Monday, May 27, 2013

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Win Free Dover Tickets!

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 27th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition XCI

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Frontstretch Readers - You can win 2 FREE tickets to this week's FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover along with 2 free FanVision rentals
for the same weekend. All you need to do is answer the trivia question below and e-mail it to: FrontstretchTrivia@gmail.com. The first correct response will win!
 
NOTE: This offer is for tickets only. Travel to the track and accommodations are NOT included.

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Sprint Cup Race Recap: Harvick Takes Advantage of Pit Strategy to Win Strange 600
by Phil Allaway

Ahead of Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, most observers had put their money on Kasey Kahne to win.  Kahne had been fastest in single-lap, short runs, and long runs in both practice sessions on Saturday.

However, a lot of things can happen in a 600-mile race.  Kahne led a race-high 161 laps on Sunday, but chose to stay out on the final caution with 14 laps to go while all the other drivers on the lead lap pitted for tires.  On the restart, Kevin Harvick sprinted past Kahne and drove away to claim his second victory of the season.

After the race, Harvick was very pleased with his evening.

"It feels great [to be in Victory Lane]," Harvick said.  "Just have to thank everybody on this Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevy for just hanging in there.  This is a long night.  We have been here a lot of times and know that you just have to grind through mile after mile, keep your car running, don't get tore up, don't get a lap down and you're going to be somewhere around at the end.  Everybody did that on our Budweiser Chevy tonight and there we were at the end."

Denny Hamlin won the pole with a record lap, and led the field to green.  Despite running very well for nearly the entire race, Hamlin was never really a factor to win.  Matt Kenseth took the lead early on and staked his claim as a serious contender to win his fourth race of the season.  Kyle Busch, in another Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, was also in the hunt.

Kahne moved up relatively quickly from his sixth starting spot, eventually claiming the lead from Kenseth on Lap 24 and holding the lead through the first round of pit stops.  It appeared that the race was going to have a "green flag feel."

After a debris caution, Kyle Busch began to assert his strength, trading the lead with Kahne.  However, the race became very unusual once Casey Mears hit the wall in Turn 4 to bring out the second caution.  Kyle Busch won the race off pit road and re-took the lead from Kahne for the restart.

Then, the unprecedented occurred.  A cable responsible for the movement of FOX's CAMCAT, referred to on-air as the "Unlimited Cam," snapped and laid down on the track.  Kyle Busch hit this cable and ripped open a hole in the right side of his Toyota.  The cable whipped back and ripped brake lines off of Marcos Ambrose's Ford and damaged numerous other cars.  Meanwhile, ten fans in the grandstand were struck by the cable and suffered minor injuries.  Seven of those fans were treated at the track, while three others were taken by ambulance to a local hospital.  They have since been released.  FOX Sports has released a statement regarding the incident, which can be seen in the Sidebar Stories section below.

The race was red-flagged while crews removed the offending cable from the track.  FOX disabled the CAMCAT for the rest of the race and kept it stationary on its support cables over the quad-oval.  Due to the circumstances, NASCAR made a near-unprecedented move to allow teams 15 minutes to perform repairs on their cars, all while retaining their positions prior to the red flag.  These were limited to work on normal pit stops and fixing repairs caused by the cable.

Despite the substantial repairs on his Toyota, Kyle Busch was still in command after the stoppage.  But Kenseth retook the advantage on the next round of green-flag stops as Kyle Busch began to fade with what turned out to be engine issues.  On Lap 257, Kyle's Toyota slowed on track and pulled out.  At roughly the same time, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s Chevrolet R07 engine blew and put oil down in Turns 3 and 4.  That oil down led to two separate wrecks.  First, Greg Biffle slid into the wall, then Travis Kvapil and Dave Blaney collided and slammed into the concrete.  Kvapil was out on the spot, while Biffle and Blaney continued after repairs.

After having to play catch-up with the changeable track conditions, Kahne's car came back to life and allowed him to reassume the point.  However, a couple of debris cautions brought the field back to him.

Kurt Busch was able to take the lead from Kahne on a Lap 319 restart.  Then, a spate of crashing began.  Brad Keselowski and Danica Patrick collided in Turn 3 while racing for the Lucky Dog and crashed into the wall.  Keselowski tried to continue, but crashed again in the quad-oval and retired.  Patrick continued, but finished 15 laps off the pace.

Immediately after the restart, Mark Martin and Aric Almirola had contact in the quad-oval, resulting in a six-car crash that caused another red flag for cleanup.  Martin, Almirola and Jeff Gordon were out on the spot as a result.  During the red flag, Kurt Busch's car shut off due to an electrical issue.  Harvick claimed the lead as a result of Kurt's problems.

A couple of laps later, Jimmie Johnson rubbed against Martin Truex, Jr. in Turn 4 and spun.  The resulting stack-up saw Juan Pablo Montoya and Matt Kenseth hit the wall in Turn 4.  Montoya then slid into the grass and hit Johnson.  All three continued, but were out of contention for decent finishes.

Kahne was able to assume the lead shortly after the restart from Harvick and pulled away prior to the final round of stops.  After a prolonged sequence, Kahne regained the lead before the final caution flew.

Behind Harvick and Kahne was Kurt Busch in third.  Hamlin was fourth, while Joey Logano charged late to finish fifth.  Ryan Newman came back from a lap down to run sixth, while team owner Tony Stewart was seventh.  Clint Bowyer was eighth, while Martin Truex, Jr. was ninth.  Ambrose, despite all the damage done to his car from the cable, rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Johnson, who littered the track with debris to cause the final yellow, finished five laps down in 22nd.  Carl Edwards ran 11th and trimmed Johnson's point lead down to 32.

Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series travels to Dover, Delaware for the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks.  Coverage begins Sunday at 12:30pm EDT.

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.

Chasing the Chase: Johnson's Issues Allows Margin to Close
by Phil Allaway

Sunday night's crazy race has caused some significant changes to the standings.  Jimmie Johnson had his first trouble on track in weeks, spinning after rubbing against Martin Truex, Jr. on Lap 333 and getting hit by Juan Pablo Montoya.  Afterwards, Johnson lost a lap under yellow, then pitted under green for an unscheduled stop.  For the rest of the race, Johnson just rode along to a 22nd-place finish, five laps down.  He maintained his points lead, but it is down to 32 over Carl Edwards, who finished 11th.  Despite hitting the wall in the same crash where Johnson spun out, Matt Kenseth maintained the third spot in the standings after finishing 15th, two laps down.

Clint Bowyer managed to keep himself out of trouble on Sunday night, which turned out to be quite a feat.  He was rewarded with an eighth-place finish, which moved him one place to fourth in points.  Kasey Kahne is up to fifth after his second-place result, but he's likely wondering what could have been.  Prior to the final debris caution, he basically had the race won, then everyone except him pitted for tires.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. dropped to sixth after blowing an engine on Lap 258.  Fluids from Earnhardt Jr.'s Chevrolet resulted in two separate crashes in Turn 4 where Greg Biffle, Travis Kvapil and Dave Blaney went into the wall.

Kevin Harvick's victory moved him up three places in the standings to seventh, solidifying his spot within the top-10.  Paul Menard, despite suffering damage in the Lap 333 crash after running into the back of Montoya, finished 13th on Sunday, which is where he ran for most of the evening.  That was good enough to move Menard up three places in the standings and back into the top 10.  The big mover for the week was Martin Truex, Jr., who moved up into the top 10 for the first time all season after finishing ninth, a gain of five spots.

Brad Keselowski dropped three places to tenth after crashing out on Lap 318.  Prior to that point, Keselowski was a lap down and racing Danica Patrick for the Lucky Dog.  He was having, at best, a mediocre night.  Kyle Busch's blown engine dropped him clean out of the top 10, to 11th, while Aric Almirola dropped to 12th after crashing out.

Standings: 1) Jimmie Johnson 445, 2) Carl Edwards -32, 3) Matt Kenseth -51, 4) Clint Bowyer -60, 5) Kasey Kahne -75, 6) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -81, 7) Kevin Harvick -83, 8) Paul Menard -98, 9) Martin Truex, Jr. -109, 10) Brad Keselowski -110.

Best of the Rest: 11)
Kyle Busch -113, 12) Aric Almirola, -117, 13) Greg Biffle -121, 14) Jamie McMurray, -124, 15) Jeff Gordon, -125, 16) Ryan Newman. -130, 17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. -133, 18) Kurt Busch -141, 19) Joey Logano -147, 20) Tony Stewart -154.

Wild Cards: 1) Kyle Busch (11th in points, two wins), 2) Aric Almirola (12th in points)

Currently Ineligible for Wild Card: 1) David Ragan (27th 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, Charlotte), 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: Charlotte 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: Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing; started 29th, finished 16th

A common thread among this week's selections is that while they all had decent finishes, it wasn't pretty.  Bayne's team had to start from the rear after blowing an engine in practice, had a flat tire in the first 40 laps, suffered from handling problems, and had damage from a lap 327 crash… yet still managed to get their best finish of the year. 

It was the 1,400th start for the storied organization, which revolutionized the sport by making pit strategy a key part of NASCAR racing. While they didn't have a great run, they ran until the end and beat some teams with a lot more resources…something the Woods have managed to do at some level for the better part of seven decades.

Underdog Selection No. 2: David Gilliland for Front Row Motorsports; started 38th, finished 20th

Gilliland might have wished he had a clean uniform after a piece of the fallen camera rope hit his car in the windshield, but they were able to recover from that for a decent finish.  It wasn't a repeat of Gilliland's second-place run at Talladega, but it was the kind of result they need to have to move forward - a solid top-20 effort that is the building block of better finishes in the long run.

Underdog Selection No. 3: Casey Mears for Germain Racing; started 21st, finished 23rd

There were a couple of small teams with better finishes than Mears this week, but none that overcame as much as the No. 13 had to.  Some of that was their own making; Mears was penalized for speeding on pit road…and then was penalized again for speeding while serving the first stop and go penalty.  He slammed the wall 40 laps later, tearing off the entire rear bumper cover.  The car overheated.  Mears got collected in a lap 327 incident…and through it all, the car got better.  Mears' lap times in the late going were comparable to the leaders', and he had the best car he's had in quite some time.  If this team can find a little luck, they can finish consistently in the top 20.

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.
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Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 was brought to you by the Letter U, for "Unforeseen."  Strange things have been happening in NASCAR over the past few years (Montoya's jet dryer crash, potholes at the Daytona 500, the Nationwide crash at Daytona, etc.).  However, Sunday's guide cable failure on FOX's CAMCAT system is one of the strangest issues ever to affect a Sprint Cup race.  While it is not the first time that cameras such as CAMCAT have had issues, I cannot recall anytime that the system actually hurt fans.  After the unprecedented moves that NASCAR made in response, heck later broke loose in the race itself.  You just never know what might happen in a NASCAR race.  - Phil Allaway

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Sidebar Charlotte Stories
by Summer Bedgood

Cable Breaks off of FOX Camera, Injures Fans

NASCAR was forced to red flag the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday night when a cable from FOX's aerial "CamCat" camera broke and fell onto the racetrack and into the grandstands.  What fans in the grandstands described as a whipping motion went through the grandstands when the rope from the camera snapped, injuring ten people. Three of them were transported to a local hospital and later released.

The cable also caused damage to several cars on track, including Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Marcos Ambrose, Kasey Kahne, and Jimmie Johnson.  NASCAR red flagged the race for 16 minutes and 22 seconds, in which time NASCAR allowed the teams to repair any damage related to the cable.

FOX later released a statement, saying, "At this time, we do not have a cause for the failure of the camera drive line that interrupted tonight's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and our immediate concern is with the injured fans.  The camera system consists of three ropes -- a drive rope which moves the camera back and forth, and two guide ropes on either side.  The drive rope failed near the Turn 1 connection and fell to the track.  The camera itself did not come down because guide ropes acted as designed.  A full investigation is planned, and use of the camera is suspended indefinitely.

This camera system had been used successfully at this year's Daytona 500, last week's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and other major events around the world. We certainly regret that the system failure affected tonight's event; we apologize to the racers whose cars were damaged, and our immediate concern is for the race fans.  We also offer a sincere 'thank you' to the staff at CMS for attending to the injuries and keeping us informed on this developing situation.  When we have more information on the cause of the equipment failure, we will share it with you immediately."

The CAMCAT system takes about five days to set up and is suspended between two cranes, one outside turn four and one outside turn one. A safety function built into the mechanism kept the camera itself from failing.

Long Night for the Coca-Cola 600

Two red flags and 11 caution periods dragged Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 on for four hours, 35 minutes, and 49 seconds.  This was almost on par with the 2011 Coca-Cola 600, which ran for four hours, 33 minutes, and 14 seconds with a total of 14 cautions.

The first red flag of the night came from a bizarre cable failure on NASCAR on FOX's suspended camera above the racetrack damaged several cars and injured fans in the grandstands.  The second was for a multi-car accident on lap 327 when three-wide racing between Mark Martin, Aric Almirola, and Jeff Gordon went awry.  Martin ever so slightly touched Almirola's right rear and a chain reaction ensued. All three drivers were forced out of the race.

Six of the cautions were debris-related, including the cable from the camera.

A grand total of 18 cars were involved in accidents over the course of the race.

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Danica Patrick Involved in Late Race Crash

On lap 320, Brad Keselowski and Danica Patrick slammed into the Turn 3 wall after Patrick, Keselowski, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who is in a relationship with Patrick, went three wide heading into the corner.  With very little racing room and the intensity increasing with less than 100 laps remaining, the cars collided.

Stenhouse sustained very little damage from the race and went on to 14th while Keselowski was forced to retire from the event.  Patrick lost several laps on pit road while the crew repaired the car and eventually finished the race in 29th, 15 laps down.

Keselowski accepted the blame for the wreck, saying, "I was three-wide with Danica and didn't know it and I cut her off and wrecked her and myself.  I feel bad for her and I send my apologies to her.  It's just a long night for the Miller Lite Ford. We'll move on. That's all you can do."

Patrick declined comment after the race.

Summer Bedgood is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. She can be reached via e-mail at summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SummerBedgood.

Quotes to Remember: Coca-Cola 600
compiled by Summer Bedgood

"The whole field pitted and we were in a tough spot. I knew Kevin would be good; he was fast all weekend. … We raced all day and thought we were in a really good position at the end.  We just didn't get it done." - Kasey Kahne, finished second

"I'm still shell-shocked.  We picked up the lead and the battery went dead.  I don't know what to think about that.  We battled back and got third.  You have to be perfect to win these things and we were close, but we weren't quite there." - Kurt Busch, finished third

"Just went three wide and I got squeezed in there. Trying to run the thing three wide and there just wasn't quite room there. I hate it.  I hope everybody's OK." - Mark Martin, finished 34th (Crashed out)

"We're a victim of the caution coming out while we were on pit road.  Shouldn't have stopped in the box and did that pit stop.  We'd have still been on the lead lap.  Instead, we're racing three wide and that's gonna happen.  We're just going for the lucky dog and you've gotta be real aggressive back here.  I got beat on the restart before that with Ambrose and messed that one up so I just hate we were even back there. We had an awesome Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet.  Love that patriotic colors on our car this weekend and just a shame that we were even back there.  We couldn't win, Kasey was too strong, but we had a top-5 car." - Jeff Gordon, finished 35th (Crashed out)

"I was three-wide with Danica and didn't know it and I cut her off and wrecked her and myself. I feel bad for her and I send my apologies to her.  It's just a long night for the Miller Lite Ford.  We'll move on.  That's all you can do." - Brad Keselowski, finished 36th (Crashed out)

"Earlier in the race, I commend NASCAR on taking a break there and giving us all a chance to repair our cars from the damage, at least the ones that had damage, and my guys did a great job. They work way too hard, not only every year but this year and tonight being able to get us back out there with a car that was capable of running in the top five . . . Certainly (Matt Kenseth) and (Kasey Kahne) were the class of the field. We led some laps. But catastrophic engine failure. Just unfortunate, I hate that it happens like that, seems to be that time of year again for us anyways." - Kyle Busch, finished 38th (Blown Engine)

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Indianapolis 500 Breakdown: One For The Ages
by Toni Montgomery

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

REMEMBER, THIS IS THE QUESTION YOU NEED TO ANSWER TO WIN YOUR FREE DOVER TICKETS!!!
 
Q:
  In Matt Stallknecht's Four Burning Questions, Charlotte edition, that appeared on the Frontstretch last Friday, question No. 3 was about whether or not a certain team would shine during the Coca-Cola 600 based on their season to date.
 
What team was Matt talking about and how did each driver on that team perform during Sunday's race?

Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
 
Friday's Answer:
 
Q:  Aside from the Daytona 500, 1998 was not the best year for Dale Earnhardt.  The Coca-Cola 600 was another race where fate just was not in favor of the seven-time champion.  What happened?

A: Earnhardt was racing Randy LaJoie (subbing for the injured Ricky Craven) for 16th when LaJoie pushed up the track in Turn 3.  LaJoie's car then got loose and stuffed himself and Earnhardt into the wall.  Both drivers were out on the spot, and Earnhardt was none too pleased with the situation.  The crash can be seen at the 7:36 mark of this clip

Earnhardt later ranted about the "5 and 5 Rule" that NASCAR was using in the Winston Cup Series that season.  That can be seen here.

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: Coca-Cola 600 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 Charlotte and get us ready for the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway

Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were in action at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Meanwhile, the Izod IndyCar Series held their crown jewel, the Indianapolis 500.  How were the telecasts of these races?  Find out tomorrow.

Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Charlotte-Dover Edition by Brad Morgan
Brad gets us set for Dover 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.
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©2013 Frontstretch.com

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