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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
by the Frontstretch Staff
Entry List: Hollywood Casino 400
Entry List: Kansas Lottery 300
The XFINITY Series returns to Kansas Speedway for their second visit of the year. 41 cars will attempt to qualify. There are a number of changes as Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick replace Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne. In addition, Jennifer Jo Cobb will attempt to make her return to the series in her hometown race. Read more
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Trick or Treat? Don't Expect Treats at Talladega, No Matter Your Costume
Sitting in the Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady
Ah, 'tis the season for pumpkins, orange leaves and filling bags with candy. It's also the time of year where we celebrate being something we're not. Adults and kids revel in dressing up as fantastical creatures. Ghosts, vampires, Transformers, R2-D2, and witches are just a small selection of costumes you'll see wandering around your neighborhood at the end of the month. People even like to alter the appearance of their pets. Ever seen a dachshund turn into a hot dog or a German Shepherd don an extra pair of whiskers in an attempt to mimic his feline nemesis?
Apparently, the desire to celebrate the season isn't only limited to the human sense of holiday indulgence. NASCAR is considering jumping on the wagon. As you are well aware, Talladega has a race coming up. It is, as always, the ultimate crapshoot held before we kick another four teams out of the running for the Cup. You can't even call it a Chase at this point -- more a demolition derby. Who will be left running at the end of the day? Nobody knows.
However, it seems our esteemed sanctioning body is going to attempt to bring some semblance of decorum to Alabama's crown jewel of racing. It has been heard that alterations will be made to the green-white-checkered rule at the end of the event; it seems somehow, only having a single attempt at stacking stock cars in turn 1 is far better than hosting two. Or, they might perhaps ditch the double-file restart so that with just two trips around the track remaining they can have a parade instead of a race.
Of course, deciding that you can limit the mayhem that is so often a part of plate racing is a bit like getting out Easter decorations in the Fall; it doesn't make much sense. We haven't had the Big One only since the inception of double-file restarts, the green-white-checkered rule, or the loss of carburetors. Daytona and Talladega have been dutifully filling up junkyards since the day they were built. They are dangerous and uncontrollable racing facilities.
On one hand, it is nice to hear officials have come to the conclusion something ought to be done. However, it's just slightly pathetic when the options you're throwing out there essentially remove the word "competition" from the day. That's not a solution; it's just painting the wall a new color and declaring it a reconstruction.
So, whatever changes are agreed upon don't be expecting a different result. There's still 186 laps prior to the grand finale for our 43 pilots to send one another flying up into the catchfence, tumbling into the tri-oval and simply piling up in a heap of crumpled sheet metal and smoking engines. Removing the vagaries of a high-tension, green-white-checkered finish statistically doesn't make a dent on the carnage a Sprint Cup field is capable of creating in a single afternoon at Talladega.
It's simply putting lipstick on a pig, and in the grand scheme of things, that isn't a very impressive Halloween costume.
Sonya's Scrapbook
Remember single-file restarts? There are valid reasons we got rid of them. At one of the cookie-cutter tracks (Kansas) Jeff Gordon sailed off into the sunset in 2002 for his 61st win. You tell me... do you want to return to those days?
S.D. Grady is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch and runs a NASCAR blog called the S-Curves. She can be reached via email at sonya.grady@frontstretch.com. Follow her on Twitter at @laregna and on her Facebook page (she's an author, too!) at https://www.facebook.com/Author.SDGrady.
0
Laps led by Kevin Harvick at Charlotte. Harvick had led 581 laps in the first round of the Chase, a total that easily led all drivers.
1
Lap led by Jeff Gordon Sunday. It's just the sixth race he's led since Talladega in the Spring.
2
Drivers outside the Chase to finish inside the top 10 at Charlotte: Austin Dillon and Aric Almirola. No non-Chaser has finished higher than fourth so far during the playoffs.
3
Straight top-20 finishes for Sam Hornish, Jr. running the No. 9 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. Sources claim Hornish is out of the No. 9 car after this season despite showing improvement during the past few months.
3
DNFs for Kasey Kahne this season, all for wrecks. Kahne, 43rd at Charlotte has as many DNFs as the other three full-time teams at Hendrick Motorsports combined.
7
Of 9 cautions at Charlotte that were thrown for things other than crashes. One was a competition caution, two were for debris, two were for "oil on the track," one was for "a car running slow" and the final "other" caution was for "smoke."
11
Second-place finishes by Kevin Harvick this season -- including Sunday at Charlotte. Wins in all those races instead would have him breaking the modern era (1972-present) wins record with 14.
12
Sprint Cup races since Ryan Newman led a lap. Newman, 15th at Charlotte is ninth in points with two races to go in this round of the Chase.
14
Lead changes at Charlotte, the fewest for any 500-mile race since 1993.
45
Points behind the Sprint Cup standings leader for Matt Kenseth. Kenseth, 42nd at Charlotte finished Round 1 with the most points of anyone in the Chase.
$112,040
Money Joe Gibbs Racing driver Carl Edwards won at Charlotte for finishing sixth.
$126,666
Money Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth won at Charlotte for taking the pole and then running 42nd.
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Beside the Rising Tide: New NASCAR Excitement Manufactured Daily
by Matt McLaughlin
Who's Hot and Who's Not in NASCAR: Kansas Edition
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Monday's Answer:
Q: In 2002, Jeff Gordon seemed to have the Protection One 400 won. However, an incident set up a three-lap shootout. What happened?
A: Interesting that S.D. Grady would post the link to the final restart in Fan's View this week. The single-file, three-lap shootout came about due to a four-car crash in turn 4. It started when Johnny Benson got in the back of Jimmy Spencer entering turn 3. Spencer spun and backed into the wall. Benson was then spun by Jeremy Mayfield, crashing both cars, while Ricky Rudd had nowhere to go. The incident can be seen here.
Since this crash was a little under a year before green-white-checkereds were introduced to the Cup Series, NASCAR red-flagged the race so cleanup could be completed. Benson and Spencer were out on the spot while Rudd finished four laps down. Mayfield had significant front end damage but still finished on the lead lap in ninth.
COMING TOMORROW
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