June 16, 2011
By Chuck Abrams
From the drop of the green flag, Sunday's Pocono 500 was a pretty exciting race, even though there was a time in the middle of the race where things were kind of sedate.
It was hard for even the guys on MRN radio to make that part exciting. But that was relatively short lived. And in the end, it was not a fuel mileage race or a particular pit strategy that won the race. It was just a good old, hard-fought, long, waiting for the track to come to you kind of win for Jeff Gordon.
Kurt Busch sat on the pole and was there at the end but never was a serious threat for the lead in the second half of the race.
But Penske Racing has to be pleased with two poles, a win and a second place in the last two races. And it could have been a lot more than that, but for some bad luck for Keselowski's Miller Light, Blue Deuce.
The early part of the race looked like the Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya show. Montoya was surprisingly strong all day and only faded at the end on a less than great pit call for two tires instead of four. Hamlin had a tire go bad costing him what could have been another Pocono win.
In the end, Jeff Gordon came through to make his case for the Chase pretty convincing.
Kyle Busch came home in third place but was docked six points for a car that was sitting too low -- in post race inspection. Kyle cannot buy any good luck -- or good PR right now. He did not have a winning car and did what he could to make a third place finish, all for naught.
Ryan Newman had a much better race than I ever expected. Newman has struggled as of late and a top 10 finish is just what the doctor ordered heading to Michigan. In fact, both he and Tony Stewart had stout cars but Stewart faded late after losing third gear.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. came home in sixth place, gathering another top 10 and a lot of talk about how close he is to a win. With Michigan the last place for a Junior Nation win, there are lots of folks hoping he will repeat that past glory for his first win of the season.
It is entirely possible, but Junior needs to qualify better than he has been. The car is repeatedly in the mid-pack starting positions which means he has to pass a lot of cars to get to the front while exposing himself to accidents in the pack racing.
One of the bright spots of the race was seeing Landon Cassill lead some laps. The kid is talented but has had to start and park a lot of the season. This week though, they had funding to run and he came home with a 24th place finish, ahead of Greg Biffle, Bobby Lobonte, A.J. Allmendinger and other notables. Way to go to Landon and his team!
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at