Sunday, August 3, 2014

Crashes and other issues take out several big drivers at Pocono

Today's Sprint Cup race at Pocono was won by Dale Earnhardt Jr., giving him a sweep of the track, his third win of the season, the second straight for Hendrick Motorsports and their fifth straight at Pocono. But other drivers did not fare as well in today's race. It started on the very first lap when Brad Keselowski, the winner of last night's Nationwide Series race in Iowa, got loose but was able to save his car. Soon, drivers like Kyle Busch, Danica Patrick and Jimmie Johnson experienced engine and tire issues and were out of contention.

The biggest incident of the day came on a restart on lap 117, when Denny Hamlin triggered a 13-car crash between turns 1 and 2 that also collected drivers such as Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and Paul Menard. Kevin Harvick got a piece of it, but his car was repaired and he went on to finish second. After that, A.J. Allmendinger and Kurt Busch got into the wall during the closing laps. The race featured staggered pit stops throughout, making for varying pit strategies, which showed especially during the second half of the race.

The Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series now heads to the Watkins Glen road course next week, which has hosted a number of exciting races in recent years, and where drivers like Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart have driven well.

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