|| *Comments on the 2005 Pocono 500:* View the most recent comment <#50> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Matt posted: 06.13.2005 - 1:20 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Carl Edwards picks up his second career NNC win. This race was marred by a rash of flat left front tires caused by the rumble strips around the turns at Pocono. Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Ricky Rudd, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Scott Riggs, and others suffered these tire failures. A few notes: Brendan Gaughan replaced Mike Bliss in the #0 during the first caution as Bliss is recovering from hernia surgery. Mike Garvey in his first race in the #66 Ford picked up a career best 25th place finish, also the best finish so far for Jeff Stec's #66 team. 2. donald posted: 06.13.2005 - 1:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Congrats to Carl Edwards for getting us Roush fans another victory.Is it to early to say (3) Consecutive cups for Roush? During the pit stop penalty for Sterling Marlin did I hear Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond say that "all tools" (Jacks,Air Guns,Tires, Ect.) must be on the left side of the car or a penalty could be assessed? Hasn't the jackman has always dropped the car and remained on the right side of the car until it has left the pit box? Again Congrats to Roush Racing for their victory they may not have lead the most laps but they lead the most important lap. 3. F posted: 06.13.2005 - 2:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) Jimmie Johnson could've won this race and make it 3 in a row in Pocono if it weren't for that "parity-inducing" gear rule that was put in place here by nascar. 4. Jake posted: 06.13.2005 - 2:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Congrats to Mikey on winning his first pole in 14 years. Also, congrats to Carl Edwards. I guess his plan to skip the Busch race at Nashville was a good idea. 5. Chicago posted: 06.13.2005 - 2:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Robby Gordon had a great run going before it was ended with engine failure. 6. Anonymous posted: 06.13.2005 - 11:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hendrick Motorsports continued their great finishes at this track by having all 5 cars in the top 12 positions....Congrats to Mikey Waltrip on his first pole in 14 years.... 7. James Reisdorf posted: 06.13.2005 - 7:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Good job for Carl and a better flip, too. Really would've prefered to see Vickers win, though. Not really sure why, I guess I just want to see him in victory lane in the Cup series at least once. 8. Brian posted: 06.13.2005 - 7:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Vickers dominated, but Edwards always got by him on long runs. A good race, and great winner. Too bad it ended under caution again! 9. KK38 posted: 06.15.2005 - 12:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great sportsmanship that Vickers showed during the race on Sunday, letting Edwards through when he knew he had a faster car. Now why couldn't he used that at Charlote? 10. HomeDepotKid posted: 06.15.2005 - 10:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) At least Carl didn't screw up the flip. LOL-he's one of my favorite drivers. Congrats to Carl on his win, and congrats to Vickers on a great race-ALMOST getting win #1! And a bizarre point occured when Dale Junior suffered his second Blown Tire of the day-the crowd cheered. "The crowd CHEERED?!" Yep. 11. Gordon fan posted: 06.17.2005 - 3:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The green/white/checkered rule needs to be amended. If the caution comes out on the lap before the white flag lap it should be the green and white flags at the same time and then the checkered. I think the only time the race should end under caution is if the caution comes out on the white flag lap. So Carl Edwards would have had to race one more lap on Sunday before taking the checkered flag. 12. CBCMikeyfan posted: 08.17.2005 - 3:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes, thanks to this I'll get to see my favorite driver when I go to the Bud Shootout next year (I've been to the last two and he hasn't raced in them). 13. larry posted: 10.27.2005 - 1:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Hey I was ther most people forget this was Greg Sacks first race of 2005 14. Dalejrfan14 posted: 03.04.2006 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Home Depot Kid ur wrong i was at the race and the crowd did not cheer.i was pissed though 15. Dalejrfan14 posted: 03.04.2006 - 6:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) BTW this season was a sad season 4 shephard compared to last years 16. Schafe posted: 06.14.2008 - 3:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Man...y'all remember Mikey just taking off at the start of this race? By the first caution, he had a ten second lead! Nice pole and nice top five, brother. 17. Mamorese posted: 08.05.2008 - 8:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was at this race as well. Great race, cool to see Mikey dominate in the early going. This was the first of the tire debacles of the past 4 years. Once again, everyone blamed the track, but it was really Goodyear's fault along with the teams who were compromising tire integrity by running insanely low tire pressures. Oh, and the crowd cheered like you wouldn't believe when Jr. had his troubles, I was stunned. Pocono is definitely one of the few tracks with a predominately Jeff Gordon fanbase. 18. 18fan posted: 04.08.2012 - 12:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch posts back-to-back top 5 finishes for the first time in his career. It was also the first time he scored back-to-back top 10 finishes. Kyle did not have another top 5 at Pocono until June 2010. Starting with the June 2010 race, he has 2 2nds and a 3rd in the last 4 races there. 19. CBASS posted: 01.20.2013 - 7:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #16 Post-It #97 Sharpie #21 Motorcraft/ Ford Parts & Service #32 Tide to Go #01 U.S. Army- 230 Years http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/cgi/images.php?group=w0517 20. BlackChevy14 posted: 03.22.2013 - 3:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last time until Dover in September that Tony Stewart would finish outside of the top-10. He was 380 back of the lead after this one, had had an awful stretch of races and looked like he'd be lucky to crack the Chase or even win. Less than a month after this trip to the Bermuda...I mean Pocono Triangle, he took the point lead with his win at Indianapolis. Aside from briefly losing it after the aforementioned Dover race (and falling into a tie with Johnson after wrecking in that debacle at Charlotte), he never relinquished it. Got to love how the sport can turn on a dime, especially when it benefits your favorite driver. 21. kidracer posted: 08.27.2013 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Jason Leffler wreck always stands out from me. Expecially the onboad with him when Kyle Petty got taken out and spun right into him. Would make great 3D fotage! 22. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 03.25.2016 - 9:04 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sponsor updates: #01 U.S. Army 230th Birthday #32 Tide to Go Instant Stain Remover #11 FedEx Kinko's #99 Stonebridge Life/Scotts #97 Sharpie/Crown Royal #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker/Hamburger Helper 23. Nathan8848 posted: 03.27.2016 - 12:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Update 07 - Dave Blaney - Jack Daniel's Black Jack 24. Ryan M posted: 07.28.2018 - 4:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tony Stewart was 10th in points after a 29th place finish in this race. He'd then go on an absolute tear over the summer by finishing no worse than seventh over the next 13 races and would be leading the points only seven races from this one. 25. Jamie Delgado posted: 11.17.2018 - 11:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch Had Crashed In Practice And Damaging A Little Bit On His Right Rear. So He Had To Start 38th Because Of That, But He Charged And Fought Back To A 4th Place Finish. 26. Danish_Pie posted: 05.14.2019 - 6:16 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Best career finish in Cup for Mike Garvey 27. Anthony posted: 09.14.2019 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was Michael Waltrip's first pole since the 1991 Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Michigan, 456 races between pole's a record still held today as the most starts between poles. 28. rm posted: 06.24.2020 - 6:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In one of the more unusual incidents you'll see in a Cup race, Jason Leffler had a left front tire go flat in turn 1 and, not being clear, hit Dave Blaney on the exit of the corner while trying to make it to the inside of the track. Blaney and Leffler spun to the grass on the inside of the Long Pond straight but mostly avoided serious damage as the caution flew. Blaney drove off, but Leffler wouldn't be so lucky. Kyle Petty was slowing down for the caution when he was run over by a mystery car - later revealed to be Brendan Gaughan in the Mike Bliss-started #0 car when Gaughan brought the car in to replace the radiator - and the resulting rear end-to-rear end collision between a sliding Petty and a slow Leffler was huge and knocked both cars from the race. It was not a great bounceback for Leffler in his second race following his infamous Charlotte DNQ. Though Blaney and Gaughan did finish the race, Blaney was relegated to a lap-down finish in 24th while Gaughan was 7 laps down, earning Mike Bliss a 35th-place finish. 29. Foote posted: 06.24.2020 - 6:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For people that view JJ Yeley as the worst JGR driver, I'd advise you to look at Jason Leffler's stats in the Fedex #11 the year before. Leffler made Yeley look like Kyle Busch. One of the most catastrophic single seasons of 21st century Nascar. When JGR opened up their third car it was a huge deal, and Fedex paid a premium for full sponsorship. Hamlin took over the car the next year and immediately finished 3rd in points, which had to have been an amazing surprise to Fedex considering the car's abominable performance in 2005. Thus, it's easy to understand Fedex's loyalty to Dennis, which still runs strong today. 30. NEPAfan posted: 06.24.2020 - 6:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 29: Leffler was bad, but Yeley was definitely worse. Leffler at least had a few Xfinity wins in his career. Yeley never did, and continues to do nothing. Also I went to this race. It was approximately 300 degrees. Ok I'm exaggerating. But not by much. 31. William24ByronFan posted: 06.24.2020 - 6:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @29 What about Kevin Conway? I'd advise you to look at his 2007 stats. 32. Foote posted: 06.24.2020 - 6:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 30 Leffler developed into the better Nascar driver but in terms of their performance at JGR, Leffler was worse. Jason also drove a Busch season for JGR in 2000 and to say the least, it didn't go well. 33. PC2 posted: 06.24.2020 - 7:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) If we are only looking at Cup stats, Leffler is worse. He was absolutely awful, and it's a disgrace that he had 2 elite Cup rides and did nothing. Yeley never spent as much time in Trucks and Xfinity as Leffler did or Yeley would have won. Neither of them were Cup level drivers, but Leffler was just an absolute waste of space. 34. NEPAfan posted: 06.24.2020 - 7:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #33. Yeley had two full time Xfinity years in Gibbs equipment and did absolutely nothing. 35. Foote posted: 06.24.2020 - 8:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 31 Conway only drove like 6 races for JGR which is why he's not in the discussion. Leffler and Yeley both signed up for full-season gigs and were true JGR drivers. Leffler was a cataclysm at JGR, but can say that he took 2 separate Busch teams (Haas and Braun) to new heights. For nearly his whole career, Yeley made each team he drove for worse. Though in Yeley's defense, he's managed to stick around and has developed into a decent and reliable Xfinity midpacker. It's kind of understandable that Gibbs would be infatuated with open wheel drivers after hitting a grand slam with Tony Stewart, but neither Leffler nor Yeley could even lead laps in Gibbs Busch cars...and were promoted to Cup anyway. Stewart was all over the place as a Busch driver in 1998 (and wrecked a lot) but the flashes of brilliance were obvious. 36. PC2 posted: 06.24.2020 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes, I understand that Yeley also did nothing. I was just trying to make my point that I think Leffler is worse. As I said, neither of them were Cup level talents. 37. rm posted: 06.24.2020 - 8:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't know how you can say Leffler had two elite Cup rides, he ran more or less the same at Ganassi in 2001 as the late Kenny Irwin & Ted Musgrave had when it was a Sabco car the year before, and when Jimmy Spencer inherited the ride the next year he didn't exactly run circles around what Leffler had done in that car. And at worst he was even money with Casey Mears' rookie effort two years later. Unless you're trying to say the NetZero car was an elite ride...which would certainly be news to me and everyone else. 38. Mile501 posted: 06.24.2020 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 2006 Busch season makes a good comparison between Yeley and Leffler. Both drivers had one full season and a partial season or two of experience at that point. Both struggled a lot during their first Busch seasons, but both showed some improvement in 2006. Neither won--but that was the time when Cup regulars were doing nearly all the winning. But Yeley finished 5th in Busch points in 2006, which was not bad at all under the circumstances. He was not far behind Edwards, Bowyer, and Hamlin, and he beat a number of other full-time drivers including Paul Menard and Kyle Busch. Leffler, meanwhile, ranked way down in 13th. 39. DRF posted: 06.24.2020 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) 37- He had two opportunities in which his teammates were winning and he wasn't in the same equipment, not to mention he blew a chance at Gibbs twice. Spencer was equally as bad- that doesn't give Leffler a pass. Why do you always have to apoligize for mediocre drivers? Go back to reddit. 40. Foote posted: 06.24.2020 - 9:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 38- I don't think that's a fair comp given JGR stuff was better than Todd Braun's, but I'm glad you brought up that Yeley beat Kyle Busch (who ran the full season) in Busch 2006 points. KB's miserable season in the Busch series in 2006 remains fascinating to me, especially considering he finished top 10 in Cup points that year. 39- rm has first-hand experience within the sport and knows more about this era than everyone else on this site, especially you. Maybe you should go back to reddit. 41. PC2 posted: 06.24.2020 - 9:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) When Ganassi took over from SABCO it was absolutely an elite ride in 2001. Leffler didn't improve on Irwin at SABCO because Leffler was just that bad. If we compare Marlin's and Leffler's stats from 2001, we have one of the largest butt kickings in NASCAR history. Same with Leffler vs Stewart and to a lesser degree, Labonte in 2005, although Bobby was on a downhill spiral by that point. Then Hamlin took over near the end of 2005 and instantly looked good. Even won a pole at Phoenix. 42. Anonymous posted: 06.24.2020 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) SABCO/Ganassi in the late 90s/early 00s was not an elite team, from 97-00 SABCO had one win and less than 10 top 10s among two teams, and although Marlin did very well even after Leffler was gone Spencer had only 2 top 5s in 02. Leffler most definitely underperformed but those teams were not elite. 43. PC2 posted: 06.24.2020 - 9:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) You can't compare them as the same since Ganassi getting involved with the team in 2001 is what made them elite. I agree that SABCO was not elite in the late 90s, but I never said that they were. 2001 Ganassi and late 90s SABCO teams aren't comparable. 44. PC2 posted: 06.24.2020 - 9:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I also find it hilarious that Spencer's mediocre 2002 season means that Ganassi wasn't an elite team. If Gordon or Stewart were driving that car and did that bad...I would agree. But this is Jimmy Spencer we're talking about. Marlin was very good in 2001 and a title contender in 2002, and he wasn't a legendary talent, I suspect someone if someone like Stewart or Gordon was driving the 40 car they would have won both championships. 45. rm posted: 06.24.2020 - 10:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not trying to claim superior knowledge or anything like that, please don't mistake this as that, I was just trying throw my two cents in the discussion that I inadvertently touched off. The second (and later third) Sabco/Ganassi car at the turn of the century nowhere near the level that Marlin's team was always at - pre-injury, anyway - and that seemed to persist no matter the driver, crew chief, or manufacturer the team was running. Wasn't exactly an uncommon phenomenon at the time as organizations ballooned to multi-car teams at a sudden rate, with those new/extra teams often able to pull together a strong run or two to the level of the rest of the team in between strings of unspectacular performances. Irwin, Leffler and especially Spencer fit the bill for that car, with Spencer's near-miss at Bristol that sparked his rivalry with Kurt Busch the most notable run for that car. There's plenty of negative things that are thrown around in these comment sections, and I'm not trying to pretend that I'm above that or anything like that - after all, when trying to tell the stories of certain races and drivers, not all of them necessarily end well - and I don't think I tried to spin anything I said about Leffler's accident in this race or his 2001 season as better than they were. Or "apologize" for it, whatever that's supposed to mean. Like I said, there's enough negative comments to be had here, I don't see what's so wrong about highlighting some positive notes for any given driver or race. 46. Corey posted: 06.24.2020 - 10:30 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Ganassi was not elite. Two good seasons by Marlin does not make it so. For all we know, Ganassi put his resources into one car at the expense of another. 2019 was the second time they ever put two teams into the winner circle and only the third time they had two drivers win. At best, they've been a B+ organization that's picked up a few wins along the way. 47. wisconsinracefan posted: 06.24.2020 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I started to follow NASCAR in 1993. Anonymous to me overrated Jimmy Spencer. Jimmy did good with Travis Carter. Jimmy in 1998 was going to get a top 10 points finish if it wasn't for injured from a crash at Indy. Jimmy was solid in 2001 also. Personally, Ganassi picked the wrong driver in 2001 in Leffler. Race Teams in that era liked USAC drivers and that is where Leffler fit in. The problem was not all USAC drivers ended up well in cup. Bobby Hamilton was available at the time and He would've done better than leffler and Spencer. Bobby Hamilton was the same age as Marlin and Spencer, but he got more out of his equipment than Spencer. I looked at what Bobby did with Petty Enterprises and a fading Morgan-Mcclure. The problem is Jimmy was turning 45 in 2002. Jimmy as a driver did not focus on conditioning at all and it did hurt him as a driver besides not exactly having the best racing IQ around. Spencer as a driver could've won 5 race from the 1997 to 2001 time frame in the cup series with a better organization. As far as Sterling Marlin goes, I think he gets underrated as a driver. I feel he was not as talented as Ernie Irvan at his peak. Ernie can win at short tracks and road courses. Ernie was on his way as one of the great road course drivers in NASCAR before he had that Michigan Crash in 1994. People think of Sterling for plate racing due to his Daytona and Talladega wins, but he was overlooked outside of that. Sterling won 2 times at Darlington. Sterling as driver should've won more races than he did. I remembered Sterling had a great run at Martinsville in 1998 with SABCO. He had the car to beat for a lot of that race before Rudd won. Sterling led over 200 laps in that race before having an alternator problem. Rudd and Sterling had the best two cars. People also tend to overrate Morgan Mcclure. That race organization had great plate racing equipment, but did not win at 2 mile and 1.5 mile tracks at all. What got that organization was Teams were going into multi-car teams, but they were a single car team. What people have to understand with Morgan-Mcclure is they did focus a lot on Restrictor plate racing. Plate Racing engines are different than regular engines and the same thing is true with restrictor plate cars. 48. LarsonDixonLine posted: 06.25.2020 - 7:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @ 43/44 I misunderstood what you were saying about SABCO prior to Ganassi about being elite, I thought you were implying they were elite then as well, but I see I was wrong in said assumption. (I was anonymous at 42). That being said I still have to disagree that Ganassi was an elite team. I should have elaborated particularly on Spencer more. Although he wasn't a great driver, he was still nonetheless decent and even on a mediocre Travis Carter team, he still managed more top 5's and top 10's when he was with Carter, an ok team, than what is claimed to be an "elite" team with Ganassi. The elite teams of the era like Gibbs, Hendrick, and Yates had multiple race winning cars at the track each week, with the exception of Hendrick, but Labonte way underperformed his ride in '01 as age was catching up with him, as seen when Johnson burst onto the scene a year later. Ganassi was a very good team, but hardly elite as they could only funnel consistent success into one car, and Marlin is nothing to scoff at, I think he got the absolute most out of that #40 car as he is a very underrated and talented driver. Ganassi was just a notch below elite but still a very good team, but like @46 previously said its entirely possible that they funneled their best resources into just the 40 car. That being said, Leffler still definitely underperformed in that car much like he did at Gibbs, he could never seem to figure out the cup series whether he was with a good team like Ganassi, or an elite one like Gibbs. Glad he found some success in the Busch series. 49. Mile501 posted: 06.25.2020 - 7:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @40 - I don't know that 2006 JGR was significantly better than Braun equipment. Maybe a little better--but not much, in my opinion. Braun had a very solid Busch organization for several years. 50. Rich posted: 08.07.2020 - 12:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip. The pit road reporters were Dr. Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes and Matt Yocum. And in the Hollywood hotel were Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: