Friday, October 09, 2015

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Kurt Busch Tops First Friday Practice

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 9, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLXXXI
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What to Watch: Friday
- Today, the Sprint Cup Series has two practices at Charlotte Motor Speedway to prepare for tomorrow night's Bank of America 500.  Meanwhile, the XFINITY Series will Practice and Qualify for tonight's 300-mile support race.  All coverage can be seen on NBCSN.
 
FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN CHARLOTTE FROM OUR COLLEAGUES:

Amy Henderson (@Writer_Amy)
Mike Neff (@MNeffShortTrack)
 
and our own Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates!
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This weekend's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato
Tuesday here.

Top News
by The Frontstretch Staff

Kurt Busch Fastest in Second Practice for Bank of America 500

Kurt Busch turned in the fastest lap of Friday's first Sprint Cup Series practice (second practice overall) with a lap of 28.606 seconds (188.772 mph).  Carl Edwards was second, followed by Ryan Newman, Martin Truex, Jr. and Joey Logano.  Read more

Matt Kenseth Captures Bank of America 500 Pole

It seems that Matt Kenseth has finally shaken his track record as a bad qualifier.  On Thursday night, the 2003 Champion topped the charts in the final two rounds of qualifying and won the pole with the fastest lap of the weekend (27.759 seconds, 194.532 mph).  Teammate Kyle Busch will start alongside.  Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin complete the top 5.  Read more

Kevin Harvick Unveils 2016 Busch Paint Scheme

Prior to practice on Thursday, Stewart-Haas Racing held a press conference at Charlotte Motor Speedway to unveil the new paint schemes that Kevin Harvick will run in 2016.  Anheuser-Busch is shifting their sponsorship from Budweiser back to Busch for the first time since 1980.  Harvick will drive Busch and Busch Light schemes during the season.  Read more

Kevin Harvick Paces 1st Charlotte Cup Practice

In the heat of the day, NASCAR held the sole pre-qualifying practice session for the Sprint Cup Series.  Teams focused on race runs early on, but put on the qualifying setups at the end of the session.  Kevin Harvick turned in the fastest lap of the session at 27.908 seconds (193.500 mph) in the final minutes of the season.  Read more

NASCAR Schedules Michigan Test for New Rules Package

NASCAR has announced that a test session will be held at Michigan International Speedway on Oct. 20 in order to test what will be the 2016 rules package (currently unannounced).  Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher will be on hand to drive.  Read more

Kyle Busch Leads Opening XFINITY Charlotte Practice

The XFINITY Series regulars might be in trouble tonight at Charlotte.  Kyle Busch turned in the fastest lap in practice with a lap at 181.886 mph, then had time to drive around in teammate Daniel Suarez's No. 18 as well.  Chris Buescher was second fastest, then Ty Dillon, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Reed.  Read more

Kasey Kahne Fastest in Final Practice for the XFINITY Drive for the Cure 300

In XFINITY Series Happy Hour, Kasey Kahne was fastest in the session with a quick lap near the beginning of the session of 29.928 seconds (180.433 mph).  Kyle Busch was second fastest, followed by Chris Buescher, Regan Smith and Erik Jones.  Read more

George Brunnhoelzl, III Wins Southern Slam 150, Andy Seuss Scores Southern Modified Title

On Thursday, George Brunnhoelzl, III led flag-to-flag to claim the Southern Slam 150, the season finale for the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.  However, that was not enough to deny Andy Seuss, who finished sixth, the championship.  Read more

Shannon Koch Wins Better Half Dash 2015

Prior to Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, a special bandolero race featuring wives or girlfriends of NASCAR drivers and/or personalities was held on the quarter-mile track.  Shannon Koch, wife of XFINITY Series regular Blake Koch, started from the pole, got passed at the start and nearly run over from behind.  However, she was able to re-take the lead when Katelyn Sweet spun out on her own.  From there, Koch held on to take the win and $10,000 for charity.  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: Bank of America 500
by Phil Allaway

The Sprint Cup Series stays home this weekend (for the most part) for the third visit of the year to Charlotte Motor Speedway.  The Bank of America 500 can be seen at 7 p.m. Saturday night on NBC; the event can also be heard on your local PRN affiliate or SiriusXM Channel 90. Drivers will compete for 334 laps (501 miles) en route to the checkered flag.

Records and facts

Last year, Kevin Harvick led a race-high 162 laps, but had to hold on through a Green-White-Checker to take the win over Jeff Gordon.  Jamie McMurray was third, then Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.  Many of you will remember that Brad Keselowski was a bit of a wrecking ball late in the race, putting Matt Kenseth in the wall on a restart, tried to spin out Denny Hamlin on the cool down lap, then hit Kenseth again.  Unsurprisingly, this led to the first series of squabbles in last year's Chase.

Jimmie Johnson is the winningest active driver at Charlotte with seven career victories.  Jeff Gordon has five, while Kasey Kahne has four and Kevin Harvick has three.

Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.5-mile oval, 334 laps (501 miles)
Banking: 24 degrees in turns

Frontstretch: 1,980 ft., banked 5 degrees

Backstretch: 1,500 ft., banked 5 degrees

Grandstand Seating: 134,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 1960

Website: http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com

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

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CLTMotorSpdwy

Remaining Pre-Race Schedule:

Happy Hour: Friday, October 9, 6:30 p.m. - 7:20 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Say What?!

"A good day at Charlotte for us would be a top-25 finish. Charlotte's a great racetrack, plus it's home. A lot of the crew guys have their families come. And they're the ones that make this team run, that get the cars to the racetrack week in and week out. So, it's important for us to run well at home in front of our home crowd. But it's everyone else's home track, too, so everyone else is competing just as hard. But it's a track I like. It's a tough race and a long race. The track has got some character and it's one that I enjoy racing on." - David Gilliland

"These last four weeks have been really good for us. We've finished in the Top-Five twice and Top-10 three times. Our goal was to make the Chase, and our performance these last few weeks shows we can compete at that level. It's important that we continue to remain consistent in the final seven races, but we're also going to throw all we have at getting a win. That's our goal before the season closes. I think we are getting close. We ran well at Charlotte earlier in the year but struggled with overheating which hurt us during such a long race. Hopefully, we won't have that problem this weekend and contend for another Top-Five or even a win. We've run really well at intermediate tracks this year. Our average finish on the intermediate track is 15th which is a significant improvement from a 23rd-place average last year. I'm really proud of this team and excited to close out the year with some good momentum." - Aric Almirola

"It always seems like it's a battle of trying to get your car to cut through the center of the corner and keep the forward drive in it. It seems like it's a sacrifice of one or the other, but the two ends of the track are different. It seems like you can carry a lot more speed through (turns) one and two, and (turns) three and four are a little more thread-the-needle-type corners. Sometimes there isn't a big difference between the fall and spring races at Charlotte. They're spread out so far and they're at the beginning of summer and the end of summer, so a lot of times they can be very similar." - Tony Stewart

"I like Charlotte. It's really nice for the crews because it's a home race for them. They get to sleep in their own bed and a lot of their family and friends are there. So you want to give them a good performance. It's fun for me at Charlotte because a lot of the crews have young kids, so it's fun to meet them and see them around the hauler during the race weekend. It's just a bit of a different experience than a lot of the tracks we go to." - 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.

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TODAY ON FRONTSTRETCH:
by Zach Catanzaneti

by the Frontstretch Staff

as told to Mike Neff

by Amy Henderson

by Kevin Rutherford

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:
The 2005 UAW-GM Quality 500 was slightly less of a wreckfest than the Coca-Cola 600 that year.  Regardless, there were still 15 cautions and the race took over four hours.  Jeff Gordon was one of the many drivers caught up in the wrecks.  What happened?

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

Thursday's Answer:

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?

A: That one man was Jamie McMurray, who won the rain-delayed UAW-GM Quality 500 in 2002 in only his second career start.  McMurray was driving in place of Sterling Marlin, who suffered a neck injury at Kansas Speedway.

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COMING MONDAY
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have recaps of the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series races from Charlotte,  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 Charlotte and looking forward to Kansas, the fifth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
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©2015 Frontstretch.com

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