[media-credit name=”Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”250″]
[/media-credit]After Happy Hour practice today, Joey Logano led practice for the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR with a speed of 179.501mph. Logano is looking for his third top 10 in four races after finishing eighth last week at Dover.
Going into the weekend, Logano was worried about how and when the track would rubber in after the paving job that was done in the Spring. Though Logano says when he was at the tire test, he found that the track rubbered in pretty quickly.
“I felt like by the end of the two-day test this we were starting to be able to kind of move the groove up a little bit,” he said on Wednesday. “I think when you get 43 cars out there, I think you’ll really be able to see the track widen out a little bit. “It actually came to us pretty quick. I was surprised, I thought it was really icy out there and no rubber. But I Goodyear is going to bring a good tire, will have a lot of grip and the track will widen out.”
Logano added that once it widens out, he thought there would be good racing and the track will change quite a bit from practice to race time.
After suffering a flat tire last weekend, Carl Edwards was second in practice at a speed of 179.361, 39 hundreths off of Logano. During the Thursday test session, Edwards said that they weren’t that fast and needed to do a little bit of work.
“We’ve been working on different things we wanted to try in testing,” Edwards said on Thursday. “The track looks completely different. It took me a minute juts to get used to the different visual cues and braking points and the transitions in the corners and stuff, but it looks great. It drives really well and it’s fast.”
Another driver looking for a good run this weekend after having bad luck at Dover is Jeff Gordon, who was third in Happy Hours practice on Friday. So far, Gordon hasn’t had the year he has dreamed of as most weekends, he has ran up front, yet had bad luck bite him and take him out of contention near the end of the race.
“It’s just circumstances and things that have gotten us in this situation and not get the results that relate to the way we have performed this year,” Gordon said. “I mean that’s racing. That happens, it’s unfortunate the things that have happened to us this year.”
Paul Menard and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five. Kasey Kahne was sixth, followed by Greg Biffle, Brad Keselowski, A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose.
In the first practice, Mark Martin led with a speed of 179.379, 12 hundreths over Jamie McMurray. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Allmendinger. Ryan Newman was sixth, followed by Kahne, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Regan Smith.
NSCS Final Practice
Pocono Raceway
Provided by NASCAR Statistics – Fri, June 08, 2012 @ 05:15 PM Eastern
31st Annual Pocono 400 presented by
#NASCAR
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed Lap # # Laps -Fastest -Next
1 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota 50.139 179.501 18 18 —.— —.—
2 99 Carl Edwards Kellogg’s / Cheez-It Ford 50.178 179.361 17 17 -0.039 -0.039
3 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 50.249 179.108 17 17 -0.110 -0.071
4 27 Paul Menard Menards / Sylvania Chevrolet 50.336 178.798 30 30 -0.197 -0.087
5 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 50.409 178.540 5 7 -0.270 -0.073
6 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet 50.433 178.455 33 33 -0.294 -0.024
7 16 Greg Biffle 3M / Rite Aid / NextCare Ford 50.476 178.303 3 18 -0.337 -0.043
8 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge 50.652 177.683 32 32 -0.513 -0.176
9 22 AJ Allmendinger Shell Pennzoil Dodge 50.716 177.459 1 33 -0.577 -0.064
10 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 50.752 177.333 18 18 -0.613 -0.036
11 83 Landon Cassill Burger King – Real Fruit Smoothies Toyota 50.769 177.274 1 5 -0.630 -0.017
12 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 50.786 177.214 15 18 -0.647 -0.017
13 31 Jeff Burton The Armed Forces Foundation Chevrolet 50.795 177.183 20 25 -0.656 -0.009
14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford EcoBoost Fusion Ford 50.887 176.862 17 30 -0.748 -0.092
15 13 Casey Mears GEICO Ford 50.898 176.824 3 7 -0.759 -0.011
16 *98 Michael McDowell Presbyterian Healthcare Ford 50.933 176.703 1 5 -0.794 -0.035
17 51 David Reutimann Phoenix Construction Services Chevrolet 50.943 176.668 15 15 -0.804 -0.010
18 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 50.949 176.647 14 42 -0.810 -0.006
19 *30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Toyota 51.025 176.384 9 9 -0.886 -0.076
20 55 Mark Martin Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 51.029 176.370 14 38 -0.890 -0.004
21 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 51.062 176.256 28 36 -0.923 -0.033
22 43 Aric Almirola Transportation Impact Ford 51.072 176.222 1 18 -0.933 -0.010
23 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / Diet Mtn. Dew Chevrolet 51.085 176.177 35 39 -0.946 -0.013
24 38 David Gilliland ModSpace Motorsports Ford 51.122 176.049 6 8 -0.983 -0.037
25 14 Tony Stewart MOBIL 1 / Office Depot Chevrolet 51.176 175.864 5 34 -1.037 -0.054
26 93 Travis Kvapil Burger King / Dr Pepper Toyota 51.190 175.816 18 18 -1.051 -0.014
27 *19 Mike Bliss(i) Humphrey Smith Racing Toyota 51.204 175.768 1 1 -1.065 -0.014
28 *49 JJ Yeley America Israel Racing / JPO Absorbents Toyota 51.211 175.743 5 5 -1.072 -0.007
29 *26 Josh Wise # MDS Transport Ford 51.261 175.572 3 7 -1.122 -0.050
30 39 Ryan Newman HAAS Automation Chevrolet 51.261 175.572 21 30 -1.122 -0.000
31 *87 Joe Nemechek(i) AM/FM Energy Wood&Pellet Stvs Toyota 51.262 175.569 9 9 -1.123 -0.001
32 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 51.301 175.435 1 27 -1.162 -0.039
33 29 Kevin Harvick Rheem Chevrolet 51.309 175.408 10 24 -1.170 -0.008
34 1 Jamie McMurray Banana Boat Chevrolet 51.407 175.073 9 38 -1.268 -0.098
35 *23 Scott Riggs North Texas Pipe Chevrolet 51.467 174.869 9 9 -1.328 -0.060
36 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 51.468 174.866 12 33 -1.329 -0.001
37 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota 51.477 174.835 2 29 -1.338 -0.009
38 34 David Ragan Taco Bell Ford 51.593 174.442 12 14 -1.454 -0.116
39 *74 Stacy Compton Turn One Racing / Country Suites Chevrolet 51.792 173.772 7 7 -1.653 -0.199
40 *33 Stephen Leicht # LittleJoesAutos.com Chevrolet 51.823 173.668 1 10 -1.684 -0.031
41 47 Bobby Labonte Bubba Burgers Toyota 51.932 173.304 4 17 -1.793 -0.109
42 10 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 51.972 173.170 7 9 -1.833 -0.040
43 32 Reed Sorenson(i) Herr Foods / Hero Energy Shot Ford 52.556 171.246 20 24 -2.417 -0.584
44 36 Tony Raines SealWrap.com Chevrolet 52.986 169.856 6 11 -2.847 -0.430
