It’s crunch time and Kurt Busch is excited the next Sprint Cup Series stop is at Pocono Raceway as the Furniture Row pilot continues his quest to become the first driver with a single-car team to make NASCAR’s Chase, the 12-driver, 10-race playoffs.
Denny Hamlin piloted the #11 FedEx Express Toyota to an 18th place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After starting the day on the outside of Row 2, a stubbornly loose racecar dissolved Hamlin’s hopes of a first career win at The Brickyard. Indiana-native Ryan Newman took the checkered flag for his first win of the 2013 season, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth.
Target House: Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti will stop by Target House and St. Jude’s next week to visit with the children and families at the hospital. Joining the dynamic trio will be Olympian hopefuls Shaun White, Roz Groenwoud, Simon Dumont, and Torin Yater Wallace. The Target athletes will participate in a friendly competition of hula hoop, gunny sack races and Pictionary.
25th in Owners’ Standings…Over-heating issues plagued Eric McClure and the Hefty®/Reynolds® team last weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, relegating them to a 31st-place finish. As a result, the team slipped two spots to 25th in the NASCAR Owner Standings.
Last week’s race at Indianapolis and this weekend’s race at Pocono are more than just a test of drivers and their race cars. The 2.5-mile tracks with their long straight-aways are also challenges for each team’s spotters— the men high above the track in radio communication with their drivers.
Carl Edwards… enters the weekend third in the series points’ standings. This season, Edwards has one win, six top-five, ten top-10 finishes and one pole.
Alex Bowman will pilot RAB Racing Chassis No. 42 in Saturday's U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway. This chassis last saw action at Chicagoland Speedway two weeks ago. Additionally, this chassis won the pole at Texas Motor Speedway in April.
Following their dirt debut, Jeb Burton and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) return to familiar grounds as they take on the Tricky Triangle at Pocono Raceway. In Saturday's Pocono Mountains 125, Burton and the No. 4 Arrowhead team will race for redemption after two previous top-20 finishes. Burton still holds second place in the NCWTS Driver Point Standings.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) hits the halfway mark as the series rolls into Pocono Raceway for the 11th race of 2013. Miguel Paludo has two previous starts at the Tricky Triangle, with his best run coming in 2012 when he qualified third and finished 13th.
Stenhouse Jr. on racing at Pocono: “We are starting to go back to some tracks that we have already raced at this season so that is a plus for us. In June, track position was crucial because it was so hard to pass and make up ground."
Bobby Gossett (No. 44 BSI Racing) might have thought lady luck was not on his side at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Saturday when his provisional pole time was disallowed, but she made herself known in the race.
Daniel Hemric continued his consistent road course handiwork with a sixth-place finish on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park and substantially increased his cushion on the provisional Chase cutline.
Christian Eckes notched a gritty fifth-place finish on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park to advance to fourth in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) standings.
