Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
July 17th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CXVI
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Today's TV Schedule
Time Telecast Network
by Phil Allaway
RTA To Speak to NASCAR via Lawyers Only
Sporting News' Bob Pockrass is reporting that NASCAR has directed that all communication between the sanctioning body and the RTA be done between lawyers. International Speedway Corporation (ISC), the France family-controlled public company that owns a number of tracks that host Sprint Cup races, has also indicated that they will not talk directly to the RTA members. Read more at Frontstretch.
NASCAR to Test Potential 2015 Rule Changes at Michigan
MRN's Dustin Long is reporting that NASCAR has scheduled an open test at Michigan International Speedway for August 18th, the day after the Sprint Cup Series' Pure Michigan 400. The goal will be to evaluate potential changes to the rules ahead of next season. Read more at Frontstretch.
New Hampshire TV Ratings Down
The final TV ratings are in for TNT's coverage of the Camping World RV Sales 301, and they're not all that great. The race achieved a final rating of 2.7, down 16 percent from last years' 3.2. Total viewership was at 4.3 million, down 13 percent from last year. According to Sports Media Watch, these are the lowest ratings for a Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire since 1998, when both New Hampshire races were televised on TNN (now Spike).
Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.
Nationwide Series EnjoyIllinois.com 300: 41 cars entered
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 5- Kasey Kahne for JR Motorsports
No. 20- Erik Jones for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22- Ryan Blaney for Team Penske
No. 25- John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports
No. 33- Cale Conley for Richard Childress Racing
No. 42- Kyle Larson for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 54- Sam Hornish, Jr. for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 87- Joe Nemechek for Identity Ventures Racing
Driver Changes:
No. 5- Kasey Kahne returns to the seat, replacing Austin Theriault.
No. 20- Erik Jones is in the seat, replacing Matt Kenseth. Jones will be making his Nationwide Series debut.
No. 22- Ryan Blaney returns to the seat, replacing Brad Keselowski.
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Carlos Contreras.
No. 33- Cale Conley returns to the seat, replacing Paul Menard.
No. 40- Matt DiBenedetto returns to the seat, replacing Josh Wise. Wise was originally entered in the car, but DiBenedetto noted on his Twitter that he will be driving the car.
No. 44- David Starr returns to the seat, replacing Matt Frahm.
No. 46- An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Matt DiBenedetto.
No. 54- Sam Hornish, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Kyle Busch.
No. 55- Jamie Dick returns to the seat, replacing Brennan Newberry.
No. 87- Joe Nemechek returns to the seat, replacing Josh Reaume.
No. 93- Mike Harmon is in the seat, replacing Ryan Ellis. Mike Wallace was originally entered.
Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 5- Kasey Kahne for JR Motorsports
No. 10- Blake Koch for TriStar Motorsports*
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- Cale Conley for Richard Childress Racing
No. 46- Unknown driver for The Motorsports Group
No. 70- Derrike Cope for Derrike Cope Racing
No. 72- Harrison Rhodes for Carter Racing
No. 74- Kevin Lepage for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 84- Chad Boat for Billy Boat Motorsports
*- Expected to Start-and-Park
Not Entered:
No. 36- Ryan Preece for Tommy Baldwin Racing
No. 86- Jake Crum for DRG Motorsports
Camping World Truck Series 1-800 CarCash Mudsummer Classic (on July 23): 33 trucks entered
Special Ground Rules:
- Top 20 in owners' points are locked-in, instead of top 25
- Starting field is 30 trucks instead of 36
- Positions 1-25 are set from five heat races of ten laps each
- Positions 26-30 will be set from a 15-lap Last Chance Qualifier
- The 30th starting spot is officially set aside for a Past Champion that does not get through the other scenarios, or the fifth-place finisher from the LCQ if a past champion does not need it.
Number Change:
- Norm Benning Racing changes from No. 57 to No. 6.
Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 2- Austin Dillon for Richard Childress Racing
No. 3- Ty Dillon for Richard Childress Racing
No. 14- Michael Annett for GMS Racing
No. 32- Kyle Larson for Turner Scott Motorsports
Driver Changes:
No. 00- Ken Schrader is in the seat, replacing Cole Custer.
No. 07- Ray Black, Jr, returns to the seat, replacing Korbin Forrester.
No. 08- Jimmy Weller returns to the seat, replacing Chris Eggelston.
No. 0- Joe Cobb is in the seat, replacing Caleb Roark. Ryan Ellis was originally entered in the truck, but Jennifer Jo Cobb mentioned on Twitter that the truck would be driver by her father, Joe.
No. 20- Gray Gaulding returns to the seat, replacing Justin Lofton.
No. 32- Kyle Larson is in the seat, replacing Tayler Malsam.
No. 63- JR Heffner is in the seat, replacing Justin Jennings. If Heffner qualifies, he would make his Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 82- An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Jake Crum.
Drivers who must qualify either through heat races, or the LCQ:
No. 00- Ken Schrader for Stewart-Haas Racing
No. 02- Tyler Young for Young's Motorsports
No. 05- John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports
No. 07- Ray Black, Jr. for SS-Green Light Racing
No. 0 – Joe Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 2- Austin Dillon for Richard Childress Racing
No. 3- Ty Dillon for Richard Childress Racing
No. 6- Norm Benning for Norm Benning Racing
No. 10- Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 14- Michael Annett for GMS Racing
No. 63- JR Heffner for MB Motorsports
No. 80- Jody Knowles for Tracy Wallace. Knowles is a dirt late model racer out of the Midwest. If he qualifies for the A-main, he would be making his Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 82- Unknown driver for Empire Racing
Not Entered:
No. 12- Eric Caudell for Cefalia Motorsports
No. 23- Spencer Gallagher for GMS Racing
No. 42- Charles Lewandoski for Young's Motorsports
No. 45- Tommy Regan for McLeod Racing
No. 56- Raymond Terczak, Jr. for Terczak Racing
No. 74- Dustin Hapka for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 86- Brandon Brown for Brown Motorsports
No. 97- Jeff Choquette for Adrian Carriers Racing
Verizon IndyCar Series Honda Indy Toronto: 23 cars entered
Driver Changes:
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
ARCA Racing Series Ansell ActivArmr 150: 29 cars entered
Driver Changes:
No. 06- Tim Viens returns to the seat, replacing Wayne Peterson.
No. 3- Jerry Tunney is in the seat, replacing Karl Weber. Tunney will be making his ARCA Racing Series debut.
No. 40- Galen Hassler is in the seat, replacing Jami Weimer.
No. 52- Matt Tifft returns to the seat, replacing Ken Schrader.
No. 66- Leilani Munter is in the seat, replacing J.J. Haley.
No. 68- Chris Bailey, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Will Kimmel.
No. 69- Will Kimmel returns to the seat, replacing Michael Lira.
No. 77- Tom Hessert, III returns to the seat, replacing Anderson Bowen.
No. 97- Roger Carter returns to the seat, replacing Ray Ciccarelli. Carter was just released from prison after serving a ten month sentence. Carter's wife, Dana, ran the day-to-day operations of the team during Roger's incarceration.
Notable Entries:
No. 15- John Wes Townley for Venturini Motorsports
No. 22- Austin Wayne Self for Cunningham Motorsports
No. 25- Justin Boston for Venturini Motorsports
No. 44- Frank Kimmel for Win-Tron Racing
No. 52- Ken Schrader for Ken Schrader Racing
No. 53- Andrew Ranger for NDS Motorsports
No. 66- Leilani Munter for Venturini Motorsports
No. 69- Will Kimmel for Kimmel Racing
No. 77- Tom Hessert, III for Cunningham Motorsports
No. 88- Justin Allison for Team BCR
No. 90- Grant Enfinger for Team BCR
No. 98- Mason Mitchell for Mason Mitchell Motorsports
Not Entered:
No. 4- Brandon Jones for Turner Scott Motorsports
No. 17- Kyle Weatherman for Roulo Brothers Racing
No. 72- Cunningham Motorsports
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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!
Potts' Shots for July 17
Here we go again.
Erik Jones leads more than 130 of 200 laps in winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway, another case of Kyle Busch's No. 51 team dominating an event.
In the previous race at Kentucky, the car owner himself was the dominant winner, and NASCAR found the truck to be too low in the post-race inspection. The same thing happened at Iowa.
For the Kentucky event, NASCAR in their infinite wisdom docked the team six owner points, and fined crew chief Eric Phillips $5,000.
I know NASCAR recently set down their guidelines for penalties, and as most short-track fans know, they fall far short of what is expected when someone is caught playing fast and loose with the rule book out in the hinterlands.
Kyle Busch says the trucks aren't allowed as much leeway in meeting the post-race height requirement as the Nationwide cars, and my impression was that he was admitting his team was having a problem getting it right. NASCAR is NOT going to take a win away from any team, and I think that goes for any rule infraction. This dates all the way to Richard Petty's victory several years back with an engine that was found to be far oversized. The team was fined, but the win stood.
I'm not saying that the Busch trucks have been so good because they're running with a lower ride height. Maybe this is one of those classic Smokey Yunick/Harry Hyde situations. Give them something they can find so they don't look too closely at everything else. That's not likely nowadays, given the thoroughness of the post-race inspection.
I recall Harry even having NASCAR inspectors looking at his pit-side tool box. Simply by putting a piece of tape over the bottom drawer with "TRICK S**T" printed on it. You wouldn't believe how many inspectors pulled that drawer open just to check it out. How they would know if one pair of needle nose pliers was more illegal than another pair, I don't know.
My dissatisfaction with the situation is as I mentioned above. This kind of result of a rule infraction isn't common in weekly racing, so why does it prevail at the highest level? The usual rejoinder is that they don't want the people to go home thinking a certain driver and vehicle won the race, only to learn on social media or in the next day's papers that they've been disqualified.
At the most recent short track where I was announcing, it wasn't unusual at all to hear the race director call me on the radio and say, "No. 12 disqualified, unapproved shock absorbers," or something similar. I would dutifully inform the crowd.
I can recall a few years back working for Andy Vertrees at a short track in southern Indiana, and listening to the tech inspector tell Andy the winner of the Late Model feature was five pounds light. Andy's answer never waivered: "You have to take his number down," as they say in horse racing.
I know NASCAR's not going to change, but it doesn't make it right in my opinion.
- - - - - - - -
Joey Logano is unhappy that Morgan Shepherd, at 72 years of age, is allowed to race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. After being taken out in an accident with Shepherd on lap 209 at New Hampshire, Joey said, "The slowest car on the racetrack took us out. Go figure. I feel like there should be like, a driver's test before you get out in a Cup car and make sure you know how to drive before you drive one. But, I don't know. I guess there isn't." Logano also noted that Shepherd was quite a few laps down, and didn't provide the courtesy he felt was due the leaders.
Morgan later said Logano should know that with the aerodynamics the way they are today, you can spin a car out from the outside as well as the inside. He also said something to the effect that Joey is much younger than he is, and he's had his problems, too.
He didn't bother to say "Go figure."
John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com.
I wonder just how many IndyCar races that Hobbs has been able to watch this year. Only one grand prix all year has been won by someone outside of the Mercedes team (Daniel Riccardo for Red Bull). In IndyCar, there have been eight different winners. While all three Penske drivers have won, they account for only four of 12 race wins. They're far from an all-conquering force.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer at Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Critic84.
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Ross Chastain: Beyond the Watermelon
"[Sadler] freaked me out. That was my first interview of anything approaching that level. So, yeah, I said 'sir.' I still do. Now, it's a joke, but when I see someone like that, and I'd watched him race growing up. I've watched him broadcast, commentate and do pit reports. I have a lot of respect for him, so I just said 'sir.' It's what I do. He kind of caught me off-guard and I caught him off-guard. I was just stumbling; I must have said 'um' over 30 times in that interview." - Ross Chastain, on his first National TV interview at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis in 2011. Also of note, the number of "um's" was closer to eight than 30.
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Tuesday's Answer:
Q: Team Penske's Gil de Ferran dominated the 2001 Molson Indy Toronto, leading 49 laps. However, he was eliminated with a little less than 20 laps to go. What happened?
A: De Ferran was leading, but his team failed to get his car full of fuel on a prior stop. As a result, de Ferran had to make an unscheduled stop to top off, which put him back in the pack. Shortly after a restart, de Ferran ran over the left front of Cristiano da Matta's No. 6 for Newman/Haas Racing and spun into the tires in Turn 3. Michel Jourdain, Jr. was also involved. The crash can be seen here.Jourdain and da Matta were out on the spot. De Ferran was able to drive his car back to the pits, but the crew determined that the car could not be repaired, putting him out for the day.
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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