The Frontstretch Newsletter : March 8th, 2009
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March 8th, 2009
Volume III, Edition XXXI
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Top Stories: Just Give Me the High Gear! Kyle Busch Overcomes Broken Transmission to Score AMS Win
by Bryan Davis Keith
"Low gear? We don’t need no stinkin’ low gear!"
This may not have been the mantra of Kyle Busch and the No. 51 team when the green flag dropped Saturday at Atlanta; but 135 laps later, it may as well have been. Rowdy, who earlier in the day scorched the Truck Series field in qualifying, managed to maintain enough speed on late race restarts -- even with a crippled transmission that had broken both second and third gear -- to stay in the lead pack, pass Todd Bodine with five laps to go and score his second consecutive Truck Series victory.
“We may not have out-trucked them today, but we sure outdrove them,” said Busch as he celebrated his 11th career Truck Series win, the ninth running this particular Billy Ballew Motorsports chassis.
For Busch, this win was nowhere near as dominant as his showing at Fontana two weeks ago. Though Busch started on the pole, it wasn’t long before he lost the lead to Kevin Harvick, eventually falling to sixth during the race’s lengthy first green flag stint. Busch continued to struggle with his Tundra on longer runs, fighting a loose race truck.
However, the caution flags would eventually play to his hand. A late race yellow with 15 laps to go allowed Busch, who stopped only for tires and not for fuel, to take the lead back late -- with only a short green flag stretch remaining. As a result, Busch’s strength in the early goings of a run allowed him to pass Todd Bodine and hold off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick to take the checkers.
Harvick, who battled to the runner-up spot after nearly falling outside the top 10 on the final cycle of pit stops, was noticeably frustrated with his over-the-wall team’s performance. “Our pit crews were atrocious,” he said, criticizing a No. 2 program which was making its first Truck Series start of 2009. “Thing [his truck] was fast, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t do a pit stop.”
Harvick wasn’t the only KHI driver frustrated with his race. Late-race contact between Ron Hornaday and Matt Crafton following a Hornaday block led to a confrontation between the two Chevrolet drivers immediately following the race’s conclusion -- though the situation was quickly extinguished.
But at least both men will find themselves in a race car the rest of the season. Third place finisher Todd Bodine was noticeably dejected and somber despite his third consecutive top 5 to start the season… because that third place finish, as of now, isn’t enough.
“As of right now we’re not going to Martinsville, as of this minute,” said Bodine when asked about his team’s status. “We don’t have a sponsor, and if we don’t have a sponsor we’re not going.”
Though Bodine was obviously preoccupied thinking about the future of the team that scored the 2006 Truck Series title, there is some cause for hope for the No. 30 away from the track. Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery, an emerging restaurant franchise from Tempe, AZ, stepped up late Saturday as a 25th-hour sponsor for the team; and according to SPEED TV reports from the garage Saturday, that company could very well pan out into a longer-term partner for the organization.
by Tom Bowles
For the first three races, NASCAR has avoided the dreaded “start and park” working its way to the Cup Series. Expect that to change Sunday. The No. 09 team owned by James Finch ran only four laps of practice total Saturday while sitting out all of Happy Hour, and sources tell me the team does not plan on going the distance. In fact, word on the street is the team will not run the car a full race without sponsorship; and at the moment, that’s only for 10 races with driver Brad Keselowski and backing from Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts.
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Whatever was ailing the engine program at Roush Fenway Racing, all indications are there’s a fix. All five teams were topping out at about 9100 RPM on Saturday – that’s 700 RPMs less than they turned at Vegas, where four of the five cars experienced serious problems. Toyota teams were also pulling a lower RPM in practice, with Michael Waltrip Racing cars topping out at about 9000. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was the lone exception to the rule, with his car hitting 9500, sometimes 9600 RPM in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. A higher RPM didn’t always lead to higher speed, though – Junior was 14th in final practice and just third-best out of the four-car HMS stable.
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It's a far cry from Daytona for the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Bill Elliott was the trendy underdog in Speedweeks, posting the fifth-fastest speed in time trials en route to what would be a foundation-building 23rd in the 500. The team hoped that'd be enough to build momentum for their next start at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Elliott's home track and the place of so many Wood Brothers victories in years past. But the team has run 41st, 42nd, and 43rd in the practice sessions held to date, well off the pace of their Ford counterparts at Roush and Yates. The vast majority of the single-car teams at the track struggled in practice, as David Gilliland, Joe Nemechek, Robby Gordon, Elliott, Mike Bliss and John Andretti all found themselves 35th or worse on the Happy Hour speed chart.
Tom Bowles is the Managing Editor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached at tom.b...@frontstretch.com.
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Coming Monday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Kobalt Tools 500: Race Recap by Phil Allaway
-- Big Six: Kobalt Tools 500 by Amy Henderson
-- Secret Star of the Race AND Stat Of The Week by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, Stat of the Week, and more!
Monday on the Frontstretch:
Frontstretch Special : The Start And Park Phenomenon by Doug Turnbull and Bryan Davis KeithDoug and Bryan take the lead in a special investigation into the "full fields" advertised by NASCAR in both the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series. Which teams are there for a "good faith" effort to run the full distance ... and which teams are simply filling a spot in the starting order, attempting to collect a check? Doug and Bryan explore the issue.
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud : Kobalt Tools 500 by Matt McLaughlin
Before you take that first break mid-morning on Monday, be sure you check out Matt for the best in NASCAR water cooler fodder.
Bubble Breakdown: Kobalt Tools 500 by Mike Ravesi
Mike sorts out the owner point standings, letting you know who's got it made after the first five races of this season -- and who faces an uphill battle simply to qualify each week.
Points To Ponder by Mike Lovecchio
Mike's Points after covering the Kobalt Tools 500 are guaranteed to get you thinking.
Tony takes a look at the exciting rookie race between Joey Logano and Scott Speed following the Kobalt Tools 500.
Tracking The Trucks : Atlanta by Beth Lunkenheimer
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