Party in the Pocono’s 400 Race Review
While the top five remain static there is a battle for sixth between the Busch brothers with the 18 on the inside of the 78 and neither of them giving an inch. They are soon joined by the 2 and seeing a chance to get by the battling brothers he sneaks by the 78 for seventh but can’t get close enough to the 18 to make a move. Disappointingly though the battle between Kyle and Keselowski is the only real battle for places on the track as the cars are all spread out and remain in their positions. Johnson is four seconds ahead of Edwards who is two seconds ahead of Jr who in turn is five seconds ahead of Harvick and he is five seconds ahead of Kenseth.
Jun 9, 2013; Long Pond, PA, USA; A general view of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars on pit road during the Party in the Poconos 400 at Pocono Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
On lap 53 Keselowski makes it by the 18 for sixth and the cars start coming to pit row for their second round of green flag stops. After they have again cycled through Johnson is still in the lead but Edwards has been able to eat into his lead slightly by reducing the 48’s lead from 4.5 seconds to 2.5 seconds. Finally on lap 65 the field is all brought back together as debris, bizarrely reported as somebody’s blanket, is spotted in turn 3 and the first caution of the day comes out. While the leaders all come to pit row Ryan Newman, who only pitted 6 laps earlier, takes a gamble and stays out. Johnson wins the race off pit row with Jr, who took fuel only, in second from Edwards.
At the restart Newman is on the inside and although he gets a good start it is a long run to turn one and by the time they get there Johnson has got around the 39 on the outside and already has clear air. Newman is able to hold Jr at bay and keep second but Edwards starts to fall back and only two laps after the restart he has fallen back to seventh. While Johnson keeps extending his lead Kenseth starts to apply pressure to the 88 car for third but just can’t seem to find a way around. Hope raises its head for the rest of the field as Johnson reports that he can feel a vibration and his lead over Newman is holding steady at 1.5 seconds rather than pulling away like he has been.
However a closer look at the situation suggests that Johnson is not having issues but rather he is saving fuel. The cars fuel window is around 30 laps and as the cars pass the halfway point if it stays green there will be another three stops. But that could still mean that at the end drivers will be worrying about their fuel levels. But by saving fuel now it means that in the final ten laps the drivers can go all out and not worry about running out of fuel. Johnson isn’t the only driver to be saving fuel Newman also is and so is Harvick who actually lets Keselowski by him so that he is not pushing too much and using too much fuel. On lap 92 Newman finally comes to the pits for fuel and comes back out in 26th, which hands second place to Jr but he is a massive 7 seconds behind Johnson. But Newman doesn’t languish for long down the field as the rest of the pack make their third green flag stops which puts Newman back into the lead.
Jun 9, 2013; Long Pond, PA, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Ryan Newman (39) and Jimmie Johnson (48) battle for position during the Party in the Poconos 400 at Pocono Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
Once the stops have cycled through the top five is Newman, Johnson Keselowski, Jr and Kenseth with Newman’s lead being just over 5 seconds. Harvick’s race takes a beating as he is penalised for too fast exiting pit row and has to serve a drive through penalty and falls all the way down to 28th. Once again the top five remain static while there is a battle for 6th between Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch but the 78 is the faster of the two and he takes the position away from Hamlin. Back at the front Johnson has started eating into Newman’s big lead at rate of knots and on lap 113 he easily gets by Newman to retake the lead and a couple of laps later Newman comes to pit row for his green flag stop and rejoins in 20th.