Some changes at the top of the Sprint Cup last week as it roared into the Brickyard, and Jimmy Johnson once again showed his love for the track by dominating the race and winning there for the fourth time in his career. He and Jeff Gordon are now tied with four wins apiece at the Brickyaed, a race that has only been running for less than two decades.

Pocono's Tricky Triangle

Despite a very strong showing all race JJ found himself looking at the back of Greg Biffle’s ride after a caution as Biffle beat him out of the pits to take the lead. Biffle took two tires to JJ’s four. That only lasted a lap or so and even with a second caution he pretty much had clear sailing the rest of the race.

Points leader Matt Kenseth fell from the top spot after being taken out of the race in a late by Joey Logano, dropping him to 35th in the race as Dale Earnhardt Jr. secured the top spot for himself after a very steady first half of the season, driving wise. The top five was filled out with Kyle Busch in second, followed by Biffle, Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon.

Next Week-Pennsylvania 400
The teams will be out at Long Pond at the Pocono Raceway for the Pennsylvania 400. Run on the 2.5 mile tri-oval it should make for some fun, wide opening racing.

Broadcast
Aug. 5, 12 noon ET ESPN

Car News
It sounds like there will be a new look for the cars next year as NASCAR has approved the designs for next generation Chevrolet SS, Dodge Charger, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry models that will be seen on the track next year.

While the issue of meeting aerodynamic standards was very important, the most interesting fact is that NASCAR, and the auto companies, are taking a step back to their roots. The next generation cars will look very much like the street models that are available to the general public, something that has been a thing of the past for some time. Looking forward to Daytona next year to see them.

Twitter– Instead of pointing to a number of Twitter addresses as we have in the past it seems to make much more sense just to send you to a site that appears to have consolidated a who’s who of racing twitter addresses instead. So head over here for a list.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Dale Earnhardt Jr
2) Matt Kenseth -14
3) Greg Biffle -22
4) Jimmy Johnson -27
5) Denny Hamlin -64
6) Kevin Harvick -78
7) Martin Truex Jr. -78
8 ) Tony Stewart -79
9) Brad Keselowski -82
10) Clint Bowyer -88

Nationwide
There were several controversial issues at the Indy 250 last weekend, all having to do with something that on the face of it seems pretty innocuous, spinning your tires. At the start of the race it looked as if Kyle Busch jumped the start over pole winner Kasey Kahne to take the immediate lead but NASCAR ruled that Kahne was spinning his tires.

This was repeated late in the race when Brad Keslowski, the leader at that point, appeared to spin his tires on a restart and Elliott Sadler shot past him for the lead. However on this ruling NASCAR said that while there was some spinning, it was not the cause of Elliott’s lead on the restart. This resulted in Sadler getting black flagged and finishing out of the top 10. He was notably upset after the race over the ruling and his Nationwide points lead was significantly whittled down as well.

Hornish finished second, Ty Dillon was third, Denny Hamlin was fourth and Austin Dillon fifth. Sadler continues to lead the series standings by one point over Austin Dillon.

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillon -1
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -13
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -28
5) Justin Allgaier -75

It is starting to seem that Danica Patrick’s most familiar move on the track is hitting a wall, literally not figuratively. She accomplished this feat once again at the Indy 250 last weekend. Unlike a number of people I know I do not actively root against her, but it seems that this is an increasingly common result in her race, with wrecks at Daytona and elsewhere this season.

What makes this particular crash so interesting is that she has said that she is considering returning to the Indy 500 next season. This along with her expected promotion to the Sprint Cup Series and possibly running select Nationwide races as well. I have to wonder how well she will be accepted in the Sprint Cup Series if she continues to her crashing ways?

This Week-US Cellular 250
The Nationwide teams head to the Corn Belt in Iowa for the U.S. Cellular 250 presented by the Enlist Weed Control System at the Iowa Speedway. While also on a tri-oval like the Sprint race the following day, but several states away, this track is much smaller, coming in at .876 miles.

Broadcast
Aug.4, 7:30 pm ET ESPN2