Pocono track dries out; Marlin shows his speed

LONG POND, Pa. -- Sterling Marlin should have no reason to worry about his car not being fast at Pocono Raceway, where the track dried enough Saturday to permit the first NASCAR practice of the weekend.

The Winston Cup points leader was awarded the pole Friday, when water seeping through seams and cracks on the 2 1/2-mile triangle prevented practice and qualifying. The starting grid for today's Pocono 500 was set according to series points.

Marlin, who hasn't driven to a pole and has been a poor qualifier this season, posted the fastest lap Saturday, going 166.636 mph in a Dodge. He said both his car and the track are ready to race.

"The car runs good and drives good, and it's got a good feel to it," Marlin said. "I didn't see any wet spots out there."

The problem with the track came after 3 inches of rain fell Thursday.

NASCAR spokeswoman Danielle Frye said trenches were dug near the second and third turns, and just off pit road. Also, some patch was applied to the asphalt off the racing surface near the end of pit road.

Some minor seepage was visible after practice, but NASCAR president Mike Helton was confident that work performed over the preceding 24 hours would ensure that the race go on as scheduled.

IRL: Jeff Ward overtook Al Unser Jr. just inches from the line to win the Boomtown 500 in another incredible finish at Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth.

Ward never led until he beat Unser, who had the preferred inside line, by a nose -- just .0111 seconds -- in the closest finish in Indy Racing League history. That broke the record set at Texas just last fall.

Airton Dare finished third, just .0595 seconds behind Ward, who won for the first time in 51 career starts with an average speed of 169.984 mph.

CART: Christiano da Matta, a 29-year-old Brazilian and the dominant road course driver on the CART circuit this year, edged Kenny Brack for the pole for today's Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey in California. It was da Matta's first CART pole after qualifying second five times, and the first for Newman-Haas Racing since 1999 -- a drought of 56 races.

Brack's Chip Ganassi teammate Bruno Junqueira was third. All three, and seven of the top eight drive Toyota-Lolas.

-- From wire reports