5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono

The NASCAR drivers either love Pocono Raceway or just simply hate it. It's a tricky 2.5 mile triangular shaped circuit. It has three turns that are completely different from each other so it's difficult to setup your race car to handle perfectly at all ends of the track.

Congratulations to Jeff Gordon on his second win of 2011 and his fifth career Cup series win at Pocono Raceway. He is now tied with Bill Elliott for the most victories at Pocono. On lap 256 a caution came out for debris. While under yellow flag conditions the cars made pit stops and Jeff Gordon's crew was able to get the #24 car in the lead. Then later on lap 177 while racing under green flag conditions the #24 team had another incredible pit stop to maintain the lead. Jeff knew if he could remain the leader nobody would pass them unless the #24 car experienced a mechanical problem. After snapping a long winless streak this year at Phoenix and now winning here at Pocono, many experts are beginning to believe Gordon is one of the top contenders for the Sprint Cup Series Championship this season.

Jeff Gordon's victory this Sunday gives Hendrick Motorsports it's 197th career win and 12th at Pocono Raceway (most all time). Speaking of Hendrick Motorsports... Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finished 14th or better in 12 of the first 14 races in 2011, very impressive. This victory for Jeff Gordon was very special, he ties Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for third on the all-time wins list with 84 wins. If Gordon was going to hit this milestone this season I am not surprised it happened at Pocono, he loves this circuit. In his last six starts at Pocono he has finished in the top 10 five of those starts.

Kurt Busch won his second consecutive Coor's Light Pole Award for Sunday's race in that #22 car. He also managed to earn his best finish of the 2011 season so far (second). Kurt had to expect to have his hands full with a couple drivers also qualifying at the front who are very successful at this race track. Jeff Gordon started 3rd, Denny Hamlin started 4th, and points leader Carl Edwards started 6th. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick both qualified outside the top 30 so there would be no pressure from them until later in the event.

In the early stages of the race Kurt Busch would lose the lead to Denny Hamlin, that #11 car was a rocket all race long. Carl Edwards suffered an engine failure just 58 laps into the 200 lap event. This caused Carl to finish 37th which leaves him with a slim six point lead over Jimmie Johnson who sits second in the standings. Dale Earnhardt Jr sits third in the standings and he is only ten points behind Edwards. Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch were the two drivers who had the speed that could have prevented Jeff from winning. The 4-time Pocono winner Denny Hamlin led 76 laps, but a broken valve stem caused him to pit twice in one sequence around lap 156. Hamlin would end up finishing in 19th.

Images from: http://www.nascar.com/news/110612/jgordon-win-pocono/index.html
Written by: Tyler McMurter