Friday, September 25, 2015

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Carl Edwards Wins Sylvania 300 Pole

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Sep. 25, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLXXI
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What to Watch: Friday

- Tonight, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is scheduled (weather permitting) to take on Kentucky Speedway.  The Crosley Brands 150 will air live on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. EDT.
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This weekend's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato
Tuesday here.
 
Top News
by The Frontstretch Staff

Carl Edwards Sweeps Coors Light Pole Awards at New Hampshire

Qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is crucial to overall success.  The Chasers came loaded Friday, as ten qualified for the final round.  Of those ten, Carl Edwards won the pole with a lap of 27.604 seconds (137.980 mph).  Kevin Harvick will start alongside.  Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 5.  Read more

Carl Edwards Tops First Sylvania 300 Practice
 
With passing at a premium at Loudon, getting up to speed as fast as you can is paramount in New Hampshire.  Carl Edwards did just that by topping the speed charts in the only practice session prior to qualifying with a lap of 27.823 seconds (136.894 mph).  Jimmie Johnson was second quickest, followed by Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch.  Read more

Richard Childress Racing Signs Brandon Jones for 2016 XFINITY Series Run

In 2015, Brandon Jones has spent his time racing in ARCA for Venturini Motorsports, the Camping World Truck Series for GMS Racing and the XFINITY Series for Richard Childress Racing, none of them full-time.  On Friday, RCR announced that Jones will drive one of the team's entries in the XFINITY Series full-time in 2016.  Read more
 
Furniture Row Racing Adds Replacement Tire Changers
 
Furniture Row Racing announced late Thursday night that they will have two new tire changers on Martin Truex, Jr.'s pit crew this weekend.  Josh Franko and Adam Hartman have been drafted in to replace Dave Collins and Kyle Turner.  Read more
 
Michael Waltrip Racing Files Appeal After Clint Bowyer Penalty

After the P4 penalty was handed down to Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 15 team on Wednesday, this would probably have been considered inevitable.  MWR is appealing the points, fines and suspension.  The appeal will be expedited because of the Chase and will be heard on Wednesday.  Read more

James Hinchcliffe to Test in IndyCar Next Week

Last week, James Hinchcliffe got behind the wheel of a go-kart in a charity race.  Next week, he'll return to the DW12 for the first time since a near-fatal practice crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  He'll be testing at Road America for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.  Read more

Haas Set To Announce F1 Driver Tuesday

Haas F1 announced on Thursday that they have reached a decision on their drivers for their inaugural season in the World Championship.  A press conference has been called for Tuesday morning at the Haas F1 factory to announce the lineup.  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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Frontstretch Folio: Sylvania 300
by Phil Allaway

The Sprint Cup Series travels to New Hampshire for their second appearance of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  The Sylvania 300 can be seen at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on NBCSN; the event can also be heard on your local MRN affiliate or SiriusXM Channel 90. Drivers will compete for 267 laps (400.5 miles) en route to the checkered flag.

Records and facts

Last year, Joey Logano passed Kevin Harvick on a lap 274 restart, then held off the eventual champion and the rest of the pack on two more restarts (including a GWC) to take his second career victory in Loudon.  Kyle Larson was second, followed by Harvick, Jamie McMurray and Jimmie Johnson

Jeff Burton is the winningest driver all-time at NHMS, claiming four victories.  The most recent of those wins was in the 2000 Dura Lube/KMart 300, a race in which he led every lap.  Among active drivers, five different drivers (Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman) have three wins each at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  Of this group, Stewart has visited Victory Lane most recently in the fall of 2011. 

Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.058 mile oval, 300 laps (317.4 miles)
Banking: 2-7 degrees in turns

Straightaways: 1,500 ft., banked 0 degrees

Grandstand Seating: 95,491
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 50 mph
Opened: 1990 (first Cup race in 1993)

Website: http://www.nhms.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nhmotorspeedway

Twitter: http://twitter.com/NHMotorSpeedway

Pre-Race Schedule:

Practice 1: Friday, September 25, 12 p.m. - 1:25 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Practice 2: Saturday, September 26, 9 a.m. - 9:55 p.m. on CNBC

Happy Hour: Saturday, September 26, 11:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. ET on CNBC

Qualifying: Friday, September 25 at 4:45 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Say What?!

"New Hampshire has been a difficult track for me the past couple of years.  But we learned a ton the first time there this year. We went there with a completely different mindset. We came up with a new setup package and it worked really well for us. We had a fast Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevy all weekend long. We qualified well and raced well.

We didn't get the finish (12th) we had hoped for because of an untimely caution after a green flag pit stop. That put us a lap down and we had to battle back through the field. We had a great race car, had a different package and something that I think we can fine tune and find more speed." - Martin Truex, Jr.

"There's nothing tricky or fancy about it. It's just a fun track. It just seems like it's always been a fun driver's track. Your car has to work well there but, when you get to racing guys, you're trying to outbrake them, trying to get your car to turn, and you struggle for forward bite. It's just got a little bit of everything the drivers look for to have a good race.

"It just has long, sweeping corners. The corners, in comparison to where we normally race, we're used to having a lot of banking, but New Hampshire is pretty flat. It's one of those tracks where you're either fighting entry-loose, entry-exit and nice in the center, or you're fighting tight in the center and you're good on entry and good on exit. It's a juggling act trying to get the car balanced for all three sections of the corner."- Tony Stewart

"Essentially, at Loudon, you're looking at how good your fuel mileage is and you have to look at when you have to make your last pit stop, since that's what everyone looks at. You end up running it almost like a road-course race because you do want to be the first guy on the last round of pit stops to pit. You want to get in there, get your tires and fuel, and then stay out the rest of the race and keep your track position since it's so important there. It's just a challenging race because it's so hard to pass there. You can be two-tenths faster than a guy and not be able to pass him because everyone typically runs the same speed. You'll have it where the leader might be a tenth better than the second-place guy, but everyone is separated by so little that it takes a mistake on someone's part in order to pass them there." - Kyle Busch

"I really like New Hampshire [Motor Speedway] because it's unique. It's a shorter track, and for whatever reason, I really like the smaller tracks. We had some bad luck there during the last race, so I can't wait to get back there this weekend. New Hampshire seems to be feast or famine for me in the Sprint Cup Series. Our short-track program continues to improve at HScott Motorsports. Steve and the guys have a prepared a great car for me. We have AccuDoc Solutions on the car this weekend, and I really want to get a great finish for them." - Justin Allgaier

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.

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TODAY ON FRONTSTRETCH:
by Sean Fesko

by the Frontstretch Staff

as told to Mike Neff

by Amy Henderson

by Kevin Rutherford

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:
The 1990 Grand Prix of Japan is best known for a bizarre crash on the first lap between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.  Senna all but admitted that the crash was intentional.  Like every instance that involves the two drivers, there's more to the story.  What happened before the race that angered Senna?

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

Thursday's Answer:

Q:  In the 1998 Farm Aid on CMT 300, Jeff Gordon picked up his ninth win of the year and the fifth in six weeks.  However, there was controversy after the race.  What happened?

A: On the final pit stop of the race, Gordon's team gambled on two tires in order to maintain track position while nearly everyone else up front took four.  Surprisingly, Gordon was able to keep the lead.  Jack Roush cried foul, believing that Hendrick Motorsports was "soaking" the tires.  Thus began "Tiregate."  NASCAR took Gordon's tires to a lab and had them tested, but nothing was found.

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COMING MONDAY
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have recaps of the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series races from Loudon, in addition to the XFINITY Series race from Kentucky.  There will also be an update on the points and any other news that breaks this weekend.

On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have a series of post-race commentaries breaking down this weekend's action in Loudon and looking forward to Dover, the third race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
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