Pocono Raceway

  What: NASCAR Sprint Cup Where: Long Pond, Pa. Schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, noon-1:30 p.m.), qualifying (Speed, 3:30-5 p.m.); Saturday, practice (Speed, 9:30-10 a.m., 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.); Sunday, race, 1 p.m. (ESPN, 1-5:30 p.m.). Where: Pocono Raceway (triangle, 2.5 miles). Race distance: 500 miles, 200 laps. Last year: Denny Hamlin won a race pushed back to Monday because of rain, snapping a 50-race winless streak. Juan Pablo Montoya was second.

It can be a little unnerving when a driver takes both hands off the steering wheel at 120 m.p.h. - especially when you're sitting in the front passenger seat. Yet during a four-lap tour of Pocono Raceway on Friday morning, there was hardly cause for alarm when my chauffeur, NASCAR Nextel Cup veteran Jeff Burton, "let go" to emphasize a point as our royal blue pace car cruised to within inches of the concrete wall separating the track from the grandstands. Looking cool and comfortable in the air-conditioned 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, Burton calmly put the "street car" through its paces while demonstrating the line he intends to guide his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevy around the 2.5-mile triangular-shaped speedway during today's Pennsylvania 500. "This track has the longest straightaway of anywhere we go," Burton said as we swung off the minimally banked Turn 3 (6 degrees)

Jeff Gordon was singing in the rain at Pocono Raceway last June when a downpour ended the race after 106 of 200 laps, sending his first-place No. 24 Chevrolet to Victory Lane. The four-time Cup champion sang a different tune at Dover this weekend, wondering aloud if the 2.5-mile track in Long Pond, Pa., is worthy of hosting two races per season on NASCAR's top circuit. Although he vowed his affection for Pocono Raceway's owners, Joe and Rose Mattioli, Gordon said the "racetrack is outdated [and]

LONG POND, Pa. - Pocono Raceway's repaved 2.5-mile track is making a good first impression with NASCAR's Sprint Cup drivers. On Wednesday, the second day of a Goodyear tire test at the raceway, drivers offered favorable reviews of the track. Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, predicted that his track qualifying record of 172.533 m.p.h., set in June 2004, will be broken. Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 1 Chevy, said, "The corner speeds are way, way quicker.

LONG POND, Pa. - A lightning strike in the parking lot at Pocono Raceway after a rain-shortened NASCAR race Sunday killed one person and injured nine others, racetrack officials said. Two people were taken to hospitals in critical condition. Racetrack president Brandon Igdalsky said one died at the Pocono Medical Center, but he provided no further details. The race was called because of storms with 98 of 160 scheduled laps completed. The track posted warnings on its Twitter page encouraging fans to "seek shelter as severe lightning and heavy winds are in our area.

Joseph Mattioli, 86, who gave up a successful dental practice in Northeast Philadelphia to found Pocono Raceway, died Thursday after a lengthy illness. Dr. Mattioli closed his dental practice at 34 to become an entrepreneur, investing in properties in Philadelphia and Northeastern Pennsylvania. Known to all as "Doc," he eventually founded Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., the only remaining family-owned and -run track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. Pocono Raceway opened in July 1971 with a 500-mile Indy car race.

NASCAR released the 2007 Nextel Cup schedule yesterday, and it brought welcome news to Pocono Raceway owner Joseph Mattioli. The 2.5-mile track in Long Pond, Pa., which has hosted a pair of Cup races annually since 1982, will again appear twice on the schedule - on June 10 and Aug. 5. The second date, which was the result of a switch with Indianapolis Motor Speedway, presents Pocono with what Mattioli termed a "win-win" situation. "We originally only had a four-week stretch between races, which made it pretty difficult to sell tickets," he said.

LONG POND, Pa. - Pocono Raceway's repaved racing surface produced record-breaking runs throughout an unprecedented four days of testing, practice, and qualifying leading up to Sunday's race. So no one was surprised at how fast the cars navigated the 2.5-mile speedway during the Pocono 400. What the competitors didn't count on was the speed they carried onto pit road. While there were widespread complaints about the timing system that NASCAR uses to determine pit-road speeds, that didn't stop race officials from meting out a mind-boggling 40 penalties for infractions that had nothing to do with the on-track action.

SCOTT DIXON has never raced at Pocono Raceway, In fact, until yesterday, all he knew was the mountaintop race track is in Pennsylvania. Dixon, a two-time Izod IndyCar series champion, will be racing at 200-plus mph July 7 when the open-wheelers return to Pocono for the first time since 1989 for the Pocono IndyCar 400. "I've spoken to [teammate] Dario [Franchitti] about it," Dixon said during a media session at XFINITY Live! "Even when you look at it on paper, it will be a fantastic track for us to race.

Peyton Manning threw his first passes to his newest Broncos teammate Wes Welker during a workout Wednesday at Duke. Welker and Denver receivers Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker joined the veteran quarterback, working with Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who was Manning's quarterbacks coach at Tennessee and oversaw much of the quarterback's work when he was recovering from his neck surgeries. Welker left the Patriots and signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Broncos this offseason.

INDYCARS were on Pocono Raceway's 2.5-mile tri-oval Wednesday for the first time since 1989. The reaction from drivers following the testing for the July 7 IndyCar 400 race? Very favorable. "Definitely it's a really nice track, very smooth with the resurfacing," Penske Racing's Will Power said. "It's very fast. I've already been wide-open all the way around. Maybe a little bit heavy on downforce, but nice. " The cars were clocked unofficially at 215 mph during the testing conducted by Firestone.

Soul head coach Clint Dolezel will be inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame on Saturday in a ceremony before the Soul play the host Iowa Barnstormers. Along with Dolezel, five others, including Iowa head coach and former Soul head coach Mike Hohensee , will be inducted as members. AUTO RACING: There's going to be a Party in the Poconos, NASCAR style. The June 9 Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway will be named the Party in the Poconos 400 following the results of a fan vote.

'Just when you think you've seen it all in racing, you haven't. " Brandon Igdalsky, speaking from his office at Pocono Raceway, was referring to the terrifying crash on the final lap of Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. More than 30 people were hurt when a wheel and debris from Kyle Larson's airborne car flew into the stands. The Sporting News reported Tuesday that seven people remained hospitalized . Meanwhile, an attorney for three fans who were hurt said his clients are exploring the possibility of a lawsuit.

The Dallas Cowboys are looking for ways to improve the way the team handles drunken driving after two arrests and the car-crash death of a practice squad player, player-development consultant Calvin Hill said Monday. Nose tackle Josh Brent faces an intoxication manslaughter charge in a Dec. 8 crash that killed his friend and practice squad member Jerry Brown . And last week, fellow Cowboys lineman Jay Ratliff was arrested after sideswiping a semitrailer truck. Blood-alcohol tests released by police say both Brent and Ratliff were well above the legal limit.

WHEN DR. JOSEPH Mattioli was in charge at Pocono Raceway, you could hear his booming voice from Stroudsburg to Wilkes-Barre. Nothing was accomplished at the racetrack without "Doc's" approval. Two years ago, the former Philadelphia dentist turned over the daily operation of the raceway to his grandsons, Brandon and Nick Igdalsky. Mattioli died last January at age 86. On Saturday, he will be inducted posthumously into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C. Also in the induction class are popular former NASCAR executive Jim Hunter and longtime broadcaster and track owner Ken Squier.

Pocono Raceway announced Monday that open-wheel racing will return to the "Tricky Triangle" on July 7 after a 23-year hiatus with a 400-mile Izod IndyCar Series event. Tickets for the 2013 Pocono IndyCar 400 went on sale Monday. Pocono Raceway's 400-mile event will join the 2013 Izod IndyCar Triple Crown with a $1 million bonus awarded to a driver who wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, and the 2013 IndyCar Series season finale at Auto Club Speedway in California.

Lance Armstrong introduced himself as a seven-time Tour de France champion at a cancer conference in Montreal on Wednesday. "My name is Lance Armstrong. I am a cancer survivor," he said to open his speech to the World Cancer Congress. "I'm a father of five. And yes, I won the Tour de France seven times. " Armstrong announced last week he would no longer challenge the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's drug charges against him. USADA threw out his competitive victories dating to 1998, which would include all seven Tour wins.