Kahne Bests Gordon At The End

POCONO, PENNSYLVANIA – It was a spirited ending to the Pocono 400 with Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon swapping leads in the final laps. On the estart on lap 153, Gordon, who clawed his way up from a 22nd place start, got the jump on Kahne and managed to put some air between him and Kasey. It looked like Jeff was going to successfully hold onto the lead, but then Matt Kenseth spun, bringing out the 9th yellow flag of the race. It was going to be a two lap drag race. Kasey Kahne who definitely had the faster car wasn’t going to let Gordon pull one over him again, so on the restart, Kahne made an aggressive pass on the outside of turn one, easily powering past Gordon putting 1.392 seconds between the two when he took the checkered flag.

“Kasey was superfast all day,” said Gordon. “I thought I had him [on the previous restart]. When you're leading and you've taken the lead from Kasey the way I did, you're disappointed when you don't win. Gordon continued, “Those guys deserved and earned the win. He got a killer run on the last restart and blasted by on the outside. I'll be honest, he caught me by surprise. I'm frustrated because we had a shot and we know how important wins are, but second is a great points day. I feel fortunate.”

“We had the best car all day and we gained on the leaders all day,” Kahne boasted “I need to win this one bad and the team needed to win one, too. We've run pretty good this summer without much to show for it. Today, we put it all together.” Kurt Busch managed the final podium position, while Ryan Newman and Dale Jr. rounding off the top five.

The strangest story of the day was Jimmie Johnson, who has had his share of strange stories lately. Starting from the pole, Jimmie looked strong leading 43 of the first 75 laps. Then, on lap 78, a blown right front tire caused him to lose control and strike the turn two wall with some gusto. Johnson’s crew rose to the occasion and after some creative body work and many “adjustments” along the way, Johnson was able to finish a respectable 13th, increasing his championship point lead to 77 points. “I felt we had a shot to win, but we blew a tire and that ended our hopes right there,” Johnson said after another unusual day during a season that has had many. “With all the trouble we had, I don't know how I salvaged 13th. But that stuff happens. It's racing.”