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Jeff Gordon was very good at Pocono International Raceway, the only problem was, his teammate, Kasey Kahne was even better.
In a game of tit-for-tat Gordon took the lead from Kahne on the penultimate restart. And while it appeared that Kahne faltered, which he did on the final restart with two laps to go, that didn't matter. The winner had the fastest car of the day.
"On that final restart, I spun my tires a little bit and he (Gordon) got a great jump, and Kurt (Busch who finished third) pushed me all the way to Turn 1, which really helped," Kahne said. "I had one opportunity to either go for it and make it work or not. As good as our (car) was all day long, I thought we could make that work on the outside.
"I just needed to clear him (Gordon), and when we got to Turn 2, I was able to do that. It was a great race. We had a really fast car. (Crew chief) Kenny (Francis) called an awesome race, and the whole pit crew did a perfect job... We needed this one to get in the Chase -- we were able to get it, and it feels really good."
It was Kahne's second win of the year and 16th in his career. The victory virtually guarantees a Chase berth as he now stands eighth in the points 18 ahead of Tony Stewart the leading Wild Card candidate at 11th in the points with one win .
Gordon, who turned 42 years old barely held his emotions in check while he reflected on the close brush with victory which would virtually lock him a spot in NASCAR's playoffs, the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He's ninth in the points and only eight ahead of the three-time champion Stewart. A victory would have helped him lock in a Chase seed.
“I was driving as hard as I knew how to drive once I got in front of him (Kahne) and when I was up beside him,” said the four-time Sprint Cup champions. “He's a good friend of mine, and the last thing I wanted to do was wreck either one of us as well. But he was fighting hard, I was fighting hard, and it was fun.”
Reflecting on what might have been Gordon added “I didn't want to see that last caution that's for sure. He was better than me. He was going to catch me, whether he could have passed me, I'm not sure.”
Last week's winner, Ryan Newman finished fourth, and is now nine points behind Ryan Newman in the Wild Card competition for the two final spots in the Chase.
The biggest surprise of the race was polesitter Jimmie Johnson's blown tire. Johnson, who nearly won last week at the Brickyard 400, opened a commanding lead from the start and did not appear to be challenged until he blew a tire on lap 76 hitting the wall requiring lengthy repairs.
Johnson rallied back to 13th place and with Clint Bowyer finishing 14th his points lead is now 77 over Bowyer. With five races to go to the Chase all of this is immaterial because of the points reset. As things stand both the five-time champion and Matt Kenseth, each, have four wins and would be tied with 2012 points after the Richmond race if neither visits Victory Lane before then.
In a game of tit-for-tat Gordon took the lead from Kahne on the penultimate restart. And while it appeared that Kahne faltered, which he did on the final restart with two laps to go, that didn't matter. The winner had the fastest car of the day.
"On that final restart, I spun my tires a little bit and he (Gordon) got a great jump, and Kurt (Busch who finished third) pushed me all the way to Turn 1, which really helped," Kahne said. "I had one opportunity to either go for it and make it work or not. As good as our (car) was all day long, I thought we could make that work on the outside.
"I just needed to clear him (Gordon), and when we got to Turn 2, I was able to do that. It was a great race. We had a really fast car. (Crew chief) Kenny (Francis) called an awesome race, and the whole pit crew did a perfect job... We needed this one to get in the Chase -- we were able to get it, and it feels really good."
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| Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet SS. (Photo: NASCAR) |
It was Kahne's second win of the year and 16th in his career. The victory virtually guarantees a Chase berth as he now stands eighth in the points 18 ahead of Tony Stewart the leading Wild Card candidate at 11th in the points with one win .
Gordon, who turned 42 years old barely held his emotions in check while he reflected on the close brush with victory which would virtually lock him a spot in NASCAR's playoffs, the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He's ninth in the points and only eight ahead of the three-time champion Stewart. A victory would have helped him lock in a Chase seed.
“I was driving as hard as I knew how to drive once I got in front of him (Kahne) and when I was up beside him,” said the four-time Sprint Cup champions. “He's a good friend of mine, and the last thing I wanted to do was wreck either one of us as well. But he was fighting hard, I was fighting hard, and it was fun.”
Reflecting on what might have been Gordon added “I didn't want to see that last caution that's for sure. He was better than me. He was going to catch me, whether he could have passed me, I'm not sure.”
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| Photo: NASCAR |
Last week's winner, Ryan Newman finished fourth, and is now nine points behind Ryan Newman in the Wild Card competition for the two final spots in the Chase.
The biggest surprise of the race was polesitter Jimmie Johnson's blown tire. Johnson, who nearly won last week at the Brickyard 400, opened a commanding lead from the start and did not appear to be challenged until he blew a tire on lap 76 hitting the wall requiring lengthy repairs.
Johnson rallied back to 13th place and with Clint Bowyer finishing 14th his points lead is now 77 over Bowyer. With five races to go to the Chase all of this is immaterial because of the points reset. As things stand both the five-time champion and Matt Kenseth, each, have four wins and would be tied with 2012 points after the Richmond race if neither visits Victory Lane before then.