Frontstretch Newsletter: May 19, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition LXXVI |
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will practice today at North Wilkesboro Speedway starting at 3 p.m. ET. The session will air
live on FOX Sports 1. Qualifying for the Tyson 250 will be at 10:30 a.m. ET Saturday morning on FOX Sports 1. Tyson 250 coverage starts with NASCAR
RaceDay - NCTS Edition at 1 p.m. ET on FOX. Race coverage starts at 1:30 p.m. ET. - NTT IndyCar Series teams have a full day of practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway going on right now on Peacock. Today,
the boost has been turned up, so there will be more speed on offer. Saturday starts with a practice session at 8:30 a.m. ET on Peacock. Qualifications run from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. ET. The whole session
will be on Peacock, while NBC will air live coverage from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. ET. Sunday sees some practice and qualifying for the top 12 drivers on Peacock. The Firestone Fast Six and the Last Chance Qualifying
will be live on NBC starting at 4 p.m. ET. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams are at Attica Raceway Park tonight for some action. The coverage will
start at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed live for subscribers at DirtVision.tv. Tomorrow night, they will move to Ohio's Sharon Speedway. Action there will start at 6:15 p.m. ET. - World
of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series teams will be at Marion Center Speedway tonight for the Marion Center Showdown. Action from Marion Center, Penn. will start at 6:15 p.m. ET on DirtVision. Tomorrow night, the series will move to Port Royal Speedway for the Late Model Speed Palace Showdown. That will air at 6:15 p.m. ET as well. - SRO America teams are at Circuit of the Americas this weekend for three days of action. Today is a practice day, while
qualifying will be tomorrow morning. Races will be held Saturday and Sunday. These races will all be streamed on the GT World YouTube channel. FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND AT NORTH WILKESBORO THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUES: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter
page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from North Wilkesboro! |
| | Trackhouse Signs Shane van Gisbergen For Project 91 at
Chicago Trackhouse Racing Team announced Thursday that three-time Repco Supercars Championship champion Shane van Gisbergen will make his NASCAR Cup Series in the Grant
Park 220 in Chicago as part of the PROJECT91 team. |
| | G2G, Young’s Hit With Penalties After
Darlington NASCAR announced Thursday that both G2G Racing's No. 46 Toyota and Young's Motorsports' No. 12 Chevrolet were found to have unapproved window nets at Darlington.
25-point penalties have been assessed to both teams. |
| | Kyle Larson Begins 2024 Indy 500 Prep, Jeff Gordon Calls
the Race ‘A Dream’ Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon spent Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of the beginning of Larson's preparations to compete in the 2024 Indianapolis
500. So far, it has been quite the learning experience for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion. |
| | Conor Daly Eyeing 10th Indy 500 Start Ahead of
Qualifying For Conor Daly, Indianapolis is his home track. This weekend, he will attempt to qualify for his 10th Indianapolis 500. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, IMSA and Chris Jones of INDYCAR Media. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
Around the World in Motorsports: May 18 |
- Chip Ganassi Racing's Marcus Ericsson was fastest overall in Practice No. 4 for the Indianapolis 500 with a lap at
229.607 mph in the pack. In addition, he was fastest by himself with a lap at 224.414 mph. Ericsson's lap was .072 seconds faster than teammate Scott Dixon. Simon Pagenaud was third, then Will Power and
Colton Herta. There were no incidents during the six hours of practice Thursday, but there was a close call in the final hour.
Abel Motorsports' RC Enerson pulled down onto the warmup lane entering turn 1 in order to not impede an oncoming pack of cars. Unfortunately, due to spotter Spencer Pigot getting drowned out by the pits, Enerson did not know that Patricio O'Ward was coming. The two drivers nearly collided at pit out. Needless to say, O'Ward was not happy with Enerson afterwards. He angrily showed his hand to Enerson on the
backstretch as to say "what are you doing?" |
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series makes their long-awaited return to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the first time since 1996 for the NASCAR All-Star Race. The field will first be filled out with the All-Star Open. Coverage of the 100-lap preliminary event is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX Sports 1. All-Star Race coverage starts with NASCAR RaceDay at 7 p.m. ET. Race coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET. Both the All-Star Open and All-Star Race race can also be heard on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
Records and facts Last year's NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway came down to a controversial ending. Ryan Blaney was in the lead when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. scrubbed the wall
in turn 2 to bring out a yellow. During that caution, Blaney's window net came down. Normally, that results in a black flag that would have required Blaney to pit and fix it. Instead, Blaney attempted to put the net back up in a way that would
hold. His solution didn't get the net the way up, but enough that NASCAR didn't penalize him. From there, Blaney held on for the win and the $1 million bonus. Blaney won by .266 seconds over Denny Hamlin. Austin Cindric was third, then Joey
Logano and Daniel Suarez. All-time at North Wilkesboro, Richard Petty is the winningest driver on the tricky oval with 15 career victories. Darrell Waltrip, who will be in the booth Sunday, has 10 wins. Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough each had
five wins, while Bobby Allison, Terry Labonte and Junior Johnson each had four. No driver is still active that competed at North Wilkesboro while it was still on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar. Track
Facts
Track / Race Length: .625-mile oval, 200 laps (125 miles) for All-Star Race, 100 laps (62.5 miles for All-Star Open)
Banking: 14 degrees Frontstretch: 990 ft. Backstretch: 990 ft. Grandstand Seating: 25,000
Pit Road Speed: 35 mph
Pace Car Speed: 40 mph
Opened: 1947, re-opened 2022
Website: https://www.northwilkesborospeedway.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NWBSpeedway Twitter: https://twitter.com/NWBSpeedway Pre-Race Schedule: Practice: Friday, May 19, 4 - 4:55 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 Qualifying: Friday, May 19, 5:45 p.m. ET on FOX Sports
1 Heat Races: Saturday, May 20, 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 Say What?! "I don’t know what to expect at all. I feel like we’ve done really well on the short tracks this year and we won at Richmond [Raceway] and Martinsville [Speedway], two tracks I typically wouldn’t be good at. I’m excited to go to North Wilkesboro [Speedway]. It’s got worn out pavement. I’m typically not the best at saving my tires, so I’m a little nervous about that. Going into North Wilkesboro
this weekend, I think that the atmosphere is going to be great. We’ll see how it goes, but I think that this could be a great spot to just leave the All-Star Race. I do love going to different venues and I think that really shows who the “all-star” is and who the best driver in the sport is. It’s definitely an honor to have won at Charlotte [Motor Speedway] and Texas [Motor Speedway]. If I could win at North Wilkesboro, that would be pretty amazing and something to be proud of. I’m really
excited about the opportunity to go there and I never thought that I would race at that track." - Kyle Larson
"It’s going to be cool for sure. We’re nervous about the weekend and not knowing what to expect. Luckily, I’m running the late model race this week. I’m excited to run that and get
back in a Super Late Model again. It should be a lot of fun as well as give me a good idea of what the track is going to be like, and we can go from there. Right now, I’m just telling my guys to set it up how you think is best since we don’t really have any simulation for the track. It’s going to be pretty fun to see who hits the set up and who needs to make changes after practice." - William Byron "Much like LA, North Wilkesboro has been circled on my calendar. I think it’s going to be an awesome weekend. This track has so much rich history and it’s going to be so awesome to be behind the wheel of a Cup car at this track that the legends of our sport have raced on. It’s definitely the right time for our sport. We want
short tracks. We want that style of racing, especially at North Wilkesboro, which eats up tires. For us racecar drivers, it allows us to go into our toolbox and do different things to save tires or make speed in the long run. I couldn’t be more excited. With the strategy and how old the asphalt is, it’s going to be such an exciting race. When you walk in there, you’re going to feel that history, the nostalgia, and the fans. They want it, and we want it as drivers, so it’s going to be something
special." - Ryan Preece Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Harold Hinton Photography via Speedway Motorsports.
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