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TonyB
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From NASCAR.com
LONG POND, Pa. -- -- NASCAR waited less than two hours to cancel all scheduled Nextel Cup Series activity Saturday at Pocono Raceway, troubling some competitors who sought to improve their cars during a pair of practice sessions.
"It's really odd for them to call it this early," Jimmie Johnson said. "There's a lot of us lobbying right now to get some practice in after the ARCA race, but I don't think it's going to work.
"We didn't race here long ago, but there's been some rules changes since then, so the garage would like to see some race practice.
"I'm disappointed, but it's the same for everyone and we won the race here last time, so we'll use those notes and have something solid to fall back on."
Judging by driver response, it appears as if the ARCA race was a major determining factor for NASCAR's decision.
"I think with the unpredictable skies, trying to get the ARCA race in, the response they had was they didn't want to keep everybody in the garage all day long just to have a rain shower move in at 4 o'clock this afternoon and it be a waste," Johnson said.
"I can respect that, but I think we should maybe wait a couple hours before we really throw in the towel, because as easily as something could blow in this could all blow out and we could have some sunshine."
Saturday's quick decision is a stark contrast to the norm, when the sanctioning body waits as long as possible to call activity off.
"They could probably get something in in some way, shape or form," said pole-sitter Casey Mears. "But then NASCAR's really drug things out in the past, too, where everybody's like, 'Man, you're dragging this out too much.' They have a tough job. They made a call and will stick by it. That's the way it is."
Saturday's cancelled activity means Nextel Cup teams will start Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 having completed just one hour of practice. Friday's first session was cut an hour short by fog.
"Some teams did race runs yesterday, but there wasn't a lot of rubber on the track, so I don't know how much they learned from that," said Elliott Sadler, Friday's fifth-place qualifier.
"Everybody's in the same boat, so you just build adjustments in it and hope you guess correctly. This is a long race anyway. If you can't figure it out here in 500 miles, you probably weren't gonna get it in today's practice, either."
Added Mears: "It's not really good for anybody not to get any practice, but I think we're a team that I think runs really good out of the gate. Yesterday I was hoping we'd qualify without any practice, because I think we're good at that, right out of the gates.
"We've had good cars here in the past, so we'll just look at our notes, look at where we were in the spring and adapt to the difference in the cars. I think we'll be good.
"This car is great. I feel like it's one of our best cars, so whether we hit it right out of the gate or not, I think we'll be able to make changes to it throughout the race."
Johnson agrees. He said the cars to beat may be those that were strong in June's Pocono 500, as well as the Chip Ganassi Racing stable.
"The Ganassi cars have improved their program, so I'd go off the performance from earlier this year and then bring the Ganassi cars into the mix," said Johnson, who dominated in the spring, leading 126 of 200 laps.
"(Ganassi's cars) are real strong. They've figured something out since the last time we were here."
LONG POND, Pa. -- -- NASCAR waited less than two hours to cancel all scheduled Nextel Cup Series activity Saturday at Pocono Raceway, troubling some competitors who sought to improve their cars during a pair of practice sessions.
"It's really odd for them to call it this early," Jimmie Johnson said. "There's a lot of us lobbying right now to get some practice in after the ARCA race, but I don't think it's going to work.
"We didn't race here long ago, but there's been some rules changes since then, so the garage would like to see some race practice.
"I'm disappointed, but it's the same for everyone and we won the race here last time, so we'll use those notes and have something solid to fall back on."
Judging by driver response, it appears as if the ARCA race was a major determining factor for NASCAR's decision.
"I think with the unpredictable skies, trying to get the ARCA race in, the response they had was they didn't want to keep everybody in the garage all day long just to have a rain shower move in at 4 o'clock this afternoon and it be a waste," Johnson said.
"I can respect that, but I think we should maybe wait a couple hours before we really throw in the towel, because as easily as something could blow in this could all blow out and we could have some sunshine."
Saturday's quick decision is a stark contrast to the norm, when the sanctioning body waits as long as possible to call activity off.
"They could probably get something in in some way, shape or form," said pole-sitter Casey Mears. "But then NASCAR's really drug things out in the past, too, where everybody's like, 'Man, you're dragging this out too much.' They have a tough job. They made a call and will stick by it. That's the way it is."
Saturday's cancelled activity means Nextel Cup teams will start Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 having completed just one hour of practice. Friday's first session was cut an hour short by fog.
"Some teams did race runs yesterday, but there wasn't a lot of rubber on the track, so I don't know how much they learned from that," said Elliott Sadler, Friday's fifth-place qualifier.
"Everybody's in the same boat, so you just build adjustments in it and hope you guess correctly. This is a long race anyway. If you can't figure it out here in 500 miles, you probably weren't gonna get it in today's practice, either."
Added Mears: "It's not really good for anybody not to get any practice, but I think we're a team that I think runs really good out of the gate. Yesterday I was hoping we'd qualify without any practice, because I think we're good at that, right out of the gates.
"We've had good cars here in the past, so we'll just look at our notes, look at where we were in the spring and adapt to the difference in the cars. I think we'll be good.
"This car is great. I feel like it's one of our best cars, so whether we hit it right out of the gate or not, I think we'll be able to make changes to it throughout the race."
Johnson agrees. He said the cars to beat may be those that were strong in June's Pocono 500, as well as the Chip Ganassi Racing stable.
"The Ganassi cars have improved their program, so I'd go off the performance from earlier this year and then bring the Ganassi cars into the mix," said Johnson, who dominated in the spring, leading 126 of 200 laps.
"(Ganassi's cars) are real strong. They've figured something out since the last time we were here."