The Frontstretch: Part-Time Schedule Yielding Big Time Results For Furniture Row Racing by Mike Ravesi -- Monday July 6, 2009

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Part-Time Schedule Yielding Big Time Results For Furniture Row Racing

Bubble Breakdown: Tracking The Top 35 In Owner Points · Mike Ravesi · Monday July 6, 2009

 

The Breakdown:

Rain washed out qualifying for Daytona last Friday, meaning the field was set by owner points. This was not good news for our bubble drivers, as the teams outside the top 35 not only had to start at the rear of the field — they also had to do so in their qualifying setup, as Daytona marked the second of five impound races this season. However, the good news is that back in February, Matt Kenseth proved that you can come from the back to the front and win at Daytona. So with that in mind, read on to see which of our bubble drivers tried to follow his lead, which ones didn’t, and which ones never even made it to the checkered flag in this week’s edition of the bubble breakdown.

Focusing on the bubble:

Just 239 points separated John Andretti in his Front Row Racing’s No. 34 Chevrolet, which sits in 35th place, from TRG Motorsports’ No. 71 Chevy driven by David Gilliland in 37th. Sandwiched in between sits the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota piloted by rookie Scott Speed. All three drivers were able to make some progress up through the field in the early stages, getting themselves into the top 30. However, the forward progress abruptly stopped for Gilliland’s Chevrolet on lap 77. Up in front of him, David Stremme got turned into the wall, collecting Kasey Kahne and triggering a wreck that involved 13 cars when all was said and done — including Gilliland. The damage proved to be too much to fix, relegating the TRG Motorsports car to a disappointing 40th place finish.

As the race continued, the remaining two bubble cars continued to move up, missing small incidents and getting solid pit stops to keep themselves within striking distance of the front. With just 15 laps to go, Andretti was running 24th while Scott Speed was having a great run, sitting in 16th. But then, like Gilliland, Speed’s night came to an early conclusion through no fault of his own. On lap 152, Jamie McMurray slid up the track, pinching Scott’s Toyota into the wall and doing enough damage to send him straight to the garage. In an instant, a promising top 15 run was turned into a dismal 31st place finish, with a wadded up race car to go with it. This left just Andretti, who — without a great car — did his own version of points racing. Realizing the opportunity to stretch the lead over 36th place, he faded to the back of the pack and rode out the rest of the race, finishing 27th. That run, while mediocre, was good enough to extend his advantage over Speed to a very comfortable 172 points — with the distance back to Gilliland now a daunting 283 markers.

Around the Bubble:

Regan Smith and the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 again put together a strong run, making a case for smaller teams running a limited schedule and being better prepared for the races they do run. Regan was able to start because, for the second week in a row, Gunselman Motorsports’ team was a late entry and rain washed out qualifying, giving the spot to Smith despite having fewer qualifying attempts. And once again, FRR made the most of their opportunity. The team started slowly before finally hitting the handling on their race car, having to make some stops to undo qualifying setup mode and get in something resembling race trim. Once they made the adjustments, though, Regan moved through the field, rising into the top 10 during the race’s latter stages. However, they couldn’t get a lot of drafting help and the drive wound up stalling, leaving Regan coming to the checkered flag in 12th place — still a career-best finish for the sophomore. With the run, he extends his streak of no DNF’s to 51 races, while the team slides up to 39th in the owner’s standings — despite having eight fewer starts than several teams behind them.

As chaos ensues around them, Regan Smith (78) and David Ragan (6) sail on by. For Smith, the 12th place finish extends his no DNF streak to 51 races and Ragan’s 13th place run puts more space between himself and the dreaded bubble.

It’s just a matter of time before Roush Fenway Racing’s David Ragan wins one of these plate races in NASCAR’s top series, as not even a lap 121 dustup with Kurt Busch could derail his night. While running tenth, David and Kurt came together, sending Ragan’s No. 6 Ford Fusion sliding through the grass. The team pitted, made some repairs to the body, and while the car wasn’t as good as it was before, it was good enough to come home in 13th position. The UPS Ford now sits 30th in the owner standings, with three of their four top 15 finishes to date coming in restrictor plate races.

If nothing else, David Stremme’s night was exciting. On lap 28, he got loose and into the No. 07 of Casey Mears, sending him spinning off into the grass. Then, on lap 77, he was part of the first big one that involved 13 cars. In between, Stremme also managed to clip the front tire carrier from Paul Menard’s team, knocking the tire out of his grasp. After posting five top 20 finishes in the season’s first eight races, Stremme hasn’t had one since. Penske’s No. 12 Dodge team has slid all the way to 33rd in the owner’s standings and if Robby Gordon gets his pit crew straightened out, they’ll be looking at 34th — or worse.

Speaking of Gordon, his team never ever got the handling right on Robby Gordon Motorsports’ No. 7 Toyota, and the result was a disappointing 22nd place finish with a damaged car. A major part of the handling issue was a strange one I hadn’t heard of before. Apparently, earlier in the race a tire corded on the No. 7 Toyota. But instead of the debris flying all over, it got wrapped around the ball joint of the race car. The crew finally found this and fixed it during a lap 106 pit stop to get Gordon going again. But by then, Robby’s team had made so many adjustments that fixing that problem actually made the car worse. The final straw came as the team got caught up in the second Big One crossing the finish line at the end of the race. At least the team had already decided not to use this car again…

Bubble Chatter:

“They all wrecked there — they just didn’t hit anything.” R. Gordon to his spotter on lap 38

“I checked up and they just kept coming.” D. Gilliland to his crew chief after being involved in a lap 76 wreck

“I can see the moon over here; are you sure it’s gonna rain?” R. Gordon to his crew chief after staying out on lap 78

“I got a good car… I just need someone to give me a little help.” Regan Smith on lap 92

“We’re building a new speedway car — this thing’s a piece of (expletive).” R. Gordon to crew chief

“The 26 just came up into us and I had nowhere to go.” Scott Speed to crew chief on lap 152

What to look for at Chicago:

David Ragan and A.J. Allmendinger are both coming off good runs at Daytona. Considering the duo had top 15 finishes last year at Chicago, both are poised to repeat this success in 2009. These were two drivers expected to be at least in the top 25 in points, not hovering around 30th at this point in the season. I say both finish inside the top 20 and begin a midseason run up the standings.

As for who’ll struggle, David Stremme is going the other way down the points ladder. David has five straight finishes of 28th or worse, and his No. 12 Dodge has plummeted to 33rd in the owner’s standings. Look for another finish of 30th or worse and — combined with a top 25 run by Robby Gordon — Roger Penske will find his third team falling another spot to 34th.

So, that’s it for the bubble breakdown from Daytona International Speedway. Check back next week to see if Gilliland or Speed can start chipping away at Andretti’s lead, if James Finch’s No. 09 Chevy/Dodge can make a move with a driver other than Brad Keselowski, or if maybe David Stremme just works his way back to them all.

So, until next Monday, so long from the bubble!

2009 Bubble Chart After Daytona:

Pos Owner Car # Driver Points Points +/- of 35th Place
31 Michael Waltrip Racing 55 Michael Waltrip 1,611 +276
33 Yates Racing 98 Paul Menard 1,504 +169
33 Penske Racing 12 David Stremme 1,499 +164
34 Robby Gordon Motorsports 7 Robby Gordon 1,468 +133
35 Front Row Motorsports 34 John Andretti 1,335 0
36 Team Red Bull 82 Scott Speed 1,163 -172
37 TRG Motorsports 71 David Gilliland 1,052 -283
38 Phoenix Racing 09 Brad Keselowski 1,019 -316
39 Furniture Row Racing 78 Regan Smith 943 -392
40 NEMCO Motorsports 87 Joe Nemechek 882 -453
41 Prism Motorsports 66 Dave Blaney 772 -563
42 Tommy Baldwin Racing 36 Patrick Carpentier 740 -595

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Mike
07/06/2009 12:57 PM
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Hey Mike..yeah very wierd that the tire sharpneled around the rotor…..par for the course with Robby’s luck!

Entertaining radio chatter he has though, huh? :)

don mei
07/06/2009 02:20 PM
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Am I missing something in suggesting that anytime the field is set via owner points, the impound provison will be dropped or modified?

Mike Ravesi
07/06/2009 05:26 PM
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Yeah his radio chatter is quite entertaining. Which is actually a good thing as some bubble drivers like Andretti and Paul Menard really don’t say anything at all.