Kahne continues surge with dominant Pocono triumph

By SceneDaily Staff

Monday, June 09, 2008

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Chris Trotman / Getty Images for NASCAR

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LONG POND, Pa. – Kasey Kahne is back. He and his Gillett Evernham Motorsports team were the class of the field in Sunday’s Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway to win their second NASCAR Sprint Cup points race in the last three weeks.

Kahne led the 69 laps, the most of any driver, in Sunday’s event in a performance that could signify this team is back in championship form. After an outstanding day at Pocono, he took the lead for the final time with 15 laps to go, easing to the inside and around Brian Vickers.

"I've never had a car that dominant," Kahne said.

Red Bull Racing's Vickers finished second on older tires, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Hendrick Motorsports’ Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton.

Pit strategy proved to be a key aspect of the race and kept jumbling the pack throughout the event. The numerous cautions also kept
things mixed up. In the end, though, some familiar faces were at the front at Pocono. Hamlin mounted his charge late in the race. Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson, who had been off sequence with the field the entire race, had moved into the top 10. And the always steady Burton was in the mix.

Others didn’t enjoy quite as steady of a run.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle endured one of the more heart-breaking runs of the race. Biffle raced with the leaders throughout
the event. He first endured a scary pit stop in which he hit one of his crew members – who was uninjured – and then was tagged by Michael McDowell. He was essentially unscathed in that incident, emerging back on the track in fifth, but a late pit stop was more costly.

Biffle pitted with 33 laps to go, but was caught speeding on pit road. After serving the penalty, he emerged on the track in 33rd position. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Tony Stewart endured a similar fate when he pitted in that same sequence and returned to the track in 36th after his penalty. Both were a lap down.

Then Biffle’s teammate Carl Edwards found his own problems. Leading the race when the caution came out on lap 177, Edwards caught the pit-road light changing as he was heading to the commitment line and veered back onto the track. He waited to pit the following lap. But the heads-up move was negated when he came back off pit road with a flat tire after his stop and had to pit once more. He was 33rd on the restart with 19 to go.

Several drivers endured early setbacks. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, attempting to complete a triple-duty race weekend, cut high into Jamie McMurray and incurred significant damage on his car. He spent more than 80 laps in the garage undergoing repairs. RCR’s Clint Bowyer was battling to control his car when he slid into the path of Juan Pablo Montoya. As Bowyer hit the frontstretch wall, Montoya’s car burst into flames. He eased it to where the safety crew was and the group belatedly put out the flames.

Penske Racing’s Sam Hornish Jr. spun three times. Gillett Evernham Motorsports’ Patrick Carpentier joined him in two of those.

All of those returned to the track, though several laps down. Others did a better job of overcoming setbacks. Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch spun across the grass, but somehow avoided damaging his front splitter and returned to the race and ran in the top 10 for most of the day.

Kahne had to return to the pits after a lap-58 pit stop to correct loose lug nuts, but rallied and returned to the front to be the dominant car in the race’s second half. He climbed to ninth in the points standings after the race. Hamlin enjoyed a comeback of his own, recovering from damage to the front end of his car to gain his finish. Kahne was trying to carefully make his move back into the lead when he saw Hamlin coming. Knowing the JGR driver's strength at Pocono - Hamlin has two wins and has never finished worse than sixth there - Kahne decided it was time to make his own move.

"“I just needed to take a little bit of time there," Kahne said. "I saw the 11 [of Hamlin] coming and it was time to go and we got to where we needed to be.”

Busch, meanwhile, managed to hold the points lead despite his setback. He now leads Burton by 21 points.

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2 responses to "Kahne continues surge with dominant Pocono triumph"

1
Anonymous said:
Jun 8, 2008 at 4:47 PM
Congrats to Kasey!!! 2 wins in 3 weeks!!! I am really happy for him. He was dominant all day and fought back from a bad pit stop, he deserves this win. it is really cool to see my favorite driver win twice in 3 weeks!!! WOOT!!
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chad maglione said:
Jun 8, 2008 at 7:26 PM
It was great to see him do it again. Sorry to see Elliot Sadler did not do well.
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This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
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