Results tagged “Pocono International Raceway” from Haddock in the Paddock

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."

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.