No Rain Today—Strong Finishes by Dodge Boys at Pocono

We had to wait an extra day for the rain to stop and the sun to shine, and today’s the racing was absolutely outstanding! Who would have imagined that 3 and 4 car wide racing on the flat banks of the triangle track known as Pocono would be possible. The racing was some of the best at this racetrack in a long time.

Early in the race the #48 Chevy driven by Jimmie Johnson was strong until it suffered a debilitating problem with not generating enough horsepower on long straightaways. This problem began before the halfway mark of the 500 mile race, and it would take the pit crew almost 175 miles later before the team could properly diagnose and fix the problem – bad spark plugs! In the end, the #48 would recover from 3 laps down via the “lucky dog” award under multiple cautions to finish 13th.

The Dodge race teams were fairly consistent throughout the race day. The #9 Budweiser Charger of Kasey Kahne and the #2 Miller Lite Charger both lead many laps today. At times it looked like Kasey Kahne had the car and pit strategy to win the race, but the leaders stayed out for the last caution and although Kasey restarted in the 4th position he couldn’t hold on to the spot as he battled Montoya, Hamlin, Bowyer and Hornish Jr.

Sam Hornish Jr was mired in the middle of the pack most of day, except for the final 60 miles. His final pit strategy put him out near the front. The top 20 teams did not pit during the last caution which came out for the only major wreck of the day, caused when Bobby Labonte was run over by David Regan, sending Labonte’s car spinning and catching others in the mêlée to include the #43 Air Force Charger driven by Reed Sorensen. Reed seemed to have a top 25 car most of the day, but this time he was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time—and finished a disappointing 35th.

Denny Hamlin stalked Clint Bowyer in the final laps, easily taking the lead with 10 laps to go to put his Toyota back up front for the win. Hamlin had one of the strongest cars all day; he led the most laps and at times drove like a possessed man. He didn’t cut drivers much slack today, as demonstrated when he drove off the turn and dumped Marcus Ambrose right out of the racing groove and unto the path of another on-coming Michael Waltrip racing team car driven by David Reutimann—sending both cars spinning and with heavy damage. Both cars would continue to finish the race, but Denny was racing hard.

Dodge had three teams finishing in the top ten–#77 Sam Hornish Jr. (PPG) finished 4th, #9 Kasey Kahne (Budweiser) finished 5th and #2 Kurt Busch (Miller Lite) finishing in 9th. The other factory sponsored Charger teams finishing were – #44 A.J. Allemendinger (Valvoline) finishing 17th, #19 Elliott Sadler (Stanley Tools) finishing 24th, #12 David Stremme (Penske Racing) finishing 32rd, and the #43 Reed Sorenson finishing 35th. Non-factory-supported Dodge teams included: #09 driven by Sterling Marlin (Miccosukee Resort & Gaming) finishing 38th and #37driven by Tony Raines (Long John Silver’s) finishing 42rd out of a 43 car field.

There are 5 races to go before the Chase for the Cup Champion field is set. This week Kasey Kahne moved up one place in points to 7th place overall. Kurt Busch remained steady in 4th place. Both teams are having consistent top ten finishes down the stretch; this should ensure they make the championship field.