NASCAR NATION -6-9

Many argue that Pocono is too big of a track with too little action to be an entertaining on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. Last Sunday, it was anything but. Jam-packed with short-track style bumping, lead changes, and off-track confrontations, a race, which was delayed over two hours due to rain proved to be one of the most enjoyable races of 2010 to date.
Denny Hamlin led a majority of the race, but a series of cautions inside 50 laps to go left him and other day-long leaders charging through the field. Hamlin raced back through the field, regained the lead, and held on to win his fourth race of the 2010 season.
Hamlin pulled away from the field on a late restart, and opened up over a two-second lead over teammate Kyle Busch before the race’s main controversy arose. Hamlin and Busch’s third Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, was sitting in fourth when he and Kevin Harvick were battling for the position.
The two raced rough in the corner, then headed down the straightaway with Logano ahead by less than half a car length. Harvick’s Chevrolet then made contact with Logano’s Toyota, sending the No. 20 sliding across the track and effectively ending Joe Gibbs Racing’s bid to have three cars in the top five for the first time ever.
Logano was visibly frustrated following the race, and drove right to the No. 29 following the race on pit road. Logano confronted Harvick, and some shoving between teams ensued before the two drivers went their separate ways. Logano remained frustrated when he met up with reporters following the race.
“The 29 let me go down the straightaway and then decided to dump me in the next corner,” Logano said. “It’s probably not his fault … his wife tells him what to do. I don’t know what I did to [tick] him off. He’s just stupid.”
Harvick, meanwhile, insisted the incident was not intentional. “I just got in there and we wound up getting together,” he said. “It was just two cars going for the same space.”
The race’s ending was marred by a major crash involving nine cars, beginning with Kasey Kahne’s car spinning back up across the racetrack, becoming slightly airborne before being slammed by several other cars. All drivers involved were uninjured.
Busch was second, followed by defending race winner Tony Stewart in third. Series points leader Kevin Harvick was fourth, while defending champion Jimmie Johnson used late-race pit strategy to finish fifth. Martin Truex Jr. started 25th and finished 27.
Nationwide Series: Brad Keselowski led 97 of 225 laps for his third win of the season by winning the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. Carl Edwards was second, followed by Paul Menard in third, Justin Allgaier in fourth, and Mike Bliss in fifth. Keselowski increased his points lead to 196 points over Kyle Busch.
Camping World Truck Series: Todd Bodine dominated the WinStar World Casino 400k Camping World Truck Series event at Texas Motor Speedway, leading 106 of 169 laps to win his sixth career truck series race at Texas. Johnny Sauter finished second, while Polesitter Austin Dillon finished third. Mike Skinner was fourth, and Johnny Benson was fifth.
Coming Up: The Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series head to Michigan Speedway, while the Nationwide Series will travel to the Kentucky Speedway.
Bruce Knoll, 18, of Eldora, can be contacted by email at bknoll jr4cmcherald@yahoo.com
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