Monday, May 14, 2012

The Frontstretch Newsletter: BREAKING NEWS: Kenseth Sponsor

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 14th, 2012
Volume V, Edition LXXXV
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BREAKING: New Sponsor, No Number Change For Kenseth

Matt Kenseth has a new backer for Saturday night's All-Star Race at Charlotte. Fifth Third Bank announced a sponsorship deal with the No. 17 Ford on Monday, becoming the primary sponsor for NASCAR's primary exhibition race and three additional Sprint Cup events this season: Kentucky, Indianapolis, and the August Michigan race. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the new "numbers" sponsoring the car will not cause a number change as had been previously rumored.

The organization remains hopeful that with another part-time primary stepping up to the plate, one of these companies will step up and expand their support to the majority of Kenseth's 36 races in 2013. So far this season, the No. 17 has had a plethora of primaries since losing Crown Royal for good at the end of the 2011 season. Best Buy, Zest, Ford Ecoboost and even the Gary Sinise / Tunnel To Towers Project have all shared support on the car. The inability to find a financial backer has been surprising, considering Kenseth is this year's Daytona 500 winner and sits second in the standings, just two points behind teammate Greg Biffle. - Tom Bowles
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Sprint Cup Race Recap: Johnson Earns Historic Victory For Hendrick Motorsports at Darlington
by Jeff Wolfe

Jimmie Johnson was counting the laps. Chad Knaus was counting fuel drops. Team owner Rick Hendrick was waiting to count one more win for his team.

They each did their part in helping those numbers add up to a victory for Johnson and the 200th career win for Hendrick Motorsports Saturday night at Darlington Raceway.  It was Johnson's 56th career triumph, but only the first of this season, a hard-fought drive to the top where the No. 48 had to survive NASCAR's version of "overtime:" a green-white-checkered finish with a hungry Tony Stewart alongside. Even going into the final lap, with a comfortable lead over Denny Hamlin and  Stewart, Johnson knew there were no guarantees on the 1.36-mile oval in front of 63,000 fans. All the top cars had extended their fuel mileage, trying to go 60+ laps on the same tank of gas and that meant the Lady In Black offered no guarantees.

"I was nervous, definitely nervous," Johnson said of his fuel situation.  "Then even when I came around to get the white (flag), I had a nice gap, and Chad was still asking me to be smart and save some fuel if I could.  I'm like, what?  It's the end of the race.  But there was some concern about fuel, for sure."

There's also been a question as to when Hendrick would be able to celebrate win No. 200, a total that leaves him 68 behind Petty Motorsports for the most all-time wins by a car owner.  Hendrick's last victory also came from Johnson in Kansas last fall; since then, it's been a 16-race drought, the longest since 2002 for what is arguably the most successful modern-era organization in the sport.

"I think in all the years I've ever raced, I know when I've had four cars, to have four cars that run as good as these cars have run every week, to have something happen ..." said Hendrick, whose first win as a team owner came from Geoff Bodine in 1984 at Martinsville.  "I mean, we had oil pump issues, we've had cut tires, I mean, just things that were out of our control.  Then cautions coming after you've dominated the race.

"It just looked like that, you know, we were stuck.  I literally said the other day, I don't believe we can go half a year, run that many seconds, lead that many laps... it looked like all the bad luck was coming at one time."

Of course, many would argue that Hendrick has had plenty of good luck over the years.  Johnson won five straight Sprint Cup titles before the string was broken by Stewart, a customer of Hendrick chassis and engines last year.  Jeff Gordon has won four championships as well, along with 85 races which leaves him third all-time behind Richard Petty and David Pearson.

"When something like this happens, it reminds me of when I won the first championship," Hendrick admitted. "I never thought I'd ever get to win a championship.  I never thought I'd get to race in NASCAR.  I never thought I would win one. Then to look back.  When something like this happens to you, you got to think that you've been blessed, number one, but then you've been blessed to be around some great, great people."

As for No. 200? It was those "great people," in the form of fuel mileage experts combined with Johnson and a little good luck that added up to the victory. The first 172 laps of the 367-lap race were run under green flag conditions.  However, when Johnson needed to save fuel in the final 60 laps, the cautions were there to help.  Johnson was so concerned about gas that the in-car camera on the FOX broadcast showed him flipping the fuel injection switch on and off during yellow flag laps.

However, Knaus and Johnson knew it was a gamble they had to take, one that Stewart took, too, because once they were at the front of the pack.  At a place like Darlington, where passing is at a premium falling back into traffic could have ended their chances.

"Yeah, Chad told me on the radio we made our bed and had to lie in it on the strategy," Johnson said, who led 48 of the final sixty circuits and a race-high 134 laps overall.  "I thought about sitting here answering that question about being the first guy with enough fuel to go the distance and track position being everything.  It really did turn out to be that way. We caught some cautions that helped, then we just had a really fast racecar where, you know, I could try to save fuel going down the straightaway, but not using a lot of gas, not use much brake, and just fly through the corner.  The car handled so well, it allowed me to save more fuel."

The late yellows, four in the final 59 laps doomed the strategy of Martin Truex, Jr., who had been Johnson's main rival in terms of speed. Crew chief Chad Johnston brought Truex down pit road for four tires on a late caution, dropping him outside the top 10 with less than 50 laps to go. That left the No. 56 Toyota good to go on fuel, but in an impossible position to claw its way back through the pack and leaving the NAPA Toyota driver frustrated and unavailable for comment after the race.

That left Stewart, whose recovery from an early clutch problem had him charging from 16th position all the way up to second place.  Never a Darlington winner, Smoke got within striking distance but when his chance came, had fuel issues on the final restart with two laps to go.  That caused him to lose second place to Denny Hamlin, leaving the Track To Tough To Tame and Kentucky as his only winless tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit.

"I thought that we may have a shot at it if he (Johnson) spun the tires again, but we ran out of fuel coming off of four," Stewart said.  "It didn't run all the way out of fuel, but it laid down enough that it didn't run a hundred percent going down into Turn 1.  Once we got into one, we got the fuel to the pickup and we just lost our spot doing it and it took away our opportunity to try."

Following Johnson, Hamlin and Stewart in the top-10 were Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jr., Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano. Regan Smith, the defending champion of the event wound up 14th.

After the event, some post-race shots were taken between Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman's pit crews. Busch's spin caused the final caution of the night and also collected Newman.  When Busch came in for new tires, he did a burnout on the way out of the pits, including through Newman's pit box, where some crew members were still over the wall after Newman had pitted as well.  Busch then hit the No. 39 car when parking after the checkered flag on pit road, causing both drivers to be called into the NASCAR hauler after the race.

Busch appeared frustrated on his radio after a blown tire caused his spin and eliminated a chance at a good finish, anger he took out on the No. 39 car who had no direct impact on his wreck. He ended up a disappointing 21st on the night.

"I'm not sure what happened. It's easy to see and it's easy to say that Kurt blew a fuse again," Newman told SI.com's Dustin Long. "I'm not sure why he did it and tried to run over our guys and NASCAR officials. And nobody is. I think the chemical imbalance speaks for itself. Kurt drilled me in pit lane and said that he was taking his helmet off and he didn't see where he was going, which I'm pretty sure there were 42 other guys that are taking their helmets off and doing whatever for the last 10 years and that's the first time that's happened to me. Circumstances I think are that he lied and was so frustrated that he doesn't know how to deal with his anger."

A much less controversial finish was the 31st by Danica Patrick in her Darlington debut.  She finished six laps behind Johnson, falling off the lead lap quickly, by lap 27 but improving in speed throughout the event. Johnson noted it was more difficult to pass her as the night went on.

"She looked like she was fast at the end of the race," Johnson said.  "It took me a few laps to get by her.  It looks like she did a good job and ran well."

But no one ran better on this night than Johnson and HMS, now over the hump for their historic 200th and looking to write the next chapter in an illustrious, 28-year tenure on the Cup Series circuit.

"You have got to love that man," Johnson said of his car owner, referencing their first post-race conversation. "He just said 200 is great, but let's go get 250."

The next race is a non-points event for the Sprint Cup Series, the Sprint All-Star Race.  Coverage starts with the Sprint Showdown at 7 p.m. Saturday night on SPEED.  The All-Star Race will follow roughly 40 minutes after the Showdown.
 
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.


Tracking the Chase: Johnson Picks Up Three Spots With Victory
by Jeff Wolfe

Jimmie Johnson just didn't win the race Saturday night at Darlington, he also made a big move in the points standings. Johnson jumped from eighth to a tie for fifth and is now 39 points behind leader Greg Biffle, who finished 12th Saturday night. Biffle's overall lead was cut to two points by Matt Kenseth, who finished a strong sixth.

The night's big loser was Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who dropped 14 points outside the lead after struggling to a 17th-place finish. That's actually the worst of the season for the sport's Most Popular Driver. Denny Hamlin sits fourth, followed by the aforementioned tie between Johnson and Martin Truex, Jr.

Tony Stewart is seventh in the standings, solidly inside the Chase as he also has two victories. Kevin Harvick, who struggled at Darlington to a 16th-place result and Kyle Busch sit eighth and ninth, respectively. Re-entering the top-10 was Carl Edwards, who finished seventh to jump from 11th back up to tenth in the standings, two points ahead of Clint Bowyer. 

Further back, Kahne is up to 16th in the championship race after finishing eighth at Darlington.  He is 54 points behind Edwards for tenth spot.  But, he's also now just 24 points behind Ryan Newman, who fell to 14th after his late crash.  The reason that's important is the final two spots in the Chase for the Championship will go to drivers in the top 20 with the most wins.  Right now, Newman holds the final spot because of his victory at Martinsville earlier this year.  Brad Keselowski, who is 12th in the standings, holds the first wild-card spot with two victories.

Ambrose also jumped into the top-20, up to 18th in the standings. He is especially a threat to win on the two road course races to be run later this year at Watkins Glen and Sonoma, making him a serious Chase contender. Ambrose is 33 points behind Newman after finishing ninth Saturday night, the 11th of 26 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup regular season.

Standings: 1) Greg Biffle 411, 2) Matt Kenseth -2, 3) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -14, 4) Denny Hamlin -17, t-5) Jimmie Johnson -39), t-5) Martin Truex, Jr. -39, 7) Tony Stewart -42, 8) Kevin Harvick -50, 9) Kyle Busch -62, 10) Carl Edwards -74.

Wild Cards:  Brad Keselowski (12th in points, 2 wins); Ryan Newman (14th in points, 1 win).

Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix, Kansas), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana), Brad Keselowski (Bristol, Talladega), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas), Kyle Busch (Richmond), Jimmie Johnson (Darlington).

Tracking The Top 35: Cushion Between 35th and 36th Grows Once Again

While NASCAR guarantees a starting spot for the top 35 in owner points each week, those close, or the one on, the 35th-place bubble have even more cushion now as the No. 33 car driven by Stephen Leicht did not qualify on speed for Saturday's race.  While the No. 83 car driven by Landon Cassill remains in what can be a precarious position, sitting 35th in the points standings, the Burger King No. 83 car now has a "whopping" 49-point advantage over the No. 33.

Also, with the No. 21 car driven by Trevor Bayne not entered at Darlington, it is now 58 points behind the 35th spot and unlikely to challenge for it going forward.

Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff:

29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 83 points ahead of 36th
30) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 79 points ahead of 36th
31) BK Racing (No. 93 – David Reutimann), 69 points ahead of 36th.
32) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Reed Sorenson), 54 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing / Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), 52 points ahead of 36th.
34) Tommy Baldwin Racing / Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Danica Patrick), 50 points ahead of 36th.
35) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 49 points ahead of 36th.
36) Richard Childress Racing/LJ Racing (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 49 points behind 35th.
37) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 58 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 - David Stremme), 68 points behind 35th.
39) Robinson-Blakeney Racing (No. 49 - J.J. Yeley), 74 points behind 35th.
40) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 89 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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Travis Takes Another Step
Frontstretch: At The Track
by Mike Neff

Darlington Raceway is a challenge for the most seasoned of stock car drivers, so when the second race of Travis Pastrana's Nationwide career was slated for the Lady in Black, many people thought it would be a true challenge for the X Games transplant. But while there were several challenges during the night, ones that ultimately saw the rookie go two laps down in the race, he battled back and finished on the lead lap in 17th place. It wasn't an earth-shattering win, but it was definitely a victory in the eyes of everyone involved with his No. 99 team.

The green flag flew with Pastrana at the tail end of the field thanks to "unapproved adjustments" after qualifying. However, by lap 20, he was up to 28th and the field was strung out, which presented his first opportunity to experience an aero push. Interestingly, he said the car was so tight that he didn't really feel a difference when he got close to another car. The speed just wasn't there, though, as he was lapped shortly after that and was given the opportunity to study Denny Hamlin's line for a few laps as he stayed close to the leader. The caution flag flew on lap 36, which allowed everyone to pit. The No. 99 crew brought Pastrana down and put on four fresh tires, filled him full of fuel and made a track bar and wedge adjustment. He restarted the race in the 41st position.

The race returned to green flag conditions on lap 41 but only made it to lap 47 before the caution flew again, which afforded Pastrana a chance to get the lucky dog and get back on the lead lap. Even though he'd only run six circuit, he came back in and they raised the track bar again to continue to free him up. The race went back to green and, as Pastrana attempted to pass a car in front of him he realized exactly what "aero push" felt like. His spotter worked with him on driving a quarter lane lower to get some air on the nose and it immediately paid dividends. Coming through turns one and two, Pastrana dropped slightly lower than the car in front of him and was able to turn the car, keeping it under the slower one in front and getting the bite off of the corner to make passes down the back straight. While dropping down below the line of the cars in front of him was giving him more ability to turn, on lap 82 he went a little too far. Pastrana came on the radio and said he dropped all four tires onto the flat in the corner and "scared the hell" out of himself.

"This place looks really, REALLY, narrow." Pastrana added later with a grin. "The funny thing is, if you miss the line, like in practice, there's a white line down there getting in. By the race, the white line is completely gone, and rubbered over just black. When you're in the midst of everyone, two and three-wide getting into the corner that only one car fits into, you couldn't see it anyway. So you really have no idea how the car is going to be handling, push, tight, loose or whatever, because depending on which side of the line you're on the car will behave differently."

Green flag pit stops took place in the range of laps 90-102, with the No. 99 coming in on the 99th lap. The team changed tires and added fuel while making another wedge adjustment. As he left the pits, Pastrana once again issued a heartfelt thank you to his crew for all of their efforts. The race continued green until lap 128 when Kurt Busch cut down a tire on the front straight to bring out a caution. Pastrana was two laps down and his crew chief, Scott Zipadelli, took the chance on taking the wave around rather than pitting for tires. The strategy paid off when Brendan Gaughan hit the wall in turn three and brought out another caution on lap 138.

"Fresh tires we were good for about five laps," Pastrana observed. "Just a little tight, as they wore out, it just got tighter and tighter and tighter. By 20 laps, into the run we were totally shot."

Pastrana was then the only car a lap down, so the team brought him in for tires with the belief there would be one more caution. The gamble paid off when Joey Logano turned Elliott Sadler in front of the field on the restart and the crash brought out the final caution of the night. Pastrana was the lucky dog, drove around and rejoined the field as the last car on the lead lap. The green-white-checkered finish let Pastrana get around Kasey Kahne, who had received damage in the accident with Sadler, and come home in the 17th position.

"I hope we get back here really soon," Pastrana said afterwards with a smile. "I got my racing stripe. I don't want too many more but I'm sure I'll have a lot more to come. We started out last thanks to hitting the wall during qualifying. Having to do maintenance to the car, we took it all of the way to the back and started last, worked all of the way up and finished on the lead lap at the end. To finish top 20, if you'd told me that position and lead lap before the race started, I'd have paid $100,000, maybe more, just to get that time out there. I tell you what, it was a lot of fun out there. We've got sponsorship for next week too so we'll do another Nationwide before Charlotte. I'm just happy. I just want to be racing man. I'm learning every race, we'll see what happens."

Pastrana will be back on the track in Iowa next weekend before heading to Charlotte. When he is in Charlotte, he'll be competing in two races. Not only will he be in the Nationwide event on Saturday, he'll also be competing in the Global Rallycross event the same day. Pastrana's talents from both Rally and Stock Car racing will be on display for the world to see as he takes to the track for a full day of competition.

Mike Neff is a Senior Writer and Short Track Editor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.

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Secret Star Of The Race: The Best Run You Never Saw

Tasmanian Devil Marcos Ambrose has spent much of this season spinning his wheels, fading into the background as Richard Petty Motorsports has struggled to remain competitive. On Saturday night, the early part of Darlington offered much of the same mediocrity; the Stanley Tools Ford fell two laps back during the race's first lengthy green-flag run. Over 400 miles into the event, the No. 9 car had never so much as sniffed the top 20, poor handling turning the Track Too Tough To Tame into its usual nightmare.

"At lap 200, I was about ready to hang myself," Ambrose admitted. "But our team didn't give up, and I didn't give up on them. They just kept working on the car and making it better. By lap 260, I was ready to go to the front  and show the boys what I had."

There was just one problem: a suddenly speedy car, with the right adjustments didn't have the track position needed to contend. So crew chief Todd Parrott made a gutsy call, keeping Ambrose out on the speedway with a wavearound to earn one of his two laps back during a late yellow flag. Then, Ambrose worked himself into the "free pass" position, getting a second lap back during the race's sixth caution, on Lap 317 and earning an opportunity to get fresh rubber. It was a fresh new lease on life from there, the car's handling clicking at the right time while Ambrose picked off half the lead-lap cars in front of him like they were stopped.

"I came from Mars," he joked afterwards, shocked at the rise to a surprising ninth-place finish. "I re-entered orbit around lap 260 and the last 80 laps was a lot of fun. We've given away a lot of easy top 10s and that one we really earned, so I'm proud of my team and I've got to thank them."

The result
was easily the best of the season for the struggling outfit, which has yet to score a top-5 finish with either Ambrose or Aric Almirola. But when you tame the Lady In Black with this type of Lady Luck... expect the momentum to carry for the next couple of weeks, at least.   – Tom Bowles

STAT OF THE WEEK: 3... and 338. Three represents the number of lead-lap finishes Jeff Gordon has through 11 races so far in 2012. Sitting 24th in the Cup Series standings, it's the lowest Gordon's been in his career through this point in the season, a slump lowlighted by Saturday night's 35th-place Darlington disaster. But what's made things even more frustrating for "Wonder Boy" is that second statistic: with 338 laps led, that places him second in the Cup Series, trailing only Jimmie Johnson in that category. Hendrick's four-car fleet has been fast all season, including Gordon; it's Lady Luck that's eluded the No. 24 in all but a handful of events. - Tom Bowles
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Quotes To Remember: Bojangles' Southern 500


"I'm proud to be a part of it.  I bled HMS for a long time. To be a part of this, get 200 victories, we got the 150th for Mr. H in Vegas.  I guess we won our 50th victory here at Darlington.  I was changing tires for the 24 car.  I had the Oakley glasses, mullet.  I was rocking back then (laughter). To think of the people that have been there then, those that are gone, it's a proud accomplishment and glad to have done it." - Chad Knaus, on Hendrick's 200th victory

"I'm just proud of these guys and the whole organization. You want to thank everybody from Harry Hyde to Tim Richman and Geoff Bodine, all the guys along the way that won races. You think you're going to get there and then you think you're never going to win another one when you get to 199.  Really proud.  This was a heck of a race tonight.  I was in the mountains at 8:00 at a wedding that I couldn't get out of.  Got here to see the last hundred laps.  Glad it worked out." - Rick Hendrick, on Win No. 200

"They're terrible now.  The track doesn't have any grip — we have big rear springs and we have no tire grip.  All you do is spin the tires and I tried to give (Tony) Stewart a little bit of room because he was low on fuel pressure so I wouldn't run over him in case his car shut out.  I gave him too much room and kind of hurt myself a little bit. - Kyle Busch, finished fourth, on Darlington green-flag restarts

"I wish it would have gone green at the end and we probably would have had fourth or fifth, but on that last restart the outside lane just got going better.  We didn't need that last caution, but it was still a good finish for us.  We've really struggled here, so it was a good run." - Matt Kenseth, finished sixth

"We pitted for four tires there at the end and got back to seventh, but I think it was still the right move.  I think Bob made the right call because we were probably gonna be about seventh.  That seemed about the best we could run there towards the end was sixth or seventh.  It was a hard-fought day.  I raced hard with Matt there at the end and almost wrecked us both, so I'm glad I didn't, but it was pretty fun." - Carl Edwards, finished seventh

"It was really good at times and not so good at times.  We need to get our pit stops better.  It's definitely been a part of our struggles this year of getting further.  We have been around the top-10, but we need better pit stops if we want to make it into that top-five more often." - Kasey Kahne, finished eighth

"
"We had 18 to go at Phoenix and were running third and blew up.  We were sixth on the green-white-checker at Talladega and dropped to the back.  We ran out of fuel at Texas running sixth with one lap to go.  At Bristol, we were running 10th and crashed on lap 25 and gave away a really strong day there, so we've given away a bunch of points.  It's just good to get our team going back in the right direction." - Marcos Ambrose, finished ninth

"This was the longest race ever.  We worked our way all the way up to fourth and thought, 'Man we're doing good,' but, man, I suck on restarts.  I can't get going on restarts and that's where I lose so many spots.  My car wasn't handling good and it took like five, six laps at least for it to come in and I kept getting passed.  I got anxious and overdrove into (turn) three, stepped it out sideways and clobbered the fence.  Luckily, we got a caution, fixed it and then started fighting our way up again and we got to 10th, so that's exciting.  I'm glad we got a top-10 out of it, but frustrated because I feel like I had a top-five car.  I had about a 20th-place car on restarts and a top-five car after seven laps, so kind of frustrating." - Joey Logano, finished tenth

"I got loose and hit the wall pretty good.  Felt pretty lucky to get 15th out of the day. We kept working on it and had great strategy and between the two got a great run out of it.  This is what great teams do, they rally from adversity and we were able to do it tonight." - Brad Keselowski

"Here on the Cup side, my goals were to be respectable out there. I think I held my own alright. And, the other one was to finish, and both of those things happened. So, overall, good night. I will be much less worried coming back to this place." - Danica Patrick, finished 31st

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q:
  Prior to TNN getting the TV rights to The Winston, once it moved to Saturday night in 1992, Sprint Cup's All-Star Race was on a number of different networks.  On which channel was the very first Winston aired on?

Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
 
Friday's Answer:
Q:
  In 1996, Dale Jarrett had the chance to win the Winston Million at Darlington. He even had a special helmet painted up for the occasion with the different tracks included in the Winston Million promotion on it. However, it just wasn't to be. What happened?

A:  Early in the race, Brett Bodine had an oil line come loose.  This oiled the track down significantly in Turn 3 (now Turn 1).  Jarrett, who was leading the race after starting on the pole, came upon this oil and his car just went straight into the concrete.  Rusty Wallace also went hard into the wall as well.  The wall hit ended any chance Jarrett had at the Winston Million.  He was able to continue and eventually finished 14th, two laps down.  Wallace went behind the wall for repairs and eventually finished 38th.  The incident can be seen in this clip.  Since the clip is relatively quiet, turn up your speakers.
 
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 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 Bryan Keith
In a switch with Danny this week, Bryan takes over our Tuesday commentary where the Kurt Busch - Ryan Newman scuffle will be on the agenda. What does the fight mean for the sport, will there be penalties and can Kurt keep his anger under control going forward?

5 Points To Ponder by Danny Peters
Danny makes a substitute visit, filled with plenty of storylines that will have you thinking hard about racing this Tuesday.
 
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup Presented by StarCoach Race Tours: Darlington-All Star Edition by Brett Poirier
With eleven races in the books, Brett looks at what positive trends are developing in NASCAR's two top series and which drivers need a breather heading into Saturday's All-Star Race.

Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series competed at Darlington Raceway.  Were the race telecasts for these events up to snuff? Find out in this week's edition of the TV Critique.

Tech Talk by Mike Neff
We'll have a special Cup Series guest stop by to discuss the technical aspects of our sport. This week, the focus will be on the All-Star Race and what types of changes teams make that they wouldn't usually do in a normal weekend.
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