Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins Pocono 400 with late race pass on Keselowski

With under 10 laps to go, Brad Keselowski picked up a big piece of debris on the front grill of his Ford. With the water temperature climbing and scared that it’d boil over, he pulled up on the back of the lap car of Danica Patrick to try and get it off with five laps to go. However, the move didn’t work in his favor as it killed his momentum, allowing Dale Earnhardt Jr. to make the move underneath and go by. Earnhardt then led the final five laps to score the victory in the Pocono 400.

“We’ve been running really well here since they’ve repaved it,” crew chief Steve LeTarte commented. “We’ve fallen short in all different ways whether strategy or transmission issues. He did a great job out there. Can’t say enough for Hendrick engines as that straightaway speed helped.”

After a pair of runner-ups, a pair of thirds and a pair of fourths – Earnhardt now can say that he is a race winner at Pocono Raceway. It marks his 21st career victory and his second victory of the 2014 season. It marks the first season since 2004 that Earnhardt has had a multi-win season.

“Brad had the better car and I’m definitely going to own up to that,” Earnhardt Jr. commented. “We got the win and it’s great to win here. I hadn’t won here so it’s amazing! Now I can check that off the list.”

For Hendrick Motorsports, it marks their third straight win in a row after Jimmie Johnson’s back-to-back victories, and HMS’ fourth straight at Pocono with four different drivers.

“He had trash on the grill and ran up on Danica and we were able to get by,” Earnhardt continued. “That’s unfortunate for him he had me beat. I couldn’t get to him. It’s really hard to pass here. I’ve lost some strange ways so it’s good to win one here.”

Keselowski would finish second for his seventh top 10 finish of the 2014 season.

“Car was really hot. We had a really fast ford and just got a big piece of debris and had to do something,” Keselowski commented. “Tried to make a move to get behind the 10 and get the debris off, and she got loose there and I chased her up there. Should’ve just passed her. dale took advantage of it – that’s how racing goes.”

Kurt Busch ran inside the top 10 most of the day on his way to finishing third for his 15th top 10 in 26 starts at Pocono.

“A great top five run,” Busch commented. “Qualifying and throughout the race – it was good. Good job to Daniel (Knost) in leading us in a new direction. I think we’ve shed some new skin today.”

Pole sitter Denny Hamlin would finish fourth after all the fuel strategy throughout the day worked itself out.

“It was a challenge for everyone. The cars punch such a big hole in the air that you can;t get around who is in front of you. That’s how things are  – you got to deal with it,” Hamlin commented. “We had a good strategy and it’s a good run for us. Two top fives in a row is good for us.”

Rookie Kyle Larson would round out the top five after winning the ARCA race on Saturday.

“That was a lot better finish than I thought that we would have today,” Larson commented. “I knew from the drop of the green that we had a good Chevy and we got better and better. I thought I could get by Denny (Hamlin), but he was doing what he had to do to stay in front.”

Going for three straight, Johnson scored a sixth place finish after making significant contact mid-race on pit road with Marcos Ambrose.

“We started deep in the field and got ourselves up towards the front,” Johnson commented. “We did the two tire stop – and we just didn’t know who was coming in and who was  going out. I didn’t know that Ambrose was going in and we made some contact. From there, we just went to work and did what we could. I couldn’t get it done, but glad to see that Dale got to victory lane. We’ll go have a beer with those guys.”

Ryan Newman finished seventh, followed by Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch.

“Mainly, we couldn’t catch any breaks on the restart,” Gordon said. “Something happened on the 22 (Logano), then on the 27 (Menard) – it was just chaotic. Our car was quick all day and our pit stops were fantastic. When guys got out of sequence, it just got our track position off and once we lost it, we couldn’t get it back. Ultimately, the restarts – even when I got a good one, something would happen and we couldn’t get a break.”

Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick finished 13th and 14th, respectively, despite running in the top five the majority of the race. Stewart got a speeding penalty on lap 117 of 160, while Harvick had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire at lap 116.

“100% driver error,” Stewart admitted. “I don’t know how I got through the lights like I did. I didn’t have any lights on the tach so I didn’t know that I was over. 100% driver error. I gave my guys grief over last week, but this week it was me who has thrown it out.”

Matt Kenseth came in as the points leader, though suffered a 25th place finish following contact on a restart with Jamie McMurray. As a result, Gordon takes over the points, 16 ahead of Kenseth.

Kasey Kahne was looking to go back to Pocono victory lane following last year’s victory, however failed to finish after making heavy contact with the wall with 18 laps to go after contact from Kyle Busch. Carl Edwards would have nowhere to go, suffering front end damage as a result.

“I just got into Kasey there as somehow Kasey got in the wall there – don’t know how he got into the wall as there was oil all over the track. glad to see that he is okay,” Edwards commented.