Jeff Gordon ruffled some feathers at Infineon Raceway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

FR9 CARS STRUGGLE — Ford’s new purpose-built FR9 NASCAR Sprint Cup engine was supposed to help the team dig out of its season-long slump. But the four Ford Fusions running the FR9 at Pocono Raceway frankly weren’t very good in qualifying: Matt Kenseth was the best of the lot at 15th, followed by AJ Allmendinger in 17th, Carl Edwards in 26th and 28th-place Greg Biffle.

Biffle said he’s asked his team to help work on fuel mileage, which is critical at some tracks. “We have discussed it, especially us because the 16 team has been the worst fuel mileage for about the last six or eight races,” said Biffle. “We are going into Pocono and Michigan which are both fuel mileage events, so I was asking guys for help on fuel mileage this week.”

GORDON RATES CONTENDERS — For the ninth consecutive year, Jeff Gordon is chasing his fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. If he is fortunate enough to actually capture it this year, it will not be because there’s a shortage of top contenders. Friday at Pocono, Gordon gave his own handicapping of the field.

“You come off of a big race weekend like we just had at the 600 and the All-Star event and the 2 (Kurt Busch) wins both of those races so of course immediately everyone is going to jump on the 2 car bandwagon as the team to beat,” said Gordon, “I still think that you’ve got the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the 11 (Denny Hamlin) — maybe the 18 (Kyle Busch). Those cars seem to be really good. Because of the parity, it’s still too early to tell who really has got it.”

As for his own squad, Gordon wants to win a couple of races before thrusting himself into the discussion. “For us, I feel like we need to gain a little bit of momentum because we need to get a win or two,” he said. “I know as soon as we do, all of the sudden everyone will be on our wagon. The 2 car, I mean, Kurt’s a great driver and Penske is a great organization so I wouldn’t count them out, but I also wouldn’t make them the favorite as of yet.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.