Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 26th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CI
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Today's TV Schedule
Time Telecast Network
by Phil Allaway
On Wednesday, Kentucky Speedway's bumpy track surface played host to two open test sessions for the Nationwide Series. However, with 5.5 hours of testing available before the official race weekend began, a number of teams chose to take it easy. See more here.
Humphrey Racing Retooling, Out Until Indianapolis
NASCAR.com's David Caraviello is reporting that Humphrey Racing, which fields the No. 77 Fords for Dave Blaney in the Sprint Cup Series, will take the next few weeks off from the Sprint Cup Series tour. The team is not shutting down, though. Instead, they are retooling in order to show improved form later in the season. See more here.
NASCAR, IMSA Announce Dates for January Tests
On Wednesday, NASCAR and IMSA announced revised dates for the traditional January test sessions to the start of the 2015 racing season. First up, the Roar Before the 24, which is a three-day open test at Daytona International Speedway ahead of the Rolex 24, will be held from January 9-11, 2015, which is roughly a week later than this year. Sprint Cup teams are scheduled to take to the 2.5 mile tri-oval on January 15-16, once again, one week later than last year. For more, click here.
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. They are still subject to change.
Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400: 42 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 40- Landon Cassill for Hillman-Circle Sport Racing
No. 44- JJ Yeley for Swan Racing/Xxxtreme Motorsports
No. 66- Joe Nemechek for Michael Waltrip Racing/Identity Ventures Racing
Driver Changes:
No. 32- Travis Kvapil returns to the seat, replacing Boris Said.
No. 33- David Stremme returns to the seat, replacing Alex Kennedy.
No. 66- Joe Nemechek returns to the seat, replacing Tomy Drissi.
Since there are only 42 cars entered, no one will fail to qualify.
Not Entered:
No. 95- Michael McDowell for Leavine Family Racing
If the entry stands as currently listed, it will be the first time since 2001 that a Cup race will start less than a full field.
Nationwide Series John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300: 47 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 5- Kevin Harvick for JR Motorsports
No. 12- Ryan Blaney for Team Penske
No. 20- Matt Kenseth for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22- Brad Keselowski for Team Penske
No. 25- John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports
No. 33- Paul Menard for Richard Childress Racing
No. 40- Josh Wise for The Motorsports Group
No. 42- Kyle Larson for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 54- Kyle Busch for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for Identity Ventures Racing
No. 98- Corey LaJoie for Biagi-DenBeste Racing
Driver Changes:
No. 12- Ryan Blaney is in the seat, replacing Sam Hornish, Jr.
No. 20- Matt Kenseth returns to the seat, replacing Kenny Habul.
No. 22- Brad Keselowski returns to the seat, replacing Alex Tagliani.
No. 23- Josh Reaume returns to the seat, replacing Kevin O'Connell. Robert Richardson, Jr. was originally entered in the seat.
No. 31- Dylan Kwasniewski returns to the seat, replacing Justin Marks.
No. 40- Josh Wise returns to the seat, replacing Matt DiBenedetto.
No. 42- Kyle Larson returns to the seat, replacing Dylan Kwasniewski.
No. 44- Blake Koch returns to the seat, replacing Carlos Contreras.
No. 46- Matt DiBenedetto returns to the seat, replacing Ryan Ellis.
No. 54- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing Sam Hornish, Jr.
No. 55- Jamie Dick returns to the seat, replacing Andy Lally.
No. 74- Kevin Lepage returns to the seat, replacing Bobby Reuse.
No. 86- Jake Crum is in the seat, replacing Kyle Fowler. If Crum qualifies on speed, he will make his Nationwide Series debut.
No. 87- Joe Nemechek returns to the seat, replacing Stanton Barrett.
No. 93- Mike Wallace returns to the seat, replacing Kevin Lepage.
No. 98- Corey LaJoie is in the seat, replacing Jeb Burton.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 5- Kevin Harvick for JR Motorsports
No. 10- Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)*
No. 13- Carl Long for Carl Long Racing*
No. 17- Tanner Berryhill for Vision Racing
No. 25- John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports
No. 33- Paul Menard for Richard Childress Racing
No. 46- Matt DiBenedetto for The Motorsports Group*
No. 70- Derrike Cope for Creation-Cope Racing
No. 72- Matt Carter for Carter Racing*
No. 74- Kevin Lepage for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 76- Tommy Joe Martins for Martins Motorsports
No. 84- Chad Boat for Billy Boat Motorsports
No. 86- Jake Crum for DRG Motorsports
No. 89- Morgan Shepherd for Shepherd Motor Ventures
No. 90- Martin Roy for DGR Motorsports
No. 98- Corey LaJoie for Biagi-DenBeste Racing
Not Entered:
No. 15- Rick Ware Racing
No. 79- Tim Schendel for Jimmy Means Racing
Camping World Truck Series UNOH 225: 31 trucks entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 0- Ryan Ellis for JJC Racing
No. 19- Brad Keselowski for Brad Keselowski Racing
No. 20- Austin Dillon for NTS Motorsports
No. 51- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports
Driver Changes:
No. 07- Todd Shafer is in the seat, replacing Ray Black, Jr.
No. 08- Jimmy Weller returns to the seat, replacing Korbin Forrester.
No. 0- Ryan Ellis returns to the seat, replacing Caleb Roark.
No. 8- Joe Nemechek returns to the seat, replacing his son John Hunter Nemechek.
No. 19- Brad Keselowski returns to the seat, replacing Tyler Reddick.
No. 20- Austin Dillon returns to the seat, replacing Gray Gaulding.
No. 51- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing Erik Jones.
No. 92- Corey LaJoie is in the seat, replacing Scott Riggs. LaJoie will be making his Camping World Truck Series debut.
Since there are only 31 trucks entered, no one will fail to qualify. However, these teams must still qualify on speed:
No. 07- Todd Shafer for SS-Green Light Racing
No. 0- Ryan Ellis for JJC Racing*
No. 23- Max Gresham for GMS Racing
No. 42- Charles Lewandoski for Young's Motorsports*
No. 75- Caleb Holman for Henderson Motorsports
No. 92- Corey LaJoie for RBR Enterprises
*- Expected to Start-and-Park
Not Entered:
No. 00- Cole Custer for Stewart-Haas Racing
No. 12- Ted Minor for Cefalia Racing
No. 36- Scott Stenzel for MB Motorsports
No. 75- Adam Edwards for Norm Benning Racing
Verizon IndyCar Series Shell/Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston: 23 cars entered
Driver Changes:
No. 16- Luca Filippi is in the seat, replacing Oriol Servia.
No. 20- Mike Conway returns to the seat, replacing Ed Carpenter.
Entries:
No. 2- Juan Pablo Montoya for Team Penske
No. 3- Helio Castroneves for Team Penske
No. 7- Mikhail Aleshin for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
No. 8- Ryan Briscoe for NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 9- Scott Dixon for Target Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 10- Tony Kanaan for Target Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 11- Sebastien Bourdais for KVSH Racing
No. 12- Will Power for Team Penske
No. 14- Takuma Sato for A.J. Foyt Enterprises
No. 15- Graham Rahal for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
No. 16- Luca Filippi for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
No. 17- Sebastian Saavedra for KVAFS Racing
No. 18- Carlos Huertas for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 19- Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 20- Mike Conway for Ed Carpenter Racing
No. 25- Marco Andretti for Andretti Autosport
No. 27- James Hinchcliffe for Andretti Autosport
No. 28- Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport
No. 34- Carlos Munoz for Andretti Autosport/HVM Racing
No. 67- Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
No. 77- Simon Pagenaud for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports
No. 83- Charlie Kimball for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing
No. 98- Jack Hawksworth for Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian
TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen: 55 cars entered in 4 classes
Prototype (P) Entries: 13
No. 01- Sage Karam/Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
No. 07- Joel Miller/Tristan Nuñez/Tristan Vautier for SpeedSource
No. 0- Gabby Chaves/Katherine Legge for DeltaWing Racing Cars
No. 1- Ryan Dalziel/Scott Sharp for Extreme Speed Motorsports
No. 2- Ed Brown/Anthony Lazzaro/Johannes van Overbeek for Extreme Speed Motorsports
No. 5- Joao Barbosa/Christian Fittipaldi/Burt Frisselle for Action Express Racing
No. 9- Jon Fogarty/Brian Frisselle/Burt Frisselle for Action Express Racing
No. 10- Max Angelelli/Jordan Taylor/Ricky Taylor for Wayne Taylor Racing
No. 31- Guy Cosmo/Eric Curran/Boris Said for Marsh Racing
No. 42- Alex Brundle/Ho-Pin Tung/Gustavo Yacaman for OAK Racing
No. 60- Oswaldo Negri, Jr./John Pew for Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
No. 70- Ben Devlin/Tom Long/Sylvain Tremblay for SpeedSource
No. 90- Michael Valiente/Richard Westbrook for Spirit of Daytona Racing
Prototype Challenge (PC) Entries: 10
No. 08- Chris Cumming/Alex Tagliani for RSR Racing
No. 09- Duncan Ende/Bruno Junqueira for RSR Racing
No. 7- Sam Bird/Martin Fuentes for Starworks Motorsport
No. 8- Mirco Schultis/Renger van der Zande for Starworks Motorsport
No. 25- Tom Kimber-Smith/Eric Lux/Sean Rayhall for 8Star Motorsports
No. 38- Mike Hedlund/David Ostella for Performance Tech Motorsport
No. 52- Gunnar Jeannette/Frankie Montecalvo for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports
No. 54- Jon Bennett/Colin Braun for core Autosport
No. 85- Tomy Drissi/Chris Miller/Stephen Simpson for JDC/Miller MotorSports
No. 88- Doug Bielefeld/David Cheng/Martin Plowman for BAR1 Motorsports
Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) Entries: 11
No. 3- Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen for Corvette Racing
No. 4- Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner for Corvette Racing
No. 17- Wolf Henzler/Bryan Sellers for Team Falken Tire
No. 55- Bill Auberlen/Andy Priaulx for BMW Team RLL
No. 56- John Edwards/Dirk Müller for BMW Team RLL
No. 57- Nic Jonsson/Tracy Krohn for Krohn Racing
No. 62- Giancarlo Fisichella/Pierre Kaffer for Risi Competizione
No. 91- Jonathan Bomarito/Dominik Farnbacher/Marc Goossens for SRT Motorsports
No. 93- Jonathan Bomarito/Marc Goossens/Kuno Wittmer for SRT Motorsports
No. 911- Richard Lietz/Nick Tandy for Porsche North America (core Autosport)
No. 912- Michael Christensen/Patrick Long for Porsche North America (core Autosport)
Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) Entries: 21
No. 007- David Block/Al Carter/James Davison for TRG-AMR
No. 18- Unknown drivers for Muehlner Motorsports America
No. 19- Unknown drivers for Muehlner Motorsports American
No. 22- Philipp Frommenweiler/Leh Keen/Cooper MacNeil for Alex Job Racing
No. 23- Mario Farnbacher/Ian James for Alex Job Racing/Team Seattle
No. 27- Andrew Davis/Patrick Dempsey/Joe Foster for Dempsey Racing
No. 30- Kuba Giermaziak/Christina Nielsen for NGT Motorsport
No. 33- Jeroen Bleekemolen/Ben Keating for Riley Motorsports
No. 35- Seth Neiman/Dion von Moltke for Flying Lizard Motorsports
No. 44- Sebastian Asch/Andy Lally/John Potter for Magnus Racing
No. 45- Nelson Canache/Spencer Pumpelly/Brett Sandberg for Flying Lizard Motorsports
No. 46- Marco Bonanomi/Charles Espenlaub/Charles Putman for Fall-Line Motorsports
No. 48- Christopher Haase/Bryce Miller for Paul Miller Racing
No. 51- Jack Gerber/Matt Griffin/Michele Rugolo for Spirit of Race (AF-Corse)
No. 58- Jan Heylen/Madison Snow for Snow Racing/Wright Motorsports
No. 63- Alessandro Balzan/Brandon Davis/Jeff Westphal for Scuderia Corsa
No. 71- Unknown drivers for Park Place Motorsports
No. 73- Unknown drivers for Park Place Motorsports
No. 81- Michael Avenatti/Ben Barker/Damien Faulkner for GB Autosport
No. 94- Dane Cameron/Markus Palttala for Turner Motorsport
No. 555- Townsend Bell/Bill Sweedler for AIM Autosport
IndyCar Rescinds Penalty on Bourdais
On Wednesday, IndyCar announced that they have rescinded the penalty levied against Sebastien Bourdais in the wake of his crash with Justin Wilson during the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 7th. At the time, Bourdais was fined $10,000 and placed on probation for the remainder of the season for what was considered to be unjustifiable risk.
However, an additional internal review of the incident was called for by IndyCar. The crash saw Wilson clip the apron entering Turn 3. Wilson then came back up the track, clipped Bourdais, and spun both drivers into the wall. At the time, Bourdais was considered to have forced Wilson to the apron, and the fine and probation was based on that opinion. After the internal review, IndyCar officials did not release an official reason for the reversal.
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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!
It Takes More Than a Superstar to Keep a NASCAR Sponsor
by S.D. Grady
It was reported Tuesday that the Home Depot will be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 20 Toyota at the end of the 2014 season.
Color me unsurprised.
Is it because JGR is an unsuccessful stable and the Home Depot never gets air time? No. Not in the least. Just about every week Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth are figuring in the top 10 of the race. They get camera time--at least on Sunday afternoon.
But it takes more than a few speed shots of a Toyota once a week to keep a major retail sponsor handing out the goodies these days. You've got to be making the headlines all week long, and that is where the Orange Store is no longer feeling the return in their investment in these trying economic times. Unless Matt Kenseth is leading the race or grinding Jimmie Johnson's bumper, he is one driver who lives off the public radar the rest of the time. He always has.
During the latest Silly Season shenanigans, and the rumors of M&M's leaving the No. 18--perhaps to bring Edwards over from Roush, I tried on each driver with each sponsor. Would Carl sell chocolate well? Yeah, he's pretty likable. Smiles pretty at the camera. Busch certainly makes a good poster child for Monster Energy drink, connecting with the younger, angsty NASCAR crowd. On the other hand, I've enjoyed calling Kyle Busch "M&M Boy" from time to time, but I've never really considered him a family friendly sponsor spokesman. However, due to his vitriolic personality, the candy company never has trouble finding their driver--and thus their name--popping up in sports journals and evening shows on a regular basis. That's right. Any publicity is good publicity. The latest reports have M&M's staying where they are.
Denny Hamlin's physical and mental struggles kept the No. 11 FedEx machine in the spotlight over the past few years. He's also probably generated a few more years of devotion from his sponsors simply by Tweeting to his Mom.
Now, the Depot hit a gold mine when Tony Stewart joined NASCAR in 1999. Like Busch, he was a pushy, angry, young man. You'd find him in somebody's face as often as you'd see him hoisting a trophy in Victory Lane. And just when we thought Smoke was beginning to mellow, the reins of the extremely recognizable No. 20 was handed over to Joey Logano in 2009.
Was the Home Depot ready to leave? Oh no. Not with something as juicy as Sliced Bread climbing into the cockpit. For the next few years, Logano held onto the cameras simply by being a rookie. He'd wreck, blame it on somebody else, or maybe return the niceties with a little name calling. No, he wasn't winning--but popularity doesn't always come with Victory Lane. The sponsor still was seeing a return on their investment through the valuable association with a visible driver. Joey Logano was the Home Depot machine, and vice versa.
But what happened over the past year? Well, before 2013, Dollar General had been turning the No. 20 yellow in Nationwide for a few years, with considerable success. The association with a driver wasn't hammered into the viewer as much as with winning. It didn't matter who climbed behind the wheel on Saturday, the No. 20 Dollar General machine was going to win. So, their step-up to Sprint Cup made lots of sense. And the Home Depot took a back seat--or back bumper.
For the last 18 months, every time the No. 20 came into view on Sunday, I've had to stop and think really hard. Who was driving? Oh, that's right. Matt Kenseth. Perennially in view of the leaders, often enough in Victory Lane, and the rest of the time simply off my radar. Along with his sponsors--whether it be Dollar General or Home Depot.
Perhaps it was fitting that in Sonoma, we watched the Home Depot back into the tire barrier. Yes, Kenseth's wreck was dramatic, and yet anti-climatic. He climbed from his car and strolled to the ambulance. In his interview he sedately called it a racing deal, more or less. The most exciting moment of the race diminished in intensity through Kenseth's monotonous public persona.
Would you put your company's name on the side of his car?
Matt Kenseth is a champion. He is a hugely talented stock car driver. He is...I've got nothing more. And more is what it takes to stamp a car's number AND its sponsors into NASCAR Nation's conscience.
Don't blame the economy. Don't blame Gibbs. And heck, you really can't blame Kenseth. This isn't supposed to be about selling hammers and nails. But when all is said and done, maybe it is. Ain't that depressing.
2014 Sonya Strictly by the Stats
Top Three Rookies for 2014 Toyota SaveMart 350
1.) No. 3 - Austin Dillon Started 26th, Finished 17th
2.) No. 26 - Cole Whitt Started 32nd, Finished 27th
3.) No. 42 - Kyle Larson Started 3rd, Finished 28th
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.Potts' Thoughts on Innovation in Racing
Potts' Shots
by John Potts
I do a lot of surfing on the web, and as you might expect, most of it involves discussions about motorsports on Facebook, etc. Those who have read my stuff for a while no doubt realize I'm something of an old fart, and I miss those days when things were simpler. I've realized I'm not the only one.
It's become apparent that lots of folks wish stock cars still looked like stock cars, and we didn't have so darned many "spec" series. Even worse, in my opinion, is that they try to call these cars something they aren't. My old Dodge van looks as much like a Camaro or a Mustang as those things running in NASCAR's Nationwide Series right now.
And I've seen all kinds of complaints about IndyCar. People want to see a variety of cars, not just a difference in paint schemes and numbers. Myself, I'm still waiting for them to put the engines back in the front.
Very fondly, I remember the days when the USAC National Championship consisted of dirt and paved ovals, and a driver had to be proficient on both surfaces to be successful. I suppose we have to realize that this specialization of the cars is a result of the sport getting so blasted sophisticated and expensive, and the sanctioning bodies have come to this point in an attempt to level the playing field and try to control the costs.
The rule books get bigger and the restrictions get tighter, and a mechanic's ingenuity goes by the wayside.
I was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when Smokey Yunick unveiled his "sidecar" back in the 1960s. Somebody observed that it looked dangerous for the driver, and Smokey replied, "If you want to be safe, stay in the garage. But you could drop a hammer on your foot back there."
That particular idea of Smokey's didn't work out so well. Duane Carter tried it out and didn't care for it, and then Bobby Johns backed it into the wall trying to qualify the thing. That was just about the time the rear engine cars were changing the picture of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and you were likely to see any number of designs.
There were Jim Hurtubise's "Mallard" roadsters, the four-wheel drive Novi, etc. There was still a lot of innovation. There was even, at one point, a car with one engine in front and one in the rear (push-pull, Porsche-Porsche).
Then along came Andy Granatelli and his turbine, which nearly made a shambles of the 1967 race. I had a friend who was a helicopter mechanic in the Army tell me that the part which failed was well known among his kind, and they had a quick fix for it. The next year, the "wedge" turbines were just as dominating until it came to completing the 500 miles. Even so, it didn't take long for the powers-that-be to squelch the turbines.\
At the time, a driver told me he thought it was ridiculous to allow the turbines in the first place, because, in his words, "We're testing cars, not airplanes." I told him if that was the case, maybe they should disallow anything that came out of the aircraft industry – like balloon tires and disc brakes. I'd heard that racing "improves the breed," and how do you do that without trying something new? Sometimes I wonder if Brock Yates wasn't onto something when he suggested they lay out a box made of 2x4s, eight feet wide and 15 feet long and say, "If it fits in here, you can run it."
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to another edition of the Critic's Annex, where we take a look at additional motorsports programming available to us race fans. Last weekend, while the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were having fun on road courses, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards traveled to the shortest track on the schedule, Elko Speedway in Elko New Market, Minnesota for the Akona 250 presented by Federated Car Care (or, if you were watching on television, Calpyso Lemonade).
The race was the first of three ARCA races that will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network. Mike Neff, if prompted, will tell you that he believes that Lucas Oil-owned MavTV will be the next Speedvision. If the current schedule is any indication, the CBS Sports Network might not be that far off of that either. ARCA is just one of many series that aired on SPEED that have migrated to CBS' cable sports channel since the launch of FOX Sports 1 and 2 last August. They're joined by the Blancpain Endurance and Sprint Series and DTM, which aired on SPEED2.com last year. Those three series all air races on a same-day delay. The DTM and Blancpain Sprint Series races are actual length, while the Blancpain Endurance Series race telecasts are cut for time.
CBS Sports Network contracted with the Carolinas Broadcast Group, owned and operated by Rick Benjamin, to produce the ARCA telecasts. This is the same company that produced the telecasts that aired on the NBC Sports Network last year. But, we have a big difference. The NBC Sports Network races were delayed, sometimes by a month or more. The three races on CBS Sports Network will be aired live, and that creates some additional problems.
One is that other programming can screw around with the live broadcast. The telecast started 14 minutes late because the Cleveland Gladiators-Philadelphia Soul Arena Football League game went long (it seriously took that long to play the final 12 seconds). When the telecast finally began, it was like nothing had happened. In all honesty, even though it was supposed to be live, it didn't feel live to me. It felt tape-delayed. We never see Benjamin and Andy Hillenburg, who were in the broadcast booth for the race. I know they were there (or at the bare minimum, that Hillenburg was there) because Hillenburg posted a picture on Twitter from the broadcast booth looking out on the track during practice.
The only pre-race interview that aired was with pole sitter J.J. Haley, which was pre-taped, only adding to the notion that the whole telecast was somehow delayed. However, that is something that FOX Sports 1 has done with some of their ARCA broadcasts this season as well.
Once the race started, the technical issues started. The picture completely dropped out on the first lap of the race for about ten seconds, while we still had full audio. ARCA has free radio broadcasts of every race live on their website, but I don't watch a live TV telecast for radio. I watch it for the pictures.
Over the years, I've probably watched dozens of telecasts produced by Benjamin's Carolinas Production Group on various channels. I think that Saturday night's was the first of the bunch ever advertised as a live broadcast. It showed. Most of the technical issues that we saw were issues that would have been fixed had the telecast been delayed by even a couple of days. In addition to the technical woes, there were mix-ups in the scroll when it came to manufacturers, and a lack of a split-screen setup during the one pit interview Lewis actually did during the race (see below). However, it's a start. Perhaps the production staff are not necessarily used to working on live broadcasts. It'll get better at Winchester and Madison.
Benjamin and Hillenburg do work very well together in the booth. Both are quite knowledgeable about the series (especially Hillenburg) and are generally upbeat. The race was admittedly a butt kicking, but the duo managed to make the event somewhat exciting in the second half, despite only 16 cars on the track and Grant Enfinger stinking it up. Todd Lewis really didn't do all that much during the race on-air. He talked to Karl Weber, who broke his rear end just before Lap 100, and got stiffed by Kelly Kovski (Enfinger's crew chief). Of note, the split-screen that didn't show when Lewis was interviewing Weber did show up here. It's almost like they were learning on the fly. Otherwise, his impact on the broadcast was quite minimal. Don't get used to him. Elko was a one-off for Lewis. Dr. Dick Berggren will be in the pits for the other two CBS Sports Network races.
Despite the race ending with enough time for a decent amount of post-race coverage, we really didn't get all that much. There were interviews with the top two finishers (Enfinger and Tom Hessert, III). The points were displayed at the bottom of the screen where the scores to other games are usually shown. There was also a check of the unofficial results and some post-race analysis before the telecast abruptly ended early.
As many of you are aware of from reading past columns, a peeve of mine is the failure to fill your timeslot. There were other people that they could have interviewed in the eight minutes of time that they had left (the channel cut abruptly to World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars coverage that had aired earlier in the day). At the bare minimum, they could have interviewed the other two drivers on the lead lap at the finish (Justin Boston and J.J. Haley).
That's all for this week. Check out the Frontstretch Newsletter next Thursday, where we'll take a look at the live stream of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge's Continental Tire 150 at the Glen. Until then, enjoy this weekend's racing at Kentucky, NRG Park and Watkins Glen.
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Beyond the Pool: Tyler Clary Aims To Jump From Swimming To NASCAR
"I used to think that. I used to work with an off-road racing team as a general hand. I did welding and fab work for them. I worked for them about 10 hours a week for the two years leading up to the Olympic games. I noticed that I am at my best when I have something on the side to take my mind away from the stresses of being a professional swimmer. Whenever you are in the pool training it is very similar to being at the race track. You are always looking for the tiniest thing that will give you a marginal gain to give you an advantage over your competitor. Being able to channel that energy into something else and give myself a hiatus from swimming is really useful for me. It helps me come into every practice with a renewed vigor and a little more intensity." - Olympic swimmer Tyler Clary on using racing to keep him centered while trying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
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WEDNESDAY'S ARTICLES ON FRONTSTRETCH:
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: Back in 2005, Greg Biffle was a threat to win almost whenever he showed up to race in a Busch Series event. The Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway was no exception. Biffle lead laps and ran in the top-10 all night. However, his race ended short of the scheduled distance. What happened?
A: Biffle, who was running in the fifth position at the time, was trying to pass the No. 38 of Tyler Walker in Turn 1. However, Walker appeared to come down the track and hit Biffle in the right front corner. The result was that both cars spun out and Biffle backed hard into the wall. The crash 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 Staff
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Amy returns this week with another intriguing Friday commentary.
Pictures can lead to a thousand laughs; join us in our weekly dose of humor that comes from those candid moments at the track.
Don't let your life sink into the pits. Huston takes a look at the racing stories from the last seven days that should leave you smiling.
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!
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