After Paul Menard’s surprising win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup series headed back to Pocono for the final time this season.
Built tough…
Brad Keselowski is tough. That’s a given he has gone through some crazy on track wrecks during races but Sunday there was no comparison. After a hard wreck during a test at Road Atlanta he was driving with a broken foot. He started 13th and ran well within the top 15 he would wind up finishing 24th after hitting pit road prior to the red flag.
A late caution for the wreck for Juan Pablo Montoya and Kasey Kahne saw the field caught back up to Kyle Busch. On the restart Jimmie Johnson took it three wide and Keselowski capitalized and took the lead with the laps winding down.
It was Keselowski who held off Busch for his second win of the season. The win gained him three spots in the standings to 18th. His second win virtually guarantees him a spot in the Chase.
Aggressive behavior…
David Ragan coming into Pocono was sitting 16th in the points. His one win at Daytona in July would nut be enough to make the wildcard. With Menard winning last week and moving ahead of him in the standings Ragan needed a good run this week.
On Sunday, Ragan started 15th and was running mid pack when he got spun on the restart. He admitted in the garage he was being aggressive early on. His aggression found him the garage and in a hole in the points. He would get back on track but the damage was done both to the race car and in the points. He needs to win out if he wants to make the Chase. He finished 34th.
Disagreement about space…
As the laps wound down on Sunday afternoon Johnson had run down Busch for third and the two battled all the way to the finish. Busch and Johnson actually made contact and the two didn’t mince words after the race.
Busch feels Johnson turned down on him and Johnson felt like Busch drove over him. Frustration was evident as both drivers had cars capable of winning the race. Instead the feud will continue till next week.
Running flat…
Joey Logano when the red flag came out was looking like he was going to win his second career race. Instead he got shuffled back on the restart but the cars handling wasn’t quite right. After caution waved for Montoya and Kahne he reported that he had a cut tire.
He was forced to pit road to change the tires. His promising day ended without the win and a 26th place finish.
Lug Nuts…
-Jamie McMurray had a rough day on pit road. He was penalized for leaving the box with equipment under green and was penalized. He would
-Brian Vickers run didn’t last very long he suffered engine problems and was out of the race and would finish 39th.
- Paul Menard backed up his win at IMS with a 10th place finish.
-Tony Stewart had an up and down day. After getting the free pass on lap 127 and was 28th. Team made major adjustments and drove to a 11th place finish.
For the rest of the results click here and for the standings following Pocono click here.
Next week the Sprint Cup series heads to Watkins Glen on Sunday at 12 EST on ESPN.
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