Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 6, 2023
Volume
XVII, Edition CLXXVI |
- NASCAR Xfinity Series teams have a full day of work today at Charlotte Motor Speedway. They will be in the garage this afternoon working on their cars before going through inspection. Meanwhile, NASCAR Cup Series teams are scheduled to load into the garage at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight. There is no on-track activity scheduled. Xfinity teams will practice at 10 a.m. ET Saturday. The session will be streamed live on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App. Qualifying will immediately follow up the session. Coverage of the Drive for the Cure 250k will start at 3 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC. There does not appear to be an edition of Countdown to Green
scheduled. - This weekend's Grand Prix of Qatar is one of the Sprint weekends for Formula 1. The only practice session of the weekend is already complete. Qualifying is scheduled for 12:55 p.m. ET this afternoon. The session will air live on ESPN2. Saturday's activity starts with the Sprint Shootout. That will air live on ESPN2 at 8:55 a.m. ET. The Sprint race itself will air at 1:25 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS, bumped further down the line due to college football. Coverage of the Grand Prix of Qatar starts with Formula 1: Grand Prix Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2. The broadcast moves
over to ESPN at 12:55 p.m. ET for the race with the formation lap starting at 1 p.m. ET. - The ARCA Menards Series wraps up their season Saturday at the home of ARCA, Toledo Speedway, with the Shore Lunch 200. Teams will have a 45-minute practice beginning at 11:45 a.m. Saturday morning. Qualifying will be at 1 p.m. ET. Coverage of the Shore Lunch 200 will air live on FOX Sports 2 Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET. The broadcast will be simulcast on FLORacing.com. - In Indianapolis, today is a full day of activity. GT America powered by AWS and Pirelli GT4 America SprintX have races today on the 2.439-mile road course. The GT America race is scheduled to go green at 1:40 p.m. ET, while the Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race is at 5:25 p.m. ET. Both races will be streamed live for free on
the GT World YouTube channel and SpeedSport1. It will also stream for subscribers on Motorsport.tv. Saturday will have the first TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School race of the weekend at 8:25 a.m. ET. That will be on the GT World YouTube channel, along with SpeedSport1 and Motorsport.tv. Coverage of the Indianapolis 8 Hour will start at 10:45 a.m. ET Saturday morning exclusively on the GT World YouTube channel. There will be plenty of pre-race coverage prior to the 12:15 p.m. ET green flag. Sunday will see GT America powered by AWS, TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing
School, Pirelli GT4 America SprintX and Toyota GR Cup North America wrap up their 2023 seasons in the morning before the SRO America Gala in the afternoon. - The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is at Port Royal Speedway for the Nittany Showdown both tonight and tomorrow. Coverage is scheduled to start at 6:15 p.m. ET both nights on
DirtVision. - The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series is at Brownstown Speedway tonight for the Hoosier Dirt Classic. Coverage is scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m. ET on DirtVision. Tomorrow night, the late models move on to Fairbury
Speedway for the FALS Showdown. Coverage from Fairbury is scheduled to start Saturday night at 6:15 p.m. ET on DirtVision. - Super DIRT Week continues at Oswego Speedway through the weekend. Today, you have heat races and last chance showdowns. Coverage begins at 12:45 p.m. ET on DirtVision. The original plan was to have the Pro Stock and 358 Modified races Saturday, while the Sportsman and Super DIRTcar Series races would be Sunday. However, the weather forecast is terrible.
FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUES: TOLEDO: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from Charlotte. |
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| Ryan Newman Driving for MBM at Homestead MBM Motorsports announced Thursday that Ryan Newman will drive for the team in two weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. |
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| NASCAR Ditches Motorsport Games, iRacing Acquires Video Game
License Motorsport Games has sold the license to develop NASCAR video games to iRacing. IRacing will develop a new console NASCAR game that is tentatively going to be released in 2025. |
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| Max Verstappen’s Qatar Quest for 3rd Title Starts With
Pole Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the pole for Sunday's Grand Prix of Qatar with a lap at 144.682 mph for his 10th pole of the year. Mercedes' George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start second and third, then Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's
Charles Leclerc. |
Photos are courtesy of Wayne Riegle of SRX, iRacing via eNASCAR and Clive Rose 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. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Oct. 5-6 |
- In Qatar, Red Bull's Max Verstappen was once again fastest in practice with a lap at 138.642 mph on the newly-reprofiled 3.367-mile Losail International Circuit. Verstappen was one-third of a second faster than Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. Teammate Charles Leclerc was third, then Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull. There were no red flags during the session. However, things were tricky as drivers complained that the track was extremely slippery during the 60-minute session. "I have raced in IMSA for seven years. I am ready to take a break from racing to resume some of my off-track pursuits for a year," Brynjolfsson stated in a press release. "Hopefully I will miss it and come
back for another championship run. Until then I want to thank Wright Motorsports, Trent, Porsche, IMSA, and everyone in the paddock for seven years of awesomeness. Most importantly, today on my 29th wedding anniversary, I want to thank my wife Trish for being by my side at every race, every practice session, every test day, and supporting me 100 percent on and off the track." Brynjolfsson first entered IMSA competition with a pair of McLaren 570S GT4s in 2017. The McLaren was eventually sold and replaced with a Ford Mustang GT4. At the time, Brynjolfsson said that he wanted something more raw. Eventually, he settled in with Hindman as his co-driver in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. In 2019, the duo
also ran in SRO America competition with significant success. That success resulted in Brynjolfsson winning the prestigious Porsche Cup, which is an award given to the best driver in customer Porsches in any given year.
Before moving up to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Brynjolfsson and Hindman won only a couple Pilot Challenge races together. However, a consistent
season including a victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and five podium finishes earned them the championship in an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 last year. - Bryan Herta Autosport announced Thursday that Michael Lewis will have to sit out next Friday's FOX Factory 120, the season finale for IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Lewis suffered an undisclosed injury late in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 240 back on Sept. 16. - Practice for Saturday's Indianapolis 8 Hour was held in wet conditions. As a result,
teams did not run the full session. On a damp track at the beginning of the session, Team WRT's Charles Weerts went fastest with a lap at 93.544 mph in his BMW M4 GT3. Only nine of the 22 teams entered set times during the session. - Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports' Jesse Webb won the pole for today's Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race in Indianapolis with a lap at 96.695
mph. He won the pole by .497 seconds over NOLAsport's Matt Travis. Randon Vandals Racing's Kevin Boehm will start third, then Smooge Racing's Kevin Conway. The Heart of Racing's Hannah Grisham will start on the Am pole in fifth.
Note that Conway's normal teammate John Geesbreght is out of the car this weekend. Geesbreght had a huge crash during the wreckfest that was Race No. 2 at Sebring and suffered an
undisclosed injury that is keeping him out of the seat this weekend.
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Frontstretch Folio: Bank of America ROVAL 400
by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway for their second visit of the season, this time on the 2.28-mile ROVAL. Coverage Sunday begins with Countdown to Green at 2 p.m. ET on NBC. Race coverage is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET, while the green flag should fly around 2:45 p.m. ET. Radio coverage will be provided by local PRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
Records and facts
Last year's Bank of America ROVAL 400k came down to a Green-White-Checker. Kevin Harvick was leading the race when a piece of the curb in the backstretch chicane broke off. That brought the yellow out to force extra laps and a brief red flag for repairs. On the restart, Christopher Bell was able to pass Harvick on the run up the hill into
the infield. From there, he was able to hold on to win. Bell ended up 1.782 seconds ahead of Harvick at the finish. Kyle Busch was third, while Kaulig Racing teammates AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley were fourth and fifth.
There have only been four races on the ROVAL to this point. Chase Elliott is the only driver with multiple wins, claiming triumphs in 2019 and
2020. Track Facts Track / Race Length: 2.28-mile infield road course ("ROVAL"), 109 laps (248.52 miles, 399.954 kilometers)
Banking: 0-24 degrees Turns: 17 Grandstand Seating: 89,000 Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 1960 Website: http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlottemotorspeedway Twitter: http://twitter.com/CLTMotorSpdwy Pre-Race Schedule: Practice: Saturday, Oct. 8, 12 - 12:50 p.m. ET on NBCSports.com/NBC Sports App (joined in progress at 12:30 p.m. ET on USA Network) Qualifying: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. ET on USA Network Say
What?! "The key to running well at the Roval is just staying out of trouble and
trying to keep your momentum rolling all the way around the racetrack. There are some big braking zones where you can really attack and get a lot of slowing down done in a quick period of time but the infield section has such little grip and is so bumpy that you’re just trying to control the slip and not go too fast and crash. It’s about tiptoeing as much as you can with carrying the right amount of roll speed." - Kyle Busch "I think it’s fun. It’s a sketchy cut off race. I feel like I’ve gotten caught up in more messes there than I have clean finishes. We did win there a couple of years ago (2021), so I know we can have a good run again this weekend. We have just got to execute a little bit better than I did last year and try not to crash to make it to the next round." - Kyle Larson "The ROVAL has really evolved into being one of our better racetracks. It’s very similar to Sonoma with a lot of partial throttle and light braking and a place that we’ve always been able to run really well at. I think the Roval isn’t a typical, well-laid-out racetrack. It’s more of a parking lot. It’s not as much of a parking lot as Indy, as it does have a lot of elevation changes
and things like that, but it’s got some unique corners that aren’t your typical, free-flowing, nicely laid-out, natural road-course-type corners. I think the Roval has been intense and exciting over the last several years, and I think this car is going to be a little bit different just because it’s more of a road-course-style vehicle than we’ve driven there in the past. The ROVAL is aggressive with some of those tough, aggressive passes into some of those braking zones and some of those odd
corners. It’s another of those racetracks that has its own characteristics." - Kevin Harvick "It’s something I look forward to – I love road-course racing. I just love all of the shifting that you’re doing. You’re turning left and right. You’re hopping curbs. You’re driving the heck out of these racecars to go fast. And that’s what I like
about that. I feel like it kind of puts it in the driver’s hands. "The biggest thing for us will be survival – lining up and getting in line, making laps and trying to be solid.
We will see where we stack up pace-wise, and then adjust how we want to approach the race. And that will change during the race, but running all the laps is the first step." - Austin Hill Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade
Photography.
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