Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
by the Frontstretch Staff
Entry List: Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500
Entry List: DAV 200
Entry List: Lucas Oil 150
The Camping World Truck Series returns to Phoenix International Raceway for their sole visit of the season. 34 teams are entered, including three drivers attempting to make their series debuts. Rico Abreu is entered in the NTS Motorsports No. 31, continuing that team's part-time schedule while Cassie Gannis will attempt to make the race in MIke Harmon's No. 74. Finally, K&N Pro Series East Champion William Byron will make his first attempt in a fourth entry from Kyle Busch Motorsports, the No. 09. Read more
~~~~~~~~~~
No Matter Who Wins the Cup, NASCAR is Going to Lose
Sitting in the Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady
Well, you can't please everyone.
After all the excitement at Martinsville you'd think the Texas shootout might have ended up being a little more predictable. But, no. The NASCAR Gods are not quite done messing with the fans this year. They seem bound and determined that a goodly section of the grandstand will be making lots of derogatory noises come the end of Homestead. I mean, can you come up with a potential champion for 2015 that will get everyone excited? No, really think about it. If you run down the list of Chasers, can you come up with a compelling reason for any of them to be the poster boy for our sport?
Kyle Busch. Yes, you've got to admire his determination—working through the pain of his broken leg suffered at the Daytona 500. Busch has had an impressive second half of the season with four wins under his belt. But, it can never be fair to declare a champion for the entire year when that person missed half the season, injured or not. Argue all you want that the Cup actually goes to the team, not the driver, but it isn't the No. 18 crew that gets to go on the late-night talk shows. So, sour apples there.
Kevin Harvick. Can't you hear the riots in Charlotte now? If the man responsible for taking out half the field at Talladega wins at Homestead I'm thinking Stewart-Haas Racing headquarters will need to hire extra security. Despite his adorable kid Keelan providing consistent comic relief throughout the year it's just not enough to balance out the bone we got stuck down our throats a couple weeks ago.
How about Carl Edwards? Well…what has he done for me lately? I'm just not feeling it for the pilot of the No. 19 this year. He hasn't thrown any foul balls and at the same time I can't come up with an astounding moment, either. Cousin Carl would make a possibly uncontroversial Cup winner. However, in the long run, that can be more detrimental to the sport than having your hero going down in flames.
The Penske boys? How about them? They are actually developing into a team of loud-mouthed brats who are driving a pair of dominant machines. Oh, we are loving to hate them. But if they sprinkled enough fairy dust around at Phoenix it's possible they will make the big show. And, if you're in the show, they would have an excellent shot of taking home the hardware. It has even felt like 2015 is Joey Logano's year. However, when all of Martinsville gave Matt Kenseth a standing ovation for straightening out the No. 22 it's hard to imagine that the fans would be ecstatic over seeing Logano or Brad Keselowski's mug on everything NASCAR for an entire year.
Kurt Busch. Since the inception of the season, he's been fairly benign. After beating the rap over beating his ex-girlfriend it seems the elder Busch brother finally listened to his PR reps and worked on keeping his trap shut. However, this year has been one where sports figures are held up as bad role models, prime examples of a court system and sports clubs gone awry in the moral values category. NASCAR simply doesn't need even the hint of an unsavory personality taking his bows in Vegas. I can easily imagine a sighting of debris with three to go if Kurt is in the lead at Homestead.
Finally, we've got the fairy tale stories: Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex, Jr. Ah, the storied veteran takes the gold in his last ever appearance as a Sprint Cup driver. Or how about a true Cinderella ending? It could go to the driver who has driven for an unfortunate team and then was traded down to a nearly second-tier ride, all while his girlfriend is fighting to beat cancer. He has managed to remain at the top of his game all year and with the consistency the No. 78 has showed has a shot to win the one race needed to add his name to the record books for all time. Both would make the kind of headlines NASCAR desperately needs; you can't lose with either one. Except... Gordon and Truex have both had the kind of ordinary year that is often dismissed in the grand scheme of things. Should one of them get the medal both competitors and fans will forever be scratching their heads trying to figure out just what the previous 35 races were all about.
Well, there you have it. Eight potential championship drivers. Eight potential championship stories. None of them will truly satisfy the NASCAR public's need for a fantastic tale to chew over on those long winter nights.
How very disappointing.
Sonya's Scrapbook
There comes a time in a veteran's career where everybody starts to question whether they've got "IT" anymore. That they don't care enough to take the risks to shoot themselves to the top. Well, late in 2012 Jeff Gordon answered the question when he bumped Clint Bowyer late in the Phoenix race, sparking a classic pit brawl in the process. Ah, it was a great day....
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beside the Rising Tide: Practice Makes Perfect
by Matt McLaughlin
Who's Hot and Who's Not in NASCAR: Texas Edition
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Monday's Answer:
Q: In 1993, Alain Prost was dominating the Grand Prix of Brazil at Interlagos. However, he wasn't above taking chances. That came back to haunt him. What happened?
A: Prost had qualified on pole and was unchallenged early on. However, rain began falling on the hilly Brazilian track, something that's relatively common given the tropical climate. Ayrton Senna stopped at the appropriate time to take on rain tires but Prost stayed out, likely hoping that it was just a brief shower on the pit straight. Well, it turned into a deluge. Aguri Suzuki and Ukyo Katayama crashed and the Safety Car was put out. Still, Prost stayed out on track. At the start of lap 30, Christian Fittipaldi spun entering what is now known as the Senna S. Prost hydroplaned on his slick tires and spun into Fittipaldi before getting stuck in the gravel. The crash, plus the run up to it can be seen here.
COMING TOMORROW
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