Tony Stewart said racing hard at Pocono on Sunday was fun. Credit: AP

Notes: Stewart spins from chance for victory

LONG POND, Pa. -- Tony Stewart had a golden opportunity to score his second career Pocono Raceway victory disappear Sunday when he spun his loose Home Depot Chevrolet out of a three-wide entry into the infamous Tunnel Turn.

VIDEO Victory Lane Johnson completes the season sweep at Pocono Raceway Heavy Damage Contact with Vickers sends B.Labonte to the garage Into the wall Stewart gets loose on the track and hits the wall on Lap 108 No Luck Jeff Burton's struggles continue as he wrecks while in the top 10 Driver Change Junior turns driving duties over to Andretti on Lap 53 The pits Joe Nemechek loses the lead on pit road

Stewart had run in the race's top nine positions for the first 100 laps. However, shortly after the race's third caution period ended, he was sent into a spin that caused him to hit the outside wall.

On Lap 108, Stewart dove inside Kurt Busch's Ford entering Turn 1, but lost momentum on the corner exit. Kasey Kahne's Dodge was passing Stewart on the outside and Busch was looking to get back inside him when the crash occurred.

"I just got real loose and spun it out," Stewart said. "I was running real close to Kasey and someone else was on the inside of us, who we had just passed, so it's hard.

"It was just racing, out there -- it's fun. It's fun racing with guys like that, today."

Stewart fell from fourth to fifth in the standings, and is a relatively safe 186 points ahead of the 10th-position cutoff for the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"Everybody was being pretty courteous to each other," Stewart said, "but racing each other hard, so it was good fun racing today."

Kahne recovered to finish third, while Busch broke his car's transmission and ended up 26th. The "moment" wasn't all fun and games to the rookie Kahne.

"Me and Kurt hit the lap before that in the Tunnel Turn pretty hard," Kahne said. "I was falling back and I got on the outside of Tony (and) we got three wide.

"I had to lift to give Tony plenty of room (and) as I lifted, Tony spun. I thought our day was done at the time. From where I was it looked like Kurt Busch hit him, but I guess he didn't. I need to apologize to him."

Dale Earnhardt Incorporated director of motorsports Richie Gilmore said Sunday at Pocono Raceway that the team would make a decision Monday on whether or not to field a car next weekend at the Brickyard 400 for John Andretti.

John Andretti hopes to run at Indianapolis next week. Credit: Autostock

Andretti has raced at least once a year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the past 16 years, either in a Cup stock car or an Indy car -- including 1994 when he ran both the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400.

DEI has not filed a preliminary entry for its No. 1 Chevrolet, which Andretti has driven in five previous races this season.

"We've got a car ready to go," Gilmore said. "We had a couple sponsors we thought we had lined up that didn't come through, so some of our existing sponsors are talking about doing something for it."

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Kraft Foods, Snap-On Tools and Coca-Cola C2 have previously sponsored that program this season, allowing Andretti to make five starts. Andretti also substituted at Pocono for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he continues his recovery from second-degree burns.

"The only thing we miss out on by not filing the entry sooner is the points," Gilmore said. "And since we're not in a position to have a provisional (starting position) anyway, it's not that big a deal."

A month ago, when the Nextel Cup Series was here to race in the Pocono 500, Gilmore said he hoped to have Andretti's full-time program for the balance of this season and into 2005 signed in time to go to Indy.

Martin Truex Jr. Credit: AP

"It's still viable and I think it's real close to something for the 1 right now," Gilmore said. "Right now, everything we've got going involves Martin Truex."

Andretti's misfortune in getting a sponsor to enable him to run DEI's No. 1 Chevrolet highlights a fact in 2004 in the Nextel Cup garage.

"We're still trying to find something for John, but we just haven't had the luck we need to tie something up for him," Gilmore said. "Right now, most of the interest we have is in Martin -- he's a great talent and a lot of corporate America now is looking for the young gun."

After finishing fifth in Saturday's Gould's/ITT Industries 250 at Pikes Peak International Raceway, Truex has a healthy lead over Kyle Busch in the Busch Series standings. The sponsor interest has enabled Gilmore and DEI management to set Truex's career path in Nextel Cup.

"Right now we don't want to interfere with the (Busch) championship," Gilmore said. "But we have Loudon and Talladega kind of on the map for Martin to run with Bono (crew chief Kevin Manion) and his crew.

"That would be the most we would do (this year), is two. Next year, we've got seven races scheduled and then the full schedule in 2006."

Gilmore said Truex's sponsor also "is not signed yet, but it's real close."

No question Roush Racing driver Greg Biffle recorded his best weekend of the dual-threat season he's running, with full schedules in both Nextel Cup and the Busch Series.

Greg Biffle Credit: AP

Biffle won Saturday's Busch race in Colorado. On Sunday at Pocono, he scored his first top-five of the season in the National Guard Ford when he finished fourth.

"I was wishing this is what the whole season would have been like is this right here -- a couple of wins here and a top five there," Biffle said. "It's unfortunate that our season hasn't been like that, but it's been good right here."

Former World Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, who lives in Philadelphia, drew a hearty round of applause from the packed house at Sunday's Nextel Cup Series drivers' meeting.

Frazier, an Olympic gold medal winner, visited the meeting with his son, former Heavyweight boxer Marvis Frazier, and Doc Watson, a former ARCA racer who is involved with NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in developing a diversity program.