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!
Apr. 4, 2016
Volume X, Edition XLIII
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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.
What to Watch: MondayNEW POSTING: SALES & BRANDING MANAGER
Frontstretch is seeking a dynamic, creative individual to head our sales team. This self-starter 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.
- Today, the teams are back at work, prepping for this weekend's action at Texas Motor Speedway. If any news breaks, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Kyle Busch Dominates En Route to Martinsville Win
Kyle Busch came ready to play on Sunday at Martinsville. Starting seventh, the defending Sprint Cup Series champion led 352 laps on his way to his first Cup victory at the racetrack and a NASCAR weekend sweep. AJ Allmendinger finished second, followed by Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski. Read more
Brian Vickers Happy to Be Back in Contention After Rough Road
For Brian Vickers, the future after next week is unclear. However, a strong weekend in Martinsville (seventh place) definitely helped his case. Read more
Denny Hamlin Slams Wall Hard in Martinsville
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Denny Hamlin walked out of Martinsville angry with himself after crashing out of Sunday's STP 500. Hamlin wheel-hopped entering turn 1 on lap 222 and smacked the wall, ending his day. What Hamlin labeled a "rookie" mistake left the driver with a 39th-place finish. Read more
Kyle Busch Scores First Martinsville Clock With Truck Series Win
Saturday, Kyle Busch began his weekend by leading the most laps and holding off John Hunter Nemechek to take his first-ever win at Martinsville in any of NASCAR's top three series. Behind Busch and Nemechek were William Byron, Kyle Larson and Timothy Peters. Read more
Parker Kligerman Salvages Third Top 10 After Wild Martinsville Race
Parker Kligerman entered Saturday's Alpha Energy Solutions 250 with the Camping World Truck Series points lead. He did not leave with it, losing the spot to Nemechek but he did have another great top-10 run after starting 25th. The run should ensure the No. 92 team continuing on through at least Kansas while Ricky Benton Racing searches for sponsorship to run a full season. 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 Loses Some of his Advantage
by Phil Allaway
Sunday, Kevin Harvick ran well and was right in the hunt until he fell back through pit road problems that frustrated him. His 17th-place finish, a tumble through the field late was likely considered to be disappointing. Harvick was able to keep the points lead, along with his Chase spot but the regular season standings have closed up a bit. Jimmie Johnson, the only driver with two wins this season charged from 24th to finish ninth after seemingly spending the entire second half of the race battling with Brad Keselowski. Johnson's deficit to Harvick is now just four points and he continues to have more "Chase bonus points" for Round 1. Kyle Busch, by virtue of his Sunday victory, closes to just one regular season point behind Johnson.
Busch's teammate Carl Edwards is down one position, slipping to fourth in the standings but he had a heck of a day to get there. Edwards was lapped early on, the victim of a poor setup and spent much of the race trying to get that lap back. Eventually he did, then charged late with his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to finish sixth.
Joey Logano started from the pole, but had a rather miserable day. He went from the lead to a lap down pretty quickly driving an ill-handling car. Despite damage that necessitated a nose repair (and said repair flipping up and blocking his vision on the final run) Logano was able to move back up to 11th. That performance allowed him to move up to fifth in points. Keselowski finished fifth on Sunday, enough to boost him up three positions to sixth.
Austin Dillon tied his career-best finish with a fourth-place result on Sunday. That raised him into a tie for seventh in points with Kurt Busch. The older of the Busch brothers hung out in the lower half of the top 10 for most of the race, never truly contending and dropped back late to finish 13th.
Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin became the big loser on the week. Hamlin's crash, perhaps his worst ever on-track mistake at Martinsville resulted in a 39th-place finish. As a result, Hamlin dropped five spots to a tie for ninth and a tie with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who had an action-packed run to 14th that featured a spin in the first ten laps that put him a lap down. Earnhardt spent 300 laps of charging to get that back, then made a move towards the front before dropping back.
Martin Truex, Jr. ran well early, then dropped back late in the race to finish 18th, still on the lead lap but disappointed with his overall performance. That kept him 11th in points but Truex lost a lot of ground to the other drivers around him. AJ Allmendinger's second-place finish, meanwhile boosted him up seven spots to 12th. Close behind are Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth while rookies Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott round out the top 16.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 220, 2) Jimmie Johnson -4, 3) Kyle Busch -5, 4) Carl Edwards -14, 5) Joey Logano -24, 6) Brad Keselowski -42, t-7) Austin Dillon -44, t-7) Kurt Busch -44, t-9) Denny Hamlin -48, t-9) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -48, 11) Martin Truex, Jr. -70, 12) AJ Allmendinger -73, 13) Jamie McMurray -77, 14) Matt Kenseth -80, 15) Ryan Blaney -88, 16) Chase Elliott -89.
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's STP 500 was brought to you by the letter "Q," for quick. The average speed of Sunday's race was 80.088 mph. This is the fastest average speed for a Sprint Cup race at Martinsville since 1996 and only the third-ever Cup race at Martinsville to exceed an average speed of 80 mph. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: STP 500
compiled by Phil Allaway
"That was huge – the race off pit road – so I've got to thank my guys. Obviously, they were flawless today on pit road. They did a really good job. We made a few adjustments to the car throughout the day and they kept getting me out not even losing a spot on pit road, so they did a great job for me. That was the key to the race – being able to restart on the bottom like that. We all talked as a group earlier this morning about how we were going to do that and what we were going to do and we all said, 'Okay, with 10 to go, it's pretty much off limits, no more,' and it was 12 to go, so it was pretty much right on the brink there, so sorry Matt (Kenseth), but I can't say enough about my teammates. They helped me a lot at this place as well too – Denny Hamlin, most importantly. He's a huge key to our success here, getting me better over the years and just continuing to evolve our program and of course Matt Kenseth coming on board. He's been a huge influence for me to get better here because he just came over and was really good right off the bat. Real pumped about this one here." - Kyle Busch, race winner
"Man, I hope the fans enjoyed that. Thanks for coming out. It was a lot of fun. I passed Jimmie Johnson like five times at Martinsville. That is pretty fricking cool. With 35 (laps) to go, it doesn't matter; you've got to do what you have to do. We had such a good long run car I was hoping we would stay green for the last 120 laps. I thought we might really have a shot at them. I had to get aggressive. I thought heck, with 12 to go we might have a new clock in the shop. Came up a little bit short, it's pretty cool to be racing Kyle Busch for the win here though. I just can't thank everybody on this team enough. Randall Burnett (crew chief), Ernie Cope (competition director), Brian Burns (engineer), Tony Palmer (engineer) for embracing their new roles and everybody really stepping up together, especially Tad and Jodi Geschickter (team owners) for putting all this effort into this team. I can't thank Kroger, Butterfinger, Coffee-mate, Tad is putting so many stickers on this car it's hard, Scott Products, Kingsford, Clorox, Bush's Beans, Louisiana Hot Sauce, we've got so many sponsors it's pretty cool to be on this race team right now." - AJ Allmendinger, finished second
"It was a lot of fun for me. Martinsville in the past has been my worst racetrack on the schedule. To finish top three here feels like a win. Never did I think I would be on the podium here at Martinsville and now I can kind of maybe see a clock someday in my future. Had a lot of fun today. Chad (Johnston, crew chief) brought a good Target Chevy here. The pit crew did an amazing job. We gained spots every single time we were on pit road. That was really the key to keeping our track position. We were really good on short runs. Middle runs I would kind of fall off a little bit and then there at the end I could kind of maintain. Had a lot of fun. Had a good late restart there on two tires and was able to carve my way back up to third." - Kyle Larson, finished third
"It was good. Paul (Menard) just said we had fast race cars. That's pretty much the end of it. I've got to learn to keep my mouth shut on the radio. That's part of racing. I'm a fiery guy and it was fun today. It's nice to see the front of a short track like that. Sometimes you've just got to grow up a little bit, but it's nice to be running up front. I've got to thank Dow and all the people that support us. It's fun. I'll talk to Paul. Me and Paul are fine. That's the small part of it. What a run. Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) made a great call there. The pit crew did a great recovery. We broke a jack and were able to recover from that. A lot of things happened today. It's Martinsville. Your head's hot. You say things you don't want to mean. Monday morning I'll talk to everybody and we'll figure it back out." - Austin Dillon, finished fourth on his on-track feud with Paul Menard
"It was a good Martinsville race. We had a lot of speed with the Miller Lite Ford on the long runs, but just not quite enough on the short runs to make anything of the Gibbs cars. They were really strong all day. All in all, I'm real proud of my team. We're starting to get this place where we're real consistent and can run up front and that's a good feeling." - Brad Keselowski, finished fifth
"My guys just do not quit. We were 32nd or 33rd and my guys didn't give up. We got the fastest pit stops on pit road regardless of where I'm at in the field. Dave Rogers (crew chief) made great adjustments and by the end we were moving forward, so really cool. We went from basically almost a last-place race car to a top-five car at the end – just a super day for our ARRIS Camry." - Carl Edwards, finished sixth
"I was pleased but not satisfied. We had such a good car. We were so fast. I don't know if the track changed or we had different tire codes today. It just wasn't quite as good as practice all weekend. But I'm really proud of the effort by the guys. We had a great car. It was a top 10. Gosh, we wanted to win this race for Arnie's Army and everybody. This is a bittersweet special track for me. I lost my best friend here. I really wanted to win for him. But it was still a good day. We'll take a seventh and move on. The team is getting stronger every week, really. I'm proud of those guys and it's going to be a strong team." - Brian Vickers, finished seventh
"It was frustrating. You want to go out there and win for sure and we just missed it. The first run was just absolutely awful to go down a lap from the lead, so we fought to get our car better, which we did, and then we overadjusted and came back and overadjusted on the way back, and then we had a pit road penalty. I think we know where we missed it, but we didn't have the tools to fix what we needed to fix. Once the race starts a lot of times your hands are tied because you only have a certain amount of adjustments on your car or even on pit stops that we could fix what our problem was." - Joey Logano, finished 11th
"I feel like it was one of those typical Martinsvilles where there is a lot of body work damage. I look at everyone else's car and there is too. I think our biggest problem was just we generally had some inconsistency with runs. We would have a good one, then a bad one. Luckily, we started the race off with a good 90 laps where we were really making a lot of progress the last half of it. It wasn't taking off as well and then we did some changes later on that helped that. Honestly, I feel like we just had some tire inconsistencies. There was some weird build numbers that we would get when the run was bad and it was making more and more sense because it was happening over and over again. I think that was kind of one of our problems, but in general I thought we had a pretty solid day. We had a lot of contact with a lot of cars, but I feel like that is also fun to watch. It's fun to watch as a fan and it makes it fun inside the car. You take matters into your own hands pretty easily here at Martinsville. It was all-in-all a pretty decent day for the TaxAct car. I was really hoping when we got inside the top 10 we would hold, but that run it just went loose and that set of tires was a little different. It is what it is." - Danica Patrick, finished 16th
"It was a long day for sure. There were some runs where I thought we were OK and other runs where I thought we were way off. At the end, we were just OK and that penalty didn't help us during that last pit stop. That probably cost us a few spots but not a bad day for this Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion. Finishing on the lead lap isn't too bad for coming here for our first time, so it was definitely eventful but there's a lot we can learn from this race and we can apply it later in the year." - Ryan Blaney, finished 19th
"It's my first time ever doing it here, so it's a little embarrassing, but I mean we were the fastest car those last 30 laps and we got back to the top 5 and I was making up a lot of my speed on entry. As the tires wear, the rears get hotter, less grip, you can't brake at the same amount and I just – it was really out of the blue. I didn't ever have a hint of it up until that moment, so a bit of a rookie move on my part – been around here too much to do something like that, but learning for the fall and I'm really encouraged about how good our car came up through the pack and I really thought we had a car that could win." - Denny Hamlin, finished 39th (crashed out)
"We had a part failure with a part that typically doesn't break, so I'm not sure. Doug (Yates) will go back and investigate it and I'm sure they'll figure something out so it won't ever happen again. It was a disappointing end to our day. We had an OK STP Ford Fusion. We were making it better and were probably a 15th-place car. Walking out of the track now, I certainly would have taken a 15th-place finish because this is gonna put us in a pretty big hole." - Aric Almirola, finished 40th (blown engine)
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud – Kyle Busch Returns to Championship Form, Conquers Martinsville
by Mike Neff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the 2016 STP 500
by Amy Henderson
Martinsville Proves to Be a Race Many Needed
Thinkin' Out Loud – Kyle Busch Returns to Championship Form, Conquers Martinsville
by Mike Neff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the 2016 STP 500
by Amy Henderson
Martinsville Proves to Be a Race Many Needed
by Aaron Bearden
Up To Speed: Martinsville Win Part of Bigger Picture for Kyle Busch
by Summer Bedgood
Pace Laps: Sprint Cup Underdogs Excelling, Truck Series Madness and Formula 1 Shockers
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Amy Henderson
by Amy Henderson
by Zach Catanzareti
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The 1998 Texas 500 was a bit of a wreckfest, similar to the inaugural event a year earlier. Among other incidents, Greg Sacks' career nearly came to end with a nasty crash in turn 1. But he wasn't the only Cup Series driver to wind up hurt that weekend. What happened to force Mike Skinner to miss the next three races later on in the event?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: In the 2004 Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville, Jeff Gordon led a race-high 180 laps from the pole. He was running second just after halfway when the unforeseen occurred. What happened that ultimately cost him the victory?
A: Shortly after halfway, a small piece of concrete from the racetrack came up in turn 3 and hit Gordon's nose. NASCAR didn't notice at the time, but did after a caution flew for a spin by Michael Waltrip in turn 4. Inspection showed a small chunk missing from the concrete and replays showed Gordon hitting that chunk and messing up his front air dam. Gordon's No. 24 team wanted to fix the car but was forced to wait out a red flag for track repairs before his crew could begin. The damage and resulting fix dropped Gordon to the back of the lead lap; he eventually charged back up to finish sixth.
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COMING TOMORROW
-----------------------------COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have breaking news from Monday, Tom Bowles gives you a stats breakdown of Martinsville in Numbers Game and S.D. Grady returns with Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View.
On Frontstretch.com:
Tom Bowles takes a look at team orders in 2016 and whether NASCAR can keep things "every man for himself."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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