Posted on by Brad Norman

Driver-by-driver results for Sunday’s Pocono 400

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1. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Junior’s win with a late pass of Brad Keselowski gave Hendrick Motorsports its fourth consecutive team victory at Pocono — all by different drivers. It also ensured Earnhardt would end the season with multiple victories for the first time in 10 years. Fourteen races into the season, he’s one of four drivers with two victories. See his highlights here.

2. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. Of the 10 fastest laps run during Sunday’s race, Keselowski notched seven of them — including a 175.890 mph circuit on Lap 152 that held up as the quickest of the day. Debris on his grille ruined what appeared to be a surefire victory and relegated the veteran to his second consecutive runner-up finish. See his highlights here.

3. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. A third-place run was Busch’s best showing since winning in March at Martinsville. Although the SHR driver still has more DNFs (five) than top-fives (three), he put more ground between himself and Michael Annett, who is 30th in the standings, which is crucial for Busch to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. See his race highlights here.

4. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. The highest-finishing Toyota, this is Hamlin’s third consecutive top-10 in the June Pocono race. Hamlin started from the Coors Light Pole position, but was bumped out of the way by Brad Keselowski on the first lap. The No. 2’s apology over the radio was met with silence from the JGR driver. See his highlights here.

5. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. In his first career NASCAR national series start at Pocono, Larson also led his first lap of 2014. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender led six of them by the time the afternoon ended, and his charge through the field resulted in his third top-five of the season and keeps him in 10th place in the points standings. See his race highlights here.

6. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. In fifth place at the time of the third caution just shy of the midway point, ‘Six-Time’ collided with Marcos Ambrose leaving his stall. He had to put his car in reverse and get back into his box for additional service. Johnson lost 18 spots in a moment that effectively ended his bid for three consecutive victories. Watch that incident here.

Miscommunication on a pit stop cost Jimmie Johnson a shot at the win.


7. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Newman now has four consecutive top-10s at Pocono, and although he fell just short of his first top-five of 2014, Sunday’s result tied for his best finish of the year. See his highlights here.

8. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon’s run personified the power of Hendrick engines at the 2.5-mile Pocono layout. His team had three drivers finish in the top eight, and third-place finisher Kurt Busch had Hendrick horsepower under his hood. He managed a top-10 despite being mired in traffic throughout the event and led the field in percentage of quality passes at 60.5. See Gordon’s post-race interview here.

9. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Chevrolet, Furniture Row Racing. For the first time this year, Truex pieced together top-10 finishes in two consecutive races. That’s the good news — the bad news is that because those top-10s have been so rare, Truex is still 25th in the points standings.

10. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. A 10th-place run Sunday tied McMurray’s best result at the track since he joined the Ganassi squad in 2010. It came after early contact with Matt Kenseth that crushed the No. 20 car, but apparently didn’t affect the No. 1 too badly. Watch video of that wreck here.

11. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing. The 35-year-old continues his slow climb up the standings. Two weeks ago, Bowyer was in 20th place. Now he’s 16th. The No. 15 team would certainly like to be in contention for more wins, but a few more solid showings gets them in the Chase conversation. See his race highlights here.

12. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch had a car that was bad on the long run early, needed a caution on Lap 61 to get on the lead lap and was involved in a wreck with Kasey Kahne late. Yet by the end of the race, his No. 18 had been repaired enough for a strong run into the top 15. Watch video here of the work done after his incident with Kahne.

13. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart had a rare personal misfire, getting caught speeding on pit road that sent the driver from first place to 17th with just 40 laps to go. "I’m sorry guys, I’ll do everything I can to make it up," he called over the radio. ‘Smoke’ had a car capable of winning, too. He ran the 11th-fastest lap of the day on Lap 78 (175.164 mph), the first driver not named Keselowski or Earnhardt on the list of the fastest laps run. See his race highlights here.

Tony Stewart publicly owned up to his mistake on pit road.

14. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Another race, another bout of bad luck for Harvick. Running second on Lap 117, he flatly called out "Flat left front tire" to his team — you can listen to driver audio on RaceView throughout this year. Two laps later, the driver said his track bar was broken. It took a caution by teammate Danica Patrick on Lap 137 to get him back on the lead lap, so a 14th-place finish after all that may be acceptable to the team. See his race highlights here.

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. For the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500, Stenhouse had the best finish among the Roush Fenway Racing trio of drivers. Of his four top-15s this year, three have come on tracks longer than 2 miles.

16. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. For the second consecutive week, Biffle was caught up in a wreck with his teammate. Last week it was a full-on hit with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. This time it was catching some of the debris scattered by Carl Edwards after a big, late wreck. Watch video of that wreck here.

17. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Pocono was a race in which Dillon ran to basically his exact average of the year. His average finishing position through 14 races into his rookie season is 16.6, and he recovered from a pass-through penalty served for changing lanes on the restart.

18. David Ragan, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. It was not certain if Ragan would run Sunday’s race. His wife, Jacquelyn, is due to give birth any day and the No. 34 team had Mike Bliss on standby. Bliss wasn’t needed at Pocono, and Ragan notched his best finish of the year, which was punctuated by his spotter calling out on Lap 47: "Still no phone calls from Concord, N.C., saying he’s going to be a dad, so we’re clear." For that type of in-car audio for the remainder of the season, subscribe to RaceView at a new, lower price.

19. Brian Vickers, No. 55 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing. Vickers ran the fastest lap of the first practice at Pocono, but his car regressed as the weekend went on. He was in the 20s at times Sunday before gaining positions over the last 20 laps.

20. Michael Annett, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Annett’s 20th-place effort is his second top-20 of the year, and the rookie nearly led his first lap of the year late as teams were on differing pit strategies.

21. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. Since his consecutive top-10s at Richmond and Talladega, ‘Dinger has finished outside the top 20 in four consecutive races. Testing at Sonoma this week kept the team from getting to the track until right before practice on Friday, and it struggled to find speed all weekend.

22. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Sunday’s result ended a five-race streak of top-20 finishes for Almirola, who had gained five spots in the standings over that stretch. He’s just two points behind Tony Stewart for 18th place.

23. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. At the very least, Mears is consistent. The results for his past four races: 26th, 24th, 25th, 23rd. He did draw the ire of the NASCAR Tower during the final caution period, though. "Tell him to get to the end of the field," Race Director David Hoots said. "I’m tired of fooling with him!" To listen to similar audio for the remainder of the season, subscribe to RaceView.

24. Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Ambrose was part of a major race story line when he collided with Jimmie Johnson on pit road approximately midway through the race. It wasn’t his team’s fault, though. "If you see that 9 car’s spotter, tell him that was my fault," Chad Knaus radioed. Ambrose, along with AJ Allmendinger, led all drivers with 141 green-flag passes.

25. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. It was a short-lived time at the top for Kenseth. The veteran lost his spot atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings after just one week, and he has an incident with Jamie McMurray to blame. Contact with the No. 1 car destroyed his nose. "I don’t know, I didn’t really hit him that hard. I just don’t have any support up there," he told his team on the radio.

The No. 20 Toyota needed major repairs after hitting Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 Chevrolet.

26. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard fell out of the current Chase Grid on Sunday with his worst finish since April 12 at Darlington. His No. 27 Chevrolet at one point was stuck in fourth gear, which made for an interesting restart.

27. Justin Allgaier, No. 51 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Allgaier led six laps late in the race as teams were on varying pit strategies. It’s his first time in front of the pack since leading four laps in the season-opening Daytona 500.

28. David Gilliland, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. A 28th-place result is better than Gilliland’s average finish this year, and it was the first time since Richmond he finished on the lead lap.

29. Travis Kvapil, No. 32 Ford, FAS Lane Racing. In his 10th start of the year, Kvapil recorded his best finish. It was the fourth top-30 of the year for the Frank Stoddard-owned car.

30. Cole Whitt, No. 26 Toyota, BK Racing. Whitt led a trio of BK Racing drivers who finished in consecutive order. It’s the fifth time in six races with the team that Whitt has earned the highest finish among its three drivers.

31. Alex Bowman, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Bowman had trouble making his way through the field, a frustration he voiced on Lap 124: "Frustrated about being in the back. It’s like we didn’t change anything, nothing … " he called after a pit stop.

32. Ryan Truex, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. Truex delivered one of the funnier one-liners over the radio Sunday, deadpanning when asked about the first caution of the race: "There’s a fire in the infield." And there was. To listen to similar audio for the remainder of the season, subscribe to RaceView.

33. Landon Cassill, No. 40 Chevrolet, Hillman Racing. Cassill’s effort at Pocono was his best finish since nearly breaking into the top 10 at Talladega in April. Through 12 races, he has seven top-30s in 12 starts.

34. Reed Sorenson, No. 36 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. He rallied down the stretch, moving up six spots in the last 20 laps to take 34th place. It was Sorenson’s third instance of running at the finish in the last four races, coming on the heels of three straight DNFs.

35. Josh Wise, No. 98 Ford, Phil Parsons Racing. The pre-race TNT All-Access video on Wise — who is similar to Jimmie Johnson when it comes to fitness — was the highlight of the day for the 31-year-old, who finished two laps down.

36. Timmy Hill, No. 66 Toyota, Jay Robinson Racing. The former NASCAR Nationwide Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year worked his way to a high-water mark of 35th place by Lap 110 before settling for a 35th-place effort. It marked Hill’s first start in Jay Robinson Racing’s No. 66 and his best finish in four Sprint Cup starts this season.

37. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick inadvertently played a major role in the ending of Sunday’s race. With five laps remaining, leader Brad Keselowski tried to use the No. 10, a lapped car, to clear his debris. Following Patrick up the track allowed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to have an opening on the inside, which he used en route to victory. "That was the best I could do, I would have really screwed everybody if I didn’t let off," Patrick radioed. "There’s nothing I could have done different there with the 2." See her highlights here.

Danica Patrick played a big role in the final laps, even though she wasn’t challenging for the win.


38. J.J. Yeley, No. 44 Chevrolet, Xxxtreme Motorsports. Despite bringing out the third caution period of the race when his No. 44 car began dropping debris in Turn 1, Yeley managed his best finish of the season in 38th, four laps down. It also marked the first non-DNF for the Xxxtreme Motorsport team in four starts this season.

39. Alex Kennedy, No. 33 Chevrolet, Circle Sport Racing. The New Mexico native received praise over the radio for his smooth handling of the No. 33 Chevy on pit stops. This was his first Sprint Cup start of the year, and the fourth of his career.

40. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske Racing. Logano called out he was having fun on Lap 140. That changed before the race ended, as the driver limped to his worst finish of the season. "I think I’m blowing up," he told his team. "Doesn’t sound right. I’m limping it around right now."

41. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Edwards’ car ended up in pieces for the second time in the past five races. There was nothing he could do to avoid the fluid dropped by Kasey Kahne after the 5 crunched the wall on Lap 143, when Edwards was running in the top 15. "Yeah, I got in his oil and couldn’t get out of the way. The 5 is tore up. Damn."

42. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne blamed the No. 18 of Kyle Busch for causing his hard hit into the wall, which brought out the caution on Lap 143. "The 18 wrecked us. We’re killed," Kahne told his crew — with a pair of expletives laced in there for good measure. For in-car audio for the remainder of the season, subscribe to RaceView.

43. Dave Blaney, No. 77 Ford, Randy Humphrey Racing. Turn 1 presented a problem for Blaney all week. Spinning out during the first round of knockout qualifying on Friday relegated the driver to a 43rd-place starting position. Losing control in roughly the same spot during the race brought out the caution on Lap 80, and put Blaney eight laps down, ensuring he’d finish 43rd.

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After collision with Ambrose, No. 48 team still manages to finish strong

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LONG POND, Pa. — After seeing his chances of winning three consecutive races slide away in the waning laps, Jimmie Johnson wasn’t frustrated at Pocono Raceway — he was grateful, and not just for his sixth-place finish.


Grateful he missed two of Justin Allgaier‘s crewmen during a fateful pit stop Sunday, one that forced the six-time Sprint Cup Series champion to play catch-up for the remainder of the event. But it could have been much worse — Johnson was exiting his stall when he made contact with the car of Marcos Ambrose, spinning the No. 48 car toward Ambrose’s stall, and dangerously close to a tire changer and tire carrier servicing the No. 51 car.


"How I didn’t hit those guys is beyond me," Johnson said after climbing out of his No. 48 car in the garage area. "I’m so thankful I didn’t hit those guys. It wouldn’t have been good."

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Looking to win three consecutive races for a third time in his career, Johnson was fifth when a caution flew for debris 72 laps into the event. As he was exiting his stall following the ensuing two-tire pit stop, his right-front slammed into Ambrose’s No. 9 car, which was coming in for service. The contact spun Johnson and did enough damage that he had to back up to return to his stall, where his crew attended to extensive repairs. Johnson emerged in 31st, and as the last car on the lead lap.


Crew chief Chad Knaus took the blame. "Earl, if you see that 9 car spotter, tell him that was my fault," he radioed to spotter Earl Barban. "I didn’t realize he was coming in; I thought he was coming out."


It’s common for crew chiefs to spot for drivers entering and exiting the pit, since being on the pit box gives them a better vantage point than the spotter.

"Chad was spotting me out of the pit, and he took full responsibility for it," Johnson said. "He didn’t know the 9 was ahead of us pulling in. He thought the 9 had left his pit box. Just confusion on pit road. I feel terrible for the 9 guys, hurting their race car and taking them out of a good day. Hurt our race car, too."


Ambrose would go on to finish 24th. But Johnson and his crew rallied in typical fashion, as they had done earlier in rebounding from a 20th-place starting position. Pit strategy, caution cycles and a fast car left Johnson third behind Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on a restart with 20 laps remaining, but just when it seemed the No. 48 car would make its big move — it went backward. Johnson’s car handled tighter than expected after a two-tire stop, and he lost momentum upshifting from second gear to third, and he stood seventh when Kasey Kahne crashed with 16 laps left.


Over the radio, there was serious discussion over whether to pit. "Do you think you can hold on?" Knaus asked. Johnson left the decision up to his crew chief, who ultimately chose to stay out. "Chad would much rather have me on the offensive with tires, but with 29 guys on the lead lap, we couldn’t make that call," Johnson said afterward.


It proved the prudent move, given that Johnson indeed held on for sixth. The winner of the two most recent Sprint Cup Series events at Charlotte and Dover, Johnson was attempting to become the first driver to win three straight races since he did it in 2007, when he won four in a row en route to securing his second consecutive championship.


Instead, he watched his teammate Earnhardt celebrate in Victory Lane — actually, the combined 48/88 shop at Hendrick Motorsports has won three in a row — and focused on a day that could have turned our much differently.


"Stats and streaks are very cool. Love to keep them going," Johnson said. "But I don’t lose sleep about them through the night. If we had a dominant car and were up front all day and had something stupid caught us at the end, it probably would sting a little bit more. But I’m real proud of the effort we had today and all the things we overcame."

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Despite on-track success, Steve Letarte still set for NBC broadcast booth

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LONG POND, Pa. — He’s overseeing Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s best season in a decade, but crew chief Steve Letarte isn’t second-guessing his decision to step away from the pit box at the end of this year.

Beginning with the 2015 campaign Letarte will become a race analyst for NBC, which returns as a NASCAR broadcast partner next year. And those plans will not change, even though Earnhardt on Sunday clinched his first multi-victory season at the sport’s top level since he won six times with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2004.

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"You guys only get to see the great stuff, which is a win at Daytona and a win here, but Saturday of Kansas my little girl had her first communion and I was in Kansas," Letarte, who has two small children, said in the media center.

"When moments like that happen, it reaffirms why I made my decision. I love my job. I’ve loved my job for 20 years. I love the people I work with. I consider Dale and some other guys on this team my best friends in the world. The best man in my wedding is on my race team. This is my life. This is how I was raised. But I chose nine years ago, 10 years ago, 11 years ago now to have a family, and when I made that decision, that was not a casual decision, that was a decision for the next ‑‑ forever."

Letarte, 35, moved from Jeff Gordon‘s team to a then-foundering program of Hendrick Motorsports stablemate Earnhardt prior to the 2011 campaign. In the time since he’s played a central role in reviving the career of NASCAR’s most popular driver, who opened this season with a victory in the Daytona 500. But all along, the 13-time race-winning crew chief has made his family the long-term priority.

"You know, I feel as much as I love my job, they have to come first," Letarte said. "Six‑and‑a‑half days a week I think I’m really going to love my new job, and there’s four hours on Sunday I have no idea how I’m going to replace it yet. So I’ll have to find a hobby, I think."

With Sunday’s win, Earnhardt’s second of the year and first at Pocono, the driver of the No. 88 team moved to third in points and tied Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and teammate Jimmie Johnson for the series lead in victories.

Earnhardt wonders if his crew chief’s looming departure is one reason for the team’s success.

"I think that also adds some drive and determination to the team to do the best that they can," Earnhardt said. "That could be dangerous."

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Junior passes Keselowski with five laps to go, holds on

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LONG POND, Pa. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in position to pounce Sunday, all but punching his ticket to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by winning his second race this season and his first-ever at Pocono Raceway.
 
It took a little racing luck.
 
Runner-up Brad Keselowski was terrific in clean air. What he lacked was a clean grille.

When Keselowski’s car began to overheat due to a piece of trash on his front end, Earnhardt roared by, becoming the fourth consecutive Hendrick Motorsports driver to put a Chevrolet in Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway.
 
"Brad had the better car; he had me beat," said Earnhardt, who has known his share of late-race misfortune. Take the third race of the season at Las Vegas, when he ran out of gas on the final lap, enabling Keselowski to win.

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"I’ve lost some in some strange ways, so it feels good to win one like that," Earnhardt said.
 
Earnhardt’s triumph in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series‘ Pocono 400 gave him two victories this season, his first multiple-win campaign since 2004 when he won six times. He has seen and appreciated the gradual-but-steady strides his team has made.
 
"The difference between running fourth at the end of this race and running second is a very small thing," said Earnhardt, praising the effort of his crew chief Steve Letarte in the process. "In years past, it was someone else seizing the opportunity. We’d be third or fourth, watching it happen.
 
"Each year we’ve seen a progression of performance. What I’m seeing us do and how I’m seeing us run makes a lot of sense to me. We’ve been fast every week. We started (to improve) toward the middle of last year. We haven’t peaked, but we’re certainly doing some of our best work right now."
 
Keselowski led 95 of Sunday’s 160 laps and led Earnhardt by more than one second when his engine temperature forced him to take decisive action with five laps to go. Keselowski tucked in behind the lapped car of Danica Patrick, hoping to draw the debris off his grille.
 
"I felt really bad for Brad to see him in a situation to be that desperate," Earnhardt said. "He’s a good friend … he had it won. We weren’t going to get to him. I could not believe he was going to do that when I saw him go up the race track behind the No. 10 (Patrick’s car). His temperature had to be super-hot for him to do that."
 
Keselowski said he was desperate and felt he had no choice.
 
"There was debris on the grille, so I had to do something," Keselowski said. "(Maybe) I should have just ran it to see if it would have blown off … but I had to make some kind of move or the car wasn’t going to make it. The car was starting to blow up. It was going to break or I was going to get passed because we were really down on power in the straightaway.
 
"I took a shot to clear it off and not lose time, but I misjudged it. (The move) made enough difference for me to lose the lead in the process. When I got down in the corner and the car finally got sideways, I realized I’d made a mistake."
 
In 28 previous Sprint Cup starts at Pocono, Earnhardt had managed seven top-five finishes including a pair of second-place finishes despite what he thought were some excellent cars.
 
"We’ve had so many opportunities slip away," he said. "We’ve been so close. So it feels so good to get into Victory Lane here. I used to come here as a kid because it was a summer race. I just always wanted to win at this place.  We’ve had some good cars here, so it feels good to finish the deal."
 
Kurt Busch finished third, polesitter Denny Hamlin fourth and rookie Kyle Larson took fifth. Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson, winner of the previous two Sprint Cup races, started 20th, overcame a pit road collision with Marcos Ambrose that dropped him as far back as 31st, and wound up sixth.

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Late-race tangle sends Hendrick Motorsports driver to 42nd-place finish

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LONG POND, Pa. — Kasey Kahne‘s bad luck with Joe Gibbs Racing cars continues.

Consistent run-ins with Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth in 2013 prompted Kahne to actually take to Twitter last August after Watkins Glen to say that he was "headed to Joe Gibbs Racing to talk to whoever will come out front."

Things eventually died down, even to the point of Kahne and Busch burying the hatchet and combining for a friendly Super Bowl wager that pitted the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s home state Seattle Seahawks against Busch’s NFL loyalty to the Denver Broncos.

So when the pair got together with 18 laps to go in Sunday’s Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway, relegating the struggling No. 5 car to a 42nd-place finish while the No. 18 rode to a 12th-place result, it’d be easy to joke that Busch was still a little bitter about having to wear a Seahawks jersey during Speedweeks in February.

Kahne said there was more to it than that.

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"That’s just Kyle being Kyle. I had just passed him and he was probably pissed off because his car was slow," said Kahne, who now sits winless in 21st place in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. "He knew he needed just to floor it so I would lift. And I didn’t lift … He knew if he didn’t clear me there that I’d pass him back because I just had, so he just floored it and didn’t care there was someone out there and ran me right into the wall. We had a pretty good Great Clips Chevy. We came from a ways back throughout the race and that’s just Kyle doing his thing I guess. … He just races however he races."

For Kahne, the discouraging finish continues a string of inconsistent results — regardless of how strong his car actually was during the race.

Things looked to be turning a corner for a three-week stretch from Talladega through the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, where he strung together an eighth-place finish, his first top-five of the season (third at Kansas) and blazing fast speed — he was easily the fastest car in the exhibition race before hitting an oil slick — but he’s since trailed off. The team wasn’t able to find Charlotte speed in back-to-back weeks, finishing 14th in the Coca-Cola 600 after qualifying third, and he was never in serious contention at Dover before a 19th-place result.

Despite a starting position of 27th, Pocono offered Kahne an opportunity to turn things around, as his last win came here the last time the series visited northeastern Pennsylvania.

"I thought we were a top-10 car," said Kahne, who was evaluated and released from the infield care center after his hard hit. "We’d made some gains from the rest of the weekend and we were running lap times from fifth to eighth, somewhere in there over the last 70 laps.

"We were a lot stronger last year and I don’t know why we weren’t as strong (this year), but I felt pretty darn good. The guys that I could see drive away from me were Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and (Brad) Keselowski. Other than that I didn’t really feel like anyone drove away from me once I got into the top 10, like those two could."

Considering Earnhardt Jr. and Keselowski were the two drivers than finished first and second, it’s a slight bit of consolation for the Hendrick driver, knowing his team can at least put together a solid race car — they just have to hope the tide starts to turn in their favor. Kahne does have a win at Michigan International Speedway, the site of next week’s Sprint Cup Series race, but that came all back in 2006 driving for a different team, owner and manufacturer.

As far as the Busch drama that can’t seem to be fully put to bed, Kahne has bigger fish to fry than to worry about any sort of retaliation — first and foremost, picking up his first win of 2014.

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Catch up quickly before Sunday’s running of the Pocono 400

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What: Pocono 400

Where: Pocono Raceway

When: Sunday, June 8

Time: 1 p.m. ET

TV/Radio: TNT (Coverage begins at noon ET), MRN/Sirius XM (Channel 90)

Distance: 160 laps, 400 miles

Pit road speed: 55 mph

Caution speed: 70 mph

Fuel window: 35 laps
Avg. time of race: 2 hours, 55 minutes

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On the front row:
1. Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing (181.415 mph)

2. Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing (181.408 mph)

Failed to qualify:

None

Defending Pocono 400 Champion:
Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 48 Chevrolet

Driver rating (based on data from the past nine years):
Jimmie Johnson, 109.3

Denny Hamlin, 109.1

Fastest in practice:

First practice: Brian Vickers, Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55 Toyota (180.854 mph)


Second practice: Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, No. 4 Chevrolet (177.291 mph)

Third practice: Harvick (175.606 mph)

Solid support system:
Hendrick Motorsports has been all but dominant in 2014 — well, three of its teams have been. Kasey Kahne remains a winless enigma, but he’s getting a push from his teammates and they think he’ll win soon.

Shift in approach:
Sprint Cup Series rookie Kyle Larson has already impressed with his thrilling finishes in 2014, but there’s still one piece of driving that the 21-year-old needs to fine tune — his shifting. And how does he fix it? By being forced to drive a stick-shift Camaro around town, of course.

Sleepless in Pocono:
AJ Allmendinger and crew believe they have the greatest shot to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Sonoma, and their testing reflects that. So much so that the team spent Tuesday through Thursday in California before taking a commercial red eye to Pocono and arriving just in time.

Points lead, shmoints lead:
Matt Kenseth recently took over the Sprint Cup Series points lead, despite being winless through the season’s first 13 races. If you ask the 2003 champion, however, he’d trade his place in the point standings for a win.

Dehydration cramps drivers’ style:
LeBron James famously had to be carried off the court due to cramps from dehydration in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, which led to some drivers talking about how hot they’ve been in their race cars. Jimmie Johnson, in particular, had a relatable story.

Does that go-kart come in pink?:
Six-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson thinks his young daughter, Genevieve, might soon be ready to get behind the wheel of a go-kart and continue the Johnson legacy. 

Way back when:

Richard Petty won the first race at Pocono Raceway, then called Pocono International Raceway. At the time the Aug. 4, 1974 race — the Purolator 500 — was held, the event was 500 miles, compared to 400 for Sunday’s race. Petty won by a whopping 18.8 seconds as the race was shortened to 192 laps due to rain. Drivers for Richard Petty Motorsports, Aric Almirola and Marcos Ambrose, will start 22nd and 29th in the Pocono 400, respectively.

Former Dover winners in the field:

Jeff Gordon (6); Denny Hamlin (4); Jimmie Johnson (3); Kasey Kahne (2); Carl Edwards (2); Tony Stewart (2); Kurt Busch (2); Brad Keselowski (1); Ryan Newman (1); Greg Biffle (1); Joey Logano (1)

Fantasy sleeper, presented by Rotowire
:
Kyle Busch — Busch struggled for many seasons at Pocono Raceway. However, he’s been reversing those trends the last few seasons. Four of his last six visits to the Pennsylvania raceway have yielded Top-10 finishes. In 2013 alone, the Joe Gibbs Racing star earned sixth- and eighth-place finishes. We see this trend continuing in 2014 starting with this weekend’s Pocono 400. Busch had a strong No. 18 Toyota at Dover this past weekend before unfortunate circumstances with the Clint Bowyer‘s Toyota ended his day prematurely. He should rebound well at Pocono Raceway.

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Posted on by Staff Report

Moments that changed the course of the 14th race of the 2014 season

NO. 88 TEAM PUTS EARNHARDT JR. IN POSITION TO WIN
Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed Brad Keselowski with five laps to go and held on to win the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.

It was Earnhardt Jr.’s second win of the season and his first-ever win at the Tricky Triangle.

"With about eight laps to go, (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) said (Keselowski) was complaining about his temperatures," Earnhardt Jr. said. "He had a lot of stuff on his grille, and I thought for sure he wasn’t going to do anything like he did in Turn 1.  I thought he’d just go ahead and motor on and just hopefully the engine made it."

But Keselowski attempted to clean off his grille behind Danica Patrick, opening the door for Earnhardt Jr. to take the lead and get the win.

"I think the confidence that I have in the team and how hard they work and how well we’re doing gives me a bit of a more fighting spirit in that situation than I’ve had in the past," Earnhardt Jr. said. "And even when we were sitting there running, I had nothing to lose by continuing to try to put pressure on (Keselowski)."  

UPS


KESELOWSKI’S ENGINE OVERHEATS
Seeking a second win of his own for 2014, Keselowski said he raced like he would have raced normally without a win.

"I ran it like I would have ran it no matter what," Keselowski said. "It was going to break and I thought I had a shot to clean it off and not lose time, and I misjudged it. 

The No. 2 driver finished second to the No. 88 after stealing a win from Earnhardt Jr. at Las Vegas when Keselowski ran Dale Jr. out of Sunoco Green E-15 fuel. Earnhardt Jr., who gave Keselowski an opportunity in a JR Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide Series ride, sympathized with his former driver after the race.

"…we are good friends, and you hate to see a guy have to lose a race in a manner like that, but I’m excited that we won," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I know that he would have definitely rather lost it to me than a few other guys out there that he’s not best of buddies with, and we’re competitive ‑‑ as we race year after year, we become more competitors than we are friends, and that’s just the natural cycle of it."

STEWART SPEEDS ON PIT ROAD 
Tony Stewart was running 1-2-3 with fellow Stewart-Haas Racing drivers Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick at and shortly after the halfway point of Sunday’s race. 

While Busch finished third, Stewart and Harvick slumped to 13th and 14th at the checkered flag, and the owner blamed himself after getting caught for speeding entering pit road at lap 119.

"One hundred percent driver error," Stewart said. "I don’t know how I got through the lights like I did, but I got to where I blew through all the lights and didn’t have any on the tach so I would no clue that I was over it. But it was 100 percent driver error."

After finishing sixth last week at Dover International Speedway, Stewart told his No. 14 team, "Better guys, but we’re not (expletive) good enough yet. Gave away a third."

"I gave my guys grief last week with a sixth-place run," Stewart said on Sunday. "Thought we should have run in the top three, and then I give it away this week."

Posted on by Staff Report

Dale Jr., Letarte and Majors work together for the win

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned his second win of the season and first at Pocono Raceway on Sunday. It was a team effort for the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports driver and crew, and RaceView Audio subscribers heard all of their communications.

See how the day played out for the new leader in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Grid, and subscribe to RaceView Audio to listen to every team in every national series race. Click here for more information.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

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Pre-race
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Be safe on pit road. We’ll have a good day.

Lap 5 (The No. 88 car’s temperatures rose as debris collected on his grille)
Earnhardt Jr.: 260 (degrees) and climbing.
Steve Letarte: Keep an eye on it if it keeps going up…Probably 280 we need to start looking.

Lap 9 (Earnhardt Jr. got behind Tony Stewart, attempting to clean his grille.)
Letarte: I can see his bumper cam. It came off…
Earnhardt Jr.: It’s coming down.

Lap 10
Earnhardt Jr.: We need to work on it turning better the first half of the corner.

Lap 71
Earnhardt Jr.: Real edgy in the back on new tires.

Lap 78
Earnhardt Jr. to his spotter: You don’t need to tell me I’m clear of the 17. He’s a… football field behind me. More information than I need.

Lap 87
Earnhardt Jr.: Thank you HMS power!
Letarte: Looks pretty.

Lap 96
Letarte: All right man, that 11’s the leader. We’re second.

Lap 101
Letarte: Still edgy off, is that our biggest problem?
Earnhardt Jr.: Not deep in the run, but to start off with…. I wouldn’t [mess] with it.

Lap 103
Letarte: Great work. One stop from here.

Lap 119 (Fifth caution)
Letarte: All right buddy, we’re going to stay out because we can make it to our window. I bet everyone else is going stay out too.

Lap 119
Letarte: There’s a bunch of people staying out here. That’s exactly what we needed.

Lap 120
Earnhardt Jr.: Can we get to that window pretty easy?
Letarte: We can get there real easy. The 2 is pretty close. The 11 might be able to make it with this caution.

Lap 121
Letarte: All this fuel you’re saving is just helping our pit stop.

Lap 129
Earnhardt Jr.: How many til we run out?
Letarte: We’re really good. At least three more laps.

Lap 131
Letarte: We’re going to come this time. This is our lap.

Lap 133
Letarte: This will be the run to the finish. We were shorter than I thought. I’m not sure if we can make it.

Lap 138 (Sixth caution)
Letarte: Come on down and get some gas. You’re doing a good job.

Lap 144 (Seventh caution)
Letarte: We obviously are going to stay out here.

Lap 145
Letarte: This is probably going to be a minute. Get yourself a cool drink while you’re riding around.

Lap 148
Letarte: All right. There will be 12 to go when you take the green. Looking good Dale.

Lap 150
Letarte: You got this, buddy.

Lap 151
Letarte: Looking good, bud. 9 to go.

Lap 154
Letarte: Keep pushing, bud. (Brad Keselowski has) got a big piece of trash on the grille, and they’re screaming temps.

Lap 156
Letarte: Alright buddy, four to go.
Earnhardt Jr.: I got temps too.
Letarte: Ignore ’em.

Lap 159
Letarte: OK, buddy. One more. One to go.

Checkered flag
T.J. Majors: Good run, bud. You got it.
Letarte: Pocono winner.
Earnhardt Jr.: We didn’t have the best car, but you did a good job. Finally won here. It took so long. It sucks Brad had to do that. Damn…. Par-tay!
Letarte: All right. Do a good (donut) now!

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Contrite owner takes blame for pit-road speeding

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Tony Stewart was running 1-2-3 with fellow Stewart-Haas Racing drivers Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick at and shortly after the halfway point of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. 

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

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• Standings
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While Busch finished third, Stewart and Harvick slumped to 13th and 14th at the checkered flag, and the owner blamed himself after getting caught for speeding entering pit road at Lap 119.

"One hundred percent driver error," Stewart said. "I don’t know how I got through the lights like I did, but I got to where I blew through all the lights and didn’t have any on the tach so I had no clue that I was over it. But it was 100 percent driver error."

After finishing seventh place last week at Dover International Speedway, Stewart told his No. 14 team, "Better guys, but we’re not (expletive) good enough yet. Gave away a third."

"I gave my guys grief last week," Stewart said on Sunday. "Thought we should have run in the top three, and then I give it away this week." 

Stewart led 24 laps on Sunday, and it was only the second time he’s led a race this year, running 74 circuits in the top spot in April at Texas.

"Had an awesome Mobil 1 Chevy all from Friday through Sunday," Stewart said. "Great race car — just the driver screwed it up this week."

Stewart sits 18th in the standings and seeks to join his teammates Busch and Harvick with a win to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field.

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Driver leads Sprint Cup Series with seven top-five finishes

MORE: Full race results | Series standings
RELATED: Full coverage of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format changes | Official news release | Changes explained | Chase Facts and FAQ | Chase Grid (PDF)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, making him the fourth multirace winner of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Fourteen races into 2014, Earnhardt Jr. has two Sprint Cup victories — matching his win total for the previous seven seasons combined.

Ten drivers have combined to win the first 14 races of the year, and 12 races remain in the Sprint Cup Series before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins. After the 14th points race of NASCAR’s regular season, here is how the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings look:

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