The Frontstretch Newsletter: Track Repaves, Brandon Brown News, and a Complete Roar Wrap-up

- With the Roar Before the 24 now complete, the focus goes back to prepartions for the upcoming season. If anything of note breaks, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch.

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This week's TV Schedule can be found here.

Top News

by the Frontstretch Staff

Track Repaves Announced

On Tuesday, Atlanta Motor Speedway announced a track repave that will take place starting in March after the QuikTrip Folds of Honor 500. Read more. Meanwhile, Texas Motor Speedway starts a repave and reconfiguration today that will fix drainage issues and re-profile turns 1 and 2.

Brandon Brown Sets 2017 Part-Time NASCAR XFINITY, Trucks Schedule

Frontstretch has learned that Brandonbilt Motorsports plans to race mostly in the XFINITY Series in 2017, but with some Camping World Truck Series races included. Read more

Kevin Harvick Expands TV Responsibilities with FOX for 2017

On Wednesday, FOX Sports announced that Kevin Harvick will have an expanded TV role in 2017. He will serve as a booth analyst for five XFINITY Series races and three Camping World Truck Series races. Read more

Sébastien Buemi Fastest in Happy Hour, BMW Tops GTLM

In the final Roar Before the 24 session, REBELLION Racing's Sébastien Buemi was fastest in the seventh and final session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Champoionship. BMW Team RLL's Martin Tomczyk was fastest in GTLM. Read more

DragonSpeed Fastest in Session No. 6, Marcel Fässler Goes Up in Flames

The early morning sixth session saw the fastest laps of the entire Roar turned in. DragonSpeed's Ben Hanley turned in the fastest lap of the test, but the real story was Corvette Racing's Marcel Fässler catching fire. Fässler is ok. Read more

Jani Fastest Again at Night, 7/8ths of a Second Separates GT Le Mans

On Saturday, REBELLION Racing's Neel Jani was fastest during the night session. Andy Priaulx was fastest in GT Le Mans, but the entire 11-car class was separated by seven-eighths of a second. Read more

Mazda Motorsports Gets Their Groove Back on Roar Day No. 2

Saturday at the Roar Before the 24 dawned rainy. Teams held off on running to their full extent in the rain, but once the track dried out, Mazda Motorsports showed their speed. Yes, Neel Jani was again fastest, but the Mazda RT24-P showed speed for the first time here. Read more

LMP2’s Continue to Assert Themselves as Jani Quickest Again

In Session No. 2 on Friday, Neel Jani continued to assert himself at the top of the charts, but was joined by JDC/Miller MotorSports' Misha Goikhberg. Johnny Mowlem was fastest in PC, Dirk Müller in GT Le Mans and Robin Liddell in GT Daytona. Read more

REBELLION Racing Fastest in Shortened First Roar Session

Friday morning saw the teams take to the track for the first session. However, that session was shortened due to moisture flowing across the track at the start-finish line and later on, a crash for Performance Tech Motorsports' Clark Toppe. REBELLION Racing's Neel Jani was fastest. Read more

Risi Competizione Returns Giancarlo Fisichella, Toni Vilander for 2017

On Thursday, Risi Competizione announced that the pairing of Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander will return to the team full-time in 2017. James Calado will join as well for Daytona at minimum. Read more

Change Racing Announces 2017 Lineup; Spencer Pumpelly Bounced

On Thursday, Change Racing announced their driver lineup for the year. Corey Lewis is back full-time, but Spencer Pumpelly has been replaced by Jeroen Mul. Brett Sandberg is in for the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup races, while Kaz Grala is in for the Rolex 24. Read more

Mazda Motorsports Confirms Lineup, James Hinchcliffe Returns for Rolex 24

On Wednesday, Mazda Motorsports announced a very similar lineup to 2016. Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nunez will be in the No. 55, while Joel Miller and Tom Long will drive the No. 70. Spencer Pigot and James Hinchcliffe are in for the Rolex 24. Read more

Sam Bird Completes Scuderia Corsa Lineup for Rolex 24

On Wednesday, Scuderia Corsa announced their full driver lineup for the year. Defending GT Daytona championship Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen are back for the full season. Matteo Cressoni will race in the four Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup races, while Sam Bird is in for Daytona only. Read more

Rene Rast Joins Visit Florida Racing for IMSA Endurance Races

Visit Florida Racing announced on Tuesday that René Rast will join Marc Goossens and Renger van der Zande in the No. 90 Riley Mk. 30-Gibson for the four Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup races in 2017. Read more

BAR1 Motorsports Announces Daytona Driver Lineups

On Tuesday, BAR1 Motorsports announced their driver lineups for the Nos. 20 and 26 Prototype Challenge entries. The lineup is anchored by Buddy Rice and Don Yount, who will be racing the No. 20 full-time. Read more

Multimatic Motorsports Fastest in CTSC Sunday Action

On Sunday, the Roar Before the 24 wrapped up for the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Scott Maxwell in Grand Sport and Eric Foss in Street Tuner turned the fastest laps of the test. In Maxwell's case, it was on his final lap of the weekend. Read more

Nico Rondet, Jade Buford Top CTSC Saturday Roar Sessions

On Saturday, Compass360 Racing's Nico Rondet topped the wet session No. 3 in his McLaren570S GT4. Once the track dried, Multimatic Motorsports' Jade Buford topped the charts. Read more

Jade Buford Tops CTSC Session No. 2 with New Mustang GT4

For Multimatic Motorsports, Friday was the first time that they ever put the Ford Mustang GT4 on-track. It took only two sessions for Jade Buford to put it at the front. Read more

Charles Espenlaub Fastest in First CTSC Roar Practice

In the first Roar session for CTSC teams, Automatic Racing's Charles Espenlaub was quickest in his Aston Martin. Rennsport One's Connor Bloum was fastest in ST. 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.

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: The Rolex 24 at Daytona is a very tough race that requires everything to go right in order to earn a decent finish. Up until just recently, it was very rare to have more than one car on the lead lap at the end of the race. What is the record for most cars on the lead lap at the end of the Rolex 24?

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

Friday's Answer:

Q: In 1994, Dick Trickle drove full-time for Active Racing in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was a snakebit season. Trickle failed to finish ten races and DNQ'd for six more. When he kept out of trouble, he gave Active Racing some of their best runs ever in the series, including starting on the outside pole at Dover and finishing on the lead lap in eighth at Rockingham in the AC-Delco 500.

At Talladega in the Spring, Trickle qualified a miserable 38th and got taken out in a multi-car crash. However, he was able to get to the front fairly quickly thanks to some mechanical help. What was this help?

A: Trickle was given the use of Dale Earnhardt's engine from qualifying in the race. Back in 1994, it was completely legal to change engines during the race weekend. You would get sent to the rear to start a race for driver changes, or wrecking either in qualifying or afterwards.

Trickle used the Childress power to charge all the way to the front. The pace wasn't really all that surprising since Trickle hung out around the leaders for much of the Daytona 500 earlier that year, despite being off the lead lap.

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COMING THIS WEEK AT FRONTSTRETCH:

We'll have breaking news in the world of motorsports.

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