The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Sept. 23, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CLXIV
5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. NASCAR America NBC Sports Network
Top News
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GOT A NASCAR QUESTION OR COMMENT? WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
That's right; our Fan Q & A column is back once again in 2014. Send your question Summer Bedgood's way at summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print on Thursday when she does her weekly column. It's all part of our daily mission to give back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat!
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How NASCAR Found All The Young Superstars
Yes, there was quite a stir in New Hampshire this past weekend. Hopes were raised and dashed for the 16 Chase contenders. Nerves were stretched taut and the odds makers in Vegas had heart attacks with every car that went sailing off into the wall.
However, this weekend wasn't all about Joey Logano hoisting a massive lobstah over his head. There was a veritable tidal wave of youth in NASCAR banging down the doors in all three national series. We've seen it coming for a while, but with Kyle Larson running an incredible race last week -- bringing home a third-place finish in Chicagoland -- then backing it up with a solid second-place run at New Hampshire, it's got everybody talking about the new generation of NASCAR drivers.
As well it should. What's even better, the No. 42 Target Ganassi machine may just be the tip of the iceberg. What? How can that be? Why, only a couple years ago we were laughing at the purported rookie classes in the Cup Series and how no matter how hard we tried, there was no young talent to be had. Where did all these young drivers come from, and wait... who are they?
Believe it or not, something NASCAR has done has actually reaped the rewards it intended. It took a while, but all good things... In 2006, NASCAR realigned its developmental divisions -- what used to be called the Busch North Series and the Winston West Series. Both were well respected within their own regions, but they catered more to the shade tree mechanics, race teams run out of local garages and traveling in beat up trailers to truly local events. As a driver, if you were noticed by a Charlotte team in one of the little races, it was through sheer luck. You probably didn't have the time and money to set up the kind of promotion machine needed to garner national attention. Thus, the lone names that climbed out of the series were few and far between -- like Steve Park and Ricky Craven.
NASCAR expanded both series, calling them originally the Camping World East and Camping World West. Both included teams from almost half the country and ultimately, tended to draw in the pockets and efforts of Cup teams for support. Their circuits encompassed a larger portion of the country and appeared at tracks well known by the larger racing community.
At the time, I bemoaned the loss of local racing, as many of the old teams simply couldn't afford to drive to Tennessee or Iowa in order to compete. However, as time has passed it's clear that the Cup dollars actually helped to build a stronger platform for NASCAR over time. We now have rookies like Larson and Dillon, Nationwide stars Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Dylan Kwasniewski, Gray Gaulding and yes, down in the truck garage we've discovered Cole Custer, Saturday's 16-year-old winner of the UNOH 175.
All of these young men have risen through the ranks of the now K&N Pro East/West series and are backed by strong teams. Where it used to take a driver until they were age 30 to find the spotlight of NASCAR, the "Little League" system is now lining up teenagers to sign the big-time contracts. Sort of like the tried and true recruiting efforts that the MLB and NFL have designed over time. Below the K&N series, we even have the Legends and Bandolero series designed for getting kids into the cockpit well before they could ever dream of handling a full-sized race car.
Through these efforts, NASCAR has created a pool of young, eager talent ready to step up into the big time. That can only appeal to sponsors who like to see a surefire return on their marketing dollar -- nobody is going to back John Smith from Nowhere USA if you've never heard of them before. By the time Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon arrived in the Sprint Cup Series, they had been spotlighted on enough auto racing media over several years to already be household names, making them a strong investment opportunity for not only sponsors, but also their racing teams. We should expect the same kind of grooming for the new class of youngsters.
All of this effort results in one thing -- a deep well of talent ready for the sport to dip into whenever it is needed. Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and other aging racers won't be driving forever. One day they will vacate their rides, and it's important to NASCAR as a business, and to my Sunday afternoon's enjoyment, that we have an able crew of youth equipped to rise up to the challenge.
Sometimes, NASCAR does get it right. Sometimes...
2014 Sonya Strictly by the Stats
Top Three Rookies for 2014 Sylvania 300
1.) No. 42 Kyle Larson - Started 10th, Finished 2nd (1st in RoTY standings)
2.) No. 3 Austin Dillon - Started 22nd, Finished 11th (2nd in RoTY standings)
3.) No. 51 Justin Allgaier - Started 24th, Finished 20th (3rd in RoTY standings)
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 atsonya.grady@frontstretch.com. Follow her on Twitter at @laregna and on her Facebook page (she's an author, too!) athttps://www.facebook.com/Author.SDGrady.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Couch Potato Tuesday: More of the Same from ESPN; Fox Sports 1 Achieves Despite Technical Issues
by Phil Allaway
by Danny Peters
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the 2001 MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr. 400, Jeremy Mayfield was having a great run early on in what turned out to be his second-to-last race in the No. 12 Ford for Penske-Kranefuss Racing. However, things went wrong on Lap 55. What happened to put Mayfield out?
Check back Wednesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Monday's Answer:
Q: The 1996 MBNA 500 at Dover was a 4.75-hour endurance classic, probably best known for an instance where Jimmy Spencer attempted to punch Wally Dallenbach, Jr. through his window following a late-race crash. For Chad Little, though he didn't even break a sweat. What happened?
Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Ashley McCubbin
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Open-Wheel Wednesday by the Frontstretch Staff
Did You Notice?... by Tom Bowles
NASCAR Mailbox by Summer Bedgood
Summer's ready to once again answer questions from you, our loyal fans. Do you have a question or comment for Summer? Don't be shy. Just send her an email (summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com) and you might just see your name in print!
NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 after Loudon compiled by Michael Mehedin
The Chase is here and Team Penske continues to show their strength on a weekly basis. Does that mean that Brad Keselowski will stay atop the rankings? Find out how your favorite experts voted in the latest edition of our weekly poll.
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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