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Sunday, June 12, 2011

At Pocono, Kurt Busch wins second straight pole

LONG POND, Pa. -- Kurt Busch's reward for slapping the wall at practice was a backup No. 22 Dodge that was better than his regular ride.

For that, Busch had plenty of people to thank, starting with his team at Penske Racing.

"Just an honest thank-you to my guys," Busch said.

Some tracks have more tradition. Some tracks have tight finishes seemingly every other race. Some tracks seat 200,000-plus. None of those tracks offers what Pocono Raceway does, writes David Newton. Story

It's been quite a reversal for Busch a month after he launched into a foul-mouthed tirade against his race team at Richmond. He made it two straight poles Saturday, turning a fast lap of 171.579 mph at Pocono Raceway.

Busch damaged his No. 22 Dodge in Friday's practice and was forced to a backup car. He also spun at practice last week -- a sort of bad luck-good luck habit. He wound up first last week at Kansas Speedway, then topped Jeff Gordon in one of the final qualifying runs at Pocono.

The two-time winner at the 2½-mile track, Busch became the first pole winner under the new Sprint Cup qualifying rules.

Qualifying was determined based on practice speeds -- from slowest to fastest -- with those times now coming from the first practice session. The qualifying order also will no longer be separated between teams that are locked into the race and teams that must qualify on speed.

Busch was impressed that Penske could produce a pole-winning backup car.

"That's something you really wouldn't hear about back in the day," he said. "It would be, 'All right, you'll have to struggle during the weekend.' "

Busch, who is sixth in points, finished ninth last week at Kansas for his second straight top-10 finish. After some early struggles caused concern and ill feelings at Penske, the drivers are getting their programs in line. Busch's teammate, Brad Keselowski, won the pole two races ago at Charlotte and took the checkered flag last week at Kansas.

Richmond was certainly the boiling point for Busch -- and looks like the turning point.

[+] Enlarge

Chris Trotman/Getty ImagesKurt Busch celebrates winning the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway. It was Busch's second straight pole.

He blamed Penske Racing's shortcomings on technical director Tom German over a radio frequency available to the public. German has since left the team.

"I took the apple tree and shook it as hard as I could at Richmond," Busch said. "We saw which apples fell and which ones were still there. It was honestly, 'Hey, do we want to make the Chase?' We've got to make some changes. Heading into the direction we were, we were just scraping those top 10s. That's not going to get it done when you want to win the championship."

Busch often doesn't react well when his team fails to make the needed adjustments to get his car caught up with the leaders. He totally lost it at Richmond when he ran into Ryan Newman's spinning race car.

The 2004 champion was in a great mood Saturday -- one of the perks that comes with starting first. Paul Menard joined him on the front row. Gordon, Denny Hamlin and Regan Smith rounded out the top five.

The new qualifying rules meant most of NASCAR's heavy hitters hit the track at the end. Hamlin held the pole, then Gordon, before Busch came along and snagged it for good. Points leader Carl Edwards went last and qualified sixth.

"That is a pole-winning car right there," Edwards said. "It's nice to be disappointed about a sixth-place qualifying position. It should be a really good run for us."

Sam Hornish Jr., a former Penske driver, starts 26th in his first Cup race of the season. Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts 21st a week after a second-place finish at Kansas.

Mike Skinner was the lone driver who failed to qualify.

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Yankees C Martin misses fourth straight game

Updated: June 11, 2011, 11:59 PM ETBy Mike Mazzeo and Ian Begley
ESPNNewYork.com
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NEW YORK -- New York Yankees catcher Russell Martin participated in batting drills, threw long-toss with right-hander A.J. Burnett and hopes to play on Sunday afternoon when the Yankees finish up their four-game series with the Cleveland Indians.

Martin, who has been out since Wednesday with a stiff back, missed his fourth consecutive game on Saturday afternoon. The Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 4-0 and have now won two in a row following a three-game sweep at the hands of their American League East rivals, the Boston Red Sox.

"We'll see how I feel (Sunday)," Martin said. "But that's the plan to be ready for (Sunday)."

Yankees Want to get the scoop on everything in pinstripes? ESPNNewYork.com has you covered. Blog

Francisco Cervelli, who's had a tough time throwing runners out in recent games, started again in place of Martin. He finished up 0-for-3 with a strike batting out of the No. 8 spot in the lineup.

Manager Joe Girardi doesn't think Cervelli will have to catch six or seven games in a row -- in case Martin is out for a more prolonged period of time -- but said his young backstop is capable of doing so.

"I hope (Russell will be back)," Girardi said. "And if we don't (have him Sunday), we'll hope for Monday. But he was able to go through some soft-toss and flip, and played long-toss with A.J. and he seemed OK."

Jorge Posada would be the emergency catcher in case Cervelli gets hurt.

"I've talked to him about it first," Posada said. "He's ready."

Martin injured his back during a postgame workout on Tuesday, but an MRI taken Thursday revealed that he had no disk damage.

Martin is hitting .238 with nine home runs and 27 RBIs in his first year in pinstripes.

Cervelli has already committed five errors in just 14 games. Girardi said there was a mechanical flaw in his throwing motion -- he was opening up too early, causing the ball to sail -- and they were watching video and doing drills to correct it.

He had three throwing errors (all on throws to second) in a two-game stretch against the Red Sox earlier this week.

Girardi also confirmed that Phil Hughes (right shoulder inflammation) is on track to make his first minor league rehab start on Tuesday for the Gulf Coast Yankees. Hughes, who has been on the disabled list since April 15, will throw a bullpen on Saturday.

Girardi said it is plausible that he could be placed in the bullpen when he comes off the DL, but reiterated that the organization's plan is to "have him as a starter."

"But you never say never on anything," Girardi said. "I don't think you should do that when you're in my position. But our plan is to have him as a starter."

Girardi said that right-hander Rafael Soriano (right elbow inflammation) hopes to begin throwing by the beginning of next week. He's been on the DL since May 14.

As for corner infielder Eric Chavez (fractured left foot), Girardi said he's making progress and doing some work in the cage, but still hasn't run yet. Chavez has been out since May 6.

Chavez was transferred to the 60-day DL, and has set July 4 as a target date for his return.

Mike Mazzeo is a regular contributor to ESPNNewYork.com. ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley contributed to this report.

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