Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Time To Get Those Final Fan Votes In

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

May 13th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition LXIX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What To Watch: Tuesday

- Tuesday is teleconference day in NASCAR, and a couple of personalities will be meeting with the media.  First up is Jimmy Small, President of the NASCAR-owned Iowa Speedway at 11 AM. He'll be talking about the first race under NASCAR ownership, as the Nationwide Series comes into town this weekend. Right after him will be Ryan Blaney, the promising Truck Series full-timer who just made his Sprint Cup debut at Kansas last weekend.  He's scheduled to do double-duty again this weekend, racing his truck on Friday night, then commuting to Iowa to drive the No. 22 for Team Penske in the Nationwide race.

Today's TV Schedule
Time                                          Telecast                                                                                                                                                         Network
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM                   NASCAR RaceHub                                                                                                                                      FOX Sports 1
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM                   NASCAR RaceHub                                                                                                                                      FOX Sports 2*#

DVR Theater (Late Tuesday Night/Early Wednesday Morning)
2:30 AM - 3:00 AM                    NASCAR Now                                                                                                                                                 ESPN2

Top News
by Greg Davis

Sprint Announces Top Vote-Getters in All-Star Race Fan Voting

Who will get that extra spot in the All-Star Race? On Monday, fans came a step closer to finding out as balloting for the "Fan Vote" position in NASCAR's major exhibition event has reached its finalist stage. NASCAR partner Sprint announced the current Top 10 drivers who have received the most fan votes through the online voting system; it's unlikely anyone else would leapfrog them at this late stage. Thus far, the NSCS drivers who have received the most votes (in alphabetical order) are as follows: No. 47 - AJ Allmendinger, No. 43 - Aric Almirola, No. 9 - Marcos Ambrose, No. 15 - Clint Bowyer, No. 3 - Austin Dillon, No. 42 - Kyle Larson, No. 13 - Casey Mears, No. 10 - Danica Patrick, No. 17 - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and No. 98 - Josh Wise.

Voting for the Fan Vote driver is open until this Friday at 7 PM ET prior to the start of the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The winner and runner-up in that event will be entered in Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race, given a chance to race for the $1 Million top prize.

The winner of this year's All-Star Race Fan Vote will be announced after the conclusion of the Sprint Showdown on Friday night. To vote for their favorite driver, fans are encouraged to visit www.nascar.com/SprintFanVote

Kurt Busch Tests IndyCar Ride at IMS

As first reported by NBC Sports, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch got in some practice laps Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, wheeling his No. 26 Suretone Honda for Andretti Autosport. Busch is preparing for his IndyCar debut at the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Busch had his first attempt at driving these lighter, less powerful cars in traffic during Monday's practice session. After running 31 circuit, Busch put down his fastest lap of 220.352, good enough for 12th fastest amongst the cars practicing at IMS. Busch will run again with his Andretti Autosport team next Monday.

The 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion will make an attempt at driving the "double" this year, running 1,100 miles in one day. Busch is looking to become the fourth driver in history to race in both the Indy 500 and Coke 600 (Charlotte Motor Speedway) in the same day on Sunday, May 25th (Memorial Day Weekend). Fans can follow Kurt Busch's training leading up to the two races, as well as his race day schedule at http://www.kurtbuschdouble.com

Kwasniewski to Drive No. 42 in Standalone NNS Races This Season

As announced by Turner Scott Motorsports on Monday afternoon, NASCAR Nationwide Series rookie Dylan Kwasniewski will now drive the No. 42 Chevy Camaro for the team in all standalone events for the remainder of the season. The 42 machine is sponsored by Up & Up, a Target brand.

"I'm really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the No. 42 car this week in Iowa and for the remaining four standalone races on the Nationwide Series schedule," Kwasniewski said in a statement. "I'm confident in all the guys at Turner Scott Motorsports, so it'll be a great learning experience. I've learned a lot from Larson this year and I hope that I can make Turner Scott Motorsports, as well as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Target's Up & Up brand proud.

Kwasniewski, who regularly drives the No. 31 Rockstar Energy Drink Chevrolet for TSM, was also recently named a Development Driver for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.  For this weekend's Get To Know Newton 250 at Iowa Speedway, Camping World Truck Series driver Chase Pistone will be in the No. 31 car.  It is unclear whether Pistone will only drive the No. 31 this weekend, or in all of the standalone races.  Sprint Cup Series Rookie Kyle Larson still remains driver of the NNS No. 42 Chevy when the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series events coincide at the same track.

Kwasniewski, 18, became the youngest driver to win a Coors Light Pole Award, sitting on the pole for the Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona this year. He has also earned a top 5 and top-10 finish this season behind the wheel of the No. 31 Chevy for Tuner Scott Motorsports.


News 'N' Notes

- Justin Allgaier and HScott Motorsports will not compete in Friday night's Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  According to a tweet sent out on the team's official Twitter account, the team is choosing to focus on the Coca-Cola 600, which is a points race.

- Empire Racing
of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has announced that the team has expanded their relationship with crew chief Mike "Grumpy" Cheek through Grumpy's Performance, Inc. Team manager, John Bellesfield and Excel Motorsports Services have parted ways with the organization and ended their duties of managing of the team. Grumpy's Performance will now take over management of Empire Racing immediately at their facility in Mooresville, NC.

Empire Racing fields the No. 82 Ford F-Series, as well as a car in the ARCA Racing Series with drivers Sean Corr, Jake Engle, Cole Powell, and Jake Crum.

- Kansas Speedway
will renew their financial partnership with the Kansas Lottery. The multi-year deal inks the Lottery to the title sponsorship of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the Kansas Lottery 300, held in early October. The lottery will also be the "official lottery sponsor" of the speedway as part of the deal.

-
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Cale Conley and his No. 33 RCR Chevy Camaro will carry a special paint scheme honoring our veterans and the IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) organization on Sunday at Iowa Speedway. The Nationwide Series visits Iowa for the first of two visits this season for the Get to Know Newton 250 presented by Sherwin Williams.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~

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 2014. 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!

~~~~~~~~~~

Today's Featured Commentary
Past and Future Perfect: Jeff Gordon's Legacy
Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady

He finally got it. Late into Saturday evening, the Sprint Cup cars ran into a long green-flag groove at Kansas. And just as he'd been denied for so many weeks, with late-race restarts, so the racing Gods awarded Jeff Gordon the set up needed to snare his 89th Sprint Cup race trophy with clean air, warmed up tires, and a little luck with rival Kevin Harvick's sputtering gas tank.

It isn't as if NASCAR Nation has been waiting all that long for Gordon to win.  His last victory came at Martinsville in the autumn.  It's simply that he is now regarded as a racer on the cusp of the end of his career... isn't he? It would be nice to see him win a few more before he decides to hang up the steering wheel. But is the 42-year-old ready to lay it all down? Do we want or need him to retire?

All good questions.   Jeff Gordon is, after all is said and done, an active legend in NASCAR. Active is the key word here.  He has never lost his top-tier team or the ability to bring home the hardware. Yes, it's been 13 years since he last grabbed the big Cup, but in all that time he's only finished the season out of the Top 10 once. Even as time goes by, and the hourglass gets bigger between victories, Gordon has never slipped out of the relevant category. Indeed, 2014 has seen him sitting at the top of the points for over a month and threatening to win week after week.

Not only is he riding high right now, Gordon also offers up a depth to the field of Chase contenders.  As the elder statesman with enough hardware to open his own museum, he provides balance to the young guns ripping up the track.  Joey Logano has yet to shed his youthful face and name, even though in his mid-20s is he finally settling into his race car as we were promised six years ago.  Kyle Busch may have left his teenage years and immature tantrums behind, but it will take years -- decades, even -- before the vast majority of NASCAR fans will look to him as a leader in the garage.  And Bad Brad? He may have turned 30, but he's still looking for a field to sow those wild oats.

When it comes to growth of this sport, the answer's simple: it's all about balance.  We often speak of how we only want the very best drivers, to have that be the only criteria to be used when determining we've got an awesome sport.  But there shall always be the stories that are crafted over time, ones that give us the depth to the season for which we turn on the TV week after week. There are wins and losses, youthful fuzzy caterpillar mustaches, toasts of milk at banquets, followed by championships and children. 

So it's when the aging veteran has done everything ever asked of any driver in the sport that we'll turn to the loud-mouthed kid, wonder at the inexperienced zeal and belief that your car will stick in the corner -- when by all accounts, it simply can't. Then -- and only then -- are we stunned one more time by a new group of drivers setting the bar.

Stunned into considering there is this new generation, one cutting their teeth on the same tracks that Gordon mastered.  A generation with brilliant talent, the occasional sterling personality and yep, all the goods needed to surpass everything that Gordon has done. You can't do that without the old guard fighting them.

It's clear the past two decades may have been exhilarating for NASCAR. But my bet is the next 20 years just might be better -- Jeff Gordon included.

2014 Sonya Strictly by the Stats

Top Three Rookies for 2014 5-Hour Energy 400


1.) No. 42 - Kyle Larson Started 5th, Finished 12th
2.) No. 3 - Austin Dillon Started 19th, Finished 19th
3.) No. 7 - Michael Annett Started 34th, Finished 25th


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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Numbers Game: 5-Hour ENERGY 400
by Tom Bowles

0
Laps led by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Saturday night after pacing the field here for 26 laps a year ago. Stenhouse, who was a disappointing 22nd in the race has yet to lead a lap all season.

1
Finish for Jeff Gordon worse than 13th all season – a 39th at Talladega last week (after getting caught up in a wreck.)

2
Laps led for Joe Gibbs Racing at Kansas. While Matt Kenseth wound up 10th, he was uncompetitive most of the night while Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin finished 15th and 18th, respectively.

3
Wins for Jeff Gordon at Kansas, more than any other driver at the facility.

4
Finishes of 21st or better for Danica Patrick through 11 races, including her career-best seventh at Kansas Saturday night. By comparison, she had just two such finishes through the first 11 races of her rookie season.

5
Drivers from Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing to finish inside the top 7 at Kansas, including the top 3 of Gordon, Kevin Harvick, and Kasey Kahne.

6
Of eight Rookie Of The Year candidates who have yet to score a top-10 finish through 11 races. Lone exceptions: Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon, although Dillon has been MIA from the category since a ninth place in February's Daytona 500.

8
Cautions for 47 laps at Kansas, down sharply from the record-setting 15 in this race last fall.

9
Races led this season out of 11 for Kevin Harvick, including a race-high 119 laps led at Kansas. In just the last four races alone, he's led 495 laps, more than anyone else on the circuit this year except for one other driver (see 527 below).

9

Winners in the first 11 races this season, leaving just seven Chase spots open for winless drivers.

10
Top-10 finishes for hometown boy Carl Edwards at Kansas in 14 career starts at the track (including a sixth-place finish Saturday night). It's a rate of success that makes his average finish there 10.5. Edwards, though remains winless at a track where he'd like to "cash in" the most.

83
Points between 28th-place Kurt Busch and 16th-place Kasey Kahne. Busch will still make the Chase on his win at Martinsville, though if the season ended today.

527
Laps led for Jimmie Johnson this season, second in the Cup Series behind Kevin Harvick. However, Johnson and the No. 48 team still have yet to win a race.

$106,744
Money won by Jamie McMurray after crashing and finishing 39th.

$109,365

Money won by Danica Patrick after running seventh. Maybe GoDaddy needs to buy a few more domains?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ADVERTISEMENT
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 frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com for details.
~~~~~~~~~~~

TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

by Danny Peters
by Brad Morgan
by Jeff Meyer

by Phil Allaway
~~~~~~~~~~

FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  The Winston from 1989 is undoubtedly best known for Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip's contact, Waltrip's spin, the crew fight and the infamous quote, "I hope he chokes on that 200 Grand" from Waltrip.  For Kyle Petty, though The Winston was more of a test session for his part-time SabCo Racing team.  However, the test didn't last all that long.  What happened?

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

Monday's Answer:


Q:  The Winston from 1987 is best remembered for the non-pass "Pass in the Grass" where Dale Earnhardt was turned into the grass by Bill Elliott in the quad-oval.  However, there was a reason why Elliott and Geoff Bodine gave Earnhardt body slams on the backstretch after the race.  What happened?

A:  At the start of the same segment, contact between the three drivers sent Bodine spinning in Turn 1.  After Bodine spun, Earnhardt appeared to push Elliott into Bodine to spin the Levi Garrett Chevrolet even quicker.  Elliott claimed that Earnhardt was to blame for the Bodine spin.  In addition, in an interview, he claimed that Earnhardt was cutting him off and attempted to put him in the wall.  That battle only ended because contact between the two cut one of Elliott's tires.  The incident at the start of the segment can be seen here.  Elliott's rant to Dr. Jerry Punch after the race can be seen here.  The incident actually resulted in an intense rivalry between Earnhardt and Bodine.  More contact during the Busch Grand National race a week later resulted in hefty fines (for the time).

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 Greg Davis
-- Professor of Speed by Dr. Mark Howell
-- Tweet 'N' Greet by Allen Bedgood
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!

~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:


Open-Wheel Wednesday
by the Frontstretch Staff
The Open Wheel crew is back this week for another roundtable discussion ahead of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

Beyond The Cockpit: Justin Allgaier  as told to Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth sits down with the Rookie of the Year candidate to talk about his season to date, what he thinks of it so far, and other aspects of his career.

Did You Notice?...
by Tom Bowles
This week, Tom takes a look at the Danica effect in NASCAR, the upcoming All-Star Weekend, and more in his list of small but pertinent observations about the sport.

The Frontstretch Five
by Amy Henderson
Amy steps up with 1,2,3,4,5 reasons you should be concerned about something going on in NASCAR this week.

NASCAR Mailbox
by Summer Bedgood
Summer returns for her weekly session of answering questions from you, our loyal fans. Do you have a question or comment for Summer? Don't be shy. Just send her an email (summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com) and you might just see your name in print!

NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After Kansas
compiled by Michael Mehedin
CHECK IN TO SEE A SPECIAL SURPRISE! Jeff Gordon's win will likely keep him at or near the top of the rankings. But did the race scramble the rest of our power rankings? Find out how your favorite national experts voted, laughing along with their one-liners in the latest update of our weekly NASCAR poll.
-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to
editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2014 Frontstretch.com

--
--
Feel free to forward this newsletter if you have any friends who loves
NASCAR and great NASCAR commentary. They can subscribe to the Frontstetch by visiting http://www.frontstretch.com/notice/9557/.
 
If you want to stop your Frontstretch Newsletter subscription, we're sorry
to see you go. Just send an email to
TheFrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com from the address that you
recieve the Frontstretch Newsletter.

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Frontstretch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thefrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

No comments:

Post a Comment