Thursday, August 21, 2014

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Stewart To Officially Miss Bristol; Keselowski Wins Rain Postponed UNOH 200

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

August 14th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CXXXVI
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Today's TV Schedule

Time                               Telecast                                                                                                                                         Network

3:00 PM - 5:00 PM       Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 presented by Zloop                                             FOX Sports 1*#
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM       NASCAR RaceHub                                                                                                                        FOX Sports 1
6:30 PM - 7:00 PM       NASCAR America                                                                                                                          NBC Sports Network
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM       The 10: Greatest Bristol Moments                                                                                              FOX Sports 1#
7:30 PM - 8:00 PM       The 10: NASCAR's Greatest Finishes                                                                                       FOX Sports 1#

DVR Theater (Late Thursday Night/Early Friday Morning)
4:00 AM - 5:30 AM        Formula One Grand Prix of Belgium Free Practice No. 1                                                      NBC Sports Live Xtra$
4:00 AM - 6:00 AM        Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 presented by Zloop                                             FOX Sports 1*# (from August 21)
 
* - Tape Delayed
/ - Highlighted Coverage
# - Repeat Coverage
$ - Available via password-protected online streaming.  Check with your internet and/or programming provider for availability.

Top News
by Phil Allaway

Stewart To Miss Bristol; Burton to Sub Again

On Wednesday, Stewart-Haas Racing officially announced that Tony Stewart will miss his third straight Sprint Cup race in the aftermath of the death of Kevin Ward, Jr.  Jeff Burton, who drove the No. 14 at Michigan on Sunday, will be back in the seat.  Read more at Frontstretch

UNOH 200 presented by Zloop Postponed By Rain, Keselowski Wins

At Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday night, the Camping World Truck Series was supposed to have a 200 lap duel, serving as the second half of a doubleheader with the Whelen Modifieds.  However, 20 minutes prior to the scheduled start, rains moved in.  They started out lightly, then picked up in intensity.  Lightning struck nearby as well.  Eventually, just shy of 10 PM EDT, NASCAR called off the race for the night with precipitation still falling.

The postponed race ran on Thursday morning under sunny skies. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch battled it out at the front of the field all day as the only two drivers to hold the top spot. Keselowski prevailed, scoring his first Truck Series win over Darrell Wallace, Jr. Ron Hornaday, Jr., Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter. Kyle Busch suffered a late-race flat after a run-in with the wall and finished 24th, six laps down.


Watkins Glen International Looking Towards Potential Modifications

In an interview with FOX Sports' Jay Pennell, Watkins Glen International President Michael Printup stated that the track is looking at potential safety modifications to the circuit in the aftermath of the huge crash involving Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell that caused a 90 minute red flag.  The changes are still in the planning stages, so any actual modifications will not be announced for quite a while.  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 Irwin Tools Night Race: 43 cars entered


Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 32
- JJ Yeley for Go FAS Racing
No. 40- Landon Cassill for Hillman Racing


Driver Changes:
No. 32
- JJ Yeley is in the seat, replacing Travis Kvapil.
No. 33- David Stremme returns to the seat, replacing Alex Kennedy.

No. 66- Brett Moffitt returns to the seat, replacing Joe Nemechek.
No. 83- Ryan Truex returns to the seat, replacing JJ Yeley.  This is unofficial, as Truex has yet to be cleared by doctors.

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

 

Not Entered:
No. 21
- Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing

 

Nationwide Series Food City 300: 46 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:

No. 5- Kevin Harvick 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- Kyle Busch for Joe Gibbs Racing

No. 86- Jake Crum for DRG Motorsports

No. 87- Timmy Hill for Identity Ventures Racing/Rick Ware Racing

 

Driver Changes:
No. 5
- Kevin Harvick returns to the seat, replacing Josh Berry

No. 10- Mike Bliss returns to the seat, replacing Blake Koch.

No. 14- Eric McClure returns to the seat, replacing Jeff Green.
No. 19- Hermie Sadler is in the seat, replacing Mike Bliss.
No. 20- Erik Jones returns to the seat, replacing Kenny Habul.
No. 22- Ryan Blaney returns to the seat, replacing Alex Tagliani.
No. 23- Brad Teague is in the seat, replacing Cody Ware.  Robert Richardson, Jr. was originally entered in the car.
No. 29- Milka Duno is in the seat, replacing Kenny Wallace.  If Duno qualifies, she will be making her Nationwide Series debut.
No. 31- Dylan Kwasniewski returns to the seat, replacing Justin Marks.
No. 33- Cale Conley returns to the seat, replacing Paul Menard.

No. 37- Ryan Ellis is in the seat, replacing Matt DiBenedetto.  Ellis announced this deal on his Twitter page earlier this week, but the entry has not been added to the official entry list.

No. 42- Kyle Larson returns to the seat, replacing Dylan Kwasniewski.

No. 44- David Starr returns to the seat, replacing Carlos Contreras.

No. 46- An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Josh Reaume.

No. 54- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing Sam Hornish, Jr.

No. 55- Jamie Dick returns to the seat, replacing Timmy Hill.

No. 72- John Jackson returns to the seat, replacing Carl Long.
No. 74- Kevin Lepage returns to the seat, replacing Bobby Reuse.

No. 86- Jake Crum returns to the seat, replacing Tim Cowen.
No. 87- Timmy Hill is in the seat, replacing Stanton Barrett

No. 93- Kevin Swindell returns to the seat, replacing Tomy Drissi.

 

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 5
- Kevin Harvick for JR Motorsports

No. 10- Mike Bliss 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. 29- Milka Duno for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard

No. 33- Cale Conley for Richard Childress Racing

No. 37- Ryan Ellis for Vision Racing

No. 46- Unknown driver for The Motorsports Group
No. 70- Derrike Cope for Derrike Cope Racing

No. 72- John Jackson for Carter Racing*

No. 74- Kevin Lepage for Mike Harmon Racing

No. 84- Chad Boat for Billy Boat Motorsports

No. 86- Jake Crum for DRG Motorsports

No. 89- Morgan Shepherd for Shepherd Motor Ventures*

No. 91- Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports*

* - Expected to Start-and-Park


Not Entered:

No. 15- Rick Ware Racing
No. 77- Roger Reuse for Mike Harmon Racing

No. 79- John Jackson for Jimmy Means Racing


Verizon IndyCar Series GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma: 22 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. 17- Sebastian Saavedra for AFS 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 HVM/Andretti Autosport

No. 67- Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing

No. 77- Simon Pagenaud for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Racing

No. 83- Charlie Kimball for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing

No. 98- Jack Hawksworth for Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian

 

ARCA Racing Series Herr's Live Life With Flavor 200: 29 cars entered

 

Driver Changes:

No. 06- Wayne Peterson returns to the seat, replacing Dale Matchett.

No. 3- Karl Weber returns to the seat, replacing Ron Cox.
No. 15- John Wes Townley returns to the seat, replacing Kevin Swindell.
No. 52- Matt Tifft returns to the seat, replacing Ken Schrader.

No. 55- Ben Rhodes is in the seat, replacing Brennan Poole.  Rhodes will be making his ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards debut.

No. 66- Brennan Poole is in the seat, replacing Bob Strait.

No. 68- An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Chris Bailey, Jr.

No. 69- Michael Lira returns to the seat, replacing Will Kimmel.
No. 72- Tom Hessert, III returns to the seat, replacing Shannon McIntosh.

No. 77- Anderson Bowen returns to the seat, replacing Tom Hessert, III.
No. 97- Emerson Newton-John is in the seat, replacing Roger Carter.  Newton-John will be making his ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards debut.  Newton-John is the 39-year old nephew of Olivia Newton-John and has previously raced in Indy Lights.

No. 99- An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing Steve Fox.

 

Notable Entries:
No. 4
- Brandon Jones for Turner Scott Motorsports

No. 15- John Wes Townley for Venturini Motorsports

No. 22- Austin Wayne Self for Cunningham Motorsports

No. 25- Justin Boston for Venturini Motorsports

No. 37- Kyle Benjamin for Benjamin Racing

No. 44- Frank Kimmel for Win-Tron Racing

No. 52- Matt Tifft for Ken Schrader Racing

No. 55- Ben Rhodes for Venturini Motorsports

No. 60- Kyle Weatherman for Roulo Brothers Racing

No. 66- Brennan Poole for Venturini Motorsports

No. 72- Tom Hessert, III for Cunningham Motorsports

No. 90- Grant Enfinger for GMS Racing

 

Not Entered:

No. 00- Wayne Peterson Motorsports

No. 5- Mark Littleton for Littleton Racing

No. 7- Brent Cross

No. 16- Kelly Kovski for Allgaier Motorsports
No. 24- Ryan Unzicker for Hendren Motorsports

No. 50- Blanchard Motorsports

No. 71- Shane Cockrum

No. 73- Dale Shearer for Dale Shearer Racing

No. 80- Brian Finney for Finney Motorsports

No. 89- Brad Dubil for J.C. Dubil Racing

 

TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Oak Tree Grand Prix: 39 cars entered in 3 classes


Prototype Challenge (PC) Entries: 10 (Note: PC runs 2 45-minute races with IMSA Prototype Lites)

No. 08- Chris Cumming/Unknown driver for RSR Racing

No. 09- Duncan Ende/Bruno Junqueira for RSR Racing
No. 7- Martin Fuentes/John Martin for Starworks Motorsport

No. 8- Mirco Schultis/Renger van der Zande for Starworks Motorsport

No. 25- Luis Diaz/Sean Rayhall for 8Star Motorsports

No. 38- James French/David Ostella for Performance Tech Motorsports

No. 52- Gunnar Jeannette/Frankie Montecalvo for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports

No. 54- Jon Bennett/Colin Braun for core Autosport

No. 85- Chris Miller for JDC/Miller MotorSports

No. 88- Unknown drivers for BAR1 Motorsports

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 Competizione

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 (core Autosport)

No. 912- Michael Christensen/Patrick Long for Porsche North America (core Autosport)


Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) Entries: 19

No. 007- Al Carter/James Davison for TRG-AMR

No. 18- Unknown drivers 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- Tony Ave/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/Marino Franchitti/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/Dempsey Racing

No. 63- Alessandro Balzan/Jeff Westphal for Scuderia Corsa

No. 71- Unknown drivers for Park Place Motorsports

No. 73- Patrick Lindsey/Mike Skeen for Park Place Motorsports

No. 81- Damien Faulkner/Michael Lewis for GB Autosport

No. 94- Dane Cameron/Markus Palttala for Turner Motorsport

No. 555- Townsend Bell/Bill Sweedler for AIM Autosport


Have news for Phil 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!
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Editor's Note: Potts' Shots Will Return Next Week
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The Critic's Annex: Bully Hill Vineyards 125
by Phil Allaway

Hello, race fans.  Welcome back to another edition of the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports programming.  This week, we're returning to Watkins Glen International to take a look at the K&N Pro Series East's first race on the 2.45 mile course since 2008.  Traditionally, the events at Watkins Glen have been interesting and the one held August 8th was no exception.  However, how did FOX Sports cover this 51 lap adventure?  Let's take a look.

Adam Alexander was in the play-by-play chair with Phil Parsons alongside.  I found Alexander to be just ok here and Parsons to be his usual strong self.  Parsons is not in a situation where he has to carry Alexander, but Alexander's performance is simply passable.  However, the broadcast booth is not the main story from this telecast.

The main story of this race was a series of left front tire failures.  The first of those occurred on Lap 4 and put pole sitter Brodie Kostecki out of the race.  Later, there were a couple of more failures, most notably affecting Cameron Hayley, who was leading at the time.  Did we see those failures?  No, unless you want to count the montage of clips from the race at the very end of the telecast.  Why?  Those failures, along with a caution for Ryan Gifford stopping on track, occurred during a 13 lap stretch of the race that was cut from the telecast.  I feel like it's quite important to actually show a portion of the race that actually swung the event.  We also never saw these offending tires, so we couldn't figure out what the deuce was causing these issues. 

Later on, Nick Drake and Brandon Jones also blew left front tires just as the Halftime caution came out.  Believe me, if this were a regular broadcast, there is no way that the tires wouldn't have played a bigger role in the broadcast.  At the bare minimum, pit reporter Kaitlyn Vincie should have done a brief piece on the issues and talked with crewmembers in the pits to get some kind of an idea what was going on.  There was a cameraman assigned to follow Vincie around the pits as well.  Perhaps this proposed piece on the tire issues was actually done, but cut from the telecast.  If so, that's a bad decision.  I know that the K&N Pro Series East and West Divisions run bias-ply tires as opposed to the radials in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series (excluding Eldora), but I cannot think of an excuse for the issues that we saw in this race.  The cars are faster than they were in 2008, but Goodyear could put together a bias-ply tire that can handle average speeds of 117 in race trim at Watkins Glen.

The way that the telecast was set up, we never got a good idea of who was handling well, or who was having issues, with the exception of Gray Gaulding, who apparently had either a battery or engine issue.  Whatever it was, he finished three laps down in 18th, the last car still on the track.  Vincie referenced that Gaulding was having issues right when he lost the lead to Andrew Ranger on Lap 32, but it was never fully paid off.  All we knew is that Gaulding thought he lost a cylinder, while his crew thought Gaulding had a battery going bad.

Post-race coverage was fairly standard for K&N Pro Series telecasts.  Viewers saw interviews with the top-3 finishers (Ben Rhodes, Andrew Ranger and first-time Scott Heckert, who has since added win No. 2 at Virginia International Raceway in the Biscuitville 125).  There were also checks of the unofficial results and point standings before FOX Sports 1 left the air.

Overall, the on-track racing that we got to see was actually pretty good.  However, a race telecast is much more than just the actual racing for position.  I felt uninformed watching the event, which is simply not good.

I hope you enjoyed this look at FOX Sports' telecast of the K&N Pro Series East Bully Hill Vineyards 125.  Next week, I'll be back with another column as we close in on 400 critiques in total.  Until then, enjoy this weekend's action at Bristol, Spa-Francochamps, Sonoma and VIR.

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 Beyond the Cockpit: Justin Boston on Beginnings, Transitions and a Bristol Debut


"
I try to stay away from that. Brennan Poole has enough superstitions and rituals to cover about half the garage. I always put my left glove on first, I always put my watch in my left shoe, and that's pretty much as far as I want to go with it." - Justin Boston, on pre-race rituals
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
 
as told to Mike Neff

 
by Kevin Rutherford

~~~~~~~~~~

FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  During the telecast of the 1985 Busch 500 from then-Bristol International Raceway.  Mike Alexander was billed as being from "across the street."  Being based across the street from the track gives you rare privileges.  How did Sadler Racing get their Chevrolet Monte Carlo into the pits at Bristol, according to ESPN?

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

Q:  In 1991, Dale Jarrett memorably won his first career race in a photo finish with Davey Allison.  At Bristol, Jarrett was in good position to get No. 2 before an unusual issue put him out.  What happened?

A: Jarrett was running second just after halfway when the right front wheel appeared to break on the No. 21 Ford.  The car went hard into the wall as a result.  After the wall contact, the wheel bounced away from the CITGO Ford, bouncing off of the inside wall on the frontstretch.  The crash can be seen here.  Jarrett was ok, but he was done for the night.

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 recent test of potential rule changes for 2015 at Michigan, Hendrick Motorsports potentially bogarting the entire Chase for themselves, Daniel Suarez's move into the Nationwide Series and more.

IndyCar Preview: Sonoma by Matt Stallknecht
We'll have a preview of this weekend's GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway.

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 Michigan.

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!
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

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