Two Guys Sports
Bruce BostwickNascar Pocono 500 from Pocono Raceway Preview
June 8th 2008 14:22
Can Kasey Kahne win from the pole?
With many drivers criticizing Pocono Raceway it was of little surprise that just 44 teams were entered in the race for qualifying, 43 of them would of course make the field. This week just one, instead of the usual 3-6, would not make the cut and go home early. That one car this week was the #96 Hall of Fame Racing car driven by J.J. Yeley. This is also the first of five races where retired driver Terry Labonte will be driving the #45 Petty Enterprises car in place of Kyle Petty. He used a past champions provisional to make the field, and will ironically start the Petty car from the 43rd spot on the grid. His brother and temporary teammate, Bobby will roll off from the 33rd spot.
Jimmie Johnson was the first one out for qualifying on Friday, not usually the spot you want. Obviously being first out his time put him on the pole. The surprising thing was, he stayed there for most of the day.
Kasey Kahne was the one who would post a better time than Johnson, he was the 31st car to qualify. He ran a lap of 170.219mph to put his #9 Dodge Budweiser car on the pole. Kahne is riding high as of late. He won the all-star race three weeks ago, and then followed that up by winning the Coca-Cola 600 seven days later.
Johnson’s time would be good enough to hold on to the outside of the front row. The second row is made up of two DEI cars whose driver’s absolutely loved the cars they had under them. Mark Martin will start third, and Regan Smith will roll off fourth. Front Row Joe Nemechek will have to settle for row 3 and fifth. The rest of the top ten was filled by Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., A.J. Allmendinger, Scott Riggs, and Kyle Busch.
Kyle Busch will be finishing up what has been being called his own “Triple Crown”. As long as Kyle starts today’s race at Pocono Raceway, he will become the first person to ever start three Nascar races from different series at three different tacks, not to mention three different states. He started the Craftsman Truck Series races in Texas on Friday, coming home in second place. Then on Saturday he raced at Nashville in leg two, a Nationwide Series race, he would finish 20th there. For the Pocono 500 he may have qualified in 10th, but he crashed in practice and had to go to a back-up car. This means he will be starting at the back of the field. Joining him back there will be Sam Hornish, Jr. who also had to go to a back-up car.
If the track is as drivers have said, very hard to pass on, this could be a very boring race. I personally used to live less than half an hour from Pocono Raceway in Long Pond. I always remember the races being rather exciting near the end of the races. I must agree with the drivers though, this race should not be 500 miles, but instead 400. Going 500 miles cars do tend to wait around way too long knowing that they have a ton of laps before they need to be making their move.
My pick: Kasey Kahne keeps the train rolling and wins from the pole.
| Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway | ||||
| POS | DRIVER | CAR | MANUFACTURER | SPEED |
| 1 | Kasey Kahne | 9 | Dodge | 170.219 mph |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 48 | Chevrolet | 169.856 mph |
| 3 | Mark Martin | 8 | Chevrolet | 168.897 mph |
| 4 | Regan Smith | 1 | Chevrolet | 168.745 mph |
| 5 | Joe Nemechek | 78 | Chevrolet | 168.723 mph |
| 6 | Carl Edwards | 99 | Ford | 168.517 mph |
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 88 | Chevrolet | 168.505 mph |
| 8 | A.J. Allmendinger | 84 | Toyota | 168.479 mph |
| 9 | Scott Riggs | 66 | Chevrolet | 168.391 mph |
| 10 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Toyota | 168.139 mph |
| 11 | Kurt Busch | 2 | Dodge | 168.124 mph |
| 12 | Tony Stewart | 20 | Toyota | 168.055 mph |
| 13 | Matt Kenseth | 17 | Ford | 167.970 mph |
| 14 | Dario Franchitti | 40 | Dodge | 167.939 mph |
| 15 | Brian Vickers | 83 | Toyota | 167.904 mph |
| 16 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Toyota | 167.895 mph |
| 17 | Paul Menard | 15 | Chevrolet | 167.838 mph |
| 18 | Elliott Sadler | 19 | Dodge | 167.785 mph |
| 19 | Michael Waltrip | 55 | Toyota | 167.738 mph |
| 20 | Jeff Burton | 31 | Chevrolet | 167.735 mph |
| 21 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 42 | Dodge | 167.467 mph |
| 22 | Jamie McMurray | 26 | Ford | 167.436 mph |
| 23 | Travis Kvapil | 28 | Ford | 167.367 mph |
| 24 | Patrick Carpentier | 10 | Dodge | 167.345 mph |
| 25 | Martin Truex Jr. | 1 | Chevrolet | 167.327 mph |
| 26 | Jason Leffler | 70 | Chevrolet | 167.258 mph |
| 27 | Ryan Newman | 12 | Dodge | 167.255 mph |
| 28 | Kevin Harvick | 29 | Chevrolet | 167.029 mph |
| 29 | Bill Elliott | 21 | Ford | 166.759 mph |
| 30 | David Ragan | 6 | Ford | 166.710 mph |
| 31 | Reed Sorenson | 41 | Dodge | 166.688 mph |
| 32 | Dave Blaney | 22 | Toyota | 166.648 mph |
| 33 | Greg Biffle | 16 | Ford | 166.645 mph |
| 34 | Casey Mears | 5 | Chevrolet | 166.605 mph |
| 35 | Clint Bowyer | 7 | Chevrolet | 166.593 mph |
| 36 | David Reutimann | 44 | Toyota | 166.590 mph |
| 37 | Bobby Labonte | 43 | Dodge | 166.568 mph |
| 38 | Jeff Gordon | 24 | Chevrolet | 166.454 mph |
| 39 | Michael McDowell | 0 | Toyota | 166.276 mph |
| 40 | Robby Gordon | 7 | Dodge | 165.871 mph |
| 41 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 77 | Dodge | 165.071 mph |
| 42 | David Gilliland | 38 | Ford | 164.971 mph |
| 43 | Terry Labonte | 45 | Dodge | 166.276 mph |
| 87 |
| Vote |
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