THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Mar. 9, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XXVII
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Mar. 9, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XXVII
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What to Watch: Monday- Today, the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series teams are all switching chassis and engines in the garage area at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in order to prepare for their short haul to Phoenix International Raceway.
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Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Kevin Harvick Cashes In with Dominating Las Vegas WinAfter two consecutive second-place finishes to start the season, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Kevin Harvick snagged a win. On Sunday, Harvick took control of the race after Jimmie Johnson had a vibration on lap 91 and controlled things from there to pick up his first victory of 2015. Martin Truex, Jr. finished a strong second, followed by Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Denny Hamlin. Read more
Austin Dillon Dominates, Wins Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas
Saturday's XFINITY Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway seemed to be over from the drop of the green flag; that's how dominant Austin Dillon was. After winning every practice session and winning the pole, Dillon led 183 laps, but had to hold off a hard-charging Ryan Blaney on fresher tires to claim the win. Behind Dillon and Blaney was Regan Smith in third, followed by Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott. Read more
Premium Motorsports Opts to Focus on No. 62 Car; Tanner Berryhill to Attempt Cup Series Debut at Phoenix
After Premium Motorsports failed to qualify their second car (No. 66) for this weekend's Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, driver Mike Wallace announced that the team would cut back to part-time and seek more sponsorship in order to continue racing. In the meantime, the team would focus on the No. 62 Chevrolet driven by Brendan Gaughan. Read more However, that suspension of operations proved short-lived. Vision Racing announced on their Facebook page on Sunday that Tanner Berryhill will attempt to make his Sprint Cup Series debut in the No. 66 for Premium Motorsports this upcoming weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. He will replace Mike Wallace in the car. Read more
Eldora Speedway Website Hacked By…ISIS?
Premium Motorsports Opts to Focus on No. 62 Car; Tanner Berryhill to Attempt Cup Series Debut at Phoenix
After Premium Motorsports failed to qualify their second car (No. 66) for this weekend's Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, driver Mike Wallace announced that the team would cut back to part-time and seek more sponsorship in order to continue racing. In the meantime, the team would focus on the No. 62 Chevrolet driven by Brendan Gaughan. Read more However, that suspension of operations proved short-lived. Vision Racing announced on their Facebook page on Sunday that Tanner Berryhill will attempt to make his Sprint Cup Series debut in the No. 66 for Premium Motorsports this upcoming weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. He will replace Mike Wallace in the car. Read more
Eldora Speedway Website Hacked By…ISIS?
On Saturday, the website for Ohio's Eldora Speedway was hacked by either the Islamic State itself, or someone allied with the Islamic State known as ISIS. The flag of the Islamic State was prominently displayed on the track's homepage, along with text indicating that they had been hacked by the Islamic State and that "We are everywhere." The site was eventually returned to normal after some fixing with the help of the FBI. 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 Win Grants Him the Lead
by Phil Allaway
Kevin Harvick may not have qualified all that well on Friday. He clearly made up for lost time Sunday, charging to the front quickly from the 18th starting spot and claiming the win. Not only did winning effectively lock Harvick into the Chase, but it also boosted him into the points lead. Harvick's margin is nine points over Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who had a great run on Sunday to finish fourth. Joey Logano dominated early, but fell back with pit road penalty issues and had to battle back to finish ninth. That run dropped Logano two places to third.The excellent form of Martin Truex, Jr. continued Sunday with a second-place finish. That run boosted Truex to fourth, five points behind Logano. It is the highest Furniture Row Racing has ever been in the points at any time during their decade-long existence. AJ Allmendinger topped his seventh at Atlanta with a sixth-place finish in Las Vegas, which moved him up three places to fifth, exquisite for JTG-Daugherty Racing. Kasey Kahne moved up one place to sixth in the standings after finishing 17th, but he ran much better than 17th during the race. Kahne's day turned disastrous after contact with Carl Edwards scraped his No. 5 car into the outside wall.
The big loser of the week was Jimmie Johnson. Johnson led early, but was forced to pit early due to a vibration. That was just the start of his problems. Later, a blown right front tire resulted in Johnson hitting the wall exiting the tri-oval. A second blown right front put Johnson in the garage. He would eventually finish 41st and dropped five places to seventh. On the other side, Denny Hamlin's fifth-place finish catapulted him up 11 places to eighth in the standings. Despite showing speed in Happy Hour on Saturday, Casey Mears fell back to earth and finished a disappointing 25th, dropping back into a tie for eighth with Hamlin (Hamlin wins the tiebreaker by virtue of a better finish). Matt Kenseth's ninth-place result on Sunday boosted him up eight spots to round out the top 10.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 134, 2) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -9, 3) Joey Logano -11, 4) Martin Truex, Jr. -16, 5) AJ Allmendinger -34, 6) Kasey Kahne -42, 7) Jimmie Johnson -43, t-8) Denny Hamlin -47, t-8) Casey Mears -47, 10) Matt Kenseth -49, 11) Greg Biffle -50, t-12) Ryan Newman -52, t-12) Paul Menard -52, 14) Clint Bowyer -53, 15) Aric Almirola -54, t-16) Brad Keselowski -57, t-16) David Gilliland -57.
Race Winners: Joey Logano (Daytona), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta), Kevin Harvick (Las Vegas)
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Quotes to Remember: Kobalt 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"It's so cool to win here in Las Vegas and start this West Coast swing off this way. Just to be in front of all these fans I've raced in front of since about the mid-'90's. It's pretty special to win here. I've got to thank Jimmy John's, Budweiser, Chevrolet, and everybody on this car that makes it go around; and all these guys and everyone at Stewart-Haas for what they do. We just have to keep our heads down and keep doing everything that we've been doing. This isn't a bunch of guys that are just going to go out and brag. We're going to race every week like we have never won a race before. That's the kind of determination that you need when you are going to do this stuff." - Kevin Harvick, race winner
"It's so cool to win here in Las Vegas and start this West Coast swing off this way. Just to be in front of all these fans I've raced in front of since about the mid-'90's. It's pretty special to win here. I've got to thank Jimmy John's, Budweiser, Chevrolet, and everybody on this car that makes it go around; and all these guys and everyone at Stewart-Haas for what they do. We just have to keep our heads down and keep doing everything that we've been doing. This isn't a bunch of guys that are just going to go out and brag. We're going to race every week like we have never won a race before. That's the kind of determination that you need when you are going to do this stuff." - Kevin Harvick, race winner
"I can't put it into words, honestly. I'm just really proud of everyone. I'm obviously very proud of Sherry (Pollex, girlfriend) and what she's been through and everything I've learned from her to be a better person. But I've just got to thank everyone at Furniture Row and ECR engines and everybody back at the shop for all their help. It's just a solid weekend. They guys made good decisions and we're not having any terrible weather. So, we've just got to keep doing what we're doing and find a little bit more speed and we'll be able to beat some guys. Harvick was so fast all day. I got the lead on him once there on a restart and thought oh, this is pretty cool. But we didn't have anything to hold him off. We'll keep working and we'll get better and hopefully this is a sign of things to come." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished second
"I don't really know [what happened balance-wise late]. We'll go home and take a look at it. We didn't put lefts (tires) on it; made it a gamble. I like to gamble. I liked the call. I love being aggressive. We were going to drive up there and pass that No. 4 (Kevin Harvick). So, we had to take a chance. Second, fifth, fourth, whatever; it really don't matter if you don't win. I was happy with the Nationwide Chevrolet all day long. Last year we run second and almost won the race, by luck. We sit around and run tenth, eighth, place all day last year and weren't a very good car. This year, our cars are racing up there. So, we think we've got the cars better than we had last year. Hendrick, overall, has great speed. The engine department is doing awesome and we're going to get one. I want to win! We're going to get there." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished fourth
"Just proud of the guys. This has never been my favorite race track. We tested here. That helped a little bit, but we started off during the weekend, kept picking away at it each session and we got a little bit better. A lot of credit to having an RCR (Richard Childress Racing) alliance because the No. 78 and No. 31 were really fast all weekend. We kind of stole from them a little bit going into the final practice. That helped us and really helped up today. Honestly, probably one of the best races we have ever had. Watkins Glen is what it is, but just when you look at the effort and everything on a 1.5-mile track, good stops, kept up with the racetrack all day, just really proud more than anything. Feeling like this is probably one of our best races we have had. Something hopefully we can keep building off of." - AJ Allmendinger, finished sixth
"It was an up-and-down day. We played the strategy there at the end hoping to catch a break – some kind of break and maybe steal a win. It just didn't play out. I thought we were probably about a second or third-place car at times. I don't know if we ever had anything for the 4 but it was a good kind of never-say-die effort to recover from being a lap down in the middle parts of the race. That was the story today. Good job by the team to rally there and get what we were able to out of it." - Brad Keselowski, finished seventh
"It was good. A top-15 considering where we were at three months ago – I'll take it. Real proud of the guys. They made the car better all day. The stops were great. You always want to do better. You always want to win, but I think for us this was a victory in a lot of ways and I'm just really proud of everyone on this Aaron's Dream Machine crew. The Camry was great at times and we always need a little more to be a winning car, but we were a top-seven car at times and kind of finished there in the top-15. We took two (tires) at the end and it made us really tight and we kind of lost a little bit there. Like I said, thankful to be here." - Brian Vickers, finished 15th
"We had a second-place car the first 30 laps of a run and a winning car the last 15-20 laps of a run. I could get closer and closer. The way it played out, I feel like we would have been able to race Harvick. He was unreal throughout the entire race, but I felt like my car was unreal too. Really happy with our Time Warner Cable Chevy and Carl (Edwards) just came down and just apologized and said he feels like he hasn't done that before to anyone. We basically needed a full car width more there in order to make it. He just never lifted and run me just right into the wall and ruined his day as well. He just apologized for that. It's disappointing, nothing we can do now, but we did have a great car." - Kasey Kahne, finished 17th
"I thought the end of the first run was okay and we were coming pretty good and then we came in and put two on it which ended up being a bad move and upset the race car and made it do a bunch of different things. We learned early not to do two. That is when we fell back and lost a lap and that was unfortunate. In the middle of the race, we were trying to get it tightened up in the corner. That was a big hurt for us. We couldn't get in the corner good and that really hurts your whole lap if you can't get in the corner good. That second-to-last run we were really good but couldn't get the caution when we were in the lucky dog spot. I was really wishing because I thought we could make up some ground. That last run, though we freed up too much again. I learned a lot today as far as me driving and Jeremy and everyone on the box learned a lot. Our race car was pretty good toward the end. We will go to Texas, our next race and hope to take what we learned here to that." - Ryan Blaney, finished 19th
"I was being too aggressive on that restart. Kasey (Kahne) got on the outside of me and he got just the right position. I started to slide up and I should have backed out of it way earlier. That's completely my fault and that's what ruined our day. It's tough. I feel really bad for Comcast Business and everyone. I feel bad for Kasey Kahne's team. That's not something I normally do, so I have to make it up to everybody next week at Phoenix." - Carl Edwards, finished 42nd, on his wreck with Kasey Kahne
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."Just proud of the guys. This has never been my favorite race track. We tested here. That helped a little bit, but we started off during the weekend, kept picking away at it each session and we got a little bit better. A lot of credit to having an RCR (Richard Childress Racing) alliance because the No. 78 and No. 31 were really fast all weekend. We kind of stole from them a little bit going into the final practice. That helped us and really helped up today. Honestly, probably one of the best races we have ever had. Watkins Glen is what it is, but just when you look at the effort and everything on a 1.5-mile track, good stops, kept up with the racetrack all day, just really proud more than anything. Feeling like this is probably one of our best races we have had. Something hopefully we can keep building off of." - AJ Allmendinger, finished sixth
"It was an up-and-down day. We played the strategy there at the end hoping to catch a break – some kind of break and maybe steal a win. It just didn't play out. I thought we were probably about a second or third-place car at times. I don't know if we ever had anything for the 4 but it was a good kind of never-say-die effort to recover from being a lap down in the middle parts of the race. That was the story today. Good job by the team to rally there and get what we were able to out of it." - Brad Keselowski, finished seventh
"It was good. A top-15 considering where we were at three months ago – I'll take it. Real proud of the guys. They made the car better all day. The stops were great. You always want to do better. You always want to win, but I think for us this was a victory in a lot of ways and I'm just really proud of everyone on this Aaron's Dream Machine crew. The Camry was great at times and we always need a little more to be a winning car, but we were a top-seven car at times and kind of finished there in the top-15. We took two (tires) at the end and it made us really tight and we kind of lost a little bit there. Like I said, thankful to be here." - Brian Vickers, finished 15th
"We had a second-place car the first 30 laps of a run and a winning car the last 15-20 laps of a run. I could get closer and closer. The way it played out, I feel like we would have been able to race Harvick. He was unreal throughout the entire race, but I felt like my car was unreal too. Really happy with our Time Warner Cable Chevy and Carl (Edwards) just came down and just apologized and said he feels like he hasn't done that before to anyone. We basically needed a full car width more there in order to make it. He just never lifted and run me just right into the wall and ruined his day as well. He just apologized for that. It's disappointing, nothing we can do now, but we did have a great car." - Kasey Kahne, finished 17th
"I thought the end of the first run was okay and we were coming pretty good and then we came in and put two on it which ended up being a bad move and upset the race car and made it do a bunch of different things. We learned early not to do two. That is when we fell back and lost a lap and that was unfortunate. In the middle of the race, we were trying to get it tightened up in the corner. That was a big hurt for us. We couldn't get in the corner good and that really hurts your whole lap if you can't get in the corner good. That second-to-last run we were really good but couldn't get the caution when we were in the lucky dog spot. I was really wishing because I thought we could make up some ground. That last run, though we freed up too much again. I learned a lot today as far as me driving and Jeremy and everyone on the box learned a lot. Our race car was pretty good toward the end. We will go to Texas, our next race and hope to take what we learned here to that." - Ryan Blaney, finished 19th
"I was being too aggressive on that restart. Kasey (Kahne) got on the outside of me and he got just the right position. I started to slide up and I should have backed out of it way earlier. That's completely my fault and that's what ruined our day. It's tough. I feel really bad for Comcast Business and everyone. I feel bad for Kasey Kahne's team. That's not something I normally do, so I have to make it up to everybody next week at Phoenix." - Carl Edwards, finished 42nd, on his wreck with Kasey Kahne
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Amy Henderson
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 the 1989 CART Autoworks 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, Dominic Dobson started from a career-best third on the grid. Everything looked good for the race; however, it all fell apart early. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: In 2001, Jeff Gordon claimed victory in the UAW DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For Jeff Burton, his day went to heck within two laps. What happened?
A: Burton spun around on his own in turn 1 and backed his CITGO Ford into the wall. Burton was not touched to cause the wreck; instead, his Taurus just got loose on its own. The wreck can be seen here. A long stint in the garage ruined any chance of Burton having a good run. He would eventually return to the race, but he finished 80 laps down in 39th.
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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 a thrilling weekend of racing out in Las Vegas.
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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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