THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTERPresented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Feb. 26, 2016
Volume X, Edition XVII
~~~~~~~~~~
NEW POSTING: SALES & BRANDING MANAGER
Frontstretch is seeking a dynamic, creative individual to head our sales team. The individual would be responsible for the following:
- Engaging new partners and taking the lead in brokering agreements for sales & advertising across all Frontstretch outlets: Website, Newsletter, Podcast, and video content
- Responding to exposure inquiries from potential advertisers
- Working with our social media team to enhance the marketing and branding experience for our advertising clients
The position will be a direct report to our Business and Financial Manager, a position that also will work closely with the Majority Owner and Social Media team. A fast-growing website whose writers have won multiple NMPA Awards, the Frontstretch is well-positioned for success in 2016 and has a healthy audience of over seven figures per year. The role, while initially commission-based offers a generous percentage and perks down the road for this startup company. Frontstretch management has, in many cases been in place for nearly a decade before becoming a for-profit website and we're excited to welcome the right person into this family atmosphere.
Interested parties should email tbowles81@yahoo.com with a short note on why they're interested and their current resume. Serious inquiries only.
What to Watch: Friday
- Today, the Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series teams take to the 1.54 mile quad-oval for multiple practice sessions, culminating with Sprint Cup Qualifying tonight on FOX Sports 1. We'll have continued updates all day at Frontstretch.
FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN ATLANTA FROM OUR COLLEAGUE:
~~~~~~~~~~
This weekend's TV Schedule can be found here.
Top News
by The Frontstretch Staff
Kyle Larson Fastest in Opening Sprint Cup Series Practice at Atlanta
Friday morning dawned sunny and cool at Atlanta Motor Speedway for opening practice for the Sprint Cup Series. Many of the teams solely focused on qualifying runs. The best of those was Kyle Larson, whose lap of 28.740 seconds (192.909 mph) topped the charts. Read more
Josh Wise, The Motorsports Group Eyeing Full Season Run
The Racing Experts is reporting that The Motorsports Group is looking to run the full schedule with Josh Wise at the wheel of the No. 30 Chevrolet. If they do, the team will have to qualify on speed for every race.
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~ The Critic's Annex: Jet Tools 150
by Phil Allaway
Greetings, and welcome to a special Friday edition of the Critic's Annex, where I take a look at additional motorsports coverage on TV. Back on the 14th, the K&N Pro Series East held their season opener at New Smyrna Speedway as part of the World Series of Asphalt.
New Smyrna Speedway puts on a great show and this particular race was no exception. There was great side-by-side action for much of the race. The victory was in question right up to the checkered flag...and beyond it. That's why we're here today.
As you've probably read by now, the race inexplicably ran an extra lap. On that extra lap, contact between Ronnie Bassett, Jr. and Todd Gilliland bounced Gilliland into Spencer Davis, who went hard into the wall at the road leading outside of the track. That was a nasty one.
Thankfully, Davis walked away from that
wreck with only bruises. However, it was a wreck that shouldn't have happened.
On the broadcast, Dave Burns stated that NASCAR officials rushed into the booth to explain the situation. Apparently, the whole mess was settled within only a few minutes. Long enough that Bassett completed his Polish Victory Lap, only to be told that he finished third. That's rough.
I have no idea where the heck NASCAR screwed up the lap count and could not gather that from the telecast. My guess is that it happened on the final restart with three laps to go. If so, that's kinda sad that they can't count to three. However, watching the broadcast, I felt that the lap count, as compared to the official results, was off by one lap as early as Lap 15. However, I'm unsure if that was a NASCAR issue or a NBCSN issue.
The graphics did indicate when the race was on the actual factual final lap, although the race was apparently called live, so that was not so. There was quite a bit of confusion in the booth because NASCAR never threw the white flag.
For what it's worth, I thought that Bassett and Davis took the situation in stride and handled it like professionals despite the insanity involved. I have no idea what the rest of the field thought about the situation, though.
Outside of the controversial finish, there was a lot of discussion about drivers moonlighting between the two K&N Pro Series due to non-conflicting weekends. Here, three West drivers made the trip (race winner Gilliland and Jefferson-Davis teammates Noah Gragson and Gracin Raz). The coverage of that topic was a bit outsized as compared to their actual numbers.
More time should have been given to the young 'uns in the race. In addition to Gilliland, you had Harrison Burton, son of Jeff Burton, on the scene. He didn't get much coverage, but he's full-time.
Then you have Tyler Dippel for HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks, a young racer from Ulster County, N.Y. (Wallkill, to be exact) that made his ARCA debut last year with Lira Motorsports at the Illinois State Fargrounds. Frank Stoddard mentioned that Dippel comes from a Big Block Modified background and won a track title at Lebanon Valley. While both statements are true, it must be clarified. Yes, Dippel has a track title at Lebanon Valley. No, it was not in a Big Block. It was in a "Budget Sportsman" (now Sportsman) modified in 2013. Those cars have crate engines with approximately 380 horsepower, a far cry from what a Big Block has. Dippel would drive the Budget Sportsman car at Lebanon Valley like the track was paved and not dirt, a contrarian move as compared to his opposition, and one that clearly showed that he could be a force on pavement.
Dippel was going to race a Big Block full-time at Lebanon Valley last year, but ended up missing a good chunk of the season due to a bizarre trailer liftgate accident (they tried to open up the liftgate to their transporter and some kind of failure resulted in the door falling down, resulting in Dippel being injured and a crewmember breaking his leg). Ultimately, he only made a few starts, but one of those was a fourth-place finish in the Super DIRTcar Series' Mr. Dirt Track U.S.A. 100-lapper. Also yes, he is 15. There have been discussions about his age since he started at Lebanon Valley. It's a whole 'nother story that's not really fit for this article. Also, this was glossed over by Burns and Stoddard, but Dippel roughed up Ryan Preece pretty good late in the race.
The last caution that set up the screwup came out when Austin Theriault hit the wall in turn 2. I have no idea how that happened because there was no replay shown. Viewers saw a glimpse of Theriault's Shigeaki Hattori-owned Toyota parked next the wall in the background of the race for the lead and that was about it.
Burns and Stoddard are a decent team, although Stoddard's thick New England accent will take some getting used to for some. Due to the way the race was edited (significantly), it was a little difficult to get much strategy in there. However, what little strategy we got was good. With no halftime break in the 150-lap race, you had to conserve the tires to be there at the end. Debutant Dominique Van Wieringen for Rette Jones Racing failed to do that. That's likely the main reason why she fell to a tenth-place finish after fighting Davis for second early on (and roughing him up a bit).
Due to the circumstances, pit reporter Heather DeBeaux didn't have much to do during the race either. I found the fact that she was there to be interesting as they usually have different pit reporters for East Coast and West Coast races. Normally, this would have been a Derek Pernesiglio race. I don't have any kind of inside information here, but it's just something I noticed.
Honestly, I did enjoy the race. Unfortunately, the situation at the end and the one-hour timeslot for a race that ran 63 minutes really compressed things. You had situations where people came out of nowhere to contend, like Preece. He started 21st, they talked about him during the pace laps, then you don't hear about him again until lap 125. He was in the top 10 by that point.
The only driver to fail to finish, Hunter Baize, crashed out on the backstretch. That wreck was actually cut from the race. In the montage at the very end of the telecast, you could see a quick clip of Baize's No. 13 up against the wall on the backstretch, but that's all you saw in regards to that incident. Kaz Grala's spin was on the restart from that crash.
The timeslot bites, but that will continue to be the case until the Stanley Cup is awarded. K&N Pro Series East should be really interesting this season. K&N Pro Series West likely will be as well.
That's all for this week. Next week, we'll be back with more criticism. Until then, enjoy this weekend's action in Atlanta.
Frontstretch Folio: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
by Phil Allaway
The Sprint Cup Series has finally left Daytona and moved to a place where the engines can be less restricted. This weekend, the series will make their lone visit to Atlanta Motor Speedway. Coverage of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 will start at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on FOX; the event can also be heard on your local PRN affiliate or SiriusXM Channel 90. Drivers will compete for 325 laps (500.5 miles) en route to the checkered flag.
Records and facts
Last year, one of the biggest stories of the race weekend was Team Xtreme Racing's No. 44 being stolen (along with the transporter it was in) from a Drury Inn not too far from Atlanta. The car was eventually recovered, but not before the team withdrew.
Jimmie Johnson started in a disappointing 37th, but charged through the field to put himself in position to win. Despite getting beat off of pit road, he was able to get the jump on a lap 305 restart and held off the pack to take his fourth win the season. Kevin Harvick was second, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth
Among active drivers, Bobby Labonte is the winningest driver at Atlanta with six career victories. However, Labonte is not entered this weekend. The active driver with the next highest win total is Jimmie Johnson with four. Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch each have three. All-time, the late Dale Earnhardt tops the win charts with nine wins.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.54-mile quad-oval, 325 laps (500 miles)
Banking: 24 degrees
Frontstretch: 2,332 ft, banked 5 degrees
Backstretch: 1,800 ft., banked 5 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 75,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 1960
Website: http://www.atlantamotorspeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atlmotorspeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/amsupdates
Pre-Race Schedule:
Qualifying: Friday, February 26, 5:45 p.m. on FOX Sports 1
Happy Hour: Saturday, February 27, 11:30 a.m - 12:50 p.m. on FOX Sports 1
Say What?!
"It seems like we've been in position a few times to win that race, but have had something happen to us towards the end. I had a six second lead with four laps to go two years ago and last year lost a cylinder and got wrecked with ten laps to go running second. Hopefully, we can have the same performance with a different finish this weekend.
I am so proud to have Aaron's on the car. This is their backyard and Aaron's will be bringing a lot of people who I have gotten to know over the past few years. A lot of NASCAR fans know Aaron's and their support of the sport, so it would be a lot of fun to take them to Victory Lane. But, boy oh boy, this track is fast and we always put on a heck of a show for the fans. I love it, but you better hold on tight during qualifying. It is incredibly fast and will take your breath away." - Clint Bowyer
"We took a really hard hit at Daytona and obviously didn't end the day the way we wanted to. The good news is I love Atlanta. I like the racetracks that have a little more character and the worn-out asphalt. It was really good to us last year on the XFINITY side. So, when we get back there, I'm thinking it should be a really good weekend for us. It's going to be interesting with the low downforce package to see how much we really slide around. I don't know what the tire package is going to look like, so that could throw a little bit of a wrench into the equation. We'll wait and see." - Chris Buescher
"I think the new rules package is going to be great. I think it's a good starting point for where we need to be eventually which is back to the 1990s versus the 2000s. Having less downforce on the car is going to make the drivers have to perform and make it more challenging to perform. In my opinion, that's what it should be all about. Our cars have become so aero dependent that it just was so unfair to have track position especially with how our sport is structured with the fastest car up front. I think the racing will get so much better when the cars are less aero dependent." - Ryan Newman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON FRONTSTRETCH:
by Zach Catanzareti
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Mike Neff
by Amy Henderson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: For Ryan Newman, the 2003 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 was a decent race. He led some laps early on and was headed towards a top 10 finish. Then, heck went down in the final laps. What happened?
Check back tomorrow for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Thursday's Answer:
Q: Later that day in Atlanta after Park's crash, Todd Bodine put his No. 35 Tabasco Pontiac on the outside pole for the Primestar 500. For Bodine, such an accomplishment was nice, but not necessarily out of the ordinary since he'd had a lot of success at Atlanta during his career. However, it was a shock here. Why?
A: For Bodine and ISM Racing, this was the first time they'd qualified for a race in 1998; they DNQ'd for the first three. Also, earlier that day (before Park crashed), Bodine only put up the 40th fastest time in practice. Bodine qualified at over 192 mph, but practiced at 187 and change. Crew chief Pat Tryson indicated that the team had a fuel pick-up issue in practice. In the race, Bodine led 46 laps and finished a lap down in tenth, the team's best finish of the whole season.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMING MONDAY
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have recaps of the Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series events from Atlanta. 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 Atlanta and look forward to Las Vegas.-----------------------------
NASCAR and great NASCAR commentary. They can subscribe to the Frontstetch by visiting
.
to see you go. Just send an email to
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
.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment