The Frontstretch Newsletter: Texas Race Weekend Begins

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 30, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CXCI

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What to Watch: Thursday

- Today, the race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway gets underway.  The Camping World Truck Series teams have two rounds of practice today.  Those sessions are from 2 - 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m.  They will not be televised

Today's TV Schedule

Time                                             Telecast                                                                                                                                                      Network

5 - 5:30 p.m                          NASCAR America                                                                                                                                     NBC Sports Network

5 - 6 p.m.                              NASCAR RaceHub                                                                                                                                   FOX Sports 1

6:30 - 7:30 p.m.                     NASCAR RaceHub                                                                                                                                   FOX Sports 2*#

7:30 - 8 p.m.                         The 10: NASCAR's Wildest Throw-Downs                                                                                                   FOX Sports 2#

7:30 - 8 p.m.                         1: The True Story of the Drivers Who Risked Their Lives and Changed The Sport Forever                                NBC Sports Network#

10 - 11 p.m.                          Road to Mercedes                                                                                                                                    NBC Sports Network

11 p.m. - 12 a.m.                  Road to Ferrari                                                                                                                                          NBC Sports Network#

DVR Theater (Late Thursday Night/Early Friday Morning)

1 - 2 a.m.                            Road to Mercedes                                                                                                                                    NBC Sports Network#

7 - 9 a.m.                            NASCAR America (Four repeats)                                                                                                      NBC Sports Network*# (from October 30)   

* - Tape Delayed

# - Repeat Coverage

Top News
by Phil Allaway

Bowman to Drive For JR Motorsports at Phoenix

On Wednesday, JR Motorsports announced that Sprint Cup Series rookie Alex Bowman will return to the No. 5 Chevrolet in the upcoming Nationwide Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.  Sponsorship will be provided by LINE-X.  Read more at Frontstretch

Scott Lagasse, Jr. to Drive For RCR in Nationwide Series Finale at Homestead

On Wednesday, Richard Childress Racing announced that part-time Nationwide Series driver Scott Lagasse, Jr. will drive the No. 33 Chevrolet in the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  The car will be sponsored by a combination of the Boy Scouts of America and the Florida DOT's Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow campaign.  Read more at Frontstretch

Krista Voda Moves to NBC Sports in 2015

On Wednesday, the NBC Sports Group announced the signing of Krista Voda, currently of FOX Sports, to a multi-year contract.  Her primary role will be as the host of pre-race and post-race coverage for Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series races on NBC and NBC Sports Network.  For a reaction piece on Voda's move, check out The Critic's Annex below.  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 AAA Texas 500: 43 cars entered

 

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 21- Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing

No. 32- Joey Gase for Go FAS Racing
No. 40- Landon Cassill for Hillman Racing

No. 83- JJ Yeley for BK Racing

Driver Changes:
No. 32- Joey Gase returns to the seat, replacing Kyle Fowler.
No. 33- David Stremme returns to the seat, replacing Travis Kvapil.
No. 66- Brett Moffitt returns to the seat, replacing Mike Wallace.

 

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

Not Entered:

No. 44- Timmy Hill for Team Xtreme Racing
No. 93- Clay Rogers for BK Racing

 

Nationwide Series O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge: 43 cars entered

 

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 5- Kevin Harvick for JR Motorsports

No. 12- Ryan Blaney for Team Penske

No. 20- Matt Kenseth for Joe Gibbs Racing

No. 22- Joey Logano for Team Penske

No. 25- John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports

No. 33- Austin Dillon for Richard Childress Racing

No. 42- Kyle Larson for Turner Scott Motorsports

No. 54- Kyle Busch for Joe Gibbs Racing

No. 98- Corey LaJoie for Biagi-DenBeste Racing

Driver Changes:
No. 5- Kevin Harvick returns to the seat, replacing Alex Bowman.
No. 10- Blake Koch returns to the seat, replacing David Starr.
No. 22- Joey Logano returns to the seat, replacing Brad Keselowski.
No. 23- Robert Richardson, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Carlos Contreras.
No. 33- Austin Dillon returns to the seat, replacing Cale Conley.
No. 44- David Starr returns to the seat, replacing Will Kimmel.
No. 87- Carlos Contreras returns to the seat, replacing Timmy Hill.

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

No. 10- Blake Koch for TriStar Motorsports*

No. 12- Ryan Blaney for Team Penske

No. 17- Tanner Berryhill for Vision Racing
No. 25- John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports

No. 33- Austin Dillon for Richard Childress Racing

No. 46- Ryan Ellis for The Motorsports Group*
No. 70- Derrike Cope for Derrike Cope Racing
No. 74- Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing*

No. 84- Chad Boat for Billy Boat Motorsports

No. 89- Morgan Shepherd for Shepherd Motor Ventures*
No. 90- Martin Roy for DGR Motorsports
No. 98- Corey LaJoie for Biagi-DenBeste Racing

Not Entered:

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

No. 72- Matt Carter for Carter Motorsports

No. 77- Jimmy Weller for Viva Motorsports with Frank Cicci/SS-Green Light Racing
No. 80- Ross Chastain for HRE Motorsports

No. 91- Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports

 

Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino 350k: 31 trucks entered

 

Number Change:

- Kyle Busch Motorsports' No. 34 changes back to No. 54.

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:

No. 35- Ryan Ellis for Win-Tron Racing

No. 36- Blake Koch for MB Motorsports
No. 51- Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports

Driver Changes:

No. 07- Ryan Lynch is in the seat, replacing Enrique Contreras, III.  BJ McLeod was originally entered in the truck.
No. 08- Ray Black, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Camden Murphy.  Jimmy Weller was originally entered in the truck.
No. 0- Caleb Roark returns to the seat, replacing Matt Tifft.

No. 8- Joe Nemechek returns to the seat, replacing his son John Hunter Nemechek.
No. 9- Ron Hornaday, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Brennan Newberry.
No. 20- Brennan Newberry returns to the seat, replacing Gray Gaulding.
No. 30- Cameron Hayley is in the seat, replacing Ron Hornaday, Jr.

No. 32- Tayler Malsam returns to the seat, replacing Alex Guenette.
No. 35- Ryan Ellis is in the seat, replacing Peyton Sellers.

No. 36- Blake Koch returns to the seat, replacing Scott Stenzel.
No. 51- Kyle Busch returns to the seat, replacing Erik Jones.
No. 74- Mike Harmon returns to the seat, replacing Wendell Chavous.

Since there are only 31 trucks entered, no one will fail to qualify.  However, these teams must still qualify on speed:

No. 05- John Wes Townley for Athenian Motorsports

No. 0- Caleb Roark for JJC Racing*

No. 15- Mason Mingus for Billy Boat Motorsports

No. 23- Max Gresham for GMS Racing

No. 36- Blake Koch for MB Motorsports*

No. 74- Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing*

*- Expected to Start-and-Park

 

Not Entered:
No. 00- Cole Custer for Stewart-Haas Racing

No. 33- Brandon Jones for Turner Scott Motorsports/GMS Racing
No. 75- Caleb Holman for Henderson Motorsports

No. 80- Jody Knowles

No. 82- Cody Erickson for Empire Racing

No. 86- Brandon Brown for Brown Motorsports

No. 87- Charles Buchanan, Jr. for Buchanan Motorsports

No. 92- Austin Hill for Ricky Benton Racing

No. 93- Dustin Hapka for RSS Racing

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 runs on Wednesdays 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: Voda's Move to NBC Sports

by Phil Allaway

As noted above, NBC Sports Group announced that Krista Voda is moving over to NBC Sports' NASCAR coverage starting at the beginning of next season.  In addition to hosting pre-race and post-race shows for Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series races, Voda will also serve as a host for NASCAR America on NBC Sports Network.

For NBC Sports, gaining the services of someone like Voda is quite the coup for their NASCAR coverage.  They will have someone who could essentially do anything.  Voda can host shows, work the pits, and work the garage during practice sessions.   Also, Voda is well-respected amongst the people that ultimately matter in NASCAR.  Those people include NASCAR itself, the drivers, the crew chiefs, crewmembers and car owners.

The hosting gig on pre-race shows will likely be similar to what Voda does now as the host of NCWTS Setup prior to Camping World Truck Series races.  However, I have no idea how that's going to work.  I doubt it'll be the same as the Setup since there will be more people involved.  Remember, NBC Sports is going to have some kind of traveling studio on-site at the races next year.  Mike Massaro will be heading that up.  I couldn't tell you who's going to join him because none of those people have been announced yet.  What I worry about here is whether or not Voda makes Massaro redundant during pre-race and post-race offerings, or vice versa.  NBC Sports is going to have to figure out how it's going to work.  Also, what will the post-race coverage even look like?  Will Voda be hosting regular post-race coverage, or will there be extended post-race offerings on the NBC Sports Live Xtra app that she'll be hosting?  The new TV deal seemingly allows for it.  If that were to happen, think of it like the extended post-race coverage TNT made exclusive to RaceBuddy at nascar.com, or ESPN's internet-exclusive interviews that run as part of The Rundown on their website.

Voda will be a great host for NASCAR America.  I'm sure of that.  The only question I have about that is what NBC Sports Network's plans for the show are.  Would Voda be the permanent host for the show, like Steve Byrnes (when he's able to work) is for NASCAR RaceHub on FOX Sports 1?  Or would Voda be just one of a number of potential hosts for the show, like what NASCAR America does now?  TV viewers generally like continuity, and NASCAR fans are no different.  Having constantly rotating hosts means that viewers have trouble getting comfortable.  The ratings for NASCAR America aren't exactly great.  It does well against similar programming on NBC Sports Network, but the numbers still aren't very high.  Having a permanent host likely would help a little bit.

The last couple of years of NASCAR Now on ESPN 2 had similar hosting issues, but that was a lesser issue as compared to their air time.  Not only did the show air in DVR Theater, but viewers never knew when it would air.  Even with a scheduled timeslot, it was still subject to change due to live programming earlier in the evening.  It could air before or after the scheduled airtime.  In NASCAR Now's case, unless you had access to weekly press releases, you never knew who was hosting the show from night-to-night.  You could get lucky and get Mike Massaro, Nicole Briscoe or Shannon Spake some nights.  Other nights brought hosts that didn't bring much knowledge of NASCAR to the show.

Voda's move comes at a rather bad time for her current employer, FOX Sports.  After having the most stability of any of NASCAR's TV partners since the beginning of the series-wide TV deals in 2001, FOX Sports has had a fair amount of turnover over the past couple of years.  First, Dick Berggren retired after working on broadcasts for over 30 years.  FOX Sports decided that it was inappropriate to replace him.  Instead, they choose to make Jeff Hammond into a "roving reporter" while adding Michael Waltrip to replace him in the "Hollywood Hotel" with Chris Myers.  The result of those moves was to give viewers a double dose of Waltrip while partially hamstringing themselves.

For 2015, there are some question marks for FOX Sports' telecasts.  Recently, FOX Sports announced the signing of Jamie Little to serve as a pit reporter on the telecasts.  At the time, I figured that FOX Sports were finally going to provide a full slate of pit reporters for the first time since Berggren's retirement.  Apparently, that's wrong.  Little ultimately is replacing Voda, still leaving the network with only three pit reporters.  I have no doubt that Little will do well in her role with FOX Sports, just like she did with ESPN.

However, there's an elephant in the room.  That is the future of de facto lead pit reporter Byrnes.  As you are likely aware, Byrnes is currently fighting a re-occurrence of cancer.  The re-occurrence appears quite a bit more serious than Byrnes' first battle last year.  While everyone appears to be very confident that Byrnes can beat it and return to work, when that will happen is anybody's guess.  Let's face it.  Working on NASCAR broadcasts is fairly difficult work.  The days are very long (longer than any writer not named Bob Pockrass) and you're pretty busy during the days at the track.  Given how taxing Byrnes' treatments are, I believe that there is a good sporting chance that he won't be at Daytona in February.  If that happens, FOX Sports would be down to two full-time pit reporters (Little and Matt Yocum).  If FOX didn't want to bring someone else into the Cup broadcasts, they could change Hammond's roving reporter role into a regular pit reporter role in a pinch.  He's ok in that role, but not great.

Luckily, FOX Sports has the deepest pit reporter bench in NASCAR, despite it taking some hits recently.  Someone like Ray Dunlap could get his first Sprint Cup race work since 2000 next season.  Wendy Venturini could step in, but she does races with PRN Radio.  As a result, she would be unavailable for a number of races.  With permission from NBC Sports, Voda could actually stay with FOX Sports and work the pits for FOX for much of the first half of 2015 as a long-term substitute for Byrnes if needed (remember, despite signing the deal, Voda's work at the track for NBC Sports doesn't start until July).

Ultimately, we'll have to see how everything turns out.  The opportunity for Voda likely was too big to turn down.  FOX Sports is probably wishing that Voda didn't make that move right about now.

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.

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Frontstretch Line of the Week

From Beyond the Cockpit: Landon Cassill on Growing, Contending and Moving Forward

"When I first started here, [it was] a part-time start-and-park team. We have grown and worked together to go from a full-time team that didn't start and park at all, and now we're a team that has a significant amount of sponsorship in terms of races covered. Next year, we're going to be able to cover the same amount of races in sponsorship, but probably with some more money. So we're seeing some really good growth." - Landon Cassill, on the growth of Hillman Racing over the past year.

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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:

Happiness Is... Dressing Up for Halloween
by P. Huston Ladner

Fantasy Insider: Late Revenge Tactics Could Ruin This Fantasy
by Jeff Wolfe

Truckin' Thursdays: Grading the 2014 Championship Hopefuls

by Beth Lunkenheimer

Tech Talk: Jason Ratcliff on Testing, Points Racing and Downforce

as told to Mike Neff

Going By the Numbers: Chase Elliott, Brian Scott Ramping Up Results as Season's End Nears

by Kevin Rutherford

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  For a couple of years, the American Le Mans Series held races on Texas Motor Speedway's infield road course.  The last of those races in 2001 saw Corvette Racing dominate the GTS class with their Corvette C5.R's.  While the No. 3 shared by Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell won the class and finished seventh overall, the No. 4's day ended early.  What happened?

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

Q:  Texas Motor Speedway getting their second Cup weekend in 2005 spelled the end of the track's second Indy Racing League weekend (in which the then-Craftsman Truck Series served as the primary support).  In the final Chevy 500, Dario Franchitti was part of a ten-car pack duking it out for the lead in the final 20 laps when it all went wrong.  What happened?

A:  Franchitti was running in approximately ninth position on lap 185 when his car suddenly swapped ends in turn 4 and spun into the wall.  The cause was a broken wheel on Franchitti's car.  Alex Barron, driving the Red Bull-sponsored No. 51 for current ESPN INDYCAR analyst Eddie Cheever, had nowhere to go and was pile driven into the wall as well.  The crash can be seen here.

Both drivers were out on the spot.  Franchitti exited the car on his own, but required assistance to walk away not because of this crash, but because he'd broken his foot in a practice crash earlier in the weekend that had also occurred due to a broken wheel.  Barron was awake and alert after the crash, but was taken away on a stretcher.  Barron suffered a minor concussion and a chipped tibia in the crash.  Since Texas was the last race of the 2004 season, Barron was able to recover during the offseason and returned fresh in 2005.

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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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Justin Tucker
-- In Case You Missed It by Staff

-- Frontstretch Folio: Texas by Brad Morgan

-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!

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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:

Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson

Amy returns with a new commentary.

Friday Faceoff by the Frontstretch Staff

Our new feature returns, a shorter, easier-flowing version of Mirror Driving with answers from a greater number of the staff you know and love.

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 Joseph Wolkin

Joseph returns to bring us up-to-date on NASCAR's second-tier series as they return for the stretch run

Creed's Corner by Aaron Creed

On a new day, Aaron returns to talk NASCAR at Texas.

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