Pocono Raceway assailed

Drivers say the track is outdated but the owners defend its future with NASCAR.

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Jeff Gordon says it’s outdated. Jimmie Johnson believes it produces bad racing. And Kyle Busch fears today’s event is going to be downright boring.

Pocono Raceway is officially under attack, and the assault comes as its owners ardently defend its future on the NASCAR schedule.

Bruton Smith, the billionaire owner of Speedway Motorsports Inc., wants desperately to purchase the mountain racetrack from owners Joseph and Rose Mattioli. But the Mattiolis are adamant the track is not for sale and will be one day handed down to their grandchildren.

Even if Smith were to prevail, he has no plans to preserve the facility that serves the New York and Philadelphia markets. Instead, he’d pluck one or perhaps even both of its Cup Series dates and move them to SMI-owned facilities.

The battle for ownership of the Pocono track comes amid a wave of criticism against the 2.5-mile triangle.

Gordon, the four-time series champion, was the first to fire when he openly wondered how the “outdated” track has held on to its two Cup dates, despite needing a “ton of upgrades.”

“I’m shocked that they’ve had two races for as long as they’ve had,” Gordon said during testing here two weeks ago. “I’d be surprised if it stayed that way in the future.”

Back for today’s race, Gordon hasn’t retreated from those comments.

“It’s obvious that this is a track that needs some upgrades, and I still believe that,” he said. “At this day and time with this series at the level it’s at ... it’s only being constructive criticism as to what upgrades I think they need to have, especially if they want to continue to stay on the circuit going forward.”

At 500 miles, drivers have long complained the race is too long.

“I think if we ran 400-mile races, that would be better,” Busch said. “There would be more racing throughout the event than just riding around for however many miles because you have so long to go.”

Further aggravating the drivers is that they’ll be back here again in eight weeks. Although Pocono is one of 14 tracks with two Cup races, the proximity of its two summer dates has long been questioned.

Like it or not, with crowds estimated at 130,000, affordable tickets and a facility that is owned outright with no debt, the Mattiolis appear determined to hunker down and hold on to the speedway for the foreseeable future.