Monday, November 23, 2015

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Kyle Busch Wins the 2015 Sprint Cup Championship

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Nov. 23, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CCXII

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What to Watch: Monday

- Today, the haulers are traversing the long trip back to North Carolina for the final time this year.  If anything of note breaks today, we will bring it to you at Frontstretch.

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Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
 
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff

Kyle Busch Captures Sprint Cup Championship with Homestead Win

When the stakes were high, Kyle Busch came out to play.  After a late caution brought everyone to pit road with less than ten laps to go Busch was able to get past Brad Keselowski on the restart and hold off the advances of Kevin Harvick to not only win the Ford EcoBoost 400 but also claim the 2015 Sprint Cup Series Championship.  Keselowski was third followed by Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon in his final career start.  Read more

Wood Brothers, Ryan Blaney Plan Full-Time Cup Schedule in 2016

Friday, Wood Brothers Racing announced in a press conference that they will be returning to full-time action in the Sprint Cup Series in 2016.  Ryan Blaney will continue to drive the No. 21 and sponsorship will be provided by Motorcraft/Quick Lane and Ford Performance.  Read more

AJ Allmendinger Enjoying Time on "NASCAR Race Hub"

In addition to his role driving the No. 47 Chevrolet for JTG-Daugherty Racing, AJ Allmendinger has spent the 2015 season serving as a driver analyst on FOX Sports 1's NASCAR RaceHub.  It is a position that Allmendinger greatly enjoys.  Read more

Kyle Larson Wins Homestead, Chris Buescher Takes XFINITY Series Championship

Saturday, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch dominated the proceedings at Homestead-Miami Speedway to the point where only four drivers were left on the lead lap on legitimate pace.  However, Larson was forced to make a late charge to get past Austin Dillon and take his third career win.  Austin Dillon was second, with Erik Jones, Brian Scott and Ryan Blaney close behind.  Chris Buescher finished 11th, enough to give him the 2015 XFINITY Series Championship.  Read more

Matt Crafton Wins But Erik Jones Takes Title in Homestead

Friday night, Matt Crafton was the class of the field, leading 93 of the 134 laps to claim a career-high sixth victory of the season.  John Hunter Nemechek came home a strong second while Tyler Reddick was third.  Toyota drivers Ben Kennedy and Timothy Peters were fourth and fifth.  Erik Jones finished sixth and claimed the Camping World Truck Series championship by 15 points over Reddick.  Read more

Ford, Chip Ganassi Announce Full-Time IMSA Factory Drivers

Saturday morning, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Ford Performance introduced their full-time driver lineup for the two car factory Ford GT effort in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.  Joey Hand and Dirk Müller will share No. 66 while Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook will drive the No. 67, a car which will compete in the GT-Le Mans class.  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

It was said it would require a victory in order to win the championship Sunday.  For 257 laps, that was not the case.  However, the late debris caution and Kyle Busch's excellent restart changed the final outcome.  Kevin Harvick did everything he could but Busch won the race and the title.  For Harvick, a 13th second-place finish of the season likely just makes it hurt that much more.  Jeff Gordon, meanwhile made a nice run on the final restart to pull himself up to sixth and finish third in points.  It's a decent way for the 44-year-old to end his Sprint Cup career.  Martin Truex, Jr., this year's Chase Cinderella story dealt with handling problems by comparison for much of the evening and eventually finished 12th.  That gave him fourth in the championship, still a career best.

Best of those ineligible for the title was Carl Edwards. Edwards quietly ran well but dropped back due to an ill-advised move to stay out an extra six laps as compared to the other leaders during a round of green-flag stops.  That dropped him from the top 5 to tenth and he failed to progress for the rest of the race, eventually finishing 11th. It's an impressive effort for Edwards in his first year with a new team at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Joey Logano ran sixth in the championship after his fourth-place finish Sunday.  Brad Keselowski finished seventh in points while Kurt Busch was eighth after overcoming wall contact early in the race to post a top-10 finish. Busch did so despite missing three races joining brother Kyle in an unconventional year where drivers missed events yet still wound up in contention for the title.

Denny Hamlin made up three laps on Sunday after a brief stay in the garage due to a fluid leak and eventually generated a decent top-10 result after dropping to the rear.  That run was good enough for ninth in the final points.  Jimmie Johnson, meanwhile was hurt Sunday by being forced to the pits to repair bodywork.  That put the No. 48 car at the back and eventually got him lapped.  However, Johnson eventually recovered to ninth by the finish and a tenth-place result in the final point standings.  Ryan Newman finished 11th in points while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a miserable day Sunday.  Caught up in a crash on the backstretch, Earnhardt Jr. finished 40th and dropped four places to 12th.

Final Point Standings: 1) Kyle Busch 5043, 2) Kevin Harvick -1, 3) Jeff Gordon -5, 4) Martin Truex, Jr. -11, 5) Carl Edwards -2675, 6) Joey Logano -2683, 7) Brad Keselowski -2696, 8) Kurt Busch -2710, 9) Denny Hamlin -2716, 10) Jimmie Johnson -2728, 11) Ryan Newman -2729, 12) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -2733, 13) Jamie McMurray -2748, 14) Paul Menard -2781, 15) Matt Kenseth -2809, 16) Clint Bowyer -2868, 17) Aric Almirola -4103, 18) Kasey Kahne -4104, 19) Greg Biffle -4171, 20) Kyle Larson -4174, 21) Austin Dillon -4211, 22) AJ Allmendinger -4285.

Regular Point Standings (1-20): 1) Kevin Harvick 1321, 2) Joey Logano -22, 3) Brad Keselowski -104, 4) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -123, 5) Martin Truex, Jr. -156, 6) Jimmie Johnson -166, 7) Denny Hamlin -204, 8) Jeff Gordon -211, t-9) Kurt Busch -213, t-9) Carl Edwards -213, t-11) Jamie McMurray -269, t-11) Ryan Newman -269, 13) Matt Kenseth -275, 14) Paul Menard -349, 15) Aric Almirola -381, 16) Kasey Kahne -382, 17) Clint Bowyer -430, 18) Kyle Larson -449, 19) Greg Biffle -452, 20) Kyle Busch -454.

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, Homestead), Jeff Gordon (Martinsville-2).

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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Ford EcoBoost 400 was brought to you by the letter "S," for Surprise. Kyle Busch was overlooked somewhat this week with Jeff Gordon's retirement dominating championship Final Four talk. However, Busch delivered and won the Sprint Cup title nine months after spending this year's Daytona 500 in the hospital.   - Phil Allaway

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Quotes to Remember: Ford EcoBoost 400
compiled by Phil Allaway

"So far it feels amazing.  You know, I don't know that anybody could have ever dreamed of this year especially, but to have dreamed of my career path the way it's kind of gone, it's certainly amazing to have the opportunity right now to be in this position with Joe Gibbs and M&M's and Toyota and Adam Stevens.  For them all to prepare such a great race car for me tonight, to be able to go out there and perform in this format and to do what we did to end up in Victory Lane, to win this championship by winning the race was something special." - Kyle Busch, race and championship winner

"It was really, really hard.  I remember the first time Ken (physical therapist) came over, and he says, 'All right, man, we're going to try to stand up today,' and I was like, 'You're joking.'  It wasn't even that I could stand on one foot and just try to put weight through my other one.  I had to stand on my broken leg and not put any weight on my left foot because the foot was worse.  To just get vertical and get back straight up and down and try to stand, it took me three seconds and I started to see stars and was about ready to black out.  We did that about three or four times and that was it for that day, and about two days later he came over again and we did it again, and I was able to stand up, and that time I stood until it hurt.  Just the pain just going through your leg and everything that was going on." - Busch, on his rehab

"We were just struggling all night, to be honest with you, with our Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevy. We had a lot of trouble getting up off the corner and putting the power down. And the longer the run went, the looser that we would get up off the corner. We just want to thank everybody: Hendrick Engines, SHR, Outback, Mobil 1, Hunt Brothers and everybody who is a part of this car and who has been supportive of us over the last two years, it's been a great couple of years and I'm looking forward to next year. So, it's fun to be able to run like this. You always want to win, but I've learned not to get greedy. After last year, I felt like we had everything go our way way and tonight, it didn't go our way. But, just congratulations to the No. 18 team and everything they did and all of our guys; they've done a great job all year." - Kevin Harvick, finished second

"Yeah, we led a lot of laps. The last four races we have run pretty strong, maybe not quite as strong as Phoenix as we wanted but three of the four races we were really strong and we just didn't have enough to close it at the end. I was really proud of my team tonight, really happy with what they were able to give me and we were able to take a run at it, we just didn't quite have enough at the end on that final restart to hold those guys off." - Brad Keselowski, finished third

"Unfortunately, we didn't win and that's what we wanted to do.  We had a fast Shell/Pennzoil Ford that led a lot of laps, so I'm proud of the laps we led.  We had a few good runs and made an adjustment that just took it out of the track and by the time we got it back we lost too much track position.  We had a bad pit stop under green and lost more there so it was too little, too late.  We couldn't redeem ourselves after a couple mistakes tonight." - Joey Logano, finished fourth

"Well, I didn't need that last caution.  It probably cost me or Brad (Keselowski) a win, but it did make it somewhat exciting at the end.  Disappointed that we didn't get the win because I really thought we were about two to three laps away from passing Brad for the lead.  I don't know.  We will just go back next season and try and fight for some more wins." - Kyle Larson, finished fifth

"You know, gosh, I'll be honest, you know, the competitor in me got a little bit ‑‑ just so caught up in the moment of the race where we took the lead and I got really excited, and I thought, 'OK, we've got clean air, let's see what we have' and I knew we needed a few adjustments.  The track was really slick.  I actually felt like when I got ahead of Kyle that we actually pulled away from him.  I kind of got excited and got my hopes up there, but then Kevin started coming on pretty strong, and then we had that restart, and you know, I knew when those guys got by me I just didn't quite have what they had.  I was just lacking a couple little things." - Jeff Gordon, finished sixth

"Nobody is in Mario Andretti's league.  That's like a whole 'nother league." - Gordon, on Mario Andretti, who was at the track on Sunday.

"We battled hard after scrubbing the fence early.  There was some oil on the track.  I just got up into the fence.  But, all the work to the fenders straightened it back out and we just worked our way through there the best we could.  This is really a perfect type of statement night for the team on how we always scrap back and are always close at the end and then we settle for a nice top 10.  We've got some work to do but really it was a fantastic season.  I'm really proud of everybody and we just have to get that little bit extra out of everybody and come back next year." - Kurt Busch, finished eighth

"Yeah, obviously a little disappointed in the way we ran this weekend, just never could ‑‑ really never could quite hit on anything to get the car to do the things we needed it to.  Not from a lack of effort.  The guys really put a lot of effort into bringing this car here and really throughout the weekend we tried a lot, and we worked really hard on it. We weren't ‑‑ we didn't have much speed in practice, and we changed a lot last night on it trying to kind of go a different direction.  Just never could quite hit on it.  So a little disappointed in our run, but super proud of our season and really proud to come this far from 24th in points last year to fourth this year is a pretty big step. I don't think most people realize just how big of a deal it is and how hard it was for us to get that far." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished 12th

"I don't know what in the hell happened to our car. I was kind of optimistic about the race. We made a pit stop there and the car was just a way big handful. I don't know, I was coming off of (turn) 2 there and Ty (Dillon) kind of got squirrelly, I tried to stay off of him and my car got loose and I just couldn't catch it. I don't know, we just lost the handling on our car big time there. Unfortunately ended – you hate to end this way. I wanted to end on a strong note for everybody at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing). Appreciate all of their hard work and efforts all these years but unfortunately it's over." - Clint Bowyer, finished 43rd (Crashed Out)

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch.  He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.

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by Jerry Jordan

ATHLON SPORTS:

by Tom Bowles
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  The Australian Grand Prix has always been tough on equipment, regardless of whether it was at the beginning of the schedule (as in Melbourne) or the end (Adelaide).  In the last Grand Prix in Adelaide back in 1995, David Coulthard was having a great race.  Then, it suddenly ended in a strange way.  What happened?

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

Friday's Answer:

Q:  In 1996, Homestead-Miami Speedway (then known as the Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex) hosted the season opener for the Craftsman Truck Series.  As the series didn't race on any ovals longer than a mile in its inaugural season (or race an event anywhere near the advertised 400-kilometer distance, for that matter) how did NASCAR officiate pit stops so as to keep the playing field as level as possible?

A: NASCAR threw multiple competition cautions (at the one-quarter and three-quarter mark) during the event so that teams could pit for fuel.  Tire changes were also limited to two at a time.  The move was made because the trucks couldn't go to the halfway point on fuel for a "traditional" halftime break.  You got to keep your positions so long as you stayed within the rules.  There was a traditional halftime break where everyone took on four sticker tires as well.
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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 season finale in Homestead.
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