The Frontstretch Newsletter - June 30th, 2008
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June 30th, 2008
Volume II, Edition CXXI
Today's Top News
Kurt Busch Pulls Upset, Uses Pit Strategy To Win Lenox Industrial Tools 301
by Phil Allaway
Kurt Busch needed a miracle in the worst way to win the race at New Hampshire Sunday afternoon.
Turns out all he needed was a little rain dance.
Busch snagged his first victory of the year on Sunday, taking the trophy in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It was a rather bizarre affair, as the race was shortened to 284 laps when a severe thunderstorm entered the area and drenched the track with heavy rain.
For most of the event, Busch sat back in traffic with his No. 2 Penske Dodge, running midpack while Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Kevin Harvick took turns at the front of the field. But while those drivers had strong cars, the complexion of the race changed on lap 216 when Aric Almirola spun his No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet in turn 2 to bring out the fifth yellow flag. All the leaders stayed out, but many of the midfield runners pitted for four tires and fuel, causing a split: the leaders that stayed out were outside of their pit window, while some of the backmarkers thought they could go the distance on fuel. So, when the sixth yellow came out on lap 274, the contenders pitted for gas while eight cars stayed out and hoped their fuel was good enough to make it the rest of the race. Kurt Busch happened to be the highest placed of those, and he was able to hold off Michael Waltrip to claim victory when the rains came and cut the race short on lap 284.
"[Pitting on lap 218] put us within a couple laps of making it to the end," Busch said after the race. "We just needed one caution. Fortunately, we got that caution."
Behind the elder Busch were Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson and Casey Mears, drivers who all pitted on lap 218 during the fifth caution and stretched their fuel.
Denny Hamlin in eighth was the first finisher who pitted under the sixth caution on lap 275, followed by the No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson. Outside pole sitter Bobby Labonte rounded out the Top 10 finishers.
The Race To The Chase
Kyle Busch had a sub-standard day at Loudon, spending most of his race in the 12-24 range after starting 27th. To add insult to injury, right after the caution came out for the crash involving Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish Jr., Busch was intentionally spun out by Juan Pablo Montoya, intentionally. Since the race never restarted, the spin dropped Busch to a 25th place finish. As a result, Busch's point lead is down to 64 over Jeff Burton, who finished 12th to keep his "miles complete" success story intact (he's finishes all b. Dale Earnhardt Jr., despite being run over from behind by Jamie McMurray late in the race, actually gained eight points in the standings on Kyle Busch after finishing 24th. Carl Edwards remains in fourth in the points; after Sunday's 17th place finish, he's now 234 outside the lead.
Jimmie Johnson ran up front before the sixth caution flew for Earnhardt Jr., McMurray and Ragan's crash. Pitting under caution for fuel only dropped him to ninth. Since there was so little time between the restart from the yellow to the end of the race, Johnson could not make up any positions. Finishing ninth allows him to keep the fifth spot in points, and to gain on Kyle Busch. Jeff Gordon stays in the sixth spot after his 11th place finish. Denny Hamlin moves up one spot to seventh after finishing eighth on Sunday. Hamlin is only 21 points behind Jeff Gordon in the standings. Greg Biffle is now eighth after finishing 21st Sunday.
Tony Stewart is up two positions to ninth in the standings this week, but he's not too pleased with his 13th place finish on Sunday. Stewart led the most laps (132) and was in front when he took two tires under caution on lap 275. Stewart came out of the pits in 14th and was only able to recover one spot before the race ended. Kasey Kahne is down to tenth in points after finishing 30th on Sunday. Kahne was really hurt by spinning out late in the race (as the result of contact with the No. 8 of Aric Almirola, which did not draw a caution), and having to pit under green for tires. Clint Bowyer is eleventh after crashing at the end of the race. fter the wreck, Bowyer lumbered around in 22nd with his smoking No. 07 until the race was called due to rain. Rounding out the top 12 is Kevin Harvick, who re-enters the top 12 with his 14th place finish on Sunday. Matt Kenseth, who was bumped out, is eight points behind Harvick.
The Danger Zone
The pit strategy that came into play at the end of Sunday's race resulted in some teams in the Danger Zone scoring high finishes. The biggest example of this is the No. 55 of Michael Waltrip, who finished second after running no better than 23rd all season long. To add to the surprise, Waltrip was actually forced to start at the rear of the field due to an engine change. Waltrip then slowly made his way up through the field, but stalled out around midpack before pit strategy carried him throuh What got Waltrip into his position at the end was pit strategy. Waltrip pitted on lap 218 under the fifth caution of the day (when Aric Almirola spun in turn 2). The goal was to reach the end on fuel from there. Waltrip inherited second place when the leaders pitted on lap 275 and held on.
J.J. Yeley, in the No. 96 Texas Instruments DLP HDTV Camry, is another driver who benefited from this strategy. He drove his Toyota to a 3rd place finish, easily his best in his first season behind the wheel of that car. This finish boosted to No. 96 back to 37th in owners points, but they still trail 35th by 157 points. Reed Sorenson in the No. 41 also took advantage of this strategy to finish in the sixth position, boosting himself from 35th to 31st in owners' points, 109 points ahead of 36th.
Even with these results from Sunday, nobody moved in or out of the top 35. The margin between 35th and 36th (the Haas CNC Racing No. 66) increased ever so slightly this week; and as of now, the No. 66 is still the only non-top 35 team within striking distance of getting back over the bubble.
Secret Star Of The Race : The Best Run You Never Saw
After dominating all weekend practice sessions at New Hampshire, everyone thought this would be the day Chip Ganassi Racing would finally break out of its season-long funk. But for the most part, things didn't work out as planned for the three-car operation; promising weekends by Dario Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya ended with a thud, as both drivers saw their chances at a solid finish ruined by separate on-track incidents. Only Reed Sorenson was able to salvage something positive, although most of that work came under the radar screen … and courtesy of some solid pit strategy. Shortly after the race's halfway point, Sorenson had fallen all the way back from 6th to 31st following contact from none other than teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. Eventually dropping a lap behind, Sorenson needed the Lucky Dog to simply put himself back in contention on lap 204; but just ten laps later, crew chief Donnie Wingo made the fateful call to bring the No. 41 car down pit road for a stop under yellow. That gave them the extra fuel mileage needed to gain track position sixty laps later, with the timely caution flag allowing Sorenson to bump up to sixth for just his second Top 10 of the season.
"We were close [on fuel], so we decided what the heck, the rain was close so we decided to stay out and see what happened," said Sorenson's crew chief Donnie Wingo after the race. "We needed a day like this; hopefully, we've made some gains."
Only time will tell, but one thing's for sure after Sunday afternoon : both Wingo and Sorenson are now a big fan of the rain. – Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 26. That's the average points position of Sunday's Top 5 finishers heading into the race at New Hampshire. Fourth-place Martin Truex, Jr. held the high-water mark of the five, coming in a robust 17th in points as the only driver remotely within consideration for the Chase. But behind him, Kurt Busch (22nd), Elliott Sadler (25th), Michael Waltrip (30th), and J.J. Yeley (36th) were all in dire need of a boost. When's the last time a Cup race had a finishing order that lopsidedm you ask? It's not as long ago as you might think; in the Coca-Cola 600 last May, the race won by a surprising Casey Mears saw its Top 5 drivers (J.J. Yeley, Kyle Petty, Reed Sorenson, Brian Vickers) come into it with an average point position of just 31st. –Tom Bowles
Editor's Note : Remember, for the latest news from the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series each weekend, please see our "Today On The Frontstretch" section for reviews of both races by your favorite writing experts!
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Big Six: LENOX Industrial Tools 301
by Amy Henderson
Who…gets my shoutout of the race?
How about Casey Mears, who used pit strategy to dominate a portion of the race and finish seventh just two days after it was announced that he will not return to Hendrick Motorsports in 2009. Mears very well had the car to beat had the race run the full 301 lap distance; race winner Kurt Busch had a broken shock and would almost certainly have been black flagged for a piece of equipment that was dragging, and the five cars that separated Busch from Mears were significantly slower. But either way, Mears was impressive all day long.
What…was up with Montoya turning Kyle Busch under caution?
It happened right in front of me, and I still don't know why Montoya turned Kyle Busch, spinning out both Busch and his own race car. Had it been any of several other drivers, payback comes to mind, because Busch can't be making any friends out there with his "I'm entitled to that spot and you'd better give it to me or else" attitude, but I can't recall an incident with Montoya recently. A little karma here? After all, Busch got what many thought he had coming -- though it certainly appeared he didn't deserve it this time -- while Montoya got caught up in a wreck of his own making.
Where…did the polesitter wind up?
Not where he probably would have liked. Rookie Patrick Carpentier won his first career pole on Friday, but was only able to back it up with a 31st-place finish, two laps down to Kurt Busch.
When…Will NASCAR finally figure out what they want?
When Robby Gordon declared over the radio that he was going to retaliate against another driver, he got parked. But when Aric Almirola did just that - he said, "The (No.) nine is mine" to his crew after Kasey Kahne turned him around, and made good shortly after, there was no immediate penalty, and Almirola finished on the lead lap. Seems a little odd that there was no black flag for rough driving; Kahne didn't hit anything, and the spin didn't even cause a caution, but blatant retaliation has never been tolerated before. Is that going to change, or was NASCAR simply looking the other way for some unknown political reason?
Why…would NASCAR think open testing is a good idea?
I liked the way they did it before - limit testing to a certain number but wherever teams wanted to go-better than the current system. However, open testing is a bad idea for a couple of reasons. Mainly, the root of parity in NASCAR should be money, not cars; and all that policy would do is let the teams that have money run rampant while the others fall further behind. If you want to run off all the small teams, that would be a place to start, I guess. Also, open testing would either require teams to make another road trip virtually every week to keep up, or field a separate test team-which only works to the extent that the actual driver agrees with what the test driver does. It's just a bad idea all around. I understand what NASCAR is trying to do, but it's not the right way to go about it.
How…much better is it to be lucky than good?
Apparently, a lot! While some drivers don't believe in luck, Kurt Busch certainly should. Had the rain held off, or had the last caution not come out, Busch almost certainly would not have won. Kurt has to be happy to finally beat little brother Kyle, too.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud : Lenox Industrial Tools 301
by Matt McLaughlin
Ten Points To Ponder ... After New Hampshire
by Tommy Thompson
Mears Almost Had It All ... But Almost Doesn't Cut It
by Tom Bowles
Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Almirola Ascends To The Top In New Hampshire
by Tony Lumbis
Top 35 Breakdown : Rain Shines Down On Several "Bubble" Teams
by Mike Ravesi
Nationwide Series Breakdown : Camping World RV Sales 200
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking The Trucks : O'Reilly 200
by Beth Lunkenheimer
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA
Q. What rule change did NASCAR implement in part due to an on-track incident at Loudon in 2003?
Check tomorrow's newsletter for the answer!
Friday's Answer:
Q. In what year did NASCAR mandate teams using a mid-size car in Cup competition?
A. 1980 was the last Winston Cup/Grand National season in which full size cars were permitted by NASCAR. Starting in 1981, cars were limited to 110-inch wheel base, down from 115 inches.
Correction! Thursday's trivia question had an incorrect answer for the meaning of the abbreviation STP. In 1961, when Studebaker purchased the STP company, they marketed the product as "Studebaker TestED Products" for a short while, not "Studebaker test parts" as reported. (Ren's memory fails him once again!) When STP was invented, the name originally was derived from "Scientifically Treated Petroleum."
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Coming Tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter
-- Top News from Bryan Davis Keith and Tom Bowles
-- Sitting in the Stands: A Fan's View by S.D. Grady
TOMORROW ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
The Voice Of Vito
by Vito Pugliese
This week, Vito tacks on Toyota's success -- and points to a little extra driver aggression that may be making all the difference in their camp.
The Yellow Stripe
by Danny Peters
Who's Hot / Who's Not In Sprint Cup : LENOX Industrial Tools 301
by Mike Lovecchio
Mike's got the inside look at which seasons are on fire and which ones are freezing cold heading to Daytona.
Running Their Mouth : LENOX Industrial Tools 301
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth
tracked all the wild and wacky things the Cup drivers said up in the great Northeast, and she's put it together in one easy-to-read column for your
convenience.
The Race For Ratings Points : Critiquing NASCAR TV
by Doug Turnbull
How
did TNT do this week? Did Weber, Dallenbach and Petty continue to improve, or were they all wet like the weather? Find out Tuesday on
the Frontstretch!
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