Right Sides Only

After last week's shootout at the Monster Mile in Delaware, the boys take a short northward trek to the western wilderness of Pennsylvania. They'll give the tri-cornered roval of Pocono their best shot this week.

And they'll do it with double file restarts after each (debris) caution. NASCAR practiced last week with six debris cautions. NASCAR claims to have been studying this switch on restarts for over a year now.

Riiiight. Why didn't they make the change before the first event of the season then? You know like other professional sports leagues do. Imagine the NFL changing a major rule...in mid-season!

TNT takes a break from airing 'Law and Order' reruns long enough to bring us the next six Sprint Cup races, as we say AMF to Digger. If you miss the Mole in the Hole, check out TNT's 'Race Buddy' on NASCAR.com.

Kyle Petty makes his return to NASCAR, in the TNT booth, along with the underutilized, Wally Dallenbach, and the overutilized, Bill Weber. And, no, we didn't get rid of Larry McReynolds yet...he's on TNT also. Rackem frackem!

Tony Stewart's charity race at Eldora Speedway, Prelude to a Dream, was postponed this week due to rain. The new scheduled date is September 9th. Won't that interfere with the 'Chase'?

Smoke took over the points lead last week at Dover. It's the first time he's led the points since the season finale in 2005...he won the title. Unbelievable stat of the week: 2002 and 2005 are the only seasons in which Stewart led the points, he went on to win the championship both years.

Good news, Kevin Harvick makes his 300th Cup start this Sunday. Bad news, he's never led a lap at Pocono. Good news, he has finished in the top 15 in the last eight races here.

Mark Martin has five 2nd place runs here in 44 starts. Greg Biffle has one top-five in his 12 starts. Kyle Busch has led just two laps here in 8 starts.

Kasey Kahne holds the Pocono track record with a run of 172.533 in 2004. Denny Hamlin swept both Pocono poles and wins in his rookie year, and has an average finishing position of 6.2.

Some think that Pocono's unique flat, three turn course would favor the road racers. How about these road ace's average Pocono finishes...Robby Gordon 27.7, John Andretti 28.2, Juan Pablo Montoya 28.8.