THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Nov. 16, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CCVII
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What to Watch: Monday- Today, the haulers are traversing the long trip back to North Carolina for the final swap out of the season. If anything of note breaks today, we will bring it to you at Frontstretch.
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Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Steals Rain-Shortened Win in Phoenix
Kevin Harvick dominated much of the Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500k, but Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took advantage of good pit selection and a fortuitous caution flying for a crash involving Joey Gase and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. After those who hadn't already pitted stopped, Earnhardt Jr. was in the lead. The rains came and resulted in the race never restarting, allowing Earnhardt Jr. to pick up his third win of 2015. Harvick was second, followed by Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson. Read more
Sam Hornish, Jr. Will Not Return to Richard Petty Motorsports in 2016
Sam Hornish, Jr. Will Not Return to Richard Petty Motorsports in 2016
Richard Petty Motorsports co-owner Richard Petty stated on Saturday in Phoenix that Sam Hornish, Jr. will not be back at the wheel of the No. 9 Ford in 2016. Hornish is currently 25th in points with three top 10 finishes. Read more
Kyle Busch Dominates DAV 200
In the XFINITY Series, Phoenix International Raceway is Kyle Busch's personal playground and Saturday was no different. Busch set a track record in qualifying, then led 190 of 200 laps to claim his fifth win of 2015. Brad Keselowski was second, then Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Ty Dillon. Read more
Anthony Kumpen Working on Returning to the XFINITY Series in 2016
Anthony Kumpen Working on Returning to the XFINITY Series in 2016
On Saturday, Anthony Kumpen returned to the XFINITY Series and finished 24th for Rick Gdovic-owned Precision Performance Motorsports. For 2016, the French former sports car racer plans a limited schedule in the XFINITY Series in addition to the full schedule in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Read more
Timothy Peters Claims Lucas Oil 150 After Leaders Collide
Friday night's Lucas Oil 150 was dominated by point contenders Erik Jones and Matt Crafton. Then, they collided exiting turn 4, all but ending Crafton's chances at a third-straight title. Timothy Peters took the lead as a result and held off a charging John Hunter Nemechek for the win. John Wes Townley was third, followed by Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick. Read more
Phoenix Native Cassie Gannis Tries NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Phoenix Native Cassie Gannis Tries NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Unfortunately for Cassie Gannis, she failed to qualify for Friday night's Lucas Oil 150. However, Phoenix was a learning experience for the 24-year old racer who hopes to compete in more Camping World Truck Series races in 2016. 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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Chasing the Chase: Championship 4 Is Set
by Phil Allaway
by Phil Allaway
Martin Truex, Jr. was the final driver to qualify for the Championship round by finishing 14th on Sunday. The final caution caught out Truex, who had already pitted under green. Lapped under green, Truex was forced to take the wavearound to get back on the lead lap despite running in the top 10 all night. The race never restarted after that caution.
Carl Edwards, the first driver to miss the Championship round, was in a similar position to Truex. He earned the Lucky Dog to get back on the lead lap, but the race not restarting meant he could finish only 12th. Brad Keselowski finished ninth, but ended up 13 points behind the cutoff and was clearly disappointed afterwards. Kurt Busch had a very good race car, but got burned by a drive-through penalty for beating Jimmie Johnson to the start-finish line on the initial start of the race. He spent the rest of the night recovering from it, eventually getting back to seventh. Joey Logano, who rounds out the Eliminator Round contenders, had a great night on Sunday, running in the top 5 almost all night. Unfortunately, with the last two weeks he's had, third just wasn't good enough to make much of a dent.
The four Championship participants will have their points reset to 5000. They will be ineligible to earn bonus points for leading a lap or leading the most laps. The best finishing Chaser wins the Sprint Cup in Homestead.
Eliminator Round Point Standings: 1) Kevin Harvick 4123, t-2) Jeff Gordon -2, t-2) Kyle Busch -2, 4) Martin Truex, Jr. -17, 5) Carl Edwards -22, 6) Brad Keselowski -30, 7) Kurt Busch -38, 8) Joey Logano -69.
Best of the Rest: 5) Carl Edwards 2334, 6) Joey Logano -15, 7) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -28, 8) Brad Keselowski -30, 9) Kurt Busch -37, 10) Denny Hamlin -41, 11) Ryan Newman -48, 12) Jimmie Johnson -54, 13) Jamie McMurray -70, 14) Paul Menard -95, 15) Matt Kenseth -137, 16) Clint Bowyer -160, 17) Aric Almirola -1397, 18) Kasey Kahne -1420, 19) Greg Biffle -1494, 20) Kyle Larson -1502, 21) Austin Dillon -1532, 22) Casey Mears -1582.
Regular Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 1278, 2) Joey Logano -20, 3) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -84, 4) Brad Keselowski -104, 5) Martin Truex, Jr. -146, 6) Jimmie Johnson -158, 7) Denny Hamlin -195, 8) Carl Edwards -204, 9) Kurt Busch -206, 10) Jeff Gordon -207, 11) Ryan Newman -254, 12) Jamie McMurray -257, 13) Matt Kenseth -269, 14) Paul Menard -329, 15) Aric Almirola -341, 16) Kasey Kahne -364.
Drivers Outside the top 16 in the Chase: 20) Kyle Busch -458.
Race Winners: Joey Logano (Daytona-1, Watkins Glen, Bristol-2, Charlotte-2, Kansas-2, Talladega-2), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta, Texas-1, Kansas-1, Dover-1, Texas-2), Kevin Harvick (Las Vegas, Phoenix-1, Dover-2), Brad Keselowski (Fontana), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville-1, Chicagoland), Matt Kenseth (Bristol-1, Pocono-2, Michigan-2, Richmond-2, Loudon-2), Kurt Busch (Richmond-1, Michigan-1), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Talladega-1, Daytona-2, Phoenix-2), Carl Edwards (Charlotte-1, Darlington), Martin Truex, Jr. (Pocono-1), Kyle Busch (Sonoma, Kentucky, Loudon-1, Indianapolis), Jeff Gordon (Martinsville-2).Letter of the Race: Sunday's Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500k was brought to you by the letter "E" for Exhausting. Normally, Phoenix races are some of the shortest days in Sprint Cup. Not this time. The race itself was quick, but the waiting was interminable - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500
compiled by Phil Allaway
"We had an idea that the rain was in the area, but all the circumstances that played out at the end of the race are just kind of luck I think. I want to give Greg (Ives, crew chief) a lot of credit and the guys. They gave us a good enough car to come here and qualify well. I think the reason why we won this race is because of the way we qualified to give ourselves a position to be up front all night. When something like this quirky happens we were able to capitalize. It's a rain-shortened win, but my guys are very proud of it because of how the car ran all weekend and we put ourselves in this position. A lot of guys would love to see this race continue and have an opportunity to race to the Chase. If I had four or six inches at Talladega we would be going there to Homestead to race for a championship too. It works out for some and some it doesn't. We will take this win it has been a long year and we put a lot of effort into it and we are starting to see somethings turn around and work for us like we want. We were fast all weekend, so real proud of this." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., race winner
"I want to thank everybody on our Budweiser/Jimmy John's team for just a really, really fast car. We made great adjustments overnight and got that little bit of balance that we were looking for from practice, and just the way that the caution fell, I didn't get all my distance back on the race track under green and Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) was able to beat us out. But hey, you lose some and you win some like that. And sometimes you're on the right side of it and sometimes you're on the wrong side of it. Today, we were on the wrong side of it, but in the big picture we're racing for a championship next week. So, I'm just really proud of everybody on our team.
On the rain delays: "I've been through a lot longer rain delays than this one. You just can't control a lot of these things. Who would have thought you'd come to the desert and it's going to rain? But, bring NASCAR, and you'll catch-up on your rain." - Kevin Harvick, finished second
"You can't help the weather. I guess it wasn't in the cardstonight, but I'm still super-proud of what this Pennzoil team has done all year. We've had super-fast race cars and we really produced on the race track, executed our plan. Once again, this is a high-pressure race for these guys and to see us drive to the front and have good pit stops all night, but it just didn't work out. Overall, I couldn't be more proud of what we've done this year. We've still got one more race to win this year. Our heads are still high and it's been a great season. I don't have much to say bad about anything. I just want another shot at it and when you're this close to seeing the lead you want just one more restart. I was hoping they got that wreck cleaned up fast enough to just try to get one more shot at it, but congratulations to Junior and his team. It's cool for them, but I wish I had another restart." - Joey Logano, finished third
"It feels awesome. This is what the format is and you have to go race against three other guys. The three guys that I'm racing with, it's so cool the storylines that you're going with there. You've got the past champion from last year racing against Kevin Harvick and probably the most dominant car each and every week, the most consistent car. You have Jeff Gordon who has his own story of his own that he wants to put a chapter to end with for his fifth championship and of course the dark horse, Martin Truex Jr. being a single car team and being as stout as they are with Furniture Row, it's pretty cool to see. I'm looking forward to it, I'm looking forward to going out there and performing with those guys and racing them and being the lone Toyota, it's going to be cool to see that Toyota Bug whip the other guys and take home this championship." - Kyle Busch, finished fourth
"Our team is fired up and working hard on that Homestead car ever since we won Martinsville; and we know we've got some tough competitors to go up against, but I love Homestead. I love that race track. I think we showed that last year. I can't wait to get down there and get that car on track and start tuning it in for the race.
"It feels awesome. This is what the format is and you have to go race against three other guys. The three guys that I'm racing with, it's so cool the storylines that you're going with there. You've got the past champion from last year racing against Kevin Harvick and probably the most dominant car each and every week, the most consistent car. You have Jeff Gordon who has his own story of his own that he wants to put a chapter to end with for his fifth championship and of course the dark horse, Martin Truex Jr. being a single car team and being as stout as they are with Furniture Row, it's pretty cool to see. I'm looking forward to it, I'm looking forward to going out there and performing with those guys and racing them and being the lone Toyota, it's going to be cool to see that Toyota Bug whip the other guys and take home this championship." - Kyle Busch, finished fourth
"Our team is fired up and working hard on that Homestead car ever since we won Martinsville; and we know we've got some tough competitors to go up against, but I love Homestead. I love that race track. I think we showed that last year. I can't wait to get down there and get that car on track and start tuning it in for the race.
In regards to Chase preparation: "I just tapped into a six-time champion, Jimmie Johnson, and I said, 'What do I need to go do?' He's been giving me some great advice about how to shut it off. It's been a while for me, but we're determined and focused as a team to go down there and stay focused and do everything possible. You've got to have good people around you to help guide you and give you good direction and give you that time that you need to not have the distractions. My wife and I have been having a lot of discussions about that, and I'm looking forward to staying out at the track, a long way from everything else and everybody else, and just staying focused on what we need to do for Sunday." - Jeff Gordon, finished sixth
"It was a long day for everybody and to have it end like that wasn't surprising. We kept adjusting on it, but it's a short race and who knows? Maybe that last run we would have had something, but that's not the way it played out. The highest we can get is fifth in points now, so I'd like to pull that off and take advantage of that opportunity when we get to Homestead next week." - Brad Keselowski, finished ninth
"It was a long day for everybody and to have it end like that wasn't surprising. We kept adjusting on it, but it's a short race and who knows? Maybe that last run we would have had something, but that's not the way it played out. The highest we can get is fifth in points now, so I'd like to pull that off and take advantage of that opportunity when we get to Homestead next week." - Brad Keselowski, finished ninth
"Just very disappointing for this whole Stanley Toyota team. How hard they've worked all year to come down to something as simple as a rain out. We feel like we could have raced our way back in there and had a shot at it. We were still five points out, just like we were five points coming in. We knew that was going to be a tough situation, but it ended up that it bit us and I just hate it for these guys. I'm very proud to have had a championship in the past and I wanted to help bring one to these guys who have worked so hard for it." - Darian Grubb, crew chief for Carl Edwards, finished 12th
"What can I say about the whole team and everybody at Furniture Row Racing and everybody back at the shop in Denver? It's just a dream come true for us. I'm just really proud of what we've accomplished this year and to be able to be putting really good weeks together was really awesome. I got a little nervous there when the caution came out on us tonight, but all in all we did what we had to do and Homestead is a really good race track for me and that's our kind of race track for this team. So, I'm excited about next week and the opportunity to do something special. This is the kind of thing that you dream about since you were a little kid. Having a shot to win a Sprint Cup Series championship is just awesome and I'm looking forward to the opportunity" - Martin Truex, Jr., finished 14th
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: Perfect Phoenix Storm Benefits... Dale Earnhardt, Jr.?
by Mike Neff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the 2015 Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500
by Amy Henderson
Kickin' The Tires: Is #TheChase Helping Or Hurting NASCAR?
Thinkin' Out Loud: Perfect Phoenix Storm Benefits... Dale Earnhardt, Jr.?
by Mike Neff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the 2015 Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500
by Amy Henderson
Kickin' The Tires: Is #TheChase Helping Or Hurting NASCAR?
by Jerry Jordan
Up To Speed: Mixed Emotions Following Rain-Shorted Phoenix Semi-Final
by Summer Bedgood
Pace Laps: Matt Crafton Crumbles, Champions Are Crowned And NASCAR Rained On
by the Frontstretch Staff
XFINITY Breakdown: DAV 200 at Phoenix
by Joseph Wolkin
Tracking the Trucks: Lucas Oil 150
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:Q: The inaugural Jiffy Lube Miami 300 for the then-Busch Grand National Series was a bit of a wreckfest. The result was a three-plus hour race on a 1.5 mile track with an average speed under 95 mph. Jeff Green was running well early on before his day suddenly came to an end. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: In the past, pitting situations at some tracks could get weird if you didn't qualify well. For Stan Barrett, getting into the 1989 Autoworks 500k on a provisional (42nd of 43 starters) meant an alternate method for pitting. Where did he have to pit?
A: Barrett was forced to pit in the passage to the garage area behind pit road. In order to get into position, he had to come onto pit road, stop, then back into his stall. Also, his team's very small pit wall was on the right side of the car instead of the left. The quirky pit setup can be seen in this clip that shows Sterling Marlin's car on fire (which did not cause a caution despite Marlin blocking the exit of pit road).~~~~~~~~~~
COMING TOMORROW
-----------------------------COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have breaking news from Monday and S.D. Grady returns with Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View.
On Frontstretch.com:
Danny Peters returns with Five Points to Ponder after Sunday's race in Phoenix.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!
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