June 2008 Archives

Casey Mears told The Sporting News and reporters at New Hampshire International Speedway that he will not be driving for Hendrick Motorsports in 2009.
"I've known now for a couple weeks," Mears told The Sporting News during a sit-down in the track's media center. "I'm disappointed. I'd love to be there, obviously. Hendrick Motorsports is a great organization. We've definitely had a rough year. . ."
"We had some bad luck at the beginning of the year and then had the bad runs to back it up. I think that it's frustrating to have the kind of start to the season we've had."
The departure of Mears leaves a opening at the four-car Hendrick Motorspors Cup team. Perhaps there is room to add Mark Martin in the mix?

Greg Biffle will be driving the No. 16 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing for another three years after the driver and the team agreed on a deal Friday.
That's one driver who is staying put amid speculation that Tony Stewart and Mark Martin are about to switch teams.
Biffle said he was impressed with how all the cars at Roush Fenway Racing have closed the gap in the past year on some of the top teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
"We were behind last season, dramatically behind," Biffle said, "and we made the commitment to try and catch up and it's so hard to play catch up, but we've been able to close that gap, I feel, to the Hendrick cars for sure, but we're still maybe chasing the Gibbs cars by just a razor of a margin, probably not much, but on top of that we're looking further ahead and that's what we need to do. We want to be the innovator for awhile. We want people chasing us and that was one of the decisions I made.
"I also want to say that I'm gonna be running the Nationwide Series next year with the Citifinancial group. We haven't made a decision on a schedule yet, but between 15-20 races I guess would be what we're looking at doing for next year."

Valencia's Bryan Herta will not be driving for Andretti Green Racing in the next American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock Park at Lakeville, Conn., on July 12.
Franck Montagny is the new primary driver of the team's No. 26 Acura-powered entry in the American Le Mans Series, the team announced Thursday.
Montagny and Marco Andretti, son of team co-owner Michael Andretti, will drive the team's Acura in the race at Lime Rock Park. Herta is not in Andretti Green's plans for future races, but the team said in a release that a variety of drivers will team with Montagny for the final seven races of the American Le Mans Series season.
"It was a complete shock to me," said Herta, a Hart High of Newhall graduate. "I'm at a bit of a loss for words. It's there sandbox. Right now it's all kind of a bit of a surprise. I'm not going to jump at something. I want to see what happens."

Speculation about what drivers will end up where next season have already started.
Almost everyone has Tony Stewart leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, making room for Joey Logano, who won the Toyota All-Star race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale last year, to move up to the Cup level.
Nothing is certain yet, but most have Stewart moving to Haas-CNC Racing, which is owned by CSUN graduate Gene Haas. Stewart is reported to have an ownership stake in the deal. Haas meanwhile, is serving a 24-month prison sentence for tax evasion, among other things.
Dale Earnhardt Inc. is preparing for changes as well. A rumor surfaced this week that Mark Martin, who in part took over driving duties of the No. 8 car, previously driven Dale Earnhardt Jr., was leaving the team to race for Hendrick Motorsports on some level. That would put Aric Almirola in the No. 8 car full-time.
Martin Truex, driver of the No. 1 car for DEI, could be on the move as well. If he stays and Martin goes, that would give DEI one Cup win among its three drivers, Truex, Almirola and Paul Menard.
Earnhardt Jr. said on his XM Satellite Radio show, "Dale Jr. Unrestricted," it was a matter of time before Almirola was given a chance to race full time at DEI
"He's bound and determined to make a career in racing and he's a good guy, super dude, and he's deserves a full time ride and I think it's good for DEI to step up to the plate and give this guy what he deserves," Earnhardt Jr. said. "You know, so Mark really enjoys doing the part time deal and as much fun as that is it's difficult to find operations to accommodate that. ... Most sponsors want their driver out on the race track every week and for Mark Martin to walk around trying to find a part time deal got to be kind of tough but he's gonna land somewhere because he's Mark Martin."

Since the disaster at Pocono, Kyle Busch has seen the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings get a little tighter.
Busch once had a commanding lead in the standings, but now the top three drivers are separated by less than 100 points.
The past two races have not been good for Busch. He finished dead last at Pocono, the culmination of a weekend when he tried to run three NASCAR races in three states.
He followed that with a 13th at Michigan International Speedway, a race Dale Earnhardt Jr. won.
Busch was asked before the race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma if he was comfortable with his lead in the Cup standings and if it gives him the luxury of concentrating on wins rather than maintaining his lead.
"Yes and no. We'd rather finish races up front than be leading the race and spin out trying too hard," said Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "There's a bottom line there that you have to ride and we'll do what we can to get some wins, but if there just not there for us that day than there's just no reason to over extend yourself."
Things did not go well for Busch in qualifying for the Infineon race. He will start Sunday's race 30th.

Jeff Burton had his streak of top 10 finishes snapped Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. He finished 15th at Michigan, ending a four-race top 10 stretch. It was only the fifth time this year he has finished outside the top 10 and his worst finish of the year.
His consistency is a big reason Burton is second in the Sprint Cup Series standings.
"You just have to run well," said Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "You have to have good performances. If you have good performances then, typically, things will go your way. We've obviously had some good fortune. We've had some things go our way this year. Without a doubt we've caught some breaks."
The car his team in bringing to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma for Sunday's Cup race is a brand new car. His past two races at Infineon have been pretty good. He was third last year and seventh in 2006.
"The first thing you have to have is good race cars and good decisions being made," Burton said. "So far, to this point, we've done that. In order for us to continue we have to continue to improve. The level of competition will get harder as the season progresses. Teams will get better, drivers will improve and we have to improve more than they do if we want to have a chance to make the Chase and contend for a championship."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. got his first win in more than two years Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. But it didn't do him much good in the standings.
He is still in third place, but he said he was happy for his team, his owner, Rick Hendrick, his family and sponsors for winning the Michigan race.
"This is a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and I couldn't be prouder," said Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "We did some celebrating Sunday night, and it was back to work on Monday. I know we'd love to keep momentum going and turn it around this weekend with a win at Infineon. The guys at the shop have a short week so we're all going to be tired, but it's a good tired. I'd rather be busy after a win than anything."
His team is bringing a brand new car to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, site of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. His team tested the car at Virginia International Raceway a couple weeks ago.
Last year, racing for Dale Earnhardt Inc., Earnhardt Jr. finished 13th at Infineon.

Carl Edwards tested at Road Atlanta in preparation for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. In three career Cup starts at Infineon, Edwards has only one top 10. That came in 2006 when he finished sixth.
Last year, Edwards started 15th and finished 18th at Infineon. He said Bob Osbourne, his crew chief, has been working hard to make the team's road course program better.
"Bob Osborne and the rest of the Office Depot team have been doing a lot to help improve our road course program," said Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "We recently tested Road Atlanta to get in some practice on a road course and I think it has helped. I don't come from that kind of racing background, but getting a few races under our belts has helped a lot."
The car his team is bringing to Infineon is the same car he raced at Watkins Glen in New York last year. He was eighth in that race. It is also the same car Edwards raced at Infineon last year.

It's been a while since Jimmie Johnson was this close to the lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. The last time he was in the top five was the first week of May.
If history is any indication, he won't be in the top five for very long.
His record at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, site of Sunday's Cup race, isn't that good. He has one top five and two top 10s in six career Cup races at the road course, one of two on the Cup schedule. Last year at Infineon, he started 42nd and finished 17th.
He will have a considerably better starting position in Sunday's race. He will start on the front row next to pole winner Kasey Kahne. But the last time Johnson started second at Infineon, he finished 36th in 2005.
"I feel like we certainly have a top-five car," said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "I feel like I've always had a top five car here. It's just that the driver didn't do his part. We're working very hard on improving at this race track."
The car his team brought to Sonoma is the same car Johnson raced at Watkins Glen in New York last year. It started seventh and finished third.
"I run well at Watkins Glen, but this track has been challenging for me," Johnson said. "So, today we only worked on qualifying trim, so I don't have an idea of what our race set-up will do. But I'm sure, like normal, I'll have a great car."

Danica Patrick had the fastest car in practice Friday for the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway.
She was ahead of Team Penske drivers Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves in the abbreviated practice session on the 7/8th-mile oval. There were 26 drivers on the track for Friday's practice. Two sessions were scheduled, but the two-hour afternoon session was cancelled because of rain.
"I think that anybody watching could see we were running a more traditional racing line around the track instead of around the bottom," said Patrick, driver of the No. 7 entry for Andretti Green Racing. "I was able to drive on the bottom for some of the track when I did a sticker (tire) run at the end, but I couldn't do it the whole way around. The racing is going to be a lot more exciting with a lot more passing and just better, in general, than last year."
Qualifying for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 is Saturday.

NHRA Funny Car driver Jack Beckman has been struggling lately. After winning at Firebird International Raceway near Phoenix in February, Beckman has dropped to 12th in the Funny Car standings.
When he races at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey this weekend, he will have a new chassis and hopefully a change in results. His team tested the new car at Martin, Mich., and decided to unveil it for the next NHRA races.
"We made five runs in the new car," said Beckman, a driver from North Hills. "It went down the track. We never went past half-track because what we needed to know we would have known early."
The NHRA is mandating all teams use what it calls a safer chassis for the races in Denver for July 11-13. But Beckman's team at Don Schumacher Racing decided to debut it early.
"Our very first run in the new chassis was a planned 400-footer," Beckman said. "It made it to 400 feet and it was quick early, which has kind of been our Achille's heel lately. We needed to be quicker earlier in the run, and so this car showed us that it is definitely quicker earlier. That is exactly what we wanted."
Beckman is 12 points out of 10th place. The top 10 drivers in the Funny Car division will qualify for the Countdown, the six-race playoff to determine champions in the four national touring classes of the NHRA, after the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Aug. 27-Sept. 1.
"Any time that you can put a new car together and very first run out it does what it is supposed to, it brings a big sigh of relief to the crew," Beckman said. "I also think it's the shot in the arm that we need right now. If we can combine the consistency we've had lately with these potentially quicker elapsed times, I think we can get right back into this thing."

Ron Hornaday Jr., driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Inc., will be in two races at the Orange Show Speedway in July.
He will be racing a Super Late Model and a Modified car on July 12 at the track in San Bernanrdino, said Gary Stockman, the track's director of competition.
"It feels great to run on the short tracks out in California so this will be fun," said Hornaday, who won track championships at Saugus Speedway and raced at tracks throughout California when he was in the old Southwest Series. "It's great to see family and friends out there, but the fans, well, most of them helped me get my start."

Kyle Busch is back to making enemies. After bumping Ron Hornaday Jr. in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday night, he not only made the three-time Truck Series champion mad, but also his team owner, Kevin Harvick.
Despite how many feathers Busch ruffles, he is still a favorite to win the Cup race at Michigan. He's a favrorite to win any race. But if Busch wins the Cup race at Michigan, he will have more enemies than he ever dreamed of.
The last thing the Motor City wants to see is a Toyota winning a race in the land of Fords, Dodges and Chevys.
Jack Roush and Ray Evernham might be the only men who can save Motor City from embarassment. Carl Edwards, driver for Roush Fenway Racing, won the Cup race at Auto Club Speedway and has a stellar record at Michigan.
Kasey Kahne, driver for Gillett Evernham Motorsports, has won two of the past three Cup races and the All-Star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Kahne and Edwards have the best chance to challenge Busch for a win at Michigan.
About the only thing that is certain is that Chevrolets will struggle. No Chevrolet driver has won a race at Michigan since 2001. That's seven years of Dodges and Fords.
But as long as Busch is driving a Toyota, there could be a new king of Motown.

Ford and Dodge have owned the Cup race at Michigan since 2001. Kyle Busch could change all that.
He could be the first Toyota driver to win a race at Michigan International Speedway, in the heart of Motor City country. He's already won the pole after rain washed out qualifying, and he leads all NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers with four wins.
"I guess through the tests and stuff I've tried to learn the new car and my adaptability between the trucks and the Nationwide and these new Cup cars - I've raced so many different vehicles that you learn so many different things and you can try more things when you get into a different vehicle," said Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, "and I think it kind of lends more to my performance of running better because I've got more ideas to try than maybe two or three like the other guys and what they've learned from the past."
Busch's record at Michigan isn't all that impressive. His best finish at the track is a sixth place that came last year. He has only two top 10s in six career Cup races at the track, all with Hendrick Motorsports.
The car his team is taking to the track is a good one. It won the races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway. It was also on the pole for the Cup race at Lowe's.
"You never really know exactly how good of a season you're going to have because you never know exactly what your competition is going to be like," Busch said. "This year our competition has been coming from different areas. Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne now. The Hendrick stuff -- they are solid. The 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) is real solid. They've been there every week. The 31 (Jeff Burton) -- he will sixth-place to 12th-place your butt every single week. It's just unbelievable that he could finish that consistently. That's what makes him so good, though. You have to battle the points and not necessarily trying to get the wins and stuff."

Jeff Burton's fifth place at Pocono Raceway was his fourth straight top 10 finish and his best finish since his third place at Martinsville Speedway in March.
He has never won a race at Michigan and no Chevrolet driver has won at Michigan since 2001 when Jeff Gordon did it.
"I don't know that it's harder. It is a unique track," said Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "We don't have many tracks that are like this. It looks like California but it's not. It's not like Charlotte, It's not like Atlanta. This is a pretty unique race track. I think when you hit up on something here it probably lasts for a long time. I think that's why you have seen a lot of drivers not win here."
His record at Michigan hasn't been all that good. He hasn's finished in the top 10 since 2002 and the year he won the pole for the race, spring 2006, he finished 42nd.
"You just got to run well," Burton said. "You just got to have good performance. If you have good performance than typically things will go your way. We've obviously had some fortune. We've had some things go our way this year. We've caught some breaks here and there without a doubt. The first thing you have to have is good race cars and good decisions being made, so far to this point we've done that.
"But for us to continue we got to continue to improve. The level of competition will get harder as the year goes on. People will get better, people will improve and we have to improve more than they do if we want to have a chance to number one make the Chase and number two contend for a championship."

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s fourth place finish at Pocono Raceway was his third top five in his past four races.
His record at Michigan International Speedway is respectable, two top fives and five top 10s in 17 career Cup races. His best finish at the track was a third place in 2006 when he was driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
"We haven't run there with the new Chevy Impala yet so there aren't many notes to fall back on," said Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "It's fun. It's a big track. I think running the new car will be interesting because I have no idea what to expect."
The car his team is bringing to Michigan is the same car he raced at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the All-Star race. He led 14 laps and finished eighth. He also tested the car at Pocono a few weeks ago.
"My goal is to keep some sort of consistency going," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I hated what happened at Dover (Del.) with that early wreck for my team. Same kind of thing happened in California where we wrecked so early and just had to ride for the rest of the day. That isn't good for anyone. I want to get to where we're finishing consistently every weekend. We're capable; we just need it to happen."

Carl Edwards has a great record at Michigan International Speedway. He has one win and four top fives in seven career Cup races at Michigan.
In the two races at the track last year, Edwards won the spring race and was seventh in the fall race.
"I'm really looking forward to Michigan," said Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "It's a great track with some really awesome racing. You can pass
and I think the fans always see a good show there."
The car his team is bringing to Michigan is a good one too. It won the race at Texas Motor Speedway in April and was 10th in the All-Star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"Michigan is a kind of bragging rights track," Edwards said. "It's in Roush's back yard, Ford's back yard - so another win there would be huge."

On the strength of a third-place finish at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania, Denny Hamlin moved up four places in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and is fifth.
It was his best finish in five races and matched his third-place at Talladega Superspeedway on April 27.
"It was really good to have a solid finish at Pocono," said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "We needed it after awful luck at Lowe's with the flat tire at the end and then a short race for us at Dover. We're satisfied with our performance but we know were capable of more and that keeps us all motivated."
The car his team is taking to Michigan International Speedway, site of Sunday's Cup race, is the same one Hamlin had at Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina for the Coca-Cola 600. He was 24th in that race.
In four career Cup races at Michigan, he has two top 10s and one top five. He finished fifth in the August race at Michigan last year.
"I expect that we'll be really competitive," Hamlin said about racing at Michigan. "This track hasn't been one of our best but it's a track that we've made gains at. I think we can honestly say that we've not finished as well as we have raced at Michigan so hopefully that will change."

ESPN will broadcast the final elimination rounds from the NHRA drag races at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago on Wednesday at 3:40 p.m. Pacific.
The segment will be a special 20-minute program following NASCAR Now on ESPN2 and will show highlights from the four final rounds, Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
In a release from the NHRA: Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel); Tony Pedregon (Funny Car); Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock); and Chris Rivas (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were race winners in their respective categories at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event
The race was hampered by unpredictable severe weather throughout the weekend, forcing ESPN officials to juggle its programming schedule.
A two-hour repeat airing of the full telecast of Sunday's eliminations from the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals is scheduled for 2 a.m. (ET) on June 11 on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD.

Eric Holmes of Escalon won his third NASCAR Camping World Series West race of the year Sunday at Colorado National Speedway on Saturday night, but he still trails Mike David in the series standings.
David, a driver from Modesto, was second at Colorado and has a 35-point lead over Holmes in the West Series standings.
"It makes it tough," Holmes said of the points battle. "I didn't really want to see him lead a lap. That's five more points for him. It's going to be hard. Mike's going to be tough to beat all year. He's a strong competitor. We've just got to keep winning races. The only way to beat Mike David is to win. He's always going to be in second or third place, if not in Victory Lane."
It was Holmes' first West Series win at Colorado, but not his first win at the track. He's won a number of races there running in the defunct Southwest Series.
"I've had a lot of success here in the Southwest Tour," he said of the former NASCAR Elite Division. "The last time I was here in 2006, I won. I always look forward to coming here. It's one of my favorite tracks. It's a lot of fun. It's a real racy track and they have great crowds. It makes it real entertaining."
Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario, was third at Colorado, followed by Mike Gallegos of Wheat Ridge, Colo., and Daryl Harr of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada.
The next West Series race is the Bennett Lane Winery 200 presented by Supercuts at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma on June 21.

The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum has a couple exhibits opening next month and inlcudes a collection of trophy queen photos, including a 19-year-old Raquel Welch (pictured above). She was known as Raquel Tejeda back then. There are also photos of Barbara Huffman, who later become Barbara Eden from "I Dream of Jeanie," and Linda Vaughn, also known as the first lady of motorsports.
The exhibit, a collection of photos from the 1950s to 1970s, opens Aug. 27.

Maybe running four races in five days in four states wasn't such a good idea.
Kyle Busch is so far 0-for-3 in his little NASCAR adventure this week that saw him racing late models in Ohio, trucks in Texas, and stock cars in Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
He did not win in Ohio, Texas or Tennessee. For a driver with 10 NASCAR wins in the three top divisions of NASCAR, that is a little unusual.
Of course, he has one more chance to win a race, but Busch is not having a whole lot of luck in Pennsylvania either.
He wrecked his primary NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car in practice and will have to use his back-up and start in the back for today's race at Pocono.
Busch said before the race at Pocono that he believes he has an edge in the Cup cars.
"I've found something that's worked for me here recently in the past few weeks," said Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "I found it at Darlington. I won there. Then I finished third at Lowe's. Then we won (in Dover). You know, we're gaining on the car as well, too. But I think a lot of it is a little bit of driver. You got to stay calm when you can. You got to get going when the time's right and when you can get riled up."

It was a good night for Ron Hornaday Jr. at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday.
He won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, his second of the year and the 35th of his career, and regained the lead in the Truck Series standings.
A reporter said after the race that Hornaday had a different look about him. The reporter asked if winning the race at Texas was special in any way.
"It is the biggest win right now," said Hornaday, driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Inc. and a former Saugus Speedway champ from Palmdale. "I tell you other than Daytona, Texas is a race that I've wanted to win. I've always wanted to win Lowe's and we did that last year and we've run good there. You know we've got these things figured out and you've got to get through the headaches."
Hornaday had to survive a green-white-checkered finish and hold off a blazing Kyle Busch to win at Texas.
"When I saw that yellow come out as we were coming to the white flag, I said aw darn, I just lost this race," Hornaday said. "But Kyle drove me clean and I've got to thank everybody. Goodyear gave us a good tire and they wore out and got slippery. I've never run the top here at Texas and to see what this Camping World Chevrolet did, it just says a lot for KHI and all these guys."

Jeff Burton finished eighth at Dover International Speedway for his third straight top 10 finish in a row.
He was one of the few Chase contenders who made it safely out of Dover. He was also one of the drivers who tested at Pocono International Raceway a few weeks ago to prepare for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
"We actually carried quite a bit of speed into the corners and you can drive the cars fairly hard there," said Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "The bumps in turn one certainly affect the way that the car drives and you have to be careful entering that turn. We tried some theories out during the test and I think we stand a chance of being better than we have been at the track. Overall, we learned a lot and hopefully we can build on the information we acquired."
The car his team is bringing to Pocono is the same car Burton had at Lowe's Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600. He finished sixth in that race, the second top 10 in his current streak.
The race at Pocono will also be the first at the track for NASCAR's new stock car and that's not necessarily a good thing, Burton said.
"I think we've seen a tremendous amount of variance in speed throughout the year," Burton said. "These cars are very temperamental from one run to the next. It's easy to get behind on a set-up because the new car is such a challenge. The bumps, speed and braking at Pocono present a bigger challenge in figuring out the COT, mainly because of the splitter height."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was one of the Cup drivers who had his day end in disaster at Dover International Speedway. He was 35th in the race, but didn't lose his spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.
His record at Pocono International Raceway is not all that bad. He finished second in the August race in 2007 after winning the pole and has a runner-up finish in 2001.
He tested at Pocono last month, along with a number of Cup drivers, and even though he said he had a good test, he had some complaints about the track.
"We had a good test, but I feel that the track needs to be repaved," said Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "It's real, real rough, and you are just bouncing all over the place in the car. They paved this little strip in Turn 3 in the third groove, and we're all running around on it and it had a lot of grip. They need to do the entire track over."
The car his team is bringing to Pocono is a brand new car and the same one his team tested at Pocono.
"The racing is going to be pretty strung out," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It has characteristics of a road course and a superspeedway. It's a tough track -- you carry a ton of speed into the corner in Turn 1. It's like you're going 205 mph and have to brake for a 90-degree turn. It's a tough track, but I think it will be a long race; like normal at Pocono -- not many cautions and single-car lines."

It looks like Carl Edwards has recovered from his 100 point penalty after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway without a cover on his oil tank reserve.
He's back in the top five in the Cup standings after a second-place finish at Dover International Speedway and heading to a track that has yielded one win in his Cup career.
Edwards won the Cup race at Pocono International Raceway in 2005, his first Cup race at the track.
Since then his record hasn't been all that good. His best finish in his past four races at Pocono has been a 14th. He has a 21st, 25th and a 39th place finish mixed in there as well.
"I'm excited to go to Pocono," said Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "I feel confident that we have what it takes to run well there, even though we have struggled some at Pocono in our last few visits there. This is the first weekend I'll be traveling between the Nationwide and Cup Series so I'm looking forward to that as well."
The car his team is taking to Pocono last raced at Richmond International Speedway in May. He finished seventh in that race.

Greg Biffle made the biggest jump in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. He rose six places, to the fifth spot, after a third-place finish at Dover International Speedway, where several of the Chase contenders suffered setbacks.
In 10 career Cup races at Pocono International Raceway, site of this weekend's race, Biffle has only one top five finish and that came in 2004. His only other race in the top 10 came in 2006 when he was sixth.
"Pocono has historically not been one of my best tracks," said Biffle driver of the No. 16 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "We had a good run there a couple of years ago and were in contention to win. We ended up with a sixth-place finish but I'd be happy if we could just have a run like that again this weekend. We've got momentum behind us right now and we just need to keep it. A top-five or even a solid top-10 finish in Pocono this weekend would keep the momentum going and then we can get ready for Michigan which is one of my favorite tracks."
The car his team is bringing to Pocono is a brand new car. In his two Cup races at Pocono last year, he was 23rd and 30th.

Kyle Busch is planning on doing something no other NASCAR driver has done: race in three different states on three different tracks in all three of the national divisions of NASCAR on the same weekend.
He will be entered in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania.
He is in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Nashville Speedway in Tennessee.
And he is in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
That's Friday night in Texas, Saturday in Nashville and Sunday in Pocono.
And for good measure, he will be racing in Ohio at Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway in the Prelude to a Dream dirt track race on Wednesday.
Busch commented on how he felt he should have won all three NASCAR races at Dover Intenrational Speedway last weekend. He was leading all three at some point, but only won the Cup race.
Imagine if he can pull off the quadruple: Eldora, Texas, Nashville and Pocono. That would be something.

A thief stole Kyle Busch's racing helmet the Friday night before the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway.
A reporter asked him about what happened in the infield at Dover after winning Sunday's Cup race, his series-leading fourth of the year.
"Friday night somebody snuck in the garage area with the cleanup crew and rattled the back doors of the trailer open, dumped their beer and ice and everything in the trailer, went up into the lounge, stole my helmet," said Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "There had been ‑‑ I don't know, somebody saw it happen, I guess, they told security guards outside. They were checking everybody that was leaving the race car. They found him, confiscated him, brought the helmet back. That's all I know pretty much."
At first, Busch said it wasn't that big of a deal that someone stole his helmet. He said it wasn't a lucky helmet or anything. The reason he had that particular helmet for the Dover race was because it was orange. It matched the color scheme of the Combos paint scheme on his car for the Dover race.
"We used it at Atlanta," Busch said. "Used it again here (Sunday) because it was orange. We didn't have an orange Combos helmet so we had to deal with what we had."
Joe Gibbs, owner of the three-car Cup team, remembered that Busch won the race at Atlanta.
"On second thought, it might be a lucky helmet," Gibbs said.
"Might be now, I guess," Busch replied.
Gibbs wanted to make sure Busch still had the helmet after realizing he was wearing it for two of his four Cup wins this year.
"We got it," Busch said. "We're going to be putting the reins on that puppy."