Pocono 500 Race Review

Pocono Raceway -- 06/08/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Monday Jun 9 2008 12:18pm

In my preview of Sunday's race, I referred to Kyle Busch by one of his common designations, "the story" of the 2008 season.

Well, he was a big part of "the story" on Sunday, but not the way he'd hoped to be, I'm sure.

Busch, running in a backup car after crashing in practice Saturday morning, hit Jamie McMurray on lap 46 and had significant damage, sending the No. 18 care to the garage for extended repairs. Though he eventually tried to return to the track, he spun out again and finished the race over 100 laps down in last place.

The incident has already triggered questions about the wisdom of Busch's weekend agenda, which included competing in the truck series race on Friday, the Nationwide race on Saturday, and the Cup race on Sunday, each in a different state.

Though Busch became the first driver in history to accomplish this task, he fell short of his goal of a top 5 in each race, with finishes of 2nd, 20th, and 43rd respectively.

Meanwhile, it was Kasey Kahne who stole the spotlight Sunday, starting on the pole and leading 69 of 200 laps to win the Pocono 500. It was Kahne's second win of the season and boosted him three spots in the points to 9th place.

The other big climber in the standings was Denny Hamlin, who led 17 laps and overcame a pit road incident to finish 3rd, moving up 4 spots in the points to 5th.

The top four in points all held served - namely Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Carl Edwards. Aside from Busch, the other three had top-10s at Pocono, with Burton and Earnhardt both finishing in the top 5.

Burton arguably had the best outcome of any driver Sunday, capitalizing on Kyle Busch's last-place run for a big gain in the point standings. By finishing 5th, Burton reduced his deficit behind Busch from 142 points after Dover to just 21 points after Pocono.

At times it seemed there was more action on pit road during the race than there was on the track. Teams employed various pit strategies throughout the day and, as predicted, closely monitored their fuel mileage from early in the race - though a couple of late-race cautions helped ease those fears.

Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart were both penalized late in the race for speeding coming off pit road. Biffle, who had a strong car and led four laps, came back to a 15th-place finish. Stewart led 14 laps, but finished 35th.

While Biffle fell two spots in the points to 7th, Stewart seemed to take the bigger hit, falling one spot to 12th. He is now just seven points ahead of David Ragan in 13th, currently the first driver outside the Chase cut-off mark.

Two Toyota drivers brought home surprisingly good finishes: Brian Vickers, who led 18 laps to finish 2nd, and A.J. Allmendinger, who qualified in 8th and finished 12th.

Jimmie Johnson started on the outside pole Sunday and led 59 laps, but did not have the car to the beat at race's end. He finished 6th and moved up one spot in points to 6th.

Overall, the Hendrick and Roush organizations each had three drivers finish in the top 15: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (4), Jimmie Johnson (6), and Jeff Gordon (14) for Hendrick; Matt Kenseth (7), Carl Edwards (9), and Greg Biffle (15) for Roush.

Joe Gibbs Racing only had one driver in the top 30 - Denny Hamlin at 3rd, with Stewart and Busch finishing 35th and 43rd.

This week, the series heads to Michigan, where the biggest concern at the moment is weather. The state has been hit by severe flooding and more rain is on the way this week. Stay tuned for my Michigan race preview coming mid week.