From the July, 2006 issue of Stock Car Insider

Last Week's Headlines

Yesterday’s Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway was chock full of the drama and action that has made NASCAR one of the most beloved sports in America. The fun started on lap 31 as Tony Stewart intentionally cut across the front of Clint Boyer’s Jack Daniel’s #07 car. Stewart’s love tap was in retaliation for Boyer forcing Stewart up high and into the wall upon exiting turn 3. The end result of Stewart’s tap cost Carl Edwards a chance of having a successful day at Pocono (where he’s already one twice), and most likely knocked Carl out of championship contention.

As one could imagine, Carl wasn’t flashing his toothy grin at Tony the rest of the day. Instead Carl gave Tony a love tap of his own while entering pit road. The tap caused Tony to spin almost completely around, and force NASCAR to black flag Edwards.

The rest of the drivers maintained their poise, and battled the tough “Tro-Val” of Pocono. The rain-canceled practice on Saturday caused troubles for most of the teams who use the practice set-up the cars in race trim. The only team not affected from the lack of practice was the #11 FedEx car driven by Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin dominated the race from start to finish. He started the race in the pole position and relinquished the lead only during pit-stop cycles. Denny’s first place finish and 8th place standing in the points has made him a front runner for Rookie of the Year.

The ever-consistent Jimmie Johnson finished in the 6th spot. Jimmie has dominated the 2006 season and has an average finish of 8th. His Hendrick teammates also faired well. Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag with a much-needed 3rd place finish while Brian Vickers finished in 4th. Gordon now sits 9th in points, and currently qualifies for the Chase for the Championship.

Tony Stewart was able to rebound from a black flag penalty served to him after the altercation on lap 31. He ended the day, and his recent streak of bad finished, with a 7th place finish that moved him back into to the top ten in driver’s points.

Dale Earnhardt Jr suffered the most yesterday when he wrecked on lap 87. Junior’s car was unable to get up to full speed coming off of turn 2 causing Dave Blaney to bump his car from behind. The bump crashed Earnhardt into the wall and out of the race.

See complete 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Race Schedule