Weekend That Was: Pocono (cont'd)

Any doubt?
Yes, they are still racing Formula One.

And after dynamic rookie Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday to become the first black driver to win a race in F1, can there be any doubt that NASCAR folks will soon be knocking on Lewis' door -- if they haven't already?

Hamilton, an Englishman, is only 22. Even if he races F1 for a few more years, he will remain plenty young enough to try his hand at stock-car racing, if he so desires. And you can bet that there are plenty of Nextel Cup teams that will be lined up to take him in if that desire becomes apparent at any time.

Many in racing believe that a successful black driver in this current era could ultimately have the same effect on the NASCAR fan base that Tiger Woods had on golf when he burst onto that scene.

Pit Stops
• Edwards nearly missed his Busch qualifying attempt at Nashville Superspeedway. After practicing earlier Saturday at Pocono for Sunday's Cup event, he arrived at the Nashville track via helicopter, jumped out in his race uniform, signed in and sprinted to his Busch car with about 60 seconds to spare before launching a Busch qualifying run that was good enough for him to start seventh.

• You can't blame Newman for backing off of Gordon when the heavy rains came on what turned out to be the final lap of the Pocono 500 Sunday. He was walking a fine line between wanting to win the race and risking a wreck that would have ruined his fine day. But you'd also like to see a little more fire out of Newman, who afterward said, "I'm not mad by any means." Darn it, he had a right to be hopping mad -- and folks might take to him a little more if he showed more emotion.

• Riding the coattails of Letarte's strategy, Mears ended up with a fourth-place finish at Pocono. It came only two weeks after the first Cup victory of his career in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and was only the eighth top-five finish for him in 158 Cup starts.

• Not to be totally lost on the weekend that was is Todd Bodine's Truck Series victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night. It was a good one, with Bodine spinning out Travis Kvapil on Lap 165 to bring out a caution in the scheduled 167-lap event (watch video). Bodine then held off Mike Skinner by 0.188 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish, and afterward apologized for spinning out Kvapil. Hey, Todd, you never have to apologize when you win.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.