A little lighter on the crew this time than last with Rob out of the house and Chad living the blue collar life. Lee was also out but should be in next week, hardware permitting and Odie is out yet again.

Practice went fairly well with most of us finding setups that were at least functional. Qualifying put us sporadically in the field with Darrel, Sandy and myself up in the top 20 even though Darrel said he was going to hang at the back (liar!).

The race started with a mulligan, but the second go round was successful. Although a wreck was not far away.

Darrel had made it into second but he slid the rear out a bit going through turn two and came right back into Bowyer.

Which lead to a multi-car massacre down the back stretch.

This one took out about 13 cars. Darrel was able to limp away and actually remain competitive for a while.

Around lap 10, Scot pushed baby-face Newman up the track and into the wall to bring out the second yellow.

At almost that exact moment, half a track away, Sandy was gearing down and his engine couldn't handle it. The Microsoft car was performing quite well until this and would spend the race in the trailer.

Back up the track to Ryan Newman, with all the smoke and bouncing around, Bill came up on him and couldn't see where the 31 was sitting on the track.

Bouncing some lovely debris and more useful chunks of his car around the track. This too would end Bill Man's day.

Even though it was only a quarter of the race in, pretty much everyone pitted. I didn't make out so well, thank you pit crew.

We went back to green and had some good racing. Here I'm working back up to the front, nearly taking out Kyle Busch for being an idiot.

And almost into Bowyer for being an idiot.

But I got back to the front, just in time for Scot to work his mid-race magic.

Almost exactly on lap 20/40, Scot banked into the 99, doing more damage to himself than Edwards.

It wasn't over yet, as Darrel came right up on Scot passing him, unawares, on the inside.

They made contact...

But held on and brought it back to the caution without issues.

Back to another good set of green flag laps and it would be Darrel who would crack into the back of none other than Carl Edwards. This after several corners of odd breaking patterns from Carl put Darrel in no mood to continue screwing around.

Unfortunately, Darrel took the brunt of the hit and would spin without a caution.

Fear not, Darrel, for your teammate will remedy the situation. No yellow, again.

Mad Max then took it to Paul Menard and ran him hard wide into the turn three wall for a late race caution.

Why, if it isn't Cousin Carl again, getting caught on the front of his friend Scot. Never saw that coming.

And AGAIN, this time under yellow. The 99 had had enough at this point and parked the car with three laps to go. And that was the race. Despite the length, we ran about the normal number of cautions and had some good racing to boot.

On we go to the cookie cutters, starting with Michigan.

Results

Session: Practice

P	#	DRIVER	TIME
1	013	T Nadz	53.296
2	061	D Hamilton	54.058
3	5	K Kahne	54.195
4	31	R Newman	54.338
5	20	M Kenseth	54.396
6	16	G Biffle	54.405
7	48	J Johnson	54.450
8	22	J Logano	54.546
9	021	T Bear	54.559
10	99	C Edwards	54.563
11	15	C Bowyer	54.600
12	029	M Max	54.653
13	78	M Truex Jr	54.721
14	14	T Stewart	54.776
15	4	K Harvick	54.808
16	88	D Earnhardt Jr	54.903
17	2	B Keselowski	54.911
18	18	K Busch	54.949
19	27	P Menard	55.012
20	66	J Burton	55.022
21	34	D Ragan	55.039
22	38	D Gilliland	55.058
23	41	K Busch2	55.080
24	13	C Mears	55.251
25	11	D Hamlin	55.278
26	1	J McMurray	55.313
27	35	E McClure	55.416
28	9	M Ambrose	55.535
29	47	A Allmendinger	55.553
30	43	A Almirola	55.585
31	32	T Kvapil	55.649
32	55	B Vickers	55.691
33	40	L Cassill	55.775
34	21	T Bayne	55.792
35	52	B Labonte	55.793
36	17	R Stenhouse Jr	55.855
37	95	M McDowell	56.054
38	77	D Blaney	56.109
39	26	C Whitt	56.359
40	36	R Sorenson	56.641
41	063	B Man	58.649
42	24	J Gordon	1:04.011
43	30	D Stremme	1:08.993

Weather: Cloudy, 91 °F, North 14 mph

Session: Qualifying

P	#	DRIVER	TIME
1	013	T Nadz	52.962
2	20	M Kenseth	53.705
3	15	C Bowyer	53.804
4	061	D Hamilton	53.833
5	4	K Harvick	53.856
6	24	J Gordon	53.909
7	14	T Stewart	53.969
8	27	P Menard	54.001
9	31	R Newman	54.029
10	99	C Edwards	54.049
11	18	K Busch	54.083
12	5	K Kahne	54.140
13	021	T Bear	54.303
14	16	G Biffle	54.325
15	1	J McMurray	54.332
16	48	J Johnson	54.360
17	34	D Ragan	54.410
18	41	K Busch2	54.427
19	22	J Logano	54.445
20	88	D Earnhardt Jr	54.488
21	2	B Keselowski	54.556
22	38	D Gilliland	54.562
23	78	M Truex Jr	54.566
24	66	J Burton	54.687
25	9	M Ambrose	54.727
26	13	C Mears	54.812
27	32	T Kvapil	54.879
28	35	E McClure	55.030
29	52	B Labonte	55.224
30	55	B Vickers	55.236
31	40	L Cassill	55.390
32	47	A Allmendinger	55.500
33	95	M McDowell	55.510
34	26	C Whitt	55.586
35	21	T Bayne	55.620
36	17	R Stenhouse Jr	55.684
37	77	D Blaney	55.933
38	30	D Stremme	55.939
39	43	A Almirola	55.950
40	36	R Sorenson	56.040
41	063	B Man	56.604
42	11	D Hamlin	1:37.147
43	029	M Max	--

Weather: Cloudy, 91 °F, North 10 mph

Session: Happy Hour

P	#	DRIVER	TIME
1	013	T Nadz	54.808
2	021	T Bear	54.838
3	11	D Hamlin	55.169
4	15	C Bowyer	55.212
5	061	D Hamilton	55.217
6	20	M Kenseth	55.370
7	48	J Johnson	55.390
8	18	K Busch	55.413
9	029	M Max	55.642
10	88	D Earnhardt Jr	55.662
11	16	G Biffle	55.668
12	4	K Harvick	55.677
13	99	C Edwards	55.721
14	27	P Menard	55.747
15	22	J Logano	55.758
16	24	J Gordon	55.769
17	2	B Keselowski	55.835
18	5	K Kahne	55.861
19	34	D Ragan	55.872
20	31	R Newman	55.903
21	52	B Labonte	55.962
22	41	K Busch2	56.015
23	1	J McMurray	56.219
24	9	M Ambrose	56.236
25	78	M Truex Jr	56.298
26	66	J Burton	56.301
27	47	A Allmendinger	56.360
28	13	C Mears	56.444
29	38	D Gilliland	56.516
30	14	T Stewart	56.525
31	36	R Sorenson	56.579
32	77	D Blaney	56.635
33	43	A Almirola	56.682
34	32	T Kvapil	56.686
35	55	B Vickers	56.790
36	35	E McClure	56.814
37	40	L Cassill	56.916
38	21	T Bayne	56.988
39	26	C Whitt	57.034
40	30	D Stremme	57.068
41	17	R Stenhouse Jr	57.109
42	95	M McDowell	57.412
43	063	B Man	58.534

Weather: Clear, 92 °F, Southeast 9 mph

Session: Race

OFFICIAL STANDINGS

F	S	#	DRIVER	INTERVAL	LAPS	LED	POINTS	STATUS
1	1	013	T Nadz	115.126	40	32*	185	Running
2	2	20	M Kenseth	-0.27	40	5	175	Running
3	16	48	J Johnson	-0.55	40	0	165	Running
4	21	2	B Keselowski	-0.82	40	3	165	Running
5	11	18	K Busch	-1.10	40	0	155	Running
6	19	22	J Logano	-1.37	40	0	150	Running
7	3	15	C Bowyer	-1.64	40	0	146	Running
8	12	5	K Kahne	-1.92	40	0	142	Running
9	24	66	J Burton	-2.19	40	0	138	Running
10	23	78	M Truex Jr	-2.46	40	0	134	Running
11	8	27	P Menard	-2.73	40	0	130	Running
12	15	1	J McMurray	-3.00	40	0	127	Running
13	7	14	T Stewart	-3.27	40	0	124	Running
14	17	34	D Ragan	-3.54	40	0	121	Running
15	28	35	E McClure	-3.82	40	0	118	Running
16	29	52	B Labonte	-4.10	40	0	115	Running
17	39	43	A Almirola	-4.38	40	0	112	Running
18	31	40	L Cassill	-4.66	40	0	109	Running
19	26	13	C Mears	-4.94	40	0	106	Running
20	33	95	M McDowell	-5.23	40	0	103	Running
21	43	029	M Max	-5.26	40	0	100	Running
22	38	30	D Stremme	-6.58	40	0	97	Running
23	4	061	D Hamilton	-1L	39	0	94	Running
24	10	99	C Edwards	-2L	38	0	91	Retired
25	27	32	T Kvapil	-9L	31	0	88	Ignition
26	9	31	R Newman	-30L	10	0	85	Retired
27	13	021	T Bear	-32L	8	0	82	Clutch
28	41	063	B Man	-33L	7	0	79	Accident
29	20	88	D Earnhardt Jr	-38L	2	0	76	Retired
30	14	16	G Biffle	-38L	2	0	73	Retired
31	5	4	K Harvick	-38L	2	0	70	Retired
32	25	9	M Ambrose	-38L	2	0	67	Retired
33	37	77	D Blaney	-39L	1	0	64	Retired
34	32	47	A Allmendinger	-39L	1	0	61	Retired
35	30	55	B Vickers	-39L	1	0	58	Accident
36	18	41	K Busch2	-39L	1	0	55	Retired
37	22	38	D Gilliland	-39L	1	0	52	Retired
38	6	24	J Gordon	-39L	1	0	49	Retired
39	35	21	T Bayne	-39L	1	0	46	Fuel Lk
40	34	26	C Whitt	-40L	0	0	43	Accident
41	36	17	R Stenhouse Jr	-40L	0	0	40	Accident
42	40	36	R Sorenson	-40L	0	0	37	Accident
43	42	11	D Hamlin	-40L	0	0	34	Retired

Caution Flags: 5 (18 laps)

Lead Changes: 3 (3 drivers)

Weather: Clear, 92 °F, South 9 mph

Pitstop Frequency: 2x

AI Strength: 94%

PENALTIES

LAP	#	INFRACTION	PENALTY
8	063	Entering closed pits	Go to end of longest line

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Nascar Sprint Cup Championship 2014 - 14 Pocono