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."

Some drivers thought it was important enough to get a feel for the Pocono track that they borrowed the pace car and took it for a spin in the rain Friday. Denny Hamlin took Joey Logano, the rookie who is his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, out for some laps, as did the Busch brothers, Kurt and Kyle.

For the record, Kurt drove and no one reported seeing any fights break out between him and Kyle, who have not always displayed brotherly love on the race track.

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"It's like some other guys have said. To me it doesn't really matter how much practice we get in here," Kyle Busch said. "We're going to have a good starting spot of sixth, so it won't be too bad for us."

Hamlin said he wanted to take Logano onto the track despite the rain because Logano, who also was going to compete in ARCA Series practice and qualifying that was washed out Friday, has never run at tricky Pocono.

"I just want to take him out for a few laps. He missed out on ARCA. ... He was going to use that as a test session, but now it looks like Cup is going to be the first time that he's going to be in the car," said Hamlin, who swept both Pocono events in 2006. "I thought it would be a good idea to take him around and show him the lines.

"It is intimidating. I can tell you that as a rookie, coming through the tunnel and seeing how big this race track is and knowing the speeds that you're going to carry in the corners, it can be pretty intimidating."

Veterans obviously have a better feel for the place. Even though none of his 37 career wins have come at Pocono, the 50-year-old Martin said he loves coming to the hills of Pennsylvania to race.

"I've always thought this was one of the best places to race that we go to on the schedule. I've had a number of people disagree with that, but I've always loved it," Martin said. "This is one of my better places. ... I just can't wait to get on the race track."

That should come Saturday. Meanwhile, all drivers polled agreed that failing to get on the track at all on Friday more or less left them in the same boat -- and after all the rain that pounded Pocono Raceway, a boat, or at least a pace car with rain tires, is about what was needed for them to get around the place.

"I think we just lose practice time and the opportunity. It's just like testing. The more testing you get, the stronger you get," Newman said. "But the people who aren't as strong get stronger, too, so it's just a sliding scale. The more time you have on the track, the more time you have to work our race cars to idealize [the approach to] all three corners. So losing a day is just that. But I think we'll still have a competitive race come Sunday. It's just that all 43 cars probably won't be quite as fast."

Hamlin added: "Hopefully we will get a decent amount of practice in [Saturday]. [Friday's] practice is usually all qualifying stuff anyway and starting by points is not too bad. We'll get the same amount of race practice, I believe, as we would normally -- so I don't think you'll see anything different."

Greg Biffle agreed. He just wishes the rain would quit following the Sprint Cup Series around the country.

"I'm tired of it raining everywhere we go and limiting our track time," Biffle said. "But I think everyone will still see a good show on Sunday."