THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 13th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition LXXIX
~~~~~~~~~~
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.
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 13th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition LXXIX
~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Kenseth Tames the Lady, Wins at Darlington
by Justin Tucker
Matt Kenseth came into Saturday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 already a winner this week. On Wednesday, the NASCAR Appeals Board reduced the penalties assessed to the No. 20 and Kenseth from violations stemming from the STP 400 at Kansas last month. Kenseth's crew chief Jason Ratcliff saw his six race suspension reduced to just one race. Kenseth would also see his 50 point penalty reduced to 12. Other penalities, including a rare ban on the team earning owners' points for six weeks were thrown out as well.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Kenseth Tames the Lady, Wins at Darlington
by Justin Tucker
Matt Kenseth came into Saturday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 already a winner this week. On Wednesday, the NASCAR Appeals Board reduced the penalties assessed to the No. 20 and Kenseth from violations stemming from the STP 400 at Kansas last month. Kenseth's crew chief Jason Ratcliff saw his six race suspension reduced to just one race. Kenseth would also see his 50 point penalty reduced to 12. Other penalities, including a rare ban on the team earning owners' points for six weeks were thrown out as well.
Saturday night would prove to be the cap on a perfect week for Kenseth and Joe Gibbs Racing as Kenseth would pass his JGR teammate Kyle Busch with 13 laps to go to claim his first Darlington win and his 27th career NSCS win.
"This is a dream come true," Kenseth shouted on his radio. "Thank you guys very much."
Kenseth's JGR teammate, Kyle Busch, would have the dominant car on the night leading 265 of 367 laps on the night, but a cut right rear tire in the closing laps would derail his night relegating him to a sixth-place finish. Busch left the track after Saturday's race without comment after being involved in another on track incident with Kasey Kahne, his third such incident this season. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin completed his first full race since being injured in a last lap crash at Auto Club Speedway in March and sent a statement to the rest of the NSCS field that he is indeed 100 percent by finishing second to his JGR teammate Kenseth.
In a race that was slowed by just one caution during the first 302 laps, Jeff Gordon celebrated his 700th career start in style by bringing his Cromax Pro Chevrolet home third for his second top 5 of 2013. Gordon would improve to 12th in the NSCS standings with this finish. Points leader Jimmie Johnson would continue to solidify his hold to the top spot of the NSCS standings by finishing fourth on Saturday night. This was Johnson's series-best sixth top 5 and eighth top 10 of 2013. Johnson increased his series points lead to 44 over Carl Edwards.
Kevin Harvick would rebound from bad luck at Talladega to score a top-5 finish on Saturday night. Rounding out the top 10 were Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Ryan Newman.
It appeared for most of the closing stages of the race that Kasey Kahne would be the closest competitor to Kyle Busch for the race win. After the fourth restart, Kahne was able to keep pace alongside Busch for a full lap. It appeared that Kahne had cleared Busch entering Turn 1, but the back end of Kahne's No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet snapped loose and slammed into the wall. It was a move that left Kahne anything but impressed.
"Three times this year me and Kyle had contact and I had a chance, capable-winning cars, it's disappointing on the points side and not winning some of these races," Kahne said. "Whether he hit me or just blew the air off, whatever it was, he blew his entry. I'm not sure what he was thinking on that."
Darlington proved to be the same old tough Darlington on Saturday night. A true throwback to what stock car racing should be. Lots of great racing through the field and a great finish at the end. The Gen 6 race car passed another huge test on Saturday night.
The Sprint Cup Series returns home next week to begin the 10 greatest days of racing with the Sprint All Star race. Coverage gets underway with the Sprint Showdown at 7:00 PM EDT on SPEED.
Justin Tucker is a Newsletter Contributor at Frontstretch. To reach Justin, please contact Newsletter Manager Phil Allaway at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
Chasing the Chase: Johnson Maintains Advantage by Staying Out of Trouble
Justin Tucker is a Newsletter Contributor at Frontstretch. To reach Justin, please contact Newsletter Manager Phil Allaway at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
Chasing the Chase: Johnson Maintains Advantage by Staying Out of Trouble
by Phil Allaway
As the season continues on, one thing has become quite clear. It is very unlikely that anyone will be able to gain on Jimmie Johnson in the points if he keeps earning 40 points a week. That is what Johnson accomplished at Darlington by finishing fourth. With Carl Edwards' seventh-place finish, Johnson expanded his points lead up to 44 points. The combination of Matt Kenseth's victory on Saturday night on the track and in the R&D Center on Wednesday has moved Kenseth up to third in the standings. At this time last week, he was 11th and hoping for a wild card.Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had an up-and-down night at Darlington but brought home a decent ninth-place finish. However, since so many of the drivers around him in the standings finished in front of him, he dropped one place to fourth. Clint Bowyer carried last-minute sponsorship from Yum! Foods' Kentucky Fried Chicken (specifically, their current ad campaign for Boneless Original Recipe chicken). However, he had a relatively quiet night on his way to a 11th-place finish. That was enough to maintain his fifth-place in points.
Kasey Kahne had a great car on Saturday night and was in position to win. However, controversial contact with Kyle Busch resulted in Kahne going into the Turn 1, then the engine dying. Kahne's crew fixed up the Time Warner Cable Chevrolet as best as they could, but it just was not the same. Another encounter with the wall didn't help things as Kahne struggled to finish 17th. However, that finish was still good enough to move him up into a tie for sixth with Brad Keselowski. Keselowski was doing ok until an unscheduled stop for tires dropped him two laps down. After getting one of those laps back, Keselowski happened to be in the wrong place at the right time and ran into the back of Casey Mears' GEICO Ford, damaging his own Fusion. Keselowski would eventually finish nine laps down in 32nd.
Kasey Kahne had a great car on Saturday night and was in position to win. However, controversial contact with Kyle Busch resulted in Kahne going into the Turn 1, then the engine dying. Kahne's crew fixed up the Time Warner Cable Chevrolet as best as they could, but it just was not the same. Another encounter with the wall didn't help things as Kahne struggled to finish 17th. However, that finish was still good enough to move him up into a tie for sixth with Brad Keselowski. Keselowski was doing ok until an unscheduled stop for tires dropped him two laps down. After getting one of those laps back, Keselowski happened to be in the wrong place at the right time and ran into the back of Casey Mears' GEICO Ford, damaging his own Fusion. Keselowski would eventually finish nine laps down in 32nd.
Kyle Busch moved up two positions to eighth after finishing sixth, but was very unhappy with his result after cutting a tire late in the race. Aric Almirola dropped one place to ninth after a 20th-place run, which snapped his streak of four consecutive top 10s. Kevin Harvick's fifth-place finish was good enough to move him into a tie with teammate Paul Menard for tenth in points (Harvick officially gets the spot thanks to his win at Richmond).
Standings: 1) Jimmie Johnson 423, 2) Carl Edwards -44, 3) Matt Kenseth -59, 4) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -64, 5) Clint Bowyer -74, t-6) Kasey Kahne -97, t-6) Brad Keselowski -97, 8) Kyle Busch -98, 9) Aric Almirola -106, t-10) Kevin Harvick -108, t-10) Paul Menard -108.
Best of the Rest: t-12) Jeff Gordon, -112, t-12) Greg Biffle -112, 14) Martin Truex, Jr. -122, 15) Jamie McMurray, -128, 16) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. -141, 17) Ryan Newman -147, 18) Kurt Busch -161, 19) Joey Logano -164, 20) Jeff Burton -165.
Wild Cards: 1) Paul Menard (tied for tenth in points, loses tiebraker with Harvick due to lack of a win), 2) Jeff Gordon (12th in points, wins tiebraker over Greg Biffle)
Currently Ineligible for Wild Card: 1) David Ragan (26th in points, one win)
Race Winners: Jimmie Johnson (Daytona, Martinsville), Carl Edwards (Phoenix), Matt Kenseth (Las Vegas, Kansas, Darlington), Kasey Kahne (Bristol), Kyle Busch (Fontana, Texas), Kevin Harvick (Richmond), David Ragan (Talladega)
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.
Never Fear, The Underdogs Are Here: Darlington Edition
by Amy Henderson
Editor's Note: This year, we're going to switch things up a little bit. Instead of just focusing upon one underdog (or underreported) car in the Secret Star section, we will point out three smaller teams that put up good finishes each week.
Underdog Selection No. 1: Travis Kvapil for BK Racing; started 28th, finished 23rd
2013 has been a tough year for BK Racing as a whole. The team, which a year ago had the disadvantage of having equipment from the defunct Red Bull team that was a year or more old, should be caught up to their peers by now in terms of equipment. And with improved equipment, a newer, smaller team like this one should be looking at improving over last year and making gains each week. Until Darlington, they had failed to even keep up with last year's performance for the first part, with Kvapil's average race finish falling seven full positions from 25.7 in 2012 to 32.7 in 2013.
This week, though, Kvapil finally seemed to gain a little ground. He finished 23rd, nearly ten positions above that average, and his run was his second-best through eleven races this year. His best finish of 22nd came at Texas last month. Kvapil and Company need to be consistently posting top-25 runs this year to be on track for overall improvement, so perhaps they can build on a solid night at the Lady in Black.
Underdog Selection No. 2: Dave Blaney for Tommy Baldwin Racing; started 37th, finished 27th
While it's true that Bobby Labonte had a better finish than Blaney, what gives Blaney the edge this week is the number of positions Blaney was able to gain from start to finish. Blaney picked up ten spots on Saturday nights, which is one indicator that the team is making the right calls during the race. Being able to keep up with the racetrack (especially one as notoriously difficult as Darlington) is one key to teams being successful. Simply maintaining, or perhaps even losing spots (as Labonte did) when it's not due to an on-track incident, isn't something a team can do each week and hope to reach the next level.
Underdog Selection No. 3: Landon Cassill for Circle Sport; started 32nd, finished 30th
For the team that is perhaps the poorest even among the poor, Circle Sport is showing a lot of gumption in 2013. Consider this: a year ago, this team was pulling in early each week. So far in 2013, they've already been running at the conclusion of more races than they were in all of 2012—and that's a big step. Two weeks ago at Richmond, Cassill brought home the team's first lead-lap finish of the year. A week later at Talladega, he grabbed their best finishing position of 2013 with a 22nd-place result. That might make his 30th-place run at Darlington seem like a step back, and if the story ended there, it might have been…but before the race, Cassill told me he wasn't sure the team would be able to go the distance at all. Yet, when the checkered flag fell, Cassill was still out there running—the team made the last-minute commitment to take the chance running old and used equipment, to finish the race. That takes heart and determination, and this team is showing an abundance of both. (Note: for more on Cassill and Circle Sport, check out this week's upcoming Beyond the Cockpit, in which Cassill talks about just how much they have accomplished in a short time together.)
Is your favorite driver among NASCAR's underdogs? Are you frustrated with the lack of coverage they receive during the race broadcasts? Amy has all the small teams covered each and every week in The Big Six. Be sure to check it out to see how your favorites fared!
Amy Henderson is a Co-Managing Editor and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. She can be reached via e-mail at amy.henderson@frontstretch.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Writer_Amy.
~~~~~~~~~~
Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 was brought to you by the Letter Q, for "Quick." There was only one caution in the first 400 miles of the race. Despite four cautions in relatively quick succession, the race was run at an average speed of 141.383 mph, an all-time record for Darlington Raceway. However, despite the quick average speed for the race, grip is now once again at a premium. Lap times dropped off two seconds or more over a green flag run. - Phil Allaway
~~~~~~~~~~
Sidebar Darlington Stories
by Phil Allaway
Hamlin's First Full Race Back a Success
After starting last weekend's Aaron's 499 at Talladega and a really good week leading up to Darlington, Denny Hamlin was all set to go the full 500 mile distance Saturday night. How did it go? It went really well. Then again, Darlington went well for anybody working for Joe Gibbs Racing, regardless of the series.Hamlin qualified a strong sixth, fell back in the early part of the race, then gambled on a two-tire stop on the first caution. When full darkness fell on the 1.366 mile oval, Hamlin's car appeared to come to life. By the end of the race, Hamlin had a well-deserved and much-needed second-place finish.
How did Hamlin feel after the race, physically?
"I'm tired. This is a tough, grueling race, so that's nothing to hang our heads about," Hamlin said to FOX Sports' Krista Voda after the race.
Hamlin did not mention any issues with his back during the interview. That sounds like Hamlin passed the Darlington test with flying colors.
Kasey Kahne Angry with Kyle Busch After Late Crash
Late in Saturday night's race, Kasey Kahne appeared to be the only person who could legitimately challenge Kyle Busch at the front of the field. On the restart from the fourth caution, Kahne spent the entire first lap side-by-side with Busch for the lead in a truly exciting battle. However, when the two drivers entered Turn 1 on Lap 334, there appeared to be ever so slight contact between the two cars. Kahne's car ended up in the Turn 1 wall, while Busch continued on. It is the second week in a row--and the third time this season--that the two drivers have come together on-track.
After the race, Kahne voiced his displeasure to MRN.
"I don't know what his deal is with me," Kahne said. "[Busch] blew that entry into Turn 1. The car moved and then spun out. I don't know if he actually touched me or not. If he would have just entered normal like he entered the whole race, there would have been no issues and I would have been leading off [Turn] 2. He just didn't want that to happen, so he blew Turn 1 [intentionally]."
As for Busch, he was very upset at the end of the race after his right rear tire was cut. Even though he still finished sixth, he stormed off after the race and did not speak to reporters or PR representatives.
Busch's crew chief, Dave Rogers, stated that Busch was "somber and disappointed that [the wreck] happened, but...it's part of the sport." Rogers also stated that he couldn't tell whether Kahne and Busch had touched in Turn 1 to precipitate the crash.
Busch's crew chief, Dave Rogers, stated that Busch was "somber and disappointed that [the wreck] happened, but...it's part of the sport." Rogers also stated that he couldn't tell whether Kahne and Busch had touched in Turn 1 to precipitate the crash.
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.
Quotes to Remember: Bojangles' Southern 500
compiled by Beth Lunkenheimer
"Overall the weekend went pretty good just due to the preparation of the 20 guys, Jason Ratcliff (crew chief) — they put a lot of effort, several test plans — we had our plan all weekend. It actually went pretty smooth. Once the race started, I noticed we were able to hang in there for a while. I knew at that point we'd be okay if we just kept up with the track positions that we would have a good night." - Wally Brown, crew chief for Matt Kenseth
"We ran good. We didn't run as strong as what I hoped throughout the day. We were kind of mired in the fifth to eighth positions for most of the day. Track position was so key. You had two to three laps on restarts to get your positions and after that you were in defense mode. For me, we kept grinding away. Pit crew picked us up some stops obviously throughout the night. It was one of those days where we got our car better, pit crew picked us up positions and took us to the most optimum spot we could get to and that was second." - Denny Hamlin, finished second
"Well we all wanted this 700th start to be a memorable one and not one like we had last year. So, it was a great effort by this Cromax Pro Chevrolet team. Alan (Gustafson) called great calls and the pit stops were fantastic; especially when it counted the most there at the end. We were just bouncing between tight and loose and right there at the end, it was about the best that it had been all night. That's what you want, you know? To be able to have good track position and have the car pretty well working for you; so, it was a really solid night. I'm very proud of this." - Jeff Gordon, finished third
"It was just a great 500 miles here at Darlington. There is nothing easy about this race track. It keeps you on your toes all night long. We had a great car. We lost a little tack position at the end. But we still got back into the Top-5; but I kind of ran second and third all night long; wish I was a little bit better, but this Emerald GreenLowe's Chevrolet was doing a good job. We had fun (laughs). I love this place. I wish we could race here three or four times a year. I wasn't prepared for the track to change as much as it did there; and then it kind of stayed there all night long. But my first run or two was far different than I expected." - Jimmie Johnson, finished fourth
"That was a pretty good run for this whole Budweiser Chevrolet team tonight. We were loose for most of the race and those long green-flag stops didn't help us any, either. When we got caught a lap down there, I thought it was going to ruin our night. But, we overcame that, had great stops on pit road and took advantage of things out of our control to finish fifth. It was a good night for this team." - Kevin Harvick, finished fifth
"We struggled a lot tonight and we ended up coming back to seventh, so I'm proud of our effort. But it's like Jimmy and I talked about, we're just missing something. We have been really good at this size of race track and I thought our Geek Squad Ford was gonna be really good. Qualifying was great, other than my mess up, but it was just a struggle all night. That's a long race when you're just hanging on to the lead lap and trying to make something happen." - Carl Edwards, finished seventh
"Well, we didn't unload as good as we wanted, but we got into it really good. We did a really good job. Everybody on the Target Chevy has been doing a great job. We have been running like this all year. We've just had all kinds of mistakes and things. I keep telling the guys we have got to execute. If every person here does their best we are going to be looking like heroes here." - Juan Pablo Montoya, finished eighth
"We had a real good car all weekend. Just never really got great track position. The last half of the race the car was a little bit up out of the race track, but we were still pretty happy. Traffic was terrible, just real dirty air out there. We were faster than the No. 42 at the end of the race, just couldn't pass him. Probably faster than the No. 99 and No. 29 too, but got to be in front of them." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished ninth
"That was a really good comeback by our Quicken Loans team. Our race car was loose pretty much all night up until that last run, but Matt Borland (crew chief) and the guys kept adjusting on it and working on it trying to make it better. They really just didn't give up, and we were able to get the 'Lucky Dog' two different times to get back on the lead lap, and we ended up with a top-10 finish. I'm just really proud of how hard these guys battled tonight." - Ryan Newman, finished tenth
"It's a little disappointing. I know it's different being out front. The car will drive a lot different, but we still don't have the grip that we need. We're missing it ever since the season started with this car. We've got to figure it out." - Greg Biffle, finished 13th
"We were wicked free and could not keep up with the changing conditions of the track. We made a number of chassis and air pressure adjustments but couldn't get the car hooked up. We let it slip away and that's disappointing. But we won the pole, led laps, ran up front for a good portion of the race and came away with a respectable finish." - Kurt Busch, finished 14th
"Oh, we were racing hard. I had a great Time Warner Cable Chevrolet. The car was getting better and better as the race went, but they had to make a lot of adjustments and things. But, I don't know. Three times this year me and Kyle (Busch) have had contact. And I've had capable of winning cars. It's disappointing on the points side and not winning races. But that was close racing. He entered so early and he was just going straight to the corner. So whether he hit me or just blew the air off, whatever it was, he blew his entry and I'm not real sure what he was thinking on that." - Kasey Kahne, finished 17th
"It was a tough night for the No. 27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards crew. We struggled with handling issues for the majority of the day, and I put us behind late with a pit road penalty. Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) made adjustments all night and we were able to catch a break at the end with those caution flags to get a couple of our laps back. We'll learn from tonight and move on to Charlotte next weekend, try to have some fun and race our way into the big show (All-Star Race) on Saturday night." - Paul Menard, finished 19th
"That's not the result we wanted at all. That was a tough night. We fought hard, but just weren't quite good enough. We were slipping and sliding all over the place, so we'll regroup and go to Charlotte and have another go at it. It makes things really difficult when you don't have very many opportunities to work on your car, but it is what it is." - Aric Almirola, finished 20th
"That was a rough night for No. 31 Caterpillar team. We definitely didn't get the rotation we wanted to in the middle of the turns which pretty much set the tone for the evening. These guys never gave up and we were able to play strategy and gain some positions in the end. I'm proud of their effort. I'm confident our team will bounce back at Charlotte Motor Speedway these next two weekends." - Jeff Burton, finished 21st
"Those long green flag runs just killed us," Patrick said. "It's tough because you get behind, and it's hard to get caught back up when the pace is that fast and there are so little yellows at the beginning. We had a setback in practice, and that cut into our practice time and because of that we didn't get to make any qualifying runs, which led us to going out cold in qualifying, which is not a strength of mine anyway. So it was just a tough weekend. Nothing is wasted. No run or no lap is wasted, but sometimes the fruits of your labor aren't realized until later on." - Danica Patrick, finished 28th
"We honestly weren't that bad. We weren't great, but I thought we were pretty good. Early on we had a tear-off on the front of the car that blocked the whole thing and we had to come in and get that off because it was overheating, so that put us a lap down. Then we left a right-rear tire loose and had to come in for that and were four laps down. And then there at the end we were just trying to get the wave around and get a lap back and we got three-wide and I think the 27 got loose and got into us. It's unfortunate, but the good thing about this weekend was that we had speed. I was pretty happy with the progress we made as a team. We just didn't get a chance to show it." - Casey Mears, finished 37th
"It looked like we got some trash on our grille, so we came down and we knew we were gonna lose a lap or two, but we were fortunate and we caught a caution so our penalty wasn't gonna be that bad. We got some water put back in it and pulled some tape, and went back out and it skyrocketed temperature-wise again, so I don't know if we've got something clogged up in our radiator duct work or the radiator itself, but we lost water a second time. It's unfortunate not to finish the race here, but I'm proud of our guys. We worked hard and had a decent car. We'll take some time to recuperate and get ready for the All-Star Race." - David Ragan, finished 39th
~~~~~~~~~~
ADVERTISEMENT
Race fans, do you love Frontstretch.com's coverage of NASCAR's top 3 series, IndyCar, Formula One and Short Track Racing? Do you want to read even more about your favorite sport? Then check out the industry's newest racing publication, Motorsport Illustrated News!, which is available both in print and in digital format! As one of our loyal readers, you'll receive 15% off any subscription when you use the coupon code fs2013.
~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
~~~~~~~~~~
ADVERTISEMENT
Race fans, do you love Frontstretch.com's coverage of NASCAR's top 3 series, IndyCar, Formula One and Short Track Racing? Do you want to read even more about your favorite sport? Then check out the industry's newest racing publication, Motorsport Illustrated News!, which is available both in print and in digital format! As one of our loyal readers, you'll receive 15% off any subscription when you use the coupon code fs2013.
~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
by Kevin Rutherford
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Bojangles' Southern 500
by Amy Henderson
Matt Kenseth's Win: Lost Opportunity of the Past or Hope for the Future?
by Summer Bedgood
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Bojangles' Southern 500
by Amy Henderson
Matt Kenseth's Win: Lost Opportunity of the Past or Hope for the Future?
by Summer Bedgood
From Saturday:
by the Frontstretch Staff
~~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The Winston was not always the most accessible event for fans to watch on television. The sole year that it was held someplace other than Charlotte (1986, at Atlanta Motor Speedway) was the year in which the event made it's cable debut (on ESPN). Who televised the first Winston back in 1985?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1979 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 at Darlington was the final race of the association between David Pearson and the Wood Brothers. What incident in the race caused the association to come to a screeching halt?
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The Winston was not always the most accessible event for fans to watch on television. The sole year that it was held someplace other than Charlotte (1986, at Atlanta Motor Speedway) was the year in which the event made it's cable debut (on ESPN). Who televised the first Winston back in 1985?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1979 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 at Darlington was the final race of the association between David Pearson and the Wood Brothers. What incident in the race caused the association to come to a screeching halt?
A: Pearson pitted with 65 laps to go for what he thought was a two-tire change. However, unbeknownst to him, the lugnuts had been loosened from his left side tires (three air wrenches were allowed over the wall until the mid-1990's). When the jack dropped, Pearson left. The Mercury traveled only a short distance before both left side tires came off the car. The incident can be seen at the very end of this clip, and at the very beginning of this clip.
Pearson was done for the day after the tires came off. Darrell Waltrip, who won the race, constantly references this all the time these days. It's whenever he sings "You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel." Pearson and the Wood Brothers never actually discussed the incident before Pearson was fired in favor of Neil Bonnett.
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: Bojangles' Southern 500 by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Five Points To Ponder by Danny Peters
Danny returns for his weekly edition of talking points, which will wrap up the action at Darlington and get us ready for the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were in action at Darlington Raceway. How were the telecasts of these races? Find out tomorrow.
Brad gets us set for All-Star Weekend while tracking the trends of the past few weeks to see which drivers are on a tear... or tearing their hair out.
Racing To The Point by Brett Poirier
Brett is back with another commentary to make you think.
Going By The Numbers by Kevin Rutherford
Kevin enlightens us with his weekly statistics column based on trends we've been seeing in the Cup Series so far this season.
-----------------------------
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!
©2013 Frontstretch.com
--
Feel free to forward this newsletter if you have any friends who loves
NASCAR and great NASCAR commentary. They can subscribe to the Frontstetch by visiting http://www.frontstretch.com/notice/9557/.
If you want to stop your Frontstretch Newsletter subscription, we're sorry
to see you go. Just send an email to
TheFrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com from the address that you
recieve the Frontstretch Newsletter.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Frontstretch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thefrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
No comments:
Post a Comment