STEWART TO THE REAR: During the first practice at Pocono Saturday morning Stewart lost control of his car in turn 2 (the tunnel turn) and went into the grassy area. "I went off into the grass, but I hit the right-front of the splitter with, I guess, one of the access roads or something and ripped the whole nose off of it,” he said as his crew began preparing the back-up car.
I have to be honest; this is a new Tony Stewart. One would think he would be miserable after an incident that cost him the pole position for Sunday, but his demeanor wasn’t all that bad as he spoke with team mate Ryan Newman about the incident. Then he had a conversation with NASCAR president Mike Helton in the garage, again while the back-up was being prepared. He was very cordial and did not seem all that concerned with how it would go.
Brian Vickers also had an issue during practice but it was not that big of a deal and his crew was able to get him back out on track for the remainder of the practice sessions.
VIP: I watched NASCAR President Mike Helton congratulate the spelling bee champion in the garage area. Apparently he is a huge Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan (apparent from the heavy AMP coat he was sported, even though it was almost 80 degrees) and I watched him meet many drivers grabbing a few autographs along the way.
ARCA: The Pocono ARCA 200 was won by NASCAR Cup rookie Joey Lagono. He dominated the event beating Justin Lofton, the current ARCA series points leader. “It's a good series to learn a lot," said Logano. "For me, it helped me out a lot today to get some experience for the Sprint Cup race coming up here tomorrow. I definitely had a great race car today. We led, I'd say, most of the laps. The one time we got a little challenge but I think we were able to adjust the car and make it better. All the guys did a great job, we had good stops, came out first every time out of the pits so that was pretty cool. I had fun out here and I learned a lot."
PRACTICE: Denny Hamlin was fastest during the final ‘happy hour’ practice. Jimmie Johnson was fastest in the first practice session of the day. Greg Biffle, who was third fastest in happy hour said practice would translate well for the race on Sunday, “Unless the track changes dramatically, but we think the track is going to be pretty similar tomorrow, maybe a little bit slicker than it is now. So I feel like these times are really going to translate over to tomorrow. I think we’re pretty good.”
Green flag is shortly after 2 PM Sunday.
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