LONG POND, Pa. -- After spending ample time addressing the issue of drivers being fined for comments detrimental to NASCAR, the second-most-asked question in the media center at Pocono focused on the safety of the track hosting Sunday's Cup Series race.

Pocono's 2.5-mile triangle has been deemed unsafe by some drivers after an eight-car accident in June almost caused Kasey Kahne's No. 9 Ford to fly over the retaining wall (watch video).

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I think we've seen on TV from races a while ago and as recent as the last race here five weeks ago that the large area of grass down off the race track can present problems.

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-- GREG BIFFLE

Pocono Raceway announced in June that it would replace the facility's inner guard rail with a SAFER barrier, with a new inner wall running the length of the "Long Pond Straight" between Turns 1 and 2, continuing the rest of the way to Turns 2 and 3 when the racing returns in 2011.

Bob Pleban, vice president of Pocono Raceway, acknowledged that there wasn't enough time to complete the improvements to the track in between this season's two races and said that the total cost of improvements would be "at least seven figures." Aside from the SAFER barrier, all other improvements are still being explored.

Asked what he'd like to see done in the way of improvement to the track, Greg Biffle shared that more pavement and better walls would be a good place to start.

"I think we've seen on TV from races a while ago and as recent as the last race here five weeks ago that the large area of grass down off the race track can present problems," Biffle said. "These cars are really, really hard to control at 200 [mph] in the grass. It's a challenge and whether it's more pavement like the restrictor plate race tracks did when they had problems -- Daytona and Talladega both had issues like that and they paved that whole area and the cars don't get upside-down and flip through there anymore."

Biffle's earlier critique of the track in a recent Sports Illustrated story was much harsher, saying "they're going to kill somebody [at Pocono]." He added: "If they don't change that race track -- maybe not next year, maybe not three years from now -- they'll hurt somebody there."

Jimmie Johnson said that grass shouldn't have a place inside the walls of a race track anywhere the Cup Series races.

"There's no friction to slow down the vehicle and then the cars just hammer the wall when that's the case. And then you get mud and rain and a wheel can sink into the mud and flip the car over and get it flipping," Johnson said.

Track president Brandon Igdalsky said recently that he felt the track could use a catch fence as part of the improvements and Pleban said that the issue of grass being removed from inside the walls was still being considered.

Kyle Busch offered a differing view, saying a catch fence wouldn't have done much to help Kahne in June or the drivers in the future, considering wrecks can happen anywhere on the track.

"If they had a fence there, it would have just ripped the car and spun it around even faster," Busch said. "There's always instances where you can get in big wrecks, I mean anywhere, there's always safety concerns. You have Daytona now that has SAFER barriers somewhere around the race track, but not all the way around. Same as Talladega. We wreck more on the straightaways then we do in the corners and there's not SAFER barriers there."