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!
Jun. 13, 2016
Volume X, Edition XCIII
- Today, a two-day Goodyear Tire Test at the newly repaved and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway will get underway. 13 teams will be on-site to try out new tire compounds along with the package from this weekend.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Joey Logano Scores First Win of 2016 in Ford's Backyard
On Sunday, Joey Logano dominated, leading 138 of 200 laps to take his first win of 2016. Chase Elliott finished second, followed by Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick. Read more
Josef Newgarden Suffers Broken Clavicle, Hand in Texas Crash
Sunday's rescheduled Firestone 600k was brought to a halt due to a huge crash involving Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly on the frontstretch. Newgarden suffered a broken clavicle and a broken right hand in the crash. The race was red-flagged due to rain after 71 laps and will be completed Aug. 27. Read more
ThorSport Racing Suffers Ohio Shop Fire
Overnight Sunday, a fire broke out at ThorSport Racing's Ohio shop. The cause right now is still under investigation, but a chunk of the shop was gutted. The team still plans to travel to Iowa for Saturday night's Speediatrics 200. Read more
Opinions on Downforce Package Lean Positive After Michigan
Sunday's FireKeepers Casino 400 was the first of at least two races with a lower-downforce rules package. So far, the majority of those queried seemed to like the new rules. Read more
Early Incidents Eliminates Earnhardt, Allmendinger in Michigan
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and AJ Allmendinger were having decent runs on Sunday, but neither driver was around for the finish. On lap 62, Chris Buescher got into Earnhardt Jr. in turn 2, putting Earnhardt Jr. into Allmendinger and both drivers into the wall. Read more
Kyle Busch Blows Engine Early in Michigan
Shortly before the Earnhardt Jr.-Allmendinger crash, Kyle Busch suffered a rare engine failure and finished 40th. It is the fourth straight race that Kyle Busch has finished out of the top 30. Read more
Tony Stewart Finds Consistency, Hates Restarts After Seventh in Michigan
For Tony Stewart, his final season has been all about doing the best he can since his sandrail injury delayed the start of the his season. Sunday saw him finish seventh at Michigan after staying in the top 10 all day. He wasn't much of a fan of restarts, though. Read more
Suarez Passes Busch for First XFINITY Series Victory in Michigan
Daniel Suarez ran down Kyle Busch in the closing laps on Saturday and passed him coming to the white flag. From there, he held off the Sprint Cup Champion to take his first career XFINITY Series win. Busch was second, followed by Paul Menard, Erik Jones and Elliott Sadler. Read more
William Byron Holds Off Rico Abreu, Matt Crafton In Texas Truck Thriller
On Friday night, William Byron passed Matt Crafton with five laps to go, then had to hold off a hard-charging Rico Abreu late in the race. Once Abreu hit the wall, Byron drove away to take the win. Crafton was second, followed by Johnny Sauter, Ben Kennedy and Tyler Reddick. Read more
Cole Custer Graduates High School During Texas Pre-Race
For Camping World Truck Series regular Cole Custer, Friday night's Rattlesnake 400k clashed with his high school graduation. No worries. Eddie Gossage's always good for a graduation ceremony. That's what Custer got during pre-race festivities Friday night. 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 Gives Himself Breathing Room over Kurt Busch
by Phil Allaway
Kevin Harvick qualified poorly on Friday, but definitely made up for it during the race. Harvick charged from his 29th starting spot to finish fifth. That allowed him to gain ground on Kurt Busch, who finished tenth. The margin is now 30 points. Brad Keselowski remains in third and finishing fourth. He gained two points on Harvick. Carl Edwards is still fourth after finishing sixth.
After his win and maximum (48) points on Sunday, Joey Logano is up three places to fifth in points, 17 behind Edwards. Chase Elliott, who finished second, is just two points behind Logano in sixth. Jimmie Johnson is down one spot to seventh after hitting the wall late in the race and finishing 16th. Martin Truex, Jr. moved up to eighth in points Sunday, but wasn't really satisfied with his 12th-place finish.
Kyle Busch finished last on Sunday after blowing an engine early on. That 40th-place finish dropped Kyle from fifth to ninth in points. Matt Kenseth maintained the tenth spot after finishing 14th. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. remained in 11th, but lost significant ground after crashing out. Austin Dillon is up one spot to 12th.
Denny Hamlin is just one point behind Dillon in 13th in points, while Jamie McMurray is still 14th. Finally, Ryan Newman and Ryan Blaney swapped positions. Newman moved up after finishing 11th, while Blaney fell back after hitting the wall and finishing 17th.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 526, 2) Kurt Busch -30, 3) Brad Keselowski -46, 4) Carl Edwards -54, 5) Joey Logano -71, 6) Chase Elliott -73, 7) Jimmie Johnson -85, 8) Martin Truex, Jr. -93, 9) Kyle Busch -109, 10) Matt Kenseth -117, 11) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -143, 12) Austin Dillon -145, 13) Denny Hamlin. -146, 14) Jamie McMurray -152, 15) Ryan Newman -157, 16) Ryan Blaney -162.
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), Kurt Busch (Pocono), Joey Logano (Michigan)
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 FireKeepers Casino 400 was brought to you by the letter "L," for Loose. The new rules that debuted this weekend resulted in some squirrely race cars on Sunday. More braking was required than at any time since Michigan International Speedway was last repaved - Phil Allaway
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Letter of the Race: Sunday's FireKeepers Casino 400 was brought to you by the letter "L," for Loose. The new rules that debuted this weekend resulted in some squirrely race cars on Sunday. More braking was required than at any time since Michigan International Speedway was last repaved - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: FireKeepers Casino 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"What a great race car. To win here in Roger's back yard and Ford's back yard, this is always a big win for us here. We appreciate the great car. What a crazy race with the low downforce and with more cautions and more opportunity to screw up pretty much. What a fun race, racing with Chase (Elliott) and Kyle Larson. It is fun to see the young guys up there racing. I am not alone up there as a young guy anymore. I have guys up there younger than me racing for a win.
"It was not good in traffic and not really good by myself either. The cars didn't have much grip and there was a lot of sliding around. Catching the traffic at the right time and knowing which lanes work best for you and understanding the cars that you are racing. We had plenty of opportunity to see what others cars were good on restarts and you kind of keep that mental notebook as you go." - Joey Logano, race winner
"I just did something dumb. You can't do dumb stuff and win these races. Completely my fault. The guys gave me a great car today. This whole NAPA group has been working so hard these past few weeks and that one was on me. Like I said. You can't do dumb stuff to win these things and I did today." - Chase Elliott, finished second
"I'm not sure. I'm not sure there was anything I could have done there. It was pretty tight to fire off for two or three laps; sometimes for a full run. My restarts were pretty good. You've got to have a good guy behind you if you get a good push. I just had good restarts and kept some track position, it seemed like. It might have been hard to pass. So, just staying out front the whole time was a big key. The Target Chevy was really fast. I think we had a third or fourth-place car. So, thanks to all these guys for working hard at the shop on not having much time to figure out this aero package and bring a nice piece here. I wish we could have gotten a win. But, we'll keep fighting and hopefully we can run up-front more often." - Kyle Larson, finished third
"I am not sure the new package was everything we wanted it to be but it is a step in the right direction as far as putting the drivers in control of the racing but not in reducing the aero stuff we wanted. I guess we have to think about it a little.
"I think it is important to remember that these race cars have three dimensions to them. They have downforce, sideforce and drag and this is only a downforce reduction. It is a big chunk but I think we probably should think about the sideforce now a little bit because that hasn't been tuned down at all. A lot of smart people will go back to the board and try to learn from today. I think it is an improvement but not the step we were looking for." - Brad Keselowski, finished fourth
"This is a work in progress. I applaud NASCAR for taking downforce away and the speeds are still so high because the surface is good and the Goodyear tires are good and everybody is working hard on their cars. They just keep working in this direction and we're going to keep having better and better races. Those restarts, as crazy as they were, they were actually kind of fun." - Carl Edwards, finished sixth
"I love it. I absolutely love it. The package is good. The aero package is starting to catch up now. The whole equation to this to make it all where everybody wants it to be are tires and aero. Up to this point Goodyear has been way ahead of NASCAR. NASCAR is finally catching up. So, now we are getting the split between the two groups closed up. The good thing is Goodyear is primed and ready to do all the stuff they need to do. They have been waiting on NASCAR. It's coming around. It's going to get back to… you know today we got to drive the cars. We got to make a difference in the car and manipulate things. That is what we have all been wanting. We are not running Mach 12 around here in the middle of the corner. I don't know what everybody else is going to say, but I thought it was pretty good. It may not be perfect yet, but it is more than definitely going in the right direction for sure." - Tony Stewart, finished seventh
"We are a little disappointed we thought we had enough speed to have a shot to win. Obviously, it wasn't all there, but never really got track position we needed. I thought that first restart was good and we got to running fifth there, but the caution came out when we had pitted and we did not get in front of Jimmie (Johnson) before the caution came out, so that hurt us. But, I'm proud of my guys they made some good adjustments to get us back in the game. A good last restart, starting on top was a lot. I don't know what people thought of the package, but it was pretty hard to pass because you were really free. I kind of had that feeling. Everybody has wanted to go that way, but there is only so far and we are not all Superman out there, so downforce is king." - Austin Dillon, finished ninth
"It's tough to say. There was no smoke inside the car and usually if you're going to have a cut tire there's going to be smoke at some point. Everything looked all clear and for it to go that long before it cut – I don't know if it's that or we ran over something that cut, either way it's a tough day for our FedEx Office Camry. Had a top-three car all day, just restarts were awful and couldn't get through (turn) one without losing eight spots on every restart. Just a tough day, but still proud of the effort and the speed that we had. Moving through the pack we had good speed. We'll go to work and enjoy the off week and see what happens." - Denny Hamlin, finished 33rd (Crashed out)
"We were in the middle there and the No. 34 (Chris Buescher) ran into the left-rear quarter panel and knocked us in the fence. He must have just lost the nose of his car. I hate it, but you try to take care of each other out there. We all try to race hard and I wish he would have taken better care of us. He just lost the car and hit the quarter panel. It happens though. I'm angry, but I won't be too upset about it later. It's frustrating right now because we had a good car and I was happy with the way the car drove. We had good speed, we just needed to continue to work on getting our track position and we were doing that. We won't get a chance to get the finish I think we could have got today." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished 39th (Crashed out)
"Just been feeling the motor kind of going south for about 30 laps or so and finally let go. At least there was plenty of warning and I knew it was going to get hot in there and it certainly did once it let go and it was on fire. It's just been a dismal month, just haven't been able to hit anything and get good finishes going. Our car has been really fast and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the guys have been doing a great job getting us good stuff to the race track, but it just wasn't our day today. Again, this is six in a row here. We started out the season good and strong and had some top-fives and such so it was a good foundation for us to build off of and fortunately we have all that and this is just a continuation of hurting us in the points, but points don't matter. We'd like to be able to get out luck turned around and get back to finishing races where we know we can." - Kyle Busch, finished 40th (Blown engine)
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:
The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2016 FireKeepers Casino 400
by Amy Henderson
Cool Down: The Youth Movement Shines in Michigan and Texas
The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2016 FireKeepers Casino 400
by Amy Henderson
Cool Down: The Youth Movement Shines in Michigan and Texas
by Bryan Gable
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: With Sprint Cup off and the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend, we figured that we'll bring you some Le Mans trivia. Back in 2000, Eutechnyx and Infogrames released Test Drive Le Mans for the Sony PlayStation and SEGA Dreamcast. One of the fictional tracks in the game was called "Maison Blanche." What is Maison Blanche, and how does it relate to Le Mans?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: Entering the 1997 Miller 400 at then-Michigan Speedway, Terry Labonte was tied for the points lead with teammate Jeff Gordon. He left Michigan 109 points back in third. What happened?
A: Labonte qualified 18th, but dropped back after the first pit stop to 28th. Then, Labonte blew a tire and went into the wall in turn 1. The incident can be seen here.
Labonte drove the Frosted Flakes Chevrolet back to the garage for repairs. He would return to the race, but eventually pulled out and was credited with a 39th-place finish.
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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 Michigan 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 Michigan.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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