The Frontstretch Newsletter: Martin Truex, Jr. Gets Over The Hump
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Jun 8, 2015, 12:15:30 PM6/8/15
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THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 8, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XCII
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
June 8, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XCII
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What to Watch: Monday- Today appears to be a relatively quiet day in the world of NASCAR as the teams return to their shops and continue preparations for Michigan.
However, if news breaks, we'll be here to cover it at Frontstretch.
~~~~~~~~~~
Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Martin Truex, Jr. Breaks 69-Race Winless Streak with Pocono Victory
Trevor Bayne Makes Attempt To Improve with Pocono ARCA Victory
Monday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Martin Truex, Jr. Breaks 69-Race Winless Streak with Pocono Victory
Sunday, Martin Truex, Jr. proved to be the man to beat once again, leading the most laps for the fourth straight week. Finally, though strategy would not cost him this time, as the No. 78 closed the deal and crossed the finish line in first. Truex led a race-high 97 laps, holding off Kevin Harvick to lock himself into the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Jimmie Johnson was third, followed by Joey Logano and Kurt Busch. Read more
Brian France: "It Doesn’t Matter How the Exact Form of Communications Happens"
Brian France: "It Doesn’t Matter How the Exact Form of Communications Happens"
NASCAR CEO Brian France is confident the Driver's Council officials met with in Dover will ultimately benefit the sport over the long run. However, on NASCAR RaceDay Sunday afternoon, France said the drivers have not presented a unified front on their ideas to make the sport better. Read more
Crafton Claims Third Truck Win of Season
Friday night's WinStar World Casino & Resort 400k was shaping up to be another race dominated by Erik Jones. But while Jones led 68 laps, the alternator went bad on his No. 4 Toyota, resulting in multiple stops to change batteries. That elevated Matt Crafton to the lead, a spot that he would not relinquish on his way to his third win of the year. Daniel Suarez was runner-up for the second week in a row, followed by John Wes Townley in a career-best third. Read more
Ryan Ellis Recovering After Long Race at Texas Motor Speedway
Ryan Ellis Recovering After Long Race at Texas Motor Speedway
Often times, TV broadcasts of racing don't tell the full story about what is going on. Such a fact was true Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. While Matt Crafton was earning his third win of the year, Ryan Ellis was dealing with an extremely hot truck, melted shoes, and dehydration since his drinking water was boiling. Add in exhaust coming into the cockpit and Ellis wound up in the infield care center. Read more
Trevor Bayne Makes Attempt To Improve with Pocono ARCA Victory
On Saturday, Trevor Bayne, competing in a one-off appearance with Cunningham Mototrsports, dominated the ARCA Racing Series Pocono ARCA 200. The main goal of Bayne competing in the event was so that he could get experience at the 2.5-mile triangle that he had never previously raced on. Grant Enfinger was second, followed by Mason Mitchell, Will Kimmel and Matt Kurzejewski. Read more
Rapid Reaction: IndyCar Firestone 600
Rapid Reaction: IndyCar Firestone 600
Scott Dixon took the lead for the first time on lap 139 Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway. From then on, almost no one could touch him as he pulled away to take his second win of the year. Tony Kanaan finished second, followed by Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya and Marco Andretti. Read more
Have news for The Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.a...@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
~~~~~~~~~~
Chasing the Chase: Truex Locks Himself Into the Chase, Makes Small Gains on Harvick
by Phil Allaway
Martin Truex, Jr.'s breakthrough victory Sunday effectively locks Furniture Row Racing into the Chase for the second time in three seasons. However, despite the No. 78 car leading the most laps for the fourth week in a row, Kevin Harvick's eighth runner-up finish of the year minimized any gains. The lead is still 39 points, a healthy one although both drivers are well ahead of their competition. Back in third, Jimmie Johnson broke the tie between himself and Joey Logano with a third-place finish despite suffering a cut tire just after halfway. Logano was just behind Johnson in fourth and is now one point behind him in the standings.by Phil Allaway
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. maintains the fifth position in points after running 11th. However, contact forced an unscheduled pit stop during one of the late yellows. Earnhardt Jr. had to charge back just to get to 11th. Brad Keselowski, who tangled with Earnhardt is still sixth. He was relatively quick early on but faded to a 17th-place finish and lost some points to his competitors. Jamie McMurray recovered from handling woes to finish seventh, good enough to hold onto seventh in the standings.
Kasey Kahne's 13th-place result kept him eighth in series points, but he lost a little ground to McMurray in the process. Matt Kenseth gained two spots and re-entered the top 10 in ninth after finishing sixth at Pocono. Finally, Jeff Gordon dropped a place to tenth after producing a disappointing 14th-place result at the Tricky Triangle.
Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 559, 2) Martin Truex, Jr. -39, 3) Jimmie Johnson -78, 4) Joey Logano -79, 5) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -94, 6) Brad Keselowski -118, 7) Jamie McMurray -132, 8) Kasey Kahne -142, 9) Matt Kenseth -144, 10) Jeff Gordon -148, 11) Paul Menard -174, t-12) Kurt Busch -180, t-12) Denny Hamlin -180, t-12) Aric Almirola -180, 15) Ryan Newman -185, 16) Carl Edwards -191.
Race Winners:
Joey Logano (Daytona), Jimmie Johnson (Atlanta, Texas, Kansas, Dover), Kevin Harvick
(Las
Vegas, Phoenix), Brad Keselowski (Fontana), Denny Hamlin (Martinsville),
Matt Kenseth (Bristol), Kurt Busch (Richmond), Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
(Talladega), Carl Edwards (Charlotte), Martin Truex, Jr. (Pocono)
~~~~~~~~~~
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 benefiting Autism Speaks was brought to you by the letter "R," for Relief. For Martin Truex, Jr., it must have felt like Sunday's victory was never going to come. He had done all that was necessary to win for the last month, only to get shuffled back at the end. Getting back to Victory Lane must feel really good for everyone involved. - Phil Allaway
~~~~~~~~~~
Quotes to Remember: Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400
compiled by Phil Allaway
"Well, we finally got it. That is all I can say: we finally got it. We have
had a good run. We have had a great season. We have had everything it
has taken to win races, we just hadn’t got it done yet. I felt like we
had the best car a few times today. I’m not sure we were. The No. 4 (Kevin Harvick)
was really good at times and we were really good. It just takes a lot
of things to go your way to pull these things together. Just can’t
thank all my guys enough, Barney Visser, everybody at Furniture Row,
everybody back in Denver for working
so hard. This is a brand new race car and they have been working really
hard lately. Just proud of them and thankful to drive great race cars." - Martin Truex, Jr., race winner
"We just couldn’t go on restarts. We would lug really bad in third gear and just had to go into defense mode. We struggled in turn 1 with the splitter on the ground. But, all in all, just a good job by my Budweiser team. Things aren’t lining up to win races right now but I’m really happy for Martin (Truex, Jr, race winner). I know he went through a lot. And for him, and (girlfriend) Sherry (Pollex). If you’re going to lose to somebody today, that’s a great person to lose to." - Kevin Harvick, finished second
"I’m happy with the way it ended. We didn’t have a very fast Shell-Pennzoil Ford from the get-go when we unloaded here, but we kept fighting hard. This was one of those blue-collar days, just working hard all day on the car and on pit road. The guys did a good job making my car faster and got to where we were a top-5 car at the end. We were maybe a little better than the No. 48 but had nothing for the No. 4 and the No. 78. Those guys have been rocket ships each and every week and we’ve got to figure out a way to catch up to them – figure out what they’re doing or try to come up with our own way – something. But they’re really fast right now." - Joey Logano, finished fourth
"We didn’t start the race with what we needed with our Crispy M&M's Camry. But Adam (Stevens, crew chief) made some good adjustments to get us better. Track position was big, so Adam also made a good call to take two tires and get us some track position and we were able to hold onto it for a while. Those last two cautions didn’t help us, we just couldn’t get going on those last couple of restarts. We’ll take it and move on to Michigan." - Kyle Busch, finished ninth
"I thought we were a decent car – fifth to 10th place most of the day, but with our track position, we always took four tires. Some of those guys made it on fuel because of all the cautions so we continued to lose track position throughout the day, but we kind of battled back. We barely got inside the top 10 and at best I thought we could have improved four or five more spots, but overall a solid day. We didn’t tear up anything this week and now we can go and improve our program for next week." - Denny Hamlin, finished tenth
"I’m just happy for [Truex]. I know he’s been through a lot of stuff both inside the car and outside the car the last several years. He’s been able to get into a good opportunity with good people. He’s got a team that believes in him. They’ve come a long way over the last several years working with Kurt (Busch) and building that program up and they continue to get better. I was in the stall next to those guys during qualifying and how they are as a team, how they interact with each other really impressed me. So, Martin’s in a good situation. It’s real refreshing. I look forward to going over there (Victory Lane) and saying 'hey' to him. The Nationwide Chevrolet was fast today. We had a lot of fun out there passing a lot of cars. I made a mistake or, I don’t know what really happened on the back straightaway. The No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) came off the wall like he almost hit it. I yanked it to the left and I run into him and hit the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne). Just racing hard. You’ve got to get everything you can get. You can’t give up anything. I had a lot of race car [left] and I was trying to use it." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished 11th
"It’s pretty obvious what happened. The No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) just ran out of talent. He has got one coming now." - Ryan Newman, finished 39th (Crashed Out)
"It actually happened on the straightaway. We must have run something over and cut down a left-front tire. Right before I got to the braking zone the left-front tire went down, I started trying to turn in and there was nothing there. It’s unfortunate for us and our Medallion Bank Ford Fusion, but the hardest part about it is being able to see it coming for what felt like about five minutes. I’m real glad about the safety that NASCAR has in these cars. It’s unfortunate for us. We were running OK, trying to be patient and make sure we made it to the end and something like that happens, but it can get anybody I guess." - Sam Hornish, Jr., finished 41st (Crashed Out)
"The brakes were getting hot and we were having to pump them up. They kind of maintained the first run and everything felt OK. I was still having to pump it up and on that last run, I was having to pump them up three or four times, and then when the No. 13 got into us down the back straightaway I was too busy catching it and too busy being sideways. Once I finally caught it, I didn’t have time to pump up the brakes and the brakes went to the floor. Then, I was just trying to make it through the corner without hitting anybody else and tried to keep it out of the wall, but didn’t quite do it." - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., finished 42nd
"Something internal [broke]. It won’t run any more. It’s a shame. It was not a good weekend for us. We struggled all weekend finding speed in our car and right there we came in and made a pretty aggressive adjustment on that pit stop. Trent (Owens, crew chief) changed a lot of stuff and just on that one lap of the restart it drove a lot better. I had my hopes up for a minute and then my hopes got crushed. We had some sort of motor issue, so we’ll have to go back. Doug Yates and all the guys do an awesome job giving us great motors and this is just part of it. Every once in a while, something happens." - Aric Almirola, finished 43rd (Blown Engine)
"We just couldn’t go on restarts. We would lug really bad in third gear and just had to go into defense mode. We struggled in turn 1 with the splitter on the ground. But, all in all, just a good job by my Budweiser team. Things aren’t lining up to win races right now but I’m really happy for Martin (Truex, Jr, race winner). I know he went through a lot. And for him, and (girlfriend) Sherry (Pollex). If you’re going to lose to somebody today, that’s a great person to lose to." - Kevin Harvick, finished second
"I’m happy with the way it ended. We didn’t have a very fast Shell-Pennzoil Ford from the get-go when we unloaded here, but we kept fighting hard. This was one of those blue-collar days, just working hard all day on the car and on pit road. The guys did a good job making my car faster and got to where we were a top-5 car at the end. We were maybe a little better than the No. 48 but had nothing for the No. 4 and the No. 78. Those guys have been rocket ships each and every week and we’ve got to figure out a way to catch up to them – figure out what they’re doing or try to come up with our own way – something. But they’re really fast right now." - Joey Logano, finished fourth
"We didn’t start the race with what we needed with our Crispy M&M's Camry. But Adam (Stevens, crew chief) made some good adjustments to get us better. Track position was big, so Adam also made a good call to take two tires and get us some track position and we were able to hold onto it for a while. Those last two cautions didn’t help us, we just couldn’t get going on those last couple of restarts. We’ll take it and move on to Michigan." - Kyle Busch, finished ninth
"I thought we were a decent car – fifth to 10th place most of the day, but with our track position, we always took four tires. Some of those guys made it on fuel because of all the cautions so we continued to lose track position throughout the day, but we kind of battled back. We barely got inside the top 10 and at best I thought we could have improved four or five more spots, but overall a solid day. We didn’t tear up anything this week and now we can go and improve our program for next week." - Denny Hamlin, finished tenth
"I’m just happy for [Truex]. I know he’s been through a lot of stuff both inside the car and outside the car the last several years. He’s been able to get into a good opportunity with good people. He’s got a team that believes in him. They’ve come a long way over the last several years working with Kurt (Busch) and building that program up and they continue to get better. I was in the stall next to those guys during qualifying and how they are as a team, how they interact with each other really impressed me. So, Martin’s in a good situation. It’s real refreshing. I look forward to going over there (Victory Lane) and saying 'hey' to him. The Nationwide Chevrolet was fast today. We had a lot of fun out there passing a lot of cars. I made a mistake or, I don’t know what really happened on the back straightaway. The No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) came off the wall like he almost hit it. I yanked it to the left and I run into him and hit the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne). Just racing hard. You’ve got to get everything you can get. You can’t give up anything. I had a lot of race car [left] and I was trying to use it." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished 11th
"It’s pretty obvious what happened. The No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) just ran out of talent. He has got one coming now." - Ryan Newman, finished 39th (Crashed Out)
"It actually happened on the straightaway. We must have run something over and cut down a left-front tire. Right before I got to the braking zone the left-front tire went down, I started trying to turn in and there was nothing there. It’s unfortunate for us and our Medallion Bank Ford Fusion, but the hardest part about it is being able to see it coming for what felt like about five minutes. I’m real glad about the safety that NASCAR has in these cars. It’s unfortunate for us. We were running OK, trying to be patient and make sure we made it to the end and something like that happens, but it can get anybody I guess." - Sam Hornish, Jr., finished 41st (Crashed Out)
"The brakes were getting hot and we were having to pump them up. They kind of maintained the first run and everything felt OK. I was still having to pump it up and on that last run, I was having to pump them up three or four times, and then when the No. 13 got into us down the back straightaway I was too busy catching it and too busy being sideways. Once I finally caught it, I didn’t have time to pump up the brakes and the brakes went to the floor. Then, I was just trying to make it through the corner without hitting anybody else and tried to keep it out of the wall, but didn’t quite do it." - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., finished 42nd
"Something internal [broke]. It won’t run any more. It’s a shame. It was not a good weekend for us. We struggled all weekend finding speed in our car and right there we came in and made a pretty aggressive adjustment on that pit stop. Trent (Owens, crew chief) changed a lot of stuff and just on that one lap of the restart it drove a lot better. I had my hopes up for a minute and then my hopes got crushed. We had some sort of motor issue, so we’ll have to go back. Doug Yates and all the guys do an awesome job giving us great motors and this is just part of it. Every once in a while, something happens." - Aric Almirola, finished 43rd (Blown Engine)
~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Amy Henderson
by Joseph Wolkin
by Jerry Jordan
by the Frontstretch Staff
by Beth Lunkenheimer
by Matt Weaver
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Cale Yarborough claimed his sixth career victory at Michigan International Speedway in the 1982 Gabriel 400. However, the victory took quite a while. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Friday's Answer:
Q: In 2002, qualifying was canceled for the Pocono 500 and the field set by points despite sunny skies during the scheduled time for the session. What happened?
A: The region around Pocono Raceway is quite moist. Rains had recently fallen on the 2.5-mile triangle. While most of the track was dry, the dreaded weepers had become an issue, especially in turn 3. With small wet patches on the track and a limited amount of time available, qualifying was scrubbed.
~~~~~~~~~~COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll
have breaking news from Monday and a look inside the numbers from Pocono.
On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have Five Points To Ponder after last weekend's action in Pocono..-----------------------------
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 edi...@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
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