Welcome to “Fuel It Up”! The racing world is chock full of intriguing stories, but sifting through them to get a good general sense of the landscape can be challenging. In Fuel It Up, I take the biggest, more interesting storylines and present them to you in a quick, compact 300-word format.
The winner of this week’s paint scheme award goes to the #99 car driven by Carl Edwards. He’ll be driving the Kellogg’s/ Cheez-it Ford this Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Also in contention were the #1 car driven by Jamie McMurray and the #17 car driven by Rickey Stenhouse Jr……For the second time this season the #2 team of Brad Keselowski has been penalized by NASCAR. Keselowski’s car failed the post-race inspection at Dover for being too low in the front. Keselowski and car owner Roger Penske were docked 6 points each and Crew Chief Paul Wolfe was fined $25,000. The loss of points dropped the defending champion from 8th place in Sprint Cup Point Standings to 10th……I love it when spouses feel the need to defend their loved ones. After seeing criticism of her husband Ryan Newman for wrecking David Gilliland, Krissie Newman replied on twitter, “People… I love my husband and unless U drive a car at 200 mph with no power steering keep your nasty ass comments to yourself. “ ………Sunday’s race at Dover was Fox Networks final NASCAR race of the season. Talk about having a bad year. From the ridiculous walk through pit road of Michael Waltrip, to the NASCAR propaganda spiel of the Waltrip’s over the Generation 6 car criticism after Daytona, to the unbelievable amount of commercials during their race coverage and the coup de grace, the cable breaking damaging cars and injuring several fans. I’m not sure who’s happiest about moving to TNT/ESPN, the NASCAR fans or Fox management………Speaking of FOX, the NASCAR telecast averaged an increase of nearly 7% in viewership from a year ago………Pocono Raceway prides itself in being as environmentally friendly as possible and they’ve put their money where their mouth is. The track boasts one of the largest privately owned solar farms. The solar installations consist of 39,960 American made photovoltaic modules that will produce more than 72 million Kilowatts hours (kWh) over the next 20 years. This will generate enough power for 500 homes beyond the needs of the raceway. In a sport who’s often criticized for its large carbon footprints this is a tremendous undertaking. Good for them! ………Joey Logano holds the qualifying record at Pocono with a speed of 179.598. Jeff Gordon leads all drivers at the Tricky Triangle with 6 wins………I’m interested to see how Danica Patrick does Sunday. It’s Patrick’s first race at Pocono. It’s a fairly flat track that some say drives a bit like a road course. The track just might suit her. Dover certainly didn’t She finished in 24th place and 4 laps down result last week at Dover..………The Grand Marshall for the Party in the Pocono 400 will be an executive from race sponsor WalMart. The National Anthem will be sung by Staff Sgt. Naomi Scott………The weather forecast for Sunday calls for partly sunny skies with temperatures in the mid 70’s. A perfect day for a party in the Pocono’s!
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