Earnhardt Gains Third Victory of 2014 at Pocono

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LONG POND, PA - RIS - Dale Earnhardt, Jr. passed then-leader Greg Biffle with 13 laps to go and had to drive his heart out to win the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.  Earnhardt had to hold off a charging Kevin Harvick over the last five laps to gain the victory.  It was a sweep of the two races at the triangular shaped racetrack in the Pocono Mountians of Pennsylvania.

"I'm just proud of the whole team," Earnhardt said. "As good as (Crew chief) Steve (Letarte) is and as great of a crew chief as he is the whole team is that deep.  Everybody has got a great personality, everybody is an expert at what they are doing and everybody does a great job at it.  I’m real lucky to be a part of it.  I can’t thank these guys enough. They have really brought my career around and it is fun to be a part of this.”

The win is the third of the season for Earnhardt, who is now challenging for the top seed in the Chase, and the 22nd of his career.  Earnhardt’s win is also the fifth consecutive at Pocono for a Hendrick Motorsports driver.

Kevin Harvick finished second, Joey Logano third, Clint Bowyer fourth and Greg Biffle was fifth. Series points leader Jeff Gordon ended up sixth.

"We were just a little bit too tight, Harvick said. "Obviously just lucky to be continuing to make laps after we were involved in that little wreck there with however many laps to go.  Just got to thank everybody on this Mobil 1 team, Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and all the guys for working hard.  This hasn’t been one of my better race tracks and the cars have been fast both races here.  Today we were able to capitalize on it and get a good finish.”

Logano took early command of the race and led the first 30 laps.  On Lap 8, Jimmie Johnson hit the wall and had a right-rear tire go down, which brought out the first caution of the race. Logano continued to lead on the restart on Lap 13.

Danica Patrick slammed into the wall on Lap 17 to bring out the second caution of the race. Logano maintained his lead on the restart on Lap 20.

Kyle Busch slowed on the track on Lap 25 and eventually took his No. 18 Toyota to the garage after blowing his engine.

Landon Cassill hit the wall on Lap 29 to bring out the third caution of the race. Several teams pitted but Kurt Busch remained on the track and took over the lead on the restart on Lap 34. He was followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth.  Jeff Gordon made his way around Busch for the lead on Lap 44.

Kasey Kahne and Joe Nemecheck collided on Lap 52 to bring out the fourth caution of the race. Gordon maintained his lead on the restart on Lap 56.

Teams began a round of green-flag pit stops on Lap 64. Once the cycle was completed on Lap 80, Gordon held the lead followed by Earnhardt and Logano.

Teams began a second round of green-flag pit stops on Lap 94. During the stops, Harvick was penalized by NASCAR for speeding on pit road.

Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 107, Gordon continued to lead followed by Earnhardt and Logano.

Johnson slammed the wall again on Lap 112 in Turn 2, sending his No. 48 Chevrolet to the garage for the day. On the restart on Lap 117, Gordon still led followed by Earnhardt and Logano.

As the leaders exited Turn 1 after the restart, Denny Hamlin got very loose and Brian Vickers swerved to avoid him, which triggered an accident that eventually collected more than a dozen cars. Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Harvick, Tony Stewart, Aric Almirola and Carl Edwards were among the drivers involved in the accident.  It looked like an accident from Daytona or Talladega.

“There’s nothing you can do when it gets like that, so it was just a big pile up trying to get all we can get on the restarts,” Almirola said.

Some teams elected to pit but on Gordon elected remained on the track and remained in the lead on the restart on Lap 127 followed by Kurt Busch and Logano. Less than two laps after the restart, several teams began short-pitting for fuel to ensure they had enough to reach the finish.

The cautions weren't over, however. A.J. Allmendinger slammed into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 139 to bring out the seventh caution of the race. On the restart on Lap 144, Biffle, Harvick and Hamlin led the way and each was stretching their fuel to make it to the finish. Earnhardt restarted fourth and Kyle Larson fifth. Three laps later, Earnhardt made his way around Biffle to take the lead for the first time in the race.

Kurt Busch hit the wall twice on Lap 154 to bring out the eighth caution of the race. On the restart on Lap 158, Earnhardt remained in the lead followed by Harvick and Logano.  Harvick made a valiant effort to get past Earnhardt, but it wasn't to be.

"With Kevin I’m racing one of the best," Earnhardt said. "That guy is going to get everything he can out of his car.  I was anticipating him being right there on the inside going into (Turn) one.  I was just going to have to really get brave and drive it down in there and pray for it to stick.  I drove it in there and we were able to clear him somehow.  He had a strong car though.  I was over driving mine terribly those last few laps and not getting enough speed out of my car, but we just had the dirty air to keep him behind us."

The Sprint Cup drivers now head to the road course at Watkins Glen next Sunday.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Michael Baker International Chevrolet 160 47 4 127.5 $193,265 Running 1 14
2 6 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Chevrolet 160 43 1 114.5 $206,058 Running 2 5
3 2 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 160 42 1 123.0 $180,941 Running 1 30
4 14 15 Clint Bowyer RK Motors Charlotte Toyota 160 40 102.1 $154,466 Running
5 25 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 160 40 1 83.6 $150,450 Running 1 11
6 5 24 Jeff Gordon Axalta Chevrolet 160 40 2 134.0 $149,451 Running 3 63
7 8 1 Jamie McMurray Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet 160 37 103.7 $126,279 Running
8 21 31 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans Chevrolet 160 36 87.0 $103,515 Running
9 13 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 160 35 96.7 $96,965 Running
10 12 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet 160 34 103.0 $103,215 Running
11 1 42 Kyle Larson # Target Chevrolet 160 33 95.4 $123,010 Running
12 24 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 160 32 74.4 $111,298 Running
13 4 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 160 32 1 113.9 $84,415 Running 3 30
14 27 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 160 30 68.7 $108,835 Running
15 11 3 Austin Dillon # American Ethanol Chevrolet 160 29 84.5 $132,826 Running
16 22 51 Justin Allgaier # AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet 160 28 76.5 $105,523 Running
17 30 38 David Gilliland Long John Silver's Ford 160 28 1 64.1 $102,723 Running 1 1
18 23 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fifth Third Bank Ford 159 26 59.5 $116,090 Running
19 39 34 David Ragan A&W Root Beer Float/CSX Ford 159 25 55.9 $99,573 Running
20 37 83 Ryan Truex # Burger King Toyota 159 24 38.9 $86,937 Running
21 33 26 Cole Whitt # Toyota of Scranton Toyota 159 23 47.8 $79,340 Running
22 38 7 Michael Annett # Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet 159 22 56.0 $78,990 Running
23 3 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 159 21 72.0 $120,848 Running
24 31 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 159 20 43.7 $78,515 Running
25 34 32 Travis Kvapil Ford 158 19 45.6 $78,790 Running
26 40 37 Dave Blaney Accell Construction Inc. Chevrolet 158 18 38.5 $74,940 Running
27 35 36 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 158 17 40.6 $77,765 Running
28 42 33 Alex Kennedy Thunder Coal Chevrolet 158 16 34.5 $74,615 Running
29 26 99 Carl Edwards Fastenal Ford 157 15 59.6 $93,465 Running
30 10 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 156 14 41.4 $86,815 Running
31 36 23 Alex Bowman # Dr Pepper Toyota 154 13 45.4 $76,665 Running
32 19 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet 144 12 62.3 $101,898 Running
33 29 27 Paul Menard CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet 143 11 60.8 $101,004 Running
34 20 47 AJ Allmendinger Scott Products Chevrolet 137 11 1 60.4 $73,590 Accident 1 2
35 28 43 Aric Almirola GoBowling.com Ford 125 10 1 58.9 $110,376 Accident 1 1
36 16 14 Tony Stewart Code 3/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 124 8 73.6 $107,348 Running
37 15 55 Brian Vickers Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 116 7 73.6 $105,079 Accident
38 18 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 116 7 1 69.8 $117,166 Accident 1 3
39 17 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 111 5 72.5 $117,966 Accident
40 41 66 Joe Nemechek(i) Land Castle Title Toyota 88 0 26.9 $68,030 Accident
41 32 40 Landon Cassill(i) Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet 28 0 31.7 $56,030 Accident
42 7 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Toyota 23 2 43.0 $99,871 Engine
43 43 93 Johnny Sauter(i) Dr Pepper Toyota 11 PE 27.8 $48,530 Electrical
Race Comments: Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway, his 22nd NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.