After Talladega, #7-Robby Gordon is in 34th place, 14 points ahead of #71-TRG, which is 116 points ahead of Front Row’s #38 third car and 217 points clear of #26-Latitude43. Since August, Front Row had put a lot of its focus on getting the 38 back in the top 35, where it comfortably sat until it was penalized 150 points in June for illegally modified tire-valve caps. Since Michigan in August, in three different three-race periods, Front Row had made up significant gaps on 35th: 87, 85 and 79 points, respectively. After the most recent three-race period, which ended at Charlotte, Front Row’s car was only five points out of 35th going into Martinsville two weekends ago. But after breaking a rear-end gear there as Kvapil was running well ahead of the 7 and 71, and finishing 35th — and now the Talladega debacle — Freeze said the team would reshuffle its plan for the rest of this season. “We knew this weekend was going to be a challenge, so [breaking the gear] was a huge setback. Bob [Jenkins, team owner] and I talked about it [Sunday] morning and we’re still going to run the 38 the last three races and make the best effort with it.(NASCAR.com)(11-2-2010)
