Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Wins First At 33rd Annual Pocono 400 In Front Of Great Crowd At Pocono
Dale Earnhradt, Jr. makes his run down the Long Straight away at Pocono for his very first win at the "Tricky Triangle." Dean Patton Photo.
Long Pond, PA – RIS – Dale Earnhardt, Jr, driving the #88 National Guard Chevrolet wins in front of one of the largest crowds at Pocono in recent years. Earnhardt makes a pass on #2 Brad Keselowski , with five to go and refuses to allow him to close. Keselowski’s has heat issues that were due to trash covering the grill on the #2 Redd’s Apple Ford. After heating up, Keselowski deals with the Earnhardt pass and then run off for the final laps. Though there was an attempt to get close enough to Earnhardt to clear the grill, Keselowski fails as Earnhardt makes it too hard to gather up the distance to try.
This makes two for Dale Earnhardt, Jr and his team for this year and he is in the right place for the run for championship. So with just one race beyond the halfway point, there are four drivers with two wins, Earnhardt, Johnson, Logano, and Harvick. Though, it is far from over there will be more in the run the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship.
With Dale Earnhardt, Jr. taking the Checkered Flag , Brad Keselowski, #2 Redd’s Ford hangs in there for second place finish. Third place went to Kurt Busch driving the #41HAAS Automation Chevrolet, followed by the Pole sitter Denny Hamlin in his #11 FedEx Ground Toyota. Fifth place went to the highest running rookie Kyle Larson in the #42 Target Chevrolet. First visit to Pocono and he nets a win from Saturday’s ARCA Race Event and now a fifth place in the 33rd Annual Pocono 400. This would also be Kyle Larson’s 3rd top five finish for this season….. sounds like some great things are in store for this young driver.
Jimmie Johnson brought the #48 Lowes/Kobolt Tools Chevrolet home in sixth place. Seventh place finisher was Ryan Newman wheeling the #31 Wix Filters Chevrolet. Coming home in 8th was Jeff Gordon in the #24 Drive to end Hunger Chevrolet. Ninth place is Martin Truex, Jr in the #78 Furniture Row Chevrolet #78. To round out the top ten is Jamie McMurray in the Black Cushman/Cessna Chevrolet #1.
The finish is not official until NASCAR inspects and verifies the finish.
The team at Pocono International Speedway organized a great weekend for the fans. The Fan Fair was a place of fun, excitement, and the place to be today for sure. The racing on the “Tricky Triangle” was hot and was only their Fan Fair came in a close second to the action at the track. If you have never been to such a NASCAR event you are missing out on something for sure.
Pocono International Raceway was one hot ticket this weekend and the fans came. Great job guys, it truly was fun and well worth attending.
See you at the track!
Dean Patton
Dean has been a Pennsylvania Magisterial District Judge for the past 12 years. In a life prior to that he was a Homicide/Sex Crimes Detective for 26 yrs. An avid Penn State Football fan, he now dabbles in writing and photographing sports events. When he says dabble, he means dabble.... Photographing sports is so much better then Coaching and Officiating which he also did for more then 20 odd years. He finds it less stressful behind the lense. He is the father of four and has three grand children. He is married to a Nurse and her oldest son, Aaron, starts as a Freshman at; where else but, Penn State University in the fall of 2012. Dean's son's Damion and Kyle both are fathers and are Police Officers. The youngest of the family, Olivia, will start 7th Grade in the fall of 2012. See you at the track!