Monday, March 14, 2016

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Kevin Harvick Reigns Supreme at Phoenix Once Again

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Mar. 14, 2016
Volume X, Edition XXVIII

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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. 
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What to Watch: Monday

- Today, the teams are (if they didn't complete it after the race on Sunday) swapping out their equipment with new stuff once again.  As it is not really conducive to haul all the way back to North Carolina, then back out to Fontana, the regular truck drivers will enter their third straight week away from home.

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

Kevin Harvick Wins in Photo Finish for 8th Phoenix Victory

Kevin Harvick led the most laps on Sunday, but he was forced to endure Overtime on worn tires while most of the rest of the leaders pitted.  On the final restart, Carl Edwards charged to second and tried to execute a bump-and-run on Harvick on the final lap.  Harvick held his car in check and beat Edwards to the line by just a hundredth of a second to claim his eighth career victory in Phoenix.  Behind Harvick and Edwards were Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in third and fourth, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top 5. Read more
 
Different Week Same Story: Kyle Busch Dominant in the Desert
 
For the third week in a row, Kyle Busch dominated in the XFINITY Series.  Busch led 175 of the 200 laps to win the Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200.  Teammates Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez headed up a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3.  Justin Allgaier finished fourth, while Chase Elliott rounded out the top 5.  Read more

Juan Pablo Montoya Saves Steering for St. Petersburg IndyCar Win

Juan Pablo Montoya took the lead from Conor Daly on lap 64, reclaimed the advantage after the final round of pit stops, then held off teammate Simon Pagenaud to repeat as the winner in St. Petersburg despite suffering from steering issues late.  Behind Montoya and Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay was third, followed by Helio Castroneves and Mikhail Aleshin.  Read more

Will Power Out of INDYCAR Season Opener, Oriol Servia to Sub

During Sunday's race in St. Petersburg, pole sitter Will Power was not on the track.  Power was ruled out of Sunday's season opener due to what was described as an illness.  Oriol Servia started at the rear of the field in Power's car, but finished a lap down in 18th after getting caught up in a crash.  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: Kevin Harvick Pulls Into a Tie, Thanks to His Victory
by Phil Allaway

By virtue of his win on Sunday, Kevin Harvick moved himself up into a tie for the points lead with Kyle Busch, who finished fourth.  Since Harvick has a win and Kyle Busch does not at the moment, Harvick claims the position on the tiebreaker.  Jimmie Johnson faded late to an 11th-place finish, but he made a spirited charge from the rear of the field following his bizarre steering wheel-related crash in qualifying to run in the top 5.  Regardless of the fading late, Johnson's performance keeps him in the top 3.

Kurt Busch is up one place to fourth in points after a sixth-place finish on Sunday.  He is one point ahead of Carl Edwards, who just missed out on pay dirt.  Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin is five points behind Edwards in sixth after his third-place finish.  Joey Logano is down three places to seventh after being forced to pit under green in the final laps for fuel.  He would eventually finish one lap down in 18th.

Austin Dillon, the only Richard Childress Racing driver not to melt a bead on Sunday, is up two places to eighth in points after a strong run to ninth.  Martin Truex, Jr. maintains ninth in points, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. moves into the top 10 by virtue of his top-5.

Point Standings (1-16): t-1) Kevin Harvick 154, t-1) Kyle Busch 154, 3) Jimmie Johnson -14, 4) Kurt Busch -17, 5) Carl Edwards -18, 6) Denny Hamlin -23, 7) Joey Logano -27, 8) Austin Dillon -32, 9) Martin Truex, Jr. -37, 10) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -39, 11) Brad Keselowski -44, 12) Ryan Blaney -50, 13) Aric Almirola -54, 14) Kasey Kahne -58, 15) Jamie McMurray -60, 16) Matt Kenseth -64.

Race Winners: Denny Hamlin (Daytona), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta), Brad Keselowski (Las Vegas), Kevin Harvick (Phoenix)
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Kobalt 400 was brought to you by the letter "B," for Bead.  At relatively flat tracks, keeping the right front wheel tire cool is crucial.  If you set up your car to put too much heat in the right front tire in order to turn easier, you run the risk of melting a bead, blowing a tire and wrecking.  Ryan Newman, Paul Menard, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Kasey Kahne all found that out the hard way.  - Phil Allaway

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Quotes to Remember: Good Sam 500k
compiled by Phil Allaway

"Well, I knew he was better through (Turns) 3 and 4. That was not the car that I wanted to see behind me. I knew I could beat him down there and I tried to protect the bottom in (Turns) 3 and 4 and I just missed the bottom with all the rubber build-up on the tires and everything. But, all in all, I knew I was going to be on defense down there. I got up too high and wasn't able to stay on the bottom like I wanted to and then he got into me, like he should have, and I needed to get a good run off the corner and I was going to have to get into his door and it worked out, just barely. I just want to thank Jimmy John's, Busch, Chevrolet, Mobil 1 and everybody at Stewart-Haas for everything that they do." - Kevin Harvick, race winner

"I should've wrecked him (laughter). No, those guys were doing a great job all day. They hung on with those tires but we were faster so I thought, 'Man, I'll just move him out of the way and get by.' I just didn't move him far enough and then he got up the door and I thought I was trying to time — I thought 'I think he's going to beat me.' So, I tried to sideswipe him before he got there but I needed to be in front of his front tire. Anyway, just a fun race. Man, I wish we could've won that thing. Dave Rogers (crew chief) did a great job. I've got to thank Stanley. They're onboard here. Hopefully everybody that damaged their stuff could use some Stanley Tools to fix it today. ARRIS, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Subway, Comcast, XFINITY, all of our sponsors. I wanted to win that thing but you win some and you lose some. It was a good race." - Carl Edwards, finished second

"We had a really good car today and we ran upfront for a bunch of the race. I'm not sure if we could've beat the 4 (Kevin Harvick) or not but given some different circumstances maybe. But, overall the Skittles Camry was good. Missed it just a little bit on the long runs for sure. We just can't quite keep up as good as those guys can on the long side of the run, so that's kind of where we lost it today. I also screwed us up a little bit on pit road but we were at least able to overcome that." - Kyle Busch, finished fourth

"I felt like it was a solid day for us.  I was just happy we finally put a day together and got a finish that these guys deserved.  I feel like we had a good car.  We made gains on it all day long.  That last restart, obviously, was pretty wild.  We tried our best.  We gave up a couple of spots, but we will take it and move on to Fontana." - Chase Elliott, finished eighth

"That wasn't bad. We fought really hard all day. We got a lot better throughout the day. We didn't start out that great and we just got better as we went along. The guys did a great job with two tires at the end and I thought about staying out but we wouldn't have been on the first two rows I don't think so we had to come in and get two and I think it picked us up one spot. It was a good day and a good job by everybody on this Motorcraft Quick Lane team and a top-10 car is all I could ask for." - Ryan Blaney, finished tenth

"Our day was not great.  We ran 16th to 20th the whole time.  We were able to be the first car on four tires on the last restart and I was surprised it wasn't really an advantage at all.  The No. 43 (Aric Almirola) got into the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) and shuffled a few cars out of the way for me so I was able to sneak by on the bottom to finish 12th.  So, we finished a lot better than we ran.  I'm happy about that.  We needed a day like this after the last couple of races.  So, we head to Fontana a track where I'm normally good at and then hopefully get a top 10." - Kyle Larson, finished 12th

"The car was never the same after the first pit stop. From that point on we couldn't get going to overcome some of the slick turns. We had a shot at the end to gain a few spots when the caution came out for a green-white-checkered finish but got bottled up in traffic." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished 14th

"We just didn't quite get the luck on our side today. We created our own luck as well. We need to clean it up a little bit. We need to clean up the mistakes we have had here at the beginning of the season on everybody's front. We still have speed. We were close today. At times it felt like we were a third place car, and we were running up there around third. We just still have work to do to catch the 4 and 19, they were the class of the field." - Joey Logano, finished 18th

"We had a right front tire go down. It happened earlier in the race but a caution came out and I thought it was the engine at the time because of the way it kind of vibrated and changed the tone of the engine. Come to find out it wasn't the engine and it was the tire. We'll look at what we are doing since it happened a couple of times. We had a car capable of running in the top 15 and we were really good early. The longer the race went I felt like I got looser. I used a lot of brake during the entire the race, which I was surprised about. Yesterday in practice I didn't have to use the brake hardly at all and today with different grips I used it so much." - Kasey Kahne, finished 22nd

"We ran in that 10th place range pretty much the entire race until we cut the tire. That was unfortunate and we aren't really sure why but there isn't anything we can really do about it. It is hard to say really where we would have been if that hadn't happened. The Alliance Truck Parts Fusion was probably about a 10th place car, but you never know how things would have played out without the tire issue." - Brad Keselowski, finished 29th

"We were really tight and I was having to use too much break and I think we got the tires hot and once we did that the right front gave out from having to use too much brake. The cars were a handful. They were fun to drive. We just didn't quite have the Fastenal Ford dialed in like we needed to today. We were really tight, therefore we had to use too much brake." - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., finished 37th (Crashed out)

"We just blew a right-front tire.  It must have melted the bead or something.  I don't know if something failed in the cooling department or what the deal was.  I didn't do anything any different than I've ever done here before.  Just definitely blew a right-front tire out and that was the end of our day with the Grainger Chevrolet." - Ryan Newman, finished 39th (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 Aaron Bearden

by Bryan Gable


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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  The 2001 Marlboro 500 was shortened to a distance of 220 laps (440 miles).  Why was this done?

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

Friday's Answer:

Q:  Here's a somewhat random INDYCAR-based question.  INDYCAR has used many different types of promotion in the past.  One of the more unusual methods of the creation of a series song.  What was this song called and who sang it? 

A: The song was entitled "I Am Indy," by Gene Simmons.  By all indications, it was not a very good song.  Here's what Simmons came up with so you can make up your own mind about it.

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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:
Matt McLaughlin returns with another edition of Beside the Rising Tide.
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