1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt finished 11th at Watkins Glen after an untimely late caution cost him any chance of winning. He passed Jeff Gordon to take over the lead in the Sprint Cup points standings, and now leads Gordon by four.
Watkins Glen might have hosted the action on Sunday, but it was Saturday night at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park a hundred miles away that drew our attention.
Dale Earnhardt Jr is having a rather pleasant season thus far. On Sunday, he swept the season series at Pocono, upped his count to three wins this term, tops the standings, and is second only to Jeff Gordon in accumulated points. No bad at all.
From the impact of crew chief suspensions inspired by the No. 11 Denny Hamlin penalty to the forecasted rain that never reared its ugly head, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 41st Annual GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender and Drive4Diversity grad Kyle Larson scored his first career pole behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet at one of the most demanding tracks on the circuit, Pocono Raceway.
Darrell Wallace Jr., behind the wheel of the No. 54 ToyotaCare Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports, is ready to make the difficult transition from one of the sport’s highest highs, a coveted Truck win at Eldora Speedway, to the trickiness of Pocono Raceway where he will race the Pocono Mountains 150 in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series.
1. Jeff Gordon: Gordon blew past Kasey Kahne on the final restart with 17 laps to go and cruised to his record fifth Brickyard 400 win. It was his second win of the season and strengthened his lead in the Sprint Cup points standings.
With the announcement by Roush Fenway Racing that Carl Edwards would not be returning in 2015 still reverberating throughout the garage, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 21st Annual Crown Royal presents The John Wayne Walding 400 at The Brickyard Powered by BigMachineRecords.com at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Crown Royal attaches a hero's name to the Brickyard 400 as part of their sponsorship, and this year that honor went to 12 year military veteran John Wayne Walding. Yet, to be honest and if the length of the title could go on to infinity, this should have been called “Crown Royal Presents The John Wayne Walding 400 at the Brickyard to be Dominated Once Again by Jeff Gordon.” That sounds about right.
1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski dominated the Nationwide race on Saturday and duplicated that feat on Sunday, leading 138 of 301 laps to win at New Hampshire. “Once again,” Keselowski said, “it’s time for the celebratory champagne. But there’s a big difference in breaking out the champagne and breaking open the champagne.
