The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly -- 2011 5-Hour Energy 500

This week, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in the picturesque Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania for this week's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, complete with plenty of BBQ, and washed down with plenty of Pepsi. Enjoy!

THE GOOD

Jeff Gordon: he looked like the Gordon of old in the last half of the race. He had a strong car to begin with, and got better as the race went on. When the 24 was in clean air, he consistently kept a 1-2 second lead over Kurt Busch (or whoever was running in second at the time). The win was Gordon's second of the season, and the 84th of his stellar Sprint Cup career. (He moves into a tie for third in all-time wins with Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison.) Not only that, he all but locks himself into the Chase as one of the wild cards with that second win. Good job Jeff!

The Busch Brothers: with Kurt (2nd) and Kyle (3rd) finishing so strong, I put them together. Kurt: strong from the time the Double Deuce was unloaded to the checkered flag. Won his second straight pole. Led 37 laps en route to his second place finish. Had consistently good pit stops. Kyle: started somewhere around Philadelphia (just kidding; he actually started 34th), finished 3rd. He received good input and communication from the 11 team and credited them in the post race interview. The 18 crew got the car stronger as the race went on. Led 2 laps and also turned in the fastest lap of the entire race (158.999 mph).

Jimmie Johnson: JJ was strong, and led a lap during a round of green flag pit stops. Otherwise it was a ho-hum race for the 48 team. He maintains second place in the points behind Carl Edwards.

Kevin Harvick: this is the third straight top 5 at Pocono for Happy. (He finished 4th in each of the Pocono races last season.) He also started towards the back of the field in 32nd starting position and it wasn't long before he was in the top 10, thanks to a 2-tire stop on his first pit stop of the day. As long as it was cloudy, 2-tire stops worked. He fell back a bit when he had to pit early on a round of green flag stops but when they cycled through he was back in position. (He was fortunate a caution flag didn't fly.) It says something when on the final run, the car was the best it has been all day.

Juan Pablo Montoya: he was stout throughout the race. Had it not been for a questionable call for two tires instead of four, he may have been in a position to get that first non-road course win. Crew chief Brian Pattie went to the well one too many times. He saw that two tires was working, and late in the race, decided to gamble and go for two instead of four when it was sunny. The two tire strategy didn't agree with the 42 car, and he fell backwards in a hurry. He was able to hold off Matt Kenseth for seventh. Montoya led 38 laps after inheriting the lead from Denny Hamlin.

Denny Hamlin: he led the most laps in the race (76) and it looked like he was going to run and hide from the rest of the field. But tire issues later in the race relegated him to a 19th place finish, something he did not need. He had to come in TWICE in a three lap period because he cut a left rear tire, once under caution and once shortly after taking the subsequent green flag. With each run like that, the pressure on the 11 team increases exponentially.

Landon Cassill: I've got to give a shout out to the Iowa driver. He led four laps late in the race, and even was the beneficiary of the free pass. He could have used the late caution to get gas and tires. He finished 24th, the last car on the lead lap.

Honorable Mention: Dale Earnhardt Jr, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, and Martin Truex, Jr.

THE BAD

Scott Riggs: he drew the short stick at the start and parkers' meeting in the Todd Bodine Meeting Room. He turned a few laps, then hotfooted it out of town with his earnings.

Greg Biffle: what exactly is going on with the 16 team? Lots of little mistakes that add up during the course of the race and put him in a bad position. Then when he tries to make it up on the track, he gets loose coming out of turn 3 and skids sideways past the committment line and has to pit under green. Because of that, he has to make one more pit stop while the rest of the field doesn't have to stop anymore. And the race stayed green for the duration.

THE UGLY

TNT's coverage: TOO MANY COMMERCIALS!!! There were more commercials than racing action!! Seems like every five laps they went to a commercial!!

Transmission issues: they affected a number of drivers, most notably Carl Edwards. To give you an idea of how long he was behind the wall, Edwards was listed in 34th when he came in. He finished 37th. He finally came back to the track, but only ran one lap before the issue flared up again. His lap speed? I don't know for sure, but it was VERY SLOW. Put it this way, he was actually very good as an analyst.

Gear issues: they affected Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman. (Both drivers lost third gear; Stewart about 2/3 into the race, and Newman very late in the race. That's something the engineers at SHR have to figure out before the next Pocono race.

Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to read and comment from your perspective!