Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Pocono Raceway

Edwards, Not Busch, is Chase Field’s ‘Lucky Dog’

The 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup field is solidifying fast, with only six spots remaining for those drivers who haven’t notched a win, and only six weeks left for them to do so.

As winless drivers struggle for a victory to secure a spot in the Chase, Kyle Busch’s comeback creep to the Top 30 continues. What seemed like a long shot at best nine races ago has now become a seemingly inevitable prospect.

Upon return to Cup competition, Busch’s underdog status could have almost been consigned to irrelevancy. Heading into Sonoma, Busch was winless and 173 points behind 30th place in the standings, the cutoff for Chase-eligible drivers with wins. To address that issue, he snagged a win at Sonoma (and then three more) all while slashing any “insurmountable” points gap to 30th.

In just five races, a gap of 173 points shrank to 23 points, and now Busch has six races to dissolve that number. Considering the gap isn’t between top-tier drivers in the standings, but rather 30th and 32nd, to miss the cut would require a meltdown on an even more epic scale than his quick rise to dominance.

While Kyle Busch may seem like a figurative “lucky dog” on the outside looking in, trying to claw his way back to the heart of the competition, it seems unfitting and even inappropriate to use the word “luck” in the same sentence as his name. He has won four of the last five races, including the last three in a row, a feat not seen since Jimmie Johnson won Martinsville, Atlanta and Texas in 2007.

Sitting at the bottom of the group of Chase clinchers is Carl Edwards, with just 519 points. He more fittingly wears the title of “lucky dog” rolling into the Chase with just one crucial win to fall back on.

The other drivers with wins, aside from Kyle Busch, have points enough to keep them in the Chase even if wins were not a factor. Take away the “win and you’re in” rule, and Carl Edwards sits at 16th place in the points standings instead of 10th, with Aric Almirola trailing him by just 11 points.

Edwards’ points troubles are, however, not indicative of his on-track performance. He has led 242 laps this year, the ninth-most of any driver. His two DNFs, along with only two top fives and four top 10s, help to better explain his standings in the points. Of the current Chase field, only Paul Menard has as few top 10s as Edwards, yet Menard still sits 39 points ahead of the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Toyota.

While the win incentive provides for more late summer drama and driver pressure, it is always interesting to look at points alone to determine which drivers have shown consistency throughout the season.

Come Richmond, Edwards may be thanking his lucky stars that one of the 25 laps he led in the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte was the final one.

August 2, 2015
Mason Mingus Is Digging His Sophomore Truck Season

Mason Mingus is not only digging his sophomore season in the Camping World Truck Series, but is also digging his sponsor ‘Call 811.’

As far as his season to date, the driver of the No. 15 Chevrolet Silverado for Billy Boat Racing, who is racing at Pocono this weekend, thinks that it has gone “pretty good so far.”

“We’ve had our ups and downs so far but I think we’re definitely heading in the right direction,” Mingus said. “I’m definitely excited for the rest of the season. We’ve got a good crew in place now.”

“My new crew chief Brandon McSwain came on at Texas has been doing a great job since that race. Everybody is working well together and building nice trucks.”

“Usually it’s pretty tough to have someone step in and crew chief mid-season,” Mingus said. “But it’s been pretty seamless and he’s done a great job.”

“As far as communication goes, we’ve been on the same page. He’s pretty young, only 25 years old. So, he’s not much older than me so I think that helps from a communication standpoint. It’s been an easier transition than we all expected.”

“So, I’m really excited for this race and what’s coming.”

While Mingus is digging this stretch of the race season, he definitely would like to put the early part of it in his rear view mirror.

“The biggest challenge has been the first part of the season,” Mingus said. “We had some setbacks and didn’t make the first race of the season at Daytona due to the group qualifying situation that we were put in. We had a good truck there but just didn’t get it in the draft in qualifying.”

“A couple things we had to go through at the beginning of the season were tough but now that we are building good trucks, we’re having a lot faster equipment, as well as opportunities to run up front.”

The young racer is also digging moving through the ranks of racing as he has throughout his career to date. He started his racing career when he was seven in quarter midgets and has progressed to Late Models, ARCA and now the Truck Series.

“For whatever reason, I really wanted to start racing,” Mingus said. “I kept bugging my dad about it and then when I got into that quarter midget, I fell in love with it from there.”

“Nobody in my family raced except my uncle. But I didn’t even know about that until I started racing. For whatever reason, it just really interested me.”

“I started there and moved up to different series and then got into Pro and Super Late Models and then into ARCA. Once I started racing, I did find out my uncle raced local short tracks. He had quit by the time I was born. But he did come back and I got to race against him. So, that was pretty cool.”

“I won, but I had the better equipment. They took the good parts and put them all on my car. He got cheated a little bit I think.”

Digging is also a part of Mingus’ sponsorship as well. He promotes “Call 811,” the underground damage prevention phone line, with the tagline “Call before you dig”.

“Call 811, they’ve been on board with me just about since I started racing,” Mingus said. “My dad owns a construction company in Tennessee so he was actually on the Board at 811. So, we developed a relationship there.”

“Basically they come out and locate underground utilities. So, my Dad used them a lot for his business because they need to locate underground utilities before they dig. A lot of people like my dad and those involved in construction already know this, but Call 811 is trying to get that same message out to the public.”

“People who want to put in a new mailbox or plant a tree need to know to Call 811 because there may be dangers underground. That’s the message we are trying to get across to the general public and to race fans sitting in the stands.”

“Call 811 got on board with me when I was twelve years old and from there we’ve gotten more and more states on board. We’ve got about ten or twelve states onboard right now.”

“Every race track we go to, we have people asking us what Call 811 is. We travel so much across the country so to be able to educate so many people in the matter of a race season is pretty cool.”

“This is a great organization to call that can potentially save lives and money as far as damages.”

While Mingus is digging his current Truck ride, hoping to better his career best finish of ninth this year, he is also hoping to at some point take that next step into an even bigger series.

“As far as the next step, we’ll take it as it comes,” Mingus said. “I’d love to be in an Xfinity car but obviously my ultimate goal is to race on Sunday in the Cup Series.”

“But we have to take it one step at a time. Right now we are just worried about the remainder of the Truck season and trying to run as well as we can. We want to run upfront and contend for the wins as much as we can.”

“So, we’ll see what comes next year.”

July 31, 2015
Excitement Abounds with NASCAR Trackside Superstore Opening

While some fans have expressed sadness over the elimination of the NASCAR haulers, a fixture for years at each and every racetrack, there was great excitement today as the new NASCAR Trackside Superstore debuted at Pocono Raceway.

The new superstore appeared at Pocono Raceway like a gigantic circus-like tent the size of 1.5 football fields, with about 60,000 square feet of merchandise. In fact, there was $2.5 million worth of merchandise under the tent available for fans to browse and purchase.

NASCAR officials, representatives of Fanatics Authentic, the new merchandiser in the superstore, and several Cup drivers, including Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. were on hand to unveil the new souvenir facility.

“We’ve seen a lot of ideas and thoughts on paper and we’ve seen results of what the Fanatics group had done throughout other sports industries, but to see it at our race event here in Pocono for the first time, it just knocks you off your feet,” Mike Helton, NASCAR Vice President, said. “The shopping experience our fans now have at the event is incredible.”

“I’m very excited.”

“There will be people that go, ‘I’ve been coming here for 20 years. I love the haulers,’ and I know they’re going to be disappointed,” Ross Tannenbaum, Fanatics Authentic President, said. “I think once they shop and get more involved in this, I think they’ll go, ‘I really miss the haulers, but I really like the shopping experience.”

“The real goal for us is to learn everything we can and offer the best experience we can for the last portion of the 2015 season but make 2016 the real launching pad for what this model will look like when we go to Daytona for the 500 in February,” Tannenbaum continued.

“That’s our goal.”

The two drivers in attendance at the superstore debut, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick, also pronounced it good.

“I think it’s awesome,” Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Chevrolet said. “It just seems so much more simple to me. There’s no trying to find the haulers and not sure where everything is at.”

“I know for me, the last two years, we get a lot of questions on Twitter and everywhere else about, well I couldn’t find one of your hats last week or this and that. It just makes things a lot simpler in a central location for everywhere.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Budweiser Chevrolet, echoed his colleague’s positive sentiments about the new store. In fact, he revealed that some of his fan club gatherings will move to the superstore in the future.

Some of the other features of the new trackside superstore include the ability to touch and feel the merchandise before purchasing, the elimination of long lines at the hauler with the new efficient check-out system, and the future option to have merchandise personalized.

Another positive feature, at least for the race tracks, are that they too will share in the profits of the new superstore.

“I can tell you this, in dealing with every one of the tracks, every one of the teams, everyone within NASCAR, the vendors and everybody, they couldn’t be more supportive,” Tannenbaum said, adding that each track will get a share of the sales revenue from the superstore. “Everybody is trying to achieve the same goal which is to improve the retail experience for the fans at a NASCAR race.”

Even Brandon Igdalsky, the Pocono Raceway President and CEO, acknowledged that all has gone well with the set-up of the tent, even with some rain coming down. His excitement spilled over into social media, with his tweet “Excited to be the 1st track to launch the new @NASCAR Trackside Superstore @poconoraceway @Fanatics #Windows10_400”.

Fans who visited the superstore for the first time also gave positive reviews. And that after all was the goal of NASCAR in the first place.

“I think that the winner in all of this is the fan, because the fan’s going to have not just a better experience, but the fan is going to have opportunity for a different product that they currently don’t have an opportunity to have, and to me that’s going to be the game-changer,” Steve Phelps, NASCAR executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said.

“It’s just a better opportunity to interact with the product and see it.”

July 31, 2015
NASCAR Racing Schedule for Pocono and Iowa

July 30, 2015
Surprising and Not Surprising: Brickyard 400

With a brand new rules package yet again here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 22nd Annual Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard.

Surprising: Forget Game of Thrones, Kyle Busch pronounced the Brickyard 400 the ‘game of restarts’.

“It was a game of restarts at the end and who was helping who. That’s what this package allowed for today and what this race track gives,” Busch, driver of the victorious No. 18 Skittles Toyota, said. “First I have to thank Joey Logano, then I have to thank Martin Truex – those two guys behind me on those three restarts – they are the ones that just helped propel my car a little bit ahead so when I got to turn one, I could keep the gas down and pull ahead and get up to the lead.”

“I’m still in shock. It’s all gone by so fast. Every week you go on to the next one, but this is something spectacular. I always dreamed of wanting to race here let alone win here.”

This was Busch’s fourth win of the season and his third win in a row. He delivered not only his first victory at the Brickyard, but also the first win for Toyota at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Busch now sits just 23 points out of the 30th position for Chase eligibility.

Not Surprising: There were a number of ‘seconds’ that were hard pills to swallow. Joey Logano started second, finished second and continued to be second in the points. And of all those seconds, Logano said simply, “Second sucks. There are no trophies for second.

“Yeah, the worst part is the same guy beat me the last two times I’ve finished second.”

Both Trevor Bayne and Aric Almirola suffered seconds of their own, both wrecking twice, once separately as well as wrecking into each other. Almirola finished 38th and Bayne finished 40th.

“We worked at it from the drop of the green,” Bayne said after the race. “Today just wasn’t our day with the AdvoCare Ford. But it’s on to Pocono next week where hopefully we can run well like we did in the spring.”

Probably the most interesting of the ‘seconds’ was the fact that Austin Dillon not only sped on pit road but that he sped again for the second time while serving his penalty. After his second bout of speeding, Dillon soldiered on to finish 25th in his No. 3 Dow/Mycogen Chevrolet.

Surprising: While Kyle Busch was sweeping the Xfinity and Brickyard races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was doing some brushing off of his own.

“If it could happen today, it most likely did. Gotta brush it off and get back at it next week @poconoraceway. We like that place!” Junior tweeted after the race.

The driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet also had a little fun with his misfortune, when he spun through the grass, leading to his 22nd place finish.

“Although it wasn’t part of the plan, the trip through the grass reminded me of tearing through the yard in our go-kart when we were kids.”

Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon, who suffered heavy damage to his No. 24 3M Chevrolet after trying to avoid a spinning Clint Bowyer, remained upbeat and thankful for all of the wonderful memories he had at the Brickyard.

“Today was an unfortunate day,” Gordon said after finishing 42nd. “It seems like in recent years it’s been kind of feast or famine for us here. But I tell you what, from the first time I came here all the way through last year and even this year the fans have been amazing, the experiences have been amazing, the wins.

“Everything has been incredible and I feel so fortunate to have just gotten an opportunity to race here. Certainly to have five wins here is just unbelievable as well.”

Surprising: The third and fourth place finishers were quite busy falling on their respective swords. Harvick blamed himself for losing the lead and Truex blamed himself for mistiming his pushing efforts, or lack thereof, for Harvick.

“Yeah, we lost the lead there,” Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Budweiser Chevrolet said. “The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and No. 22 (Joey Logano) got hooked up on the restart there and got by us in Turn 1. The No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) and I didn’t really get together and weren’t able to keep the lead.

“Then I lost the lead and Kyle had a faster pace than I wanted to go and spun the tires and then he was able to keep the lead. We lost a couple more spots because we got all jacked up once we started spinning the tires. All-in-all just really proud of everybody on the Jimmy John’s team, I just didn’t put it together there at the end.”

“Yeah, just feel a little bad for Kevin (Harvick) there,” Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet said. “I kind of screwed him. I was trying to push him, just mistimed it.

“I feel bad I messed him up a bit there. I kind of messed Kyle (Busch) up on the last one too and he still won. I wasn’t getting good starts.”

Harvick finished third while Truex finished right behind him in the fourth spot.

Not Surprising: There were a few unfortunate tire issues at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with both Sam Hornish Jr. and Kurt Busch suffering cut right rear tires early in the race. Both were able to recover, with Hornish rebounding to a 17th place finish and Busch scoring an 8th place run.

“We ended up flattening the right rear tire,” Hornish, driver of the No. 9 Medallion Bank Ford Fusion, said. “We pitted and we stuck with it. The guys made good changes throughout the day and got our Medallion Bank Ford Fusion up there to 17th.”

“We chiseled away on each green flag run and each restart, except for the last two,” Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet said. “And overall, I was pleased with the car’s performance. We were missing a little bit with leaning on the right front tire and not having the car bust loose on me; but overall, the Haas Automation Chevy was a good car.

“Eighth is a little bit worse than what I thought we would have finished, but we weren’t a winning Chevrolet. All-in-all, these are those types of days that you really have to find something and learn from it and that way you can turn an eighth into a third into a shot to win.”

Surprising: No matter the manufacturer, whether Toyota, Chevrolet or Ford, drivers from each of the manufacturers spoke out about the new rules package unveiled at the Brickyard.

“It just seemed like you couldn’t pass,” Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Lilly Ford, said. “It was really hard to get up there and get a run on guys. It is difficult to try to get beside guys and it was really, really loose once you caught them. I would say the Kentucky package is way, way better and it put on a way better race than what that did.”

“It’s terrible, that’s what I think,” Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, said of the new package. “You just can’t pass. Yeah, you can run up on the straightaway a little bit, but you can’t run through the corner with anything.”

“It was really bad,” Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said of the aero package. “There was lots of grip by yourself and then as soon as you get within like five car lengths of the guy in front of you, it’s no grip.

“So, I don’t know. Restarts are intense. But, other than that, it’s pretty bad.”

Not Surprising: With a runner-up finish in the XFinity Series and a special paint scheme, the Brickyard was a place full of learning for young driver Ryan Blaney, who finished a respectable 12th.

“I didn’t really sleep that much last night and I was thinking about turn 2 over and over,” the driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, said. “I thought about it more than I should. You just learn from your mistakes and focus on today. There were some things that happened yesterday that I applied today and it worked out.”

“It’s really cool to be part of this JDRF deal,” Blaney continued. “It’s my first year and it’s interesting to learn about type 1 diabetes and good for me to learn about all the kids who have it and battle it. It makes you appreciate things more. It was great to have a good finish for them.”

Surprising: While the temps were up, the heat seemed not to play the role or factor that it did in Sunday’s race as opposed to the race on Saturday where drivers were really spent and complaining.

“It was a hot day but that is what we do,” Brad Keselowski said after finishing 10th in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford. “That is part of being a race car driver.”

Not Surprising: In spite of the stellar NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racing at Eldora Speedway last Wednesday, Tony Stewart, who looked like the Smoke of old at the start of the race, could not finish it off the way he wanted.

The driver of No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet started the race in the fourth position but ended up 28th when the checkered flag flew.

The Sprint Cup Series will now move on to the mountains in Pennsylvania for the Windows 10 400 race weekend, taking place at Pocono Raceway.

July 26, 2015
Martin Truex Jr. Celebrates Victory and Life after Pocono Win

The challenges of the last year and a half seemed to vanish as Martin Truex Jr. drove his No. 78 Chevy into victory lane after winning Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway to end a 69-race winless streak. It was his third career Sprint Cup win, his first with Furniture Row Racing and the first for crew chief Cole Pearn.

But this victory was about so much more than mere numbers. Its significance transcends breaking a losing streak, leading the most laps or cementing his standing in the Chase. This was about beating the odds, both professionally and personally.

Last year was one of the lowest points in Truex’s life as he struggled with his new team managing only five top-five finishes the entire season. But Truex remained committed to the small single-car team led by owner Barney Visser. His biggest test, however, came as longtime girlfriend Sherry Pollex underwent treatment for cancer.

Truex was inspired by her strength, saying, “She showed me what she was made of and I was like, wow, if she can do that then I can do this, this is easy.”

This season has seen a resurgence of Truex’s career, perhaps sparked by Pollex’s remission. The couple hugged after he climbed out of his car and one can only imagine the myriad of emotions they experienced in that brief moment, particularly since Truex lost his grandmother this week.

“Sherry is here healthy and is excited as I am and everything is going well for her,” said Truex.

“It never gets any better than this,” he exclaimed. “It takes time to heal things especially with what Sherry and I went through. This just kind of makes you forget all about it. Tomorrow we are still going back to normal life. We always try to remember that and be ourselves and remember why we are here and how lucky we are to be doing this. I just feel super blessed to be with this group of guys. They are super impressive and I’m just proud to drive cars for them.”

Truex’s win was popular within the NASCAR community. Even second place finisher, Kevin Harvick, said, “If you’re going to lose to somebody today, that’s a great person to lose to.”

“You look at everything, personally and professionally Martin and Sherry have dealt with,” he continued, “and you have to be super-happy for them. To see them have that bright spot is something I think the whole garage will support and be happy with.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. agreed, saying, “I’m just happy for him. I know he’s been through a lot of stuff, both inside the car and outside the car the last several years. He’s been able to get into a good opportunity with good people. He’s got a team that believes in him. They’ve come a long way over the last several years.”

Truex was humbled by the support of his fellow competitors.

“It means a lot, it really does, because there’s going to come a time when racing and where you finish in races doesn’t matter,” Truex said. “What’s going to matter is kind of the legacy you leave and how people look at the person that you are. So that means a ton to me to have that respect, and, honestly, it’s kind of humbling.”

Sometimes winning isn’t everything. Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. Today was one of those days.

June 8, 2015
Surprising and Not Surprising: Pocono Axalta We Paint Winners 400

In a peculiar race at Pocono, filled with shifting and unexpected bumps, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 34th annual Axalta We Paint Winners 400.

Surprising: Under picture-perfect skies, both blessings and curses abounded at the Tricky Triangle in the track’s first race of the season.

“I just feel super blessed to be with this group of guys,” race winner Martin Truex Jr. said of his No. 78 Furniture Row race team. “They are super impressive and just proud to drive cars for them.”

“We finally got it. That is all I can say we finally got it. Just can’t thank all my guys enough, Barney Visser, everybody at Furniture Row, everybody back in Denver for working so hard. This is a brand new racecar and they have been working really hard lately. Just proud of them and blessed to drive great racecars.”

“It never gets any better than this.”

This was Truex Jr.’s first victory of the season and one that ended a 69-race winless streak as well as qualifying him for the Chase.

As much as Truex felt blessed to win, Jeff Gordon and Alan Gustafson on the flip side exchanged a tirade of uncharacteristic curses after disagreeing on pit strategy. The curse-laden audio can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPeUz35cQRA&app=desktop.

In spite of all that cursing, the Team 24 driver and crew chief duo managed to pull off a top-15 finish for the No. 24 Axalta/Penn State Chevrolet.

Not Surprising: Although many in the garage felt that he was the one to beat, Kevin Harvick finished second yet again, having had to deal with gear issues on the restarts and splitter issues as well.

“Our Budweiser Chevy was really fast, but we were just terrible on the restarts getting going,” Harvick said. “We would lug really bad in third gear and just had to go into defense mode.”

“We struggled in Turn 1 with the splitter on the ground. Things aren’t lining-up to win races right now.”

Surprising: Aric Almirola went from having one of the best finishes of the season in Dover to having one of his worst days at Pocono, finishing 43rd in his No. 43 Nathan’s Famous Ford with something malfunctioning in the motor of his race car.

“It wouldn’t run anymore,” Almirola said. “It’s a shame. It was not a good weekend for us. We struggled all weekend finding speed in our car and right there we came in and made a pretty aggressive adjustment on that pit stop. Trent (Owens, crew chief) changed a lot of stuff and just on that one lap of the restart it drove a lot better and I had my hopes up for a minute and then my hopes got crushed.”

“We had some sort of motor issue. Every once in a while something like that happens.”

This was Almirola’s first DNF of the season as well.

Not Surprising: Tony Stewart shared the best quote of the day. After received a penalty on pit road for an uncontrolled tire, Smoke came on the radio and said “They should start calling penalties on me for being an uncontrolled driver.”

“I put us in a hole to start the weekend,” Stewart said, referring to his crash on Friday in practice that forced him to a backup racecar. “This whole Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops team dug in, worked hard all weekend and never gave up.”

“I’m really proud of everybody and hate the finish doesn’t reflect that effort.”

Stewart finished 21^st at Pocono Raceway in his No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet.

Surprising: While Carl Edwards looked to be the strongest Toyota, starting on the outside pole, three other Toyotas managed to finish better than he did with his 15^th place run. Matt Kenseth was the highest finisher of the manufacturer’s brand in the sixth place, with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin finishing ninth and tenth respectively.

“We had a really fast car – it was the fastest sixth-place car that I’ve ever had,” Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, said. “We ran much better than we finished.”

“This is a bad track for me and we had a great car today.”

“We didn’t start the race with what we needed with our M&M’s Crispy Camry,” Kyle Busch said. “But Adam (Stevens, crew chief) made some good adjustments to get us better. Track position was big, so Adam also made a good call to take two tires and get us some track position and we were able to hold onto it for a while.”

“Those last two cautions didn’t help us, we just couldn’t get going on those last couple of restarts. We’ll take it and move on to Michigan.”

“I thought we were a decent car – fifth to 10th place most of the day, but with our track position, we always took four tires,” Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota , said. “Some of those guys made it on fuel because of all the cautions so we continued to lose track position throughout the day, but we kind of battled back.”

“We barely got inside the top-10 and at best I thought we could have improved four or five more spots, but overall a solid day. We didn’t tear up anything this week and now we can go and improve our program for next week.”

Not Surprising: While Ford has traditionally struggled at Pocono, Joey Logano still managed to be the best finishing Ford, bringing his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford to the checkered flag in the fourth position. His finish was especially noteworthy as he had to start from the back of the pack due to a rear gear change.

“I’m happy with the way it ended,” Logano said. “We didn’t have a very fast Shell/Pennzoil Ford from the get-go when we unloaded here, but we kept fighting hard.”

“This was one of those blue-collar days, just working hard all day on the car and on pit road the guys did a good job making my car faster and got to where we were a top-five car at the end.”

Surprising: Ryan Newman’s temper got the best of him after contact between himself and AJ Allmendinger on Lap 142. And he even vowed some revenge as a result of that contact.

“It’s pretty obvious what happened,” Newman, driver of the No. 31 Grainger Chevrolet, said after finishing 39th. “The No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) just ran out of talent.”

“He has got one coming now.”

Not Surprising: While Trevor Bayne got some Pocono practice time in running and winning the ARCA Series race, the driver of the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford acknowledged that he was still in the learning mode for the Tricky Triangle.

“We got through it and that was the main part for our first run here at Pocono,” Bayne said. “Overall, we kept a clean car and for the first time here I learned a ton.”

“From where I started this week and getting to where we finished I think we made big gains. We got back on the lead lap there at the end and we just needed to be a little bit better off turn three and we would have had something for a top-15 run.”

Bayne finished the race in the 24^th position.

Surprising: Forget girls just wanting to have fun, sometimes six time champions like Jimmie Johnson just want to do that as well even with a beat up race car, with some missing parts to boot. And while he had fun, Johnson also went on to finish third in his No. 48 Lowe’s/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet.

“A fun day,” Johnson said. “She is beat up and missing a left-front splitter too from the contact we had with the outside wall off of Turn 3 there.”

“We overcame a lot and still got a third place finish out of it. Wish we had a little bit more, but not a bad finish.”

Not Surprising: Both Chip Ganassi Racing drivers managed top-10 finishes at the Tricky Triangle, with Jamie McMurray coming in seventh and Kyle Larson finishing eighth.

“It was a good race and a nice top 10,” Larson, the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, said after the race. “I thought that was probably about the speed we had maybe eighth to 11th or so. So to get an eighth place is alright.”

Surprising: Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 7 Accell Construction Chevrolet, managed a 26th place finish only to go home and have an accident there.

“No joke got home and roscoe ran to the door and head butted me so hard because he couldn’t stop that I now have an actual black eye,” @AlexBRacing tweeted after the race.

Not Surprising: At the end of the day and in spite of the competition, friendships develop in the garage area. And the best example of that was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who could not wait to get into Victory Lane to shake the hand of his friend and race winner Martin Truex Jr.

“I’m just happy for him,” the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet said after finishing 11th. “I know he’s been through a lot of stuff both inside the car and outside the car the last several years. He’s been able to get into a good opportunity with good people.”

“He’s got a team that believes in him. And I was in the stall next to those guys during qualifying and how they are as a team and how they interact with each other really impressed me.”

“So, Martin’s in a good situation. So, it’s real refreshing. I look forward to going over there (Victory Lane) and saying hey to him.”

The Cup Series will race next weekend in the Irish Hills of Michigan for the Quicken Loans 400.

June 7, 2015
Finley Factor: Backstrom We Are Not

Here’s something you can bet on this summer- the ratings will be down for NASCAR.

However, here’s something that should be known- it really isn’t that big of a deal.

The simple reality is that every Cup race this summer, save for Daytona, will be on less established sports networks compared to TNT and ESPN. Daytona will easily have the biggest share of the entire summer, being run in prime time on a Sunday night on NBC with no competition in the sports world- NBA will be done, no baseball that night, and no football. In fact, there’s a pretty great chance that outside of the 500 in February, the 400 in July will have the biggest share out of every race in the season. Not a bad year for Daytona, I guess.

Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network are lower on the totem pole than TNT and even ESPN 2. The reality is that Fox and NBC are the only two companies interested in NASCAR right now because they know it can be used, like it was in the 80’s with ESPN, to help build their cable sport networks. As has been shown time and time again, live sport is the key to building networks- just ask ESPN, or TNN (Now Spike TV), both networks that took the NASCAR contract and, along with their other offerings, went from nobodies to major players in cable.

NASCAR isn’t going to be canceled or even really feel much blowback just because ratings are down this year. Live sport is also the key to today’s advertising- with more DVRs making advertisers become more cautious in putting real money into a typical show, live sport is DVR-proof and more of a big deal to advertisers. Just look at last year, when the WWE attempted to paint themselves as live sports during negotiations for a new TV contract while pointing out that they provide weekly programming and thus week-to-week have better ratings than NASCAR, usually having some of the overall highest ratings on cable. Obviously, even though WWE had a sizeable increase, they didn’t have anywhere near NASCAR’s TV contract because advertisers see NASCAR and really most television shows in general as much, much, much more viable than pro wrestling, but I digress.

In fact, here’s my prediction for the next five years. Ratings compared to this summer will be around the same for the next two-three years. As these networks grow, with more and more providers putting them on better tiers, the ratings will artificially grow in years four-five.

Either that or the cable bubble will completely burst and everybody will turn to online, Roku, or services such as Sling TV, making it either harder to watch NASCAR or easier- it depends on a number of factors. I’m either going to be completely right, wrong or something else will happen. Just how much the TV industry has changed in the last five years alone makes it pretty hard to tell.

Pocono Predictions

The Favorite

This week, I’m going with Dale Earnhardt Jr. The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet is coming off a sweep of this track last year, winning both this race and the August race. He was fast in Friday practice, running fourth, and with his Talladega win, he can now afford to gamble a little bit to get a second win this season.

The Sleeper

Carl Edwards hasn’t done particularly well at this track lately, with an average finish of 17th in the last 10 races here, but he was fast in both Friday practice and qualifying. I’m iffy on the No. 19 busting out like Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick did in the past two years, but if he can win or even just get a top five at Pocono, it could be the start of a cool summer for Cousin Carl.

One to Watch

Austin Dillon only has two starts at this track, a 17^th and a 15th in the two races last year, but like Edwards he was fast off the truck on Friday, being sixth in practice and qualifying fifth for the race. Could he join Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano* by breaking out and winning his first Sprint Cup race on Sunday? We’ll have to see on that one, but at the very least expect the driver of the legendary No. 3 to grab his second top-10 of the season.

*= Although Logano won before his win at Pocono, in reality it isn’t like the rain win at New Hampshire in his rookie year wasn’t really a breakout win.

Book Review Number 1- “Riverside International Raceway: A Photographic Tour of the Historic Track, its Legendary Races, and Unforgettable Drivers” by Pete Lyons.

(It should be noted that I received a review copy of this book from the publisher).

Riverside International Raceway will go down in the history books as probably the most important track in the world that no longer exists. Like it or not, it was, in its prime, the center of road course racing in America and the most relevant track in California’s history.

Lyons has written a fascinating book that uses amazing photos to weave together a great history of not just Riverside but of California racing history. There is some stuff in this book even I didn’t know about, such as Ken Miles, the British sports car star that should have won the 24 Hours of LeMans for Ford in 1966, designing the track in the 1950’s.

I was aware of the one Formula 1 race at Riverside, but I had no idea how big of a bomb it was. Without Ferrari and the local champion Phil Hill in the race (They had already clinched the championship and had no reason to be there), nobody really seemed to care all that much. To be completely honest, it’s probably for the better in Riverside’s case that the race was a failure- being shoehorned as a Formula 1 track and trying to make everything grand like Circuit of the Americas has the last few years have been a failure from both a money and image point. Instead, Riverside was able to create a niche for themselves with just about all kinds of American racing.

For those wondering, “Well, what does this have to do with NASCAR?,” NASCAR was probably the most important promoter of the track, running races from the 60s to the track’s closing in the late 80s, and no man has ever dominated a track in NASCAR like Dan Gurney during the 1960s. In five starts in a rare second car for the Wood Brothers in that decade at Riverside, Gurney won four and had an engine problem in the fifth race. Along with another win in a Holman-Moody Ford in 1963, from 1963 to 1968, Gurney only lost one spring Riverside race.

When a picture book comes out, there are plenty of books that just slap on pictures and don’t spend much time at all on the actual text. This book is different from that. It introduces and provides background to the colorful stars of the speedway, from Ken Miles to the man of Riverside himself, the legendary Gurney. Gurney also writes a wonderful foreword; you can tell the Riverside native had fun writing it and revisiting the old days.

Overall, my only real complaint about the book is the price and my own relatability. At $50, it just seems a little too pricey to me. The book is definitely well made though. It kind of reminds me in many ways of the Greg Fielden NASCAR history books, which is probably the best thing that can be said about any racing history book.

Overall, I give it a four out of five. It’s well done and well made, but the price is a sticking point for me and really, eventually the price will probably go down in a few years. If you are a sports car fan in America, get this. If you are a California racing fan, get this. If you are a racing fan, in general, this is definitely worth a look. You can get it on Amazon or at bookstores, if you can find one nowadays.

June 6, 2015
Kurt Busch Wins Coors Light Pole Award in Pocono

Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service

LONG POND, Pa. — NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying can be fraught with twists, turns and unexpected bumps in the road.

Friday’s qualifying session at Pocono Raceway, which saw Kurt Busch capture the Coors Light Pole for Sunday’s Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400, had them all.

Throughout the day, Turn 2, the Tunnel Turn, had been a major topic of concern.

“There are grocery store parking lots around the country that are jealous of those three bumps that have developed there,” said Busch, speculating that an offseason beautification project with water feature, enhancing the exterior tunnel entry, somehow created the lumpy racing surface.

“To me, if they could just go ahead and take some bumps like that and put them over in the other corners too, it would be even better,” said Carl Edwards. “It adds something. As long as it’s not breaking parts, I believe it gives us an opportunity to set up passes.”

Ultimately, the issue with the bumpy track took a back seat when Denny Hamlin spun in Turn 1 in the final minute of qualifying, halting the session with 39 seconds remaining and preventing himself and four other drivers from posting a time in the final round.

“It really is a bizarre set of circumstances,” said Jimmie Johnson, a winner of four races this season but one of the drivers left in the qualifying cold. “It’s just unfortunate (for) the guys that were on the track. But as long as NASCAR is consistent (with the rule) through all three series, then we will take our medicine and just deal with it. We (start) ninth. That is the best we’ve been in a while.

Joey Logano, the last driver not from Hendrick Motorsports to win at Pocono, was not so forgiving. Logano said he already had a ‘headache’ thanks to the bumps, and that was before his lap in progress was negated by Hamlin’s spin.

“A car spins out and they throw a red flag for it and then you don’t get an opportunity to go out and make a lap,” Logano said. “I don’t understand it. It makes me mad. I don’t get it. We didn’t even have a chance to try to put our car up front.”

Busch suggested that Pocono Raceway attempt to grind the bumps prior to Sunday’s race. Earnhardt was encouraged that Pocono Raceway CEO Brandon Igdalsky was not only aware of the situation, but planning to take action before the Sprint Cup Series returns in late July.

“I feel like they understand that while we can probably get through this weekend with what’s back there right now, it’s probably not in their best interest to leave it as-is,” Earnhardt said. “It will continue to get worse and I don’t think that we can get our race cars through there if it gets much worse than it is.”

Carl Edwards finished second in qualifying. “My plan with Denny (Joe Gibbs Racing teammate) almost worked out,” Edwards joked. “But he didn’t spin early enough to keep Kurt from catching me.”

Martin Truex Jr. qualified third in the Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, unaware that the session had been cut short but well aware of the challenges in Turn 2.

“It’s wild,” he said. “The first time through there, I thought either our car was way off or there’s something wrong with the race track. The bumps are 10 times bigger than they were last year, which is crazy. You’re going across bumps that are 8-10 inches tall and, literally, the tires are coming off the ground.”

Jeff Gordon qualified fourth and series leader Kevin Harvick, who posted the fastest lap in each of the first two qualifying sessions, was fifth. Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne were the other drivers who were burned by Hamlin’s spin, having waited too long to attempt a lap in the five-minute session.

Kurt Busch noted during practice that he was losing speed in Turns 1 and 3 and elected to focus on the vast majority of the course, not the troubles in Turn 2. His team also overcame a “wrong gear ratio in the transmission in third gear.”

“There was so much disconnect when we first got here,” said Busch, whose third pole of the season was the 19th of his career. “We had to drop back, reboot with (crew chief) Tony Gibson, (engineer) Johnny Klausmeier, the whole gang. Today was a big group-bonding day and a strength-building day on what this No. 41 team can do together.”

With 43 race entries, all drivers qualified for Sunday’s race.

Tony Stewart, mired in 28th in the point standings, was forced to a backup car after a crash coming out of the Tunnel Turn in the 36th minute of Friday’s practice session. Stewart was 28th in the first round of qualifying and failed to advance. “Driver error,” said Stewart, who has managed just one top-10 finish this season. “I was already past the bump. I got loose on the exit (of the turn) and couldn’t catch it.”

June 5, 2015
NASCAR Racing Schedule for Pocono and Texas

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series travels to Texas Motor Speedway. The XFINITY Series is off but will return June 13 at Michigan. Please check below for the full schedule.

All times Eastern.

Thursday, June 4:

On Track:

5:30-6:25 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series practice
7:30-8:55 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series final practice

Friday, June 5:

On Track:

Noon-1:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series practice – FOX Sports 1
4:45 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series qualifying – FOX Sports 1
6:15 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Qualifying – FOX Sports 1
9 p.m.: WinStar World Casino 400 – FOX Sports 1 (Green Flag 9:19 p.m. approx.)

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

10:30 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
2:30 p.m.: Jeff Gordon
3 p.m.: Joey Logano
3:15 p.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5:45 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying (time approx.)

Saturday, June 6:

On Track:

9-9:55 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series practice – FOX Sports 1
11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series final practice – FOX Sports 1

Sunday, June 7:

On Track:

1 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 (160 laps, 400 miles) – FOX Sports (Green Flag 1:20 p.m. approx.)

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

9:15 a.m.: Kyle Larson
3:45 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (time approx.)

June 4, 2015