By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(June 12, 2011)
LONG POND, Pa.—Just when the Sprint Cup season seemed too good to be true for Carl Edwards—it was.
An engine failure 58 laps into Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway sent Edwards’ No. 99 Ford to the garage and took a large chunk out of his lead in the series standings.
“One of the valves got in an argument with something in the engine and lost,” Edwards said wryly. “We broke one valve. We don’t think it was from an over-rev or anything. We just think it was a parts failure.”
Nor did Edwards believe that the return to shifting gears in the corners at the triangular track was responsible for the problem.
“I don’t think that had anything to do with it,” Edwards said. “I was really trying hard to be easy on the engine and only shifting in (Turns) 1 and 2, and I was short-shifting into fourth (gear). I didn’t want to over-rev it.
“That’s racing, I guess. What good is the point lead if you don’t use it?”
In fact, Edwards used most of the 40-point lead he held over fourth-place finisher Jimmie Johnson when the race began. Edwards finished 37th and saw his advantage shrink to six points over Johnson and 10 over Dale Earnhardt Jr. (sixth on Sunday).
NASCAR warns Kyle Busch and Harvick during race
All NASCAR had to see was Kevin Harvick shoving Kyle Busch down the frontstretch early in Sunday’s race.
Close to each other from the outset, the drivers had raced each other hard, with Harvick repeatedly crowding Busch as they battled for position. But the last straw was the push down the frontstretch, when Busch broke out of line, and Harvick followed him to the inside, glued to the bumper of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota.
NASCAR warned both teams to stop fooling around and race, a warning that shouldn’t have been necessary, given that both drivers are on probation through June 15 for a postrace confrontation May 7 at Darlington.
That brought an indignant response from Busch, who told crew chief Dave Rogers that only one driver needed the warning.
“The 29 (Harvick) is all over me,” Busch said.
Rogers tried to calm his driver.
“Keep your composure in that racecar, bud,” Rogers radioed to Busch. “I've lost mine about four times already.”
Mall trip at Pocono indicative of Earnhardt’s growing confidence
Those looking for signs of newfound confidence in Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to go 10 miles east of Pocono Raceway to find it Saturday.
Earnhardt turned a few heads with a surprise appearance at a large outlet mall in Tannersville, Pa., where he and crew chief Steve Letarte spent the afternoon shopping. Letarte reportedly turned down a chance to go fishing to spend time with his driver.
Not surprisingly, one of the stops was at the adidas store, a brand Earnhardt endorses. The driver of the No. 88 car also made purchases at a variety of other outlets and stopped to chat briefly with Joey Logano’s crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, who also was making the rounds.
For Earnhardt fans, the surprise public appearance was a welcome signal—a coming-out party of sorts--and a symbol of the closeness and trust he has developed with Letarte, who moved from Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Chevy to Earnhardt’s No. 88 during the offseason.
As Earnhardt struggled during 2009 and 2010, he became more reclusive. Saturday’s trip to the mall was a refreshing change.
Interestingly, reporters who also were shopping at the mall (a popular stop on the Cup circuit) didn’t see a single fan ask Earnhardt for an autograph, either out of respect for his privacy—or more likely—because they didn’t recognize him in street clothes.
Earnhardt finished sixth Sunday, his eighth top 10 of the year, which equals his total for the entire 2010 season.
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