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The Frontstretch Newsletter: March 9th, 2012

2012-03-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER

Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 9th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition XXXV

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Top News
by Jeff Wolfe

Vickers to Run Six Races For MWR

Former Red Bull Racing driver Brian Vickers has been tabbed to pilot the No. 55 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing in six events this season. He'll run both races at Bristol, Martinsville and New Hampshire.

"I am thrilled to get back behind the wheel of not just a race car, but a very fast race car," Vickers said. "I'm lucky to find a ride of this quality so early in the season."

The 28-year-old, who was forced to sit out at Daytona for the first time since 2007 after Red Bull Racing closed at the end of last season, posted a video to his Facebook page before the Bud Shootout promising fans he would return. Elliott Sadler was originally announced to drive the No. 55--shared by Mark Martin (24 races) and team owner Michael Waltrip (restrictor plate tracks)--but objections by his Nationwide Series owner Richard Childress forced him to back out.

Vickers has two victories and 57 top-10 finishes in 255 Sprint Cup Series starts.

Knaus, Hendrick to Face Appeals Board Tuesday

Hendrick Motorsports Owner Rick Hendrick and Crew Chief Chad Knaus will get a chance to make their case to the NASCAR Appeals board Tuesday. The three person panel will consider the sanctions against Knaus and the No. 48 team for C-posts NASCAR deemed illegal in pre-practice inspection at Daytona last month. Knaus, Crew Chief for Jimmie Johnson, along with Car Chief Ron Malic were each handed a six-race suspension. Knaus was also fined $100,000 and the team was penalized 25 driver and owner points.

According to SceneDaily.com's Bob Pockrass, NASCAR has said officials used gauges to find the part illegal despite insistence from Knaus that nothing was actually measured.

"It was just a visual inspection at that point--we never even got the opportunity to present that under templates," Knaus said. "It's unfortunate. There's a bit of subjectiveness to it, and that's why we're going through an appeal."

Though it's rare for the appeals board to overturn a NASCAR penalty, Hendrick did win an appeal on behalf of Knaus back in 2005. Johnson currently sits 37th in points, 71 markers back from leader Denny Hamlin and 45 behind tenth place Carl Edwards.

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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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!

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In Case You Missed It
by Nick Schwartz

Infineon No More

Since 2002, NASCAR fans have known the road course located in Sonoma, California to be Infineon Raceway, but after Infineon Technologies' naming rights deal expires in May, the road course will likely assume a new corporate name. Infineon has decided not to renew the deal, though Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Cardinale has said that numerous other companies have expressed interest in replacing Infineon, according to Sports Business Daily.

"There are three or four companies we're talking to," Cardinale said. "I wouldn't say they're ready to sign, but they're certainly interested."

The track, formerly known as Sears Point Raceway is owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., and is the second facility to lose its corporate naming sponsorship in the past few years, as Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, Inc. pulled its name from Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2009.

Ryan Newman Foundation Helps Bring a Soldier His Dog

Trigger, a 70-pound stray dog plucked from the streets of Afghanistan by U.S. soldiers will soon by reunited with the man who saved him from the dangers abroad. The Ryan Newman Foundation is assisting in flying the dog to his owner in Washington State after a plea for help.

Trigger had been saved in Afghanistan by troops and brought to a U.S. encampment, where he lived for five months. Eventually the unit that saved Trigger returned to America, but a fund-raising effort ensured that the dog was flown to an animal rescue clinic on Long Island in New York. After a few weeks of rehabilitation, the dog will be flown to Washington to resume life with his owner.

IndyCar Driver Will Power Extinguishes Own Engine Fire

The IZOD IndyCar series will soon kick off the 2012 season at St. Petersburg, Florida, but veteran driver Will Power is already making headlines this year after he hopped out of his burning car and extinguished an engine fire during a test. With many drivers at Sebring International Raceway to test before the season begins, Power had been setting fast times in his Penske Racing car until his engine mishap forced an end to the day. A small leak caused a fire and Power quickly drove off the track, unstrapped himself and exited the car.

Though he was not in immediate danger, Power was concerned about the damage the car may incur, especially with the safety workers slow to respond. Power ran to grab the fire extinguisher and returned to his car to douse the blaze, though the engine was already lost.

"The safety worker was across the track and he was an older gentleman, kind of struggling to get across, so I ran and grabbed it myself," Power said, according to the Associated Press.

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If you are interested, contact frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com. Please include references to your past work in your e-mail.

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Fantasy Friday: Kobalt Tools 400
by Jeff Wolfe

Editor's Note: Welcome to the newest feature in the Frontstretch Newsletter where Jeff Wolfe takes a look at your best bets when it comes to picking your fantasy racing teams. Each week, Jeff will have your top 5 best bets along with a bonus pick just in time to finalize your lineup and settle in for a weekend full of action.

The Sprint Cup series heads to the city of Lost Wages (OK, most people call it Las Vegas, but let's be real here) and the city likes to brag that what happens there stays there. What has happened a lot at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is Roush Fenway Racing cars have had a ton of success. In 65 starts at Las Vegas, Roush cars have seven wins, 17 top-5 and 34 top-10 finishes and have led more than 1,200 laps. Also, the Roushkateers have finished in the top 10 in each of the 14 Sprint Cup races at the track and have finished in the top five 12 times. So, needless to say, any of the Roush drivers would be a decent pick for Sunday's 3 PM race on FOX.

Top 5 Picks

Matt Kenseth: Roush selection No. 1 has a chance to get off to a great start after winning at Daytona. Winning two of the first three is a real possibility here. He's already got two wins and six top-10 finishes in 12 starts at mile-and-a-half oval.

Carl Edwards: Roush selection No. 2. He's also got two wins here and has a series high 486 green flag passes at Las Vegas.

Kyle Busch: Busch is an easy pick as a hometown driver despite only one victory at the track in eight starts. However, with just two finishes outside the top 15--both of which came in the form of DNF's--the younger Busch brother is one of those drivers that's hard not to pick.

Jimmie Johnson: Mr. Five-Time has four wins here and you know this team is on a mission to get back into the top 10 in points and not allow their Daytona penalty to derail a run at the Chase. The No. 48 is currently 35 points outside the top 10 spot going into Sunday, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him take a big chunk out of that gap this weekend.

Mark Martin: So, the former Roush driver has aged a bit since his time with the team, but the 52-year-old has proven he can still drive. He's also got a quality car in the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55. Add in a win, six top-5 finishes and he's a safe bet for this weekend. And really, wouldn't it be nice to see him hit Victory Lane at least one more time?

Shoulda, woulda, coulda, but didn't pick: It probably makes all the sense in the world to pick Greg Biffle--he's scored back-to-back third-place finishes to open the season and he's got the bonus of having Roush equipment. And while he has yet to visit victory lane at Vegas, five top 10s in eight starts combined with the momentum they've started the season with could be just the recipe for success the No. 16 team needs.

ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP
Reviewing Last Week's Picks

Kasey Kahne: 34th. Early mechanical issues doomed his day. He did finish, but was 28 laps down at the end.

Carl Edwards: 17th. He challenged to be in the top 10 a couple of times, but was not a serious contender all day.

Tony Stewart: 22nd. Seemed to be primed for a solid top-10 finish, maybe even a top 5, but when he shut off engine to save gas it wouldn't start back up right away. He was two laps down by the time they got the car started again.

Jimmie Johnson: 4th. Looked like he might run away with the win early, leading 55 laps, but a tire issue cost him key positions midway through.

Kyle Busch: 6th. He did lead 52 laps, but wasn't in contention to win at the end.

Last week's grade: C

Season Stats:
10 predictions
0 wins
2 top 5s
2 top 10s

Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.

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Frontstretch Folio: Kobalt Tools 400
by Nick Schwartz

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series stays out west this week, as teams descend upon Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the 2012 season. The Kobalt Tools 400 will be broadcast live Sunday, March 11th, on FOX at 2:30 PM EST, with coverage beginning at 2:00 PM EST on PRN radio. The race on the 1.5 mile tri-oval is scheduled for 267 laps.

Records and Facts

Carl Edwards won the 2011 Kobalt Tools 400 in what would be his only victory of the year. At the time, Edwards' win placed him tied for second in the point standings, just behind eventual champion Tony Stewart. Ford has been the most successful manufacturer at Las Vegas, with seven wins overall—two more than Chevrolet and six more than Dodge and Toyota.

Jimmie Johnson has won more than any other driver at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with four race wins since the track opened in 1998. Johnson won three consecutive years from 2005 to 2007, and again in 2010. Interestingly enough, the record for most laps led at the track belongs not to Johnson, but to Jeff Gordon (467). Gordon has only won once--in 2001--but has recorded six top-5 finishes in his 14 races at the track.

Matt Kenseth set a new qualifying record in 2011, crossing the line at over 188 miles per hour with a lap time of 28.589 seconds. Speeds have increased since the track was redesigned to implement progressive banking in time for the 2007 Sprint Cup Series race. With turns banked up to 20 degrees, Las Vegas Motor Speedway has become an extremely fast track, with open-wheel cars capable of reaching upwards of 225 miles per hour.

Track Facts

Track/Race Length: 1.5 mile oval, 267 laps (400.5 miles)
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Degree of Banking: 20 degrees
Frontstretch: 2.275 feet, banked 9 degrees
Backstretch: 1,572 feet, banked 9 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 142,000

Pre-race Schedule

Practice: Friday, March 9, 3:00 – 4:30 PM EST on SPEED
Qualifying: Friday, March 9, 6:00 PM EST on SPEED
Happy Hour: Saturday, March 10, 3:00 – 4:20 PM EST on SPEED

VIPs

National Anthem: American Idol contestant Pia Toscano
Grand Marshal: Actor Tim Allen

Race Day Forecast
Sunday: Partly cloudy, 0% chance of rain
High: 75 degrees
Low: 50 degrees

They Said It

"I always enjoy Las Vegas. It has been a good track for us, at times. There always seems to be a lot going on. Kobalt Tools is sponsoring the race, so we will have a lot of stuff going on and it will be a busy weekend. I'm enjoying a little down time with the family but am looking forward to getting to Las Vegas and continuing on the good momentum we had at Phoenix." -Jimmie Johnson

Vegas is always a little bit more pressure – more pressure on myself, just because it's the hometown and you want to win there. Thankfully, I have won there and I've knocked that one off the list, but certainly you want to win there every year. It seems like either Carl (Edwards) or Jimmie (Johnson) are better than most, but I love Vegas – the atmosphere and everything going on around that place. It's been sold out for a lot of years, I think ever since it started. They've added more grandstands, which is cool. It's a big race." -Kyle Busch

"Last year was a huge weekend for us and I'm excited to go back. I love racing at Vegas and it's a fun place to go for the fans. This will be our first opportunity of the year to run on a 1.5-mile track and to try the things Bob Osborne and everyone at RFR have been working on over the winter. It's a huge event for us strategically on the schedule to build our intermediate program, which is obviously very important in our quest for the championship." -Carl Edwards

Nick Schwartz is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at nick.schwartz@frontstretch.com.

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Outside Looking In: Five Drivers Who Should Be In Full Time Rides Now
by Amy Henderson

Of NASCAR Twits and 'Non-traditional Tweets
by Jeff Meyer

Subtraction by Addition for JR Motorsports' No. 88 Team
by Bryan Davis Keith

Four Burning Questions: Learning EFI, NASCAR Justice, and Second Chances
by Summer Dreyer

Potts' Shots: Safety And Rules Remain A "Moving Target"
by John Potts

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This Weekend on the Frontstretch:

Nationwide Series Breakdown: Sam's Town 300 by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan has all the post-race analysis you need after Saturday afternoon's Nationwide Series race from Las Vegas.

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: Today, Curtis Key owns an underfunded Nationwide Series team that fields three start-and-park entries in order to allow for one car to race full distances. In 1997, he was the owner of the No. 11 Ford driven by Goody's Dash Series graduate Jimmy Foster and sponsored by a combination of Speedvision (now SPEED) and the Outdoor Life Network (now the NBC Sports Network). In Las Vegas, the 20-year old Foster only lasted 35 laps before calling it a day. What happened?

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

Thursday's Answer:

Q: After 1982, Formula One decided to cut down from three U.S. Grand Prix to two. As a result, the decision was made to dump the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas, Nevada while keeping the new (for 1982) race in Detroit and Long Beach for 1983. Generally, this adjustment was considered to be a good move at the time. However, the Caesars Palace Grand Prix continued on with CART. What was done to the track to facilitate CART's arrival?

A: The track was changed from a 2.268-mile temporary road course that looked hand-shaped to a 1.125-mile "modified oval." Parts of the previous course were used for the modified oval, which more or less encircled the old track. This was not because the CART racers would have been unsuited for the 14-turn road course, but because the road course was universally derided by nearly anyone given the chance to talk about it at the time. This was despite the fact that by temporary road course standards, it was quite advanced (Ex: The track had runoff areas filled in with sand, typical of permanent circuits).

Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!

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Coming Monday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Kobalt Tools 400 Race Recap by Jeff Wolfe
-- Secret Star and Stat of the Race by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!

Monday on the Frontstretch:

Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Kobalt Tools 400 by Matt McLaughlin
Matt will be here with his overall thoughts about the action from Sunday afternoon's action from the Las Vegas.

Monday Morning Teardown by Ron Lemasters
Ron returns for a website look at one of the big stories from Sunday's race from Las Vegas.

Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles
Tom brings back his weekly post-race commentary with all of the insight you need from a weekend of racing at Las Vegas.

Big Six: Kobalt Tools 400 by Amy Henderson
Looking for all you need to know leaving the third race of the season? Amy has your who, what, when, where, why and how from a weekend of racing at Las Vegas.

Pace Laps: Las Vegas Weekend by the Frontstretch Staff
In our newest column this season, we'll take a look at the biggest stories to keep an eye on in each series after a weekend at Las Vegas.

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©2012 Frontstretch.com

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The Frontstretch Newsletter: March 8th, 2012

2012-03-08T00:52:00.001-08:00

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 8th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition XXXIV

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Today's Top News
by Phil Allaway

Regan Smith and Paul Menard Uninjured in Colorado Crash

Two NASCAR stars were lucky to escape injury after a scary, off-track incident out West. On Wednesday morning, Sprint Cup drivers Regan Smith and Paul Menard, along with Smith's wife Megan and an unidentified fourth person referenced as "a friend of the Smiths" were involved in a crash near Denver, Colorado. According to a press release, Smith was driving his own Chevrolet Silverado and hit a patch of ice, losing control of the vehicle. Skidding off the road, unable to stop he crashed right into a batch of trees. Luckily, none of the four passengers were injured in the crash, although Richard Childress Racing posted on their Twitter page that Menard was a little sore from the wreck.

The quartet were on their way to a ski resort for some midweek fun before heading to the next Sprint Cup event at Las Vegas. Both drivers, longtime friends will still race this weekend and there are no signs that relief will be required.

Entry List Update
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.

Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 400: 45 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports

Driver Changes:
No. 32- Ken Schrader returns to the seat, replacing Mike Bliss. It's the first in a limited schedule of events for the 56-year-old in this car; he brings sponsorship from longtime backer Federated Auto Parts.

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 7 - Robby Gordon for Robby Gordon Motorsports*
No. 21 - Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 23 - Scott Riggs for R3 Motorsports*
No. 26 - Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports*
No. 30 - David Stremme for Inception Motorsports*
No. 36 - Dave Blaney for Tommy Baldwin Racing
No. 37 - Timmy Hill for MaxQ Motorsports/Rick Ware Racing
No. 49 - J.J. Yeley for Robinson-Blakeney Motorsports
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports*
No. 98 - Michael McDowell for Phil Parsons Racing
* - Expected to start and park

Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300: 43 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 13 - Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 18 - Mark Martin for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22- Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing
No. 28 - J.J. Yeley for Jay Robinson Racing
No. 30 - James Buescher for Turner Motorsports
No. 33 - Brendan Gaughan for Richard Childress Racing
No. 38 - Kasey Kahne for Turner Motorsports
No. 42 - Josh Wise for Key Motorsports
No. 47 - Scott Speed for Key Motorsports
No. 54 - Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports

Driver Changes:
No. 08 - Tim Andrews is in the seat, replacing Casey Roderick. This "placeholder entry" for owner points is expected to start and park.
No. 4 - Danny Efland returns to the seat, replacing Daryl Harr. Efland ran the first race of the season, Daytona, with the team.
No. 18 - Mark Martin is in the seat, replacing Denny Hamlin. It's the first start for Martin with Joe Gibbs Racing.
No. 23 - Robert Richardson, Jr. returns to the seat, replacing Jamie Dick. Richardson's family owns the team.
No. 27 - An unknown driver will be in the seat, replacing J.J. Yeley. The team is expected to start and park.
No. 28 - J.J. Yeley returns to the seat, replacing David Green. Jay Robinson's team, running a full Cup slate with Yeley is still searching for sponsorship in this series.
No. 33 - Brendan Gaughan is in the seat, replacing Kevin Harvick. Gaughan is running a limited schedule, with backing from his father's casino in all three NASCAR series this season.
No. 70 - Johanna Long returns to the seat, replacing Charles Lewandoski. Long's ML Motorsports team returns to run their own car number; they're competing with the rookie in a limited schedule of events.

Since there are only 43 cars entered, no one will fail to qualify. However, these teams must still qualify on speed:
No. 08 - Tim Andrews for Randy Hill Racing*
No. 10 - Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports*
No. 13 - Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 22 - Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 27 - Unknown driver for GC Motorsports International*
No. 42 - Josh Wise for Key Motorsports*
No. 44 - Mike Bliss for TriStar Motorsports
No. 46 - Chase Miller for Key Motorsports*
No. 47 - Scott Speed for Key Motorsports*
No. 54 - Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports (Has second crack at the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 74 - Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing*
No. 89 - Morgan Shepherd for Faith Motorsports

Not Entered:
No. 20 - Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing
*-Expected to Start-and-Park

ESPN's Jamie Little Expecting

Jamie Little announced on Wednesday via her Twitter feed that she is pregnant with her first child. As of now, Little and her husband, Cody Selman, do not know the sex of the baby which will be due in early August, during the heart of ESPN's Sprint Cup schedule. The pit reporter is expecting to continue working at the track on weekends, full-time for as long as possible during her pregnancy.

It's not the first time that one of ESPN's pit reporters has dealt with this scenario. In 2009, Shannon Spake worked in the pits for the entire ESPN portion of the Sprint Cup schedule while pregnant with twins. Spake's pregnancy was announced by ESPN via a press release when she was approximately 22 weeks along; in it, there was an announcement about a special firesuit being created for Spake by Impact Racing. That firesuit had adjustable straps built in so that Spake could continue to work without having to acquire additional clothing every few weeks. Expect something similar to be implemented for Little later this Spring.

ESPN is well-equipped to handle a prolonged maternity leave for Little, although it is unclear when such a leave would occur, or how long it would last. Later tweets from Little insinuated that her maternity leave will allow Jim Noble to get more pit reporting duties.

Have news for Phil and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashland10@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.

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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!

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Today's Featured Commentary
Peculiar Penske Defection From Dodge is Disheartening
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese

Many theories abound as to why Penske Racing bid adieu to Dodge last week, announcing that following the end of their contract for the 2012 season, they are going to join the Blue Oval brigade next year with Ford Motor Company. So it ends, a partnership dissolved just like that for the lone multi-car leftover of the Mopar camp after Evernham begat Gillett, then Petty Enterprises shuttered operations at Level Cross. Robby Gordon has signaled he'd love a factory-supported Dodge effort – however, don't expect Chrysler SRT group President and CEO Ralph Gilles to toss him the checkbook just yet.

So why did Captain Penske go Captain Schettino and abandon ship a week before the 2013 Dodge Charger was to be rolled out?

I might be grasping at straws here, but it could go back to something that happened a few years ago in the midst of the auto industry collapse of 2008-09.

During the auto bailout of 2008, the Saturn auto division of General Motors along with Pontiac were both on the chopping block. Roger Penske had all but engineered a deal to purchase Saturn, a supply of parts, and had a deal in place to source an entry level compact sedan and a family model. The deal was all but consummated, with a joint venture car from Nissan and Renault to be imported into the United States as a new Saturn offering. But while Uncle Sam had just spent a lot of money (i.e., ours) to save the UAW-engineered shipwreck that was the American auto giants General Motors and Chrysler, they were probably none too interested to learn that Penske was about to import a family sedan that would retail for under $18,000 – and clean the clock of anything that government-owned General Motors or Chrysler had to offer at the time.

So word came down at the 11th hour that the deal was off, primarily because there was no way the United States would allow the Penske-owned Saturn cars to be imported into the U.S. Renault backed out, with them and the deal was off. Connecting the dots further, Italy-based Fiat now owns part of Chrysler, which is the parent company of Dodge. Perhaps they had a say in if a competing fellow European manufacturer would be stealing sales away from them?

Might there also be some lingering ill will between Penske and others who helped to scuttle the deal to save Saturn? Ford, after all, was the one U.S. automaker who resisted government involvement. Or is it my fellow countrymen, the ones who control the purse strings that do not understand the importance of NASCAR and motorsports marketing in the United States as some have surmised? Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler (who turned down a salary and bonus for 2011) and his sweater weren't seen around Daytona a couple of weekends back – though he does drive a black Dodge Challenger and is ostensibly Canadian. Then again, Fiat also owns Ferrari which is also synonymous with Formula One, whose annual motorsports budget could power Penske, Hendrick Motorsports, and a couple of the Roush Fenway entries for a season.

It would be a shame if Dodge is not available to attract any top-flight talent in the Cup Series, and uses that as an easy-exit strategy after having just returned barely a decade after a much-heralded return. As Kyle Petty has made the case recently, the biggest stumbling block is that of an in-house engine program with an existing Cup team. With Penske being the last Dodge holdout and Red Bull beating a hasty retreat back to Austria, there are few teams willing to either start an entirely new engine program or switch existing team/brand strategic alliances.

So if Dodge is committed to staying in the sport, they may have to go the route of establishing a factory team, or at least provide engines for all potential cars, much like Toyota has done through its TRD program. Dodge has the SRT nameplate under which to operate under; however, now it is suddenly starting from scratch with only Arrington Engines being the other outlet besides Penske who have as much expertise in making Pentastar power at a professional level. Whoops.

Penske's decision has proved to be peculiar timing, to say the least, what with the debut of the new 2013 Dodge Charger, the latest iteration of the second generation COT – and arguably the best-looking and most closely resembling the street model. The last time Chrysler bowed out of the sport was in 1980, as the newer, downsized cars made their first appearance. By then they had all but left anyway after Richard Petty's short-lived and fruitless season driving a 1978 Magnum, with only Buddy Arrington left to fly the five-star flag in the coming years in a Dodge Mirada. Whatever the hell a Mirada is. Editor's Note: Arrington raced the Miradas, purchased from Petty Enterprises until 1982. They were then rebodied as Chrysler Cordobas and raced until 1985.

Here's hoping that Gilles and company can find a garage to house a Dodge or two by the end of the season. With the state of the sport in such a perilous position, we need all hands on deck to power forward back into prosperity.

Vito Pugliese is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at vito.pugliese@frontstretch.com.

Editor's Note: The Critic's Annex will return next Thursday.

Inside Paulie's World: Harraka Dishes On Duke, Drafting, And Daytona
as told to Tom Bowles

22-year-old Paulie Harraka is far from your average Truck Series rookie. He's a race car driver by weekend, college student by weekday as the Duke senior looks to become one of only a handful of NASCAR wheelmen with a bachelor's degree to his credit. One of the sport's most successful Drive For Diversity graduates, accepted into the program in 2006 he was the first to win a local track championship... and he doesn't plan to stop there. The minority driver, of Syrian descent (but born and raised in New Jersey) hopes to become the first such candidate to make it all the way to Sprint Cup. How was he able to take advantage of these opportunities? Why is he different? And how has Duke changed the way he looks at racing... and college basketball, for that matter?

Find out all that and more, along with a surprising connection to an old Cup legend in the first edition of our monthly feature with one of NASCAR's newest, up-and-coming stars.

OK, first question. It's a simple one: How would you describe yourself? And why do you race?

I am… the most competitive person you will ever meet. Everything, everything in my life is a competition. I always want to be better, always thinking of how I can make stuff better. In conjunction with that, I'm an adrenaline junkie. And when you combine those two things, I guess you get a racecar driver. Richie (Wauters owner/crew chief) and I, we get along really well because we're both always thinking about how to make cars go faster. The wheels are always turning.

When I get in the racecar, I love it. I love, even over the course of a run figuring out how we get ourselves positioned right. Figuring out where this truck wants to be. Figuring out how to win races.

Tell me how a Duke student came to find this opportunity.

I think it was more of a racecar driver ending up at Duke than a Duke kid ending up at NASCAR. But I got to the end of my high school career and had the grades to go wherever I wanted to, but also had a racing career that was going really well. I had to make a decision and at that point, in 2008 I decided it would be best for me to go to Duke. It ended up working really well because it helped differentiate me from other drivers. And I always looked at Duke as a way to augment my racing career. Not as a backup plan, but as something that could augment it. Whether that would be the unique branding platform that it gives me, whether it's the alumni network, the classes that I take, all these things…

So far, so good. I'm in my last semester and it's been a lot of work traveling back and forth to California, running for Bill McAnally in the K&N West Series and doing all the things that were required to make both of those two work, we made happen. But ultimately, when you get two opportunities like that, driving racecars and going to Duke, you don't pass either up. So I made that happen, climbed through the ladder with Bill, ran the All-American Series, won the championship in that. Ran the Pro Series West, won a bunch of races in that. Obviously, the Truck Series is the next ladder in my progression. And Richie and I started talking over the winter, late November and realized, really quickly that we think the same way and we want to do things the same way. One thing led to another, we went and tested at Rockingham, the test went really well and… here we are.

Now, a lot of people say that "smart," in an intellectual sense and NASCAR don't necessarily go hand in hand. Prove them wrong.

I'm not a type to sit and talk Shakeseare with somebody. I don't know anything about it. I don't care. But for me, it's about how I can use a Duke education, or any education to make me a better competitor. To understand the race car better, to communicate with my crew chief better, to give more value to my sponsors, to do whatever it takes at the end of the day to make race cars go faster.

What is something you've learned in class that has helped you on the racetrack.

I think it's engineering courses. And you can take that engineering knowledge, and understand the physics and chemical engineering that's what makes these race cars go. When I was in the West Series, and the All-American Series, I built all my own shock absorbers. It's that knowledge, understanding the physics behind it that enables you to do that. And while I don't plan to build my own shocks in the Truck Series, having that understanding of how shocks work, what they do, the details of how they function not just from an operational perspective but from a big picture of the race car perspective, enables me to communicate better with Richie.

What's the reaction been when you meet somebody for the first time on campus and they find out you're a NASCAR driver?

Well, a lot of people know about it. Those that don't, they always think it's really cool and they're really interested in it because it's unique. I'm unique in the NASCAR community because I'm a Duke student; I'm unique in the Duke community because I'm a NASCAR driver. And everybody thinks the other is cool. I can't tell you how many people in the garage make comments about it because everybody here knows that I go to Duke and I'm a huge basketball fan. Mason Plumlee's actual jersey is in my locker right now. Not like an off the shelf Mason jersey… because Mason is a good friend of mine, and he's number 5, and we're number 5, so Mason sent me his jersey to use for a farce.

That's awesome. How did you get to know Mason?

Just randomly, we became buddies, good friends. He's a fantastic guy. I think athletes have a similar mindset; we all congregate in some ways. I think a lot of my friends at Duke are athletes of basketball, soccer, lacrosse, whatever teams. But being a race car driver at that university makes me unique. And for people, they think it's cool.

OK, let's move onto the 2012 season. Every rookie sets personal goals as to what they want to accomplish throughout the year. What are yours?

Certainly, I've got a lot of experience to get. Almost every racetrack we go to, it will be my first time racing there. That puts a big learning curve in front of me. I've got a veteran crew chief to help me do that; Johnny Benson is here with us at Daytona to help. That said, I only race for one reason and that's to win. That's always my goal. If I ever don't come to the racetrack to win, I need to not come to the racetrack. So for us, we want to win Rookie of the Year. We want to win races this year. We think we're more than capable of doing it; we expect it.

Is it hard to move up in a series and change your mindset? What I mean by that is any talented rookie, no matter how good they are, will get to a new track and know by the end of practice they don't have the "ability" – whether it's equipment, inexperience or otherwise - to win there.

But the approach is always the same about the race. Learning as much as I can about the racetrack, learning as much as I can about the race car. Figuring out what we need to do to win. Is it one thing to go to All-American Speedway, where I've won 11 races in Late Models and two K&N Pro Series West races? Yeah, it's a little different than going to Daytona or Martinsville for the first time. I don't have that knowledge base to draw off of.

But, the preparation and the mindset is still the same. For me, that's "We're going to a racetrack. We're going to do the best we can, and we need to learn and improve all weekend long; whatever the net result is, the net result is."

Now, with Daytona, the draft is what makes or breaks you. As a rookie, you're out there for the first time with some of these guys. How do you prove you're worth working with in the draft?

I think everybody looks for two things: they want to work with somebody who's fast, and they want to work with somebody who's smart. The fast thing, I think Richie's got covered. And the smart thing, I've got some ARCA experience to draw off of. Am I Ron Hornaday? No. Have I done this a bunch of times, have I won this race a bunch of times like Todd Bodine has? No. But, you go out there, you don't put yourself out there in compromising positions, you don't put your competitors in compromising positions. You go out there, run your race in a smart way for the first half and show guys, "Hey, we're for real."

Note: During the race, unfortunately Harraka didn't get to "mix it up" with the draft for all 250 miles. Just 18 laps into the event, while working around the lapped car of fellow rookie Chris Cockrum he lost control of the No. 5 Toyota, triggering a multi-car wreck that also collected Jason Leffler and Dakoda Armstrong. Limping around with torn sheet metal, Harraka lost several laps for repairs and dropped out of contention. Through the attrition of a crash-filled event, however, he finished the night in 19th place, the last car running four laps off the pace. "We proved that we are fast and that we will be a contender all year long," he said after the event. "While the end result is certainly not what we're looking for, I believe we have a lot of great takeaways from this debut.

CURRENT EVENTS

Alright, so for NCAA Basketball we've got the big tournament coming up, but already Duke has played a few close games of its own. The second one with North Carolina didn't work out, but the first… can you explain your feelings surrounding the last-second win? How do you feel the basketball team, and Austin Rivers in particular has played this season?

I think that game was fantastic. The comeback win, and to be that far down and see us rally was something else. My roommates and I, some other friends were watching at my apartment and we were so excited. We were going crazy, everybody in our apartment complex was going crazy. Me and one of my buddies ended up going back to campus, because there was a bunch of stuff going on as the players arrived back – UNC is only 15 minutes away – and it was a blast. It was a really fun night. And the whole Duke basketball atmosphere… we're a basketball school. It's what we are. And there's a tremendous amount of school spirit pride behind that. And it adds to it when there's friends on the team.

Now you mentioned you're good friends with Mason. How well do you know the team?

No, I know a few of the different guys. Some of them I've never met, some I don't know. I know both Mason and Miles Plumlee, Seth Curry. A decent number of guys. And Coach K is the man. I've had the privilege of spending a little bit of time with Coach, getting to know him and he's a fantastic guy and a fantastic role model. The way he runs his life and his basketball program is something that everybody could learn from.

FAN QUESTION

Growing up, did you follow a driver in particular on the NASCAR circuit? And now that you're in the "Big Leagues," have you gotten a chance to meet them? Were they everything you thought they would be? – Shannon, Ann Arbor, Michigan

So, growing up I was a Ricky Rudd fan. And Ricky and I became friends and ended up racing together. Mark Dismore, the former Daytona 24-Hour winner, built a road course for go karts out in Indiana and they have a big 200-lap race there every year. It's a big deal, and it draws all the big "open-wheel" guys. It takes at least two drivers to do it, you make pit stops - the whole nine yards. And Ricky and I did that race together. We shared a car competing against Dan Wheldon, Tomas Scheckter, all the IndyCar names who run this race. Leonard Wood, Ricky had just stopped driving for the Wood Brothers at the time, built us a refueling rig so we had some of the fastest pit stops of anybody. And, long story short we ended up taking the lead during the second stint and ended up winning that race. Lapped almost the entire field. From that point, Ricky and I have remained friends and we still talk on the phone all the time. He's even going to be analyzing me on SPEED this year! Picking me apart for the whole world to hear (laughs).

WHAT'S HOT / WHAT'S NOT IN PAULIE'S WORLD

This Month's Topic: NCAA Tournament

What Team Scares You For Duke Heading In? At this point, where our basketball program is, I don't know if there are any teams that "scare" me. There's always those that pop up in the tournament you never would have thought would be good. You had Butler the last two years, and then you had everybody talking about VCU as the new Butler last year. I don't know if there are any schools out there like that right now, but nobody saw them in the Final Four.

So that's the biggest thing the last two years have taught us: you don't know what underdog is going to steal the big school's thunder, like Duke and Syracuse and Kentucky. It seems like a tiny little school always comes out of nowhere; so let's see who that might be. I think it is cool where you get this underdog, nobody really thought about them kind of teams and suddenly they're in the Final Four and you go, "Where did they come from?"

What Team Doesn't Scare You? Well, I think Florida State, having beat UNC and beat Duke, was somebody that I was kind of like, "Uh oh." But not anymore.

The Duke – North Carolina Rivalry. How special is it for you, and have you ever done something special to celebrate it?

Well, the rivalry is so big because we're so close. And I have friends at Carolina, and you'll see Carolina kids at Duke because we're so close. I even had a girlfriend that went to North Carolina. It wasn't during basketball season, thankfully. But that rivalry makes it so cool, that much more fun to go to school there because Duke and Carolina kids are generally, in the "big picture" friends but obviously fierce, fierce rivals during basketball season. It makes it that much more fun.

Duke has all kinds of traditions around the Carolina game. When we beat Carolina or win the national championship, we have these big benches on campus: I'm talking 10 feet tall by 25 feet wide, wood. And we burn benches on campus and there are some really cool traditions around that. When we won the national championship, I was on campus and one of my best friends and I had gone to Cameron and we're sitting there, watching the game inside. And obviously, it was crazy because the whole arena was just packed with students, going nuts… when you've got rivalries like that, they just add to the mystique of the basketball program. When so many people are behind the program, it makes it so much fun.

Have a question for Paulie? Email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com and you could be a part of the next edition of this feature!

Learn More...
Follow Paulie On Twitter
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Tom Bowles is the Editor-in-Chief of Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at tom.bowles@frontstretch.com.

ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com for details.

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Charging Into The Future: A Look At Dodge's Top Targets For 2013
by Tom Bowles

MPM2Nite: The Way We Were
by Matt McLaughlin

Potts' Shots: Safety And Rules Remain A "Moving Target"
by John Potts

Professor of Speed: Is It A Crime If Everybody Breaks The Law?
by Mark Howell

Backing Up Complaints With Cash: An Open Letter to Fans
by Amy Henderson

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: After 1982, Formula One decided to cut down from three U.S. Grand Prix to two. As a result, the decision was made to dump the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas, Nevada while keeping the new (for 1982) race in Detroit and Long Beach for 1983. Generally, this adjustment was considered to be a good move at the time. However, the Caesars Palace Grand Prix continued on with CART. What was done to the track to facilitate CART's arrival?

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

Tuesday's Answer:

Q: In 1997, Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted the first-ever race west of the Mississippi River for the then-Busch Grand National Series. As it was held on an off weekend for Winston Cup (the event was held the weekend in-between Atlanta and Darlington), many Cup regulars made the trip out to Nevada.

One of these drivers, Joe Nemechek, had an excellent run, leading 49 laps. Unfortunately, his day ended in the concrete. What happened to put him there?

Editor's Note: Originally, this question claimed that the race took place the first weekend of March, and that the Richmond race weekend had been pushed back to June. This change did not happen until 1998. In 1997, Richmond was still the third race of the season for both series, and still very cold.

A: On Lap 123, Todd Bodine got loose in Turn 4 and slid up into Mike Wallace. As a result, Wallace spun the unsponsored Whitaker Racing No. 7 and backed into the wall. Behind Wallace, Jason Keller also crashed and Nemechek crashed into Keller. In a third, related crash, Tim Bender backed Robbie Reiser's No. 17 Kraft Singles Chevrolet hard into the wall. Finally, Jerry Robertson, driving a Ford for Doug Taylor also spun. Of note, Wallace nearly wrecked in front of the pack two laps later exiting Turn 4 after Bodine hooked him in the left rear corner. The crash can be seen at the 1 hour, 27 minute and 40 second mark of the full race.

Nemechek, Keller, Wallace and Bender were out on the spot. Robertson's Thunderbird was undamaged, so he was able to continue, eventually finishing three laps down in 22nd.

Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!

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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Nick Schwartz
-- In Case You Missed It by Nick Schwartz
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!

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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:

Four Burning Questions: Las Vegas by Summer Dreyer
Summer returns with her four-part look at what we should expect from this weekend's Kobalt Tools 400 in Las Vegas.

Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
This week, Rockingham Speedway played host to a Goodyear Tire Test in preparation for next month's Good Sam Club 200. Amy is here to show you just how important this race really is.

Friday Fast Forward Into NASCAR's Future by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan returns with another interesting commentary piece.

Voices From the Heartland by Jeff Meyer
Jeff may no longer live in Iowa, but he's still back with his own particular brand of writing.

5th Column TBA

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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!
©2012 Frontstretch.com

The Frontstretch Newsletter: March 7th, 2012

2012-03-07T00:32:00.000-08:00

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 7th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition XXXIII

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Top News
by Brad Morgan

Truck Series Tests at Rockingham

Onlookers have finally been able to welcome the sights and sounds of NASCAR back to legendary Rockingham Speedway. On Tuesday, the historic track hosted Day One of a Goodyear tire test in preparation for the upcoming Camping World Truck Series race scheduled for April 15th. Fans were admitted into the track for free to watch as drivers James Buescher, Jason Leffler, and Timothy Peters logged laps and gathered research for their teams.

The drivers were able to make 20-lap runs around the 1.017-mile speedway, prepping for the first official NASCAR competition since the February, 2004 Nextel Cup race held there. But according to an official press release, little has changed since NASCAR last visited the track.

"Tires are [still] going to be really important here, because the surface is so hard on tires and you would group this place and Darlington together on the way it treated tires. It makes for a lot of fun behind the wheel," said Leffler. "It's a technical race track. It's a driver's race track… it's a shame we don't come here more often."

Fan support at Rockingham will likely be high despite NASCAR's long hiatus away from the hollowed grounds. The trucks should have the stands packed out of pure anticipation that has been building since the race date was announced last Fall.

"There are a lot of families that are going to the beach that week and they are going to come by and check out the trucks. Very cool that the race is bringing the buzz around the area that it has been. They are going to get their money's worth, for sure," Peters said.

After the day's events, all drivers were satisfied as it seems apparent that "The Rock" is prepped and ready to handle the Trucks.

"Productive Tire test at The Rock today! The race here is going to be a blast," Buescher said via Twitter.

Testing will resume today, March 7th, and admission for fans will once again be free. The Good Sam Roadside Assistance Carolina 200 will be the third event on the Truck Series schedule this season.

Robby Gordon Interested in Remaining with Dodge

After driving for every manufacturer running in Sprint Cup today, Robby Gordon is satisfied by his current affiliation with Dodge, one that began prior to the 2011 season. Unfortunately, he may be the only one left who currently feels this way.

Following the news that Penske Racing, Dodge's highest profile organization, will switch to rival Ford after the 2012 season, the outlook for the manufacturer remains hazy. Despite plans to unveil a new Charger model for the next campaign later this year, Dodge now faces uncertainty because the single-car operation at Robby Gordon Motorsports (RGM) is the only full-time team slated to return for 2013.

According to SceneDaily.com writer Bob Pockrass, though, the owner/driver remains optimistic that Dodge could choose to offer more support to RGM as a result.

"I've had a good relationship with these guys," Gordon said. "I don't know if they're going to choose us. Time will tell if they choose us or if they have to choose a big name."

Pockrass stated that the 19-year veteran receives various parts as a component of his current agreement with Dodge, but any additional assistance would be helpful. Funding is tight for Gordon, who has been forced to cut back and run partial schedules in each of the last two seasons.

The California native plans to attempt all 36 races with Dodge in 2012. Heading into this week's event at Las Vegas, Gordon has qualified for both races in his No. 7 Mapei/Speed Energy Charger; an engine failure at Daytona, followed by a start-and-park in Phoenix resulted in 41st-place finishes for each event.

Another Suspect Charged in Jeremy Mayfield Theft Case

A Catawba County, N.C. man has been charged in connection with the ongoing theft case involving former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield. According to the Hudson Valley Police Department, Rusty Alex Canipe was indicted on four counts of felony larceny that he allegedly committed while a part of Mayfield's purported crime ring; he later received a bond set at $100,000 after turning himself over to authorities.

Canipe is one of several people allegedly involved in a series of theft crimes which were apparently used to fund the past driver's meth habit. While the entire criminal operation seems to have taken place on a large scale, he faces charges that are based on a minor incident. According to a report on WBTV.com, the accused robber was charged in connection with the Feb. 26, 2011 theft of numerous trailers and pieces of furniture belonging to Anderson Truck Lines.

This indictment is but more bad news for Mayfield, who was taken into custody last November after police seized meth and later roughly $100,000 worth of stolen furniture, firearms, heavy machinery, equipment believed to belong to Red Bull Racing and other allegedly stolen items found on his property. The two-time Chase veteran has already been dealt blows to his image as a result of his ban from sanctioned racing events and ensuing battles with NASCAR in court, following a second positive test for methamphetamine during the 2009 season.

Have news for Brad and 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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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and, if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursday with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!

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Today's Featured Commentary
Sometimes You Must Teach an Old Driver New Tricks
Full Throttle
by Mike Neff

The Cup Series has introduced Electronic Fuel Injection for the 2012 racing season, a sharp learning curve for everyone from the mechanics to the men behind the wheel. As an example, after two races we've already seen a couple of engine failures and at least one three-time series champ bitten by the idiosyncrasies of a computer in the car. For while the technology has at least moved the top stock car series in the country closer to the 21st Century, it is a new and different system for drivers who have not yet had to deal with the procedural steps of rebooting their race cars.

During the NASCAR Media Tour in January, several different crew chiefs mentioned how dealing with race cars that were out of fuel would take more steps to reset the EFI systems than just turning the car off, then on like the drivers did in the "old days." While teams would not have to use the squirt bottles of gas or ether that they used to employ on pit lane to get cars to refire, the drivers would have to remember to power their cars completely off and back on in order for the EFI computer to reset itself. If the pumps ran dry in the fuel cell, the system would apparently shut down and would not restart without the power being recycled to the main unit.

Depending on the crew chief, different stories were told that month about how the system would reprime once a fuel cell ran dry. Some crew chiefs stated that the sending units in the fuel cell would immediately start picking up fuel as soon as the gas was put back into the cell. Other head wrenches, though felt as though getting the system to begin sending fuel to the engine again it would require some very specific steps performed in a unique order to make the pumps begin reoperating effectively. While not having teams forcing gas into the carburetor while the team pushes the car down pit lane is a benefit, getting the system to build up the necessary pressure in order to function may or may not be a difficult task.

This past weekend, the issues for Tony Stewart bring up a couple of interesting questions. Stewart has proven, during a successful stock car racing career, that if the time calls for it he can save enough petroleum to nab a win. However, with the EFI system, some of his techniques may be a bit more risky than they were in the past. Apparently Stewart turned off his car while trying to save gas and, after turning the system back on, the car would not re-fire. After some exhaustive investigation by his crew, they ascertained that a breaker had been tripped on the unit. Once that breaker was reset, of course the system functioned as anticipated but it was too late. Unfortunately for Stewart, the field had passed pit road twice while they were trying to diagnose the issue and the defending champ was relegated to a 22nd-place finish after charging to what would have been a solid top 10.

In Frontstretch's first Tech Talk article this week, Brian Keselowski discussed his views about the system and the fact that, while the fuel cell may be able to be sucked dry, the amount of fuel that it takes to make the system run properly may actually mean that the teams can't really utilize all of it because there is a residual amount of gas that will be in the system when the pressure required to make it run falls below a certain level. Therefore, while there may be some fuel in the cell, one of the two sending units may run dry and result in a drop in pressure that won't allow the system to get the gas into the cylinders at the necessary levels for the engine to run.

As people adapted to cassette tapes and then CDs, or VHS tapes to DVDs, the racers in the Cup Series will adapt to the ins and outs of the EFI system. It most certainly will take some trial and error. Some people will most certainly be bitten, like Stewart was this past weekend and have to suffer through a less than ideal finish. Knowing the brains that are in the pits of the Cup Series, though it wouldn't surprise anyone to have them come up with a less cumbersome method of restarting the system, including some lights that tell the driver if he has waited long enough and whether the system is prepared to be rebooted. They'll also probably develop more efficient sending units that will be able to get every last drop out of the fuel cell because one thing is for sure about drivers; they'll push their cars to the very limits and that includes sucking every drop of gas out of their tanks.

Drivers are some adaptive creatures and, as things develop and advance, the best ones embrace those changes and advance with them. Radial tires caused a lot of headaches for those who had been on bias ply versions for a long time, while drivers with less experience in the Cup Series actually embraced them more quickly. For some drivers, they never adapted; others figured them out and excelled. The same thing has occurred with the new car design in the Cup Series. Some drivers have truly struggled with the new car, whether it is the handling or what it takes to make it go fast, but the best have learned how to make it work and some of the newer drivers in the series have embraced the new design more readily.

The EFI system is just the latest in a long line of major changes in the Cup Series that will take some getting used to. The drivers and teams who learn to maximize it first will have the most success but, in the long run, the best drivers and teams will rise to the top and win with the new technology.

When it is all said and done, you can teach old drivers new tricks.

Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at mike.neff@frontstretch.com.

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COME JOIN THE FRONTSTRETCH FAMILY!

Hey Frontstretch Readers,

If you are interested, contact frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com. Please include references to your past work in your e-mail.

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Tweet 'N' Greet
by Summer Dreyer

Editor's Note: With the NASCAR Twitter community expanding by leaps and bounds, it remains a place for instantaneous news, reactions, and a whole lot of inside jokes. We understand if you don't want to join the Twitter community - but as a fan, it's important to know the news and info you're missing out on! That's why, every week, Summer Dreyer will sort through the thousands of messages and give us a little taste of what's going on each Wednesday.

So, without further ado, here's a look at what those in NASCAR were thinking over the past seven days...

@DeLanaHarvick: Still got a solid second place finish!!! Nice job by the 29 guys today. Even though we didn't get the win big picture it was a solid day.

@JonEdwards24: #DaleJr., @SteveLetarte and @JeffGordonWeb after@PhoenixRaceway event. #jeffgordon twitpic.com/8s4831

@landoncassill: Man, we got knocked into the fence and broke an oil line. We were very fast though, should be OK this year

@bscottracing (Brian Scott): Good work by all the @JoeGibbsRacing guys in @PhoenixRaceway today! Way to go boys! Congrats @dennyhamlin!

@MartinTruexJr56: Awesome job by @napaknowhow @MWRteam we fought the hard fight of track position all day. But the @NAPAFilters car was a rocket in clean air

@EddieDHondt: Driver fought very hard for that finish today. Nice rebound from last week's misfortune. Great team effort.

@Regan_Smith_: Well we were in good position at the end, just a lil short on fuel. Proud of my guys worked hard all weekend at a track we struggled last yr

@jamiemcmurray: Had to put Jake down, got in a small wreck, ran out of gas and then blew up the engine. Tough weekend.

@mattkenseth: Tough weekend, for all the struggles we had I guess we will take 13th and head to Vegas. Team did great, driver not so great!

@keselowski (Brad Keselowski): Decent 5th place day here @PhoenixRaceway My team was on it today! Fun race at the end eh @JimmieJohnson ;)

@JeffGordonWeb: Great effort from our team today. Alan made some food calls to get track position. 8th place a good finish considering we started 30th.

@mattkenseth: I am dying to get home and see my sweet wife and kids... now airplane is broke! I'm wondering if I will ever get to go home!

Summer Dreyer is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. She can be reached via email at summer.dreyer@frontstretch.com.

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ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at tony.lumbis@frontstretch.com for details.

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Did You Notice? ... Great Gambles Already, Sadler's Sudden Consequences And Quick Hits
by Tom Bowles

Mirror Driving: Defining Dodge, Pondering Penalties and Does Winning Breed Winning?
by the Frontstretch Staff

Tech Talk, Edition I: Tearing Apart The Inside Of A Cup Car vs. ARCA
by Mike Neff

It Takes Two... Races, Concerned Champs, And NASCAR Teammates On The Rise
by Garrett Horton

Sprint Cup Power Rankings: Top 15 After Phoenix
compiled by Summer Dreyer

Top Ten Reasons Elliott Sadler Cannot Race a Toyota For MWR
by Jeff Meyer

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: In 1997, Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted the first-ever race west of the Mississippi River for the then-Busch Grand National Series. As it was held on an off weekend for Winston Cup (the race was the same weekend that the first race at Richmond had been the previous year, but RIR had successfully lobbied to get their date moved to June to avoid the habitually cold March weather) many Cup regulars made the trip out to Nevada.

One of these drivers, Joe Nemechek, had an excellent run, leading 49 laps. Unfortunately, his day ended in the concrete. What happened to put him there?

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

Tuesday's Answer:

Q: The 1999 Las Vegas 400 is best known for the battle for the win between the Burton brothers. However, rookie Tony Stewart's day was effectively over before it even started. What happened?

A: On Lap 8, Johnny Benson got his No. 26 Cheerios Ford loose exiting Turn 4 and got into the wall, right-rear first. When Benson came off the wall, he spun and hit Stewart, causing both drivers to crash. Both men spent significant time behind the wall getting repairs, but eventually returned to the race. Stewart finished 83 laps down in 36th, while Benson finished 107 laps down in 38th. The crash can be seen as it happened at the 4:57 mark of this clip.

Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!

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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Phil Allaway
-- What's Vexing Vito by Vito Pugliese
-- NEW! Frontstretch Newsletter Feature: Kickin' It With Paulie Harraka by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, the Line of the Week and more!

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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:

MPM2Nite by Matt McLaughlin
Matt McLaughlin is back again this season with his usual sarcastic sense of humor ... and incomparable insight.

Potts' Shots by John Potts
Fanning the Flames has become Potts' Shots, and John Potts is here to answer your questions in our weekly Fan Q & A. Do you have something you'd like to ask John? Don't sit on the sidelines! Send it to john.potts@frontstretch.com, and you just may see your question in print next week!

Professor Of Speed by Mark Howell
Our professor of racing history "has at it" with another column pertinent to the sport at large.

Truckin' Thursdays by Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth is back this year on a new night, but it's the same great commentary you've come to enjoy!

Special 5th Column TBD

The Frontstretch Newsletter: March 6th, 2012

2012-03-06T06:06:00.000-08:00

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 6th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition XXXII

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What To Watch: Tuesday

Truck Series regulars James Buescher, Jason Leffler and Timothy Peters will be at Rockingham Speedway for an official Goodyear tire test. The series is prepping for NASCAR's return to the speedway, as this division will run the Good Sam Club Roadside Assistance Carolina 200 on April 15th. Grandstands will be open to fans during the day, with admission free of charge as the Speedway hopes to reconnect with the community while posting record "practice" attendance for April's main event.

Today's Top News
by Kevin Rutherford

Sadler's Five-Race Deal With Michael Waltrip Racing Off

Elliott Sadler's tenure with Michael Waltrip Racing is over before it even began. After announcing a five-race deal in the Cup Series with the team this weekend, a limited schedule that started at Bristol on March 18th the veteran confirmed Monday the deal was nixed almost immediately by his Nationwide owner, Richard Childress.

Following Sadler's win in the Bashas' Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix, the driver said that Childress and executives brought him into a private meeting and discussed their concerns. By the end of it, the Virginia native was on the outside looking in on the Cup opportunity. "I think Richard," Sadler told SPEED.com, "Along with some of the executives that he has, have just decided that it's probably not in our best interest to do that right now."

The motive behind squashing the move remains unknown; the driver claimed to ESPN.com's David Newton switching manufacturers for Cup was not an issue (Michael Waltrip Racing is a Toyota outfit, while Childress is a longtime Chevy supporter). It's also unclear whether Childress was made aware of Sadler's new deal before it was publicly announced.

Sadler was scheduled to run the No. 55 at both Bristol and Martinsville races, as well as the July 15 event at New Hampshire. No replacement has been named, although former Red Bull Racing driver Brian Vickers is a heavy favorite to land the seat.

Sprint Cup Will Have A Rookie Race After All

Two races into 2012, the Sprint Cup Series now has two drivers running for top freshman honors. Timmy Hill and Josh Wise have now officially announced their candidacy for Rookie of the Year, partnered with underfunded teams but armed with hope proper sponsorship gives them a chance to stay competitive.

Wise, who at the end of 2011 was rumored to be running for the award with Max Q Motorsports, will run the season in Front Row Motorsports' third car, the No. 26 instead. Ironically Max Q, changing direction has formed a partnership with Rick Ware Racing to run Hill, the defending Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Danica Patrick, who's participating in a ten-race limited schedule has chosen not to file for the award; however, with the current seven-race limit that will make her ineligible to compete as a rookie in 2013.

It is unclear whether or not both drivers will be able to run the full schedule, let alone the entire lap count of each race. Wise and Front Row's bid will be dependent on sponsorship, and while Hill has backing from Poynt.com, the team may put a more experienced driver in the seat to get the No. 37 in the top 35 of owner's points if need be. Hill was the lone driver who failed to qualify Sunday at Phoenix, his first ever Cup Series attempt.

News 'N' Notes Post-Phoenix

- NASCAR has announced its plans to have a pace car follow behind jet dryers when they are clearing the track. The change comes following Juan Pablo Montoya's spin into the safety equipment during last week's Daytona 500 - one which resulted in a head-on collision, scary fuel explosion and an over two-hour red flag for repairs.

Drivers of the jet dryers may also be required to wear helmets and fire suits. However, requiring officials to do so is a change agreed upon by officials at individual tracks - it won't become an official part of the NASCAR rulebook going forward.

- A day-plus after Phoenix, Tony Stewart and his team are still trying to diagnose their EFI issue. According to USA Today, Stewart's crew discovered that Stewart accidentally tripped a breaker switch when he shut his car off under caution on Lap 247. That led to the team using a variety of troubleshooting methods in order to get the engine restarted, costing the team two laps and leading to a 22nd-place result.

Have news for Kevin and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashland10@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.

Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady

Life used to be much simpler. If something turned off, you reached for the switch and turned it back on. Easy. I'm thinking that thought may have been flitting through Tony Stewart's mind as he sat on pit road flipping the ignition switch on his No. 14 over and over, with nothing happening.

Granted, it's always been difficult to get a car re-fired after it ran out of fuel, but if you ever wondered if there was going to be a learning curve with the new EFI, the answer is clearly yes. I couldn't help but chuckle as Tony's crew member climbed in the passenger window to fiddle with the new bit of circuitry mounted on the dashboard and the camera tried to focus on the only bit of action to be found around the No. 14 car at the moment--a man's hand as he reset the popped circuit breaker.

Couldn't you almost hear the conversation?

"Hit the ignition."

"I did, you idiot! What do you think I've been doing here? It won't turn back on."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Did you wait five seconds?"

You see the rolling eyes, short huff of breath and the muttered, "onetwothreefourfive" in rapid fire before his glove tries once again. At this point, if there wasn't a five-point harness holding him down, you'd think Tony would've been jumping up and down in his seat. I doubt his head could hit the steering wheel, either.

At least in the past not only did the viewing audience get to watch a team clamber around the pits in near panic as they grabbed the ether can, crossed their fingers, hit a handy piece of sheet metal and generally prayed to the racing gods for their machine to refire, but it gave the team something to do as well. Now it's a little more like a visit to the Geek Squad.

"So, tell me, what's it doing?"

"Not working."

"What do you mean, exactly."

"I hit the button and nothing happens."

Kevin Harvick, in his post-race Q&A referred to the restart process as, "a procedure that looks like a video game." It's all voodoo, to those of us at home watching on TV and apparently even to those following the checklist.

I probably wouldn't have given any real credence to the idea of EFI affecting the outcome of the race if there weren't further incidents of odd looking fuel mileage quirks in Phoenix. In days gone by a car would run out of gas, wiggle, sputter and just about stop. Harvick's No. 29 apparently emptied its tank on the final lap, but didn't stop. He sort of kept rolling, just not with any kind of competitive speed. That's something else that's new. The car will simply cut power when it has no more gas, to save the engine. Pretty cool! But definitely different. My eyes are going to need a whole new set of guidelines to determine exactly what's happening on the track.

And talk about anti-climatic, Denny Hamlin won! He freakin' won at the track that took away an entire championship in a fuel mileage run (cue Alanis Morrisette's "Isn't that Ironic?") He rolls down the frontstretch, throws his car into gear, stands on the gas. His No. 11 begins the expected burnout...and dies.

I looked for the telltale trail of smoke from under the hood or out the pipes. Nothing. Actually, he just kind of sat there all quiet and still. The FOX crew muttered among themselves for a few seconds, decided the car was out of gas and began to talk about something else. The camera started to pull back. We might've been going to commercial, as clearly the FedEx Office machine was destined to be pushed to Victory Lane. Ah! Not so fast. Suddenly the engine re-fired and DW declared, "He reset the system and got it re-fired."

Reset. Like reboot? Ah, so NASCAR has actually entered the 21st century, at long last. Like the televisions, phones and laptops that we all watch our favorite sport on, the cars finally have little computers in them capable of mucking up an afternoon to a fair-thee-well. They freeze. Anybody wondering of it's not just EFI gumming up the works, but possibly a Windows operating system as well?

It's called progress, folks. And in NASCAR lingo, change for consistency's sake. But never fear, I'm sure in a very short amount of time Jeff Hammond will have all new circuitry diagrams available on his cool new electronic cut-away car to explain to us exactly what just happened. At least I hope somebody will. Until then, I'll be wishing for the good ol' days where a broken part meant you could hold it in two hands.

Sonya's Weekly "Danica Patrick Stat":
Phoenix: NNS in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
Qualified: 30th
Finished: 21st (running, 3 laps down)
Points Position: 21st

S.D. Grady is a Senior Editor for Frontstretch.com. She can be reached via e-mail at sonya.grady@frontstretch.com. Follow her on Twitter at @laregna.

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Numbers Game: Subway Fresh Fit 500k
by Garrett Horton

1
It took Denny Hamlin just two races to match his win total from all of last year, when his one victory came at Michigan last June.

3rd
Greg Biffle has finished third in the first two races this year. His best finish all of last season was a third-place result, but it took him 28 races to get that finish. Additionally, he had just three top-5 runs in 2011, just one more than his total already two weeks into the season.

4
With Hamlin's victory at Phoenix, new crew chief Darian Grubb has now won races with four different drivers. He was atop the pit box for Jimmie Johnson in 2006 when Chad Knaus was suspended for four races, winning two races, including the Daytona 500. He made the race winning call a year later for Casey Mears in the Coke 600, gambling on fuel mileage which was Mears first, and only, victory in his career. Of course, we all know the run he had with Tony Stewart, winning five times in the Chase last year. Grubb's total win count as a crew chief now stands at 15.

7.315
Hamlin's margin of victory of second place finisher Kevin Harvick. Harvick had been gaining on Hamlin in the concluding laps, getting within one second of the lead before running out of fuel with a lap and a half to go.

8
Joey Logano currently sits eighth in the Sprint Cup standings, matching the highest he has ever been. The last time he was this far up in points was in 2010, when he was eighth after three races.

15
There were 15 different leaders on Sunday, breaking the track record.

37th
Thanks to a rough week a Daytona, which saw him finish 42nd and a 25 point penalty handed down from NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson is tied with J.J. Yeley for 37th in the standings. Without the penalty, he would currently be sitting 27th overall.

198
The No. 11 has now visited victory circle 198 times, and is now tied with the 43 for most trips to the winners circle by a car number.

931
Jimmie Johnson has led 931 laps at Phoenix for his career, a track record. He padded his stats Sunday by leading for 55 circuits.

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ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com for details.

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Five Points to Ponder: Hamlin On-Track, Sadler Off-Track? and a Big Homecoming for Kurt Busch
by Bryan Davis Keith

The Biff is Back!
by Danny Peters

Who's Hot/ Who's Not: Phoenix - Las Vegas Edition
by Brett Poirier

Couch Potato Tuesday: Phoenix Shows Relative Strength for FOX, ESPN Struggles
by Phil Allaway

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: The 1999 Las Vegas 400 is best known for the battle for the win between the Burton brothers. However, rookie Tony Stewart's day was effectively over before it even started. What happened?

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

Monday's Answer:

Q: In 2007, Downtown Las Vegas played host to what turned out to be a one-off street race that served as the season opener for the ChampCar World Series. However, a modification to the track had to be made before the race. What was this, and why?

A: The organizers were forced to install a temporary chicane right in front of Sam Boyd's California Hotel & Casino on West Odgen St. due to the fact that there was a liftoff risk for the then-new Panoz DP01's. Odgen St. fell away dramatically in order to enter a tunnel right afterwards, so the move was undertaken to slow the cars before the dropoff.

Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!

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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from TBD
-- Full Throttle by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!

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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:

Did You Notice? ... by Tom Bowles
How some early 2012 gambles are playing out? Tom Bowles takes a Las Vegas look, tackles the Elliott Sadler snafu and more in his weekly look at small but important observations around the Sprint Cup circuit.

Going Green by Garrett Horton
Granted, we're only two weeks into the season right now. However, it is still possible for certain drivers to be shaking in their silver booties. Garrett will look at those drivers and others who have a lot to look forward to after great starts.

Frontstretch Top Ten by Jeff Meyer
Jeff's sarcastic sense of humor is back in action, getting you revved and ready for the 2012 NASCAR season with another one of his classic Top Ten lists.

Mirror Driving by the Frontstretch Staff
Our weekly roundtable of experts are back! This week's topics include the upcoming Hendrick Motorsports appeal of Chad Knaus' suspension, what Dodge will do in order to replace Penske in their fold for 2013 and more.

Top 15 Power Rankings after the Subway Fresh Fit 500k compiled by Summer Dreyer
Your favorite weekly rankings are back, with a twist! Media experts from multiple platforms, not just Frontstretch come together in a racing-style AP Poll to rank the top 15 NASCAR drivers entering the season. And oh, they have plenty of sarcastic one-liners, too!

Tech Talk by Mike Neff
This year, we have an interesting new weekly feature for our readers, a special crew chief stopping by on a weekly basis to discuss the technical aspects of our sport. Find out who and what by checking out this column tomorrow.

The Frontstretch Newsletter: March 5th, 2012

2012-03-05T00:08:00.001-08:00

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 5th, 2012
Volume V, Edition XXXI
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ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com for details.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sprint Cup Race Recap: Phoenix not a Daytona Downer for Denny
by Jeff Wolfe

After all the excitement and suspense involved in NASCAR's season-opening Daytona 500 last week, many might consider the Sprint Cup season's second race a bit of downer. After all, there were no lead changes in the final 52 laps.

Try telling that to Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb.

The duo, in just their second race together stunk up the show late, winning on a combination of speed and fuel mileage to coast to victory in the 312-lap race at Phoenix International Raceway. Of course, Hamlin certainly knows what it's like to leave Phoenix on a bit of down note, having essentially lost the Chase for the Championship at the track with a late-race pit strategy mistake in the fall of 2010 and not having a top-10 finish at PIR in his last four races there. When the weekend started, the driver actually thought he might be in for more frustration out in the desert.

"I mean, for me, I don't know where this came from," he said of what amounted to a late-race surge: he closed by leading 59 consecutive laps, holding off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick before the No. 29 car ran out of gas. "I don't know how our car was as good as it was today. We were solidly off in practice. We were off, but we kept getting it better and closer to being competitive. But, I had no idea we were going to fire off like we did today. "You know, it just seemed like we kept improving our car, and I think the turning point for us was that green flag pit stop. Whatever he (Grubb) did to the car at that point was just lights-out after that."

Hamlin's last green flag pit stop came on lap 188, after he had taken the lead as the pit stops cycled through. He stayed in the top-5 after those adjustments and held station until a debris caution with 59 laps remaining. It was on that restart where Brad Keselowski had the inside line and tried to pull away to take the lead, but he appeared to enter the third turn a little hard, and slid up the track, leaving an open door that Hamlin gladly drove through. The No. 11 Toyota had clean air - and clear sailing - after that.

"If you asked me at the beginning of today, I say we would have taken a top-15 finish," he said. "This is huge momentum for us. I've never been in this position this early in the season. This is particularly not my type of track."

While former Stewart-Haas crew chief Grubb celebrated in Victory Lane, it was a 1-2 punch to the gut down the stretch for his former employer. Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards tangled on Lap 257, causing the final caution and forcing Newman to get extensive repairs to continue on. He eventually finished two laps down in 21st after running in the top-10 most of the day. On the previous caution, Newman's owner and teammate Tony Stewart also had bad fortune. With several drivers being close on fuel, Stewart decided to shut the car off to save gas, a common practice in such situations in NASCAR. However, when the reigning champ went to start it back up, he was out of luck.

"I just shut the car off like I did at Daytona and I don't know why it didn't refire," said Stewart, who eventually got restarted and finished two laps down in 22nd. "I just turned the switch back on and it never refired. It definitely cost us a good day."

It appeared to be an electrical problem with the new fuel injection system that cost Stewart. Several others also ended the race with their own issues, simply running out of gas as they chose track position over pitting during the final few yellow flags. That list included a fast-closing Kevin Harvick, who appeared to be in a good situation at one point to challenge Hamlin for the win - he gradually closed the gap and reached Hamlin's bumper with two laps to go. But, that's as far as the veteran got. He ran out heading to the white flag lap, although he still had enough of a cushion to beat third-place finisher Greg Biffle to the line.

"Yeah, when you come out of a caution and they tell you you're nine laps short, you really don't think there's any possibility to make it," Harvick said. "But, a couple cautions and a little bit of saving and a little bit tighter crunch on the numbers, we wound up about a lap short."

"But those are the types of things you've got to do to take the chances to win a championship, and when you're close enough to at least coast around, they did a good job."

Part of the job for fourth-place finisher Jimmie Johnson was to try and get back into the positive side of the point standings, something it looked like he'd do in grand fashion early on after leading 55 laps. But a pit road miscue for bad lugnut studs dropped him to 24th in the middle of the race, ending any hopes of an upset just days after a 25-point penalty left him with -23 heading into the weekend. Fighting back for a fourth-place finish, that plus the bonus point for leading a lap gave him a 41-point day at Phoenix, giving him 18 total. That's good for 38th in the standings, but 71 behind new leader Hamlin.

"We were definitely concerned about fuel," said Johnson, who refrained from criticizing his crew for their mistake. "We just tried to make sure we got some points today."

Brad Keselowski, who overdrove Turn 3 while trying to hold off Hamlin, rounded out the top 5. Kyle Busch, who was in contention for the win prior to the final stops, finished sixth. Martin Truex, Jr. was seventh, followed by Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Joey Logano rounded out the top 10.

But the Sunday story was clearly Hamlin, who now has started the season with two top-5 finishes after struggling to get any during the first month since 2010. When questioned about the fiery beginning, he immediately credited Grubb, who led Stewart to the title in a late season rally last year, for injecting some life into the No. 11 team after a disappointing 2011 season. So would the head wrench stick it to his former boss in Victory Lane?

Nope... he simply let Stewart's "sticky" EFI situation stand on its own merits.

"I guess you could say it is a little bit of vindication, but I really don't think that way," Grubb said. "I try to just think the high road all the time. I feel like I came into a very good situation."

Jeff Wolfe is a New Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.

Tracking the Chase: Phoenix Brings Wild Swings in Points
by Jeff Wolfe

Here's a look at the winners and losers, early on when it comes to making the top-12 cutoff to reach NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup in the final ten races of the season. Remember, the 11th and 12th positions will go to the drivers with the most wins who are inside the top-20 in points.

The big gainers: Brad Keselowski picked up 17 spots to move up to 12th, benefiting from a strong top-5 run. One spot ahead lies Bobby Labonte, sitting there in 11th after gaining three spots Sunday through a solid, consistent 16th-place performance.

False positive: Mark Martin is sitting in seventh, but isn't scheduled to run all the races this season. The first race he'll sit out will be Bristol on March 18th.

Biggest losers: After rough days at Phoenix, Jeff Burton and Paul Menard each dropped eight spots to 13th and 14th, respectively. Also, Stewart-Haas teammates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman were looking at top-10 finishes, only to be slowed by mechanical issues and an accident, putting Stewart in 22nd and Newman in 21st at Phoenix. That erased what could have been a big gain for them: Stewart is tied for 12th in points while Newman is 18th.

Top-12 Standings: 1) Denny Hamlin 89, 2) Greg Biffle -6, 3) Kevin Harvick -8, 4) Matt Kenseth -10, 5) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -17, t-6) Martin Truex, Jr. -18, t-6) Mark Martin -18, 8) Joey Logano -19, 9) Kyle Busch -23, 10) Carl Edwards -26, 11) Bobby Labonte -31, t-12) Brad Keselowski -37, t-12) Jeff Burton -37, t-12) Paul Menard -37, t-12) Tony Stewart -37.

Race winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix).

Tracking The Top 35: Some Surprising Drivers are at Risk

35 starting spots, through owner points are always guaranteed in Sprint Cup; but remember, for the first five races of 2012 it's the top-35 in 2011 points who are locked into the first five races this season. After that, the 2012 point standings take over. Keep that in mind as we discuss the current top 35 battle below...

Where's Jimmie: After the crippling 25-point penalty from Daytona, Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 is back up to 38th in the standings after a fourth-place finish Sunday. He's got 18 points, just three behind 35th-place David Ragan.

Close for Kasey and Casey: Kasey Kahne is in 33rd in owner points and Casey Mears 34th, just four and three points ahead of the cutline. Both have experienced hard crashes so far this season, each wrecking out at Phoenix and spending extensive time behind the wall.

What's he doing back here? Speaking of McMurray, his No. 1 car tied with Ragan for 36th in owner points after finishing 37th Sunday at Phoenix. Surely, this won't last but if current points were being used in Las Vegas, both drivers would have to qualify on speed.

31) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), +10 points ahead of 36th.
32) Roush Fenway Racing (No. 6 - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.), +6 points ahead of 36th.*
33) Hendrick Motorsports (No. 5 - Kasey Kahne), +4 points ahead of 36th.
34) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +3 points ahead of 36th.
35) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 - David Stremee), +1 point ahead of 36th.
t-36) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan),-1 point behind 35th.
t-36) Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing (No. 1 - Jamie McMurray), -1 point behind 35th.
38) NEMCO Motorsports (No. 87 - Joe Nemechek), -2 points behind 35th.
t-39) Hendrick Motorsports (No. 48 - Jimmie Johnson), -4 points behind 35th.
t-39) Robinson-Blakeney Motorsports (No. 49 - J.J. Yeley), -4 points behind 35th.

*- Editor's Note: The entry listed for Roush Fenway Racing's No. 6 is actually the No. 32 entry that Terry Labonte finished 18th with in the Daytona 500. The Nos. 6 and 32 teams traded owners' points last week. Of course, Terry Labonte on the driver's side sits 28th in points... but that won't last, either.

Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.

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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!

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Secret Star of the Race: The Run You Never Saw

His run was as quiet as last week's jet dryer fire was explosive. But for Juan Pablo Montoya, an 11^th-place, lead-lap finish was just what the doctor ordered to return to normalcy after a Daytona disaster to forget. Number one: no cleanup vehicles were harmed in the making of this B+ performance. Number two: leaving in one piece at a repaved short track, especially with Montoya's "uptempo" driving style can be harder than it looks.

"11^th wasn't what we were hoping for," said crew chief Chris Heroy. "But for what we had to overcome, we'll go on to the next."

That list of problems included falling a lap down at one point, then encountering pit road snafus that left the Target Chevrolet fighting through traffic. Jeff Gordon was also unhappy enough with Montoya's aggression to complain on the radio; once again, the Colombian didn't specialize in making friends while fighting through the pack. But it's the feelings within the driver's Earnhardt Ganassi organization that matter most; and considering the rough start, combined with teammate Jamie McMurray's rocky road (see below) new head wrench Heroy and company are happy to see some chemistry building inside the No. 42 camp.

"Juan is totally engaged and on the right page," he said. "Even during the race, when we had problems on pit road or things like that; our guys enjoy the challenge of recovering and atoning for what happened. The attitude and the dedication of the team are perfect right now. We look forward to better things."

For now, they're simply looking forward to losing their 15 minutes of "explosive fame" after this solid run and heading to Vegas focused on the competition – not on what happened during one untimely caution. – Tom Bowles

STAT OF THE WEEK: 7. That's the number of DNFs for Jamie McMurray since the start of the 2011 season – a span of 38 races. During that same timeframe, he's accumulated just four top-10 finishes, turning his No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi future from "untouchable" to "uncertain" following what was a stirring 2010 return to the organization. A Daytona 500 victory, however long ago will always buy you some breathing room (see: Derrike Cope). But unless the luck changes soon, for McMurray those mulligans are quickly running out. – Tom Bowles

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Sunday Quotes To Remember

compiled by the Frontstretch Staff

Here's what some of your favorites were saying after the Subway Fresh Fit 500K:

"Yeah, it's a little bit of satisfaction there for sure. I mean, this is a -- it's a bittersweet track. Before that moment, I had a lot of success at this track, ran very competitive…"

"…You know, and it seems like throughout my career, whenever we lock onto one racetrack and we win, we win multiple times there. Obviously this [track hosting] the second to the last race of the season, hopefully it's a sign of things to come later." – Denny Hamlin, race winner on avenging his November, 2010 Phoenix demons that arguably cost him the championship vs. Jimmie Johnson

"I guess you could say it is a little bit of vindication, but I really don't think that way. I try to just take the high road all the time." – crew chief Darian Grubb, on winning two races after being fired from Tony Stewart's championship team

"They told me were nine laps short when we came back out and the cautions got us to within five, and we were able to save a little and they figured it a little bit close on those numbers. But I'm so proud of these guys. When you figure fuel mileage like that, that's the chances and the things you've got to do to race for championships. I know we didn't win the race today but we came here and struggled here last year at this particular race. And to come here and race for a win and make a total 180 was great." – Kevin Harvick, ran second

"I wish I wouldn't have tried to save so much gas. I probably would have caught the 29, but you just never know how much gas you've got." – Greg Biffle, ran third

"There is going to be growing pains with this system. It hasn't even been hot yet. Wait til it gets hot like at Indy and some of these other places. We don't know how much heat these things can handle and that may be an issue at some point." – Greg Biffle on EFI

"We'll take it. I'm not really satisfied. I really felt like we had a car to win the race with. Unfortunately, things didn't work out." – Jimmie Johnson, ran fourth

"We need to maybe get a little better tire; not a better tire, but just a different tire that would fire off a little bit earlier and let us move around sooner because it takes five or six laps before we can really have confidence in the set-up of the car and lean on it and move around." – Jimmie Johnson on Goodyear's tire for the race

"I really am going to beg Goodyear to try and see if they can change this tire. I think the track has come in pretty good where they can really start investing sometime in the next step is on tire because this one is unpredictable, it's inconsistent. It doesn't allow us to really race the way that this race track right now is truly capable of." – Jeff Gordon, finished eighth

"I'm 99 percent sure Carl Edwards didn't do that on purpose, but I trusted him. Now he can't trust me because there is a lot to be had and lost, we lost a lot today. I don't know how much he lost, but that's not the point. I don't consider that a deliberate move by any means. We know plenty of times in this sport, what comes around goes around." – Ryan Newman, finished 21st on his wreck with Edwards late in the race

"I mean, I just shut the car off like we did at Daytona and turned it back on and it never re-fired. That's all I can tell you. I don't know why it didn't re-fire. I honestly don't know. It's not really my department." – Tony Stewart, finished 22nd on his late-race misfortune

"We blew up. We are here trying to run for wins and run for championships and to trip over ourselves like that, it just isn't going to get it done." – Marcos Ambrose, finished 32nd

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Phoenix-1 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin

The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Subway Fresh Fit 500k
by Amy Henderson

Grubb Working Magic Already at JGR
by Ron Lemasters

Pace Laps Week 3: Dodging A Future In Phoenix, Barrichello to IndyCar & More
by the Frontstretch Staff

Is The Hendrick House In Order?

by Tom Bowles

Nationwide Series Breakdown: Bashas' Supermarkets 200

by Bryan Keith

FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 2007, Downtown Las Vegas played host to what turned out to be a one-off street race that served as the season opener for the ChampCar World Series. However, a modification to the track had to be made before the race. What was this, and why?

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

Friday's Answer:
Q: Especially prior to the CART / IRL war, Phoenix International Raceway was a great place for open-wheel racing. In the early 1980s, CART held two 150-mile races a year on the desert tri-oval. In the Miller High Life 150 in the fall of 1982, the leaders (Rick Mears, Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock and Tom Sneva) were racing each other hard for position early in the race. However, one false move and out went Johncock. What happened?

A: Lapped traffic always plays a role in oval races. A 150-mile CART race in Phoenix is no different. At that time, the field was a healthy mix of vehicles powered by turbocharged engines and those powered by "stock block" V8 engines. On Lap 15, the leaders approached the slower stock block Chevrolet-powered No. 66 of Pete Halsmer. Mears and Andretti, still battling for the lead, attempted to split Halsmer. Mears got by, but Andretti got trapped on the outside. Meanwhile, Johncock tried to get on the inside of Halsmer. Unfortunately, three-wide didn't work at Phoenix back then. Johncock hit the apron, got loose and hit Halsmer. Both cars then went into the wall and out of the race. In Halsmer's case, his car rode up the Armco barrier and nearly exited the track. Both drivers were ok, but not very happy over the crash. The incident can be seen here. Paul Page has the call for NBC.

Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!

Coming Tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Kevin Rutherford
-- Sitting In the Stands: A Fan's View by S.D. Grady
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!

Coming Tomorrow On The Frontstretch:

The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny returns to his normal day looking ahead to Las Vegas with another thoughtful commentary.

Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup by StarCoach Race Tours: Phoenix-Las Vegas Edition by Brett Poirier
With two races in the books, Brett looks at what trends are developing in NASCAR's two top series and which drivers are sizzling hot to start the season... while others are still stuck as if it never began.

Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan is back with his weekly edition of talking points to tie up the Phoenix weekend and get us set for another West Coast week ahead.

Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series traveled out to Avondale, Arizona for their second races of the season. Were the race telecasts for these events up to snuff? Find out in this week's edition of the TV Critique.

Tech Talk by Mike Neff
This year, we have an interesting new weekly feature for our readers, a special crew chief stopping by on a weekly basis to discuss the technical aspects of our sport. Find out who and what by checking out this column tomorrow.
------------------------------
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!
©2012 Frontstretch.com

The Frontstretch Newsletter: March 2nd, 2012

2012-03-01T22:36:00.001-08:00

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER

Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 2nd, 2012
Volume VI, Edition XXX

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Top News
by Jeff Wolfe

Penske to Ford in 2013

Penske Racing announced Thursday it will return to Ford Racing as part of a multi-year agreement that will begin with the 2013 NASCAR season, a move that is the first manufacturer change for the organization since 2003. Thursday's announcement leaves no major team aligned with Dodge for 2013--Robby Gordon is the only other driver currently aligned with Dodge.

Since their relationship with Dodge began in 2003, Penske Racing has racked up 48 wins (26 Cup, 22 Nationwide) and one championship (Brad Keselowski--Nationwide 2010), and Team Owner Roger Penske remains committed to the manufacturer through the end of this season.

"Penske Racing has had and continues to have a terrific relationship with Dodge and we thank them for their partnership and their support over the past 10 years," Owner Roger Penske said. "Our organizations have experience many great memories together and our teams are committed to produce wins and championships with Dodge this season. We look forward to rejoining the Ford Racing NASCAR program beginning in 2013. We appreciate the long-term commitment that Ford has made to Penske Racing and for their continued support of the sport."

Penske raced with Ford in 1976 and 1977 and again from 1994-2002. With Ford, Penske Racing teams earned 28 victories and 42 pole positions combined in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.

Fire Suits, Helmets in Place for Jet Dryer Operators at Phoenix

This weekend, jet dryer drivers at Phoenix International Raceway will have a little extra hardware, thanks to some added safety features the track has put into the place. Following the fireball that resulted from Juan Pablo Montoya crashing into the jet dryer at Daytona, SceneDaily.com is reporting all jet dryer personnel will wear firesuits and helmets, a move that Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage intends to follow.

"My guys will [wear them] because, if nothing else, I like them and they're good guys. I want firesuits and helmets for those guys," Gossage said. " I want at least four-point [seat belt] harnesses. I want to look at roll bars. I want to look at the right kind of fire extinguishers in the truck."

"To me the amazing miracle is the guy didn't die from the collision alone."

Barnes was uninjured in Monday night's wreck and made it back to the track to catch the end of the Daytona 500 thanks to the two-hour red flag to clean up and repair the track.

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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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!

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In Case You Missed It
by Nick Schwartz

Truck Series Crew Member Suspended Indefinitely

Keith Wolfe, Crew Chief for the part-time No. 0 Dodge with Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing has been indefinitely suspended by NASCAR for violations found at Daytona International Speedway on February 24th. Wolfe was found in violation of sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing), 2-11 (failure to notify of felony and / or substance abuse related law violations) and 19 (violation of the NASCAR Substance Abuse Policy). Jake Crum was behind the wheel of the No. 0 at Daytona but failed to qualify for the race.

TV Sports Anchor Suspended for Danica Slur

Ross Shimabuku, a sports anchor at Fox 5 San Diego, has been suspended without pay for a week after appearing to call Danica Patrick a derogatory name before stopping himself and referring to Patrick as a "pretty girl."

After a short video clip of Danica speaking to reporters at Daytona about her displeasure with being referred to as "sexy," Shimabuku retorted: "I've got a few words… It starts with a 'B' and it's not 'beautiful.'"

Shimabuku has since apologized for the incident.

Formula 1 Regular Rubens Barrichello Headed to IndyCar

Fans of Formula 1 racing are all too familiar with mainstay Rubens Barrichello, who has raced in the world's most popular racing series for 19 years, but the Brazilian winner of 11 Grands Prix has announced after a tumultuous 2011 he will be taking his talents to the IZOD IndyCar series. Barrichello, who tested an IndyCar at Sebring International Raceway in January, announced Thursday he has signed a one-year contract with KV Racing Technology and will participate in all 16 IndyCar races in 2012, beginning at St. Petersburg later this month.

"I am thrilled; it is something very new to me," Barrichello said. "I'm very competitive and I'm not doing this just for fun, but I'll keep my feet on the ground in the beginning because I'll be a rookie despite all of my previous racing experience."

Barrichello has driven in a world record 325 Formula 1 races, but never managed to win the World Championship, twice finishing second to Michael Schumacher.

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COME JOIN THE FRONTSTRETCH FAMILY!

Hey Frontstretch Readers,

If you are interested, contact frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com. Please include references to your past work in your e-mail.

~~~~~~~~~~

Fantasy Friday: Subway Fresh Fit 500
by Jeff Wolfe

Editor's Note: Welcome to the newest feature in the Frontstretch Newsletter where Jeff Wolfe takes a look at your best bets when it comes to picking your fantasy racing teams. Each week, Jeff will have your top 5 best bets along with a bonus pick just in time to finalize your lineup and settle in for a weekend full of action.

Now that Daytona is at long last behind us, it's time to get on with the rest of the season. That can be difficult to do at times because of what Daytona means to the sport and especially this year with all of the bizarre happenings--rain delays, jet dryer fires and tweets--becoming intricate parts of that Monday night/Tuesday morning in Daytona.

So on to the desert we go to Phoenix at 3 PM Sunday afternoon on FOX. The last time we were there in the next to last Chase for the Championship race, all the buzz was about Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards as well as it should have been. One thing when making picks for Phoenix, is that last fall's race was the first on a completely refurbished track, so how drivers did then may be more of an indication of future success than what they did in previous years there.

Top 5 Picks

Kasey Kahne - Yes, he's on a different and presumably better team, so it's hard not to pick the winner of last fall's race again. Then, there's that part where he just plain needs to shake off the dismal 29th-place finish from last week at Daytona.

Carl Edwards - He avoided disaster at Daytona to finish eighth and can now get on with business. He was second in the fall race here last year, and in 2010, he head to victory lane.

Tony Stewart - He has always raced well at Phoenix and was third in the fall race here last year. I would not be surprised to see him in Victory Lane this week, especially after nearly surviving the chaos that was Daytona without a scratch on his car.

Jimmie Johnson - Ok, Ok, I know the track is different but Johnson's numbers at Phoenix just can't be ignored. He's got four wins here and an average finish of 5.4. To paraphrase the late Dale Earnhardt, it doesn't matter who's crew chiefin' ... this guy can still drive. Plus, when Knaus was suspended prior to the Daytona 500 back in 2006, Johnson not only won that race, but two of the first three events with Darian Grubb as his interim crew chief.

Kyle Busch - He's got one win here and has run 3,601 laps in the top 15 at Phoenix, the second most to Johnson. He seemed to hold his cool at Daytona, so let's go for two weeks in a row.

Shoulda, woulda coulda but didn't pick - Kevin Harvick. He's got a knack for not running in the top 10 and then all of sudden, there he is with 20 to go challenging for the lead. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens this week, but I can't pick the whole field to win here.

ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP

We're all about accountability, so here's a look at how my Daytona picks worked out. My hindsight grade is C for Daytona.

Tony Stewart - Finished 16th. Avoided the big wrecks and managed to run around the top 15 for much of the race before being caught up in the ninth caution.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - Finished second. He still hasn't won in 130 races (for those of you snoring at home), but he manged to squeeze in between Roush Fenway teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle for that runner-up spot.

Kyle Busch - Finished 17th. Much like Stewart, Busch manged to avoid the big wrecks at the 2.5-mile tri-oval but a combination of being shuffled out of the draft and a late-race penalty for removing a tear-off under the red flag doomed the younger Busch brother to finish outside the top 15.

Jimmie Johnson - Finished 42nd. He got caught in a wreck on the second lap and hopped on a plane well before the checkers flew. In fact, he had no idea about the jet dryer fire until after he was home.

Carl Edwards - Finished eighth. He rallied late after being sent to the rear of the field following the red flag for removing a tear-off.

Stats for the Season:
0 wins
1 top 5
1 top 10

Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.

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ADVERTISEMENT
Are you looking to advertise your website, product or brand? A good way to get your name out there is via direct advertising here in the Frontstretch Newsletter! Interested parties can contact us at tony.lumbis@frontstretch.com for details.

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Frontstretch Folio: Subway Fresh Fit 500
by Nick Schwartz

With just a short week to prepare after the rain-delayed Daytona 500 pushed into Tuesday morning, NASCAR teams are quickly heading to Phoenix International Raceway for the second race of the 2012 Sprint Cup season. The Subway Fresh Fit 500 will be broadcast Sunday, March 4th, at 2:30 PM EST and on MRN Radio
starting at 2:00 PM EST. The race will be 312 laps in duration for a total of 312 miles (500km).

Records and Facts

Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag in the 2011 Subway Fresh Fit 500, and will be looking to rebound from a disappointing engine failure in Daytona. Phoenix has been kind to Gordon in the past, however--the four-time champion won at the track for the first time in his career in 2007, then snapped a career-worst 66 race winless streak four years later in the same event, tying Cale Yarborough on the all-time wins list in the process.

The Spring race marks just the second Sprint Cup race to be run on the newly configured layout at Phoenix International Raceway. Following the 2011 Fresh Fit 500, work commenced on repaving the track, installing progressive banking and altering the radius of the dogleg. While drivers complained that the backstretch felt like a rollercoaster with its dips, the average speed in the Fall 2011 race was two miles per hour faster than in previous years.

Matt Kenseth broke the track record in qualifying last Fall when he won the pole for the Kobalt Tools 500, setting a time of 26.258 seconds. Kasey Kahne, the eventual race winner, shattered the record for overall race time, completing the scheduled 312 miles in just 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Track Facts

Track/Race Length: 1.0 mile oval, 312 laps (312 miles / 500km)
Pit Road Speed: 45mph
Degree of Banking: Progressive banking runs from 9-11 degrees
Frontstretch Length: 1,179 feet, banked 3 degrees
Backstretch Length: 1,551, banked 9 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 67,000

Pre-race Schedule

Practice: Friday, March 2, 2:30-4:00 PM EST on SPEED
Happy Hour: Friday, March 2, 5:30-7:00 PM EST on SPEED
Qualifying: Saturday, March 3, 2:30 PM EST on SPEED

VIPs

Grand Marshal / Command: Detroit Lions All-Pro Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh
National Anthem: Singer Brian McKnight
Honorary Pace Car Driver: UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz

They Said It

"Getting that win was a huge boost for our team last year. I think the track was probably the best I can remember a brand-new race surface being in the first race. It started slippery and got better as the rubber built up. We made the adjustments we needed to put ourselves up front at the end. I'm excited to get back there with the Farmers Insurance guys this week." –Kasey Kahne

"Although Daytona is our biggest race," Newman said, "I think most people will tell you the season really starts with the second race, just because it seems to be a better gauge in determining what you have compared to other teams." –Ryan Newman

"When we were at Phoenix last year, the track was too smooth. Hopefully it has aged some over the winter, but we'll go to Phoenix with a good attitude. We feel like we can go to Phoenix and run well, so we'll see how it goes." –Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Nick Schwartz is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at nick.schwartz@frontstretch.com.

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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Crime and Punishment 101: Why NASCAR Needs a Refresher
by Amy Henderson

Penske to Ford? Whoopity Dodgety Doo!
by Jeff Meyer

More of the Same for Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Team in 2012
by Bryan Davis Keith

Four Burning Questions: Tweeting, Fire Safety, Prime Time and Flying Under the Radar
by Summer Dreyer

Regan Smith Driver Diary: Daytona Delays, Acceptable Tweeting Times, and Saving Lives
by Regan Smith

Phoenix (Hopefully) Without the Flames
by Danny Peters

Mirror Driving: What to Take to Phoenix, NASCAR's Weeknight Future and "Minor" Support
by the Frontstretch Staff

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This Weekend on the Frontstretch:

Nationwide Series Breakdown: Bashas' Supermarkets 200 by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan has all the post-race analysis you need after Saturday afternoon's Nationwide Series race from Phoenix.

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: Especially prior to the CART / IRL war, Phoenix International Raceway was a great place for open wheel racing. In the early 1980's, CART held two 150 mile races a year on the desert tri-oval. In the Miller High Life 150 in the fall of 1982, the leaders (Rick Mears, Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock and Tom Sneva) were racing each other hard for position early in the race. However, one false move and out went Johncock. What happened?

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

Thursday's Answer:

Q: In 1993, Phoenix International Raceway was the first short oval on the IndyCar schedule. However, the series' biggest "get" in the offseason, Nigel Mansell, failed to start the race. What happened?

A: During practice, Mansell spun his Lola-Ford Cosworth in Turn 2 and backed hard into the outside wall. The hit injured Mansell's back and forced him to sit out the 200 mile event. The injury ultimately did not hurt Mansell's 1993 season all that much. After winning on debut in Surfer's Paradise, Mansell drove masterfully on his way to winning the PPG Cup. In the Phoenix event, Mario Andretti took advantage of incidents eliminating the Penske threat to win his final career race.

Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!

~~~~~~~~~~

Coming Monday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Subway Fresh Fit 500 Race Recap by Jeff Wolfe
-- Secret Star and Stat of the Race by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!

Monday on the Frontstretch:

Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Subway Fresh Fit 500 by Matt McLaughlin
Matt will be here with his overall thoughts about the action from Sunday afternoon's action from the Phoenix.

Monday Morning Teardown by Ron Lemasters
Ron returns for a website look at one of the big stories from Sunday's race from Phoenix.

Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles
Tom brings back his weekly post-race commentary with all of the insight you need from a weekend of racing at Phoenix.

Big Six: Subway Fresh Fit 500 by Amy Henderson
Looking for all you need to know leaving the season opener? Amy has your who, what, when, where, why and how from a weekend of racing at Daytona.

Pace Laps: Phoenix Weekend by the Frontstretch Staff
In our newest column this season, we'll take a look at the biggest stories to keep an eye on in each series after a weekend at Phoenix.

-----------------------------
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!
©2012 Frontstretch.com

The Frontstretch Newsletter: March 1st, 2012

2012-02-29T23:54:00.001-08:00

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 1st, 2012
Volume VI, Edition XXIX

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Today's Top News
by Phil Allaway

NASCAR Drops the Hammer on Chad Knaus

Back on opening day during Speedweeks, NASCAR officials eyeballed a violation of the C-Pillars on Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet (the one destined to race in the Daytona 500 and which was crashed less than three miles into the race). At the time, the officials ordered the No. 48 team to cut the pillars off of the car and replace them with new ones, which had to be flown in from North Carolina. After that was done, the car was put through inspection again and allowed on track.

At the time, NASCAR stated that they were going to wait until after Speedweeks were over before determining what type of punishment could be levied on the No. 48 team for the infraction. On Wednesday, that decision was made, and the penalties?

Severe.

Crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec have both been suspended for six Sprint Cup races, as well as from NASCAR in general until April 18. In addition, both have been placed on probation until May 9. Knaus will also have to pay a $100,000 fine.

Driver Jimmie Johnson has been penalized 25 driver points, while listed owner Jeff Gordon has also been docked 25 owner points. (That's important.... Gordon's driver points or anything involved the No. 24 are obviously not affected). As a result, the team is currently in a hole in the standings with -23 points. They are considered to be ranked 49th right now, behind the six teams that failed to qualify for the Daytona 500.

In their official statement, NASCAR indicated that the No. 48 was determined to be in violation of multiple sections of the 2012 Sprint Cup Series Rule Book. These included Section 12-1 (Actions Detrimental to Stock Car Racing), 12-4-j (Determination by NASCAR officials that race equipment does not conform to rules, or has not been approved by NASCAR), and 20-2.1E (Judgment by NASCAR officials that parts have been installed in order to illegally enhance aerodynamic performance).

In a very brief official statement, Hendrick Motorsports indicated that they will appeal NASCAR's ruling. Owner Rick Hendrick stated that "in this case, the system broke down" in relation to the inspection process in Daytona.

For a the full (albeit brief) Hendrick statement, click here.

Ollie's Bargain Outlet to Sponsor Blaney in Phoenix

After a 15th-place finish in Monday night's Daytona 500, Dave Blaney has earned himself a second race of sponsorship support. Following a substantial amount of exposure that came as a result of Blaney being in the lead during the two-hour "jet dryer" red flag, Ollie's Bargain Outlet announced on Wednesday that they have signed on to return as the primary sponsor on Blaney's No. 36 Chevrolet this weekend in Phoenix.

Mark Butler, President and CEO of Ollie's Bargain Outlet is very happy to be back with TBR.

"Dave Blaney and the TBR team did a great job at Daytona, and the Ollie's car looked sharp out on the track," Butler said. "Not to mention the incredible coverage we got at the race and the outpouring of support from both our customers and Blaney fans. We're happy to sponsor Dave and TBR again in Phoenix and get a second chance at Victory Lane."

Team owner Tommy Baldwin, Jr. is very honest about what precipitated Ollie's to re-up for Phoenix.

"The coverage we received on FOX during the Daytona 500 broadcast was great for our company and Ollie's," Baldwin said. "It made our partnership with Ollie's much more lucrative. They decided to come back onboard for Phoenix and our team couldn't be happier. Ollie's is a great brand, and we are thrilled that we helped them get exposure to the millions of viewers that tuned into Monday night's broadcast."

BK Racing Signs Licensing Agreement

On Wednesday, Burger King Corp., the parent company of Burger King Restaurants, signed a licensing agreement with new Sprint Cup team BK Racing, LLC. This will allow Burger King to license the primary paint schemes being used on the team's Nos. 83 and 93 Toyotas. Such a deal will allow Burger King to promote the team's racing activities throughout the various restaurants and on the internet (Ex: Using the cars on cups).

Team co-owner Scott Gunderson is very pleased to officially have the fast food company on board.

"I'm extremely happy to welcome Burger King Corp. to the team and really proud to be associated with such a great brand," Gunderson said. "This demonstrates another important step in getting the BK Racing team ready for the season. As a longtime franchisee, I look forward to a successful racing season and know firsthand the benefits of a partnership with a winning team."

According to Quick Service Restaurant News, Burger King will officially leverage their sponsorship through regional marketing programs and promotions on and off the track. What those initiatives entail are unknown at the moment, but they will come to light later this year.

Entry List Update:
Note: These entries are accurate as of Wednesday night. However, they are still subject to change.

Sprint Cup Series Subway Fresh Fit 500k: 44 cars entered

Point Swaps:
FAS Lane Racing No. 32 acquires points from Roush Fenway Racing No. 6.
Inception Motorsports No. 30 acquires points from TRG Motorsports No. 71.

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports

Driver Changes:
No. 10 - David Reutimann is in the seat, replacing Danica Patrick. The sponsorship from GoDaddy.com will not be on the car for this race, one of Reutimann's 26 to keep the Chevy (hopefully) inside the top 35 of owner points.
No. 23 - Scott Riggs is in the seat, replacing Robert Richardson, Jr. Riggs will be running a limited schedule with the new, full-time Cup effort for R3 Motorsports this season.
No. 26 - Rookie Josh Wise is in the seat, replacing Tony Raines. After Front Row Motorsports experienced extensive crash damage to their Daytona fleet, Wise's entry is expected to start and park.
No. 33 - Brendan Gaughan is in the seat, replacing Elliott Sadler. This race marks the first of four Gaughan will run Cup with Richard Childress Racing.
No. 37 - Timmy Hill is in the seat (a little bit early), replacing Mike Wallace. If Hill qualifies, he will make his Sprint Cup debut as a rookie on the circuit.
No. 93 - Travis Kvapil is in the seat, replacing David Reutimann. Kvapil will be driving this car full-time throughout 2012.

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 7 - Robby Gordon for Robby Gordon Motorsports*
No. 23 - Scott Riggs for R3 Motorsports
No. 26 - Josh Wise for Front Row Motorsports*
No. 30 - David Stremme for Inception Motorsports*
No. 36 - Dave Blaney for Tommy Baldwin Racing
No. 37 - Timmy Hill for MaxQ Motorsports/Rick Ware Racing
No. 49 - J.J. Yeley for Robinson-Blakeney Racing
No. 87 - Joe Nemechek for NEMCO Motorsports*
No. 98 - Michael McDowell for Phil Parsons Racing

* - Expected to start and park

Not Entered:
No. 09 - Kenny Wallace for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard
No. 6 - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. for Roush Fenway Racing
No. 21 - Trevor Bayne for Wood Brothers Racing
No. 40 - Michael Waltrip for Hillman Racing
No. 97 - Bill Elliott for NEMCO Motorsports

Nationwide Series Bashas' Supermarkets 200: 45 cars entered

Drivers Ineligible to Earn Points:
No. 13 - Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 15 - Timmy Hill for Rick Ware Racing
No. 18 - Denny Hamlin for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 20 - Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22 - Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing
No. 27 - J.J. Yeley for GC Motorsports International
No. 30 - James Buescher for Turner Motorsports
No. 33 - Kevin Harvick for Richard Childress Racing
No. 38 - Kasey Kahne for Turner Motorsports
No. 40 - Josh Wise for Key Motorsports
No. 47 - Scott Speed for Key Motorsports
No. 54 - Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports

Driver Changes:
No. 4 - Darryl Harr is in the seat, replacing Danny Efland. No word on whether the West Coast driver will run the distance.
No. 23 - Jamie Dick is in the seat, replacing Robert Richardson, Jr. This is the first of many races in which Stott Classic Racing (formerly the No. 02) will operate R3 Motorsports' entry.
No. 27 - J.J. Yeley returns to the seat, replacing David Ragan.
No. 28 - David Green is in the seat, replacing J.J. Yeley.
No. 33 - Kevin Harvick returns to the seat, replacing Tony Stewart.
No. 52 - Tim Schendel returns to the seat, replacing Reed Sorenson.

Drivers who must qualify on speed:
No. 08 - Casey Roderick for Randy Hill Racing
No. 10 - Jeff Green for TriStar Motorsports
No. 13 - Jennifer Jo Cobb for JJC Racing
No. 20 - Joey Logano for Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 22 - Brad Keselowski for Penske Racing (Guaranteed to start via the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 24 - Benny Gordon for SR2 Motorsports
No. 27 - J.J. Yeley for GC Motorsports International
No. 41 - Blake Koch for Rick Ware Racing
No. 42 - Erik Darnell for Key Motorsports
No. 44 - Mike Bliss for TriStar Motorsports
No. 46 - Chase Miller for Key Motorsports
No. 47 - Scott Speed for Key Motorsports
No. 54 - Kyle Busch for Kyle Busch Motorsports (Has second crack at the Past Champions' Provisional)
No. 73 - Derrike Cope for CFK Motorsports
No. 74 - Mike Harmon for Mike Harmon Racing
No. 89 - Morgan Shepherd for Faith Motorsports

Originally Entered, but Already Withdrawn:
No. 73 - Derrike Cope for CFK Motorsports

Not Entered:
No. 1 - Kurt Busch for Phoenix Racing
No. 5 - Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for JR Motorsports
No. 36 - Ryan Truex for Tommy Baldwin Racing
No. 76 - Donnie Neuenberger for Ray Hackett Racing
No. 97 - Johnny Sauter for NEMCO Motorsports

Have news for Phil and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashland10@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.

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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them John Potts' way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Potts' Shots will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!

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Today's Featured Commentary
Hung Out To Dry - Drastic Measures Needed To Get The Wet Out
What's Vexing Vito
by Vito Pugliese

Having been in a holding pattern since the rains rolled in Sunday morning, I have had ample time to ponder what changes NASCAR could implement to help alleviate these weather maladies that have done much to dampen the spirit – and credit card balance – of thousands of race fans. While not exactly the 1979 Daytona 500 (albeit in reverse), this has been a historic 54th running of the event. The first weather-delayed Daytona 500 in history, though there have been two rain shortened races in the last decade, with the 2003 and 2009 races being called before the end of 500 miles. What then could be done to help prevent this from happening in the future?

My first thought was – and always has been, a giant awning. No, not the Sun Setter Awning that the guy who looks like former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards is still hocking on TV, but one that at least covers the turns. It doesn't need to be metal; there are plenty of high strength polymers that could be employed. They make up the majority of popular pistol frames today, and would do just as well keeping water off the racetrack. The Formula 1 course in Singapore is a prime example of this phenomenon – and this for a series that runs rain tires. Perhaps there is a way to make them retractable? After all, there are several MLB ballparks that have retractable roofs. Sure a race track is larger than an entire ball field, and with as many tracks as there are in tornado country, maybe this one might not work. Just thinking out loud here, trying to get the juices flowing...

Thinking along the more cost-effective side of things, we've all watched Major League Baseball games when as the rains begin to fall faster than the players can wipe off the ball, bat, and gloves, the army of groundskeepers that roll out the massive blue tarps to cover the field. Looking like big, blue bails of nylon, the tarps help to preserve the integrity of the playing surface, preventing outdoor stadiums from turning into soggy mud bogs for when play resumes. Often the delay is only as long as the rain showers, and once the tarps are recalled, it's business as usual.

Why not engineer the same thing at a race track? Sure, it might be a bit far fetched for someplace like Daytona (which everybody said could not be lighted to race at night), but at a short track like Martinsville or Bristol, the tarps could be neatly concealed within the walls to cover the corners, while the front stretch could be the focus of the familiar jet dryers and guy-wielding-a-broom.

Living in Michigan, one of the familiar sights on the roadway six months a year, are the familiar green MDOT plow trucks. Tasked with clearing the roadway of water that has turned solid and piled up two feet high, this same cutting edge technology could be also applied to the task of drying off a racing surface. The bottom edge of the angled blade (or better yet, an awesome V-plow) could be fitted with a squeegee – i.e., a giant windshield wiper – to help move the water down off the banking and any standing water on the track. The heat generated from the friction of the blade would help dry the track as well. These same trucks have dump truck boxes in the rear that would make a happy home for a TF-30 jet engine, which is currently used to dry the tracks. There is plenty of real estate on those big machines with which to fasten water dispersing mechanicals; let's maximize it.

As I sat resembling the Gorton's Fisherman in my slicker, perched in the Keech Tower following the Lenny Kravitz pre-race concert, the familiar jet blowers took to the banking in Turns 1 and 2, in an effort to help keep from losing the track completely to moisture. While their efforts were admirable, much like the Czech military in 1939, there was not much the small band of machines could muster. The first thing that came to mind right after, "I should probably get out of the 30 mph blowing water" was, why for what is billed as "The Super Bowl of Stockcar Racing," are there as many trucks on hand to dry Daytona as there are at any other track we go to? Wouldn't NASCAR invest in more than what looked like seven of the jet blowers out on the track? There should be at minimum 20 for an event of this magnitude – and for as much as tickets command for the event.

Considering we're down one courtesy of something broken in the rear drive line of the No. 42 of Juan Pablo Montoya, they're going to need more anyway, so why not double down and make it happen? Sure they're pricey, but with all of the attention ServiceMaster received – as well as Tide after the supernova in Turn 3, perhaps both companies would be willing to help sponsor some more trucks on the track with their name on them.

But at what cost you ask? The jet blowers consume upwards of 300 gallons per hour of fuel. Multiply that by 20 and the cost of aviation fuel, as well as the crewmen who run them, and the bill tends to go up mighty quick; say at the same rate as getting involved in multiple green-white-checker restrictor plate wrecks. That being said, how about combining them into one massive jet-dried apparatus? Take a semi truck with a flat bed trailer, and mount 10 of them on the trailer, pointed in different directions. That way you can maximize the man hours, getting more of the track dried faster in certain areas. But please note: if one of these tumbles down the banking at Talladega, I will not be held responsible. Probably best to keep it to the flatter tracks of the front/backstretch.

Not all of these ideas are the answer to everything. Heck, they might not even be feasible. Not to sound cliched, but if we can put a man on the moon, we should be able to find a way to dry off pavement, and not inconvenience a slew of fans, teams, and network programming.

That's all I've come up with for now. Call it the ramblings of a madman, held in hotel confinement for 36 hours, followed by driving 20 hours on two hours sleep – after having been up 21 hours the day before. At least I didn't come down with the food poisoning that Buddy Baker did on Thursday this week. And my rental Dodge Durango did not explode. I would love to hear some of your ideas as to what NASCAR could do better to help dry the tracks off and get things going quicker. Please feel free to save your "hot air/journalist" blasts however.

Vito Pugliese is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at vito.pugliese@frontstretch.com.

The Critic's Annex: Chasing Daytona: Kenny Wallace
by Phil Allaway

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex. This secondary critique is back for its third season as a companion to the primary critique I write on the website, Couch Potato Tuesdays. Unlike that column, I'm keeping the title for this one (that I created) intact.

The beginning of the season often brings on special programming and special gambits for television. You might remember ESPN basically "adopting" Shane Doles back in 1996 and chronicling his travails in Daytona (he basically gave everything up for a chance at the big time, for lack of better words) in and around the ARCA race.

This year, two of SPEED's on-air personalities (Kenny Wallace and Michael Waltrip) both attempted the Daytona 500. Neither made it. As you remember, Waltrip screwed up while getting up to speed after a pit stop and wrecked. Meanwhile, Wallace fell victim to the new electronic fuel injection system acting up. However, before the EFI put a boot in Wallace's Daytona 500 hopes, SPEED spent some time chronicling Wallace and RAB Racing's Daytona 500 effort.

The introduction to the show made Kenny Wallace out to be some kind of vanquished hero, sort of like Cole Trickle in "Days of Thunder" after he had his huge flip in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. That was a little weird. The program then starts off just after the 2011 season ended at Kenny's house (with, for some reason, a shirtless Kenny in bed). Effectively, the show chronicled Kenny's entire offseason and how his Daytona 500 deal came together.

Probably the most interesting revelation made in the first segment of the show is that Wallace drove the 2011 season in the No. 09 for free. Granted, he has multiple other income streams (personal sponsorships and most notably, the on-air work for SPEED, which likely pays him a pretty penny (I'm not privy to the details of Wallace's contract, so I can't help you there)), but that's really something worth noting. He did it because he felt he needed to, not because Robby Benton asked him to.

Equally interesting was the admission that he had wasted the previous four years (2007-2010) of his driving career driving for teams that he claimed either "didn't want to race, or were in it just for the money." For reference purposes, in that time, Wallace drove for Furniture Row Motorsports in Sprint Cup (22 starts, 11 DNQs), a short stint in 2008 with Fitz Motorsports, then three years with Jay Robinson Racing (we're going to exclude Wallace's sub role for Yates Racing while Ricky Rudd was recovering from injuries suffered in Fontana). Apparently, there are quite a few stories from Wallace's stint in the No. 78 that really showed the somewhat amateur status of the team at that time. As for the Jay Robinson No. 28, that organization has always been small time. They were at their absolute best right before NASCAR nixed testing. Since then, they've been effectively bottom feeders.

As a result of all of the struggles, along with the constant attempts to attract sponsorship, Wallace had become run down. However, signing on with RAB Racing has reinvigorated Wallace's career. Heck, Wallace seemed like a different person on Twitter about a month before it was announced that he was going to the No. 09 for 2011.

We learned quite a few interesting things during the show. For example, NASCAR, in their infinite wisdom, thought that 2012 was a good time to increase license fees for drivers in the Nationwide Series by 167 percent (from apparently $3,000 to $8,000). Wallace was definitely not pleased about it, but you gots to pay if you want to race.

Another fact that just how difficult it was for the RAB Racing team to acquire a car that could be used to even attempt the Daytona 500 with. According to the show, they originally planned to get one from the Red Bull Racing Team. Unfortunately, they decided not to sell at that time. It wasn't stated outright on the show, but the likely reason why this initial sale fell through was due to the ownership group now known as BK Racing coming together to purchase the operation. Regardless, they eventually did get a car, but it was just a couple of weeks before Speedweeks. Since they had roughly 16 days to prep the car once they got it before leaving for Daytona, it was a thrash at best.

A third interesting point was the fact that the team went to Speedweeks with just that one car (and apparently, the steering wheel out of Wallace's Nationwide car). That practice was similar to what MacDonald Motorsports did with Blake Koch at Daytona last July for the Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeno 250. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, knowing just how long it took just to get the one car.

Away from racing, Wallace appeared to be quite the family man. He is clearly in love with his wife, Kim. His daughter cuts his hair on a regular basis (She's a licensed cosmetologist. That's her livelihood) and he loves to spend time with the extended family. Of course, even then, racing intervenes. His schedule could be best described as "insane," but he tries to be as grounded as possible. Wallace spends time in what appeared to be the unfinished basement of his house working out. He touts the benefits of oatmeal for breakfast (apparently, Mark Martin turned him on to it).

Even away from the track, the nutty side of Kenny still comes out from time to time. Someone thought it'd be a good idea to show him showering and singing while in there. That was ridiculous. Other times, he was just acting goofy.

At the end of the show, Wallace was feeling very confident that he could get the No. 09 into the Daytona 500. The car the team bought was apparently the same car that Brian Vickers ran at Talladega last year. The show made it sound like it was the car Vickers raced at Talladega in October. However, the information presented made it sound like it was the car Vickers raced there in April. That event didn't end well for Vickers. He finished 38th after wrecking early in the race and was 73 laps down at the end.

Regardless of inaccuracies or incongruities, this documentary was a decent show to watch. I was concerned about this show at first only because its SPEED and Kenny Wallace. I knew they were going to do something to chronicle Wallace's Daytona 500 attempt as soon as it was announced. What I didn't expect was all the extra stuff. I feel like I came out of this show knowing a little bit more about the man called "Herman" than I did before. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I hope you enjoyed this look at Chasing Daytona: Kenny Wallace. Next week, I'm going to stray a bit from TV and take a look at Darrell Waltrip's new book, Sundays Will Never Be The Same. Until then, enjoy this weekend's action in Phoenix!

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.

ADVERTISEMENT
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:

Your Cheating Art: Analyzing The Knaus/Hendrick Penalty
by Matt McLaughlin

Potts' Shots: Where Did The Checkered Flag Come From?
by John Potts

Darian 1, Stewart 0: Can The New Crew Chief Jumpstart Denny's Season?
by Garrett Horton

Professor of Speed: Just One of Them Weeks
by Mark Howell

Truckin' Thursdays: Can The King Keep His Crown? And Other Daytona Lessons
by Beth Lunkenheimer

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: In 1993, Phoenix International Raceway was the first short oval on the IndyCar schedule. However, the series' biggest "get" in the offseason, Nigel Mansell, failed to start the race. What happened?

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

Tuesday's Answer:

Q: In 1997, Phoenix International Raceway hosted the first 200-mile race for the then-recently introduced production-based IRL engines (Note: Disney World was the first race of the season, but it was rain-shortened). Underdog Jim Guthrie broke through to claim his one and only IRL victory. What was notable about the win?

A: Guthrie had literally mortgaged his and his family's entire future on his racing dreams. In order to afford one of the new generation cars and an Aurora V8 engine, he put his house up as collateral. Even after winning in Phoenix, he was still $85,000 in debt. Luckily, the win and publicity from his story resulted in a sponsorship deal for the Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately, Guthrie's racing career ended as a result of injuries suffered in this big crash in the 1998 Indianapolis 500. Guthrie, driving a black and white car for ISM Racing (yes, the same organization that owned the Tabasco No. 35 in Winston Cup that year until they merged with TylerJet Motorsports), is in the car that goes through the grass, runs over debris and spears into the wall.

Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!

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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Nick Schwartz
-- In Case You Missed It by Nick Schwartz
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!

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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:

Four Burning Questions: Phoenix by Summer Dreyer
Summer returns with her four-part look at what we should expect from this weekend's Subway Fresh Fit 500k in Phoenix.

The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
The Daytona 500 is obviously a big deal. However, for decades, it has existed as something unto itself. Danny explains why this weekend's race in Phoenix and next weekend's action in Las Vegas are far more important in showing the keys to the 2012 championship Chase.

Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
On Wednesday, NASCAR threw the book at Chad Knaus. Amy is here to tell you that the penalty is unjust.

Driver Diary: Regan Smith as told to Tony Lumbis
Regan Smith returns for another season of interesting insights into his life on and off the track.

Friday Fast Forward Into NASCAR's Future by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan returns with another interesting commentary piece. This week, the focus turns to independent Nationwide Series driver Jeremy Clements.

Voices From the Heartland by Jeff Meyer
Jeff may no longer live in Iowa, but he's still back with his own particular brand of writing.