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Speed Earns SIM Factory Pole Award for the Pocono 200

LONG POND PA (6-6-08)—Charter planes, helicopters and rental cars have become familiar territory for Scott Speed, especially this weekend as the ARCA RE/MAX Series rookie plans to pull double duty by competing in both the Pocono 200 ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Pocono Raceway and the Sam’s Town 400k NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. He’s off to a pretty good start.

Speed qualified Eddie Sharp Racing’s No. 2 Red Bull Toyota on the pole during Friday afternoon’s ARCA RE/MAX Series SIM Factory qualifying session at Pocono, posting a 167.094 mph (53.862 seconds) lap around the 2.5-mile triangle. He will start alongside Justin Allgaier for Saturday’s Pocono 200 ARCA RE/MAX Series race, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and airs on SPEED at 10 p.m. Eastern Saturday.

"I'm really happy with the pole," said Speed. "We knew we were bringing a good car. We were tight throughout most of practice today but Patty Patrick Donahue, crew chief]and the team made a bunch of adjustments that put us on the top of the practice chart for our mock run. We knew we had a good car for qualifying. When I went out for the qualifying lap the track was definitely slick with the sun out. Honestly, I just held on and hoped it wouldn't get away from me. We have a busy day. We're leaving from here (Pocono Media Center) to go catch a plane to Texas."

"The switch from trucks to cars where we doubled up last time (Kansas Speedway) was challenging because it was the same track on the same day. And to get out of the ARCA car that was not flat around the corner and to get in the truck that you need to run flat. This shouldn't be a problem tonight. Two totaly different tracks. The car should be really good tomorrow for the race. Tonight we'll go start at the back of the pack (for the truck race) and we'll see what we can do there."

Speed and Allgaier will lead off an ARCA RE/MAX Series starting grid that includes Shelby Township, Michigan’s Robb Brent in the No. 00 Orchard Chrysler Dodge Jeep Chevrolet and current ARCA RE/MAX Series point leader Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the No. 99 Con-Way Freight Ford, who start third and fourth, respectively. Justin Lofton starts fifth, followed by John Wes Townley, Tayler Malsam, Matt Carter and Jesse Smith.

18-year old Chase Mattioli of Long Pondbecame thefirst memebr of his famous family to start a race on the 2.5-mile tri oval. He will start his Liquid Fence/WHUR-Haines & Kibblehouse Chevy from postion 21 in the Pocono ARCA 200. The grandson of Pocono CEO Dr. Joe Mattioli qualified with arespectable speed of 159.866.

The ARCA RE/MAX Series heads into Saturday’s Pocono 200 on the strength of a competitive season in which there have been no repeat winners and five first time series winners in eight of 21 races. The race will mark the ARCA RE/MAX Series’ 47th appearance to the 2.5-mile triangle since 1983.

As outside observers of the NASCAR racing scene, we guess a lot. We watch and read and mostly put our own spin on what we have watched and read. But we don't know what's going on for the most part. You can get closer to the truth by talking and listening to others who are nearer to the action but rarely will you get the real, whole truth.

Scene Daily has this headline on one of it's posts today:

Junior not sure how he'll fit in with teammates

It's another attempt by those that cover the sport to find the "Kumbaya" moments in the story of a racecar driver. Here's the lead in;

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn't expect too many big bonding sessions between him and his new Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears.
My favorite racing film is the John Frankenheimer directed Grand Prix that came out in 1966. The movie is based upon the Robert Daley book, The Cruel Sport. The sub-title of the book is Grand Prix racing 1959-1957 and it is Daley's chronicle in words and pictures of those seasons from a very up close perspective. It is a fascinating read and I don't feel qualified to write a proper review. If you have any interest in auto racing and the people who drive the cars, read it.

One of Daley's many profiles is of America's first World Champion, Phil Hill. Hill is portrayed as "a gentle man in a profession devoid of gentleness." But when asked why he was not very friendly with other drivers he says:

"How can you be friends with a racing driver? You try to beat them all day on the circuit, and then at night you're supposed to forget all that? I think all racing drivers secretly hate each other anyway."

I believe that attitude is probably closer to reality than any notion of real closeness among teammates. People seemed shocked that, during his last seasons with Penske, Rusty Wallace couldn't seem to get along with Ryan Newman. Rusty was a guest ON PIT ROW last week. I wish I had asked him the same question that Daley asked Hill.

Position Track is Sprint Cup's Trump Card
So how does a "Top-5" car run in the middle of the pack for nearly an entire race?

Just ask Jeff Gordon.

Following last Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Gordon found himself with a fourth-place finish in NASCAR's longest event after stretching his fuel mileage late in the race. That finish, though, wasn't an accurate picture of Gordon's night at LMS.

Busch at Dover "Monster" No Match

Best Buy 400 FanHouse Warmup
The Warmup makes a triumphant return after two weeks on the bench...

Concrete Monster Complete at Dover

CNC Racing
They probably knew it was coming, but probably not to this extent.

Haas-CNC Racing, which fields NASCAR Sprint Cup cars No. 66 and No. 77, had more than just a book thrown at them Wednesday as NASCAR levied the penalties for rear-wing mount infractions stemming from last weekend's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

The penalties, for both teams, included:

• 150 Driver points from Johnny Sauter and Scott Riggs
• 150 Owner points from the No. 66 and No. 70
• Six week suspensions from Sprint Cup Series racing for both crew chiefs and car chiefs
• $100,000 fine for crew chiefs "Bootie" Barker and Dave Skog, each
  
• Both race cars will not be returned after NASCAR confiscated them Friday at LMS