Monday, May 30, 2016

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Martin Truex, Jr. Destroys Field, Wins Coca-Cola 600

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 30, 2016
Volume X, Edition LXXXIII

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What to Watch: Monday

- Happy Memorial Day! Today, the race teams are back at work preparing for this weekend's action.  The Sprint Cup, ARCA and XFINITY series will be at Pocono this weekend while INDYCAR and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's Prototype, Prototype Challenge and GT-Daytona classes will be in Detroit.

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

Martin Truex, Jr. Turns Domination into Special Coke 600 Victory

Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 quickly turned into the Martin Truex, Jr. show. The Furniture Row Racing driver led 392 of 400 laps to take one of the most dominant victories in recent history.  Kevin Harvick finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski.  Read more

Rookie Alexander Rossi Rides Fumes to Improbable 100th Indy 500 Victory

Bryan Herta Autosport's Alexander Rossi was able to stretch his last tank of fuel for 36 laps to take a surprise victory in Sunday's Indianapolis 500.  Carlos Munoz was second, followed by Josef Newgarden.  Chip Ganassi teammates Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball rounded out the top-5 finishers.  Read more

Carlos Muñoz Left Empty After Second Indy 500 Runner-Up Finish

Had Alexander Rossi's fuel not held out, it could have been Andretti Autosport's Carlos Munoz in Victory Lane at Indianapolis.  Instead, he had to settle for his second career runner-up finish at the Brickyard.  Read more

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Townsend Bell Lose Indy 500 Bids For Andretti in Pit Road Tangle

Before Munoz's rise, it seemed that Andretti Autosport had two other dogs in the Indy 500 fight with Ryan Hunter-Reay and Townsend Bell.  However, Bell collided with Team Penske's Helio Castroneves leaving his pit stall on lap 118.  The contact put Bell into Hunter-Reay and put both drivers into the pit wall, ending any chance for competitive finishes for either driver.  Read more

Early Crash Ends Juan Pablo Montoya's Repeat Bid in Indy 500

Team Penske's Juan Pablo Montoya was reasonably competitive early on in Sunday's Indianapolis 500, but he lost control in turn 2 on lap 64 and spun into the wall nose first.  Montoya was OK, but he was done for the day.  Read more

Denny Hamlin Pounces to XFINITY Victory in Charlotte

Denny Hamlin took advantage of two fresh tires on a late caution in order to overcome Kyle Larson on a restart to win his sponsor's race, the Hisense 4K TV 300.  Austin Dillon finished second, followed by Joey Logano, Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier.  Read more

2 Drivers Flown to Trauma Center Following Lime Rock Warmup Crash

On Saturday, a serious crash at Lime Rock Park led to Andrew Palmer and Jorge de la Torre being airlifted to Hartford Hospital.  Bentley Motorsport announced that Palmer suffered a head injury in the crash, while de la Torre has multiple fractures.  Read more

Alvaro Parente Earns Lime Rock GT Sweep

On Saturday, with the specter of the Palmer-de la Torre crash on everyone's minds, Alvaro Parente spent the whole race holding off Patrick Long to complete the weekend sweep in the Pirelli World Challenge series.  Martin Fuentes won in GTA, while Alec Udell won the GT Cup class.  Read more

Friday Pirelli World Challenge Lime Rock Recap

On Friday, Alvaro Parente drove off from the pole and claimed his first victory of the weekend.  Andrew Palmer was right on him until he was nerfed off the road by Patrick Long, leading to a penalty for Long.  Michael Schein won GTA, while Sloan Urry won GT Cup while driving with a broken wrist.  Read more

Jade Buford Claims GTS Victory After Late Crash

Saturday's second GTS race at Lime Rock was another duel between Lawson Aschenbach and Brett Sandberg.  However, this race came down to contact between the two racers.  That allowed Jade Buford to sneak through to take his third win of the year.  Read more

Aschenbach Wins Lime Rock GTS Race No. 1, Wittmer wins TC

On Friday, Lawson Aschenbach held off Brett Sandberg to take victory in Race No. 1 for Pirelli World Challenge's GTS class.  Nick Wittmer won the TC race overall.  Read more

The Little 500 Sets Multiple Firsts as Kody Swanson Wins

On Saturday night, Kody Swanson took the lead when Caleb Armstrong crashed on lap 472 and held on to take victory in the Little 500 for USAC Midgets at Anderson Speedway.  Dave Steele was second, followed by Jerry Coons, Jr.  Read more

Dean Stoneman Takes Indy Lights Win at Indianapolis

On Friday, history was made in the Freedom 100 for Indy Lights as Dean Stoneman claimed the victory by the smallest margin in the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, .0024 seconds, over Ed Jones.  Read more

O'Ward Keeps Grist at Bay for Freedom 90 Victory

In Pro Mazda, Pato O'Ward was unbeatable at Lucas Oil Raceway. He went flag-to-flag to win the Pro Mazda Series Freedom 90 at the little short track outside Indianapolis.  Garrett Grist ran second, having chased O'Ward for the entire race but unable to push past him.  Read more

Anthony Martin Triumphs in Freedom 75

On Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Anthony Martin claimed victory in the Freedom 75 for USF2000 cars on the .686-mile short track.  Parker Thompson was second, followed by Victor Franzoni.  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: Harvick Pads Lead After Runner-Up Finish In Charlotte
by Phil Allaway

Kevin Harvick had a great night Sunday in Charlotte, finishing second.  That allowed him to expand his points lead; it's now 36 over new second-place man Kurt Busch.  Jimmie Johnson is up two places to third in points after finishing third on Sunday.  Kyle Busch struggled for part of Sunday night, but eventually recovered to get into the top 10.  However, a blown tire in the last ten laps and hard contact with the wall ended his night and resulted in a 33rd-place finish.  That dropped Kyle down to fourth in points.

Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski are now tied for fifth in the standings.  Edwards finished 18th after drawing two consecutive pit road speeding penalties under green while Keselowski finished fifth, best of the Fords.  Martin Truex, Jr.'s dominant win moved him up two places to seventh in the standings, displacing Chase Elliott back to eighth.  Elliott had a good night and finished eighth, on the lead lap.

Joey Logano is down one place to ninth in points despite coming back from being off sequence with pit stops to finish ninth.  Matt Kenseth, behind him gained two places and entered the top 10 following a relatively quiet seventh-place finish.  Right behind Kenseth is teammate Denny Hamlin, who also gained two spots to come out of Charlotte in 11th.  Austin Dillon finished 12th, but lost two places in the standings.  He's only three points out of tenth.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. got burned by a caution coming out while he was making a green-flag pit stop.  While he stayed on the lead lap thanks to a wave-around, Earnhardt's night was compromised.  He finished 14th and lost two places in the standings.  Jamie McMurray remains 14th, while Ryan Blaney and Ryan Newman are now tied for the final Chase spot.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 457, 2) Kurt Busch -36, 3) Jimmie Johnson -48, 4) Kyle Busch -52, t-5) Carl Edwards -53, t-5) Brad Keselowski -53, 7) Martin Truex, Jr. -76, 8) Chase Elliott -83, 9) Joey Logano -84, 10) Matt Kenseth -110, 11) Denny Hamlin -112, 12) Austin Dillon -113, 13) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -116, 14) Jamie McMurray -139, t-15) Ryan Blaney -148, t-15) Ryan Newman -148.

Race Winners: Denny Hamlin (Daytona), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta, Auto Club), Brad Keselowski (Las Vegas, Talladega), Kevin Harvick (Phoenix), Kyle Busch (Martinsville, Texas, Kansas), Carl Edwards (Bristol, Richmond), Matt Kenseth (Dover), Martin Truex, Jr. (Charlotte)
 
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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Letter of the Race: Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 was brought to you by the letter "B," for Butt-Kicking.  Martin Truex, Jr. led all but eight laps in Sunday night's race.  It is the most dominant victory that any driver has had at Charlotte Motor Speedway since Ernie Irvan won the 1993 Mello Yello 500 while leading 328 of 334 laps.  Also like Sunday's race, Irvan's victory was the fastest Cup race ever run at CMS to that point. - Phil Allaway

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Special Potts' Shots Response
by John Potts

Editor's Note: John's full column is to come later this week.

Thanks for the e-mails and other messages I received about last week's column. I didn't think so many people would enjoy reading about my travails with traffic and such trying to get home from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on my electric handicapped cart.

The best comment came from old friend Steve Stubbs, who said I was taking that cart into places Richie Bisig (one of the three best Figure 8 drivers either of us has seen) wouldn't take a 1952 Ford with a 1954 Mercury bumper and a steel plate on the driver's door.

Of course, Stubbs had to top that. On Sunday, he e-mailed and noted that they only had 33 cars to qualify for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and said, "Whatever you do, if they lose a car in practice, don't go putting that cart in the inspection line."

He also reminded me that my range was about 8 miles, and 2.5 miles times 4 laps is 10 miles.

I replied that even with a full charge, top speed was about five miles an hour, and they'd probably get pretty impatient when it took an hour and a half to make it to the white flag.

I'd like to also toss a kudo or two to Aaron Bearden, a new writer with Frontstretch who was in the next seat at IMS on Saturday. The stories he turned in proved that this guy gets it, and I'm looking forward to more of his writing.

Of the 33 cars entered, 32 took qualifying times, the only exception being Alex Tagliani. That puts him 33rd for the start, of course. I'm not sure if anybody else has ever been on the pole and in the last spot, but it's pretty notable. Alex was on the pole in 2011, if I remember correctly.

Another comment or two about Hinchcliff's comeback….

He beat every projection the doctors made about him, from getting up and walking to getting back in a race car.

In a TV interview this week, Tony Kanaan mentioned that he had been working out with Hinchcliffe, and said, "He's stronger than before he was hurt. I had to ask him what kind of blood they gave him."
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Quotes to Remember: Coca-Cola 600
compiled by Phil Allaway

"It feels awesome. Coca-Cola 600, man, this is one everybody wants to win. I feel like we had this thing won last year when we gave it up and just... I don't know. There are so many emotions, I had to unplug my radio and just ride around and think for a few minutes, because I didn't even know what I was going to say or what I was going to do. Just we've been through a lot as a group. I've been through a lot personally. I've been through a lot with Sherry (Pollex, girlfriend) and just it's fun to have her here and have her celebrate and it's just – happy for my guys, happy for Barney (Visser, team owner), Toyota, everybody that helps us do this. I mean, I've got the best team in the world and we've got these Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas flying, man. It's just fun to drive them and I honestly thought we could have been better tonight and just kept digging and just kept making small adjustments and working on it and I don't know, man. Here we are, so I was – it was 50 to go and then it was 40 to go and then 30 to go and I just kept praying for no cautions and driving away." - Martin Truex, Jr., race winner

"Yeah, we struggled tonight.  Our Jimmy John's Chevrolet was not very good in the first, I would say 450 miles of this particular race.  Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and everybody on our team did a great job to do whatever they did with the air pressure and just told me it was a really big adjustment.  The last couple of runs, I got tight.  The one run when we had the first air pressure adjustment we were really good.  The last two runs I was a little bit tighter once I got up behind those guys, right behind them, I just couldn't go anywhere.  Just really proud of the effort to turn the car around.  We had a 10th-place car and they turned it into a car capable of racing for the win.  That is pretty awesome." - Kevin Harvick, finished second

"It's nice when you have a car like that.  I'm so proud of the effort we put in tonight.  This is the best car I've had in Charlotte for a long time.  It just shows you how good that No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) was and the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) got a little bit better than us at the end.  I thought we had a chance at them a few times, a couple of times on the long run we would get close. A couple times on the restarts we would get close, but all-in-all a very strong performance for this Lowe's Chevrolet.  Very proud of the teamwork and the support that we have from all the employees at Lowe's.  Just came up a little short today." - Jimmie Johnson, finished third

"On the long green-flag runs, it seemed like we would be able to move up a little bit. On short runs we would fall back, but we definitely didn't have anything for those guys.  The 78 and the 4 were just really fast and Martin Truex deserves this finish.  He had a good run. It was a battle, but we kept good track position all day – had one bad restart where I lost some spots, but other than that fourth is about par for us today. The pit crew did an amazing job all day keeping us up front and our car was pretty good at the end. That's about what we had, nothing else." - Denny Hamlin, finished fourth

"It's a long 600 miles and to come home fifth is decent.  It's not what we want, but we needed a little bit more to be able to run with those guys." - Brad Keselowski, finished fifth

"We got a pit road penalty.  You're trying to make pit stops so fast and you're gonna push everything to the edge.  I guess we jumped off the wall a little bit too soon.  I haven't seen it, but unfortunately, that kind of made us make a green-flag pit stop, which is really hard to overcome.  Overall, we were able to get our lap back by racing up there, which was kind of cool.  We didn't have to take a lucky dog or any of that.  We actually raced back to the lead lap, but we lost the balance a little bit on the last run and I couldn't make much time once we got going." - Joey Logano, finished ninth

"That's all the speed we had.  It was a hard-fought battle and I think we're gaining on it. It's frustrating that we didn't get up to the top 5, but at times we could run top-5 lap times.  It's a huge amount of progress from where we've been, but we clearly have a little ways to go.  Everybody is working hard and hopefully we'll get there soon." - Greg Biffle, finished 11th

"It was a long night, man, a really, really long night. Nothing could go right for us. That was the frustrating part. I didn't do us any favors speeding on the first stop. I think we got most of our track position back after that. Then we had a green flag stop and there was a total miscommunication. The next stop we were able to line up with the lead-lap cars and the left-front wheel was loose and had to come back and change that tire. We just struggled from there on out. We definitely didn't do ourselves any favors tonight. There's some stuff we have to work on with the race car. I probably didn't do the best job tonight." - Ryan Blaney, finished 20th

"It was a tough night, start to finish. The car had great acceleration toward the end, but we were tight all night and really never able to pass anybody. Definitely not the run we wanted for our M&M's Red, White and Blue Camry." - Kyle Busch, finished 33rd (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.

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by Aaron Bearden

by Zach Catanzareti

by Bryan Gable

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: 1986 was not a good year at Pocono for Neil Bonnett.  The July race saw him get caught up in a multi-car crash on the North Straight that forced him to sit out the Talladega 500.  The June race wasn't much better.  What happened early on to compromise his day?

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

Friday's Answer:

Q:  The 2005 Coca-Cola 600 is best known for the fact that it set the all-time record in the Sprint Cup Series for cautions with 22.  One of those yellows was caused by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. being overzealous.  What happened?

A: On lap 245, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. essentially lifted the rear end of Michael Waltrip's No. 15 off the ground on the frontstretch while battling for seventh.  The result was that Earnhardt Jr., Waltrip and Matt Kenseth all crashed to bring out the 15th caution.  Terry Labonte also crashed behind the trio.  The crash can be seen here.
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COMING TOMORROW

In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have breaking news from Monday, Tom Bowles gives you a stats breakdown of Charlotte 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 Sunday's action in Charlotte.
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