Denny Hamlin Owns Pocono--Harvick Should Not Have Hit Logano

Denny Hamlin wins at Pocono again and one can only assume he will win the July race as well.  He has won there four times, always seems to be in the front toward the end of a Pocono race.  Great job Denny.  And Kevin Harvick, there was no need to take Joey Logano out of the race.  You guys were all alone, you could have backed off, and if you had enough car to pass him, you could have done it after turn 3.  I've grown to respect you, Kevin, as a mature racer, but this event was too much. 

Pocono is never my favorite venue until the last 20 laps.  Then the fuel mileage, getting into turn 1 first, all those things come into play.  Races at Pocono are usually all about the end of the race.  Drivers need to survive to the end, then do the best they can.  

Geoff Bodine Qualifies for Pocono at Age 61

Geoff Bodine qualified for the Pocono 500 (or whatever it is called now) today at age 61.  Geoff was the first Rick Hendrick driver to win a Daytona 500 back in the mid-1980's.  He also introduced power steering to NASCAR racing.  And, I saw Geoff race his first race at Chemung Speedway, a track his dad owned, back around 1967 or so. 

I read last week Geoff was going to try to qualify at Pocono, I think for a team owned by Tommy Baldwin.  Looks like they knew there weren't going to be a ton of teams at Pocono--only two were sent home.  A few years ago, there would be 6-8 teams trying to qualify.  Today, with tough economic times, and at a track like Pocono--think long, unusual, unique to NASCAR--make it an interesting and opportunistic place for some one-off team to make a race.  So, Geoff goes out and qualifies.

He said last week that if they qualified they might not be able to afford to race because it would be so expensive to practice, qualify, test, etc.  Hopefully they will come up with enough money to start the race Sunday.  I for one will have the start of the race on DVR at least.  Geoff has always been my favorite racer, so cool to see him out there again.  

BTW, Olympic fans will know Geoff is a major supporter of the U.S Bobsled team.  He has given a lot of money, time, and design effort to bring the U.S. team back to world class standards. 

Go Geoff!

Kurt Busch Wins All Star Race and Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte

What a show of strength by Kurt Busch and the Roger Penske organization at Charlotte over the last two weeks.  Kurt and his Miller Lite Dodge was the best of the best in both events!  Great car, great team, great driver.  Will be interesting to see how Kurt/Dodge/Penske does the rest of the season.