THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
July 5th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CXXV
What to Watch: Thursday
The NASCAR race weekend starts up at Daytona with all of the practice sessions for the entire weekend. As long as it doesn't rain, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams will each have two practice sessions. The action starts with Nationwide Practice at 2:30pm, followed by Sprint Cup Practice at 4:00pm. Nationwide Happy Hour is at 5:30pm, while Sprint Cup Happy Hour is at 6:30pm.
Top News
by Phil Allaway
House-Autry Mills to Sponsor Gilliland in Atlanta
Earlier this week, Front Row Motorsports announced a new company that will serve as a primary sponsor later this season. That company is House-Autry Mills, a North Carolina-based company that specializes in breads and coatings for various types of food. They will serve as the primary sponsor of David Gilliland's No. 38 during the AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day Weekend.
House-Autry Mills' President is very happy to be onboard with Front Row for Atlanta.
"We're very happy to be a part of Front Row Motorsports," said Craig Hagood, President of House-Autry Mills. "I'm confident that David Gilliland will be a great ambassador for our brand. He is not only a talented racecar driver, but a great all-around guy. When we were looking for a team and a driver to pair up with, we looked for a driver with a strong family connection. David grew up in a racing family, served as a crew chief to his father [Butch], won a [then-NASCAR Busch Series] race with what was primarily a family-run team, and is now very involved in the racing career of his son, Todd."
In addition, House-Autry Mills' sponsorship builds off of an unrelated, but similar sponsorship from earlier this season.
"[Front Row Motorsports] showed us what they were able to do for McCall Farms, a company very similar to ours, at Darlington and how that partnership has grown from a one-race sponsorship to a seven-race program," Hagood continued. Editor's Note: McCall Foods-owned Glory Foods makes its debut on the No. 38 this weekend in Daytona. "We asked them to put together a similar package for Atlanta. It was important for us to see Front Row's experience at leveraging their NASCAR assets in the retail space. Being able to see their success stories and hear that their programs were working directly from their current partners went a long way towards building our confidence that NASCAR could work for us."
CarportEmpire.com to Sponsor Reutimann at Daytona, TMOne Returns
On Wednesday, Tommy Baldwin Racing announced the signing of CarportEmpire.com, one of the country's largest distributors of carports and steel buildings, to serve as the primary sponsor of the team's No. 10 Chevrolet for this weekend's Coke Zero 400. They will be joined by TMOne, who also announced an extension of their sponsorship of the team.
Representatives from CarportEmpire.com, a division of Keen's Portable Buildings, are very happy to be onboard.
"I am thrilled to participate in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this weekend with Tommy Baldwin Racing and David Reutimann," said David Keen, President of Keen's Portable Buildings. "David is a Florida native as well, so it is fitting that we partner together for one of Florida's biggest motorsports events."
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.
Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400: 44 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. for R3 Motorsports
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports
No. 98- Mike Bliss for Phil Parsons Racing
Driver Changes:
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Scott Riggs.
No. 32- Terry Labonte returns to the seat, replacing Ken Schrader.
No. 98- Mike Bliss is in the seat, replacing Michael McDowell.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 21- Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. for R3 Motorsports
No. 26- Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports
No. 30- David Stremme for Inception Motorsports
No. 33- Stephen Leicht for LJ Racing
No. 49- J.J. Yeley for Robinson-Blakeney Racing
No. 50- Bill Elliott for Turner Motorsports (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports*
No. 98- Mike Bliss for Phil Parsons Racing*
Not Entered:
No. 19- Humphrey-Smith Racing
No. 52- Mike Skinner for Hamilton-Means Racing
No. 74- Stacy Compton for Turn One Racing
Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeno 250: 44 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 1- Kurt Busch for Phoenix Racing
No. 18- Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 20- Clint Bowyer for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 30- Nelson Piquet, Jr. for Turner Motorsports
No. 32- Miguel Paludo for Turner Motorsports
No. 33- Kevin Harvick for Richard Childress Racing
No. 42- Josh Wise for Team Motorsports Group
No. 47- Scott Speed for Team Motorsports Group
No. 54- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
No. 99- John Wes Townley for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard
Driver Changes:
No. 08- Bryan Silas will be in the seat, replacing Tim Andrews. If he qualifies, Silas would be making his Nationwide Series debut.
No. 15- Jeffrey Earnhardt returns to the seat, replacing Blake Koch.
No. 18- Joey Logano returns to the seat, replacing Denny Hamlin. Hamlin was originally entered in the car, but Logano was swapped in.
No. 20- Clint Bowyer is in the seat, replacing Joey Logano
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. is in the seat, replacing Jamie Dick.
No. 24- Casey Roderick returns to the seat, replacing Jamie Mosley.
No. 36- Bobby Santos III is in the seat, replacing Ryan Blaney.
No. 47- Scott Speed returns to the seat, replacing Matt DiBenedetto.
No. 52- Joey Gase returns to the seat, replacing Kevin Lepage.
No. 54- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing his brother Kurt.
No. 74- Mike Harmon returns to the seat, replacing Scott Riggs.
No. 99- John Wes Townley returns to the seat, replacing Kenny Wallace.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 08- Bryan Silas for Randy Hill Racing*
No. 1- Kurt Busch for Phoenix Racing
No. 10- Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 15- Jeffrey Earnhardt for Rick Ware Racing
No. 20- Clint Bowyer for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 36- Bobby Santos III for Tommy Baldwin Racing
No. 42- Josh Wise for Team Motorsports Group*
No. 46- Chase Miller for Team Motorsports Group*
No. 47- Scott Speed for Team Motorsports Group*
No. 52- Joey Gase for Means Motorsports
No. 74- Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing*
No. 82- Blake Koch for MacDonald Motorsports
No. 89- Morgan Shepherd for Shepherd Racing Ventures
*- Expected to Start-and-Park
Not Entered:
No. 17- Tanner Berryhill for Berryhill Racing
No. 72- John Jackson for Carter Racing
No. 98- Reed Sorenson for Biagi-DenBeste Racing
Izod IndyCar Series Honda Indy Toronto: 25 cars entered
Driver Changes: None
Entries:
No. 2- Ryan Briscoe for Team Penske
No. 3- Helio Castroneves for Team Penske
No. 4- J.R. Hildebrand for Panther Racing
No. 5- E.J. Viso for KV Racing Technologies
No. 7- Sebastien Bourdais for Dragon Racing
No. 8- Rubens Barrichello for KV Racing Technologies
No. 9- Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 10- Dario Franchitti for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 11- Tony Kanaan for KV Racing Technologies with SH Racing
No. 12- Will Power for Team Penske
No. 14- Mike Conway for AJ Foyt Enterprises
No. 15- Takuma Sato for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
No. 18- Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 19- James Jakes for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 20- Ed Carpenter for Ed Carpenter Racing
No. 22- Oriol Servia for Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
No. 26- Marco Andretti for Andretti Autosport
No. 27- James Hinchcliffe for Andretti Autosport
No. 28- Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport
No. 38- Graham Rahal for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 67- Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
No. 77- Simon Pagenaud for Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports
No. 78- Simona de Silvestro for Lotus-HVM Racing
No. 83- Charlie Kimball for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 98- Alex Tagliani for Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian
Have news for Phil and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
~~~~~~~~~~
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 Thursday with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
Today's Featured Commentary
Letters From Vito...With Love
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese
Not going to lie to you, I'm a little bit cranky. Blame a lingering back issue that is either a strain, a pull, or a bulging disc. I haven't put my fist through my monitor yet – yet – but I'm getting there. The relentless oppressive heat that looks to eclipse the century mark Thursday and Friday, are a prime culprit too. This isn't just normal Midwest summer heat and humidity – it is Africa-hot folks. With that, here's a select few things have me ready to thrown on Pantera's Walk, and move some furniture around my forward operating base, somewhere in the bowels of Western Michigan.
Dear Dillon Brothers,
Please lose those stupid hats. The irony of driving the familiar "Menacing" black No. 3 but wearing the "Good Guy" white cowboy hat is just not cutting it. There is only one man in the sport who should be wearing a cowboy hat, and he has a massive belt buckle that declares, "7-Time Winston Cup Champion, 7-Time Daytona 500 Winner, 200 Wins." There are only two other guys who are allowed to wear cowboy hats in NASCAR, and that would be Cale Yarborough and Dale Earnhardt, and they both cut that out in the early 1980s, after they came to the realization that only The King gets to wear a feathered crown. And with that, we also say Happy Birthday, Mr. Petty. Try to find another guy 75 years old that cool. Its not going to happen.
Dear Kurt Busch,
Woah…dude, was that like…emotion we saw and heard from you at Sonoma? If so, please keep it up. You're actually a likeable guy when you're not cussing out reporters and completely losing your $#!t on people. Usually when one listens to Kurt Busch's radio, it's often in anticipation of the hilarious tirade of profanity that your ears will soon be scorched with. He's usually 50% Sam Kinison, 50% George Carlin, but the final few laps at Sonoma, however, told a different story.
Clipping a stack of tires in Turn 11, Busch ripped the rear panhard bar out of the rear end, allowing it to skate side to side the final few laps. How he held onto it was nothing short of a miracle. Over the team's radio, there were tears being choked back by both driver, spotter, and crew chief alike. In his press briefing following the race, gone was the typical polished, canned response that Busch is known for. It was genuine, pure, positive emotion from a driver who had driven himself to the brink yet again of cussing himself right out of a job…but the second chance afforded to him by owner James Finch nearly paid off with an improbable road course win. Phoenix Racing usually fields a pretty stout restrictor plate car, and if Busch is able to break through Saturday night, the snot bubbles are going to be running rampant, and not because of the cordite wafting through the air after the fireworks show.
Dear NASCAR Marketing,
Okay. We get it. Clint Bowyer has to amp up with 5-Hour Energy before he goes jet skiing, hunting, or sticks his hands next to the engine of a Toyota FJ-Cruiser. And yes, apparently Mac and Cheese vs. Mashed Potatoes & Gravy rivals Obamacare as the key issue that is dividing our nation. It almost makes me long for a Michael Waltrip/Martin Truex, Jr. NAPA commercial. Almost. But not quite.
Dear Roush Fenway Racing,
Can you just change the name back to Roush Racing and stick to hanging signs on that big, dumb, green wall in Boston (sorry, Tig's fan writing this)? When you bought into one of the most storied racing operations in motorsports history, it was on the basis of securing sponsorship in an ever increasingly competitive market. Since then you've managed to run off and alienate Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, and a host of crew chiefs. Where's all this sponsorship they were supposed to secure anyway? To date they've lost UPS, DeWalt, AAA, Irwin Tools, Crown Royal, Smirnoff, and a host of others. Yeah, I know, the economy sucks. But there's a lot of teams that are not quite the caliber of RFR who consistently have sponsorship stickers on their cars in these troubled times.
You'd think finding somebody to kick in a few bucks for the 2011 and 2012 Daytona 500 champions might be something they could muster at some point along the way. What's more disturbing is that Jack Roush said he had no knowledge that Matt was considering leaving. He essentially said the same thing, regretting not being more involved in the process when Mark Martin was told "no thanks" after he asked about returning to a part-time Cup capacity for 2007. With Penske switching to Ford next season, will Roush Fenway end up being the second-fiddle Ford team for 2013 and beyond, if they're unable to fund their programs at any level?
Dear God,
Please turn off the heat in the Michigan, and grant electricity back to those who have been without it for the last week. We now know what living in Hell would be like, and promise to sin no more. For those of you in Ohio, sorry, but you're already there. And we'd like Toledo back.
Sincerely,
Vito T. Pugliese
Vito Pugliese is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at vito.pugliese@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
COME JOIN THE FRONTSTRETCH FAMILY!
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
July 5th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CXXV
What to Watch: Thursday
The NASCAR race weekend starts up at Daytona with all of the practice sessions for the entire weekend. As long as it doesn't rain, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams will each have two practice sessions. The action starts with Nationwide Practice at 2:30pm, followed by Sprint Cup Practice at 4:00pm. Nationwide Happy Hour is at 5:30pm, while Sprint Cup Happy Hour is at 6:30pm.
Top News
by Phil Allaway
House-Autry Mills to Sponsor Gilliland in Atlanta
Earlier this week, Front Row Motorsports announced a new company that will serve as a primary sponsor later this season. That company is House-Autry Mills, a North Carolina-based company that specializes in breads and coatings for various types of food. They will serve as the primary sponsor of David Gilliland's No. 38 during the AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day Weekend.
House-Autry Mills' President is very happy to be onboard with Front Row for Atlanta.
"We're very happy to be a part of Front Row Motorsports," said Craig Hagood, President of House-Autry Mills. "I'm confident that David Gilliland will be a great ambassador for our brand. He is not only a talented racecar driver, but a great all-around guy. When we were looking for a team and a driver to pair up with, we looked for a driver with a strong family connection. David grew up in a racing family, served as a crew chief to his father [Butch], won a [then-NASCAR Busch Series] race with what was primarily a family-run team, and is now very involved in the racing career of his son, Todd."
In addition, House-Autry Mills' sponsorship builds off of an unrelated, but similar sponsorship from earlier this season.
"[Front Row Motorsports] showed us what they were able to do for McCall Farms, a company very similar to ours, at Darlington and how that partnership has grown from a one-race sponsorship to a seven-race program," Hagood continued. Editor's Note: McCall Foods-owned Glory Foods makes its debut on the No. 38 this weekend in Daytona. "We asked them to put together a similar package for Atlanta. It was important for us to see Front Row's experience at leveraging their NASCAR assets in the retail space. Being able to see their success stories and hear that their programs were working directly from their current partners went a long way towards building our confidence that NASCAR could work for us."
CarportEmpire.com to Sponsor Reutimann at Daytona, TMOne Returns
On Wednesday, Tommy Baldwin Racing announced the signing of CarportEmpire.com, one of the country's largest distributors of carports and steel buildings, to serve as the primary sponsor of the team's No. 10 Chevrolet for this weekend's Coke Zero 400. They will be joined by TMOne, who also announced an extension of their sponsorship of the team.
Representatives from CarportEmpire.com, a division of Keen's Portable Buildings, are very happy to be onboard.
"I am thrilled to participate in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this weekend with Tommy Baldwin Racing and David Reutimann," said David Keen, President of Keen's Portable Buildings. "David is a Florida native as well, so it is fitting that we partner together for one of Florida's biggest motorsports events."
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.
Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400: 44 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. for R3 Motorsports
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports
No. 98- Mike Bliss for Phil Parsons Racing
Driver Changes:
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Scott Riggs.
No. 32- Terry Labonte returns to the seat, replacing Ken Schrader.
No. 98- Mike Bliss is in the seat, replacing Michael McDowell.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 21- Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. for R3 Motorsports
No. 26- Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports
No. 30- David Stremme for Inception Motorsports
No. 33- Stephen Leicht for LJ Racing
No. 49- J.J. Yeley for Robinson-Blakeney Racing
No. 50- Bill Elliott for Turner Motorsports (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports*
No. 98- Mike Bliss for Phil Parsons Racing*
Not Entered:
No. 19- Humphrey-Smith Racing
No. 52- Mike Skinner for Hamilton-Means Racing
No. 74- Stacy Compton for Turn One Racing
Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeno 250: 44 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 1- Kurt Busch for Phoenix Racing
No. 18- Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 20- Clint Bowyer for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 30- Nelson Piquet, Jr. for Turner Motorsports
No. 32- Miguel Paludo for Turner Motorsports
No. 33- Kevin Harvick for Richard Childress Racing
No. 42- Josh Wise for Team Motorsports Group
No. 47- Scott Speed for Team Motorsports Group
No. 54- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
No. 99- John Wes Townley for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard
Driver Changes:
No. 08- Bryan Silas will be in the seat, replacing Tim Andrews. If he qualifies, Silas would be making his Nationwide Series debut.
No. 15- Jeffrey Earnhardt returns to the seat, replacing Blake Koch.
No. 18- Joey Logano returns to the seat, replacing Denny Hamlin. Hamlin was originally entered in the car, but Logano was swapped in.
No. 20- Clint Bowyer is in the seat, replacing Joey Logano
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. is in the seat, replacing Jamie Dick.
No. 24- Casey Roderick returns to the seat, replacing Jamie Mosley.
No. 36- Bobby Santos III is in the seat, replacing Ryan Blaney.
No. 47- Scott Speed returns to the seat, replacing Matt DiBenedetto.
No. 52- Joey Gase returns to the seat, replacing Kevin Lepage.
No. 54- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing his brother Kurt.
No. 74- Mike Harmon returns to the seat, replacing Scott Riggs.
No. 99- John Wes Townley returns to the seat, replacing Kenny Wallace.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 08- Bryan Silas for Randy Hill Racing*
No. 1- Kurt Busch for Phoenix Racing
No. 10- Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 15- Jeffrey Earnhardt for Rick Ware Racing
No. 20- Clint Bowyer for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 36- Bobby Santos III for Tommy Baldwin Racing
No. 42- Josh Wise for Team Motorsports Group*
No. 46- Chase Miller for Team Motorsports Group*
No. 47- Scott Speed for Team Motorsports Group*
No. 52- Joey Gase for Means Motorsports
No. 74- Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing*
No. 82- Blake Koch for MacDonald Motorsports
No. 89- Morgan Shepherd for Shepherd Racing Ventures
*- Expected to Start-and-Park
Not Entered:
No. 17- Tanner Berryhill for Berryhill Racing
No. 72- John Jackson for Carter Racing
No. 98- Reed Sorenson for Biagi-DenBeste Racing
Izod IndyCar Series Honda Indy Toronto: 25 cars entered
Driver Changes: None
Entries:
No. 2- Ryan Briscoe for Team Penske
No. 3- Helio Castroneves for Team Penske
No. 4- J.R. Hildebrand for Panther Racing
No. 5- E.J. Viso for KV Racing Technologies
No. 7- Sebastien Bourdais for Dragon Racing
No. 8- Rubens Barrichello for KV Racing Technologies
No. 9- Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 10- Dario Franchitti for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 11- Tony Kanaan for KV Racing Technologies with SH Racing
No. 12- Will Power for Team Penske
No. 14- Mike Conway for AJ Foyt Enterprises
No. 15- Takuma Sato for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
No. 18- Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 19- James Jakes for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 20- Ed Carpenter for Ed Carpenter Racing
No. 22- Oriol Servia for Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
No. 26- Marco Andretti for Andretti Autosport
No. 27- James Hinchcliffe for Andretti Autosport
No. 28- Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport
No. 38- Graham Rahal for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 67- Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
No. 77- Simon Pagenaud for Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports
No. 78- Simona de Silvestro for Lotus-HVM Racing
No. 83- Charlie Kimball for Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 98- Alex Tagliani for Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian
Have news for Phil and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
~~~~~~~~~~
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 Thursday with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
Today's Featured Commentary
Letters From Vito...With Love
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese
Not going to lie to you, I'm a little bit cranky. Blame a lingering back issue that is either a strain, a pull, or a bulging disc. I haven't put my fist through my monitor yet – yet – but I'm getting there. The relentless oppressive heat that looks to eclipse the century mark Thursday and Friday, are a prime culprit too. This isn't just normal Midwest summer heat and humidity – it is Africa-hot folks. With that, here's a select few things have me ready to thrown on Pantera's Walk, and move some furniture around my forward operating base, somewhere in the bowels of Western Michigan.
Dear Dillon Brothers,
Please lose those stupid hats. The irony of driving the familiar "Menacing" black No. 3 but wearing the "Good Guy" white cowboy hat is just not cutting it. There is only one man in the sport who should be wearing a cowboy hat, and he has a massive belt buckle that declares, "7-Time Winston Cup Champion, 7-Time Daytona 500 Winner, 200 Wins." There are only two other guys who are allowed to wear cowboy hats in NASCAR, and that would be Cale Yarborough and Dale Earnhardt, and they both cut that out in the early 1980s, after they came to the realization that only The King gets to wear a feathered crown. And with that, we also say Happy Birthday, Mr. Petty. Try to find another guy 75 years old that cool. Its not going to happen.
Dear Kurt Busch,
Woah…dude, was that like…emotion we saw and heard from you at Sonoma? If so, please keep it up. You're actually a likeable guy when you're not cussing out reporters and completely losing your $#!t on people. Usually when one listens to Kurt Busch's radio, it's often in anticipation of the hilarious tirade of profanity that your ears will soon be scorched with. He's usually 50% Sam Kinison, 50% George Carlin, but the final few laps at Sonoma, however, told a different story.
Clipping a stack of tires in Turn 11, Busch ripped the rear panhard bar out of the rear end, allowing it to skate side to side the final few laps. How he held onto it was nothing short of a miracle. Over the team's radio, there were tears being choked back by both driver, spotter, and crew chief alike. In his press briefing following the race, gone was the typical polished, canned response that Busch is known for. It was genuine, pure, positive emotion from a driver who had driven himself to the brink yet again of cussing himself right out of a job…but the second chance afforded to him by owner James Finch nearly paid off with an improbable road course win. Phoenix Racing usually fields a pretty stout restrictor plate car, and if Busch is able to break through Saturday night, the snot bubbles are going to be running rampant, and not because of the cordite wafting through the air after the fireworks show.
Dear NASCAR Marketing,
Okay. We get it. Clint Bowyer has to amp up with 5-Hour Energy before he goes jet skiing, hunting, or sticks his hands next to the engine of a Toyota FJ-Cruiser. And yes, apparently Mac and Cheese vs. Mashed Potatoes & Gravy rivals Obamacare as the key issue that is dividing our nation. It almost makes me long for a Michael Waltrip/Martin Truex, Jr. NAPA commercial. Almost. But not quite.
Dear Roush Fenway Racing,
Can you just change the name back to Roush Racing and stick to hanging signs on that big, dumb, green wall in Boston (sorry, Tig's fan writing this)? When you bought into one of the most storied racing operations in motorsports history, it was on the basis of securing sponsorship in an ever increasingly competitive market. Since then you've managed to run off and alienate Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, and a host of crew chiefs. Where's all this sponsorship they were supposed to secure anyway? To date they've lost UPS, DeWalt, AAA, Irwin Tools, Crown Royal, Smirnoff, and a host of others. Yeah, I know, the economy sucks. But there's a lot of teams that are not quite the caliber of RFR who consistently have sponsorship stickers on their cars in these troubled times.
You'd think finding somebody to kick in a few bucks for the 2011 and 2012 Daytona 500 champions might be something they could muster at some point along the way. What's more disturbing is that Jack Roush said he had no knowledge that Matt was considering leaving. He essentially said the same thing, regretting not being more involved in the process when Mark Martin was told "no thanks" after he asked about returning to a part-time Cup capacity for 2007. With Penske switching to Ford next season, will Roush Fenway end up being the second-fiddle Ford team for 2013 and beyond, if they're unable to fund their programs at any level?
Dear God,
Please turn off the heat in the Michigan, and grant electricity back to those who have been without it for the last week. We now know what living in Hell would be like, and promise to sin no more. For those of you in Ohio, sorry, but you're already there. And we'd like Toledo back.
Sincerely,
Vito T. Pugliese
Vito Pugliese is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at vito.pugliese@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
COME JOIN THE FRONTSTRETCH FAMILY!
Hey Frontstretch Readers,
We are looking for someone who shares our enthusiasm for NASCAR and has an experienced background in web design. Specifically, we are looking for someone who can help maintain and enhance our website, increase our SEO, and upgrade our publishing platform while producing a limited amount of content throughout the season. This job presents a perfect opportunity for someone with a technical background, a person who wants their work to gain national exposure.
If you are interested, contact frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com. Please include references to your past work in your e-mail.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Critic's Annex: Continental Tire 150
by Phil Allaway
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports-related programming that is made available to us race fans on a regular basis. While NASCAR's "National" Series were each in action at Kentucky Speedway, Grand-Am's two series (the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, or CTSCC) were at Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen's Six Hours weekend.
While SPEED televised the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen flag-to-flag on Sunday afternoon, the CTSCC event was held Saturday afternoon, The telecast is currently scheduled to air on SPEED on July 14th at 12:00pm. Heck, the last race for the series from Road America (it was dubbed the Road America 200, but was actually a timed race) is scheduled to air this Sunday.
Thanks to SPEED's website, SPEED2.com, I can watch these races live, flag-to-flag. Unfortunately, access to the site's content is quite limited. You must subscribe to SPEED to be eligible to access the content. In addition, only certain providers have contracts with SPEED to allow access to the service. As much as Time Warner Cable makes me want to rip my hair out at times, they were one of the first companies to sign on to the service (and for that matter, ESPN's WatchESPN service. Granted, they were one of the last holdouts to espn3.com access). In addition to Time Warner and its' cousin, Bright House Networks, SPEED2 is only available for Cox Cable, Optimum Cable (Cablevision), Dish Network, DirecTV, and Verizon FiOS users. Somewhat limited scope right there. Since the race is run two weeks before it airs on television, no commercials are loaded into the telecast. However, promos that air coming out of breaks are done during the race. That made for a bit of a surreal experience because one of them was for the American Ethanol 200, the upcoming truck race at Iowa that will run the same day as the delayed telecast on SPEED.
Of course, having talked about the service, there were a few issues with the broadcast when I watched it.
The issues started almost from startup. Yes, I got in ok, but when the telecast started, SPEED had an audio issue with the microphones. You couldn't hear anyone. You could see SPEED's commentary team in the booth talking about the race about to start, but you couldn't hear anything they were saying. Same for Jamie Howe and Brian Till on pit road. This was eventually fixed, but not until after the green flag flew. However, the problem returned briefly at about half-distance
Another thing that really annoyed me was the fact that on a couple of occasions, the site would close me out of the race telecast and revert me to the play page. I would then click on the play icon to get back in. I would be then be greeted with a two-second recording that said "This content is Unavailable." In order to get back in, I would have to refresh the race's play page, then click the play icon again. This happened a couple of times during the event and it never fails to tick me off. Just shows that SPEED2 is still a work in progress for now.
CTSCC events are typically 2:30 sprint races. However, the races air in two hour slots on SPEED. As a result, the commentary crew "lays out" during the race and doesn't commentate on certain segments. Its as if they already know which sections of the event that they aren't going to commentate on ahead of time. Generally, this doesn't bite them too bad because a lot of these segments tend to be under full course cautions, but it covers some green segments as well. I'd like to know what goes into picking these sections to stay silent for. Also, I don't really understand why they do it. They're in the booth for the whole race. Might as well commentate on the whole thing (minus commercial breaks), then let post-production take care of it.
During the lay out periods (commercials and non-commentary sections), Leigh Diffey will welcome the viewers watching the event on SPEED2 to the telecast and tell them what's going with their telecast. You also get to hear communication between the pit reporters and the broadcast booth via two-way radio, which is fairly interesting. I find that Dorsey Schroeder tends to be more opinionated during these segments than on what ultimately makes the race telecast on regular SPEED, while Calvin Fish is typically about the same.
SPEED does a good job showing viewers as much of the action on-track as they can, knowing that 60 something cars started the race (72 entered and 65 practiced, but a couple failed to start). There were plenty of battles on track and we got to see a number of them. I feel that the teams that had in-car cameras (Freedom Autosport's Nos. 25 and 26 Mazda MX-5's, Kinetic's No. 10 Kia Forte Koup and Roush Engineering No. 61 Ford Mustang Boss 302R GT) got more than their share of coverage. However, they always seemed to be close to all the action (and in the case of Nic Jonsson in the No. 10, in the action (got involved in someone else's wreck).
Diffey is a great play-by-play commentator to listen to. Possibly the most enthusiastic booth guy in racing here in the United States at the moment, and he works hard at it. For NASCAR fans, you may have heard him fill in for Mike Joy during SPEED's practice coverage last year at Watkins Glen (he was there anyway for the Saturday evening Grand-Am race and Joy couldn't make it). He's solid, knowlegable and knows how to work Fish and Schroeder's different personalities into the broadcast properly. Fish and Schroeder are both retired sports car drivers who have plenty of TV experience. In Schroeder's case, he was doing races in the booth long before he retired, even pitching in for a couple of Winston Cup races at Watkins Glen for ESPN in the 1990's as an analyst (one planned, one not-so-planned). Schroeder is very opinionated in the booth, and it shows at times. For example, one of the yellows was due to a big crash. After Chris Brown spun out his ST-class BMW in Turn 6, he turned right into the lone GS-class Nissan 370Z in the field, demolishing it in the process. Schroeder eviscerated Brown's move, knowing that Brown could definitely see the Nissan before he attempted his move.
Post-race coverage was fairly typical. There were interviews with the winning GS (Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi) and ST pairings (Chad Gilsinger and Michael Valiente) in Victory Lane. There were also checks of the point standings in each class before the telecast came to an end.
SPEED2.com also has on-demand settings. Anything that airs on there is available for 3 months after the telecast for repeated viewings. This is much longer than the week that ESPN archives programming on ESPN3.com. Last night, I went back and took a second look at the broadcast for the heck of it. I found that the aforementioned audio issues that I mentioned above were gone. They just occurred for those (like myself) who watched the race live on Saturday. I'm happy that they were able to fix it up, but its still a shame that those who watched live had to deal with the issues. Having said that, I was very confident that SPEED would be able to work out the problems.
As Frontstretch.com's resident road racing expert, I strongly suggest that you give the CTSCC a try sometime. The telecasts are generally pretty good to watch, and the racing is quite good. I always say not to sleep on the CTSCC, and I believe in that statement. There is a little too much wrecking for my liking (and the commentators' liking as well), but a lot of that is due to the big fields. Then again, the series evolved out of the old IMSA Endurance Challenge/Motorola Cup, if you remember those races from the 1990's, a few of which currently reside on YouTube.
That's all for this week. Since I am currently in Florida covering the action in Daytona, I will not be in front of a TV this week, so there will likely not be an Annex next Thursday. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this weekend's action in Daytona, Silverstone (for Formula One) and Toronto.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Beyond the Cockpit: Back Home in Nationwide for RWR's Timmy Hill
"I'm not going to lie, trying to move to Cup was a big step. But the reality is, we got our Cup cars two weeks before Daytona, while most of the other teams out there were preparing all winter. We were missing races by thousandths of a second. We were not out to lunch out there. Coming off rookie of the year, we had big plans, it just didn't work out for us. Maybe we'll try it next year or the year after. No matter, I'm looking forward to the future." - Timmy Hill, on his aborted attempt to run for Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year
~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
MPM2Nite: We'll Be Back After This -- The NASCAR KFC Nightmare
by Matt McLaughlin
~~~~~~~~~~
The Critic's Annex: Continental Tire 150
by Phil Allaway
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports-related programming that is made available to us race fans on a regular basis. While NASCAR's "National" Series were each in action at Kentucky Speedway, Grand-Am's two series (the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, or CTSCC) were at Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen's Six Hours weekend.
While SPEED televised the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen flag-to-flag on Sunday afternoon, the CTSCC event was held Saturday afternoon, The telecast is currently scheduled to air on SPEED on July 14th at 12:00pm. Heck, the last race for the series from Road America (it was dubbed the Road America 200, but was actually a timed race) is scheduled to air this Sunday.
Thanks to SPEED's website, SPEED2.com, I can watch these races live, flag-to-flag. Unfortunately, access to the site's content is quite limited. You must subscribe to SPEED to be eligible to access the content. In addition, only certain providers have contracts with SPEED to allow access to the service. As much as Time Warner Cable makes me want to rip my hair out at times, they were one of the first companies to sign on to the service (and for that matter, ESPN's WatchESPN service. Granted, they were one of the last holdouts to espn3.com access). In addition to Time Warner and its' cousin, Bright House Networks, SPEED2 is only available for Cox Cable, Optimum Cable (Cablevision), Dish Network, DirecTV, and Verizon FiOS users. Somewhat limited scope right there. Since the race is run two weeks before it airs on television, no commercials are loaded into the telecast. However, promos that air coming out of breaks are done during the race. That made for a bit of a surreal experience because one of them was for the American Ethanol 200, the upcoming truck race at Iowa that will run the same day as the delayed telecast on SPEED.
Of course, having talked about the service, there were a few issues with the broadcast when I watched it.
The issues started almost from startup. Yes, I got in ok, but when the telecast started, SPEED had an audio issue with the microphones. You couldn't hear anyone. You could see SPEED's commentary team in the booth talking about the race about to start, but you couldn't hear anything they were saying. Same for Jamie Howe and Brian Till on pit road. This was eventually fixed, but not until after the green flag flew. However, the problem returned briefly at about half-distance
Another thing that really annoyed me was the fact that on a couple of occasions, the site would close me out of the race telecast and revert me to the play page. I would then click on the play icon to get back in. I would be then be greeted with a two-second recording that said "This content is Unavailable." In order to get back in, I would have to refresh the race's play page, then click the play icon again. This happened a couple of times during the event and it never fails to tick me off. Just shows that SPEED2 is still a work in progress for now.
CTSCC events are typically 2:30 sprint races. However, the races air in two hour slots on SPEED. As a result, the commentary crew "lays out" during the race and doesn't commentate on certain segments. Its as if they already know which sections of the event that they aren't going to commentate on ahead of time. Generally, this doesn't bite them too bad because a lot of these segments tend to be under full course cautions, but it covers some green segments as well. I'd like to know what goes into picking these sections to stay silent for. Also, I don't really understand why they do it. They're in the booth for the whole race. Might as well commentate on the whole thing (minus commercial breaks), then let post-production take care of it.
During the lay out periods (commercials and non-commentary sections), Leigh Diffey will welcome the viewers watching the event on SPEED2 to the telecast and tell them what's going with their telecast. You also get to hear communication between the pit reporters and the broadcast booth via two-way radio, which is fairly interesting. I find that Dorsey Schroeder tends to be more opinionated during these segments than on what ultimately makes the race telecast on regular SPEED, while Calvin Fish is typically about the same.
SPEED does a good job showing viewers as much of the action on-track as they can, knowing that 60 something cars started the race (72 entered and 65 practiced, but a couple failed to start). There were plenty of battles on track and we got to see a number of them. I feel that the teams that had in-car cameras (Freedom Autosport's Nos. 25 and 26 Mazda MX-5's, Kinetic's No. 10 Kia Forte Koup and Roush Engineering No. 61 Ford Mustang Boss 302R GT) got more than their share of coverage. However, they always seemed to be close to all the action (and in the case of Nic Jonsson in the No. 10, in the action (got involved in someone else's wreck).
Diffey is a great play-by-play commentator to listen to. Possibly the most enthusiastic booth guy in racing here in the United States at the moment, and he works hard at it. For NASCAR fans, you may have heard him fill in for Mike Joy during SPEED's practice coverage last year at Watkins Glen (he was there anyway for the Saturday evening Grand-Am race and Joy couldn't make it). He's solid, knowlegable and knows how to work Fish and Schroeder's different personalities into the broadcast properly. Fish and Schroeder are both retired sports car drivers who have plenty of TV experience. In Schroeder's case, he was doing races in the booth long before he retired, even pitching in for a couple of Winston Cup races at Watkins Glen for ESPN in the 1990's as an analyst (one planned, one not-so-planned). Schroeder is very opinionated in the booth, and it shows at times. For example, one of the yellows was due to a big crash. After Chris Brown spun out his ST-class BMW in Turn 6, he turned right into the lone GS-class Nissan 370Z in the field, demolishing it in the process. Schroeder eviscerated Brown's move, knowing that Brown could definitely see the Nissan before he attempted his move.
Post-race coverage was fairly typical. There were interviews with the winning GS (Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi) and ST pairings (Chad Gilsinger and Michael Valiente) in Victory Lane. There were also checks of the point standings in each class before the telecast came to an end.
SPEED2.com also has on-demand settings. Anything that airs on there is available for 3 months after the telecast for repeated viewings. This is much longer than the week that ESPN archives programming on ESPN3.com. Last night, I went back and took a second look at the broadcast for the heck of it. I found that the aforementioned audio issues that I mentioned above were gone. They just occurred for those (like myself) who watched the race live on Saturday. I'm happy that they were able to fix it up, but its still a shame that those who watched live had to deal with the issues. Having said that, I was very confident that SPEED would be able to work out the problems.
As Frontstretch.com's resident road racing expert, I strongly suggest that you give the CTSCC a try sometime. The telecasts are generally pretty good to watch, and the racing is quite good. I always say not to sleep on the CTSCC, and I believe in that statement. There is a little too much wrecking for my liking (and the commentators' liking as well), but a lot of that is due to the big fields. Then again, the series evolved out of the old IMSA Endurance Challenge/Motorola Cup, if you remember those races from the 1990's, a few of which currently reside on YouTube.
That's all for this week. Since I am currently in Florida covering the action in Daytona, I will not be in front of a TV this week, so there will likely not be an Annex next Thursday. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this weekend's action in Daytona, Silverstone (for Formula One) and Toronto.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Beyond the Cockpit: Back Home in Nationwide for RWR's Timmy Hill
"I'm not going to lie, trying to move to Cup was a big step. But the reality is, we got our Cup cars two weeks before Daytona, while most of the other teams out there were preparing all winter. We were missing races by thousandths of a second. We were not out to lunch out there. Coming off rookie of the year, we had big plans, it just didn't work out for us. Maybe we'll try it next year or the year after. No matter, I'm looking forward to the future." - Timmy Hill, on his aborted attempt to run for Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year
~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
MPM2Nite: We'll Be Back After This -- The NASCAR KFC Nightmare
by Matt McLaughlin
Potts' Shots: Tangible Tolerances, Sponsor Contracts, And Longing for Linda
by John Potts
Dollars And Sense: Dissecting NASCAR's Behind The Scenes Hirings And Firings
by Mark Howell
Truckin' Thursdays: Dreaming Big HELP!
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Charity Corner: Tayler Malsam Represents Noah's Light Foundation At Daytona
by Beth Lunkenheimer
~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: As we race fans know quite well, just because the winner has already taken the checkered flag doesn't mean that dangerous things cannot still occur. That was shown quite vividly at the end of the 1980 Firecracker 400. What happened here?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: In 1998, the Pepsi 400 at Daytona was postponed from July 4 to October 17 due to some of the worst wildfires ever to hit Central Florida. When did NASCAR make the call to postpone the event?
A: NASCAR didn't make the call to postpone the race until Thursday, July 2, the day that qualifying was scheduled to be held. By that point, there were active fires burning within three miles of the track and many of the major roads (including Interstate 4) were closed. The teams were already in Daytona, ready to go, when the edict was passed down from NASCAR's brass.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
~~~~~~~~~~
Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Jeff Wolfe
-- In Case You Missed It by Nick Schwartz
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Four Burning Questions: Daytona-2 Edition by Summer Bedgood
Summer is back with a four-part look at some interesting stories as we look forward to Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns with another interesting commentary.
Friday Fast Forward Into NASCAR's Future by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan returns with another interesting commentary piece on the Nationwide Series to prepare you for Friday night's Subway Jalapeno 250.
Voices From the Heartland by Jeff Meyer
Our Tennessee transplant returns with another interesting take on recent events.
IndyCar Series Preview: Toronto by Danny Peters
Danny Peters takes a look at what to expect in Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto on the city streets around Exhibition Place in Toronto.
Driver Diary: Michael Annett as told to Toni Montgomery
Michael returns to discuss the past month on and off the track.
-----------------------------Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
~~~~~~~~~~
Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Jeff Wolfe
-- In Case You Missed It by Nick Schwartz
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Four Burning Questions: Daytona-2 Edition by Summer Bedgood
Summer is back with a four-part look at some interesting stories as we look forward to Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns with another interesting commentary.
Friday Fast Forward Into NASCAR's Future by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan returns with another interesting commentary piece on the Nationwide Series to prepare you for Friday night's Subway Jalapeno 250.
Voices From the Heartland by Jeff Meyer
Our Tennessee transplant returns with another interesting take on recent events.
IndyCar Series Preview: Toronto by Danny Peters
Danny Peters takes a look at what to expect in Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto on the city streets around Exhibition Place in Toronto.
Driver Diary: Michael Annett as told to Toni Montgomery
Michael returns to discuss the past month on and off the track.
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
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