XFINITY practices cancelled

Both Friday NASCAR XFINITY Series practices at Pocono Raceway have been canceled because of rain at the track.

United Rentals, INDYCAR announce multiyear partnership agreement

INDYCAR Statement.

INDYCAR announced today an agreement with United Rentals, the world’s largest equipment rental provider and a team partner with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, to become the official equipment rental company of INDYCAR and the Verizon IndyCar Series.

“This is tremendous news for INDYCAR and the Verizon IndyCar Series and we’re excited to kick off our partnership with United Rentals,” said Rod Davis, chief revenue officer of INDYCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “This is another great partner to add to our series and it’s always great to see trusted brands like United Rentals investing in both our teams and the series. INDYCAR has a lot of positive momentum surrounding the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and we’re grateful United Rentals is part of that success.”  

In April, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced that United Rentals would serve as the primary sponsor on Graham Rahal’s No. 15 Honda entry for this weekend’s Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans and as a major associate sponsor on the car for the entire 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season.

“United Rentals looks forward to working with INDYCAR to support world-class racing with our vast equipment fleet and technology platforms,” said Chris Hummel, chief marketing officer of United Rentals. “We are also thrilled to launch the ‘Turns for Troops’ program, continuing our longstanding support for military veterans in partnership with INDYCAR and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.”

The new “Turns for Troops” program, sponsored by United Rentals, will help American military veterans with major injuries sustained while serving their country. The program will fund access to education, state-of-the-art rehabilitation programs and technologies that address a variety of combat-related injuries. Through Turns for Troops, United Rentals will donate $50 to SoldierStrong, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping American military veterans, for every lap completed by Rahal during the 2016 race season.

To learn more about the program and opportunities to directly support SoldierStrong, visitwww.turnsfortroops.com.

United Rentals offers expert construction and industrial equipment rental, trench safety, temporary power, climate control, fluid transfer, tool management and technology services through the largest customer service organization of its kind in North America: 897 rental branches in the United States and Canada. For more information, visitwww.unitedrentals.com. 

Menards Pole Qualifying by Ansell cancelled at Pocono

ARCA Statement.

LONG POND, Pa. (June 3, 2016) – Officials of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards have announced that Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell has been cancelled Friday at Pocono Raceway because of on and off rain showers in the area.

As a result, ARCA Racing Series officials will take the top 30 times from Thursday’s two practice sessions to make up the first 30 positions in this afternoon’s General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible200. In addition, positions 31 through 36 will be made up of provisional starting positions to make up the 36-car starting field.

The General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible200 is live on FS1 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Friday afternoon.

Edwards leads rain-shortened first Sprint Cup practice at Pocono

Friday practice for the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway is over after being shortened by rain.

Carl Edwards led the session with a speed of 179.802 MPH.

Edwards was followed by Kevin Harvick (178.827 MPH), Kurt Busch (178.649 MPH), Paul Menard (178.250 MPH) and Kyle Busch (178.193 MPH).

Michael Annett (171.354 MPH) and Brian Scott (170.963 MPH) had the slowest speeds in the session.

28 drivers completed a lap in the rain-shorted practice.

The start of the session was delayed by about 20 minutes due to fog at the track. There is a chance of rain throughout the day. Qualifying is scheduled for 4:15pm ET and will (hopefully) air on FS1.

Below are the full results from the session:

Jones leads second Pocono Green 250 practice

Erik Jones was quickest during Thursday's second practice for the Pocono Green 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race with a speed of 172.914 MPH.

Jones was followed by Brandon Jones, Kyle Busch, -Ty Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Paul Menard, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Justin Allgaier, and Alex Bowman.

36 drivers participated in the session.

Below are the full session results:

Kyle Busch leads opening Pocono Green 250 practice

Kyle Busch was fastest during opening Pocono Green 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Pocono Raceway with a speed of 170.171 MPH.

Erik Jones was second, followed by Paul Menard, Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Brennan Poole, Elliott Sadler, and Kyle Larson.

31 drivers practiced during the session.

Below is the full session results:

Three teams hit with P3 penalties, have crew chiefs suspended

NASCAR Statement.

Three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams have been issued P3 penalties coming out of the Charlotte race weekend, which resulted in their respective crew chiefs being suspended for at least one race, according to the NASCAR penalty report released Wednesday evening. Additionally, a P2 penalty was handed down to Tony Stewart.

The Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 (Greg Biffle),Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 (Kurt Busch) andJTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) teams, respectively, were hit with the P3 punishment.

Biffle's was the most severe. Multiple infractions were found during post-race inspection, including a body design that was either not submitted to NASCAR for approval or did not comply with the approved body designs. His crew chief, Brian Pattie, has been fined $50,000 and suspended for the next two races at Pocono and Michigan. The team will also lose 15 driver and 15 owner points.

Crew chiefs for Allmendinger (Randall Burnett) and Busch (Tony Gibson) were each fined $20,000 and suspended for the upcoming Pocono race. Both of their infractions were found in Section 10.11.3.4 a of the NASCAR Rule Book, which states: "All tires, and wheels, and all five lug nuts must be installed in a safe and secure manner at all times during the Event."

Stewart's P2 penalty included infractions in body design and surface conformance found during pre-race inspection. His crew chief, Mike Bugarewicz, has been placed on probation through Dec. 31.

Busch is second in the Sprint Cup Series points standings, behind only Stewart-Haas Racingteammate Kevin Harvick. His 11 top-10 finishes (through 13 races) leads all drivers. He finished sixth on Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600.

Biffle finished 11th in the 400-mile event, and was the random car selected for further post-race inspection on Tuesday at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina. The penalty will drop him from 23rd place in the standings to 24th, behind Danica Patrick.

Allmendinger was 16th on Sunday, and he's currently one point behind Ryan Newman in the battle for the final spot in the 16-driver Chase Grid.

The NASCAR penalty scale ranges from P1 to P6 (most serious).

Other news from the penalty report:

• The No. 27 of Paul Menard was issued its second warning for failing pre-qualifying template inspection three times. He has received a written warning and was docked 15 minutes of practice time for the next event.

• The No. 20 of Matt Kenseth and No. 43 ofAric Almirola failed laser inspection twice pre-qualifying. It's the first offense for the 20 team, the first for the 43. They both received a written warning.

• The No. 43 also failed template inspection twice pre-qualifying. The No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson also failed twice. They all received a written warning.

• In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, the No. 16 ofRyan Reed and No. 18 of Joe Gibbs Racing failed inspection three times pre-race. Each received a written warning.

Full schedule for Pocono

From NASCAR.com.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series will race at Pocono Raceway this week, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off. Check out the full weekend schedule below.

Note: All times are ET

THURSDAY, JUNE 2:

ON TRACK

-- 2-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series first practice
-- 4-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series second practice

FRIDAY, JUNE 3:
ON TRACK
-- 11 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series first practice, FS1
-- 12:30-1:25 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series third practice, FS1
-- 3-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, FS1
-- 4:15 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1

SATURDAY, JUNE 4:
ON TRACK
-- 9:05 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
-- 11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, FS1
-- 1 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Pocono Green 250 (100 laps, 250 miles), FOX

SUNDAY, JUNE 5:
ON TRACK
-- 1 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Axalta 'We Paint Winners' 400 (160 laps, 400 miles), FS1

Testing scheduled at Kentucky

From Jayski.

Speedway Motorsports Inc., the owner of the Kentucky Speedway, is putting the finishing touches on a repaving project that, while keeping the 1.5-mile tri-oval shape, has increased the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 14 degrees to 17 degrees.

The project is also adding protective SAFER barrier across the entire outside wall of the track as well as the backstretch and the inside walls that NASCAR requires, plus addresses water drainage issues.

The first testing is set to begin on June 13, said general manager Mark Simendinger at the Kentucky Speedway Sprint Cup Series Victory Tour press conference Tuesday at the Horseshoe Casino downtown.

Sprint Cup driver Brad Keselowski, who has had few issues anytime he comes to Kentucky, was the main focus of the event.

"I think the track is really rough. It's hard to get a hold of and that's just a challenge we've embraced," said Keselowski. "It's interesting that the decision was made to make the two ends much different during the repave. That will certainly develop into this track's own character."

Mayor John Cranley proclaimed Wednesday as Brad Keselowski Day in Cincinnati. Keselowski received a handful of gifts as part of the honor, including a signed Reds batting helmet from second baseman Brandon Phillips, and a chunk of the old race track with a plaque honoring his accomplishments there.

Keselowski said it's premature to have any thoughts on just how the new configuration and pavement will play out.

Joey Lagano, Keselowski's teammate at Penske Racing, will handle the testing at Kentucky for all of the Penske cars.

From that testing, the teams will take the data collected and simulate how they think their cars will react when race night comes.