Pocono thoughts and observations

Carl Edwards used great fuel strategy Sunday afternoon to win the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500, his fourth victory of the 2008 season and second career win at Pocono Raceway. He was followed to the line by Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and David Ragan.

Thoughts and observations

It was actually kinda funny to watch Edwards disagree with his crew chief Bob Osborne after the race was halted after 131 laps due to rain. Edwards wasn't happy with Osborne's decision to pit, a decision that left Edwards far far behind on the grid. Lucky for Edwards however, the race got started and that pit strategy ended up working in his favor.

Kevin Harvick recovered beautifully after an early spin to finish fourth. Its recoveries like that that prove Harvick is a legitimate threat once chase time comes along.

Another week, another great run for one David Ragan. Sooner or later people are gonna realize that this kid might have actually figured out how to drive in the Sprint Cup Series.

Mark Martin looked like he had the car to beat early in the race Sunday before fading. Yet, thanks to fuel mileage, he found himself back up front looking to earn a win. I really feel like Martin is going to win a race this year in the Sprint Cup Series, he still has it no matter what anyone else thinks.

Kahne almost stole the race Sunday with his slick move to stay out right before the rains came. Another 20 or 30 minutes of heavy, hard rain and Kahne would likely have won both Pocono races this season. Alas, it just wasn't to be.

Luck is suddenly NOT on Matt Kenseth's side. After last week's horror filled run at Indy where he blew a tire, this week he saw a solid top 10 disappear thanks to fuel mileage. Yet he still rallied back and finished 11th. Regardless though, Kenseth has gone from 8th in the standings two weeks ago to 13th, one spot out of the Chase. And the bad news? Watkins Glen is next week.

Bummer for Scott Riggs, it looked like he had a guaranteed top 10 run going until he ran out of gas. Considering he came all the way back from 43rd on the starting grid after an engine change he still had an outstanding run despite the final finishing position.

Speaking of good runs going bad, Kyle Busch looked on his way to a top 5 finish before he ran out of fuel. To make matters worse he couldn't get the engine restarted late and ended up finishing way back in 36th place. Ouch.

Another week and AJ Allmendinger gets a little closer to getting himself a guaranteed spot in each race. Scott Riggs holds onto the 35th position in points, but not by much. Michael McDowell is only four points behind Riggs with Allmendinger (only 38 points behind Riggs) nipping at their heels.