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):

Recommended Reads:
- Carl Edwards Captures 4th Victory of the Season in Pocono (Racing for the Win)
- Live on Type Delay: Pocono II, Part One (Rev Jim’s Rants ‘n’ Raves)

served by picapp.com

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (aka: the Brickyard) is home of the Indianapolis 500 and is highly regarded as one of the most prestigious tracks in all of motorsports. After taking a week off, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will now return to the Brickyard for the fifteenth time in a race whose prestige to NASCAR regulars is rivaled only by the season opening Daytona 500. In the previous 14 trips to the track, Indianapolis has produced only three multiple winners in NASCAR, and only two of them will be in the field on Sunday - Jeff Gordon (4 wins) and Tony Stewart (2 wins), with Dale Jarrett being the other. With the garage area finally being able to weed their way through much of the notorious Silly Season and a week of R&R in the rearview, the drivers will hit the track on Sunday more focused than ever as the countdown to the Chase begins to wind down.

Recent Winners:
2007 - Tony Stewart
2006 - Jimmie Johnson
2005 - Tony Stewart

Recent Polesitters:
2007 - Reed Sorenson
2006 - Jeff Burton
2005 - Elliott Sadler

the Usual Suspects:
As previously mentioned, Jeff Gordon has four wins at Indianapolis, which is tops amongst all drivers in NASCAR. Equally impressive, though, is that he also has 7 top-five’s and 10 top-ten’s through 14 races at the track, both of which are also the best in the Sprint Cup garage area. His 16th place run here in 2006 was his worst since he finished 33rd back in 2000, but he was able to rebound with a 3rd place effort last season. Though he is still without a win 19 races into the 2008 campaign, Gordon’s quietly been creeping his way up through the points standings, and the no. 24 team is beginning to show signs of life again - which could mean very bad things for the other 42 cars out on the track.

Tony Stewart seems to be getting back to enjoying life once again, and there are few places he likes to visit better than the Brickyard, as he has proven with wins here in 2005 and 2007. He’s going to need some strong showings to secure his place in the Chase, as I’m sure he’d love nothing more than to give the Coach one more championship before departing at the end of the season.

Indianapolis has yet to be conquered by the driving prowess of Kyle Busch, but then again, there were a lot of places Kyle had never won at prior to this season. He’s gradually improved each year he’s been here, though, going from 10th to 7th, and finally cracking the top-five with a 4th place finish last year ….. Kevin Harvick had his opportunity to kiss the bricks with his win here back in 2003, and another opportunity to do that would really straighten his season out as he continues to recover from his mid-season slump. He’s finished 11th or better in six of his seven races at Indy ….. Matt Kenseth has never won at the Brickyard before, but he’s been very consistent. In 8 races here, he’s cracked the top-five on four occasions, which includes a pair of runner-up finishes, and he’s finished 16th or better in each of his last six Indy races.

the Unusual Suspects:
Juan Pablo Montoya has run very well in a stock car at almost any track that they also race in the open wheel circuits, and Indianapolis was no exception last year as he finished 2nd in that race. With Pocono and Watkins Glen up next on the schedule, JPM could be looking at a pretty good stretch ahead ….. Brian Vickers has finished 21st or better in three of his four Indy races, which includes a 3rd place finish back in 2005. He’s been running much better this season and could be staring at a potential berth in the Chase field. He ran well at Pocono earlier in the season, a track that many feel shares similar characteristics to the Brickyard ….. Reed Sorenson has come to Indy only twice. The first trip resulted in a dismal 30th place finish, but last year’s visit was much brighter as Reed won the pole and then went onto finish 5th in the race itself.

the Unusual Slackers:
In three races at Indianapolis, Martin Truex Jr. has never finished better than 12th and holds an average finish of just 24.3. This is not a good place for Martin to be right now, either, considering that his team was just handed a 150 point penalty by NASCAR, and he’s going to need plenty of good runs if he plans on having any shot at making the Chase this year ….. Hometown crowd or not, Indy has not been kind to Ryan Newman thus far in his career. Seven times Newman has come home to Indiana with high expectations, but 2002 was the only one that resulted in a top-ten finish, when he finished 4th. He has only two top-15’s here since then ….. Despite winning the race here in 2006, Jimmie Johnson has experienced some unusual struggles here. The results haven’t typically been very indicative of how he’s run, but nonetheless, he’s got three finishes outside of the top-35 in only six tries. His other finishes were a win, a 9th, and an 18th ….. Greg Biffle has seen his share of struggles at Indy as well. In five races here, he’s finished in the top-ten only once, and only twice in the top-15. His overall average finish at the track is 19.2.

Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Tony Stewart - 121.4
2. Juan Pablo Montoya - 120.7
3. Kevin Harvick - 108.7
4. Matt Kenseth - 106.1
5. Mark Martin - 102.9

Best Average Finish (from racingone.com):
1. Juan Pablo Montoya - 2.0
2. Kyle Busch - 7.0
3. Tony Stewart - 7.6
4. Jeff Gordon - 7.6
5. Kevin Harvick - 7.7

Indianapolis Facts:
- 3rd is the only starting position to produce more than one winner at Indy. Three drivers have driven to victory from the third spot. The 1st and 2nd starting positions have produced one winner each.
- Four drivers have driven six different car numbers at Indianapolis: Bill Elliott, Joe Nemecheck, Jeff Green, Kenny Wallace.
- Dave Blaney is the only driver to have driven five different car makes at Indy. He has driven Pontiac, Ford, Dodge, and Chevy twice each here, and has also driven a Toyota once.
- Only four drivers have finished in the top-ten in each of the last three years: Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, and Mark Martin.
- Jeff Burton has led more laps at Indianapolis than at any other track that he has not won at.
- The second NASCAR race held here, back in 1995, saw only one caution flag during the race. In 2004, there were 13 cautions.
- Chevrolet has won 9 of the 14 Cup races held at Indy.

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner - Jeff Gordon
2nd Place - Kyle Busch
3rd Place - Mark Martin
4th Place - Tony Stewart
5th Place - Matt Kenseth
6th Place - Clint Bowyer

Lock of the Week - Tony Stewart
Sleeper Pick - Juan Pablo Montoya
Steer Clear of - Greg Biffle

Video Footage of the 2007 Allstate 400:

Recent Winners:
2007 - Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards
2006 - Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne
2005 - Jeremy Mayfield, Greg Biffle

Recent Pole Winners:
2007 - Jeff Gordon, JJ Yeley
2006 - Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne
2005 - Joe Nemecheck, Ryan Newman

Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Carl Edwards - 112.3
2. Kurt Busch - 106.8
3. Greg Biffle - 105.4
4. Jimmie Johnson - 104.7
5. Matt Kenseth - 104.1

Best Average Finishes (from racingone.com):
1. Carl Edwards - 7.3
2. Matt Kenseth - 9.7
3. Denny Hamlin - 10.0
4. Jeff Gordon - 12.5
5. Martin Truex Jr - 12.5

Most Wins - David Pearson (9)
Most Wins (Active) - Bobby LaBonte (3)
Most Poles - David Pearson (10)
Most Poles (Active) - Jeff Gordon (5)
Most Top 5’s - Cale Yarbrough (21)
Most Top 10’s - Bill Elliott (29)
Most Manufacturer Wins - Ford (30)
Track Qualifying Record - Ryan Newman (37.069 seconds / 2005)

Odd Facts:
- David Pearson, Cale Yarbrough, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Dale Jarrett, and Mark Martin have combined to win 45 of the 77 Cup races at Michigan, or 58.4% of the races.
- The track record for a 400 mile race at Michigan is 173.997 mph, whereas the record for a 500 miler is only 139.254 mph. That’s an average 34 mph slower for that extra hundred miles! This weekend’s race is 400 miles.
- A Cup race at Michigan has gone caution free on three separate occassions, most recently in 1999. The most cautions at MIS? Only 10, which came in August of 2006.
- Five times has a Michigan race ended with only 2 drivers on the lead lap. The last time was in 1975.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has more wins at Michigan (10) than they do any other track.
- A driver has won from the pole position at Michigan 15 times. Last weekend at Pocono marked the first time this season such a feat had been accomplished.

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner - Greg Biffle
2nd Place - Carl Edwards
3rd Place - Tony Stewart
4th Place - Kasey Kahne
5th Place - Matt Kenseth
6th Place - Jimmie Johnson

Lock of the Week - Carl Edwards
Sleeper Pick - Brian Vickers
Steer Clear of - Clint Bowyer

Image details: Pocono 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

For the second time in his Sprint Cup career, Kasey Kahne has turned the quickest qualifying lap at Pocono, thus earning himself the Coors Lite Pole Award. His first pole position at Pocono came back in 2004 when he set the track qualifying record at 172.533 mph. The lap he turned on Friday afternoon was about 2 mph slower and took 52.873 seconds, but it got the job done, nonetheless, and he will start Sunday’s Pocono 500 from the inside of row 1.

Jimmie Johnson was the first driver to qualify for the race and had the pole locked up until Kahne beat him out for the privelege. Johnson’s lap was still good enough to earn him a spot in the front row, though, and he will lineup next to Kahne on the front row of Sunday’s starting grid. The DEI cars of Mark Martin and Regan Smith qualified third and fourth, followed by Joe Nemecheck and Carl Edwards, who will make up row 3 for the start of the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will look to rebound from last week’s misfortunes at Dover, and qualifying 7th is a good start for accomplishing that mission. Starting next to him on the outside of row 4 will be AJ Allmendinger, who has been red hot during qualifying these past few weeks. And, completing the top-ten starters for the race will be Scott Riggs and Kyle Busch, who qualified 9th and 10th.

Qualifying 11th through 13th are three drivers that many are expecting to contend for the win on Sunday, as Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth will occupy those positions. The heavy favorite to win at Pocono, though, is Denny Hamlin, who qualified 16th. Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon had perhaps the most disappointing runs on Friday, though, as they qualified 27th and 38th respectively. The number 96 Hall of Fame Racing car driven by JJ Yeley was the only car that failed to qualify for the event.

With NASCAR’s annual All-Star Race quickly approaching this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, I thought it would only be fitting to compile the top-ten drivers in the Sprint Cup Series that are not already locked into the race itself. For those of you that might be unfamiliar with the structure of the race, drivers & car owners that have won a race either this year or last year are automatically locked into the field, as are past champions from with the last ten years and former winners of the All-Star race itself. Then, fans are allowed to vote an additional driver into the field, and then the top-two finishers in the All-Star Showdown will also make it into the race.

10. Joe Nemecheck - 37th in points - 4 career wins / last win in 2004
9. Dave Blaney - 35th in points - 0 career wins
8. Michael Waltrip - 32nd in points - 4 career wins / last win in 2003
7. Robby Gordon - 30th in points - 3 career wins / last win in 2003
6. David Gilliland - 21st in points - 0 career wins

5. Brian Vickers - 17th in points - 1 career win / last win in 2006
4. Travis Kvapil - 18th in points - 0 career wins
3. Elliott Sadler - 28th in points - 3 career wins / last win in 2004
2. David Ragan - 12th in points - 0 career wins
1. Kasey Kahne - 14th in points - 7 career wins / last win in 2006

All year long folks have been trying to figure out what’s been wrong with Hendrick Motorsports and when they would finally get their first win of the season, and Jimmie Johnson and his no. 48 Lowe’s team were able to answer those questions and put a silence on all of their critics Saturday night in Phoenix. Johnson was very strong early on, leading 109 of the first 150 laps, but had to pit under caution when many of the other cars did not after he had gotten himself off pit sequence earlier in the race. The stop shuffled him back to around the 15th position, and it wasn’t until near the end of the race that he would finally find his way back to the front.

The 8th and final caution flag of the day waived with 82 laps left on the ticker when the no. 9 car of Kasey Kahne had a tire go down just before smacking the wall. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading the race at the time and maintained his position coming out of the pits, followed by Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr, and a surging Jimmie Johnson. Mark Martin – in search of his first win since Kansas of 2005 - assumed the lead with just 38 circuits remaining, but Johnson was in third and closing in.

Johnson closed the gap to the leader to within about 1.5 seconds with twenty or so laps remaining, but the big debate for the teams was whether or not to pit for gas. Before the race, nearly every team on the track had established a pit window of about 75 laps, well shy of the 86-lap run. Martin’s team decided to call him into the pits with 10 laps left, but Chad Knauss and Jimmie Johnson decided to gamble after estimating that the 86th and final lap would be right on the cusp of their fuel window … and, it worked. Johnson cruised to the line on lap 312 to pickup the checkered flag with an 8.07 second lead over second place finisher Clint Bowyer, whom also elected to stay out on the track.

Denny Hamlin had been the first lead lap car to pit on the final stretch, pitting with 17 laps to go for two tires and a splash of fuel. His early-pit strategy paid off, as he finished in 3rd place – the first car that didn’t stay out.

Carl Edwards had perhaps the most eventful day of any of the drivers. He pitted on lap 112 during a long green flag run, but a caution came out when Joe Nemecheck spun out on lap 113. Edwards was running in the top-five at the time, but the pit stop put him a lap down. To make matters worse, his pit crew earned him a pit road penalty for leaving the box too early, which meant that Carl also had to restart at the tail end of the longest line. He later got his lap back right around the halfway point when he received the lucky dog award after Elliott Sadler’s car stalled out on him on the track. Edwards’ rebound was good enough for a 4th place effort.

Mark Martin went onto finish 5th. Jeff Burton started way back in 39th, but slowly climbed his way through the field to finish in 6th. Dale Earnhardt Jr’s car looked as though it was getting away from him late in the race, but they were able to hang onto a solid 7th place finish. Martin Truex, Greg Biffle, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-ten.

Jeff Gordon got in trouble early in the race and went a lap down when he pitted prior to the Joe Nemecheck induced caution, but he eventually got his lap back as well and salvaged a 13th place finish.

Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart both saw their days take a turn for the worse in the closing laps of the race. During their final stops, both drivers’ cars had trouble picking the fuel back up and stalled a bit trying to get restarted in the pits. Both drivers had ran around the top-ten for the entire day, but the incident cost them both. Harvick was running in 5th when he came to pit, but finished 18th. Stewart was running 12th and finished 21st.

David Reutimann’s 17th place finish moved him inside the top-35 in owner points, while JJ Yeley – who was caught up in an earlier accident – dropped to 36th, just 3 points out of the top-35. Casey Mears and Jamie McMurray continue to throw up solid finishes and move themselves away from that danger zone. Mears finished 11th and McMurray was 16th. Sam Hornish Jr. was the highest finishing rookie in 19th. Ryan Newman – who started from the pole – blew up on lap 134 and finished in 43rd.

Grades:
the Race:  92%
the Drama:  94%
Coverage:  82%
Pre-Race:  60%

Overall Grade:  87.2%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):