THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
October 17th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition CXCIV
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Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
October 17th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition CXCIV
~~~~~~~~~~
What to Watch: Thursday
- It's expected to be a slow news day after a few big announcements (see below). However, for Nationwide and Truck Series-only tracks you may see more race dates announced in advance of those schedules being released next week.
by Phil Allaway and Tom Bowles
Elliott Sadler To Sub For Brian Vickers
One former Sprint Cup veteran will get another shot at the sport's top level while another sits on the sidelines with health issues. Elliott Sadler, Brian Vickers' teammate this season with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series will fill in for the ailing driver in Cup for the final four races this season. Sadler, who will drive Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 Aaron's Toyota takes over the seat beginning next Sunday at Martinsville.
"Thanks for helping us out, Elliott Sadler," Michael Waltrip tweeted Thursday morning. The driver, though was unavailable for comment at press time.
Sadler's partnership with MWR is a bit intriguing considering he was an original driver picked, back in 2012 to run the No. 55. Back then, Mark Martin was competing in the majority of races but no longer wanted full-time work; Sadler was the number one pick to fill out the schedule. However, his association with both Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet, at the time nixed the deal as they didn't want him running for a different manufacturer on the Cup level. (Sadler, back then was running for a Nationwide Series title in RCR's No. 2 Chevrolet). As a last-ditch option, MWR turned to Vickers whose performances in the last two seasons have earned him the ride full-time beginning in 2014.
Sadler's partnership with MWR is a bit intriguing considering he was an original driver picked, back in 2012 to run the No. 55. Back then, Mark Martin was competing in the majority of races but no longer wanted full-time work; Sadler was the number one pick to fill out the schedule. However, his association with both Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet, at the time nixed the deal as they didn't want him running for a different manufacturer on the Cup level. (Sadler, back then was running for a Nationwide Series title in RCR's No. 2 Chevrolet). As a last-ditch option, MWR turned to Vickers whose performances in the last two seasons have earned him the ride full-time beginning in 2014.
Sadler has three wins in 431 career starts on the Cup level. He earned a 40th-place finish in his lone Cup start this season, crashing out in a No. 81 fourth Joe Gibbs Racing entry at Kansas back in April.
Truex to Furniture Row for 2014
After Michael Waltrip Racing announced they would cut down to two full-time cars (Nos. 15 and 55), plus a currently unnumbered R&D team for 2014, Martin Truex, Jr. and crew chief Chad Johnston were released from their contracts effective the end of November. Truex had already been told that he could look elsewhere and if he found a better deal, MWR would not stand in the way.
With the No. 56 team officially done for 2014, it didn't take all that long for Truex to land somewhere else in the Sprint Cup garage. FOXSports.com's Lee Spencer is reporting that Truex signed a contract that will see him move over to the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet starting with the 2014 season. Truex would replace Kurt Busch, who previously announced a move to a new, currently unnumbered fourth car from Stewart-Haas Racing.
Spencer's sources claim that the contract was finalized Wednesday night. The official announcement will likely be next Tuesday. There's no word on if NAPA comes on board with the program; right now, all signs point to them parting ways with their longtime driver while considering a full exit from the sport.
Charlotte Ratings Up
Despite being a "lame duck" as far as NASCAR TV coverage goes, ABC/ESPN has had a fairly good Chase ratings-wise so far. Saturday night's broadcast of the Bank of America 500, which aired on ABC, was the highest-rated event in the ten-race postseason thus far.
The race earned a final Nielsen rating of 3.4, watched by an average of 5,560,141 viewers. This is a six percent increase in the ratings over 2012 and a nine percent increase overall. In the metered markets, traditional hotbed Greensboro, NC had the highest local rating (10.0) followed by Greenville, SC and Charlotte.
So far in the Chase, four of the five races have seen rating increases over 2012. Chicagoland Speedway was the exception due to the rain delay.
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.
Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 500: 44 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 12 - Sam Hornish, Jr. for Penske Racing
No. 14 - Austin Dillon for Stewart-Haas Racing
No. 21 - Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 30 - Cole Whitt for Swan Racing
No. 33 - Landon Cassill for Circle Sport, LLC
No. 35 - Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports
No. 40 - Tony Raines for Hillman Racing/Circle Sport, LLC
No. 51 - Justin Allgaier for Phoenix Racing
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports/JRR
Driver Changes:
No. 14 - Austin Dillon returns to the seat, replacing Mark Martin. Martin, now a part-timer refuses to run the plate races aside from the Daytona 500, leaving Dillon with his second shot at running a Stewart-Haas Racing car. He previously filled in for the ailing Stewart at Michigan.
No. 32 - Terry Labonte returns to the seat, replacing Timmy Hill. Labonte has a deal to run the four plate races for Frank Stoddard's single-car program.
No. 33 - Landon Cassill returns to the seat, replacing Brian Scott. Cassill returns to Circle Sport's primary seat as Scott's deal, in corroboration with Richard Childress Racing was for one event.
No. 40 - Tony Raines returns to the seat, replacing Landon Cassill. Raines is expected to run the distance as the team continues its partnership with Circle Sport.
No. 51 - Justin Allgaier returns to the seat, replacing Kyle Larson. Allgaier brings sponsor Brandt as part of his limited schedule with Harry Scott, Jr.'s new Cup team.
No. 55 - Michael Waltrip returns to the seat, replacing Brian Vickers. Waltrip is running a limited schedule in the car as part of the original three-driver split, at the start of 2013 before Vickers took over full-time.
Driver who must qualify on speed (top-36)
No. 12 - Sam Hornish, Jr. for Penske Racing (48th in owners' points, 1 attempt)
Drivers fairly safe, but still at risk at failing to qualify:
No. 21 - Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing (41st in owners' points, 9 attempts)
No. 32 - Terry Labonte for FAS Lane Racing (38th in owners' points, 31 attempts)
No. 33 - Landon Cassill for Circle Sport, LLC (37th in owners' points, 31 attempts)
No. 35 - Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports (39th in owners' points, 31 attempts)
No. 36 - JJ Yeley for Tommy Baldwin Racing (36th in owners' points, 31 attempts)
No. 40 - Tony Raines for Hillman Racing/Circle Sport, LLC (42nd in owners' points, 11 attempts)
No. 83 - David Reutimann for BK Racing (35th in owners' points, 31 attempts)
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports/JRR (40th in owners' points, 31 attempts)
No. 93 - Travis Kvapil for BK Racing (34th in owners' points, 31 attempts)
Not Entered:
No. 95 - Blake Koch for Leavine Family Racing
Camping World Truck Series Fred's 250: 38 trucks entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 1 - Timmy Hill for Rick Ware Racing
No. 20 - Parker Kligerman for BRG Motorsports
No. 50 - Danny Efland for MAKE Motorsports
No. 51 - Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
No. 84 - Mike Harmon for Chris Fontaine, Inc./Mike Harmon Racing
Driver Changes:
No. 07 - Chris Cockrum returns to the seat, replacing Caleb Roark. It's unknown whether Cockrum will run the distance.
No. 1 - Timmy Hill is in the seat, replacing Dusty Davis (from Daytona, 2013). Hill has run full-time for Ware in the past, most recently in the Nationwide Series.
No. 20 - Parker Kligerman is in the seat, replacing Dusty Davis (from Homestead, 2012). This team runs a limited schedule with a variety of drivers.
No. 35 - Mason Mingus is in the seat, replacing Matt Merrell. If Mingus qualifies on speed, he will be making his Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 51 - Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing Chad Hackenbracht. Busch is running a variety of drivers, including himself for this KBM Truck team.
No. 63 - Scott Stenzel returns to the seat, replacing Justin Jennings. Stenzel is running for underfunded, longtime Truck car owner Mike Mittler.
No. 81 - David Starr returns to the seat, replacing Matt Kurzejewski. Starr is making his return to the series after a loss of sponsorship forced him to the sidelines.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 1 - Timmy Hill for Rick Ware Racing
No. 6 - Justin Lofton for Sharp Gallaher Racing
No. 10 - Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 20 - Parker Kligerman for BRG Motorsports
No. 27 - Jeff Agnew for Hillman Racing/Level 7 Motorsports
No. 35 - Mason Mingus for Win-Tron Racing
No. 50 - Danny Efland for MAKE Motorsport
No. 63 - Scott Stenzel for MB Motorsports
No. 68 - Clay Greenfield for Clay Greenfield Motorsports
No. 75 - Caleb Holman for Henderson Motorsports
No. 82 - Sean Corr for Empire Racing
No. 83 - Chris Fontaine for Chris Fontaine, Inc.
No. 93 - Chris Jones for RSS Racing*
*- Expected to Start-and-Park
Not Entered:
No. 0 - Chris Lafferty for JJC Racing
Izod IndyCar Series MavTV American Real 500: 25 cars entered
Driver Changes:
No. 10 - Alex Tagliani is in the seat, replacing Dario Franchitti. Franchitti suffered a concussion, spinal fracture and a broken ankle in Houston.
No. 18 - Pippa Mann returns to the seat, replacing Mike Conway.
No. 98 - JR Hildebrand returns to the seat, replacing Luca Filippi.
Entries:
No. 1 - Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport
No. 2 - AJ Allmendinger for Team Penske
No. 3 - Helio Castroneves for Team Penske
No. 4 - Oriol Servia for Panther Racing
No. 5 - EJ Viso for Andretti Autosport/Team Venezuela
No. 6 - Sebastian Saavedra for Dragon Racing
No. 7 - Sebastien Bourdais for Dragon Racing
No. 9 - Scott Dixon for Target Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 10 - Alex Tagliani for Target Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 11 - Tony Kanaan for KV Racing Technologies
No. 12 - Will Power for Team Penske
No. 14 - Takuma Sato for AJ Foyt Enterprises
No. 15 - Graham Rahal for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
No. 16 - James Jakes for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
No. 18 - Pippa Mann for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 19 - Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 20 - Ed Carpenter for Ed Carpenter Racing
No. 25 - Marco Andretti for Andretti Autosport
No. 27 - James Hinchcliffe for Andretti Autosport
No. 55 - Tristan Vautier for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
No. 67 - Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
No. 77 - Simon Pagenaud for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
No. 78 - Simona de Silvestro for KV Racing Technologies
No. 83 - Charlie Kimball for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 98 - JR Hildebrand for Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian
American Le Mans Series Petit Le Mans: 34 cars entered in 4 classes
Le Mans Prototype 1 (P1) Entries: 4
No. 0 - Katherine Legge/Andy Meyrick for DeltaWing Racing Cars
No. 6 - Romain Dumas/Klaus Graf/Lucas Luhr for Muscle Milk Pickett Racing
No. 12 - Nick Heidfeld/Neel Jani/Nicolas Prost for Rebellion Racing
No. 16 - Tony Burgess/Chris Dyson/Chris McMurry for Dyson Racing
Le Mans Prototype 2 (P2) Entries: 4
No. 01 - David Brabham/Anthony Lazzaro/Scott Sharp for Extreme Speed Motorsports
No. 02 - Rob Bell/Ed Brown/Johannes van Overbeek for Extreme Speed Motorsports
No. 551 - Ryan Briscoe/Marino Franchitti/Scott Tucker for Level 5 Motorsports
No. 552 - Guy Cosmo/Peter Dumbreck/Jonny Kane for Level 5 Motorsports
Le Mans Prototype Challenge (PC) Entries: 7
No. 05 - Jon Bennett/Tom Kimber-Smith/Mark Wilkins for CORE Autosport
No. 7 - Tomy Drissi/James French/Rusty Mitchell for BAR1 Motorsports
No. 8 - Chris Cumming/Stefan Johansson/Kyle Marcelli for BAR1 Motorsports
No. 9 - Duncan Ende/Bruno Junqueira/Gustavo Menezes for RSR Racing
No. 18 - Tristan Nunez/Charlie Shears for Performance Tech Motorsports
No. 25 - Ozz Negri/Sean Rayhall for 8Star Motorsports
No. 52 - Dane Cameron/David Cheng/Mike Guasch for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports
Grand Touring (GT) Entries: 11
No. 06 - Colin Braun/Michael Christensen/Patrick Long for CORE Autosport
No. 3 - Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen/Jordan Taylor for Corvette Racing
No. 4 - Oliver Gavin/Tom Milner/Richard Westbrook for Corvette Racing
No. 17 - Wolf Henzler/Bryan Sellers/Nick Tandy for Team Falken Tire
No. 23 - Leh Keen/Bill Sweedler/Johnny Mowlem for Team West/AJR/Boardwalk Ferrari
No. 48 - Bryce Miller/Marco Holzer/Emmanuel Collard for Paul Miller Racing
No. 55 - Bill Auberlen/Maxime Martin/Jorg Muller for BMW Team RLL
No. 56 - Uwe Alzen/John Edwards/Dirk Muller for BMW Team RLL
No. 62 - Olivier Beretta/Robin Liddell/Matteo Malucelli for Risi Competizione
No. 91 - Ryan Dalziel/Dominik Farnbacher/Marc Goossens for SRT Motorsports
No. 93 - Jonathan Bomarito/Tommy Kendall/Kuno Wittmer for SRT Motorsports
Grand Touring Challenge (GTC) Entries: 8
No. 10 - Charles Espenlaub/Darren Law/Charles Putnam for Dempsey Del Piero Racing
No. 11 - Jon Fogarty/Mike Hedlund/Jan Heylen for JDX Racing
No. 22 - Jeroen Bleekemolen/Sebastien Bleekemolen/Cooper MacNeil for Alex Job Racing
No. 27 - Patrick Dempsey/Joe Foster/Andy Lally for Dempsey Del Piero Racing
No. 31 - Angel Benitez, Jr./Nicolas Armindo/Christina Nielsen for NGT Motorsport
No. 44 - Seth Neiman/Brett Sandberg/Dion von Moltke for Flying Lizard Motorsports
No. 45 - Nelson Canache/Spencer Pumpelly/Madison Snow for Flying Lizard Motorsports
No. 66 - Damien Faulkner/Ben Keating/Craig Stanton for TRG
Entered, but Already Withdrawn:
No. 5 - Ryan Dalziel/John Pew for Starworks Motorsport
No. 30 - Henrique Cisneros/Mario Farnbacher/Jakub Giermaziak for NGT Motorsport. This team withdrew after news of the death of Sean Edwards in a crash in Australia on Tuesday.
No. 68 - TRG
Have news for Phil, Summer 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!
~~~~~~~~~~
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
Demotivational Speaking, Schedule Tweaking, and Aerodynamic Piquing
Demotivational Speaking, Schedule Tweaking, and Aerodynamic Piquing
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese
Is there a bigger killjoy than Kyle Busch? He's off to the best Chase start in his career, with a pair of seconds and fifth-place finishes that bookend his latest ill adventure at Kansas Speedway. But his post-race comments Saturday night weren't exactly a "win one for 'The Gipper'" motivational speech.
"They say you need top-fives to win a championship, but when you're getting beat by guys in front of you then we're just not good enough—flat out," Busch said. "I don't know what to do to be better. It's frustrating but you know, should be happy with a fifth, but we're not."
Somewhere even Tony Robbins has become dispirited, demoralized, and wants to give up.
For a competitor who is driving for an NFL coach with three Super Bowl victories to his credit, Busch continues to be the self-destructive and defeatist force within JGR. The mark of a leader and champion is to motivate your group when the chips are down. Like Greg Jennings, put-the-team-on-his-back-mode in Madden, Busch needs to give his guys something to hang their hat on and keep fighting for, rather than "yeah, we can't win and I don't know why."
This "downer talk" is a level of confidence last seen with Casey Atwood before he pretty much convinced himself he was beat and never heard from again. News flash, Kyle; you're just 37 points out of the lead. All of that can – and likely will – change after Talladega this weekend. If Busch had managed even a 15th-place finish at Kansas, rather than wadding it up again, he'd be 22 points out of the lead and within striking distance.
Instead, with all the talk of "The New Kyle", which at this point I think we're on version 4.1, it's still the same woe-is-me-we-suck attitude that conspires to stifle any momentum before it even gets started. If you're leading off interviews regarding your championship chances with, "We can't" – you won't. Compare that to Brad Keselowski - a driver that Busch for some reason has taken issue with and continues to needle in the media - while battling with Jimmie Johnson last year at Texas declaring over the radio, "I refuse to lose this damn Championship..." From the sound of Kyle, after a solid top 5 at Charlotte, he's already beat.
The only difference is, now everybody knows it, including the 12 other sharks in the water that smell blood.
********************
So NASCAR, after destroying tradition and ripping Darlington's Southern 500 Labor Day event away nine years ago and giving it to – gulp – Fontana of all places, has now elected to screw with its Mother's Day Tradition? Now, that weekend goes to Kansas while Darlington moves to a date in mid-April. At what point do we just leave things alone or – shocker – put them back the way they were? For all the talk of the coming schedule changes, nothing of substance actually materialized, and just more of the same predictable banality resulted, particularly with the tracks selected for The Chase. Chicago again to start the postseason, seriously? You know what, screw it, just begin and end the year at Las Vegas, so Bruton Smith will be happy, race Sonoma over Labor Day weekend and not use the carousel course, run the August Bristol race during the day, and give Kentucky the one remaining date for Darlington. Then, everything will be perfect.
Sorry. Still mad about the Tigers losing Sunday night. Monday's loss, totally saw it coming...
********************
Testing for the new 2014 aero package got underway at Charlotte Motor Speedway this week, with a number of different items evaluated. Among them: Lexan rear spoilers and roof wickers to help aid in driver visibility, but not look so garish to the viewer. The current Gen-6 car hasn't exactly produced the best speedway racing to date, and if you recall some of the best races ever ran were in 2000-01 when the cars had basically a spoiler placed at a 90-degree angle atop the roof above the windshield. This helps create drafting, the slingshot pass, and not the follow-the-leader type riding that we've become accustomed to, with drivers waiting until the last 50 laps to race for the win.
Is there a bigger killjoy than Kyle Busch? He's off to the best Chase start in his career, with a pair of seconds and fifth-place finishes that bookend his latest ill adventure at Kansas Speedway. But his post-race comments Saturday night weren't exactly a "win one for 'The Gipper'" motivational speech.
"They say you need top-fives to win a championship, but when you're getting beat by guys in front of you then we're just not good enough—flat out," Busch said. "I don't know what to do to be better. It's frustrating but you know, should be happy with a fifth, but we're not."
Somewhere even Tony Robbins has become dispirited, demoralized, and wants to give up.
For a competitor who is driving for an NFL coach with three Super Bowl victories to his credit, Busch continues to be the self-destructive and defeatist force within JGR. The mark of a leader and champion is to motivate your group when the chips are down. Like Greg Jennings, put-the-team-on-his-back-mode in Madden, Busch needs to give his guys something to hang their hat on and keep fighting for, rather than "yeah, we can't win and I don't know why."
This "downer talk" is a level of confidence last seen with Casey Atwood before he pretty much convinced himself he was beat and never heard from again. News flash, Kyle; you're just 37 points out of the lead. All of that can – and likely will – change after Talladega this weekend. If Busch had managed even a 15th-place finish at Kansas, rather than wadding it up again, he'd be 22 points out of the lead and within striking distance.
Instead, with all the talk of "The New Kyle", which at this point I think we're on version 4.1, it's still the same woe-is-me-we-suck attitude that conspires to stifle any momentum before it even gets started. If you're leading off interviews regarding your championship chances with, "We can't" – you won't. Compare that to Brad Keselowski - a driver that Busch for some reason has taken issue with and continues to needle in the media - while battling with Jimmie Johnson last year at Texas declaring over the radio, "I refuse to lose this damn Championship..." From the sound of Kyle, after a solid top 5 at Charlotte, he's already beat.
The only difference is, now everybody knows it, including the 12 other sharks in the water that smell blood.
********************
So NASCAR, after destroying tradition and ripping Darlington's Southern 500 Labor Day event away nine years ago and giving it to – gulp – Fontana of all places, has now elected to screw with its Mother's Day Tradition? Now, that weekend goes to Kansas while Darlington moves to a date in mid-April. At what point do we just leave things alone or – shocker – put them back the way they were? For all the talk of the coming schedule changes, nothing of substance actually materialized, and just more of the same predictable banality resulted, particularly with the tracks selected for The Chase. Chicago again to start the postseason, seriously? You know what, screw it, just begin and end the year at Las Vegas, so Bruton Smith will be happy, race Sonoma over Labor Day weekend and not use the carousel course, run the August Bristol race during the day, and give Kentucky the one remaining date for Darlington. Then, everything will be perfect.
Sorry. Still mad about the Tigers losing Sunday night. Monday's loss, totally saw it coming...
********************
Testing for the new 2014 aero package got underway at Charlotte Motor Speedway this week, with a number of different items evaluated. Among them: Lexan rear spoilers and roof wickers to help aid in driver visibility, but not look so garish to the viewer. The current Gen-6 car hasn't exactly produced the best speedway racing to date, and if you recall some of the best races ever ran were in 2000-01 when the cars had basically a spoiler placed at a 90-degree angle atop the roof above the windshield. This helps create drafting, the slingshot pass, and not the follow-the-leader type riding that we've become accustomed to, with drivers waiting until the last 50 laps to race for the win.
Vito Pugliese is a Senior Writer 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: Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge ST Class at Lime Rock
by Phil Allaway
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports-related programming. A couple of weeks ago, FOX Sports 2 aired the final races of the year for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Lime Rock Park. These were split, 2.5-hour races due to the fact that Lime Rock cannot handle the combined entry of both classes, which would have amounted to nearly 50 cars.
The race telecasts were cut down to fit in a two-hour slot with commercials. As a result, there is quite a bit of racing that got cut. However, I was there in person, so I can help fill in some holes. We'll start with the Street Tuner race, which ran the day before the Grand Sport event.
The telecast started off with a bunch of championship discussion, which makes total sense to me. The race itself was previewed, while Ryan Eversley was interviewed.
The telecast started off with a bunch of championship discussion, which makes total sense to me. The race itself was previewed, while Ryan Eversley was interviewed.
The first commercial break cut out about ten minutes of action, which was recapped. Not mentioned in the telecast was that the contact between Mark Pombo (No. 30 Mazdaspeed3) and Ray Mason (No. 76 Honda Civic Si) was actually investigated by race officials for a potential penalty, but none was levied.
The early part of the race tended to focus on points leader Mike LaMarra, who was stuck back in the field. LaMarra's goal was to just keep the car on the lead lap until he could hand over to Terry Borcheller. With the benefit of timing and scoring in the Media Center, I knew that LaMarra was not lapped by the CJ Wilson Racing teammates early on. However, there was some confusion in the broadcast booth about the issue. In their defense, it was fairly close. Had Patricio Jourdain (No. 34 Nissan Altima Coupe) not spun out when he did, LaMarra probably would have been lapped.
The other major story early on was the dominance of CJ Wilson Racing's Mazda MX-5's. It wasn't mentioned all that much, but the two Mazdas ran off to a near one-quarter of a lap lead before the first caution flew.
A fairly significant amount of the coverage then focused on the seemingly never-ending battle for sixth between Borcheller and Daytona winner Vesko Kozarov. Kozarov clearly didn't have a car to compete with Borcheller, but he's probably the hardest racer in the entire class. He will basically do anything to win.
In addition, Borcheller had to deal with the lapped car of Robert Thorne. Thorne basically blocked the bejesus out of him before getting a pass-through penalty. What didn't make the telecast was what Borcheller described after the race as a blatant brake check on the frontstretch. Yowza. In addition, Borcheller described Thorne's tactics as completely intentional. The booth knew that Thorne's actions weren't exactly cool and called him out on them -- as they should have.
In addition, Borcheller had to deal with the lapped car of Robert Thorne. Thorne basically blocked the bejesus out of him before getting a pass-through penalty. What didn't make the telecast was what Borcheller described after the race as a blatant brake check on the frontstretch. Yowza. In addition, Borcheller described Thorne's tactics as completely intentional. The booth knew that Thorne's actions weren't exactly cool and called him out on them -- as they should have.
Also, yes, Grand-Am did penalize the No. 181 Volkswagen (Aleks Altberg) for his trunk popping open. As funny as it looks (honestly, it reminded me of something Leonard Vasholtz intentionally did on his Ford Explorer during the Pikes Peak Hill Climb once) that would constitute an illegal aero device. Nothing like that is legal in the CTSCC unless it came with the car. I tried to get a picture of it, but the team quickly got the trunk back down and sent Altberg back out before I could get outside to a good vantage point.
Post-race coverage was relatively normal for CTSCC broadcasts, but just looked a little more impressive since it was the end of the season and a split race. FOX Sports 1 brought viewers interviews with the top-3 finishers, the champions (Borcheller and LaMarra), and the championship runner-up (Eversley). There was also a check of the final points before FOX Sports 1 left the air.
Overall, I thought that FOX Sports 1 did a decent job covering the event. I think that fans probably weren't all that pleased Grand-Am ditched the live streaming of CTSCC races on SPEED2.com after the switchover from SPEED to FOX Sports 1 in August (I know I was). Because of that, fans at home couldn't see the whole story. FOX Sports does a decent job of filling the holes, but it's just not the same.
Brian Till, Dorsey Schroeder and Calvin Fish actually do work well together (regular play-by-play man Bob Varsha was in Las Vegas for the Barrett-Jackson Auction when this race ran). I don't consider Till to be a good permanent option in the play-by-play role, but he's a decent sub in a pinch.
That's all for this week. I hope you enjoyed the final look back at the final Grand-Am race weekend. Next week, we'll be back with more action. Until then, enjoy the racing this weekend in Talladega and Fontana.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch Line of the Week
"It's very hard, probably the hardest thing I've ever done as a driver. There were many days where I contemplated just quitting racing because you're a competitor and you come to the track to compete and be the best you can be. We did that, but just had to shift our focus to being the best we could be on Fridays for qualifying day. It was definitely very hard. Pulling in before the race is over just goes against everything you've been taught to do, learned to do or wanted to do." - David Gilliland, on starting-and-parking while driving the No. 71 for TRG Motorsports
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
by Jeff Wolfe
NASCAR Mailbox: Bad PR, Bad Luck, And Smoke's Bad Twig
by Summer Bedgood
Mirror Driving: Concerns About Debris, Health, Trucks, And Talladega
by the Frontstretch Staff
Truckin' Thursdays: Four Storylines To Watch Over The Final Five Races
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Tech Talk: Slugger Labbe Talks Parity, Patience, And Pit Strategy As Talladega Keys
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Tech Talk: Slugger Labbe Talks Parity, Patience, And Pit Strategy As Talladega Keys
by Mike Neff
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the 1989 Talladega DieHard 500, Joe Ruttman was tapped to drive the No. 83 Bulls-Eye Oldsmobile in place of owner/driver Lake Speed, who was injured in a big crash at Pocono. However, Ruttman's day ended rather spectacularly in the tri-oval. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: The 1997 DieHard 500 was the first Fall Talladega race, moved from July to avoid oppressive heat and thunderstorms that could wreak havoc with the event. Terry Labonte held off challenges from brother Bobby, along with John Andretti and Ken Schrader to claim the victory. What was notable about this win?
A: Hard to imagine, but this win was the only one of the season for a Chevrolet driver not named Jeff Gordon. Gordon was on his way to his second consecutive ten-win season, but no one else was sharing in the glory. For Labonte himself, it was his second and final restrictor plate victory (he won at Talladega in 1989 as well).
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 Justin Tucker
-- In Case You Missed It by Beth Lunkenheimer
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Four Burning Questions: Talladega by Matt Stallknecht
How will Sprint Cup's final plate race of the season turn out? Matt gives us a preview while looking at four major storylines the race weekend at Talladega should provide.
Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Justin Tucker
-- In Case You Missed It by Beth Lunkenheimer
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Four Burning Questions: Talladega by Matt Stallknecht
How will Sprint Cup's final plate race of the season turn out? Matt gives us a preview while looking at four major storylines the race weekend at Talladega should provide.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns this week with another intriguing Friday commentary.
IndyCar Preview: Fontana by P. Huston Ladner
Huston returns, from his perch covering the race out in Fontana to preview this weekend's MavTV American Real 500 at Auto Club Speedway, the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series finale.
Nuts For Nationwide by Kevin Rutherford
Kevin has another interesting look at the Nationwide Series as they take a break prior to the stretch run.
Voices From the Heartland by Jeff Meyer
Our Tennessee transplant returns with another interesting take on recent events.
Frontstretch Foto Funnies by the Frontstretch Staff
Pictures can lead to a thousand laughs; join us in our weekly dose of humor that comes from those candid moments at the track.
Formula 1 Fridays by Andy Hollis
Andy returns to give us an excellent look into Formula One ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka Circuit.
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
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©2013 Frontstretch.com
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