LONG POND — Jeff Gordon led three times for a race-high 63 laps but finished sixth Sunday in the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.
“We had the dominant car but you had to have track position and there at the end we didn’t have it,” Gordon said. “My restarts weren’t bad when we were on the outside and we could make up some spots. Unfortunately on those last couple ones, we were on the inside. I’m still really happy with the way our car performed today.”
Gordon surpassed 24,000 laps led in his career Sunday and he also became the first driver to lead 1,000 laps at Pocono Raceway.
Tire trouble
Jimmie Johnsonsuffered a flat tire twice, once on Lap 8 and once on Lap 112. The second time it happened, Johnson hit the wall, knocking him out of the race.
“The first one, I got tight off turn one and got in the fence,” Johnson said. “It pushed the rear quarter panel into the tire and got the first flat, so my bad. The second one, I’m clueless. It didn’t act like a tire went down and I am not exactly sure if it did. We are trying to get in there and look at it.”
After the first flat, Johnson rebounded and made it into the top five. But the second flat resulted in the crash which ended his day. He finished 39th.
Hoping for better days
Kyle Busch’s day ended early with an engine issue on Lap 22.
“Something between the frame rails just doesn’t want to operate correctly right now and so it’s unfortunate because I thought we had a good car this weekend,” he said. “The car in practice was strong and it felt good.”
It was the third race this season that Busch failed to finish. He dropped four spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings and is now in 10th place.
Poconotes
Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it five straight races at Pocono won by Hendrick cars. Earnhardt also became the first driver to win at Pocono after starting ninth. ... Toyota of Scranton sponsored the No. 26 car of rookie Cole Whitt. He started 33rd and finished 21st. ... Former longtime Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, currently a free agent, attended the race Sunday. ... The 50/50 raffle brought in $58,680 with the winning ticket claiming $29,340. ... Today marks the 40th anniversary of the first NASCAR race at Pocono. Richard Petty, who served as grand marshall Sunday, won the first race.