THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 19th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CXIII
Share your voice!
Hey race fans! Amy Henderson is looking for fans' voices for an upcoming column on television coverage of NASCAR drivers. Do your favorites get enough coverage? Please click here to take a short survey and share your opinion. Just to give you a little extra reason to weigh in, we'll send two randomly chosen participants a surprise prize package! (Frontstretch Staff and their families are not eligible. Sorry, guys.)
What To Watch: Tuesday
- During the rain delay prior to Sunday's Quicken Loans 400, Tommy Baldwin, Jr. mentioned in an interview with TNT's Ralph Sheheen (when he wasn't pledging to carry copies of Speed Sport News Magazine in the team's hauler in Sonoma) that he will be announcing a driver for the team's No. 10 Chevrolet later today. More than likely, it will be a road course ringer getting the call. Stay tuned for updates.
Today's Top News
by Tom Bowles
FOX Looking To Extend NASCAR Deal
NASCAR's most-watched television partner is looking to continue in that role for years to come. FOX Sports, currently televising the first 13 races of NASCAR's schedule has entered into negotiations for an extension. Several reports in the last 72 hours have confirmed the move, although both sides are far from finalizing an agreement.
FOX, who first started broadcasting NASCAR races in 2001 has been rumored to want more races on the Cup schedule. From 2001-06, they and fellow sister station FX had roughly the first half of the 36-race slate before cutting back to 13 under the current contract. It's the first of three networks to enter future negotiations with the sport; the current deal for all of them expires following the 2014 season.
JR Motorsports Signs Ron Fellows
One of the most accomplished road racers will be taking his talents to NASCAR once again. JR Motorsports announced Monday Ron Fellows will slide behind the wheel of a JR Motorsports Chevrolet for all right-turn races on the schedule this season: Montreal, Watkins Glen, and Road America this Saturday afternoon. Sponsorship for this upcoming race will come from AER Manufacturing, a longtime supporter of Fellows' efforts in both the American Le Mans Series and Trans Am. Canadian Tire will then step up to back Fellows at the other two races on his Nationwide schedule.
"This is Ron's fifth year driving for JR Motorsports, and each year we are excited to welcome him back," said JR Motorsports general manager, Kelley Earnhardt Miller in a release. "He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the road courses, and he makes us an instant contender before we ever unload the car. Watching Ron Fellows negotiate a road course is one of the pure joys of racing."
Fellows, 52, last won a Nationwide race in 2008 at Montreal but continues to have great success on the road courses. Overall, he has six top-10 finishes in nine starts driving JRM equipment the last five seasons.
TV Ratings Up For Michigan
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s return to Victory Lane has already reaped some benefits for NASCAR. The ratings for Sunday's race at Michigan were up 15 percent year-to-year, from 2.7 to 3.1 in the Nielsens as the No. 88 ended a 143-race winless drought. However, that number also marks a season low for the sport's television audience; typically, TNT is the least-viewed of the three networks that cover the sport.
The 3.1 rating is also three percent lower than the 3.2 earned at Pocono last week, kicking off TNT's summer coverage of NASCAR.
Have news for Tom and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashland10@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.
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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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Today's Featured Commentary
Changing Tires and Changing Times
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!
~~~~~~~~~~
Today's Featured Commentary
Changing Tires and Changing Times
Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady
A hybrid won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The concept has fascinated me for the weekend. Audi has proven the newer means of propelling a vehicle around a race track is durable and fast. The adage of "Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday" is rattling around my brain. Up to this moment, I'd dismissed out of hand the possibility of selecting one of those machines as my next personal car. Not only were the first generation hybrids ugly as sin, nobody had proven to me it would be monetarily or even ecologically worthwhile with their massive caustic batteries. But now... Seems like I might be a little slow in accepting change, eh?
We often speak of the advancements in safety and automotive technology when we witness something new and exciting on the track. That which we take for granted in our daily lives often found its birth in the testing grounds of extreme sport. And those improvements usually are necessitated through the direct result of tragic events or on the rare moment somebody foresees a horrible end to a set of hypothetical occurrences. Seat belts, crumple zones, lighter metals in the body, brake systems, suspension... even tires. Yes, tires; those temperamental bits of rubber and steel that NASCAR played a shell game with earlier in the weekend. With great success, I might add.
When Sprint Cup and Goodyear officials determined they needed to bring in 1,200 new tires to replace rapidly blistering lefts this past weekend at Michigan, thoughts of the 2008 Brickyard 400 rose in more than one fan's mind. Yes, we were bringing in a new code, but would it actually be any better than the one discarded for "safety's sake?" In '08, Goodyear chose to stick with a crumbling tire and prayed the surface would rubber up. The track never took and we were all subjected to an interminable race full of caution laps. Thus, a sour taste lingered and created the thought that changing a tire midstream might not net better results -- because clearly Goodyear and NASCAR have no clue what they're doing, one way or the other.
Really, it all comes down to a lack of desire and belief in change -- by one and all involved. Hindsight is 20/20, and usually shows us a better picture of trying times when we look back on them. In 2008 at Indy, NASCAR called those competition cautions in the name of keeping drivers uninjured. Yes, the race itself was an abomination, but am I ultimately happier they spent the afternoon flying the yellow rather than peeling cars off the walls? Yes. Did I wish NASCAR had taken a more proactive approach to the problem and brought in a different compound? Yes, as well.
On Saturday night in Michigan, there wasn't a single happy team after the extra practice provided for the purpose of scuffing in the last minute replacement left-side tires. But did we have wholesale tire failures on Sunday? No. In this case, change was good, as painful as it felt at the moment.
In Le Mans, a really cool looking hybrid ran for 24 hours straight and snared one of the most prestigious trophies in all of auto racing, altering how I perceived the technology behind those awful Prii. I may even buy something where the engine is attached to a power supply other than a gas tank one day. (Gah. I still can't believe I'm writing that.)
If there's one thing this past weekend has taught me, sometimes the willingness to embrace change can result in good things; a new kind of car in Victory Lane and yes, a fairly decent Cup race instead of one where we were going to be chasing disaster all day. It's not often I'm a cheerleader for the decision making process of our sanctioning body, but today I am.
Mark the calendar. We may not see this happen again in quite a while.
Sonya's Weekly Danica Stat
Michigan: NNS in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
Qualified: 5th
Finished: 18th (lead lap)
Points Position: 10th
by S.D. Grady
A hybrid won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The concept has fascinated me for the weekend. Audi has proven the newer means of propelling a vehicle around a race track is durable and fast. The adage of "Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday" is rattling around my brain. Up to this moment, I'd dismissed out of hand the possibility of selecting one of those machines as my next personal car. Not only were the first generation hybrids ugly as sin, nobody had proven to me it would be monetarily or even ecologically worthwhile with their massive caustic batteries. But now... Seems like I might be a little slow in accepting change, eh?
We often speak of the advancements in safety and automotive technology when we witness something new and exciting on the track. That which we take for granted in our daily lives often found its birth in the testing grounds of extreme sport. And those improvements usually are necessitated through the direct result of tragic events or on the rare moment somebody foresees a horrible end to a set of hypothetical occurrences. Seat belts, crumple zones, lighter metals in the body, brake systems, suspension... even tires. Yes, tires; those temperamental bits of rubber and steel that NASCAR played a shell game with earlier in the weekend. With great success, I might add.
When Sprint Cup and Goodyear officials determined they needed to bring in 1,200 new tires to replace rapidly blistering lefts this past weekend at Michigan, thoughts of the 2008 Brickyard 400 rose in more than one fan's mind. Yes, we were bringing in a new code, but would it actually be any better than the one discarded for "safety's sake?" In '08, Goodyear chose to stick with a crumbling tire and prayed the surface would rubber up. The track never took and we were all subjected to an interminable race full of caution laps. Thus, a sour taste lingered and created the thought that changing a tire midstream might not net better results -- because clearly Goodyear and NASCAR have no clue what they're doing, one way or the other.
Really, it all comes down to a lack of desire and belief in change -- by one and all involved. Hindsight is 20/20, and usually shows us a better picture of trying times when we look back on them. In 2008 at Indy, NASCAR called those competition cautions in the name of keeping drivers uninjured. Yes, the race itself was an abomination, but am I ultimately happier they spent the afternoon flying the yellow rather than peeling cars off the walls? Yes. Did I wish NASCAR had taken a more proactive approach to the problem and brought in a different compound? Yes, as well.
On Saturday night in Michigan, there wasn't a single happy team after the extra practice provided for the purpose of scuffing in the last minute replacement left-side tires. But did we have wholesale tire failures on Sunday? No. In this case, change was good, as painful as it felt at the moment.
In Le Mans, a really cool looking hybrid ran for 24 hours straight and snared one of the most prestigious trophies in all of auto racing, altering how I perceived the technology behind those awful Prii. I may even buy something where the engine is attached to a power supply other than a gas tank one day. (Gah. I still can't believe I'm writing that.)
If there's one thing this past weekend has taught me, sometimes the willingness to embrace change can result in good things; a new kind of car in Victory Lane and yes, a fairly decent Cup race instead of one where we were going to be chasing disaster all day. It's not often I'm a cheerleader for the decision making process of our sanctioning body, but today I am.
Mark the calendar. We may not see this happen again in quite a while.
Sonya's Weekly Danica Stat
Michigan: NNS in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
Qualified: 5th
Finished: 18th (lead lap)
Points Position: 10th
S.D. Grady is a Senior Editor for Frontstretch.com. She can be reached via e-mail at sonya.grady@frontstretch.com. Follow her on Twitter at @laregna.
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Numbers Game: Quicken Loans 400
by Garrett Horton
4
After having four straight finishes outside the top 20, Jeff Gordon has now finished 19th or better the last four weeks, allowing him to move back inside the top 20 in points.
5
With his runner-up finish on Sunday, Tony Stewart now has five consecutive top-10 finishes at Michigan.
5th
Carl Edwards is without a doubt experiencing the same hangover that has plagued recent championship runner-up's. His best finish this year has been a fifth-place effort, coming twice at Las Vegas and Fontana. This setback comes less than a year after he placed fifth or better in more than half of the 36 races last year.
6
Matt Kenseth has six straight top-10 finishes, and has scored more points than any other driver in that span.
6
Clint Bowyer, who currently sits ninth in the standings, has led just six laps all year. That's fewer than Sam Hornish, Jr. and his boss Michael Waltrip, both of whom have run just one race in 2012.
8th
Juan Pablo Montoya finished 8th on Sunday, matching his season best from Bristol. Those have been his lone top-10 efforts in 2012.
17th
Earnhardt started Sunday in 17th position, the furthest back any race winner has qualified this year. The previous worst had been 13th, on two occasions – Denny Hamlin at Phoenix and Brad Keselowski at Talladega.
19
Earnhardt's 19th career win moves him into a tie for 36th all time, joining past legends Davey Allison, Buddy Baker, and Fonty Flock along with current drivers Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.
34th
The finishing position for Denny Hamlin, who had won the last two spring races at Michigan.
95
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led 95 laps en route to his Michigan victory, the most laps he has led since the spring race at Martinsville, when he paced the field for 146 circuits.
203.241
The qualifying speed for pole sitter Marcos Ambrose, his first career pole. This race was the first time outside of Daytona and Talladega where qualifying hit over 200 mph.
219
The winless drought is over, and Earnhardt should be grateful MIS is on the schedule. It has been 219 races since he has won at any other venue, when he won Richmond in the Spring of 2006.
258
The combined number of races Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and crew chief Steve Letarte had gone without a win prior to Sunday. In addition to Earnhardt's 143-race winless streak, Letarte had gone 115 races without a victory, his last coming with Jeff Gordon at Texas in the spring of 2009.
Garrett Horton is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at garrett.horton@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Five Points to Ponder: Too Many Cautions and Talk, Talk Talk
by Bryan Davis Keith
8 Things That Could Turn 2012 Into a NASCAR Season to Remember
by Danny Peters
Couch Potato Tuesday: TNT Focuses Too Much on Earnhardt Jr.
by Phil Allaway
Tech Talk with Steve Addington: Making a 3,400lb Stock Car Turn Right
by Mike Neff
Who's Hot/Who's Not in NASCAR: Michigan/Sonoma Edition
by Brett Poirier
~~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Lake Speed never really had much luck at Sears Point. A rather unusual spin in 1995 saw the entire rear end break on his No. 9 SPAM Ford with literally no damage at all to the car's body. The body of Speed's Quality Care Ford didn't exactly make out so well the year before. What happened to put Speed way down the finishing order?
~~~~~~~~~~
Numbers Game: Quicken Loans 400
by Garrett Horton
4
After having four straight finishes outside the top 20, Jeff Gordon has now finished 19th or better the last four weeks, allowing him to move back inside the top 20 in points.
5
With his runner-up finish on Sunday, Tony Stewart now has five consecutive top-10 finishes at Michigan.
5th
Carl Edwards is without a doubt experiencing the same hangover that has plagued recent championship runner-up's. His best finish this year has been a fifth-place effort, coming twice at Las Vegas and Fontana. This setback comes less than a year after he placed fifth or better in more than half of the 36 races last year.
6
Matt Kenseth has six straight top-10 finishes, and has scored more points than any other driver in that span.
6
Clint Bowyer, who currently sits ninth in the standings, has led just six laps all year. That's fewer than Sam Hornish, Jr. and his boss Michael Waltrip, both of whom have run just one race in 2012.
8th
Juan Pablo Montoya finished 8th on Sunday, matching his season best from Bristol. Those have been his lone top-10 efforts in 2012.
17th
Earnhardt started Sunday in 17th position, the furthest back any race winner has qualified this year. The previous worst had been 13th, on two occasions – Denny Hamlin at Phoenix and Brad Keselowski at Talladega.
19
Earnhardt's 19th career win moves him into a tie for 36th all time, joining past legends Davey Allison, Buddy Baker, and Fonty Flock along with current drivers Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.
34th
The finishing position for Denny Hamlin, who had won the last two spring races at Michigan.
95
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led 95 laps en route to his Michigan victory, the most laps he has led since the spring race at Martinsville, when he paced the field for 146 circuits.
203.241
The qualifying speed for pole sitter Marcos Ambrose, his first career pole. This race was the first time outside of Daytona and Talladega where qualifying hit over 200 mph.
219
The winless drought is over, and Earnhardt should be grateful MIS is on the schedule. It has been 219 races since he has won at any other venue, when he won Richmond in the Spring of 2006.
258
The combined number of races Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and crew chief Steve Letarte had gone without a win prior to Sunday. In addition to Earnhardt's 143-race winless streak, Letarte had gone 115 races without a victory, his last coming with Jeff Gordon at Texas in the spring of 2009.
Garrett Horton is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at garrett.horton@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Five Points to Ponder: Too Many Cautions and Talk, Talk Talk
by Bryan Davis Keith
8 Things That Could Turn 2012 Into a NASCAR Season to Remember
by Danny Peters
Couch Potato Tuesday: TNT Focuses Too Much on Earnhardt Jr.
by Phil Allaway
Tech Talk with Steve Addington: Making a 3,400lb Stock Car Turn Right
by Mike Neff
Who's Hot/Who's Not in NASCAR: Michigan/Sonoma Edition
by Brett Poirier
~~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Lake Speed never really had much luck at Sears Point. A rather unusual spin in 1995 saw the entire rear end break on his No. 9 SPAM Ford with literally no damage at all to the car's body. The body of Speed's Quality Care Ford didn't exactly make out so well the year before. What happened to put Speed way down the finishing order?
Check back Wednesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Monday's Answer:
Q: In the 1993 Save Mart Supermarkets 300, Geoff Bodine had to contend with the rare one-lap shootout to preserve what turned out to be the final victory for car owner Bud Moore. Why was the race put under yellow so late in the event?
A: The final caution flew due to an incident involving Bobby Labonte and current SPEED commentator Dorsey Schroeder. Labonte was on the inside of Schroeder for eighth place exiting Turn 7 and bumped Schroeder off the road. Due to improvements to Sonoma Raceway, the following is no longer possible today, but Schroeder's car became high-centered and could no longer move. This problem brought out the final yellow with just four laps to go, an incident that can be seen in this clip.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Brad Morgan
-- Full Throttle by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Did You Notice?... by Tom Bowles
Is Dale Jr.'s win a guarantee he'll be a championship contender? Tom has a comparison that might surprise you, a list of road course contenders and more in his list of small but important observations around the world of auto racing.
Mirror Driving by the Frontstretch Staff
Your favorite Frontstretch writers are back to discuss a variety of different topics, including whether Earnhardt Jr.'s win makes him a championship contender, Austin Dillon's championship chances in the Nationwide Series, what fans could get out of FOX re-upping early, and much more.
Frontstretch Top Ten by the Frontstretch Staff
We'll have a top ten list that will tickle your funny bone, guaranteed.
Sprint Cup Power Rankings compiled by Summer Bedgood
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finally got that much-needed victory in Michigan. Did he reach the top of our Power Rankings? You'll have to check it out in order to see where the drivers stand going into Sonoma.
Beyond The Cockpit: Brandon Igdalsky as told to Tom Bowles
Pocono Raceway's President sits down with us to talk about how Pocono Raceway has changed over the past year.
Open-Wheel Wednesday by Matt Stallknecht
It's a new weekly article here at Frontstretch covering the Izod IndyCar Series. And yes, the name is very similar to the themed day on rpm2night back in the 1990s.
-----------------------------
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©2012 Frontstretch.com
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2012 Frontstretch.com
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