Saturday, July 06, 2013

The Frontstretch Newsletter: July 6th, 2013

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!

July 6th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition CXXII

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Don't forget to follow Phil Allaway as he provides live coverage for Frontstretch down at Daytona! His Twitter is @Critic84; and remember, our Twitter can be found at @TheFrontstretch.

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What to Watch: Weekend Racing Schedule

Saturday, July 6
Time    Telecast    Network
6:30- 7:30 PM      Countdown to Green presented by Kelley Blue Book TNT
7:30 - 11:00 PM    Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400    TNT

Sunday, July 7
Time    Telecast    Network
8:00 - 10:00 AM
    Formula One Grand Prix of Germany    CNBC
12:00 - 3:00 PM    Izod IndyCar Series Pocono 400    ABC

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Daytona Updates
by Phil Allaway

Matt Kenseth Wins Subway Firecracker 250 With Help from James Buescher

Matt Kenseth took the lead from Sam Hornish, Jr. on a Lap 94, then staved off a dreaded Green-White-Checker in order to claim his second career Nationwide victory at Daytona International Speedway.  Defending Camping World Truck Series Champion James Buescher was right behind in second, while Elliott Sadler finished third and claimed the $100,000 bonus for winning the first Nationwide Dash 4 Cash of 2013.  For more about last night's Nationwide race, check out Nationwide Breakdown, which is live on Frontstretch right now.

Kyle Busch Claims Pole for Coke Zero 400

In the Daytona 500 back in February, Joe Gibbs Racing had three very strong mounts.  Matt Kenseth led the most laps (86) before blowing an engine.  Kyle Busch didn't lead a lap, but was right up in the hunt until his engine turned traitor shortly after Kenseth's expired.  Finally, Denny Hamlin led 33 laps before eventually finishing 14th.

On Friday, it appears that JGR picked right up where they left off in February.

Kyle Busch won the pole for tonight's Coke Zero 400 with a lap of 46.458 seconds (193.723 mph) in order to claim his first career Sprint Cup pole at a restrictor plate track.  Alongside Busch will be his teammate Matt Kenseth.

Busch was very happy to win the pole, but deflected credit to this team.

"Gotta thank the team and all the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing who did a great job building a slick race car," Busch said after the session.  "I'm really excited to be able to start up front, especially with my teammate next to me and another Toyota in the top-3 (Clint Bowyer).  [Getting the pole] is pretty cool because it has nothing to do with the driver.  It has everything to do with the car and equipment that you're driving."

Behind the Gibbs teammates was Clint Bowyer in third.  Kasey Kahne was fourth fastest, while Martin Truex, Jr. rounded out the top-5.  Toyotas made up four of the top-5 and five of the top-10 in the session.

Coke Zero 400 Starting Lineup:

Row 1: 18 Kyle Busch                  20 Matt Kenseth
Row 2: 15 Clint Bowyer                  5 Kasey Kahne
Row 3: 56 Martin Truex, Jr.            27 Paul Menard
Row 4: 55 Michael Waltrip             48 Jimmie Johnson
Row 5: 17 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.     16 Greg Biffle
Row 6: 10 Danica Patrick              99 Carl Edwards
Row 7: 14 Tony Stewart                 42 Juan Pablo Montoya
Row 8: 2 Brad Keselowski             88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Row 9: 31 Jeff Burton                     22 Joey Logano
Row 10: 13 Casey Mears               21 Trevor Bayne
Row 11: 39 Ryan Newman              78 Kurt Busch
Row 12: 24 Jeff Gordon                  11 Denny Hamlin
Row 13: 9 Marcos Ambrose           29 Kevin Harvick
Row 14: 1 Jamie McMurray           38 David Gilliland
Row 15: 7 Dave Blaney                  43 Aric Almirola
Row 16: 98 Michael McDowell        36 JJ Yeley
Row 17: 51 AJ Allmendinger           47 Bobby Labonte
Row 18: 30 David Stremme             95 Scott Speed
Row 19: 35 Josh Wise                    34 David Ragan
Row 20: 32 Terry Labonte                93 Travis Kvapil
Row 21: 83 David Reutimann           87 Joe Nemechek
Row 22: 33 Landon Cassill

News and Notes:

- Friday morning, Daytona International Speedway officially broke ground on a $400 million dollar grandstand renovation.  However, NASCAR didn't just have a couple of dignitaries grab golden shovels and dig into the ground for a photo-op.  It was a whole extravaganza, complete with six special guests, driver introductions and more.

There was a special race known as the Daytona Rising 500, which grouped the drivers into three two-man teams.  The goal was to maneuver Caterpillar heavy machinery through an obstacle course, stop on a certain point, swap drivers, return to the start, scoop up a pile of sand and drop it on a certain spot.  The winners would be given the honor of officially breaking ground on the project.

The team of Greg Biffle and Trevor Bayne blitzed the course and won going away, thus earning the honors.  Biffle climbed into a legitimate excavator and dug the first hole in the ground amid fireworks and cheers from the assembled fans.

The project will ultimately lower the seating capacity at Daytona International Speedway from 168,000 to 101,000.  That will be done by tearing down the backstretch grandstands, and making the new seats on the frontstretch wider.  The somewhat claustrophobic concourses will be replaced with open-air concourses with flat-screen televisions everywhere so that fans don't miss the action.  The project is scheduled to be complete in time for the 2016 Daytona 500.

- Oral-B announced a $100,000 donation to Hope For The Warriors on Friday in the Sprint FanZone.  Hope For The Warriors is a nonprofit organization designed to help service members and their families that have suffered physical and/or psychological wounds in the violence that marred the worldwide landscape since 9/11.  Via his sponsorship with AspenDental, Ryan Newman was on hand to help Oral-B celebrate their new partnership.

- Jason White, despite being released from the Infield Care Center and declared ok after crashing on Lap 96 of the Subway Firecracker 250, made a second visit to the Care Center for another once-over.  He was released again without any injuries discovered.

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

by Phil Allaway

Monday on the Frontstretch:

Thinkin' Out Loud: Coke Zero 400 by Mike Neff
Mike is back with his overall thoughts from Saturday night's race from Daytona.

Commentary
by Summer Bedgood
Summer takes a look at one of the biggest stories to come out of Daytona.

Commentary by Phil Allaway
One of the Frontstretch staff members stops by with their thoughts on Saturday night's action from Daytona.

Big Six:
Coke Zero 400 by Amy Henderson
Amy has your weekly look at the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How from a weekend of racing at Daytona.

Pace Laps: Daytona Weekend by the Frontstretch Staff
It's back again this season! The staff gets together to help you catch up on the latest and greatest going on in each series coming out of a weekend of racing at Daytona.

IndyCar Breakdown: Pocono INDYCAR 400 by P. Huston Ladner
Huston has all the post-race analysis you need following Sunday afternoon's IZOD IndyCar Series race from Pocono.
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©2013 Frontstretch.com

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