THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
August 27th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CLXX
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Sprint Cup Race Recap: Bristol's Past Returns to Crown a New Winner
by Jeff Wolfe
The new Bristol is now the old Bristol.
And with it came some of the same antics Saturday night that made the .533-mile track one of the most entertaining on the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Track owner Bruton Smith had the famed-oval put back to its old style after the Spring race by grinding the top groove, and the result was a lot of drivers not only fighting for the same space, but also producing some fighting-like actions and words. The old track did produce a new winner as Denny Hamlin won his first race at Bristol. Hamlin made the winning pass, a slide job, on Carl Edwards with 39 laps to go for his third win of the season and 20th career victory. Hamlin, who drove the No. 11 car to its 200th career win, said the fact he could drive a slightly different groove than the rest of the field was a significant factor in his win.
"Really we were one of the only cars that could really make ground on the bottom," said Hamlin, who also joined Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart as the only drivers to win three races this season. "So the best car won tonight, no doubt about it. I felt like we were the only car that could really pass like we could, and at any given point it was tough to get around no matter who was in front of you, simply because of the high line was just typically the place you wanted to be."
Hamlin led five times for 70 laps as there were 22 lead changes among 13 drivers. Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano led the most laps, four times for 139 laps in front of an estimated crowd of 145,000, down from the 156,000 from last year. There were also 13 cautions for 87 laps, not a surprise to Hamlin since most cars were stuck using the high groove.
"There's nothing he (Smith) is going to do that's going to make us run the bottom, that's not the fastest way around the track," Hamlin said. "But it was the same thing; we were all running in the line, and just waiting on the next guy to screw up to get around.
"That's what you've got to do at the old Bristol and that's exactly what we had to race today. You couldn't just -- the slide job was an option to pass, which, you know, that's won us the race."
The front of the pack had been a bit of a strange place for Hamlin, who had dropped to tenth in the points standings coming into the race and had not finished in the top-10 since Indianapolis in late July. There was a point where Hamlin wasn't sure if he was even going to finish Saturday. He had a water temperature issue, and ended up losing almost all of the water.
"We had no water in the car," Hamlin said. "We were 300 degrees early on in the race and all of the gauges pegged, shooting water out like it's a superspeedway race and evidently we had an electrical fan, our radio fan go bad, and so we spewed most of our water out, and we hit the wall pretty good. We hit, landed on pit road and I told Darian, the more stuff we hit, the faster it went."
Hamlin was fast enough to finish ahead of second-place Jimmie Johnson, followed by Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Logano, Kasey Kahne and Paul Menard.
Hitting the wall didn't work out as well for most drivers and that included defending Sprint Cup champion Stewart. He was battling for the lead with Matt Kenseth after a restart on lap 329, when Stewart elected not to pit and started second. Eventually, the two banged doors, sending Stewart into the wall. After climbing out of his No. 14 car, Stewart proved he had no injuries from the wreck by waiting for Kenseth and chucking his helmet at and hitting the No. 17 car. It continued a rivalry that goes back to their Nationwide (back then it was Busch) Series days when Kenseth booted Stewart for a win at Rockingham.
"I checked up twice to not run over him, and I learned my lesson there," said Stewart, who eventually returned the track and finished 27th. "I'm going to run over him every chance I've got from now 'til the end of the year – every chance I've got. We ran on the restart faster than him each lap, so we just learned our lesson that next time – just drive through him, not even be patient by him. We're not going to give him that chance again."
Kenseth, who finished 25th, didn't seem to understand the reason for Stewart's anger.
"'I guess he just wanted to do all the taking, so that's where we ended up,'' Kenseth said. Kenseth also mentioned that the two also had incidents at Sonoma and Indianapolis this year. "'I just said 'OK, that's fine. I'm just going to race you the same way you race me. Look, Tony is probably the greatest race car driver in the garage. I don't really have anything bad to say about Tony.''
There was nearly another helmet throw when Danica Patrick was on the lead lap and running 19th when she wasn't happy with Regan Smith's move that sent her into the wall and out of the race with 64 laps remaining. She waited for Smith to come back around, but only to wag a disapproving finger at the driver of the No. 78, hanging on to her helmet.
"'We were just racing hard, this is Bristol, this is why people love this track because you see a lot of that, you see tempers flare," Patrick said.
For Gordon, it was just like old times.
"I say they grind the whole place. It was awesome,'' Gordon said. ''It reminded me of old-school Bristol.''
The Sprint Cup teams travel next to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Advocare 500. Coverage begins at 7:00pm EDT Sunday night on ESPN.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
August 27th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CLXX
~~~~~~~~~~
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Bristol's Past Returns to Crown a New Winner
by Jeff Wolfe
The new Bristol is now the old Bristol.
And with it came some of the same antics Saturday night that made the .533-mile track one of the most entertaining on the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Track owner Bruton Smith had the famed-oval put back to its old style after the Spring race by grinding the top groove, and the result was a lot of drivers not only fighting for the same space, but also producing some fighting-like actions and words. The old track did produce a new winner as Denny Hamlin won his first race at Bristol. Hamlin made the winning pass, a slide job, on Carl Edwards with 39 laps to go for his third win of the season and 20th career victory. Hamlin, who drove the No. 11 car to its 200th career win, said the fact he could drive a slightly different groove than the rest of the field was a significant factor in his win.
"Really we were one of the only cars that could really make ground on the bottom," said Hamlin, who also joined Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart as the only drivers to win three races this season. "So the best car won tonight, no doubt about it. I felt like we were the only car that could really pass like we could, and at any given point it was tough to get around no matter who was in front of you, simply because of the high line was just typically the place you wanted to be."
Hamlin led five times for 70 laps as there were 22 lead changes among 13 drivers. Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano led the most laps, four times for 139 laps in front of an estimated crowd of 145,000, down from the 156,000 from last year. There were also 13 cautions for 87 laps, not a surprise to Hamlin since most cars were stuck using the high groove.
"There's nothing he (Smith) is going to do that's going to make us run the bottom, that's not the fastest way around the track," Hamlin said. "But it was the same thing; we were all running in the line, and just waiting on the next guy to screw up to get around.
"That's what you've got to do at the old Bristol and that's exactly what we had to race today. You couldn't just -- the slide job was an option to pass, which, you know, that's won us the race."
The front of the pack had been a bit of a strange place for Hamlin, who had dropped to tenth in the points standings coming into the race and had not finished in the top-10 since Indianapolis in late July. There was a point where Hamlin wasn't sure if he was even going to finish Saturday. He had a water temperature issue, and ended up losing almost all of the water.
"We had no water in the car," Hamlin said. "We were 300 degrees early on in the race and all of the gauges pegged, shooting water out like it's a superspeedway race and evidently we had an electrical fan, our radio fan go bad, and so we spewed most of our water out, and we hit the wall pretty good. We hit, landed on pit road and I told Darian, the more stuff we hit, the faster it went."
Hamlin was fast enough to finish ahead of second-place Jimmie Johnson, followed by Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Logano, Kasey Kahne and Paul Menard.
Hitting the wall didn't work out as well for most drivers and that included defending Sprint Cup champion Stewart. He was battling for the lead with Matt Kenseth after a restart on lap 329, when Stewart elected not to pit and started second. Eventually, the two banged doors, sending Stewart into the wall. After climbing out of his No. 14 car, Stewart proved he had no injuries from the wreck by waiting for Kenseth and chucking his helmet at and hitting the No. 17 car. It continued a rivalry that goes back to their Nationwide (back then it was Busch) Series days when Kenseth booted Stewart for a win at Rockingham.
"I checked up twice to not run over him, and I learned my lesson there," said Stewart, who eventually returned the track and finished 27th. "I'm going to run over him every chance I've got from now 'til the end of the year – every chance I've got. We ran on the restart faster than him each lap, so we just learned our lesson that next time – just drive through him, not even be patient by him. We're not going to give him that chance again."
Kenseth, who finished 25th, didn't seem to understand the reason for Stewart's anger.
"'I guess he just wanted to do all the taking, so that's where we ended up,'' Kenseth said. Kenseth also mentioned that the two also had incidents at Sonoma and Indianapolis this year. "'I just said 'OK, that's fine. I'm just going to race you the same way you race me. Look, Tony is probably the greatest race car driver in the garage. I don't really have anything bad to say about Tony.''
There was nearly another helmet throw when Danica Patrick was on the lead lap and running 19th when she wasn't happy with Regan Smith's move that sent her into the wall and out of the race with 64 laps remaining. She waited for Smith to come back around, but only to wag a disapproving finger at the driver of the No. 78, hanging on to her helmet.
"'We were just racing hard, this is Bristol, this is why people love this track because you see a lot of that, you see tempers flare," Patrick said.
For Gordon, it was just like old times.
"I say they grind the whole place. It was awesome,'' Gordon said. ''It reminded me of old-school Bristol.''
The Sprint Cup teams travel next to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Advocare 500. Coverage begins at 7:00pm EDT Sunday night on ESPN.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
Chasing the Chase: Three Clinch Chase Spots, but Wild-Card Picture Gets Wilder
by Jeff Wolfe
Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. clinched their places in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship, the sport's version of the playoffs that comprises the final ten races of the season. And while several other drivers all but clinched a spot many others are on the edge, either just inside or just outside a Chase spot. The top-10 drivers in the points standings, and the two drivers 11th through 20th in points with the most wins will make the Chase.
Getting back into the Chase for the moment as the 12th and final qualifier was Kyle Busch Saturday night. His seventh-place finish combined with Ryan Newman's 36th-place finish due to an accident caused by a flat tire, put Busch, who has one win this year, 13th in the standings. Newman also has one win this year, but dropped to 15th in the points standings and is now 19 points behind Busch. Jeff Gordon's third-place finish allowed him to move up to 14th in the points and he is 16 points behind Busch. Gordon also has one win this season.
Kasey Kahne is the first wild-card qualifier at the moment, as he has two wins and is 11th in points. Other drivers with one win this season and likely needing to win one of the last two races to make the Chase are Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano. Ambrose finished fifth Saturday and is 16th in points, but he is 28 points behind Busch. Logano sits 18th in points and 69 points behind Busch.
Carl Edwards also still has a chance, but would need his first win of the year to have a chance to make it. Edwards, who finished 22nd Saturday, is 12th in points, five ahead of Busch. Without a win, Edwards would have to finish in the top-10, and he is 34 points behind 10th-place Tony Stewart.
Which brings us to another Chase scenario. Stewart is virtually guaranteed a place in the Chase because of his three wins this season. Drivers in the top-10 will be reseeded when the Chase begins based on their wins. However, the wild-card qualifiers will still remain 11th and 12th in the standings. If Stewart, who finished 27th Saturday, was to fall out of the top-10, he would lose the bonus points the wins provide. He is 16 points ahead of Kahne.
Another driver who could be jeopardizing a Chase spot is ninth-place Kevin Harvick. He does have a bit of a cushion with a 37-point margin over Kahne. But if Harvick was to fall out of the top-10 and Kahne goes inside, it would open the door for another of the current one-win drivers to make the Chase.
The final two races of the regular season at Sunday night at Atlanta, and then Sept. 8 at Richmond.
Standings: 1) Greg Biffle 849, 2) Jimmie Johnson -11, 3) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -15, 4) Matt Kenseth -26, 5) Martin Truex, Jr. -52, 6) Clint Bowyer -55, 7) Brad Keselowski -59, 8) Denny Hamlin -75, 9) Kevin Harvick -82, 10) Tony Stewart -103.
Wild Cards: Kasey Kahne, 2 wins, 11th in points; Kyle Busch, 1 win, 13th in points
Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona 500), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix, Kansas, Bristol 2), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana, Daytona 2), Brad Keselowski (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas, Michigan 2), Kyle Busch (Richmond), Jimmie Johnson (Darlington, Dover, Indianapolis), Kasey Kahne (Charlotte, New Hampshire), Joey Logano (Pocono 1), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Michigan 1), Clint Bowyer (Sonoma), Jeff Gordon (Pocono 2), Marcos Ambrose (Watkins Glen).
Tracking The Top 35: The Gap Breaches the Century Mark
The gap between the 35th and 36th place cars grew by 14 points after Saturday night's race at Bristol, putting the gap between 35th and 36th place at 102 points. The top-35 in points are guaranteed a starting spot in each week's race, and as has been the case since the first two months of the season, the margin remains a wide one.
The No. 36 car driven by Dave Blaney finished 36th, and that allowed the car owned by Tommy Baldwin Racing to gain six points and increase its lead over the No. 33 driven by Stephen Leicht, who finished 40th.
Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff...
29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 220 points ahead of 36th.
30) BK Racing (No. 93 – Travis Kvapil), 220 points ahead of 36th.
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 204 points ahead of 36th.
32) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 167 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing / Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Danica Patrick), 142 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Ken Schrader), 121 points ahead of 36th.
35) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 – Dave Blaney), 102 points ahead of 36th.
36) Richard Childress Racing/LJ Racing (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 102 points behind 35th.
37) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 126 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 – David Stremme), 143 points behind 35th.
39) Robinson-Blakeney Racing (No. 49 – Jason Leffler), 153 points behind 35th.
40) Phil Parsons Racing (No. 98 – Michael McDowell), 173 points behind 35th.
41) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 185 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
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STAT OF THE WEEK: 13. That's the number of cautions at Bristol Saturday night, for 87 laps which marked the most yellow flags for any Sprint Cup race in 2012. In fact, it's the first time any Cup race has reached 10 or more cautions since the season-opening Daytona 500. So is the old Bristol back to stay? That number is also the most since the Spring of 2007, before any grinding, repaving, or reshaping of Thunder Valley. - Tom Bowles
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How Was The New Racetrack? A Few Sound Off On Bristol
"Very difficult to pass on — inaudible — over the years and we had a period of time where it was easy to run side-by-side and now a big effort to get it back to a single-file lane again. So in some ways it's the same, we are just racing on different parts of the racetrack." - Jimmie Johnson, finished second
"I think the combination of that rubber laid down up there which was a preferred groove and the left side tire that Goodyear brought here it seemed to each complement that more. This tire has less stagger and doesn't allow you to roll around the bottom of the racetrack. The only way you could pass was to dive on in there and slide job the guy. Sometimes you don't complete that, but if you don't complete that, it definitely will get you frustrated and lose positions and if you hit the guy, it's going to fire him up." - Jeff Gordon, finished third
"It was a rough night. It was difficult to pass and that's why you saw so many incidents and cautions. We took our share of licks, but managed to keep our car in one piece and finish on the lead lap." - Regan Smith, finished 16th
Kenseth On Tony Stewart...
"Look, Tony is probably the greatest race car driver in the garage. I don't really have anything bad to say about Tony. On the race track for years and years and years we've had tons of respect for each other and, for whatever reason this year, he ran me off the track at Sears Point and said he was sorry. It cost me seven spots in the finishing order and at Indy he was mad because he said I blocked him and I asked for five minutes of his time to clear the air and he wouldn't give it to me and pretty much just got cussed out and knocked my whole side off and put us in position to get wrecked, so I just said, 'OK, that's fine. I'm just gonna race you the same way you race me,' and he showed me how he was gonna race me down there, so I just did the same thing on the other end. So I don't know. If you look at it we did the exact same thing, it's just that he didn't lift so I don't really see where that's 100 percent my fault or problem."
Stewart On Matt Kenseth...
"We weren't that great of a race car. But we were definitely faster than that after that restart. I checked-up twice to not run over him (Kenseth) and I learned my lesson there; I'm going to run over him every him every chance I've got from now 'til the end of the year, every chance I've got."
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: 2012 Bristol Night Race Recap
by Bryan Keith
Pace Laps: A Sizzling Stewart-Kenseth Feud, Bump-And-Buzzkill & Open-Wheel Testing
by the Frontstretch Staff
IndyCar Race Recap: Penske Power Dominates in Sonoma
by P. Huston Ladner
Bristol's Best Intentions Turned Bizarre: Did The New Track Still Deliver?
by Mike Neff
The Bristol Hot Potato
by Tom Bowles
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Irwin Tools Night Race
by Amy Henderson
Nationwide Series Breakdown: Food City 250
by Bryan Davis Keith
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Mark Martin led 190 laps to claim victory in the 1991 Hardee's 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway while Dale Earnhardt was officially crowned Winston Cup Champion for the fifth time. However, another big announcement was made that weekend. What was it?
Check back Monday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1998 Food City 250 for the then-Busch Grand National Series was a war of attrition. Only seven drivers (winner Kevin Lepage, Phil Parsons, Dale Jarrett, Todd Bodine, Tim Fedewa, Ken Schrader and Wayne Grubb) managed to finish on the lead lap. There would have been more than that, but an incident took out a number of contenders late. What happened to cause this crash?
A: Robert Pressley described it thusly. "Buckshot Jones. That's all I can say." What happened is that there was a restart with ten laps to go. NASCAR decided to use the double-file restart, putting Jones at the front of the inside line (he was the first driver one lap down). Jones raced Pressley, who was second, hard into Turn 3, then tapped Pressley's left rear. Pressley overcorrected, then went into the wall with Tony Stewart. From here, the wreck was on. Nine cars were collected in the crash, seven of which were unable to continue. The crash can be seen in this clip.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News by Tom Bowles
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: Irwin Tools Night Race by Garrett Horton
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup by StarCoach Race Tours: Bristol / Atlanta Edition by Brett Poirier
With just two races left until the Chase, Brett takes a look at which drivers are in perfect position to make the field... and which ones are already taking a look ahead towards 2013.
This year, we have an interesting new weekly feature for our readers where we'll have a special guest stop by on a weekly basis to discuss the technical aspects of our sport.
The Yellow Stripe by Bryan Keith
Bryan is back with another commentary to make you think.
-----------------------------
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©2012 Frontstretch.com
Chasing the Chase: Three Clinch Chase Spots, but Wild-Card Picture Gets Wilder
by Jeff Wolfe
Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. clinched their places in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship, the sport's version of the playoffs that comprises the final ten races of the season. And while several other drivers all but clinched a spot many others are on the edge, either just inside or just outside a Chase spot. The top-10 drivers in the points standings, and the two drivers 11th through 20th in points with the most wins will make the Chase.
Getting back into the Chase for the moment as the 12th and final qualifier was Kyle Busch Saturday night. His seventh-place finish combined with Ryan Newman's 36th-place finish due to an accident caused by a flat tire, put Busch, who has one win this year, 13th in the standings. Newman also has one win this year, but dropped to 15th in the points standings and is now 19 points behind Busch. Jeff Gordon's third-place finish allowed him to move up to 14th in the points and he is 16 points behind Busch. Gordon also has one win this season.
Kasey Kahne is the first wild-card qualifier at the moment, as he has two wins and is 11th in points. Other drivers with one win this season and likely needing to win one of the last two races to make the Chase are Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano. Ambrose finished fifth Saturday and is 16th in points, but he is 28 points behind Busch. Logano sits 18th in points and 69 points behind Busch.
Carl Edwards also still has a chance, but would need his first win of the year to have a chance to make it. Edwards, who finished 22nd Saturday, is 12th in points, five ahead of Busch. Without a win, Edwards would have to finish in the top-10, and he is 34 points behind 10th-place Tony Stewart.
Which brings us to another Chase scenario. Stewart is virtually guaranteed a place in the Chase because of his three wins this season. Drivers in the top-10 will be reseeded when the Chase begins based on their wins. However, the wild-card qualifiers will still remain 11th and 12th in the standings. If Stewart, who finished 27th Saturday, was to fall out of the top-10, he would lose the bonus points the wins provide. He is 16 points ahead of Kahne.
Another driver who could be jeopardizing a Chase spot is ninth-place Kevin Harvick. He does have a bit of a cushion with a 37-point margin over Kahne. But if Harvick was to fall out of the top-10 and Kahne goes inside, it would open the door for another of the current one-win drivers to make the Chase.
The final two races of the regular season at Sunday night at Atlanta, and then Sept. 8 at Richmond.
Standings: 1) Greg Biffle 849, 2) Jimmie Johnson -11, 3) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -15, 4) Matt Kenseth -26, 5) Martin Truex, Jr. -52, 6) Clint Bowyer -55, 7) Brad Keselowski -59, 8) Denny Hamlin -75, 9) Kevin Harvick -82, 10) Tony Stewart -103.
Wild Cards: Kasey Kahne, 2 wins, 11th in points; Kyle Busch, 1 win, 13th in points
Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona 500), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix, Kansas, Bristol 2), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana, Daytona 2), Brad Keselowski (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas, Michigan 2), Kyle Busch (Richmond), Jimmie Johnson (Darlington, Dover, Indianapolis), Kasey Kahne (Charlotte, New Hampshire), Joey Logano (Pocono 1), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Michigan 1), Clint Bowyer (Sonoma), Jeff Gordon (Pocono 2), Marcos Ambrose (Watkins Glen).
Tracking The Top 35: The Gap Breaches the Century Mark
The gap between the 35th and 36th place cars grew by 14 points after Saturday night's race at Bristol, putting the gap between 35th and 36th place at 102 points. The top-35 in points are guaranteed a starting spot in each week's race, and as has been the case since the first two months of the season, the margin remains a wide one.
The No. 36 car driven by Dave Blaney finished 36th, and that allowed the car owned by Tommy Baldwin Racing to gain six points and increase its lead over the No. 33 driven by Stephen Leicht, who finished 40th.
Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff...
29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 220 points ahead of 36th.
30) BK Racing (No. 93 – Travis Kvapil), 220 points ahead of 36th.
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 204 points ahead of 36th.
32) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 167 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing / Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Danica Patrick), 142 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Ken Schrader), 121 points ahead of 36th.
35) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 – Dave Blaney), 102 points ahead of 36th.
36) Richard Childress Racing/LJ Racing (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 102 points behind 35th.
37) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 126 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 – David Stremme), 143 points behind 35th.
39) Robinson-Blakeney Racing (No. 49 – Jason Leffler), 153 points behind 35th.
40) Phil Parsons Racing (No. 98 – Michael McDowell), 173 points behind 35th.
41) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 185 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
STAT OF THE WEEK: 13. That's the number of cautions at Bristol Saturday night, for 87 laps which marked the most yellow flags for any Sprint Cup race in 2012. In fact, it's the first time any Cup race has reached 10 or more cautions since the season-opening Daytona 500. So is the old Bristol back to stay? That number is also the most since the Spring of 2007, before any grinding, repaving, or reshaping of Thunder Valley. - Tom Bowles
~~~~~~~~~~
How Was The New Racetrack? A Few Sound Off On Bristol
"Very difficult to pass on — inaudible — over the years and we had a period of time where it was easy to run side-by-side and now a big effort to get it back to a single-file lane again. So in some ways it's the same, we are just racing on different parts of the racetrack." - Jimmie Johnson, finished second
"I think the combination of that rubber laid down up there which was a preferred groove and the left side tire that Goodyear brought here it seemed to each complement that more. This tire has less stagger and doesn't allow you to roll around the bottom of the racetrack. The only way you could pass was to dive on in there and slide job the guy. Sometimes you don't complete that, but if you don't complete that, it definitely will get you frustrated and lose positions and if you hit the guy, it's going to fire him up." - Jeff Gordon, finished third
"It was a rough night. It was difficult to pass and that's why you saw so many incidents and cautions. We took our share of licks, but managed to keep our car in one piece and finish on the lead lap." - Regan Smith, finished 16th
Kenseth On Tony Stewart...
"Look, Tony is probably the greatest race car driver in the garage. I don't really have anything bad to say about Tony. On the race track for years and years and years we've had tons of respect for each other and, for whatever reason this year, he ran me off the track at Sears Point and said he was sorry. It cost me seven spots in the finishing order and at Indy he was mad because he said I blocked him and I asked for five minutes of his time to clear the air and he wouldn't give it to me and pretty much just got cussed out and knocked my whole side off and put us in position to get wrecked, so I just said, 'OK, that's fine. I'm just gonna race you the same way you race me,' and he showed me how he was gonna race me down there, so I just did the same thing on the other end. So I don't know. If you look at it we did the exact same thing, it's just that he didn't lift so I don't really see where that's 100 percent my fault or problem."
Stewart On Matt Kenseth...
"We weren't that great of a race car. But we were definitely faster than that after that restart. I checked-up twice to not run over him (Kenseth) and I learned my lesson there; I'm going to run over him every him every chance I've got from now 'til the end of the year, every chance I've got."
~~~~~~~~~~
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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.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: 2012 Bristol Night Race Recap
by Bryan Keith
Pace Laps: A Sizzling Stewart-Kenseth Feud, Bump-And-Buzzkill & Open-Wheel Testing
by the Frontstretch Staff
IndyCar Race Recap: Penske Power Dominates in Sonoma
by P. Huston Ladner
Bristol's Best Intentions Turned Bizarre: Did The New Track Still Deliver?
by Mike Neff
The Bristol Hot Potato
by Tom Bowles
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Irwin Tools Night Race
by Amy Henderson
Nationwide Series Breakdown: Food City 250
by Bryan Davis Keith
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Mark Martin led 190 laps to claim victory in the 1991 Hardee's 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway while Dale Earnhardt was officially crowned Winston Cup Champion for the fifth time. However, another big announcement was made that weekend. What was it?
Check back Monday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1998 Food City 250 for the then-Busch Grand National Series was a war of attrition. Only seven drivers (winner Kevin Lepage, Phil Parsons, Dale Jarrett, Todd Bodine, Tim Fedewa, Ken Schrader and Wayne Grubb) managed to finish on the lead lap. There would have been more than that, but an incident took out a number of contenders late. What happened to cause this crash?
A: Robert Pressley described it thusly. "Buckshot Jones. That's all I can say." What happened is that there was a restart with ten laps to go. NASCAR decided to use the double-file restart, putting Jones at the front of the inside line (he was the first driver one lap down). Jones raced Pressley, who was second, hard into Turn 3, then tapped Pressley's left rear. Pressley overcorrected, then went into the wall with Tony Stewart. From here, the wreck was on. Nine cars were collected in the crash, seven of which were unable to continue. The crash can be seen in this clip.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News by Tom Bowles
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: Irwin Tools Night Race by Garrett Horton
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup by StarCoach Race Tours: Bristol / Atlanta Edition by Brett Poirier
With just two races left until the Chase, Brett takes a look at which drivers are in perfect position to make the field... and which ones are already taking a look ahead towards 2013.
Five Points To Ponder by Danny Peters
Danny has his weekly edition of talking points to wrap up Bristol and get us ready for Atlanta.
Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
The Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series were each in action at Bristol Motor Speedway this week. How were the telecasts of these races? Find out in this week's TV Critique.
This year, we have an interesting new weekly feature for our readers where we'll have a special guest stop by on a weekly basis to discuss the technical aspects of our sport.
The Yellow Stripe by Bryan Keith
Bryan is back with another commentary to make you think.
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