POCONO WEATHER: The rain at the Pocono Raceway started early in the morning and never really let up all day. It was also quite cool with temperatures in the fifties. The garage stalls were covered up with tarps and plastic in order to keep the cold out as they’re unheated. Qualifying was cancelled just before 3 PM and the race line up was determined by the NASCAR rule book. Accordingly there was not much for the media to do except talk to people and ask them a lot of questions.
TOPIC OF THE DAY: NASCAR’s announcement regarding restarts in the Sprint Cup Series resulted in a lot of questions at Pocono Friday. A lot of discussion surrounding how this new rule would work came up and frankly I had a few questions. In particular the way it would impact cars that do not pit under the caution and how they would line up when only some of the leaders pitted for service. Pit strategy may play too big of a role in how races are won. Honestly, I do not know all the details and like the ‘lucky dog’ rule it will take some time for them to sort things out. I recall the race at Dover when they instituted that rule and it took them more than 10 laps under caution to straighten out the line up. Robin Pemberton came into the media center and tried to make it as simple as possible with his explanations but until it is practiced one can not really tell if it will make for better racing. I think it will make for some crazy endings and possible more cautions.
Kyle Busch said the new way might not be an advantage at Martinsville, Darlington or Indianapolis. “You’re not going to be able to do much,” he said. He went onto say, “It’s really going to be odd to see exactly how the outside lane works because if you’re stuck in the outside lane and the inside lane boxes you up against the wall then you can’t go anywhere.” Busch believes it will change how they race as a race winds down. “I think the beginning of the race everybody is going to be calm. It will be just like the start of a race. I don’t foresee anybody really taking chances, including myself probably, until at least 50 miles to go. You’ll see a lot of restarts like the last 10 laps of the All-Star race.”
Kasey Kahne believed that the racing would be competitive, in a good way because, “You’re racing the cars that you’re racing (for position). You’re not having to pass guys that are just as fast and ended up a lap down because they had one bad run.”
Joey Logano said in his hauler, “I not in a position to say yeah or nay because I’m just a rookie here. The All-Star was cool and that’s a place we did it and that’s the kind of set up in the Camping World East-West stuff. It’s cool. If you’re in the back you can get to the front a lot quicker.”
Greg Biffle said that there’s two sides to everything but he thinks it’ll be good for the sport. “As far as competition, we're going to be able to race the cars right away that we're trying to race for position.” However he noted, “The negative side of that is places Martinsville or some of these other places that are super lane sensitive, one-lane race track, is really, really hard. You get trapped on the outside; it might be 10 cars before you can get down. So, there it's going to suck, you know, and we're just going to have to deal with it. So, it's great at some places, it's not going to make a difference at some places, and then it's going to bad at some places. The good, we're going to have pay the price with the bad, and the middle's not going to matter. But, I think it's going to make it more exciting for the fans, to see the cars racing for position, racing each other all the time. Logistically, it's going to be bad for that guy that gets two laps down because he had to pit under green because he had a flat at Bristol. You know, had one of the fastest cars, ran over something, got a flat, had to come in under green, unfortunately. Now he's almost three laps down or two and a half or something like that, it could be very difficult for that guy to get a chance. Now that doesn't happen all that often, but it does half a dozen times a year -- a guy get one and two and three laps back. So, it's going to be good for our sport, I think.”
MAYFIELD COUNTERSUED: At Pocono today Ramsey Poston, NASCAR's managing director of corporate communications, announced the filing of the countersuit against suspended driver-owner Jeremy Mayfield “for willfully violating NASCAR's substance-abuse policy, breach of contract, and defrauding NASCAR and its competitors of earnings,” he said. “Mayfield knowingly participated in NASCAR-sanctioned competition using a combination of drugs in violation of the substance-abuse policy -- and in doing so, violated his contract with NASCAR and the standards of care that he owed fellow drivers and spectators. Mayfield's willful misconduct at the race track in which he competed while an illegal substance was still in his system is evidence that he presented a danger to himself and others.”
Poston did his best not to violate a gag order that was in place and only discussed the counter suit and NASCAR’s position in the suit. Poston also discussed that Mayfield admitted to not disclosing to NASCAR his use of a drug. During the questioning by the media specific names of drugs came up but Poston would not discuss it.
It’s too bad that this has gotten to where it has. Someone is wrong and wrong in a very bad way. Unfortunately NASCAR’s history is coming back to haunt them (Tim Richmond had AIDS, not a drug problem). However, it’s a different time and hopefully one of two things happens, Mayfield is exonerated or he gets the help he needs and that is what everyone should focus on.
MORE: I will have more updates from the track tomorrow when the cup teams practice and the ARCA race is run with Joey Logano and Chase Mattioli, the track owner’s grandson.
,
