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Carl Edwards paced the field to take the pole for the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen. Edwards’ Aflac Ford Fusion will be joined in the front row by the #42 Chevy of Juan Pablo Montoya.

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Marcos Ambrose is the name on everyone’s lips again this week because it’s road course racing on the NASCAR circuit.

Ambrose may have won Infineon in Sonoma, California earlier this year but turned his car off in an ill attempt to save fuel under caution.

In two starts at the track on the Sprint Cup side he has finishes of 3rd and 2nd. He’s also won the last two Nationwide Series events at the track.

No one has more wins at Watkins Glen then Tony Stewart with 5. Jeff Gordon is second with 4wins and oddly enough Mark Martin has 3 wins at the track. Of the three Stewart is likely the best bet as he’s got 7 top-5’s and 9 top-10’s in 11 starts. Martin has 10 top-5’s and 16 top-10’s while Gordon has 6 and 8 in 17 starts.

Kyle Busch is likely to be overlooked by many this weekend by the driver of the #18 Toyota Camry has one a race and finished in the top-10 four times in his 5 career starts.

Could it be back to back weeks for Ford? Carl Edwards has never won a road course event at the Sprint Cup level but did win the Nationwide event at Road America earlier this year. He’s finished 19, 5, 8, 9, and 3rd in his five starts at the Glen. He’s a prime candidate to steal one this week.

Is this the week Juan Pablo Montoya returns to victory lane? Montoya won’t silence anyone saying he can’t win on an oval should he win on Sunday but it is a win never the less. Montoya has been snake bitten in the previous two weeks at Indianapolis and Pocono. In three starts at Watkins Glen he’s finished 39, 4, 6 with a crash taking him out of the 2007 event. He’s led only two laps however.

If you are in fantasy leagues then you’ve probably heard about Boris Said and Robby Gordon. Said is driving the #83 Toyota in place of Reed Sorenson while Gordon skipped last weeks event at Pocono in order to practice at Road Atlanta in preparation for Watkins Glen. Gordon finished 2nd at Sonoma.

Of course Ron Fellows, Tony Ave and Andy Lally are also in this event but I didn’t bold any of their names for a reason.

Anyone like that Sam Hornish pick last week? Almost stole one with that. I suppose predicting Hornish to come home with a 11th place finish. Well don’t pick him this week. Despite being a former Indy car champion he’s never fared well on road courses. In two starts at the Glen he’s finished 32 and 36 with crashes and spins a plenty.

If you are looking for a hidden gem here is one in AJ Allmendinger.

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Rain, a terrifying crash and late pit strategy were all a part of Sunday’s event at Pocono. In the end Greg Biffle took two tires and cruised to a victory while team owner Jack Roush was hospitalized due to injuries suffered in a plane crash earlier this week.

Biffles last wins came in 2008 when he had back to back wins at New Hampshire and Dover to start that years Chase races. He had ran well last week at Indianapolis finishing third after taking four tires to the two tires the cars in front of him took.

At Pocono it was a reversal of those pit decisions that ultimately found the 40 year-old driver in victory lane. Biffle joked after the race that he hadn’t won in so long that he forgot what to do.

Biffle’s win was the first for Ford this year, and the first since Jamie McMurray’s win at Talladega last fall. On three occasions during Sunday’s race the driver of the #16 3M car took just two tires for track position. The final time placed him in second place behind Sam Hornish who had stayed out hoping for an early conclusion of the race due to rain.

Prior to the final round of pit stops Jimmie Johnson wrecked Kurt Busch in one of the three straightawayays on the track. Busch hit an inside wall on the track while Elliott Sadler who was running behind the two collided head on to a separate wall himself.

After a  lengthy red flag due to rain Biffle ran away from the field when the green flag dropped for the final time. Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards who also took just two tires finished second and third.

Prior to the last round of pit stops it looked like Jeff Gordon was the car to beat. His teammate Johnson looked good early on leading the long stretches of green that made up the first half of the race but faded a bit in the second half, thanks in part to pit strategy by others.

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Let the questions start. Jeff Gordon had once made comments he didn’t want to race forever. Now that will be put to the test. Gordon’s crew chief Steve Letarte has reportedly signed an extension that will pay him thru the 2014 season.

Letarte has been the crew cheif of the #24 Dupont Chevy since September 2005 and in 2007 helped Gordon to 6 wins, the most Gordon had in a season dating back to 2001.

The concerns about the status of Gordon’s back have died down this year and despite the team not winning since Texas last season they have played bridesmaid and nearly won on multiple occasions.

So will Letarte still be on the pit box of Gordon in 2014? Let the questions begin.

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Even with a move to the #47 Toyota Camry at JTG Racing former NASCAR Champion Bobby Labonte will not be a regular contender in 2011. Labonte was able to move to the #47 car after current driver Marcos Ambrose opted to leave for Richard Petty Motorsports.

Oddly enough it was Labonte who was racing for Yates Racing in 2009 which merged with Petty Motorsports and in turn pushed Labonte to a tenure at TRG.

It’s been years since Labonte was last a regular force and even in 2005, his last year with Joe Gibbs Racing, he was more of an after thought. His last win came in 2003 at Homestead when it was still called the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Since that win he’s responded with 13 top-5’s in 236 races. He’s led a total of 205 laps or 292 less laps led then in that 2003 season.

When Bobby Labonte moved to Petty Enterprises to drive the #43 car instantly everyone in the announcers booth proclaimed he would be back and would be a chase contender, most notably Darrel Waltrip.

Things didn’t happen that way. Sure Labonte’s equipment wasn’t as good at Petty but it’s not as if he had burned the tires off the car during his last two years at Gibbs Racing either. After some time at Petty he went to Yates Racing and when sponsorship dollars weren’t there the team opted to replace him with a developmental driver at Atlanta. A track Labonte had won 6 times and finished twice on two other occasions.

In total Labonte raced seven events int he #71 car including the last four of the season.

While the equipment drop off may be a viable excuse it’s also concerning that Lab

onte has show little to no signs that he

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It’s almost a yearly idea that Paul Menard will change teams. Could 2011 be the year that the Wisconsin born driver, and son of Menards founder, joins Richard Childress Racing? Paul’s father carriers a large stick when it comes to NASCAR because he can provide valuable sponsorship dollars to field a car for an entire race season. The older Menard has been able to provide better rides for his son thanks to his financial backing but it’s likely that Paul would be in the sport one way or the other given his reasonable amount of talent.

Menard joined Yates Racing for the 2009 season after a stint with DEI. Success wasn’t aplenty but the driver said he intended to race the full 2010 season with the team as per his contract. In that time Yates Racing merged with Richard Petty Motorsports but still left Menard in the #98 Ford Fusion for the 2010 season.

His father John Menard Jr has been linked with RCR for years. Even though his son said he wanted to stay at RPM there were rumors he would RCR as the fourth car thanks to his fathers multi-million dollar sponsorship.

For what it’s worth you have to give Menard credit for wanting to honor his contract considering the merger would have given him an easy out if he did want to change teams. For that he was rewarded in a way, being given a full time Nationwide ride by Jack Roush.

The 2010 season has been the best of Menards career. His best Sprint Cup finish this year came in the fourth race of the season at Atlanta when he came home fifth. He’s also managed a career best three top-10’s after just two in the first 111 races of his career.

On the Nationwide side things are also looking up. The 29 year-old driver has ten top-10’s this year in 20 races after just nine over 27 races the last two years. With 15 races left in the season it appears Menard will top his career best of sixteen top-10’s in 2006.

Things have been on the rise for Menard, one of the quieter drivers on the circuit. Thus far he’s stated that he planned to return to RPM if teammate A.J. Allmendiger did. RPM has been working hard to get a deal finalized with Allmendiger and with a relative lack of remaining openings it appears one should get done.

That doesn’t discredit the great runs that Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick have had a RCR. Last year the RCR cars were well off the pace but seemed to pick up momentum down the stretch. This year the RCR cars have been good enough to run with the Hendrick Motorsports cars and the Joe Gibbs racing Toyotas.

The biggest question a move to RCR would bring is the team structure. Menard would again have to familiarize himself with a new crew which would be made up of lesser talent then that of the 29, 31 or 33 cars.

At RCR Menard is the fourth car. At RPM Menard has the opportunity to be the face of an organization surrounded by drivers like himself. I personally expect Menard to return to the #98 car in 2011 with an improved crew. After all how many times was Bobby Labonte linked to RCR and nothing happened outside of a few Nationwide runs?

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Four wins in nine starts at a track are numbers no one cay stay away from. Denny Hamlin has those numbers at Pocono making him the obvious favorite this coming weekend. Hamlin has won the last two Sprint Cup races at the triangle track in addition to a sweep in his rookie season of 2006. In addition to his four wins, Hamlin has claimed a total of seven top-10’s and twice has finished third.

Coming off a good run at Indianapolis Tony Stewart has some momentum. Aside from two wins at the “tricky triangle” the driver of the #14 Chevy has finished in the top-10 an impressive 17 times in 23 races.  In Stewart’s last four races at Pocono he’s finished second, first, tenth and third.

Jeff Gordon is still looking to break into the win column this year. Gordon who hasn’t won since Texas last year has won four previous events at Pocono. Gordon was involved in a crash at Pocono during the first event this year but had finished in the top-10 in the three events before that. Overall Gordon has 16 top-5’s and 24 top-10’s in 35 starts.

Even with the way Jimmie Johnson and crew performed at Indianapolis it’s impossible to write a race preview and not mention him. Johnson has made 17 starts at Pocono and has won twice. He’s also got 6top-5’s and 11 top-10’s.

After weeks of telling everyone to stay away from the Ford camp my suggestions of Edwards, Kenseth and Biffle last week weren’t too far off. Biffle ran second, Edwards was seventh and Kenseth was a disappointing twelfth after a good early showing.  With that being said I’m saying pick Carl Edwards. The Ford cars have been showing improvements in recent weeks and Edwards does a pretty good job of getting around Pocono with 2 career wins in 11 starts and a total of 4 top-10’s on his resume.

If you really like Fords then you could also go with Kasey Kahne who has a win and 2 poles at the track. Kahne has been up and down all season but has finished in the top-10 in four of the last six Sprint Cup events this year.

As with other tracks with long straightaways Kurt Busch is as good as they come. Busch has two career wins at Pocono and has led laps in the last two races resulting in finishes of ninth and sixth.

Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Burton are all solid bets for 15th or better this week but none have exactly wowed at Pocono. Nor has Dale Earnhardt Jr or Greg Biffle.

It will be interesting to see which Kyle Busch shows up in PA. Busch ran second earlier this year to his teammate Hamlin but in 11 starts has an average finish of 19.6 with a handful of mid 20 runs. Busch is a good gamble for those hoping to win big but you have to be accepting of the risk in picking him if he does poorly.

Last weeks winner Jamie McMurray has just 3 top-10’s in 15 starts while teammate Juan Pablo Montoya has finished in the top-10 in his last three starts. Perhaps this week he avenges a disappointing day at Indy?

Lastly we come to Sam Hornish. Hornish has five career starts at Pocono and has finished 42, 26, 10, 4, 11 in them. With the numbers on the right side being better then those on the left perhaps Hornish is the best of the buy low drivers.

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On the heels of concerns about the survivability of Richard Petty Motorsports it appears the organization has indeed one driver on tap for the 2011 season. Marcos Ambrose, whose contract with JTG comes to an end this year, will join RPM piloting the #9 car.

This all comes after there were questions raised earlier this week to whether the George Gillette owned organization had drivers for any of it’s cars next season. With Kasey Kahne leaving the #9 and Elliott Sadler on his way out the talk surrounding RPM has been attempts to resign driver A.J. Allmendinger who would likely return to the #43 car. If Allmendinger is resigned it’s likely that Paul Menard returns to the #98 but there is still a chance he could leave for Richard Childress Racing.

The results this season haven’t been what Ambrose and the rest of the #47 crew had hoped for. The biggest blunder came at Infineon Raceway when Ambrose turned his engine off while leading the race in an ill advised attempt to save fuel.

Last season Amrbose posted four top-5’s and seven top-10’s. This season those numbers have fallen to zero and two.

The fact that the JTG race team is supported by Michael Waltrip Racing is not lost on anyone. In fact it’s almost hard to remember that Ambrose is not actually a driver for Michael Waltrip Racing.

But is a move to RPM an upgrade or just another sideways step?

Thus far it’s hard to tell. The upside at RPM is obviously far greater then at JTG with the possibility of four full time teammates and the partnership that has been cultivated with Roush-Fenway Racing. But what remains to be seen is just how the teams at Petty Motorsports will be constructed. Currently the organization is struggeling to find any success outside of the #9 car and how much of that is a result of the driver also is a question.

Paul Menard started the 2010 season out relatively strong yet has done little since. A.J. Allmendinger has had spurts where he looked capable of winning a race but  more often then not finds himself in the back kof the pack. The talk about the #19 team of Elliott Sadler is how close they came to winning the 2009 Daytona 500 which comes across as some sort of excuse for their poor results since. Kasey Kahne has done fairly well this year when you consider he’s dealt with engine troubles, is leaving the team and the crew may be unemployed coming this winter.

When it’s all done though one has to look at the bigger picture. Ambrose sees that the opportunity to be competitive is far greater at RPM then JTG. At RPM he joins an organization that has the ability to be four cars deep who has put together some solid yet inconsistent runs. At JTG he’s on a team asking Michael Waltrip for parts.

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Stock Car racing invades the hallowed ground of Indy cars again this weekend. With the Sprint Cup series at Indianapolis Motors Speedway little is certain.

The biggest question coming to Indy is always concerns over tire-ware. Last years race avoided most of that but did follow the usual trend of follow the leader for 400 miles.

Much was made about Juan Pablo Montoya’s pit road speeding penalty but the truth of the matter was he was speeding so maybe there shouldn’t of been any discussion on the matter. Montoya is a good bet despite his struggles this year based purely on last year and his history with the track. There will be a bunch of eyes on Montonya who welcomed his third child earlier this week.

In additon to Montoya I’ve found myself conflicted on my picks this weekend but I do have three drivers I am quite comfortable picking.

Last year’s race was won by Jimmie Johnson which marked the third time driver 48 has taken the checkers. I believe the highlight of last years race was the end when the announcer stated to stick around to “watch Jimmie kiss the bricks.” To which the guy sitting next to me replied “He can kiss my bricks.”

His teammate Jeff Gordon is the only driver with more wins and while this may seem like a broken record… Gordon has a great chance to break his winless streak which is currently at a career long 48 races.

Local favorite Tony Stewart is also another rather easy pick. While Stewart hasn’t run as well as last year he has 2 wins, 5 top-5’s and 7 top-10’s in 11 career starts at the track. In addition he has finished in the top 10 in five of his last 6 races this season.

After that things get a bit mucky.

Kevin Harvick remains a very strong pick and there is always Kyle Busch.

Once you start getting off the beaten path things get a little tricky. One driver I am interested in watching this weekend is Joey Logano who ran a very strong 12th last year as a rookie. Logano has been all over the map this year in terms of finishes. He’s been a top-10 car at some tracks and a field filler at others but if you are looking for a dark horse or a buy low guy the 20-year old may be it.

The tide may be starting to turn for the Ford teams. Matt Kenseth is one driver who has had some success at Indy and even for the less then best car Kenseth usually gets the most out of it. He has 6 top-10’s in 10 career starts as well as 4 top-5’s. His teammate Carl Edwards will have the pressure on him this weekend and maybe it will be what ails the 99 car’s two year struggle. Edwards has a top-5 and a 9th place finish in five stops. It’s almost surprisingly to note that Kenseth, Edwards, and Greg Biffle have led a combined 43 laps at Indy in 22 starts. Ouch.

Mark Martin is also a driver of interest. Last year he ran second most of the race and finished there. If Martin is to show he has anything this year this is a big test. He has 6-top 5’s in his career at Indy but hasn’t had a top-10 this year since May 28th at Charlotte.

Hopefully this years race is more exciting then last years. To sum up last years race I turn it over to Ryan Newman.

“(Indianapolis Motor Speedway) is just flat and it’s fast. Our race cars aren’t made for that. Our race cars aren’t designed for that. They designed this race car to put it on a racetrack, and it works here, it just doesn’t put on a great race.”

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With Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski again creating a stir on the track Saturday night I couldn’t help but wonder who the biggest winners and losers were in the latest round of car wrecking.

Winner: Nationwide Series

The NASCAR Nationwide Series comes out ahead here. Even after you take into account the negative media backlash that there will be the Series does get much needed press. It gives fans who typically only tune in for Sunday races a reason to watch upcoming Nationwide races and will even appeal to those who have little to no interest for a few weekends.

The series had primarily turned into a Sprint Cup series feeding ground for wins. With drivers such as Edwards, Keselowki , Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano picking off wins from less talented drivers and less funded teams.

Loser: NASCAR

While the Nationwide Series gets a boost here it’s NASCAR as a whole that comes up in the red. The sport will find it difficult to determine an appropriate punishment since this is the second notable incident this year and because Keselowski had made contact in the previous set of turns thus giving Edwards some reason to bump him coming to the line.

Either way the body cannot satisfy everyone here. Some will want them to suspend Edwards for multiple races, others will claim that he was just racing hard for a win. Where does the sanctioning body draw the line on this one?

If they penalize Edwards too harshly they take a step back from their hands off approach and in turn are taking the control back out of the drivers hards. If they just slap Edwards on the wrist they are doing nothing to stop this type of driving in the future.

Losers: Rest of the Nationwide drivers

Equally as bad will be the effect on other Nationwide drivers. It turns the focus completely off of them, their cars and their teams’ efforts. The amount of talk generated by and about them will be minimal in the next week and a half and there is nothing they can do about it.

Winner: Discount Tires/Aflac

The best advertising is in your face and constant. This clip will be shown over and over putting these sponsors in the faces of millions repetitively. Obviously Discount Tires gets a bigger boost since there is a bigger backlash against Edwards for his wrecking of Keselowski to end the event but something tells me Aflac will not be hurting too bad on this one.

With Keselowki being the victim at the end it puts him in a more positive light and since there are millions of motorist who need tires will put the name of Discount Tires on their mind.

Loser: Ford

Edwards ended the car manufacturers win-less streak a few weeks ago at Elkhart Lake but it wasn’t until last night that they got a win on an oval. Sadly the win wasn’t without controversy so it doesn’t fully show that the car maker can get a car to victory lane without question on a regular bases.

Loser: Carl Edwards

Carl Edwards was already facing heat and backlash following the incident between the two at Atlanta earlier this year. Now he’s reignited the questions about his driving style and his views about safety with other drivers.

Edwards probably won’t have won the race had he not spun Keselowki and while he may have lost the race by the bump and run Keselowki did to him few are viewing that as acceptable retaliation.

Edwards can say it was an accident at Atlanta in the #12 getting airborne. In light of that maybe he should have used a cooler head and simply accepted second place. Then again one has to wonder if the announcers and fans would have called him soft for not returning the favor to Keselowki? Either way Edwards was put into a no win situation here and much like NASCAR would have let down one side of the fan base with whatever option he choose.

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