NASCAR At Pocono Raceway: Brad Keselowski Wins Despite Badly Injured Ankle

At one point during Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, it appeared Joe Gibbs Racing was set to end the day with all three cars in the top-four while Penske Racing was out of luck at the end of the lead lap.

Rain had halted the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 on Lap 124 of 200 with Joey Logano holding on to the lead, followed by teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in third and fourth respectively. On the other hand, Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch sat 25^th and 26^th.

When the rains came to Pocono Raceway just past halfway, it appeared Joey Logano was going to have a stellar day.

After sitting on the pole and leading 43 laps, Logano was poised to win his second career Sprint Cup race and potentially solidify his spot as the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota.

Five-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson yelled at Kurt Busch on pit road following Sunday’s NASCAR race at Pocono, expressing his displeasure over contact between the two drivers as they raced hard late in the 500-mile event.

Johnson and Busch pointed and gestured at one another while making their opinions known, but there was no physical contact between the two.

Coming off a string of six races with only one top-15 finish, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to smile once again following his ninth-place finish Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Running in the top-10 for the majority of the afternoon, Earnhardt Jr. was pleased with the overall speed of the car and the team’s ability to rally back from some struggles on pit road.

Brad Keselowski’s Pocono victory on Sunday was a massive step forward in securing a potential wild card berth in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Keselowski’s win was his second of the season, which is more than any other driver from 11th to 20th in points. That means Keselowski now holds the No. 1 wild card spot and is almost assured of making the Chase as long as he can remain in the top 20 over the next five races.

Ricky Rudd once taped his eyelids open so he could race. Denny Hamlin went to Victory Lane with a torn knee ligament. And on Sunday at Pocono Raceway, Brad Keselowski added his name to the list of NASCAR drivers who toughed out an injury for the benefit of their team.

Just five days after Keselowski was airlifted to a hospital following a crash in testing, the Penske Racing driver and his swollen ankle went to Victory Lane at Pocono with an inspiring drive.

The NASCAR Pocono race is back underway after a rain shower caused a 90-minute delay with 76 laps to go.

That’s bad news for Joey Logano – who was winning when the rain came – but good news for Penske Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski, who pitted just before the delay and now will have good track position.

A typical summer rain shower has delayed the NASCAR action at Pocono Raceway, and Joey Logano is hoping it doesn’t let up.

Logano is leading on lap 124 (of 200 laps) and efforts are underway to dry the 2.5-mile triangular track. If the Joe Gibbs Racing driver holds on, he’ll be in the No. 2 Wild Card spot for the Chase with only five races remaining until the cutoff.

In light of the rain-delayed Camping World Truck Series and ARCA races at Pocono Raceway this weekend – and the threat of rain for today’s Sprint Cup Series race – @nascarcasm has designed a new logo for the “Tricky Triangle.”

You know the drill: We’re in for a long day of viewing from Pocono Raceway ahead, so hang out here and chat about all things “Tricky Triangle.”

Make sure your “auto-refresh” box is checked in order to see the latest comments from other race fans.

I continue to monitor the weather situation through central and eastern Pennsylvania. As of 11am EDT, there were a few isolated showers and storms through central PA moving east, some appeared to become more scattered through western Pennsylvania as a cold front prepares to work across the state later this afternoon. Thankfully the activity is scattered and isolated with lots of breaks in between the negative is how “juiced” the atmosphere is. Lot of available moisture to develop more showers and storms as the day wears on. I don’t think that the race is a wash and we will probably start on time, but I think as we get later into the afternoon the threat of rain increases and in my opinion we are racing to halfway and if we get beyond that then any lap after halfway is bonus.

SUNDAY:

1:00 p.m EDT

Sprint Cup Race – Mostly cloudy, scattered showers and storms - temp: 78

3:00 p.m EDT

Sprint Cup Race – Mostly cloudy, possible shower or storm - temp: 78

5:00 p.m EDT

Sprint Cup Race – Mostly cloudy, possible shower or storm - temp: 79

It’s NASCAR race day at Pocono Raceway, and we’ve got the actual race start time, the starting lineup and some other facts about the second-biggest race of the season for you below.

The question everyone wants to know, “Will we be racing Sunday or will it be Monday?” Rain is definitely a threat and I don’t think there are a lot of windows, I hope I am wrong and we see a full race with perfect weather but here is why I am not real confident that we get a full race in on Sunday.

Attached you will find print outs from two computer models I use when I put together a weather forecast. Model #1 is more aggressive with the rain as you can see more of the darker shades which indicated heavier and steadier rain for Sunday afternoon around 2pm.

Putting all of the job security rumors out of his mind, Joey Logano was able to post the fastest qualifying time of Saturday’s session at Pocono Raceway and put the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota on a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole for the second time in 2011.

Admitting the rumors of Carl Edwards taking over the No. 20 ride stayed in the back of his mind, Logano said he never let them come into play on the race track and remained focused throughout. In addition, the focus on those rumors have kept his team’s momentum out of the spotlight.

The Carl Edwards contract saga that came to an end Thursday was just the latest illustration of how distracting contract negotiations and renewals can become over the course of a season. For weeks and months, rumors swirled and questions were asked about Edwards’ future, the consequences of a move to Joe Gibbs Racing and the domino effect it would have on other free agents and teams.

Despite 11 different winners in the last 11 races, it seems the majority of the conversations throughout the NASCAR garage and media center focused on Edwards’ contract situation and the possible fallout. The discussion not only dominated the headlines, but also served as a distraction for fans, drivers and team members – especially those directly linked to the rumors.

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest race weather updates and information. Also visit my main weather page.

A testing wreck at Road Atlanta earlier this week left Brad Keselowski in the hospital and recovering from an avulsion fracture of his left ankle, multiple lacerations and a bruised body, but he remains committed to running the entire Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

At times, it seems from the outside like Roush Fenway Racing is Carl Edwards’ world and everyone else at Roush just lives in it.

It probably feels that way inside the organization sometimes, too. Edwards’ three Roush Fenway teammates were all asked about the driver’s contract extension on Friday, and offered varying degrees of what appeared to be lukewarm responses.

Team owner Jack Roush and his newly re-signed driver Carl Edwards met with members of the media Friday afternoon at Pocono Raceway to discuss the extension of their racing relationship. After months of closed-door negotiations and rumors of a possible move to Joe Gibbs Racing, the two sat next to one another full of smiles and beaming about the future.

“Words can’t describe how happy all of Roush Fenway is to be sitting here with Carl in this circumstance and having him agree for 2012 and beyond to extend his association with us,” Roush said.

Denny Hamlin said he’s “concerned” with the reliability of his Joe Gibbs Racing team’s engines heading into the Chase, but acknowledged there was “not a whole lot I can do about it.”

“Just kind of hope and pray that it holds together for us,” he said Friday at Pocono Raceway.

Following an Associated Press report earlier in the week that Danica Patrick was close to completing a deal to run the full Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports in 2012, team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. remained quiet on the rumors on Friday at Pocono Raceway.

Earnhardt Jr. said there was no news on the Danica front, adding he is not in the middle of negotiations but nothing has changed over the past week.

Paul Menard woke up with a sore throat on the day of the Brickyard 400 and figured he might have the start of a cold. But if ever had any thoughts of fighting it off, that idea disappeared after a week of celebrations, travel and interviews.

So it was no wonder, then, that Menard showed up at Pocono Raceway on Friday still sounding a bit hoarse and under the weather after a whirlwind week.

Earlier this week it was announced Nashville Superspeedway would no longer host NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races.

Some were left disappointed by the news. But not Kevin Harvick.