Two Guys Sports
Bruce BostwickKahne wins Nascar Pocono 500
June 9th 2008 08:17
Kasey Kahne has now won two of the last three points races.
Kyle Busch came up shorter on his triple crown then even Big Brown did. As stated in the race preview, he finished 2nd in the truck race in Texas, 20th in the Nationwide race in Nashville, and now you can add dead last at Pocono to that list. Early in the race he thought he had cleared the #26 of Jamie McMurray, and apparently his spotter didn’t say otherwise, so he turned right to get higher on the track. The #18 M&M car’s rear quarterpanel had not yet cleared McMurray’s car. This cause him to spin and hit the wall, bringing out the third caution of the day and putting him in the garage for a long time. In the end he would finish in 43rd spot. This hurts his Nascar Sprint Cup Series points lead. He came in with a 142 point lead, but will head home from Pennsylvania just 21 points ahead of Jeff Burton.
Also pointed out in our race preview was the fact that drivers thought it would be a boring race. I think I would have to agree for the most part. Even the cautions early were boring, debris, the Busch brothers barely spinning at different times, Patrick Carpentier and Sam Hornish spinning through the grass in turn one, not once but twice, the second time taking a couple others with them. On lap 71 the race was red flagged briefly as part of the track had been rained on, yes only part of the track, it is big enough that there have been many times where it has rained on one end of the track and not the other. The new strip of asphalt on the one section of the track was a bit ridiculous. Imagine driving down the highway at 170MPH and going from the old and weathered asphalt onto a single strip slightly wider than your car which has been patched with new asphalt. Also remember, it isn’t totally in your lane either, and is on a curve. So as you go over it you have no choice but to hit the edge of the patching about halfway through your turn. Sounds fun, huh? Maybe it might be time for the owners of Pocono to redo the whole track, rather than say they are investing in other things around the track, like a resort. The other option of course is to sell it to Speedway Motor Sports which is interested in buying it. Granted they want to buy it so they can more easily move one or both of the races away from Pocono and to one of their many other tracks, like the newly purchased Kentucky Speedway. Monopolizing things usually isn’t a great idea, but SMS tracks are popular and very successful, so maybe in this case it is a good thing.
Kasey Kahne sat on the pole of the Pocono 500 and ran well all day long. Early in the race, during caution #4 for the first Carpentier-Hornish spin in turn one, Kahne pitted, they were going to take four tires, but at the last second changed it to taking just two. Problem is they already took three of the lug nuts off of the left-side tires. The car dropped and he drove off, as he should have. He had to come back into the pits to fix the problem, so changed the left-sides this time by. He would come out in 38th place. He was able to battle back and with some luck and good pit strategy from that point on he would end up leading 69 of the 200 laps. Most importantly, he led lap 200 and took the checkered flag.
He has mostly been on a roll since being chosen by the fans to be in the All-Star race a few weeks ago, a race which he received $1 million for winning. He followed that up with a win at the Coca-Cola 600 the next week. Last week he slipped up a bit finished back in the pack at Dover in 31st place. This week he was riding high again. After the race Kasey would say, “Never, I’ve never had a car that dominant before. This one stayed the same all day long. IT was so good all day long.”
Many drivers were visibly hot and tired at the end of the 500 mile race, which many have said should be shortened to 400. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was extremely flushed, and needed to catch his breath during an interview. Brian Vickers was probably the most vocal about it saying, “It’s brutal. We’re going to the infield care center after the race and that’s ridiculous. Nascar needs to step in and cool these cars down to help us. It is extremely freaking hot out there.” Denny Hamlin echoed those thoughts pointing out how the new car is just way too hot. The fact that it was near 90 degrees at Long Pond Sunday didn’t help at all, but as the season goes forward the mercury will only get higher in the thermometer.
Next week the Sprint Cup racers head to Michigan International Speedway for the LifeLock 400 where last year’s race winner Carl Edwards will look to defend his crown.
| Pos | Driver | Car # | Make | Started | Laps | Led |
| 1 | Kasey Kahne | 9 | Dodge | 1 | 200 | 69 |
| 2 | Brian Vickers | 83 | Toyota | 15 | 200 | 18 |
| 3 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Toyota | 16 | 200 | 17 |
| 4 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 88 | Chevrolet | 7 | 200 | 0 |
| 5 | Jeff Burton | 31 | Chevrolet | 20 | 200 | 0 |
| 6 | Jimmie Johnson | 48 | Chevrolet | 2 | 200 | 59 |
| 7 | Matt Kenseth | 17 | Ford | 13 | 200 | 2 |
| 8 | Kurt Busch | 2 | Dodge | 11 | 200 | 0 |
| 9 | Carl Edwards | 99 | Ford | 6 | 200 | 2 |
| 10 | Mark Martin | 8 | Chevrolet | 3 | 200 | 0 |
| 11 | Bobby Labonte | 43 | Dodge | 37 | 200 | 0 |
| 12 | AJ Allmendinger | 84 | Toyota | 8 | 200 | 0 |
| 13 | Kevin Harvick | 29 | Chevrolet | 28 | 200 | 0 |
| 14 | Jeff Gordon | 24 | Chevrolet | 38 | 200 | 0 |
| 15 | Greg Biffle | 16 | Ford | 33 | 200 | 4 |
| 16 | David Gilliland | 38 | Ford | 42 | 200 | 0 |
| 17 | Martin Truex Jr. | 1 | Chevrolet | 25 | 200 | 2 |
| 18 | Ryan Newman | 12 | Dodge | 27 | 200 | 0 |
| 19 | David Reutimann | 44 | Toyota | 36 | 200 | 0 |
| 20 | Jamie McMurray | 26 | Ford | 22 | 200 | 0 |
| 21 | Scott Riggs | 66 | Chevrolet | 9 | 200 | 6 |
| 22 | Dave Blaney | 22 | Toyota | 32 | 200 | 1 |
| 23 | Travis Kvapil | 28 | Ford | 23 | 200 | 0 |
| 24 | David Ragan | 6 | Ford | 30 | 200 | 0 |
| 25 | Paul Menard | 15 | Chevrolet | 17 | 200 | 0 |
| 26 | Casey Mears | 5 | Chevrolet | 34 | 200 | 0 |
| 27 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | 39 | 200 | 0 | |
| 28 | Regan Smith | 1 | Chevrolet | 4 | 200 | 0 |
| 29 | Joe Nemechek | 78 | Chevrolet | 5 | 200 | 0 |
| 30 | Terry Labonte | 45 | Dodge | 43 | 200 | 0 |
| 31 | Bill Elliott | 21 | Ford | 29 | 200 | 0 |
| 32 | Patrick Carpentier | 10 | Dodge | 24 | 200 | 0 |
| 33 | Reed Sorenson | 41 | Dodge | 31 | 200 | 0 |
| 34 | Elliott Sadler | 19 | Dodge | 18 | 200 | 6 |
| 35 | Tony Stewart | 20 | Toyota | 12 | 199 | 14 |
| 36 | Robby Gordon | 7 | Dodge | 40 | 199 | 0 |
| 37 | Michael Waltrip | 55 | Toyota | 19 | 199 | 0 |
| 38 | Juan Pablo Montoy | 42 | Dodge | 21 | 157 | 0 |
| 39 | Clint Bowyer | 7 | Chevrolet | 35 | 155 | 0 |
| 40 | Jason Leffler | 70 | Chevrolet | 26 | 140 | 0 |
| 41 | Dario Franchitti | 40 | Dodge | 14 | 137 | 0 |
| 42 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 77 | Dodge | 41 | 130 | 0 |
| 43 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Toyota | 10 | 95 | 0 |
Scheduled Laps: 200
Total Laps: 200
Distance: 500.0 miles
Average Speed: 125.209
Pole Speed: 170.219
Cautions: 10 ( 38 Laps )
Margin of Victory: 3.702
Lead Changess: 23 among 12 drivers
Time of Race: 3:59:36
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