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Kasey Kahne had the field covered at Pocono on Sunday.

Kahne beat Brian Vickers and perennial Pocono winner Denny Hamlin to the finish line for his second win in three weeks. After a race that found many of NASCAR’s elite complaining about everything at Pocono except trees, Kahne looked refreshed when he stepped out of his Budweiser Dodge.

Kahne had to battle back from 36th place after a botched pit stop forced him to return to pit lane to complete a four tire stop. Originally crew chief Kenny Francis called off a four tire stop to just take two, but not everyone got the message and lugnuts had already been removed from the drivers side of the race car when Kahne sped away. Francis explained it this way:

I got us in a pretty big hole there at the beginning of the race, just tried to take two tires, called off a four tire stop and called a two tire stop, and I thought I saw the tire changer out of the corner of my eye and didn’t realize he had hit some lugnuts already in the front, and got us all the way in the back, 36 or something. And Kasey did a great job driving it back up through the field.

Numerous drivers took pot shots at the racetrack over the week, complaining about the quality of the racing surface, the length of the race itself and the heat. Which leads us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

What should NASCAR do about the races at Pocono?

Let us know what you think about the buzz and we may use your reply on this week’s show. Check out ON PIT ROW at www.onpitrow.com tuesday at 5pm ET, followed by INSIDE ARCA.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

I can’t decide if it would be good to have more events like Tony Stewart’s Prelude to the Dream. If there were too many, it wouldn’t be as special, I guess. But it’s a shame more fans can’t get there to experience it live.

23,000 some fans did make it though. According to the track announcer, people from 46 states ordered tickets to the ‘08 Prelude as did fans from Denmark, Germany and Australia. For a race on dirt in the middle of a bunch of cornfields in western Ohio, that had about a fifty percent chance of getting rained out. Amazing.

OK, not just any dirt race. Darrell Waltrip didn’t drive the water truck this year but he did do a half dozen laps in a dirt late model with a lucky young fan along as passenger.

Eldora veterans - from their younger, pre-superstar days - were there. Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Dave Blaney, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann, Matt Kenseth and Ken Shrader. Others with lots of experience on the dirt raced as well. Clint Bowyer was fast. Kenny Wallace and old-timer Red Farmer made the trip and were quick. Mark Martin, J J Yeley and Aric Almirola wrecked. Bill Elliot had mechanical woes.

Kyle Busch and Jimmy Johnson brought there own late models. Robby Gordon drove a Scott Bloomquist-prepared car to second place. Johnson and Robby G have plenty of time driving in the dirt. Johnson in motocross and Gordon off-road.

During the driver intros, homeboy Tony got the loudest cheers. But Jeff Gordon had plenty of fans too. Even Kyle Busch heard more cheers than boos - until he stoked the booing with his “I can’t hear you” pose. From then on, the only cheers Kyle got were when he either hit or broke something. Both of which happened a lot.

Our seats were in turn three - which was the down-wind corner - so by the time the cars got to us, the twenty mile an hour breeze had brought the dirt kicked up in turn one to us and we got a double dose of dirt track in our faces each lap. I’ve got to get a pair of those yellow plastic goggle/glasses they were selling before next year’s race.

I wouldn’t miss it if I were you.

Photo credit: Split Second Sports and Panther Creek Design & Photo

When Kyle Busch looks in the mirror these days, he may see Jeff Gordon staring back at him. I guess that wouldn’t be so bad if he saw Ingrid standing behind him too. Sorry Shrub. Don’t get you hopes up.

The mirror image comes from the similar ways the two NASCAR stars have dominated the Cup Series - Gordon in 2007 and Busch this season - the last two years.

After 13 races in 2007, Gordon had won three. Kyle has four wins so far this year. Gordon led second place Jimmy Johnson by 152 points while Busch has a 142 point advantage on Jeff Burton.

In the all important - at least to the NASCAR stat geeks - Loop Driver Rating, Gordon had a DR of 111.4 including five straight races of at least 120.0. Currently, Kyle Busch has a DR of 115.2 with four consecutive, single race DR’s of 120.0 or better.

Gordon won the Pocono 500 in 2007. His Driver Rating at Pocono Raceway going into the 500 is fifth best at 97.5. He is a four-time winner at Pocono and has a career Ave Finish of 10.2. Kyle Busch has a Driver Rating of 87.0 - 12th best - for the PA track and an Ave Finish of 16.7. Are you inspired yet?

Maybe we are looking at the wrong Busch. Brother Kurt has a DR of 116.6 and series best stats of 241 Green Flag Passes, 207 Fastest Laps, 343 Laps Led and 952 Ave Points Gained. But the two-time Pocono winner would be hard to pick, given his 2008 performances so far.

The Loop Stat stud of the week is Kyle’s teammate Denny Hamlin. In his four career Pocono appearances Denny has finished top five three times and won twice. His Ave Start - 2.5, Ave Mid-Race - 3.0, Ave Position - 4.6 and Ave Finish - 2.8 are all category leading. His Driver Rating is a stunning 133.1. Unlike Kurt Busch, Hamlin is having a very good 2008. He looks like the logical choice this weekend.

Smoke and Mirrors

Hamlin’s other teammate - Tony Stewart- has Pocono’s third best Driver Rating.  2008 has been somewhat a disappointment for Stewart fans. He remains win-less for ‘08, often falling victim to race incidents that aren’t his fault. His scathing, back-handed slap at Elliott Sadler after the Dover big one was funny. The result, not so much.  I wonder if the distractions of silly season are hurting Stewart’s on-track performance.  But after watching him do everything but take tickets at his Prelude to the Dream exhibition race at Eldora Speedway this week - and then win the feature race going away - I would say he no problem with focus during a race.  Smoke is a past winner at Pocono and has a couple of category leading stats too.  If the karma from Eldora carries over this could be the week that starts his annual summer streak.

Ryan Newman is the only other driver with a DR over 100 - 101.9 to be exact.  Newman has run more laps in the top fifteen than anyone else at the Green two and a half mile with 931.  That team has been frustratingly inconsistent since Daytona. I have a hard time pulling the Rocketman’s trigger.

Jimmy Johnson swept both Pennsylvania races in 2004. He has seven top tens and no DNF’s in his carreer here. Driver Rating of 93.8 is ninth best behind Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin and my dark-horse pick, Brian Vickers.

Vickers’ DR of 97.0 is sixth best, he’s run 810 laps in the top 15 over the last six races and led 140 of them. The Toyota horsepower should be an advantage on the three long Pocono straights. Brian could win here.

But I’ve got to take Denny Hamlin.  Same Toyota motor, much better track record.  Mark it down.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, inc.

I have more fun than should be allowed. Steve and I get to talk to some big-time guests ON PIT ROW every week. Most of the time we get thoughtful, insightful answers to our questions. Every once in a while, we get one that blows us away.

We asked Speed TV’s Robin Miller what he thought of the field for this year’s version of the Indy 500. Though Miller respects many of the drivers, his comment about “milk’n donuts and a bunch of jack-offs” was priceless. If you missed it, you can listen to the whole thing here.

Seems that Robin thinks some of those guys are over-rated. That was the inspiration for my “Loose in Turn 3″ question this week. After you comment on mine, make sue you check out Do You NASCAR and NASCAR Bits and Pieces for more Looseness.

Who is the most under-rated driver in NASCAR and how is he over-looked relative to his talent/value?

Charlie:  Jimmy Johnson is appreciated less than any other multi-time Champion and perennial championship contender.  It is a phenomenon that Steve and I have discussed many times before ON PIT ROW.  In any other team sport, Johnson and the #48 team would be talked of as a dynasty.  In NASCAR, he is often an after-thought.  I think this comes from an impression that JJ’s success is the product of great equipment more than driving talent.  That is just wrong.

Bruce: Jeff Burton: In my mind he’s ignored while he’s turning in consistent finishes to put himself 2nd in the standings. The media HAS to mention him when they count down the top 12 drivers but there’s not much time to cover him when the media has to report everything Kyle Busch or how many races since his Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last win. Heck for that matter, did you know that David Ragan is 8 points out of 12th? Sorry, I’ve diverged onto a rant… but I think regardless of who we pick, they’re victims of the media focus, or lens as you will.

TZ:  I like both of your answers to the question, but I’ve got to go with Jamie McMurray.  Folks think that just because he made the move to a Roush car that he should be winning all of these races.  The red flags went up when he didn’t even come close to the Chase last year and then when he fell outside of the top-35 after Bristol earlier this year.  To me, it’s just one of those deals that something hasn’t clicked between Jamie and Roush.  But, he’s already climbed himself back up to 22nd in points, and he’s actually still a 2008 Chase hopeful.  Plus, I figure if he can finish in the top-15 in points with Ganassi, then the guy’s obviously got a boat-load of talent.

That’s what we think.  What do you think.  Leave your feedback in the comment section then visit the other guys for their topics.  TZ’s question is…

Joe Gibbs Racing has won four times in the Sprint Cup Series this season, but in two years, they are the only Toyota team to win a race in Cup racing. Will a non-JGR driver reach Victory Lane in 2008? 

Bruce wants to know what you think about…

Hamlin passed a few cars that had avoided slamming into the melee at a rapid rate before hitting Sadler. So my question is more a statement, but I think Denny Hamlin could have avoided hitting as hard as he did because he probably could have slowed down a heck of a lot more… What’s your guys take? 

Kyle Busch again took it to the rest of the Sprint Cup field.

Rowdy lapped all but five of his competitors on his way to his sixth win of the season. Busch was helped by the narrowness of the Dover straights. Half of the top twelve in points were collected in the sixteenth lap carnage started by Elliott Sadler and David Gilliland. Sadler, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer were the list of Chasers who were involved in the wreck.

Tony Stewart was at his sarcastic best when asked about the multi-car wreck:

“I take 100-percent responsibility,” he said. “It’s my fault for being anywhere close to Elliott (Sadler). If I’m within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen.”

The narrow straights are not the only quirks to The Monster Mile. There still are only forty-two pit stalls causing two teams to share a pit until someone drops out of the race. It didn’t take long for that to happen this week.

So here is this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Should NASCAR force Dover to upgrade its facilities to keep its Cup dates?

Let us know what you think and we could use your comment on this week’s ON PIT ROW radio show. ON PIT ROW is brioadcast live from the Toledo Speedway Bar and Grill–just off turn four at historic Toledo Speedway from 5pm to 8:30pm.

Photo Credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images

I chose David Ragan to win the Coca Cola 600 during our picks weekly segment ON PIT ROW this week. What was I thinking? Admittedly that segment of the show is pretty “off the wall”. It isn’t meant to be serious fantasy racing analysis. It’s more about who can “out stupid” whom. Looking at NASCAR’s Loop Data this week makes me think maybe I have a lock on that for the 600. Ragan isn’t even on the sheet!

Now I will admit to being influenced by the Sprint Showdown - the qualifier for the Sprint All Star Race. David finished a strong third, just out of the last transfer spot. Then Sunday I got to watch him - in person - start from the back of a 35 car field and work to the front for third place finish in the ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Toledo Speedway. Plus I talked to him in the infield at Toledo. He’s a nice guy. But 200 laps at the Glass City half mile isn’t even close to 400 at Lowes. I may have over-bought.

If not Ragan, who?

Once again, Jimmy Johnson is the overwhelming leader of the Loop Data stats. If Dave Ragan is a stretch - and he is - then Johnson is a steal if you get to pick him. But J J has looked the part at many other races in 2008 too, only to disappoint. His Driver Rating of 120.2 - nearly 26 points better than second place Kyle Busch - is a big number. He has Series best stats in nine other Box Score categories including Ave Finish of 5.0, Ave Position 7.5, 246 Fastest Laps and 1956 Laps in the Top 15 for 88.6% of the last six Lowes races. Johnson’s 990 Ave Points Gained is 100 pts better than the next highest total - the 899 for Carl Edwards.

The Loop stats for Lowes are a bit strange though. As stated, Kyle Busch has the second best Driver Rating, but his Ave Points Gained per race is only 596 - almost 400 less than Johnson’s total. The Shrub will start from the pole and he has been one of the best this season but the Loop stats don’t point to consistency at Charlotte. His Ave Finish is only 23.5.

Carl Edwards’ Driver Rating, despite the second most Ave Points Gained per race, is even lower than Busch the Younger’s at 88.6. Carl has been strong on the intermediate tracks this year and I expect he’ll do well at Lowes too. Five top tens in his six starts are a good indication.

Veteran Mark Martin has the number three DR at 93.2 and he’s a four time winner at the N Carolina track. There hasn’t been much talk about Martin in 2008. He could make some noise this week though.

Kasey Kahne, winner of the Sprint All Star race and two time Lowes winner has a Driver Rating of 92.9 and has led the most Loop Laps with 338 to Johnson’s 298. If the Thursday ruling on suspension settings by NASCAR doesn’t throw the #9 teams setups off too much, Kahne could be the pick this week.

You can throw a Loop blanket over the next dozen contenders. The only stat of the bunch that jumps out at me is Bobby Labonte’s Ave Points Gained - 812 from the 13th overall DR ranking position.

I haven’t seen enough from the #9 to pick Kahne for a 600 mile race. To me it’s between Johnson and Edwards. I’ll go with Jimmy, the big stat advantage and the five wins. Carl could get his first Lowes win, but I have to see it first.

Dark horse pick - Kurt Busch.

Kasey Kahne parlayed his popularity into a million bucks.

Kahne used the fan vote to gain entry into the Sprint Cup All-Star race. When Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin had engine problems with their experimental home shop power plants, Kahne was able to race off to a 2 second win over Roush-Fenway drivers Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth.

Kahne joins Michael Waltrip and Ryan Newman as the only drivers to win the All-Star race after racing their way in from the preliminary race.

Which leads us to this weeks BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Did Kasey Kahne being voted into the All-Star race by the fans diminish his win?

We may use your answer ON PIT ROW Tuesday at 5-7pm ET. Tune in to listen live here.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media.

Kevin Harvick was - by all statistical evidence - the right pick for last weeks Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. It didn’t work out.  Picking winners in NASCAR racing often doesn’t. You can begin to doubt the viability of the stats.

But the drivers who rated right behind Harvick for RIR were two of the most dominant and - as it turned out - controversial guys in the event.

Denny Hamlin led 381 of the 400 race laps but finished 24th - due to a tire going down under green and his attempt to draw a caution. The controversial part came of that try for a yellow flag.

Kyle Busch finished second. He got there by - some say - driving through Dale Earnhardt Jr while going for the win. There has been plenty of hash and re-hash on that subject.

Harvick had a dominant position in the NASCAR Loop stats for RIR. The spread between drivers at Darlington Raceway is tighter and there are only three races in the Loop database for the Lady in Black.

Fantasy Picks for the Track too Tough to Tame

Some weeks ago, Steve and I interviewed several of the NASCAR internet community’s most knowledgeable writers for our first 7 Post Podcast.  We asked each of our guests who their pick would be for Darlington in May.  Most chose Greg Biffle.  Goodyear had just completed the spring tire test at the South Carolina track.  The news that Biffle had topped 200 mph on the back stretch was big.  Maybe that was an influence on the picks.  Or perhaps those blogger folks are pretty smart too.

Gregg Biffle has the top Driver Rating of 126.1. He is the top dog in Fastest Laps with 141 and Laps Led at 346 or 31.3% of the last three races at Darlington. Greg has the second most Laps in the Top Fifteen the third best Ave Running Position of 5.2. Top those numbers with three top tens and two wins and The Biff looks good this week.

Jimmy Johnson looks good every week, doesn’t he? Second best Driver Rating, Fastest Laps, Laps Led and the top Ave Finish of 2.3 make it so again. JJ has two top fives and eight top tens.

Hamlin has only raced twice in Loop races at the Lady. He has the third best DR of 119.2 in those two and two top fives and four top tens all together. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Busch has only one top ten ever and a Driver Rating of 85.7 which is 13th.

Darlington has been good to Ryan Newman. Ryan is fourth in DR with 116.4 and number one in Ave Running Position of 4.951. Five top fives and six top tens show his consistency at this track.

Jeff Gordon has gained more total Loop Points per Darlington race than anyone else - 540 compared to Biffle’s 498 - and has the best Ave Finish - 1.7 - and Laps in the Top Fifteen - 1091 for 98.8%. Gordon is also a seven time winner here. Yikes!

Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne all have similar DR’s - 99.6, 98.8 and 97.8 respectively. None of the three has ever won at Darlington. The only Loop stat that jumps out is that Junior has zero Laps Led.

I’m going with Jeff Gordon as my fantasy pick. That Ave Finish stat of 1.7 and his top Ave Points Gained combined with his history at the track and the fact that he is, well, Jeff Freakin’ Gordon finish the self-argument for me.

If you want a driver outside the Loop stat top ten, take Jeff Burton.Steady Jeff has two wins, eight top fives and fourteen top tens at Darlington to support his 2008 success.

My dark-horse pick is Bobby Labonte - hopefully in that Speed Racer-painted #43 again.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Yours truly made the journey to Rockingham last Sunday to witness history, the return of racing to the rechristened Rockingham Speedway. While I hope the race is shortened a bit heading into future years (312 laps is too many for these cars, 250 would be excellent – and still longer that most) I hope it will still attract this sort of young gun all-star field it did this year. In that light, based on my own personal observations from the infield, the garage, and pit road (hey, this new gig is awesome!) I am ranking the top young drivers in the race that I see going on to bigger opportunities down the road. Given that this race was contested on a track that hadn’t seen official racing in years, I feel it was a good measure to see who could withstand the pressure and who can manage a race the best. Here we go:

Honorable mentions: Matt Carter, Billy Leslie, Scott Speed, John Wes Townley

Each of the four had circumstances that kept them from my top 5 list, be it accidents (Speed) or early trouble (Leslie), or simply not running as well as the top 5 (Carter, Townley). Speed may have a Cup ride in his future, but he went out early, so he isn’t on my top 5. Leslie and Carter ran well early in the race, but faded as the race went on. Townley, in my opinion, is Todd Kluever with three names. He may get pushed beyond his talent level, and won’t last.

5. Matt Hawkins – I didn’t know much about Hawkins before the race Sunday, but he looked like a driver who can make the most out his equipment during this race. He seemed to be driving a smart race, and didn’t bang up his car so that he would fall late in the race. Hawkins looks like he may need a little more seasoning, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him advance within the next year.

4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Stenhouse is a talent, but the fact he drives for Roush could hurt his growth potential unless he signs with another team. He is making a solid transition to stock car racing, and I believe he will be going Truck racing for Roush at some point soon. But I don’t see him sticking with Roush long-term, simply because Colin Braun is ahead of him and a Cup ride may be out of the question. Here’s an interesting scenario, how about Stenhouse ending up with his open-wheel owner, Tony Stewart, in a few years?

3. Michael Annett – I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t sure Annett was everything he was billed to be simply because I hadn’t seen enough of him to make a judgment. That’s out the window now, as I became very impressed with him during the race, particularly how he worked his way into the top 5 and really got better as the race progressed. I think Annett could step into a Truck right now and compete for top 10s.

2. Austin Dillon – What gives Dillon the tiebreaker over Annett in my mind is Dillon just turned 18 days before the Rockingham race. I had done a bit of research into Dillon prior to the race, most of his notoriety had been his use of the #3 – some don’t like it, but those people never believe anyone except Dale Earnhardt drove with that number. I think it’s cool that he is using it, as a way to honor his grandfather’s underappreciated career as a driver. Dillon won at Greenville Pickens Speedway in the Camping World East Series a few weeks ago, and has been a force on the dirt tracks in the southeast as well. I would be interested to see if he drives an RCR Nationwide car next season, once he gets a little more experience. He’ll be hard-pressed to rise as fast as the number one driver, but certainly has the opportunity if he possesses the talent. I think he just might.

1. Joey Logano – Seriously, you expected anything else? The kid’s the real deal. Leading 257 of the 312 laps was insane, and it felt like he led even more. Visually, that car was flying around the track… prompting a running joke between myself and my buddy to wave bye periodically. I got my trusty cell phone and used the stopwatch function, and almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Logano at some points was running almost a second faster than second place, and the top lead I clocked him with was 20.6 seconds… when he nearly lapped the field. Of course, it helped that Denny Hamlin’s Cup team was on hand to pit the car, the #20 Nationwide team was on hand to lend moral support, the Venturini team was looking like they just won the lottery. An interesting side note to that is seeing Wendy Venturini not stray far from that pit stall. Still, bringing this back to Logano, Gibbs has to run this kid in every Nationwide race from Dover through Homestead. I know I’ve heard something about 18 races, but if at all possible, it needs to be more. If it becomes a legitimate possibility that he steps up to Cup for 2009, that will only help. I’ll go out on a further limb, and says Gibbs brings out an R&D car this year for Logano to run, most likely at Richmond, as he has done before. It’s easy to see what Mark Martin saw years ago, and why Gibbs pushed so hard to sign him. Soon, the rest of the racing world will see as well.

So, there is my list. Agree? Disagree?

Photo credit: ARCARacing.com

Hollywood couldn’t have scripted the weekend’s racing any better.

NASCAR’S doubleheader at Richmond International Raceway along with ARCA’s return to Rockingham Speedway proved to be a great weekend. Friday nights Nationwide Series race at Richmond was entertaining enough throughout; but came to a old time ending. For all you old-schoolers out there; Kyle Busch and Steven Wallace played some bumper tag during the race and then, partook in a post race helmet grabbing–finger pointing–screaming incident. The Saturday highlight shows ran with the video of Shrub sticking his head into Wallace’s car and Steven grabbing Rowdy’s helmet; only to see Kyle jerking his head free and nearly falling on his butt. All this on a Friday night.

Saturday’s Crown Royal presents the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond again provided for some exciting racing through much of the event and had set itself up for an entertaining finish. Denny Hamlin was dominating the race–leading every green flag lap until a slow leak developed in his right front tire. Hamlin decided to ignore the slowly deflating tire until it was too late and the tire blew out on the race track.

“You don’t have days like this,” said Hamlin, “Dominating days like this just don’t happen. There’s just nothing you can say other than it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Hamlin’s troubles set up a battle between Dale Earnhardt; Jr and Kyle Busch to determine who would go to victory lane. Junior was looking to get his first win in two years and Shrub was looking to post another win for Joe Gibbs Racing. What happened was a last lap skirmish that has Junior lovers and Junior haters seeing two very different race endings–an ending that saw Clint Bowyer take home his second Sprint Cup trophy. Lovers are looking to hang Busch from the nearest engine hoist and haters are applauding him for his hard driving style.

Which as usual leads us to this weeks short and sweet BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Who was to blame for the Shrub and Junior dust up?

Then to finish off the weekend, the ARCA ReMax Series re-opened “The Rock” to competitive racing and saw future Cup star 17 year old Joey Logano dominate the race in his Venturini Motorsports Chevy. Sprint Cup vetren Ken Schrader came in second as only five cars finished on the lead lap. For more on the ARCA event check out arcaracing.com. and listen to INSIDE ARCA via live stream Tuesday at 8pm ET immediately following ON PIT ROW which can be heard on selected radio stations in the Midwest or right here at onpitrow.com from 5 to 7pm ET.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

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• Trixie’s Trailer Park
• Trouble in Turn 2
• TSR Fan
• Unrestricted
• Vroom
• ZuDfunck the “Dude”

Racing Websites

• ARCA and Toledo Speedway
• ASA Late Model Series
• Asian Motorports
• Backstretch Motorsports
• Cup Scene
• Inside the Pit Box
• Jayski’s
• Lori’s War Wagon
• Nascapper
• NASCAR Fanhouse
• No Fenders
• Race Space
• Race Talk Radio
• Sports Mates
• Stock Car Pit Pass
• Stock Car Science
• The Backstretch Boys
• USAC

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