In addition to the confetti flying, champagne popping, JR Nation cheering, team hugging, and beer baths, Pocono Raceway’s Victory Lane had winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. waving a broom over his head — signifying that Dale Jr.’s win at the GoBowling.com 400 gave him a season sweep of the year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This marks the third win in a season for NASCAR’s most popular driver, as reported by Fox Sports .
Dale Earnhardt Jr . now holds “the No. 1 seed in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship,” per ESPN.
The out-of-the-box strategy of Steve Letarte (Dale Jr.’s crew chief), as well as the strong and hard driving by Dale Jr., brought him to the lead spot with three laps to go.
Jeff Gordon had the strongest car all day, leading 63 laps. That is until Dale Earnhardt Jr. whizzed by Gordon on the final green-flag stop of the day, causing Earnhardt Jr. to gain beneficial track position, according to Fox Sports .
As the race surged on, Earnhardt Jr. continued to push his way to the front. The restart in the final three laps was all Dale Jr. needed to push his No. 88 Chevrolet into the number one spot past Kevin Harvick, and lead his Hendrick team to victory, marking his third win of the season.
This win at Pocono Raceway brings Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the most wins he has had in one season since his record career-high of winning six races in 2004.
Earnhardt Jr., thrilled with his win, tells ESPN :
“We had a fast car all day. Steve’s strategy was perfect at the end. I don’t know if anyone knew what was going on there, but it was pretty awesome.”
Earnhardt Jr.’s win on Sunday also made him the fifth straight Hendrick Motorsports driver to win at Pocono. Although Rick Hendrick was not at the race to cheer on Dale Jr., he was just a phone call away. According to ESPN , Earnhardt Jr. expressed his gratitude to Hendrick during their conversation.
“I told him thanks for believing in me and making my life better.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was all smiles as he stood in victory lane, savoring the moment, holding the broom indicating his clean sweep. He tweeted, “Found The Broom.”
Congratulations to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his entire team for a fantastic NASCAR win!
[Photo Credit: NASCAR.com and DaleJr.com]
