Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
February 21st, 2013
Volume VII, Edition XVIII
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FRONTSTRETCH AT DAYTONA: Remember, our own Tom Bowles is down at Daytona and has all the latest news on his Twitter feed: @NASCARBowles. Add him and join in the discussion.
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FRONTSTRETCH FANTASY: GET IN THE GAME
Want to compete against some of your favorite Frontstretch writers this season? Our fantasy guru, Jeff Wolfe has created a Yahoo! league and wants you, our faithful readers to join in the fun with us. All you need is a Yahoo! ID and an internet connection... go through the following steps:
1) Sign in to Yahoo!, then go to http://racing.fantasysports.yahoo.com/auto
2) Create Your Team
3) Join our Group!
ID: 11132
Password: rickybobby
Come back every Thursday, to the website to get Jeff's advice on who to pick for your team, all season long and see if you can beat your favorite staff members! More special announcements about this league to come.
What to Watch: Thursday
- Today, we will finally determine where everyone is to start in Sunday's Daytona 500. That will be done via the Budweiser Duels, two 150-mile races where the top-15 (or 16, if the pole sitters finish in the top-15) will lock in their starting spots for the Great American Race. The remainder of the spots will be determined by a combination of qualifying speeds and provisionals. Coverage starts with a special edition of NASCAR RaceDay Fueled by Sunoco at 1:00pm ET, with the races themselves following at 2:00pm ET.
- Before we get down to business with the Duels, today is also opening day for the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series at Daytona. The Nationwide teams will be out on the track bright and early for their sessions, starting at 9:00am ET. The first session will not be televised, but the second will be at 10am ET on ESPN 2. The Camping World Truck Series session will be televised at Noon ET on SPEED.
Top News
by Phil Allaway
Waltrip, Kahne Lead Sprint Cup Practice Sessions
After a couple of dark days on the tri-oval, the Sprint Cup Series returned to the track on Wednesday to prepare for today's Budweiser Duels. The near 80 degree weather produced a different type of racing as compared to Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited. However, some of the same issues that have plagued Speedweeks continued.
A crash early in the session damaged the cars of Ryan Newman, Mark Martin and Carl Edwards. At first glance, it appeared similar to the other crashes where a driver misjudged whether he was clear and took himself and others out. This time was a little different.
"My car came around," Newman said while watching a replay of the crash. "I don't know if it was the air off of Carl's (Edwards) car or what. My car just came around. I think it's just an aero situation, but that was news to me. Carl (Edwards) came over and said, 'hey man,' and I said, 'I don't even know what to tell you yet'. It was unfortunate for our Quicken Loans Chevrolet, but that is why we had practice. That was my first experience, but I guess my car just got light in the back going into the corner."
In the crash, Newman and Edwards collided in Turn 1. Martin had nowhere to go and hit Edwards. All three teams chose to repair their cars and will keep their starting spots in the Duels.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. suffered an engine failure during the session. As a result, he will have to give up his sixth starting spot in Duel No. 1 and move to the back later today.
Speed-wise, Michael Waltrip was fastest in the Swan Racing No. 26 with a lap of 45.375 seconds (198.347 mph). David Ragan was second, followed by Tony Stewart, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch. 42 drivers turned in times, but not all of them chose to run in the draft. Most notably, Jimmie Johnson chose to do only single-car runs in order to save their car from carnage.
In session No. 2, only 27 cars chose to make a lap in the session. Kasey Kahne was fastest with a lap of 45.515 seconds (197.737 mph), followed by Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Danica Patrick and Carl Edwards in his repaired Fastenal Ford. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who was 17th fastest, turned the most laps in the session (35) after his engine change. Newman was able to get his repaired No. 39 back on track for a quick one-lap shakedown at the end of the session. Martin's team, which is already down two cars from crashes in Sprint Unlimited and the Unlimited itself, chose to sit out the session.
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.
Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300: 45 cars entered
Number Changes:
Turner Scott Motorsports' No. 38 changes to No. 34.
Go Green Racing No. 39 changes to No. 79.
MacDonald Motorsports' No. 81 changes to No. 27 (team is now the third car for SR2 Motorsports)
Owner Points Acquisitions:
SR2 Motorsports' No. 00 has acquired the 2012 points from MacDonald Motorsports' No. 81 (entire team purchased by SR2 Motorsports in the offseason).
JR Motorsports' No. 5 has acquired the 2012 points from JR Motorsports' No. 88.
SR2 Motorsports' No. 27 has acquired the 2012 points from SR2 Motorsports' No. 00.
Turner Scott Motorsports' No. 32 has acquired the 2012 points from Turner Scott Motorsports' No. 38.
Turner Scott Motorsports' No. 34 has acquired the 2012 points from Turner Scott Motorsports' No. 32.
Kyle Busch Motorsports' No. 77 has acquired the 2012 points from the Kyle Busch Motorsports' No. 54.
JR Motorsports' No. 88 has acquired the 2012 points from JR Motorsports' No. 5.
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 00- Jason White for SR2 Motorsports. If White qualifies, he will be making his Nationwide Series debut.
No. 1- Kurt Busch for Phoenix Racing
No. 5- Kasey Kahne for JR Motorsports
No. 18- Matt Kenseth for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22- Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing
No. 27- Michael McDowell for GC Motorsports International
No. 33- Tony Stewart for Richard Childress Racing
No. 34- Danica Patrick for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 54- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports/Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 88- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for JR Motorsports
Driver Changes:
No. 00- Jason White is in the seat, replacing Blake Koch.
No. 2- Brian Scott is in the seat, replacing Elliott Sadler.
No. 5- Kasey Kahne is in the seat, replacing Regan Smith.
No. 6- Trevor Bayne is in the seat, replacing Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
No. 7- Regan Smith is in the seat, replacing Danica Patrick.
No. 10- Jeff Green returns to the seat, replacing Mike Bliss.
No. 11- Elliott Sadler is in the seat, replacing Brian Scott.
No. 15- Juan Carlos Blum is in the seat, replacing Timmy Hill.
No. 18- Matt Kenseth is in the seat, replacing Joey Logano.
No. 19- Mike Bliss returns to the seat, replacing Hal Martin.
No. 20- Brian Vickers returns to the seat, replacing Ryan Truex.
No. 22- Brad Keselowski returns to the seat, replacing Ryan Blaney.
No. 24- Blake Koch returns to the seat, replacing David Starr.
No. 27- Michael McDowell returns to the seat, replacing Jason Bowles.
No. 30- Nelson Piquet, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Dakoda Armstrong.
No. 32- Kyle Larson is in the seat, replacing Brad Sweet.
No. 33- Tony Stewart is in the seat, replacing Brendan Gaughan.
No. 34- Danica Patrick is in the seat, replacing Miguel Paludo.
No. 40- Reed Sorenson is in the seat, replacing Erik Darnell.
No. 41- Donnie Neuenberger is in the seat, replacing Juan Carlos Blum.
No. 44- Hal Martin returns to the seat, replacing John Blankenship.
No. 79- Jeffrey Earnhardt returns to the seat, replacing Dexter Stacey.
No. 88- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Cole Whitt.
No. 99- Alex Bowman returns to the seat, replacing Kenny Wallace.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 1- Kurt Busch for Phoenix Racing
No. 8- Scott Lagasse, Jr. for Tommy Baldwin Racing/TeamSLR
No. 10- Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports (Has second crack at the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 15- Juan Carlos Blum for Rick Ware Racing
No. 18- Matt Kenseth for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 27- Michael McDowell for SR2 Motorsports
No. 34- Danica Patrick for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 52- Joey Gase for Hamilton Means Motorsports
No. 54- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 55- Jamie Dick for Viva Motorsports
No. 60- Travis Pastrana for Roush Fenway Racing
No. 74- Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 85- Bobby Gerhart for Bobby Gerhart Racing
No. 88- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for JR Motorsports (Has third crack at the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 89- Morgan Shepherd for Shepherd Motor Ventures
No. 92- Dexter Stacey for KH Motorsports
Not Entered:
No. 08- Randy Hill Racing/Go Green Racing
No. 21- Joey Coulter for Richard Childress Racing
No. 27- GC Motorsports International
No. 42- Josh Wise for Team Motorsports Group
No. 46- Chase Miller for Team Motorsports Group
No. 47- J.J. Yeley for Team Motorsports Group
No. 75- Scott Riggs for Rick Ware Racing
No. 91- TriStar Motorsports
No. 98- Kevin Swindell for Biagi-DenBeste Motorsports
Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250: 39 trucks entered
Number Changes:
Red Horse Racing's No. 11 changes to No. 77.
ThorSport Racing's No. 13 changes to No. 98.
Richard Childress Racing's No. 22 changes to No. 62.
ML Motorsports' No. 65 changes back to No. 63.
Owner Point Acquisitions:
- Eddie Sharp Racing's No. 8 has acquired the 2012 points of Eddie Sharp Racing's No. 33.
- Eddie Sharp Racing's No. 33 has acquired the 2012 points of Eddie Sharp Racing's No. 8.
- SS-Green Light Racing's No. 81 has acquired the 2012 points of SS-Green Light Racing's No. 08.
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 51- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
Driver Changes:
No. 07- Chris Cockrum is in the seat, replacing Jeff Agnew.
No. 4- Jeb Burton is in the seat, replacing Kyle Larson.
No. 5- Tim George, Jr. is in the seat, replacing John King.
No. 7- John Wes Townley is in the seat, replacing Parker Kligerman.
No. 18- Joey Coulter is in the seat, replacing Kyle Busch.
No. 19- Ross Chastain is in the seat, replacing Brad Keselowski.
No. 27- Jeff Agnew is in the seat, replacing Jason Leffler.
No. 30- Ryan Truex is in the seat, replacing Nelson Piquet, Jr.
No. 33- John King is in the seat, replacing Cale Gale.
No. 50- Rick Crawford is in the seat, replacing Natalie Sather.
No. 51- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing German Quiroga.
No. 60- Dakoda Armstrong is in the seat, replacing Peyton Sellers.
No. 62- Brendan Gaughan is in the seat, replacing Joey Coulter.
No. 63- Scott Stenzel returns to the seat, replacing Chris Lafferty.
No. 77- German Quiroga is in the seat, replacing Todd Bodine.
No. 84- Chris Fontaine returns to the seat, replacing Mario Gosselin.
No. 93- Jason White is in the seat, replacing Ryan Lynch.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 1- Dusty Davis for Rick Ware Racing
No. 4- Jeb Burton for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 5- Tim George, Jr. for Wauters Motorsports
No. 13- Todd Bodine for ThorSport Racing (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 14- Brennan Newberry for NTS Motorsports
No. 19- Ross Chastain for Brad Keselowski Racing
No. 50- Rick Crawford for MAKE Motorsports
No. 51- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
No. 54- Darrell Wallace, Jr. for Kyle Busch Motorsports
No. 60- Dakoda Armstrong for Turn One Racing
No. 63- Scott Stenzel for ML Motorsports
No. 68- Clay Greenfield for Clay Greenfield Racing
No. 77- German Quiroga for Red Horse Racing
No. 82- Sean Corr for Empire Racing
No. 92- Scott Riggs for RBR Motorsports
Not Entered:
No. 01- Jake Crum
No. 08- SS-Green Light Racing
No. 09- RAB Racing with Brack Maggard
No. 0- Blake Koch for JJC Racing
No. 2- Richard Childress Racing
No. 20- BRG Motorsports
No. 23- Gun Broker Racing
No. 25- Travis Miller for Hillman Racing
No. 38- Chris Jones for RSS Racing
FLEX SEAL to Sponsor JD Motorsports, Efland at Daytona
On Wednesday, JD Motorsports announced that Swift Response, LLC, makers of FLEX SEAL, a rubber sealant, will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 4 Chevrolet Camaro in a multi-race deal starting this weekend in Daytona. In addition, FLEX SEAL will serve as an associate sponsor on the No. 01 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Mike Wallace.
Efland, who is scheduled to drive the No. 4 for 27 races in 2013, is happy to have FLEX SEAL onboard this weekend.
"I am excited to partner with FLEX SEAL for the 2013 season at JD Motorsports," Efland said. "They have a neat brand that I look forward to supporting throughout the year. Everyone has seen the commercial with Phil in the boat, and I hope the fans will rally around the product to make this partnership successful for the future."
The press release described the sponsorship as a multi-race deal for Efland and the No. 4 team. However, it did not state how many races that FLEX SEAL will be on the No. 4 Chevrolet.
News Bites:
- Last week, it was announced that Ryan Truex would be making his Sprint Cup debut with Phoenix Racing at Richmond in April. On Wednesday, Truex announced on his personal Twitter account that he would be racing at Dover as well. As you may remember, Truex came within five laps of winning the Nationwide race there last Fall before lapped traffic allowed Joey Logano to get past.
- RAB Racing with Brack Maggard announced on Wednesday that the Florida Lottery will serve as the primary sponsor of the team's No. 99 Toyota this weekend at Daytona in a one-race deal. They are already sponsoring the No. 7 Chevrolet SS for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the Sprint Cup Series and sponsored the No. 8 Ford Riley DPG3 for Starworks Motorsport in the Rolex 24 at Daytona back in January.
- In a slight change, Daytona International Speedway and Doctor's Associates announced on Wednesday that Subway will continue to serve as the title sponsor of the July Nationwide race in Daytona. However, the race will now be known as the Subway Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola. The name recalls the original name of the Coke Zero 400 (that particular race was originally a 250-mile race before being lengthened to 400 miles in the early 1960's).
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
Delusional Daytona Dabblings
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese
The night before the Daytona 500 may be nerve wracking for many drivers and teams, but the night prior to the Budweiser Duel qualifying races may even be more so – particularly in light of the activities yesterday on track. In the first practice session, Ryan Newman began to get loose while running in a pack with Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Newman ended up spinning across the front of Edwards' Fastenal Fusion, while Mark Martin narrowly avoided wiping out his third car in five days at Daytona, slightly wrinkling the front fender (is any damage "slight" at a superspeedway?). Newman, who qualified fourth in the Quicken Loans No. 39, will repair his car and avoid starting from the rear of the field.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., however, had an engine let go during practice and will be forced to start at the rear of the field in Budweiser Duel No. 1. Brad Keselowski had a fuel system failure which originally led him to believe his Roush Yates power plant had expired, but such was not the case.
The latter you could call a fluke or just the teething issues of converting over to a new engine in a new car with different plumbing – but there's something to be said for doing everything in-house; something that is no longer the case at Penske Racing.
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With virtually all of the incidents that have occurred so far during Speedweeks having been the result of a driver on the outside cutting down low into another car, might we be learning one glaring weakness of the Gen 6 car – that being visibility? On the superspeedways with their small rear lip spoilers that look like something from the mid 1980's, the drivers can see through the windows of the car in front to avoid trouble; something that was not possible with either the original rear wing of the COT, or the massive rear vertical blade used on COT v.2.0. Clint Bowyer remarked how the new car does have a bit of a blind spot, making reliance on spotters that much more demanding.
Perhaps NASCAR may want to consider allowing drivers to communicate with each other as they were able to do during the tandem drafting days of recent memory. Then again, it wasn't needed in the 1980's when they were going over 210mph on bias-ply tires with virtually no semblance of downforce. Maybe instead of bigger spoilers, they need bigger mirrors. Sitting in the middle of the car is safer obviously where side-impacts are a concern, but not so much for peripheral vision.
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The next person who says that the Generation Six car is "sexy," you have my permission to punch them in the mouth. I don't know what primal feelings are aroused by a Toyota Camry...unless you're the sort that has a crisis over 30mpg fuel economy, or gets a semi over cubic feet of trunk space. And no, I don't care how many people say it, the Fusion looks nothing like an Aston Martin DB9 from the front. It looks like the singing Filet-O-Fish from the McDonald's commercials. After all, it is Lent.
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Fox has unveiled a new camera system at Daytona that skates across wires over the track, in an effort to provide the view afforded to that one seagull that Dale Earnhardt nailed on the backstretch in 1990, which gave pitcher Randy Johnson something to aspire to. They have also introduced the Gyro-Cam; which I can only assume isn't wrapped in shaved lamb.
What is it with these moving cameras that do little more than trigger nausea and a potential epileptic episode? Between this, the one that scoots across the ground in the middle of the turns, and the Digger Cam, they have to be running out of interesting places to put a camera. What's next, they're going to mount on to the green flag during a restart? Maybe stick one on the air gun to give fans a feel for what the impact wrench is seeing as it attacks 10 hex bolts per tire.
Having perused some classic Daytona 500 footage on YouTube the past week or so, I am astonished that after 30 years, they are unable to broadcast a race better than Ken Squier and company did back in 1983, or come up with an in-car camera that even comes to within a whiff of the one that he developed back then. Editor's Note: CBS did not develop those early Racecams. The Seven Network in Australia developed them starting in 1979 for use in their telecasts of the Hardie-Ferodo 1000 (now the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000). A deal in 1981 that culminated in CBS airing tape-delayed coverage from Bathurst saw CBS begin to use the Australian in-car camera technology on their broadcasts. It panned, zoomed, showed the driver at work, and gave a feel of what it actually felt like to be in the passenger seat. Any attempt since to duplicate it in the last ten years has failed on a grand scale. The videos that RCR puts up on their YouTube channel with crudely mounted GoPro action cameras do a better job of capturing the action than what has been introduced as of late.
Remember TNN's suspension camera in the 1990s? Where has that innovation gone? For all the talk of new cars the last two weeks being a nod to the past, somebody dig out the BETA Max and whatever else worked 30 years ago too.
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And in closing, congratulations to Danica Patrick for winning the pole position for the Daytona 500. While she has received the lion's share of the media attention this week, and for good reason, it's no surprise that the typical detractors are first inline to pipe up and say "it's just qualifying/it's all car/testament to the team/all she had to do was hold the wheel straight." Okay. Fair enough. However, that wasn't the sentiment when Carl Edwards won the pole last year; after all he was the odds on favorite to win the title after having lost it on a tiebreaker to Tony Stewart just a few months earlier. Did anyone make the same comment about Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his Daytona 500 pole in 2011? No. Note: There was, however, a controversy that erupted when Pardon the Interruption's Tony Kornheiser, apparently after talking with former Washington Post colleague Liz Clarke, theorized on-air that the fix was in so Earnhardt Jr. would win the pole. Naturally, this was false. What about Trevor Bayne just getting a good shove and eight extra Green White Checker laps after David Ragan committed Hara-Kiri by botching a late race restart? Of course not.
Does this mean she'll win the Daytona 500? I doubt it will have much, if any effect. I just have a hard time understanding why some people who have failed to do or accomplish something are usually the first to belittle the achievements of someone who actually succeeded.
Be it jealousy, sexism or just being a first-class asshole – it is a time-honored past time in American sports, almost as much as the deifying of athletes who turn out to be philanderers, deadbeats, drug addicts, gamblers, womanizers, rapists, or murderers.
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.
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The Critic's Annex: UNOH Battle at the Beach
by Phil Allaway
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports-related programming that we just plain cannot fit in the regular critiques. A welcomed addition to Speedweeks for 2013 was the UNOH Battle at the Beach, a trio of 150 lap races (plus heats and practice sessions) for the Whelen All-American Series (late model competitors at NASCAR-sanctioned short tracks), the K&N Pro Series (East and West) and the Whelen Modifieds (North and South). SPEED provided coverage of all three events. How did the two days of coverage go? Let's take a look.
It took a number of entities working together to actually bring viewers the coverage Monday and Tuesday from Daytona. SPEED obviously shot the events, but there were four different commentary crews at work. All the heat races were done by the crew at Bob Dillner's Speed51.com. The practice sessions were done with "natural sounds," along with only the camera in Turn 1 in operation. Dillner was joined by Hermie Sadler for the late model race with Ray Dunlap in the pits. For Tuesday's Modified race, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds were in the booth, while the trio of Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Joey Logano worked the K&N Pro Series race. I know that some of the commentators do specialize in certain types of racing (Joy with the Modifieds, Dillner with late models, Allen and Parsons with the K&N Pro Series since they call the regular races in a studio for the tape delay telecasts). However, it seems unnecessary to have seven booth commentators for three races.
Monday's race telecast started off with a recap of the two heat races, which seemed to have a fair amount of action. There was also an informative piece that described the differences between "Perimeter" and "Straight Rail" late models. I'll admit to having not watched many late model races in the last few years, especially since NASCAR killed the Elite Series. However, from what I could tell, the Straight Rail cars are the "traditional" late models. Probably the cheaper ones as well. Meanwhile, the Perimeter cars were more like K&N cars with late model bodies.
Once the race got started, SPEED showed a fair amount of the action on track. They were a bit limited in that they only had about six cameras at their disposal (one speed shot, the cameras in Turns 1 and 4, the blimp, one at the start-finish line and one in the pits). As a result, they missed a few things. They did the best that they could with the available footage. Ultimately, it wasn't so bad here, but it would be a little worse on Tuesday. I wish they would have done better with notifying viewers who was on the lead lap (I only recall them doing it a couple of times per race), and who was out. The second one is a little more important for a couple of reasons. One, a lot of the cars look similar (lots of black cars). Two, the scroll never really displayed who was out. It just showed those cars constantly losing more and more laps. The fact that the transporters were parked behind the main grandstand might have had something to do with that.
Dillner is very knowledgeable about the late model scene (he owns the aforementioned Speed51.com, and owns a late model team as well), so even though he might not be the best guy to have in the booth most of the time, he's perfect for late model races. Sadler is a former late model racer in Virginia and the Carolinas prior to his time in the Nationwide Series, so he was able to bring in his past knowledge as well.
Post-race coverage was terrible. I know that the race went nearly a half-hour long because of the nine yellows. However, knowing what went down at the end of the race, SPEED needed to stay and square everything up. Heck, they didn't stay long enough for a winner's interview. Maybe they were punishing Kyle Larson for his conduct, giving him a taste of the JWT treatment that I ranted about on Tuesday in the process. Let's just be honest. I know SPEED wanted to show their sweet special, but it could have waited ten more minutes. Live events are more important than taped shows.
Tuesday brought a bunch of wrecking. Simple as that. Joy and McReynolds talked a little about the controversial late model finish and showed post-race interviews with Larson and C.E. Falk. If you had been watching SPEED prior to the telecast, those interviews would have premiered during NASCAR RaceHub one hour earlier. From there, there were the opening ceremonies, then straight to the wrecking.
Here, the sheer amount of wrecking made it very difficult for Joy and McReynolds to be able to talk about anything else. There were never more than 11 consecutive laps under green. The average speed was something more akin to West International Speedway Boulevard than a race (although it should be noted that there have been Nationwide races run at nearly that slow a pace in the past). The wrecking also led to frustration in the booth (as in Joy and McReynolds just wanted to talk about racing for position and the drivers just wouldn't give it to them).
The constant crashing made it very difficult for viewers to keep up with where everyone was running. We never really saw Steve Park up until the last few laps of the race. Much of the telecast was basically to show the very front of the field until someone wrecked. To their credit, Joy and McReynolds gave a couple of updates on where Park and other drivers that weren't at the very front of the field were running. Regardless, it still looked like Park came out of nowhere to be in contention late.
Despite going over a half-hour long, SPEED still gave the race a decent amount of post-race coverage. There were five post-race interviews and a check of the unofficial results. Ray Dunlap's interview with Mike Stefanik (complete with Stefanik's epic scowl) was posted at Deadspin on Wednesday morning, which is a first for the Whelen Modifieds. Unfortunately, Deadspin is about the most uninformed bunch in sports when it comes to racing, so the whole thing just looks terrible. If someone wrote that here at Frontstretch, I think the column would get pulled.
After a short break, it was time for the slightly less wreck-strewn K&N Pro Series race. As mentioned earlier, Allen and Parsons are regulars with the series. However, they are rarely call the races live. Instead, the broadcasts are put together similarly to how SPEED used to do Hooters Pro Cup races.
Back then, Rick Benjamin and Scott Sutherland would call the races in a studio after having already watched the race multiple times in order to take notes. This was interesting because Sutherland started partnering Benjamin when he was still driving in the series, so there were meta moments when Sutherland would have to talk about himself in the third person. There would be one pit reporter live at the track. For the Pro Cup races, it would usually be someone like Stephen Cox. In the case of the current K&N races, those people are Derek Pernesiglio for the East races and Bernadette Sanicola for the West races.
With the compressed schedule, there was no pre-race coverage. Instead, there was an introduction from the trio in the booth, then the green came out. Yeah, there were still a bunch of yellows, but it was possible to at least see a little action on the track for position.
I still believe that I missed quite a few moments of interest due to the minimal number of cameras on hand. We would never quite see what caused a number of the wrecks.
Logano was interesting in the booth. His commentary was somewhat interesting since he had raced with a fair number of the drivers in the field previously. For example, he talked at length about his duel with Sergio Pena during the Toyota All-Star Showdown while driving the "Toyorolet" (it was a Chevrolet with a Toyota engine). Yet, with Gray Gaulding getting into Turn 1 so deep on the final lap that he spun out Michael Self, Logano failed to mention something pertinent. Remember when Logano took out Peyton Sellers on the last lap of the Toyota All-Star Showdown and got DQ'd for his trouble? I do. Apparently, he didn't.
Post-race coverage was ok with three interviews and a results rundown. By this point, the telecast was an hour over it's timeslot, so getting anything at all is good.
The UNOH Battle at the Beach was an interesting two days of action, but I do believe that changes may need to be made for 2014. At the very least, make it clear that wrecking dudes on the last lap isn't going to be tolerated. NASCAR and SPEED provided viewers unprecedented coverage, including the first ever practice and qualifying sessions streaming on YouTube. That went ok. I can't really complain. I wouldn't be surprised if Daytona builds a permanent short track on their property as part of their grandmaster plan for renovations.
That's all for this week. Next week, I'll have a nice write-up of Richard Petty: A Racer's Life, a new special that debuted on SPEED Monday night. I just really wish SPEED could have pushed back it's debut ten more minutes Monday so that we could have gotten a proper conclusion to the broadcast. Until then, enjoy this weekend's action in Daytona.
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 Beyond The Cockpit: Gaughan Full Circle At Last
"Look, that's why it's called racing. Two weeks before we were at Phoenix and were going to win that race and had a motor let go and finished 11th. Three weeks before that, we ended up getting caught in a wreck somewhere. That's why it's called racing. You can't just look at the last deal and say that's what happened. The way it ended was kind of crummy, but the fun deal is, everybody said you couldn't do it from the West Coast. You can't do it from the West Coast, and that year, you had Gibbs still racing trucks, Hendrick still racing, DEI had trucks, you had Jack Roush trucks still racing—you had big time teams and big time names and it was cool to be the little engine that could. "- Brendan Gaughan, to our own Amy Henderson, on his 2003 season in the then-Craftsman Truck Series.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Speeding Through Summer: Danica's Driving And Drivers Of Years PastThe Critic's Annex: UNOH Battle at the Beach
by Phil Allaway
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports-related programming that we just plain cannot fit in the regular critiques. A welcomed addition to Speedweeks for 2013 was the UNOH Battle at the Beach, a trio of 150 lap races (plus heats and practice sessions) for the Whelen All-American Series (late model competitors at NASCAR-sanctioned short tracks), the K&N Pro Series (East and West) and the Whelen Modifieds (North and South). SPEED provided coverage of all three events. How did the two days of coverage go? Let's take a look.
It took a number of entities working together to actually bring viewers the coverage Monday and Tuesday from Daytona. SPEED obviously shot the events, but there were four different commentary crews at work. All the heat races were done by the crew at Bob Dillner's Speed51.com. The practice sessions were done with "natural sounds," along with only the camera in Turn 1 in operation. Dillner was joined by Hermie Sadler for the late model race with Ray Dunlap in the pits. For Tuesday's Modified race, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds were in the booth, while the trio of Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Joey Logano worked the K&N Pro Series race. I know that some of the commentators do specialize in certain types of racing (Joy with the Modifieds, Dillner with late models, Allen and Parsons with the K&N Pro Series since they call the regular races in a studio for the tape delay telecasts). However, it seems unnecessary to have seven booth commentators for three races.
Monday's race telecast started off with a recap of the two heat races, which seemed to have a fair amount of action. There was also an informative piece that described the differences between "Perimeter" and "Straight Rail" late models. I'll admit to having not watched many late model races in the last few years, especially since NASCAR killed the Elite Series. However, from what I could tell, the Straight Rail cars are the "traditional" late models. Probably the cheaper ones as well. Meanwhile, the Perimeter cars were more like K&N cars with late model bodies.
Once the race got started, SPEED showed a fair amount of the action on track. They were a bit limited in that they only had about six cameras at their disposal (one speed shot, the cameras in Turns 1 and 4, the blimp, one at the start-finish line and one in the pits). As a result, they missed a few things. They did the best that they could with the available footage. Ultimately, it wasn't so bad here, but it would be a little worse on Tuesday. I wish they would have done better with notifying viewers who was on the lead lap (I only recall them doing it a couple of times per race), and who was out. The second one is a little more important for a couple of reasons. One, a lot of the cars look similar (lots of black cars). Two, the scroll never really displayed who was out. It just showed those cars constantly losing more and more laps. The fact that the transporters were parked behind the main grandstand might have had something to do with that.
Dillner is very knowledgeable about the late model scene (he owns the aforementioned Speed51.com, and owns a late model team as well), so even though he might not be the best guy to have in the booth most of the time, he's perfect for late model races. Sadler is a former late model racer in Virginia and the Carolinas prior to his time in the Nationwide Series, so he was able to bring in his past knowledge as well.
Post-race coverage was terrible. I know that the race went nearly a half-hour long because of the nine yellows. However, knowing what went down at the end of the race, SPEED needed to stay and square everything up. Heck, they didn't stay long enough for a winner's interview. Maybe they were punishing Kyle Larson for his conduct, giving him a taste of the JWT treatment that I ranted about on Tuesday in the process. Let's just be honest. I know SPEED wanted to show their sweet special, but it could have waited ten more minutes. Live events are more important than taped shows.
Tuesday brought a bunch of wrecking. Simple as that. Joy and McReynolds talked a little about the controversial late model finish and showed post-race interviews with Larson and C.E. Falk. If you had been watching SPEED prior to the telecast, those interviews would have premiered during NASCAR RaceHub one hour earlier. From there, there were the opening ceremonies, then straight to the wrecking.
Here, the sheer amount of wrecking made it very difficult for Joy and McReynolds to be able to talk about anything else. There were never more than 11 consecutive laps under green. The average speed was something more akin to West International Speedway Boulevard than a race (although it should be noted that there have been Nationwide races run at nearly that slow a pace in the past). The wrecking also led to frustration in the booth (as in Joy and McReynolds just wanted to talk about racing for position and the drivers just wouldn't give it to them).
The constant crashing made it very difficult for viewers to keep up with where everyone was running. We never really saw Steve Park up until the last few laps of the race. Much of the telecast was basically to show the very front of the field until someone wrecked. To their credit, Joy and McReynolds gave a couple of updates on where Park and other drivers that weren't at the very front of the field were running. Regardless, it still looked like Park came out of nowhere to be in contention late.
Despite going over a half-hour long, SPEED still gave the race a decent amount of post-race coverage. There were five post-race interviews and a check of the unofficial results. Ray Dunlap's interview with Mike Stefanik (complete with Stefanik's epic scowl) was posted at Deadspin on Wednesday morning, which is a first for the Whelen Modifieds. Unfortunately, Deadspin is about the most uninformed bunch in sports when it comes to racing, so the whole thing just looks terrible. If someone wrote that here at Frontstretch, I think the column would get pulled.
After a short break, it was time for the slightly less wreck-strewn K&N Pro Series race. As mentioned earlier, Allen and Parsons are regulars with the series. However, they are rarely call the races live. Instead, the broadcasts are put together similarly to how SPEED used to do Hooters Pro Cup races.
Back then, Rick Benjamin and Scott Sutherland would call the races in a studio after having already watched the race multiple times in order to take notes. This was interesting because Sutherland started partnering Benjamin when he was still driving in the series, so there were meta moments when Sutherland would have to talk about himself in the third person. There would be one pit reporter live at the track. For the Pro Cup races, it would usually be someone like Stephen Cox. In the case of the current K&N races, those people are Derek Pernesiglio for the East races and Bernadette Sanicola for the West races.
With the compressed schedule, there was no pre-race coverage. Instead, there was an introduction from the trio in the booth, then the green came out. Yeah, there were still a bunch of yellows, but it was possible to at least see a little action on the track for position.
I still believe that I missed quite a few moments of interest due to the minimal number of cameras on hand. We would never quite see what caused a number of the wrecks.
Logano was interesting in the booth. His commentary was somewhat interesting since he had raced with a fair number of the drivers in the field previously. For example, he talked at length about his duel with Sergio Pena during the Toyota All-Star Showdown while driving the "Toyorolet" (it was a Chevrolet with a Toyota engine). Yet, with Gray Gaulding getting into Turn 1 so deep on the final lap that he spun out Michael Self, Logano failed to mention something pertinent. Remember when Logano took out Peyton Sellers on the last lap of the Toyota All-Star Showdown and got DQ'd for his trouble? I do. Apparently, he didn't.
Post-race coverage was ok with three interviews and a results rundown. By this point, the telecast was an hour over it's timeslot, so getting anything at all is good.
The UNOH Battle at the Beach was an interesting two days of action, but I do believe that changes may need to be made for 2014. At the very least, make it clear that wrecking dudes on the last lap isn't going to be tolerated. NASCAR and SPEED provided viewers unprecedented coverage, including the first ever practice and qualifying sessions streaming on YouTube. That went ok. I can't really complain. I wouldn't be surprised if Daytona builds a permanent short track on their property as part of their grandmaster plan for renovations.
That's all for this week. Next week, I'll have a nice write-up of Richard Petty: A Racer's Life, a new special that debuted on SPEED Monday night. I just really wish SPEED could have pushed back it's debut ten more minutes Monday so that we could have gotten a proper conclusion to the broadcast. Until then, enjoy this weekend's action in Daytona.
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 Beyond The Cockpit: Gaughan Full Circle At Last
"Look, that's why it's called racing. Two weeks before we were at Phoenix and were going to win that race and had a motor let go and finished 11th. Three weeks before that, we ended up getting caught in a wreck somewhere. That's why it's called racing. You can't just look at the last deal and say that's what happened. The way it ended was kind of crummy, but the fun deal is, everybody said you couldn't do it from the West Coast. You can't do it from the West Coast, and that year, you had Gibbs still racing trucks, Hendrick still racing, DEI had trucks, you had Jack Roush trucks still racing—you had big time teams and big time names and it was cool to be the little engine that could. "- Brendan Gaughan, to our own Amy Henderson, on his 2003 season in the then-Craftsman Truck Series.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
by Summer Bedgood
Fantasy Insider: Looking For Some NASCAR Aces In The Biggest Of Races
by Jeff Wolfe
Mirror Driving: Dueling Towards The 500 And Qualifying Procedures
by the Frontstretch Staff
Truckin' Thursdays: Miguel Paludo On Offseason Fun And Prepping For 2013
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 1985, Lake Speed finished second in the Daytona 500 for RAHMOC Racing driving their No. 75 Pontiac with sponsorship from Nationwise Auto Parts. When did Nationwise join up with the team?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: The 1988 Daytona 500 is remembered not only for the father and son battle for the win between the Allisons. It's also infamous for Richard Petty's barrel roll on Lap 106. What caused that incident?
A: First off, here's the infamous crash. Phil Barkdoll, who was right behind Petty prior to the crash in his No. 73, claimed that Petty simply lost control exiting Turn 4. Barkdoll, who had nowhere to go, then plowed right into Petty. The indisputable fact in the crash is that Barkdoll's contact caused Petty to blowover. However, when Dave DeSpain interviewed Barkdoll, he appeared to be in a state of shock. He spoke in such a rushed manner that meaning was difficult to ascertain.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 Tom Bowles
-- In Case You Missed It by Rick 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: Daytona 500 Weekend by Matt Stallknecht
Matt gets your engines revved up for 2013 with a preview of the weekend's Daytona 500.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns this week with another intriguing Friday commentary.
Nuts For Nationwide by Kevin Rutherford
Kevin takes over this column for 2013 with a preview of Saturday's DRIVE4COPD 300.
Voices From the Heartland by Jeff Meyer
Our Tennessee transplant returns with another interesting take on recent events.
Driver Diary: TBA
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