Thursday, July 10, 2014

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Which Driver Is Racing Where?

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

July 10th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CXI
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What to Watch: Thursday

- Today, the NASCAR weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway begins with Practice and Qualifying for the K&N Pro Series East, which races in the Granite State 100 tomorrow afternoon after Sprint Cup Qualifying.  Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series teams will be pulling into New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway, respectively today.

Today's TV Schedule

Time                             Telecast                                                                                                         Network
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM      NASCAR America                                                                                         NBC Sports Network
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM      NASCAR RaceHub                                                                                       FOX Sports 1
5:30 PM - 6:00 PM      NASCAR America: Future Stars                                                                   NBC Sports Network
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM      NASCAR's The List: Legendary Drivers                                                       NBC Sports Network#
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM      NASCAR RaceHub                                                                                       FOX Sports 2*#
 
DVR Theater (late Thursday night/early Friday morning)
 
12:00 AM - 1:00 AM       NASCAR RaceHub                                                                                    FOX Sports 2*# (from July 10)
1:00 AM - 2:00 AM         K&N Pro Series West Carneros 200                                                          FOX Sports 2*/# (from June 21)
2:00 AM - 4:00 AM         IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Continental Tire 150            FOX Sports 2*/# (from June 28)
 
*- Tape Delayed
/- Highlighted Coverage
#- Repeat Coverage

Top News
by Phil Allaway

Newberry to Make Nationwide Debut at New Hampshire

NTS Motorsports announced on Wednesday that Brennan Newberry, who currently competes full-time in the K&N Pro Series East and part-time in the Camping World Truck Series, will drive the No. 55 Chevrolet Camaro in Saturday's Nationwide Series Sta-Green 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for Viva Motorsports/SS-Green Light Racing.  Read more at Frontstretch.

Axxess Pharma to Sponsor Whitt in Two Races

BK Racing announced on Wednesday that Axxess Pharma, through wholly-owned subsidiary AllStar Health Brands, has signed on to be the primary sponsor on the No. 26 Toyota driven by Cole Whitt in this weekend's Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 
Read more at Frontstretch.

Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.

Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 301: 43 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 33 - Morgan Shepherd for Circle Sport
No. 40 - Landon Cassill for Hillman Racing
No. 44 - JJ Yeley for Swan Racing/Xxxtreme Motorsports

Driver Changes:
No. 32
- Eddie MacDonald is in the seat, replacing Terry Labonte. MacDonald, a longtime veteran of the K&N Pro Series East, will be making his Sprint Cup Series debut.
No. 33 - Morgan Shepherd is in the seat, replacing Bobby Labonte. Shepherd, at age 72 will become the oldest Cup Series driver to start a race if he qualifies.
No. 66 - Jeff Burton returns to the seat, replacing Michael Waltrip. This race was given to Burton as a compensatory event after Brett Moffitt was given Burton's slot at Michigan.

Since there are only 43 entries, no one will fail to qualify.

Not Entered:
No. 21
- Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 29 - RAB Racing with Brack Maggard

Nationwide Series Sta-Green 200: 41 cars entered

Number Change:
- Tommy Baldwin Racing changes from No. 8 to No. 36.

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 20
- Matt Kenseth for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22 - Brad Keselowski for Team Penske
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. 55 - Brennan Newberry for Viva Motorsports with Frank Cicci/SS-Green Light Racing

Driver Changes:
No. 5
- Austin Theriault returns to the seat, replacing Kasey Kahne. Theriault is running a limited schedule for the JR Motorsports program this year.
No. 20 - Matt Kenseth returns to the seat, replacing Darrell Wallace, Jr. Kenseth is running a limited schedule in Nationwide for his Cup employer, JGR.
No. 22 - Brad Keselowski returns to the seat, replacing Joey Logano. Keselowski is part of the Penske Nationwide driver rotation.
No. 23 - Carlos Contreras returns to the seat, replacing Robert Richardson, Jr.
No. 44 - Matt Frahm is in the seat, replacing David Starr. Saturday will be Frahm's first Nationwide Series start since 2012.
No. 55 - Brennan Newberry is in the seat, replacing Ross Chastain. Newberry will be making his Nationwide Series debut. Todd Bodine was originally entered in the seat.
No. 74 - Kevin Lepage returns to the seat, replacing Mike Harmon. Lepage is running a limited schedule for Harmon when funding permits.
No. 87 - Josh Reaume is in the seat, replacing Carlos Contreras. Reaume is running a limited schedule based on funding.
No. 93 - Ryan Ellis is in the seat, replacing Mike Wallace. Ellis is running a limited schedule based on funding.

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 5
- Austin Theriault for JR Motorsports
No. 10 - Blake Koch for TriStar Motorsports*
No. 13 - Derek White for Carl Long Racing*
No. 17 - Tanner Berryhill for Vision Racing
No. 33 - Paul Menard for Richard Childress Racing
No. 36 - Ryan Preece for Tommy Baldwin Racing
No. 46 - Matt DiBenedetto for The Motorsports Group*
No. 70 - Derrike Cope for Derrike Cope Racing
No. 72 - Matt Carter for Carter Racing*
No. 74 - Kevin Lepage for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 86 - Jake Crum for DRG Motorsports

Not Entered:
No. 25
- John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports
No. 29 - Scott Lagasse, Jr. for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard
No. 76 - Tommy Joe Martins for Martins Motorsports
No. 80 - Johnny Sauter for HRE Enterprises
No. 84 - Chad Boat for Billy Boat Motorsports
No. 97 - Joe Nemechek for Identity Ventures Racing
No. 98 - David Ragan for Biagi-DenBeste Racing

Camping World Truck Series American Ethanol 200 presented by Enogen: 38 trucks entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points: None

Driver Changes:
No. 07
- BJ McLeod returns to the seat, replacing JJ Yeley.
No. 08 - Chris Eggleston is in the seat, replacing Jimmy Weller. Eggleston will be making his first Camping World Truck Series start since 2010, when he drove five races for SS-Green Light/GunBroker Racing.
No. 0 - Caleb Roark returns to the seat, replacing Ryan Ellis. Roark is expected to start-and-park Jennifer Jo Cobb's second truck.
No. 5 - An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing John Wes Townley. Townley will run the rest of the season in the No. 05, Zaxby's backed Truck for Athenian Motorsports.
No. 8 - John Hunter Nemechek returns to the seat, replacing his father Joe Nemechek.
No. 12 - Eric Caudell is in the seat, replacing Ted Minor. If he qualifies on speed, Caudell would make his Camping World Truck Series debut. Caudell is a late model standout.
No. 19 - Tyler Reddick returns to the seat, replacing Brad Keselowski.
No. 20 - Justin Lofton returns to the seat, replacing Austin Dillon.
No. 23 - Spencer Gallagher returns to the seat, replacing Max Gresham. Gallagher is no longer focusing just on the ARCA Racing Series. Instead, he is picking and choosing races in various series for the rest of the year.
No. 51 - Erik Jones returns to the seat, replacing Kyle Busch.
No. 74 - Dustin Hapka is in the seat, replacing Alex Guenette. If he qualifies on speed, Hapka would make his Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 97 - Jeff Choquette returns to the seat, replacing Steve Wallace. If he qualifies on speed, Choquette would be making his first Camping World Truck Series start since 2012.

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 00
- Cole Custer for Stewart-Haas Racing
No. 05 - John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports. Townley will drive for this family-owned operation for the remainder of 2014. Also, the team may at some point claim the No. 5 for themselves.
No. 07 - BJ McLeod for SS-Green Light Racing
No. 0 - Caleb Roark for JJC Racing*
No. 12 - Eric Caudell for Cefalia Motorsports
No. 23 - Spencer Gallagher for GMS Racing
No. 36 - Scott Stenzel for MB Motorsports*
No. 42 - Charles Lewandoski for Young's Motorsports*
No. 45 - Tommy Regan for McLeod Racing. If Regan qualifies on speed, he would make his Camping World Truck Series debut. Previously, Regan started four races in the K&N Pro Series West back in 2012.
No. 56 - Raymond Terczak, Jr.
No. 74 - Dustin Hapka for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 86 - Brandon Brown for Brown Racing.  If Brown qualifies on speed, he would make his Camping World Truck Series debut.
No. 97 - Jeff Choquette for Adrian Carriers Racing

* - Expected to Start-and-Park

Not Entered:
No. 71
- Adam Edwards for Norm Benning Racing
No. 75 - Caleb Holman for Henderson Motorsports
No. 92 - Corey LaJoie for RBR Enterprises

Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn Indy 300 presented by DEKALB: 22 cars entered

Driver Changes: None

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. 17 - Sebastian Saavedra for KVAFS Racing
No. 18 - Carlos Huertas for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 19 - Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne Racing
No. 20 - Ed Carpenter 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

IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance: 40 cars entered in 3 classes

Prototype (P) Entries: 12
No. 01
- Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
No. 07 - Joel Miller/Tristan Nunez for SpeedSource
No. 0 - Katherine Legge/Andy Meyrick for DeltaWing Racing Cars
No. 1 - Ryan Dalziel/Scott Sharp for Extreme Speed Motorsports
No. 2 - Ed Brown/Johannes van Overbeek for Extreme Speed Motorsports
No. 5 - Joao Barbosa/Christian Fittipaldi for Action Express Racing
No. 10 - Jordan Taylor/Ricky Taylor for Wayne Taylor Racing
No. 31 - Eric Curran/Boris Said for Marsh Racing
No. 42 - Olivier Pla/Gustavo Yacaman for OAK Racing
No. 60 - Oswaldo Negri, Jr./John Pew for Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
No. 70 - Tom Long/Sylvain Tremblay for SpeedSource
No. 90 - Michael Valiante/Richard Westbrook for Spirit of Daytona Racing

Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) Entries: 10
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. 62 - Giancarlo Fisichella/Pierre Kaffer for Risi Competitizone
No. 91 - Dominik Farnbacher/Marc Goossens for SRT Motorsports
No. 93 - Jonathan Bomarito/Kuno Wittmer for SRT Motorsports
No. 911 - Richard Lietz/Nick Tandy for Porsche North America
No. 912 - Michael Christensen/Patrick Long for Porsche North America

Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) Entries: 18
No. 007
- Al Carter/James Davison for TRG-AMR
No. 18 - Mark Thomas/Unknown driver for Muehlner Motorsports America
No. 19 - Unknown drivers for Muehlner Motorsports America
No. 22 - 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 for Dempsey Racing
No. 33 - Jeroen Bleekemolen/Ben Keating for Riley Motorsports
No. 35 - Seth Neiman/Dion von Moltke for Flying Lizard Motorsports
No. 44 - Andy Lally/John Potter for Magnus Racing
No. 45 - Nelson Canache/Spencer Pumpelly for Flying Lizard Motorsports
No. 46 - Charles Espenlaub/Charles Putman for Fall-Line Motorsports
No. 48 - Christopher Haase/Bryce Miller for Paul Miller Racing
No. 58 - Jan Heylen/Madison Snow for Snow Racing/Wright Motorsports
No. 63 - Alessandro Balzan/Jeff Westphal for Scuderia Corsa
No. 73 - Kevin Estre/Patrick Lindsey for Park Place Motorsport
No. 81 - 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

Entered, but Already Withdrawn:
No. 30
- Christina Nielsen/Kuba Giermaziak for NGT Motorsport

Not Entered:
No. 9
- Jon Fogarty/Brian Frisselle/Burt Frisselle for Action Express Racing (P)
No. 51 - Jack Gerber/Matt Griffin/Michele Rugolo for Spirit of Race (AF-Corse, GTD)
No. 57 - Nic Jonsson/Tracy Krohn for Krohn Racing (GTLM)


Have news for Phil, Summer and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip. Comments can also be sent to frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com.
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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!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today's Featured Commentary
Potts' Shots: Racing The Rain

by John Potts

We're seeing a case of being damned if you do and damned if you don't this week.

NASCAR decided to call the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona after 112 laps on Sunday. And after the third of three red flags because of rain.  Aric Amirola picked up his first Cup win, and the first for Richard Petty's No. 43 since 1999, 30 years and two days after Richard won his 200th in the same race.

I know everybody reading this probably knows all about the race and what happened, including the REALLY big one that involved something like 26 cars, so we're not going into all that. We've got some great writers on Frontstretch.com that do their job reporting on the races and analyzing what happened.  I'm a columnist, and my writing is usually pretty well opinionated.

I can't say I was surprised to read on the internet on Monday that Brian Vickers and Kurt Busch, who finished second and third, respectively, weren't really happy about NASCAR's decision to call the race at that point.  Well, considering where they were running, that figures.  From what I could see, the forecast for the rest of the day wasn't any too favorable, and I'm sure that played a part in the decision. 

Folks, I've been in that position.  Both as a race director and as an advisor to the race director, or whoever had the responsibility to make the final decision.  I've sat there and watched it rain, watched it ease up, even stop, and then start up again about the time we got the track dry – and it's a whole lot easier with a short track, even if you don't have all those fancy vacuum cleaner trucks.

And I've had the person in charge call me on the radio and ask me what the U.S. Weather Service is saying.  I made it a point to have the nearest weather station's phone number on speed dial, or at least an area TV forecaster I trusted.  At Indianapolis Raceway Park, it was usually Chuck Lofton at WTHR or "Swoop" Gregory at WISH (I think).

In the 11 years or so at Corbin Speedway, I developed a great relationship with the people over at Jackson, Ky. Once in a while, they'd even answer the phone by saying, "Hello, John."  I suspect they had our location marked on their radar screens, because they'd tell me it was about to ease up and we had a window of about an hour, or just to forget it because it was going to get worse instead of better.

Despite this forecasting, there were times when the weather would clear up within an hour of our calling the race.  The people who predict this stuff for a living used to tell me this shift can happen if there's a wind shift in the jet stream of a few degrees or something like that.

A promoter is sitting on a pretty narrow fence in a situation like this one, and chances are, no matter what decision he or she makes it's not going to sit well with somebody.

It's not hard to imagine that the tracks in Iowa have had their fill of this kind of thing over the past week.

Over the years, I can recall some situations that were sometimes humorous…

There was the ASA race at Atlanta when it rained so hard all day long that I wanted to hear them call it off because I wanted to get out of there before the place filled up with water.

Once at Clay City, Ky., I was in the flagstand working practice on the dirt oval when the tower told me to look at the deep end of the drag strip.  You could see it past the end of the grandstand.  Sure enough, here comes a wall of water about a quarter-mile away.  Throw the red, make sure everybody has at least slowed down, gather up the flags, and split. Usually not in time to keep from getting soaked.

And at the Nashville Fairgrounds, with the GATR trucks practicing, glancing over the backstretch and seeing another one of those walls of water coming.  I'm sure the drivers thought I was crazy when I put the red flag out and turned the red lights on, but they got the message soon enough.

I suppose the luckiest one we had was at an ASA race at Queen City Speedway near Cincinnati.  It started spritzing (that's the only word for it) at about 170 of 200 laps. We still had about 30 cars on the track, spread out, and nobody was slipping.

Bob Senneker was leading, so the late Leo Parrish, our Tech Director and pace car driver, went directly to Bob's pit and asked crew chief Howdy Thomas what Bob thought of the track.  Bob told Howdy it was fine, and Leo spent the rest of the race standing there with him.

One guy got a little out of shape coming off the fourth turn but caught it, and I asked Leo about it. He said, "That guy was wormy when we started, Bob says it's fine."

I knew there was a chance that if we had to go yellow and slow things down, we'd lose the track, but we were lucky that day.  When this kind of thing happens, try to at least understand what the people running the place are going through.

John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.  He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com.

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

Editor's Note: The Critic's Annex will return next week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frontstretch Line of the Week


From Beyond the Cockpit: Landon Cassill on NASCAR Sponsorship And Home Renovation


"
It's just different. You're just [competing] differently than some of the other teams. I, honestly, wouldn't want it any other way. I'm enjoying the way that we're growing as a team and working our way up. Eventually, you reach a point where you learn how things really are and how you have to make the best out of the situations. You realize that we just do things differently. We have to, because we don't have the money to spend that the other teams do." - Landon Cassill, on driving for a smaller team in the Nationwide Series.
~~~~~~~~~~

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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
 
as told to Mike Neff
 
by Beth Lunkenheimer
 
by Kevin Rutherford
 
by Jeff Wolfe

~~~~~~~~~~

FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  In 2000 at New Hampshire, the first thing on everyone's mind were wrecks.  When the Busch Series traveled there for their standalone race, they lost Adam Petty to a stuck throttle in practice at the young age of 19.  The race didn't see any injuries, but it didn't get off to any better of a start.  What happened?

Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
 
Wednesday's Answer:

Q:  The 1997 Busch Series U.S. Cellular 200 at New Hampshire is probably best known for a duel to the finish between Mike McLaughlin and Steve Park, a couple of Northeastern standouts.  However, an incident on-track set up the four-lap dash at the end.  What happened?

A:  On a restart with 16 laps to go, leader Jeff Fuller got in the back of Glenn Allen, Jr. in Turn 2, causing a multi-car wreck that collected Jeff Krogh, Brad Leighton, Dale Shaw, Mark Green, Tracy Leslie, Jimmy Foster, Stevie Reeves and Jeff McClure.  The crash can be seen here.

Allen, Reeves, Leighton (driving Terry Labonte's No. 5) and McClure were all out on the spot.  The others continued after receiving repairs.

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 Justin Tucker
-- In Case You Missed It by Staff
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!


~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:


Mirror Driving by the Frontstretch Staff
Your favorite Frontstretch writers are back to discuss a number of pertinent issues including the new Race Team Alliance, the decision to call the Coke Zero 400 early on Sunday, group qualifying at Daytona, and more.

IndyCar Preview: Iowa by Toni Montgomery
We'll have a preview of this weekend's Iowa Corn Indy 300 presented by DEKALB at Iowa Speedway.

Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns this week with another intriguing Friday commentary.

Frontstretch Foto Funnies by the Frontstretch Staff
Pictures can lead to a thousand laughs; join us in our weekly dose of humor that comes from those candid moments at the track.

Nuts For Nationwide by Kelly Crandall
Kelly returns to bring us up-to-date on NASCAR's second-tier series as they return to the track this weekend at Loudon.

Happiness Is... by P. Huston Ladner
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!
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©2014 Frontstretch.com

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