Talladega Superspeedway is a track that fills all drivers with energy, especially a veteran driver like Dale Earnhardt Jr. can look back through the years of his racing career to days at Talladega that he will never forget. In fact, Earnhardt has had some of his finest days as a NASCAR racer at this storied venue that has a history that will be remembered in the annals of NASCAR. Earnhardt has won a total of five Cup Series wins at this fast and dangerous track 2.66 mile race course and on race driving in the Nationwide Series, and he would surely like to add to his list of victories at Talladega.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. likes his chances in the Aaron 312

Taking the checkered flag in Saturday’s Aaron 312 driving his JR Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet would be a victory that would be unique in even his career and a truly amazing feat. Earnhardt has raced four times on the Nationwide Series this year, he finished seventh at Daytona, fifth at Las Vegas, and 20^th at Texas, so he has had a slow start in the Nationwide Series season, and is certainly thinking of winning this time. He finished sixth in last seasons Aaron 312, so he has run pretty fast and steady on this track before, and should have a better idea of the necessary car set-up.

Earnhardt will certainly know about the possible perils of restrictor-plate racing and the possibility of being taken out of the race with a rub or two, so will temper his optimism with realism, but you can’t win if you don’t try.

He’s always been lucky enough to stay out of major mishaps at this venue, so we don’t want to jinx him, and hopefully his luck will hold and his driving skill will keep him out of any major problems and he’ll finish strong once again.

Image: Newscom

Avondale, Arizona was the place to be Saturday night as racing fans were treated to a entertainment feast that was Kyle Busch loose the race by a mere fraction of a mile per hour, a spectacular and gladly ultimately painless crash by Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Mark Martin managed to make it out of the pit in time to beat everybody to the checkered flag and take the trophy and check.

First out of pit lane wins

Dale Earnhardt’s downfall brought on the final caution flag of the Subway Fresh Fit 500 with a mere 12 laps to the finish line, with the race order standing as Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, and Kyle Busch. They all new the final pit would be the telling tale of the race and that the team that got their car out of the pit first would likely win the race.

All four pulled away from the pace car and turned up pit road, and pulled into their assigned slots, with Mark Martin being just out of view of the other drivers around the bend. The pit crews went to work for thirteen or so seconds to top up the gas and attach four fresh tires, and then they all pulled out of the pit lane, with Kyle Busch seemingly in the lead in the race to the line at the end of pit road.

Kyle’s excitement was short lived though, as time-lapse video recorded Martin as beating Kyle Busch to the line by the smallest of margins, and pit road officials notified Kyle Busch’s team that Kyle had been recorded as being just over the pit road speed limit and would therefore be penalized by being dropped back behind the lead cars, leaving him in 17^th position.

Instead of being in the lead and possibly winning the Subway Fresh Fit 500 he ended up in 17^th place, the position his penalty placed him in after the last pit. NASCAR and all racing are often called a sport of split second victories or disappointments, and after Saturday night Kyle Busch would surely agree.

Image: Newscom

There’s a revolution occurring in the background of the NASCAR universe these days, one that will see a stronger, more physically fit, and better prepared generation of race driver in the years to come in the world of NASCAR, if it becomes the norm. NASCAR drivers who take their physical fitness seriously are being seen and heard of more and more in the NASCAR world and are no longer the minority among the drivers.

Race drivers of old who new that routine workouts can improve a drivers physical ability and driving performance while on the track weren’t an animal found in the NASCAR world very often years ago, but today a majority of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series top drivers are embracing the truth about the ability of physical fitness to make better, more alert, and stronger drivers.

Feeling strong and fit

The NASCAR drivers of old ignored such beliefs, in favor of hamburgers, pizza, and steak that certainly taste better than tofu, but if the opinion of the drivers who have implemented this new strategy means anything, the belief that workouts improve a driver works fine.

The results and opinions of the drivers implementing physical workouts in their driver training regiments are beginning to turn the heads of many drivers who have never lifted a weight. Carl Edward and Jeff Burton have been two drivers that head to the gym on regular basis, but lately Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and even Dale Earnhardt Jr. have been seen heading to the gym to try to give them a driving edge. Pushed toward the gym by age, injury, pain, and team managers, many of the older drivers have decided training routines can help them gain back some of the ability age might have taken off their driving ability. We will be watching to see what effects this new revolution might have on the race results of drivers using this new fitness philosophy. Many of the younger drivers might start to head to the gym with the older drivers once they realize many of the drivers twenty or more years older then they are in better shape and achieving better race results because of it.

Images Newscom.com

Everything seemed to be going perfectly for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the no. 88 team on Sunday as Earnhardt was in search of his first Cup victory at Watkins Glen International, and his first win at the track since winning the 1999 Nationwide Series race there. He started the day with the outside pole position after rain canceled out qualifying on Friday, and then he went onto lead 28 of the first 29 laps in the race.

Earnhardt gave up the lead during the first round of green flag stops after being one of the last cars to make their stop. Running several laps on the older tires while the rest of the field came in for some fresh rubber immediately proved to work against the team as he came out of the pits in 6th place, so one can’t help but wonder why they would choose to replay this strategy later in the race.

Junior once again found himself with the lead on lap 58 after the rest of the leaders came in to make their final stops of the day. His lead opened up to more than 25 seconds over second place as he became the only driver in the field that had yet to come down pit road, but he was giving more than a second per lap. Aside from the time that they were losing on the track, it became quite evident that a caution anytime before Earnhardt made his stop would flat out ruin his day, so it’s a bit peculiar as to why crew chief, Tony Eury Jr, would elect to keep his driver out on the track.

On lap 64, the worst did in fact happen. NASCAR was forced to waive the yellow for loose gravel that Travis Kvapil had kicked up onto the track, and as if it weren’t bad enough that Earnhardt had to surrender the lead to pit, he was one of only a small handful of cars that made that loenely drive down pit road with about 25 laps to go. He restarted back in 37th and was able to climb his way back up to 22nd by the end of the race, but Earnhardt fans everywhere now can’t help but wonder what might have been … and, what was Tony Eury Jr. thinking? To make matters worse, this also isn’t the first time that Junior fans have felt that Tony Eury Jr. may have cost Dale a shot at victory.

The disappointing finish also dropped Earnhardt from 2nd to 4th in the points standings, getting passed by Carl Edwards and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson. Junior Nation has had plenty to cheer about this season, though, as his first season with Hendrick has been far and away better than his final season with DEI in 2007 as he snapped his winless streak with a win earlier in the year at Michigan and he’s been up inside the top-5 in points for most of the year.

Kyle Busch made perfect on his efforts to sweep the road course races in the Sprint Cup Series this season as he nabbed his first career victory at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. He led four times for a race high 52 laps, giving him his 8th win of the season and making him the first driver to win the races at both Infineon and Watkins Glen in the same year since his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, did it back in 2005. He also won the Nationwide Series race in Mexico City earlier in the year, making him the only driver in NASCAR history to win three road course races in the same season.

After rain canceled Friday’s qualifying session, the field lined up based on their order in the car owner’s points standings, setting Kyle Busch out on the pole position for the start of the race. Kyle led the first lap before handing it over to Dale Earnhardt Jr, who started on the outside of the front row. As Busch dropped back to third in the running order, Earnhardt gradually expanded his lead through the next 28 laps, but found himself in 6th after the field completed their first round of green flag pit stops.

Kyle Busch once again took the race lead on lap 30, and was still in charge when the first caution of the day came out on lap 47. NASCAR made the decision to waive the yellow due to debris on the track that was a result of some loose gravel that had been kicked up on the track. The caution was a huge break for Jimmie Johnson who had just pitted a few laps earlier when he had a rear left tire going down, but because he was running up in the top-five at the time, he was able to make his stop without losing a lap. Once pit road opened up, 14 cars remained on the track, including Johnson. Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart - running 1st and 2nd at the time - also elected to stay out.

Kyle Busch was still the race leader when the field went back to green, but the most impressive story to this point was Marcos Ambrose, who was driving the no. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. He was forced to start dead last due to the car’s position in owner points, but had worked his way all the way up inside the top-15 for the restart.

Kyle Busch moved to the side to allow his teammate, Tony Stewart, to lead a lap and pickup the 5 extra bonus points on lap 53, but Tony returned the favor and let Kyle go back by the following lap, and that was the only movement up front until the leaders again came into pit on lap 56. Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson each led a lap during the exchange of green flag stops. Johnson came into pit on lap 58, which handed the lead back over to Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With more than a 25 second lead, Earnhardt was the only car still out on the track that had not yet made his final pit stop. Despite continuing to lose a second per lap to the 2nd and 3rd place cars, Tony Eury Jr. - crew chief for the no. 88 team - elected to keep Earnhardt out on the track, but the call completely backfired when NASCAR waived the second caution flag on lap 64. The caution was again for loose gravel that Travis Kvapil kicked onto the track when he ran off the track. Earnhardt was forced to pit while the other race leaders remained out on the track, and with just 25 laps remaining, he lined up 37th for the restart.

Kyle Busch was once again deemed the race leader by virtue of Earnhardt’s misfortunes with Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman chasing him. With the laps dwindling down, it almost looked as though we might have another caution when Sam Hornish Jr. spun PJ Jones on lap 70, but both cars were able to get going again, and NASCAR saw no reason to bring out the yellow.

The complexity of the race changed on lap 77 when Ryan Newman got into the corner too hard, resulting in a single car spin in Turn 9. Unable to get his car restarted, he had several close cars as the rest of the field tried to avoid the stalled car as it rolled back out onto the track. NASCAR eventually brought out the third caution, and luckily, the entire field was able to get around Newman without hitting him.

The fourth and final caution came with just 8 laps to go when Michael McDowell spun David Gilliland, setting off a huge multi-car crash that involved 9 cars right near the pit road entrance. Michael Waltrip, Bobby LaBonte, Sam Hornish Jr, Reed Sorenson, Max Papis, Dave Blaney, and Joe Nemechek all got caught up in the mess, and LaBonte appeared to be mildly injured as he was seen limping back to the infield care center.

After NASCAR stopped the race under red flag conditions for more than 40 minutes, they finally got the race restarted with Kyle Busch still in the lead, and behind him were Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr, and Kevin Harvick. Busch took the green flag with just five laps to go with Stewart keeping within a couple car lengths for the first few laps. With about 2 to go, though, Busch started to pull away, and Stewart’s new task became keeping the no. 21 of Ambrose in his rearview mirror. Busch went onto take the checkers, and Stewart was able to fend off Ambrose to give Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2 finish.

Marcos Ambrose fought off Juan Pablo Montoya to hang onto third, and JPM finished 4th. Martin Truex Jr. held onto 5th to earn his first-ever top-five finish at Watkins Glen. He was followed by the 2006 winner of this event, Kevin Harvick, in 6th. 7th place went to Denny Hamlin, who capped off a solid run inside the top-ten for most of the day. Jimmie Johnson rebounded from his cut tire earlier in the race to finish in 8th. AJ Allmendinger walked away with the best NSCS finish of his career in 9th, also giving him his second top-ten in the last 3 races. Carl Edwards completed the top-ten.

Other Notables:
Matt Kenseth had a pretty quiet day, but finished 12th ….. Kasey Kahne matched his best Watkins Glen finish with a 14th place run ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wound up 22nd after his team’s race strategy put him in the back of the field with just over 20 laps to go ….. Jeff Gordon had an eventful day. His team had to have NASCAR black flag him to get him into the pits for the first round of stops after the team’s radio became disconnected. Gordon’s car, unfortunately, handled much like the radio, as his struggles throughout the day led to a 25th place finish ….. Robby Gordon started near the back of the pack and never was able to find his way to the front, finishing with a very disappointing 27th place finish ….. Ryan Newman’s spin on lap 77 led to a 28th place effort, as that team continues to watch their Chase hopes keep slipping away.

Kyle Busch now holds a 242 point lead on 1st in the standings, while Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson both moved past Earnhardt Jr. to take over the 2nd and 3rd spots. Tony Stewart’s back-to-back 2nd place efforts have also moved him up to 7th overall, and he now has a 138 point cushion in the Chase standings. Matt Kenseth also moved up a spot to take over the 12th and final spot in the Chase, moving Clint Bowyer back down to 13th. He’s now 22 points out of the Chase.

Grades:
the Race: 75%
Drama: 74%
Coverage: 90%
Pre-Race: 81%

Overall Grade: 78.4%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Some would say that it’s been a trying season for Goodyear in 2008 as they continue to work on developing new tires to coincide with NASCAR’s latest project, the Car of Tomorrow. Things got heated early in the season between Goodyear’s racing group and some of the drivers in the garage area, particularly after Atlanta when several of the drivers bashed the tire in public forums. You might recall one man inparticular’s rants regarding the tires as they made headlines for several weeks. Yes, I’m referring of course to Tony Stewart.

It seemed as though things had finally cooled off between all parties involved until just a couple of weeks ago at Indianapolis. It was the first time NASCAR had ever taken the COT to Indy, and the tires that Goodyear brought to the track were inadequate to say the least. The end result was NASCAR waiving a competition caution about every 10 laps and the reviews for the event were terrible.

After a week long of apologies from both NASCAR and Goodyear, both parties were presented with a golden opportunity to redeem themselves during the Nationwide race in Montreal. With bad weather on the horizon, NASCAR decided to break out their inventory of “grooved” Goodyear tires, marking the first time grooved tires had ever been run in a NASCAR points race. The experiment was a tremendous success, and talk about the Indy tire fiasco has been slim to none ever since.

This week, the “Loose in Turn 3″ trio will take a look at the situation and decide the overwhelming success of the rain tires and a solid week at Pocono does in fact take Goodyear off the hook, or if they feel that there are still too many unanswered questions to make that call just yet.

Q: Did Goodyear finally clear their name in NASCAR with the success of their rain tires in Montreal?

TZ: They’re not completely out of the woods just yet, but for the most part, I would say yes. I was pretty upset with the fiasco that took place at Indy, and there’ve been a few other times this season I wasn’t thrilled with their output, but running in the rain at Motreal without any tire issues was a huge plus, and then they were able to follow it up with a successful day in Pocono as well. There are obviously a few tracks that they still need to get some things figured out, but all in all, they’ve rebounded quite nicely.

Bruce:  I’d expect more from a division of a tire company that is supposed to be making racing tires and not rubber confetti at Indianapolis.  Indy was a phenomenal waste of time and they should have tried something else rather than let NASCAR dole out a series of 10-lap trophy dashes, but without the trophy.  I don’t see this weekend as a rebound as much as it is, a “It’s about time they got it back on track.  Now let’s keep it there!”

Charlie:  Goodyear didn’t need to “clear their name”. In fact, NASCAR once
again put Goodyear’s good name at risk by using six year old rubber in a
featured race. They lucked out that the tires didn’t fail. NASCAR flipped
a coin again, just as they did at Indy. Goodyear makes tens of thousands
of race tires that are used at hundreds of races every week. A couple of
high profile failures should be expected when the company is trying to
make a NASCAR work in progress - the vaunted CoT - look better than it is.

the Rest of the Discussion:
There’s still plenty more to read this week from the “Loose in Turn 3″ guys. Make sure you take a trip over to On Pit Row where Charlie asks the question, “Who is the Best Crew Chief in the Sprint Cup Garage Right Now?“, and then head over to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits ‘n’ Pieces where we debate the motive behind Martin Truex Jr.’s Decision to Remain at DEI.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

This week NASCAR heads to Waktins Glen International for one of their two road course races of the season on the Sprint Cup Series schedule. The race comes just one week after NASCAR made history for itself when they raced in the rain last Saturday in the Nationwide Series in Montreal, which most critics feel came off as a huge success. As of right now there are no plans to break out the rain tires on Sunday, but there’s still plenty to look forward to with just five races remaining until the cutoff for the Chase.

Recent Winners:
2007 - Tony Stewart
2006 - Kevin Harvick
2005 - Tony Stewart

Recent Polesitters:
2007 - Jeff Gordon
2006 - Kurt Busch
2005 - “Rained Out”

the Usual Suspects:
Tony Stewart is in the midst of the longest winless streak in his Sprint Cup career, but that should be of little concern to the no. 20 team this weekend. ‘Smoke’ built up a bit of momentum for himself after a 2nd place finish last week at Pocono, and now he heads to Watkins Glen where he holds the best driver rating over the past 3 years and has the second best average finish amongst active drivers. He’s one three of the last four races at the Glen, along with a 2nd place finish in 2006.

The only driver to breakup Stewart’s winning streak at the Glen in the past four years was Kevin Harvick, the winner of this event in ‘06. In his seven career races at Watkins Glen, last year’s 36th place finish is his only run outside of the top-15. He also has four top-10’s in that span ….. Jeff Gordon is considered a threat to win at most tracks, but perhaps even moreso at road courses. Once dubbed “King of the Road”, Jeff has had a rough go of it with only one top-10 finish here since 2002, but he did win 3 of the 4 events prior to that stretch ….. The series points leader, Kyle Busch, was never thought of much as a road course racer heading into this season, but already in 2008 he’s managed to win the Nationwide Series race in Mexcio and then went onto win the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Infineon. After a 33rd place run at Watkins Glen in his rookie season, Kyle has since rebounded with back-to-back top-10’s ….. Denny Hamlin has run here only twice, finishing 10th and 2nd in those races.

the Unusual Suspects:
Robby Gordon has been in dire need of some good runs for the sake of his own race team, Robby Gordon Motorsports, and many fans have long expected that success to come at one of NASCAR’s two road course events. Robby has six top-5 finishes in eight races run here, and even won the event while racing for RCR back in 2003. He currently has a string of three consecutive top-5 finishes at Watkins Glen.

Marcos Ambrose competed in his first Sprint Cup event earlier in the season at Infineon. Known for his road course specialties, Marcos didn’t disappoint, as he had a great top-five effort going until issues late in the race put an end to his day. This will be his first visit to Watkins Glen with the Cup Series as he once again fields the no. 21 Wood Bros. Racing entry, but there’s no reason to think he won’t rise to the occasion once again ….. Juan Pablo Montoya is always a favorite to keep an eye on at road course races as well. An incident with Kevin Harvick here last year put an early end to his day and he finished 39th, but that should be considered a one-off deal. He does have an Infineon win to his credit at the Cup level.

Road Course Ringers are sure to be a factor in any NASCAR road course race, regardless of the series. Though they don’t typically win these things at the Cup level, many of the drivers leave their mark with exceptional runs. Amongst the ringers included in this weekend’s entry list are: Ron Fellows (DEI) - two top-5’s in the last 4 years; Boris Said- finished 3rd in 2005; PJ Jones - finished 4th in 2002; and Brian Simo and Max Papis are on the list as well.

the Unusual Slackers:
Greg Biffle picked up his first ever top-10 Watkins Glen finish last year when he crossed the line in 10th, but each of his four starts previous to that were 30th or worse. His overall average here is 30.2 ….. When you think of road course racing, Kurt Busch isn’t a name that immediately jumps out at you as someone you need to avoid carrying on your fantasy roster, but like Biffle, he also has only one career top-10 at Watkins Glen. Four of his seven races here he has finished outside of the top-15 ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to put together a string of solid runs here at one point, finishing 3rd, 5th, and 10th from 2003 to 2005, but in 8 years of racing here, he’s finished 35th or worse three times, holding an average finish of just 20.6.

Best Driver Ratings:
1. Tony Stewart - 137.9
2. Denny Hamlin - 112.1
3. Jeff Gordon - 108.2
4. Robby Gordon - 106.3
5. Jimmie Johnson - 104.5

Best Driver Averages:
1. Scott Pruett - 5.8
2. Denny Hamlin - 6.0
3. Tony Stewart - 6.1
4. Mark Martin - 8.8
5. Robby Gordon - 9.4

Watkins Glen Facts:
- 8 of the 25 races at Watkins Glen have been won from the pole position. The last driver to do so was Tony Stewart in 2005, but before that it hadn’t happened since Jeff Gordon did it in 1998.
- 16 of the 25 races have been won from a top-five starting position.
- The deepest starting position a driver has ever come from to win at Watkins Glen is 18th. Steve Park did it in 2000.
- Jeff Gordon holds the track record for most wins with 4.
- Mark Martin holds the track record for most poles (3), top-five’s (12), and top-ten’s (16).
- The most different leaders ever during a race at the Glen was 12 - back in 1995.
- Chevrolet leads the manufacturer race at Watkins Glen with 14 wins.
- 5 drivers currently in the top-12 in points have never led a lap at Watkins Glen: Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, and Clint Bowyer.
- In the midst of a 35 race winless streak, Tony Stewart’s last victory came here at Watkins Glen in 2007.

Video of the last 7 laps of the 2007 Centurion Boats at the Glen race:

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner - Tony Stewart
2nd Place - Robby Gordon
3rd Place - Marcos Ambrose
4th Place - Kyle Busch
5th Place - Carl Edwards
6th Place - Kevin Harvick

Lock of the Week - Tony Stewart
Sleeper Pick - Marcos Ambrose
Steer Clear of - Greg Biffle

It was undoubtedly one of the most historic moments in NASCAR when they decided to convert the Nationwide Series field from the “slick” tires that they typically run to “grooved” tires at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this past Saturday for the NAPA Auto Parts 200. With heavy rain working its way to the track and cars sliding all over the place, NASCAR made the call to do just what they’ve been talking about doing and race in the rain.

Incase you missed the action on Saturday afternoon, here’s some video to show you how the cars were handling on the regular slick tires before the teams converted over. The video also carries footage of a drivers such as Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Sr. competing in a 1997 exhibition race at Suzka Circuit in which they raced in the rain, and a practice session at Watkins Glen where they practiced in the rain.

As you can see, the tires didn’t bode so well for drivers such as Stanton Barrett made a few “turns” around the track, but here, take a look at the first 9 minutes of the race with grooved tires, and you can really see the improvement in the handling.

And, just for good measure, I can’t show you highlights of this race without showing you some footage of Carl Edwards with what was undoubtedly the funniest moment of the race:

Rain played a large part in pretty much anything NASCAR tried to accomplish this weekend, and Sunday’s race at Pocono was no different. It was also one of the more interesting weekends in Carl Edwards’ professional racing career, that’s for sure. He had to squeegee the rain off his own windshield under caution during Saturday’s Nationwide Series race in Montreal (in which he finished 6th). Then, after both of the Sprint Cup practice sessions were rained out on Saturday, his team unloaded off the hauler on Sunday with a car that Crew Chief, Bob Osbourne, described as “experimental.” Then, they had to weed their way through a slieu of pit strategies that overcame the field when rain crept its way back into Pocono a little over past the halway point in the race, and in the end, it was Carl Edwards stretching his fuel en route to his fourth win in the Sprint Cup Series this season.

Jimmie Johnson was looking to continue his current hot streak when he started the day out on the pole, but it was Mark Martin from the 2nd spot that led the first 21 laps of the race, which saw three caution periods. The first came on the very first lap of the race when Kevin Harvick was spun by Joe Nemecheck, and then just 7 laps later, it was Kurt Busch going around in a single car spin. The third caution was brought out by NASCAR on lap 21 as a competition caution due to the teams not having the opportunity to run Saturday’s practice sessions as a result of inclimate weather.

The field pitted during the lap 21 caution, and Johnson was able to take advantage of a slow stop by the no. 8 team and came out front to take the lead. But, Mark Martin was able to comeback up through the field to take the lead on lap 36 and stayed out front all the way until lap 66, minus a few laps in which he surrendered the lead during a round of green flag stops. The fourth caution was brought out on lap 66 for debris, and this time it was Carl Edwards jumping out to the front.

Edwards held onto the lead until the next caution on lap 87 - also for debris, but it was again Jimmie Johnson’s team getting him out up front off of pit road followed by Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr, and Matt Kenseth. Edwards came out of the pits in 7th, and Mark Martin came out 17th. Carl later passed Johnson for the lead under green on lap 111.

Things started to get a bit more interesting when the race fell under caution on lap 127 due to rain - about 7 laps after the field cycled its way through a round of green flag stops. With pit road open, all but 19 cars decided to pit for fuel, including Edwards, Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Tony Stewart who led the field down pit road.

Kasey Kahne, the winner of the June race at Pocono, was handed the lead for the first time on the day by virtue of the leaders’ decision to pit, followed by Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, and Kurt Busch when the race was red flagged on lap 131 when the rain began to pickup.

The race restarted about a half hour later, and Joe Nemecheck and Paul Menard were the first to find out where the slick spots on the track were as they wrecked on lap 137 to bring out the 7th caution. Juan Pablo Montoya then blew his engine about 8 laps later, but NASCAR decided not to waive the caution. Kurt Busch inherited the lead on lap 158 when some of the cars in front of him started to make their scheduled green flag stops, but he was the next to work his way toward disaster after stretching his fuel out a bit too far, eventually running out of gas on lap 161. He was able to make it to pit road, but lost a ton of time on the track as a result.

Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson both found themselves back out in front momentarily as the 19 cars that stayed out during the rain caution all worked their way to the pits, but it was eventually Kasey Kahne back in the lead with 30 to go once they made their stops as well. Kahne continued to run the next 15 laps out front praying for the caution that never came, knowing that he would be forced to make one more pit stop while some of the other cars claimed that they could run the rest of the way without stopping.

Kahne and Mark Martin both made their final stops with 15 laps to go, handing the lead over once again to Carl Edwards as they watched their premonition come true. Edwards run out to more than a 6 second lead over Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson as he crossed the line to pickup his fourth win of the season.

Knowing that he couldn’t catch Edwards for the lead, Stewart backed off the throttle in the closing laps to conserve fuel, but still ran it hard enough to finish 2nd. Johnson ran out of gas right as he crossed the finish line in 3rd, and from there, things started to get ugly as a ton of cars behind him started to bobble as they ran out of gas as well. Kevin Harvick - who worked all day long to rebound from his spin on lap 1 - kept enough fuel in the tank to finish 4th, and 5th place went to one of the guys chasing him in the points, David Ragan.

Clint Bowyer overcame a long day of struggles to walk away with a 6th place finish. Behind him in 7th and 8th were Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin, both of whom made up a ton of ground despite having to make earlier stops under the green. In 9th was Jamie McMurray, who now has back-to-back top-ten finishes to his credit. And, 10th place went to Jeff Gordon, who ran out of gas after crossing the line and had to be pushed around the track by his Hendrick teammate, Casey Mears.

Other Notables:
Matt Kenseth finished in 11th. He made his final stop with 16 laps to go after he and Crew Chief, Chip Bolin, originally planned on trying to stretch their fuel out ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 4th coming going through the final turn, but ran out of gas just before the line and had to coast his way to the finish. He wound up 12th ….. Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman finished 13th and 14th ….. Denny Hamlin had previously finished no worse than 6th in his first five trips to Pocono, but wound up 23rd after his car got away from him late in the race. He was running 9th when he made his final stop of the day with 26 laps to go ….. Brian Vickers fell victim to a disappointing 28th place finish after running up in the top-15 for most of the day ….. The no. 18 team for Joe Gibbs Racing appeared to have finally gotten the flat track program turned around for Kyle Busch, as he ran inside the top-five late in the race. But, he ran out of gas and was forced to pit with just two laps to go, and they were unable to get his car restarted. He finished 36th.

Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. remain 1st and 2nd in the points standings, but Carl Edwards’ win moved him up two spots to third overall.  Jimmie Johnson held onto 4th, while Jeff Burton’s 21st place run dropped him down to 5th. Kevin Harvick came into the race 2 points out of the final Chase spot, but his top-five effort was enough to move him up to 11th in the standings, while Matt Kenseth gave up two spots and now finds himself on the outside looking in. He’s no 11 points behind 12th place Clint Bowyer.

the Grades:
the Race:  84%
the Drama:  94%
Coverage:  92%
Pre-Race:  90%

Overall Grade:  88.2%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):