Hamlin wins Pocono

Denny Hamlin and Juan Montoya pulled away from the field in the final run to the checkers, but at the end it was the No. 11 taking the checkers.

Our View The flat track master is back, proving that when he stays out of trouble, he can be nearly perfect.

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Stewart crashes in Pocono practice 2

In his first laps of practice in the morning session at Pocono, Tony Stewart got loose off turn three and slammed the wall. He will have to roll out a backup car.

Our View Amazingly, he also wrecked in the first race at Pocono this year. That race was also set by points when qualification was canceled and after going to the back of the pack, he won the race.

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Pocono: qualification canceled

For the second time this year, qualification has been canceled at Pocono and the field will be set my owner points. That puts Tony Stewart on the pole.

Our View Stewart hopes the same thing does not happen to him this week as in the first Pocono race. He crashed in practice and had to go to the back of the grid with a backup car to start the race.

On the other hand, he does hope for the same race result: he won the Pocono 500.

More Cup newsbreakers

Stewart crashes in NH practice 1

Tony Stewart preceded Mark Martin into the wall early in the first practice session at New Hampshire, but he did much more damage. The No. 14 team will roll out a backup.

Our View: So long as they change the engine before qualification, they should be able to hang onto their grid position from qualification. Fantasy owners will also remember how well he did in his backup at Pocono – he won.

The backup is reportedly the same one that finished second at Richmond—another relatively flat track.

More Cup Series Newsbreakers

Double-file restarts are a non issue at Pocono

NASCAR now has one race under its belt with double-file restarts, but that was enough to allow Carl Edwards to offer suggestions, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View: Edwards suggested that the leader should have his own row—something known as a Delaware restart in dirt racing circles—which protects some of the advantage he has worked so hard to get.

Kurt Busch on double-file restarts
Tony Stewart on double-file restarts
Kasey Kahne on double-file restarts

Pocono 500 Results

Now the questions will end. Tony Stewart kept getting closer and closer with six top-fives in his previous eight attempts and during that time, he's been strong enough to win on several occasions. This week, it took a combination of speed and strategy to beat Carl Edwards to the line.

Edwards had the dominant car for most of the afternoon, but he was forced to pedal the throttle and conserve fuel as well, which made for some drama late in the Pocono 500. Still, it could have been worse, because the second most dominant driver Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas in turn two and had to coast to the finish line in seventh.

The majority of the other top-10 finishers climbed that high on the back of their own pit strategy, and fantasy owners with good instincts were rewarded. Owners who did this by the numbers suffered early after one of the favorites Denny Hamlin broke a fuel pump on the opening lap. Even with his 38th-place finish Sunday, the flat track master has an average finish of 10.71 on this track.

Results with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Avg Fin
1	1	Tony Stewart	200	39	Running	12.43
2	11	Carl Edwards	200	103	Running	12.89
3	13	David Reutimann	200		Running	26.20
4	2	Jeff Gordon	200	9	Running	10.09
5	5	Ryan Newman	200	1	Running	13.33
6	20	Marcos Ambrose	200		Running	6.00
7	3	Jimmie Johnson	200	31	Running	9.60
8	15	Juan Montoya	200		Running	24.40
9	10	Jeff Burton	200		Running	16.29
10	26	Sam Hornish Jr	200		Running	26.00
11	9	Greg Biffle	200	4	Running	17.77
12	16	Clint Bowyer	200		Running	19.57
13	22	Jamie McMurray	200	1	Running	20.69
14	21	Casey Mears	200	1	Running	20.38
15	14	Kasey Kahne	200		Running	16.45
16	8	Matt Kenseth	200	6	Running	14.26
17	32	Michael Waltrip	200		Running	21.48
18	19	Martin Truex Jr	200		Running	15.57
19	12	Mark Martin	200	1	Running	10.84
20	25	Reed Sorenson	200		Running	28.86
21	17	Brian Vickers	200		Running	15.09
22	6	Kyle Busch	200		Running	22.00
23	23	Joey Logano	200		Running	23.00
24	24	Kevin Harvick	200		Running	15.82
25	27	Elliott Sadler	200	2	Running	20.90
26	31	David Ragan	200		Running	22.80
27	18	Dale Earnhardt Jr	200		Running	16.84
28	28	Bobby Labonte	200		Running	18.00
29	33	Paul Menard	200		Running	30.00
30	30	A J Allmendinger	199		Running	25.00
31	34	Robby Gordon	199		Running	27.94
32	37	Scott Speed	199		Running	32.00
33	42	Regan Smith	198		Running	28.67
34	29	David Stremme	198		Running	27.40
35	35	John Andretti	198		Running	28.52
36	43	Dexter Bean	196		Running	36.00
37	4	Kurt Busch	182	2	Running	16.94
38	7	Denny Hamlin	178		Running	10.71
39	36	Sterling Marlin	56		Quit	17.87
40	41	Dave Blaney	37		Quit	23.53
41	39	Joe Nemechek	36		Quit	25.21
42	38	David Gilliland	34		Quit	33.00
43	40	Patrick Carpentier	32		Quit	37.50

Stewart wins fuel mileage race

Tony Stewart doesn't like to win fuel mileage races—and to our memory, he's done it only once before—but the owner/driver got his first victory in that role.

Our View: For a couple of months, we've been saying a win was around the corner. Now that it's come, we can stop predicting it.

Ku Busch on double-file restarts

HOW DOES NASCAR DRAW THE LINE OF WHAT CAN BE A GOOD PROCEDURAL CHANGE AND SOMETHING THAT MIGHT JUST BE GIMMICKY AND CONTRIVED?

"I think that everybody in the garage area, drivers, owners, crew members are in favor of double-file re-starts. I think that we’ve seen its positive results in the Camping World West Series and Camping World East Series. We saw that result in the (Sprint) All-Star race where you have guys double-file and it produces great re-starts. The concept came from everybody aboard. The fans ultimately can receive the benefit of saying that they were the ones in charge (contributed to NASCAR’s rule change) because we want to make the right decisions to create more excitement for them to watch. Where do we draw the line? I think the line has to be drawn where everybody has to agree on it and I don’t think a 500-mile race would be appropriate if we threw a caution with 20 laps to go just to bunch the field up for more excitement at the end (of the race). I think pit strategy always comes into play. I think Dover was a really exciting race even though it didn’t have a mandatory caution at the end of the race. What it did was create an element for some guys who were on two tires, some were on four (tires), some even stayed out. We’re going to see that mix even more so in this day in age when it’s so difficult to pass.
That strategy, when it comes into play, if we had a mandatory caution with 20 (laps) to go would really throw it (strategy) out the window. It’s tough to draw the line. We’re in an entertainment business, a racing business; I would like to beat the next guy by three laps if I could. That doesn’t happen this day and age. We have close, competitive racing. We rarely see a guy win a race by more than a second and that’s the competition we want to see on the track."

From a Dodge Press Release

Tony Stewart on double-file restarts
Kasey Kahne on double-file restarts

Ku Busch on Pocono points

WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS, ARE YOU ABLE TO TAKE SOME CHANCES THAT OTHER GUYS WHO ARE NINTH, 10TH, 11TH, 12TH WON’T BE ABLE TO?

"I think it’s irrelevant on where you are in points and who you’re re-starting next too. You always have to keep track of who is starting next to you. At a track like (Pocono) this weekend, with all the points’ runners running up front this weekend, a track like Michigan next week, you’ll have surprises from guys who are running 18th to 25th in points, like a guy such as Montoya, he’s very fast at those tracks. Then when we go to the road courses, we’re going to have our hands full with different guys running up front. You’re going to have those double-file re-starts, we’ve never had double-file re-starts at road courses, and we’ve always been single-file lines. So this weekend will be great to work the bugs out of the new system. Michigan will be another test because we’ll see more guys get a lap down at Michigan than we will at Pocono. And then, when we get to the road course, I don’t think we’ll see anybody a lap down. We’ll see them side-by-side for re-starts and that’s going to be very exciting, but it could be frustrating at times."

From a Dodge Press Release

Logano wins Pocono ARCA race

Joey Logano made the most of his part time ride in the ARCA series at Pocono. We figure it's ok to post this notice since both ARCARacing.com and SpeedTV.com spoiled their own race.

Our View: This was Logano's fourth start in ARCA. He's now won twice and finished second twice.

More ARCA Newsbreakers

Stewart happy with backup

According to a Tweet from @BobPockrass, Tony Stewart was in a good mood following practice and says his backup car is better than his primary.

Our View: His speeds on the chart certainly confirm that and Pocono is a track on which a driver can come from the back. Its long straights allow drivers with horsepower to pass before entering the corners.

Hamlin fastest in Pocono Happy Hour

Denny Hamlin posted the fastest single lap in Pocono Happy Hour with a speed of 165.317 mph. His average speed of 162.817 was second best.

Our View: Perhaps we should call Hamlin and Ryan Newman co-winners of this session. Newman was quickest and second fastest in Happy Hour and these two drivers could be the class of the field on Sunday.

Newman wins Pocono Happy Hour

Ryan Newman posted the quickest time in Happy Hour, with a speed of 163.000 mph during 21 laps. His fastest lap of 165.213 was second best on that grid.

Our View: Newman is the hottest driver on the circuit for the moment and if he was not on your lineup already, he should be now.

Logano in Pocono ARCA race

Joey Logano will do double duty this week at Pocono. He will take to the track from the outside of the second row Saturday afternoon.

Our View: This track is tricky to learn and even though the cars are significantly different, Logano needs the seat time. This can only help him during the Cup race.

More ARCA Newsbreakers

Vickers spins in Pocono HH

Immediately after the field went to green in Happy Hour at Pocono, Brian Vickers looped his car in the tunnel turn.

Our View: Unlike Tony Stewart in the first session, however, Vickers more or less kept his car on the pavement and did not do much damage. He is not expected to roll out a backup.

Johnson wins Sat. a.m. practice

No matter how you measured it, Jimmie Johnson won Saturday practice with a top speed of 167.607 and an average speed of 164.872 during 11 laps.

Our View: Johnson's recent record at Pocono has been spotty, but this confirms our suspicion that he will be the driver to beat on Sunday.

Stewart spins in Pocono P1

At the 34 minute mark in the first practice session, Tony Stewart spun without making wall contact.

While he may have avoided the wall, he tore the front splitter off his car. Stewart will probably roll out a backup car and that will cause him to give up the pole, but with the two practice session back-to-back, he's going to lose a lot of track time.

Last week's contact between Biffle and Edwards "just racing"

The contact between Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle last week at Dover late in the Autism Speaks 400 was just a racing deal, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: As the author of this points out, however, the two do seem to run into one another a lot. Rivalries between teammates are often more intense because these guys are also fighting for internal resources. At Pocono, there is plenty of room to race, so don't look for any contact this week.

Gordon about his back pain

HOW IS YOUR BACK AND HOW WILL IT HOLD UP HERE AT POCONO VERSUS A TRACK LIKE DOVER?:

“I think this track is probably one of the easier tracks. You get a lot of resting period on those long straightaways. About the only place that it might be an issue will be under braking getting into turn one. I had to do a test at Road Atlanta this week – that was one of the real tests and I was surprised that we got through it pretty good. Especially after the wreck last Friday during qualifying. I was pretty sore from that. I think the road courses and Martinsville, Bristol – those are the toughest tracks on it. This one should be pretty easy.”

HOW IS YOUR BACK FEELING?:

“Right now I’m feeling pretty good. It’s always nice to have an extra day of rest – kind of got that today. I know there’s a lot of people that this didn’t work out so well for. For us, it worked out well – we got an extra day of rest, got a great starting position, great pit stall and now we can go focus for the race on Sunday. We’ll get out there tomorrow with the car in race conditions.”

DO YOU KNOW WHETHER YOU WILL HAVE TO HAVE SURGERY ON YOUR BACK?:

“Surgery really hasn’t been an option looking at my condition and the options of surgery is really too invasive. I don’t necessarily think it’s necessary. I might do another treatment of what I did a couple weeks ago. We have to wait four to six weeks. They say the second treatment you usually have a lot better results than the first one. I really haven’t seen any big effects from the first one so I wasn’t really thrilled about doing a second one. Anytime they talk about sticking needles in your back it’s not something I’m looking forward to. It wasn’t so bad though and I’m certainly willing to give it a shot so we’ll do that when the time’s right and it fits in the schedule. Until then, my focus is on the training and just stretching. It’s strengthening the area, my whole core area and that’s been great for me in a lot of ways because it’s got me in better physical shape. From a cardio standpoint especially, when I’m in the car everything feels better. I don’t feel as hot in the car, I don’t feel as winded and it’s just dealing with the spasms – just the muscles getting really tight and causing some pain there. Other than that, we’re getting through it.”

From a GM Press Release

Kvapil to practice for Robby Gordon

Travis Kvapil will shake down Robby Gordon's car in Saturday's practice sessions, while the off-road racer is competing in the Baja 500, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: Gordon has done this several times before without any major issues. The No. 7 could be a solid mid-pack contender and could fit your roster in order to extend your salary cap.