Monday, July 06, 2015

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Wins Coke Zero 400 Marred by Frightening Crash

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Jul. 6, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXII

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What to Watch: Monday

- Today, the Cup teams are hustling back to their bases to get everything swapped out since they need to be in Kentucky for an open test of the new package for this weekend on Wednesday.

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

Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Wins As Horrific Crash Hits at Daytona

Early Monday morning in Daytona, the dominant man won.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led 96 of the 161 laps to take his second straight restrictor plate victory.  However, the win was overshadowed by a shocking crash at the finish in which Austin Dillon was vaulted into the catchfence exiting the tri-oval.  Dillon walked away from the crash, but was later diagnosed with a bruised tailbone and bruised forearm.  Read more

Austin Dillon Wins Independence Day Shootout in XFINITY Series at Daytona

On Saturday night, prior to his big crash, Austin Dillon was the recipient of good fortune.  Brian Scott dominated the race, but managed to take himself out late.  Dillon cruised past to pick up his third win of the year.  Elliott Sadler was second, followed by JR Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne.  Benny Gordon finished in a career-best fifth.  Read more

Steve Byrnes Named Recipient of 2016 Squier-Hall Award

Saturday afternoon, Steve Byrnes was announced as the 2016 Receipent of the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.  He will complete the 2016 Induction class for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  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: Harvick Expands Lead After Truex's Crash
by Zach Catanzareti

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had the car Sunday night and into Monday morning at Daytona International Speedway to grab his second win of 2015. Then again, he is an Earnhardt at Daytona. Starting from pole after rain washed away Saturday qualifying, the No. 88 driver led a race-high 96 laps (well over half of the scheduled 160) to beat teammate Jimmie Johnson to the line. Hendrick Motorsports had a thrilling night as all four cars – Earnhardt, Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon – ran in the top four spots in the early stages and led all but 25 laps among the four drivers.

Denny Hamlin was in the middle of terrifying action across the checkered flag as his No. 11 Toyota got spun off the front bumper of Kevin Harvick, finishing third, while getting slammed by every angle and causing Austin Dillon to launch into the catchfencing, miraculously unharmed.  With a win at Martinsville, Hamlin can take the strong result to Kentucky as his teammates Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards both got caught up in accidents as well Monday morning, not getting strong results.

Harvick's fourth-place finish, combined with Martin Truex, Jr.'s early wreck means that Harvick now has a 63-point lead over Earnhardt Jr.  Truex falls to fourth after his second straight DNF.

Kyle Busch made his return race to Daytona after severe injuries sustained in February at the 2.5-mile track. It may not have gone as smooth as the 30-year-old would've liked after bouncing off the Turn 1 wall on lap 17, getting stuck off the lead lap in the process and later getting involved in the last-lap crash. It made for a tough return event but Busch fought through it. Despite the action, he managed a 17th-place finish, boosting him to now 128 points behind the 30th-place position in points. Busch needs to enter the top 30 in points in order to be eligible for this year's Chase.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 656, 2) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., -63, 3) Jimmie Johnson, -67, 4) Joey Logano, -75, 5) Martin Truex, Jr. -87, 6)  Jamie McMurray, -130, 7) Brad Keselowski, -136, 8) Kurt Busch, -148, 9) Matt Kenseth -155, 10) Jeff Gordon, -156, 11) Kasey Kahne, -160, t-12)  Denny Hamlin, -176, t-12) Paul Menard, -176, 14) Ryan Newman -184, 15) Clint Bowyer, -191, 16) Aric Almirola, -215.

Race Winners Currently Ineligible for Chase: 37) Kyle Busch -504 (128 points out of 30th)

Race Winners: Joey Logano (Daytona-1), 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, Daytona-2), Carl Edwards (Charlotte), Martin Truex, Jr. (Pocono), Kyle Busch (Sonoma)
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Coke Zero 400 was brought to you by the letter "T," for Terrifying.  The Dillon last-lap wreck, injuring fans in the stands also left most of NASCAR shaken leaving Daytona. What changes will result, we're not sure yet but no one was feeling terrific about what they just saw. - Tom Bowles

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Quotes to Remember: Coke Zero 400
compiled by Phil Allaway

"It was real frightening.  I mean, you're just on the verge of tears, to be honest with you, because I think that the first thing that goes through your mind is I saw everything in the mirror pretty clearly, and that car really went up in the air pretty high, and he hit the ‑‑ I could just see that it was a black object that hit that fence, and so I'm assuming I'm looking at the undercarriage of the car.  I've never seen ‑‑ I've never really seen a roll cage handle those catchfences very well, and I just was very scared for whoever that was.  I didn't even know what car it was, so I was just very scared for that person. Obviously you think about the car getting that high, what has it done to the catchfence and is there any danger to the spectators.  I didn't know exactly where [Dillon] hit the fence as far as how far down the straightaway, so I didn't know if he was in range of the few seats that we've got here tonight.  But it was just real scary. I didn't care about anything except for just figuring out who was OK, and then we pulled down to pit road there, and Jimmie got out of his car, come around, and that's the first thing we talked about.  He was frightened, as well, and we were just so ‑‑ we were just really wanting some information about everybody." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., race winner

"Restart‑wise, I was excited to have a front‑row opportunity and just hopeful that the scenario behind me would play out right.  Man, I don't know what went on.  We just couldn't get ‑‑ I had two or three shots at it and we just couldn't get our lane to go.  And the last restart, I think the No. 6 car was more focused on setting up a run down the back straightaway and was backing up to the car behind him and I got a great start with Junior and was door-to-door with him, but didn't have any help getting through 1 and 2.  Lost control of my lane, and Junior was so strong all night, and you give him control of the race, he's not going to give that up. Great performance, happy to be 1‑2, but clearly thinking about the accident that happened and the people in the stands.  It sounds like things are well out there, which is shocking.  I'm shocked that Austin Dillon is even alive, what he went through.  Just a frightening moment.  I saw it in the mirror, and man, I expected the worst when I came back around." - Jimmie Johnson, finished second

"Yeah, I mean, coming to the checkered there and thought we had a pretty good run, and going with Jeff, and I think Denny said the No. 4 turned him and went out, and after that it was just crazy.  It's just part of this racing.  Everybody is pushing for all they can, pushing, tight pack.  I was pushing the No. 24, the people behind me was pushing.  It's just a wad right there at the end, and that's why these speedway races end and you're just praying and hoping that you get through it at the end. We were unfortunate but fortunate in the fact that the good Lord was looking at me and keeping me safe.  I'm praying for all the fans out there.  I'm hoping everybody is OK in the stands.  The safety that NASCAR has done for the race car is obviously pretty awesome.  I've got a bruised tailbone and a little bit of a bruise to my forearm, but everything else feels fine.  I don't have a headache or anything like that, but ice up and go get ready for Kentucky." - Austin Dillon, finished seventh

"I am good to go. It stinks to tear a race car up at the checkers but that is the first time I have gone to the Infield Care Center and not been broken-hearted from a bad run.  We finished ninth I guess or wherever [NASCAR] lines us up after they look at all of it.  I feel we had a top-5 run going there.  It was pretty wild.  My car was kind of sluggish at the beginning and we got into the wall when Kenseth wrecked off 4 and it narrowed it up just enough and toed it in just enough that it started handling really good and got really fast.  We drove to the top 4, but it was really tough battling those Hendrick cars when you have three of them lined up together.  We were able to hold our own and Denny [Hamlin] and I worked and Paul Menard gave me some good pushes.  There at the end off of 4, everybody was trying to go everywhere.  We got rooted out by the 41 and ended up ninth.  We will take it.  I feel we had a solid race today." - Trevor Bayne, finished ninth

"There isn't much good to say about what happened tonight.  It is a product of the racing here.  We got caught up in the first crash, which was way unfortunate after sitting around all day.  We were five laps down and battled back to the lead lap, so that is something to be proud of, but we couldn't do much once we got there." - Joey Logano, finished 22nd

"The weekend didn't start off well for us and it ended worse. The backup car turned out to be really fast as we ran up front for a good portion of the race. But when we got shuffled back, we just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It looked like the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) and the No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) got together somehow. Just another situation where we were kind of running outside there minding our own business and just like practice, we got caught up in somebody else's wreck." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished 38th (Crashed out)

Phil Allaway is the newsletter manager for Frontstretch.  He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.

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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:

by Aaron Bearden

by Amy Henderson
by Phil Allaway

by the Frontstretch Staff
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  We'll start with an easy question.  The Carroll family was responsible for building Kentucky Speedway in time for the 2000 season.  What track did they operate prior to the construction of Kentucky Speedway?

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

Friday's Answer:

Q:  Joey Logano is going for a season sweep at Daytona this weekend. Who was the last driver to accomplish this feat in the Cup Series?

A: It wasn't all that long ago, actually.  Jimmie Johnson pulled off the feat in 2013 by winning his second Daytona 500 (first with Chad Knaus, as he was suspended for the first win) and claiming his only Coke Zero 400 victory that July.
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COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have breaking news from Monday and S.D. Grady returns with Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View.

On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have Five Points To Ponder after last weekend's soaking action in Daytona.
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