The race weekend that was - UPDATED

NASCAR, at Pocono:
This unique track's 2.5-mile tri-oval has challenged Nascar's best since they first ran there back in 1973. And everyone knew that the 400 [miles long race] would be a difficult race, especially pole-sitter Joey Logano, since no one had gone from pole to win the race in a long time. But in the closing laps of the race, he found himself saying: "I can do this. I can do this."

Logano taking the win from pole

With just four laps to go Logano shows veteran Mark Martin no respect and gives him the bump and run for the lead and wins. Mark Martin finishes for the seventh time in second place, and made the following statement on the youths' winning move:
"Well, I'd call that a bump-and-run. It's been acceptable in this racing for a long time. It's not how I would have done it, but certainly, if I'd have a fast enough car, he would have gotten a return [bump]. But I couldn't quite keep up with him".

The race result are as follows: 1. Joey Logano, 2. Mark Martin, 3. Tony Stewart, 4. Jimmie Johnson, 5. Denny Hamlin.

The bizarre aspect of this race was the quantity of pit-road speed violations. A total of 22 were handed down, with Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and three others being penalized twice for speeding in the pits.

Below a short video on the bump-and-pass winning move by Logano.



The next race will be held in Michigan on June 17. Fore more info, please click here.


Formula One, at the Canadian GP:

The street circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, in Montreal, was the venue for the seventh round of the world championship. And yes, there was a seventh different winner here too.

The first five on the grid of the Canadian GP were: 1. S. Vettel, 2. L. Hamilton, 3. F. Alonso, 4. M. Webber, 5. N. Rosberg.

The first corner and subsequently first lap of the race was free of racing incidents, which is remarkable for a narrow street circuit. In the opening stage of the race different tire strategies became the center of attention, with teams trying to position their drivers with the best strategy to win the race.

2nd place R. Grosjean

As all the front runners (RBR, McLaren and Ferrari) seemed to be running a two-stop tire strategy, the Britton Lewis Hamilton flinched first and came into the pits, but when it became apparent that the other two were running on a one-stop strategy, he was forced to pass them "the old fashion way". Go around them on the track!

And so he did. At this time Hamilton was lapping a second quicker a lap and first passed Sebastian Vettel and just two laps from the finish he passed Fernando Alonso for the lead. In the end, Lewis Hamilton defied a two-stop strategy to claim his third win in Canada and assume the F1 world champion lead.

The one-lap tire strategy proved to be the wrong one, as both Alonso and Vettel dropped outside of the podium, when the were passed by Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Sergio Perez (Sauber).

Mexican Sergio Perez and Sauber team

The podium looked like this:
1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Romain Grosjean, 3. Sergio Perez, 4. Sebastian Vettel, 5. Fernando Alonso.

For more information on the race, including selected quotes, please click here.

Hamilton on his win. "...I'd say it's one of the best races I've had for a very long time."

Below the post Canadian GP interview.



Since the drivers were on "our" side of the pond, and the new american races are closer to reality, Bernie encouraged some airtime for the races in Texas and New Jersey.

Below you can watch the skid from the Late Night Show David Letterman with Vettel as guest.




The next race will be GP of Europe, at Valencia, on June 22-24, 2012. For more info, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One, Crash.net, Wikipedia, Nascar.