After a rain-soaked weekend at Pocono Raceway, here's some ramblings from the race that was the Pennsylvania 500. David Reutimann took a big hit in his chances of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Pocono and Wednesday he was still "mad as heck" at Denny Hamlin for spinning the No. 00 late in the race.
"Everybody's capable of making mistakes," said Reutimann. "I'm a forgiving guy if he sincerely apologizes or says he was in the wrong. [...] In the end I'm still confused at why it happened. It wasn't just one shot. It was multiple shots."
A 50-race winless streak may well have been 500 for Denny Hamlin.
Fuel pump issues, late-race passes and even a transmission that broke so violently that the shifter split in half while he was holding it have been the chapters of Denny Hamlin's long, harrowing and extremely frustrating Sprint Cup novel since March of 2008.
But the Virginia driver sped to his fifth career win Monday at Pocono Raceway to dispatch of those demons while he had some "angels" by his side.
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson's White House visit will have to wait. So will the start of the Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.
Steady rain postponed Sunday's race and it has been rescheduled for 12:15 PM Monday.
Heavy rain hit the track Sunday morning. It let up about an hour before the scheduled 2 PM start and the sky brightened for driver introductions. The rain returned about 3:30 PM and soaked the surface again. There was light rain the rest of the afternoon, forcing the postponement.
Tony Stewart may have been completely ticked at himself for crashing in practice at Pocono Raceway Saturday, but if the past is any guide, he's going to be just fine for Sunday's race.
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
The Storylines
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.
NASCAR announced on Thursday that they would officially be starting the use of double-file restarts for the Sprint Cup Series this weekend at Pocono Raceway -- a move that will surely raise the excitement and unpredictability of every single restart the series sees.
It's certainly a rule change that is years overdue and one that, hopefully, will allow more drivers to battle for a race win without backmarkers getting in their way.
Robby Gordon might have plans to appeal his 18th place finish in the Busch race yesterday, but he won't be allowed to appeal the punishment that followed him to the Nextel Cup Series today.
For his detrimental actions, NASCAR has has taken "emergency action" against Gordon:
As a result of his actions on the race track at Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race at Montreal, NASCAR has parked driver Robby Gordon for today's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. Referencing Section 12-2 of the 2007 NASCAR rule book ... "if the act or omission of a member is determined by a NASCAR official to constitute a threat to the orderly conduct of the event, NASCAR may take emergency action against that member ..."
That action includes parking a driver for an event. Parking is final, non-appealable and non-reviewable. Towards the end of Saturday's race at Montreal, Robby Gordon demonstrated blatant disrespect and disregard for NASCAR directives – on multiple occasions. His actions were certainly disruptive to the orderly conduct of the event. NASCAR will continue to review this situation and address any further actions at the beginning of this week.
In other words, Gordon, who was not allowed in the Cup garage this morning, can expect additional penalties.
P.J. Jones will be the #7 car for Robby Gordon Motorsports today but since Gordon qualified the car, he will start the race at the end of the line.
NASCAR and Goodyear will conduct a tire test Monday and Tuesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway with Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., David Ragan, and Brian Vickers.
Finally, it seems, the sanctioning body is stepping up to the plate to find a better tire than the current rocks used there.
If all goes well with each manufacturer at the test, NASCAR will have a new compound available for the fall race at Lowe's during the midst of the Chase.
On paper, Robby Gordon finished 18th at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. In his mind, he won the Napa Auto Parts 200.
Even if he had won, NASCAR would have stripped him of it ala Sears Point in 1991, when Ricky Rudd spun Davey Allison out and went on to win.
But Gordon didn't win, despite his giant lead on the track, because he didn't line up in the correct position for the last restart and was black flagged as soon as green flag racing resumed. Then, after he ignored all of NASCAR's orders, he went completely bonkers and pretended to win the race anyway.
After a rain-soaked weekend at Pocono Raceway, here's some ramblings from the race that was the Pennsylvania 500.
A 50-race winless streak may well have been 500 for 
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) -- 
Race: Red Cross Pennsylvania 500
Race: 
So much for this "
Robby Gordon might have plans to appeal his 18th place finish in the Busch race yesterday, but he won't be allowed to appeal the punishment that followed him to the Nextel Cup Series today.
NASCAR and Goodyear will conduct a tire test Monday and Tuesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway with Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., David Ragan, and Brian Vickers.
On paper, 
