Monday, October 03, 2016

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Martin Truex, Jr. Dominates to Claim 2nd Dover Win

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 3, 2016
Volume X, Edition CLXXIII

~~~~~~~~~~~~
What to Watch: Monday

- The preparations are never-ending.  Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series teams are back at work today with a short week to prepare for Charlotte.  If anything of note breaks today, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Martin Truex, Jr. Continues Hot Streak with Dover Victory

On Sunday afternoon, Martin Truex, Jr. once again stomped the field, leading 187 laps en route to his second victory at Dover and the second win in three weeks.  Kyle Busch was second, followed by Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano.  Those six drivers were the only ones on the lead lap at the finish.  Read more

Daniel Suarez Tames Monster Mile with 2nd XFINITY Win

Earlier in the day on Sunday, Daniel Suarez led 123 laps to win the rain-delayed Drive Sober 200 and lock himself into the second round.  Ty Dillon came from the rear to finish second, followed by Justin Allgaier, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman.  Read more

Tyler Reddick Breaks Through for Las Vegas Truck Win

On Saturday night, Tyler Reddick broke through to claim his first victory of 2016 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Daniel Hemric completed a BKR 1-2, followed by Cole Custer, Ben Kennedy and William Byron.  Read more

Michael Shank Racing Dominates to Win Petit Le Mans

On Saturday, Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian dominated the proceedings, leading 236 of the 412 laps to win in their final race with a Prototype.  PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports won PC, Risi Competizione won GTLM and Riley Motorsports won GTD after Magnus Racing was classified at the back of the class due to a drive-time violation.  Read more

Multimatic Motorsports, Rennsport One Win Road Atlanta 150, Titles

On Friday afternoon, Multimatic Motorsports' Billy Johnson ran down CJ Wilson Racing's Marc Miller with 20 minutes to go and passed him to take the overall win in the CTSC finale at Road Atlanta.  In ST, Rennsport One's Spencer Pumpelly and Nick Galante assumed the lead when Freedom Autosport's No. 25 broke and took the win and the ST championship.  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.

~~~~~~~~~~
Chasing the Chase: Brad Keselowski Snags Points Lead with Comeback Run
by Phil Allaway

Martin Truex, Jr. came to play on Sunday.  187 laps led and a fourth win of the year later, Truex walked out of Dover with the points lead at the end of Round 1.  He won the round by six points over Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski.  Both drivers earned top 5 finishes on Sunday (Kyle Busch was second, while Keselowski was fourth).  Matt Kenseth finished fifth and maintained the fourth spot in the standings.

Joey Logano finished sixth and maintained fifth position in the points.  He was just two points ahead of Chase Elliott, who finished third Sunday to move up three places.  Jimmie Johnson gained one place despite his day being ruined by a speeding penalty on pit road.  Given the race's green-flag feel, he still managed to finish as the first driver a lap down in seventh.  Denny Hamlin slipped a spot to eighth after finishing a lap down in ninth.

Carl Edwards gained one place to ninth despite finishing 14th, a lap down.  Kurt Busch did the same despite finishing one spot behind Edwards.  Austin Dillon's eighth-place finish moved him up three places and was enough for him to snag the last spot in the Round of 12 on points.  Kevin Harvick ended up 12th in the round after a mechanical failure forced him to the garage early on.  He came back out and finished 37th, 46 laps down.

Tony Stewart was the first driver eliminated on Sunday.  He ended up 11 points behind Dillon, but had a decent run to finish 13th on Sunday.  Kyle Larson, who was in the top 12 coming into the race, had a miserable day.  He lost a lap due to his car stalling on track, then two more when he was penalized for too many men over the wall.  A later crash resulted in Larson finishing 25th, six laps down and dropping to 14th.  Jamie McMurray ran well early but blew an engine and finished 40th.  Finally, Chris Buescher finished 23rd on Sunday, but that was not enough to pull him up out of the hole.

For the Round of 12, the points all reset to 3000. No bonus points are given.

Round of 16 Point Standings: 1) Martin Truex, Jr. 2131, t-2) Kyle Busch -6, t-2) Brad Keselowski -6, 4) Matt Kenseth -17, 5) Joey Logano -23, 6) Chase Elliott -25, 7) Jimmie Johnson -26, 8) Denny Hamlin -28, 9) Carl Edwards -36, 10) Kurt Busch -38, 11) Austin Dillon -46, 12) Kevin Harvick -56, 13) Tony Stewart -57, 14) Kyle Larson -58, 15) Jamie McMurray -78, 16) Chris Buescher -86.

Best of the Rest: 17) Kasey Kahne 728, 18) Ryan Newman -28, 19) AJ Allmendinger -79, 20) Ryan Blaney -83, 21) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. -91, 22) Trevor Bayne -100, 23) Danica Patrick -181.

Regular Point Standings: 1) Brad Keselowski 947, 2) Kevin Harvick -2, 3) Joey Logano -59, 4) Kyle Busch -75, 5) Denny Hamlin -80, 6) Martin Truex, Jr. -86, 7) Kurt Busch -95, 8) Carl Edwards -103, 9) Chase Elliott -160, 10) Jimmie Johnson -162, 11) Matt Kenseth -166, 12Austin Dillon -183, 13) Jamie McMurray -218, 14) Kasey Kahne -219, 15) Kyle Larson -231, 16) Ryan Newman -247.

Outside the top 16, but in the Chase: 26) Tony Stewart -442, 30) Chris Buescher -530.

Race Winners: Denny Hamlin (Daytona-1, Watkins Glen, Richmond-2), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta, Auto Club), Brad Keselowski (Las Vegas, Talladega, Daytona-2, Kentucky), Kevin Harvick (Phoenix, Bristol-2, Loudon-2), Kyle Busch (Martinsville, Texas, Kansas, Indianapolis), Carl Edwards (Bristol-1, Richmond-1), Matt Kenseth (Dover-1, Loudon-1), Martin Truex, Jr. (Charlotte, Darlington, Chicagoland, Dover-2), Kurt Busch (Pocono-1), Joey Logano (Michigan-1), Tony Stewart (Sonoma), Chris Buescher (Pocono-2), Kyle Larson (Michigan-2).
 
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at ashland10@mail.com.
~~~~~~~~~~

Letter of the Race: Sunday's Citizen Solider 400 was brought to you by the letter B for "Butt kicking."  It is very rare today that someone could very nearly put everyone except the top 5 a lap down in a Sprint Cup race, but it very nearly happened on Sunday.  Especially after Jimmie Johnson fell back because of his speeding penalty, nobody was catching the No. 78. - Phil Allaway

~~~~~~~~~~

Quotes to Remember: Citizen Solider 400
compiled by Phil Allaway

"What an awesome weekend for us.  I mean, I talked about it in here the other day, that this track has always been special to me.  It's always been near the top of my list.  I love this place.  I've had a lot of heartbreaks since my first win here back in '07.  I've had a lot of heartbreaks.  I've led a lot of laps.  I've been in position to win multiple times, and it never seemed to work out for multiple reasons.

           

"Today I'm just thankful to have a great team, to have been able to lead lap 400 and get back to victory lane at a track that's so special to me." - Martin Truex, Jr. race winner


"We've just had a solid three races here. Nothing flashy, but nice, strong, consistent top-fives. That's something to be proud of and we have to keep it going and keep finding the speed and hope to get some wins along the way so we can be ready for Homestead.

"Definitely proud of the effort this whole Mountain Dew group, it's really cool to have Mountain Dew on the car this weekend and some different colors for us.  Really cool brand to be a part of and proud to support their colors first and foremost, but it's been a decent weekend overall. We've been working on our car throughout the weekend and I feel like we got it the best we had had it there two runs before the end, which I guess was a good time to try to get it with that long green flag run things kind of worked out for us to get a couple of extra spots that would have been hard to get otherwise.  I'm proud of the effort.  Really really cool to move on this weekend, I'm proud of that like I said, this group has been doing a really good job.  I'm proud of all these guys and we are excited to get on to Charlotte." - Chase Elliott, finished third

On Momentum: "Momentum is kind of one of those feel good things that I'm not really sure it means anything, but it sure does feel good." - Brad Keselowski, finished fourth

"Overall, we did what we had to do. The points are back to zero and we can head to the next round and try to get a win. Every track is different. Dover is obviously a beast of its own. It's a very cool race track, but everything is so different compared to where we're gonna go next week to Charlotte and then Kansas and Talladega. They're all gonna be a lot different for sure, but we'll take what we learned here for next year and I'm sure there are some things that we can apply to the next race, but most of it is kind of track-specific." - Joey Logano, finished sixth

"When I was coming into my pit box, the No. 18 and the No. 43 were just leaving theirs and they were directly behind my box.  I had to slam on the brakes and get turned and get underneath those guys to come in and I was pretty close to my box, so I assume that just threw the rhythm off the pit stop and somebody came off the wall early.

"When I was coming into my pit box, the No. 18 and the No. 43 were just leaving theirs and they were directly behind my box.  I had to slam on the brakes and get turned and get underneath those guys to come in and I was pretty close to my box, so I assume that just threw the rhythm off the pit stop and somebody came off the wall early.

"Certainly a mistake, but it's not one that I've ever had happen on the No. 48 team.  Thankfully, we had a strong car that we were only a lap down and still ended up seventh. I do feel like one got away, but very proud of this Lowe's race team." - Jimmie Johnson, finished seventh

"Well, [advancing in the Chase means] everything for our team out of Welcome, North Carolina.  First off, give all the glory to God because, man, the race played into our favor.  We did have a fast race car, I'm proud of that.  I'm proud to be moving on to the Round of 12 where I have some really solid tracks, one being Talladega where we were able to finish third earlier this year.


"Just to proud of this AAA team.  We didn't panic.  I had a lot of people telling me not to worry.  We didn't have a good practice, and we had a fast race car today, a really fast race car." - Austin Dillon, finished eighth


"There wasn't much we could do.   I cut the right front tire down and got in the wall and still had good speed in the race car after that but it just didn't work out.  Our team has come a long way this season from where we started the year.   We were pretty awful at the start of the season but then got a win at Michigan to lock ourselves in the Chase.  That was good.  I know we have the speed to have made it past a couple of rounds but it's my typical luck I guess, where it just doesn't work out." - Kyle Larson, finished 25th


"I think we just blew a right-front pretty bad. We were running pretty good before that and I wasn't really getting tight, I was kind of just riding around, and blew a big hole in it. We'll have to look at it and see what happened, but it's a shame. We got our car pretty good that second run and were driving up through the field pretty good. I would have liked to see what we would have had if we had a couple more chances to work on it, but we'll try to get it fixed and make some laps. It's a shame we couldn't run good today but it's a testament to our team of not starting very good and getting a lot better in one pit stop, so that's something we can take away." - Ryan Blaney, finished 38th


"Not a lot.  It vibrated earlier in the race and it went away.  And it's weird because engine issues usually don't go away.  It felt like it had power and then I don't know about 40 laps before it finally blew up, it just started vibrating real bad.  They (the team) said what broke, but I couldn't hear them over all the cars on the track.  I'm not sure.  Very unfortunate.  It is just the way it goes." - Jamie McMurray, 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:

by Mike Neff

by Beth Lunkenheimer
~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: In the 1994 Mello Yello 500, Jeff Gordon ran the first real instance of true anger in his Cup Series career.  What happened to put him out of the race?

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

Friday's Answer:

Q:  IMSA's 1995 visit to Road Atlanta is best known for the crash that ended the careers of Jeremy Dale and Fabrizio Barbazza.  However, their careers weren't the only ones that ended that day.  What else led to a retirement during that race?

A: Late in the race, the No. 75 Nissan 300ZX driven by Steve Millen was hit on the backside of the course by the No. 27 Ferrari 333SP driven by Freddy Lienhard.  The two then slid off course and into the combination of a one-strand guardrail (that was effectively destroyed) and an earthen bank.  The crash can be seen here.

The ESPN broadcast linked above claims that Millen is ok in the crash.  That was not the case.  Sure, Millen got out of the car on his own, but he was seriously injured in the crash.  He suffered a broken c-2 vertebra and a skull fracture, as noted in this interview with the Los Angeles Times in July 1995.  At the time of the interview linked above, Millen was in a Halo brace, but confident that he'd get back, but he couldn't before the end of the season.  Nissan then pulled out.  As a result, Millen never raced again.

~~~~~~~~~~
COMING TOMORROW

In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have breaking news from Monday, Tom Bowles returns with Numbers Game and S.D. Grady is back with Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View.

On Frontstretch.com:
Amy Henderson takes a closer look at how some of the sport's smaller teams fared at Dover in Underdog House.
 -----------------------------
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

--
--
Feel free to forward this newsletter if you have any friends who loves
NASCAR and great NASCAR commentary. They can subscribe to the Frontstetch by visiting http://www.frontstretch.com/notice/9557/.
 
If you want to stop your Frontstretch Newsletter subscription, we're sorry
to see you go. Just send an email to
TheFrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com from the address that you
recieve the Frontstretch Newsletter.

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Frontstretch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thefrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

No comments:

Post a Comment