THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
July 27, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXXVII
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
July 27, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXXVII
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What to Watch: Monday- Teams will begin preparing for their next race on the NASCAR schedule. For the Cup cars, they'll be running at Pocono Raceway with the Truck Series while XFINITY runs out at Iowa.
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Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Kyle Busch Nails Late Restart to Win First Brickyard 400
Sunday afternoon, Kevin Harvick looked good to claim his second Indianapolis victory. Then, he dropped back on a restart. Joey Logano inherited the lead, but fell victim to the restart prowess of Kyle Busch, who surged out in front on lap 153. Busch then outdragged Logano on a green-white-checkered finish and pulled away to win the Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400. Logano was second, followed by Harvick. Martin Truex, Jr. was fourth while Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-5 finishers. Read more
So Close: Logano, Penske Fall Just Short of Brickyard Glory
At the end of regulation, Joey Logano was looking good for a win. He was leading the race and awaiting one final green-white-checkered run. Then, Kyle Busch got a great restart and left Logano in the dust, forcing he and Team Penske to settle for second. Read more
Breaking: Jeff Gordon Crashes in Final Brickyard 400
For Jeff Gordon, Indiana was his adopted home as a teenager. He desperately wanted to put on a good show for his fans. Unfortunately, Gordon tangled with Clint Bowyer on lap 50 and crashed. He would return to the race, eventually but finished 42nd. Read more
Last Lap Pass Puts Kyle Busch in Victory Lane at Indianapolis
July Struggles Jeopardize Chris Buescher's XFINITY Series Championship Run
Chris Buescher continues to lead the XFINITY Series points after Saturday's Lilly Diabetes 250. However, he failed to record a top-10 finish for the entire month of July, allowing Chase Elliott to eat into his lead. Read more
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Claims Northeast Grand Prix Victory
Multimatic Claims 1-2 in GS, CJ Wilson Racing Wins ST at Lime Rock
Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Kyle Busch Nails Late Restart to Win First Brickyard 400
Sunday afternoon, Kevin Harvick looked good to claim his second Indianapolis victory. Then, he dropped back on a restart. Joey Logano inherited the lead, but fell victim to the restart prowess of Kyle Busch, who surged out in front on lap 153. Busch then outdragged Logano on a green-white-checkered finish and pulled away to win the Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400. Logano was second, followed by Harvick. Martin Truex, Jr. was fourth while Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-5 finishers. Read more
So Close: Logano, Penske Fall Just Short of Brickyard Glory
At the end of regulation, Joey Logano was looking good for a win. He was leading the race and awaiting one final green-white-checkered run. Then, Kyle Busch got a great restart and left Logano in the dust, forcing he and Team Penske to settle for second. Read more
Breaking: Jeff Gordon Crashes in Final Brickyard 400
For Jeff Gordon, Indiana was his adopted home as a teenager. He desperately wanted to put on a good show for his fans. Unfortunately, Gordon tangled with Clint Bowyer on lap 50 and crashed. He would return to the race, eventually but finished 42nd. Read more
Last Lap Pass Puts Kyle Busch in Victory Lane at Indianapolis
Ryan Blaney looked to have Saturday's Lilly Diabetes 250 won on the final lap. Then, Kyle Busch arrived and put the moves on Blaney exiting turn 2. With Blaney vanquished, Busch pulled away to take his second win of the year. Daniel Suarez finished third behind Blaney, followed by Paul Menard and Elliott Sadler. Read more
Blaney After Indy Loss: "It's My Fault"
Blaney After Indy Loss: "It's My Fault"
Ryan Blaney just missed out on claiming victory in Saturday's Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after Kyle Busch got him on the final lap. Afterwards, Blaney took full blame for the loss. Read more
July Struggles Jeopardize Chris Buescher's XFINITY Series Championship Run
Chris Buescher continues to lead the XFINITY Series points after Saturday's Lilly Diabetes 250. However, he failed to record a top-10 finish for the entire month of July, allowing Chase Elliott to eat into his lead. Read more
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Claims Northeast Grand Prix Victory
On Saturday, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports' Tom Kimber-Smith passed RSR Motorsports' Bruno Junqueira with 35 minutes to go for the lead and pulled away to take his (and co-driver Mike Guasch's) third victory of the season in Lime Rock Park's Northeast Grand Prix. The GT-Daytona class saw Turner Motorsport overcome a big crash on Friday to win with the duo of Dane Cameron and Michael Marsal on fuel mileage. Read more
Multimatic Claims 1-2 in GS, CJ Wilson Racing Wins ST at Lime Rock
Saturday morning, the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series made their annual visit to Connecticut's Lime Rock Park. Multimatic Motorsports' Billy Johnson passed Lawson Aschenbach on lap 69 of the 113-lap race and held on during a 15-minute spring to the finish to take his first win in the new Shelby GT350R-C. Teammates Jade Buford and Austin Cindric were second. CJ Wilson Racing's Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer dominated ST to take their second victory of the year. 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 Holds Pat
by Phil Allaway
by Phil Allaway
Kevin Harvick had an excellent run Sunday, leading a race-high 75 laps. However, he dropped back late to finish third. Joey Logano ran a strong second, but since Harvick led the most laps, he failed to gain any ground. It is still 69 points between first and second with six races to go before the Chase begins. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. remains in third, but he lost significant ground after crashing late in turn 1 and finishing 22nd.
Jimmie Johnson recovered from a terrible weekend in New Hampshire with a respectable effort in Indianapolis, finishing 15th. That was enough to maintain his position and gain on Earnhardt Jr. Martin Truex, Jr. finished fourth and maintained his fifth spot, now only seven points behind Johnson. Brad Keselowski finished tenth, the result of going off sequence on pit stops and maintains the sixth spot in the standings.
Matt Kenseth is still seventh after running seventh on Sunday. Kurt Busch, who finished eighth, is only three points back for the spot. Jamie McMurray remains in ninth, ten points behind Busch. The only change in the top 10 saw Denny Hamlin move into tenth by finishing fifth after Jeff Gordon was involved in an early crash. Kyle Busch, despite his fourth win in the last five races, is still on the outside of the top 30 looking in. However, he's only 23 points out of 30th in 32nd, trailing only Cole Whitt and Justin Allgaier for the spot.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 777, 2) Joey Logano -69, 3) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -100, 4) Jimmie Johnson -102, 5) Martin Truex, Jr. -109, 6) Brad Keselowski -139, 7) Matt Kenseth -162, 8) Kurt Busch -165, 9) Jamie McMurray -175, 10) Denny Hamlin -186, 11) Jeff Gordon -202, 12) Ryan Newman -212, t-13) Paul Menard -219, t-13) Kasey Kahne -219, 15) Clint Bowyer -239, 16) Carl Edwards -258.
Race Winners Currently Ineligible for Chase: 32) Kyle Busch -483 (23 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, Loudon, Indianapolis)Letter of the Race: Sunday's Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 was brought to you by the letter "P," for "Package." Sunday saw the race debut of NASCAR's new high-drag rules that will also be used next month at Michigan. The results were mixed. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"I might have found my happy place, I don't know. Maybe I found that too. Nothing better than being in victory lane, nothing better than being in victory lane for one of the biggest wins in my career at Indy and sweeping the week – even bigger yet. I just want to celebrate with my team, my wife and my family." - Kyle Busch, race winner
"I might have found my happy place, I don't know. Maybe I found that too. Nothing better than being in victory lane, nothing better than being in victory lane for one of the biggest wins in my career at Indy and sweeping the week – even bigger yet. I just want to celebrate with my team, my wife and my family." - Kyle Busch, race winner
"I got a good draft down the backstretch and I knew he was gonna block the bottom. I didn't have a good enough run to get underneath him. All I could do was hope he missed his corner and try to get underneath him that way, but I don't know what got into those guys lately. I guess Kyle is back. It's frustrating. We were so close to winning here at the Brickyard. Second hurts, but I'm proud of this team. We worked hard throughout this whole weekend. We didn't unload very good, but pushed hard and qualified second and finished second, but there are no trophies for second." - Joey Logano, finished second
"I think everybody put in a lot of effort to really try to make everything a lot better, spent a lot of money, but I don't know that we accomplished everything that we were looking to accomplish. Cars are extremely hot inside. That was probably the biggest surprise that crept up on everybody. I know everybody spent a lot of money to get the cars here and put a lot of time and effort into putting the puzzle together. I know my team did a lot of extra work to come to this race after we had already come here and tested and already spent that money to come here and test for a few days, and then to come back and have to race something different was a huge undertaking for the teams for a huge science project that probably didn't really change that much." - Kevin Harvick, finished third
"Just feel a little bad for Kevin (Harvick) there. I kind of screwed him. I was trying to push him, just mistimed it. It's hard to see the lines down there when you are behind a guy. I just totally forgot to ask my spotter for help and a heads up when we were getting five/10 feet from that line. I feel bad I messed him up a bit there. I kind of messed Kyle (Busch) up on the last one too and he still won. I guess at the end of the day we were on our own out there in the front row I guess without me behind them because I wasn't getting good starts." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished fourth
"Our car was pretty strong at the end and with a handful of laps to go, we were actually running down the leaders. I felt like we had a shot at it, but you just have to restart in the first couple rows to contend for a win and really whoever comes off turn two with the lead has pretty much got it. You're really racing towards turn two and that's about it." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"It's terrible, that's what I think. You just can't pass. Yeah, you can run up on the straightaway a little bit, but you can't run through the corner with anything." - Matt Kenseth, finished seventh, on the new rules package tried out at Indy
"I think everybody put in a lot of effort to really try to make everything a lot better, spent a lot of money, but I don't know that we accomplished everything that we were looking to accomplish. Cars are extremely hot inside. That was probably the biggest surprise that crept up on everybody. I know everybody spent a lot of money to get the cars here and put a lot of time and effort into putting the puzzle together. I know my team did a lot of extra work to come to this race after we had already come here and tested and already spent that money to come here and test for a few days, and then to come back and have to race something different was a huge undertaking for the teams for a huge science project that probably didn't really change that much." - Kevin Harvick, finished third
"Just feel a little bad for Kevin (Harvick) there. I kind of screwed him. I was trying to push him, just mistimed it. It's hard to see the lines down there when you are behind a guy. I just totally forgot to ask my spotter for help and a heads up when we were getting five/10 feet from that line. I feel bad I messed him up a bit there. I kind of messed Kyle (Busch) up on the last one too and he still won. I guess at the end of the day we were on our own out there in the front row I guess without me behind them because I wasn't getting good starts." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished fourth
"Our car was pretty strong at the end and with a handful of laps to go, we were actually running down the leaders. I felt like we had a shot at it, but you just have to restart in the first couple rows to contend for a win and really whoever comes off turn two with the lead has pretty much got it. You're really racing towards turn two and that's about it." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"It's terrible, that's what I think. You just can't pass. Yeah, you can run up on the straightaway a little bit, but you can't run through the corner with anything." - Matt Kenseth, finished seventh, on the new rules package tried out at Indy
"It was a hot day but that is what we do. That is part of being a race car driver. The No. 2 Miller Lite Ford had so much speed by itself and when we get running and the field would spread out, I felt like probably the 4 car and I were the class of the field. On restarts though I was just awful. Just absolutely atrocious and I couldn't make anything up and kept losing spots. I just didn't have a good balance between the two. I wanted balance and didn't have it. I don't know if that was me or the car. We just can't seem to put it together and that is a lot of what these races are now, they are restart racing. You go hard, go hard and fall in line after a restart, get stuck in everybody's dirty air, wait for a yellow and then race the restart. We probably had as much green flag spread out speed as anyone out there but we just didn't have the restart speed to make anything of it." - Brad Keselowski, finished tenth
"It was really hard to get up there and get a run on guys. It is difficult to try to get beside guys and it was really, really loose once you caught them. I would say the Kentucky package is way, way better and it put on a way better race than what that did." - Greg Biffle, finished 19th
"Today was an unfortunate day. It seems like in recent years it's been kind of feast or famine for us here. But I tell you what, from the first time I came here all the way through last year and even this year the fans have been amazing, the experiences have been amazing, the wins. Everything has been incredible and I feel so fortunate to have just gotten an opportunity to race here. Certainly to have five wins here is just unbelievable as well." - Jeff Gordon, finished 42nd
"It was really hard to get up there and get a run on guys. It is difficult to try to get beside guys and it was really, really loose once you caught them. I would say the Kentucky package is way, way better and it put on a way better race than what that did." - Greg Biffle, finished 19th
"Today was an unfortunate day. It seems like in recent years it's been kind of feast or famine for us here. But I tell you what, from the first time I came here all the way through last year and even this year the fans have been amazing, the experiences have been amazing, the wins. Everything has been incredible and I feel so fortunate to have just gotten an opportunity to race here. Certainly to have five wins here is just unbelievable as well." - Jeff Gordon, finished 42nd
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Amy Henderson
by Summer Bedgood
by Zach Catanzareti
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:Q: The last USAC-sanctioned IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway was the 1981 Van Scoy Diamond Mines 500. Being year No. 3 of the CART-USAC split, entries were rather thin. The call was made for teams to fill the field. Where did these teams come from?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1997 Brickyard 400 marked the one and only time that Darrell Waltrip fielded two cars in Winston Cup. Rich Bickle qualified tenth and ran well in his KFC Chevrolet. However, his day ended early. What happened?
A: With seven laps to go, Bickle drove into turn 3 and lost control of the No. 26 Chevrolet. Bickle's KFC Chevrolet spun and hit the wall on the drivers' side. Bickle was OK, but out of the race. The wreck 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:
Danny Peters returns with Five Points to Ponder leaving Indianapolis.-----------------------------
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