The Frontstretch Newsletter: Tony Stewart Returns To NASCAR This Weekend

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!

Apr. 21, 2016

Volume X, Edition LVI

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What to Watch: Thursday

- Today is pull-in day at Richmond International Raceway.  No on-track activity is scheduled and the big news of the day has already broken (see below).  However, if anything else of note breaks, we will have it for you at Frontstretch.

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Thursday's TV Schedule can be found here.

Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff

Tony Stewart to Return at Richmond

 

Stewart-Haas Racing announced Thursday morning that Tony Stewart will return to the seat of the No. 14 Chevrolet this weekend at Richmond.  It will be his first NASCAR race of any kind since suffering injuries in a sand rail crash out in California this January.  At Talladega, Stewart will only start the Sprint Cup race before handing over to Ty Dillon; otherwise, the three-time Cup champ will race full-time for the remainder of the 2016 Cup season.  Read more

Matt Tifft Signs with Red Horse Racing

On Wednesday, Red Horse Racing announced that Matt Tifft has been signed to drive the No. 11 Toyota Tundra for the next three Camping World Truck Series events.  He will replace Ben Kennedy, who left the team Friday.  Read more

Carl Edwards Warned Following Bristol Victory

Wednesday, NASCAR sent out its weekly Penalty Report.  The biggest consequences of the week go to the No. 3 team in the XFINITY Series.  Ty Dillon's car was found to have an unapproved spoiler extension.  That's a P3 penalty and crew chief Nick Harrison will sit out Richmond this weekend.  Meanwhile, a number of teams including the race-winning team of Carl Edwards were warned due to multiple failed pre-race or pre-qualifying inspections.  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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Today's Featured Commentary

Potts on Kyle Busch and Indianapolis

Potts' Shots

by John Potts

I told you things start getting a little crazy around Indianapolis as we get closer to the month of May, and then closer to Memorial Day.

Turns out that the same people who put a giant-sized representation of the Lombardi Trophy on the Marriott hotel downtown the year the Super Bowl was here, and then last year put the whole bracket for the NCAA's big dance on the same building, decided they needed to do something for the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race -- particularly with the 100th running coming up this year. 

Within the last week, the accompanying photograph, an artist's conception, showed up in The Indianapolis Star and work began on the project in the last couple of days.

​Credit: The Indianapolis Star

Personally, I love this stuff, and I hope this town never changes. I'm really sorry that, at this stage of my life and in my condition, I can't take part in all the stuff that's going on. However, I have developed a plan for the race itself.

I have determined that Little Blue, my electric handicapped scooter (or cart, if you prefer) can make it from our place of residence to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a full charge. I think I proved that this week with a trip to the VA Hospital and back.

At the track, I can recharge it while working in the Media Center, so I believe we're set for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the 500, maybe even qualifying days and Carburetion Day. Then, of course, there's the SVRA vintage event in June and the Brickyard.

We'll be covering for Frontstretch, and we'll also attempt to provide updates from the Media Center on Facebook. These turned out to be pretty popular last year as we watched Juan Pablo Montoya come from the rear of the pack. 
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Now, since I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on the IndyCar scene from right here in the Racing Capitol of the World, I guess it's time to pass on some news and maybe some opinions on what's happening on that scene.

I had no more than finished last week's column when the announcement came from IMS that the Captain himself, Roger Penske, will be the driver of the pace car for the 100th running of the Indy 500. Who else has a better 500 history? Penske's got 16 wins as an owner and there's a real possibility that he'll get his 17th this year.

This drive is only for the original start, of course. Penske will head back to the pit box to handle communications with Helio Castroneves as soon as he exits that high-powered Camaro.

Presumably, Helio can find his own way around the place for a couple of laps. He's only won the race three times, and entering this year has a real chance to join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Sr., and Rick Mears with four wins.

There's LOTS of controversy about last Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, with Simon Pagenaud obviously cutting a corner by crossing the double yellow line early to blend in with traffic on his last pit stop. This infraction was documented by several TV replays, and a lot of folks figured that he probably wouldn't have been able to blend in ahead of Scott Dixon if he hadn't done so.

Dixon was not happy, as you might expect, and neither was his car owner, Chip Ganassi. Ganassi went so far as to say he liked the NASCAR system better, where it was "black or white." He said the camera actually makes the decision in NASCAR.

Speaking of cameras, a friend of mine posted the accompanying photo on Facebook which he says is from the field's first set of pit stops.

​Credit: Paul Powell

This photo is Scott Dixon leaving the pits, cutting the same corner cut later in the race by Pagenaud.
Question: Why hasn't there been any discussion about this incident? Because it came too early? Or did the three stewards ruling on the Pagenaud incident know about it and consider it a wash?

I would have thought they would have been talking about this one during the race. Oh well. Here's IndyCar's official explanation on the Pagenaud move:

 

Simon Pagenaud's actions during the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach were deemed an infraction per Rule 7.10.1.1. "Lane Usage" of the INDYCAR Penalty Guidelines: Failing to follow designated procedures entering or exiting the pit area, including the proper use of the acceleration and deceleration lanes. The penalty for this infraction ranges from a warning (minimum), putting the driver to the back of the field (mid) and drive-through or stop and go/hold (maximum). INDYCAR race stewards determined his actions were not severe enough to warrant a harsher penalty than the warning that was issued.

Switching subjects as I leave, do you think NASCAR is having second thoughts about their new policy regarding lug nuts?

John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com.

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The Critic's Annex: BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach

by Phil Allaway

Welcome back, race fans.  Last weekend was a really busy racing schedule. There were NASCAR races in Bristol (remember, the PittLife 125 airs tonight at 1 a.m.); Formula One ran in Shanghai; the World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series held events at Silverstone; and INDYCAR competed at Long Beach.

Tied in with INDYCAR was round No. 3 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach. It was the first sprint race of the season and thus the first true test of IMSA's TV changes for 2016.

Unlike last year, the race did air live on TV.  Last year, the race aired on tape delay at 4 p.m. on FOX Sports 1, the day after it was held.  This timing would have overlapped with the end of the Sprint Cup race from Bristol, but it rained in Bristol.  As a result, it aired during Bristol's rain delay.  This year, the race aired live, but on FOX Sports 2.  We've talked about their carriage issues here multiple times in the past.  As of February of last year, the channel was in 45 million homes, an 18 percent increase over the FOX Sports 2 launch in 2013 (the same day as FOX Sports 1's launch).  It still has much better reach than beIN Sport (as of 2015, it was in 16 million homes).  It's really hard to draw an audience there knowing that anyone with Comcast XFINITY cable is out of luck.

Greg Creamer and Calvin Fish continue with their commentary work on this series. However, you never see them on the broadcast aside from their pictures shown at the beginning of the telecast.  There's no cut to them in their little studio at all.  You just hear them, and that's it.  Interesting choice.

Justin Bell and Brian Till worked the pits during the race and introduced some of the main stories.  Or, at least Till tried to.  He was having some serious technical issues.  He spoke about fuel mileage for the Prototype and Prototype Challenge entries, then (I guess) tried to describe something having to do with the steering wheel, but I couldn't tell you what that was.

At the end of the race, the coverage was ok.  They were pretty quick in stating that the Antonio Garcia crash was not due to contact from behind, but due to some kind of failure.  A clip of the car in the pits a couple of minutes later proved it.  Garcia apparently brushed the wall at some point and broke something in the left-rear suspension.  That caused the incident.  However, we don't know when that happened even though they had an in-car camera in the No. 3.  FOX could have gone back through Garcia's in-car camera back in Charlotte and come up with a point in which he hit the wall and damaged his left rear.  I'm not sure when it happened, but it did.

The John Edwards crash occurred while FOX Sports 1 was showing replays of Garcia's crash.  Having a wheel come off like that is not good, simple as that.  We could see that sometime this year in NASCAR as well.  Of course, if it happens, someone's getting a P3 penalty as a result.  Just yesterday, Tony Stewart went off on a rant about the current lug nut rule.  Here, there was no real investigation of what caused the wheel to come off.  We just saw replays that showed the wheel leaving the car and Edwards smashing into the tires.

Finally, we have the crash involving Frederic Makowiecki and Tommy Milner with a shade more than two minutes to go.  That resulted in some diverging commentary.  IMSA Radio commentary basically had it as completely intentional ("[Makowiecki] used [Milner] as a brake.").  The TV broadcast didn't go quite that far, just saying that the officials were going to have to make a call.  They did, although it didn't matter.

 

Post-race coverage was somewhat typical for IMSA broadcasts.  We got interviews with the class winners and a look at the unofficial results before the broadcast left the air.  We needed a little bit more here.  Either Justin Bell or Brian Till should have tracked down someone from the Porsche North America team or Makowiecki himself and pressed them on the controversies of the day.

 

As far as I know, Makowiecki has still not publicly commented on the incident.  He tweeted after the race Saturday, but only to say "Not our race in Long Beach, but we had the potential to win #BUBBAGP.  Now, focus on Laguna Seca."  There are no official quotes from Makowiecki released by IMSA as well.  They do have quotes from teammate Nick Tandy, who claimed the win as a result of the crash.  He stated that he felt bad when Makowiecki got stuck and couldn't continue on and referred to the crash as "unfortunate."

Milner, who held on to finish second in GT-Le Mans, did speak after the race.  Naturally, he was ticked.

 

"I just got wrecked basically," Milner told IMSA after the race.  "Two Porsches running nose to tail...it is pretty clear what happened there."

 

I can't technically make the argument that he "got away with it" since IMSA actually did issue a penalty here.  However, it was a pointless one because 1) There was barely a minute remaining in the race when it was issued and 2) Makowiecki basically broke his car when he hit Milner, thus penalizing himself.

 

My main takeaway from the broadcast is that it seemed incomplete.  It focused on a couple of major stories and if something didn't really fit into that narrative, it got glossed over.  Not having more people on the ground in Long Beach hurt the broadcast here.  The same thing occurred with technical issues.  Remember how I stated that Till's microphone was all screwy before the race; it never stopped screwing up throughout the broadcast.  It's like there's no way Till can swap out a bad microphone.  For all I know, he's having to cart his microphone and all that out to the races himself in his carry-on instead of the production dudes taking care of it.  For instance, when ESPN still aired NASCAR races, pit reporters weren't responsible for transporting their fire suits to venues on their own.  The production would take care of that for them.

 

I was never a fan of IMSA's plans for 2016 race broadcasts.  I do like the idea of having them all air live on TV, but the quality just isn't as good in comparison to prior years.  Creamer and Fish are knowledgeable and do a good job with what they're given, but having most of the production done from Charlotte is likely going to hurt the series' presentation going forward.

 

I hope you liked this week's look at the BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach.  Tomorrow, we'll have a special edition of the Annex where I take a look at Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.  As you can see from John Potts' column above, the painted lines will play a role here.  Until then, enjoy this weekend's action from Richmond (where a certain very skilled racer makes his return from injury), Birmingham, and Monza.

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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Frontstretch Line of the Week
 
From The 10: Riding the High Lane at Bristol Motor Speedway

"Given the way Edwards is running so far this season, Coach Gibbs may want to look into a fitness sponsor for those backflips."  - Aaron Bearden on Carl Edwards' season

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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:

Happiness Is... NASCAR Silliness

by P. Huston Ladner

2-Headed Monster: Should Fans Be Allowed Hot Passes?

by Aaron Bearden and Sean Fesko

Beyond the Cockpit: Erik Jones Excelling in Full-Time XFINITY Ride

as told to Beth Lunkenheimer

Eyes on XFINITY: Are Matt Tifft and Cole Custer the Latest Names Made Here?

by Bryan Gable

Nitro Shots: QUADruple the Fun

by Toni Montgomery

 

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: The 1989 Pontiac Excitement 400 was the first spring race held on the new three-quarters mile Richmond International Raceway.  However, it also made history for another reason.  What was it?

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

Wednesday's Answer:

Q:  The final race on the original .542-mile Richmond Fairgrounds Speedway was the 1988 Pontiac Excitement 400.  That race was won by Neil Bonnett but there was some controversy afterwards.  Why?

A: The main gripe after the race was that there was a scoring screw-up and that Neil Bonnett was really on the tail end of the lead lap.  A similar error is said to have occurred during the 1990 First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro that resulted in Brett Bodine's one and only Winston Cup victory.  King Racing protested the results on behalf of Ricky Rudd, who finished second.  NASCAR denied the protest.
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COMING TOMORROW

In The Frontstretch Newsletter:

We'll have some news from today while we preview Sunday's Toyota Owners 400, scheduled to be run in the daytime.

On Frontstretch.com:

Zach Catanzareti answers Four Burning Questions heading into this weekend's action in Richmond.
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