THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Sep. 10, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLX
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Sep. 10, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLX
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What to Watch: Thursday
- Today, the XFINITY Series has their practice sessions for tomorrow night's Virginia 529 College Savings 250. Both sessions will air live on NBCSN. Times can be seen in the TV schedule below.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
by the Frontstretch Staff
Denny Hamlin Tears ACL, Will Require Offseason Surgery
Wednesday, Joe Gibbs Racing announced Denny Hamlin tore the ACL in his right knee Tuesday while playing a game of pick-up basketball. He will continue to race with the injury and plans to have surgery after the season. Read more
Denny Hamlin, Timmy Hill Teams Receive Post-Darlington Warnings
Denny Hamlin, Timmy Hill Teams Receive Post-Darlington Warnings
Once again, the dreaded NASCAR penalty warnings have been assessed. Officials gave a warning to Denny Hamlin's team for flunking pre-race inspection four times. Timmy Hill's No. 62 team earned one for failing pre-qualifying inspection multiple times. Read more
XFINITY, Truck Series Banquets Move to Hollywood, Florida
XFINITY, Truck Series Banquets Move to Hollywood, Florida
NASCAR announced Wednesday that the combined XFINITY/Camping World Truck Series Banquet will be held at The Diplomat Resort and Spa in South Florida. The venue replaces Trump National Doral Miami, which NASCAR decided to drop under pressure from Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis after Donald Trump made disparaging public remarks about Hispanics. 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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Editor's Note: Potts' Shots will return next week.~~~~~~~~~~
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The Critic's Annex: Straight Outta Trans-Am
by Phil Allaway
Welcome back. This week, we're flashing back nearly a month to the XFINITY Series weekend at Mid-Ohio. On the support card for the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 was Pirelli World Challenge's Touring Car classes and the Trans-Am Series.
Due to the popularity of Trans-Am these days, the series has split races (between the various classes, over 75 cars entered the Mid-Ohio weekend). One race is for the Top class (essentially, the Trans-Am that you remember from the '90s and early 2000's) and TA3, which is more or less a combination of stuff you could see in Pirelli World Challenge's GTS class, World Challenge's GT class about a decade ago and the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge's GS class. That race debuted a couple of weeks ago on television and is now available on YouTube. The other is for the TA2 class. That telecast debuts this weekend on CBS Sports Network (in the listings linked above from Couch Potato Tuesday, it's referred to as Trans-Am Muscle Car Racing).
Due to the popularity of Trans-Am these days, the series has split races (between the various classes, over 75 cars entered the Mid-Ohio weekend). One race is for the Top class (essentially, the Trans-Am that you remember from the '90s and early 2000's) and TA3, which is more or less a combination of stuff you could see in Pirelli World Challenge's GTS class, World Challenge's GT class about a decade ago and the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge's GS class. That race debuted a couple of weeks ago on television and is now available on YouTube. The other is for the TA2 class. That telecast debuts this weekend on CBS Sports Network (in the listings linked above from Couch Potato Tuesday, it's referred to as Trans-Am Muscle Car Racing).
This week, we're looking at the TA/TA3 race, the Next Dimension 100 presented by FirstEnergy. Since the series race is on YouTube, I'm going to take advantage of that by linking to individual portions of the race that I am referencing here in the critique just in case you want to see what I'm talking about. With that said, let's get started.
Trans-Am broadcasts on CBS Sports Network are covered by the Carolinas Broadcast Group, the same chaps that do the network's ARCA races. Rick Benjamin is in on play-by-play with Michael McDowell doing the analysis. The Benjamin-McDowell pairing is generally solid. McDowell gives viewers the information they need to know and really not a whole not more. He doesn't try to take over the telecast by any means.
Pre-race coverage consisted of previewing the race and pit reporter Shea Adam interviewed pole sitter Tomy Drissi. I guess this interview was done before the race (it's a little hard to tell, to be honest) but it was the perfect foreshadowing to the heck that went down. There was also a flashback to last year, where Drissi and Amy Ruman had contact, resulting in Ruman ending up in the trap.
The start of the race was somewhat sedate. Drissi seemed to have the fastest car and opened up a gap on the field. Most of the racing for position was back in the TA3 class. Then, a yellow was thrown due to oil on track from multiple cars. Heck broke loose shortly afterwards.
Drissi appeared to be sleeping on the restart, which allowed Ruman to run up the back of him. Drissi later claimed that he thought Ruman (who he never mentioned by name, by the way) had jumped the restart. Drissi then blocked her on the run to the Keyhole, then had contact with Ruman that only hurt himself. Benjamin noted in his commentary that Drissi came down on Ruman, which the pictures clearly showed. Stay tuned. Drissi didn't exactly see it that way.
Further back, there was a crash in the TA3 class in turn 4 shortly after the restart. That incident didn't cause a full course yellow right away but did cause a local yellow as both cars involved stalled out. The leaders came back upon the scene with yellows flying. Here, you're supposed to mind your P's and Q's. Drissi didn't.
Despite the fact that you're not allowed to pass under a local yellow, Drissi attempted the move on eventual winner Paul Fix anyway, running into the back of the No. 4 and essentially spinning him out. After the full course yellow came out, Drissi drove up alongside Ruman and voiced his displeasure with her tactics, despite everything that viewers saw would have pointed the blame squarely in Drissi's direction. The booth found the move confusing, but they understood that he was upset. That, plus the Fix spin resulted in Drissi getting a stop-and-go penalty.
Despite the fact that you're not allowed to pass under a local yellow, Drissi attempted the move on eventual winner Paul Fix anyway, running into the back of the No. 4 and essentially spinning him out. After the full course yellow came out, Drissi drove up alongside Ruman and voiced his displeasure with her tactics, despite everything that viewers saw would have pointed the blame squarely in Drissi's direction. The booth found the move confusing, but they understood that he was upset. That, plus the Fix spin resulted in Drissi getting a stop-and-go penalty.
After the stop-and-go, it appeared that Drissi waited until Ruman came back around. Then, he proceeded to give her heck again until the inevitable crash occurred. The whole situation was uncalled for and completely brought on by Drissi. Prior to the crash, viewers heard audio from Ruman's radio in which she's basically freaking out, knowing that Drissi is screwing around with the race and trying to make sure that she doesn't win.
By that point, McDowell realized what Drissi was up to and realized that Trans-Am should have parked him before the crash occurred. A little late to the party, Michael. Later that day, Drissi crashed out of the XFINITY race as well.
After he was parked, Adam did an interview with Drissi in the pits. Needless to say, that interview was interesting. Drissi's explanation for everything was basically the exact opposite of what happened. Benjamin picked up on that fact as well, openly wondering what race Drissi was talking about.
Post-race coverage saw interviews with the top-2 finishers and Ruman, who went on to verbally destroy Drissi for his actions. When I originally watched this interview, I have to admit, I was surprised that she didn't litter it with about a dozen expletives. Ruman was rightfully angry, angrier than I've seen a driver in years without punches being thrown. There were also checks of the unofficial results and points in both classes before CBS Sports Network left Mid-Ohio.
Last Thursday, Trans-Am officials stripped Drissi of his points and finishing position from Mid-Ohio, then suspended him for one calendar year. The length was undoubtedly due to the fact that Drissi is not full-time in the series, but we're talking about a longtime veteran and former champion. These actions were beyond inexcusable, they were loony.
Benjamin and McDowell had to spend the broadcast trying to explain just what the deuce Drissi was thinking that day. Not an easy task. Overall, they did a decent job with it. Outside of the stupidity, we had a reasonably competitive race and CBS Sports Network did well to show the action for position. The race itself would have been way more enjoyable to watch had Drissi not been an idiot, though.
That's all for this week. Next week, we'll be back with more motorsports television commentary. Until then, enjoy this weekend's action from Richmond.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
"Is Cassill the most underrated driver in the series? He just might be, and he showed it on Sunday, running among the best small teams all night and often among some considerably bigger ones. Cassill scored his third top 20 of 2015 at one of the series' most demanding tracks. The team's motto is 'Constant Growth,' and its dedication to that was on display all night long." - Amy Henderson on Landon Cassill's run Sunday night.
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Aaron Bearden
by Toni Montgomery
by Beth Lunkenheimer
by Becca Gladden
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 2008, NASCAR made absolutely no attempt to qualify or race the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 on-time at Richmond. Instead, the race was run on Sunday afternoon, ending any chance of Joey Logano making his Sprint Cup Series debut. Why was this move made?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: In 2001, Jeff Gordon more or less cruised to the championship by over 300 points. However, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 at Richmond was one of the rare races that put a severe dent into his points lead. What happened?
A: Gordon was racing Sterling Marlin for third on lap 35 when contact was made entering turn 3. Gordon spun and backed his No. 24 hard into the wall. The crash can be seen here. After extensive repairs, Gordon returned to the race but finished 117 laps down in 36th.
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COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll recap the XFINITY Series practice sessions from Richmond International Raceway and preview this weekend's race. In addition, we'll also bring you additional news.
On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have a suite of great columns to prep you for this weekend's action.
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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!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
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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!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
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