Gordon had used a quick pit stop to gain track position with the laps running down. On the restart he was able to power past the 5 car of Kasey Kahne and pull away for what appeared to be his first victory of the 2013 season. Not so fast. The caution flag waved for debris on the track with four laps remaining in the race. On the restart, Kahne was able to wrestle the lead back fron Gordon and pull away for the victory. A clearly disappointed Gordon, had to settle for second. In the post race interview Gordon simply stated that Kahne out drove him.
The races at Pocono are usually rather uneventful. Not so with this race. The cars were able to do some passing and there were many instances of side by side racing. After the track was re-paved a couple of years ago, tire wear was not much of an issue. Apparently the harsh Pennsylvania winters have taken a toll on the re-pave because tire wear was an issue this past weekend. Points leader Jimmie Johson cut a tire and hit the wall in turn 2. Even though he was one of my picks for the race, it warmed my heart to see the 48 car have some trouble for a change. Still, he managed a 13th place finish. David Stremme and David Gilliland were among the other drivers also bitten by the blown tire bug. For all you Denny Hamlin fans out there, it was another disappointing race. Hamlin spun out in turn 2 and smacked the wall to put him out of the race. He finished dead last. He is just having one of those years. In the words of Chicago Cubs fans, "wait til next year."
This week NASCAR moves to the road course at Watkins Glen. In breaking news, Tony Stewart will not be in the 14 car for the race. Tony suffered a broken tibia and fibula in his lower leg after a crash in a sprint car race at Iowa Speedway on Monday night. He had surgery immediately after arriving at the hospital and will have to have another surgery once the swelling goes down. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks. So Stewart will have to wait until next year to try for a 4th Sprint Cup title. Max Papis will be in the 14 car for the road course race. No word yet on who might pilot the 14 car after Watkins Glen.
Last year's race at The Glen featured one of the most exciting finishes of the entire season. There was oil on the track, and for some reason NASCAR chose not to throw a caution. Instead, they let the drivers slip and slide through the last lap. Kyle Busch and Marcos Ambrose traded the lead back and forth a couple of times before Ambrose was able to slide across the finish line for the victory.
The 9 car of Ambrose, the 18 car of Kyle Busch, and the 2 car of Keselowski have been particularly strong at this track over the past three years. Other drivers who have success at the Glen include the 56, 99, 29, 20, 39, 48, 42, and 24. Kurt Busch has always been good on the road courses as has Allmendinger. Kasey Kahne has also won on the road course at Sonoma. There will be a few road course specialists in the race including Boris Said and Ron Fellows. A road course specialist has never won a Sprint Cup race but they usually qualify well and generally run in the top 20.
I will need your picks by 10:30 A.M. on Saturday.
Here are the race results and standings:
Week-Brent 177, Chuck 175, Neil 167, Michael 164, Freddy164, Norb 160, PT 158, Jim 157, Toby 155, Joe 150, Dennis 150, Terry 137
Segment-Freddy 560, Chuck 534, Norb 533, PT 510, Michael 508, Brent 507, Joe 502, Jim 494, Terry 493, Toby 490, Neil 488, Dennis 433
Overall-Michael 3600, Chuck 3595, Freddy 3517, PT 3497, Joe 3411, Dennis 3391, Brent 3359, Neil 3355, Jim 3293, Toby 3240, Terry 3186, Norb 3121
Well, Dale Jr. is at it again. This song is his tribute to his teammate, Kasey Kahne. You will have to forgive the vocals. As you already know, I don't have much of a range and this song really pushed it.
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