Friday's rainout big impact on Pocono preparations

LONG POND, Pa. -- No practice and no qualifying Friday at Pocono Raceway, which was awash all day in a steady rain, could change the dynamics of Sunday's Pocono 500.

But then, opinions on that varied according to who was offering them Friday.

Pocono 500

Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet
2.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
3.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
4.	Kurt Busch	Dodge
5.	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet
6.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
7.	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
8.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
9.	Greg Biffle	Ford
10.	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet

• Complete Lineup

Mark Martin, in fact, said that he was pleased Friday's practice was rained out -- although he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too, so to speak. The rain means he'll start the race in 12th position, as the field was set according to the NASCAR rule book -- and Martin currently is 12th in points.

He had the feeling he would have been faster than that in qualifying.

"I view it as the less time on the track, the better. I feel like for our team, for us, we usually hit the track running -- and the longer we run, the more the competition has a chance to catch up," Martin said. "So I'm really comfortable with getting rained out completely [Friday].

"That means we'll start 12th. I feel certain we would have qualified better than that, but there is nothing wrong with that starting position -- and we'll have practice [Saturday]."

The weather is supposed to be better Saturday and for Sunday's race, although there is a chance for afternoon showers on race day. Two practices are scheduled for Saturday -- a 45-minute session beginning at 10 a.m. ET, followed by an hour-long session beginning at 11:20 a.m.

Practice at Pocono generally is regarded as being especially important because of the unique configuration of the 2.5-mile, tri-oval track.

"As a driver, it's challenging because all three corners are different," Ryan Newman said. "And because it's challenging that way, the crew chief has to kind of compensate and the driver has to kind of compensate. I mean, Dover for instance is pretty symmetrical. You get one end of the track right, you're going to have the other end right, or at least pretty close to it. Here, it's not like that." (Continued)