So the same driver I was ripping to shreds just weeks ago suddenly has four wins on the season. This also carries the extra bonus of seeing Krissie Boyle in Victory Lane. And the more I say that name the more hits this page gets. If Newman ever wins the Championship (and I�ll put my money on him in �04) the TV ratings for the awards ceremony would go through the roof. I�m guessing Krissie�s wardrobe would make Oscar nominees envious.

Now for the driver capsules from Pocono�

'RYAN, WHY DIDN'T YOU KNOCK OVER THOSE POWERADE BOTTLES LIKE JIMMIE DID???'

Kurt Busch � Returned to form after a very subpar month, and was just a half-tick behind Newman in the end placing second.

Dale Jr./Michael Waltrip � They still can�t win a non-plate race, but excellent pit strategy (pitting anticipating a caution on Ricky Craven) put them in excellent position just past the half-way mark, with Junior eventually finishing third with Waltrip fourth. Waltrip also survived a flat tire and a bump from Mark Martin along the way. Junior moves into second in points, 232 behind Kenseth.

Terry LaBonte � Tremendous campaign continues with his third top-five of the season and is now 13th in points.

Jeff Burton � Now has the second longest streak in regard to top tens (four) and is now a member of NASCAR�s Top Ten.

Joe Nemechek � Had a streak of eight straight races outside the top ten since the Richmond win, which means no face time for Andrea. Finally bounced back with a seventh place showing to cap off a great day for Hendrick's two lesser cars.

Todd Bodine � It was a good day for the lower-profile teams, headlined by Bodine�s first top-ten of the year.

Dave Blaney � Think Nemechek�s drought was long??? Blaney gets his best finish (9th) since back-to-back top tens way back in March (Atlanta/Darlington).

Sterling Marlin � Usually even more of a factor at Pocono, his tenth place result is actually his second-worst showing here in the past three years.

Rusty Wallace � Does TV have to hype this guy up every week. You know, �Rusty�s crew really thinks this could be the week!!!!!� I�d rather see another ten commercials out of TNT. Seriously Rusty looked nearly as good as teammate Newman early on before placing 11th.

Kevin Harvick � The RCR cars were downright awful in qualifying but were marginally better on race day. Harvick was the best of the bunch in 12th, with Robby Gordon 18th and Steve Park 25th.

Matt Kenseth � Was understandably upset after the race. Rare bad pit strategy by the #17 crew cost what Kenseth himself said should had been a third place car and relegated it to a 13th. Hopefully it will not be 40 points that bites this team later on.

Elliott Sadler � Strong qualifying run (third) but yet again could not quite translate it to a strong run for the entire race, placing 14th.

Jimmie Johnson � Another strong qualifier who fizzled out during the afternoon while fighting a loose condition and placing 15th.

Tony Raines � Made a serious bid at a top ten before fizzling out to 16th. Still a very good day.

Christian Fittipaldi � Best day of his young NASCAR career. Only finished one lap down (22 ended up on the lead lap) and placed 24th.

Jamie McMurray � Showed his muscle for the second straight week, but a faulty transmission put him behind the wall for eight laps. The #42 managed to make three of those back up and would definitely been a contender if not for the early mechanical twitch.

Bobby LaBonte � A disappointment as of late. Started up front but dropped a cylinder late before wrecking and placing 30th.

Jeff Gordon � Disappointing qualifying effort before wrecking and finishing 35th, now 308 points behind Kenseth.

Tony Stewart � Did not qualify well neither then blows a motor at the � mark. Zippadelli does the TV interview while Smoke was no doubt re-arranging his motor coach. The engine department over at JGR is no doubt scratching their heads this week.

Casey Mears � Again showed signs of turning the corner. Started the weekend by winning two ARCA races, then led the varsity race for seven laps after electing to stay out during a pit stop. A late crash ruins what was shaping as at least a top-15 day, resulting in a 35th.

Remember when it seemed that about half the drivers were from North Carolina, and virtually all of them were from the south. Well, I did a quick check on the home states of the 53 drivers entered in this weeks Brickyard 400 along with four other drivers who have raced this year and came up with the following�

California 6, Virginia 6, Missouri 5 (the three Wallaces from St. Louis, McMurray, Ken Schrader), North Carolina 5, Indiana 5, Kentucky 3, Texas 3, Wisconsin 3 (Kenseth the only full-timer), New York 3, Florida 3, Michigan 2, Washington 2, Tennessee 2, Arkansas 1, Pennsylvania 1, Georgia 1, Maine 1, Vermont 1, Ohio 1, Nevada 1. Outside the US 2 (Japan, Brazil).

California overtaking everyone is not overly surprising, as is Indiana�s (including Stewart and Jeff Gordon) representation. The fact that there are only five North Carolinians is however, although if you add Virginia into the mix that number jumps to 11. Most shocking however is that only 24 of the 57 are from what are considered southern states. Even if one where to count Missouri as the south that would still only account for roughly half of the drivers.

In terms of prestige and prize money doled out, Indy has become the second biggest race on the NASCAR slate � not to mention it is staged in front of the biggest crowd at one of motorsports most historic venues. The quality of racing falls a bit short however. There is precious little room to pass, leading to incidents such as last year�s Kurt Busch/Jimmy Spencer spat. Qualifying also becomes more important for a couple of reasons. First, 53 cars are entered increasing the heat on drivers low on points such as Kenny Wallace and Kyle Petty. Also pit road is arguably the worst of all tracks outside of Bristol and Martinsville. Conditions are very cramped (built for 33 Indy car drivers, not 43 NASCAR participants) and also have an outside wall taking away an option on drivers who get squeezed out. Look for the pole winner to take the final pit stall while the #2 qualifier takes the first stall to avoid much of the congestion. The second row qualifiers then select the stalls near the garage entrance, which also provide extra room.

The results from Pocono are very prevalent in identifying those who may also do well here, for both tracks are 2.5 miles and relatively flat - in fact one of the three Pocono turns is modeled after IMS. Bill Elliott�s Pocono sweep is also a good example of that fact. Also, don�t look for someone to come out of nowhere to win. The previous nine winners of this event represent some of the sports all-time heavyweights and reads as follows: Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Gordon, Jarrett, Bobby LaBonte, Gordon, Elliott. Outside of Gordon�s inaugural win in 1994 that is mostly a veteran lot, although Busch, Newman or Jimmie Johnson are very capable of breaking through as well. Bobby LaBonte and Bill Elliott have completed 1,439 of 1,440 possible laps in the nine previous Brickyard 400's. Rusty Wallace has scored eight top tens in the history of this race.

Now for some of the outsiders trying to crack the show this weekend�

#0 Jason Leffler � One-time driver of the #01 (#42) for Felix Sebates drives in place of John Andretti this weekend, that will be explained later.

#01 Mike Skinner � Not happy will the performance of Mike Wallace (I for one expected much better), Skinner gets an extended audition at subbing for Nadeau, perhaps even for the balance of the season.

#02 Hermie Sadler � Penske Souths occasional third car, don�t expect much.

#4 Robert Pressley � Jumps into a Cup ride for the first time in nearly two years when he was in the #77.

#04 David Reutimann � A second Morgan/McClure entry this week, as if one isn�t bad enough.

#07 Ted Musgrave � Veteran again gets a shot as a second Jim Smith entrant for this week.

#57 Kevin LePage � The CLR rears it�s ugly head in qualifying yet again.

#71 Jim Sauter � Not to confuse with Johnny Sauter who had a couple races in the #4 recently. NASCAR�s worst nightmare would be if all three Sauter�s managed to find their ways full-time into a Cup race. Worse yet would be for dad to get a ride and make it a four-some as was the case for a Milwaukee Busch race last year. This is the Dave Marcis car, yes he�s apparently still kicking.

#79 Billy Bigley � I imagine getting through tech line would be a big accomplishment.

#81 John Andretti � Jumps out of the #0 car as DEI offers him a ride this week. Has gotten obvious extra experience here over the years in the open wheel car, so this could be a nice sneaky play.

#89 Morgan Shepherd � Trying to hang around until 2010 so he can join Gordie Howe as the only sports figures to last for six decades. And like Gordie he'll play one shift in his final race and call it a night.

#91 Casey Atwood � The Mountain Dew Glucola Tolerance Orange car (Evernham) makes it�s second appearance of the year. Looked good for a while at Pocono so he should make the field along with the #81.