From the August, 2007 issue of Stock Car Insider
Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway Recap
It was a battle of the beer sponsors, but not really, as the cars came by on the final lap. Kurt Busch was out in front, and Dale Earnhardt Jr was a distant second. Such was the day for Dale and the rest of the field in the Pennsylvania 500.No one could get close enough to Busch to even give him a love tap on the back bumper. Even mishaps on the final pit stop that forced Busch to restart in the 9th position couldn't hold him back. With in a matter of laps, Busch was back at the front commanding the race.
In a rare attempt to be modest, Busch said, ``You never for one instant think you have the race in the bag. The only time I really thought about it was coming to the checkered, lap 199 coming to 200.''
Other drivers to note:
Points leader, Jeff Gordon, continued on in his domination of the point's standings. Gordon finished in 4th and increased his points lead to 366 over 2nd place Denny Hamlin.
Jimmie Johnson turned his ship around with a 5th place finish. The top 5 finish gave Johnson some traction on what had been a slippery slope down the point's standing. Johnson gained 2 spots and now sits in 7th place.
Dale Earnhardt Jr had about a good a race as anyone could wish for. Fighting an ill-handling car for much of the day, Earnhardt was able to pull out a 2nd place finish. The only problem with 2nd place is that the guy he's competing with in points won the race. As a result, Jr fell to 13th in points and is currently out of the Chase.
Tony Stewart's bid to win 3 straight fell just a bit short. 5 places short in fact. Last week's winner at the Brickyard finished in 6th place at Pocono and now sits 5th in the points.
| See complete 2007 NASCAR Schedule |
