THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Jul. 13, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXVII
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Jul. 13, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXVII
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What to Watch: Monday- Today, there is a test session starting up at Chicagoland Speedway, site of the opening race of the Chase. The three-day session will see multiple teams taking to the 1.5-mile tri-oval, tweaking setups for their return in mid-September.
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Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Kyle Busch Tames Kentucky Speedway for Second 2015 Win
Kyle Busch's charge to 30th in the standings continued full bore at Kentucky Speedway as he passed Joey Logano late, pulling away to take his second win of the year. Logano was second while Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 5 Saturday night. Read more
Back in the Driver's Hands: Top Finishers Praise Kentucky Rules Package
Pit Road Woes Thwart Valiant Effort from Keselowski at Kentucky
Saturday night, Brad Keselowski had one of the fastest cars on track, leading much of the night. However, multiple issues on pit road relegated Keselowski to a somewhat disappointing sixth-place finish. Read more
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Fights Brake Issues, Collides With Danica in Quaker State 400
Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Kyle Busch Tames Kentucky Speedway for Second 2015 Win
Kyle Busch's charge to 30th in the standings continued full bore at Kentucky Speedway as he passed Joey Logano late, pulling away to take his second win of the year. Logano was second while Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 5 Saturday night. Read more
Back in the Driver's Hands: Top Finishers Praise Kentucky Rules Package
Coming out of Saturday night's Quaker State 400, one thing was quite clear: The drivers really seemed to like the new rules package. Maybe not the lack of track time prior to the race, of course but the package received rave reviews from all involved. Read more
Pit Road Woes Thwart Valiant Effort from Keselowski at Kentucky
Saturday night, Brad Keselowski had one of the fastest cars on track, leading much of the night. However, multiple issues on pit road relegated Keselowski to a somewhat disappointing sixth-place finish. Read more
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Fights Brake Issues, Collides With Danica in Quaker State 400
After his dominant run in Daytona, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. struggled with brake issues Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway. These problems culminated in an incident where Earnhardt Jr. effectively ran over Danica Patrick, putting Patrick in the wall and ending her night. Read more
Brad Keselowski Uses Lapped Traffic to Claim Kentucky 300 Victory
Brad Keselowski Uses Lapped Traffic to Claim Kentucky 300 Victory
Sprint Cup Series regular Brad Keselowski was able to use the lapped driver of David Starr as a pick to get past Erik Jones with nine laps to go at Kentucky, pulling away to take his first XFINITY Series win of the year. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Jones, Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez were second through fourth while Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-5 finishers. 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 Continues to Expand His Advantage
by Phil Allaway
by Phil Allaway
Kevin Harvick had an uncharacteristically quiet night. He did not lead a lap, struggling at times with the new package but brought his Budweiser Chevrolet home in eighth. With Dale Earnhardt, Jr. having brake issues, though Harvick was once again able to expand his lead up to a season-high 68 points. That margin is over a tie between Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano. Johnson finished right behind Harvick, sitting ninth and minimized his losses on the evening. Meanwhile, Logano had the lead late before Kyle Busch overtook him with 20 laps to go.
Earnhardt Jr.'s brake issues resulted in him taking out Danica Patrick on his way to a 21st-place finish. He would drop to fourth in the standings as a result. Martin Truex, Jr. ran well early on but dropped back to a 17th-place performance, losing even more ground. Truex has now three straight runs outside the top 10 after starting the year with 14 top 10s in 15 races.
Brad Keselowski was one of the strongest drivers all night but pit road trouble relegated him to a sixth-place finish. Regardless, that was still enough to move up to sixth in points. Keselowski jumped over Jamie McMurray to move up the order. For McMurray, he ran OK (14th) but it just wasn't enough to keep sixth in points. Despite a spin during the race, Kurt Busch was able to stand pat with a tenth-place finish. He's still eighth, 14 points out of seventh. Two points behind Busch is Matt Kenseth, who had a great fifth-place result Saturday night. Jeff Gordon (seventh at Kentucky) continues to round out the top 10.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 692, t-2) Jimmie Johnson -68, t-2) Joey Logano -68, 4) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -76, 5) Martin Truex, Jr. -96, 6) Brad Keselowski -133, 7) Jamie McMurray -136, 8) Kurt Busch -150, 9) Matt Kenseth -152, 10) Jeff Gordon -155, 11) Denny Hamlin -170, 12) Kasey Kahne -179, 13) Paul Menard -183, 14) Ryan Newman -195, 15) Clint Bowyer -202, 16) Aric Almirola -219.
Race Winners Currently Ineligible for Chase: 35) Kyle Busch -492 (87 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, Kentucky)Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Quaker State 400 was brought to you by the letter R for "Relief." First off, it stopped raining long enough for the track to put on the race. Secondly, the event was highly competitive, something which hasn't been the case in previous years - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Coke Zero 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"We tried. We cleared the 11 on the restart, which got us clean air and I thought we were in good shape. Then, as tires started wearing the 18 was really good on the long run and he figured out the top before me. That's the advantage you have as the second-place guy; you can go up there and play around more. I was just trying to keep the gap, so I didn't want to take the penalty of losing three or four laps trying to figure out the top and he would have been closer -- but he figured it out before me and got around me. We raced the heck out of each other, but I figured it out too late." - Joey Logano, finished second
"Carl (Edwards) was trying to win for his team and I'm trying to win for my team, luckily a Joe Gibbs Racing car won it. We're all trying to race for a win and I was just shifting from third to fourth when he (Edwards) got to me and hit me and I think he wasn't trying to hit me, he was just trying to move to the outside and stick us three-wide so he could get position and try to take the lead. When he clipped us, it spun the rear tires and I lost the spot to the 22 (Joey Logano) and him and a bunch of other guys. It all worked out for the good and we got all our cars in the top 5. What a fun race. For us to be able to come back from two laps down and really pass a ton of cars, that's just encouraging to me that we've finally got something that we can really work on and pass guys when your balance is better." - Denny Hamlin, finished third
"On that restart, that last restart, I thought I would go around Denny (Hamlin) and get around him and Joey (Logano). I thought I would go as hard as I can and still save it and Denny got on my outside and I got a little loose and that was it. Just an awesome race – I can't thank Comcast XFINITY enough for having the Minions on board along with ARRIS, Stanley, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Subway. This package, we need to keep going this direction. We could race closer together, I was steering right. We were using the whole car. We just need to keep taking downforce away. It was an awesome show. Just an awesome, fun day and I'm glad Kyle (Busch) got the win." - Carl Edwards, finished fourth
"It's easy to play Saturday evening quarterback, but it just didn't come together for us. There are certainly some things I could have done better and we didn't have the best day on pit road. It's something to build off of, but I thought Kyle and I both had pretty good cars and we just didn't put it all together when it counted. We'll keep working on it." - Brad Keselowski, finished sixth
"We were all over the place. We started out really good. I thought our Fifth Third Ford was gonna be pretty solid. We took two tires and made an adjustment and it fired off OK, but it didn't hold on very good at all. We lost all of our track position, lost a lap, and we were fighting all night trying to get that back. We got in the back with some cars that when one brushed the wall there. We were four-wide going into one and just really got jumbled up there and got in the back of the 26. I kind of slid and got in the fence and then we had to make some different adjustments to get the car better after that because of the aero package. What I did to the right-rear quarter took all the air off the side, so we had to make some more adjustments. Nick and the guys in the pits did a great job. We gained some spots and went forward. We took two tires there at the end and I wasn't sure how it was going to work because we did it earlier in the race and I didn't like it at all, but we were able to march forward. We were getting really close to that top 10. We were running down the 41, but I made a mistake in the last 10 laps that cost me. I didn't gain as much one lap and I think we could have had it, but it was a solid night for us. It's something to build off of and I think I really like this package, but we've still got to fine-tune our car. We still don't have that all-out speed that we're looking for. I think on the longer runs, we were OK. We just have to find some more speed." - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., finished 11th
"Well, I hope the fans enjoyed that because I sure did. I thought we were going to have a little better finish there. We were running decent for a while but toward the end I kind of brushed the wall. There wasn't really any damage but after that, the handling just wasn't the same. Not sure what happened but we worked hard tonight and proud of the effort." - Clint Bowyer, finished 19th
"Carl (Edwards) was trying to win for his team and I'm trying to win for my team, luckily a Joe Gibbs Racing car won it. We're all trying to race for a win and I was just shifting from third to fourth when he (Edwards) got to me and hit me and I think he wasn't trying to hit me, he was just trying to move to the outside and stick us three-wide so he could get position and try to take the lead. When he clipped us, it spun the rear tires and I lost the spot to the 22 (Joey Logano) and him and a bunch of other guys. It all worked out for the good and we got all our cars in the top 5. What a fun race. For us to be able to come back from two laps down and really pass a ton of cars, that's just encouraging to me that we've finally got something that we can really work on and pass guys when your balance is better." - Denny Hamlin, finished third
"On that restart, that last restart, I thought I would go around Denny (Hamlin) and get around him and Joey (Logano). I thought I would go as hard as I can and still save it and Denny got on my outside and I got a little loose and that was it. Just an awesome race – I can't thank Comcast XFINITY enough for having the Minions on board along with ARRIS, Stanley, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Subway. This package, we need to keep going this direction. We could race closer together, I was steering right. We were using the whole car. We just need to keep taking downforce away. It was an awesome show. Just an awesome, fun day and I'm glad Kyle (Busch) got the win." - Carl Edwards, finished fourth
"It's easy to play Saturday evening quarterback, but it just didn't come together for us. There are certainly some things I could have done better and we didn't have the best day on pit road. It's something to build off of, but I thought Kyle and I both had pretty good cars and we just didn't put it all together when it counted. We'll keep working on it." - Brad Keselowski, finished sixth
"We were all over the place. We started out really good. I thought our Fifth Third Ford was gonna be pretty solid. We took two tires and made an adjustment and it fired off OK, but it didn't hold on very good at all. We lost all of our track position, lost a lap, and we were fighting all night trying to get that back. We got in the back with some cars that when one brushed the wall there. We were four-wide going into one and just really got jumbled up there and got in the back of the 26. I kind of slid and got in the fence and then we had to make some different adjustments to get the car better after that because of the aero package. What I did to the right-rear quarter took all the air off the side, so we had to make some more adjustments. Nick and the guys in the pits did a great job. We gained some spots and went forward. We took two tires there at the end and I wasn't sure how it was going to work because we did it earlier in the race and I didn't like it at all, but we were able to march forward. We were getting really close to that top 10. We were running down the 41, but I made a mistake in the last 10 laps that cost me. I didn't gain as much one lap and I think we could have had it, but it was a solid night for us. It's something to build off of and I think I really like this package, but we've still got to fine-tune our car. We still don't have that all-out speed that we're looking for. I think on the longer runs, we were OK. We just have to find some more speed." - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., finished 11th
"Well, I hope the fans enjoyed that because I sure did. I thought we were going to have a little better finish there. We were running decent for a while but toward the end I kind of brushed the wall. There wasn't really any damage but after that, the handling just wasn't the same. Not sure what happened but we worked hard tonight and proud of the effort." - Clint Bowyer, finished 19th
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Matt McLaughlin
by Amy Henderson
by Jerry Jordan
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Huston Ladner
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the history of the Sprint Cup Series at Loudon, the 1994 Slick 50 300 with its 17 cautions is an outlier. Derrike Cope's performance that day could also be considered as such since he was rewarded for it with unemployment. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: Parker Johnstone's time in CART was a struggle, to say the least. The 1997 Miller 200 at the Milwaukee Mile was looking to be a bright spot as he had qualified sixth. However, it wasn't meant to be. What took him out of the race?
A: Johnstone had dropped back to 12th early on, dealing with a loose race car. It never got better for him as the Kool-sponsored No. 27 snapped on Johnstone in turn 2, resulting in him sliding into the outside wall. Johnstone was OK, but done for the day. The crash can be seen here.~~~~~~~~~~
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 action in Kentucky.-----------------------------
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!
From David Schuler:
"Why not put Bobby Labonte into the No. 62 Sprint [Cup] car? He is an outstanding driver and great sponsor spokesperson. He also has the past champion position. Would be great for the Brickyard 400 and make sure the 62 car is in the [race] for the points and the big payday, even in just qualifying. Sincerely, one of Bobby Labonte's biggest fans."
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