THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 5th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CCXXII
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DONATE TO HELP HURRICANE SANDY VICTIMS
We are a full week past Hurricane Sandy's initial impact on the East Coast. However, the suffering continues and help is still needed. If you're in an unaffected area, please consider donating to help others who will spend months rebuilding their lives and their homes after Sandy whipped onshore with winds of 80 miles an hour. Call 1-800-RED-CROSS, visit redcross.org or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation today. Every little bit helps.
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BREAKING NEWS: Travis Pastrana Finalizing Deal To Run For Roush Fenway Full-Time In 2013
by the Frontstretch Staff
Extreme racer Travis Pastrana's transition to NASCAR will take a step up in 2013. Frontstretch.com has learned the driver is finalizing a deal to run full-time for Roush Fenway Racing next season in the Nationwide Series, attempting a run at the championship. Driving a car that will likely be changed to No. 99, Pastrana has sponsorship sold for approximately half the 32-to-33 race schedule but sources say RFR is committed to run the driver regardless.
Pastrana, who ran a No. 60 RFR Ford at Richmond this September showed chemistry with the program right off the bat. In that event, he qualified a career-best fifth and hung on for a 17th-place, lead-lap finish despite being involved in a midrace accident. It was the culmination of a part-time effort for the X Games Medalist, who had teamed up with Robby Benton and RAB Racing for an eight-race schedule earlier in the year. So far, his career best in Nationwide is a 13th, with RAB as the 29-year-old continues a transition from the aggressive rally racing world into the ovals of the Nationwide Series. His performances have been impressive, most notably an Atlanta event where he led six laps on older tires before wrecking and fading to 26th.
Trevor Bayne, according to sources is also set for a full-time ride at RFR which would give the organization two entries fighting for the championship. Current title contender, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will move up to the Cup Series full-time next season driving the No. 17 car, creating the opening for Bayne; now, RFR has decided to expand along with it. They'll pick up a former AMA Rookie of the Year in Pastrana who's been successful in virtually every form of racing where he's competed; the rally champ, freestyle X Games champ in motocross and extreme sports enthusiast has said he'd like to master stock car racing going forward.
An official announcement on the partnership is expected in the next few weeks. Sponsors were not confirmed but Boost Mobile was the backer for nearly all Pastrana's starts in 2012; the role of Red Bull, which has backed him in other forms of motorsports but not NASCAR is unclear.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Johnson Takes Advantage of GWC To Earn Second Straight Win
by Jeff Wolfe
Jimmie Johnson got one more chance and, as a result moved one step closer to another title with a NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday. Now posting back-to-back wins, the series points leader couldn't be peaking at a better time as the driver known as Five-Time increased his chances of upping that number to six with just two races remaining on the year.
There were two restarts in the final ten laps of the race and they both involved Johnson and his chief contender, Brad Keselowski starting side-by-side, each time with Keselowski in the lead and choosing the inside lane. On the next-to-last restart with nine laps left, Keselowski got the jump, maybe a little too quickly according to his competitors, and after a tense two laps, including touching doors with Johnson twice, pulled away. If the race had remained green to the end, it would have been difficult for Johnson to make up about a three car-length gap Keselowski had gained.
But it didn't remain green as Mark Martin spun out with five laps remaining. Martin's miscue took him down into the infield grass, meaning there was some track cleanup involved as his car needed towing back to the garage.
By the time the caution was done, what turned out to be the final restart was NASCAR's version of overtime, a green-white-checkered finish in front of 146,000 fans. Again with Keselowski on the inside and Johnson on the outside, Johnson had a better restart, or maybe Keselowski not quite as good of one, as they took the green flag virtually dead even at the start-finish line.
Johnson maintained his momentum, pulled ahead on the backstretch and was never challenged on the final two laps by Keselowski. Coasting to the checkers from there, Johnson also maintained his momentum in the Chase for the Championship by winning back-to-back races for the 12th time in his Sprint Cup career. Johnson increased his points lead over Keselowski by five, and now has a seven-point advantage heading to one of his best tracks on the circuit.
"It was action packed and I'm certainly glad it is over," said Johnson, who led a race-high 168 of the 335 laps and had his second straight maximum points race of 48. "The second-to-last restart was pretty sketchy a couple of times in how hard we could race him. We knew we had the speed if I could just get by him."
Keselowski, who is fighting for his first Sprint Cup title, wasn't going to simply defer to the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet.
"I thought I had it, but we kept getting all those yellows," said Keselowski who led 75 laps. "We just kept giving them more shots. I knew I wasn't going to be able to execute all of those restarts and Jimmie did a great job on the last one."
Keselowski also knew he had to be aggressive, but not over aggressive.
"I had to choose between wrecking him and winning the race and it didn't seem right to wreck him," he explained. "I ran him hard, and we're going to keep him honest. I know if we keep running like this, we won't be beat."
While Johnson has the experience and points edge, he certainly isn't discounting what the Keselowski and his team are doing and have done all season.
"I expect a lot of hard racing and that's what we've seen all year long and all Chase long," said Johnson, who gave Chevrolet its 700th Sprint Cup victory.
Keselowski continued to break new ground on tracks that have not traditionally been strong for him. He had not finished on the lead lap at Texas in his last six races there; however, with 59 laps to go he was leading Johnson by two seconds when he came into the pits. Keselowski slid into his stall a bit awkwardly and at an angle. And when he needed to exit, he had to back up a bit to clear the pitting car of Danica Patrick. The long stop put Keselowski back to ninth, leaving him in a tough spot from which he would ultimately never recover.
"The yellow came out, and I had the issue on pit road where I just got on the brakes and couldn't get it to slow down quite as well as I needed it to and put myself in a bad position where the 10 blocked me, and that was probably my fault," Keselowski said. "But from there, we just had a dog fight to get some track position back."
He eventually worked his way up to fourth when the seventh of nine cautions for 49 laps came out with the scheduled 19 laps to go. Keselowski took two tires to come out of the pits with the lead.
"We did the last pit stop and got out up front," Keselowski said. "I just fought as hard as I could to keep the lead, just came up a little bit short there."
Johnson certainly knows about the fight to win championships and he's hoping that will help him in the final two races, at Phoenix next Sunday and then at Miami-Homestead Nov. 18.
"I really think due to age and experience in the sport, and even last year trying to keep the streak alive, I told myself there is no pressure," Johnson said. "But it's a clean sheet of paper for the 48 team. It's about looking forward and starting a new streak or winning another championship."
If Johnson and his team are feeling the pressure, they are responding to it in championship style. In the eight Chase races, Johnson has an average finish of 4.9, has led 686 laps with six finishes in the top six and one other finish in the top 10. Johnson's only hiccup in the Chase so far was a 17th-place finish at Talladega. Johnson also became the first driver to win back-to-back races from the pole since teammate Jeff Gordon accomplished the feat in April of 2007 at Phoenix and Talladega.
The rest of the top 10 Sunday after Johnson and Keselowski were Kyle Busch in third, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle.
Kyle Busch, who led 80 laps, had a prime view of those final laps and designs on trying to win his second race of the year. But in a season filled with bad luck and after missing the Chase, he's also looking to build momentum for 2013.
"We were really fast if we could get out front," Busch said. "We had a fast race car tonight. There at the end, we wanted to get through there and be out front and be gone, but I just couldn't get there. I wish we were in the deal (Chase), but that's what next year is for."
Sunday's race at Phoenix will be a 3 p.m. start 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!
November 5th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CCXXII
~~~~~~~~~~
DONATE TO HELP HURRICANE SANDY VICTIMS
We are a full week past Hurricane Sandy's initial impact on the East Coast. However, the suffering continues and help is still needed. If you're in an unaffected area, please consider donating to help others who will spend months rebuilding their lives and their homes after Sandy whipped onshore with winds of 80 miles an hour. Call 1-800-RED-CROSS, visit redcross.org or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation today. Every little bit helps.
~~~~~~~~~~
BREAKING NEWS: Travis Pastrana Finalizing Deal To Run For Roush Fenway Full-Time In 2013
by the Frontstretch Staff
Extreme racer Travis Pastrana's transition to NASCAR will take a step up in 2013. Frontstretch.com has learned the driver is finalizing a deal to run full-time for Roush Fenway Racing next season in the Nationwide Series, attempting a run at the championship. Driving a car that will likely be changed to No. 99, Pastrana has sponsorship sold for approximately half the 32-to-33 race schedule but sources say RFR is committed to run the driver regardless.
Pastrana, who ran a No. 60 RFR Ford at Richmond this September showed chemistry with the program right off the bat. In that event, he qualified a career-best fifth and hung on for a 17th-place, lead-lap finish despite being involved in a midrace accident. It was the culmination of a part-time effort for the X Games Medalist, who had teamed up with Robby Benton and RAB Racing for an eight-race schedule earlier in the year. So far, his career best in Nationwide is a 13th, with RAB as the 29-year-old continues a transition from the aggressive rally racing world into the ovals of the Nationwide Series. His performances have been impressive, most notably an Atlanta event where he led six laps on older tires before wrecking and fading to 26th.
Trevor Bayne, according to sources is also set for a full-time ride at RFR which would give the organization two entries fighting for the championship. Current title contender, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will move up to the Cup Series full-time next season driving the No. 17 car, creating the opening for Bayne; now, RFR has decided to expand along with it. They'll pick up a former AMA Rookie of the Year in Pastrana who's been successful in virtually every form of racing where he's competed; the rally champ, freestyle X Games champ in motocross and extreme sports enthusiast has said he'd like to master stock car racing going forward.
An official announcement on the partnership is expected in the next few weeks. Sponsors were not confirmed but Boost Mobile was the backer for nearly all Pastrana's starts in 2012; the role of Red Bull, which has backed him in other forms of motorsports but not NASCAR is unclear.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Johnson Takes Advantage of GWC To Earn Second Straight Win
by Jeff Wolfe
Jimmie Johnson got one more chance and, as a result moved one step closer to another title with a NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday. Now posting back-to-back wins, the series points leader couldn't be peaking at a better time as the driver known as Five-Time increased his chances of upping that number to six with just two races remaining on the year.
There were two restarts in the final ten laps of the race and they both involved Johnson and his chief contender, Brad Keselowski starting side-by-side, each time with Keselowski in the lead and choosing the inside lane. On the next-to-last restart with nine laps left, Keselowski got the jump, maybe a little too quickly according to his competitors, and after a tense two laps, including touching doors with Johnson twice, pulled away. If the race had remained green to the end, it would have been difficult for Johnson to make up about a three car-length gap Keselowski had gained.
But it didn't remain green as Mark Martin spun out with five laps remaining. Martin's miscue took him down into the infield grass, meaning there was some track cleanup involved as his car needed towing back to the garage.
By the time the caution was done, what turned out to be the final restart was NASCAR's version of overtime, a green-white-checkered finish in front of 146,000 fans. Again with Keselowski on the inside and Johnson on the outside, Johnson had a better restart, or maybe Keselowski not quite as good of one, as they took the green flag virtually dead even at the start-finish line.
Johnson maintained his momentum, pulled ahead on the backstretch and was never challenged on the final two laps by Keselowski. Coasting to the checkers from there, Johnson also maintained his momentum in the Chase for the Championship by winning back-to-back races for the 12th time in his Sprint Cup career. Johnson increased his points lead over Keselowski by five, and now has a seven-point advantage heading to one of his best tracks on the circuit.
"It was action packed and I'm certainly glad it is over," said Johnson, who led a race-high 168 of the 335 laps and had his second straight maximum points race of 48. "The second-to-last restart was pretty sketchy a couple of times in how hard we could race him. We knew we had the speed if I could just get by him."
Keselowski, who is fighting for his first Sprint Cup title, wasn't going to simply defer to the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet.
"I thought I had it, but we kept getting all those yellows," said Keselowski who led 75 laps. "We just kept giving them more shots. I knew I wasn't going to be able to execute all of those restarts and Jimmie did a great job on the last one."
Keselowski also knew he had to be aggressive, but not over aggressive.
"I had to choose between wrecking him and winning the race and it didn't seem right to wreck him," he explained. "I ran him hard, and we're going to keep him honest. I know if we keep running like this, we won't be beat."
While Johnson has the experience and points edge, he certainly isn't discounting what the Keselowski and his team are doing and have done all season.
"I expect a lot of hard racing and that's what we've seen all year long and all Chase long," said Johnson, who gave Chevrolet its 700th Sprint Cup victory.
Keselowski continued to break new ground on tracks that have not traditionally been strong for him. He had not finished on the lead lap at Texas in his last six races there; however, with 59 laps to go he was leading Johnson by two seconds when he came into the pits. Keselowski slid into his stall a bit awkwardly and at an angle. And when he needed to exit, he had to back up a bit to clear the pitting car of Danica Patrick. The long stop put Keselowski back to ninth, leaving him in a tough spot from which he would ultimately never recover.
"The yellow came out, and I had the issue on pit road where I just got on the brakes and couldn't get it to slow down quite as well as I needed it to and put myself in a bad position where the 10 blocked me, and that was probably my fault," Keselowski said. "But from there, we just had a dog fight to get some track position back."
He eventually worked his way up to fourth when the seventh of nine cautions for 49 laps came out with the scheduled 19 laps to go. Keselowski took two tires to come out of the pits with the lead.
"We did the last pit stop and got out up front," Keselowski said. "I just fought as hard as I could to keep the lead, just came up a little bit short there."
Johnson certainly knows about the fight to win championships and he's hoping that will help him in the final two races, at Phoenix next Sunday and then at Miami-Homestead Nov. 18.
"I really think due to age and experience in the sport, and even last year trying to keep the streak alive, I told myself there is no pressure," Johnson said. "But it's a clean sheet of paper for the 48 team. It's about looking forward and starting a new streak or winning another championship."
If Johnson and his team are feeling the pressure, they are responding to it in championship style. In the eight Chase races, Johnson has an average finish of 4.9, has led 686 laps with six finishes in the top six and one other finish in the top 10. Johnson's only hiccup in the Chase so far was a 17th-place finish at Talladega. Johnson also became the first driver to win back-to-back races from the pole since teammate Jeff Gordon accomplished the feat in April of 2007 at Phoenix and Talladega.
The rest of the top 10 Sunday after Johnson and Keselowski were Kyle Busch in third, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle.
Kyle Busch, who led 80 laps, had a prime view of those final laps and designs on trying to win his second race of the year. But in a season filled with bad luck and after missing the Chase, he's also looking to build momentum for 2013.
"We were really fast if we could get out front," Busch said. "We had a fast race car tonight. There at the end, we wanted to get through there and be out front and be gone, but I just couldn't get there. I wish we were in the deal (Chase), but that's what next year is for."
Sunday's race at Phoenix will be a 3 p.m. start on ESPN.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
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Chasing the Chase: Bowyer Solid, But Slim Title Hopes Are Gone
by Jeff Wolfe
Clint Bowyer knew coming into Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Texas that his chances for his first Sprint Cup title were slim as he was 26 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. And while Bowyer had a solid day with a sixth-place result, Johnson and second-place Brad Keselowski finished one-two, all but ending Bowyer's chances. While Bowyer was in the top five much of the day, he never led a lap and his sixth-place finish leaves him 36 points behind Johnson with just two races remaining in the season.
Another big points loser on the day was Kasey Kahne. While he was pretty much out of title contention at 29 points back coming into Sunday, he ended up finishing 25th one lap down and is now 58 points behind Johnson.
While Johnson won his fifth race of the year and gained five points on Keselowski, there's also the argument that it was a good day for his main challenger. The driver of the No. 2 Dodge had an average finish of 25th in his career at Texas, so while he was in contention to win at the end, his second-place finish certainly broke what had been a poor trend for him at the 1.5-mile oval.
The bad luck award of the day for a Chase driver had to go to Kevin Harvick, and it occurred long before the race started. Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet was parked about two hours before the race when a sand bag fell from a parachutist and hit his driver's side door, placing a sizable dent in it. After consulting with NASCAR, Harvick's team was allowed to replace the door before the race and he went on to finish ninth.
That still leaves him 101 points out of the Chase and left him and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as the first two drivers officially eliminated from title contention. Earnhardt Jr. rallied from 21st to finish seventh, but his chances were done in earlier in the Chase when he had to miss two consecutive races due to a concussion. Earnhardt Jr. is 151 points behind Johnson with two races left.
Two Chase contenders to have good days were Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. Kenseth finished fourth, including leading one lap for a bonus point, and Stewart, the defending Sprint Cup champion and the winner of the fall Texas race last year, took fifth.
Texas has traditionally been a good track for Denny Hamlin, who had won two of the last five races there, but he was never in contention Sunday and ended up with a 20th-place result. Just two weeks ago, he was considered a title contender but after electrical problems last week, he is now seventh in the Chase, 73 points behind Johnson.
Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon was also having a decent day, but a tire issue cost him late in the race. What could have easily been a top-10 finish left him in 14th. He is now tied with Kenseth for fifth in the Chase as they are each 72 points back, with Kenseth holding the tiebreaker with more wins this year.
Two other Chasers to have OK days were Greg Biffle in 10th and Martin Truex, Jr. in 13th. Biffle is tenth in points, 83 behind and Truex Jr. is ninth, 80 behind, as is seventh-place Stewart. Those drivers will need to leave Phoenix next week less than 46 points behind Johnson in order to have a mathematical shot at the title (assuming Johnson starts the race at Homestead).
Chase for the Championship Standings: 1) Jimmie Johnson 2339, 2) Brad Keselowski -7, 3) Clint Bowyer -36, 4) Kasey Kahne -58, t-5) Matt Kenseth -72, t-5) Jeff Gordon -72, 7) Denny Hamlin -73, t-8) Tony Stewart -80, t-8) Martin Truex, Jr. -80, 10) Greg Biffle -83, 11) Kevin Harvick -101, 12) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -151.
Best of the Rest: 13) Kyle Busch 1048, 14) Ryan Newman -79, 15) Carl Edwards -83, 16) Paul Menard -110, 17) Joey Logano -130, 18) Marcos Ambrose -156
Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona 500. Talladega 2, Kansas 2), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix, Kansas, Bristol 2, Atlanta, New Hampshire 2), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana, Daytona 2), Brad Keselowski (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicagoland 2, Dover 2), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas, Michigan 2), Kyle Busch (Richmond), Jimmie Johnson (Darlington, Dover, Indianapolis, Martinsville 2, Texas 2), Kasey Kahne (Charlotte, New Hampshire), Joey Logano (Pocono 1), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Michigan 1), Clint Bowyer (Sonoma, Richmond 2, Charlotte 2), Jeff Gordon (Pocono 2), Marcos Ambrose (Watkins Glen).
Tracking The Top 35: The Gap Shrinks Once Again
The gap between the 35th and 36th place remained large after Sunday's race at Texas even though it shrunk by 18 points to 72. 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. NASCAR announced last month that the top-35 rule would not be in effect next year.
The No. 36 car driven by Dave Blaney finished 39th and sits in the 35th spot, while the No. 21 car driven by Trevor Bayne finished 22nd, including leading four laps. Bayne is driving a partial schedule for the Wood Brothers this season.
Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff...
29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 273 points ahead of 36th.
30) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 261 points ahead of 36th.
31) Germain Racing (No. 13 – Casey Mears), 250 points ahead of 36th.
32) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 237 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing / Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Danica Patrick), 157 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Ken Schrader), 146 points ahead of 36th.
35) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 – Dave Blaney), 72 points ahead of 36th.
36) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 72 points behind 35th.
37) Circle Point, LLC (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 153 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 – David Stremme), 175 points behind 35th.
39) Phil Parsons Racing (No. 98 – Michael McDowell), 207 points behind 35th.
40) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 236 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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Secret Star of the Week: The Race You Never Saw
Over the past few weeks, Kurt Busch's trial with Furniture Row Racing ahead of their first full season together has been fairly mediocre. Busch's 15th-place finish at Martinsville was his best so far in the No. 78 Chevrolet. The other two starts had been marred by incidents, including a late-race smash of the wall at Kansas in his debut. However, on Sunday, Busch was able to keep himself out of trouble and bring home an eighth-place finish, the team's best ever result at this 1.5-mile oval. It's definitely something to build on as there's excitement behind the scenes in this camp for 2013. - Phil Allaway
STAT OF THE WEEK: 501. This number represents the amount of consecutive miles run under green at Texas Motor Speedway, dating back to the Samsung Mobile 500 back in the Spring to the end of Lap 100 on Sunday. That's right. The Cup Series ran a full race distance without a caution. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: AAA Texas 500
"Yeah, I think (Brad) Keselowski has a death wish (laughs), but man, I'm proud of our guys. What an awesome, awesome comeback. The setup that we ended up running in the race, we had six laps on at the end of Happy Hour yesterday. God, I'm just so proud of everybody on the pit crew on the pit stops. The last two stops got us a lot of track position and really proud of Steve Addington (crew chief) he just kept digging away at it and kept tweaking on it making it better and better all day. Just really happy with the effort today." - Tony Stewart, finished fifth
"All-in-all a good day for Furniture Row Racing. Considering that we had a top-5 or top-10 car at the last two races but got nailed in accidents, it was important to come away with a solid finish today. We've made a lot of progress as a team in a short period of time, which gives us plenty of optimism for 2013. However, we still have some handling issues to work out, but we're getting there. I am really proud of how we came back today after struggling for a good portion of the race." - Kurt Busch, finished eighth
"It was Jimmy and those guys that made some really good decisions for adjustments and pit stops and we had some fairly decent restarts and got back in it. I didn't think we would ever be standing here with a top-five the way our day started. We started way off and these guys never gave up. They battled hard all day long and got me a good finish." - Matt Kenseth, finished fourth
"That wasn't very much fun. We struggled a lot. I screwed up on pit road and ran over Mike Lingerfelt and he jumped right back up and made a good stop. It was a very tough night. We struggled a lot with being loose off. I thought we would be better. Then we had a big tire rub at the end. That is what you get. I ran right into Mark (Martin) and didn't give him enough room and tore up our car. It was a frustrating night." - Carl Edwards, finished 16th
"It was a long night for us. We started off really tight and then the track came to us and we started picking up and running pretty fast and we were happy with the speed we had in the car tonight. On that restart, a bunch of guys got jammed up and it messed up the left rear. For whatever reason, from then on I couldn't get in the corner. It is unfortunate. We ended up with a decent finish all in all but I think we could have had a really good night if that hadn't happened." - Casey Mears, finished 21st
"We had a really nice first weekend together. It was really steady from the beginning. The GoDaddy Chevy unloaded, and it had speed right off the get-go. We just kept on improving with it. I felt like it was a nice progression of the weekend, where I actually felt like I knew I why I went faster and I knew why I went slower. In the race, we were creeping along. We spent most of the race tight, but there late in the race we finally got it freed up enough to start really running some good speed." - Danica Patrick, finished 24th
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: Texas-2 Race Recap
by Mike Neff
Making Mincemeat Out Of Someone Else's Mistake: How Johnson Keeps Doing It
by Tom Bowles
The Cracks Behind The Facade Of A Fantastic Finish
by Tom Bowles
Pace Laps: Keeping Cool, Calling Toss-Ups And Simona Steps Up
by the Frontstretch Staff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the AAA Texas 500
by Amy Henderson
Tracking the Trucks: WinStar World Casino 350
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Nationwide Series Breakdown: O'Reilly Challenge
by Bryan Davis Keith
Chasing the Chase: Bowyer Solid, But Slim Title Hopes Are Gone
by Jeff Wolfe
Clint Bowyer knew coming into Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Texas that his chances for his first Sprint Cup title were slim as he was 26 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. And while Bowyer had a solid day with a sixth-place result, Johnson and second-place Brad Keselowski finished one-two, all but ending Bowyer's chances. While Bowyer was in the top five much of the day, he never led a lap and his sixth-place finish leaves him 36 points behind Johnson with just two races remaining in the season.
Another big points loser on the day was Kasey Kahne. While he was pretty much out of title contention at 29 points back coming into Sunday, he ended up finishing 25th one lap down and is now 58 points behind Johnson.
While Johnson won his fifth race of the year and gained five points on Keselowski, there's also the argument that it was a good day for his main challenger. The driver of the No. 2 Dodge had an average finish of 25th in his career at Texas, so while he was in contention to win at the end, his second-place finish certainly broke what had been a poor trend for him at the 1.5-mile oval.
The bad luck award of the day for a Chase driver had to go to Kevin Harvick, and it occurred long before the race started. Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet was parked about two hours before the race when a sand bag fell from a parachutist and hit his driver's side door, placing a sizable dent in it. After consulting with NASCAR, Harvick's team was allowed to replace the door before the race and he went on to finish ninth.
That still leaves him 101 points out of the Chase and left him and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as the first two drivers officially eliminated from title contention. Earnhardt Jr. rallied from 21st to finish seventh, but his chances were done in earlier in the Chase when he had to miss two consecutive races due to a concussion. Earnhardt Jr. is 151 points behind Johnson with two races left.
Two Chase contenders to have good days were Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. Kenseth finished fourth, including leading one lap for a bonus point, and Stewart, the defending Sprint Cup champion and the winner of the fall Texas race last year, took fifth.
Texas has traditionally been a good track for Denny Hamlin, who had won two of the last five races there, but he was never in contention Sunday and ended up with a 20th-place result. Just two weeks ago, he was considered a title contender but after electrical problems last week, he is now seventh in the Chase, 73 points behind Johnson.
Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon was also having a decent day, but a tire issue cost him late in the race. What could have easily been a top-10 finish left him in 14th. He is now tied with Kenseth for fifth in the Chase as they are each 72 points back, with Kenseth holding the tiebreaker with more wins this year.
Two other Chasers to have OK days were Greg Biffle in 10th and Martin Truex, Jr. in 13th. Biffle is tenth in points, 83 behind and Truex Jr. is ninth, 80 behind, as is seventh-place Stewart. Those drivers will need to leave Phoenix next week less than 46 points behind Johnson in order to have a mathematical shot at the title (assuming Johnson starts the race at Homestead).
Chase for the Championship Standings: 1) Jimmie Johnson 2339, 2) Brad Keselowski -7, 3) Clint Bowyer -36, 4) Kasey Kahne -58, t-5) Matt Kenseth -72, t-5) Jeff Gordon -72, 7) Denny Hamlin -73, t-8) Tony Stewart -80, t-8) Martin Truex, Jr. -80, 10) Greg Biffle -83, 11) Kevin Harvick -101, 12) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -151.
Best of the Rest: 13) Kyle Busch 1048, 14) Ryan Newman -79, 15) Carl Edwards -83, 16) Paul Menard -110, 17) Joey Logano -130, 18) Marcos Ambrose -156
Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona 500. Talladega 2, Kansas 2), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix, Kansas, Bristol 2, Atlanta, New Hampshire 2), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana, Daytona 2), Brad Keselowski (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicagoland 2, Dover 2), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas, Michigan 2), Kyle Busch (Richmond), Jimmie Johnson (Darlington, Dover, Indianapolis, Martinsville 2, Texas 2), Kasey Kahne (Charlotte, New Hampshire), Joey Logano (Pocono 1), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Michigan 1), Clint Bowyer (Sonoma, Richmond 2, Charlotte 2), Jeff Gordon (Pocono 2), Marcos Ambrose (Watkins Glen).
Tracking The Top 35: The Gap Shrinks Once Again
The gap between the 35th and 36th place remained large after Sunday's race at Texas even though it shrunk by 18 points to 72. 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. NASCAR announced last month that the top-35 rule would not be in effect next year.
The No. 36 car driven by Dave Blaney finished 39th and sits in the 35th spot, while the No. 21 car driven by Trevor Bayne finished 22nd, including leading four laps. Bayne is driving a partial schedule for the Wood Brothers this season.
Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff...
29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 273 points ahead of 36th.
30) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 261 points ahead of 36th.
31) Germain Racing (No. 13 – Casey Mears), 250 points ahead of 36th.
32) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 237 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing / Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Danica Patrick), 157 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Ken Schrader), 146 points ahead of 36th.
35) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 – Dave Blaney), 72 points ahead of 36th.
36) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 72 points behind 35th.
37) Circle Point, LLC (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 153 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 – David Stremme), 175 points behind 35th.
39) Phil Parsons Racing (No. 98 – Michael McDowell), 207 points behind 35th.
40) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 236 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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Secret Star of the Week: The Race You Never Saw
Over the past few weeks, Kurt Busch's trial with Furniture Row Racing ahead of their first full season together has been fairly mediocre. Busch's 15th-place finish at Martinsville was his best so far in the No. 78 Chevrolet. The other two starts had been marred by incidents, including a late-race smash of the wall at Kansas in his debut. However, on Sunday, Busch was able to keep himself out of trouble and bring home an eighth-place finish, the team's best ever result at this 1.5-mile oval. It's definitely something to build on as there's excitement behind the scenes in this camp for 2013. - Phil Allaway
STAT OF THE WEEK: 501. This number represents the amount of consecutive miles run under green at Texas Motor Speedway, dating back to the Samsung Mobile 500 back in the Spring to the end of Lap 100 on Sunday. That's right. The Cup Series ran a full race distance without a caution. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: AAA Texas 500
"Yeah, I think (Brad) Keselowski has a death wish (laughs), but man, I'm proud of our guys. What an awesome, awesome comeback. The setup that we ended up running in the race, we had six laps on at the end of Happy Hour yesterday. God, I'm just so proud of everybody on the pit crew on the pit stops. The last two stops got us a lot of track position and really proud of Steve Addington (crew chief) he just kept digging away at it and kept tweaking on it making it better and better all day. Just really happy with the effort today." - Tony Stewart, finished fifth
"All-in-all a good day for Furniture Row Racing. Considering that we had a top-5 or top-10 car at the last two races but got nailed in accidents, it was important to come away with a solid finish today. We've made a lot of progress as a team in a short period of time, which gives us plenty of optimism for 2013. However, we still have some handling issues to work out, but we're getting there. I am really proud of how we came back today after struggling for a good portion of the race." - Kurt Busch, finished eighth
"It was Jimmy and those guys that made some really good decisions for adjustments and pit stops and we had some fairly decent restarts and got back in it. I didn't think we would ever be standing here with a top-five the way our day started. We started way off and these guys never gave up. They battled hard all day long and got me a good finish." - Matt Kenseth, finished fourth
"That wasn't very much fun. We struggled a lot. I screwed up on pit road and ran over Mike Lingerfelt and he jumped right back up and made a good stop. It was a very tough night. We struggled a lot with being loose off. I thought we would be better. Then we had a big tire rub at the end. That is what you get. I ran right into Mark (Martin) and didn't give him enough room and tore up our car. It was a frustrating night." - Carl Edwards, finished 16th
"It was a long night for us. We started off really tight and then the track came to us and we started picking up and running pretty fast and we were happy with the speed we had in the car tonight. On that restart, a bunch of guys got jammed up and it messed up the left rear. For whatever reason, from then on I couldn't get in the corner. It is unfortunate. We ended up with a decent finish all in all but I think we could have had a really good night if that hadn't happened." - Casey Mears, finished 21st
"We had a really nice first weekend together. It was really steady from the beginning. The GoDaddy Chevy unloaded, and it had speed right off the get-go. We just kept on improving with it. I felt like it was a nice progression of the weekend, where I actually felt like I knew I why I went faster and I knew why I went slower. In the race, we were creeping along. We spent most of the race tight, but there late in the race we finally got it freed up enough to start really running some good speed." - Danica Patrick, finished 24th
~~~~~~~~~~
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: Texas-2 Race Recap
by Mike Neff
Making Mincemeat Out Of Someone Else's Mistake: How Johnson Keeps Doing It
by Tom Bowles
The Cracks Behind The Facade Of A Fantastic Finish
by Tom Bowles
Pace Laps: Keeping Cool, Calling Toss-Ups And Simona Steps Up
by the Frontstretch Staff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the AAA Texas 500
by Amy Henderson
Tracking the Trucks: WinStar World Casino 350
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Nationwide Series Breakdown: O'Reilly Challenge
by Bryan Davis Keith
~~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Up until 2006, the Rolex Series raced on Phoenix International Raceway's infield road course early on in the season. In the 2004 running of the race, Kyle Petty raced in the GT class in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. What color was Petty's car (that he shared with Gunnar Jeannette) and what was the team's sponsor?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 2000 Albertson's 300 at Texas Motor Speedway for the Busch Series, won by Mark Martin, was notable for one reason. What was it?
A: The event, which was supposed to be televised live, flag-to-flag on CBS, was red-flagged early on due to persistent rains. CBS left when their time slot ended, but promised that if the race resumed, it would air on TNN. Unfortunately, during their re-air of RollerJam, a scroll announced that they would not be returning to Texas for the conclusion of the race. Yes, the race did resume, but the cameras had already been packed up by that point. Very limited footage of the remainder of the race exists as a result.
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: AAA Texas 500 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: Fort Worth / Phoenix Edition by Brett Poirier
The Chase is here, which means Brett takes a look at which drivers are in position to take the field by storm... 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 the sport.
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny is back with another commentary to make you think.
-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2012 Frontstretch.com
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Up until 2006, the Rolex Series raced on Phoenix International Raceway's infield road course early on in the season. In the 2004 running of the race, Kyle Petty raced in the GT class in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. What color was Petty's car (that he shared with Gunnar Jeannette) and what was the team's sponsor?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 2000 Albertson's 300 at Texas Motor Speedway for the Busch Series, won by Mark Martin, was notable for one reason. What was it?
A: The event, which was supposed to be televised live, flag-to-flag on CBS, was red-flagged early on due to persistent rains. CBS left when their time slot ended, but promised that if the race resumed, it would air on TNN. Unfortunately, during their re-air of RollerJam, a scroll announced that they would not be returning to Texas for the conclusion of the race. Yes, the race did resume, but the cameras had already been packed up by that point. Very limited footage of the remainder of the race exists as a result.
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: AAA Texas 500 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: Fort Worth / Phoenix Edition by Brett Poirier
The Chase is here, which means Brett takes a look at which drivers are in position to take the field by storm... and which ones are already taking a look ahead towards 2013.
Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Keith
Bryan has his weekly edition of talking points to wrap up Texas and get us ready for Phoenix.
Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series were all in action at Texas Motor Speedway. Were the telecasts of these events "up to snuff?" 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 the sport.
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny is back with another commentary to make you think.
-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2012 Frontstretch.com
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