Frontstretch Newsletter: April 5, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition XLVI |
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- NASCAR teams are all on-site at Martinsville Speedway for three big races at the paperclip. NASCAR Cup Series teams will be on-track starting Saturday. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams are up first. Practice will start at 3 p.m. ET today with live coverage on FOX Sports 1.
Qualifying will follow immediately afterwards. Coverage of the Long John Silvers 200 will start with NASCAR RaceDay - NCTS Edition at 6:30 p.m. ET. Race coverage will start at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag falling around 7:45 p.m. ET. -
NASCAR Xfinity Series teams will also practice and qualify today. Practice is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET and will air on FS1. Qualifying follows afterwards. Coverage of the DUDE Wipes 250 will start with NASCAR RaceDay - Xfinity Edition at 7 p.m. ET Saturday night on FS1. Race coverage will follow at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag at 7:45 p.m.
ET. - Formula 1 teams are at Suzuka Circuit this weekend for the Grand Prix of Japan. With the time difference, the first day of practice is already complete. Free Practice No. 3 is scheduled for 10:25 p.m. ET tonight and will air live on
ESPNEWS. Qualifying is scheduled for 1:55 a.m. ET tonight/Saturday morning and will air on ESPN2. Coverage of the Grand Prix of Japan will start with Formula 1: Grand Prix Sunday at Midnight ET Saturday night/Sunday morning on ESPN2. Race coverage will begin at 12:55 a.m. ET on ESPN with the formation lap starting at 1 a.m. ET. - The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is racing Sunday afternoon at Thompson Speedway. Coverage of the Icebreaker for the modifieds begins at 4:15 p.m. ET on FLORacing. There is additional Icebreaker coverage that will air via internet pay-per-view both Saturday and Sunday at RacingAmerica.tv. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams have another doubleheader on tap. Friday night sees the series race in the Wildcat Showdown at US 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo. Coverage stars at 7:15 p.m. ET on DirtVision. Tomorrow night, the series moves to Arrowhead Speedway in Colcord, Okla. Coverage stars at
7:15 p.m. ET on DirtVision. - SRO America's five series will be in action at Sonoma Raceway
this weekend. Unfortunately, track surface issues are wreaking havoc (see below). The original schedule for the weekend has been changed substantially. Despite the changes, races will be held both Saturday and Sunday as of this writing. Those races will stream on both the GT World YouTube channel and on SpeedSport1. 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! |
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| Austin Hill Running Multiple Cup Races for
RCR Richard Childress Racing announced Friday that the team will enter a third car part-time for Austin Hill in the NASCAR Cup Series starting at Texas. |
Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography. 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: April 4 |
- The trouble at Sonoma Raceway with the new surface is significantly worse than feared. The track came up in four different places Wednesday during SRO America testing. Not only was Thursday's on-track action cancelled, but almost all of Friday's action has been wiped out. The instance also led
to a nasty back and forth (mostly deleted) exchange between Denny Hamlin and Speedway Motorsports Inc.'s Marcus Smith where Hamlin alleged that
SMI tried to repave Sonoma Raceway on the cheap. As a result of the issues, the four main SRO America series will get only one practice session each on Saturday that will count as a qualifying session. Saturday's entire schedule has been revised with all the races being pushed back in order to accommodate the practice sessions.
- Random Vandals Racing announced Thursday that they have acquired a BMW M4 GT3 and plan to move up to Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS later this year. The team will debut their green and white BMW at Road America in August. The car will be shared by Conor Daly and Kenton Koch. For the Indianapolis 8 Hour in October, they will be joined by BMW factory racer Connor
de Phillippi. Koch's deal will be in addition to the existing drives that he already has with the team. He is full-time in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX in a BMW M4 GT4 alongside Kevin Boehm. He also shares a similar M4 with team owner Paul Sparta in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (pictured above at Daytona).
Daly has somewhat limited experience in sports cars. He ran most of the 2015 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (then the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship) season in the PC class for Performance Tech Motorsports. He finished eighth in points that year with a second-place finish at Road America and third-place finishes at Sebring and Circuit of the Americas.
He has not raced in IMSA since the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona for Starworks Motorsport. He has no previous starts in SRO America competition. Of note, the depiction of the team's new M4 GT3 in the above link indicates that the team will race the No. 92, the same number that they currently use in Pilot Challenge. However, that number is
already taken. They'll have to switch numbers on their car between now and August. Picture from Daytona is courtesy of our own Phil Allaway. |
Frontstretch Folio: Cook Out 400 by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Martinsville for their first visit of the year. Coverage of the Cook Out 400 begins with NASCAR RaceDay at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX Sports 1. Race coverage starts at 3 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled to fly around 3:20 p.m. ET. Note that this is the first Cup race on FS1 this year. Radio coverage will be provided by local MRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
Records and facts Last year's NOCO 400 was not the most competitive race out there. Yes, there were 10 lead changes, but roughly half of those changes occurred during rounds of
stops. Kyle Larson was able to get himself in position after the final restart and took the
lead away from Joey Logano with 30 laps to go. From there, Larson held on to take the win. Larson won by 4.142 seconds over Logano. Martin Truex Jr. was third, then Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. Among active drivers, Jimmie Johnson (not entered) has the most wins at Martinsville with nine. Hamlin has five triumphs, Martin Truex Jr. has three wins, while Kyle Busch and Keselowski
have two each. All-time, Richard Petty is the leader with 15 career victories. Darrell Waltrip has 11 Martinsville victories, then Johnson and Jeff Gordon 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. 28, 12:30 - 1:20 p.m. ET on USA Network Qualifying: Saturday, Oct. 28 at 1:30 p.m. ET on USA Network Say What? "Definitely high confidence going into Martinsville compared to the first year of this car. To be able to go run like we did at Richmond, it gives me a lot of
confidence going forward that our Martinsville stuff should be good. I love going there, it’s been a really good track for us over the years aside from the first year of the NextGen. Hopefully we can continue that and use that going forward with our Bass Pro Shops Camry. "I think we got to a point with the old car that we had some things that really worked for me. We used to have it for a long time, and just did some fine tuning,
tweaking here and there. Learning how to race and learning how to win at Martinsville, you learn a lot about the track and what it takes. Then they switched the car and that’s been a challenge for us. Two years ago, we were in trouble there, and then last spring we were kind of hit-or-miss throughout the day. I feel like we are still learning some things there about this car – what do I need here, what are things that kind of turn that switch for me here at this racetrack and do the things that
I want it to. I don’t know if we are quite there yet, but you really need to be upfront and be dialed in, so hopefully we can make that happen this weekend." - Martin Truex Jr. "Five hundred laps is definitely a long time at Martinsville. Physically, it’s one of the harder races we go to. When we got done with the fall race there last year I literally couldn’t even bend over to take my shoes off because my back hurt so bad just with all of the braking we’re doing there constantly, so it’s hard from a physical standpoint. Mentally, I feel like it’s harder for some guys
than others just to stay mentally focused for that long and just always being around somebody and keeping your emotions in check, but it is a marathon. It’s 500 laps, but it goes by super quick. At the same time it’s super long. There are a lot of opportunities to make mistakes, but you’ve got to be so aggressive there now with this Next Gen car because it is so hard to pass. It’s so hard to get track position that, honestly, you run 500 qualifying laps and it’s a challenge to do that well. I’m
looking forward to getting to Martinsville. That’s been a place where I feel like we’ve done everything but win there the last four times, so that’s probably the one race I’ve had circled on the schedule for a while now." - Chase Briscoe "The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Martinsville, is being ‘busy’ inside the race car. You’re making multiple up-shifts and down-shifts per lap, at least with last year’s package. I’m curious to see how that evolves. I love this racetrack, and I love what it has
to offer. If we get a little bit of warm weather, the racetrack really turns into a rubbered-up style of track, which allows you to move around, so if it gets to that point, the racing can be pretty good." - Daniel Hemric 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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