Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 28, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CXC |
What to Watch: Oct. 28-30 |
- NASCAR teams are settled in at Martinsville Speedway. Inspection is going on right now for NASCAR Xfinity Series
teams. They are scheduled to practice today at 4 p.m. ET with live coverage on USA. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards. Coverage of the Dead On Tools 250 will start with Countdown to Green on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Race
coverage starts at 3:30 with the green flag around 3:45. - Formula 1 teams are in Mexico City this weekend for the Grand Prix of Mexico. On-track action begins today with
Free Practice No. 1 at 1:55 p.m. ET this afternoon. That session will air live on ESPN2. The 90-minute Free Practice No. 2 will be at 4:55 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS. Saturday action begins with Free Practice No. 3 at 12:55 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS. Qualifying will be at 3:55 p.m. ET on
ESPNEWS in the regular format. Sunday's coverage from Mexico City starts with Formula 1 Grand Prix Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Race coverage
will begin at 3:55 p.m. ET with the formation lap starting precisely at 4 p.m. - At The Dirt Track at Charlotte, the seventh annual World Short Track Championships are going on through Saturday
night now. Today's action is due to start at 3:45 p.m. ET on DirtVision.tv (subscription required). Saturday's action starts at 3:45 p.m. ET as well. FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN MARTINSVILLE THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUE: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates on
Martinsville! |
Around the World in Motorsports: Oct. 27-28 |
- The National Motorsports Appeals Panel of Dixon Johnston, Bill Mullis and Dale Pinilis officially declined the
appeal from Stewart-Haas Racing Thursday of the penalties applied to Cole Custer's No. 41 team at Charlotte. As you may remember, Custer was docked 50 points and fined $100,000 for what was deemed not racing to his full ability in the closing laps of the race. Crew chief Mike Shiplett was also suspended indefinitely. - In Thursday night's NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season finale at Martinsville Speedway, Corey LaJoie earned a
somewhat controversial victory after a multi-car wreck broke out on the backstretch with eight laps to go that wrapped up a number of contenders. Matt Hirschman was second, then Ryan Newman, Bobby Santos III and Anthony Nocella. Jon McKennedy was caught up in the aforementioned big crash on the backstretch along with Kyle Bonsignore and New
Jersey's Jimmy Blewett. However, he recovered from the crash to finish 12th, enough to earn him his first Whelen Modified Tour championship. - Toyota revealed the upgraded Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO Friday morning. This is an improved version of the Toyota GR Supra GT4 that has been racing for the past three years in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and in SRO America competition. Toyota touts that the new cars will have improving braking and cornering
performance. In addition, the release states that there will be increased power (although that is completely dependent on the series), an optimized torque and improving cooling. The car is scheduled to debut in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season opener at Daytona in
January. - SportsCar365.com is reporting that Crucial Motorsports will run two brand new McLaren Artura GT4s full-time in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in 2023. The Artura GT4 is the replacement for the 570S GT4. The effort will be
run in collaboration with Titusville, Fla.-based McLaren Orlando. |
| | Keith Rodden Joins RCR as Austin Dillon’s 2023 Crew
ChiefRichard Childress Racing announced Friday morning that Keith Rodden will serve as Austin Dillon's new crew chief starting in 2023. Rodden, previously a crew chief
at Hendrick Motorsports, will replace Justin Alexander. |
| | Jeb Burton Leaving Our Motorsports At End of
2022Jeb Burton announced Friday morning in a press release that he will be leaving Our Motorsports at the end of the 2022 season. He is currently 17th in
points. |
| | Red Bull, Aston Martin Sanctioned for Breaching 2021 Financial
CapThe FIA announced Friday that Red Bull officially breached the financial cap last year by $1,800,000. As a result, they have been fined $7,000,000 and docked wind
tunnel time. Aston Martin has also been fined for a more minor breach. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and James Thompson of Getty Images. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
Frontstretch Folio: Xfinity 500 by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Martinsville to determine who will join Joey Logano in the Championship 4 in Phoenix. Coverage of the Xfinity 500 begins with Countdown to Green at 1:30 p.m. on NBC while the green flag should fly around 2:15. Radio coverage will be provided by local MRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
Records and facts Last year's Xfinity 500 came down to some late controversy. Alex Bowman was able to run down Denny Hamlin for the lead late as everyone was scrambling to get whatever they could get. Contact was made in turn 3 on lap 494, resulting in Hamlin spinning out and Bowman taking the lead. The caution came out as well to set up a Green-White-Checker finish. Bowman
was able to hold on over the final two laps to to win the Xfinity 500 by .472 seconds over Kyle Busch. Brad Keselowski was third, then Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron. Denny Hamlin ended up 24th at the finish and was not happy with Bowman. He maneuvered his car onto the frontstretch after the race and prevented Bowman from doing any post-race celebrations. Among
active drivers, Hamlin has the most wins at Martinsville with five. Martin Truex Jr. has three wins, while the Busch brothers and Brad Keselowski have two each. All-time, Richard Petty is the leader with 15 career victories. Darrell Waltrip has 11 Martinsville victories, then Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with nine. Rusty Wallace has seven wins and could have had an eighth if he
didn't get black-flagged for jumping the final restart from the lead in the 1997 Hanes 500. Three other drivers (Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt and Fred Lorenzen) have six wins each.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 0.526-mile oval, 500 laps (263 miles)
Banking: 12 degrees Straightaways: 800 ft., flat Grandstand Seating: 55,000 Pit Road Speed: 30 mph
Pace Car Speed: 35 mph
Opened: 1947 (first Cup race in the inaugural season, 1949) Website: http://www.martinsvillespeedway.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MartinsvilleSpeedway Twitter: http://twitter.com/MartinsvilleSwy Pre-Race Schedule: Practice: Saturday, Oct. 29, 12 - 12:45 p.m. ET on NBCSports.com/NBC Sports App (joined in progress on USA at 12:30 p.m.) Qualifying: Saturday, Oct. 22
at 12:50 p.m. ET on USA Say What! "When NASCAR decided on the schedule, it was no accident that Martinsville was going to be the race to get into the Championship 4. We’ve seen year over year, it produces some crazy races. I don’t expect anything different. It’s another place that I am looking
for a little bit of speed at. It was challenging to pass in the spring, but we were a car that went from around 27th and drove to fifth, but it took me all race to get there. It’s been high on my list to be better there. We tested there and I am still looking for more speed. "I want to qualify better there this weekend than I did last time. I had us starting pretty deep in the field and it takes a long time to get towards the front of the field there." - Ross Chastain "The car drives fairly similar each time around, but from a team strategy standpoint, the setups are totally
different. I mean, they couldn’t even get more different than what they are just with the rule changes and how much more knowledge we have now about this car. It has really changed the game. You also have a better sense the second time around of how the racetrack races. Looking back at the first race at Martinsville, who would have thought going into the first race that it was going to be really hard to pass? We’re now going into the second race knowing that, so we’ll change our strategy to go
along with that. "To make some of those moves guys typically want to make on a
short track, whether that’s giving a little bump to mess up another driver, or even just going for the dive bomb, you have to have the opportunity. You need to be able to get right on their bumper. You can’t do that at a lot of these places, but at Martinsville you have to slow down so much for the corner. You can just drive in deeper and get right to their bumper or, if you can get to their inside or outside, you can take away the space they need to make that turn. If you want to get to a guy
and move him up out of the groove, you’re going to get the chance to do it. You just hope you’re not the guy that someone is trying to move because it’s impossible to get away from and sometimes impossible to come back from." - Chase Briscoe "It’s a tough racetrack and, any time you come in the pits and make an adjustment on your car, you certainly hope it goes the right way, or you make enough of it, or you don’t make too much of an adjustment. The last run can be
tricky, too, because you can be coming off a 50 lap run on right-side tires and take four and you’ve only got 30 [laps] to go, or you could have 80 to go and you know you have to manage that run all the way to the end. Hoping we can get up front and stay there and have a shot at the win with our M&M’S Halloween Camry TRD." - Kyle Busch "I feel good about where we’re at headed into the weekend. We had a really great test here a few weeks back,
and both our cars unloaded with speed in the spring in what felt like a long time ago compared to how far we’ve come in the summer months. Sunday is yet another great opportunity for our team and we’re excited to get it going in the Kohler Generators Mustang." - Brad
Keselowski Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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