NASCAR Notebook

By: JournalNow Staff | COMPILED BY MIKE MULHERN
Published: August 05, 2008

Edwards took problems in stride en route to win

■ Carl Edwards, who finished sixth in Montreal and then won at Pocono, took the weekend's trials and tribulations all in stride.

"The deal is some weeks it might be the tires, and some weeks it might be the weather or fuel mileage. Everyone is in the same boat," Edwards said.

"Last week (the tire problems at Indianapolis) was something nobody wanted to have to deal with, but we did. This week it was a whole new different type of stresses. But that's just racing."

The stresses at Pocono -- to pit or not to pit, and when to pit down the stretch -- led to a brief shouting match between Edwards and crew chief Bob Osborne during one rain delay.

"We talked about what we would do if the rain were to clear up and they got the track dried -- and that's what we ended up doing," Osborne said. "And then it started raining harder, and Carl is on the pit box with me and we're arguing at that point about why we did what we did.

Edwards said "the argument came when it started raining real hard, and we were trying to blame one another for the idea of coming in to pit."

Car owner Jack Roush said: "I wasn't aware about the shouting match. But the crew chief is empowered in our world to make the final decision…. The driver knows more about what's going on right in front of him, as it relates to who has gone down pit road and who didn't go. But Bob made a courageous call."

■ Tony Stewart finished right behind Edwards at Pocono but hasn't once on the tour since last season at Watkins Glen … which happens to be this weekend's stop.

Stewart -- who fared better than teammates Kyle Busch (36th) and Denny Hamlin (23rd) -- outran Jimmie Johnson down the stretch on a day when Johnson appeared to be the man to beat.

"The hard part was to run fast enough to stay in front of Jimmie and slow enough to save fuel," Stewart said. "You just have to lift early, 100 or 200 yards earlier in each corner than you're used to...."

■ Among Sunday's travails at Pocono:

Kevin Harvick spun and nearly crashed on the first lap but recovered to take fourth, with some key pit calls by crew chief Todd Berrier.

Kurt Busch spun out and wound up 38th. Michael Waltrip blew another engine and finished 43rd. Juan Pablo Montoya also lost an engine, in a fiery finish, and was 40th.

Matt Kenseth fell to 13th in the standings, with five races before the playoff cutoff. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas on the last lap and dropped from fifth to 12th. Kyle Busch ran out of gas with two to go, stalled on pit road and fell from fourth to 35th.

■ Goodyear is working on resolving the Indianapolis tire problems that plagued last weekend's Allstate 400.

Stu Grant, the Goodyear racing boss, said: "We have a proud history in racing with 54 continuous years of NASCAR involvement and have enjoyed worldwide success in all forms of racing. But all should be assured that no one was more disappointed than we were with the events in Indianapolis...."

"We are the first to admit that we missed the mark with the combination for this race. There are many reasons, but they are only important today from the perspective that we learn from those issues and move forward successfully."

Grant said that the company is completing an extensive analysis, including "all internal aspects of tire design and manufacturing," and that the company is talking with NASCAR officials, team owners, drivers and crew chiefs to get as much insight as possible.

Grant also says that a larger tire, as Goodyear had once proposed for NASCAR to consider for the car-of-tomorrow, is back under consideration.