Go Bowling 400 Race Recap
Truex Jr comes to pit road handing the lead over to Kahne who with the rest of the front runners stay out. A hefty push from Jr helps Kahne take the lead from Kyle Busch on the restart as the Busch brothers battle for second place. Kurt momentarily gets his nose into second place before younger brother Kyle takes it back off him. But once again the battles don’t have long to develop as Danica Patrick gets loose while underneath Travis Kvapil and the two of them start spinning with the 10 car going right up the track and into the path of Jeff Burton and Paul Menard. No problems this time for Kahne at the restart as he leads before the cars hit turn one while the Busch’s continue their battle for second. This time Kurt is able to get by his brother as the 18 loses some speed and quickly gets shuffled back to 5th.
Aug 4, 2013; Long Pond, PA, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Gordon (24) leads on a restart during the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
The fighting over second place has let Kahne slip away and he quickly pulls out a massive lead of over 5 seconds. Part of the urgency for the 5 car comes from the fact the he will almost certainly need to take four tyres on his next stop as his right side tyres have been on the car nearly 100 laps, while everyone else will only need two tyres. Sure enough a few laps later the 5 comes to pit road for his green flag stop and takes four tyres, the question will be when everyone else has pitted has Kahne built up enough of a lead to retake the lead. After everyone else has been to pit road Kahne’s lead was enough and he is back in the lead ahead of Jr, Gordon, Newman and Kurt Busch. Jr doesn’t hold onto second for long as Gordon makes a move on the back straight but is still over 5 seconds behind Kahne. A few laps later and with Kahne looking dominant with a lead now over seven seconds NASCAR spot some debris on the track and throw the eighth caution of the day wiping out all of Kahne’s hard work.
With 19 laps to go on the restart it is a Hendrick Motorsport 1, 2, 3 with Kahne out front, Gordon beside him and Jr behind the 24 car. Once again Kahne gets a push but this time it’s from Kurt Busch, and while its enough to hold the lead into turn one Gordon gets a great run out of turn two and gets side by side with the 5 car. For the first time in the race Gordon takes the lead and with only 8 laps left it is going to be hard for Kahne to catch him as Gordon quickly establishes a lead of around half a second. Lady luck must be shining down on Kahne or Gordon walked under a ladder as with five laps to go Matt Kenseth spins to bring out the 9th caution of the day. Unlike other restarts Gordon elects to take the inside line as this is the line that he was able to take the lead on. It’s a poor start for Kahne as he spins his tyres coupled with a great start by Gordon sees Gordon clear by turn 1. But Kahne gets a great push from Kurt Busch and he buries the accelerator pedal. He catches the 24 on the back straightaway and by the time they get to turn two the 5 is back in the lead. Passing the white flag as they cross the start finish line there is no catching the 5 car and Kasey Kahne takes his second win of the season.
Aug 4, 2013; Long Pond, PA, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne celebrates in victory lane after winning the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
While this wasn’t a classic it was certainly a very exciting race and one that seems to have got all the fans talking. Questions will be asked about Gordon’s will to win and has he still ‘got it’ but a second place is nothing to be sniffed at and he is in a Chase position. Sure the cautions towards the end of the race helped build the excitement level but there was plenty of things going on through out the race to keep it interesting. Lots of different strategies, both fuel and tyres, passing in the pack as well as the unexpected demise of the 48 car meant that fans always had something going on to watch and be excited for. As always cautions helped keep the pack together and it could have been a different story if there were only the few we had in June but thankfully that never happened. From the reaction on twitter everyone seemed to enjoy it and that is what NASCAR is striving for at every race so lets hope it continues into next week as the Chase gets ever closer and drivers get more desperate for points.