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!
May 23, 2016
Volume X, Edition LXXVIII
- After last weekend's format overload, the teams will be back at the shop today preparing for Coca-Cola 600 weekend. A reminder for fans that qualifying for that event takes place Thursday night, not Friday like most other Sunday race events. If anything breaks, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Joey Logano Wins Perplexing All-Star Race
Saturday night brought a lot of confusion to the table as the format of NASCAR's Sprint All-Star Race confounded many. Confusion reigned as a pit stop sequence toward the end of the first segment trapped several drivers a lap off the pace. In the end, Joey Logano walked out of Charlotte Motor Speedway capturing the $1,000,000 grand prize after passing Kyle Larson with just a few laps to go in the 13-lap final segment for the win. The victory was Logano's first in one of the sport's more prestigious events of the season. Read more
Matt Crafton is the First Repeat Winner of 2016
The first half of Saturday's rain-delayed North Carolina Education Lottery 200 was quite competitive. However, once Matt Crafton got out front, he quickly made the second half of the race anti-climatic as he pulled away to take his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win of the season. Read more
James Hinchcliffe Claims Pole in Dramatic Indy 500 Qualifying
On Sunday, James Hinchcliffe turned in a four-lap average of 230.760 mph to take the overall pole position for the Indianapolis 500. Josef Newgarden will start in the middle of Row No. 1 while Ryan Hunter-Reay will start third. Hinchcliffe won the pole for the 100th edition of the race just one year after a life-threatening injury at the track. 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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Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race was brought to you by the letter "C," for Confusion. The rule structure for the race, suggested by Brad Keselowski, was designed to make the race more exciting. However, the execution was not great, leading to mass confusion on the part of drivers, officials and broadcasters. - Phil Allaway
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Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race was brought to you by the letter "C," for Confusion. The rule structure for the race, suggested by Brad Keselowski, was designed to make the race more exciting. However, the execution was not great, leading to mass confusion on the part of drivers, officials and broadcasters. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: Sprint All-Star Race
compiled by Phil Allaway
"I tell you, (Kyle) Larson is a hard racer. I watched him in the Showdown earlier today and I knew what I was up against. I knew he was gonna run hard. I'm a hard racer, I knew it was gonna be a fun battle for sure. I got underneath him once and I got to the outside of him once, we went up high and I got underneath him and I got loose underneath him. I knew I had position on him going into the corner and had to keep him on my quarterpanel and not let him get to my door, so I drove in there hard. He was gonna drive in there hard to keep on my door and I was gonna drive in there hard to keep him at my quarter. What a crazy battle for a million dollars at the end. This is the All-Star Race. It's special just to be in the race. Forget winning it, it's just special. It's neat to be in Victory Lane." - Joey Logano, race winner
"A decent night, but not the great night we wanted with the Miller Lite Ford ending up second. I'm pretty happy for my teammate Joey Logano. He kind of did exactly what you would expect out of an All-Star Race format and made a pretty incredible pass to win the race. I'm happy for Team Penske as a whole, but, of course, I wish it was me in Victory Lane... there was a next-to-last lap pass for the lead. There were several passes for the lead. The last four races, there hasn't been a pass for the lead in the last 20 or 30 laps. I think our fans deserve a better format than that and they got that today. I don't know how you can get much more compelling racing than what we saw today, so they need to get unconfused and enjoy the racing." - Brad Keselowski, finished second
"Yeah, I didn't know what way up and what way was right and left. Lap-down cars were pitting with lead-lap cars and wave-by cars were up front and in the middle. NASCAR did a good job of sorting the lineups out. Everybody was where they were supposed to be when we went back to green so you can't complain. They were doing it unlike any other way they were doing it before. I'm sure they ran into some scenarios they weren't really anticipating. That really was probably part of it; guys getting caught a lap down, the 20 not pitting within the first 50 laps. They weren't anticipating all that. As far as our Mountain Dew and Nationwide Chevy, we got it better. A lot of the setup is new and some stuff we're trying to find some speed with. We still have some gains to make. We didn't win the race but we outran a lot of guys who had been outrunning us the last few weeks. We didn't get to practice so we worked really hard during the race changing a lot of stuff, and I hope Greg (Ives, crew chief) learned a lot. Next weekend, we'll actually get to practice some and make some changes to see if we can't get our car better for the 600. I'd love to win that race before I retire." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished third
"I put my guys in a box by missing pit road. I tried to come to pit road with the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 42 (Kyle Larson) and it just didn't look right to me so I thought, I'm going to go by and then I put us in that box where my pit crew had to do a really fast pit stop and one lug nut just wasn't pulled all the way up. Then as it stood we got back up to fourth position and if we would have had a caution there at the end, I think we had a shot at it. We were the top-finishing Toyota and I had forgotten about the video game cover so the top-finishing Toyota gets the cover of NASCAR Heat Evolution, which is pretty cool. We got something out of the night and really I had fun on those restarts. That was wild. I don't know what it looked like on television." - Carl Edwards, finished fourth
"I really don't know. I was just very, very confused, I felt like, for the majority of the race. We had a really good car until we got our damage there. We were trying to play the pit road game. You want to spend the least amount of time you can on pit road and that's what everybody was doing. I was planning on pitting on that first lap after we got back going and it was just chaotic and if it was my fault and I didn't do a good enough job getting out of the way, I'll take the blame. I was just trying to get on pit road." - Chase Elliott, finished sixth
"I think when you start to set rules on you can pit at this time, but you have to do it before this or that and then the caution comes that you don't expect like we saw then it puts cars laps down. I don't know. How do you keep up at home, to be honest with you? I knew when it took about 10 minutes to explain the rules in the driver's meeting that it was going to be a complicated night. All this is to give the fans a great finish and we're trying to fabricate something for them to look at this All-Star race and say that it's exciting. You want to create a last-lap pass every race you can, but you also don't want to get too goofy trying to create it." - Denny Hamlin, finished ninth
"I'm super disappointed. I hate that I keep letting my team down. They did everything right. They worked their tails off after I got all the damage in the Showdown. We had a really, really good Target Chevy and were able to get to the front pretty quick there to be in the best position possible there for the last restart. I got clear right away and thought I could cruise. I was getting looser throughout the race. We were making adjustments but weren't making big enough ones. I just got loose and Joey (Logano) caught me. He did a really good job side-drafting me. I tried to hang on his quarterpanel like I did with Chase (Elliott) earlier today. I got really loose as soon as I got in the corner. We were going so fast that I couldn't correct it and ended up drilling the wall. I'm really disappointed but congrats to Logano and their team. Hats off to my guys. They've worked their tails off. We've had fast cars the last few weeks where we had struggled with that recently. I'm having fun but this will be hard to get over." - Kyle Larson, finished 16th
"I got more than bumped from behind, I got rolled over. I saw them checking up and wrecking in front of me and I slowed up just a little bit and somebody just drove right over top of me wide open. I don't think they'd seen the wreck yet. I hope everybody understands this race more than I did from the cockpit because ever since the first car pitted in that first segment, I have no idea what was going on, none." - Matt Kenseth, finished 18th (Crashed out)
"I got in a wreck. I mean, the No. 24 (Chase Elliott) wrecked everybody and put everybody behind him in jeopardy and we got caught on the outside of it. I shouldn't have been back there in the first place. We couldn't even get clarification after the pit stop as to where we were even supposed to be and then we restarted and find out we're a lap down and it's like, how did that happen? How did that happen? It's the dumbest damn thing I've ever been a part of. I'm as baffled as everybody. I don't know how in the hell we were scored a lap down after they stopped the 20 car (Matt Kenseth) and the pit everybody together a lap down then lead lap and then lap down. It's the most screwed up All-Star race I've ever been a part of. I'm glad it's my last one. I'm all right. I'm just madder than hell because I don't understand how the hell they've officiated this from start to finish." - Tony Stewart, finished 20th (Crashed out)
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.~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud – Joey Logano Makes Late-Race Pass to Claim First All-Star Victory
by Mike Neff
The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2016 Sprint All-Star Race
by Amy Henderson
James Hinchcliffe's Indy 500 Pole Stands Among the Greatest Moments in IMS History
Thinkin' Out Loud – Joey Logano Makes Late-Race Pass to Claim First All-Star Victory
by Mike Neff
The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2016 Sprint All-Star Race
by Amy Henderson
James Hinchcliffe's Indy 500 Pole Stands Among the Greatest Moments in IMS History
by Aaron Bearden
by Aaron Bearden
Up To Speed: Brad Keselowski Stands By Complicated All-Star Format
by Summer Bedgood
Pace Laps: Tony Stewart's All-Star Race Ends in Flames, Kaulig Racing Running Strong and Doug Coby Searching for Third Straight Whelen Modified Tour Title
by the Frontstretch Staff
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
by Summer Bedgood
Pace Laps: Tony Stewart's All-Star Race Ends in Flames, Kaulig Racing Running Strong and Doug Coby Searching for Third Straight Whelen Modified Tour Title
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Amy Henderson
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Dale Earnhardt won the 1993 Coca-Cola 600 for his fourth win at Charlotte. However, he had to come back from two laps down to do it. Why?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: Last year's month of May at Indianapolis was plagued by a number of blowover crashes. What rule change did INDYCAR make during the month in an attempt to prevent more incidents from happening?
A: At the time, INDYCAR believed that speeds were the problem. As a result, they took away the extra boost added to the engines for qualifying.
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COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
-----------------------------COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have breaking news from Monday, Tom Bowles gives you a stats breakdown of the Sprint All-Star Race in Numbers Game and S.D. Grady returns with Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View.
On Frontstretch.com:
Danny Peters returns with Five Points to Ponder following Saturday night's All-Star Race in Charlotte.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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