Pocono NASCAR race start delayed

   The start of Sunday's Pennsylvania 400 has been delayed by heavy rain.

   The Sprint Cup Series race was scheduled to go green at 1:12 p.m. Eastern at Pocono Raceway but the area is currently receiving heavy rain and strong thunderstorms.

 

   It takes around two hours to dry the track once it stops raining. Even it stopped shortly the race would likely not begin until around 3 p.m.

   However, weather radar shows additional systems arriving later this afternoon. The track has no lights so the race would likely need to start by 5 p.m. to be held today.
  
    Juan Pablo Montoya will start the race from the pole.

Recap of Ryan Blaney's debut with Penske Racing

   Ryan Blaney, the 18-year-old son of NASCAR veteran Dave Blaney, made his debut with Penske Racing in Saturday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway. He finished 10th, his second series top-10. He finished seventh earlier this season at Richmond, Va., driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing.

   Blaney was asked about how his race went.

   "It was and up and down night for this Discount Tire Dodge tonight. We just really couldn’t get going. After pit stops it took us a while to get going and get with everyone else. Once we did get going our car was fast towards the end of the runs," he said. "Our last run was great. We were running down guys and were really fast. A few tough breaks there at the end kept us from bringing home a top-seven or better.”

   Was it tough to gauge how fast your car was running mid-pack?

   "Yeah, track position is important here and it’s tough to get going. You couldn’t really drive around the outside of guys and you had to be really patient. Track position was tough," he said. "We had decent track position one time, took two tires and we just didn’t run well initially after the pit stop. That was our issue most of the race. We’ll go get them at Richmond.”

   Assessment from crew chief Jeremy Bullins:

   "It was a solid night for the Discount Tire Dodge. It’s just about learning what Ryan needs and likes inside the race car. Coming out of here with a top-10 is a solid night. We had to overcome some things on pit road. It’s so important to get out front and get track position here and when you lose a few spots on pit road it’s tough to get them back," he said. "Ryan battled and got us some of those spots back. Our car was really, really good on long runs. At the end of the run we had a car as fast as a top-five car. We just didn’t have what we needed on the short run.”