Notebook: Pocono moves Cup qualifying to Saturday

Notebook: Pocono moves Cup qualifying to Saturday


Pocono Raceway will join Martinsville Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway in moving to Saturday qualifying for Sunday Sprint Cup races.
Saturday qualifying will add more weekend activity for fans, speedway president Brandon Igdalsky said.
Pocono has ARCA races on Saturday before both of its Cup races as well as a Camping World Truck Series race on the Saturday of its August weekend.
Cup teams likely would get more practice Friday to compensate for the lost time on Saturday.
Elliott hooks up with Phoenix Racing
Bill Elliott will drive in at least 18 Sprint Cup races for Phoenix Racing, starting with the Daytona 500, a team spokesman confirmed Monday.
Elliott, 55, has driven a part-time schedule for Wood Brothers Racing the past four years, but the Wood Brothers are working to put together a deal for Trevor Bayne, leaving Elliott to look for another Cup ride.
Elliott, the 1988 Cup champion won the Daytona 500 in 1985 and 1987.
Phoenix Racing qualified for 28 of the 36 Cup events last year to finish 39th in the owner standings. Because it did not finish in the top 35 in owner points, Elliott will need to make the Daytona 500 on speed, through his qualifying race finish or a past champion’s provisional. Although Elliott is eligible for the Budweiser Shootout, the team is not currently planning on competing in that event.
Elliott started 40th and finished 27th in the 2010 Daytona 500, the first of 12 races he drove with the Wood Brothers last year. His best finish was 15th in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
With 821 career starts, Elliott ranks 15th all time with 44 career victories. His last full-time season was 2003.
International Motorsports Hall of Fame to welcome White, Maurice Petty
Rex White, who won the 1960 Cup championship and 28 races during a nine-year career, famed engine builder Maurice Petty and legendary team co-owner John Holman are three of this year’s five-person class scheduled for induction in April into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.
White, 81, won six times, with 25 top-five finishes in 40 starts to beat Richard Petty for the 1960 title.
Maurice Petty made 26 starts as a driver (1960-64), with a career-best third-place finish at Spartanburg, S.C., but is best known as the head engine builder at Petty Enterprises, where his engines powered more than 200 victories and more than 750 top-10 finishes for the team’s drivers.
A seven-time Mechanic of the Year selection, Petty’s engines helped carry brother Richard to five of his seven Cup titles.
Holman was one-half of the famed Holman-Moody team that won two Cup titles (1968-69) with driver David Pearson, as well as 96 races with more than 30 different drivers.
Brian Redman (Formula One/Can-Am) and legendary Sprint Car driver Jan Opperman complete the 2011 class.
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service