Contrary to what the subject claims, we'll do this chronologically. Come back in time with me five days.

Last Sunday saw one of the better Pocono races in recent memory. That's not saying much, because Pocono has never been a nail-biter. As Klvalus said Monday, I almost nailed it with my call of Carl Edwards winning after he and Kasey Kahne took turns dominating. In a way, I was very close: the two had the best cars, but a late flat tire almost derailed Edwards' day entirely. The most exciting thing to watch was Edwards' late-race run through the field, from 32nd to 9th in the final 20 laps. That was followed closely by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. managing to pull off a top-five finish on older tires than the rest of the leaders. The finer points:

• I'd like to take a moment here and praise NASCAR's RaceView. If you can swing the $69.95 annual fee, it's well worth the money at less than $6 per month. It was insane watching Kyle Busch's accident look exactly the same on a computer simulation as it did in real life. NASCAR has a real winner here.
• Speaking of Busch's accident, what was he thinking? His spotter never actually cleared him, and he relied on his instincts. He's proven time and again that, while he can handle a car with the best in history, his instincts almost always result in mangled sheet metal. He has a long way to go before he can be considered a top-tier driver, no matter how many times he wins.
• I was somewhat impressed with TNT's RaceBuddy. The multiple camera angles are fun to watch, but it has a deal-breaking flaw for me: there's no way to completely disable the audio. I prefer to listen to a specific driver at any given time, but it gets drowned out by the track audio from RaceBuddy. I hope they fix that, because I'd like to see more of it. It's a novel idea if nothing else.
• The high line is now the fast way around two out of the three corners at Pocono. Satan just called, he asked for his winter coat.

This week, NASCAR got sued! A former black female official (if you haven't heard about this already, trust me, her gender and race are critical to the story) has sued the organization for wrongful termination, sexual harassment and racial and sexual discrimination. I will withhold most judgment, but for now, but I will say this: most of me wants to call B.S. on the case based solely on the fact that her claims encompass almost every current, pop-cultural stereotype of both blacks and women, as well as the stereotypical country bumpkin. I've lived in Texas and I currently live in North Carolina; to hear her tell it, NASCAR employs every #### in the south. That, and her case reads like a press release for an joint venture between the NAACP and the Women's Lib movement.

This week's fantasy update: Carl Edwards (9th), Martin Truex, Jr. (17th), David Reutimann (19th) and Jamie McMurray (20th) gave me all four drivers in the top half of the finishing order; unfortunately, only one was in the top 10. Not the best two-week stretch I've ever had. This week it looks like Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman and A.J. Almendinger as the starters right now, but I have Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Kyle Bush and Travis Kvapil waiting if my starters don't show me something in practice tomorrow.

On to Michigan! Starting with Pocono, we're now in the throes of the Fuel Mileage Fast Lane™. Two trips each to Pocono and Michigan, plus two road courses and a venture to Auto Club Speedway (California), mean that seven of the twelve races between last weekend and Labor Day Weekend have a significant chance to have the outcome decided by who can go the furthest on a tank of gas. Bristol is in there somewhere, though, as well the Soft-drink Swap 400 (Pepsi 400 becomes the Coke Zero 400 this year), so it's not an entire loss this summer.

Who takes the checkers this week? Well, I'm torn between Kenseth and Edwards as the "typical favorites" here. The recent surge by Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers and A.J. Almendinger could be the x-factor, though. It's a big, wide-open track, and the Toyotas definitely have a horsepower advantage. If Hendrick Motorsports can get a few more horses this week, they could be a threat too. Jeff Gordon is historically good here, and Earnhardt has been up front here a lot over the last two seasons. But Kasey Kahne has won here, too, and he's the hot driver in the series right now. Add in the fact that qualifying got rained out and this week really is wide open. Scary.

The Final Word: NASCAR hastily called a meeting today for all drivers and team members. The content of the meeting is up for grabs at this point: NASCAR officials say it was entirely a reminder that the racing is all about the fans, and that nothing else was discussed. Drivers seemed to hear, "stop pissing and moaning about the new car," and claim that the topic of the fans never came up. The two sides only agreed that the pending lawsuit was not part of the discussion. InvertedMind sides with the drivers; NASCAR officials had time to align their stories and rehearse responses. The drivers were caught off guard by it, whatever it was about, and all had independent opinions that NASCAR is fed up with the competitors throwing the car under the bus. If that's the case, they better stop saying it's about the fans, and that they want the drivers to express themselves more. Telling them what they can't say is bordering on fascism.

Pocono is one of the harder tracks to predict. It's not that it's got such incredible competition -- on the contrary, as I alluded to a few days ago, it becomes quickly clear who found the setup and who didn't. No, the predictions become difficult because Pocono is a schizophrenic racetrack.

Sometimes, there are 10 cautions and a late-race shootout. Other times, it's a fuel-mileage race (isn't it weird how some tracks have a tendency to be decided by fuel mileage, and there's always a bunch of guys really close to running out, but other tracks never seem to have the pit sequence come up just right for fuel to be a factor?). And, still, other races wind up with a 30- or 40-lap green-flag run at the end that results in a typical pit sequence, after which that one guy who found the setup late in the race runs away and hides.

Add to that the fact that the CoT(oday) (I'm going to trademark that...) makes its Pocono debut tomorrow, and it looks like we're setting up for either a really sloppy race or a snoozer, by the standards of casual fans. I, for one, do not believe in the equation that states that "wrecks equal exciting racing" but that's a topic for another post. As for the potential for a sloppy race, I'd have to say the chances are marginal at best, for two reasons:

1. The "patch" that runs from the exit of the tunnel turn through turn three has made it possible to run two-wide competitively through what was once a hard place to negotiate side-by-side; and
   
2. We've already seen from most of the races this year that this car is orders of magnitude more difficult to get sliding sideways.

So, what does Swami I.M. predict for tomorrow? Well, considering my own mother rarely takes me seriously (and with good reason), I feel it's safe to predict the following without potential for ridicule: Joey Lagano will begin running to Pocono from Nashville at the moment the green flag drops, arrive in Pocono by lap 75, do a green-flag driver swap with Casey Mears* (who should be four or five laps down in a beat-up race car by that time anyway), fight back to the lead lap without the aid of a Lucky Dog free pass, and then win it going away. Given that he has -- and this is just hearsay at this point -- moved mountains with nothing more than a paper clip and a dirty look*, and is rumored to be the man who will bring peace to the Middle East**, it seems like a safe bet.

And, in case I'm wrong about that one (highly likely since Lagano isn't scheduled to be anywhere near Long Pond, Pennsylvania by my calculations), I'll give you a backup prediction (if Jeff Gordon can wreck his primary in the All-Star race, jump in a backup car and go on to win, I think I have at least a snowball's chance in Maui to be right here): Carl Edwards wins after he and Kasey Kahne take turns dominating throughout the day.

• So, how did InvertedMind's fantasy team do last week? Greg Biffle (3rd), Martin Truex, Jr. (6th), Jimmie Johnson (7th) and Sam Hornish, Jr. (18th) combined for 341 points, good for 5th out of 14 for the week. Coming in to this week, I had leap-frogged from 6th to 4th overall.
• This week's fantasy team: Carl Edwards, Martin Truex, Jr., Jamie McMurray and David Reutimann. The one I am most iffy about on the list is Reutimann, but not so much because of his 36th-place starting spot. The real problem is how ready he'll be tomorrow after racing to a hard-fought 3rd-place finish in Nashville tonight. I suppose only time will tell.
• The Final Word: I'm not entirely sure what to make of TNT's "RaceBuddy" that will debut on NASCAR.com tomorrow. It's free, and having access to an in-car camera at all times is pretty cool. I also like the pit road camera, and fan chat will add to the experience. Here, though, are my top three concerns:
• Is it just me, or is the "mascot" somewhat stereotypical of the southern NASCAR fan? A baseball cap that seems to be styled after a trucker cap, work boots, and what appears to be the beginnings of a mullet. Hand the guy a Budweiser, take his shirt off and paint a big, red "3" on his chest*** and he'd look like every male fan on top of an infield RV.
• The in-car camera is voted on periodically throughout the race, and changes every 50 laps. Given that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. inevitably wins every poll he's ever listed in, how long will it be before TNT removes him from the list of drivers eligible?
• NASCAR.com's RaceView and PitCommand (obsessives like me require both) are already almost maxing out my aging laptop. Add in the driver audio and the network is almost fried, too. Which will I have to sacrifice in order to experience RaceBuddy?
• Bonus Concern (4 for the price of 3!): It's TNT, for God's sake. These are the people who felt like Alan Bestwick was best suited for work on pit road, while believing the perpetually mind-numbingly boring Bill "My Mom Thinks I'm Clever" Webber was the right choice for the booth. Much like the glory days of Monday Night Football were in the mid-1990s with Frank Gifford, Al Michaels and Dan Dierdorf, so too was the high point of NASCAR broadcasting when we could tune in to hear Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons (RIP) and Ned Jarrett. I long for those days of country music and more racing than commercials. Of course, I also loved watching American Sports Cavalcade on TNN after their race coverage, so I don't know how psycho that makes me.

* - I had J.J. Yeley here first.  I guess I should have checked the lineup before I opened my big fat fingers.
** - Cleary, if Chuck Norris hit MacGyver with nothing more than a bare fist, it would create temperatures high enough to cause nuclear fusion. According to Mark Martin and anyone in the Joe Gibbs Racing garage, Joey Lagano would be the end result.
*** - Lagano has been treated like the second coming of Jesus Christ up to this point, so this sounded like a pretty sound rumor to start.
**** - Rest in Peace, Dale Sr. We miss you every day. The fact that you still inspire r3dn3cks (EDIT: I had to spell it that way; can you believe FoxSports.com censors that word?) of all walks of life to honor you with body paint is a tribute to your lasting legacy, no matter how tacky the display may seem to some more "modern" fans. I, for one, smile every time I see it to this day.