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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 27, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CLXXXVIII
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Sprint Cup Race Recap: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Earns Elusive Martinsville Win
by Justin Tucker
The disappointment from Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was evident after last Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway.
After having his best season since 2004 while winning his second Daytona 500 and sweeping the races at Pocono, Earnhardt found himself eliminated from championship contention after finishing 31st at Talladega and faced with the reality of only having four races left with his crew chief Steve Letarte, the man many see responsible for his resurgence as a top level Cup series driver.
On Sunday, Earnhardt's focus turned to the legendary Martinsville Speedway, another track not yet crossed off his bucket list. The same track that his Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have combined to win at sixteen times and his late father, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. won at six times.
With many near misses fresh on his mind as well as the tenth anniversary of the Hendrick plane crash that killed ten members of the Hendrick family as well as team members, Earnhardt finally crossed Martinsville off his bucket list after passing Tony Stewart after a late race restart with four laps to go and from there held off Jeff Gordon by .344 seconds to win the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 for his fourth win of the season.
Earnhardt was more emotional than usual in Victory Lane after win the win.
"This means so much to all of us," Earnhardt said. "I lost my daddy a long time ago and I know how hard that is. I can't imagine losing the amount of people Rick lost. My heart goes out to him during this weekend. This honors them."
"We tried to win here so many years," he continued. "This place is so special to me. I wanted to win here so bad. We've brought some good cars."
Gordon was the highest finishing chaser at Martinsville on Sunday on a day where no automatic berths to the championship race at Homestead was clinched. Gordon led a race-high 130 laps and rallied from a pit road speeding penalty early in the race. Gordon was pleased with his team's effort, but was disappointed about letting another Grandfather clock slip away.
"That means so much to Hendrick Motorsports," Gordon said. "That's the best way you can possibly pay tribute to those that we lost 10 years ago. To have a 1-2 finish, that's pretty awesome. I would have loved to have gotten that win to move on to Homestead, but this is certainly a great start for us."
Ryan Newman finished third, while Tony Stewart matched his best finish of the season in fourth, and Joey Logano rounded out the top 5. Matt Kenseth finished sixth, Clint Bowyer seventh, and Denny Hamlin eighth. AJ Allmendinger fisished ninth, and David Ragan was tenth, earning Front Row Motorsports' first top-10 finish on an unrestricted track.
Martinsville lived up to its rough and tumble billing and several chasers were impacted by wrecks. The driver most notably affected was Kevin Harvick, who spun and hit the wall on lap 229 after Kenseth wheel-hopped entering turn 1. The crash sent Harvick's No. 4 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet to the garage for lengthy repairs. Harvick eventually returned to the race and finished 43 laps down in 33rd.
Harvick, who now will likely have to win next week at Texas or Phoenix in two weeks to advance to the championship race at Homestead had some stern words for Kenseth following the race.
"Yeah, he won't win this championship," Harvick said of Kenseth. "If we don't, he won't."
Brad Keselowski, who defied the odds last week at Talladega by winning the race and clinching a spot in the eliminator round was impacted by a transmission issue with 64 laps to go which triggered a massive wreck on the frontstretch that required a red flag to clean up. Keselowski finished 31st and put himself in a deep hole once again heading to Texas.
"I really think it's an axle," Keselowski said over the radio. "It just started shaking off of turn 2 and then it kicked itself out of gear because it was shaking so hard. I heard a big clunking noise."
The second red flag came out with around ten laps to go and lasted for around ten minutes before the final round of pit stops to the finish.
Six-time champion and eight-time Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson's dismal by his standards 2014 season continued on Sunday. After running as high as third, Johnson would have to make an unscheduled pit stop for a loose left front wheel, which put him two laps down. After getting a lap back Johnson was caught in a stack up which heavily damaged the front end of his Lowe's No. 48 Chevrolet. Johnson would finish 32nd.
A look at the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 by the numbers. There were 24 lead changes among ten different drivers and fifteen cautions for 105 laps slowed the race pace to 70.725 MPH.
Next week the Sprint Cup Series heads to the Texas Motor Speedway for the second race of the eliminator round. The AAA Texas 500 goes green next Sunday at 3:16 P.M. ET.
Justin Tucker is a newsletter contributor at Frontstretch. To reach Justin, please contact newsletter manager Phil Allaway at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
by Justin Tucker
On a day where he honored the late Wendell Scott by donning his familiar powder blue paint scheme and No. 34 on the side of his truck, Darrell Wallace, Jr. made it back-to-back victories in the Fall Truck Series race at Martinsville after leading a race high 97 of 200 laps, holding off Timothy Peters by .495 seconds to win the Kroger 200 for his third win of 2014.
Championship points leader Matt Crafton would finish third, Erik Jones scored his fourth top 5 of the season in fourth, and Ryan Blaney, who recovered from a spin on lap 138 stormed back to finish fifth. Tyler Reddick finished sixth, Johnny Sauter finished seventh, while Matt Tifft finished eightth in his series debut. Canadian Alex Guenette came home ninth, and German Quiroga would round out the top 10.
The Good:
Does anyone have a nickname for Matt Crafton yet? If not, he needs to be called the "Machine" for his ability to continue to churn out top 5 caliber runs all while trying to secure his second consecutive Truck Series championship. Crafton's 11th top 5 finish of the season on Saturday keeps his points lead over Ryan Blaney at 18 heading to Texas Motor Speedway next Friday night where Crafton won earlier this year.
In Kyle Busch Motorsports' case, the future may be now in Erik Jones. Jones recovered from a sub-par qualifying effort of 15th to finish fourth in his second career start on the paper clip shaped half-mile race track. Jones has one more start left in 2014 and that is at Phoenix in two weeks.
The Bad:
There is no denying the talent of young Cole Custer but he had a rough outing at Martinsville on Saturday after an earlier crash that did extensive damage to his No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet. Custer would finish a season worst 29th. However, the performance should be considered a minor setback after the success he has had in 2014.
The Championship Battle:
Matt Crafton maintains an eighteen point gap over Ryan Blaney in the race for the championship. Darrell Wallace Jr. with his win on Saturday makes it a three horse battle for the championship only 22 markers back with three races to go. Johnny Sauter is fourth and Timothy Peters rounds out the top five.
Next Race:
The Camping World Truck Series heads to the Lone Star State and Texas Motor Speedway next Friday night for the WinStar World Casino 350K. Green flag is scheduled for 8:49 P.M. ET
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With the Contender round now over, the eight remaining Chasers had their margins reset to zero. As a result, it's fairly easy to determine who's where in the standings after Sunday's Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500.
Phil Allaway is the newsletter manager and a senior writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Critic84.
Never Fear, The Underdogs Are Here: Martinsville-II Edition
Underdog Selection No. 1: AJ Allmendinger for JTG-Daugherty Racing; started 15th, finished 9th
Allmendinger has been strong at Martinsville in the past, so it should not be a surprise that he led the way for the small teams this weekend. A fifth or sixth-place car at one point, he faded during the final few restarts of the race but still put up an exceptional performance. The top-10 run means that Allmendinger has another top 10 to call his own this week — as in his top 10 points position. If the 'Dinger can finish there, what a story it would make for a team that was struggling simply to find itself just over a year ago.
Underdog Selection No. 3: Justin Allgaier for HScott Motorsports; started 22nd, finished 17th
Allgaier continues to improve on a weekly basis. He finished six spots higher than he did in his Martinsville Cup debut in the spring, recovering from a disastrous DNQ last weekend at Talladega. As the rookie and his team evolve, the top-20 finishes are getting more frequent—he's now got three in the last five races, not a bad tally for a single-car team with new ownership and a new driver this year.I got it right at Martinsville, picking AJ Allmendinger to grab the top spot among the small teams, and he delivered on that with a top-10 run. This week, it's off to Texas, another of the 1.5-mile tracks that are so difficult for the smaller teams to master with their limited resources. Despite repeated frustration with Texas, though Mears has a 20.5 average finish, best among the small teams. Mears also has a pair of top 5s from his days at Chip Ganassi Racing, so he knows how to get around the place.
Is your favorite driver among NASCAR's underdogs? Are you frustrated with the lack of coverage they receive during the race broadcasts? Amy has all the small teams covered each and every week in The Big Six. Be sure to check it out to see how your favorites fared!
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway was brought to you by the letter "A" for Aggressive. At Martinsville, it's hard to get anywhere quickly without being willing to use the bumper. Naturally, some drivers were more willing than others to use said bumper to get ahead. - Phil Allaway
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Sidebar Stories
by the Frontstretch Staff
"I...thought that we had worked our way into where we needed to be," Harvick said after the race. "In a good position and wound up back in the fence. [Kenseth] won't win this championship. If we don't, he won't."
Keselowski Suffers Gear Failure at Martinsville
"It's not the day we want by any means, but the guys did a great job," Keselowski said after the race. "They put a gear in this car in 28 laps at Martinsville, that's pretty phenomenal but it was just unfortunate the way the day played out. We were doing the things we needed to do. We were surviving."
Craven to Stay With ESPN
On Monday morning, ESPN announced that Ricky Craven, who has served as an analyst for ESPN's NASCAR broadcasts off and on for the past seven years, will remain with the network after the network's rights to air NASCAR events expires at the end of the season. Read more at Frontstretch
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"Oh, man. We've been trying to win here for so many years, and this place is so special to me. I've wanted to win here so bad. We brought the good cars. I'm out of breath from celebrating more than driving. It's a real emotional win. This team on pit road was great and Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the guys did a real good job all day. I can't believe we won here. This means so much to all of us. It's just real emotional. Winning races is the best thing. I ain't worried about points no more. I'm trying to get trophies. I've wanted that grandfather clock ever since I was a little boy and I got is today. My team, we all came together and made it happen. I couldn't be prouder. We're going to drink a lot of beer tonight. That's what's going to happen!" - Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
"It was a great performance and a really good finish. I about threw this one away on pit road. I made a mistake there and was speeding. So that's a great comeback. I thought we had the car to beat. Congratulations to (race winner) Dale (Earnhardt), Jr. That's the best way you can possibly pay tribute to those we lost here 10 years ago. To have a 1-2 finish is pretty awesome. I would have love to have gotten that win to move on to Homestead, but this is surely a great start for us. We've got two more great tracks coming up. I'm really proud of him and I know that means a lot to him and all his fans here." - Jeff Gordon, finished second
"I don't think it was a gamble by any means. I think if we were in that position 100 times over that is same call we would do. It felt like it was the right thing for this team. Running fifth there or fourth there I guess before the caution. I felt like it was the right call for sure. I didn't feel like it was a gamble. I thought we gave ourselves the best shot to race for the win. I don't think it we would have restarted fifth of the guys that pitted we could have raced through those guys to get where we were. If three or four more lead lap cars stayed out and gambled like we did it may have put enough cars in between us to make it pay off. I thought the risk versus reward was worth it for sure." - Tony Stewart, finished fourth
"It was a solid points day. It's a good the 88 won and not the 24, that's a good thing. We just weren't fast enough with our Shell/Pennzoil Ford. We didn't have the lateral, forward drive that I needed off the corner and every time we tried to fix that the center didn't turn. We just couldn't get the handle on it all day. We took four there and restarted 13th but got to fifth. I was just a little bit too tight there that last run to get a couple more spots. Overall, it was another top 5, which is great. I just really want to win these things so you take a little bit of pressure off, but it was still a good points day." - Joey Logano
"It's hard because you've got guys that go laps down in the course of the race and get enough lucky dogs and then 50 laps on their tires and they want to stay out. Just bottle necks the field up and we all got the short end of last restart stick again. Just sucked at the end and we can't finish where we're running. We're running better than what we're finishing. Other guys like (Ryan) Newman are finishing better than they're running. That's part of the deal, you've got to do it for all 500 laps and we just didn't have a very good car once the track went shaded there and we came in first and came out fourth on a slow stop. I couldn't recover from that." - Denny Hamlin, finished eighth
"Good day, honestly maybe one of the best days we have had all year just in the sense of not great early on, fighting hard. The guys had good pit stops and then a couple of adjustments there Brian (Burns, crew chief) really kind of clicked in and the car was really good. Actually, I was sad to see all those yellows come out because I thought once I figured out the long run, my car was really good. Even there before that last caution I was trying to be nice to the No. 31 (Ryan Newman) knowing he is battling for the championship. But I was way quicker than they were, in a way ninth is a little bit disappointing. But overall just really proud of the team that was probably one of the best efforts we have had all year." - AJ Allmendinger
"That was a great finish. It's important to stay on the lead lap in these events because it gives you a choice to gamble at the end. When I saw just one or two cars stay out I knew within five laps that we could hang on. Derrick Finley and our Front Row Motorsport team did a nice job working on our Ford all day. It's cool to have a little excitement there toward the end in the Wendell Scott Ford. Hopefully, his family was enjoying those final few laps. I know it was a lot of fun for me." - David Ragan, finished 10th
"It's not the day we want by any means, but the guys did a great job. They put a gear in this car in 28 laps at Martinsville; that's pretty phenomenal but it was just unfortunate the way the day played out. We were doing the things we needed to do. We were surviving. We were gonna probably have ourselves a fifth or sixth-place day, which is certainly something we could be proud of and move forward with, but this kind of puts us in a position now where we need to win. This Chase lends itself to those moments and we're a team that's capable of them, so we'll try to be as positive as we can and move forward with two more opportunities to do just that." - Brad Keselowski, finished 31st
"The good thing about this format is you have two more weeks and two race tracks that we can win on. Everybody was so worried about us starting in the back and we wrecked at the front. Unfortunate. [Kenseth] won't win this championship. If we don't, he won't." - Kevin Harvick, finished 33rd
"I think we ruptured an oil line. That's what I'm hearing. Whether it was the fitting or the line itself, I don't know. But we had a really good run. We were in the mix. We were running up front with the Haas Automation Chevy and we were in that spot where we won that race this spring; which meant 70 to go. If there were still another yellow, we would have been okay. If we were going to run to the end, that was going to be the run. And we were running P7. When we won the race, I think we were P3 on the restart. Inside is the king. You've got to get to the inside and everybody is 'elbows out' right now running hard. This is a great race. It's a great race track. And then you've got Chase guys and you don't have Chase guys. And so you're trying to manage that while you are out there. But, thanks to Chevrolet and Monster Energy and all of our sponsors this year. It's been a good year. I was hoping to get off the broom, but instead we've got our broom cleaning up our kitty litter right now." - Kurt Busch, finished 36th
"I was actually passing him off of (Turn) 2 and he didn't give me room and I was going to hit the wall so I lifted a little. And then he kind of went high into (Turn) 3, and that's where I was entering so he blocked. So I went low to pass him and then he chopped low across and spun himself out. I was surprised that he thought he could use the whole race track right there. So, he spun himself out and then later on I didn't really think he'd be mad at me. I didn't think I did anything wrong in this situation. But that's the way it goes." - Kasey Kahne, finished 40th (Crashed Out)
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500
by Mike Neff
Pace Laps: Veterans Struggling, Rookies Succeeding and Tempers Flaring
by the Frontstretch Staff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500
by Amy Henderson
Drive for Five is Definitely Alive for Jeff Gordon
by Joseph Wolkin
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The 2011 WinStar World Casino 350k is best known for Kyle Busch's intentional crash of Ron Hornaday, Jr. that got him parked for the remainder of the weekend. However, that intentional crash actually occurred under caution. What caused the yellow prior to the intentional crash?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1999 NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville is likely best known for the fact that Jeff Gordon won with debutante crew chief Brian Whitesell after Ray Evernham left to head up Dodge's testing for their 2001 return to Cup. However, the race also contained quite the series of events involving two particular drivers. What happened?
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take 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 triviaanswers@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News by Greg Davis
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Martinsvile-Texas Edition by Brad Morgan
We'll take a look at which drivers are looking good as just three races remain in the Cup Series season.
Racing to the Point by Brett Poirier
Brett returns with another interesting commentary that'll make you think. This week, it's all about Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski, two Chasers who might have just seen their championship bids go up in smoke.
Jeff returns with his typical blend of sarcastic humor tilted towards one of NASCAR's controversial issues.
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