Final Pocono Driver Ratings Following All Practice & Qualifying Sessions

Micah Roberts Top 10 Driver Ratings
Good Sam RV Insurance 500
Pocono Raceway
Sunday, August 7, 2011 - 10:16 am (PDT)

Rating    Driver     Odds     Practice 1   Practice 2   Qualified   Pocono 1*

 1. Carl Edwards 8/1              4th               10th            4th           37th                       
Two-time winner; using winning Las Vegas and Darlington runner-up chassis this week.
 2. Jimmie Johnson 5/1         6th               17th            18th           4th                      
Two-time winner with 9.3 average finish; had best 10-consecutive lap average in practice.
 3. Jeff Gordon 5/1                25th              18th           31st           1st      
Five-time winner with 10.3 average finish in 37 starts; finished runner-up at Indy last week.                      
 4. Kurt Busch 10/1                2nd               15th            5th            2nd
Two-time winner and five time runner-up in 21 career starts; using new chassis this week.                           
 5. Denny Hamlin 4/1            39th               24th           6th            19th                          
Four-time winner; fastest in average lap times during final practice despite slow single laps.
 6. Kyle Busch 10/1                9th               11th           11th            3rd   
Three top-five finishes in 13 starts, including two of last three; using new chassis this week.                       
 7. Ryan Newman 30/1           1st                7th            12th           9th  
2003 winner with 13.1 average finish in 19 starts; using car that raced at Pocono and Kentucky.
 8. Kasey Kahne 30/1            15th               1st             2nd           12th                           
2008 winner with 16.3 average finish in 15 starts; last top-10 Pocono finish came in 2009
 9. Kevin Harvick 12/1            26th              3rd            10th            5th  
Has current streak of three straight top-five finishes at Pocono; using 11th-place Kansas chassis.
10. Matt Kenseth 15/1            11th              27th           20th           8th                             
Average finish of 14.1 in 23 starts; using car that finished sixth at Kansas and won at Dover.

* Results from the first Pocono race this season held on June 12, 2011.

Note: Last week’s Brickyard 400 can also be helpful because of the similar long straightaways and flat banking.
               
Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former race and sports Director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. For more Roberts insights and post-practice analysis on the race, go to VegasInsider.com or follow MicahRoberts7 on Twitter.

Pocono Driver Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes

Ragan's best finish at Pocono was fifth-place in 2008 (Getty)

DAVID RAGAN – QUALIFIED 15TH: “Hopefully that will end up in the top 15. We thought we had a legitimate shot of a pole run or top-five run, and I think the track is a little bit warmer now than it was maybe 20 minutes ago, but I missed my marks a little bit through the tunnel turn. The car got a little bit tight, but, other than that, it was a pretty solid lap. I think our race car is gonna be close for Sunday. We’ve got some little adjustments to make to try and make it better. It’s an OK lap. You’re never completely satisfied unless you’re on the pole, but I think that will give us certainly something to race with. It’s a lot better than 25th.”

MARCOS AMBROSE – QUALIFIED 27TH: “That’s not what we wanted. When you’ve only got one lap it’s hard to really know what you’ve got out there. I tried, but I just got a little loose off of one and lost a lot of momentum.”

GREG BIFFLE – QUALIFIED 16TH: “That’s a relief. It was really good and it’s really good to see it brightening up out here. I was a little unsure of the grip level, so I probably didn’t take full advantage of what was out there. I got about seven-eighths of it. In one and two I probably could have got the gas down a little bit sooner and could have carried a little more speed through the tunnel, but in three I think I was right on the money.”

CARL EDWARDS – QUALIFIED 4TH: “I went down in turn one and Bob said, ‘Man, that was a little scary,’ so there’s a lot of grip out there. I’ve got to give Ryan Newman some trouble. I actually beat Ryan Newman in qualifying here at Pocono, so that’s huge. I’m proud of my lap. I’ve got to say that Joey Logano’s lap was a very, very fast lap. Mine felt amazing, so he did a really good job and now we’ll go race. It’s gonna be great. We’ve got Ortho, Aflac, Ford, hopefully we’ll get them a win.”

Kahne and Busch both look to be strong

KURT BUSCH - QUALIFIED FIFTH: “It was a decent qualifying effort. I told Steve (Addington, crew chief) we could really be scratching our heads if we were back 25th or so. To be fifth, that’s a great start. We’ll get a good pit box selection. In race trim, we’ve been struggling. This car has been tight with us all weekend. We’re going to jump out of our setup and go to Brad Keselowski’s (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) setup. He went through a rough wreck earlier this week; it’s great to see him in the car, pushing hard. These young kids, they’re made like rubber bands, they can bounce back from anything. So we’re going to have to go to his setup to get our car freed up enough to try and win this bad boy on Sunday.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI - QUALIFIED 13TH: “We had a really good Turn 3, a decent Turn 2, but the car bottomed out too much in Turn 1. We were really good yesterday in race trim, so we feel pretty good about that. We’ll have to fight through some traffic tomorrow. We’ll do what we can.”

PAUL MENARD - QUALIFIED 7TH: “It was a pretty good lap for the CertainTeed/Menards team. That gives us a good starting spot for tomorrow’s race. It’s good to get that behind us and now we can focus on continuing the momentum from last week’s (Brickyard 400) win.”

JEFF BURTON - QUALIFIED 8TH: “We are happy with that lap. The track is getting faster and faster. We feel good about that lap. We were a little behind in qualifying trim yesterday, we were really happy in race trim but weren’t where we wanted to be in Q trim. We made a lot of changes this morning and that got us a lot closer. The car drove good and that is ok.”

3 straight Pocono Top-5's for Harvick

KEVIN HARVICK – QUALIFIED 10th: “The last couple of years we’ve had our cars handling really good and as you get into the race there is a lot of fall-off in the tires. But our Budweiser Chevrolet has been really good in race trim. We only made one qualifying run at the end of the second practice yesterday. Qualifying has been a struggle for me. The cars are like this pretty much every week but it’s few and far between that I get all of it out of it. But still, a lot left out there; but a good lap for us.”

CLINT BOWYER - QUALIFIED 14th: “Hopefully that will get us near the top-15. Starting position and track position on a track this side is key. Hopefully we an keep it there.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY - QUALIFIED 16th: “It felt like it was a really good lap. This is one of the tracks that you come to that when the sun goes away or cools off, you pick up so much grip. For me, it was right between needing to shift and not needing to shift. I did two qualifying runs in practice and shifted in one and didn’t shift in the other and I felt much better about downshifting. I did that all three corners there and the engine certainly is over-reved when you come out of the corners, but it seems like the car accelerates really well. This has been a really tough track for me. Turn three has been really hard and I had the goofiest line of all time coming through there because I want to run low and everyone else runs high. The more worn out that pavement gets on the outside; the better it is for me because I just haven’t been able to figure it out. But, it was a good run for our Bass Pro Chevy.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA – QUALIFIED 22nd: “I think our Target Chevy is pretty good here. We’ve done a lot of work. We unloaded a little bit off from where we needed to be and we did a lot of changes. I think the biggest road course thing is downshifting now you know, with the gear they allow you to run now. There is a big benefit if you know how to use it and myself being a road racer, it always helps.”

Joey Logano Captures Pocono Pole

Logano takes his second pole of season

Joey Logano, with a qualifying lap speed of 172.055 mph, captured the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 Coors Light Pole Award at Pocono Raceway.

This was Logano’s second series pole of the 2011 season, his third series career pole, his first series pole at “The Tricky Triangle” and becomes the youngest pole winner (at the age of 21 years, 2 months, 13 days) at Pocono.

Starting second and on the outside pole with a qualifying lap speed of 171.648 mph, will be Kasey Kahne, followed by Martin Truex Jr. (171.494), Carl Edwards (171.474), and Kurt Busch (171.468).

Denny Hamlin qualified in the sixth position with a lap speed of 171.448 mph, while last week’s Brickyard 400 winner, Paul Menard (171.370) starts seventh, Jeff Burton (171.367) eighth, Greg Biffle (171.171) ninth and
Kevin Harvick (171.122) will round out the top-ten starting positions.

Failing to make the starting lineup were the #35 driven by Geoffrey Bodine, the #50 driven by T.J. Bell and the #60 driven by Mike Skinner.

The Good Sam RV Insurance 500 is scheduled to get underway Sunday afternoon with the approximate start of the race around 1:20 PM (EDT) with ESPN beginning their (pre-race) coverage at 12:00 PM (EDT).

Starting Lineup

Kahne Fastest During Final Pocono Practice

Kahne fastest in final practice

It was Kasey Kahne, with a lap speed of 167.520 mph, showing the fastest way around Pocono Raceway during the final Good Sam RV Insurance 500 practice session.

Second fastest was Mark Martin with a lap speed of 166.834 mph, and was followed by Kevin Harvick (166.756), Clint Bowyer (166.667 mph) and Juan Pablo Montoya (166.599).

Rounding out the top-ten during “Happy Hour” were Jeff Burton (166.349), Ryan Newman (166.322), Brad Keselowski (166.217), Regan Smith (166.184) and Carl Edwards (166.174).

The teams will return to the track Saturday morning for their 10:40 AM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session, which will set the starting lineup for Sunday’s race (scheduled to get underway approximately around 1:20 PM – EDT – with ESPN beginning their pre-race coverage at 12:00 PM – EDT).

Top-5 Happy Hour Speeds (90 scheduled minutes):
#9-Kahne 167.520
#5-Martin 166.834
#29-Harvick 166.756
#33-Bowyer 166.667
#42-Montoya 166.599
slowest: #32-Jason White 160.436 & #13-Mears 166.305
notes: #71-Lally spun off turn three midway thru practice.
Late in practice #2-Keselowski went high in turn 1 as he felt a tire going down and spun and slid, stopping on the track.

Practice Speeds

Newman Fastest in First Pocono Practice Session

Ryan Newman, with a lap speed of 170.026 mph, was the fastest during the first Good Sam RV Insurance 500 practice session at Pocono Raceway.

Second fastest was Kurt Busch with a lap speed of 168.621 mph, and was followed by AJ Allmendinger (168.517 mph), Carl Edwards (168.360) and Mark Martin (168.300).

Rounding out the top-ten during practice were Jimmie Johnson (168.284), David Ragan (168.108), Paul Menard (168.039), Kyle Busch (167.976) and Brad Keselowski (167.679).

“Happy Hour” for the teams will be later this afternoon from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM (EDT) and then the teams will return Saturday morning for their 10:40 AM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session

Pocono Practice 1 Speeds

Driver Chassis Selection For Pocono Good Sam RV Insurance 500

Note: Not all teams report their chassis selections in their PR releases.

Kyle Busch using new chassis this week (Getty)

Jamie McMurray: Crew Chief Kevin Manion and the Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevy team will bring Chassis #1102, which will be making its fifth start of the season this weekend at Pocono. McMurray drove this car earlier this year at Las Vegas, Texas, Dover and in the first race at Pocono, where the #1 qualified 13th and finished 33rd after losing third gear early in the race.

Brad Keselowski: The #2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-759 during Sunday's Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway. This is a brand-new chassis to the #2 fleet. The featured tag line on the bumper of the "Blue Deuce" this weekend at Pocono will be "Triple Hopping the Triangle." Triple hop brewing is the process that gives Miller Lite its award-winning, great taste. Pocono Raceway has long been known as the "Tricky Triangle" for its unusual triangle shape.

Mark Martin: crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-672 for Sunday's race at Pocono. This car was most recently raced at Michigan International Speedway in June and Kentucky Speedway in July.

David Ragan: Primary Chassis RK-759 last ran at Pocono and finished 17th, the backup chassis RK-711 last ran at Darlington and finished 21st.

Marcos Ambrose: The #9 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 754 for the 500-mile event at Pocono Raceway. This Dewalt Ford Fusion has been run previously this season at Martinsville, Dover and the first Pocono race in June. Australian Word of the Week: Good Oil = Useful Information or A Good Idea.

Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-640 debuted in May at Darlington where it qualifying ninth and leading six laps before finishing seventh. It spent time in the wind tunnel afterward and made its second career start at Pocono in June. There, it qualified 15th and rallied its way into the top-five by lap 124, only to be felled two laps later when Stewart reported that he had lost third gear. The balky transmission prevented Stewart from getting up to speed quickly on restarts, which conspired to leave Chassis No. 14-640 in 21st place when the checkered flag dropped. Idle since, the car returns to Pocono for the Good Sam RV Insurance 500.

Matt Kenseth: will run primary chassis RK-763 which last ran at Kansas.

Kyle Busch: Chassis No. 318 is a brand new chassis that is slated to see action for the first time in Sunday's Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Kurt Busch and his Steve Addington-led "Double-Deuce" crew will be racing their "PRS-758" Dodge Charger in this weekend's action at Pocono Raceway. "We're rolling out another brand new Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger for this weekend at Pocono," said crew chief Addington. "We raced two of last year's cars there back in June. We crashed the primary car (PRS- 744) in practice and had to go to the backup (PRS-738). Kurt still won the pole, ran strong all day and finished second. We're coming back with this new piece thinking we can be even stronger this time around. Yeah, that means we're coming back to Pocono looking to win there on Sunday." The "PRS-749" Shell-Pennzoil Dodge (revamped car raced at Richmond) will serve as the backup car this weekend at Pocono.

Paul Menard will pilot Chassis No. 347 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This #27 CertainTeed/Menards Chevy was a brand new addition to the RCR fleet for the 2011 season and was last seen on track at the uniquely-configured raceway, where Menard earned his season-best starting position of second and drove it to a 14th-place finish. This race also saw track time this year at Dover where he brought home a 24th-place result after starting from the 20th position and at Auto Club Speedway where he started 15th and finished 16th.

Harvick using thrid-place Kansas Chassis this week (Getty)

Kevin Harvick: will race chassis No. 318 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. The #29 team utilized this car to score an 11th-place finish at Kansas Speedway earlier this season. Harvick also raced this car to three top-10 finishes in 2010: third at Kansas, eighth at Charlotte (Oct) and sixth at Texas (Nov).

Jeff Burton will race Chassis No. 359 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new for the 2011 season, Burton drove this Caterpillar Chevrolet Impala to a 21st-place result at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

Clint Bowyer: will pilot chassis No. 333 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Good Sam Club Chevrolet Impala, built new for 2011, has now seen action three times this season. This includes a top-10 finish of seventh at Auto Club Speedway in March and two 16th-place finishes in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in May and Pocono 500 in June.

Ryan Newman: In six previous starts, chassis No. 39-609 has three top-five and four top-10 finishes. The car made its debut in July 2010 at Indianapolis and finished a respectable 17th. The car's second start came at Auto Club Speedway, last fall finishing 5th. Its final appearance of the 2010 season came at Texas and finished 20th. During the offseason, the car's front clip was updated for 2011. The car's first appearance this year came in March at Auto Club and scored his third top-five of the season. Newman followed up that impressive run with a top-10 finish at Pocono, a ninth-place finish. At the series' inaugural race at Kentucky last month, Newman fought an ill-handling racecar and rallied from one lap down to score a hard-earned fourth-place finish. This weekend will mark the car's fourth start in 2011.

Juan Pablo Montoya: will bring chassis #1103 to the racetrack for the fourth time this season when they come back to Pocono Raceway. Montoya last drove this chassis at Pocono in June, when he qualified 16th and finished seventh. Earlier in the season the chassis was used at Auto Club Speedway and at the All Star Race at Charlotte.

A.J. Allmendinger: The #43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 729 for this weekend's event at Pocono. This Best Buy Ford Fusion has been run previously this season at Phoenix, Martinsville, Darlington and was utilized in the June race at Pocono Raceway.

Johnson is using Michaigan car this week (Getty)

Jimmie Johnson: will pilot chassis No. 659 in Sunday's event. He last drove that car at Michigan in June. Johnson finished 16th in backup chassis No. 623 at Las Vegas in March.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Crew chief Steve Letarte and the #88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis 88-668. Earnhardt most recently raced this chassis to a 21st-place finish at Michigan International Speedway in June.

Carl Edwards: The #99 Scotts Ortho team will unloading chassis RK-732 this weekend. This is the same Ford Fusion that Edwards won with at Vegas and finished second at Darlington. They also ran it at Pocono in June where he finished 37th after a broken valve.

- compliled by Jayski.com

Odds to Win Pocono Good Sam RV Insurance 500 from the Las Vegas Hilton

Denny Hamlin is the 4-to-1 favorite to win Sunday at Pocono (getty)

GOOD SAM RV INSURANCE 500
POCONO RACEWAY
SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011


CARL EDWARDS 8
JIMMIE JOHNSON 5
KYLE BUSCH 10
JEFF GORDON 5
MATT KENSETH 15
KEVIN HARVICK 12
DENNY HAMLIN 4
DALE EARNHARDT JR 30
GREG BIFFLE 20
TONY STEWART 12
KURT BUSCH 10
KASEY KAHNE 30
CLINT BOWYER 30
RYAN NEWMAN 30
DAVID RAGAN 50
MARTIN TRUEX JR 60
JUAN MONTOYA 40
MARK MARTIN 50
JOEY LOGANO 50
JEFF BURTON 50
JAMIE McMURRAY 100
BRIAN VICKERS 75
DAVID REUTIMANN 75
AJ ALLMENDINGER 75
PAUL MENARD 60
BRAD KESELOWSKI 40
MARCOS AMBROSE 200
REGAN SMITH 200
BOBBY LABONTE 1000
FIELD 300

Pocono Raceway Odds & Ends: Good Sam RV Insurance 500

At Pocono Raceway:

History

·         Opened in 1968 as a three-quarter-mile track, Pocono Raceway held the first race on the 2.5-mile track in 1971.

·         The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was in 1974.

Notebook

·         There have been 67 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Pocono Raceway.

·         There was one race from 1974 through 1981, and two per year since.

·         All NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Pocono have been scheduled for 500 miles.

·         Buddy Baker won the first pole.

·         There have been 37 different pole winners, including David Pearson who won the pole there in June 1984 but did not race; 16 drivers have more than one pole there.

·         The pole has been swept just three times: Bill Elliott (1985), Ken Schrader (1993), Denny Hamlin (2006).

·         Richard Petty won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono.

·         29 different drivers have won races at Pocono, led by Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon, each with five victories; 20 drivers have won more than once there.

·         There have been six season sweeps at Pocono, the last by Denny Hamlin in 2006.

·         Bobby Allison (1982, ’83) and Tim Richmond (1986, ’87) each won three consecutive races at Pocono.

·         47 of 67 Pocono races have been won from a top-10 start.

·         The June 2005 race was won by Carl Edwards from the 29th starting position, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.

·         13 of 67 races have been won from the pole, Bill Elliott (1985, 2002) and Denny Hamlin (2006 sweep) are the only drivers to have done it twice. Tony Stewart is the most recent driver to win from the pole in 2009.

·         Rick Hendrick leads all car owners with 12 Pocono victories.

·         Mark Martin leads all drivers in top fives (19) and top 10s (33), but has yet to win at Pocono. His best finish was second, six times (most recently in August 2004).

·         Denny Hamlin (9.1) and Jimmie Johnson (9.2) are the only active drivers to average a top-10 finish.

Pocono Raceway Data

Race #: 21 of 36 (8-7-11)

Track Size: 2.5 mile (200 laps/500miles)

·     Banking/Turn 1: 14 degrees

·     Banking/Turn 2: 8 degrees

·     Banking/Turn 3: 6 degrees

·     Frontstretch: 3,740 feet

·     Backstretch: 3,055 feet

·     Shortstretch: 1,780 feet

Driver Rating at Pocono 

Denny Hamlin                118.6

Jimmie Johnson             106.4

Kurt Busch                    104.1

Jeff Gordon                    101.3

Tony Stewart                 100.7

Carl Edwards                  97.7

Ryan Newman                94.2

Mark Martin                    93.8

Kevin Harvick                  92.0

Kasey Kahne                  91.1

Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2011 races (13 total) at Pocono.

Qualifying/Race Data

2010 pole winner: Tony Stewart (171.393 mph, 52.511 seconds)

2010 race winner: Greg Biffle, (132.346 mph, 8-01-10)

Track qualifying record: Kasey Kahne (172.533 mph, 52.164 seconds, 6-11-04)

Track race record: Rusty Wallace (144.892 mph, 7-21-96)

NASCAR in Pennsylvania

·         There have been 101 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Pennsylvania.

·         138 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) have their home state recorded as Pennsylvania.

·         There are three race winners from Pennsylvania in NASCAR’s three national series.

Driver	NSCS	NNS	NCWTS
Dick Linder	3	0	0
Jimmy Spencer	2	12	1
Mark Donohue	1	0	0

Las Vegas Hilton Pocono Odds to Win