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.

F1: Turkish GP Lineup, with avg. start/fin

For the second time in 2009, Sebastian Vettel wrestled the pole from Jenson Button, and just like the site of his previous pole the Chinese Grand Prix, he took the top spot after Button won the honor in back-to-back weeks. This is Vettel's first time to start near the lead in Turkey, however. His two previous attempts there have started 18th and 14th and ended 19th and 17th respectively.

Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello continue to make a mockery of the sport by starting second and third. There is absolutely no reason to think they are going to finish anywhere but at the front.

Lineup, with average start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Sebastian Vettel	18.00	16.00	2
2	Jenson Button	8.25	13.25	4
3	Rubens Barrichello	12.25	14.50	4
4	Mark Webber	14.75	8.50	4
5	Jarno Trulli	10.25	8.50	4
6	Kimi Raikkonen	6.75	3.75	4
7	Felipe Massa	5.50	2.75	4
8	Fernando Alonso	3.25	4.25	4
9	Nico Rosberg	11.00	11.00	3
10	Robert Kubica	8.00	6.00	3
11	Nick Heidfeld	10.25	6.50	4
12	Kazuki Nakajima	19.00	16.00	1
13	Timo Glock	13.00	15.00	1
14	Heikki Kovalainen	9.00	4.50	2
15	Adrian Sutil	18.50	19.00	2
16	Lewis Hamilton	3.50	2.50	2
17	Nelson Piquet Jr	15.00	17.00	1
18	Sebastian Buemi
19	Giancarlo Fisichella	9.75	9.00	4
20	Sebastian Bourdais	18.00	18.00	1

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

Stewart on Indy tire test

DO YOU FEEL LIKE AFTER THE TEST AT INDY THAT THEY’RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK AND YOU GUYS WILL HAVE THE TIRE THAT CAN LAST A FUEL RUN WHEN YOU GO BACK FOR THE 400?

“I can’t tell you what is going to happen when we go back. I can tell you the other day we ran a full fuel run on a set of tires and didn’t have a problem with it. I was pleasantly surprised. I know Ryan (Newman) had went and done the first two or three tire tests there and they hadn’t made it that far. The other day, and I don’t know if it was because it was right after the Indy 500 or what and if there was still rubber down from that, but the tire wear was great. There was cording early in the session but no more than what we’ve always seen in the past there. It didn’t take long at all with four cars running to get it to where you could run 20 to 25 laps pretty easily and by the end of the day you could run a full fuel run. If the conditions stay like they are now I’m confident they’ve got a tire that we’re not going to have to worry about. Obviously there is a lot of time and a lot of weather that is going to come in between now and then and I don’t know how that is going to affect everything. If we had to race this weekend I could promise you that we would have a tire that could make it the whole way.”

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.

IRL: Texas lineup with avg. start/finish

Dario Franchitti won the pole for Saturday night's Bombardier Learjet 550k—his fifth top-10 start on this track in six attempts. His results have been irregular after starting that close to the front, but the other time he started from the pole in 2004, he finished second.

Ryan Briscoe rolls off the grid second, and if his personal history at Texas is an indication that is precisely where he will finish. In 2005, he started and finished 12th in this race. Last year, he finished third after starting on the inside of the second row.

Like Briscoe, Scott Dixon does a good job of finishing what he starts at Texas. His first attempt there came in spring 2003 when he started second and finished sixth. In fall 2003, he started and finished second. In fall 2004, he started fifth and finished sixth. He went from fourth to second in 2006 and last year he won from the pole. He starts third on Saturday.

The king of Texas qualifying, however, may just be Helio Castroneves. In 10 previous attempts, he's never started outside the top 10 and he converted two of those strong starts into victories and another pair of races into runner-up results. He kept that streak alive with a fourth-place start.

Danica Patrick rounds out the top five in fifth, which is her fourth top-10 start in five Texas attempts. In those races, she's never finished worse than 13th and has back-to-back top-10s in 2007/2008.

Lineup with avg. start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Dario Franchitti	8.40	7.40	5
2	Ryan Briscoe	7.50	7.50	2
3	Scott Dixon	6.75	6.50	8
4	Helio Castroneves	6.30	5.70	10
5	Danica Patrick	9.50	7.00	4
6	Mario Moraes	18.00	22.00	1
7	Dan Wheldon	9.11	11.89	9
8	Marco Andretti	17.33	11.67	3
9	Robert Doornbos
10	Ed Carpenter	17.00	15.43	7
11	Hideki Mutoh	6.00	4.00	1
12	Graham Rahal	11.00	18.00	1
13	Alex Tagliani
14	Sarah Fisher	14.25	17.88	8
15	Raphael Matos
16	Tony Kanaan	4.50	7.50	8
17	Justin Wilson	27.00	23.00	1
18	Tomas Scheckter	15.33	6.00	9
19	Mike Conway
20	Milka Duno	14.00	23.00	2
21	E J Viso	14.00	28.00	1
22	Anthony Foyt IV	17.43	16.43	7
23	Ryan Hunter-Reay	20.00	10.00	1
24	Jacques Lazier

More Indy Racing League Newsbreakers

Trucks: Texas results, with avg. finish

Todd Bodine made history at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night. He became the first driver to win five races on the same track in the Camping World Truck Series. This was his 10th victory on the 1.5-mile tracks and it came at a good time. Bodine has struggled through four consecutive results of 18th or worse. Two of these disappointments were caused by crash damage, however, and it was only a matter of time before he got back in the swing. Prior to his four poor results, he was riding a nine-race streak of top-fives.

Matt Crafton was not happy with his second-place finish and compared it to "kissing his sister." He might feel different about that on Saturday morning when he realizes that he took the point lead after Ron Hornaday Jr. 19th with an oil pressure problem.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	9	Todd Bodine	167	Running	7.40
2	3	Matt Crafton	167	Running	11.76
3	14	Colin Braun	167	Running	10.00
4	15	Johnny Benson Jr	167	Running	11.90
5	6	Rick Crawford	167	Running	11.35
6	1	Johnny Sauter	167	Running	8.50
7	13	David Starr	167	Running	13.05
8	18	Jason White	167	Running	23.33
9	24	Tayler Malsam	167	Running	9.00
10	11	Mike Skinner	166	Running	5.91
11	8	Ricky Carmichael	166	Running	11.00
12	10	Timothy Peters	166	Running	21.33
13	7	Chad McCumbee	166	Running	12.83
14	16	T J Bell	166	Running	24.00
15	17	Brian Scott	165	Running	14.50
16	12	Aric Almirola	165	Running	23.80
17	5	Dennis Setzer	164	Running	11.14
18	20	James Buescher	164	Running	18.00
19	2	Ron Hornaday Jr	163	Running	11.31
20	22	Terry Cook	162	Running	15.57
21	19	Stacy Compton	161	Out of Gas	14.71
22	4	Brian Ickler	161	Running	22.00
23	23	J J Yeley	111	Vibration	23.00
24	32	Wayne Edwards	26	Ignition	29.83
25	25	Ryan Matthews	22	Vibration	26.33
26	27	Butch Miller	22	Overheating	24.00
27	28	Ryan Hackett	18	Transmission	27.00
28	29	John Jackson	14	Ignition	28.00
29	21	Mario Gosselin	13	Rear End	29.00
30	33	Nick Tucker	12	Too Slow	31.50
31	26	Marc Mitchell	11	Quit	21.50
32	31	Brandon Knupp	9	Quit	33.00
33	30	Norm Benning	3	Quit	30.50

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Trucks: Crafton takes point lead

It has been a brutal couple of races for Ron Hornaday Jr. He crashed last week and lost oil pressure late at Texas this week, which caused him to slip out of the points lead. Matt Crafton finished second Friday night, and that allowed him to take the lead in the series.

Our View: Notably, Tony Stewart used a second-place finish last week to take the NASCAR Cup series lead. Winning a championship is as much about consistency as strength, which is something fantasy owners want to keep in mind.

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Busch says no rivalry with Earnhardt

Where Kyle Busch is concerned, the media is making a big deal out of nothing in terms of a budding rivalry between himself and Dale Earnhardt Jr., according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: "Some of the media trying to build up stuff like that," said Busch. "To me, I've got no issues with Dale Jr. whatsoever. It wasn't him that kicked me out of Hendrick Motorsports, to be honest with you. It was Casey Mears."

Hey… maybe there's a budding rivalry between Busch and Mears.

Trucks: Bodine's gets fifth Texas win

Matt Crafton was chasing Todd Bodine down at Texas, but he couldn't quite close the distance. Running low on fuel, Bodine made it all the way to the checkers and won his fifth race on this track and his 10th on a 1.5-mile course.

Our View: This snapped a four-race streak of results 18th or worse this season and it may be time to start thinking about the No. 30 for your roster once more.

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

N'Wide: Edwards fastest in Nashville practice 2

With rain cancelling Friday activities at Pocono, Carl Edwards made his way to Nashville Superspeedway and posted the fastest time in Happy Hour for the Federated Auto Parts 300.

Our View: Brad Coleman in a Gibbs' car, Steve Wallace, Mike Bliss and Sean Caisse in a Childress car rounded out the top five. Kyle Busch also made the long commute from Pocono, but he was only 12th fastest. Jason Leffler—who won the first session—clocked in eighth best on this chart.

Complete Practice Times

More Nationwide Newsbreakers

Stewart on double-file restarts

ON THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS

“The good thing is with the way they changed the rule everybody kind of has to stay in line so it kind of brings some sanity back to it. I think there are many more pros than there are cons in this equation. There are so many times you get back to eighth or tenth and now you’re starting 16th to 20th on the track but you’re not that far in track position. You’re racing guys that are absolutely racing their guts out trying to get a lap back and you can’t blame them for that but at the same time its right in the middle of what you’re trying to do racing with guys that you’ve earned the right to race with. I think it works out great for the lead-lap guys to race with the lead-lap guys. The lap-down guys have the opportunity to directly race against those guys head-to-head that they’re racing with for a lap back. I think it’s an equation that works good. I don’t think that the trick part is any different than what you do on any other Saturday night short track and the same things that we did to get us here. I don’t know that it’s got that far yet. I think it’s going to be pretty sane from that side.”

From a GM Press Release

Pocono staring lineup, with avg. start / finish

"Obviously everybody is disappointed we didn’t get on the race track today but it worked out good for myself and Jeff (Gordon)," Tony Stewart said after qualification for the Pocono 500 was rained out and set by owner points. "It’s nice to be able to get a front-row starting spot because of rain but it’s not what the fans came to see."

Stewart and Gordon weren't the only benefactors. Several drivers, such as Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle bettered their average staring position by approximately 10 spots to roll off the grid inside the top 10.

Starting grid, with average start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Tony Stewart	13.00	12.30	20
2	Jeff Gordon	10.28	11.38	32
3	Jimmie Johnson	9.79	7.36	14
4	Kurt Busch	15.69	13.94	16
5	Ryan Newman	13.93	10.14	14
6	Kyle Busch	22.00	15.88	8
7	Denny Hamlin	6.17	6.67	6
8	Matt Kenseth	14.17	19.61	18
9	Greg Biffle	18.33	19.17	12
10	Jeff Burton	16.53	18.53	30
11	Carl Edwards	14.25	26.00	8
12	Mark Martin	10.66	8.64	44
13	David Reutimann	32.00	29.50	4
14	Kasey Kahne	16.60	7.80	10
15	Juan Montoya	28.50	20.25	4
16	Clint Bowyer	20.83	23.50	6
17	Brian Vickers	14.50	8.70	10
18	Dale Earnhardt Jr	16.28	15.00	18
19	Martin Truex Jr	15.17	15.00	6
20	Marcos Ambrose
21	Casey Mears	20.92	21.08	12
22	Jamie McMurray	21.33	17.67	12
23	Joey Logano
24	Kevin Harvick	15.31	19.31	16
25	Reed Sorenson	30.33	25.50	6
26	Sam Hornish Jr	34.00	33.50	2
27	Elliott Sadler	20.70	24.15	20
28	Bobby Labonte	17.69	16.22	32
29	David Stremme	25.75	34.25	4
30	A J Allmendinger	23.33	22.33	3
31	David Ragan	22.00	29.50	4
32	Michael Waltrip	21.58	21.38	45
33	Paul Menard	30.25	23.75	4
34	Robby Gordon	27.73	30.53	15
35	John Andretti	28.20	19.50	20
36	Sterling Marlin	17.39	17.57	44
37	Scott Speed
38	David Gilliland	30.75	23.50	4
39	Joe Nemechek	24.64	14.71	28
40	Patrick Carpentier	32.00	24.00	1
41	Dave Blaney	22.61	24.72	18
42	Regan Smith	26.50	20.00	2
43	Dexter Bean

N'Wide: Leffler tops Nashville practice 1

Jason Leffler posted the fastest lap of the first practice session. He posted a speed of 159.811 mph.

Our View: Leffler was followed by Michael McDowell, Stephen Leicht (practicing Clint Bowyer's car), Sean Caisse and Scot Lagasse Jr. With less than a handful of Claim Jumpers in the field this week, the Nationwide Regulars have a chance to shine.

Complete Practice Times

More Nationwide Newsbreakers

Martin pleased Friday was washed out

Mark Martin was pleased that qualification and practice was washed out on Friday, according to NASCAR.com. He said, "I view it as the less time on the track, the better. I feel like for our team, for us, we usually hit the track running -- and the longer we run, the more the competition has a chance to catch up," Martin said. "So I'm really comfortable with getting rained out completely."

Our View: This has been a consistent statement from Martin and it shows he is extremely happy with the preparation at the shop. That seems to be the key to his success so far in 2009.

Kahne on double-file restarts

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU HAD TO THINK THROUGH THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS THAT NASCAR HAS IMPLEMENTED THIS WEEKEND?

"Truthfully, I really haven’t thought it through. The biggest thing that I’ve thought about is the benefits (of the new rule) and how it’s going to make (the racing) better. Certain things can happen throughout the race and no matter if you have double-file (restarts) or single-file or lapped down cars, whatever can throw your race off. Last week we ended up a lap down because we pitted when some of the other cars pitted and the debris caution came out and we were a lap down. The way that I look at it is, now we’re racing with the cars that we are racing. Whether you’re a lap down and you’re racing with the lap down cars or you’re on the lead lap and racing with the lead lap cars, it’s so competitive right now…cars are all so equal…that it takes your tires to fall off…it takes your car to slow down and things like that before you can pass a car. If you sit there and race…if you restart 10th and you’re racing with lap downed cars… or the guys inside of you…or the two in front of him for 20-25 laps, you may never even see the car in ninth (position) or eighth to try and pass them. To me, I just think that it’s going to be more competitive for us in a good way because you’re racing the cars that you’re racing. You’re not having to pass guys that are just as fast and ended up a lap down because they had one bad run."

From a Dodge Press Release.

NASCAR countersues Mayfield

At Pocono, NASCAR announced they had filed a countersuit against Jeremy Mayfield, allegedly "willfully violating NASCAR's substance-abuse policy, breach of contract, and defrauding NASCAR and its competitors of earnings," according to Ramswy Poston NASCAR's managing director of corporate communications.

Our View: The best defense is a good offense. At the center of the controversy seems to be an assertion that Mayfield purposefully combined drugs to achieve the effect of an illegal substance.

IRL: Franchitti on Texas pole

Dario Franchitti will start Saturday night's race Bombardier Learjet 550k from the pole with a speed of 214.513 mph.

Franchitti's career at Texas has been hit-and-miss. He missed last year, but in his four previous starts he has one top-five, two top-10s and two results outside the top 10.

Pocono Plans

by Andrew Marren

For Race 14 on the 36-race Sprint Cup Series schedule, NASCAR heads to the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA for the Pocono 500, the first of two stops at the track. Nestled in the Pocono Mountains, this track has played host the at least one NASCAR event a year since 1974. The second date on the tour was added in 1982. Pocono boasts NASCAR’s most unique track design; a 2.5-mile flat triangle with three straightaways with different lengths, three turns with varying degrees of banking. Pocono also boasts the circuit’s most treacherous corner, Turn two, or the “tunnel turn.” This corner has seen many grinding crashes, none worse than the lap one crash in the 1988 Miller High Life 500 that ended the career—and nearly took the life of—legend Bobby Allison; a scene I personally saw play out while attending my first race.

Due to the nature of the track’s layout, teams and drivers have a difficult time figuring out the car’s setup for optimal performance. Turn three is probably the most important turn to handle well enough that drivers can apply maximum horsepower for the frontstretch, the longest straightaway in NASCAR. This makes Pocono the place where man and machine must act in harmony more than any other track.

In 2008, Kasey Kahne rode the momentum he picked up during the two weeks NASCAR spent in Charlotte. There, he won both the All Star race and the 600 before riding his Budweiser Dodge to victory. That was his first at Pocono.

If you’re looking for a favorite in this race look no further then Denny Hamlin, driver of the FedEx Toyota out of the Joe Gibbs Racing stable. Hamlin has six career starts at Pocono Raceway and in that span, he has five top-10s. Among those top-10s are two wins and four top-fives. He’s also scored two pole positions.

Of course you will have to look at the Hendrick Motorsports stable as well. Jeff Gordon (four) and Jimmie Johnson (two) have combined for six total wins at Pocono. Mark Martin has not won there, but his average finish of 10.7 is highest among active non-winners. And keep an eye Dale Earnhardt Jr., if for nothing else just to see how the adjustment to his new crew chief Lance McGrew is playing out.

Join us at http://www.eventdaygames.com/ this week to play along with our unique fantasy game.

Yahoo! Qualification Story - Pocono

Rain canceled qualification at Pocono, but starting position is still important. Instead of revealing who rolled off the hauler fast, the drivers at the front of the pack as the toughest in the series at the moment since the grid was aligned by points. Check out this summary (.pdf) of who's going to be hot at in the Pocono 500.

F1: Kovalainen tops Turkey's second practice

The second practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix featured an entirely different cast of characters at the front of the field. With a lap of one minute, 28.841 seconds, Heikki Kovalainen narrowly edged Fernando Alonso who was six/thousandths of a second slower.

Our View: Meanwhile, Rosberg was only seventh quick and Hamilton was 13th. Fantasy Players will need to watch for Saturday's practice to see if a consensus is reached.

Complete Practice Results

Pocono quals canceled

Persistent rain has canceled qualification for the Pocono 500 and the field will be lined up by owner points, according to a Tweet from NASCAR PR.



The rich get richer. Some fast cars will have to come from the back, but we won't know which they are until Saturday's practice session.

F1: Rosberg fastest in Turkey's first practice

Nico Rosberg posted the fastest single lap in the first practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix, with a lap of one minute, 28.952 seconds.

Our View: That's great, but better news might be found a little further back. Lewis Hamilton has had a terrible start to the season, but he was second quick in this session.

Complete Practice Results

Rain postpones Pocono practice

Rain in Pocono has postponed—and will probably cancel—practice at Pocono. NASCAR will try their best to get qualification in the books.

Our View: Don't count on that happening, however; the rain appears to be here to stay through Friday. If the drivers line up by points, some fast guys are going to need to come from the back, which is always difficult on a flat track.

F1: Turkey's last four races

To date, there have been only four Turkish Grand Prixs, as Formula 1 continues to expand into the Middle and Near East and so far, this has been Felipe Massa's personal playground. He's won the last three editions of this race, and if not for a failure to finish in the inaugural race of 2005—he might have been absolutely perfect.

Kimi Raikkonen is the only other winner this track has seen, and of course he took that first event. He hasn't been bad lately either with a second in 2007 and an eighth last year.

Average finish, last four races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008	2007	2006	Inaugural 2005
Juan Montoya	3.00				3
Fernando Alonso	3.25	6	3	2	2
Lewis Hamilton	3.50	2	5
Pedro de la Rosa	5.00			5
Felipe Massa	5.50	1	1	1	19
Kimi Raikkonen	6.75	3	2	21	1
Robert Kubica	8.00	4	8	12
Jenson Button	8.25	11	13	4	5
Heikki Kovalainen	9.00	12	6
Christian Klien	9.50			11	8
Giancarlo Fisichella	9.75	20	9	6	4
Michael Schumacher	10.00			3	17
Jarno Trulli	10.25	10	16	9	6
Nick Heidfeld	10.25	5	4	14	18
David Coulthard	10.25	9	10	15	7
Ralf Schumacher	10.33		12	7	12
Alexander Wurz	11.00		11
Jacques Villeneuve Jr	11.00				11
Nico Rosberg	11.00	8	7	18
Rubens Barrichello	12.25	14	17	8	10
Timo Glock	13.00	13
Robert Doornbos	13.00				13
Scott Speed	13.00			13
Anthony Davidson	14.00		14
Narain Karthikeyan	14.00				14
Takuma Sato	14.67		18	17	9
Mark Webber	14.75	7	22	10	20
Nelson Piquet Jr	15.00	15
Christijan Albers	16.00			16	16
Vitantonio Liuzzi	17.50		15	20
Sebastian Bourdais	18.00	18
Sebastian Vettel	18.00	17	19
Tiago Monteiro	18.50			22	15
Adrian Sutil	18.50	16	21
Kazuki Nakajima	19.00	19
Sakon Yamamoto	19.50		20	19

IRL: Texas' last five races

After posting three consecutive top-fives from St. Petersburg through Kansas Speedway, Tony Kanaan has had two horrible weekends in the Indy Racing League with finishes in the 20s in the Indy 500 and at the Milwaukee Mile. Last week, he entered the flat one-mile oval with a near perfect record on that track during the last five years before crashing barely 12 races into the event. Now, he has another chance to rebound. At Texas Motor Speedway, he's finished seventh or better in his last five tries.

Helio Castroneves has actually been stronger in recent seasons. Except for a crash in 2007, he would have swept the top five since the fall 2004 race, having won twice and posting a second-place finish.

Dan Wheldon posted the fastest time in Friday's session and he too has to be considered a serious contender this week. Like Castroneves, he had a bad 2007 race, but has finished sixth or better four of his last five attempts.

Average finish, last five races

Driver	Avg. Fin	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004.2
Tony Kanaan	3.8	5	2	7	3	2
Helio Castroneves	5.0	2	16	1	5	1
Adrian Fernandez	5.0					5
Hideki Mutoh	6.0	6
Sam Hornish Jr	6.0		1	4	2	17
Scott Sharp	6.0		7	5	4	8
Dan Wheldon	6.2	4	15	3	6	3
Vitor Meira	6.2	7	5	6	9	4
Scott Dixon	6.4	1	12	2	11	6
Mark Taylor	7.0					7
Ryan Briscoe	7.5	3			12
Townsend Bell	9.0					9
Danica Patrick	9.5	10	3	12	13
Dario Franchitti	10.0		4	13	8	15
Sarah Fisher	10.0		10
Jeff Simmons	10.5		6	15
Kosuke Matsuura	10.8		9	8	7	19
Graham Rahal	11.0	11
Tora Takagi	12.0					12
Bryan Herta	12.3			11	10	16
Will Power	13.0	13
Felipe Giaffone	13.5			16		11
Tomas Scheckter	13.6	25	14	10	1	18
E J Viso	14.0	14
Milka Duno	14.0	17	11
Alex Barron	14.0				14	14
Anthony Foyt IV	14.3	12	17		18	10
Buddy Rice	15.0	8	8	18	21	20
Bruno Junqueira	15.0	15
Roger Yasukawa	15.0				15
Ed Carpenter	15.4	9	18	9	20	21
John Andretti	16.0	16
Patrick Carpentier	16.0				16
Tomas Enge	16.0				19	13
Eddie Cheever Jr	17.0			17
Marco Andretti	17.3	19	19	14
Mario Moraes	18.0	18
Buddy Lazier	19.0			19
Darren Manning	19.3	28	13		17
Ryan Hunter-Reay	20.0	20
Jon Herb	20.0		20
Mario Dominguez	21.0	21
Marty Roth	22.0	22
Jimmy Kite	22.0				22
Enrique Bernoldi	23.0	23
Jaime Camara	24.0	24
Oriol Servia	26.0	26
Justin Wilson	27.0	27

Fans help Carl Long

In the aftermath of the NASCAR appeal committee's refusal to reduce Carl Long's overly harsh penalty, fans have begun donating to a relief fund at CarlLong.com.

Our View: Long is not going to be a good fantasy value as an independent driver, but fans of dark horses should give whatever they can. Not that they are listening—but this sends a message of sort to NASCAR.

Trucks: Texas' last five races

Last week, Ron Hornaday Jr.'s race ended early with crash damage, but he managed to retain the points' lead in the topsy-turvy Camping World Truck Series season. He should be able to put that disappointment behind him immediately, because he enters the weekend as the defending winner of this race. In fact, he swept both events on this track last year.

The second-place finisher in both of those events won't repeat, however; Kyle Busch is not making the long commute from Pocono Raceway this week and that opens the door for the driver who was third in both races. Yes—the first-, second- and third-place drivers had perfect symmetry as Johnny Benson stepped on the final step of the podium in the spring and again in the fall.

The perfection ends there—but not by much. Todd Bodine was fifth in this race last year and fourth in the fall.

Average finish, last five races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008.2	2008.1	2007.2	2007.1	2006.2
Clint Bowyer	1.00					1
Mike Skinner	5.00	8	9	3	2	3
Ron Hornaday Jr	5.80	1	1	18	4	5
David Ragan	6.00					6
David Reutimann	7.00					7
Todd Bodine	8.00	4	5	16	1	14
Ken Schrader	8.00				8
Kyle Busch	8.75	2	2	29		2
Jason Leffler	9.00			9
Marcos Ambrose	10.00					10
Terry Cook	10.80	6	16	12	12	8
Jack Sprague	11.00	15	4	6	26	4
Matt Crafton	11.00	19	7	7	7	15
Aaron Fike	11.00				11
Marc Mitchell	12.00		12
Tim Sauter	12.00			10	14
Bobby Hamilton Jr	12.00					12
Ted Musgrave Sr	12.25		28	1	9	11
Travis Kvapil	13.00	7		26	6
Josh Wise	13.00				13
Colin Braun	13.50	5	22
Chad McCumbee	13.75	23	6	13		13
Brian Scott	14.33	9	13	21
Rick Crawford	14.60	11	21	5	3	33
Brendan Gaughan	14.80	16	15	2	24	17
Bobby East	15.00		8			22
Kraig Kinser	15.00				15
Mike Bliss	15.50			4		27
David Starr	15.80	12	27	19	5	16
Jon Wood	16.33	31	10	8
Donny Lia	16.50	14	19
Dennis Setzer	17.40	13	11	15	16	32
Scott Speed	18.00	10	26
Damon Lusk	18.00					18
Shelby Howard	18.50	17	20
Justin Marks	18.50		14	23
Aric Almirola	18.50		17			20
Johnny Benson Jr	18.60	3	3	27	29	31
Blake Bjorkland	19.00				19
Erik Darnell	19.40	18	24	14	32	9
Bill Lester	19.50				18	21
Willie Allen	19.50			11	28
Paul Tracy	20.00	20
Ryan Lawler	20.00	22	18
Stacy Compton	20.00		30		10
J R Norris	20.00			20
Eric Norris	20.00				20
Jack Smith (ASA)	21.00	21
Andy Lally	22.00			22
Chad Chaffin	22.67		25	24		19
P J Jones	23.00		23
Justin Labonte	23.00					23
Jeff Green	24.00	24
Michel Jourdain Jr	24.00					24
Joey Clanton	24.50			32	17
Jacques Villeneuve	25.00			25
John Mickel	25.00					25
T J Bell	25.75	32	31	17	23
Shane Huffman	26.00					26
Ryan Matthews	27.00	33			21
Joe Ruttman	27.00				27
Jason White	27.50	25	29	34	22
Norm Benning	28.00	28
Scott Lynch	28.00			28
Robert Richardson	28.00					28
Max Papis	29.00	29
Clay Rogers	29.00			33	25
Kerry Earnhardt	29.00					29
Butch Miller	29.50	27	32
J C Stout	30.00	26	34
Cale Gale	30.00	30
Chase Miller	30.00					30
Regan Smith	30.00			30
Peyton Sellers	31.00			31
Derrike Cope	31.00				31
Chris Wimmer	32.00				30	34
Nick Tucker	33.00		33
Kelly Sutton	33.00				33
Mike Harmon	34.00	34
Brandon Knupp	34.00				34
Larry Gunselman	35.00		35
Johnny Chapman	35.00					35
Kevin Lepage	35.00			35
Blake Mallory	35.00				35
Erin Crocker	36.00					36
Travis Kittleson	36.00			36
Wayne Edwards	37.00			37

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

F1: No KERS for BMW / Sauber

BMW / Sauber will not utilize the KERS system this week in the Turkish Grand Prix, according to Formula1.com. Team principal Mario Theissen said, "there are only two free practice sessions to check out the new aero package and we think that the risk of getting off track by trying out a new KERS configuration at the same time is higher than the potential gained."

Our View: Nick Heidfeld needs some help. He finished second on the Sepang Circuit and was seventh at the Circuit de Catalunya, but the remainder of his 2009 results has been outside the points.

IRL: Wheldon paces Texas' first practice

Dan Wheldon posted the fastest practice time in Texas' first session, with a lap of 215.783 mph. Danica Patrick was second best at 214.884.

Our View: That is hauling the mail. By comparison, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won last spring's pole with a speed of 190.907 in the heavier NASCAR Sprint Cup cars. Patrick has been incredibly strong on oval tracks, so her chance of extending the top-five streak to five is real.

Complete Practice Times

IRL: Patrick unscathed by rumors

Danica Patrick is not allowing persistent rumors of her joining NASCAR to interfere with he focus on the track, according to the Associated Press.

Our View: Patrick is riding a four-race streak of top-fives—including a third in the Indy 500—which means she is in a great position to negotiate.

IRL: Scheckter in for eight more

Tomas Scheckter will compete with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for eight more races, including this week at Texas Motor Speedway, according to IndyCar.com.

Our View: In two races this year, Scheckter has been consistent but not overly strong. He finished 12th in the Indy 500 and was 13th last week at Milwaukee. Fantasy owners can expect similar results at Texas.

Trucks: Texas lineup, with avg. start / finish

Making only his second start at Texas Motor Speedway and his first since 2005, Johnny Sauter won the pole for Friday night's WinStar World Casino 400k at a speed of 178.485 mph. He beat Ron Hornaday Jr. be a mere 0.09 seconds and that driver is looking to overcome an early-race crash last week at Dover International Speedway.

This race is a companion event with the Indy Racing League, and as such there are no Truckstopper Cup regulars. The accompanying bad news is only 33 trucks showed up—which is three less than a full field—and the slowest driver in the field is nearly six seconds slower than the pole sitter. Nick Tucker will almost certainly start and park his Silverado, but under green flag conditions, he would likely be lapped within six circuits.

Lineup

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Johnny Sauter	11.00	33.00	1
2	Ron Hornaday Jr	10.67	9.50	12
3	Matt Crafton	12.38	20.31	16
4	Brian Ickler
5	Dennis Setzer	10.86	11.57	21
6	Rick Crawford	11.64	10.59	22
7	Chad McCumbee	12.80	13.80	5
8	Ricky Carmichael
9	Todd Bodine	8.11	13.22	9
10	Timothy Peters	26.00	24.50	2
11	Mike Skinner	5.50	3.70	10
12	Aric Almirola	25.75	14.25	4
13	David Starr	13.33	13.33	21
14	Colin Braun	13.50	14.50	2
15	Johnny Benson Jr	12.78	8.33	9
16	T J Bell	26.00	20.00	5
17	Brian Scott	14.33	24.00	3
18	Jason White	26.40	31.40	5
19	Stacy Compton	13.67	16.50	6
20	James Buescher
21	Mario Gosselin
22	Terry Cook	15.36	14.55	22
23	J J Yeley
24	Tayler Malsam
25	Ryan Matthews	27.00	23.50	2
26	Marc Mitchell	12.00	23.00	1
27	Butch Miller	23.60	26.80	5
28	Ryan Hackett
29	John Jackson
30	Norm Benning	28.00	32.00	1
31	Brandon Knupp	34.00	35.00	1
32	Wayne Edwards	31.00	31.00	5
33	Nick Tucker	33.00	34.00	1

Week 23 Unified Power Rankings

With Formula 1 taking last week off, the two strongest drivers in auto sports remain at the top of our grid. Jenson Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello continue to be nearly unassailable with their strong showings on the international stage.

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart keeps hovering around the front of the field and last week's second-place finish in the Autism Speaks 400 kept him solidly in third on this grid. If Button and Barrichello stumble in this week's Turkish Grand Prix, "Smoke" could take the lead in the Unified Power Rankings just as he's done in the NASCAR point system. He hasn't been perfect, but then again with seven top-five finishes in his last nine attempts in Cup and Nationwide competition combined, he's about as close as you're going to get.

Dario Franchitti was last week's top Indy Racing League driver on our grid and he actually improved two positions from 11th overall to ninth on the strength of his third-place finish in the ABC Supply Co. / A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile—and yet, he's no longer the king of his crowd.

The IRL honor goes to Helio Castroneves, who settles into fourth on the overall grid despite an 11th in that same race. He didn't actually leap frog Franchitti, however; Castroneves was not included in last week's grid because he had not yet run four races in 2009. His victory in the Indy 500 and a second in the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway was enough to place Castroneves fourth on the overall grid.

Mark Martin was the biggest mover in the top 10—or at least, he's in the top 10 now, after jumping eight spots from 18th with a 10th-place finish at Dover International Speedway. The biggest loser was Camping World Truck Series Ron Hornaday Jr., who dropped 19 positions from 10th to 29th after crashing early last week. He has a chance to snap back this week, however, since he starts from the outside pole for Friday night's companion race at Texas Motor Speedway with the IRL.

Hornaday's hardship can't compare to Tony Kanaan. His early-race crash at Milwaukee caused him to drop 21 positions from 14th to 35th.

Unified Power Rankings

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	110.67	1	0
2	Rubens Barrichello	99.83	2	0
3	Tony Stewart	96.00	3	0
4	Helio Castroneves	92.25	NR
5	Kurt Busch	91.91	5	0
6	Jimmie Johnson	90.45	7	1
7	Ryan Briscoe	87.80	12	5
8	Jason Leffler	87.56	4	-4
9	Dario Franchitti	86.80	11	2
10	Mark Martin	85.00	18	8
11	Ryan Newman	84.60	6	-5
12	Denny Hamlin	84.27	9	-3
13	Danica Patrick	82.60	15	2
14	Brad Keselowski	82.14	21	7
15	Mark Webber	82.00	13	-2
16	Scott Dixon	81.20	28	12
17	Jeff Gordon	81.09	8	-9
18	Kyle Busch	79.63	19	1
19	Timo Glock	79.50	20	1
20	Matt Kenseth	79.44	27	7
21	Carl Edwards	78.30	22	1
22	Jeff Burton	78.00	17	-5
23	Dan Wheldon	77.20	16	-7
24	Joey Logano	76.55	25	1
25	Fernando Alonso	76.17	24	-1
26	Kasey Kahne	75.27	26	0
27	Matt Crafton	74.60	29	2
28	Greg Biffle	73.29	23	-5
29	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.60	10	-19
30	Jason Keller	72.11	36	6
31	Juan Montoya	71.73	30	-1
32	Dale Earnhardt Jr	70.21	31	-1
33	Nico Rosberg	70.00	32	-1
34	Brian Vickers	68.20	33	-1
35	Tony Kanaan	68.20	14	-21
36	Sebastian Vettel	67.50	39	3
37	Kevin Harvick	67.28	41	4
38	Steve Wallace	67.11	40	2
39	Justin Allgaier	67.00	42	3
40	Clint Bowyer	66.50	43	3
41	Graham Rahal	66.40	59	18
42	Martin Truex Jr	65.82	45	3
43	David Reutimann	65.62	38	-5
44	Marco Andretti	64.80	52	8
45	Jamie McMurray	64.73	44	-1
46	Lewis Hamilton	63.67	47	1
47	Johnny Benson Jr	63.60	35	-12
48	David Ragan	63.17	55	7
49	Brian Scott	63.00	57	8
50	Paul Menard	62.63	54	4

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

It's official: double-file restarts

"We've heard the fans loud and clear: 'double-file restarts -- shootout style' are coming to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series," said NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France. "This addition to the race format is good for competition and good for the fans."

Our View: If the driver of a lead lap car chooses to pit a second time, however, he will have to start behind the lap down cars. This should make the race for the lead more competitive. The change goes into effect at Pocono Raceway in the Pocono 500.

IRL: Patrick has best top-five streak

Danica Patrick heads to Texas Motor Speedway as the only IndyCar Series driver riding a streak of four consecutive top-five finishes, according to AutoRacingDaily.com.

Our View: At the start of the season, who would have thought that Patrick would be one of the best values in the Indy fantasy games. There is no reason to believe she is going to slow down anytime soon.

Pocono "go-or-go-homers"

This week's entry list features 46 cars. In the event that qualification is canceled, the following drivers would make the show: Sterling Marlin, Scott Speed, David Gilliland, Joe Nemechek, Patrick Carpentier, Dave Blaney, Mike Wallace and Regan Smith.

Our View: That means Trevor Boys, Dexter Bean and Derrike Cope would be going home—and those are also the drivers most likely to be the slowest on speed as well.

Double file restarts at Pocono?

Double file restarts at the Cup level could be coming as soon as this weekend at Pocono, according to FoxSports.com.

Our View: This is going to significantly alter lead changes at the front of the pack and it's going to benefit drivers with an aggressive streak—such as Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick—when they are near the front.

Dodge withholds support

The bankruptcy proceedings of Dodge/Chrsyler have put factory support on hold for the moment, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View: In this economy, with sponsorship at a premium, this support was extremely important. This impacts Richard Petty Motorsports' four teams and Penske's three teams. The effect won't be immediate, but without some additional support, money will eventually be tight.