Rating the Pocono 400: 4 Stars ****

A weird, largely confusing day at Pocono Raceway ended with Joey Logano getting his first full-length Spring Cup Series win as he nudged Mark Martin out of the way with four laps to go. The first race on Pocono’s new pavement gets a 4 Star Rating.

This was a huge win for Logano. He set a new track record with his qualifying speed Saturday to win the pole, and then he won the race Sunday that was littered with pit road speeding penalties.

We’ll get to the speeding issues in a bit, but Logano went from possibly losing his ride in the #20 car at the end of the year to a legitimate Chase contender in just one weekend.

He now sits tied for 14^th in the points standings with Ryan Newman. Newman holds the tie-breaker because he has one more top-five finish than Logano, but those are the two drivers currently battling for the second wild-card spot. That’s not bad for a guy who came into the weekend with no wins, no poles, no top fives and just four top 10s in 13 races.

The way he won the race was also impressive. A debris caution within the last 10 laps of the race forced a late-race restart. Mark Martin lined up next to Logano and took the lead. Most people probably thought the veteran Martin would not get beat by a 22-year-old Logano who had just one rain-shortened win in 2009 at New Hampshire to his credit.

Instead, Logano closed in after Martin bobbled in Turn 3 and moved Martin up the track just enough in Turn 1 to take the lead and never look back. Logano had the best car this weekend, and he was able to close the deal.

That could be huge for him heading into the summer stretch of the season. Drivers often really struggle to break into Victory Lane for the first time, or even for the first time in a long time i.e. Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

However, once a driver gets a win, they tend to carry that momentum for several weeks and perhaps the rest of the season. Brad Keselowski did so last year after his win in the spring at Kansas Speedway.

As for the rest of the race, the uncertainties about the track after the repave proved to be nothing more than worries. The racing was fine for the most part, and it was better than what we see in the first races at many other tracks after a repave.

But, the racing took a back seat to all of the confusion on pit road for much of the first part of the race. NASCAR handed out 22 pit road speeding penalties throughout the race. NASCAR moved the timing lines during the repave, but many teams failed to realize the difference before the race, causing mass confusion as driver after driver served a penalty.

The penalized drivers are lucky this happened at Pocono. Many did not lose a lap, but a ton of cars would’ve fallen multiple laps down if this had happened at a short track.

People have debated, vehemently in some cases, where to place the blame in this situation. Most, if not all of the blame, should rest on the teams’ shoulders because they failed to include that detail in their pre-race checklists.

Sure, NASCAR could’ve made an announcement at the drivers meeting or something, but the pit road map was available to teams all weekend. Some checked the map and others didn’t. The ones that didn’t check felt those consequences Sunday.

Now the series will head to another repaved track at Michigan International Speedway. Drivers sped into Turn 1 at Pocono at nearly 210 mph, and the speeds heading into Turn 1 at Michigan could be even higher.

That should certainly make for some tense qualifying laps. Hopefully the race is just as intense.

Kurt Busch has been the most interesting driver of 2012, but for all the wrong reasons

Although Jimmie Johnson has won three of the last four weekends and Mark Martin leads the Sprint Cup Series with three poles at 54 years of age, Kurt Busch has drawn the most attention this season.

Unfortunately, he has drawn exclusively negative attention of late, and that will continue for at least another week.

NASCAR suspended Busch until June 13 for remarks he made to a media member following the Nationwide race Saturday at Dover International Speedway.

Busch was already on probation from an incident on pit road with Ryan Newman’s #39 team after the Southern 500 a few weeks ago at Darlington so his antics last weekend sent him to the bench for this week’s race at Pocono Raceway.

Obviously, this isn’t anything new for Busch. Well, the suspension is something new, but he has filled his career with regrettable moments that keep him from being lauded for his driving ability as a NASCAR champion.

He lost his first Cup ride a year after his 2004 championship run in the #97 car for Jack Roush after he was cited for reckless driving.

Busch quickly found a ride with Penske Racing and had several incidents that eventually led up to a profanity-laced rant at ESPN reporter Dr. Jerry Punch during the final race of the season at Homestead.

That rant cost him his seat in the #22 car, so this year he had to make do with the mostly unsponsored #51 car furnished by the singe-car operation of Phoenix Racing.

Busch could have used the setback to collect himself and make a second career out of returning to the top of the sport, but this suspension likely rules out the possibility of that happening any time soon.

People will long debate whether Busch’s penalty was too harsh or too lenient. Either way, Busch’s previous incidents clearly factored into the severity of his penalty, the same way they did when his younger brother, Kyle Busch, was parked for the Texas Nationwide and Cup races after he drove Ron Hornaday Jr. into the wall during the truck race.

In this sport, drivers can act foolishly and get away with it to a certain extent. Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski twice in 2010, but NASCAR placed Edwards on probation only after the second wreck.

Fans might also remember that he faked throwing a punch at teammate Matt Kenseth following the fall 2007 race at Martinsville.

Since those incidents, Edwards has not had any problems and nearly won the 2011 Sprint Cup Series championship. He is also one of the most outgoing and polite drivers in the sport.

Perhaps Edwards learned his lessons and matured beyond the extracurricular games that tend to crop up during a long season.

That’s part of what makes Busch’s most recent actions even more surprising than the fact that NASCAR suspended him.

Busch is a Sprint Cup Series champion. That type of success carries a lot of weight in NASCAR. Champions rise above other drivers in the sport both on a competitive level and a respect level. Busch’s repeated mishaps simply aren’t fitting of a champion in this, or any, sport. had absolutely nothing to gain by arguing with reporters after the Nationwide race and a heck of a lot to lose.

What makes difficult to understand are instances such as the Nationwide race three weeks ago at Iowa Speedway. He acted like a gentleman after the race even after he was punted on the final lap while running third. He ended up finishing fifth and had to make a remarkable save to do so.

So one week Busch is polite and the next he is threatening to beat up reporters.

Even Busch haters might be a little confused at this point. Sure, it’s fun to root against drivers you don’t like and in some ways it is rewarding to see them struggle, but this has gotten out of hand.

At some point people will dismiss Busch as a lunatic and stop rooting for or against him. They will simply stop caring.

He will miss this week’s race at Pocono, but he could also be on the verge of irrelevance to the point that people will only tune in to see what he does off the track rather than on it.  

That could eventually take away his spotlight, which might be the worst consequence of all.

Earnhardt Jr.’s margin for error is gone

That all-too-familiar feeling is coming back. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is struggling as the series heads to Indianapolis to begin the final stretch toward the Chase.

Just weeks ago it looked like Earnhardt Jr. was a lock to make the Chase, and could be a legitimate contender for the championship.

Then came Michigan, the track where he won 111 races ago.

Late in the race his teammate, Mark Martin, pulled up in front of him and cut down his tire to relegate the #88 car to a 21st-place finish.

In the last five races, Earnhardt Jr. has an average finish of 25.2 and has fallen from third to ninth. He went from just 10 points out of leading the standings to just seven points from being outside the Chase.

Is it time to panic? Yes. The tracks coming up on the schedule aren’t some of his best, and all of a sudden it looks like the team’s mojo is gone. Maybe the off-week allowed the team to get some things straightened out at the shop, but Earnhardt Jr. is out of mulligans at this point.

Earnhardt Jr. cannot have anymore bad luck for the next seven weeks. Bad luck has been part of the problem during the last month as he got taken out by Martin at Michigan and was involved in an early wreck at Sonoma, where he finished 41st.

While the past four-and-a-half years have been difficult, (Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t finished in the top 10 in points since 2006) this year could be the most painful for his fans.

Finally, it seemed, Earnhardt Jr. was back up at the front. No, he hadn’t yet won a race, but that was right around the corner. Even if he didn’t win a race, he would at least comfortably make the Chase and have a shot at the championship.

It would be back like the good ‘ol days. That nagging pain his fans felt every time he spent most of a race out of contention would finally go away. It would be OK to be excited about his chances before a race.

Well, that is gone. Now Earnhardt Jr. fans will likely have more anxiety before a race than excitement. With Earnhardt Jr. barely hanging on to a Chase spot, it is now more important that he have good, consistent finishes than take chances for a win.

The margin of error for Earnhardt Jr. is gone. For the next seven races, Junior Nation will have its collective stomach in knots.

If Earnhardt Jr. comes through and makes the Chase, there will be an incredible feeling of relief and joy, but if he misses the Chase again, it might sting this year more than ever.

Mark Martin found unusual path to friendship with Bobby Allison

Mark Martin says Bobby Allison shouldn’t have liked him.

Martin had excelled on short tracks and won championships in the American Speed Association series in the late '70s and early '80s, and early in his career he raced late models against the Allisons.

However, the first time he met Bobby he sent Allison flying out of the racetrack in Pensacola, Fla.

“I was a young kid, and I guess the caution came out, and I was one of those young kids that ain’t seen a caution yet,” Martin said. “It was a good thing they didn’t have walls. He went over the bank and out, but it didn’t tear him up.”

Allison said he was leading the race and Martin was a lap or two behind when he wrecked Allison so he could get his name in the newspaper the next day.

Although he may not have made the world’s greatest first impression, Martin thinks his prowess as a short-track racer impressed Allison and he became a mentor for Martin in the early 1980s, even to the point of flying Martin to Hueytown, Ala., and letting Martin sleep in his basement between the Martinsville and Talladega race weekends.

“He fired me in there in the pitch, black dark,” Martin said. “I think there was a number of Allison kids down there, but I never saw them because it was dark when I got to bed.”

As he established his career and became one of the top drivers in NASCAR, Martin put the lessons he learned from Allison, both about racing and life, into practice and has helped many drivers in the beginning stages of their career, including his endorsement that put Joey Logano on the map as an up-and-coming star.

Being such a humble person, Martin doesn’t like to take credit for what he has done for the sport, especially compared to Allison.

“I don’t hold a candle to him,” Martin said. “I’m ashamed of myself when I compare myself to the kind of person Bobby really was to racing.”

Allison said he is proud of the way Martin’s career has turned out and is happy he was able to help Martin when he was still getting his feet under him in NASCAR.

“Look how he turned out,” Allison said. “Really, really good.”

The help and guidance Allison gave Martin may have helped him take his career to the point where he will someday join Allison as a Hall of Famer.

Most of all it gave him a lifelong friendship, even if it took a little nudge to break the ice.

Hendrick shuffles crew chiefs and teams for 2011

Just days after winning his 10th championship, Rick Hendrick has swapped the crew chiefs for 75 percent of his organization and switched which teams will work in the same shop together for the 2011 season.

Steve Letarte will move from Jeff Gordon’s #24 team to lead Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the #88 team. Earnhardt Jr.’s former crew chief Lance McGrew will take the position with Mark Martin’s #5 team previously held by Alan Gustafson, who will call the shots for Gordon in 2011.

The only team left intact this offseason is the championship winning #48 team with Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus. However, it is still unclear whether the old #48 pit crew will return to pit Johnson’s car in 2011 or if it will remain with the #24 group. Also, the #48 team will be affected by the changes because it will no longer be able to work side-by-side with the #24 team. Instead, the often dysfunctional #88 team will move in alongside.

Obviously, Hendrick wants to make Earnhardt Jr. as competitive as possible, but is he risking the overall success of his organization to do so? The #48 and #24 teams have both finished in the top 10 in the final standings in eight out of the last nine seasons, or every year but one of Johnson’s career.

The main issue at hand is the performance of the #88 team. If Earnhardt Jr. had made the Chase and Martin came nowhere close, I don’t think we would have seen these changes. Overall, as with most changes, there are pros and cons to the move.

First, if Earnhardt Jr. isn’t successful in 2011, he’s never going to be successful at Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick promised in 2010 to give the #88 team all of the resources necessary to put a competitive car on the track, yet Earnhardt Jr. was rarely in contention at any race. So, now Hendrick has gone to the edge. He broke up the dynasty that was the 24/48 shop. The success out of that shop has been unmatched in the sport for a decade, but now it may finally come to an end.

For those who love to hate Johnson and Gordon, 2011 might be the year those two slip. Knaus and Johnson will still be right at the top of the standings in 2011, but they will also be carrying the weight of the #88 team, even though Letarte and Knaus will still be able to work together. I guess we’ll finally find out whether it’s the driver or the car that hasn’t been able to make the #88 team go.

Overall, the crew chief change will probably work out well for Gordon, because Gustafson knows what he is doing on top of a pit box. That guy is good. However, the other two moves might not work out quite as well.

If Letarte hasn’t been able to win with Gordon in almost two years, why would he suddenly find Victory Lane with Earnhardt Jr.? But, the most confusing move in all of this is the thought of McGrew working with Martin. I just don’t see those two personalities meshing very well. McGrew is a tough guy who was brought in to bring some discipline to the #88 team and get away from the family/buddy team Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Eury Jr. had assembled.

Martin is a professional in every sense of the word, and he doesn’t need a hard-nosed guy to lead his team. At this point, Martin also knows what he needs out of a car better than almost any driver in the field, and a technical guy on the pit box can work with him to dial it in. McGrew is not that type of guy. He is there to motivate people, something Martin does not need.

Maybe these changes won’t noticeably affect the performance of the Hendrick cars, but the door is now open for the Hendrick dynasty to come to an end. NASCAR has hurt itself in the past decade by making short-sighted changes; maybe Hendrick just made such a change.