Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to survive the nasty wrecks that took over half of the field out of serious contention on his way to Victory Lane at Pocono in today’s NASCAR gobowling.com 400 today. Kevin Harvick finished second despite making a strong run to the lead on the final lap. Joey Logano finished in third, Clint Bowyer in fourth, and Greg Biffle rounding out the top five.
This was Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s third win of the season. Harvick’s second place finish was enough to put him officially in the Chase for the Cup.
Drivers started getting into trouble early, though the worst of the wrecks occurred on lap 117. Thirteen drivers were involved. The wreck ended the day for Tony Stewart and several other drivers.
Dale Earnhardt Jr . dominated the race after passing Brad Keselowski, whose grill had picked up a hot dog wrapper. Keselowski ended up finishing 23rd — still better than Danica Patrick, who had trouble staying off the wall and ended up finishing four laps down in 30th.
Allmendinger hit the wall in lap 139, leading to a caution with six laps to go. The green flag waved with three laps to go off the restart, leading to a battle between Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr, with Junior holding the edge. Dale Jr. pulled away from Harvick and was able to maintain the lead all the way to the checkered flag.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. led only 14 laps, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that he was in the lead at the end of the last lap.
Jeff Gordon , who came into today’s NASCAR race leading the Sprint Cup Series in points, finished in sixth place, with Jamie McMurray in seventh, Ryan Newman in eight, and Denny Hamlin in ninth. Kasey Kahne finished up the top ten.
After the race, Dale Jr. had this to say in an interview with ESPN :
“I was just trying to hold them off. Their car was faster… I was just way overdriving the car… we had a fast car all day and (Dale’s team manager) Steve’s strategy was right on… sometimes you take those gambles and it pays off.”
Earnhardt Jr. also used his time in the spotlight to bring attention to the National Guard’s youth foundation, which he said was helping a lot of kids to get straightened out.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is having a career season this year, and looks poised to make a strong run in the Chase for the Cup.
