THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 15, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XCVII
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 15, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XCVII
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What to Watch: Monday- Today appears to be a relatively quiet day in the world of NASCAR as teams return to their shops. With the Sprint Cup Series off this weekend, there will be some rest and relaxation while XFINITY Series teams prepare for this weekend's action in Illinois.
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Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Kurt Busch Wins Rain-Shortened Race in Michigan
Cole Custer Wins Wild Truck Series Race in Gateway
Josef Newgarden Holds Off Teammate, Penske for Honda Indy Toronto Win
Porsche Claims 1-2 in 24 Hours of Le Mans
Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Kurt Busch Wins Rain-Shortened Race in Michigan
Sunday's Quicken Loans 400 was plagued by rain. The red flag flew four separate times due to the wet stuff. However, after Kevin Harvick was eliminated from contention due to losing a value stem, Kurt Busch was in position to capitalize. Busch took the lead on lap 133 and held on until NASCAR called the race on lap 138 to pick up his second win of the year. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was second, followed by Martin Truex, Jr. Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano rounded out the top-5 finishers. Read more
Kyle Busch's Chase Chances Take Hard Hit At Michigan
Kyle Busch had a decent first 50 laps Sunday afternoon. However, his day came to an end right after the third rain delay. According to leader Kevin Harvick, NASCAR restarted the race with rain falling. Busch was running inside the top 10 when he lost control exiting turn 4 and hit the wall hard. The crash significantly damaged the No. 18 and sent Busch to the garage and a 43rd-place finish. Now, it will be that much harder for Busch to reach 30th in points. Read more
Kyle Busch Back in Victory Lane in First XFINITY Series Race Since Daytona Injury
Kyle Busch's Chase Chances Take Hard Hit At Michigan
Kyle Busch had a decent first 50 laps Sunday afternoon. However, his day came to an end right after the third rain delay. According to leader Kevin Harvick, NASCAR restarted the race with rain falling. Busch was running inside the top 10 when he lost control exiting turn 4 and hit the wall hard. The crash significantly damaged the No. 18 and sent Busch to the garage and a 43rd-place finish. Now, it will be that much harder for Busch to reach 30th in points. Read more
Kyle Busch Back in Victory Lane in First XFINITY Series Race Since Daytona Injury
Saturday marked the return of Kyle Busch to the XFINITY Series, for no other reason than the team didn't have anyone else scheduled to drive for the weekend (Busch was originally scheduled to return at Kentucky in July). Busch proceeded to make the best of it, taking the lead from Chase Elliott with a few laps to go and taking the win. Read more
Cole Custer Wins Wild Truck Series Race in Gateway
Much like Sunday's Cup race, Saturday night's Camping World Truck Series race was plagued by rain. Matt Crafton and Erik Jones crashed out of contention, both heavy favorites but eliminated in separate incidents. When the smoke cleared, it was Cole Custer in Victory Lane for his second career win. Spencer Gallagher finished a career-best second, followed by Johnny Sauter and John Hunter Nemechek. Cameron Hayley rounded out the top-5 performers. Read more
Josef Newgarden Holds Off Teammate, Penske for Honda Indy Toronto Win
Josef Newgarden took advantage of pit strategy and good pace to win his second race of the year Sunday at Exhibition Place in Toronto. CFH Racing teammate Luca Filippi was second, followed by Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Sebastien Bourdais. Read more
Porsche Claims 1-2 in 24 Hours of Le Mans
Porsche earned a dominant 1-2 finish Sunday at the Circuit de la Sarthe in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with their third team, the No. 19 Porsche 919 Hybrid shared by Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber sharing the honors. KCMG's ORECA 05-Nissan led nearly flag-to-flag to win P2, while Corvette Racing won in GTE-Pro. SMP Racing's Ferrari won the GTE-Am class. 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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Chasing the Chase: Now We're Talking Here
by Phil Allaway
Kevin Harvick once again was a threat Sunday, leading a race-high 63 laps. However, a flat tire due to a severed valve stem cost Harvick two laps under green. With only a few laps before the rain came for good, Harvick was able to take the wavearound and get back to only one lap down. Unfortunately, he was only able to charge back to 29th before the race was declared complete. Meanwhile, Martin Truex, Jr. had another excellent day to finish third. The result is that the points are the closest they've been in months; Harvick's lead has shrunk to just 15. Joey Logano's fifth-place finish boosted him up one place to third in points, just 56 back.
by Phil Allaway
Kevin Harvick once again was a threat Sunday, leading a race-high 63 laps. However, a flat tire due to a severed valve stem cost Harvick two laps under green. With only a few laps before the rain came for good, Harvick was able to take the wavearound and get back to only one lap down. Unfortunately, he was only able to charge back to 29th before the race was declared complete. Meanwhile, Martin Truex, Jr. had another excellent day to finish third. The result is that the points are the closest they've been in months; Harvick's lead has shrunk to just 15. Joey Logano's fifth-place finish boosted him up one place to third in points, just 56 back.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s second-place finish was good enough to move him up to fourth in the standings, jumping over teammate Jimmie Johnson in the process. Johnson had contact on an early restart and spent much of the rest of the day in catch-up mode. Johnson's 19th-place finish relegated him to fifth in points. Brad Keselowski maintains the sixth spot after finishing sixth on Sunday.
Jamie McMurray continues his quiet hold on a top-10 spot with another seventh-place finish. That run allowed him to hold onto seventh in points. Eight points back is Matt Kenseth, who gained a spot after finishing fourth. Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon round out the top 10 in the current standings.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 576, 2) Martin Truex, Jr. -15, 3) Joey Logano -56, 4) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -68, 5) Jimmie Johnson -70, 6) Brad Keselowski -96, 7) Jamie McMurray -112, 8) Matt Kenseth -120, 9) Kasey Kahne -129, 10) Jeff Gordon -142, 11) Kurt Busch -150, 12) Paul Menard -155, 13) Denny Hamlin -164, t-14) Carl Edwards -175, t-14) Aric Almirola -175, 16) Ryan Newman -176.
Race Winners: Joey Logano (Daytona), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta, Texas, Kansas, Dover), Kevin Harvick (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Brad Keselowski (Fontana), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville), Matt Kenseth (Bristol), Kurt Busch (Richmond, Michigan), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Talladega), Carl Edwards (Charlotte), Martin Truex, Jr. (Pocono)
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Quicken Loans 400 was brought to you by the letter "F," for Frustrating. The constant rains made it so that the race just couldn't get settle into a rhythm. The 200-lapper was already supposed to be long over by the time it got to lap 50; and then, it continued on for hours. Just no luck at all for NASCAR.... - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Quicken Loans 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"It's a team combination all the way around. Tony Gibson (crew chief) led these guys through a backup car, and the pit crew was there giving their best. It's an unbelievable feeling to know what we went through, paced ourselves and found the lead toward the latter part of the race when the rain came in. You have to get down and dirty. You have to really roll up your sleeves, get your elbows dirty and put the work into it. Tony Gibson makes these guys work a little extra hard. I always say thanks and I'm always there early with them. Thanks to Haas Automation, State Water Heaters, Chevrolet, Monster Energy, Mobil 1 and Rush Truck Centers. This is a fantastic series to race in and it's a pleasure to be able to drive into Victory Lane." - Kurt Busch, race winner
"Yeah, just honestly a good weekend for us. Didn't qualify as well as we would have liked to, and right at the start of the race we kind of drove up there and got through traffic pretty good, got to the front and felt like we were in good shape. I think the biggest thing that hurt us today was the first pit stop. We had to wait on fuel, and we came out ‑‑ I think we came out seventh or something and I had to restart on the bottom and the bottom was tough to restart on today. Lost a lot of track position and fought the rest of the day trying to get it back, and ultimately lost spots to the No. 41 and Dale in traffic there with ‑‑ I don't know, 40 or so to go, I got inside the No. 41, had him passed, and he got back to my outside corner on the front straightaway in traffic and then he brought the No. 88 around the outside with me. Once they got by me, I couldn't get close enough to get back by them. The race for us was really ‑‑ that was really the turning point for us, but awesome race car and another great job by the team. Just missed it a little bit today, but really proud of our season, really proud to have obviously my name mentioned next to Richard Petty, The King, is pretty special, so thankful for my team and what they've done this year, and hopefully we'll keep this thing rolling." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished third
"We had a really good Dollar General Camry, it was frustrating when you run all those laps under yellow. Frustrating for the fans and frustrating for everybody. Once we got rolling there, we had a good car. We got real loose in the second to last run and we just weren't able to adjust on it. Just didn't have enough laps. I thought we could have got to at least second with another seven or eight laps – the rain just came a little too early." - Matt Kenseth, finished fourth
"It was a tough day but we got a good finish out of it. I felt like we were kind of stuck back in traffic a lot of the race and couldn't get good restarts in the beginning of the day and kept losing spots. That was frustrating. The car was loose. We made some good adjustments and got off the majority strategy which played right where we wanted to when the caution came out by staying out and getting a longer run on fuel. The last restart we lost a couple spots, unfortunately. I feel like overall it was a good day considering how everything went and starting 11th, which wasn't very good. We will go to the off weekend now and get ready for the road course." - Joey Logano, finished fifth
"I am disappointed because the Miller Lite Ford Fusion was getting better with each run. We were starting to get it where we needed to be when that last big rain came through and I would have loved to see what we had for the final stretch. It is also disappointing for the fans, they are awesome to stick with us through this weather today. We will take the sixth-place finish and head into the off week and we will refocus on getting that Michigan win when we come back in August." - Brad Keselowski, finished sixth
"I am really proud of everyone on this AdvoCare Ford Fusion team. We were able to use the strategy to our benefit and come out of here with a top-10 effort and that feels great for this team. We have been working hard to get better results all season and to get this ninth-place finish today is a confidence and momentum builder." - Trevor Bayne, finished ninth
"Yeah, we could see weather coming there off of (turn) 4 and just praying that it would get here in time for me to stay out and be in the lead when the rain did hit. Hey, I applaud my guys for trying. We are pretty deep in points so we have to take risks like that to make the Chase. I'm happy with the call, just wish the rain would have come three laps sooner." - Kyle Larson, finished 17th
"Our car was loose and we came in and lost track position because we topped off with fuel and got back there and the No. 32 just kind of ran us over. We were just loose all day and just didn't have the kind of day we were looking for at all." - David Gilliland, finished 42nd (crashed out)
"Yeah, just honestly a good weekend for us. Didn't qualify as well as we would have liked to, and right at the start of the race we kind of drove up there and got through traffic pretty good, got to the front and felt like we were in good shape. I think the biggest thing that hurt us today was the first pit stop. We had to wait on fuel, and we came out ‑‑ I think we came out seventh or something and I had to restart on the bottom and the bottom was tough to restart on today. Lost a lot of track position and fought the rest of the day trying to get it back, and ultimately lost spots to the No. 41 and Dale in traffic there with ‑‑ I don't know, 40 or so to go, I got inside the No. 41, had him passed, and he got back to my outside corner on the front straightaway in traffic and then he brought the No. 88 around the outside with me. Once they got by me, I couldn't get close enough to get back by them. The race for us was really ‑‑ that was really the turning point for us, but awesome race car and another great job by the team. Just missed it a little bit today, but really proud of our season, really proud to have obviously my name mentioned next to Richard Petty, The King, is pretty special, so thankful for my team and what they've done this year, and hopefully we'll keep this thing rolling." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished third
"We had a really good Dollar General Camry, it was frustrating when you run all those laps under yellow. Frustrating for the fans and frustrating for everybody. Once we got rolling there, we had a good car. We got real loose in the second to last run and we just weren't able to adjust on it. Just didn't have enough laps. I thought we could have got to at least second with another seven or eight laps – the rain just came a little too early." - Matt Kenseth, finished fourth
"It was a tough day but we got a good finish out of it. I felt like we were kind of stuck back in traffic a lot of the race and couldn't get good restarts in the beginning of the day and kept losing spots. That was frustrating. The car was loose. We made some good adjustments and got off the majority strategy which played right where we wanted to when the caution came out by staying out and getting a longer run on fuel. The last restart we lost a couple spots, unfortunately. I feel like overall it was a good day considering how everything went and starting 11th, which wasn't very good. We will go to the off weekend now and get ready for the road course." - Joey Logano, finished fifth
"I am disappointed because the Miller Lite Ford Fusion was getting better with each run. We were starting to get it where we needed to be when that last big rain came through and I would have loved to see what we had for the final stretch. It is also disappointing for the fans, they are awesome to stick with us through this weather today. We will take the sixth-place finish and head into the off week and we will refocus on getting that Michigan win when we come back in August." - Brad Keselowski, finished sixth
"I am really proud of everyone on this AdvoCare Ford Fusion team. We were able to use the strategy to our benefit and come out of here with a top-10 effort and that feels great for this team. We have been working hard to get better results all season and to get this ninth-place finish today is a confidence and momentum builder." - Trevor Bayne, finished ninth
"Yeah, we could see weather coming there off of (turn) 4 and just praying that it would get here in time for me to stay out and be in the lead when the rain did hit. Hey, I applaud my guys for trying. We are pretty deep in points so we have to take risks like that to make the Chase. I'm happy with the call, just wish the rain would have come three laps sooner." - Kyle Larson, finished 17th
"Our car was loose and we came in and lost track position because we topped off with fuel and got back there and the No. 32 just kind of ran us over. We were just loose all day and just didn't have the kind of day we were looking for at all." - David Gilliland, finished 42nd (crashed out)
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Amy Henderson
by Summer Bedgood
by Jerry Jordan
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Joseph Wolkin
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: With the Cup Series off and not a whole lot of history at Chicagoland Speedway, we're going to have some varied questions this week. In 1995, Andy Hillenburg won the season-opening ARCA 200 for Ken Schrader Racing. However, the race ended under caution due to a wreck exiting turn 2 with five laps to go. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: In 1993, eventual ASA AC-Delco Challenge Series champion Johnny Benson made his Busch Grand National (now XFINITY) Series debut in the Detroit Gasket 200. It did not last long. What happened to put Benson out?
A: Benson was running roughly mid-pack when he was hit coming off of turn 2 just a couple of laps into the race. The No. 41 spun and without the aid of roof laps, took off and rolled over multiple times. The crash can be seen here.
The crash was at least the fifth rollover crash between Cup and the Busch Series that year and the third blowover flip. It was becoming almost commonplace; hence, the introduction of roof flaps for 1994.
~~~~~~~~~~COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have breaking news from Monday and a look inside the numbers from Michigan.
On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have Five Points To Ponder after last weekend's moist action in Michigan.-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
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