Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
February 26th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition XV
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Editor's Note: Frontstretch's own Jeff Wolfe is once again running a private NASCAR Fantasy league this season on Yahoo! We'll have more of our writers on board to compete against you. If you're interested, go here and create a Yahoo! account (if you don't already have one). Once that's completed, create your team and click on Join a Group. Then, click on Join a Private Group once there. Here, you'll have to enter our League ID and password. The League ID is 10532, and the password is "stenica." We hope to see you there!
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What to Watch: Wednesday
- As some teams begin the trek to Phoenix, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continues his national media tour.
- No penalty was issued for Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Chevrolet. NASCAR feels his penalty of losing his "qualifying spot" from the Budweiser Duel was enough of a consequence for their post-race inspection issue.
Top News
by Ashley McCubbin
NASCAR and OCESA Sign 10-year Contract Extension
Over the past 10 years, NASCAR and the OCESA have established the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series as the national championship for Mexico. That partnership will continue through the 2023 season as NASCAR announced that they’ve reached a 10-year agreement with CIE, the leading live entertainment company in Latin America to continue to operate the series.
The NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series traditionally runs 15 races each season and, for the second straight year, they will kick off their season at Phoenix International Raceway Friday, February 28.
Also of note, starting this year, Deportes Telemundo will air the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series' Toyota 120 live on mun2. The telecast is this Friday night at 9pm.
At the spring Texas Motor Speedway race, Jeff Gordon will run a special paint scheme in connection with sponsor Axalta. Gordon’s No. 24 Axalta Racing Chevrolet SS will be custom-painted Aggie maroon for the race, paired with the Texas A&M Engineering logo.
Texas A&M alum and CEO of Axalta Coating Systems Charles Shaver will host 20 engineer students at the race for Aggie Race Day. Shaver will give them the VIP treatment while showing them the impact engineers have had on NASCAR.
Terry Labonte Reacts to Hall of Fame NominationTerry Labonte was on PRN’s Garagepass this week, where he was asked about his thoughts on being nominated for NASCAR’s Hall of Fame.
"It kind of surprised me," Labonte said. "I didn't really think about it but that's exciting to be named with those other guys that were named. That's pretty cool."
Labonte added that he doesn’t think he will be one of the five inductees on May 21st as he “can think of a lot of people .. that are more deserving than me to be in the Hall of Fame and there's been so many people that have been in the sport for so many years that accomplished so many things back in the early days whether it was drivers or crew members or team owners."
"It's an honor to be mentioned in that category with those people," he continued, "but there's a lot of people I think that really made our sport great."
Labonte, a two-time Cup champion, has 22 career wins in the series. 20th in Sunday's Daytona 500, he's planning to retire after the season at age 57.
OF NOTE:
- 2014 Daytona 500 Champion Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continued his media tour with a trip to Bristol, CT, followed by a Q&A with the fans in Austin, Texas. Earnhardt Jr.’s next stop is Los Angeles, where he will be on FOX’s Good Day L.A. at 8:50 a.m. PST. Other TV appearances are in the works so stay tuned to Hendrick Motorsports’ twitter account for updates.
- NASCAR Mexico Series competitor Carlos Contreras will attempt to qualify for this weekend’s Nationwide Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. Contreras will be driving the No. 23 Voli Vodka / Global Aircraft Solutions Chevy Camaro after missing Daytona while driving for Rick Ware Racing.
- Richard Childress Racing announced that WESCO will be a primary sponsor for Ty Dillon in the Nationwide Series this season. WESCO International, Inc is a leading provider of electrical, industrial, and communications maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) product, construction materials, and advanced supply chain management and logistic services. Richard Childress Racing also announced that White Club will be on the hood of Brian Scott’s No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro in this weekend’s Nationwide race; Scott will also attempt to qualify the No. 33 Circle Sport Chevy for Sunday's Phoenix event.
- Go FAS Racing has announced that “Ask More Get More. Ask More, Get More” will be the primary sponsor on their No. 32 Ford driven by Travis Kvapil this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. “Ask More Get More. Ask More, Get More” is a book written by Michael Alden that talks about getting more out of your professional and personal life.
Have news for Ashley and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashland10@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.~~~~~~~~~~
GOT A NASCAR QUESTION OR COMMENT? WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
That's right; our Fan Q & A column is back once again in 2013. Send your question Summer Bedgood's way at summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print on Thursday when she does her weekly column. It's all part of our daily mission to give back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat!
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Today's Featured Commentary
Championship Challenges: Finish Where You Started
by Mark Howell
Here’s a slightly radical thought as the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series gears up (pardon the pun) for another eleven months of competition: Move the season finale from Homestead to Daytona. Ditch the restrictor plates and end the year like it began – with highly exciting and wildly competitive racing. Here’s my reasoning.
Let’s start with the restrictor plate ban. Call me naïve, but I thought moving to electronic fuel injection last season was intended to keep engine performance in closer check. Tuning down cylinders means tuning down speeds, and that means a reduction in accidents and laps run under caution. Altering fuel supply was also touted as a more “green” approach to stock car racing. Being able to more closely monitor fuel flow might actually save gasoline and – in a very minor, yet very eco-popular way – reduce carbon emissions and diminish NASCAR’s atmospheric “footprint”. Brian France and Co. considered this to be, to borrow the catch phase of lifestyle guru/ex-convicted felon Martha Stewart, “a good thing”.
So now we have electronic fuel injection on Sprint Cup engines, and teams can precisely control how fuel flows into cylinders and creates horsepower. Yet we still have restrictor plates handed out during Speedweeks. What gives? If teams are able to mess with horsepower and engine performance, why doesn’t NASCAR use said ability to slow the cars down enough to eliminate the need for using the infamous (and unpopular) plates?
In this era of people shouting about there being too much government, it seems as though one less regulation to follow would be a welcome change in a sport where the rulebook assumes almost sacred status (and, like most “sacred” texts, is always begging for creative interpretation and personal revision). Drop the restrictor plate rule, and let engine builders/tuners do their jobs.
And since we’re dropping things, NASCAR should drop Homestead as the season finale. Not that Homestead is not a worthy and competitive facility - it has produced some interesting and exciting races over the years – but it doesn’t create a feeling of impending destiny. If Brian France seeks “Game Seven” moments of tension, thrills, achievement, and history, the “Ford Championship Weekend” at Homestead comes across as fairly anticlimactic.
In contrast to Homestead, recall the multiple rows of three-and-four-wide racing we saw in the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Shouldn’t that kind of nose-to-tail, door-to-door competition be what we see in the final, to-the-victor-go-the-spoils event of the Sprint Cup season? And while we’re at it, don’t the Camping World Truck and Nationwide teams deserve a similar opportunity?
Swap Homestead out with the July race in Daytona. You’ll still have the warmer, late November, Florida climate, but you’ll also have a “bookend” with which to close the Sprint Cup season. The other bells-and-whistles intended to lure fans (and television viewers) can continue, like the “winner-take-all” format of the new-and-improved Chase structure, but going back to Daytona also provides fans with a relevant means by which to end the season. Deciding the championship at a track where the approaches to racing are fundamentally different (like Homestead) seems improper. It’s like holding Olympic downhill qualifying runs on the slopes in Sochi, yet awarding medals for final runs skied at Steamboat Springs. Both host ski races, but both locations are inherently different.
Why should a team that excels at Daytona in event number one have their season decided by their performance at Homestead in event number thirty-six? If Daytona is so important as to be the season opener, it should be good enough to host the season finale as well.
This organizational structure is often employed by books and movies. One of the central tenets of what makes a good story is the idea that the characters, and the plot, come full-circle. By ending where you began, you can more clearly see the successes and/or failures of the characters involved. It seems that NASCAR would gain credibility amongst teams and fans alike if the sanctioning body simply shifted the schedule a bit so as to allow Daytona to host both “The Great American Race” and “The Great American Championship”. Enhance the competition by leveling it a little bit.
Given what we saw in the 500 last Sunday night, this idea just seems more reasonable to me.
Mark Howell is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via email at mark.howell@frontstretch.com.
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Tweet 'N' Greet
by Allen Bedgood
Editor's Note: With the NASCAR Twitter community expanding by leaps and bounds, it remains a place for instantaneous news, reactions, and a whole lot of inside jokes. We understand if you don't want to join the Twitter community - but as a fan, it's important to know the news and info you're missing out on! That's why, every week, Allen Bedgood will sort through the thousands of messages and give us a little taste of what's going on each Wednesday.
So, without further ado, here's a look at what those in NASCAR were thinking over the past seven days...
@TeamHendrick - JJ's '13 #Daytona500 winner is back home & on display in the museum! pic.twitter.com/SyYX86CjYr
@heymartysnider - Here's Twitter's newest member @DaleJr autograph on the winning car. pic.twitter.com/zL7VVsOgpe
@HigNASCAR (David Hidgon -- NASCAR Communications) - Yes, it is still on the winning @Chevrolet #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/mAZSWtqFnk
@DaleJr - Tonight seemed like as good a night as any to join Twitter. How is everyone doin? #2XDaytona500Champ pic.twitter.com/4k4JVA7fG9
@KyleLarsonRacin - He's an annoying backseat driver. Won't stop running his mouth! pic.twitter.com/RPYCbX6fvV
@Riceman61 (Doug Rice, PRN-MRN announcer) - Just talked to @RogerSlack says there is up to six feet of snow on @EldoraSpeedway currently under the red flag!
@dcaraviello (David Caraviello - NASCAR.com) - On a Fox conference call, president Eric Shanks says it was time to retire the crawl, because it took so long for drivers to come around.
@TheJohnnyTV (John Roberts - FOX Sports) - Personally & professionally I think @AllenBestwick in the @IndyCar booth is FANTASTIC! Agreed true pro and among the VERY best in our biz
@CandiceSpencer - Derrick Walker @IndyCar Pres. of Competition & Operations indicated that he welcomes #NASCAR drivers for the #Indy500
@MissJFish (Jordan Fish; Denny Hamlin’s girlfriend) - That awkward moment when u butt dial your sister and leave her a voicemail of you singing in the car... whoops!!
@Mc_Driver - I know the feeling. RT @DavidPierce_: Imagine if your professional success was determined by only 400 Hundredths of a second.... #Olympics
@KevinHarvick - Not sure how this is going to work... #bigboybed #instablog http://instagram.com/p/knkIIaxkOZ/
@BlakeKochRacing - Here at Calvary in Daytona Beach with the @SonofGodMovie Showcar! @RealRomaDowney @MarkBurnettTV pic.twitter.com/37Ynj8V4Sw
@BlakeKochRacing - Me and Carter in front of Son of God movie showcar!! At Calvary Daytona Beach, FL http://instagram.com/p/kndUDpulxL/
@PhoenixRaceway - Another beautiful day at PIR! RT if you're ready for #TheProfitCNBC500 race weekend. #NASCAR #PIR50TH pic.twitter.com/Bv7xjKJaE4
@JennaFryer - I totally Blame @mattkenseth and @joeylogano because both of them have given me a twitter headache. Thanks, guys.
@JennaFryer - Special delivery from @joeylogano. He's forgiven. pic.twitter.com/VMc5w7UkPk
@MaryeveDufault - I will be featured in the Magazine Muscle Fitness&Hers @MandF_Hers coming out this week.. Talking racing #ARCA @teamstange
@NASCARIllustr8ted - When @mw55 kneels down like this he's the exact same height as Mark Martin. pic.twitter.com/OfWhuI0pbA
@BMSUpdates - THROWBACK THURSDAY: Birds-eye view of guests filing in and teams prepping cars here at Bristol in 1990. #TBT #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Xui5ASzGnB
@ChristineB_PR (Harrison Burton PR) - A little short-track racing... Go Harrison! pic.twitter.com/hENOCwVHWV
@RCRacing - Oh hey @SluggerLabbe. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/BEu75Vf7Td
@nascarcasm - "Loosey-goosey." "Waggle." PLEASE use layman's terms, broadcasters. I possess not an engineering degree.”
@BJewkes (Brett Jewkes) - When Gen-6 debuted, we said we'd keep working on it, make it better. Kudos to #NASCAR team, Toyota, Ford and Chevy on a great package.
@RCRacing - She's a beaut, ehhh Clark? #moviequote #Menards pic.twitter.com/IH5WEEUuT4
@DavidStremme - Congrats to @AlexBRacing for giving a 100% and it paying off for you.
@JoeGibbsRacing - Happy Birthday to the World’s Best Boss, J.D. Gibbs! #BrownNosing pic.twitter.com/XNlDqA5cwG
@Josh_Wise - Phoenix RT @brockhubble: @Josh_Wise They said u will switch to Chevy...when is this?
@2Spotter (Joey Meier) - Interesting promotion at @PhoenixRaceway http://twitpic.com/dw7kfk
@BJewkes - Official #NASCARHOF nominating ballots. pic.twitter.com/qqJa4AKvuG
@2spotter - Hey @2xtireguy ..we found the problem..!! http://twitpic.com/dw7ceg
@MaryeveDufault - Kinda funny how the colors red, white, and blue represent freedom... until they are flashing behind you
@chaseelliott - Truth. http://instagram.com/p/kzP1VqE8SV/
Allen Bedgood is a Newsletter Contributor and Photographer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via email at allen.bedgood@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter @bedgood15.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
NASCAR Mailbox: Too Many Commercials...Or Are There?
by Summer Bedgood
The Frontstretch Five: Things We Learned From Speedweeks 2014
by Amy Henderson
NASCAR National Sprint Cup Power Rankings: Top 15 After Daytona
compiled by Mike Mehedin
Beyond the Cockpit: A Member Of NASCAR's Next Generation Gets His Shot
by Tom Bowles
Did You Notice? ... NASCAR's Daunting Reality Ahead, Precedents And Race Dates
by Tom Bowles
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA
Q: The 1984 Stroh's Bobby Ball Memorial 150 was the slowest CART race ever run at Phoenix International Raceway, due to 46 laps of caution. The longest of these yellows came for a wreck just after halfway. What happened?
Check back Thursday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Tuesday's Answer:
Q: The very first points race for the Camping World Truck Series was an 80-lap race held as part of the Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway on February 5, 1995. TNN, which aired the race, introduced a new innovation during their broadcast. What was it?
A: This isn't really a big thing today, but in the mid-1990's, it was. TNN, in association with Boykin and Associates, had the ability to show two different in-truck cameras at once in Rick Carelli's No. 6 Total Petroleum Chevrolet. ESPN refers to such technology with HD cameras today as "Dual Path" technology. You can see it at the beginning of this clip. Buddy Baker referred to this technology as "pretty trick."
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!
Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Phil Allaway
-- Critic's Annex by Phil Allaway
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Five Points To Ponder by Danny Peters
Danny has a lot on his mind following the season opening race. This week he ponders topics such as conspiracies, prestige, and predicting the unpredictable.
What's Vexing Vito by Vito Pugliese
Vito returns to the website this year with his unique views on everything racing.
Tech Talk by Mike Neff
Mike is back with your look at the technical side of NASCAR. This week, he talks to Tony Gibson. You know, that guy that sits on that girl's pit box?
Fantasy Insider by Jeff Wolfe
Jeff is back with your look at the best bets to fill your fantasy roster. This week, he's got the inside take on who to choose for the second Cup race of the season at Phoenix.
Truckin' Thursdays by Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth is back with your weekly look at the state of the Camping World Truck Series. This week, she looks back at Daytona while looking forward to the 2014 season that lies ahead.
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