Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 3, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CLXXII
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This Weekend's TV Schedule
Friday, October 3
Time Telecast Network
1:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge: Road Atlanta IMSA.com^
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Nationwide Series Happy Hour ESPN 2
4:15 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. NHRA Nationals Early Qualifications ESPN 3$
4:20 p.m. - 5:50 p.m. TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Qualifying IMSA.com/FansChoice.tv^
5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Countdown to F1 NBC Sports Network
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Qualifying ESPN 2
5:50 p.m. - 6:55 p.m. IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo Race No. 2 FansChoice.tv^
8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. ARCA Racing Series ARCA 98.9 FOX Sports 2
10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Formula One Grand Prix of Japan Free Practice No. 3 NBC Sports Live Xtra$
Saturday, October 4
Time Telecast Network
1:00 a.m. - 2:30 a.m. Formula One Grand Prix of Japan Qualifying NBC Sports Network
4:30 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. Sprint Cup Series Practice No. 1 FOX Sports 1*# (from October 3)
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. K&N Pro Series East Drive Sober 150 FOX Sports 1*/ (from September 26)
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Practice No. 2 FOX Sports 1
11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans IMSA.com^
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Nationwide Series Qualifying FOX Sports 2
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Formula One Grand Prix of Japan Qualifying NBC Sports Network*#
1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. NASCAR Live FOX Sports 2
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Happy Hour FOX Sports 2
3:00 p.m. - 10;00 p.m. TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans FOX Sports 2>
3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Nationwide Series Kansas Lottery 300 ESPN
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Tucson Speedway Practice FansChoice.tv^
6:00 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. Evergreen Speedway Practice FansChoice.tv^
7:00 p.m. - 8:45 p.m. Evergreen Speedway Qualifying FansChoice.tv^
8:15 p.m. - 9:40 p.m. Tucson Speedway Qualifying FansChoice.tv^
9:00 p.m. - 9:10 p.m. Evergreen Speedway Opening Ceremonies FansChoice.tv^
9:10 p.m. - 9:50 p.m. Evergreen Speedway Heat Races FansChoice.tv^
9:55 p.m. - 12:55 a.m. Tucson Speedway Southwest Smokeless Night At The Races FansChoice.tv^
10:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. Evergreen Speedway Interstate Batteries Truck Mania FansChoice.tv^
Sunday, October 5
Time Telecast Network
1:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. F1 Countdown NBC Sports Network
2:00 a.m. - 4:00 a.m. Formula One Grand Prix of Japan NBC Sports Network
3:30 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. NHRA Nationals Final Qualifications ESPN 2*/ (from October 4)
4:00 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. F1 Extra NBC Sports Network
11:00 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. NHRA Nationals Final Eliminations ESPN 3$
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. NASCAR RaceDay FOX Sports 1
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. NASCAR Countdown ESPN
2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 ESPN
2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. F1 Countdown NBC Sports Network*#
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Formula One Grand Prix of Japan NBC Sports Network
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. NHRA Nationals Final Qualifications ESPN 2*/# (from October 4)
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans FOX*/# (from October 4)
5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. F1 Extra NBC Sports Network*#
5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Formula DRIFT: The Gauntlet, Part No. 1 NBC Sports Network*/ (from June 20)
7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. NASCAR Victory Lane FOX Sports 1*
8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. NHRA Nationals Final Eliminations ESPN 2*/
DVR Theater (Late Sunday Night/Early Monday Morning)
1:30 a.m. - 4:00 a.m. Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 ESPN 2*/# (from October 5)
/ - Highlighted Coverage
// - Highlighted Coverage that has been cut a second time
# - Repeat Coverage
> - Coverage Joined in Progress
^ - Available via free online streaming
$ - Available via password-protected online streaming. Check with your internet and/or programming provider for availability
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Top News
by Summer Bedgood and Justin Tucker
Team Chevy Stage Collapses at Kansas Speedway, Weather Forces Schedule Changes
Have news for Justin and Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Frontstretch Folio: Hollywood Casino 400
by Brad Morgan
The Sprint Cup Series travels back to Kansas Speedway for the 30th race of the 2014 season on Sunday, Oct. 5. Television coverage of the Hollywood Casino 400 begins at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN; your local Motor Racing Network (MRN) affiliate and Sirius XM Channel 90 will handle the radio broadcast. Drivers will compete for at least 267 laps (400.5 miles) before the checkered flag waves.
Records and Facts
Jeff Gordon won at Kansas in May, his third victory and first since going back-to-back in 2001 and 2002 – the track's first two Cup races. Gordon held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick, who led a race-high 119 laps, to collect his 89th career win and first of 2014.
Only two drivers – Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart – have won at Kansas from outside the top 20 starting positions in 17 Cup races.
Chevrolet leads all active manufacturers with nine Kansas victories, followed by Ford (four) and Toyota (one).
Track Facts
Track Length: 1.5-mile D-shaped oval
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Degree of Banking: 17-20 degree variable banking
Frontstretch: 2,685 ft., 10 degrees of banking
Backstretch: 2,207 ft., 5.5 degrees of banking
Grandstand Seating: 81,779
Website: http://www.kansasspeedway.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KansasSpeedway
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KansasSpeedway
Pre-race Schedule
Practices: Friday, Oct. 3, 1 - 2:20 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1
Saturday, Oct. 4, 11 – 11:50 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1
Happy Hour: Saturday, Oct. 4, 2 – 2:50 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2
Qualifying: Friday, Oct. 3 at 5:45 p.m. ET on ESPN2
VIPs
Grand Marshal: TBA
Command to start engines: TBA
Honorary Starter/Wave Green Flag: TBA
Invocation: TBA
National Anthem: TBA
Flyover: TBA
Race Day Forecast
Saturday: Partly Cloudy
High: 70
Low: 46
They Said It:
"Historically, Kansas has not been one of my favorite tracks, but earlier this year we were actually running OK. And then we got into one of the worst accidents I've ever been in. It tore up our race car, which is now sitting in Dale Jr.'s car graveyard. So, we're starting fresh with a different car." - David Gilliland
"[Kansas is] definitely a little bit different just for the fact the (corner) entries are a little different than at most places. Turns 3 and 4 remind me of turns 3 and 4 at Chicagoland Speedway, but there's a lot more grip and a lot fresher asphalt than what Chicagoland has nowadays. It's a very high-speed race track. You run the middle to the bottom of the race track. But I'm sure, as time goes on, that the groove will move back up. But, for right now, it's very fast and very sensitive to your line and, with all the speed and how tricky the entrance is into turn 1, you can miss your line easily. So, you have to be very specific about where you put your car and pay attention to what you're doing." - Kevin Harvick
"I won my first race as the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite car at Kansas back in 2011 and that makes this track kind of special to the team and me. We didn't run as well as we would've liked to in the spring race earlier this year so that gives us added determination to improve our performance this weekend. The team has been working diligently on enhancing our platform for this race, and we should be good this weekend. We are going into Kansas with the confidence of our recent successes and having a win here adds to that as well. It would be great to come out of this one on top." - Brad Keselowski
"We just have to keep doing what we are doing. I'm pretty proud to look at the sheet and know that we are the only team in the entire series that got top fives in the first three races of the Chase, and we had the best average finish. I know Brad and his team had the second-best average finish, so I think that says a lot about Team Penske and how we are doing right now. We just need to keep doing what we are doing. No reason to reinvent the wheel. The things we have been doing all year long have been working, so we just need to keep doing things the same way. We can make a few tweaks here and there, and that's what you need to do to stay competitive. I know we'd really like to go out there and win Kansas or Charlotte so we cannot worry about Talladega and be locked into the next round." - Joey Logano
"The track is super smooth and super fast. It takes a lot of power. You spend so much time wide open and it will take a well-balanced car." - Ryan Newman
Brad Morgan is a senior writer for Frontstretch. Email him at brad.morgan@frontstretch.com.
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Keeping It Short: The Super Bowl of Late Model Racing
by Mike Neff
Readers of this column know that we love to focus on the big events. Labor Day weekend we just highlighted the biggest of them all with the Super Nationals at Boone Speedway in Iowa. This weekend is the biggest of them all for the Late Model Stock Cars as they invade Martinsville Speedway for the Martinsville DuPont Credit Union 300. Big races are often categorized as the Super Bowl for their style of race cars. For the perimeter chassis Late Model Stock Cars that call North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee home, Martinsville is the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, and Kentucky Derby.
The race has gone through several changes since it began in 1985. For the first eight years the events were primarily 100 lap races and were contested two or three times a year. Three events were 150 laps. Beginning with the Fall race in 1993 the lap count was increased to 200 laps. In 1995, Taco Bell came on board as the title sponsor of the race. Since 1998 the event has only been held in the Fall. 2004 saw Bailey's, a tobacco company, take over the naming rights for the race. With the ban on tobacco advertising taking affect in 2010, the Virginia Department of Tourism took over the race sponsorship and labeled it the Virginia is for Racing Lover's 300. This season the DuPont Credit Union assumes the helm.
Qualifying for the race has gone through several iterations. This year it is similar to the process of qualifying for the Daytona 500. The cars will go through European style group qualifying to establish a fast lap for each car. Drivers have six minutes to try and lay down their fastest lap. The fastest two drivers after all of the qualifying is in the books will lock into the front row of the 200 lap feature race. The remaining cars are divided into three heat races that are 25 laps long. The top 10 finishers in each of the three heats transfer into the feature. Finally a last chance qualifying race that is also 25 laps long will lock the final 10 drivers into the 42-car field. The heat races generally have high intensity as drivers don't want to have to make their way into the feature through the LCQ. That final race usually lives up to its name as it is the last chance for drivers to make the race and they will hold nothing back in trying to do it.
The feature is 200 laps long with a midway break. There is also a competition caution with 10 laps to go to ensure the field is bunched up when the money is awarded, and it is a lot of money for local Late Model racers. The winner gets $25,000 and every car that starts received $1,000. Most drivers will tell you that the money is nice but they really want the trophy. Just like every race at Martinsville, the winner goes home with a grandfather clock. For years the Late Model race was the only chance that Truck drivers had to win a clock, as the clocks were only awarded for people who won on Sunday at Martinsville. The Trucks and Nationwide, when they ran there, did not run on Sunday so they only won trophies. Many Truck drivers would run the Late Model race to try and score a clock since the weekend is usually an off weekend for the Truck Series.
There are quite a few big names on the list of Late Model winners at Martinsville. Barry Beggarly, the only driver to win the National Championship in ASA and NASCAR has won the race three times, including two of three contested in 1994. Dexter Canipe, Philip Morris and Lee Pulliam are the other National Champions who have won the race, although no one has ever won the race and the title in the same year. Curtis Markham has won the race four times. Dennis Setzer, Mike Skinner, Timothy Peters and Jake Crum are all Truck series drivers who have won the event.
Qualifying takes place on Saturday and the heat races, LCQ and Feature begin Sunday at noon. Tickets for the racing action are $30.
If you are anywhere near southern Virginia on Sunday, Martinsville Speedway is the place to be. You'll see future stars of the Cup series on display and some of the most intense racing you will see anywhere.
Late Model Stock Winners at Martinsville Speedway
100-Lap Races
1985 – Curtis Markham
1985 – Barry Beggarly
1986 – Elton Sawyer
1987 – Curtis Markham
1987 – Mark Martin
1988 – Wayne Patterson
1988 – Phil Warren
1989 – Ronnie Thomas
1989 – Curtis Markham
1990 – David Blankenship
1990 – Wayne Patterson
1991 – Jay Fogleman
1991 – Mike Buffkin (150 Laps)
1991 – Curtis Markham
1992 – Dennis Setzer
1992 – Jay Fogleman (150 Laps)
1992 – Joe Gaita
1993 – Eddie Johnson (150 Laps)
200-Lap Races
1993 – Mike Skinner
1994 – Bugs Hairfield
1994 – Barry Beggarly
1994 – Barry Beggarly
1995 – Shayne Lockhart
1995 – Tony McGuire – Taco Bell became title sponsor
1996 – Donnie Apple
1996 – BA Wilson
1997 – David Hyder
1997 – Billy Hogan
1998 – Dexter Canipe Sr. – Races switched to Fall only
1999 – Robert Powell
2000 – Philip Morris
2001 – Phil Warren
2002 – Frank Deiny, Jr.
2003 – Jamey Caudill
2004 – Tony McGuire – Bailey's takes over title sponsorship
2005 – Timothy Peters
2006 – Alex Yontz
2007 – Dennis Setzer
2008 – Jason York
2009 – Jake Crum
2010 – Philip Morris – Virginia is for Racing Lover's takes over title sponsorship
2011 – Lee Pulliam
2012 – Philip Morris
2013 – Tommy Lemons, Jr.
This weekend's racing schedule can be found here.
Mike Neff is a senior writer for Frontstretch.com. Feedback can be sent to mike.neff@frontstretch.com.
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TODAY ON FRONTSTRETCH:
Nuts for Nationwide: Another Earnhardt Starting to Make a Name for Himself?
by Joseph Wolkin
Holding a Pretty Wheel: Chase Format Left NASCAR Schedule Behind
by Amy Henderson
Friday Faceoff: Surprises, a Mild Ride, and Who's Getting Better
by Frontstretch Staff
Frontstretch Foto Funnies: You had WHAT for breakfast?
by Frontstretch Staff
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA
Q: As noted above in the Top News section, this weekend's Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka Circuit is being threatened by Typhoon Phanfone, which is approaching from the south. It will not be the first time that the grand prix weekend will be affected by a tropical cyclone. The same thing happened in 2004, when Typhoon Ma-On approached the Japanese island of Honshu. How was the weekend re-arranged to avoid the worst of the storm?
Check back Monday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Thursday's Answer:
Q: Saturday marks the 17th running of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The first running of the race is best known for an unusual crash that put Porsche's factory GT1-98 out of the race. What happened?
A: Former Formula 1 driver Yannick Dalmas was leading the race overall win when his Porsche took flight on the backstretch, performing a backflip before coming back down on all fours and hitting the wall. The crash can be seen here.
Dalmas was OK after the crash, but the Porsche was done for the day. It was the one and only time that the GT1-98 ever raced in a mixed race in the United States featuring prototypes and GT racers.
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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-- Hollywood Casino 400 Race Recap by Justin Tucker
-- Never Fear, The Underdogs Are Here by Amy Henderson
-- Sidebar Stories: Kansas by Phil Allaway
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch Columns and More!
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This Weekend on the Frontstretch:
Four Burning Questions: Kansas by Matt Stallknecht
Matt covers all the big stories and questions heading into the first race of the second round of the Chase.
Nationwide Breakdown: Kansas Lottery 300 by Joseph Wolkin
Joseph has all the post-race analysis you need following Saturday's Nationwide Series race from Kansas.
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Monday on the Frontstretch:
Thinkin' Out Loud: Hollywood Casino 400 by Mike Neff
Mike covers all the details and post-race analysis from Kansas.
Big Six: Hollywood Casino 400 by Amy Henderson
Amy tackles the who, what, when, where, how and why from Kansas.
Pace Laps: All Racing Series by the Frontstretch Staff
Our staff keeps you posted on all the racing action that occurred over the weekend.
Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles
Tom returns to tackle one of the most important storylines post-Kansas.
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 toeditors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2014 Frontstretch.com
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