NASCAR Cup Series

David Gilliland says you have to go against your instincts to master Pocono Raceway. While drivers usually concentrate on their car's handling in the first corner they approach, the driver of the No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford says the focus needs to be on Turn 3 of the track known as the "Tricky Triangle."

Most drivers walk away from their first experience at Pocono Raceway shaking their heads. The 2.5-mile triangular oval with three different corners can be difficult to learn and master, but Josh Wise found good speed in his No. 35 MDS Transport Ford in his first two visits last year. He and his Front Row Motorsports team look forward to returning to the Long Pond, Pa., track this weekend for the Sprint Cup Series' Party in the Poconos 400.

David Ragan thinks that recent changes at Pocono Raceway - shortening the race from 500 to 400 miles and repaving the 2.5-mile oval - have made the racing better. And he thinks the new Gen-6 Sprint Cup Series cars will improve the racing even more in 2013.

Mark Martin doesn’t have a racing bucket list, but if he did Pocono Raceway might be at the top of the list. Pocono, Homestead, Indianapolis, Daytona and Kentucky are the only active tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit where Martin has not won.

You settle down to watch a movie, to follow the storyline, even expecting what the outcome might be. Matt Kenseth was to win at Dover, Jimmie Johnson was going to challenge him for the victory, Tony Stewart would have another dud day, and the boy sees dead people.

From what I saw, NASCAR made the right call at Dover black flagging Jimmie Johnson but if you step back and take a look at how restarts are policed; you would agree that NASCAR needs to overhaul the entire process.

"In so many ways he was the perfect first champion," Bill France Jr. said of Byron in 1998 when he was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers. "A guy who loved racing so much he refused to give it up. And he loved his country so much he gave it all he had."

When it comes to fast single car operations, everyone thinks of Kurt Busch and Furniture Row Racing but there is another single car team out there that is just a couple steps behind the No.78 performance wise.

The first half of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season has been a great learning experience for Timmy Hill as he gets acclimated to the series and the FAS Lane Racing team.

David Reutimann and the No. 83 Burger King / Dr. Pepper Toyota team finished 26th on Sunday afternoon at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Reutimann was able to tame the beast known as "The Monster Mile" to bring home another solid finish.