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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 23rd, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition XCVIII
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Sprint Cup Race Recap: Edwards Snaps HMS Streak, Wins at Sonoma
by Justin Tucker
Coming into Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, the question wasn't who was going to win the race. The question was when and who was going to stop Hendrick Motorsports' five race winning streak? The answer to that question was answered on Sunday afternoon by the most unlikely of drivers and organizations.
Carl Edwards came into Sonoma Raceway looking for any sort of momentum after a roller coaster of finishes since his win at Bristol in March and Roush Fenway Racing was looking for redemption after being shut out at Michigan last Sunday, where the organization failed to put a car in the top 10 for the first time since 2000.
Edwards got his momentum and Roush Fenway got their redemption as the Coulmbia, MO native took the lead on a restart with 25 laps remaining and then held off a surging Jeff Gordon to claim to his first Sprint Cup Series road course win and second win of 2014, guaranteeing him a spot in the Chase in September.
"That's the best I've got and it almost wasn't good enough," Edwards said. "That last lap was ugly. I grew up watching Jeff Gordon do well here, so to have him in my mirror, that is very special."
Edwards' crew chief Jimmy Fennig said the race really played into the No. 99's team's hands after pitting with 40 laps to go then staying out under caution to gain track position. Fennig was confident Edwards could bring it home from there.
"When you got somebody like Carl behind the wheel, and you put him out front, he's going to get it done," Fennig said.
Five-time Sonoma winner Jeff Gordon led the charge for Hendrick Motorsports on Sunday by finishing second. Gordon says a mistake with about five laps to go ended any chance of a win, allowing Edwards to pull to a comfortable lead.
"I just couldn't put enough pressure on him," Gordon said. "I think had I put some more pressure on him, I saw him really struggling with the (tire) grip level, but he did everything he needed to do. That last lap, I gave it my best effort and closed up on him and he didn't overdrive it. I was hoping he might slide up and I'd get a run on him."
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. scored his best career Sonoma finish with a third-place effort. Earnhardt had to rally back through the field after an incident with Matt Kenseth that prematurely ended Kenseth's day. Earnhardt Jr. was apologetic about the incident with Kenseth post-race.
"I tried to screw it up a couple times in the race, but I calmed down and was able to get a good finish," Earnhardt said after his career-best finish on a road course. "I got into Matt, I jumped a curb and jumped into the air and just ran into him. Totally my fault. I hope he's not sore with me."
Rounding out the top 5 in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 were pole sitter Jamie McMurray in fourth and Paul Menard in fifth. Hendrick teammates Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson were sixth and seventh, followed by Marcos Ambrose in eighth. Greg Biffle finished ninth, and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top 10.
A look at Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 by the numbers. There were 11 lead changes among nine different drivers and six cautions for 19 laps slowed the race pace to 76.583 MPH.
Next week, the Sprint Cup Series heads to the Bluegrass state and Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400. Green flag is scheduled for 7:45 P.M. ET, Saturday night on TNT.
Justin Tucker is a Newsletter Contributor at Frontstretch. To reach Justin, please contact Newsletter Manager Phil Allaway at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chasing the Chase: Gordon Maintains Lead, But An Old Challenger Awaits
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Critic84.
Never Fear, The Underdogs Are Here: Sonoma Edition
by Amy Henderson
Are you a fan of a driver from a smaller team? Do you ever see one of these guys on the race results and wonder how he got there? NASCAR's small teams may not get much airtime during the race broadcast, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to talk about. Each week, we take a peek into how the little guys fared in the race.
Underdog Selection No. 1: Casey Mears for Germain Racing; started 12th, finished 13th
Mears qualified well, starting 12th and quickly raced his way into the top 10 before Clint Bowyer hit him from behind, shoving the No. 13 into Kasey Kahne's No. 5 and causing extensive damage to the front of Mears' car. Mears fell back as far as 37th after repairs, but used a combination of pit strategy and his own considerable road course skills to climb back into the top 10 in the closing laps. More contact knocked the toe out on the 13 car, but Mears was able to race to the end. It's a shame that the team had what was looking like at least a top-10 day taken away from them, but they can hang their hats on the rebound they had, because it was impressive.
Underdog Selection No. 2: David Gilliland for Front Row Motorsports; started 27th, finished 21st
Gilliland may be the overlooked member on this team a lot of the time—after all, teammate David Ragan is the one who won last year at Talladega—but he's proven to be the most consistent member of the FRM stable and he was strong this week. Gilliland flirted with a top-20 finish for the second half of the race, and while he fell just short, he had a run his team should be satisfied with after rebounding from a spin.
Underdog Selection No. 3: Michael McDowell for Leavine Family Racing; started 28th, finished 24th
McDowell is a very good road course racer, posting some outstanding runs in the Nationwide Series as a fill-in driver for Joe Gibbs Racing a couple of years ago. He's racing for a team that's running a partial schedule in hopes of running full races instead of starting and parking, and his race was solid. He was third-best among the small teams, a worthy accomplishment in itself. This was, overall, a successful day for McDowell and his team as they work to build the team further.
Underdog Pick of the Week - Kentucky: Casey Mears for Germain Racing
My pick last week, AJ Allmendinger had a great day going at Sonoma, leading the most laps and looking as though he could break through with an upset win if the chips fell right, but unfortunately for Allmendinger, they fell anywhere but, and crash damage left him in 37th.
This week, it's back to Kentucky on Saturday night, the type of track that eats these smaller teams for lunch, and since the series has only run three races there, it's still anyone's game. I'm going with Casey Mears over Allmendinger this week based on his Sonoma momentum as much as his Kentucky numbers, which are almost identical to Allmendinger's; his average finish of 20.3 is a tiny bit lower than Allmendinger's 19.7, but Mears has completed and led more laps, so it's a close call between the two, with David Ragan also a contender with a 21st-place average finish.
Is your favorite driver among NASCAR's underdogs? Are you frustrated with the lack of coverage they receive during the race broadcasts? Amy has all the small teams covered each and every week in The Big Six. Be sure to check it out to see how your favorites fared!
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350k was brought to you by the letter "T," for Tires. Much of the discussion coming into the race was about whether teams would make two or three stops. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished third and made five. Instead, the tires were the real deciding factor. The best drivers on Sunday had to conserve the rear tires especially. - Phil Allaway
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Sidebar Stories: Sonoma
by Phil Allaway
"I think you guys worry about that more than we do," Edwards stated during his post-race press conference. "We come out here and race every week and the mission is to win the championship. So for me it's really simple. I just have to give the best I can every week, and that's it."
For Larson, it didn't turn out to be much of a challenge. After qualifying on pole by three tenths of a second, Larson was never seriously challenged on Saturday. The Cup rookie lead every single lap. Despite a Green-White-Checker extending the race from 64 to 66 laps, Larson beat Greg Pursley by over three seconds to take the victory. Dylan Lupton was third, followed by Stenhouse and Brandon McReynolds.
"[Winning today] means a lot to me. A lot. My road racing progression, it's been a pretty long climb from when Jack let Boris [Said] come to VIR, the two‑seater, and basically we ran off in the dirt a bunch all day, and Boris taught me all of the basics of road racing. To be able to come here and to be able to win this race 10 years later is really special.
A lot of hard work has gone into this, and to be locked into the Chase is huge. Now we can focus really hard on our program for the final 10 races.
And then the real special part to me was to stand in victory lane at Sonoma and have Jeff Gordon come and give me a handshake as the second place finisher means a lot. I grew up watching Jeff Gordon and specifically watching how he drove this racetrack and all the successes he had here, so I mean, that's really super. It's something I'll never forget." - Carl Edwards, race winner
"We had a fast car from the start. Our Great Clips Chevy was good. I could pass cars early just a little bit, but definitely after like five laps I felt really good and competitive. Then we started hurting the car. We just didn't have track position after that. We fell back and luckily we got back to sixth. We easily had a top-five car. I don't know how good it was definitely better than that. I had a great car today." - Kasey Kahne, finished sixth
"It was a handful. We came here with a strategy because we had the fastest car for a couple of laps, but it would fade away really bad. We came with a really soft package and I was hanging onto it all day, too. We're gonna keep working at this place to try and make ourselves better, but congratulations to Carl. He did a great job in the race and it's great to see Ford back in Victory Lane." - Marcos Ambrose, finished eighth
"We had a pretty good day. We started out real strong. We got bottled up with the No. 5 and No. 15 ran into the back of us and it knocked our hood up. I think we were running seventh at the time and it put us out of sequence. The guys did a good job putting us with an option to get good track position there at the end. We were able to kind of catch back up to I think around 25th or 24th and got new tires and had a good run all the way up to about 10th. With about 13 (laps) to go I was passing the No. 41 and he kind of pinched me into the tires and it knocked the tow out of the right-front really bad. The car just didn't turn as well from there on out. But we had an eventful day and after everything that happened we ended up with a pretty good result and it turned out pretty good." - Casey Mears, finished 13th
"I'm really frustrated that we didn't show our potential. We had a fast race car, the fastest car at times and certainly a top-five car and we just couldn't get a break. That's how it's been for us lately. But, we started off and we were horrible -- way, way too tight. But Billy (Scott, crew chief) and the guys did a phenomenal job taking a 30th-place car and making it a top-five car. We were out to lunch when the green flag -- we were actually good for the first five laps and then got so tight that first run. We were probably a 25th or 30th-place car and for Billy and the guys and the Aaron's team to turn that into a top-five if not the fastest car during the second half of the race. We got up to the top-five and we just couldn't get the cautions to fall our way. A couple guys wrecked in front of us and then caught our right front and it was just too much damage, we had to pit. To be able to come back with missing have a car and finishing 14th, I guess we're proud of that but disappointed we could get better." - Brian Vickers, finished 14th
"When he hit me? He bumped me coming out of (turn) seven. He just drove into my right rear and I had no idea. I was just going straight and I felt this bam in my right rear. I can't control what happens behind me. If you drive into me, you drive into me -- that one is on you, man." - Vickers, on the contact with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. that brought out the caution.
"Today was just another day with the fastest car. We had a chance to win the race and kind of flubbed it up again. Just got ourselves bad track position and crashed." - Kevin Harvick, finished 20th
"We led a lot of laps today and we were good enough to win the thing no doubt. It's just disappointing the way our day ended and to leave Sonoma with a car that's tore up. I'm proud of my guys and all the hard work they put into this weekend. It's just tough. We were hoping to bring home a win today for Kingsford and all our partners." - AJ Allmendinger, finished 37th
"Yeah, I knew he (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) was on my right side. On the restart we were side-by-side and I got him going into (turn) seven and left him plenty of room when we were racing side-by-side. He tapped me on my right rear and wrecked me. I don't know if he got out of the groove with his car -- I don't really know what happened and it doesn't matter at this point. Unfortunately it ended our day." - Matt Kenseth, finished 42nd (Crashed Out)
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: Toyota/Save Mart 350
by Mike Neff
Pace Laps: Chase Opportunities, Gaughan's Feel Good Win, NHRA Spouses, F1 Austria, and More
by the Frontstretch Staff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Toyota/Save Mart 350
by Amy Henderson
NASCAR Underdogs Had Their Chances
by Tom Bowles
by Matt Stallknecht
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Kentucky Speedway hosts their fourth Sprint Cup race this weekend. Unfortunately, the first race was marred by significant issues. What flub by the track resulted in massive backups and generalized anger from fans?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1997 Kragen/Exide 151 for the then-Craftsman Truck Series was full of interesting action. 1998 winner Boris Said ran well, but finished a disappointing 20th. What did Said do late in the race that put him back there?
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take 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 triviaanswers@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News by Beth Lunkenheimer
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: Toyota/Save Mart 350k by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Five Points To Ponder: Michigan by Danny Peters
Danny returns, wrapping up storylines that are settling this Tuesday while getting us prepped for Kentucky this weekend.
Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup Series made their annual trek out to Sonoma Raceway for the Toyota/Save Mart 350k. Meanwhile, the Nationwide Series traveled to Road America for an interesting race. How good were these broadcasts?
We'll take a look at which drivers are looking good as the summer stretch begins, along with who needs some help.
Racing to the Point by Brett Poirier
Brett returns with another interesting commentary.
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
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