Long Pond, Pa.
His message Sunday morning to Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and the rest of the field: “I love you guys. But I don’t want to see you tomorrow.”
Well, tough luck.
Call it, Pocono Rainway.
Rain washed out the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway and the 400-mile race will now run at 11 a.m. today. Martin Truex Jr. is on the pole and Kurt Busch tries to sweep Pocono in the track’s second Monday race of the season.
The June Pocono race also was delayed a day. NASCAR said this was the first time a track had two rain-postponed races in the same season.
This was NASCAR’s 10th postponed race since 2011. The 2012 rain-shortened race at Pocono was marred by lightning strikes that killed one fan and injured nine others.
Today’s forecast seems cloudier than Kasey Kahne’s chances to make the Chase. But NASCAR set the time an hour earlier than the green flag start on that June Monday to try to beat some of the rain and reach at least the halfway point for an official race.
“I feel bad for the fans more than anybody,” Igdalsky said. “We were going to have an unbelievable crowd here today.”
The track-drying Air Titans provided the only action at Pocono and, after morning rain had passed, there were clear skies at the scheduled 1:30 p.m. start. But about 90 minutes later, it started pouring at the track and the race was quickly called off.
Kahne went on TV and bemoaned that he would have to delay a vacation to the Bahamas.
Pocono had more pressing problems.
Igdalsky said there was a Jeff Gordon bump in ticket sales when the retired four-time champion came back to drive for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. Igdalsky said it was hard to put an exact number on the number of additional tickets sold because of Gordon’s return because it coincided with the track’s usual final-weeks ticket sales push.
“For us, it was the perfect storm,” Igdalsky said.
Unfortunately for the track, the wrong kind hit Sunday.
Lexington, Ohio
The Frenchman started from the pole, showing no signs of a back injury sustained in practice Friday. He beat Team Penske teammate Will Power by 4.16 seconds to increase his season points lead.
Hockenheim, Germany
Hamilton was faster off the mark than teammate Nico Rosberg, who started from pole but dropped to fourth before the first corner. Two-time defending champion Hamilton now takes a 19-point lead over Rosberg into the nearly month-long break.
Hamilton has won six of the past seven races.
Daniel Ricciardo was second, ahead of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. Rosberg also picked up a five-second penalty and had to settle for fourth, after winning the Hockenheim race two years ago.
Sebastian Vettel finished fifth, ahead of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.