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Pocono 500 - Pocono Raceway
Johnson Wins in Pocono
Rookie Kahne Grabs Fourth Pole
Jimmie Johnson overcame an error by NASCAR to score his third victory of the season on Sunday afternoon in the Pocono hills. Johnson led the most laps on the day, pacing the field eight times for 126 of the event’s 200 laps, to win the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway. Johnson has now led 461 of 1,000 laps in the last three races. It is Johnson’s first trip to victory lane at Pocono and his ninth career Cup series win, with all nine occurring on superspeedways. The Pocono 500, much like last week’s event, was plagued by the yellow flag. The race featured 11 caution periods for a total of 57 laps, slowing the average speed of the race-winner to 112.129 mph. Jeremy Mayfield, who has won twice at Pocono, crossed the finish line in the second position, his eighth second-place finish since his last victory which came at Pocono in June 2000. Bobby Labonte fought back from oil-line problems to score a third-place finish, while Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five in the finishing order.
Rookie Kasey Kahne won the pole position for the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway, setting a new track record in the process. Kahne’s qualifying lap of 52.164 seconds, at an average speed of 172.533 mph, eclipsed Tony Stewart’s track record of 52.207 seconds, 172.391 mph, set in 2000. This is the fourth consecutive race that a new track qualifying record has been set this season. It is the series-leading fourth pole position for Kahne this season, tying Art Watts for the quickest that a driver has reached his fourth career pole. Brian Vickers gives the Pocono 500 an all-rookie front row after qualifying on the outside pole. Joe Nemechek will start third, while Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson roll off from the top five.
