LONG POND, Pa. -- Jeff Gordon says it's outdated. Jimmie Johnson believes it produces bad racing. And Kyle Busch fears today's event is going to be downright boring.

Pocono Raceway is officially under attack, and the assault comes as its owners ardently defend its future on the NASCAR schedule.

Bruton Smith, the billionaire owner of Speedway Motorsports Inc., wants to purchase the mountain racetrack from owners Joseph and Rose Mattioli. But the Mattiolis are adamant that the track is not for sale.

Even if Smith were to prevail, he has no plans to preserve the facility that serves the New York and Philadelphia markets. Instead, he'd pluck one or perhaps even both of its Cup Series dates and move them to SMI-owned facilities.

The battle for ownership comes amid a wave of criticism of the 2.5-mile triangle.

Gordon, the four-time series champion, openly wondered how the track has held onto its two Cup dates despite needing a "ton of upgrades."

"I'm shocked that they've had two races for as long as they've had," Gordon said during testing here two weeks ago. "I'd be surprised if it stayed that way in the future."

Back for Sunday's race, Gordon hasn't retreated from those comments.

"It's obvious that this is a track that needs some upgrades, and I still believe that," he said. "At this day and time with this series at the level it's at . . . it's only being constructive criticism as to what upgrades I think they need to have, especially if they want to continue to stay on the circuit going forward."

Drivers have long complained the race, at 500 miles, is way too long.

"I think if we ran 400-mile races, that would be better," Busch said. "There would be more racing throughout the event than just riding around for however many miles because you have so long to go."

Asked what he expected out of today's 500-miler, the series points leader said "a boring race" with little passing.

"That's a big concern," Busch said. "I don't know what we'll see. You just get within a few car lengths of the guy in front of you and you get stuck and you just can't go anywhere."

That echoed the sentiments of Johnson, the two-time defending champion who says Pocono doesn't produce good racing because of the long straightaways, tight turns and lack of banking.

"It's tough to really put on a good race here. It really is," he said. "We sound awfully harsh in saying these things, but we're just trying to be honest. We all appreciate and respect the Mattiolis and all that they've done. It's not a personal dig on them.

"But there is no denying that this is an old, old facility. And as racing has gone on and we're trying to put on a better show, it's just been tough to do that here."

. . .

BUSCH USING BACKUP: Busch wrecked his car during practice yesterday at Pocono and had to go to a backup.

Busch lost control of his Toyota as he apparently headed toward pit road with just about two minutes left in the first practice session. The car spun down the service road and tagged the inside retaining wall.

Because he's switching to a backup car, he must drop to the rear of the field at the start of today's race.