Racing more against the weather than each other

LONG POND, Pa. -- With more storms approaching, Sunday's soggy Pocono "265" came down to racing against the weather more than the competition.

When the rains came for the final time, it was Jeff Gordon who was declared the winner (watch video). But had the timing been just slightly different, it very well could have been Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin or even Carl Edwards celebrating in Victory Lane.

Lap-by-Lap

Jeff Gordon and Steve Letarte looked to the skies for their gameplan at Pocono. See just how the No. 24 team played their cards perfectly to win.

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Sunday's race was a matter of making it to the halfway point while still holding track position. It definitely had the feel of a road course race, as the storm clouds -- plus the smaller fuel cells -- played a key role in how teams worked their strategy.

While Gordon, Casey Mears and Mark Martin stayed on the track when the rest of the lead-lap cars pitted on Lap 65, others -- like Newman, Tony Stewart and Truex Jr. -- grabbed two tires and fuel. Hamlin, who had dominated the early stages of the race, went for four tires and restarted 20th.

Figuring that no one would have enough fuel to make it to Lap 101, Steve Letarte said the decision to trade fuel for track position at that point wasn't as dumb as it first appeared. Gordon gave up the lead when he pitted on Lap 83, but as the rest of the leaders ducked back onto pit road, he found himself back in front with enough fuel to make it the distance.

"We just race Pocono always like a road course," Letarte said. "We back it up from the end. That was also putting us in the fuel window for 200 [laps], which is another option.

"We had a good car but I really wanted to see what it would do in clean air. It's hard to judge a car back in fourth, fifth, sixth. It ended up working out well. I guess it was 'incredibly stupid' but sometimes stupid works."

Rival crew chief Bootie Barker realized at that point Gordon would be able to build a big enough lead that when he pitted, he would still be on the lead lap.

"Well you kind approach this like a road course, and that's what the 24 did," Barker said. "He knew that he was going to be far enough ahead that he came back to the pits, he wasn't going to be a lap down. Then it was all a question of when the rain came. If it would have fell then, he would have been in trouble, but obviously it held off long enough." (Continued)