THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Sept. 7, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLVII
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Sept. 7, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLVII
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What to Watch: Monday- Today is Labor Day. While most viewers reading this Newsletter get today off to relax, the ARCA Racing Series is running at DuQuoin, and NHRA has eliminations for the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, among other special races. Frontstretch will still have all of today's news as it happens.
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Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Carl Edwards Wins Dramatic, Old-School Southern 500
Carl Edwards Wins Dramatic, Old-School Southern 500
Carl Edwards won the race off of pit road with 11 laps to go, then held off Brad Keselowski on the final restart to take victory in the Bojangles' Southern 500. Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick. Read more.
Denny Hamlin Wins Darlington XFINITY Race with Late-Race Pass
Denny Hamlin Wins Darlington XFINITY Race with Late-Race Pass
Denny Hamliln snatched the lead away from Daniel Suarez with three laps to go, then held on to take the win Saturday afternoon at Darlington. Kyle Busch and Suarez completed a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3. Kevin Harvick finished fourth, while points leader Chris Buescher was fifth. Read more.
Kyle Busch Clinches Chase Berth with 7th-Place Finish at Darlington
Kyle Busch Clinches Chase Berth with 7th-Place Finish at Darlington
After missing 11 races to open the season, following injuries sustained in a Daytona XFINITY Series accident, Kyle Busch has locked himself into the Chase. The seventh-place finish he posted during the Southern 500 gave Busch enough of a margin over 31st in points to give him a shot to compete for the 2015 championship. 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: Heading into Richmond, The Points are Steady
by Phil Allaway
by Phil Allaway
Brad Keselowski is still in fourth after leading the most laps Sunday night and finishing second. He is 18 points behind Earnhardt Jr. Jimmie Johnson is still fifth, but he had a tough night, spinning out at one point and getting lapped late in the going before getting a Lucky Dog and finishing 19th. Martin Truex, Jr. ran in the top 6 for most of the night, but faded back to ninth at the finish.
Despite getting into the wall early in the race, Matt Kenseth was able to salvage a 21st-place finish. It could have been much worse, but it did cost him some points. Denny Hamlin moved up one spot to eighth by virtue of his third-place finish. Hamlin leaped over Kurt Busch, who had a very fast car, but spun out late after contact from Martin Truex, Jr. Busch was able to come back to finish sixth, but Busch was looking for the W. Jamie McMurray rounds out the top 10.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 948, 2) Joey Logano -42, 3) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -93, 4) Brad Keselowski -111, 5) Jimmie Johnson -131, 6) Martin Truex, Jr. -142, 7) Matt Kenseth -172, 8) Denny Hamlin -194, 9) Kurt Busch -196, 10) Jamie McMurray -222, 11) Ryan Newman -234, 12) Carl Edwards -235, 13) Jeff Gordon -248, 14) Paul Menard -256, 15) Clint Bowyer -266, 16) Aric Almirola -295.
Drivers Outside the top 16 in the Chase: 27) Kyle Busch -477.
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Bojangles' Southern 500 was brought to you by the letter "W," for "Wear." The new tire that Goodyear brought to Darlington for Sprint Cup made tire wear into an actual thing for the first time at the egg-shaped oval since the 2008 repave. It was most definitely interesting. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Bojangles' Southern 500
compiled by Phil Allaway
"I don't think I can get in trouble for how much I liked it, but I loved it – this is as good as it gets. This is what it's about. We're sliding cars, tires are falling off – this is the style of racing – if there's any chance we can run this in the Chase, I hope we can do it. It was an awesome day. Thank you Joe Gibbs (team owner), thank you very much.
"That was a lot of fun racing with Brad (Keselowski) and Kevin (Harvick). I mean, that's as good as it gets. We were pushing each other as hard as we could without bumping into each other, blocking each other just enough that the other guys would put up with it and that was really fun racing. This is what NASCAR is about. We've got this lower downforce package, we can race close, the Goodyear tires fall off and it gets hard to drive. This is fun." - Carl Edwards, race winner
"It was a lot of fun. The cars are so out of control and you have to drive it with so much finesse and really think about your moves before you make them and Darlington is always a tough race track but the tire wear was so big. The car was running five laps and a caution comes out and everyone comes on pit road. It was crazy. You wonder if you have enough sets of tires for the end of it. There was so much that went in to the race and so many different elements playing out. It was fun to be a part of it." - Brad Keselowski, finished second
"It's the package we need to run from now on. It's unbelievable how much tire fall off there is. You're sliding around, there's more wrecks, which is unusual but it's a good thing because guys are messing up. That happens every now and then in racing. It's a lot of fun from our perspective and it's something that we can look forward to." - Denny Hamlin, finished third
"That was a lot of fun racing with Brad (Keselowski) and Kevin (Harvick). I mean, that's as good as it gets. We were pushing each other as hard as we could without bumping into each other, blocking each other just enough that the other guys would put up with it and that was really fun racing. This is what NASCAR is about. We've got this lower downforce package, we can race close, the Goodyear tires fall off and it gets hard to drive. This is fun." - Carl Edwards, race winner
"It was a lot of fun. The cars are so out of control and you have to drive it with so much finesse and really think about your moves before you make them and Darlington is always a tough race track but the tire wear was so big. The car was running five laps and a caution comes out and everyone comes on pit road. It was crazy. You wonder if you have enough sets of tires for the end of it. There was so much that went in to the race and so many different elements playing out. It was fun to be a part of it." - Brad Keselowski, finished second
"It's the package we need to run from now on. It's unbelievable how much tire fall off there is. You're sliding around, there's more wrecks, which is unusual but it's a good thing because guys are messing up. That happens every now and then in racing. It's a lot of fun from our perspective and it's something that we can look forward to." - Denny Hamlin, finished third
"It was a lot of fun. The cars are so out of control and you have to drive it with so much finesse and really think about your moves before you make them, and Darlington is always a tough race track but the tire wear was so big. The car was running five laps and a caution comes out and everyone comes on pit road. It was crazy. You wonder if you have enough sets of tires for the end of it. There was so much that went in to the race and so many different elements playing out. It was fun to be a part of it." - Joey Logano, finished fourth
"We had a great Budweiser/Jimmy Johns Chevrolet all night long. I'm definitely happy with that part. All in all, the car performed really well when we needed it to. We were in the race and we just got a little too far behind with eight laps to go and never made that up. We've got to brush up on that but, all in all, the car performed well. We just got bit there at the end." - Kevin Harvick, finished fifth
"We had a race winning Haas Automation Chevrolet. We got the lead at one point. It was short lived, but the car definitely loved the clean air. We hadn't gotten to the clean air until halfway through. Once we did and led those nine or 10 laps it was great. Then we had a poor pit stop when we came in as the leader. Then some guys stayed out and it kind of bottled us up for a while. Then we worked our way back up and once you get past 100 laps to go restarts get really congested. We cleared the No. 78 off Turn 2. We had been working with him all night. You've got to race the racetrack and he let us in off (Turn) 2 and everything was fine. Then he just drilled us going into (Turn) 3." - Kurt Busch, finished sixth
"I love the package. I thought we ran okay. We weren't good when we got here. We weren't good when the practices were over. I was real worried. The guys did a good job getting the car better all night long. The car was a lot of fun to drive all night. We did have some balance issues we need to improve on, but we fought hard and got a good result. The car was pretty good the last two or three runs. Just took us all weekend to get there and we were pretty far off when we got here, really bad. Real proud of my team, good stops they were consistent and that is what we need because they have been struggling." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished eighth
"I did the tire test here with the 2015 package and I couldn't tell a significant difference just because there is so much fall off from stickers to 10 laps, to 20 laps, to 30 laps. I am a big fan of this package. I think everybody is. We had a little bit more front downforce with some pans that they allowed us to have. I think that was better because at Kentucky everybody struggled with getting the front to turn. Here that didn't seem to be quite as big of an issue. It doesn't matter what type of racing you watch the leader always has a little bit of an advantage, but it seems like he has less of an advantage with the smaller spoiler and this rules package." - Jamie McMurray, finished 14th
"When I spun out the first time and we kind of dug ourselves a hole, I don't know if we had a tire going down or what. That was certainly unfortunate. We had a really fast Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota and on a long run I felt like we had a top-6 or 7 car, but overall I felt like we had a 10th to 12th-place car. Just trying to be smooth. Hadn't put a scratch on it all night and we dug ourselves a hole and got a lap down and the car was still decent and I don't know why (Paul) Menard was real aggressive and just wrecked us coming off of turn four. It was unfortunate to tear up a good race car like that and that's kind of the way the cookie crumbles here at Darlington sometimes. When you get yourself in a hole, it's tough to dig your way back out." - David Ragan, finished 40th (Crashed Out)
"We had to stay out, which was fine. And I'm not sure; I didn't feel like it (tire) was going down or anything. It just like going in there, getting into (Turn) 1 and tore up the race car, unfortunately. I appreciate everybody's hard work this weekend. We were trying. I messed up there at the beginning of the race and got us behind and you just can't do stuff like that." - Chase Elliott, finished 41st (Crashed out)
"I didn't feel out of control out there. I felt like I was in a pretty decent rhythm. It snapped pretty hard in (Turn) 4. So, I don't know, I mean they said it looked like it snapped pretty hard. It felt like that it was definitely more sudden and something that I wasn't expecting. It is definitely possible that it just got loose. The one thing about Darlington is you definitely run a lot of lines here. Debris is just something that happens here because we are using so much track, but I'm not 100 percent sure could have just got loose. But, it could have been a cut tire too, just not sure. It's a bummer. We fought our way back to the lead lap after taking two tires, but it's probably not a good idea at Darlington. I think Carl (Edwards) took no tires, and not a good idea at Darlington. So, I feel like we were in a position to have a decent end to the day, although we're just only halfway. It's unfortunate. And I love this car and my suit. The Lady in Black thing was a cool thing, but unfortunately I think it's come to an end." - Danica Patrick, finished 42nd (Crashed out)
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud - Carl Edwards Slips and Slides to Beat the Lady in Black
by Mike Neff
Past Failures Lead to Success in Low-Downforce Package
by Jerry Jordan
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the 2015 Bojangles Southern 500
by Amy Henderson
Up To Speed: Low-Downforce Package Adds Another Layer to "Throwback" Darlington Weekend
by Summer Bedgood
Pace Laps: Southern 500 Success, Denny Hamlin's Dominance & the Busy NHRA Weekend
by the Frontstretch Staff
XFINITY Breakdown: VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200
by Sean Fesko
Thinkin' Out Loud - Carl Edwards Slips and Slides to Beat the Lady in Black
by Mike Neff
Past Failures Lead to Success in Low-Downforce Package
by Jerry Jordan
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the 2015 Bojangles Southern 500
by Amy Henderson
Up To Speed: Low-Downforce Package Adds Another Layer to "Throwback" Darlington Weekend
by Summer Bedgood
Pace Laps: Southern 500 Success, Denny Hamlin's Dominance & the Busy NHRA Weekend
by the Frontstretch Staff
XFINITY Breakdown: VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200
by Sean Fesko
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:Q: The 1988 Miller High Life 400 at Richmond was the first Cup race on the current three-quarters of a mile Richmond International Raceway. That race saw an incredible jumbled starting grid. Why?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: The rain/darkness-shortened 1993 Mountain Dew Southern 500 marked the debut of Ernie Irvan in the No. 28 Texaco/Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing. How did Irvan get that ride?
A: After Davey Allison's death, the team took Pocono off, then put Robby Gordon in for Talladega and Lake Speed for three races (Speed was basically parked at the time due to his own team's lack of sponsorship). All the time that was happened, Irvan expressed interest in the ride full-time, which was returned by Robert Yates Racing. Eventually, Irvan negotiated a contract buyout from Morgan-McClure Motorsports that allowed him to go to the No. 28 starting at Darlington.~~~~~~~~~~
COMING TOMORROW
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:
Phil Allaway checks in with a look at the XFINITY Series broadcast from Saturday and analysis on the throwback broadcast of the Southern 500 on NBC in Couch Potato Tuesday. -----------------------------
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!
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!
On NASCAR's throwback weekend from Jon Bogart:
I can't be the only one to see right through all this "retro" and "throwback" crap going on at Darlington am I? All us "old timers" knew NASCAR would eventually come crawling back to us eventually. This retro stuff is nothing more than a lame attempt to bring all the long time NASCAR fans back into the fold. You know, all the fans who have watched religiously since the 60s and 70s? The fans that helped build the sport from a grassroots hobby to a national sport. The same fans that NASCAR blatantly alienated, and "chased" out of town. The fans Brian sacrificed for the sake of his padding his wallet some more.
How's that working out for you Brian? Now he thinks we can be appeased by this pathetic attempt to honor the history of NASCAR. The same history that Brian has done his best to erase from the minds and memory of mankind. I call this "Brianwashing," and it's very effective because there are many who have drank from the NASCAR Kool Aid cup, and mindlessly babble how great NASCAR is. For those of us with higher intellect that are immune to "Brianwashing," we can remember when NASCAR was actually exciting. The NASCAR of today is 100% crap, garbage, and a disgrace.
Fortunately, the death of NASCAR is very near, and very deserved. It doesn't even deserve a mercy killing, rather it deserves a long, slow, and painful death. It cannot be saved for it is too far gone. There is only one way to save it at this point, and it will never happen. Actually, it's very simple, and guaranteed to work. All you need to do is undo every decision Brian has made since he took over. Since every decision he has ever made is wrong, then undoing every decision would restore NASCAR to it's peak.
I do have to give Brian some credit, because it is difficult to be wrong every single time. I do admire his consistency, however, the great Brian himself said consistency is irrelevant. Brian thinks that painting one of his goofy looking spec cars with Mello Yello will make me forget how he destroyed the sport I loved for 40 years. It's pathetically laughable, but definitely sticking with his character. All I can say to this latest money making scheme is that he can KISS MY ASS!
I can't be the only one to see right through all this "retro" and "throwback" crap going on at Darlington am I? All us "old timers" knew NASCAR would eventually come crawling back to us eventually. This retro stuff is nothing more than a lame attempt to bring all the long time NASCAR fans back into the fold. You know, all the fans who have watched religiously since the 60s and 70s? The fans that helped build the sport from a grassroots hobby to a national sport. The same fans that NASCAR blatantly alienated, and "chased" out of town. The fans Brian sacrificed for the sake of his padding his wallet some more.
How's that working out for you Brian? Now he thinks we can be appeased by this pathetic attempt to honor the history of NASCAR. The same history that Brian has done his best to erase from the minds and memory of mankind. I call this "Brianwashing," and it's very effective because there are many who have drank from the NASCAR Kool Aid cup, and mindlessly babble how great NASCAR is. For those of us with higher intellect that are immune to "Brianwashing," we can remember when NASCAR was actually exciting. The NASCAR of today is 100% crap, garbage, and a disgrace.
Fortunately, the death of NASCAR is very near, and very deserved. It doesn't even deserve a mercy killing, rather it deserves a long, slow, and painful death. It cannot be saved for it is too far gone. There is only one way to save it at this point, and it will never happen. Actually, it's very simple, and guaranteed to work. All you need to do is undo every decision Brian has made since he took over. Since every decision he has ever made is wrong, then undoing every decision would restore NASCAR to it's peak.
I do have to give Brian some credit, because it is difficult to be wrong every single time. I do admire his consistency, however, the great Brian himself said consistency is irrelevant. Brian thinks that painting one of his goofy looking spec cars with Mello Yello will make me forget how he destroyed the sport I loved for 40 years. It's pathetically laughable, but definitely sticking with his character. All I can say to this latest money making scheme is that he can KISS MY ASS!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
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