Jimmie Johnson wins appeal of his penalty

Jimmie Johnson and the #48 Hendrick Motorsports team won their appeal of the P1 penalty handed to them following two straight weeks of violations at Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of the Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 a few weeks ago. The penalty should have resulted in Johnson having the last pit selection for the next race at Dover (which he wound up winning), but the #48 team's decision to appeal the penalty let him retain full pit selection privileges. NASCAR then heard the appeal following Sunday's race at Pocono and ultimately decided to waive the penalty. An upholding of the penalty, on the other hand, would have given Johnson last pit selection for the Michigan race this coming Sunday.

Bowyer, Ragan to switch crew chiefs

Michael Waltrip Racing has ordered a swap of its two crew chiefs for their #15 and #55 Sprint Cup Series Toyotas. Brian Pattie, formerly the crew chief of the #15 driven by Clint Bowyer, will move to the #55 car, currently driven by David Ragan. Billy Scott will move from the #55 to the #15. Pattie was Bowyer's crew chief since Bowyer won three races in his first season at MWR in 2012, but since then their performance has suffered. The #55 has also been driven by Brian Vickers, Brett Moffitt and Michael Waltrip this year; Vickers, the car's full-time driver last year and previously this year, is out once again due to his blood clots.

Martin Truex Jr. finally breaks through at Pocono

Martin Truex Jr. took the #78 Chevrolet to a much-earned win in Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. Truex had finished in the top-ten in all but one race heading into the weekend and became a driver to watch, especially considering Denver-based Furniture Row Racing's status as an "underdog" team. The team has made a big turnaround from last year and they further proved it by winning a race on the 2.5-mile triangle. Truex, driving with a different setup than he had at Kansas, Charlotte and Dover, had to hold off the #4 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick, who was slowly gaining on him during the final laps. Third-place Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was more than ten seconds behind Truex and Harvick at the checkered flag.

The pole for the race went to Harvick's teammate Kurt Busch in the #41 Chevrolet; it was his third of the season. Carl Edwards led some of the opening laps in the #19 Toyota. Truex had taken the lead by the time of the first set of green flag pit stops, during which Joey Logano in the #22 Team Penske Ford was given a speeding penalty. Harvick later reassumed the lead with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who swept both Pocono Cup races last year, getting up to second on a restart. Austin Dillon also led a few circuits in the #3 Chevrolet. Drivers who had bad restarts throughout the race included Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski.

On lap 70 of 160, the #17 Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit the wall to bring out a caution. Sam Hornish Jr. also wrecked his #9 Ford on lap 121. During another caution a few laps later brought out by an incident involving Keselowski and Brett Moffitt, Keselowski and Kasey Kahne got together on pit road and also hit Earnhardt's car, which caused the field to get shuffled considerably by the time of the restart. The final restart took place on lap 145 and Truex assumed the lead for good. Harvick closed in to within a second and a half of Truex. These were the only two contenders in the closing laps, as Jimmie Johnson was several seconds behind Truex and Harvick.

Next week, the Cup series races in Brooklyn, Michigan for another 400-mile race, this time on a 2-mile oval, before taking Father's Day weekend off and then heading out to Sonoma, California for some road racing.

Race Results:

1. (3) 78-Martin Truex Jr. - Chevrolet - 160 laps, led 97 laps
2. (5) 4-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 160 laps, led 39 laps
3. (9) 48-Jimmie Johnson - Chevrolet - 160 laps
4. (11) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 160 laps
5. (1) 41-Kurt Busch - Chevrolet - 160 laps
6. (19) 20-Matt Kenseth - Toyota - 160 laps
7. (14) 1-Jamie McMurray - Chevrolet - 160 laps
8. (15) 42-Kyle Larson - Chevrolet - 160 laps
9. (10) 18-Kyle Busch - Toyota - 160 laps
10. (8) 11-Denny Hamlin - Toyota - 160 laps

Ty Dillon wants a full-time Cup ride in 2016

Despite announcements that Richard Childress Racing development driver Ty Dillon would spend one more year in the Xfinity Series driving the #3 Chevrolet Camaro in 2016, Dillon apparently wants to forgo that third year in the series and instead move full-time to the Sprint Cup Series in February. Dillon, the brother of Cup driver Austin Dillon and grandson of Childress, has driven the #33 research and development Chevrolet in some races since his series debut at Atlanta last August, including at Kansas last month with a "Plankton" paint scheme inspired by the character from the show SpongeBob Squarepants, which sponsored the Kansas race.

Matt Crafton takes truck win at Texas

Matt Crafton took the #88 Toyota Tundra to his third win of the season in a race filled with misfortunes for many drivers at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday evening. It was also Crafton's second straight win in the series' first of two annual trips to Texas. While Crafton was lucky, many other drivers were not, including Erik Jones, whose #4 Kyle Busch Toyota suffered two mechanical problems during the race after leading 68 laps; Timothy Peters, whose #17 Red Horse truck lost power; and Daniel Hemric, who spun after having a great top-ten run during most of the race. Last week's winner Tyler Reddick started around mid-pack and had to work his way up through slower trucks in the field. Daniel Suarez, also a Kyle Busch driver, came close to beating Crafton and recorded another runner-up finish.

Race Results:

1. (2) 88-Matt Crafton - Toyota - 167 laps, led 77 laps
2. (3) 51-Daniel Suarez - Toyota - 167 laps, led 6 laps
3. (5) 05-John Wes Townley - Chevrolet - 167 laps
4. (4) 98-Johnny Sauter - Toyota - 167 laps
5. (6) 29-Austin Theriault - Ford - 167 laps
6. (10) 8-Joe Nemechek - Chevrolet - 167 laps, led 3 laps
7. (8) 13-Cameron Hayley - Toyota - 167 laps
8. (11) 54-Justin Boston - Toyota - 167 laps, led 1 lap
9. (9) 14-Daniel Hemric - Chevrolet - 167 laps
10. (12) 11-Ben Kennedy - Toyota - 167 laps

What's with all the babies?

Trevor Bayne's announcement that he and his wife Ashton are having a baby is one of just many in the past couple of years, with some fans joking that the Sprint Cup field about 25 years from now is already almost full.

Brian Vickers joining NASCAR on NBC team

Brian Vickers will appear on NBC's NASCAR telecasts starting at Daytona next month when they take over the Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series schedules from Fox. Vickers has been sidelined once again by blood clots and has been replaced in the #55 Toyota at Michael Waltrip Racing by David Ragan for the time being.