FanHouse Pocono 500

Consider the Pocono edition of 'Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes' to be a friend of custom-painted Gibson guitars.

Artist "stunned" about smash

As you could have guessed would happen, motorsports artist Sam Bass backtracked on his post-Kyle Busch trophy guitar smash comments at Nashville Superspeedway in an interview with Scene Daily.

Bass designed the paint job on the Gibson Les Paul guitar, only to see Busch whack it against the concrete numerous times in what amounts to a poor way to honor his team members.

Where: Pocono Raceway
Time: Sunday 5:45 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, PRN Radio
Twitter: In-race updates at FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 75 degrees, Partly Sunny
Distance: 200 laps (500 miles)
Pole Winner: Tony Stewart
2008 Winner: Kasey Kahne
Kyle Busch played his own version of Guitar Hero Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway in Nationwide Series victory lane, and needless to say, his antics left a lot of people shaking their heads.

Greg Biffle's "I'm A Roush Fenway Driver ending all speculation for now" period has ended.

It lasted about six days.

Those comments were made the day before the Pocono 500. This week, it's perfectly clear that Biffle has one foot in and one out the door at Roush:

"I didn't forget how to drive at Pocono. We were 43rd at Pocono before qualifying. Qualified 42nd and ran 30th. And I am not going to sign a 5-year extension running like that."

Biffle still plans to honor his contract and claims to be around 90 percent sure that he will resign, but only if he sees improvement and until then, he won't renegotiate.

Biffle insists that he's not trying to find a way to leave, just that he's unhappy. And if he's not happy, he's not negotiating.

And he's apparently not going to be shy about letting potential owners know the door is still open.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Chad McCumbee might be better known to some NASCAR fans as the driver who portrayed Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the made-for-tv movie "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story" than he is for his own racing. This despite having amassed more than 100 victories in local, regional and national WKA Dirt Series events and 3 top 10s in his NCTS 2006 rookie effort.

The Green Light Racing driver, who currently sits 14th in the NCTS standings, hopes to raise his profile this weekend when he makes his Nextel Cup debut behind the wheel of the Petty Enterprises #45 Goody's Cool Orange Dodge at Pocono, filling in for Kyle Petty, who will be in the TNT booth calling the race.

McCumbee wants to leave a lasting impression:

"When you look back at the last two years, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin both won this race without ever racing at Pocono before. I have a lot of seat time on the track and a great team behind me. While I am looking at this as a learning experience for me, I really think we can go out there and turn some heads."

Not sure it's what he had in mind, but with that face I know he'll at least be turning the heads of female fans.

McCumbee got his visibility campaign off to a good start by winning Saturday's ARCA race. Owner Richard Petty was there to meet him in victory lane:

"When he was there, it seems like a light centers around him. It's pretty awesome. To win my first race for him was exactly what I wanted to give him. Hopefully, it's the start of a long relationship."

Despite the confidence, rather than winning, his more realistic goal for Sunday's Pocono 500 is to finish on the lead lap.

Best of luck to him. And to Kyle.

$4,940,543 - Pocono 500 purse
76,812 - Seating capacity
9,485 - Most # of laps run by any driver (Terry Labonte, 52 starts)
9,200 - Most # of laps run by any active driver (Ricky Rudd, 53 starts)
1982 - Year that a second Cup date was added to Pocono's schedule
1974 - Year the NASCAR 500 mile race debuted
844 - Most # of laps led by any driver (Jeff Gordon)
500 - # of miles in the Pocono 500
200 - # of laps in the Pocono 500
172.553mph - Record fastest lap (Kasey Kahne, 2004 Pocono 500 Qualifying)
52 - Most # of races by any active driver (Ricky Rudd)
29th - Lowest starting position of a winner (Carl Edwards, June 12, 2005)
28 - Most # of drivers to finish on the lead lap (July 23, 2006)
16 - Most # of leaders (June 13, 2004)
11 - # of races won from the pole at Pocono (Latest: Denny Hamlin, July 23, 2006)
5 - # of wins by Bill Elliott, most of any driver
3 - # of turns at Pocono Raceway
2.5 - # of miles around the Pocono tri-oval
1.0 - Denny Hamlin's average finish (2 races)