THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 8, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLXXX
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 8, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLXXX
~~~~~~~~~~
What to Watch: Thursday
- Today is opening day at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The XFINITY Series is scheduled to hold all their practices today while the Sprint Cup Series will practice and qualify. All sessions will air on NBCSN.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
NASCAR Places Cole Pearn on Probation Following Dover Infractions
Remember when Martin Truex, Jr.'s car was pulled off the grid Sunday when an official eyeballed the right-rear fender and didn't like what he saw? Well, NASCAR has officially assessed the team a P2 penalty. As a result, crew chief Cole Pearn has been placed on probation for the rest of the year due to the issue. Read more
Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart Among 6 Hit with Post-Dover Penalties, Warnings
by the Frontstretch Staff
NASCAR Places Cole Pearn on Probation Following Dover Infractions
Remember when Martin Truex, Jr.'s car was pulled off the grid Sunday when an official eyeballed the right-rear fender and didn't like what he saw? Well, NASCAR has officially assessed the team a P2 penalty. As a result, crew chief Cole Pearn has been placed on probation for the rest of the year due to the issue. Read more
Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart Among 6 Hit with Post-Dover Penalties, Warnings
NASCAR announced a number of warnings this week stemming from teams having issues in inspection. Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart's teams were warned for violations involving rear bumper tubing. Martin Truex, Jr.'s team also earned a warning for having to got through pre-race technical inspection too many times, the frosting on top of Cole Pearn's penalty (see above). 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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Today's Featured Commentary~~~~~~~~~~
Thoughts on Additional Drivers Coming Through the Ranks
Potts' Shots
by John Potts
Got a couple of phone calls after last week's column asking if there weren't a couple of other drivers I'd seen start and finish their careers. Well, yes there were, but I wasn't really in on their first brush with fame. Mark Martin was already a budding star when he came into ASA and Darrell Waltrip was pretty well known before I got to see him, popping up at Kentucky Motor Speedway near Whitesville.
There is one story about DW I'd like to tell again, though. He trashed his 1958 Ford at Whitesville one Sunday night in practice and that turned out to be a historic turn for him. P.B. Crowell of Nashville had two 1964 Chevelles. He drove the No. 47 and Darrell got into the No. 48. He went on to win a track championship at Nashville in that car, making his debut in the NASCAR Sportsman series in it.
What I remember most is P.B. walking up to me and saying, "I put that boy in my backup car. Do you think I've made a mistake?"
I said, "Well, he'll get everything out of it that it has in it. I just hope you don't get it back in a bucket."
He didn't.
Over a career watching races from the time I was 8 or 9 until now at 77, there were bound to be others. The Good Lord has blessed me with a long life which has been rich and full, paired with a rewarding career I enjoyed, a great wife and family, and lots of friends. No matter what happens with a health problem I'm facing right now, I have no regrets.
Most people are talking this week about how Kevin Harvick simply blew everybody away at Dover last Sunday. I'm not going to elaborate on that. I've been a fan of his since I saw him bring Richard Childress' Busch car to Indianapolis Raceway Park and spend nearly all of practice working his way around the bottom of that .686-mile oval. Nobody paid much attention, but in the race, he had finally gotten it to work down there and he won going away. Did it again a few years later.
I can remember my son saying if you could get one to handle down low at IRP, you would be tough to beat. I reiterated that to Richard, Kevin, and Delana when taking them up to the helipad after the race in a golf cart. Kevin looked surprised.
Richard just laughed.
That performance reminded me of one Tony Stewart put on in the July race at Daytona when he was still with Joe Gibbs. He had been running away with the race, and after the last pit stop Greg Zipadelli told him he was fifth and the top four were pulling away. Tony's response was, "Don't worry, they aren't going very far."
----
If I may be permitted to drop back a week, did anybody else notice how wild the action was in the XFINITY race at Kentucky? Those guys were three and four-wide on every restart; it seemed like every position was contested all the way through. Whether it was the aero package, the "character" (the competitors' term for bumpiness) of the track, or the fact that there weren't any high-powered Sprint Cup drivers in it with them, the success of the race is something NASCAR needs to explore a bit.
John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com.
Got a couple of phone calls after last week's column asking if there weren't a couple of other drivers I'd seen start and finish their careers. Well, yes there were, but I wasn't really in on their first brush with fame. Mark Martin was already a budding star when he came into ASA and Darrell Waltrip was pretty well known before I got to see him, popping up at Kentucky Motor Speedway near Whitesville.
There is one story about DW I'd like to tell again, though. He trashed his 1958 Ford at Whitesville one Sunday night in practice and that turned out to be a historic turn for him. P.B. Crowell of Nashville had two 1964 Chevelles. He drove the No. 47 and Darrell got into the No. 48. He went on to win a track championship at Nashville in that car, making his debut in the NASCAR Sportsman series in it.
What I remember most is P.B. walking up to me and saying, "I put that boy in my backup car. Do you think I've made a mistake?"
I said, "Well, he'll get everything out of it that it has in it. I just hope you don't get it back in a bucket."
He didn't.
Over a career watching races from the time I was 8 or 9 until now at 77, there were bound to be others. The Good Lord has blessed me with a long life which has been rich and full, paired with a rewarding career I enjoyed, a great wife and family, and lots of friends. No matter what happens with a health problem I'm facing right now, I have no regrets.
Most people are talking this week about how Kevin Harvick simply blew everybody away at Dover last Sunday. I'm not going to elaborate on that. I've been a fan of his since I saw him bring Richard Childress' Busch car to Indianapolis Raceway Park and spend nearly all of practice working his way around the bottom of that .686-mile oval. Nobody paid much attention, but in the race, he had finally gotten it to work down there and he won going away. Did it again a few years later.
I can remember my son saying if you could get one to handle down low at IRP, you would be tough to beat. I reiterated that to Richard, Kevin, and Delana when taking them up to the helipad after the race in a golf cart. Kevin looked surprised.
Richard just laughed.
That performance reminded me of one Tony Stewart put on in the July race at Daytona when he was still with Joe Gibbs. He had been running away with the race, and after the last pit stop Greg Zipadelli told him he was fifth and the top four were pulling away. Tony's response was, "Don't worry, they aren't going very far."
----
If I may be permitted to drop back a week, did anybody else notice how wild the action was in the XFINITY race at Kentucky? Those guys were three and four-wide on every restart; it seemed like every position was contested all the way through. Whether it was the aero package, the "character" (the competitors' term for bumpiness) of the track, or the fact that there weren't any high-powered Sprint Cup drivers in it with them, the success of the race is something NASCAR needs to explore a bit.
John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Critic's Annex: 2000 UAW-GM Quality 500
by Phil Allaway
Welcome back. This week, I've got a treat for you. In preparation for the offseason, I will be looking back at some older races and how they were televised. The 2000 UAW-GM Quality 500, run 15 years ago today, is a good example. It's after NASCAR took ownership of race broadcasts (that occurred roughly midseason in 2000) but before the season-wide TV deals took effect.
At the time, this event was not a "lame duck" race. Turner Sports had already signed on to continue covering NASCAR in 2001 and the races were planned to air on TBS. However, prior to the NBC/TNT portion of the 2001 season beginning, Time Warner refocused TNT to its current drama emphasis (including the current logo and the slogan, "We Know Drama"). Sports were emphasized in the move as well. TBS' coverage of both the NBA (which was already on TNT and had been since 1990) and NASCAR moved to TNT only as a result. No Cup race has aired on TBS since.
By this point, Ken Squier had retired from calling races on TV. However, he was there as an on-site host. Squier's role was mostly confined to introducing pieces during the pre-race show but he did well with what he had to do.
The primary piece aired during pre-race was an interview that Liz Allison (last seen watching her son Robbie start a racing career in the Street Stocks at Kingsport Speedway) conducted with Kyle Petty and his family (wife Pattie and their kids, Austin and Montgomery Lee) about the loss of Adam five months earlier. Naturally, the tragedy was still quite fresh for the Pettys but they were coming to grips with it. Their desire was to make sure that Adam was never forgotten. That is more or less the impetus that led to the construction of the Victory Junction Gang Camp, an idea that Adam had apparently pitched before he died. Given her own personal tragedy, Allison handled the piece with the appropriate seriousness and was able to bring fans some insight on the family's plight. Very well done.
This particular race is best known for TBS' use of "No Brakes Coverage." It was the very first usage of side-by-side commercials in motorsports that I can honestly think of here in the United States. Prior to the start of the race, Allen Bestwick described the new setup and explained that it would be used for approximately 80 percent of the commercial breaks. What he didn't mention is that the ratio was such even if the race was under yellow.
Watching the race today is a bit reminiscent of watching a current Verizon IndyCar Series telecast on NBCSN with their side-by-side breaks. You really couldn't leave your seat or you'd miss something. Given the nature of the race (46 lead changes) leaving was not a good idea. There was also a graphic showing the top 3 drivers on screen during the breaks using a different graphic package from the rest of what TBS was using. I was 16 when this race aired and I found it interesting at that time. It was the on-screen graphics that TNT and TBS were using on their NBA telecasts but they never instituted them on NASCAR broadcasts since it was probably viewed as a waste of time.
During the breaks, you'd get something resembling a fully-produced broadcast in the small box, although a lot of the camera shots seemed to center on whomever the leader was at that time (Dale Earnhardt, Jerry Nadeau, etc.). It's admittedly a similar setup to what we have today but nothing like what we've seen with FOX in the past where they tried to adjust their coverage to supplement the sponsors.
The weather was a big issue on race day. According to TBS, it was 48 degrees at race time. Remember, this race runs in early October but that's cool for New York this time of year at midday, let alone North Carolina. The booth did discuss the weather and the fuel mileage/power effects -- just not the attendance issues. Watching the broadcast, it's rather shocking how many empty seats there were. I think it was only the weather that caused that to occur.
Despite having a half-hour pre-race show, TBS failed to cover the burgeoning tire issue before the race got underway despite it being mentioned in the drivers' meeting as being a problem. Indeed, the race was marred by tire issues striking teams all over the field from also rans to contenders. TBS dropped the ball here.
The fast-paced action was quite the change as compared to what we've seen at Charlotte in recent years. Bestwick and boothmates Dick Berggren and Buddy Baker came prepared for some good action and delivered. The production was more or less tied to the front for the vast majority of the race. This trend made it impossible for viewers to see how contenders for victory Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Burton moved up towards the front. It wasn't like 1995, when Earnhardt took two tires and got to the front in 37 laps. Given the quality of the field, it was probably more impressive.
Also, a 12.8 second four-tire pit stop in 2000? Man, Earnhardt's team wanted that win badly. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.
Post-race coverage was similar to what we see today. Viewers got four post-race interviews, plus checks of the unofficial results and points. TBS had an essayist, Jim Huber, on the broadcast and he joined Squier for some final thoughts. Huber's words reminded me of the kind of things that Sam Posey would say in similar roles, but I didn't particularly find it necessary. He was kind of just there.
The actual racing that made the telecast was done fairly well. However, I felt that TBS missed a number of issues and the lack of replays for incidents, especially crashes like the one Kenny Wallace had, was disappointing. The No Brakes Coverage proved to be way ahead of its time. When it returned as side-by-side for IndyCar races years later, it was very similar to what we had here. I wonder what the companies (Firestone, Hyundai, Pep Boys, etc.) that agreed to participate thought and what people told them about it. Whatever their opinion, it wasn't positive enough to get them to continue in 2001. That was a shame at the time and an even bigger one now.
I hope you enjoyed this look back at TBS' broadcast of the 2000 UAW-GM Quality 500. Next week, I'll be back with a look at the rain-soaked 6 Hours of Fuji from Fuji Speedway. Until then, enjoy this weekend's action from Charlotte.
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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"That's kind of the reality of the sport. It takes a lot of money to do this stuff, and it's unfortunate. The right things happen to the right people and we're hoping to put something together." - Michael Lira, on putting funding together to keep racing
~~~~~~~~~~
"That's kind of the reality of the sport. It takes a lot of money to do this stuff, and it's unfortunate. The right things happen to the right people and we're hoping to put something together." - Michael Lira, on putting funding together to keep racing
~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Aaron Bearden and Sean Fesko
by Toni Montgomery
by Beth Lunkenheimer
~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Here's an easy one. Who is the only Cup driver in the modern era (1972-present) to earn their first career win in Charlotte's 500-mile Fall race?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: The 2000 UAW-GM Quality 500, in addition to being the first race with side-by-side commercials, is also the most competitive race in the last 30 years at Charlotte Motor Speedway with 46 lead changes. Pole sitter Jeff Gordon didn't stick around all that long, though. What happened to put him out for the day, along with a couple of others?
A: Gordon ended up being a victim of circumstances. Dale Jarrett spun in front of him after contact from Rusty Wallace, who was a lap down due to an unscheduled stop. Jarrett spun and hit the wall hard on the drivers' side, then was hit by Robert Pressley. Gordon was running behind the crash and had nowhere to go but directly into Jarrett. The wreck can be seen here.
Jarrett was out on the spot, while Gordon returned briefly after repairs before pulling off and settling for a 39th-place finish. Pressley returned as well after repairs, but eventually pulled off and finished 35th.
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COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll cover breaking news from Charlotte and preview this weekend's action..
On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have a suite of great columns to prep you for this weekend's action.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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©2015 Frontstretch.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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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