Frontstretch Newsletter: NASCAR To Allow Fans At Homestead, Talladega

Published: Wed, 06/10/20

The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net

Volume XIV, Edition LIX

June 10, 2020

Around the World In Motorsports: June 9

- SportsCar365.com reported Tuesday that Paul Miller Racing will skip the first two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championships at Daytona and Sebring when the series restarts in July. The Rolex 24 at Daytona GT Daytona class-winning team is actually a division of a Parsippany, N.J.-based network of car dealerships. Most of their staff have been furloughed and the team believes that the optics of racing under those circumstances would look terrible.

- NASCAR announced Wednesday morning that Advance Auto Parts is the new sponsor for NASCAR's Weekly Racing Series at local short tracks, replacing Whelen. The series will now be known as the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.

What to Watch: Wednesday

- Tonight, we've got 500 laps of action at Martinsville Speedway as the NASCAR Cup Series has their first full night race on the paperclip oval. With the new rule package for short tracks in play and warm weather for the spring event for what seems like the first time in years, it should be very interesting. Coverage starts with NASCAR RaceHub at 6 p.m. on FOX Sports 1.

On that note, the weather forecast for tonight is better than it has been, but there is a 40-60% chance of rain during race time. There is a chance for a delay tonight.

FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH TONIGHT AT MARTINSVILLE THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUE:

Davey Segal (@DaveyCenter)

Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates!

Wednesday's TV Schedule can be found here.

News of the Day

NASCAR Allowing 5,000 Fans at Talladega Cup Race

NASCAR announced Tuesday that there will be up to 5000 fans in the stands at Talladega for the GEICO 500 on June 21. In addition, up to a thousand members of the military will be at Homestead.

Today's Top News

Bubba Wallace Driving #BlackLivesMatter Scheme at Martinsville

Richard Petty Motorsports announced Tuesday that Bubba Wallace will race a special Black Lives Matter paint scheme in tonight's Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville.

Entry List: Dixie Vodka 400

For Sunday's Dixie Vodka 400, there are 39 cars currently entered. BJ McLeod has withdrawn, while Garrett Smithley will be back with Rick Ware Racing.

Entry List: Hooters 250

For Saturday afternoon's first Xfinity race of the weekend in Homestead, there will be 37 cars on the grid. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make his one and only start of the season in his No. 8 Chevrolet, while JJ Yeley will replace Garrett Smithley in SS-Green Light Racing's No. 07.

Entry List: NASCAR Xfinity Series 250

For Sunday's second Xfinity race at Homestead, there will be 38 teams on the grid. Daniel Hemric will be in the car for the Dash 4 Cash race, along with AJ Allmendinger in the third Kaulig Chevrolet.

Entry List: Baptist Health 200

The Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will have a field of 40 teams in the field for 200 miles of action. With only 40 entered, a number of teams that had been excluded from the past two weeks will be in the race.

Chase Purdy Running for GMS Racing in 2020

GMS Racing announced Tuesday that Chase Purdy will race the team's No. 24 Chevrolet in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in five upcoming races with sponsorship from Bama Buggies.

Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and our own Christian Koelle.

Frontstretch Newsletter Exclusives

Today's Featured Commentary

Don't Do It!

by Erin Campbell

The Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway saw one of the lowest amount of lead changes this season (21). In fact, much of the field was a lap down by the end of the race. I have been around the racing world long enough to see what question may come up soon…. Should we change the track surface? I say NO! There is another way!

Levigating Charlotte Motor Speedway

Rewind to 2005, Charlotte Motor Speedway saw about the same type of action, with Jimmie Johnson leading from the pole and winning most races there for a few seasons. The answer for Humpy Wheeler was to “Levigate” the track in the turns to see if that helps in the action. Levigating is a concept meaning “to make smooth” according to Merriam-Websters dictionary. These changes brought about multiple wreckfests, laced with spike strips, causing caution after caution for races to come because of all the shredded tires and uneven race surfaces drivers experienced. The Coca-Cola 600 that year saw an all-time record for cautions in a Cup race with 22. It is the most recent Cup race to have an official run time of over five hours (that does not include two separate red flags).

Repaving Other Tracks

For about seven tracks during the 21^st Century, the repaving process was completed due to necessary upkeep of the track. These changes have seen a mixture of slower and faster speeds following the repaving. During the repaving, minor design changes were also implemented while crews were working on the track to improve the racing surface. Most changes were minute and do not have lasting changes to the racing action.

In 2010, Daytona International Speedway was repaved for the first time since 1978 and saw slower speeds, about five mph slower, in qualifying speeds. The following season saw repaving for Phoenix International Raceway. Speeds stayed almost the same. 2015 and 2016 saw repaving come to Watkins Glen and Kansas Speedway. At those tracks, speeds stayed the same or went down. For the remaining tracks, speeds accelerated. Bristol Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway saw an increase in speed of up to 16 mph.

Atlanta Motor Speedway

I would not think that Atlanta will see any changes to their track surface for years to come due to their forward thinking.

"Each year we come in about this time of year and we take a look at the track to see what needs to be done to prolong the life of the track," Atlanta Motor Speedway executive vice president and general manager Brandon Hutchison said. "Without our operations staff putting in the hard work they do each fall to keep our Speedway race ready, we would've had no choice but to repave a long time ago."

However, with the lack of action up front the question still remains, what should be done?

Gen-7 Race Car

I believe the answer may lie in the setup of the Gen-7 car. We know one of the changes to be implemented with the release of the new car to be that of a one-lugnut hub. This change will no doubt change the pit stop dynamic, but not necessarily the competition issue.

The other major changes are geared towards making the cars more “stock.”

“We’re very excited about Next Gen – full stop. We want to be able to race a product that is similar to what we sell on the street. That doesn’t mean it’s the exact same parts but the architecture (is similar). So, being able to update the chassis or the suspension architecture, the steering, the tires and wheels, the body dimensions – all of those things in the Next Gen car are taking a very big step forward in those areas to tie the relevance from our race car to our road cars,” said NASCAR president Steve Phelps.

Even though the Atlanta Motor Speedway may not see a major surface adjustment in response to the action from Sunday’s race, we may see our hard-charging, side-by-side finishes that we have become used to at the track with the release of this new Gen-7 Car, to be introduced in the 2022 race season. I look forward to the opportunity to observe these changes and see how they will bring the cars into the next generation of racing.

Erin Campbell is a contributor for Frontstretch. She can be reached via e-mail at erin@lugnutlivin.com.

Frontstretch Folio: Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500

by Phil Allaway

Tonight, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to action with their first visit of the season at Martinsville Speedway. Drivers will race for 263 miles (500 laps) around the 0.526 mile paperclip-shaped oval. Coverage can be seen on FOX Sports 1 starting with NASCAR RaceHub at 6 p.m. EDT. The green flag is currently scheduled for around 7:15 p.m. It can also be listened to on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

Records and facts

Last year's STP 500 was completely dominated by Brad Keselowski. The Team Penske driver led 446 of 500 laps to win a race that had a grand total of three lead changes. Chase Elliott finished second, followed by Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin.

Jimmie Johnson is the most successful active driver at Martinsville with nine career wins at the short track and the best average finish of anyone that will be on the grid this week (9.4). Denny Hamlin has five Martinsville wins, while Keselowski and the Busch brothers have two each.

All-time, Richard Petty has the most wins at Martinsville with 15 career victories. Darrell Waltrip is second with 11. Jeff Gordon and Johnson are tied with nine each, while Rusty Wallace has seven. Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough each have six wins.

Track Facts

Track / Race Length: 0.526 mile paper-clip shaped oval, 500 laps (263 miles)
Banking: 12 degrees

Straightaways: 800 ft, no banking

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

Say What?!

"I think we’ve had a bit of experience with it just finishing a few races with the lights on and it getting dark. So, we have some past experience with that, and I think you go back and look at your notes on that and what you feel like the track did and how it changed to try to prepare that way. Yeah, it’s definitely going to be different, but I think it’s exciting to have our first night race there. Doing it mid-week, it should be fun so hopefully it goes over well. We’re all looking forward to it. I’m not sure the track will be that different with the concrete and the turns. It seems like concrete is a little bit less temperamental as far as the temperature, especially outside. I don’t expect it to be a whole lot different. I think the biggest question for us right now is just the tires. The tires are different and that can have such a huge impact at Martinsville. So, with no practice, kind of going back and building off of the things that we’ve learned there with our car and being able to win last fall. Are those things going to work still? And, how is the tire going to change the way the car drives and what it needs to do to be fast? Definitely a lot of question marks there as far as that goes I think more so than just being at night." - Martin Truex Jr.

"It’s just the technicality of it. I think similar to a road course in how technical it is. The road courses you have to really be good using the gas and the brake. Your braking points – the car gets very, very light on entry there with the back tires, especially as the tires wear out. You got to really be conscious of how your braking. Your acceleration has got to be really on point. You rush the throttle and you will burn up the tires. So, I think it’s a driver’s racetrack in that sense that you have to be smart. You’re going to get run into at some point of the day. You can’t let that escalate and throw you off mentally, and you go an retaliate and the next thing you know you’ve got a torn-up car. It’s just a racetrack that demands no mistakes and that’s what I like about it." - Denny Hamlin

"When you look at Martinsville and you add the short-track Saturday-night feel to a midweek race is something we’ve all not really experienced. I’m looking forward to that experience. Being under the lights for pretty much the whole race is going to be a great moment for our sport and we get to fire those lights up in Martinsville. It’s always intense. You’re going to get run into, you going to run into somebody. Someone is going to be mad at you and you are probably going to be mad at more than one person as you go through the race. It’s a great place to race. The thing I look at is you’re going to run Martinsville and then run Homestead by the end of the week. That’s it, a third of the season is gone. We’ve made up a lot of ground of the races we’ve missed. We’ve got 14 races left until the playoffs start. As you look forward, things are happening really fast. I’m proud we’ve gotten back on the racetrack and doing the things we’ve done. And with Martinsville being in the playoffs, it’s important to understand what you have when you leave the racetrack." - Kevin Harvick

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.

TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:

Eyes on Xfinity: Austin Cindric Focused on Chasing Title, Ready for Another Challenge

by Dustin Albino

Did You Notice?: In NASCAR, Black Lives Matter? No Confederate Flag? A Sea of Change in How the Sport is Run

by Tom Bowles

Daily Fantasy NASCAR DraftKings Forecast: 2020 Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500

by Zach Gillispie

Daily Fantasy NASCAR FanDuel Forecast: 2020 Blue-Emu 500

by Michael Finley

Power Rankings: Hotlanta Edition

compiled by Dennis Michelsen

NASCAR Mailbox: Is Kevin Harvick the Best He Has Ever Been as a Driver?

by Brandon Hauff

Conor Daly 2020 IndyCar Season Profile

by Joy Tomlinson

Open Wheel Wednesday: Lewis Hamiltonʻs Frustration

by Ava Huston Ladner

FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: In recent years, Martinsville races have generally been in cooler weather conditions. Tonight's race will be the exception, but it's not a new sensation. The 1998 NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville was well-known for hot and humid weather. How hot did it get that day?

Check back Thursday for the answer!

From Tuesday:

Q: In 2002, Kevin Harvick was parked by NASCAR for the weekend at Martinsville, forcing Richard Childress Racing to tap Kenny Wallace to race in his place. Why?

A: During the Truck race on Saturday, Kevin Harvick had gotten himself parked for rough driving after intentionally spinning out Coy Gibbs. The move was a payback after Gibbs had spun Harvick out in an incident that did not draw a caution 20 laps earlier. He was already on probation after the confrontation with Greg Biffle after the Channellock 250 Busch Series race at Bristol and the incident breached it.

COMING TOMORROW
Newsletter:
We'll have a recap of tonight's Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 from Martinsville.

Frontstretch.com:

We'll have articles about tonight's race in Martinsville and an article about the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series ahead of the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead.

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