Friday, September 23, 2016

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Kyle Larson Fastest in First Loudon Cup Practice Session

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Sep. 23, 2016
Volume X, Edition CLXVII
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What to Watch: Friday

- Today is a very busy day in motorsports.  The Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series will both practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but rain could be an issue.  Meanwhile, the XFINITY Series and ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards are in Kentucky for their race weekend.  The ARCA Racing Series races tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX Sports 2.

CONTEST!
WHO'S UP FOR THE MONSTER MILE!
That's right, we're giving away a pair of tickets to next Sunday's Citizen Solider 400 for the Sprint Cup Series and next Saturday's XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200.  All you have to do to enter is to go to our Facebook page and Like this post.  Winners will be announced next week.  You must provide your own transportation to Delaware and lodging (if required).  We hope to see you there!

FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUES:

NEW HAMPSHIRE:
Dustin Albino (@DustinAlbino)

KENTUCKY:
Aaron Bearden (@AaronBearden93)
 
Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates!
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This weekend's TV Schedule can be found here.

Top News
by The Frontstretch Staff
 
Kyle Larson Leads Opening Practice at New Hampshire

Friday morning saw the Sprint Cup teams take to the 1.058 mile oval at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for 85 minutes of practice.  Kyle Larson was fastest with a lap of 28.018 seconds (135.941 mph), followed by Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex, Jr.  Read more

JDC/Miller MotorSports to Field ORECA 07 Full-Time in 2017

On Thursday, JDC/Miller MotorSports announced that they will field an ORECA 07 chassis with Gibson power full-time in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.  The effort will be run alongside the existing PC program.  Read more
 
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The Critic's Annex: Scott 150
by Phil Allaway

Last Thursday night at Chicagoland Speedway saw the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards take on Chicagoland Speedway for 100 laps of action.  How did FOX Sports handle this racing?

ARCA races on FOX Sports networks tend to not have all that much pre-race coverage.  Thursday night had a little more than normal.  Viewers didn't get any pre-race interviews, but we did get a driver profile of John Wes Townley.  Here, Townley talks about his first career victory at Daytona and how it allowed his career to blossom.  Longtime readers of Couch Potato Tuesday might recall that as the time that Townley "got served" by SPEED.

In addition, Townley talked the developmental aspect of the series.  I suppose he's a good person to talk about such a topic as it pertains to ARCA, but there isn't anywhere near as much driver development in ARCA as there was when he first started out.

There was a glitch during the starting lineup graphics in which the wrong numbers were displayed by a number of the drivers.  Specifically, a number of drivers were given the No. 77, driven by Chase Briscoe.  Oops.

In the race itself, Briscoe effectively created his own championship coronation.  No one could touch him for most of the race.  I guess Austin Cindric could have done it, but he had to start in the rear and was never a factor as a result.  Shane Lee crashing out made the race a foregone conclusion.

I'll compare this to John Hindhaugh effectively declaring the WEC 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas over with more than 90 minutes still to run Saturday night.  That came after the No. 7 Audi crashed.  At the time, I thought that was presumptuous.  This race was even more of a foregone conclusion in favor of Briscoe than COTA was in favor of Porsche.

Behind Briscoe, there was some decent racing for position. Cindric was on the move, but got caught out by pit strategy.  He was right in the middle of the fight when Ty Majeski nearly took himself out right in front of him (Note: I have no idea what the deuce Majeski was thinking here).  Pit work really benefitted Briscoe as well.  He could get a four-tire change in 17 seconds.  His closest competitors were getting towards the mid-20's.  Ouch.  They're lucky that the leaders (with the exception of Cindric) made their stops under yellow.

The race finished with a swell battle for third between Christopher Bell and Kyle Weatherman that featured Weatherman hitting the wall on a lap-by-lap basis.  I'm honestly surprised he didn't beat up his Ford more than he did.  It did make the finish (otherwise very blah) somewhat exciting.

The race ended quite early on Thursday, allowing for a substantial amount of post-race coverage.  My experience with ARCA races on FOX networks is that this occurs roughly once a year.  Here, we got eight driver interviews, including with drivers like Brent Sherman, who made his first start since 2009 for Mason Mitchell Motorsports.

Overall, I found the broadcast to be a little boring.   However, that wasn't because of anything FOX Sports did.  Can't do much when the winner is that much better than everyone else.  Having said that, FOX Sports did provide some decent action and good commentary.  My one gripe is that viewers couldn't get updates on the teams having issues quick enough (if at all).  For instance, Myatt Snider seemed to break at the very start of the race.  The booth made note of Snider failing to come up to speed, but that was all but it.  Apparently, he had axle issues and eventually finished 25th.

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 Folio: Bad Boy Off Road 300
by Phil Allaway

This weekend, the Sprint Cup Series returns to New Hampshire for Chase race No. 2.  Coverage of the recently-renamed Bad Boy Off Road 300 begins with NASCAR America Sunday at 1 p.m. on NBCSN, followed by Countdown to Green.  The green should fly around 2:16 p.m.  Radio coverage will be provided by local PRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

Records and facts

In last year's Sylvania 300, Kevin Harvick was in good position to pick up a win and avenge the issues that put him out of the MyAFibRisk.com 400 in Joliet.  However, Harvick's fuel cell ran dry with three laps to go, allowing Matt Kenseth to take what was then his second career win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  Denny Hamlin was second, followed by Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards.  Harvick ended up finishing a lap down in 21st after leading 216 laps.

Amongst active drivers, five men have three career wins on the flat track.  Those drivers are Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.  Newman earned his first career win at Loudon in 2002 as a rookie.  Kenseth earned his third win at the flat track back in July.  Four more drivers (Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch) have two each.

All-time, Jeff Burton has the most victories at Loudon with four.  That includes leading flag-to-flag to win the 2000 Dura Lube/KMart 300.  In addition to the five active drivers with three wins, Jeff Gordon also had three wins at Loudon.  That includes the 1998 Farm Aid on CMT 300 that sparked the "Tiregate" issue after Jack Roush accused Hendrick Motorsports of soaking tires.

Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.058 mile oval, 300 laps (317.4 miles)
Banking: 2-7 degrees

Straightaways: 1,500 ft., banked 2 degrees

Grandstand Seating: 88,000

Pit Road Speed: 40 mph
Pace Car Speed: 50 mph
Opened: 1990 (first Cup race in 1993)

Website: http://www.nhms.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nhmotorspeedway

Twitter: http://twitter.com/NHMotorSpeedway

Pre-Race Schedule:

Practice No. 1: Friday, September 23, 11:30 a.m. - 12:55 p.m. on NBCSN

Qualifying: Friday, September 23 at 4:45 p.m. on NBCSN

Practice No. 2: Saturday, September 17, 9 - 9:55 a.m. on CNBC

Happy Hour: Saturday, September 17, 11:30 a.m. - 2:20 p.m. on CNBC

Say What?!

"It's just so hard to pass at New Hampshire – that's the first thing that comes to my mind. It's a tough place. It's very easy to get frustrated when you catch somebody and it's just so hard to get around them. At that racetrack, it's a very fine line of being too low on the racetrack or being too high. The paving seams are very thick and wide and can upset your corner a lot. I think keeping that stuff in mind is the biggest thing that I think of when it comes to Loudon and the challenges you face. Things can go wrong there just as fast as they can anywhere else but I do think the frustration level sometimes can raise easier there than it can other places. But if you have your car driving like you want it to and you're taking the correct approach throughout the day, then it shouldn't be any different than the other tracks." - Chase Elliott

"[NHMS is] flat and tough to get around, sometimes. You just have to make sure you get through the corners OK and are able to get on the gas quick on the straightaways. It's tough but, if you have a good car, you can pass and move up through the field. But it can be challenging if it's not working in your favor." - Danica Patrick

"New Hampshire is a tough one.  I've have some success there, but because of the track size, passing can be tricky.  You want to be running up front and following the right strategy to have a chance.  Good track position is definitely key to getting the win." - Clint Bowyer

"Loudon is really technical. As a flat, one-mile racetrack, it's just a tough set-up. But I've always enjoyed New Hampshire. I've run well there in the Cup car and run well in the XFINITY Series. Hopefully the temps cool because it tends to be a really hot race if the ambient temperature is high. But the race fans up there are what really make it a special place. They just seem to really hang on to the pure tradition of our sport

"We've got The Pete Store on our No. 38 this weekend. They've been great partners of Front Row Motorsports for a few years now. They provide our Peterbilt tractors for our race haulers, and they just recently expanded into New England this year. So, in addition to the six East Coast states they were already in, they're now the exclusive Peterbilt dealer for most of Massachusetts. We're happy to go racing with them." - Landon Cassill

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at ashland10@mail.com.
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TODAY ON FRONTSTRETCH:

by Zach Catanzareti

by Amy Henderson

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: The September race at Loudon replaced the Tyson Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro on the schedule.  The 1989 edition of that race had a very memorable conclusion.  What happened?

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

Thursday's Answer:
 
Q:  New Hampshire Motor Speedway hosted four CART races back in the 1990's.  They're not particularly memorable (the last one saw Andre Ribeiro earn his first career win in 1995.)  The 1994 Slick 50 200 saw Scott Sharp make a memorable exit from the race.  What happened?

A: On an early restart, Mike Groff lost control of his Motorola-sponsored No. 10 exiting turn 2 and backed into the wall.  Sharp spun as well and launched himself over Groff.  The car rolled 1.5 times before coming to rest upside-down on the roll hoop.  According to a later interview with Groff, the two drivers had made contact in turn 1 prior to the crash.  While that did not cause the crash, it apparently did play a role somehow.  The crash can be seen here.

Both drivers walked away from the crash, but were both done for the day.
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COMING MONDAY
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have recaps of the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series races from Loudon, in addition to the XFINITY Series race from Kentucky.  In addition, we'll also cover other news that breaks.

On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have a series of post-race commentaries analyzing this weekend's action at Chicagoland Speedway.
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