THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Mar. 30, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XLII
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Mar. 30, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XLII
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What to Watch: Monday- With everyone off next weekend, the teams are relaxing just a little bit. If anything breaks today, we will definitely have it for you at Frontstretch.
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Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Denny Hamlin Wins STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway
Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Denny Hamlin Wins STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway
Denny Hamlin recovered from an unsatisfactory final pit stop to take the lead from teammate Matt Kenseth on lap 472. From there, Hamlin held off a charging Brad Keselowski to take his first win of the year, one of three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas to finish inside the top 5. It was Hamlin and Toyota's first win since Talladega last May. Read more
Kyle Larson Out at Martinsville, Regan Smith to Sub
On Saturday, Kyle Larson was doing a normal autograph session at Martinsville Speedway when he suddenly fainted. Larson was taken to a local hospital, then transferred to Charlotte for more extensive care. Nothing could be found to pin down a cause, but doctors kept Larson for observation, keeping him out of Sunday's STP 500. Regan Smith was tapped to sub. Read more
Kyle Larson Out at Martinsville, Regan Smith to Sub
On Saturday, Kyle Larson was doing a normal autograph session at Martinsville Speedway when he suddenly fainted. Larson was taken to a local hospital, then transferred to Charlotte for more extensive care. Nothing could be found to pin down a cause, but doctors kept Larson for observation, keeping him out of Sunday's STP 500. Regan Smith was tapped to sub. Read more
Joey Logano, Fords Power Through Toyotas at Martinsville
Joey Logano led the most laps Saturday afternoon, but it took a three-wide move into turn 1 on a GWC in order to take the lead from third before Logano had his first career victory in the Camping World Truck Series. Matt Crafton was second, followed by Erik Jones, Johnny Sauter and Tyler Reddick. Read more
Montoya Claims Verizon IndyCar Series Opener
In St. Petersburg, Team Penske dominated the entire weekend, sweeping the first two rows of the grid for Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. In the race, Will Power dominated, but Juan Pablo Montoya jumped in front on the final round of pit stops and held on to claim his first street course victory since returning to open wheel racing. Read more
Sebastien Vettel Wins Malaysian Grand Prix
Sebastien Vettel stormed past defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton on lap 4 Sunday and managed to keep himself in front through pit strategy. When the dust cleared, he claimed his first career victory in a Ferrari Sunday at the Sepang Circuit near Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Read more
Have news for The Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
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FRONTSTRETCH JOB: WEBMASTER
Frontstretch.com is looking for a talented and motivated individual to fulfill the role of the site's webmaster. The ideal candidate must be highly proficient in WordPress, as the site recently converted from Textpattern to WordPress as the content management system. The webmaster will assist with leftover conversion tasks, work with the management team to implement site enhancements and help troubleshoot problems as they arise. The candidate must also have a working knowledge of search engine optimization strategies to help improve search rankings for the site. Motorsports knowledge is preferred but not required. The candidate should have on average at least 1-2 hours per week to devote to Fronstretch initiatives. If you are interested, please contact our Business Manager, Tony Lumbis at Tony.Lumbis@gmail.com.
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FRONTSTRETCH JOB: WEBMASTER
Frontstretch.com is looking for a talented and motivated individual to fulfill the role of the site's webmaster. The ideal candidate must be highly proficient in WordPress, as the site recently converted from Textpattern to WordPress as the content management system. The webmaster will assist with leftover conversion tasks, work with the management team to implement site enhancements and help troubleshoot problems as they arise. The candidate must also have a working knowledge of search engine optimization strategies to help improve search rankings for the site. Motorsports knowledge is preferred but not required. The candidate should have on average at least 1-2 hours per week to devote to Fronstretch initiatives. If you are interested, please contact our Business Manager, Tony Lumbis at Tony.Lumbis@gmail.com.
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Chasing the Chase: Harvick's First Finish Outside Top 2 Causes Points to Tighten
by Phil Allaway
Although Kevin Harvick's streak of eight consecutive top-2 finishes came to an end Sunday, he was most definitely in the hunt. Unfortunately, he dropped back after the final restart and wound up a disappointing eighth. Combine that with Joey Logano's third-place finish and some gains were made in the point standings on the leader for the first time in weeks. Harvick's margin, while still healthy has been cut from 28 to 24. Martin Truex, Jr.'s sixth-place finish, despite early power steering issues also allowed him to gain a point while maintaining third.Brad Keselowski's second-place finish Sunday moved him up one place to fourth, 25 points behind Truex. Kasey Kahne's 11th-place result was not necessarily indicative of where he ran for most of the event, but it was good enough to boost him up to fifth, best of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Ryan Newman remained sixth in the standings, but he had a miserable day after qualifying on the outside pole. Newman was considered to be a potential threat for the win, but ended up four laps down in 27th.
Despite two separate incidents Sunday, Paul Menard moved up two places to seventh in points after a disappointing 23rd-place finish. Denny Hamlin's victory moved him up into a tie for eighth with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who dealt with multiple broken shifters before running into the back of Menard and busting his radiator. Aric Almirola finished a decent 12th and held onto tenth in points.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 263, 2) Joey Logano -24, 3) Martin Truex, Jr. -32, 4) Brad Keselowski -57, 5) Kasey Kahne -70, 6) Ryan Newman -83, 7) Paul Menard -90, t-8) Denny Hamlin -91, t-8) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -91, 10) Aric Almirola -93, t-11) Jimmie Johnson -95, t-11) Matt Kenseth -95, 13) David Ragan -100, 14) Casey Mears -102, 15) Jamie McMurray -109, t-16) Danica Patrick -115, t-16) Jeff Gordon -115, t-16) Carl Edwards -115.
Race Winners: Joey Logano (Daytona), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta), Kevin Harvick (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Brad Keselowski (Fontana), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville)
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's STP 500 was brought to you by the letter "R," for Rough and Tumble. Then again, couldn't that term be used to describe every race at Martinsville? Heck, there were bump-and-runs during practice on Saturday. The bumping and grinding was all over the place last weekend. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: STP 500
compiled by Phil Allaway
"It's a big win for Gibbs and Toyota. It's been roughly a year for both of us, and really myself. We're just not used to not having success, and especially with the resources that we have. Boss man over here expects a lot from us and we expect to be in victory lane and be up front. You know, even though it doesn't cure things, it makes things better, and what this does for our race team in particular is that we've got some kinks in our team right now, but like Dave (Rogers, crew chief) says, this allows you ‑‑ this buys you months of time to get everything worked out and get all the kinks worked out because we know we can go on a championship run, and knowing that this racetrack holds the key to that top four getting into Homestead, I like our chances. I told you last year, get us to that Eliminator Round, whatever that was, and we were going to be tough, and with the package that Dave gave us this weekend and the entire Gibbs team obviously, we're excited to come back here and be part of a championship. But it doesn't come easy. You don't just rest on your laurels. We had the longest competition meeting I've ever been a part of this past weekend. Joe (Gibbs) raised his voice, which doesn't happen very often, told us to get off our tails and go to work, and we all did it, and great result for this race team. Sometimes you need a leader like that to kind of put things in perspective. Not that people weren't working hard, but it just takes that extra 10 percent out of everyone to get to that next level, and I'm very proud of the speed that we've shown with our 11 team so far this year. We've run top 5 every single week except for Phoenix, and we're going to work on that. We're excited. We're excited about what we've got going on and what's to come for us." - Denny Hamlin, race winner
"It was a good run. Up and down day for us and we finished on a strong note, just not quite as strong as we wanted to. Man, it was a fun race. That's the best we've ever been here at Martinsville, so I'm pumped about that, but a little disappointed I'm not taking home a clock. That's how it goes sometimes. But, all in all, a really solid day, a fun day and just one spot short." - Brad Keselowski, finished second
"I feel like we've underperformed the last three or four weeks. A lot of it has been just mistakes on my behalf, mistakes on the team's behalf and we've been really good. We've had some good speed and we've had top-10 cars, but we just haven't been able to have a good, entire weekend. Finally, we put together a good race where we weren't very good Friday and Saturday. We put together a good race today and that's what's the most important." - David Ragan, finished fifth
"I can't believe I lost the power steering in the first run and come back to finish sixth. It was not any fun to drive the car at that point. I felt like my shoulder was going to rip off. The guys did an awesome job fixing the leak and fought all day just like we always do. I can't say enough about this team. It shows we never give up. It sure feels good to have a strong run at one of my worst tracks. Just can't believe we stayed on the lead lap after the power steering deal." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished sixth
"At the start of the race, we had those yellows early so it was deceiving to know how good the car was or how bad it was. We really were very tight in the center, which ends up making you lose drive off because you have so much wheel in it and you're just trying to fight it. We just weren't very good to start. We took a chance and stayed out on a yellow, and we were front row, and I bet I looked like an idiot out there. I spun the wheels on the start and hung on a little bit, but then ended up going backwards in a hurry. You can't stay out if your car is not good. So if the car is good, you'll be lucky if you don't end up further back than where you were or where you would have been if you would have just pitted. It's just that kind of track. The tires mean a lot, and they keep falling off. It just happens, but that's also what makes the racing better here than some places. I'm proud of everyone for not giving up and for keeping their head in the game, and the pit crew did a good job. They were frustrated last weekend after making a mistake on the last stop, and it's team effort, you know. I'm going to make mistakes at the very end, too. I'm not going to lie, I was glad there was not a yellow at the very end coming to the white. I was glad for that." - Danica Patrick, finished seventh
"A lot of guys, I think are having some transmission or gear problems. We got some real bad vibration in the car 30 laps into the race and it just kept breaking the shifter. The vibration is so bad it breaks the shifter off. It breaks right off, right at the top of the transmission. It's just swinging up there just like a tuning fork. We got another shifter on it, a different one finally. We didn't know if that was going to hold up. They stopped down there in the corner. I didn't know they were stopping. I don't know why they stopped. Somebody got checked-up there and we didn't see it, didn't have time, whatever; and knocked the radiator out of it. It's been a tough race. The car has been fast and we've been having fun out there; but we're not going to be having too much fun the rest of the day." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished 36th
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager as well as a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com."It's a big win for Gibbs and Toyota. It's been roughly a year for both of us, and really myself. We're just not used to not having success, and especially with the resources that we have. Boss man over here expects a lot from us and we expect to be in victory lane and be up front. You know, even though it doesn't cure things, it makes things better, and what this does for our race team in particular is that we've got some kinks in our team right now, but like Dave (Rogers, crew chief) says, this allows you ‑‑ this buys you months of time to get everything worked out and get all the kinks worked out because we know we can go on a championship run, and knowing that this racetrack holds the key to that top four getting into Homestead, I like our chances. I told you last year, get us to that Eliminator Round, whatever that was, and we were going to be tough, and with the package that Dave gave us this weekend and the entire Gibbs team obviously, we're excited to come back here and be part of a championship. But it doesn't come easy. You don't just rest on your laurels. We had the longest competition meeting I've ever been a part of this past weekend. Joe (Gibbs) raised his voice, which doesn't happen very often, told us to get off our tails and go to work, and we all did it, and great result for this race team. Sometimes you need a leader like that to kind of put things in perspective. Not that people weren't working hard, but it just takes that extra 10 percent out of everyone to get to that next level, and I'm very proud of the speed that we've shown with our 11 team so far this year. We've run top 5 every single week except for Phoenix, and we're going to work on that. We're excited. We're excited about what we've got going on and what's to come for us." - Denny Hamlin, race winner
"It was a good run. Up and down day for us and we finished on a strong note, just not quite as strong as we wanted to. Man, it was a fun race. That's the best we've ever been here at Martinsville, so I'm pumped about that, but a little disappointed I'm not taking home a clock. That's how it goes sometimes. But, all in all, a really solid day, a fun day and just one spot short." - Brad Keselowski, finished second
"I feel like we've underperformed the last three or four weeks. A lot of it has been just mistakes on my behalf, mistakes on the team's behalf and we've been really good. We've had some good speed and we've had top-10 cars, but we just haven't been able to have a good, entire weekend. Finally, we put together a good race where we weren't very good Friday and Saturday. We put together a good race today and that's what's the most important." - David Ragan, finished fifth
"I can't believe I lost the power steering in the first run and come back to finish sixth. It was not any fun to drive the car at that point. I felt like my shoulder was going to rip off. The guys did an awesome job fixing the leak and fought all day just like we always do. I can't say enough about this team. It shows we never give up. It sure feels good to have a strong run at one of my worst tracks. Just can't believe we stayed on the lead lap after the power steering deal." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished sixth
"At the start of the race, we had those yellows early so it was deceiving to know how good the car was or how bad it was. We really were very tight in the center, which ends up making you lose drive off because you have so much wheel in it and you're just trying to fight it. We just weren't very good to start. We took a chance and stayed out on a yellow, and we were front row, and I bet I looked like an idiot out there. I spun the wheels on the start and hung on a little bit, but then ended up going backwards in a hurry. You can't stay out if your car is not good. So if the car is good, you'll be lucky if you don't end up further back than where you were or where you would have been if you would have just pitted. It's just that kind of track. The tires mean a lot, and they keep falling off. It just happens, but that's also what makes the racing better here than some places. I'm proud of everyone for not giving up and for keeping their head in the game, and the pit crew did a good job. They were frustrated last weekend after making a mistake on the last stop, and it's team effort, you know. I'm going to make mistakes at the very end, too. I'm not going to lie, I was glad there was not a yellow at the very end coming to the white. I was glad for that." - Danica Patrick, finished seventh
"I just got hung on the outside and couldn't get back down. By the time I got down, I was 10th or 11th. It still was a good day for everyone on the Budweiser/Jimmy John's team. Everybody did a good job -- just lost track position at the wrong time." - Kevin Harvick, finished eighth
"Oh, my gosh. I'm so disappointed in myself. I know I was pushing the limit. I didn't think I had done anything different than I had all day long when I was behind other guys, so, we've got to look at that. I'm very, very disappointed. I felt like we finally got the car, got ourselves in a position to win that race. It was a struggle. We were really battling with tire wear and the car getting really loose with our AXALTA Chevrolet. I thought Denny (Hamlin) had the best car, but I thought with our track position there at the end, we had a shot at it. Oh my gosh, I'm so disappointed. I don't even know what to say right now. Of course, then the car is the absolute best it had been all day when I drove up from the back (laughs)." - Jeff Gordon, finished ninth
"The race car was fast. This is not one of my better race tracks. When they called on this, I was like 'man, why does it got to be Martinsville?' But you know it was fun to drive it all day long. Chris (Heroy, crew chief) and the guys, they worked hard with me and obviously no two drivers are alike, so I was trying to do a few things a little different. We just dug all day." - Regan Smith, finished 16th
"A lot of guys, I think are having some transmission or gear problems. We got some real bad vibration in the car 30 laps into the race and it just kept breaking the shifter. The vibration is so bad it breaks the shifter off. It breaks right off, right at the top of the transmission. It's just swinging up there just like a tuning fork. We got another shifter on it, a different one finally. We didn't know if that was going to hold up. They stopped down there in the corner. I didn't know they were stopping. I don't know why they stopped. Somebody got checked-up there and we didn't see it, didn't have time, whatever; and knocked the radiator out of it. It's been a tough race. The car has been fast and we've been having fun out there; but we're not going to be having too much fun the rest of the day." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished 36th
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Amy Henderson
by Summer Bedgood
by Jerry Jordan
by the Frontstretch Staff
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
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!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
Q: In 1988, McLaren completely dominated the World Championship. The only thing that kept them team from sweeping the season was a lapped car. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: In 1990, the then-Busch Grand National Series held three races at Martinsville. Tommy Houston won the March race, while Steve Grissom won the October race. The other event was a quick 150-lapper held as primary support to the Cup Series. Jeff Burton won it to claim his first career victory. How did he do it?
A: With 13 laps to go, Burton got alongside Robert Pressley after Pressley had to make a move around the lapped car of Ed Berrier. Pressley appeared to not take it very well as the Alliance Oldsmobile turned into Burton's right side in turn 3. Burton continued on while Pressley nearly spun out. The race for the win can be seen here.
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COMING TOMORROW
COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have breaking news from Monday and S.D. Grady's Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View commentary.
On Frontstretch.com:
Danny Peters gives us Five Points To Ponder after an action packed weekend of racing in Martinsville.
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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!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
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