Tuesday, March 04, 2014

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Camping World Close To Truck Series Extension

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

March 4th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition XIX
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Frontstretch seeking NASCAR Nationwide Series Writer


Do you have strong writing, communication skills and a passion for racing?  If so, The Frontstretch is looking for YOU!  We have an opening on our staff for a writer to focus on the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2014, including post-race coverage and a weekly column covering current storylines in the series.  If you have extensive knowledge of the Nationwide Series, the ability to work on a deadline, and want to join a staff of passionate writers, please click HERE for application instructions.  Show us what you've got!


What To Watch: Tuesday

- A slow news day expected today. It should be quiet on the penalty front and there are no major media events scheduled.

Today's TV Schedule
Time                                      Telecast                                 Network
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM                 NASCAR RaceHub             FOX Sports 1
5:00 - 5:30 PM                      NASCAR America               NBC Sports Network

Top News
by Greg Davis

Camping World Close to Extending Title Sponsorship of NCWTS

Marcus Lemonis, CEO of Camping World, Grand Marshal of Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway, and star of CNBC’s “The Profit,” made the announcement over the weekend that the retailer is very close to announcing a deal that would continue its title sponsorship of NASCAR’s Truck Series.  The original agreement with NASCAR is scheduled to conclude after the 2015 season.

According to the sanctioning body, no formal contract has been signed, but “the agreement between the two parties has proven to be a beneficial one.”

"In about a month, we'll be announcing a significant extension to that contract.  It's been great for us," said Camping World’s Lemonis in a statement.  "The NASCAR relationship has worked well for Camping World.  When we started, we had 35 stores.  Now, we're up to 120 stores.  As we travel the country and we meet new customers in stores, they always are very appreciative of our relationship with NASCAR.  It's been good."

Gaining a long-term commitment from Camping World to sponsor the Truck Series would be a relief for NASCAR, which is set to lose Nationwide Insurance as title sponsor for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the end of the 2014 season.  The sponsorship of the Cup Series by Sprint runs through 2016.

The NCWTS is back in action on March 29th at 2:30 PM (ET) when the trucks visit Martinsville Speedway in the Kroger 250, which can be seen on Fox Sports 1. Ratings for the season opener were up 11 percent.

Danica Patrick, Justin Allgaier Discuss Phoenix Incident

A disappointing start to the year for Danica Patrick won't include continued conflict. Patrick met with rookie Justin Allgaier Sunday, shortly after the Phoenix Cup race after a wreck ruined both drivers' days. Patrick, who was critical of the No. 51 car on the radio, claiming Allgaier was "driving all over the track" appeared receptive to a conversation that quickly settled differences over what will be a long season.

“She was just upset because she got involved in the crash that we had,’’ said Allgaier to the Motor Racing Network. “She says she’s been through this and that she felt like I needed to settle down at that point. I explained my position on why everything happened. I think she understood where I was coming from. It doesn’t fix either one of our racecars. It doesn’t fix either one of our days. Unfortunately, we were both having pretty decent days.’’

Allgaier wound up 30th due to the incident while Patrick was 36th. The incident, which was caused by Allgaier's spin also involved the No. 32 team and Travis Kvapil, which wound up 38th after sustaining heavy damage.

News ‘N’ Notes


- SR2 Motorsports has announced that driver Ryan Ellis will be behind the wheel of the No. 24 Toyota Camry for the NNS Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas this weekend.  According to the driver’s Twitter feed, he will also be a lead driver for the remainder of 2014, depending on sponsorship and funding.  Ellis has started seven Nationwide Series events in his two-year career, his last start coming in 2013 at Homestead-Miami.  He also ran in the NCWTS NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona this season for FDNY Racing. 

No word from SR2 on the status of Harrison Rhodes, who had previously been announced as a part-time driver of the No. 24 car but has not raced since blowing his engine early on at Daytona.

- Left over from last weekend, Kevin Harvick is still upset that Daytona does not have SAFER barriers around the entire 2.5-mile track, after his crash at the track during Speedweeks that occurred on the final lap of the race. In a rare moment of candid honesty, he spoke about the "missing" pieces at Phoenix.

"The tracks, for the most part, don't listen to really anything unless it's profitable for their shareholders," Harvick explained to a group of reporters Friday. "So, when you see somebody spending $400 million dollars on their track and they don't have soft walls around the inside, maybe they could spend $403 million to go ahead and finish the inside of the superspeedway there at Daytona.  Yeah, I was sore all week.  And, just today [Friday] I feel good enough to do what I need to do... So, it was just a weird situation.  The car didn't have any brakes, any steering and the throttle was partially hung coming off the wall and going through the wet grass and then into no SAFER barrier at the end of pit road there.  So, it was a hard shot.  It's a little bit frustrating because it really shouldn't even be a debate.  I know they have data that shows where the most frequently hit spots are but we wear all this safety equipment and do all the things that we do to these racetracks for that one freak incident to keep things from happening like [what] happened back in 2001.  So, it shouldn't even be a debate.  It's just one of those things I guess that you just wait around for something else to happen and then they'll fix it."

- Alex Bowman, and the No. 23 Toyota for BK Racing of the NSCS announced on Sunday that Arizona-based sponsor, Innovative Green Technologies, will extend their partnership with the team for the 2014 season. Bowman, a rookie already carries primary sponsorship from Dr. Pepper.

Have news for Greg and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashland10@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.

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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
A Tale of Two Teams: Stewart-Haas and Richard Childress Racing
Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady

There Happy Harvick sits, in Victory Lane, hoisting the trophy for his brand new No. 4 team in the air.  And he didn't just sneak one in, this week.  Oh, no. He did a slam dunk, wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am kind of win.  He didn't have a real competitor nipping at his heels for more than half of Sunday's Phoenix Sprint Cup race.  So we've got to be thinking to ourselves that Stewart-Haas Racing made a pretty shrewd judgment call with all their new drivers in place for 2014.  Yes, sirree.  Already got a win under their belt and have a car heading to the Chase.  Richard Childress Racing must be crying in their beer over kicking Harvick out in favor of the prodigal grandson, right?

And while Austin Dillon stole all the headlines during SpeedWeeks, as NASCAR celebrated the return of the No. 3 to the track, and he finished a very respectable ninth at the Daytona 500, that does not necessarily reflect the accomplishments of the entire stable.  Or does it?

Let's look at a few hard numbers, while our heart tries to win the argument the way it wants.  In 2013, after the first two races of the season, the three Stewart-Haas cars averaged a 23.50 finish.  This represented three top 10s and three top 40s, respectively.  Not a fantastic or consistent start to the season for the Nos. 10, 14 and 39, right?  Meanwhile, over at Childress, an unhappy Harvick, weary Jeff Burton, Paul Menard, and Austin Dillon (only entered in the Daytona 500) squeaked out an average finish of 23.86 for the same two races.  Not a significant difference between the two teams.

Now, with 2014, we would expect some growing pains for both programs.  On an impulse buy, SHR decided to expand to a fourth car and invite the ever-explosive Kurt Busch over, while taking on Harvick's contract and saying good-bye to the perennial bridesmaid, Ryan Newman.  Over at Childress, they're breaking in a rookie with nearly as much fanfare as Danica received last year.  Otherwise, prayers are being said in hopes that the No. 31 car just might be resurrected this season with Newman's assistance.

How did the numbers even out?  Curious?  After two races, SHR has a rather ordinary 25.125 average.  Meh.  Even with Harvick's trip to Victory Lane.  Across the compound, RCR logged a 20.75.

Hmmm. So, both teams are running a tick lower than last year. But just a tick. Still, RCR has the advantage in experience, even with that cowboy hat-toting rookie sitting in a seat, and it shows in their numbers.  They've been at this longer than Tony Stewart's crew, even if you take into account Stewart and Busch's combined four Cups. However, only one of those belongs to the current stable.

Can 2014 be a breakout year for SHR?  Placing them in that rarified dimension of race teams that Hendrick, Gibbs, Roush, and Childress can lay claim to?  Well, not according to early tabulations.  And did Childress make all the right calls in rearranging his driver roster?  That's not a guaranteed yes, either.

It is just two races into the year.  Much has already happened, setting Harvick up to have an amazing season and Austin Dillon to stink up his rookie class. But the bottom line is it appears SHR and RCR played a little shell game, and neither have found the magic ball quite yet.  Give them time. Sooner or later, somebody always cracks the code. I'm just left wondering which one will do it first.
 
2014 Sonya Strictly by the Stats
Top Three Rookies for 2014 The Profit on CNBC 500

1)
No. 42 - Kyle Larson, started eighth, finished 20th
2) No. 3 - Austin Dillon, started 24th, finished 24th
3) No. 26 - Cole Whitt, started 31st, finished 27th

S.D. Grady is a Senior Editor for Frontstretch and runs a NASCAR blog called the S-Curves. She can be reached via e-mail at sonya.grady@frontstretch.com. Follow her on Twitter at @laregna and on her Facebook page (she's an author, too!) at https://www.facebook.com/Author.SDGrady.
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Numbers Game: The Profit on CNBC 500
by Tom Bowles

0
Wrecks in the first 172 laps at Phoenix. That’s the longest we’ve gone there without a crash, in a Cup race since 2006.

1
Lap led Sunday for defending race champion Carl Edwards. He took 500 kilometers to move 15 spots, from 23rd to 8th despite having one of the fastest cars on-track.

2
Top 5s in two races for Jeff Gordon after his 5th-place finish Sunday. It’s the first time he’s done that since 1997, when he started the season by winning Daytona and Rockingham.

3

Drivers to start the season with two top-5 finishes: Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Brad Keselowski.

3
Wrecks for Danica Patrick in two Cup Series starts this season.

4
Cautions for “competition” or “debris” on the racetrack Sunday. NASCAR had none last week during the Daytona 500.

5.5
Average finish for Jimmie Johnson this season. Despite that, it’s only good enough for fifth in the season standings.

6
Chevrolets in the top 10, the most of any manufacturer.

7
Of 8 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Contenders finished 21st or worse Sunday. Only Kyle Larson (20th) broke the trend of futility.

8

Cautions for 38 laps Sunday; 7 of them were in the race’s second half.

18
Career top-10 finishes for Jimmie Johnson at Phoenix in 22 starts.

28
Laps run by Morgan Shepherd before retiring with brake problems. Shepherd, 72, has not finished a race at the Sprint Cup level since 2004.

224
Of the last 239 laps of the race were led by Kevin Harvick.

309
Laps led by Kevin Harvick in Phoenix’s last four starts. Harvick has won three of those events.

$260,048
Money won by Kevin Harvick for winning Sunday’s race at Phoenix.

$292,311

Money won by Martin Truex, Jr. for finishing last this year’s Daytona 500.

Tom Bowles is the Editor-In-Chief of Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at tom.bowles@frontstretch.com.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
by Danny Peters
by Brad Morgan
by Jeff Meyer
by Phil Allaway

by Vito Pugliese

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  In 2000, Shane Hall had a very miserable experience at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Not only did he fail to qualify for the Sam's Town 300, but he also had a very miserable test session on the then-relatively flat oval.  What happened?

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

Monday's Answer:


Q:  The inaugural Las Vegas 400 in 1998 was a relatively staid affair.  However, there was some history made.  What happened?

A:  Mark Martin's victory in the Las Vegas 400 was the first-ever win in Winston Cup for the Ford Taurus.  Roush Racing also had all five of their cars finish in the top 10, a first for the Modern Era.  In addition to Martin's victory, Jeff Burton ran second, Johnny Benson was fourth, Ted Musgrave sixth and Chad Little was tenth.

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 Tom Bowles
-- Tweet 'N' Greet by Allen Bedgood
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!

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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:


Did You Notice? by Tom Bowles
Where there's Smoke, that's where Tony Stewart's disappearing? Tom investigates the quiet start by the No. 14 team, Kasey Kahne, and a few others while examining the seesaw battle of which series in more in trouble these days: Nationwide or Trucks.

Frontstretch Five by Amy Henderson
Amy is back with another interesting column. This week, it will be Five Drivers Worth a Second Look as the 2014 season picks up.

Beyond the Cockpit: Timmy Hill as told to Summer Bedgood
Timmy Hill is set to make his 2014 debut with Circle Sport this weekend in Las Vegas.  However, before he does, he'll sit down with our own Summer Bedgood to talk about his 2013 season and a new ride with Circle Sport.

Frontstretch Fan Q&A by Summer Bedgood
Summer takes on your NASCAR questions and answers them to the best of her ability. Be sure to send your questions in if there's something that's been nagging at you and you might see your name in print.

Sprint Cup Power Rankings: Top 15 after Phoenix compiled by Michael Mehedin
We're through just two races, and big swings in the rankings are still possible.  Can Dale Earnhardt, Jr. keep his spot on top of the weekly poll?  Check out the Power Rankings in order to find out how your favorite national experts voted.
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