Mattioli has faith in Pocono Raceway's future

LONG POND, Pa. - Joseph Mattioli understands that Pocono Raceway has an unusual place on the NASCAR circuit - and that's just the way the outspoken track owner likes it.

The track's two races will always be 500 miles long, even as drivers and critics beg for 100 miles to be sliced off each. And those names, today's Pocono 500 (1 p.m., TNT) and Pennsylvania 500, will remain traditional and eschew corporate sponsorship.

The track is a 21/2-mile triangle and boasts the longest straightaway (3,740 feet) in the series.

And with a fourth-generation of Mattiolis in line to run the raceway, Pocono will never be for sale. Not to Bruton Smith. Not anyone.

"If Bruton comes down Gasoline Alley with a wheelbarrow with a billion dollars, he wouldn't get borscht from me," the 84-year-old Mattioli said. "I have enough money, we don't owe any money and all three generations are working and a fourth is waiting to start. It would be like selling part of your family."

While Cup drivers are quick to give Mattioli respect for all he's done to promote NASCAR in a region that serves both the Philadelphia and New York markets, they are just as fast to bash the number of miles and even the facilities. Some question why they need to return to the mountaintop twice in a season, less than two months apart and without a Chase race.

Jeff Gordon and three-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson are both vocal critics. Mattioli remained a staunch defender of the 500-mile races and has no plans to cut back.

"How do you think my television people are going to feel? They're going to lose a whole hour of material," he said. "If it was something really logical why I should do it, I would do it. But not for the sake of pleasing a couple of auto racing writers."