Front Row Motorsports Seeking to Duplicate Last Season’s Performance
David Gilliland and David Ragan’s final-lap heave at Talladega Superspeedway last season defined their demeanor and willingness to help further their team’s recognition and competitiveness.
Now, after that conduct and performance, many folks are hopping onto the bandwagon and believing Front Row Motorsports could go back-to-back by winning at ‘Dega this weekend.
“It’s going to be tough,” Gilliland admitted when asked about duplicating last season’s performance at Talladega. “However, we’re really excited to return and feel like we have a great shot at winning and having a good day, so it’ll be interesting to watch.”
“Talladega is the great equalizer,” Ragan said to Popular Speed’s Matt Weaver. “Handling doesn’t matter so if you can get the car to your particular comfort level and liking, you will have a shot. I don’t expect to win but I do expect to contend. And if I make the right decisions as a driver and the pit crew does what they are capable of, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have the same opportunity as one of the top five teams.”
Though, this season, a victory would be much more then memorable, it would be extraordinary and unforgettable due to NASCAR’s new implemented Chase format that focuses on winning. Therefore, a victory for either Gilliland or Ragan would clinch them their first Chase berth.
“It’d mean the world to Front Row Motorsports,” Gilliland noted saying that a win at ‘Dega basically guarantees a Chase berth. “It’s our goal, but anything can happen, it’s still Talladega, but we’ll see what will happen come Sunday.”
“I think we’re going to be in position to do something and steal a win,” Ragan expressed. “I feel like there will be one team over the course of the year that does something (special) and it gets them into the Chase.”
Their pursuit towards a second triumph at Talladega hasn’t begun the prettiest, though, after Ragan and Gilliland qualified 39th and 40th respectively, following the group-qualifying session on Saturday. However, sometimes starting in the rear is beneficial to avoid trouble.
The Aarons 499 in Talladega, Alabama begins at 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX which will feature outstanding speeds and close side-by-side competing. @MarshallGabell on Twitter will have updates of the event for those unable to access a television.
Brian Scott wins Aaron’s 499 pole at Talladega as ECR sweeps top-six spots
“Who would have thought that? Wow.”
Going into qualifying, Richard Childress Racing and their Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engine affiliates had a plan to draft together and catch a ‘toe’ at the optimal time to therefore lay down the quickest speed of the session. The plan worked perfectly as ECR cars swept the top six spots in qualifying.
Catching the run at the right time through the apron in the third round of qualifying, 26-year-old Brian Scott would come across the line with a lap of 48.293 seconds to score his first career Coors Light Pole Award in his fifth Sprint Cup Series start. Scott’s previous best qualifying attempt was a 12th in the season opening Daytona 500.
“It was a team effort,” Scott commented. “Big thanks to everyone. It’s always a team effort to get these superspeedway poles. We had a team plan and Ryan Newman was elected the point player. I know how that feels as I was the point man yesterday and you don’t feel you have a pole shot but you feel special being a team player.
“We were able to get the right suck there at the last second to get the pole and I couldn’t be more happier for everybody.”
While the format may have been different with three rounds of qualifying and drafting, this is a continuing trend on the restrictor plate tracks as ECR was strong at Daytona 500 with Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr. on the front row.
This time around, it’ll be Paul Menard on the front row with Scott as Menard qualified second for his third top-10 start of the season. A.J. Allmendinger qualified third, followed by Casey Mears and Austin Dillon. Allmendinger and Dillon had a mix-up earlier this season at Darlington and with their qualifying effort, found themselves in the media center together. The ill-feelings look to be gone as both joked about their insults to each other.
Ryan Newman will start sixth, followed by Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards.
Jeff Gordon will start 11th, followed by Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Aric Almirola, Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Michael Annett, Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Reed Sorenson and Trevor Bayne.
Notably missing from the top 24 were Clint Bowyer (29th), Kyle Larson (30th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (31st), Jamie McMurray (33rd) and Denny Hamlin (35th).
“Wasn’t that much fun. That was pretty boring,” Earnhardt Jr. commented. “I’m pretty sure we can think of something as that. I’d like to do some heat races or something. That’d be a little funner than this.”
“Well, for us, we got out there in a group and I guess the officials made us come down pit road for something and we lost our group and plan,” Larson said. “Just couldn’t tag on to the right group and get a toe. Qualifying really doesn’t matter here and we have a quick Target Chevy so we’ll be fine tomorrow.”
The session didn’t go without incident, either, as contact between Kyle Busch and Michael Waltrip resulted in minor damage to both Toyotas.
Eric McClure, Dave Blaney, .J. J Yeley and Joe Nemechek were the four drivers that did not qualify.
Following qualifying, two cars failed post-inspection as Truex’s No. 78 did not meet height requirements while Kahne’s No. 5 was too light. Both times disallowed, will start at rear
Tom Hessert wins International Motorsports Hall of Fame 200 at Talladega Superspeedway
For the fourth time in his career, Tom Hessert was able to get to ARCA victory lane after making a pass late in the race for the win.
Grant Enfinger, driver of the Casite-Motor Honey-Advanced Auto Parts #90 Ford, and winner of the first 3 races of the season in the ARCA racing series started from the pole at Talladega Superspeedway in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame 200 and was looking for win number 4 of the 2014 season. Once the green flag flew, the front of the field ran single file up front for the first half of the race with Mason Mitchell, Justin Boston, Mark Thompson, and John Wes Townley rounding out the top 5 behind Enfinger.
Green flag pit stops began on lap 36 of the 76 lap event. Multiple drivers were penalized for speeding on pit road including leader Enfinger who had dominated the first half of the race. Clay Campbell, Mark Thompson, and Frank Kimmel were among the 16 pit road speeding violations. Justin Boston in the #25 Zloop Chevrolet took over the lead after pit stops until lap 54 when he was passed on the track by the Zaxby’s #15 of John Wes Townley.
The first and only caution of the race came out on lap 56 when Justin Allison, grandson of Donnie Allison, in the #88 HAVACOSales.com Ford, blew a right front tire and slammed into the side of Clay Campbell driving the #52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet for Ken Schrader Racing, causing Clay to spin out. The caution put many of the the penalized race cars back into contention for the win.
The race went back to green at lap 64 with John Wes Townley in first followed by Boston, Mitchell, and Tom Hessert. Bobby Gerhart, making his 300th start in the series took the lead with 4 laps to go and was quickly over taken by John Wes Townley.
With only two laps to go Tom Hessert, driving the #77 Cunningham Motorsports Caregard-AxiomWarranty.com Dodge took the lead for the first time of the day after passing Townley on the high side and lead the final two laps to win his first ever super speedway race and the 4th win of his career. Hessert was followed by John Wes Townley in 2nd, teammate Austin Wayne Self, driving the #22, in 3rd, Mason Mitchell in 4th and Spencer Gallagher in the #23 rounding out the top 5. The rest of the top 10 were Derrick Lancaster in 6th, Bobby Gerhart 7th, Frank Kimmel 8th, Grant Enfinger 9th, and Buster Graham in 10th.
The ARCA Racing Series next race is at Toledo Speedway on May 18th.
