Martin still winless at Pocono, unable to return favor to Logano
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[/media-credit]Mark Martin was four laps away from finally going to Victory Lane at Pocono before the kid he discovered at 11-years-old got in the way.
Joey Logano put the bumper to Martin in turn one to take the lead and the win on Sunday afternoon in the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR. Bittersweet for Martin who was looking for his first win with Michael Waltrip Racing in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine, but happy for Logano who captured his second career NSCS win.
“I’m just so thankful to have the opportunity that Michal Waltrip first of all, and Aarons and Toyota have given me to drive competitive racecars,” said Martin. “It is so incredible to be in something that is strong enough that I can contend. We went after that thing really hard, we had a great racecar. I really stuck my neck out on the line to get that lead. I almost pulled it off the restart before and I was willing to risk it all to try to get the lead.
“And once I got out there, Joey was stronger than we were. Just a little bit stronger and I was pushing as hard as I could push and had a little slip there off of three and he was able to get up on me and get by. We sure certainly would have got back up there and raced for the win after the pass if we would have the car but he was able to pull away.”
Martin credited crew chief, Rodney Childers and the entire crew for the car. They started sixth, finished second and led four laps. While others fell by the wayside or shot themselves in the foot, Martin stayed focus on the track and on pit road knowing he had car capable of winning.
A car which had great speed and the durability to make all 400 miles. But it was Logano who started first and finished first, something Martin said he knew long ago he would one day do.
“He raced for it, he was fast from day one of testing,” Martin said of Logano. “He certainly didn’t get that one handed to him, especially my pulling off that last restart. Maybe things will start to turn. He’s been kind of in a stall in his career or in his progression with the Cup Series, but it looks like the last couple of weeks that maybe that’s starting to turn.
“I’ve always known since I saw him drive at 11-years-old that could be a Cup champion. I knew it then.”
Sunday he was just a winner and at Martin’s expense in what he called a bump and run. Something Martin admitted that had he had a fast enough car and got back to Logano, he would have returned. After all, it’s something that’s been accepted in the NASCAR garage for a long time.
“It’s not how I would have done it,” said Martin. “It was great racing, and everybody does what they decide to do. It was a great race, and I’m very, very proud of my race team for putting me in something that would give me a shot. I’m having fun with it. Maybe next week we’ll be the ones with the trophy.”
Martin though goes 0-51 at Pocono, still never having won at the triangle shaped track. However, with his finish on Sunday he’s finished second there seven times. That to the likes of Rusty Wallace, Alan Kulwicki, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and now Joey Logano.
And in that time he’s led 446 laps, making Pocono to Martin what Daytona was to Dale Earnhardt. Yet, it doesn’t weigh on him. Martin’s been around the sport long enough to know what it can do to drivers. How hard it is to win a championship, let alone a single race. Having come this far and with what success he has had at Pocono, it’s something he can live with.
“You’re not owed this stuff, man,” he said. “I’ve earned all those second place finishes and I’m proud of that. You’re not entitled. You’ve got to go get ‘em.”
Ty Dillon ‘finally got to be a rookie’ at Texas
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[/media-credit]Ty Dillon was attempting to win his first career race. James Buescher was looking to win in his home state. Both their chances ended in turn one at the Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night with less than 30 laps to go.
Dillon and Buescher had been battling for the lead when they made contact. The two had been racing side-by-side for a few laps, Buescher on the outside and Dillon working beneath him, seemingly moving up into the middle groove. As Dillon attempted to drive deep into turn one in that same groove it failed to work, he got loose and ended up in the side of Buescher.
Dillon was able to save his truck as it got sideways but Buescher hit the wall. The two would continue though, just out of win contention. While Buescher came home 15th, Dillon finished seventh, adding to the new CWTS record he’s set of consecutive top 10 finishes to start the season by a rookie.
After the checkered flag flew, Buescher made contact with Dillon as the two headed for pit road. The discussion continued upon climbing from their vehicles, neither agreeing with what had happened. According to Buescher, it was still too early to be racing that hard and there wasn’t much room for the two to be racing as they were. He also said that after talking to Dillon they have a better understanding of how to race in the future, even if Dillon saw things differently.
“I guess he was real mad, he was kind of just talking in circles there a little bit,” said Dillon afterwards. “He was mad; he had the right to be. What it sounded like to me is he wanted me to move over and I just told him I’m not doing that; I’m here to win races man. It’s truck series racing it happens all the time, it’s my fault and I owned up to that, said it was my fault but I ain’t going to pull over for you and let you win the race.”
Starting third because qualifying had been rained out, Dillon remained a constant in the top 10. He led 22 of the race’s 167 laps but battled a tight condition for much it. Yet, Dillon was never far from contention thanks in part to a fast pit crew who got him off pit road in record time all night.
They did so again on lap 129, their final stop, getting Dillon off pit road first with four fresh tires. He would restart in the lead but just a few short laps later he was in the wall. Fortunately for Dillon the damage was minimal and he was able to remain on track, restarting ninth and gaining two positions before the race’s conclusion.
“It was just tough racing, I was going to win my first race and he was trying to win at Texas,” was Dillon’s explanation. “If you’re not racing hard – you’re not going to pull over for somebody and let them win the race. I was just trying things, I was in a good situation I had fast truck.”
But he wasn’t fast enough to drive away from Buescher and he admits he was searching for speed. Looking for something, anything, that would let him break free in the lead. Instead he got loose.
But said Dillon, “It’s really a credit to my team because I finally got to be a rookie and make some mistakes tonight.
“My guys pit stops were awesome, the truck was really fast, we finally got it dialed in there at the end. I hate it happened to him [Buescher], he had a great truck, I think we both had the fastest two trucks of the night there that last restart. I hate it tore up trucks but I’m not going to pull over and let somebody win, he has the right to be mad, but it’s just racing.”
Dillon remains third in points, 12 out of the lead. The CWTS isn’t back track until Kentucky in three weeks where last October he finished 18th in his CWTS debut. Dillon left feeling certain he had left a lasting impression, others knowing he was there. Now with a little more knowledge and experience, the young driver’s filled with excitement about heading back to the Bluegrass State.
Joey Logano Puts the Moves on Mark Martin to Score Pocono Win
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[/media-credit]At the newly-paved Pocono Raceway, young Joey Logano put the moves on veteran Mark Martin, literally, to score the race win. This was career win number two for the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota and his first win of the season.
With the victory, Logano became the youngest race winner at Pocono.
“That feels awesome to finally win one the right way,” Logano said. “You don’t know how much this means.”
“I knew my car was better than his and clean air was worth so much,” Logano said of his battle with Martin. “I didn’t want to get in the back of Mark there.”
“I saw the bobble coming off 3 and I knew that was my chance,” Logano continued. “I would have been on suicide watch if I would have given it away like that.”
Logano’s crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, got his first Sprint Cup win as well.
“We were saving the best Gibbs car for last,” Jason Ratcliff said, with a chuckle. “To get my first win at Pocono is a great experience and to get it with Joey was the best.”
“It was a great weekend for us.”
In contrast to the youngest race winner, Mark Martin, one of the veterans of the sport and driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, came in second after being moved out of the way by the youngster.
This was Martin’s second second place finish at Pocono, posting his 34th top-10 in 51 races at Pocono. It is his fifth top-10 finish of the season.
“We were racing hard,” Mark Martin said. “I wanted to win it so bad.”
“I’d call it a bump and run,” Martin said of Logano’s move. “It’s not how I would have done it.”
“If I had a fast enough car, he would have gotten a return,” Martin continued. “It was a great race and I’m very, very proud of my race team for putting me in something that would give me a shot.”
“Maybe next week, we’ll be the ones with the trophy.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, finished third. This was Smoke’s 19th top-10 finish in 27 races at Pocono.
“It was frustrating the first half of the race until guys got their cars better,” Stewart said. “You really just kind of got stuck and then it seems like the longer the race went, the easier it got to pass toward the end.”
“The restarts were insane,” Smoke continued. “All in all, for a freshly paved track, it was a pretty good race.”
The day started with a bang at the ‘Tricky Triangle’, with a record two cautions in the first 15 laps, on for an accident involving Landon Cassill, Martin Truex, Jr. and AJ Allmendinger and the second for an accident involving Reed Sorenson, Tony Raines, and JJ Yeley.
“Sometimes when you try to take it easy, you get yourself in trouble,” Cassill, driver of the No. 83 Burger King/Real Fruit Smoothies said. “I really hate this.”
“This is two tough weeks in a row and it’s tough on my guys.”
One of the other drivers involved in the early race melee, AJ Allmendinger, was very slow in exiting his car after his on-track incident in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Dinger said. “I think I blew a right front.”
“I’m just a little sore, had the wind knocked out of me,” Allmendinger continued. “That might be one of the hardest hits I’ve had.”
The other big story from the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR was the incredible number of speeding penalties, some entering but most exiting pit road. The final tally for pit road speeding penalties total was 22 and affected drivers from Jeff Gordon to Jeff Burton.
“I was obviously being told by my crew chief that a lot of guys were getting busted in that last segment,” Stewart said. “We just made sure we were a little bit on the conservative side.”
“It just shows the guys are pushing the envelope on it so close,” Smoke said. “But it makes you wonder if something was going on because a lot of guys got busted in the same spot.”
The other news from Long Pond was that a new points leader emerged after the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR. With Greg Biffle’s 24th place finish, his teammate Matt Kenseth, who finished seventh, scored the top dog position.
“It’s probably the best we’ve ever performed at Pocono,” the driver of the No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Fusion said. “That was the positive part because we went up there and led some laps under green and thought we were pretty competitive.”
In typical Kenseth style, his comment on assuming the points lead was “It’s better than being second.”
“But I’m kind of disappointed,” Kenseth continued. “I thought we had a shot to win under the right circumstances.”
“Us and the 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) were pretty strong when we were out front and it just didn’t happen,” Kenseth said. “We’ll keep working on it, but I’m happy we got a decent finish and took over the point lead.”
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| Pocono 400, Pocono Raceway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=14 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | 1 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 48 |
| 2 | 6 | 55 | Mark Martin | Toyota | 43 |
| 3 | 22 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 41 |
| 4 | 24 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 40 |
| 5 | 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 40 |
| 6 | 16 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 38 |
| 7 | 14 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 38 |
| 8 | 8 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 37 |
| 9 | 3 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 10 | 11 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 11 | 2 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 33 |
| 12 | 18 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 32 |
| 13 | 9 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 31 |
| 14 | 21 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 30 |
| 15 | 20 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | 29 |
| 16 | 7 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 28 |
| 17 | 17 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | 28 |
| 18 | 31 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 26 |
| 19 | 12 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 25 |
| 20 | 23 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 24 |
| 21 | 25 | 51 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | 23 |
| 22 | 27 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | 22 |
| 23 | 36 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | 22 |
| 24 | 13 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 21 |
| 25 | 42 | 10 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | 19 |
| 26 | 37 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | 18 |
| 27 | 34 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | 18 |
| 28 | 29 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 16 |
| 29 | 10 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 15 |
| 30 | 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 14 |
| 31 | 19 | 22 | AJ Allmendinger | Dodge | 13 |
| 32 | 40 | 36 | Tony Raines | Chevrolet | 12 |
| 33 | 43 | 33 | Stephen Leicht * | Chevrolet | 11 |
| 34 | 30 | 98 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 10 |
| 35 | 26 | 13 | Casey Mears | Ford | 9 |
| 36 | 32 | 249 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | 8 |
| 37 | 33 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 0 |
| 38 | 28 | 119 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | 0 |
| 39 | 39 | 74 | Stacy Compton | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 40 | 38 | 23 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 41 | 41 | 32 | Reed Sorenson | Ford | 0 |
| 42 | 35 | 26 | Josh Wise * | Ford | 3 |
| 43 | 15 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | 1 |
