[onlòóker]

Location: Pocono Speedway
Time: Sunday 1:30PM EST / 12:30PM CST / 10:30PM PST
2005 Pole Winner: Michael Waltrip #55
2005 Winner: Carl Edwards #99

Roberts: Pocono 500 preview

VegasInsider.com

Pocono was once a track that I personally looked forward to viewing twice a year because it combined all the features of a drag strip, a superspeedway, and also a road course. It took a special driver to win the race, but it also took a monster car capable of out-muscling anyone on the drag strip.

The track is shaped like a triangle. It has three giant straightaways and the banking into each turn gets flatter around each of those turns with turn 3 being the flattest of all. That is the turn where most of the passing is done. In the past that was also where most of the mistakes were made because drivers had to downshift to get maximum speed in and out of the turns. Last year NASCAR took away the fun part for the fans and drivers; No downshifting. Not only do the fans disapprove but so do the drivers.

"It was a lot more fun when we could shift,” said Jimmie Johnson who won both Pocono races in 2004 being able to downshift.

“Now it's such an odd shaped track,” Johnson continued, Now that we don't shift it's kind of boring to drive the track. I think it's tough to really put on a good show there. The corners are tight. There really isn't an outside lane except for turn one. You've got to wait to 50-something seconds before you have another shot at getting position on someone making the pass. I felt like the passing and racing was better when we could downshift. Maybe an option would be that you could run some different gear ratios and we'd have a little separation in the cars where you could play with some things. The track is old. It's fun in the respect that it's very sensitive to the sun. I think it puts a lot back in the team and drivers' hands as the sun comes out and the track heats up. It's a tough track to get a hold of and I like that challenge."

Las Vegan Kyle Busch, who also is Johnson’s teammate agrees. “For me I was able to go there a few years ago and run in the ARCA race when we were still able to shift. That was the funnest thing being able to run around there and shift and everything. Now it's kind of boring. You don't get to shift or anything. You just run around there and do what you can do.”

Kyle finished fourth in his first go around at Pocono in a Cup car, but fell to 39th in his next chance. He comes in this week as one the favorites at 8 to 1.

Kurt Busch got his one and only victory at Pocono in the last race there while driving for Jack Roush. He had come close on a few other occasions prior that included two second place finishes and a fifth. The car that Kurt drives now was the one that Rusty Wallace always did so well in over the years at Pocono, four wins in all. In the race Kurt happened to win last season, Wallace finished second.

Kasey Kahne is a driver that I expected to come into Pocono early and do well from the start. Not only because of his driving abilities, but because of the way Ray Evernham has always been dialed in at track, a track that requires lots of horsepower. Evernham took Jeff Gordon to the only Pocono wins of his career, a number that still sits at three. When Evernham signed the monster deal with Dodge it didn’t take him long to put Bill Elliott in the winners circle. Kahne took over the team in 2004 and finished 14th and third in his first two starts there but stumbled last year with a 27th in both races.

Kahne’s teammate, Jeremy Mayfield, is a driver I have always like at Pocono. Perhaps it’s just because he had the sack to get under Dale Sr. on the last turn of the last lap of a Pocono race, It was classic, stuff of legends, and something that always give Mayfield instant creditability as a driver. They have been coming out with several new cars lately between Mayfield, Kahne, and their other teammate Scott Riggs. They have been getting lots of horsepower and all present good value in matchups this week.

The teams that have the largest stable of horses under the hood for Pocono are from Hendrick Motorsports and the Roush Racing Fords. Roush had several representatives litter the top ten in both races last year including both winners, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch. However, it was Hendrick that might have made a larger impression because of how well their two new drivers, Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers, did in the races.

We’ll go with Roush Fords again this week:

Top 5 Finish Position Prediction:

1) #6 Mark Martin (9/1)
2) #5 Kyle Busch (8/1)
3) #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (12/1)
4) #9 Kasey Kahne (10/1)
5) #99 Carl Edwards (10/1)