The Frontstretch Newsletter: November 14th, 2013

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 14th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition CCXIII

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What to Watch: Thursday

- Today, NASCAR will hold a special Championship Contenders' press conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway where Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth will address the assembled media.  ESPNEWS will provide one hour worth of coverage starting at Noon.

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Top News
by Phil Allaway

VooDoo BBQ & Grill to Sponsor Reutimann at Homestead

BK Racing announced on Wednesday that they have signed VooDoo BBQ & Grill, a Louisiana-based chain of fast causal restaurants, to serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 83 Toyota driven by David Reutimann this weekend in Homestead.  The chain will replace Horizon Corporation, which served as the primary sponsor in Phoenix.

"We're thrilled to have this opportunity to be associated with NASCAR and the BK Racing Team at one of the most important races of the year," said Tony Avila, CEO of VooDoo BBQ & Grill.  "This level of exposure for VooDoo is unparalleled. We appreciate Ron Devine and the entire team at BK racing for this tremendous opportunity."

BK Racing co-owner Ron Devine is also happy to bring a new sponsor onboard for the season finale.

"VooDoo's unique offering is something NASCAR fans have never seen," Devine said.  "I feel that VooDoo's continued growth, along with BK Racing's will make for a great partnership."

VooDoo BBQ & Grill currently has 15 regular locations and one Express location in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina.  The chain has plans to expand to at least 57 locations.

Brad Keselowski Racing Re-Signs Cequent, Cooper Standard

Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR) announced very early on Thursday that they have re-signed Cequent (owners of Reese Towpower and Draw-Tite) and Cooper Standard to contract extensions to continue their sponsorship of the organization in the Camping World Truck Series.

For Cooper Standard, their extension will last through the 2014 season and keep the company as the primary sponsor of the No. 29 Ford F-150.  Ryan Blaney will return to the truck full-time in 2014 to attempt to claim the championship.

"Cooper Standard has been with us from the very beginning and have become such an integral part of the BKR family," Keselowski said.  "Our team owes them a tremendous amount of gratitude for all of their continued support. Cooper Standard has been instrumental in helping us reach victory lane on multiple occasions, and I have no doubt this partnership with help our team take the checkered flag many more times to come."

Meanwhile, Cequent's contract situation is a little different.  The deal signed last year had Cequent's brands sponsoring BKR through the end of 2014.  The extension adds three more years to that deal, continuing their sponsorship through the end of 2017.  In those three years, Cequent brands will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 19 Ford F-150 for at least ten races a year.  In addition, Cequent brands will serve as associate sponsors full-time on the No. 29 and part-time on the No. 19 when they are not serving as the primary sponsor.

Cequent Performance Products President Tom Benson is very happy to continue his company's relationship with BKR.

"The Cequent Performance Products team and its brands, such as Draw-Tite and Reese, take great pride in announcing our multi-year commitment to Brad Keselowski and BKR," Benson said.  "This racing program elicits excitement from our employees and customers throughout the year and has given us the ability to form key relationships toward helping build our business. The partnership has become a part of Cequent's identity, and we couldn't be happier to continue our affiliation with Brad and his team."

For Cooper Standard, they have visited Victory Lane twice with Ryan Blaney since becoming the full-time primary sponsor of the No. 29.  Cequent hasn't made it there yet with the No. 19, but they have had seven top-5 and ten top-10 finishes this season with Keselowski, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano and Dave Blaney.

Logano Gets Engaged

On the lighter side of the news, Joey Logano is officially off the market.  On Wednesday, he announced on Twitter that he popped the question to his longtime girlfriend Brittany Baca, who accepted.

"Yes it's true, I asked her last night," Logano tweeted.  "I'm so lucky to be engaged to my best friend."

Frontstretch sends our congratulations to Logano and Baca on their engagement.

Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night.  However, they are still subject to change.

Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400: 43 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 21- Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 30- Parker Kligerman for Swan Racing
No. 33- Tony Raines for Circle Sport, LLC
No. 35- Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports
No. 40- Landon Cassill for Hillman Racing/Circle Sport, LLC
No. 51- Kyle Larson for Phoenix Racing
No. 55- Elliott Sadler for Michael Waltrip Racing
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports/JRR

Driver Changes:
No. 30- Parker Kligerman returns to the seat, replacing Cole Whitt.
No. 32- Ken Schrader returns to the seat, replacing Timmy Hill.  This will be Schrader's final Sprint Cup Series start.
No. 47- AJ Allmendinger returns to the seat, replacing Bobby Labonte.
No. 51- Kyle Larson returns to the seat, replacing Justin Allgaier.

Since there are only 43 cars entered, no one will fail to qualify.

Not Entered:
No. 95- Reed Sorenson for Leavine Family Racing

Nationwide Series Ford EcoBoost 300: 42 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 18- Matt Kenseth for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 19- Dakoda Armstrong for TriStar Motorsports
No. 22- Joey Logano for Penske Racing
No. 23- Timmy Hill for R3 Motorsports/Rick Ware Racing
No. 33- Ty Dillon for Richard Childress Racing
No. 48- Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing
No. 54- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports/Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 79- Bryan Silas for Go Green Racing

Driver Changes:
No. 4- Landon Cassill returns to the seat, replacing Daryl Harr.
No. 9- Corey LaJoie is in the seat, replacing Marcos Ambrose.  If LaJoie qualifies on speed, he will be making his Nationwide Series debut.
No. 10- Mike Bliss returns to the seat, replacing Jeff Green.
No. 19- Dakoda Armstrong is in the seat, replacing Mike Bliss.
No. 22- Joey Logano returns to the seat, replacing Brad Keselowski.
No. 24- Ryan Ellis returns to the seat, replacing Kelly Admiraal.
No. 29- Blake Koch is in the seat, replacing Kenny Wallace.
No. 33- Ty Dillon returns to the seat, replacing Kevin Harvick.
No. 44- Cole Whitt returns to the seat, replacing Chad Hackenbracht.
No. 48- Brad Keselowski is in the seat, replacing Ryan Blaney.
No. 70- Johanna Long returns to the seat, replacing Derrike Cope.
No. 74- Carl Long returns to the seat, replacing Mike Harmon.
No. 79- Bryan Silas returns to the seat, replacing Jeffrey Earnhardt.

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 9- Corey LaJoie for Richard Petty Motorsports
No. 10- Mike Bliss for TriStar Motorsports
No. 16- Ryan Reed for Roush Fenway Racing
No. 18- Matt Kenseth for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 29- Blake Koch for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard
No. 42- Josh Wise for The Motorsports Group, LLC*
No. 48- Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing
No. 55- Jamie Dick for Viva Motorsports with Frank Cicci
No. 74- Carl Long for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 91- Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)*
No. 92- Dexter Stacey for KH Motorsports
No. 98- Kevin Swindell for Biagi-DenBeste Racing

Not Entered:
No. 00- SR2 Motorsports
No. 52- Joey Gase for Jimmy Means Racing
No. 89- Morgan Shepherd for Shepherd Motor Ventures

Camping World Truck Series Ford EcoBoost 200: 40 trucks entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 1- Carl Long for Rick Ware Racing
No. 6- Austin Dillon for Sharp Gallaher Racing
No. 9- Nelson Piquet, Jr. for NTS Motorsports
No. 51- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
No. 93- Travis Kvapil for RSS Racing

Driver Changes:
No. 07- An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing JJ Yeley.  Chris Cockrum is currently listed, but rarely actually drives.
No. 1- Carl Long returns to the seat, replacing D.J. Kennington.
No. 6- Austin Dillon is in the seat, replacing Daniel Hemric.
No. 9- Nelson Piquet, Jr. in the seat, replacing Ron Hornaday.
No. 13- Frank Kimmel is in the seat, replacing Tracy Hines.
No. 50- Brad Riethmeyer is in the seat, replacing Danny Efland.
No. 51- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing Erik Jones.
No. 81- Jimmy Weller returns to the seat, replacing David Starr.
No. 93- Travis Kvapil is in the seat, replacing Chris Jones.
No. 99- Chad McCumbee is in the seat, replacing Bryan Silas.

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 0- Chris Lafferty for JJC Racing*
No. 1- D.J. Kennington for Rick Ware Racing
No. 6- Austin Dillon for Sharp Gallaher Racing
No. 10- Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 13- Frank Kimmel for ThorSport Racing
No. 21- Spencer Gallagher for Gallagher Motorsports
No. 27- Jeff Agnew for Hillman Racing/Team 7 Motorsports
No. 30- Ben Kennedy for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 33- Cale Gale for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 34- Ron Hornaday for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 35- Mason Mingus for Win-Tron Racing
No. 38- Chad Frewaldt for RSS Racing
No. 50- Brad Riethmeyer for MAKE Motorsports
No. 78- BJ McLeod
No. 93- Travis Kvapil for RSS Racing

Not Entered:
No. 12- Steve Smith for Cefalia Racing
No. 22- John Hunter Nemechek for SWM/NEMCO Racing
No. 84- Mike Harmon for Chris Fontaine, Inc./Mike Harmon Racing
No. 94- Chase Elliott for Hendrick Motorsports
No. 97- Steve Wallace for Adrian Carriers Racing

Have news for Phil and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.

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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them Summer Bedgood's way at summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com; and, if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when she does her weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Frontstretch Fan Q & A will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!

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Today's Featured Commentary
Pastrana Punches Out, Hope for Hornish, and The End of an Era

What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese

The announcement came down Tuesday that Travis Pastrana was abandoning NASCAR, after an unsuccessful 2013 season that resulted in a number of wrecked racecars and lack of funding for 2014.  It's an unfortunate loss as he was a new name and face to a series that has started to rebrand itself as the stepping stone series it once was – even though Kyle Busch has won over 1/3 of the races on the schedule this year.

While Pastrana's record was less than stellar, I think the main problem came from him trying to do too much, too soon.  Let's face it, even Dario Franchiti didn't fare all that well in the Nationwide Series when he gave it a go, and he's got a couple of Indy 500s and championships on his resume.  Had Pastrana followed the ARCA/Trucks/Nationwide/Cup progression as the Dillon brothers have – and as most drivers used to follow for years in NASCAR – he would have gained needed experience, track time, and ingrain himself into asphalt racing after a life lived largely soaring through the hair or sliding through dirt.

In essence, Pastrana tried to skip high school, and attempted to go right from 8th grade to college.

If you've never competed on oval tracks before and your first stab at it is in a Roush Ford against the likes of Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Carl Edwards, things might not go so smooth right off the bat – to say nothing of the cadre of drivers who have been there years before you have.  Another shortcoming I believe was the lack of mentorship for Pastrana, coupled with the lack of veteran leadership within Roush Fenway Racing as a whole.

Sure Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards have been there for a while, but they've got their own agenda on the Cup side of the garage trying to get their own Fords up to speed.  Since Roush Fenway Racing's Fusions have struggled a bit this season as a whole, that should be their priority.

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Going into Ford Championship weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, there is only one Ford in contention for a championship, with Sam Hornish, Jr. trailing Austin Dillon by eight points.  Dillon has yet to win a race this year and is leaving the series as a full-time driver next year, to bring the No. 3 back to Sprint Cup competition.  Hornish is desperately trying to salvage a ride and opportunity within the sport and has won one race this season, at Las Vegas back in March.  While Hornish has 24 Top 10's this season in the non-Chase format Nationwide Series, a pair of 17th place finishes at Dover and Kansas will likely prove to be his undoing.  Hornish has scored 35 more points to date this season over 2012; the equivalent of finishing one spot better in each race through the year, and leading a lap in a couple of races that he otherwise may not have.  Last year he finished fourth in points, ending the year 82 points behind third place finisher…wait for it…Austin Dillon.

This weekend at Homestead also serves as the end of an era for those of us who have watched the sport prior to the network TV explosion of 2001.  I've been watching NASCAR since I was a few years old, and some of my earliest memories are riding my Big Wheel through the infield at MIS, and seeing Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, and Darrell Waltrip flash by.  I really started to pay attention to things in 1989 once I was coherent enough to understand and follow the sport.

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In 1990, the miracle of miracles occurred: my family finally got cable.  The floodgates opened to a plethora of motorsports programming like ESPN's Speedweek, TNN's Inside Winston Cup Racing, and the late Neil Bonnett's show, Winners.  Through the early and mid 1990s, there were three drivers who I followed and watched as they ascended from upstarts, to contenders, to winners, and champions: Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, and Bobby Labonte.  All three have been mainstays within the sport for three decades, and this weekend could be their last in the Sprint Cup Series.

Having seen the transition of the sport through the years, how things have changed, and how drivers and competition is different, the absence of these three is not something that will help improve things.  Each of them has a uniquely different personality and levels of success, but they all have the same thing in common: respect for the past, respect for the fans, and respect for the future of the sport.  These aren't guys who shoot their mouth off in front of the camera, are caught over the scanner cussing out and belittling their team, or being short with or blowing off fans. Each of them raced with honor, respect, and a code; no bump and runs, no cheesy burnouts, no trying to fight a driver in front of the camera or making a scene.
Well, Burton did hook Jeff Gordon at Texas a couple of years ago, and then had him come after him by the ambulance, but that's about it.

At a time when there are so many young talents making their way through the ranks – drivers like Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Corey Lajoie, Jeb Burton, Darrell Wallace Jr. to name a few – it's unfortunate that they aren't going to be able to race with and against older drivers of this caliber, who were from a generation that had to build, maintain, and often fix the fruits of theirs or others mistakes.  In today's sport that is dominated by cubic dollars as never before, racecars are viewed as disposable commodities because if you're anybody of importance, there's a back-up in the hauler and if you wad one up...hey, whatever, it's someone else's problem.

These three drivers, along with Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott, and Ernie Irvan were young enough to have been inspired by the pioneers and legends of the sport, yet old enough to have raced against and learned from the foundation of what made NASCAR evolve from an obscure regional entity, to the equivalent of the NFL with regards to ratings and attendance.  They were also part of the Bill France, Jr. NASCAR -- the one that set the tone and standard for competition, fan access, and what to aspire to in American motorsports.

The lack of true old-school drivers who were able to learn from and compete against the likes of legends such as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, and Dale Earnhardt, and the prospect of not having all three of these fixtures of the sport in the field each week, is something that I deem truly detrimental to stock car racing.

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: FOX Sports 1 and 2's 3 Month Checkup
by Phil Allaway

Hello, race fans.  Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take a look at motorsports related programming.  This week, we're going to take a break from actual race telecast critiques and talk about FOX Sports' two main sports channels.

I like to bring my readers some information about the programming they may watch as often as I can.  On Tuesday, the blog Awful Announcing ran an article about FOX Sports 1's ratings since their launch three months ago.  Compared to what FOX Sports thought was possible at first, they're struggling.  They can't hold onto to ESPN or ESPN 2's jock strap most of the time.  To anyone watching the situation, that shouldn't surprise anyone.

However, they're doing very well against the other national sports channels (MLB Network, NBC Sports Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, etc.).  What's really helping FOX Sports 1 out during the daytime?  RaceHub.  From the so-called "second tier" of sports networks, NASCAR RaceHub is by far the highest rated studio show.  It also outrates Crowd Goes Wild, which has a guaranteed 5pm EST timeslot, by nearly 3:1 every day, despite nowhere near the star power.  I'll admit here that I find Crowd Goes Wild to be a nice alternative to Around the Horn on ESPN, and the show has improved once it started to evolve away from Regis Philbin vs. everyone else.  However, it still has problems.

The show that took RaceHub's 6pm slot, FOX Football Daily, is doing much worse than Crowd Goes Wild.  Based on those ratings, FOX Sports 1 should see that NASCAR RaceHub is an important part of the network, and probably shouldn't be moved around quite as much.  Those Noon timeslots just bite, simple as that.  It seems like they're trying, at least.

In addition, the ratings actually suggest giving the show its timeslot from SPEED back in February, which is probably not what FOX Sports expected.  Heck, we're coming into Week 11 now.  They're probably thinking that FOX Football Daily's ratings would grow as the season continued.  Not so.

Having said that, FOX Sports 1's ratings are not to the level that they promised advertisers.  As a result, they had to provide "make good" advertising space at no cost recently.  This most notably occurred during the World Series.

As you probably remember, the run up to the launch of FOX Sports 1 (and by extension, FOX Sports 2) was marked by fairly substantial issues just getting providers to sign on to even air the network at launch.  FOX Sports was just able to get the 90 million homes that they promised for the launch.  However, they had to back away from their original requests to get that number.  Originally, FOX Sports wanted 80 cents per subscriber for FOX Sports 1.  A few providers, most notably Comcast, signed on at that price.  However, both of the major satellite providers (DirecTV, Dish Network) and Time Warner Cable (and by extension, Bright House Networks, who lets Time Warner Cable negotiate on their behalf) wouldn't budge.  A couple of days before the launch, they signed on, but at the previous rate (23 cents per subscriber) that they were paying for SPEED.  This apparently cost FOX Sports millions.

FOX Sports 2's availability generally bites.  The channel's precedessor, FUEL, was in approximately 37 million homes (compared to SPEED's 83 million) and not even carried at all by some major distributors (like Comcast).  It appears that FOX Sports 2 inherited FUEL's distribution issues.  I think once the deals come up for renegotiation, FOX Sports 2 will end up more homes.  This will happen before the next NASCAR TV deal kicks in starting in 2015, but I still wouldn't be surprised if it were still in a sports tier. (Personal Example: FOX Sports 2 is in the sports tier here, and SPEED was as well until Time Warner Cable quietly made it a digital basic channel at some point).

Being available in roughly 35 percent of homes with Pay TV, it shouldn't come as a surprise that it was one of the lowest rated channels in all of cable.  That's ultimately why they ditched all of the original extreme sports programming in favor of UFC stuff a couple of years ago.  The channel doesn't have a "killer app."  Instead, it mainly airs replays of shows or games that premiered on FOX Sports 1, along with live events that couldn't run on FOX Sports 1 due to other shows taking precedence.  Also, much of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship will likely air on there next year.

The one downside of the FOX Sports 1 switchover for our readership is the moving of many of the practice and qualifying sessions (especially on Saturday) to FOX Sports 2 because of college football.  I feel like that issue will fix itself in time, but in the meantime, there are a good number of viewers who can't watch Saturday coverage from the track because their providers outright don't carry the channel.

Last Friday night's travesty resulted out of the rare instance that both FOX Sports 1 and 2 had live sports at the same time.  They don't have an overflow channel for this situation (technically, FOX Sports 2 could be FOX Sports 1's overflow channel in a pinch).  Fans have focused their anger at NASCAR for not pushing back the start of the race.  I think FOX Sports has a lot of power in their relationship with the Big East conference.  They're airing games like last night's Kent State-Seton Hall match-up that even last year would not have been televised at all.  I think they could have phoned the Pavilion in Philadelphia and asked them to hold the start of the game so that the race could air on FOX Sports 2.  I know, not ideal, but it could have been done.

Thankfully, that won't be an issue this week.  NCWTS Setup's lead-in is a taped interview with Nick Saban conducted by Erin Andrews.  That won't push back coverage.

I hope you enjoyed this non-critique this week.  Next week, I'll be back with a look at the Casino Arizona 50, the season finale for the K&N Pro Series West.  Until then, enjoy this weekend's action in Austin and Homestead.

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

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Frontstretch Line of the Week

From Beyond the Cockpit: Timmy Hill on Learning, Setting Goals, and Favorite Things

"It's been huge! Terry and Kenny both, they've been in the sport for a long time. This weekend is a good example. I've never been to this plave before in my live. I'm running the truck race here, and I get to bounce ideas off of Kenny. He's been here a ton and runs really good here and at the short tracks. I can ask him any kind of question as far as where to brake, where to gas up, how the track changes throughout a race. This track is tight with not a lot of room to go if you wreck, so I asked him "what should I do? Should I stop, should I try to avoid it?" He can answer any kind of question I want to ask, so it's been a big help. " - Timmy Hill at Martinsville, on benefitting from Terry Labonte and Ken Schrader's involvement with FAS Lane Racing.

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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.

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Fantasy Insider: One Last Chance To Cash In Your Fantasy Chips

by Jeff Wolfe

NASCAR Mailbox: Final Race Round Up And Stats Galore
by Summer Bedgood

Truckin' Thursdays: The Forgotten People Behind On-Track Success
by Beth Lunkenheimer

Tech Talk: Paul Wolfe Dishes On Homestead, Keselowski

by Mike Neff

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  The 1997 Jiffy Lube Miami 300 was the first Busch Grand National race run on Mk. 2 of Homestead-Miami Speedway, a true oval with six degrees of banking in the turns. However, the Mini-Indy configuration's propensity for wrecks continued as well.  What happened early on to knock drivers like Dick Trickle out for the day?

 

Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!

Wednesday's Answer:

Q:  When the now-Camping World Truck Series was launched in 1995, the races were quite short and designed to be run with only one pit stop at the halftime break.  Season two saw the series start off at the mini-Indy configuration in Homestead.  How did NASCAR alter the pit rules for this 400 kilometer race?

A:  In order to keep the relatively inexpensive feel to the series, NASCAR instituted competition cautions into the race in order to keep the teams from having to use expensive pit crews, in addition to the halftime break.  These cautions were thrown at Laps 30 and 130.  The halftime break was immediately proceeded by a big crash in Turn 3 that took Geoff Bodine out of the lead, along with Ken Allen and Mike Skinner.  That can be seen here.

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: Phoenix by Matt Stallknecht
Matt gives us a preview of this weekend's action at Homestead-Miami Speedway while looking at four major storylines the race weekend  should provide.

Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns this week with another intriguing Friday commentary.

Nuts For Nationwide by Kevin Rutherford
Kevin has another interesting look at the Nationwide Series as they head off to Homestead.

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 as the teams travel to the United States for their second visit to the Circuit of the Americas near Austin.

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