NASCAR Cup Series

Playing the role of favorite at a road course in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is nothing new to Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) ace Marcos Ambrose. For the past several years, Ambrose is regarded as the driver to beat, especially at Watkins Glen International, where he has two Sprint Cup wins and his lowest finish was third before a wreck last year had him 31st at the end.

Admittedly not a road course driver, Aric Almirola utilized a two-day test at Watkins Glen International and road course expert teammate, Marcos Ambrose, to make significant gains at the 2.45-mile road course. The improvement at the test has the No. 43 Smithfield team confident they can compete for a solid finish and help solidify their spot in The Chase for the Sprint Cup by officially locking into the Top-30 in points.

RCR at Watkins Glen International ... In 59 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Watkins Glen International, RCR boasts two wins (Robby Gordon 2003 and Kevin Harvick 2006), eight top-five and 21 top-10 finishes. Dale Earnhardt won three poles (1990, '92, '96) at the high-speed, seven-turn, upstate New York facility.

David Ragan, driver of the No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford, comments on racing at Watkins Glen International:

David Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford, comments on racing at Watkins Glen International:

Dover International Speedway has announced its all-new Reward Our Troops program, a ticket donation initiative that provides individual ticket purchasers or businesses the opportunity to make a contribution toward sending an active member of the military, a Veteran or family members of our fallen heroes to a Sunday NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the Monster Mile.

"We didn't really qualify where we wanted to, but we knew we had a good race package for Sunday. Once the race started, I felt like we were going to have a good race if we could just use smart pit strategy and stay out of trouble. We managed to do both. Good job by Luke and the team as we head to Watkins Glen for some road course action this coming weekend."

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt used a no-tire pit stop to take the lead and subdued the challenge of Kevin Harvick down the stretch to win the GoBowling.Com 400 at Pocono. The victory completed Earnhardt’s season sweep at the “Tricky Triangle” and was his third win of the year.

From the impact of crew chief suspensions inspired by the No. 11 Denny Hamlin penalty to the forecasted rain that never reared its ugly head, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 41st Annual GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.

The opportunity for drivers to earn spots in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup by winning races continues to dwindle as just three races remain before the Labor Day Weekend event at Atlanta Motor Speedway