“We believe the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will once again provide fans with what they’ve come to expect every season – the world’s most exciting and competitive form of motorsports,” said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. “Next year’s schedule has a few adjustments that we think will be good for the fans and good for the overall flow of the season. One thing will remain constant, however, and that’s the intense competition we see week in and week out from our drivers and race teams.”

One of those adjustments takes place during NASCAR’s playoffs – the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – and could affect the strategy during the championship run. Talladega Superspeedway’s Chase event moves up two weeks to Oct. 7, becoming the fourth race in the Chase. Often labeled as the wild-card track in the Chase, Talladega’s grueling test is now staged during the first half of the Chase.

Talladega swaps its Chase date with Kansas Speedway (Oct. 21) to accommodate Kansas’ repave, scheduled for after the track’s spring event. As such, Kansas’ spring date has also been moved. Kansas now will be the eighth race of the season on April 22. Talladega’s spring event moves to May 6, and Dover International Speedway’s spring event returns to its traditional spot on June 3.

As previously announced, the season-opening Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway will start one week later with the running of the preseason “non-points” Shootout at Daytona on Feb. 18. The 54th annual Daytona 500 will run on Feb. 26.

The race dates for Phoenix International Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have likewise been moved a week later, to March 4 and March 11, respectively.

Two other featured adjustments to the 2012 schedule:

Texas Motor Speedway’s spring date will be moved to April 14, to accommodate the traditional open week for the Easter holiday.

Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends in 2012, as the July 4th holiday falls mid-week next year. Kentucky’s race will be June 30; Daytona will run on July 7.

As in past years, FOX will broadcast the first 13 races of next year’s schedule. TNT will follow, broadcasting the next six. ESPN/ABC will broadcast the final 17 events. Race start times will be announced at a later date.

NASCAR will also release the 2012 schedules for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at a later date.

2012 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

Pocono President and CEO Brandon Igdalsky said:

The 400 mile distance will make NASCAR racing at Pocono even more exciting. Race strategies will change, fuel mileage calculations will be altered and I firmly believe that our fans will be treated to outstanding racing at the 400 mile distance.

NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Steve O’Donnell said: 

NASCAR supports Pocono Raceway’s move to two 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in 2012. We believe this will be a good transition for the fans and competitors. It will provide the teams with a new type of strategy and should make for even more exciting competition at a unique facility that has a long-standing history in our sport.

And he did.

Staying out on the track on old tires under a caution with 21 laps left in Sunday’s rain-interrupted Good Sam RV 500 at Pocono Raceway, Keselowski pulled away from Kyle Busch after a restart on Lap 185 of 200 to secure his second victory of the season—despite driving with a broken left ankle.

Keselowski, who was injured in a hard crash during testing Wednesday at Road Atlanta, kept Busch at bay over the final 10 laps. With Sunday’s victory—the third of his career—Keselowski’s fortunes took a dramatic turn with respect to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Having cracked the top 20, Keselowski is in position to claim the first wild-card spot, being the only driver in positions 11-20 with more than one victory. Keselowski leaves Pocono 18th in the standings, having gained three positions Sunday.

Kyle Busch came home second, followed by Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman. Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Paul Menard completed the top 10.

Keselowski downplayed his gutsy effort.

“I no hero,” Keselowski said. “The heroes are the guys that died in Afghanistan this weekend. I want to spend time thinking about them. They’re my inspiration for this weekend, the things that those guys do.

“I’m glad that we could win today, but those are the heroes. I just drive racecars for a living.”

Kurt Busch, Keselowski’s teammate at Penske Racing, gave the driver of the No. 2 Dodge a little more credit than that.

“It’s amazing what the body can do,” Busch said. “For him to go through that wreck this week and get back on his horse right away and find success, that’s only going to make Brad Keselowski a better racer.”

Just past the halfway point of the race, rain began to fall, lightly at first and then in torrents. After the cars crossed the stripe on pit road to complete Lap 124, NASCAR stopped the race with polesitter Joey Logano in the lead, hoping the deluge would continue.

That didn’t happen. The rain abated, and the race resumed after a stoppage of 1 hour, 40 minutes, 46 seconds, dashing Logano’s hopes of claiming a second career victory the same way he got his first one (New Hampshire in June 2009)—with an assist from the elements.

Keselowski and Kurt Busch got to the front of the field with a contrarian strategy that brought them to the pits for fuel and tires right before the stoppage. When the cars ahead of them came to the pits under caution after the resumption, Keselowski and Busch were elevated to positions 1 and 2, respectively, for the restart on Lap 132. That turned the race around.

“Everybody’s getting more aggressive with their calls,” said Paul Wolfe, Keselowski’s crew chief. “My engineers seemed pretty confident that we were going to go back green. We know it’s going to take calls like that to get us in the Chase. I knew it was going to take a call like today to get another win to get us closer to that opportunity.”

“Just tell ’em, Paul, you’ve got balls this big,” Keselowski chimed in.

Before the lengthy red-flag period, Joe Gibbs Racing cars had dominated the race. Logano had set the pace for 39 laps. Denny Hamlin, a wizard at Pocono from the day he set eyes on the track as a rookie in 2006, had led a race-high 65 laps to that point, and Kyle Busch chipped in with six laps led for a team total of 110 of the first 124.

Immediately before the rain delay, Logano had withstood the persistent efforts of Johnson to pass him for the lead. But for the vagaries of nature, that could have been a battle for the win, and both drivers raced as if it were.

“We knew the rain was coming, and I was trying to hold off the 48 (Johnson),” Logano said. “I saw him coming—and coming pretty hard. My spotter said it was raining pretty hard in (Turn) 3, so I tried to hold him off through the Tunnel (Turn) there.

“It was pretty exciting there coming to the end, when my crew chief, Zippy (Greg Zipadelli), told me about five laps (before) the caution came out that the 48 was catching me, and the rain was coming. I just kept on digging, and finally it just started downpouring in (Turn 3).”

Neither Logano nor Hamlin was a factor at the end. Logano had to make an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 189 and finished 26th. Hamlin’s No. 11 crew had trouble with lug nuts on his right rear tire on his last pit stop, and Hamlin was buried in the pack on the restart and finished 15th.

Make no mistake about it, Jr. cannot enter this weekend’s race care-free. He’s got a lot of pressure on him right now to perform. Every year, Jr. has to come to the same stretch of tracks that he’s not a particular fan of: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, and Watkins Glen International.

This not to say he hates these tracks. He just doesn’t run particularly well at them. Since 2004, Jr. only has thee top fives during this three-race stretch. He finished second at Pocono in 2007 and sixth at the Brickyard in 2006, and fifth at the Glen in 2004.  

He did lead some laps at Watkins Glen last weekend before pit strategy bit him, but overall, these are not his strongest tracks. He’s dropped from second in the standings to fourth.

As the series heads into Michigan, Jr. looks to rebound as he has in year’s passed. He’s won at three of the next four tracks and looks to work his way out of his slump. And, this weekend could be just what Jr. needs to gain some momentum heading into the Chase.

At this point, there are about 16 guys vying for 11 spots, so Jr. needs to get back to form, or he could risk starting the Chase with a huge deficit, or falling out of the Chase entirely.

Busch dominated at Infineon Raceway earlier this year, and could be equally as dominant. While Busch has only one road course victory in his career, he could return to form and pull out a victory here.

In some ways, this could be a make or break weekend for Busch as he seems to be losing momentum, while Carl Edwards seems to be hitting his stride.

Another driver looking to gain some momentum is Tony Stewart, who has six road course victories to his credit, four of which came at Watkins Glen. He’s also the defending race winner, as he won after Jeff Gordon spun in the closing laps last year.

Stewart has been inconsistent in the last four races, finishing 20th, fifth, 23rd, and second. Look for him to try to capitalize on his top 5 last week, and pull out a win.

Jeff Gordon also could earn his first victory of the season here. Gordon, also a four time winner at this track, is looking to build some momentum. I’m sure he’s not comfortable with his 166 point lead over 12th place, and would like to build on it.

He said:

 I think the races are too long here. I think that’s obvious. I think NASCAR thinks it’s too long, but the people in charge of that will not change it for whatever reason. Just for spite maybe, I don’t know. But they don’t have to be out there running.

Jr. proposes 400 mile races instead of 500 mile races. He said:

It’s a big, big race track. It’s no different really than running at Indy [the Allstate 400] and that’s 160 laps. It’s a 400-mile race and that’s probably what this should be.

I’m not even sure how I feel about the Pocono races. I’m not sure how much the length would make the races more interesting. I think the problem is that the Pocono races are too close together.

I propose moving one of the Pocono races, so that they’re not a month apart. I also suggest moving them because Indianapolis and Pocono are somewhat similar, with the long straightaways. And, having them back to back doesn’t make much sense.

All of that said, Sunday’s race was fun to watch at the end, not knowing who had enough fuel to go the distance and who didn’t.

What is it, you ask? I’ll tell you… It’s the goatee.

A quick internet search reveals that the type of goatee Busch is sporting these days is the Stripe. And, it’s the cause of his recent slide, if you want to call it that.

How can facial hair possible affect his ability to drive? During the race, the inside of the race car can reach upwards of 100 degrees. And, even though there are blowers that keep the drivers cool, and cool air is pumped into their helmets, they still sweat.

A cleanly shaven chin allows the sweat to roll down onto the neck. The goatee, however, does not. It catches all of that sweat, causing iching and irritation. This distracts the driver, making him lose concentration. Kyle Busch fell victim to this phenomenom at Pocono.

And there you have it. If Busch shaves, he’ll make it back to victory lane.

The gamble paid off, as Edwards went 33 laps on his final tank of fuel to with the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 from Pocono Raceway.

Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson also used a similar strategy to finish second and third, respectively.

Kevin Harvick, who spun on lap 1, and David Ragan rounded out the top 5. They both benefited when Dale Earnhardt Jr., who used the same strategy as Stewart and Johnson, ran out of gas on the last lap while running fourth. He coasted to a 12th-place finish.

Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Kahne and Martin both had dominant cars, but during the caution before the read flag, they opted to stay out and doing so required them to stop twice while the others only had to stop once. That strategy kept them from winning the race.

Notables: Greg Biffle (13th), Ryan Newman (14th), Martin Truex Jr. (15th), Jeff Burton (21st), Denny Hamlin (23rd), and Kyle Busch (36th).

Kyle Busch was running fourth with about three laps to go when he ran out of gas coming onto the front stretch. He dove to pit road, and was assessed a commitment line penalty, which resulted in a 36th place finish.

Jeff Burton was having a decent run, when he was assess a penalty on pit road for a tire that was not in control when he left the pits.