THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 11th, 2012
Volume V, Edition CVII
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~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: DON'T MISS OUT ON OUR ARCA COVERAGE! OUR BRYAN KEITH WAS AT POCONO THIS WEEKEND AND HAS A FULL RUNDOWN OF THE RACING, AND THEN SOME HERE.
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 11th, 2012
Volume V, Edition CVII
~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: DON'T MISS OUT ON OUR ARCA COVERAGE! OUR BRYAN KEITH WAS AT POCONO THIS WEEKEND AND HAS A FULL RUNDOWN OF THE RACING, AND THEN SOME HERE.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Logano Stalks, Passes Martin In March To Pocono Win
by Jeff Wolfe
POCONO 400 UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
It wasn't Joey Logano's first NASCAR victory, but it sure felt like it.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won Sunday at Pocono Raceway for his second career Sprint Cup tally, breaking a 104-race drought in the series, but it was the first time he had gone the scheduled distance in taking the trip to Victory Lane. Starting from the top spot, he also ended a NASCAR modern-era record, becoming the first pole sitter to win in a Sprint Cup race in 31 tries. The last time a pole sitter won was Kyle Busch last July at Kentucky Speedway.
Logano beat second-place finisher Mark Martin and third-place Stewart to the line in the first 400-mile event at Pocono Raceway, where races had traditionally been 500 miles. It was also the first event since the 2.5-mile triangle was repaved, markedly increasing the speed at a track where Logano smashed the qualifying record by seven mph.
But despite leading a race-high 49 laps, it was not clear until the race's closing stages that the driver who started first would finish first. Logano lined up in the lead with eight laps to go after the seventh and final caution in the 160-lap event. He took the low line with Mark Martin on the high side for the restart. But Martin got the advantage and led for four circuits, edging ahead by a car length or two while Logano stalked his prey.
Then, with less than four laps remaining Logano forced the issue with his front bumper. Diving below Martin going into Turn 1, the slight contact drifted Martin up the track, left a lane for the No. 20 Toyota to zip in front and put him in position to pull away.
"Yeah, the moment is pretty surreal," said Logano, whose other Sprint Cup win came in a rain-shortened event at New Hampshire in June of 2009. "Not just crossing the line, obviously that's an amazing moment, and I didn't stop screaming until I got to about -- well, Victory Lane, I guess. To get a victory, it meant so much, and pulling the Home Depot car into Victory Lane at a Sprint Cup race and winning it the right way was just an amazing, amazing feeling that you can't replicate and you can't explain what it means."
Logano's pass and victory meant it was the 61st time that Martin has finished second in a Sprint Cup race (the seventh at Pocono alone) and also leaves the veteran driver winless in his career at the 2.5-mile, triangular-shaped facility.
"We went after that thing really hard," said Martin, who is driving a 26-race schedule in the No. 55 for Michael Waltrip Racing. "We had a great race car. I really stuck my neck out on the line to get that lead, almost pulled it off the restart before, and I was willing to risk it all to try to get the lead.
"And once I got out there, Joey was just stronger than we were, just a little bit stronger, and I just -- you know, I was pushing as hard as I could push and had a little slip there off of 3 and he was able to get up on me and get by. I'd call that a bump and run. It has been acceptable in this racing for a long time. It's not how I would have done it, and certainly if I'd have had a fast enough car, he would have gotten a return. But I couldn't quite keep up with him."
"When (Martin) got in front of me, I was trying to get right to him, and made a couple mistakes, and he was driving away a little bit and then he made a mistake off of 3, and I was able to have a big run coming to him there," was Logano's version of events. "I went into 1 and tried to outbrake him, and he was protecting the bottom, I was trying to stick my nose in there, and we got really close, and I'm not even sure if we touched each other or not, but I know I got him air loose at least and able to slide up underneath him and clear him by the time he got off of 1.
"Making sure I cleared him was a very important moment. You start side drafting down those straightaways and the 14 car [Tony Stewart] is going to be there ready to pounce before you know it. To clear him, get through 2 and get a little distance on him was very important."
Logano admitted it was crucial for his racing self-esteem to get the win, especially against two of his mentors in Martin and Stewart with Denny Hamlin running a solid fourth place on the final restart. Fuel was also an issue down the stretch; crew chief Jason Ratcliff, who initially said the No. 20 Toyota was two laps short had his driver saving Sunoco right up until the final few laps of the race. Two late cautions, totaling nine laps clearly helped Logano and others who stayed out, trying to stretch their tanks in the final 80 miles after a pit stop during a Lap 125 yellow flag - leaving it up to the driver to execute up front on those restarts.
"I was telling myself under caution, we were pretty quiet - well, at least I was - I wasn't saying anything. I just kept telling myself, I can do this, I can do this," Logano said. "And I knew I can. You've got to have that confidence in there that you can do it. I was focused in and made sure I did all the right things."
This young driver's gain was Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s loss, one of several cars that had to pit for gas and lose track position over the final two yellow flags of the race. In third place and closing on the top two, crew chief Steve Letarte felt there was no choice but to bring the No. 88 down pit road as his calculations had the car nearly five laps short.
"I back his call that he made today," said Earnhardt, who led 36 laps - his highest ever career total at the track - but watched his own winless drought tick up to 143. "I don't like running out of gas. I ran out of gas here one year and that pisses me off so bad that it's just hard to recover from it, mentally, you know; in the next couple of weeks."
Something a lot of drivers couldn't recover from Sunday was getting caught for speeding down pit road. There were 22 such penalties, a Sprint Cup record, with some of those drivers "busted" twice, including Jimmie Johnson, who rallied to finish fourth. 20 of those violations were for a new timing line, Section 10 which was the final portion of asphalt leading to pit exit; several teams, including Johnson claimed faulty technology or that the yellow line marking pit exit was drawn wrong on the track.
"NASCAR has the rule is from yellow line to yellow line and what they do they measure from the nose of the race car back to the transponder," he said. "So from the yellow line back however many feet is where the timing loop is. Long story short, when we get to the end of pit road when your nose hits the line you take off. I did that the first time and I got nailed; alright, maybe I just overdid it. The second time I waited until the tail crossed the yellow line and still got pinned. All we can come up with is that the yellow line versus the timing loop -- that orientation is different here. Things were just repaved, everything has been redone and we need to physically walk down and mark it off ourselves to understand what happened there. We got nailed along with a lot of other guys."
Brad Keselowski was also vocal after the race NASCAR's loops were misplaced, with team radios claiming the lines were misdrawn by upwards of 10 feet on the racetrack. But Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton was adamant all mistakes were due to driver error.
"There's nothing wrong with the loops," he said in comments captured by Jeff Gluck of SB Nation. "There's a time to pass over them, calculate the speed and that's the end of it. Pretty simple."
The rest of the top 10 included Hamlin in fifth followed by Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr., Paul Menard and Jamie McMurray in front of an estimated crowd of 100,000. There were seven cautions for 35 laps for an average speed of 131.004 miles an hour at the facility; the pacing, pavement and shortened distance all got high marks from drivers.
"Huge shout-out to Pocono Speedway and the paving company," said Martin. "I didn't think it would be possible to have a first race event this good -- better than this one."
The Sprint Cup Series moves on to Michigan, another repaved facility next Sunday for a 1 PM start on TNT.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
Tracking The Chase: New Point Leader Heading To Michigan
by Jeff Wolfe
Matt Kenseth took advantage of what turned out to be a bad day by Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle to take the Sprint Cup points lead Sunday at Pocono. Kenseth finished seventh, while Biffle ended up 24th after his motor lost a cylinder during the second half of the race. That problem also allowed Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to slide into second place, ten points behind Kenseth while The Biff has to now settle for third. Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson round out the top 5 in the current standings, unchanged from last week.
Kevin Harvick had an eventful day at Pocono, having to recover from a speeding penalty and a fuel strategy snafu to wind up 14th. That was still good enough for him to pass Martin Truex, Jr. for sixth in the standings, though. Truex had a tough day, involved in a Lap 1 wreck not of his own making that ripped the right side off his No. 56 Toyota. Running 20th, the team was simply happy to finish the race on the lead lap in a crash that destroyed the BK Racing car of Landon Cassill.
Tony Stewart remained eighth in the standings, using a strong third-place finish to his advantage but behind him the biggest loser in the points race was Kyle Busch. Busch suffered engine problems for the second week in a row and only completed 76 laps on the way to a 30th-place finish, which dropped him from ninth to 12th in the standings. Those troubles allowed Clint Bowyer, who overcame an overheating problem of his own to rise to ninth in points, while Brad Keselowski jumped up one spot to tenth. Carl Edwards, who started on the front row but failed to capitalize (making contact with Denny Hamlin, then drawing a black flag on a restart) could only muster an 11th-place finish and is 11th in points now, three markers behind Keselowski.
That means Busch, not Edwards would still qualify for the Chase for the Championship as the first "wild card" since he does have one victory this year. The other "wild card" would be Ryan Newman, who is in 14th place but tied in points with Sunday's winner Joey Logano. After most wins, NASCAR's ties are broken next by most second-place finishes, then most third-place finishes, etc. and Newman has the edge with a second top-5 finish this year.
Taking a bit of hit in the "wild card" standings was Kasey Kahne, who dropped from 14th to 16th with a 29th-place finish due to an accident. Kahne also has one win this year, but is now 18 points behind Newman and Logano.
Standings: 1) Matt Kenseth 523, 2) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -10, 3) Greg Biffle -16, 4) Denny Hamlin -19), 5) Jimmie Johnson -30, 6) Kevin Harvick -53, 7) Martin Truex, Jr. -58, 8) Tony Stewart -75, 9) Clint Bowyer -80, 10) Brad Keselowski -97.
Wild Cards: Kyle Busch 12th in points, 1 win; 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, Dover), Kasey Kahne (Charlotte), Joey Logano (Pocono).
Tracking the Top 35: Cushion Remains Large
While NASCAR guarantees a starting spot for the top-35 in the points standings each week, those close to, or the one on the 35th-place bubble still have plenty of cushion as there is a 55-point gap between the 35th-place car and the 36th-place car. The No. 36 car driven by Tony Raines Sunday sits in the 35th spot, which would have start-and-parked on Sunday except he was involved in an early accident. Raines was caught up in a crash when Reed Sorenson's No. 32 had mechanical issues, coating the track with rear end grease. That left Raines limping home as best he could, taking a few extra laps than normal with a wounded car to preserve the TBR team's place in the points. However, Leicht also parked, running one spot behind to preserve the gap in case the Circle Sport Racing car gets a sponsor. In the final results, Raines was 32nd Sunday while Leicht was 33rd.
It was a rough day for the back of the field, where ten cars entered the event with the intention to start and park - a season high. No one on the list below challenged for a spot inside the top 20 at Pocono.
Here's your owner point standings around the all-important cutoff:
29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 110 points ahead of 36th.
t-30) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 98 points ahead of 36th.
t-30) BK Racing (No. 93 – Travis Kvapil), 98 points ahead of 36th.
32) Tommy Baldwin Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Dave Blaney), 71 points ahead of 36th.
33) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 –Reed Sorenson), 59 points ahead of 36th.
34) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 58 points ahead of 36th.
35) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Tony Raines), 55 points ahead of 36th.
36) Circle Sport Racing (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 55 points behind 35th.
37) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 69 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 - David Stremme), 82 points behind 35th.
39) Robinson-Blakeney Racing (No. 49 - J.J. Yeley), 87 points behind 35th.
40) Phil Parsons Racing (No. 98 – Michael McDowell), 108 points behind 35th.
41) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 117 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
~~~~~~~~~~
Secret Star Of The Race: The Best Run You Never Saw
Paul Menard started third Sunday at Pocono Raceway, but based on the fan reaction you'd think it was 35th. Soft-spoken by nature, guilty by monetary association the reception for Menard's introduction was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. But on a day where Richard Childress Racing struggled, Menard's quiet consistency proved the key in a ninth-place run that kept his No. 27 on the fringes of contention in the Chase standings. No, the car never led a single lap yet on a day when contenders around them were dropping like flies, from pit road speeding penalties to running out of gas this team did all the fundamentals right. It's another notch on the belt within a quality season where the team has finished outside the top 20 only twice, failing to complete just 19 laps while keeping the fabricators from working overtime. To win races, you must first finish them, and that's left Menard a solid 13th in points and in contention to capitalize should he have another upset win like Indianapolis during this summer stretch. He may have no top-5 finishes, but remember, neither did Joey Logano before Sunday's surprise victory. - Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 36. That's the number of laps Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led Sunday at Pocono, more than he's led for the last eight years combined at the triangular-shaped facility. Earnhardt had never led more than 31 circuits in any one Pocono race prior to Sunday; so yes, while the winless streak continues (now up to 143) NASCAR's Most Popular Driver is getting close enough to taste the champagne. - Tom Bowles
by Jeff Wolfe
POCONO 400 UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
It wasn't Joey Logano's first NASCAR victory, but it sure felt like it.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won Sunday at Pocono Raceway for his second career Sprint Cup tally, breaking a 104-race drought in the series, but it was the first time he had gone the scheduled distance in taking the trip to Victory Lane. Starting from the top spot, he also ended a NASCAR modern-era record, becoming the first pole sitter to win in a Sprint Cup race in 31 tries. The last time a pole sitter won was Kyle Busch last July at Kentucky Speedway.
Logano beat second-place finisher Mark Martin and third-place Stewart to the line in the first 400-mile event at Pocono Raceway, where races had traditionally been 500 miles. It was also the first event since the 2.5-mile triangle was repaved, markedly increasing the speed at a track where Logano smashed the qualifying record by seven mph.
But despite leading a race-high 49 laps, it was not clear until the race's closing stages that the driver who started first would finish first. Logano lined up in the lead with eight laps to go after the seventh and final caution in the 160-lap event. He took the low line with Mark Martin on the high side for the restart. But Martin got the advantage and led for four circuits, edging ahead by a car length or two while Logano stalked his prey.
Then, with less than four laps remaining Logano forced the issue with his front bumper. Diving below Martin going into Turn 1, the slight contact drifted Martin up the track, left a lane for the No. 20 Toyota to zip in front and put him in position to pull away.
"Yeah, the moment is pretty surreal," said Logano, whose other Sprint Cup win came in a rain-shortened event at New Hampshire in June of 2009. "Not just crossing the line, obviously that's an amazing moment, and I didn't stop screaming until I got to about -- well, Victory Lane, I guess. To get a victory, it meant so much, and pulling the Home Depot car into Victory Lane at a Sprint Cup race and winning it the right way was just an amazing, amazing feeling that you can't replicate and you can't explain what it means."
Logano's pass and victory meant it was the 61st time that Martin has finished second in a Sprint Cup race (the seventh at Pocono alone) and also leaves the veteran driver winless in his career at the 2.5-mile, triangular-shaped facility.
"We went after that thing really hard," said Martin, who is driving a 26-race schedule in the No. 55 for Michael Waltrip Racing. "We had a great race car. I really stuck my neck out on the line to get that lead, almost pulled it off the restart before, and I was willing to risk it all to try to get the lead.
"And once I got out there, Joey was just stronger than we were, just a little bit stronger, and I just -- you know, I was pushing as hard as I could push and had a little slip there off of 3 and he was able to get up on me and get by. I'd call that a bump and run. It has been acceptable in this racing for a long time. It's not how I would have done it, and certainly if I'd have had a fast enough car, he would have gotten a return. But I couldn't quite keep up with him."
"When (Martin) got in front of me, I was trying to get right to him, and made a couple mistakes, and he was driving away a little bit and then he made a mistake off of 3, and I was able to have a big run coming to him there," was Logano's version of events. "I went into 1 and tried to outbrake him, and he was protecting the bottom, I was trying to stick my nose in there, and we got really close, and I'm not even sure if we touched each other or not, but I know I got him air loose at least and able to slide up underneath him and clear him by the time he got off of 1.
"Making sure I cleared him was a very important moment. You start side drafting down those straightaways and the 14 car [Tony Stewart] is going to be there ready to pounce before you know it. To clear him, get through 2 and get a little distance on him was very important."
Logano admitted it was crucial for his racing self-esteem to get the win, especially against two of his mentors in Martin and Stewart with Denny Hamlin running a solid fourth place on the final restart. Fuel was also an issue down the stretch; crew chief Jason Ratcliff, who initially said the No. 20 Toyota was two laps short had his driver saving Sunoco right up until the final few laps of the race. Two late cautions, totaling nine laps clearly helped Logano and others who stayed out, trying to stretch their tanks in the final 80 miles after a pit stop during a Lap 125 yellow flag - leaving it up to the driver to execute up front on those restarts.
"I was telling myself under caution, we were pretty quiet - well, at least I was - I wasn't saying anything. I just kept telling myself, I can do this, I can do this," Logano said. "And I knew I can. You've got to have that confidence in there that you can do it. I was focused in and made sure I did all the right things."
This young driver's gain was Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s loss, one of several cars that had to pit for gas and lose track position over the final two yellow flags of the race. In third place and closing on the top two, crew chief Steve Letarte felt there was no choice but to bring the No. 88 down pit road as his calculations had the car nearly five laps short.
"I back his call that he made today," said Earnhardt, who led 36 laps - his highest ever career total at the track - but watched his own winless drought tick up to 143. "I don't like running out of gas. I ran out of gas here one year and that pisses me off so bad that it's just hard to recover from it, mentally, you know; in the next couple of weeks."
Something a lot of drivers couldn't recover from Sunday was getting caught for speeding down pit road. There were 22 such penalties, a Sprint Cup record, with some of those drivers "busted" twice, including Jimmie Johnson, who rallied to finish fourth. 20 of those violations were for a new timing line, Section 10 which was the final portion of asphalt leading to pit exit; several teams, including Johnson claimed faulty technology or that the yellow line marking pit exit was drawn wrong on the track.
"NASCAR has the rule is from yellow line to yellow line and what they do they measure from the nose of the race car back to the transponder," he said. "So from the yellow line back however many feet is where the timing loop is. Long story short, when we get to the end of pit road when your nose hits the line you take off. I did that the first time and I got nailed; alright, maybe I just overdid it. The second time I waited until the tail crossed the yellow line and still got pinned. All we can come up with is that the yellow line versus the timing loop -- that orientation is different here. Things were just repaved, everything has been redone and we need to physically walk down and mark it off ourselves to understand what happened there. We got nailed along with a lot of other guys."
Brad Keselowski was also vocal after the race NASCAR's loops were misplaced, with team radios claiming the lines were misdrawn by upwards of 10 feet on the racetrack. But Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton was adamant all mistakes were due to driver error.
"There's nothing wrong with the loops," he said in comments captured by Jeff Gluck of SB Nation. "There's a time to pass over them, calculate the speed and that's the end of it. Pretty simple."
The rest of the top 10 included Hamlin in fifth followed by Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr., Paul Menard and Jamie McMurray in front of an estimated crowd of 100,000. There were seven cautions for 35 laps for an average speed of 131.004 miles an hour at the facility; the pacing, pavement and shortened distance all got high marks from drivers.
"Huge shout-out to Pocono Speedway and the paving company," said Martin. "I didn't think it would be possible to have a first race event this good -- better than this one."
The Sprint Cup Series moves on to Michigan, another repaved facility next Sunday for a 1 PM start on TNT.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
Tracking The Chase: New Point Leader Heading To Michigan
by Jeff Wolfe
Matt Kenseth took advantage of what turned out to be a bad day by Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle to take the Sprint Cup points lead Sunday at Pocono. Kenseth finished seventh, while Biffle ended up 24th after his motor lost a cylinder during the second half of the race. That problem also allowed Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to slide into second place, ten points behind Kenseth while The Biff has to now settle for third. Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson round out the top 5 in the current standings, unchanged from last week.
Kevin Harvick had an eventful day at Pocono, having to recover from a speeding penalty and a fuel strategy snafu to wind up 14th. That was still good enough for him to pass Martin Truex, Jr. for sixth in the standings, though. Truex had a tough day, involved in a Lap 1 wreck not of his own making that ripped the right side off his No. 56 Toyota. Running 20th, the team was simply happy to finish the race on the lead lap in a crash that destroyed the BK Racing car of Landon Cassill.
Tony Stewart remained eighth in the standings, using a strong third-place finish to his advantage but behind him the biggest loser in the points race was Kyle Busch. Busch suffered engine problems for the second week in a row and only completed 76 laps on the way to a 30th-place finish, which dropped him from ninth to 12th in the standings. Those troubles allowed Clint Bowyer, who overcame an overheating problem of his own to rise to ninth in points, while Brad Keselowski jumped up one spot to tenth. Carl Edwards, who started on the front row but failed to capitalize (making contact with Denny Hamlin, then drawing a black flag on a restart) could only muster an 11th-place finish and is 11th in points now, three markers behind Keselowski.
That means Busch, not Edwards would still qualify for the Chase for the Championship as the first "wild card" since he does have one victory this year. The other "wild card" would be Ryan Newman, who is in 14th place but tied in points with Sunday's winner Joey Logano. After most wins, NASCAR's ties are broken next by most second-place finishes, then most third-place finishes, etc. and Newman has the edge with a second top-5 finish this year.
Taking a bit of hit in the "wild card" standings was Kasey Kahne, who dropped from 14th to 16th with a 29th-place finish due to an accident. Kahne also has one win this year, but is now 18 points behind Newman and Logano.
Standings: 1) Matt Kenseth 523, 2) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -10, 3) Greg Biffle -16, 4) Denny Hamlin -19), 5) Jimmie Johnson -30, 6) Kevin Harvick -53, 7) Martin Truex, Jr. -58, 8) Tony Stewart -75, 9) Clint Bowyer -80, 10) Brad Keselowski -97.
Wild Cards: Kyle Busch 12th in points, 1 win; 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, Dover), Kasey Kahne (Charlotte), Joey Logano (Pocono).
Tracking the Top 35: Cushion Remains Large
While NASCAR guarantees a starting spot for the top-35 in the points standings each week, those close to, or the one on the 35th-place bubble still have plenty of cushion as there is a 55-point gap between the 35th-place car and the 36th-place car. The No. 36 car driven by Tony Raines Sunday sits in the 35th spot, which would have start-and-parked on Sunday except he was involved in an early accident. Raines was caught up in a crash when Reed Sorenson's No. 32 had mechanical issues, coating the track with rear end grease. That left Raines limping home as best he could, taking a few extra laps than normal with a wounded car to preserve the TBR team's place in the points. However, Leicht also parked, running one spot behind to preserve the gap in case the Circle Sport Racing car gets a sponsor. In the final results, Raines was 32nd Sunday while Leicht was 33rd.
It was a rough day for the back of the field, where ten cars entered the event with the intention to start and park - a season high. No one on the list below challenged for a spot inside the top 20 at Pocono.
Here's your owner point standings around the all-important cutoff:
29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 110 points ahead of 36th.
t-30) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 98 points ahead of 36th.
t-30) BK Racing (No. 93 – Travis Kvapil), 98 points ahead of 36th.
32) Tommy Baldwin Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Dave Blaney), 71 points ahead of 36th.
33) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 –Reed Sorenson), 59 points ahead of 36th.
34) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 58 points ahead of 36th.
35) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Tony Raines), 55 points ahead of 36th.
36) Circle Sport Racing (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 55 points behind 35th.
37) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 69 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 - David Stremme), 82 points behind 35th.
39) Robinson-Blakeney Racing (No. 49 - J.J. Yeley), 87 points behind 35th.
40) Phil Parsons Racing (No. 98 – Michael McDowell), 108 points behind 35th.
41) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 117 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
~~~~~~~~~~
Secret Star Of The Race: The Best Run You Never Saw
Paul Menard started third Sunday at Pocono Raceway, but based on the fan reaction you'd think it was 35th. Soft-spoken by nature, guilty by monetary association the reception for Menard's introduction was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. But on a day where Richard Childress Racing struggled, Menard's quiet consistency proved the key in a ninth-place run that kept his No. 27 on the fringes of contention in the Chase standings. No, the car never led a single lap yet on a day when contenders around them were dropping like flies, from pit road speeding penalties to running out of gas this team did all the fundamentals right. It's another notch on the belt within a quality season where the team has finished outside the top 20 only twice, failing to complete just 19 laps while keeping the fabricators from working overtime. To win races, you must first finish them, and that's left Menard a solid 13th in points and in contention to capitalize should he have another upset win like Indianapolis during this summer stretch. He may have no top-5 finishes, but remember, neither did Joey Logano before Sunday's surprise victory. - Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 36. That's the number of laps Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led Sunday at Pocono, more than he's led for the last eight years combined at the triangular-shaped facility. Earnhardt had never led more than 31 circuits in any one Pocono race prior to Sunday; so yes, while the winless streak continues (now up to 143) NASCAR's Most Popular Driver is getting close enough to taste the champagne. - Tom Bowles
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Quotes To Remember: Pocono 400
"It was definitely very important to do that tire test. As much as they changed it by repaving it, it's still good ol' Pocono, and it's really tough to get around this joint. I've been able to use a lot of things that I used before on the old track to make our race cars go fast." - Joey Logano, on how being selected for an April tire test gave him an edge at Pocono
"We made some mistakes along the way, but as Joey mentioned, we learned a lot of things, as well, and we just kept building our notebook thicker and thicker. And I think over the last few weeks, we've been able to go back and look at those past notes and say, okay, what do we need to do to have a better race car, what do we need to do on our pit strategy to give Joey what he needs to be successful. I think the hard work up front at the first part of the year is paying off now, and I think it's showed in the last three or four weeks." - Crew chief Jason Ratcliff on the No. 20 car's season
"You're not owed this stuff, man. I've earned all those second-place finishes, and I'm proud of that. You're not entitled. You've got to go get 'em." - Mark Martin, on finishing second at Pocono Raceway - again
"I mean, the crew chiefs go out there and they walk pit road and they can see where the lines are laid in the track, so you know exactly where they are per pit box basically. So it's not a secretive deal where you can't figure out where they're at. I mean, the crew chiefs are allowed to figure that out and go down there and document where they're at. Then we're made aware of it as drivers. But it's still the same pit road speed all the way from the beginning to the end. You don't really think about it from year to year, you just worry about whatever the pit road speed is and make sure you get it on your tach correctly." - Tony Stewart, finished third, on the pit road timing lines
"It was a tough day. We just had a lot of contact out there. We just struggled all day. We ran out of fuel and things like that — to come home with a top-five is a great day. Joey (Logano) — this is about Joey. He's done a great job for us at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and obviously this is a big win for him." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"I didn't know the caution flags were going to be so long. And they were long enough to help them guys make it on fuel. We're not taking those kinds of chances... just yet. There were a lot of times when there was a debris caution and there was legitimate debris on the race track. It's frustrating and it really changed the way we had to call our race. So everybody was really set to go. The guys at the end gambled; and a few of them beat us. It's all right." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished eighth
"I just didn't do a very good job on the restarts. I had a little bit of damage and I think that hurt us a little bit, but I was really frustrated out there. I'll let the guys at NASCAR explain it to me, but I truly right now don't know a better way to do it other than to wait. I backed up as far as I could and when they threw the green the guys were all waiting 100 yards behind me, so I didn't think I was supposed to have to go behind the guys who were purposely letting the faster guys go." - Carl Edwards, finished 11th, on his penalty for not dropping back far enough on the restarts
"It was obvious that the section had some kind of issue because I know both times I got busted; I was under the limit with my tools that I have available. I was consistent down pit road, so if I was speeding in that sector, I would have been speeding in the others but it didn't show that. I think there's plenty of evidence to show that there is something wrong with the section timing with whether they're looking at who got busted or what I just said there. I'm sure that NASCAR will come back and look at it." - Brad Keselowski, finished 18th
"It's unfortunate we fell back that far, but the points are so tight we knew that if we had an issue we were gonna drop a lot – if we got in a wreck or had an engine problem or a mechanical issue or flat tire. You're vulnerable when you're only one point or 10 points ahead, but that's racing. As long as it doesn't happen in the Chase, I'm happy." - Greg Biffle, finished 24th
"I felt like today we qualified really well — we should have been up there. We got knocked back on the first lap in traffic by a stupid move and we're fighting our way back through and then we have another engine issue. We're putting ourselves in a hell of a hole and it's not going to be easy to come out of it." - Kyle Busch, finished 30th
"There are no words to explain it. In my worst nightmare, I didn't think the season would go this bad. You've got two options: you quit or you keep working harder. I've been six years in this. I've experienced bad stuff before in NASCAR, so I ain't going to quit. We'll just keep working harder." - A.J. Allmendinger, finished 31st after being involved in two wrecks
"I have no idea. I don't know if we blew a tire or if something broke. I have no idea because we weren't even in the corner yet and it just completely turned around. It didn't even get loose, so I'd like to see a replay, but something happened." - Reed Sorenson, finished 41st
"It's just sometimes when you try to take it easy at the beginning you can get yourself in trouble, so it doesn't even matter who did what or where or how it happened. I just hate this. I feel like I just kind of lost it getting into (turn) three there and it's just too bad for this team. We work really hard on this car and this setup for three days and got it really good and qualified 15th, but I think we'll have something to take to Michigan. I just really hate it. This is two really tough weeks in a row for my guys and to have wrecked race cars is a reflection on me. So, I'm going to go back and do my work and make sure I can get this thing going a little better." - Landon Cassill, finished 43rd
~~~~~~~~~~~
Quotes To Remember: Pocono 400
"It was definitely very important to do that tire test. As much as they changed it by repaving it, it's still good ol' Pocono, and it's really tough to get around this joint. I've been able to use a lot of things that I used before on the old track to make our race cars go fast." - Joey Logano, on how being selected for an April tire test gave him an edge at Pocono
"We made some mistakes along the way, but as Joey mentioned, we learned a lot of things, as well, and we just kept building our notebook thicker and thicker. And I think over the last few weeks, we've been able to go back and look at those past notes and say, okay, what do we need to do to have a better race car, what do we need to do on our pit strategy to give Joey what he needs to be successful. I think the hard work up front at the first part of the year is paying off now, and I think it's showed in the last three or four weeks." - Crew chief Jason Ratcliff on the No. 20 car's season
"You're not owed this stuff, man. I've earned all those second-place finishes, and I'm proud of that. You're not entitled. You've got to go get 'em." - Mark Martin, on finishing second at Pocono Raceway - again
"I mean, the crew chiefs go out there and they walk pit road and they can see where the lines are laid in the track, so you know exactly where they are per pit box basically. So it's not a secretive deal where you can't figure out where they're at. I mean, the crew chiefs are allowed to figure that out and go down there and document where they're at. Then we're made aware of it as drivers. But it's still the same pit road speed all the way from the beginning to the end. You don't really think about it from year to year, you just worry about whatever the pit road speed is and make sure you get it on your tach correctly." - Tony Stewart, finished third, on the pit road timing lines
"It was a tough day. We just had a lot of contact out there. We just struggled all day. We ran out of fuel and things like that — to come home with a top-five is a great day. Joey (Logano) — this is about Joey. He's done a great job for us at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and obviously this is a big win for him." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"I didn't know the caution flags were going to be so long. And they were long enough to help them guys make it on fuel. We're not taking those kinds of chances... just yet. There were a lot of times when there was a debris caution and there was legitimate debris on the race track. It's frustrating and it really changed the way we had to call our race. So everybody was really set to go. The guys at the end gambled; and a few of them beat us. It's all right." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished eighth
"I just didn't do a very good job on the restarts. I had a little bit of damage and I think that hurt us a little bit, but I was really frustrated out there. I'll let the guys at NASCAR explain it to me, but I truly right now don't know a better way to do it other than to wait. I backed up as far as I could and when they threw the green the guys were all waiting 100 yards behind me, so I didn't think I was supposed to have to go behind the guys who were purposely letting the faster guys go." - Carl Edwards, finished 11th, on his penalty for not dropping back far enough on the restarts
"It was obvious that the section had some kind of issue because I know both times I got busted; I was under the limit with my tools that I have available. I was consistent down pit road, so if I was speeding in that sector, I would have been speeding in the others but it didn't show that. I think there's plenty of evidence to show that there is something wrong with the section timing with whether they're looking at who got busted or what I just said there. I'm sure that NASCAR will come back and look at it." - Brad Keselowski, finished 18th
"It's unfortunate we fell back that far, but the points are so tight we knew that if we had an issue we were gonna drop a lot – if we got in a wreck or had an engine problem or a mechanical issue or flat tire. You're vulnerable when you're only one point or 10 points ahead, but that's racing. As long as it doesn't happen in the Chase, I'm happy." - Greg Biffle, finished 24th
"I felt like today we qualified really well — we should have been up there. We got knocked back on the first lap in traffic by a stupid move and we're fighting our way back through and then we have another engine issue. We're putting ourselves in a hell of a hole and it's not going to be easy to come out of it." - Kyle Busch, finished 30th
"There are no words to explain it. In my worst nightmare, I didn't think the season would go this bad. You've got two options: you quit or you keep working harder. I've been six years in this. I've experienced bad stuff before in NASCAR, so I ain't going to quit. We'll just keep working harder." - A.J. Allmendinger, finished 31st after being involved in two wrecks
"I have no idea. I don't know if we blew a tire or if something broke. I have no idea because we weren't even in the corner yet and it just completely turned around. It didn't even get loose, so I'd like to see a replay, but something happened." - Reed Sorenson, finished 41st
"It's just sometimes when you try to take it easy at the beginning you can get yourself in trouble, so it doesn't even matter who did what or where or how it happened. I just hate this. I feel like I just kind of lost it getting into (turn) three there and it's just too bad for this team. We work really hard on this car and this setup for three days and got it really good and qualified 15th, but I think we'll have something to take to Michigan. I just really hate it. This is two really tough weeks in a row for my guys and to have wrecked race cars is a reflection on me. So, I'm going to go back and do my work and make sure I can get this thing going a little better." - Landon Cassill, finished 43rd
~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Pocono-1 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
The Big Six: Questions Answered After The Pocono 400
by Amy Henderson
Pace Laps: Earnhardt's Redemption, Lotus Lacking, and The Next Big Thing
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Tom Bowles
The One NASCAR "Bump" Pocono Couldn't Smooth Over
by Tom Bowles
IndyCar Race Recap: Fast and Furious Firestone 550k
by Toni Montgomery
FROM THE WEEKEND:
ARCA Racing Series Breakdown: Pocono ARCA 200
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking The Trucks: WinStar World Casino 400k
by Beth Lunkenheimer
The One NASCAR "Bump" Pocono Couldn't Smooth Over
by Tom Bowles
IndyCar Race Recap: Fast and Furious Firestone 550k
by Toni Montgomery
FROM THE WEEKEND:
ARCA Racing Series Breakdown: Pocono ARCA 200
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking The Trucks: WinStar World Casino 400k
by Beth Lunkenheimer
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Joey Logano ended a 104-race winless streak at Pocono on Sunday, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s streak jumped up to 143. But among the top 30 in the current Sprint Cup standings, who has the longest current drought?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1999 Pocono 500 was the first race of a Pocono sweep for Bobby Labonte. However, it is likely best known for a crash involving Dave Marcis. What happened?
A: Marcis, who was a couple of laps down and running 36th at the time, had contact with Brett Bodine in Turn 2. Marcis' No. 71 got loose and spun, but Marcis then overcorrected the slide. This adjustment turned Marcis head-on into the wall, a savage hit. The car rebounded off the concrete wall and spun 540 degrees in the air before landing. The real scary part was that Marcis' helmet could be seen bouncing against the window net from the hit.
Naturally, Marcis was done on the spot due to the crash. But despite being quite woozy and sore, Marcis walked away from the wreck with some assistance. The crash can be seen at the 1:00:20 mark of the race telecast. Eli Gold, Buddy Baker and Dr. Dick Berggren have the call for TNN.
Q: Joey Logano ended a 104-race winless streak at Pocono on Sunday, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s streak jumped up to 143. But among the top 30 in the current Sprint Cup standings, who has the longest current drought?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1999 Pocono 500 was the first race of a Pocono sweep for Bobby Labonte. However, it is likely best known for a crash involving Dave Marcis. What happened?
A: Marcis, who was a couple of laps down and running 36th at the time, had contact with Brett Bodine in Turn 2. Marcis' No. 71 got loose and spun, but Marcis then overcorrected the slide. This adjustment turned Marcis head-on into the wall, a savage hit. The car rebounded off the concrete wall and spun 540 degrees in the air before landing. The real scary part was that Marcis' helmet could be seen bouncing against the window net from the hit.
Naturally, Marcis was done on the spot due to the crash. But despite being quite woozy and sore, Marcis walked away from the wreck with some assistance. The crash can be seen at the 1:00:20 mark of the race telecast. Eli Gold, Buddy Baker and Dr. Dick Berggren have the call for TNN.
Coming Tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Kevin Rutherford
-- Sitting In the Stands: A Fan's View by S.D. Grady
-- This Week's Topic: Joey Logano Hitting His Stride
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Coming Tomorrow On The Frontstretch:
The Yellow Stripe by TBD
Someone from the staff will fill in with another intriguing commentary in the world of motorsports.
5 Points To Ponder by Danny Peters
Danny fills in this week with a series of storylines setting you up for Michigan.
New Commentary Piece by Kevin Rutherford
This past weekend was the debut of Twitter's special relationship with Twitter, making "#NASCAR" a little bit more than just a hashtag. How was its debut? Could it be tweaked? Kevin is here to take a look into it.
Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup Series raced on the new pavement at Pocono Raceway. Meanwhile, the Camping World Truck and Izod IndyCar Series were in action at Texas Motor Speedway. For Sprint Cup, this event marked their season debut on TNT. Were the race telecasts for these events up to snuff? Find out in this week's edition of the TV Critique.
We'll have a special Cup Series guest stop by to discuss the technical aspects of our sport.
------------------------------
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