Go Bowling 400 Race Recap

The cars that didn’t pit earlier now have to come to pit road meaning that the new leader is Kurt Busch, while Johnson is now in 30th and Keselowski is 25th, with Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards the new top five. Six laps later green flag stops get underway for the everyone else, but with such a range of fuel strategies it takes another six laps before everyone has been in and sure enough it allows Johnson to retake the lead. But rather than have Keselowski 2 seconds behind the 2 car is now right behind the 48. However despite his best efforts Keselowski can not find a way past but the two of them are nearly five seconds ahead of third place Kurt Busch. But all battles a brought to halt when the 38 of David Gilliland blows out his front right tyre which sends him into the outside wall and the third caution of the day comes out.

Aug 4, 2013; Long Pond, PA, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski (2) during the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O

Yet more pit strategy comes into play as Johnson, the Busch brothers and others come to the pits while Keselowski, Gordon and nine others stay out. There are further strategies on pit road with Kurt Busch winning the race off by only taking two tyres while Johnson takes four and comes out second. They are down in 12th and 13th place while the new top five is Keselowski, Kahne, Gordon, Logano and Menard. There is no separating the 2 and 5 cars at the restart as for the next couple of laps they are side by side until Kahne just edges ahead, as they pass the start/finish line Kahne is 0.006 seconds ahead.

From there Kahne is able to slowly creep further and further in front until he clears the 2 car to take the lead outright. Keselowski now has a much bigger issue than catching Kahne as Gordon is now filling his rear view mirror. But despite his best efforts Gordon is unable to find a way around the 2 car as Kahne extends his lead to over three seconds. Johnson has worked his way back into the top ten but with so many different strategies in play we won’t know who is in with a chance to win until the final stages of the race. Keselowski makes his green flag stop from second place and comes out in 24th and a few laps later Kahne also makes his stop. After a few more lead changes when the lead car comes to pit road, the lead eventually comes back to the 48 with Kurt Busch now in second place.

Then something unexpected happens, the 48 gets a right front tyre puncture and is sent into the outside wall bringing out the yellow flags for the fourth time. Once again some cars come to pit road while others stay out so the top five is now Kahne, Keselowski, Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Ryan Newman. A great restart from the top two sees them go side by side into turn one before Keselowski is able to take the lead. But Kahne isn’t letting him pull away and sits right on his rear bumper. After a few laps of sitting and waiting Kahne makes a move underneath the 2 to bring them back to side by side racing. Keselowski repositions his car slightly and takes the air off the 5 car forcing Kahne to lift and correct the car slightly, which allows Keselowski to comfortably take the lead again. Kahne recovers quickly though and starts pulling the 2 car back in before this time easily making a passing move and starts to ease away from the rest of the field.

Aug 4, 2013; Long Pond, PA, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne (5) during the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O

His lead doesn’t last long though as another tyre failure this time for David Stremme sees the yellow flags make another appearance. No different fuel strategies this time as nearly everyone comes to pit row. While everyone takes fuel there are different tyre strategies playing out as Keselowski takes four and comes out in 15th while most front runners elect for two tyres and Kahne wins the race off pit road. The only car that stayed out and is the new leader is the 56 of Martin Truex Jr. A poor restart from the 5 sees him get sandwiched between the Busch brothers before he quickly regains his pace and gets underneath Kurt for third. After a few laps of ducking and diving behind the 18 Kahne is also able to make a move for second and make it stick. But once again there is no chance for any gaps to be established as Aric Almirola left rear tyre explodes spinning the 43 car in the middle of the track for caution number six.