his third consecutive win in a Late Model at Rockingham. He bemused "I like to call it three for Dale", in reverence to Dale Earnhardt. "We didn't qualify well," LaJoie bemoaned. "I knew what I needed to do. I found a place to run and slowly picked off people when I had a chance. Some people fell out which helped too."
"We lost an engine yesterday and didn't get many laps on it," Swaim informed the media. "We figured out early that we didn't have a clutch so we tried to stay up front because of that." When asked about being jacked up by the cars behind him on the final two restarts, Swaim was philosophical. "Yeah, I got jacked up but you expect that with 10 to go. I would have done the same thing."
On the final restart Bassett went into the first corner on the apron and managed to make it stick when it came time to turn. When asked about it after the race "I didn't think about it when I did it," Bassett admitted. "I just stuck it in down there on the bottom and I hoped it would stick, and it did."
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
by Jeff Wolfe
Greg Biffle wasn't sure how many bullets he would have for Jimmie Johnson. So, when he got a shot to take the lead, he didn't waste it Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway. The result was that Biffle ended up shooting the traditional shots from six shooters in Victory Lane, his first win since winning at Kansas in 2010.
Biffle took the lead for good with 30 laps to go, going low to make a pass on Johnson, who led a race-high 156 laps in front of 159,200 fans on windy night at the 1.5-mile oval.
"I said I've gotta go now or I'm never going to get it," Biffle said of his winning pass. "I figured if I got right in front of him, I could get it. I just put the throttle to the floor and prayed it was going to stick."
Biffle came into the race as the Sprint Cup points leader, but with no wins in the first six races. That's why he didn't hesitate to go for the victory when he had the chance.
"I knew I had to do it and I kept trying and trying and trying," Biffle said. "I knew the team would forgive me if I wrecked it trying to beat him so I just gave it all I had."
It was Biffle's second win at Texas and increased his points lead to 19 over Roush-Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Biffle, who has 17 career victories, thinks he will have more visits to Victory Lane this year.
"I promise you this is not our last win of the season," he said. "I'm so lucky I'm getting to drive this car right now. I'm going to drive my heart out to get some wins and put is in the Chase (for the Sprint Cup)."
Biffle and the rest of the field spent a good portion of the night chasing Johnson. The No. 48 Chevrolet, also looking for its first win of the season and the 200th Sprint Cup win for Hendrick Racing, led 156 laps, many of them in the final 234 laps, which were all under green.
But Johnson's dominance might have actually hurt him a little when it came to dealing with lapped traffic, causing him to slow a bit and givie Biffle a chance to gain ground.
"I'm definitely disappointed," Johnson said. "We had a great race car and our pit stops were amazing. A little more respect from lapped traffic, and it might have been a little different. I just got tangled up in some lapped traffic and the 16 (Biffle) made a great move and got by me. I just didn't have anything left to get him. I tried, but I ran out of grip going into Turn 3 and drilled the fence."
Johnson's scrape with the wall wasn't enough to bring out a yellow flag. In fact, there were only two yellows for 10 laps on the night in the 334 lap race, neither of which came out due to wall contact. The previous record for fewest yellows at Texas was five.
The long green flag runs also put some extra pressure on the pit crews. But that was fine with Biffle, who has a new crew chief this year in Matt Puccia along with almost all new personnel working on the car.
"The team has done a tremendous job," said Biffle, who led 90 laps Saturday. "We have all new guys except three. We have a whole new race group and new chemistry. And that lucky break, we're getting it now."
Pit road issues cost Biffle's Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards any chance at challenging for his first win of the year. Edwards had to take a drive-through penalty which put him back to 30th. He spent the rest of the race catching up and ended up in eighth.
"That is kind of fun racing like that," Edwards said of his journey back into the top-10. "I don't know what it is like to watch, but as a race car driver that is neat to run the whole race. A caution would have helped us. We had a very fast race car. An eighth-place finish after having to go to the end of the field, from the back to eighth under green, I am proud of that."
Jeff Gordon was also proud of his fourth-place finish. That's because he started 34th.
"It was nice to have everything come together tonight," said Gordon, who has had his share of tough luck this season and was 21st in the point standings going into the race. "Starting 34th, we had our work cut out for us. We had a great night. We've had this kind of car many times, but just haven't been able to get to the finish. Tonight, we did it and hopefully this is something we can build on."
The rest of the top-10 were Mark Martin in third, Kenseth in fifth, Martin Truex, Jr. in sixth, Kasey Kahne in seventh, Kevin Harvick in ninth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. tenth.
It was also the fastest race in Texas history with an average speed of 160.577 mph. That suited Biffle just fine.
"It was a great win for us," he said of Roush-Fenway's ninth Sprint Cup victory at Texas. "We've been trying so hard on the 16 team and the fans and everybody has stuck behind us. It sure is great to win like we did tonight."
Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series travels to Kansas Speedway for the STP 400. Coverage is due to start on FOX at 12:30pm EDT (11:30am EDT) on Sunday.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
Camping World Truck Series Recap: Kahne Flies in from Texas, Wins Without Practice at Rockingham
by Mike Neff
The Camping World Truck Series' inaugural visit to Rockingham Speedway was a rousing success with a crowd of 27,500 fans filling the stands. Kasey Kahne flew to Rockingham after competing in the Sprint Cup event at Texas and, after 4.5 hours of sleep, jumped behind the wheel of the No. 4 Rockwell Tools Chevrolet and led the last 46 laps of the race to score the win. James Buescher turned a 16th-place start into a second-place finish while Matt Crafton led 40 laps before settling for a third-place result. Johnny Sauter was forced to make a second pit stop on the final caution of the race due to a refueling issue, started at the rear of the field and raced his way to a fourth-place finish. Timothy Peters started the race in the third slot, led for seven caution flag laps in the middle of the race, and managed to wrangle a fifth-place finish.
Nelson Piquet, Jr. started the race on the pole and ran away from the field at the drop of the green flag. By lap 61, Piquet had lapped all but the top-10 cars and held a lead of nearly a half a lap before the caution flag flew for debris. Piquet kept the lead through pit stops, but was passed shortly after the restart by Crafton on lap 68. Piquet then battled back and regained the lead on lap 82. However, Piquet's truck was not as fast as in the first run. Crafton stayed close and retook the lead briefly on lap 108 when Piquet got loose in Turn 1.
The third caution on Lap 122 for an incident involving David Reutimann and Bryan Silas brought the leaders back to pit road for their second stop. Peters led the race back to green, but Crafton reassumed the lead on the restart. Piquet came out of the pits in fifth after making a major chassis adjustment and worked his way back to the front. Meanwhile, Kahne completed his charge up through the field when he passed Crafton to take the lead on Lap 155.
The caution flew a final time on lap 174 for debris, bringing everyone back for their final stops. Kahne easily won the race off pit road, with Piquet in second. However, Piquet was clocked at 40.08 mph in the final segment, thus earning a penalty. Piquet had to start at the tail end of the longest line on the restart and was out of contention as a result. Kahne led the final 20 green flag laps to take the win.
Piquet was very disappointed with himself after the race.
"Got caught up in some traffic and I tried to make up one of the spots in the pits," Piquet bemoaned after the race. "Somebody said I was too fast exiting the pits. Which, I don't know, happens. It is the first time I've sped since I came to NASCAR."
"The race turned out to be eerily similar," Parker Kligerman observed about his day at Rockingham. "The first half of the race we ran top three, top five the whole time. Had a great truck, especially in that third run when we were four tenths faster than the leader at the end of the run for 20 laps. I took the experience of saving the right rear on that run and sure enough it paid off with 20 laps to go."
"It is fun when your truck is as good as ours was," Sauter observed after coming through the field when he had to overcome a bad pit stop. "Proud of everybody on this Hot Honeys/Curb Records Toyota. Just couldn't kind of get the balance right all day. Just a little too tight, a little too loose, just back and forth."
The Camping World Truck Series is back in action Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway. The SFP 250 is scheduled to start at 2:00pm EDT.
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
Tracking the Chase: Biffle Back in Charge after Win; Stewart, Keselowski Tumble
by Jeff Wolfe
By winning his first Sprint Cup race of the season Saturday night at Texas, Greg Biffle reasserted control of the points lead. After going into the race with a six-point lead over Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Biffle's win now gives him a 19-point lead over Earnhardt Jr. and Roush-Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth.
Two top-tier drivers having a rough night in the points standings were Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski. Stewart finished 24th and dropped from third to seventh in the standings, while Keselowski experienced mechanical issues throughout the night and finished 36th to drop from 12th to 15th in the standings.
Two top-tier drivers who gained were Hendrick Racing teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Johnson finished second and is now up to eighth in the points, even though he has yet to win this year. Jeff Gordon saw his string of bad luck end to finish fourth and jumped from 21st to 17th. Gordon is also without a win this season.
Standings: 1) Greg Biffle 273, t-2) Matt Kenseth -19, t-2) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -19) 4) Martin Truex Jr. -20, 5) Kevin Harvick -24, 6) Denny Hamlin -31, 7) Tony Stewart -39, 8) Jimmie Johnson -40, 9) Ryan Newman -48, 10) Clint Bowyer -54, 11) Carl Edwards -58, 12) Paul Menard -81.
Wild Cards: Brad Keselowski 1 win, 15th in points; Carl Edwards 11th in points.
Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana), Brad Keselowski (Bristol), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas).
Tracking The Top 35: Reutimann's Multiple Issues Puts the No. 10 Out To Pasture
David Reutimann accomplished his mission Saturday night at Texas with no controversy. He finished 26th in the No. 10 car for Tommy Baldwin Racing, putting the car back into the top-35 in owners points and guaranteeing it a spot in Sunday's race at Kansas. The No. 10 car is slated to be driven by Danica Patrick in select races this season, so keeping the machine in the top-35 is top priority for the Stewart-Haas affiliated Tommy Baldwin Racing team. The car has a four-point lead over the 36th-place No. 33 car being driven by Tony Raines.
Living on the edge is the No. 83 car driven by Landon Cassill, which sits in the 35th spot, one point ahead of the No. 33. Also, with the No. 21 car driven by Trevor Bayne on a limited schedule, it is now 38th in points, 31 behind the No. 83, meaning Bayne will have to qualify on time.
Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff.
t-29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 19 points ahead of 36th
t-29) Front Row Motor Sports (No. 34 - David Ragan) 19 points ahead of 36th
t-31) Tommy Baldwin Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), 14 points ahead of 36th.
t-31) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 -Reed Sorenson), 14 points ahead of 36th.
33) BK Racing (No. 93 - Travis Kvapil), 13 points ahead of 36th.
34) Tommy Baldwin Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 - David Reutimann), 4 points ahead of 35th.
35) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 1 point ahead of 36th.
36) Richard Childress Racing/ LJ Racing (No. 33 - Tony Raines), 1 point behind 35th.
37) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 - David Stremme), 28 points behind 35th.
t-38) Robinson-Blakeney Racing (No. 49 - J.J. Yeley), 31 points behind 35th.
t-38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne) 31 points behind 35th.
40) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 40 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
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!
~~~~~~~~~~
UARA Late Model Recap: Corey LaJoie Wins Third Straight Race at Rockingham
by Mike Neff
Three wins in a row is impressive at any track but it is especially impressive at Rockingham where tire management is imperative and it is easy to get caught up in someone else's mess. LaJoie has managed to do both extremely well in his last three starts in the UARA series at Rockingham, and has won all three races. LaJoie didn't take the lead until the very end of the race but the only lap that pays prize money is the last one, and LaJoie was the first across the line on that lap. Ronnie Bassett Jr. spun coming out of turn four during his first qualifying lap and started shotgun on the field as a result. Through patience and smart driving Bassett managed to come home in second position. Travis Swaim led most of the race with a borrowed motor but stumbled on the last restart, due to a faulty clutch, and ended up finishing third. Tim George Jr. finished his first of two races this weekend in the fourth spot while Jake Morris managed to persevere to the final spot in the top five.
The race went green with Travis Swaim and Clay Rogers leading 25 other cars into turn one and Rogers was able to come out of turn four to the start/finish line with the lead. Rogers led a handful of laps before Swaim was able to get past him and dominate the middle portion of the event. Swaim went on to lead a race high 56 laps while Rogers was on point for 18. There were five caution flags during the event with the final caution flying during the green-white-checker finish to end the event. The first caution of the race was for a spin off of turn two just before the midway point of the race. As the field went back to green the pack bottled up heading into turn one and a fender ended up laying in the groove, which brought out the second caution. The third caution of the event was for Andy Mercer, whose engine expired in true mosquito fogging fashion. Mercer dove to the infield grass on the front straight because there were flames shooting out from the firewall. In the end the fire went out and Mercer was uninjured.
As the race went back to green, Swaim's car struggled to get up to speed, thanks to a faulty clutch, and Rogers was able to swing past and assume the lead. The penultimate caution of the race flew as Rogers lost control of his car from the lead with four laps to go in the race as he exited turn four. The spin cost him the lead and set up a green white checkered finish. As the green came out for the final time of the event, Swaim again stumbled on the start, and surrendered the lead to LaJoie. As the field came around toward the checkered flag, the cars of Rogers and Brandon Jones got together on the back stretch to bring out the final caution of the event. As soon as the caution flew the race was over and LaJoie was declared the winner.
LaJoie was reminded in the post race press conference that this was his third consecutive win in a Late Model at Rockingham. He bemused "I like to call it three for Dale", in reverence to Dale Earnhardt. "We didn't qualify well," LaJoie bemoaned. "I knew what I needed to do. I found a place to run and slowly picked off people when I had a chance. Some people fell out which helped too."
"We lost an engine yesterday and didn't get many laps on it," Swaim informed the media. "We figured out early that we didn't have a clutch so we tried to stay up front because of that." When asked about being jacked up by the cars behind him on the final two restarts, Swaim was philosophical. "Yeah, I got jacked up but you expect that with 10 to go. I would have done the same thing."
On the final restart Bassett went into the first corner on the apron and managed to make it stick when it came time to turn. When asked about it after the race "I didn't think about it when I did it," Bassett admitted. "I just stuck it in down there on the bottom and I hoped it would stick, and it did."
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
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Secret Star Of The Race: The Best Run You Never Saw
For some, a seventh-place finish would be a drop in the bucket towards an almost certain spot in the Chase. For Kasey Kahne? It keeps a driver on the sport's richest team from having to qualify for the next race on speed. That's how bad a season it's been for the No. 5 car, but after seemingly everything that can go wrong, did go wrong during the first six races this struggling team finally battled back from adversity in the seventh.
What were the obstacles this time? A loose condition caused Kahne to drop like a rock within the first 100 miles, wasting his top-5 starting spot. Next, there was a pit stop gone awry when Bobby Labonte overshot his pit in front of Kahne, costing the team at least an additional ten seconds to get back up to speed.
"I really don't know what the No. 47 was thinking," Kahne explained, critical of the 2000 Cup Series champ. "I am getting ready to take off and he is coming in. He overshot the pit because he knew I was getting ready to take off. So, he overshot his own pit. Between him and his crew chief I don't know what they were thinking. As soon as I saw his guys jump off the wall, I just hit the brakes and got super lucky. We could have torn the right-front up."
That would have been par for the course this season; except this time, Kahne kept all four fenders intact. This time, the team got the car better over the course of long, green-flag runs instead of making it worse. And this time, Kahne – who played the role of cheerleader on the radio – found himself with one of the faster cars as the race wound down, sneaking back into the top 10 after falling to as low as 20th to score his season best result. Victory Lane, it's not, but after more DNFs in six races most Hendrick teams take two years to accumulate it's a much-needed step in the right direction.
"It's nice to put a full race together and have to go through a lot of adversity through the race and still get a good finish," he explained. "I'm not pleased yet, but it was good. We have some work to do."
Considering the 89-point gap between Kahne and tenth place in points, that part's hard to disagree with. Small steps… – Tom Bowles
Secret Star Of The Race: The Best Run You Never Saw
For some, a seventh-place finish would be a drop in the bucket towards an almost certain spot in the Chase. For Kasey Kahne? It keeps a driver on the sport's richest team from having to qualify for the next race on speed. That's how bad a season it's been for the No. 5 car, but after seemingly everything that can go wrong, did go wrong during the first six races this struggling team finally battled back from adversity in the seventh.
What were the obstacles this time? A loose condition caused Kahne to drop like a rock within the first 100 miles, wasting his top-5 starting spot. Next, there was a pit stop gone awry when Bobby Labonte overshot his pit in front of Kahne, costing the team at least an additional ten seconds to get back up to speed.
"I really don't know what the No. 47 was thinking," Kahne explained, critical of the 2000 Cup Series champ. "I am getting ready to take off and he is coming in. He overshot the pit because he knew I was getting ready to take off. So, he overshot his own pit. Between him and his crew chief I don't know what they were thinking. As soon as I saw his guys jump off the wall, I just hit the brakes and got super lucky. We could have torn the right-front up."
That would have been par for the course this season; except this time, Kahne kept all four fenders intact. This time, the team got the car better over the course of long, green-flag runs instead of making it worse. And this time, Kahne – who played the role of cheerleader on the radio – found himself with one of the faster cars as the race wound down, sneaking back into the top 10 after falling to as low as 20th to score his season best result. Victory Lane, it's not, but after more DNFs in six races most Hendrick teams take two years to accumulate it's a much-needed step in the right direction.
"It's nice to put a full race together and have to go through a lot of adversity through the race and still get a good finish," he explained. "I'm not pleased yet, but it was good. We have some work to do."
Considering the 89-point gap between Kahne and tenth place in points, that part's hard to disagree with. Small steps… – Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 20th. That's where Mark Martin sits in the standings, 103 points out of the top spot despite missing two of the seven races this season. How good is this 53-year-old running? He'd be on pace to stay there despite a _partial_ schedule that will only see him run 18 of 26 events. If we see Martin stay consistent over the next few months, could we see him actually contend for the postseason? And if some miracle does happen, would he run all ten in the Chase? Who knows how long the No. 55 team can keep this up, but it's a fascinating story to watch if this "old man" somehow pulls into Victory Lane.. – Tom Bowles
~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Texas-1 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
The Big Six: Questions Answered After The Samsung Mobile 500
by Amy Henderson
Izod IndyCar Series Race Recap: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
by Phil Allaway
Pace Laps: NASCAR Goose Eggs, Rookie Sensations, And Rockingham Reactions
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Ron Lemasters
Red Horse Racing An Eventful Microcosm of NASCAR's Return to the Rock
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking the Trucks: Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200
by Nick Schwartz
Red Horse Racing An Eventful Microcosm of NASCAR's Return to the Rock
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking the Trucks: Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200
by Nick Schwartz
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 2004, Martin Truex, Jr. entered Kansas with a 152-point lead over Kyle Busch in the Busch Series standings. However, his day was effectively over before it started. What happened?
Q: In 2004, Martin Truex, Jr. entered Kansas with a 152-point lead over Kyle Busch in the Busch Series standings. However, his day was effectively over before it started. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: Building upon the questions from the last two days, the Texas 500 in 1998 proved to be a very painful race for Mike Skinner. What happened that ultimately put him out of action for three weeks?
A: Skinner hit the wall exiting Turn 4 after blowing a right front tire and rode the concrete wall almost to the start-finish line. It was a very hard hit and Skinner appeared to be dazed when he got out of the car, while also clutching his ribs. He was already driving hurt after taking a hard hit at Atlanta a few weeks earlier. The incident, which occurred during a CBS commercial break, can be seen in this clip. As a result of his injuries, Skinner sat out the next three races. Morgan Shepherd drove the No. 31 at Martinsville and Talladega, while Mike Dillon (Austin and Ty's father) was tapped to make what turned out to be his only Cup start at then-California Speedway before Skinner returned at Richmond.
Coming Tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Kevin Rutherford
-- Sitting In the Stands: A Fan's View by S.D. Grady
This week's topic: Checking Out the ACT Tour at Lee USA Speedway
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Coming Tomorrow On The Frontstretch:
5 Points To Ponder by Bryan Keith
Bryan, back from Rockingham has plenty of storylines he collected that'll have you thinking hard about racing this Tuesday.
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup by StarCoach Race Tours: Texas-Kansas Edition by Brett Poirier
With seven races in the books, Brett looks at what trends are developing in NASCAR's two top series and which drivers are doing great, and who simply aren't.
Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series raced at Texas Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, the Camping World Truck Series made their first-ever trip to Rockingham Speedway. 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.
Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles
Tom has his take on Saturday night's action in Texas.
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