|
Points Shuffle After Pocono 500
By Dino Oberto
Race Results
 There was some moving and shaking that went on in the top-12 in points after Sunday’s Pocono 500.
Tony Stewart easily retained is top ranking with his winning performance and stayed at the high point of the rankings while Jeff Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson also remained put at second and third respectively. Gordon was fourth and Johnson seventh after the 200-lap race.
Ryan Newman, teammate to Stewart, picked up one spot with his fifth place tally. Newman had to overcome a mid-race electrical problem and was nearly a lap down before coming on strong in the final stages.
Newman swapped spots with Kurt Busch. Busch was strong very early, running as high as second. He then fought with a tight car and spent 18 laps in the pits due to that.
Carl Edwards made the biggest jump going from 11th to sixth. Edwards looked like a sure winner until Stewart beat him out of the pits on lap 160 and then could only watch from there out.
“I’ll probably be happy later today but right now, man, to be that close to victory and not win, that is frustrating,” said Edwards who earned the bonus points for leading the most laps.
Edwards’ fellow Roush Racing Teammate Greg Biffle also bumped up two spots with his 11th place showing. Matt Kenseth remained steady in eighth.
Kyle Busch, always a threat, was never a factor. His 22nd place dropped him back three positions to ninth.
Race Results
Jeff Burton quietly raced to ninth which enabled him to hold onto tenth in points.
With his strong third place finish, David Reutimann leaped from 13th to 11th in the standings which comes at crucial time as the ‘Race to the Chase’ has officially began and over the next dozen events those drivers just outside the top-12 will be hustling to make a run and be part of the Chase contenders.
Reutimann had come into the day 31 markers behind Mark Martin. He had stayed in and out of the top-10 all day and then in the final ten laps burst from eighth to the third, a Pocono best.
“I think this was probably stellar compared to the runs we’ve had here in the past. This place has never really been that kind to me. Matter of fact this time last year I was sitting parked in the middle of turn one out of fuel and didn’t even come back to the start/finish line,” said Reutimann whose previous best Pocono finish was 19th.
Martin appeared poised to notch yet another quality run at Pocono, however, after running as high as fourth, Martin faded over the final 30 laps, eventually finishing 19th.
That dropped the 50-year old veteran out of the top-12 to 13th, one point behind Denny Hamlin who fell five spots. He has yet to win in 45 tries at Pocono despite a record 19 top fives and 31 top tens.
Hamilin’s day went sour right from the start when his car stalled on the opening lap and he lost 22 laps behind the wall. He mustered a dismal 38th at the checkered flag.
Still within reach of making a run at the top-12 are Kasey Kahne, Juan Montoya and Clint Boyer who all registered respectable finishes.
|
