Friday, October 30, 2015

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Joey Logano On Top At Martinsville

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 30, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXCVI

~~~~~~~~~~

What to Watch: Friday


- We've got practice for the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series today, along with Cup qualifying.  Remember, Cup qualifying will only air live on NBC Sports Live Extra so check out our site if you're looking to see results quicker.

FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN MARTINSVILLE FROM OUR COLLEAGUES:

Amy Henderson (@Writer_Amy)
Mike Neff (@MNeffShortTrack)
Zach Catanzareti (@ZachRacing)

and our own Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates!
~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato
Tuesday here.

Top News
by The Frontstretch Staff

Joey Logano Tops Martinsville Practice Charts

Five days after finishing a sweep of the last Chase round Joey Logano keeps on rolling. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford topped the charts in the only Sprint Cup Martinsville practice held before qualifying later today. Chasers occupied the top 4 spots as Logano was followed by Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick. Casey Mears was a mild surprise in fifth, one of his best practice efforts this season behind the wheel of the No. 13 GEICO Ford. With 43 cars on the entry list all drivers who practiced will make the race. Read more

Kyle Busch Motorsports Unveils 2016 Driver Lineup

On Thursday's episode of NASCAR RaceHub Kyle Busch Motorsports announced their 2016 driver lineup for the Camping World Truck Series.  Christopher Bell will drive full-time along with K&N Pro Series East Champion William Byron.  Another truck will be shared by Daniel Suarez and Cody Coughlin as KBM will retain its three-team structure.  Read more

Texas Lottery to Sponsor Justin Allgaier at Texas Motor Speedway

Thursday, HScott Motorsports announced that the Texas Lottery will serve as the primary sponsor on Justin Allgaier's No. 51 at Texas Motor Speedway in November.  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.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Frontstretch Folio: Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500
by Phil Allaway

The Sprint Cup Series makes their second visit of the year to Martinsville Speedway, a place in which aerodynamics seems not to matter much.  Expect contact, spins, crashes and at least one person losing their temper over the course of the weekend.  The Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 can be seen at 1 p.m. Sunday on NBCSN; the event can also be heard on your local MRN affiliate or SiriusXM Channel 90. Drivers will compete for 500 laps (263 miles) en route to the checkered flag.

Records and facts

Last year, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. passed Tony Stewart on the final restart with four laps to go and held on to take his first career win at Martinsville.  Needless to say, he was very happy to snag a grandfather clock.  Victory Lane turned into a group celebration that nearly knocked over said clock.  Jeff Gordon was second followed by Ryan Newman, Stewart and Joey Logano

Richard Petty is the all-time winningest driver at Martinsville with 15 career victories.  Darrell Waltrip is second with 11.  Among active drivers, both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson both have eight career wins.  Denny Hamlin has five.

Track Facts
Track / Race Length: .526 mile oval, 500 laps (263 miles)
Banking: 12 degrees in turns

Straights: 800 ft, banked 0 degrees

Grandstand Seating: 55,000
Pit Road Speed: 30 mph
Pace Car Speed: 35 mph
Opened: 1947, first Cup race in 1949

Website: http://www.martinsvillespeedway.com

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

Twitter: http://twitter.com/MartinsvilleSwy

Pre-Race Schedule:

Practice No 1: Friday, October 30, 11:30 a.m. - 12:25 p.m. on NBCSN

Practice No. 2: Saturday, October 31, 9 - 9:55 a.m. on CNBC

Happy Hour: Saturday, October 31, 12 - 12:50 p.m. on CNBC

Qualifying: Friday, October 30, 4:20 p.m. on NBC Sports Live Extra (tape-delayed coverage at 6 p.m. on NBCSN)

Say What?!

"I'd like to think we're really close. We've been good there – especially the last couple of races there, we've been really good. It's a tough racetrack and, anytime you come in the pits and make an adjustment on your car, you certainly hope it goes the right way, or you make enough of it, or you don't make too much of an adjustment. It seems like I haven't quite scienced that out for the last run there. The last run can be tricky, too, because you can be coming off a 50-lap run on right-side tires and take four and you've only got 30 (laps) to go, or you could have 80 to go and you know you have to manage that run all the way to the end." - Kyle Busch

"Martinsville [Speedway] is my favorite track right behind Bristol [Motor Speedway]. I've always been a fan of the short tracks and Martinsville fits the bill. It's definitely a driver's track and it's so physically challenging for us. You have to hit your marks so perfectly at Martinsville because one small mistake means you get stuck on the outside. Once you are in the upper groove, it's so difficult to get back to the inside groove. The other challenging thing about Martinsville is passing cars. You can be faster than the car in front of you and be right on their bumper, but you have to wait for the right opportunity to make the pass. I'm excited to get back in the Auto-Owners Insurance Chevy this weekend. This is their last primary race of the season and I want to get them a good finish." - Justin Allgaier

"Even on the bad days, it can be fun. And when you have a good day, it's great. The grandfather clock you get for winning is one of the cooler trophies in our sport. Normally, 20-year-old kids don't get too excited about grandfather clocks, but you realize it's more than that at Martinsville. There's a lot of pride and lot of history with this sport at Martinsville. One thing about Martinsville is there is no lack of excitement. I don't care how flawlessly your day goes, you're going to bump into somebody at some point, even on a perfect day. You put 43 cars on this half-mile track and it's always going to be exciting. You will never have a race there where you don't have some sort of drama during the day. I think every driver will say they will have some drama at some point. When you have 43 drivers with 43 dramatic moments, that's a lot of action going on." - Tony Stewart

"Martinsville to me is kind of almost like a road course in that it has two hairpin corners. The passing is pretty traditional, but I feel like you're either looking out your windshield or you're looking in your rearview mirror because you're either going forward or you're going backward. I don't feel like there's a whole lot of standing still at Martinsville. Luckily, I've had a lot of races where I've looked out my windshield, but I have had one or two that I looked out my rearview mirror and those are not very fun. It's a tough place, very tight with a lot of beating and banging but, hopefully, we can stay out of trouble and have a good run. It's a short track, so qualifying well on Friday will be critical. Daniel (Knost, crew chief) has a pretty good track record there and we got a good finish there in the spring, so we're looking forward to this weekend." - Danica Patrick

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON FRONTSTRETCH:
by Zach Catanzareti

by the Frontstretch Staff

as told to Mike Neff

by Amy Henderson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:
Last year, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. celebrated in Victory Lane at Martinsville, something that he considered quite the achievement.  Back in his rookie year, the then-NAPA AutoCare 500 was a nightmare for Earnhardt Jr.  What happened?

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

Thursday's Answer:

Q:  In 1997, Jeff Burton won the rain-delayed Hanes 500 at Martinsville (it was pushed back to Monday due to rain).  Despite Burton running very well all day it was a bit of unusual luck that gave him the win.  What happened?

A: With 24 laps to go, Rusty Wallace jumped the restart and was black-flagged by NASCAR.  The restart can be seen here.  Burton then held off Dale Earnhardt, Sr. to win.  Wallace had to settle for 15th.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMING MONDAY
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have recaps of the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series races from Martinsville.  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 Martinsville and looking forward to Texas, the eighth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
-----------------------------
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

--
--
Feel free to forward this newsletter if you have any friends who loves
NASCAR and great NASCAR commentary. They can subscribe to the Frontstetch by visiting http://www.frontstretch.com/notice/9557/.
 
If you want to stop your Frontstretch Newsletter subscription, we're sorry
to see you go. Just send an email to
TheFrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com from the address that you
recieve the Frontstretch Newsletter.

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Frontstretch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thefrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

No comments:

Post a Comment