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SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2011 PAGE 3B
Newman is next free agent on block By JOHN ERZAR jerzar@timesleader.com
FRED ADAMS PHOTOS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Kurt Busch looks at his car as his crew starts to work on it in the garage.
LONG POND – Now that points leader Carl Edwards has decided to stay at Roush Fenway Racing, who will be the next driver in a contract year to decide where he’ll be in 2012? Ryan Newman, who is in the final year of his contract with Stewart-Haas Racing, could be that guy. “It’s weird how some of those things play out,” Newman said. “Sometimes it takes the biggest piece of the puzzle to fall before the rest of them can kind of fit in. This year it seems Carl was that person. “A contract year doesn’t necessarily mean re-signing or getting the best deal you can for yourself. It can also mean making a change when somebody else offers you a little bigger puzzle.” Newman raced seven full seasons for owner Roger Penske, winning eight times in 2003, before joining StewartHaas in 2009. He has won two times in 92 races with that team, which is owned by driver Tony Stewart. WHO’LL GO HOME Three drivers among the 11 who must qualify via speed will be packing up the equipment and heading home today. They’ll know their fate early. All 11 drivers will qualify among the first 18 to hit the track today. So by the time qualifying is over, the hauler should be nearly packed for the long trip back. KAHNE ON TOP
Richard Petty keeps track of his car from atop the team trailer as it runs practice laps.
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Hamlin is also second among fulltime drivers in laps led at Pocono with 574. Gordon leads all with 957, but it took his over three times more races here. And no active driver can top Hamlin’s average starting position (5.9) and finishing position (9.2) at Pocono. “It’s just one of those racetracks I have a really, really good feel for,” Hamlin said. “There’s not too many tracks where you feel when you pull in you just can’t do no wrong. (Pocono) is one of those places.”
Jimmie Johnson sits in his car as his crew works in the garage during practice .
TV SCHEDULE
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TODAY 9:30 a.m. SPEED – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying 10:30 a.m. ESPN2 – NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying 1 p.m. SPEED – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Pocono Mountains 125 3 p.m. SPEED – ARCA Series Pennsylvania 125 SUNDAY 10 a.m. SPEED – NASCAR RaceDay Noon ESPN – Sprint Cup Countdown 1 p.m. ESPN – NASCAR Sprint Cup Good Sam RV Insurance 500 8 p.m. SPEED – NASCAR Victory Lane
Jeff Gordon waits in the garage as his car is adjusted.
Race for the Chase heating up as stretch run nears By JOHN ERZAR jerzar@timesleader.com
LONG POND – The next six races, starting with Sunday’s Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway, promise to be a wild ride for some NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers. Those races will set the 12driver field for the Chase, a 10race playoff to decide the champion to conclude the season. And one slip – or in Clint Bowyer’s case two – can really change things quickly. “Those two DNFS in a row killed us,” said Bowyer, referring to finishes of 36th at Daytona
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Nick Swisher had two hits, including an RBI double off Jon Lester (11-5) to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Lester, who had won five consecutive starts against the Yankees, allowed three runs on five hits and four walks, striking out seven in six-plus innings. David Ortiz homered and Josh Reddick had a pair of hits for Boston, which had been a season-high three games in front of New York on July 24. They still led by 21⁄2 on the morning of July 30 before the Yankees swept the Orioles in a
MATTIOLI
and 35th at Kentucky to start July. “That took us from seventh, eighth in points to 12th outside looking in.” The top-10 in driver points after the 26th race of the season on Sept. 10 at Richmond International Raceway get places in the Chase. The final two wild-card spots will be determined by the number of victories by drivers ranked 11-20 in the points standings. Ties for the wild card are broken via points. Right now, the wild-card spots would go to Denny Hamlin (11th) and Paul Menard (14th), who jumped into position by
winning last Sunday at Indianapolis. David Ragan, who is 16th in points, is the only other driver ranked 11-20 with a victory. “The wild cards are obviously taken, it looks to me like,” Bowyer said. “We’ve got to focus on gaining as many points as possible in these next six races to get ourselves back in. I think that’s our best chance of making the Chase, consistency and running up front.” Bowyer, who drives the No. 33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, has had neither at Pocono. He has five top-10 finishes in his 11 races at the 2.5-mile tri-
oval. But he also a couple of poor finishes, albeit early in his Cup career and none the last three seasons. His average finish at Pocono is 16.4. Even five-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who is second in points, knows anything can happen. “This championship is anyone’s championship,” Johnson said. “Then the fight for that bubble spot is pretty open too, it seems like. I think you’re going to see anybody who’s near the Chase and transferring into it looking for consistency and some wins.”
doubleheader to start their winning streak. But the teams came into the three-game series at Fenway Park tied for the best record in the AL, both 68-42. The game brought out the stars, with Seinfeld co-creator Larry David and Spike Lee rooting for the Yankees and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and Peter Farrelly, of the filmmaking brothers, pulling for the home team. It was a pleasant 71 degrees for the first pitch, and the crowd of 38,006 was the 688th consecutive sellout at Fenway Park. The fans saw Lester outlast Colon, but only long enough to run into trouble himself in the sixth. The Red Sox lefthander walk-
ed No. 9 hitter Eduardo Nunez and gave up back-to-back singles to Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson to score one run before Mark Teixeira walked to load the bases. The Yankees tied it on Robinson Cano’s 4-6-3 doubleplay, and then took a 3-2 lead on Swisher’s double down the thirdbase line. Colon was pulled after throwing 94 pitches in 4 2-3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk. He gave up Jacoby Ellsbury’s RBI double in the third and Ortiz’s solo homer in the fourth, then loaded the bases in the fifth before Boone Logan (3-2) struck out Adrian Gonzalez to end the threat. Logan pitched one inning in all, giving up one hit while strik-
ing out one. Notes: Yankees RHP Mark Prior struck out two and hit a batter during a scoreless inning in the Gulf Coast League, where he is rehabbing from a strained groin and back soreness. ... Game 2 of the series will feature CC Sabathia against John Lackey. Sabathia is 16-5 with a 2.55 ERA this season, but he is 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA against Boston. Including the playoffs, he is 6-10 with a 4.40 ERA against the Red Sox in his career, most of it with Cleveland. Lackey has won four straight decisions. He is 7-9 with a 4.33 ERA against the Yankees in his career. Lackey has faced the Yankees once this year, getting a win on April 8 despite allowing six runs in five innings.
miles per hour echoed in the distance, Mattioli said “nobody lives forever.” “My wife and I felt that it’s about time I got the hell out of here. As of today, I am resigning all my positions here at Pocono Raceway. We’re going to take it a little easy,” Mattioli said. Mattioli said he had been contemplating this move for a while. “It’s just something that evolved and evolved and evolved. When I realized that my three grandchildren were capable, then I started thinking heavy about it,” Mattioli said. His grandson, Brandon Igdalsky, becomes president and chief executive officer of the track. Another grandson, Nicholas, becomes chief operating officer and executive vice president. Brandon and Nicholas’ sister Ashley was named secretary/treasurer. “Brandon is well trained. He knows this track like the back of his hand,” Mattioli said. The news came seemingly out of nowhere to the media, the track’s employees and even the newly promoted grandkids. “You learned about it when I did,” Brandon Igdalsky, 35, of Long Pond, said. He said he turned to his brother and asked if he was hearing the same thing. “Total shock,” Igdalsky said. Mattioli has been good for NASCAR, credited with introducing the sport to the Northeastern United States and growing its popularity on Wall Street. The first NASCAR race was run in 1974, three years after Indy cars made their debut at Pocono. The sport has also been very good for Mattioli. “We started here with $48 in our account and we’ve built a track with a net worth of $600 million,” he said. Over the years, rumors that Mattioli would sell the track to a rival owner or that it would lose one of its two races. Neither has occurred. Instead, Mattioli has continued investing in the track. Whether it was the longest urinal in the world – dubbed the “Long John” -- or the largest solar farm at a sporting venue in the nation or bucket seats in the
NASCAR
NOTEBOOK Kasey Kahne led the field in the second practice session Friday, topping out at 167.520 mph in his No. 4 Toyota. He was 32nd in the morning practice. Mark Martin (166.834) was second followed by Kevin Harvick (166.756). HOW THEY FARED Here are the average starting positions at Pocono Raceway for the drivers in the top-10 in points. Starting positions are rounded to the nearest tenth: 1. Carl Edwards, 21.6; 2. Jimmie Johnson, 8.1; 3. Kevin Harvick, 20.2; 4. Kyle Busch, 15.6; 5. Matt Kenseth, 19.2; 6. Kurt Busch, 11.9; 7. Jeff Gordon, 10.4; 8. Ryan Newman, 9.3; 9. Tony Stewart, 10.8; 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 15.4 ARCA POLE DECIDED Max Gresham, an 18-year-old from Georgia, won the pole Friday for today’s ARCA Pennsylvania 125. Gresham recorded a speed of 168.114 mph in only his 10th ARCA race of his career. It was his second career pole. Ty Dillon will start second and Casey Roderick, who was fastest in practice, will start third. Tim George Jr., who won the ARCA race in June, will start seventh. The June race lasted only 59 of the scheduled 80 laps due to rain and fog. Today’s race is 125 miles/50 laps as is the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
G O O D S A M I N S U R A N C E 5 0 0 Q U A L I F Y I N G O R D E R
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Today’s qualifying order was based on speeds during Friday’s first practice, with the slowest driver getting the first qualifying position for today. Driver..................................Number/Make 1. Geoff Bodine (s).......No. 35 Chevrolet 2. Jason White.......................No. 32 Ford 3. Erik Darnell (s) .................No. 46 Ford 4. Scott Speed (s) .................No. 37 Ford 5. T.J. Bell (s) ...............No. 50 Chevrolet 6. Mike Skinner (s)............No. 60 Toyota 7. Andy Lally ..........................No. 71 Ford 8. Denny Hamlin ................No. 11 Toyota 9. Joe Nemechek (s) ........No. 87 Toyota 10. Travis Kvapil (s) ..............No. 38 Ford 11. David Stremme (s).No. 30 Chevrolet 12. Jamie McMurray .......No. 1 Chevrolet 13. Todd Bodine (s)...........No. 66 Toyota 14. David Gilliland .................No. 34 Ford 15. Robby Gordon ...............No. 7 Dodge 16. Juan Montoya.........No. 42 Chevrolet 17. Landon Cassill ........No. 51 Chevrolet 18. J.J. Yeley (s) ...................No. 55 Ford 19. Bobby Labonte ............No. 47 Toyota 20. Casey Mears ...............No. 13 Toyota 21. Kevin Harvick .........No. 29 Chevrolet 22. Jeff Gordon ............No. 24 Chevrolet 23. Clint Bowyer...........No. 33 Chevrolet 24. Jeff Burton ..............No. 31 Chevrolet 25. Martin Truex Jr. ..........No. 56 Toyota 26. Joey Logano ...............No. 20 Toyota 27. Greg Biffle........................No. 16 Ford 28. Dave Blaney...........No. 36 Chevrolet 29. David Reutimann ........No. 00 Toyota 30. Dale Earnhardt Jr. .No. 88 Chevrolet 31. Brian Vickers ...............No. 83 Toyota 32. Kasey Kahne .................No. 4 Toyota 33. Marcos Ambrose...............No. 9 Ford 34. Tony Stewart ..........No. 14 Chevrolet 35. Regan Smith ..........No. 78 Chevrolet 36. Matt Kenseth....................No. 17 Ford 37. Brad Keselowski ...........No. 2 Dodge 38. Kyle Busch ..................No. 18 Toyota 39. Paul Menard...........No. 27 Chevrolet 40. David Ragan......................No. 6 Ford 41. Jimmie Johnson.....No. 48 Chevrolet 42. Mark Martin ..............No. 5 Chevrolet 43. Carl Edwards ..................No. 99 Ford 44. A.J. Allmendinger ...........No. 43 Ford 45. Kurt Busch ...................No. 22 Dodge 46. Ryan Newman .......No. 39 Chevrolet
Speed 158.837 159.821 160.439 160.519 162.426 162.475 162.690 163.348 163.408 163.598 163.785 163.905 164.147 164.290 164.369 164.462 164.899 164.962 164.971 165.798 165.926 165.997 166.000 166.466 166.553 166.596 166.599 166.636 166.713 166.815 166.867 167.218 167.302 167.361 167.429 167.517 167.679 167.976 168.039 168.108 168.284 168.300 168.360 168.517 168.621 170.026
(s) – required to qualify for the race on speed. Others are locked into Sunday’s 43-car field via owners points.
grandstands, Mattioli has tried to do what’s best for the fans. His generosity away from the track has also been noteworthy. Among his contributions in the region include: $1 million for the trauma center at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown; $1.5 million to Pocono Medical Center for the Mattioli Emergency Wing; $1 million to East Stroudsburg University; and $1 million for the downtown Stroudsburg beautification project. On July 4th he and Rose were honored at the annual commemoration ceremonies of the Battle of Wyoming at the Wyoming Monument in Wyoming. The Mattiolis, who have been married for 63 years, also donated $100,000 toward a monument. restoration project after he heard about the 2009 lightning strike that caused severe damage to the historic marker. Brian France, NASCAR’s chairman and chief executive officer, issued a statement praising the Mattiolis and wished them “all the best in retirement” and extended “heartfelt gratitude for their many significant contributions to our sport.”