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!
Mar. 10, 2016
Volume X, Edition XXVI
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FRONTSTRETCH JOBS: 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.
– 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: Thursday
- Today is pull-in day at Phoenix International Raceway for the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series teams. Inspection for the XFINITY Series teams will take place today, but no on-track activity is scheduled.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
by the Frontstretch Staff
Tony Stewart Cleared to Start Rehab
On Wednesday, Tony Stewart had x-rays of his lower back as part of the recovery from his off-road crash back in January. The results were satisfactory enough for his doctor to clear him to start rehab, but there still is no timetable for his return to the No. 14. Read more
Martin Truex, Jr. Receives Another Warning from NASCAR
The hits keep coming for Furniture Row Racing. The No. 78 team was one of three to be hit with warnings for flunking the template inspection prior to qualifying in Las Vegas. Read more
Change Racing Expands to Two Cars at Sebring
Change Racing announced on Wednesday that they will expand to two cars for the rest of the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship by absorbing the No. 11 entry fielded in Daytona by O'Gara Motorsport. Drivers Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler will drive full-time, with Richard Antinucci joining for Sebring as the team's third driver. Read more
Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power Reveal Sleek 2016 Liveries
On Wednesday, Team Penske unveiled twin silver liveries for teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Will Power with Verizon sponsorship. Both cars will debut in this weekend's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the season opener for the Verizon IndyCar Series. 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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Editor's Note: Potts' Shots will return in the near future.
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The Critic's Annex: The Sports Reporters Talk Brian France and Trump
by Phil Allaway
Greetings, race fans. Welcome back to another edition of the Critic's Annex, where we sometimes go off the beaten path in order to bring you TV opinion.
Since the end of the last series of NASCAR TV deals in 2014, I haven't actually critiqued anything that has aired on ESPN. It's not by choice. All of their INDYCAR races air on ABC and I never could fit the NHRA into my column. Then again, there's a reason for that. Late night tape-delayed broadcasts that you never quite knew when they were going to air are hard to watch. It's like the last two years of NASCAR Now.
On Sunday morning, ESPN aired their weekly episode of the Sports Reporters. Think of it as a roundtable of journalists talking about the issues in sports. It's generally an intelligent discussion, a stark contrast to the craziness that is Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless arguing about things (and Bayless saying stupid things) on ESPN 2's First Take weekday mornings.
Today's panel includes moderator John Saunders, Bob Ryan (formerly of The Boston Globe, now of ESPN), ESPN's Jemele Hill and the New York Daily News' Frank Isola. I know who these chaps are, but have you ever heard of any of them associated with racing? I cannot recall them ever talking about NASCAR, or any other kind of motorsports.
Ryan is a Boston sports guy. Prior to the creation of Around the Horn in 2002, he was a beat writer for the Boston Celtics and had been a general sports columnist for the previous 13 years. Isola is a beat writer who covers the insanity that is the New York Knicks. Saunders, Canadian by birth, is mostly known for his hosting, but he has also done play-by-play for NBA games. Finally, Hill is a general columnist for ESPN.com after working for papers like the Detroit Free Press and Orlando Sentinel. Like Ryan and Isola, she has experience as a beat writer. None of the four have any significant experience covering NASCAR.
Our NASCAR content did not lead off the show, which doesn't surprise me. The NFL is king, and one of their patron saints (Peyton Manning) was hanging up his No. 18. So, the first segment was spent discussing that.
The second segment gets into the NASCAR discussion. As we're all aware of, NASCAR CEO Brian France endorsed Donald Trump for President last Tuesday. That's a fact. It happened.
The question posed here was simple: What would happen if any of the other major sports commissioners made such an endorsement? By extension, they also asked whether the endorsement benefits NASCAR in any way. I'd argue that this is a perfectly fine line of questioning.
The general response seemed to be that it would not be in a sports league's interest to do so. Any other commissioner would get roasted over an open fire for it. France is no different here.
Hill makes a decent point here. It's pretty dang hard to disconnect Brian France from NASCAR, unless you're Britney Spears. He's had NASCAR in his blood from before he came out of the womb. It's like France doesn't realize that he's a public figure here. He can talk all he wants about his personal friendship with Trump. I'm not doubting the truth of that. However, it just seems that he did not think about what could come out of such a public pronouncement.
Hill did make note of NASCAR having stated that France's endorsement was a private endorsement that has nothing to do with NASCAR. Sure, he's entitled to private things, like his house, cars and personal space. However, pronouncements at televised political rallies don't qualify. Having said that, it definitely doesn't help France's case that Trump is playing up his personal endorsement as NASCAR itself endorsing him. The Trump is making his own longtime friend look bad for his own benefit. If I were France, I would be reconsidering why I consider Trump to be a friend right about now.
Hill also stated that the drivers can endorse political candidates at will. They don't run the sport. The only difference between Chase Elliott endorsing Trump and Tom Brady doing so is that Elliott is quite a bit younger than Brady.
Ryan started by putting his foot in his mouth immediately. He stated that the average NASCAR fan doesn't even know who Brian France is. That is the sign of someone who has probably never given the sport much mind. Pretty much everyone who is a NASCAR fan knows exactly who Brian France is. Anyone reading this article knows who Brian France is. He's not some middle manager in Daytona Beach, hoping to make enough money to buy a BMW 328i. He's the not-quite-visible enough CEO, and perhaps there's a reason why he's not all that visible.
Hill refuted Ryan's remarks by completely disagreeing with Ryan's statement and saying that "...the Frances are NASCAR."
Isola thinks that the whole affair is going to go away because Trump won't win. Two years from now, he thinks it'll be a trivia question at best.
Also, he believes that commissioners wouldn't make such blatant moves to alienate their audience and competitors by going against their beliefs in such a blatant way. It's a somewhat backwards way of saying that many NASCAR fans support Trump and would not feel hurt by France supporting him. Using that argument, having the Elliotts, Ryan Newman and David Ragan there at Valdosta State last week would technically help France's case here.
That this whole mess magically goes away in a few months would be the ideal scenario. Nothing comes of this and everyone goes on their merry way. NASCAR is in no way affected by the endorsement. I can't see that happening. What's the worst case scenario here? NASCAR is forced to shut down the Camping World Truck Series because Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis pulls Camping World's support of the series, and there's some kind of lawsuit that results because France's actions somehow break a clause in Camping World's naming rights deal.
It sounds far-fetched (and I definitely don't want Camping World to leave NASCAR), but I think that part of the worst-case scenario could be in play. Lemonis was already responsible for NASCAR moving the XFINITY/Camping World Truck Series Awards Banquet and all the other things surrounding NASCAR Champions' Week last year away from Trump National Doral Miami to the Diplomat Resort & Spa in the wake of Trump's inappropriate statements about Mexicans. At the time, he stated that he would not attend the banquet, nor would anyone from Camping World, had it remained at Trump National Doral Miami.
Lemonis has already stated that he is very upset about France's public endorsement. He tweeted that such endorsements have no place in business. The man is angry and NASCAR shouldn't be in the business of ticking off their major sponsors. Camping World is in the first year of a seven-year contract extension to serve as the title sponsor of the Camping World Truck Series. Up until last year, everything seemed to be rosy. Not so much these days.
Overall, Hill seemed to be the most informed of the trio of reporters here, followed by Isola and Ryan. While yes, I agree with Ryan when he said that NASCAR's fanbase is not completely monolithic, to say that France's actions don't matter is completely off-base. He's the CEO. His actions in public will always reflect on the company. That's true of any person running a company from Tim Cook (Apple's CEO) and Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) down to the guy who runs the local pizza parlor around the corner from your house.
Ryan's complete lack of education on the issue and NASCAR as a whole is really surprising to me. Out of all the people that commonly show up on Around the Horn, I always thought of him as one of the best. Regardless, this is a cautionary tale. Do your homework.
The sad thing here is that ESPN, despite no longer airing races, has likely the best group of writers covering NASCAR today. They have Marty Smith, who is probably one of the best reporters at ESPN today, period. They have Bob Pockrass, who is probably one of the most dedicated beat writers in the sport. They also have Ryan McGee, who is very solid in his own right. Finally, they have Ricky Craven, a man who has the stamp of approval from PTI's Michael Wilbon as one of the best analysts in sports. Wilbon has praised Craven both on Twitter and on PTI in the past. Any one of these four men could have easily chipped in to the discussion and properly put France's endorsement into context.
The segment is really one more sign that a lot of people at ESPN really don't understand NASCAR, and motorsports in general. The people they employ chiefly to cover NASCAR know their stuff and are amongst the best out there. Outside of those people, it's a toss-up as to what you get. Being completely unable to grasp the situation really makes Ryan look bad. Sure, when he's in more comfortable territory (the NBA, Major League Baseball, etc.), he'll continue to do just fine, but he's a dang trainwreck outside of his comfort zone. It's like he legitimately didn't care. This is a roundtable show. You can't just throw your hands up and say whatever. That's effectively what Ryan did.
I hope you enjoyed this look at the Sports Reporters. Next week, we'll be back with another look at motorsports programming. Until then, enjoy this week's action from Phoenix and St. Petersburg.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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"I do know that a lot has changed, especially in the GS class from when I first ran it in 2003. In the last 12 years, the thought process behind the class has changed from a street stock car. I used to look at it and it would still have the air conditioning controls and the dial gauges. Now, everything is purpose-built for racing.
"I do know that a lot has changed, especially in the GS class from when I first ran it in 2003. In the last 12 years, the thought process behind the class has changed from a street stock car. I used to look at it and it would still have the air conditioning controls and the dial gauges. Now, everything is purpose-built for racing.
"I think the philosophy's changed, and that might have something to do with it, or it might not. Hopefully, the series can find its way and redefine its purpose and we'll see more cars in the GS class." - Spencer Pumpelly on how the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge's Grand Sport class has changed over the years.
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by P. Huston Ladner
by Aaron Bearden and Sean Fesko
by Toni Montgomery
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 2005, St. Petersburg made its debut on the IndyCar Series schedule. Ryan Briscoe dominated the race for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, but couldn't close the deal. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: In the 1993 Slick 50 500k at Phoenix, Rich Woodland, Jr.'s No. 86 burst into flames on the frontstretch, ending his day early. What is notable about Woodland's run?
A: For Woodland, it was his first career Winston Cup start (Phoenix was a conjunction race between Winston Cup and Winston West at the time). Also, it was the final start in Winston Cup for Oldsmobile. Norm Benning did attempt to qualify an Oldsmobile for races in 1994, but failed to qualify for all of them.
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COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have some news from today while we preview Sunday's Good Sam 500k.
On Frontstretch.com:
Zach Catanzareti answers Four Burning Questions heading into this weekend's action in Phoenix.
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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!
©2016 Frontstretch.com
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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!
©2016 Frontstretch.com
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