Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 15th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CCXXX
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What to Watch: Thursday
- Tonight, SPEED premieres a new documentary, Kurt Busch: The Outlaw. By all accounts, it is a very interesting piece. Look for it at 8:00pm EST.
- In addition, today is Media Day for the 12 Chasers ahead of the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The interviews and quotes will start slinging around Noon today. SPEED is currently scheduled to show Media Day coverage right after Kurt Busch: The Outlaw at 9:00pm EST
Top News
by Phil Allaway
Jimmy Fennig to the No. 99, Chad Norris to the Nationwide Series for 2013
FoxSports.com's Lee Spencer is reporting that Jimmy Fennig, currently the crew chief on Matt Kenseth's No. 17 Fords, will move over to the No. 99 team and driver Carl Edwards for the 2013 Sprint Cup season. Chad Norris, who took over the No. 99's pit box after Bob Osborne was forced to step aside due to health reasons, will move to the No. 60 team in the Nationwide Series. As Frontstretch reported recently, that seat will likely be occupied by Travis Pastrana.
Scott Graves, who currently works as Edwards' lead engineer and who made his debut as a crew chief in the Nationwide Series at Watkins Glen, will serve as Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.'s crew chief on the No. 17.
Car owner Jack Roush is excited about the swap.
"We are excited about this change on both fronts," Roush said. "Pairing two highly successful veterans like Carl and Jimmy should be quite a matchup and it is our expectation based on what Jimmy has been able to accomplish with many high profile drivers, that it will provide the spark needed to get the No. 99 program and Carl back into championship form."
Edwards is currently 15th in Sprint Cup points with three top-5 and 13 top-10 finishes. These are the worst stats of his career (his previous worst finish in points after running a full season was 12th in 2006). In addition, he has not visited Victory Lane since last year's Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 68 races ago.
Leffler to Drive for Hillman Racing at Homestead
On Wednesday, Hillman Racing announced that Jason Leffler will take over the reigns of their No. 27 Chevrolet for Friday night's Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Leffler replaces Ryan Truex, who finished a strong ninth last Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway, leading 22 laps along the way.
Team owner Mike Hillman, Sr. is happy to have Leffler onboard for this weekend.
"With the addition of Jason Leffler for this weekend's finale in Homestead, we're looking to build on the positive results and momentum from the past few weeks with Ryan Truex," Hillman said. "I know Jason [Overstreet, crew chief] is looking forward to working with [Leffler] again from their days at Ultra Motorsports and his experience will undoubtedly be a benefit for the second truck with Travis Miller as he continues his development."
Leffler's No. 27 will carry sponsorship this weekend from Chesapeake, Virginia-based Little Joe's Autos, a dealership owned by Circle Point, LLC owner Joe Falk that primarily sells used cars. In addition, the dealership's website notes that they also hold Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Isuzu franchises. However, Isuzu pulled out of the U.S. passenger vehicle market in 2008 and Suzuki of America's recent bankruptcy filing may leave Little Joe's with only a weak Mitsubishi brand in the near future.
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.
Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400: 47 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 6- Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. for Roush Fenway Racing
No. 19- Mike Bliss for Humphrey-Smith Racing
No. 21- Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 22- Sam Hornish, Jr. for Penske Racing
No. 79- Reed Sorenson for Go Green Racing
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports
No. 91- Jason Leffler for Humphrey-Smith Racing
Driver Changes:
No. 10- David Reutimann returns to the seat, replacing Danica Patrick.
No. 32- Ken Schrader returns to the seat, replacing Timmy Hill.
No. 79- Reed Sorenson is in the seat, replacing Kelly Bires.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 6- Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. for Roush Fenway Racing
No. 19- Mike Bliss for Humphrey-Smith Racing*
No. 21- Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 23- Scott Riggs for R3 Motorsports*
No. 26- Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports*
No. 30- David Stremme for Inception Motorsports
No. 33- Stephen Leicht for Circle Point, LLC*
No. 37- J.J. Yeley for Tommy Baldwin Racing/MaxQ Motorsports*
No. 79- Reed Sorenson for Go Green Racing*
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports*
No. 91- Jason Leffler for Humphrey-Smith Racing*
No. 98- Michael McDowell for Phil Parsons Racing*
Entered, but Already Withdrawn:
No. 44- Xxxtreme Motorsports
Nationwide Series Ford EcoBoost 300: 48 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 5- Regan Smith for JR Motorsports
No. 18- Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 21- Joey Coulter for Richard Childress Racing
No. 22- Ryan Blaney for Penske Racing
No. 30- Dakoda Armstrong for Turner Motorsports
No. 33- Brendan Gaughan for Richard Childress Racing
No. 42- Josh Wise for Team Motorsports Racing, LLC
No. 47- J.J. Yeley for Team Motorsports Racing, LLC
No. 54- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
Driver Changes:
No. 08- Jeffrey Earnhardt is in the seat, replacing Paulie Harraka.
No. 4- Danny Efland returns to the seat, replacing Daryl Harr.
No. 5- Regan Smith is in the seat, replacing Ron Fellows.
No. 10- Mike Bliss returns to the seat, replacing Jeff Green.
No. 15- Timmy Hill returns to the seat, replacing Carl Long.
No. 19- Hal Martin returns to the seat, replacing Mike Bliss.
No. 20- Ryan Truex returns to the seat, replacing Brian Vickers.
No. 22- Ryan Blaney returns to the seat, replacing Brad Keselowski.
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Jamie Dick.
No. 27- Andrew Ranger returns to the seat, replacing J.J. Yeley.
No. 30- Dakoda Armstrong is in the seat, replacing Jason Leffler. This will be Armstrong's Nationwide Series debut.
No. 38- Brad Sweet returns to the seat, replacing Kasey Kahne.
No. 41- An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Noel Dowler.
No. 70- Johanna Long returns to the seat, replacing Nur Ali and Timmy Hill.
No. 74- An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Mike Harmon.
No. 91- Jeff Green returns to the seat, replacing Tony Raines.
No. 99- Kenny Wallace returns to the seat, replacing Alex Bowman.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 00- Blake Koch for SR2 Motorsports/Ruch Motorsports*
No. 08- Jeffrey Earnhardt for Randy Hill Racing/Go Green Racing
No. 5- Regan Smith for JR Motorsports
No. 8- Scott Lagasse, Jr. for TeamSLR
No. 10- Mike Bliss for TriStar Motorsports
No. 20- Ryan Truex for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 21- Joey Coulter for Richard Childress Racing
No. 27- Andrew Ranger for GC Motorsports International
No. 41- Unknown driver for Rick Ware Racing
No. 42- Josh Wise for Team Motorsports Group, LLC*
No. 46- Chase Miller for Team Motorsports Group, LLC*
No. 47- J.J. Yeley for Team Motorsports Group, LLC*
No. 52- Joey Gase for Means Motorsports
No. 74- Unknown driver for Mike Harmon Racing*
No. 75- Carl Long for Rick Ware Racing*
No. 86- Kevin Lepage for Deware Motorsports*
No. 91- Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports*
No. 98- Kevin Swindell for Biagi-DenBeste Racing
Not Entered:
No. 73- Derrike Cope
No. 89- Morgan Shepherd for Shepherd Motor Ventures
Camping World Truck Series Ford EcoBoost 200: 39 trucks entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 0- Blake Koch for JJC Racing
No. 5- Aric Almirola for Wauters Motorsports
No. 18- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
No. 74- Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing
Driver Changes:
No. 07- Jeff Agnew returns to the seat, replacing Ross Chastain.
No. 08- Ross Chastain returns to the seat, replacing Todd Peck.
No. 5- Aric Almirola returns to the seat, replacing John King.
No. 18- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing Brian Scott.
No. 20- Dusty Davis is in the seat, replacing Rick Crawford.
No. 25- Travis Miller is in the seat, replacing Stephen Leicht.
No. 27- Jason Leffler is in the seat, replacing Ryan Truex.
No. 74- Mike Harmon returns to the seat, replacing Brian Weber.
No. 93- Ryan Lynch is in the seat, replacing Dennis Setzer.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 0- Blake Koch for JJC Racing*
No. 01- Jake Crum for Crum Motorsports
No. 4- Kyle Larson for Turner Motorsports
No. 5- Aric Almirola for Wauters Motorsports
No. 7- Parker Kligerman for Red Horse Racing
No. 8- Max Gresham for Eddie Sharp Racing
No. 10- Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 20- Dusty Davis for BRG Motorsports
No. 25- Travis Miller for Hillman Racing
No. 38- Chris Jones for RSS Racing*
No. 51- German Quiroga for Kyle Busch Motorsports
No. 74- Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing*
No. 81- David Starr for Arrington Racing
No. 82- Sean Corr for Empire Racing
*- Expected to Start-and-Park
Not Entered:
No. 19- David Mayhew for Brad Keselowski Racing
No. 35- Matt Merrell for Win-Tron Racing
No. 97- Jeff Choquette for Adrian Carriers Racing
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.
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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them Summer Bedgood's way at summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com; and, if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when she does her weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Frontstretch Fan Q & A will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
Today's Featured Commentary
Quick Shots for November 14th
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese
It used to be the greatest indictment of NASCAR after a controversial event was that it was "becoming just like big-time wrestling." Which after this weekend's fracas at Phoenix International Raceway I say, "FINALLY."
Let's be honest. Wrestling is awesome. Back in the late 1990's when NASCAR was in its heyday and being thrust into the public conscious (FOX's Steel Chariots, anyone?), wrestling had hit its high water mark as well. Whether you were into the WWF's Monday Night Raw or WCW's Monday Nitro, things didn't get much better; mix in Wrestlemania, Starrcade, Halloween Havoc, Royal Rumble, or any other Pay-Per-View special, and you have the perfect parallel to between that and whatever race was happening that particular weekend. This past Sunday reminded us why we started watching NASCAR in the first place: a championship on the line, a three-way brand battle between Chevrolet, Dodge, and Toyota, and the classic battle of The Establishment vs. The Newcomer.
In a span of about two minutes, all of this degenerated into a guy fueled up on 5-Hour Energy trying to run down the AARP.
The fines that followed were pocket change considering the driver's salaries and that the fine money goes into the point fund…meaning they'll probably just get most of it back at the end of the year. Who knows, maybe it's still tax deductible too?
As has been proven yet again this year, the races worth watching and those that actually provided some the excitement and entertainment that drew us into racing to begin with, was provided by a short track.
Yeah I know – calling a one-miler a short track is like calling a stockcar a stock car….deal with it.
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Entering the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend, all Brad Keselowski has to do is essentially not wreck the car, not run it out of gas, not have a pit penalty, or have some other bizarre set of circumstances befall the No. 2 team, and they will win the first Cup title for team owner Roger Penske. In doing so, they he will also win the first championship at the wheel of a Dodge since Richard Petty in 1975.
And after doing that, Dodge will promptly exit the sport, Seinfeld-style, while Penske defects to Ford for 2013 and beyond.
This was a move I never quite understood, and as the season unfolded, I still fail to see the upside to this venture. Had Dodge came to the game with a little more money and a couple of extra teams to help spread the burden of developing what is essentially the third generation of the COT, perhaps The Captain would not have set sail for the Blue Oval waters back in March.
Even more remarkable than switching car makes as you're about to break control from the General Motors and Hendrick headlock that has been on the sport since 2006, is the fact that Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite team are doing so as essentially a one-man band. They have had three teammates in less than a year between Kurt Busch, AJ Allmendinger, and Sam Hornish, Jr. – all of which carried about its own swirl of controversy and distraction. It's not that much different than what Richard Petty was doing in the mid-late 1970's either: there weren't a lot of Dodges back then, and the last real Charger rolled off the assembly line in 1974; that didn't stop The King and Chief from winning races and championships – even as mother Mopar was circling the drain and in desperate times.
For those who have followed motorsports for some time, or are familiar with the golden age of muscle cars, this is typical Chrysler. Late to the party, go out with a bang, and give up just as you get it figured out.
--------------------
Getting back to Jeff Gordon's little freakout last weekend, there's somebody else who's actions were not exactly becoming of him – though not entirely unseen.
Call it incidental contact if you wish, but Jeff Burton's contact with Danica Patrick looked about as casual as it did when he hooked Jeff Gordon (total coincidence) at Texas a couple of years ago, which resulted in the shoving match between the two. Patrick's half-spin and chicanery on the frontstretch resulted into a lot of mangled race cars, among them Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, and Mark Martin's fancy new lightweight/low center of gravity MWR in-house one off.
Nobody ever really thinks of going after Burton or getting into it with him after any such an incident. Mainly because as The Mayor by the time you got to him, he'd start things off with a "well, let's take a look at how this all started…"…five minutes later, you'd forget when you were mad or even came over there in the first place.
Vito Pugliese is a Senior Writer/Assistant Editor for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at vito.pugliese@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @VitoPugliese.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
COME JOIN THE FRONTSTRETCH FAMILY!
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: Beyond 200: The Hendrick Motorsports Story
by Phil Allaway
, which will be hosted by Rick Hendrick himself. Until then, I hope you enjoy the action this weekend in Phoenix.enn te y, BBwith aMouuyyyou I TujaoidsjioajdsoiadsjadsiojIIII o fineed caughto hapviewttnnn'ttoocovir Howiyjoy the or o FI
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports-related programming that is available to the general public. Last weekend, after the throw down known as the AdvoCare 500k, SPEED premiered a special about Hendrick Motorsports. Now, some people were dismissing the show up front as a "Hendrick Motorsports infomercial." I'm not willing to write off a show that quickly. Let's take a look.
Technically, the special was commissioned in commemoration of Hendrick Motorsports' 200th victory in Sprint Cup, which occurred in the Bojangles' Southern 500 back in May. Since then, the team has earned a few more victories to add to that total. The goal of the show was to gather a number of Hendrick drivers, past and present, to talk about the organization's biggest memories. Who was there? Hendrick's currents drivers (Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jeff Gordon), as well as former drivers Geoff Bodine (1984-1989, Darrell Waltrip (1987-1990), Ken Schrader (1988-1996) and Terry Labonte (1994-2007).
Hendrick himself hosts the special from inside of the Hendrick Heritage Museum at Hendrick Motorsports' sprawling complex. From there, they started at the beginning. A clip was shown of the formation announcement of the team from late 1983. In the Together film from a couple of years ago, there was a little more footage shown of said press conference in which Hendrick fielded questions from the assembled media as well.
Shortly afterwards, the discussion shifted to the team's struggles due to lack of sponsorship. Yes, they won their eighth race at Martinsville, but the team was almost dead by then. Footage of Bodine talking to ESPN's Bob Jenkins via radio link-up from the garage area was shown. At that time, the team didn't have a primary sponsor (Gambler Chassis Co. was on the hood, while Hendrick's own City Chevrolet was on the TV panel). The team was broke and only went to Martinsville as a last gasp. Hendrick is very thankful for Bodine's success that helped the team stay afloat until they got sponsorship.
From there, the discussion shifted to the rivalry between Bodine and Dale Earnhardt that marked much of the mid-1980's. Let's just say that they didn't like each other much. Hendrick was naturally pretty sick of his cars getting wrecked constantly by Earnhardt and (according to Bodine), he told him to do something about it or find a new ride.
Waltrip talked about his favorite Hendrick win, naturally the 1989 Daytona 500. That should surprise nobody by now. Afterwards, he wondered if Schrader was a bit sore (emotionally) from the defeat. Schrader's answer: At first, no. He went to Victory Lane and joked around with Waltrip after CBS' telecast ended. However, the day after the race was when it hit him.
Speaking of Schrader, he was probably the least successful of the drivers on the panel. He had four wins for Hendrick Motorsports, but none after June, 1991. However, Schrader is a great storyteller. He's the kind of the guy that would be great to just sit with and listen to him tell stories about his career. After his nasty crash at Talladega in 1995, Schrader talks about how a couple of days after the wreck, he was talking to a couple of Earnhardt's crewmembers. One claimed that he felt sorry for Gordon since he was a complete wreck after the...wreck, while the other (Chocolate Myers) only felt sorry for Schrader because he wrecked.
Schrader also talked about the infamous time that he took Earnhardt Jr. out to "an adult establishment" (Hendrick's words) when he was underage. Long story short, he got him drunk as heck. Afterwards, Earnhardt wanted to get Schrader.
Terry Labonte talked about his big wreck at Phoenix in 1996 (the one that we referred to a trivia question last week), which was caused by a hung throttle entering Turn 3. A rarely seen camera shot from just behind the wall in Turn 4 captured the incident perfectly (it did not make TNN's broadcast of the race back then). Labonte then described how he took shots in his hand to numb it so that he could race in Phoenix. His doctors did warn him that he may need to have surgery. Labonte simply accepted that.
The idea of sharing information was brought up. Today, this is a normal thing. However, in the late 1980's, there was a lot of resistance to such a thing at every level of the team. The late Randy Dorton played a big role in that when he unified the engine department. He also dabbled in crew chiefing, despite apparently being clueless about basic car setup.
The idea of having a "Dream Team" was dismissed due to Waltrip's struggles for the first two years he was with the team. Simply too many egos butting heads to work out.
I was confused over Gordon's explanation of how Earnhardt Jr. seemed so young to him when Earnhardt introduced them to each other. Gordon is only three years older than Earnhardt Jr. is. Couldn't have been that stark of a difference (Earnhardt Jr. claims he was 20 when he met Gordon, which would have been around 1995, when Gordon was going for his first Winston Cup).
One of the more interesting parts of the show was when Gordon talked about Hendrick taking him in briefly after his breakup with his ex-wife. Basically, that was like reliving high school for him. Granted, by this time, Gordon would have been in his early 30's after Brooke gave him the boot (and tried to take him for all he was worth in Divorce Court). Car owners taking drivers into their homes during times of need is nothing new in NASCAR, and Hendrick and his wife, Lynda, were there for Gordon.
Naturally, the 2004 plane crash did get quite a bit of discussion on the show. However, it didn't get anywhere near as much time as it did in the Together film. There, the crash and fallout took up nearly half the film. Here, it was a segment or so. A strange story having to do with Earnhardt Jr.'s head bleeding was quasi-related to that because he was hanging out with Ricky Hendrick (a good friend of his) when he fell and apparently busted himself up. At the track, Earnhardt Jr. wore a red bandana after this occurred.
Finally, the current and past drivers were split up in order to describe the Hendrick mentality. What came out of this is that Hendrick laid the foundation for much of the team's current success in the early years of the team. Hendrick appears to be a different kind of car owner, one that cares about everyone that works for him from the drivers to the people sweeping the floors. As a result, everyone appears to be quite grateful to Hendrick for their successes (Waltrip is a notable exception because he was already a three-time champion before going to Hendrick).
I wish this program was longer than an hour. Hendrick Motorsports is currently in their 29th season in the Sprint Cup Series and there really is a lot more to tell about the organization. Being the kind of guy that loves some minutiae, I'd like to know if the team was really considering switching the No. 25 from Chevrolet to Pontiac in 1997. I wish I could have heard a little bit about Tim Richmond. Unfortunately, he's not here anymore and cannot speak for himself. I also wish that Ricky Rudd was there (drove the No. 5 from 1990-1993). That guy is a ghost these days, but I'm sure he would have had at least something interesting to add to the proceedings.
Hendrick worked out fine as a quasi-host. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about because he had lived through it. However, it was very apparent from the beginning just how much all eight members of the panel respect him.
If anyone was underused here, it was Kasey Kahne. That was probably due to the fact that he's the newb of the bunch. However, I feel like he could have added more to the show. Maybe he did, but it got cut out in post-production.
Thank you for checking out my write-up of Beyond 200: The Hendrick Motorsports Story. Next week, I'll have a look at SPEED's newest documentary, Kurt Busch: The Outlaw. Since we will not be running an edition of the Frontstretch Newsletter next week on Thanksgiving, the critique will be running next Wednesday. Until then, I hope you enjoy this weekend's action from Homestead and Austin.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Critic84.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Mirror Driving: Final Word On The Brawl, Crawling To A Title And Caution Controversy
"It only benefits the Marketing Department at Stewart-Haas. They have more time to create a grandmaster plan for Harvick."- Phil Allaway, on who wins from Kevin Harvick's move to Stewart-Haas for 2014.
~~~~~~~~~~
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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:
Speeding Through Summer: Trucks And Tempers------------------------------
The Critic's Annex: Beyond 200: The Hendrick Motorsports Story
by Phil Allaway
, which will be hosted by Rick Hendrick himself. Until then, I hope you enjoy the action this weekend in Phoenix.enn te y, BBwith aMouuyyyou I TujaoidsjioajdsoiadsjadsiojIIII o fineed caughto hapviewttnnn'ttoocovir Howiyjoy the or o FI
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports-related programming that is available to the general public. Last weekend, after the throw down known as the AdvoCare 500k, SPEED premiered a special about Hendrick Motorsports. Now, some people were dismissing the show up front as a "Hendrick Motorsports infomercial." I'm not willing to write off a show that quickly. Let's take a look.
Technically, the special was commissioned in commemoration of Hendrick Motorsports' 200th victory in Sprint Cup, which occurred in the Bojangles' Southern 500 back in May. Since then, the team has earned a few more victories to add to that total. The goal of the show was to gather a number of Hendrick drivers, past and present, to talk about the organization's biggest memories. Who was there? Hendrick's currents drivers (Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jeff Gordon), as well as former drivers Geoff Bodine (1984-1989, Darrell Waltrip (1987-1990), Ken Schrader (1988-1996) and Terry Labonte (1994-2007).
Hendrick himself hosts the special from inside of the Hendrick Heritage Museum at Hendrick Motorsports' sprawling complex. From there, they started at the beginning. A clip was shown of the formation announcement of the team from late 1983. In the Together film from a couple of years ago, there was a little more footage shown of said press conference in which Hendrick fielded questions from the assembled media as well.
Shortly afterwards, the discussion shifted to the team's struggles due to lack of sponsorship. Yes, they won their eighth race at Martinsville, but the team was almost dead by then. Footage of Bodine talking to ESPN's Bob Jenkins via radio link-up from the garage area was shown. At that time, the team didn't have a primary sponsor (Gambler Chassis Co. was on the hood, while Hendrick's own City Chevrolet was on the TV panel). The team was broke and only went to Martinsville as a last gasp. Hendrick is very thankful for Bodine's success that helped the team stay afloat until they got sponsorship.
From there, the discussion shifted to the rivalry between Bodine and Dale Earnhardt that marked much of the mid-1980's. Let's just say that they didn't like each other much. Hendrick was naturally pretty sick of his cars getting wrecked constantly by Earnhardt and (according to Bodine), he told him to do something about it or find a new ride.
Waltrip talked about his favorite Hendrick win, naturally the 1989 Daytona 500. That should surprise nobody by now. Afterwards, he wondered if Schrader was a bit sore (emotionally) from the defeat. Schrader's answer: At first, no. He went to Victory Lane and joked around with Waltrip after CBS' telecast ended. However, the day after the race was when it hit him.
Speaking of Schrader, he was probably the least successful of the drivers on the panel. He had four wins for Hendrick Motorsports, but none after June, 1991. However, Schrader is a great storyteller. He's the kind of the guy that would be great to just sit with and listen to him tell stories about his career. After his nasty crash at Talladega in 1995, Schrader talks about how a couple of days after the wreck, he was talking to a couple of Earnhardt's crewmembers. One claimed that he felt sorry for Gordon since he was a complete wreck after the...wreck, while the other (Chocolate Myers) only felt sorry for Schrader because he wrecked.
Schrader also talked about the infamous time that he took Earnhardt Jr. out to "an adult establishment" (Hendrick's words) when he was underage. Long story short, he got him drunk as heck. Afterwards, Earnhardt wanted to get Schrader.
Terry Labonte talked about his big wreck at Phoenix in 1996 (the one that we referred to a trivia question last week), which was caused by a hung throttle entering Turn 3. A rarely seen camera shot from just behind the wall in Turn 4 captured the incident perfectly (it did not make TNN's broadcast of the race back then). Labonte then described how he took shots in his hand to numb it so that he could race in Phoenix. His doctors did warn him that he may need to have surgery. Labonte simply accepted that.
The idea of sharing information was brought up. Today, this is a normal thing. However, in the late 1980's, there was a lot of resistance to such a thing at every level of the team. The late Randy Dorton played a big role in that when he unified the engine department. He also dabbled in crew chiefing, despite apparently being clueless about basic car setup.
The idea of having a "Dream Team" was dismissed due to Waltrip's struggles for the first two years he was with the team. Simply too many egos butting heads to work out.
I was confused over Gordon's explanation of how Earnhardt Jr. seemed so young to him when Earnhardt introduced them to each other. Gordon is only three years older than Earnhardt Jr. is. Couldn't have been that stark of a difference (Earnhardt Jr. claims he was 20 when he met Gordon, which would have been around 1995, when Gordon was going for his first Winston Cup).
One of the more interesting parts of the show was when Gordon talked about Hendrick taking him in briefly after his breakup with his ex-wife. Basically, that was like reliving high school for him. Granted, by this time, Gordon would have been in his early 30's after Brooke gave him the boot (and tried to take him for all he was worth in Divorce Court). Car owners taking drivers into their homes during times of need is nothing new in NASCAR, and Hendrick and his wife, Lynda, were there for Gordon.
Naturally, the 2004 plane crash did get quite a bit of discussion on the show. However, it didn't get anywhere near as much time as it did in the Together film. There, the crash and fallout took up nearly half the film. Here, it was a segment or so. A strange story having to do with Earnhardt Jr.'s head bleeding was quasi-related to that because he was hanging out with Ricky Hendrick (a good friend of his) when he fell and apparently busted himself up. At the track, Earnhardt Jr. wore a red bandana after this occurred.
Finally, the current and past drivers were split up in order to describe the Hendrick mentality. What came out of this is that Hendrick laid the foundation for much of the team's current success in the early years of the team. Hendrick appears to be a different kind of car owner, one that cares about everyone that works for him from the drivers to the people sweeping the floors. As a result, everyone appears to be quite grateful to Hendrick for their successes (Waltrip is a notable exception because he was already a three-time champion before going to Hendrick).
I wish this program was longer than an hour. Hendrick Motorsports is currently in their 29th season in the Sprint Cup Series and there really is a lot more to tell about the organization. Being the kind of guy that loves some minutiae, I'd like to know if the team was really considering switching the No. 25 from Chevrolet to Pontiac in 1997. I wish I could have heard a little bit about Tim Richmond. Unfortunately, he's not here anymore and cannot speak for himself. I also wish that Ricky Rudd was there (drove the No. 5 from 1990-1993). That guy is a ghost these days, but I'm sure he would have had at least something interesting to add to the proceedings.
Hendrick worked out fine as a quasi-host. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about because he had lived through it. However, it was very apparent from the beginning just how much all eight members of the panel respect him.
If anyone was underused here, it was Kasey Kahne. That was probably due to the fact that he's the newb of the bunch. However, I feel like he could have added more to the show. Maybe he did, but it got cut out in post-production.
Thank you for checking out my write-up of Beyond 200: The Hendrick Motorsports Story. Next week, I'll have a look at SPEED's newest documentary, Kurt Busch: The Outlaw. Since we will not be running an edition of the Frontstretch Newsletter next week on Thanksgiving, the critique will be running next Wednesday. Until then, I hope you enjoy this weekend's action from Homestead and Austin.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Critic84.
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Mirror Driving: Final Word On The Brawl, Crawling To A Title And Caution Controversy
"It only benefits the Marketing Department at Stewart-Haas. They have more time to create a grandmaster plan for Harvick."- Phil Allaway, on who wins from Kevin Harvick's move to Stewart-Haas for 2014.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
by Summer Bedgood
Professor Of Speed: When Art Imitates Life
by Mark Howell
Truckin' Thursdays: The Secret To Red Horse Racing's 2012 Success
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 1996, defending Busch Grand National Champion Johnny Benson only made one Busch appearance at Homestead. Unfortunately, this one-off did not last very long. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: In 2002, the main story at Homestead was the battle for the championship between Tony Stewart and Mark Martin. However, third-place starter Jimmy Spencer made a rather spectacular exit from the race on Lap 195. What happened?
A: Spencer had a excellent final race in the Target Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, staying in the top-5 all day. However, his car suddenly became out of control loose. It turned out that Spencer had a flat right rear tire. On Lap 195, the tire went down right at the end of the frontstretch. Spencer's car then immediately swapped ends and went hard into the outside wall. The hit caused a large fire that appeared to burn a credentialed photographer standing near the wall. The crash can be seen at the 3:35 mark of this clip. Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. have the call for NBC.Spencer climbed out of his Dodge Intrepid without assistance and walked away, but his car was a complete write-off.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Jeff Wolfe
-- In Case You Missed It by Beth Lunkenheimer
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Four Burning Questions: Homestead by Matt Stallknecht
We'll help prepare you for the Ford EcoBoost 400, the final race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns this week with another interesting Friday commentary.
Friday Fast Forward Into NASCAR's Future by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan returns with another interesting commentary piece on the Nationwide Series as the teams get ready for Homestead this weekend.
Voices From the Heartland by Jeff Meyer
Our Tennessee transplant returns with another interesting take on recent events.
Formula One Fridays by Andy Hollis
Andy returns with another look at the World Championship as the teams prepare for this weekend's Grand Prix of the United States at the brand new Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas.
Dakoda Armstrong Driver Diary as told to Beth Lunkenheimer
Dakoda returns for the final time this season to talk about some of the more interesting aspects of his past month ahead of his Nationwide Series debut.
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