Pocono Observations

LONG POND, Pa. – Thoughts, observations and a few questions following Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway:

• I'm not so sure I agree with Denny Hamlin's postrace assessment that his victory was all about the good car crew chief Mike Ford gave him. Hamlin didn't make a mistake all race, and his pit crew delivered flawless pit stops. It was a picture-perfect day for the entire team – the kind of day most teams just dream about.

• Doesn't Tony Stewart's presence on the race track make everything just a bit more entertaining?

  I do agree with the somewhat harsh one-lap penalty Stewart was assessed for his hit on Clint Bowyer. A driver shouldn't be able to get a lap back via the Lucky Dog if put a lap down by a penalty. I guess NASCAR was looking to set an example. Hopefully it has.

  Carl Edwards' comments on his radio after the incident (he asked if "there was a penalty for kicking someone's a-- after the race") were filled with emotion, although it might be a lot of fun to watch those two go at it in the ring – with the gloves on.

  After the race, Stewart said he's tired of babysitting the new drivers and that if Dale Earnhardt Sr. were still around, "You wouldn't have any of the problems that we have in the series right now with the first- and second-year drivers."

• Edwards admitting that he intentionally spun Stewart on pit road – perhaps a reasonable response – was brave, especially since it will cause him to face NASCAR sanctions. However, Edwards could (and should) have chosen a better place to show his anger.

• Last week's race at Loudon shook up the points. This week's race did the same. That's pretty much how it will be every week until Richmond in September.

• This was the second consecutive bad week for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has fallen out of the top 10. Don't expect that to last very long. He'll make the Chase.

• Who is the hottest driver in NASCAR right now? Kevin Harvick, that's who. He's smoking the competition in the Busch Series – he had a long-overdue win (first since May) on Saturday at Martinsville – and on Sunday he scored his seventh top-10 finish (including the All-Star Challenge) in the past 10 races. Hot, hot, hot!

  Could Harvick be the first driver to win both the Busch and Cup titles in the same season?

• Speaking of Martinsville, where was the crowd? Where were the fans who had the opportunity to watch legend Darrell Waltrip race alongside the usual group of Cup regulars? It was a pretty exciting race to watch on television. My guess was the crowd was less than 10,000.

• Jimmie Johnson and the entire 48 crew did it again. We saw nothing spectacular on Sunday, just solid racing. This was Johnson's seventh top-10 finish in the past 10 races. That's consistency.

• Are the races at Pocono too long? Yes.

  If they were shortened to 400 miles, the fans wouldn't feel cheated. Five hundred miles makes for a long afternoon.

  Even the drivers agree. Jeff Gordon said after the race it isn't even a matter to discuss. He offered that the lap times around Pocono (about 54 seconds) are nearly as long as on a road course. NASCAR's road course races are in the 300-mile range.

• Hamlin has led an amazing 234 laps at Pocono in just two races. He also is the first driver to sweep both races from the pole.

• The Hard Luck of the Race Award goes to Bowyer and the entire Jack Daniel's team, who found themselves the unwitting victims of Stewart's road rage. That one incident messed up Bowyer's Chevy to such an extent that he had problems the rest of the afternoon and finished six laps down.

• Bobby Labonte and the 43 team collected their fourth top-10 of the season. Labonte would have at least a half-dozen more if not for mechanical problems and Jimmie Johnson.

• How can Roger Penske's IndyCar teams be so successful and his brand new Porsche sports car team win three of five races in this its first season while his NASCAR teams don't perform anywhere near that level? Is NASCAR racing that tough? Granted, Kurt Busch had a good day, but that's to be expected from a former Cup champion and past winner at this track. What's the deal with Ryan Newman? I can't figure that one out.

• How did Kasey Kahne go from being one of the fastest cars in practice and a third-place qualifying run to having one of the worst cars on the track all day? Kahne has fallen to seventh in points.

• I'm still not convinced Greg Biffle will make the Chase.

• If Robby Gordon had Jeff Burton's demeanor, the Californian would win more races.

• Missing in action Sunday were the Fords. It looks like the new Fusion doesn't like Pocono, as the highest-finishing Ford driver was Matt Kenseth in 14th – and only two laps were led by Ford: one by Ken Schrader and the other by Elliott Sadler.

• After watching all three of the Ganassi/Sabates cars perform on Sunday, I'm convinced the only thing that will keep Juan Pablo Montoya out of victory lane next year will be the Ganassi/Sabates cars.

• Jack Roush was one of the first people to talk with David Gilliland when the Busch Series' most sought-after driver crashed out early in Saturday's race at Martinsville. Gilliland told me he has talked with Roush, Robert Yates and Richard Childress about driving both a Cup and Busch car next season and that he expects to make a decision in a few weeks.

Postscript

Next weekend is the final weekend off for the Nextel Cup teams (and media) until Thanksgiving. That's a lot of consecutive weekends away from the family.

It's a well-deserved weekend off for the traveling teams and everyone associated with NASCAR on the Nextel Cup level. Of course, having to hear Jeff Gordon and others talk about how they'll be spending their millionaire's holiday away from the track (European vacations, etc.) made me a bit depressed.

But hearty congratulations to Kurt Busch and his bride-to-be Eva on their upcoming, environmentally friendly nuptials.

Next up: INDY