Monday, April 13, 2015

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Johnson Claims Fifth Victory at Texas Motor Speedway

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Apr. 13, 2015
Volume IX, Edition LIII

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What to Watch: Monday

- Today is a prep day for the teams back at the shops as they get ready for this week's action at Bristol Motor Speedway.  If anything substantial breaks, we'll have updates for you at Frontstretch.

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Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.

Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff

Jimmie Johnson Scores Fifth Texas Win in Duck Commander 500

Once again on Saturday night, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick dominated the proceedings at Texas Motor Speedway.  The six-time champion led for 128 laps and held off Harvick to take his second win of the season and fifth overall at the 1.5-mile quad-oval.  Read more

Erik Jones Speeds to First XFINITY Series Victory at Texas

On Friday night, Camping World Truck Series regular Erik Jones dominated the action.  He was fastest in all three sessions of qualifying, then led a race-high 79 laps while holding off Brad Keselowski to claim his first career victory in the XFINITY Series.  Read more

IndyCar Recap: Hinchcliffe Claims Wet, Caution-Strewn Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana

Sunday's Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana for the Verizon IndyCar Series at NOLA Motorsports Park was seriously affected by rain.  Even though it didn't rain much during the race, the race started on wet tires and standing water on course caused a number of incidents.  The six cautions resulted in the race being shortened due to time from 75 laps to 47.  Such a race allowed James Hinchcliffe to use a pit strategy play (he stopped at lap 13 to change to dry tires, and did not stop the rest of the way) in order to pick up his first win of 2015, his first for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.  Helio Castroneves was second, followed by James Jakes, Simona de Silvestro and Juan Pablo Montoya.  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
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Chasing the Chase: Harvick Slightly Expands Lead After Another Top 2 Finish
by Phil Allaway

Kevin Harvick may have broken his streak of top-2 finishes at Martinsville, but he's still clearly on a roll.  Another second-place finish on Saturday night increased his points lead once again.  It is now 26 over Joey Logano, who had a coming together with Harvick with 20 laps to go.  From there, Logano had to charge to get back to fourth by the finish.  Martin Truex, Jr. remains in third after posting his seventh consecutive top-10 finish to start the season.  Brad Keselowski remains in fourth despite an unscheduled pit stop early in the race due to a vibration.  He would eventually wind up fifth.

Kasey Kahne is still in fifth after finishing eighth Saturday night.  He is still quietly the highest placed of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers in points.  Jimmie Johnson's victory boosted him up four places to sixth in the standings, 14 points behind Kahne.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is up one place to seventh after finishing third on Saturday.  Denny Hamlin is down one place to eighth after finishing 11th.

Aric Almirola maintained the ninth spot in points after finishing 19th Saturday night.  Behind Almirola is a log jam.  David Ragan is now tenth in points after finishing 13th and is one point behind Almirola.  One point behind Ragan is Jamie McMurray after finishing sixth and running up front for most of the Duck Commander 500.  Just behind McMurray is Matt Kenseth in 12th.

The biggest loser of the week was Paul Menard.  The penalties against Ryan Newman meant that he entered Saturday night sixth in points. However, a blown engine resulted in a 41st-place finish.  That result dropped Menard all the way back to 16th in the standings.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 306, 2) Joey Logano -26, 3) Martin Truex, Jr. -40, 4) Brad Keselowski -60, 5) Kasey Kahne -76, 6) Jimmie Johnson -90, 7) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -93, 8) Denny Hamlin -101, 9) Aric Almirola -111, 10) David Ragan -112, 11) Jamie McMurray -113, 12) Matt Kenseth -117, 13) Jeff Gordon -120, 14) Carl Edwards -124, 15) Casey Mears -128, 16) Paul Menard -129.

Race Winners: Joey Logano (Daytona), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta, Texas), Kevin Harvick (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Brad Keselowski (Fontana), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville)

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Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Duck Commander 500 was brought to you by the letter "D," for dominance.  Intermediate tracks lately have been the domain of both Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick: Saturday night was no different.  The two past champions combined to lead 224 of the 334 laps and finished one-two.  They're going to be a tough out for the foreseeable future. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Duck Commander 500
compiled by Phil Allaway

"I thought we were in big trouble once we restarted.  The No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) went up through there and got to the lead.  I just couldn't go anywhere.  I got so tight.  We weren't sure if it was a bad set of tires.  We felt like we had a set that didn't match up with us earlier in the race.  So, we made no adjustments. We went out the next restart and the car was a little better, but made an adjustment.  Then that last pit stop we made the right adjustment.  I caught the No. 4 (Harvick) racing with the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray). I was able to get by both of those guys and check out.  It was an exciting race.  I hope the fans really enjoyed that one." - Jimmie Johnson, race winner

"I just got behind there and Jimmie was fast for those last couple laps and got around us.  I got loose coming off four and I got in the wall and just was trying to hang on to where I needed to be.  I just have to thank everybody on my Budweiser/Jimmy John's team for all that they have done and we just raced as hard as we could and it was a lot of fun." - Kevin Harvick, finished second

"I had (Kevin) Harvick cleared off of two.  I had passed him on the bottom and I had a hard time on the top so I wanted to try the bottom in three and four and he beat me around there.  I still had Jimmie behind me at that point and I should have pulled up in front of Kevin and made it a little more difficult on him.   We weren't as good as the 48 or the 4 early in the race, but we definitely improved it and Greg (Ives, crew chief) and the Nationwide team did a great job in getting it better.  We have had that speed all year and it's good to get a good finish in the bank because these last few weeks have been pretty rough, but we know what we are capable of.  Greg and I are just getting started here and we are right there on their heels man. If we ever get this thing figured out – it's going to be tough." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished third

"It's hard racing.  It's understandable.  We're racing to the end of the race and I expect to get raced the way I race people and I would do the same thing, so it's not a surprise there.  I felt like I had to guard that position.  I felt like if he got by me there I wouldn't have the opportunity to get back by him and I felt like I would have lost the race that way.  We're all just racing for wins.  We've got nothing to lose, so I felt like I made that move thinking, 'Hey, I've got to win this race and do what I've got to do to win it.'" - Joey Logano, finished fourth, on racing Kevin Harvick

"It was an up-and-down night.  We led some laps early, faded in the middle and then found a little bit at the end and charged hard to get back up to fifth.  I think we were a second or third-place car there at the end.  It's hard to say, but it was up and down.  We just have to keep working and find a little more speed." - Brad Keselowski, finished fifth

"It was a hard-fought night, for sure. We fought the car. We fought track position a lot and had a little trouble on pit road a few times. That hurt us a bit. At the end we had to start doing some strategy stuff to get our track position back and probably gave up a few spots doing it. It was still a top 10, so all in all, it was a good night for us. We're just missing a little bit of something. The guys are working real hard. We just need to find a little bit of speed to run with those guys." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished ninth

"Our overall race was really good considering where we started at. We didn't have the best pit stall selection, we were having to drive around cars all night. Adam Stevens (crew chief) and our Interstate Batteries team did a really nice job adjusting on our Camry and I felt like we had a chance at a certainly a top-10 or maybe even a top-five if the cautions would have fell right. We just weren't at our best the last 50 laps. I don't know if it was track changing a little bit, adjustments where we were at, track position is very important at these tracks. Not too excited about our finish, very pleased with our race. I think we learned a few things and certainly overcame a poor qualifying effort. When you have a good car, you need to capitalize on it and I felt like we gave up a little bit there at the end. We'll look at it and learn from it. This is an important race here in the fall, so hopefully we can learn from it and these guys can be a little better in the fall." - David Ragan, finished 13th

"We broke a water hose, I guess. The main line that goes in the motor just broke. It pushed a bunch of water out. No warning. The temperature gauge never moved. I was coming down the backstretch to pit and was slowing down and it broke. We popped the hood but couldn't see anything. So, we went back out but then had no power." - Paul Menard, finished 41st (Engine failure)

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.
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:

by Mike Neff

by Amy Henderson
by Summer Bedgood

by Jerry Jordan

by the Frontstretch Staff
 
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: In 1997, Hendrick Motorsports brought in Jack Sprague to sub for the injured Ricky Craven in the No. 25 Budweiser Chevrolet at Bristol (Craven was recovering from a concussion suffered at Texas).  For Sprague, it was a huge opportunity to impress, but that opportunity was squandered.  What happened to put Sprague out of the hunt, and later, out of the race? 

Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!

Friday's Answer:

Q:  The 2003 O'Reilly 300 was a coming out party for Brian Vickers, who led 87 of the 200 laps on the day.  However, his race quickly unraveled and went from the penthouse to the toilet in about 20 laps.  What happened?

A:  First, Vickers was black flagged on a restart for illegally attempting to pass Chad Blount's No. 19 Dodge on the left.  That forced him to the rear of the lead lap and ultimately out of contention to win.  At the time, the penalty was controversial because 1) Vickers was leading the race, while Blount was on the tail end of the lead lap, 2) Blount didn't come up to speed quickly, and 3) Vickers was barely alongside Blount at the start/finish line.

Later on, Vickers was collected in a multi-car wreck triggered by Shane Hmiel clipping the rear of Mike Bliss on another restart.  That crash can be seen here
.

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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 Texas.
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