THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Mar. 5, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XXV
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What to Watch: Thursday- Today, Sprint Cup Series teams are scheduled to pull into the garage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. No on-track activity is scheduled to take place at the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
Thursday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
by the Frontstretch Staff
BREAKING: NO CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR KURT BUSCH
Delaware prosecutors announced Thursday they will not charge Kurt Busch with domestic violence against ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. In a statement, the state explained all evidence presented did not meet the "reasonable doubt" standard necessary to clear the threshold. Busch remains indefinitely suspended by NASCAR despite the ruling. Read more
Moffitt to Drive Next Three Races for Front Row Motorsports
Yesterday, we referenced a report from Catchfence.com indicating Brett Moffitt would be driving for Front Row Motorsports this weekend in Las Vegas. A few hours after our Newsletter went out yesterday, FRM made it official. Moffitt will drive the No. 34 in the next three Sprint Cup Series races. Read more
Las Vegas Motor Speedway to Make Modifications for Driver Safety
Wednesday, Las Vegas Motor Speedway announced they have made multiple safety improvements at the track ahead of this weekend's Kobalt Tools 400. According to a statement from Speedway President Chris Powell, NASCAR has requested minor modifications around the oval and at the entrance to pit road. Read more
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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 its 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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Today's Featured Commentary
Inspection Troubles and AT&T U-Verse Squabbles
Potts' Shots
by John PottsPotts' Shots
Well, it appears that I have to make another statement before getting on with this week's column: As God is my witness, I had nothing to do with the theft of Travis Kvapil's Sprint Cup car from a motel parking lot near Atlanta.
So NASCAR had another problem with qualifying, this time at Atlanta and this one causing 13 teams to miss the first session and some of them to miss the race. Teams had to go back through again for various violations, as NASCAR said, and they just ran out of time.
First, a couple of driver comments…
Jeff Gordon: "[NASCAR] should have recognized they had an issue. I'm sorry, but when you have this many teams that are having issues going through, there's something wrong. There's something wrong with the system or there's something wrong with the amount of time they allot to get through. There's no way this many good cars, talented people, that they can't figure out how to get these cars through inspection. These guys are too smart. Yeah, we're pushing limits, but there's something wrong here."
Mike Wallace (who missed the race): "We had to go back around because we were 40-thousandths of an inch red. The last six cars didn't have to do that, and one of those six cars sent us home. I don't really understand all the things they do, but that certainly isn't the level playing field we're all told is there. Shame on the team if you're wrong, but don't give five or six guys a free run at it. That's all I know."
Now, Sprint Cup managing director Richard Buck refuted Wallace's claim, noting that teams had the opportunity for inspection Friday. They were "pushing it," he added, noting "…that's their job."
Most of the teams, Buck said, were trying to find some "mechanical grip" at a track where tire wear is crucial. He said twenty cars, almost double the usual amount, had to be reinspected at least once.
OK. The key for me in this situation is that the teams had the opportunity to be inspected on Friday. Yes, I'm sure they would have had to go through pre-qualifying inspection again on Sunday, but they had to the chance to find out where they were wrong the day before, and have the car in compliance for Saturday.
In a conversation Monday, my son Matt put it more bluntly that I did.
"They were cheating," he said. "They got caught cheating. Simple as that."
Another thing occurred to me Monday after reading a comment on Facebook from an engineer.
This guy wondered just how well the NASCAR equipment is calibrated after being moved cross-country from race to race. He said whenever his company moves any kind of measuring equipment, it has to be re-calibrated before it can be used again.
Surely NASCAR has thought of this issue, haven't they?
Of course, Jimmie Johnson and others who didn't get to qualify proved that the cream almost always rises to the top by charging to the front.
Next subject. AT&T's U-verse cable system has decided they're not going to carry the XFINITY races live on Fox Sports 1 this season.
I didn't know this fact until Saturday afternoon, when I tuned in and ended up with something called the World Dart Championships. I had no idea there was any such animal as the World Dart Championships, but I am now among the enlightened.
A quick survey on Facebook revealed that a LOT of people around the world were indeed watching the race on Fox Sports 1. A few inquiries made it clear that they were with Time Warner, DirecTV, Comcast, etc.
I did hook up with a few people who were also trying to watch on AT&T, and they had the same problem. I think found a news item stating AT&T and Fox Sports 1 were in a dispute over what the cable system would have to pay for these races.
Naturally, I went to the phone to call AT&T customer service and after being put on hold for 20 minutes, I gave up. Back to the computer, where later a friend said he finally got to talk to a human being after 48 minutes.
This phenomenon tells me that the AT&T switchboard was jammed, probably with calls from irate stock car racing fans. That, in turn, tells me that a settlement to the dispute may be in the offing before too long.
AT&T says they don't want to pass the added cost along to their consumers. Considering the size of AT&T, I'd say it would amount to less than a dollar per customer per month.
I've been with AT&T in one form or another for over 15 years now. I've got my internet, cable, landline, and two cell phones "bundled" which makes for a terrific deal. Haven't had a landline for at least 12 years, but we needed one to work the intercom/buzzer system in our new apartment; AT&T provided it as part of my package. At least I did get to watch the replay of the race by recording it when it ran at midnight ET on Saturday. I don't like the idea of possibly having to comment on an event if I don't watch it.
Until next week...
John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com.
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John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com.
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The Critic's Annex: Dale Earnhardt Film Duel
by Phil Allaway
If you've been reading my critique columns over the past six-plus years at Frontstretch or here in the Newsletter, you know that I like documentaries. I'm a history nut and like to learn new things. So when NASCAR and SPIKE announced the newest Dale Earnhardt special, I Am Dale Earnhardt, I was already hooked a week it before it aired. The question that was at the back of my mind is how it holds up to Dale, the 2007 Paul Newman-narrated documentary that is more or less considered the gold standard when it comes to NASCAR documentaries.In the case of I Am Dale Earnhardt, the overarching theme through much of the film is the apparent fact Earnhardt really didn't care about anything other than winning until he was about age 45. While it seemed that way at times, that's not necessarily true. The idea of Earnhardt driving like he was trying to feed his family was a common theme here. I think that's a good notion, one that would explain a lot of his aggressive on-track behavior. The thing is, Earnhardt kept that up well after the point where it really wasn't necessary anymore.
Especially since Earnhardt died, stories of his generosity have become well-known. That was never particularly touched upon on SPIKE, or in Dale for that matter. I Am Dale Earnhardt would have you believe that he didn't particularly begin to mellow until he broke his shoulder blade and sternum at Talladega in 1996. The whole mess surrounding that race is a story for another day. Long story short, the 1996 DieHard 500 at Talladega is the last Sprint Cup race to be tape-delayed.
I Am Dale Earnhardt also insisted upon "Tarantinoing" the story. In case you're unfamiliar, that is an editing technique in which you start with the ending, then work your way back there. As a result, you start the special off kind of bummed because you have a bunch of people (including Michael Waltrip) talking about Earnhardt's death before we went back into the past. It's definitely not the tone that I would have preferred the documentary to start on.While both films did use a number of interviews, Dale tended to focus on interviews with colleagues, family and competitors. I Am Dale Earnhardt had people in those categories as well (including a number of people that were interviewed for Dale). However, there were others that had little to no connection to Earnhardt. The best example I can give here is Cassadee Pope. Pope's a 25-year-old country music singer and a former contestant on The Voice. She essentially has no connection to the story, yet spent her time on the show talking about how her father and grandfather were huge Earnhardt fans and would go to races to root him on. That's nice and all, but as much as you support NASCAR these days, Cassadee, you're a little out of your element here. I am perfectly fine with Kix Brooks chipping in since he was a personal friend of Earnhardt.
DEI was mentioned as a business Earnhardt wanted to build up for his children. But aside from putting Earnhardt Jr. in with the team, they really didn't talk about it all that much. There was no mention of the team's struggles when they moved up to Cup full-time in 1998. Instead, the documentary made it look like they had near immediate success when they originally tore up a bunch of cars, missed races and lost driver Steve Park to a broken leg within a month to start the year (he'd miss nearly half the season).
DEI was mentioned as a business Earnhardt wanted to build up for his children. But aside from putting Earnhardt Jr. in with the team, they really didn't talk about it all that much. There was no mention of the team's struggles when they moved up to Cup full-time in 1998. Instead, the documentary made it look like they had near immediate success when they originally tore up a bunch of cars, missed races and lost driver Steve Park to a broken leg within a month to start the year (he'd miss nearly half the season).
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer at Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Tweet N Greet: Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin & More"Don't know how, but I made it 31 years without knowing what a narwhal is. Those were the good ol' days..." - a tweet from Brad Keselowski about Sprint's ubiquitous Narwhals commercial
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Mike Neff
by P. Huston Ladner
by Toni Montgomery
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:Q: The inaugural CarQuest 420k for the then-Craftsman Truck Series at Las Vegas was dominated by two men: Jack Sprague and Ernie Irvan. While Sprague won the race, Irvan's day ended early. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: Las Vegas Motor Speedway opened in 1996 with a combination Indy Racing League and Craftsman Truck Series weekend in November. The IRL race is notable for one particular aspect (other than being a wreckfest). What is it?
A: When the Indy Racing League began, the series ran similar rules to CART for the three-race 1996 season. The 14-month long 1996-97 season started with CART equipment as well. However, Las Vegas was the final race for the turbocharged Lolas and Reynards. For the next IRL race at Walt Disney World, a new formula would come into use with production-based, naturally-aspirated engines and chassis from G-Force and Dallara.
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COMING TOMORROW
COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have a recap of Thursday's breaking news for you as well as a preview of Sunday's race at Las Vegas.
On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have some discussion questions to cover ahead of this weekend's Kobalt Tools 400. In addition, we'll also take a look at the XFINITY Series as Joseph Wolkin has his Eyes On XFINITY.-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
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