THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 19th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition XCI
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Frontstretch at the Track: Amy Henderson and Mike Neff will be live at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night for the Sprint Showdown and the All-Star Race. Stayed tuned to the Breaking News box, Twitter (@thefrontstretch and @writeramy) and Facebook for all of the latest news coming out of the "Track Too Tough to Tame."
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Top News
by Amy Henderson
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 19th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition XCI
~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch at the Track: Amy Henderson and Mike Neff will be live at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night for the Sprint Showdown and the All-Star Race. Stayed tuned to the Breaking News box, Twitter (@thefrontstretch and @writeramy) and Facebook for all of the latest news coming out of the "Track Too Tough to Tame."
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Top News
by Amy Henderson
Allmendinger, Busch Top Sprint Cup Qualifying Sessions
There may not be any points on the line in tonight's Sprint Showdown and All-Star Race, but that doesn't mean the teams want to win any less. Not only is there a million-dollar paycheck on the line, but there's a year's worth of bragging rights and a guaranteed spot in the next ten All-Star races on the line. The 22 drivers in the Sprint Showdown are racing for the right to race with the All-Stars in the main event, and A.J. Allmendinger will have a front row seat for the start. Allmendinger blasted to the pole with a 28.057-second lap (192.465 MPH), besting second-place Martin Truex, Jr. by two tenths of a second for the top spot. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Burton, and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-5 qualifiers.
"For me, it was a perfect lap," said Allmendinger of his effort. "I felt in practice we struggled a little bit just trying to figure out what the car needed. Todd Gordon and the guys out together a good setup, and I felt like that was as perfect as I could run the lap. Obviously with a short race, track position is going to be everything. The car felt good. Being an impound race, that's a good sign for tomorrow."
Teams in the Showdown will not be able to make adjustments to their race cars prior to the race without a penalty.
For the teams already assured a spot in the Sprint All-Star Race, qualifying takes on a new level of competition, as drivers must make three laps, including a four-tire pit stop. The No. 18 team of Kyle Busch reeled off a 12.2-second stop when their turn came, and their driver handled the rest, taking the pole with an aggregate time of 119.112 seconds, at an average speed of 132.006 miles per hour. Ryan Newman held the top spot for most of the night, only to lose the top spot to Busch by .709 seconds on the last attempt. Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, and Kevin Harvick completed the top 5.
Penalties were the story of several teams' night as five teams were assessed an additional five seconds for infractions that included lugnuts not tightened (Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth) and men over the wall too early (Marcos Ambrose). Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Regan Smith round out the top 10 while defending race winner Carl Edwards will start 13th.
"It was just a whole team effort - that's what it boils down to," said Busch after his run. "The guys unloaded with a really good M&M's Camry and we just kept playing with some things on what we wanted to do for the race stuff and then what we wanted to do for the qualifying stuff. We knew we'd be pretty quick here; we felt like we had a good shot for the pole. Going out last, that always helps. I think we have a little bit of a system going on here for this place - that's two in a row for us."
This is Kyle Busch's third All-Star Race pole and second in a row.
Feels Like the First Time: Wild and Woolly Truck Race Ends with Lofton and Sharp in Victory Lane
Nobody could accuse the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series of a boring show as the series returned in Charlotte from a month-long hiatus. Drivers traded paint with each other and Charlotte's retaining walls for every one of the 134 laps in the race, and when the dust settled on the North Carolina Education Lottery 200, it was Justin Lofton standing in Victory :ane for the first time in his CWTS career. It was also the first CWTS win for owner Eddie Sharp, who purchased the team from Kevin Harvick, Inc. when that team shut down at the end of 2011.
Lofton started the night on the outside of row one with polesitter Ty Dillon, but it was hardly a Sunday drive for the 26-year-old Westmoreland, California native, who ran as low as 20th before capturing the victory. Brad Keselowski, Todd Bodine, Jason Leffler, and Ron Hornaday, Jr. rounded out the top-5 finishers in a race that was a roller coaster from the start.
When the green flag dropped, Dillon was able to jump out to the lead, where he stayed for the first 25 laps of the race. Dillon was forced to try to hold his lead through three early restarts. Rookie Brennan Newberry spun his No. 14 on lap three after contact with Jennifer Jo Cobb, bringing out the first yellow flag of the evening. Nobody else was collected, and the lap six restart was solid for Dillon, who jumped out to a quick lead over Joey Coulter, who fell back to fifth.
The green flag was out for just six laps before the caution flew again on lap 12 as Ross Chastain's engine detonated, causing a five-lap yellow flag for cleanup. Chastain was relegated to a 35th-place finish. Dillon held the led again when the race restarted. Coulter's rough night continued as he bounced off the wall on lap 20, though the race stayed under green. Meanwhile, the battle for second heated up between James Buescher and Brad Keselowski, and there was jockeying for position throughout the pack.
This time, it lasted just five laps until the caution flew again on lap 24 as rookie John King slapped the wall in the No. 7 truck, bringing the leaders to pit road for the first time. Dillon's team gambled on a fuel-only stop and won the race off pit road, but the gamble proved to be a losing one as Dillon was quickly shuffled back on the lap 26 restart. Ryan Sieg held the point until lap 30, when James Buescher took over for the next ten laps. That segment of the race included a second spin by Newberry, but this time the rookie was able to get to pit road and no caution flew.
The green flag had its longest appearance of the night from lap 30 to lap 75. Both Dillon and Johnny Sauter had to make unscheduled pit stops during that stretch, Dillon for a flat right front tire and Sauter for a fuel pickup problem that would plague his team until a cable could be replaced, costing Sauter seven laps. By the time the yellow came back out for Newberry's third spin of the night, the leaders were ready for fresh tires and fuel. Timothy Peters was the leader coming onto pit road, and held it on the way out of the pits. Peters led until lap 84, when Lofton took the point for the first time… just in time for another caution.
Paulie Harraka got loose on lap 85 and bounced off of David Reutimann's truck before spinning in traffic and collecting Buescher. Lofton elected to stay out, making a huge gamble on fuel mileage. Caution number six helped his cause just five laps later as Nelson Piquet, Jr. slammed the wall on his own and, shedding debris, couldn't get to pit road.
When the race returned to green, Lofton was able to hold the lead for 19 laps, enduring Newberry's fourth spin of the night (the race stayed green this time) before Brad Keselowski took it away for six laps, until caution No. 7 which also came courtesy of Piquet finding the wall. Kesleowski was trying to get Dodge its first CWTS win since Dennis Setzer took the checkers at Martinsville in 2008, but Lofton got a tremendous push on the lap 124 restart from Jason White, and was able to take over for the final time, despite having to endure fuel mileage questions and one final restart then Buescher lost his rear bumper bar after contact from Cobb.
Ron Hornaday ran into the back of Keselowski's truck on the final restart with five laps to go, getting Keselowski loose and taking the battle for second three wide. Keselowski recovered and retook second, but didn't have enough for Lofton, who cruised to the win as well as the points lead on the strength of five top-10 finishes in five races. Lofton now leads the CWTS standings by one over Timothy Peters. Ty Dillon, James Buescher, and Parker Kligerman round out the top 5 in the points.
"This is amazing. I really don't even know what to do. This day's been a long time coming," said Lofton from Victory Lane. "This entire week, it was one of those weeks where I was just real calm, real excited about the race. It's just amazing to be able to do it for these guys. I've seen all the hard work that Dan (Bormann) puts in, day in and day out. Dan believed in me, taking a chance, quitting a job, coming over to take over as crew chief. He has done an amazing job."
Amy Henderson is the Co-Managing Editor for Frontstretch.com. She can be reached at amy.henderson@frontstretch.com.
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ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at tony.lumbis@frontstretch.com for details.
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Sounds From The Media Center
by Mike Neff
A parade of NASCAR personalities was brought through the Media Center throughout the day on Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Some of the best quotes are presented here for your enjoyment...
Marcos Ambrose, on road racing vs. oval racing
"To be candid, I know what I'm doing on the road racing stuff. I've made a career and grown up racing road courses. I know how to drive big, heavy cars around those places and it's always compromise when you go road racing. You can't get the perfect balance in the race car. You never look for the perfect balance, you're just looking for something that can get you around the course, fairly linear handling left to right, and not worry so much about the dynamics of the race car. When you come to these ovals, there's so much going on behind the suspensions that it's hard to keep up with and it's hard to really feel the individual wheels, so I've put a lot of pressure on myself to win on an oval. It's going to come, I know that, but I've just got to be patient with it. There is definitely a link between our successful runs on road racing compared to ovals and that link is me and I continue to work on it."
Trevor Bayne, on the difference between drivers and champions
"I got to go to Darlington last weekend and stand on the spotters' stand and listen and watch, and I actually learned a lot. It's been a little while since I did that. The biggest thing I could tell from those guys that started at the back and worked their way forward or the guys that started at the front and stayed there was how good of leaders they were. It's just like any other sport. You have your guys on teams that are leaders and then you have some that don't know how to do that and can't keep their team together. When you look at Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards – those kind of guys – they know how to keep their cool throughout a race and they know how to keep their team around them. After a bad pit stop, they're not yelling at them and going off. They're trying to build them up and get them going again for the next stop because that's what it's all about is staying together. Like I said, it's just like any other sport, so for me, I'm trying to learn how to be the best leader I can be. I'm 21 years old. Sometimes I feel a little bit weird when I'm talking to Donnie Wingo, who is probably twice my age, I'll say he's 42 (laughs). He'll like me for that, but I think it's all about being a leader. There are some guys on the radio that just lose their mind when one person gets in the way and I'm sure I've been guilty of that from time to time, so just by listening I learned a lot last week [about what] makes champions – putting whole races together."
Jimmie Johnson, about racing around Kurt Busch
"Last year, we certainly had our issues. Since Richmond, he and I had a chance to talk. We have raced great with one another. Through my experience, for whatever reason, two drivers will run into each other time and time again and they are like magnets and it happens. I had it with Sterling Marlin for a while. I don't know why but when we would crash, we would crash with the No. 40. Then it was the No. 2 when Kurt was in that and a little bit when he was in the No. 22. When you are in the sport long enough, that stuff happens. I'm thankful I don't have any issues out there right now."
Carl Edwards, about his adventure in the infield last year
"I'm pretty sure we raced that car again. It was pretty torn up. The splitter dug into the sod out there in the tri-oval and it tore it up pretty well. I saw the replay last night. I might have hit my head even on the steering wheel pretty good. It was just an ugly victory celebration. Marcus and Bruton were nice enough to turn it into a Scott's advertisement with the re-seeding of the grass, but still, I think if you walk through the garage and you ask an honest opinion, did they mean to do that? Were they hiding something? About 90 percent of the garage would say that we were hiding something on that car and we didn't want them to see it. That says a lot about how much they think of me, but it was really a mistake."
Paul Menard, on testing the new aero package
"The No. 29 and the No. 31 did the Nashville test and that was last week when we were in New Hampshire for the tire test. We played with the side skirts. We had to wait out the rain for a while and when we finally got on the track, unloaded with the side skirts like normal. And the second run, we cut them and went back out. They was a tenth slower, but we weren't around other cars. And I haven't really talked to Burton or Harvick as to if they ran in traffic with each other at the Nashville test. New Hampshire, being quite a big slower than Nashville, we couldn't get as good a read on it as those guys could. There was a pretty noticeable difference."
Martin Truex, Jr., on how the Coca-Cola 600 can wear on a driver
"You can definitely tell the extra 100 miles. I can remember nights where my car was off in the 600 and they would say 'You're coming to halfway or you're 10 laps to halfway'. I remember thinking, 'There is no way this race is only half over, it feels like we've been out here forever.' It definitely feels like a longer race. Obviously, the worse your car is, the longer it feels - the better it is, the shorter it feels. Regardless of what's going on, it definitely feels like a longer race even though it's only 100 miles."
Greg Biffle, on being a favorite for the All-Star Race
"Everybody has run so good this season. To be honest with you, I wish I could say I feel like we're the favorite. I feel like we have a great opportunity, but to look at the No. 48 car, the No. 11 car, the No. 99 car, the No. 17 car and all those guys, I think any one of us can win this thing. The guy that starts in the top two rows, the guy that's got the setup right for the last run of the night seems like that's gonna be the guy and I hope that we're one of them right there. I would say you throw about 10 numbers in a basket and every one of us has about an equal chance."
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., on the possibility of his nieces Kennedy and Karsyn racing for JR Motorsports after their success at Millbridge Speedway
"Absolutely, Karsyn, she's really taking to it pretty heavily. She really enjoys it. Kennedy just ran her first race, but she's not really old enough to know what's going on. She just wants to do whatever her sister is doing. So, we'll see how that works. Karsyn is dead serious about it and quite productive. She is really kind of smart about it. I'm really enjoying seeing her do that. If that's what she wants to do, I have been smart with my money and would love to help her as long as she wants to do it."
Tony Stewart, on holding grudges from the All-Star race vs. other races
"They don't. You guys are asking the same questions you ask every year like it's going to be something different and somehow everybody is going to do something different in the race cars. Everybody races really hard. It is a logical question but the answer is always going to be the same. Nobody is going to do anything any different than they did a year ago when they tried to win the race. You have to have a car that is good enough to begin with, but you are going to do everything that you can do. If you make a mistake and go too far and you crash or you get in a wreck it's going for it. Nobody is going to do something stupid to try to win the race. If you do they are probably going to remember it for a couple of weeks. You don't forget those things. Nobody is going to do something stupid and crazy to win the All-Star race."
Kurt Busch, on his postrace incident at Darlington
"I heard the fans cheer louder than when Jimmie Johnson pulled into victory lane for when the crew guy came over and got agitated and knocked an official on top of our hood. That is when the crowd reacted the most. You tell me if they want WWE. This is fun, this is entertainment."
Matt Kenseth, on if Hendrick has lost their dominant position in the sport
"I don't know. Whenever I think of Hendrick, I think of championships and race wins. I mean, 200 Cup wins is crazy. It's hard to ever feel like they're not a contender or feel sorry for those guys because they haven't won. Gosh, it's already 10 races into the season and they haven't won a race yet. I mean, it's pretty hard to sit and feel bad for somebody like that, so I was obviously kidding about that. It wasn't like they were gone or are going anywhere. All of those cars have run good at certain times. I know Jeff has had a real bad run of luck, but yet he's been real fast and was in position to win Martinsville and a few of those races, so those guys and that organization have been a force for as long as I've been watching this sport."
Denny Hamlin, on whether there should be a longer segment in the All-Star Race
"Half and half. It depends on what we need at the time. It seems like we always kind of get that green flag run during the All-Star race, but the way they've got it broke up now and making such an emphasis on winning the segments, I think that it's going to be important to run as hard as you can every lap."
Jeff Gordon, on the potential of his luck changing at Charlotte
"I hope so. It has been a while since we've really dominated or been in contention to win this All-Star race in the way we used to. But, I think we've got a race car and a race team that can do it this year, we just have to have more things go our way. I certainly hope we can show that this weekend and really just get some momentum on our side because it doesn't just happen in one race, but right now, with the way our season is going, we'll take whatever we can get (laughs)."
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
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BREAKING NEWS FROM THE FRONTSTRETCH:
NASCAR Announces Partnership with Twitter to Bring Fans a Unique Experience
by Amy Henderson
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This Weekend on the Frontstretch:
Tracking the Trucks: North Carolina Education Lottery 250 by Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth has all the post-race analysis you need following Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race from Charlotte.
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 1998, Rich Bickle finished tenth in The Winston. Since Bickle never won a Cup race (Note: Bickle's best career finish was fourth in the 1998 NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville. His post-race interview that day can be seen here), he would not qualify for The Winston under today's rules. How did Bickle get into the race?
Check back Monday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take 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!
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Coming Monday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Sprint All-Star Race Recap by Jeff Wolfe
-- Secret Star and Stat of the Race by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Monday on the Frontstretch:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Sprint All-Star Race by Matt McLaughlin
Matt will be here with his overall thoughts about the action from Saturday evening's action from Charlotts.
Monday Morning Teardown by Ron Lemasters
Ron returns for a website look at one of the big stories from Saturday's race from Charlotte.
Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles
Tom brings back his weekly post-race commentary with all of the insight you need from a weekend of racing at Charlotte.
Big Six: Bojangles' Southern 500 by Amy Henderson
Looking for all you need to know leaving Saturday's event at Charlotte? Amy has your who, what, when, where, why and how from a weekend of racing.
Pace Laps: Charlotte / Iowa Weekend by the Frontstretch Staff
In our newest column this season, we'll take a look at the biggest stories to keep an eye on in each series after a weekend at Charlotte and Iowa.
Nationwide Breakdown: Pioneer Hi-Bred 250 by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan has all of the post race analysis you need following Sunday afternoon's Nationwide Series race from Iowa Speedway.
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©2012 Frontstretch.com
There may not be any points on the line in tonight's Sprint Showdown and All-Star Race, but that doesn't mean the teams want to win any less. Not only is there a million-dollar paycheck on the line, but there's a year's worth of bragging rights and a guaranteed spot in the next ten All-Star races on the line. The 22 drivers in the Sprint Showdown are racing for the right to race with the All-Stars in the main event, and A.J. Allmendinger will have a front row seat for the start. Allmendinger blasted to the pole with a 28.057-second lap (192.465 MPH), besting second-place Martin Truex, Jr. by two tenths of a second for the top spot. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Burton, and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-5 qualifiers.
"For me, it was a perfect lap," said Allmendinger of his effort. "I felt in practice we struggled a little bit just trying to figure out what the car needed. Todd Gordon and the guys out together a good setup, and I felt like that was as perfect as I could run the lap. Obviously with a short race, track position is going to be everything. The car felt good. Being an impound race, that's a good sign for tomorrow."
Teams in the Showdown will not be able to make adjustments to their race cars prior to the race without a penalty.
For the teams already assured a spot in the Sprint All-Star Race, qualifying takes on a new level of competition, as drivers must make three laps, including a four-tire pit stop. The No. 18 team of Kyle Busch reeled off a 12.2-second stop when their turn came, and their driver handled the rest, taking the pole with an aggregate time of 119.112 seconds, at an average speed of 132.006 miles per hour. Ryan Newman held the top spot for most of the night, only to lose the top spot to Busch by .709 seconds on the last attempt. Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, and Kevin Harvick completed the top 5.
Penalties were the story of several teams' night as five teams were assessed an additional five seconds for infractions that included lugnuts not tightened (Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth) and men over the wall too early (Marcos Ambrose). Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Regan Smith round out the top 10 while defending race winner Carl Edwards will start 13th.
"It was just a whole team effort - that's what it boils down to," said Busch after his run. "The guys unloaded with a really good M&M's Camry and we just kept playing with some things on what we wanted to do for the race stuff and then what we wanted to do for the qualifying stuff. We knew we'd be pretty quick here; we felt like we had a good shot for the pole. Going out last, that always helps. I think we have a little bit of a system going on here for this place - that's two in a row for us."
This is Kyle Busch's third All-Star Race pole and second in a row.
Feels Like the First Time: Wild and Woolly Truck Race Ends with Lofton and Sharp in Victory Lane
Nobody could accuse the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series of a boring show as the series returned in Charlotte from a month-long hiatus. Drivers traded paint with each other and Charlotte's retaining walls for every one of the 134 laps in the race, and when the dust settled on the North Carolina Education Lottery 200, it was Justin Lofton standing in Victory :ane for the first time in his CWTS career. It was also the first CWTS win for owner Eddie Sharp, who purchased the team from Kevin Harvick, Inc. when that team shut down at the end of 2011.
Lofton started the night on the outside of row one with polesitter Ty Dillon, but it was hardly a Sunday drive for the 26-year-old Westmoreland, California native, who ran as low as 20th before capturing the victory. Brad Keselowski, Todd Bodine, Jason Leffler, and Ron Hornaday, Jr. rounded out the top-5 finishers in a race that was a roller coaster from the start.
When the green flag dropped, Dillon was able to jump out to the lead, where he stayed for the first 25 laps of the race. Dillon was forced to try to hold his lead through three early restarts. Rookie Brennan Newberry spun his No. 14 on lap three after contact with Jennifer Jo Cobb, bringing out the first yellow flag of the evening. Nobody else was collected, and the lap six restart was solid for Dillon, who jumped out to a quick lead over Joey Coulter, who fell back to fifth.
The green flag was out for just six laps before the caution flew again on lap 12 as Ross Chastain's engine detonated, causing a five-lap yellow flag for cleanup. Chastain was relegated to a 35th-place finish. Dillon held the led again when the race restarted. Coulter's rough night continued as he bounced off the wall on lap 20, though the race stayed under green. Meanwhile, the battle for second heated up between James Buescher and Brad Keselowski, and there was jockeying for position throughout the pack.
This time, it lasted just five laps until the caution flew again on lap 24 as rookie John King slapped the wall in the No. 7 truck, bringing the leaders to pit road for the first time. Dillon's team gambled on a fuel-only stop and won the race off pit road, but the gamble proved to be a losing one as Dillon was quickly shuffled back on the lap 26 restart. Ryan Sieg held the point until lap 30, when James Buescher took over for the next ten laps. That segment of the race included a second spin by Newberry, but this time the rookie was able to get to pit road and no caution flew.
The green flag had its longest appearance of the night from lap 30 to lap 75. Both Dillon and Johnny Sauter had to make unscheduled pit stops during that stretch, Dillon for a flat right front tire and Sauter for a fuel pickup problem that would plague his team until a cable could be replaced, costing Sauter seven laps. By the time the yellow came back out for Newberry's third spin of the night, the leaders were ready for fresh tires and fuel. Timothy Peters was the leader coming onto pit road, and held it on the way out of the pits. Peters led until lap 84, when Lofton took the point for the first time… just in time for another caution.
Paulie Harraka got loose on lap 85 and bounced off of David Reutimann's truck before spinning in traffic and collecting Buescher. Lofton elected to stay out, making a huge gamble on fuel mileage. Caution number six helped his cause just five laps later as Nelson Piquet, Jr. slammed the wall on his own and, shedding debris, couldn't get to pit road.
When the race returned to green, Lofton was able to hold the lead for 19 laps, enduring Newberry's fourth spin of the night (the race stayed green this time) before Brad Keselowski took it away for six laps, until caution No. 7 which also came courtesy of Piquet finding the wall. Kesleowski was trying to get Dodge its first CWTS win since Dennis Setzer took the checkers at Martinsville in 2008, but Lofton got a tremendous push on the lap 124 restart from Jason White, and was able to take over for the final time, despite having to endure fuel mileage questions and one final restart then Buescher lost his rear bumper bar after contact from Cobb.
Ron Hornaday ran into the back of Keselowski's truck on the final restart with five laps to go, getting Keselowski loose and taking the battle for second three wide. Keselowski recovered and retook second, but didn't have enough for Lofton, who cruised to the win as well as the points lead on the strength of five top-10 finishes in five races. Lofton now leads the CWTS standings by one over Timothy Peters. Ty Dillon, James Buescher, and Parker Kligerman round out the top 5 in the points.
"This is amazing. I really don't even know what to do. This day's been a long time coming," said Lofton from Victory Lane. "This entire week, it was one of those weeks where I was just real calm, real excited about the race. It's just amazing to be able to do it for these guys. I've seen all the hard work that Dan (Bormann) puts in, day in and day out. Dan believed in me, taking a chance, quitting a job, coming over to take over as crew chief. He has done an amazing job."
Amy Henderson is the Co-Managing Editor for Frontstretch.com. She can be reached at amy.henderson@frontstretch.com.
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ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at tony.lumbis@frontstretch.com for details.
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Sounds From The Media Center
by Mike Neff
A parade of NASCAR personalities was brought through the Media Center throughout the day on Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Some of the best quotes are presented here for your enjoyment...
Marcos Ambrose, on road racing vs. oval racing
"To be candid, I know what I'm doing on the road racing stuff. I've made a career and grown up racing road courses. I know how to drive big, heavy cars around those places and it's always compromise when you go road racing. You can't get the perfect balance in the race car. You never look for the perfect balance, you're just looking for something that can get you around the course, fairly linear handling left to right, and not worry so much about the dynamics of the race car. When you come to these ovals, there's so much going on behind the suspensions that it's hard to keep up with and it's hard to really feel the individual wheels, so I've put a lot of pressure on myself to win on an oval. It's going to come, I know that, but I've just got to be patient with it. There is definitely a link between our successful runs on road racing compared to ovals and that link is me and I continue to work on it."
Trevor Bayne, on the difference between drivers and champions
"I got to go to Darlington last weekend and stand on the spotters' stand and listen and watch, and I actually learned a lot. It's been a little while since I did that. The biggest thing I could tell from those guys that started at the back and worked their way forward or the guys that started at the front and stayed there was how good of leaders they were. It's just like any other sport. You have your guys on teams that are leaders and then you have some that don't know how to do that and can't keep their team together. When you look at Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards – those kind of guys – they know how to keep their cool throughout a race and they know how to keep their team around them. After a bad pit stop, they're not yelling at them and going off. They're trying to build them up and get them going again for the next stop because that's what it's all about is staying together. Like I said, it's just like any other sport, so for me, I'm trying to learn how to be the best leader I can be. I'm 21 years old. Sometimes I feel a little bit weird when I'm talking to Donnie Wingo, who is probably twice my age, I'll say he's 42 (laughs). He'll like me for that, but I think it's all about being a leader. There are some guys on the radio that just lose their mind when one person gets in the way and I'm sure I've been guilty of that from time to time, so just by listening I learned a lot last week [about what] makes champions – putting whole races together."
Jimmie Johnson, about racing around Kurt Busch
"Last year, we certainly had our issues. Since Richmond, he and I had a chance to talk. We have raced great with one another. Through my experience, for whatever reason, two drivers will run into each other time and time again and they are like magnets and it happens. I had it with Sterling Marlin for a while. I don't know why but when we would crash, we would crash with the No. 40. Then it was the No. 2 when Kurt was in that and a little bit when he was in the No. 22. When you are in the sport long enough, that stuff happens. I'm thankful I don't have any issues out there right now."
Carl Edwards, about his adventure in the infield last year
"I'm pretty sure we raced that car again. It was pretty torn up. The splitter dug into the sod out there in the tri-oval and it tore it up pretty well. I saw the replay last night. I might have hit my head even on the steering wheel pretty good. It was just an ugly victory celebration. Marcus and Bruton were nice enough to turn it into a Scott's advertisement with the re-seeding of the grass, but still, I think if you walk through the garage and you ask an honest opinion, did they mean to do that? Were they hiding something? About 90 percent of the garage would say that we were hiding something on that car and we didn't want them to see it. That says a lot about how much they think of me, but it was really a mistake."
Paul Menard, on testing the new aero package
"The No. 29 and the No. 31 did the Nashville test and that was last week when we were in New Hampshire for the tire test. We played with the side skirts. We had to wait out the rain for a while and when we finally got on the track, unloaded with the side skirts like normal. And the second run, we cut them and went back out. They was a tenth slower, but we weren't around other cars. And I haven't really talked to Burton or Harvick as to if they ran in traffic with each other at the Nashville test. New Hampshire, being quite a big slower than Nashville, we couldn't get as good a read on it as those guys could. There was a pretty noticeable difference."
Martin Truex, Jr., on how the Coca-Cola 600 can wear on a driver
"You can definitely tell the extra 100 miles. I can remember nights where my car was off in the 600 and they would say 'You're coming to halfway or you're 10 laps to halfway'. I remember thinking, 'There is no way this race is only half over, it feels like we've been out here forever.' It definitely feels like a longer race. Obviously, the worse your car is, the longer it feels - the better it is, the shorter it feels. Regardless of what's going on, it definitely feels like a longer race even though it's only 100 miles."
Greg Biffle, on being a favorite for the All-Star Race
"Everybody has run so good this season. To be honest with you, I wish I could say I feel like we're the favorite. I feel like we have a great opportunity, but to look at the No. 48 car, the No. 11 car, the No. 99 car, the No. 17 car and all those guys, I think any one of us can win this thing. The guy that starts in the top two rows, the guy that's got the setup right for the last run of the night seems like that's gonna be the guy and I hope that we're one of them right there. I would say you throw about 10 numbers in a basket and every one of us has about an equal chance."
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., on the possibility of his nieces Kennedy and Karsyn racing for JR Motorsports after their success at Millbridge Speedway
"Absolutely, Karsyn, she's really taking to it pretty heavily. She really enjoys it. Kennedy just ran her first race, but she's not really old enough to know what's going on. She just wants to do whatever her sister is doing. So, we'll see how that works. Karsyn is dead serious about it and quite productive. She is really kind of smart about it. I'm really enjoying seeing her do that. If that's what she wants to do, I have been smart with my money and would love to help her as long as she wants to do it."
Tony Stewart, on holding grudges from the All-Star race vs. other races
"They don't. You guys are asking the same questions you ask every year like it's going to be something different and somehow everybody is going to do something different in the race cars. Everybody races really hard. It is a logical question but the answer is always going to be the same. Nobody is going to do anything any different than they did a year ago when they tried to win the race. You have to have a car that is good enough to begin with, but you are going to do everything that you can do. If you make a mistake and go too far and you crash or you get in a wreck it's going for it. Nobody is going to do something stupid to try to win the race. If you do they are probably going to remember it for a couple of weeks. You don't forget those things. Nobody is going to do something stupid and crazy to win the All-Star race."
Kurt Busch, on his postrace incident at Darlington
"I heard the fans cheer louder than when Jimmie Johnson pulled into victory lane for when the crew guy came over and got agitated and knocked an official on top of our hood. That is when the crowd reacted the most. You tell me if they want WWE. This is fun, this is entertainment."
Matt Kenseth, on if Hendrick has lost their dominant position in the sport
"I don't know. Whenever I think of Hendrick, I think of championships and race wins. I mean, 200 Cup wins is crazy. It's hard to ever feel like they're not a contender or feel sorry for those guys because they haven't won. Gosh, it's already 10 races into the season and they haven't won a race yet. I mean, it's pretty hard to sit and feel bad for somebody like that, so I was obviously kidding about that. It wasn't like they were gone or are going anywhere. All of those cars have run good at certain times. I know Jeff has had a real bad run of luck, but yet he's been real fast and was in position to win Martinsville and a few of those races, so those guys and that organization have been a force for as long as I've been watching this sport."
Denny Hamlin, on whether there should be a longer segment in the All-Star Race
"Half and half. It depends on what we need at the time. It seems like we always kind of get that green flag run during the All-Star race, but the way they've got it broke up now and making such an emphasis on winning the segments, I think that it's going to be important to run as hard as you can every lap."
Jeff Gordon, on the potential of his luck changing at Charlotte
"I hope so. It has been a while since we've really dominated or been in contention to win this All-Star race in the way we used to. But, I think we've got a race car and a race team that can do it this year, we just have to have more things go our way. I certainly hope we can show that this weekend and really just get some momentum on our side because it doesn't just happen in one race, but right now, with the way our season is going, we'll take whatever we can get (laughs)."
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
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BREAKING NEWS FROM THE FRONTSTRETCH:
NASCAR Announces Partnership with Twitter to Bring Fans a Unique Experience
by Amy Henderson
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This Weekend on the Frontstretch:
Tracking the Trucks: North Carolina Education Lottery 250 by Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth has all the post-race analysis you need following Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race from Charlotte.
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 1998, Rich Bickle finished tenth in The Winston. Since Bickle never won a Cup race (Note: Bickle's best career finish was fourth in the 1998 NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville. His post-race interview that day can be seen here), he would not qualify for The Winston under today's rules. How did Bickle get into the race?
Check back Monday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take 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!
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Coming Monday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Sprint All-Star Race Recap by Jeff Wolfe
-- Secret Star and Stat of the Race by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Monday on the Frontstretch:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Sprint All-Star Race by Matt McLaughlin
Matt will be here with his overall thoughts about the action from Saturday evening's action from Charlotts.
Monday Morning Teardown by Ron Lemasters
Ron returns for a website look at one of the big stories from Saturday's race from Charlotte.
Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles
Tom brings back his weekly post-race commentary with all of the insight you need from a weekend of racing at Charlotte.
Big Six: Bojangles' Southern 500 by Amy Henderson
Looking for all you need to know leaving Saturday's event at Charlotte? Amy has your who, what, when, where, why and how from a weekend of racing.
Pace Laps: Charlotte / Iowa Weekend by the Frontstretch Staff
In our newest column this season, we'll take a look at the biggest stories to keep an eye on in each series after a weekend at Charlotte and Iowa.
Nationwide Breakdown: Pioneer Hi-Bred 250 by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan has all of the post race analysis you need following Sunday afternoon's Nationwide Series race from Iowa Speedway.
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