Pocono Raceway: Party in the Pocono's 400
Well the "tricky triangle" didn't seem too tricky for Jimmie Johnson and the #48 Hendrick Chevy. JJ finish up his day at Pocono leading 128 of 160 laps and sitting in Victory Lane with his third win of the season. Post race inspection seemed to be more difficult then the actual race for the 48 team but after much talk on Twitter about his car being too light, he still passed in the end.
The day really was JJ's to lose after he had been fast all weekend but it was also a promising day for the Stewart-Haas camp. Smoke got another top 5 after his win at Dover (4th) and for only the second time this season Ryan Newman posted a top 5 (5th).
Also to Jr Nations delight Dale finished up 3rd after having a good day riding up front. Jr just never seemed to have enough for JJ, but neither did the rest of the field. Here are the results of this weeks Party in the Pocono's 400. Now lets get onto the Rising, Coasting, and Falling drivers after Pocono and Week 14's Power Rankings.
Rising, Coasting, and Falling Drivers after Pocono
Rising:
- Greg Biffle- Really this maybe a score for Roush, but at the same time Edwards fell apart. Ford cars just seem to be a step behind but on this Sunday Biffle looked good. On the final restart the Biff made a mad run from 4th to the back of JJ's bumper but after that he didn't have enough and Jimmie pulled away. This 2nd place got the Biff back in the top 10.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr- The latest driver in Nascar Behind the Walls Driver Spotlight series, Jr has been on his second hot stretch of the season. He is still a step behind where he was last year at this time but he has had a good car all season.
- Jeff Burton- He wont make the Chase, but has anyone noticed how Burton has done since his 3rd place ASR finish? Starting with this week, his past 3 finishes are 11th, 11th, and 12th. It has been a tough season for Burton so to see some good racing out of him is a nice surprise.
- Denny Hamlin- This weeks lucky driver to be in the middle (or unlucky) is DH. He finished 8th which wasn't bad but DH needs to be bringing winning race cars to the track each weekend. He will most likely need 2 wins (at least one) to get in even if he makes the top 20.
- Kasey Kahne- Very early car troubles left Kasey out of it early at Pocono. He is still in the top 10 in points and should be fine in the long run but this is his second bad finish in a row. Kahne will need a good finish at the 2 mile long Michigan to get it going again.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr- Ricky hasn't been amazing this season, but can you believe this weeks 26th place finish is his worst other then his 40th at Texas? He is right on the top 20 edge for now but needs to start finding some speed to get top 10 finishes.
- Martin Truex Jr- No one has fallen more then Truex in the past few weeks. Just 2 short weeks ago he was in position for a Chase run. After a 38th place finish at Dover and a 23rd this week he finds himself in 17th.
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| Newman led 19 laps but couldn't hold off JJ. He finished 5th |
Pit Road (Week 14 Power Rankings)
- Jimmie Johnson (LW-2)- JJ had a case to be #1 for the past few weeks but I just gave it to Kenseth because neither finished well enough to pull away. Well this week JJ was good beginning, middle, and end. JJ now had a more then dominant car back to back weeks.
- Kevin Harvick (LW-3)- Harvick got his 4th top 10 finish in the past 5 races (11th place finish was the only non top 10 in that stretch). Other then JJ Harvick has been the hottest and most consistent driver as of late.
- Matt Kenseth (LW-1)- Well I gave Kenseth a longer run then I had to at #1 but it has come to an end. Last week the Toyota engine bug got to the #20, this week a run in with Montoya made a day that was only ok to start with even worse. Both he and JPM stayed out of the wall (and other cars) but Kenseth never made up ground and finished 25th.
- Kyle Busch (LW-6)- Kyle finished up 6th at Pocono on Sunday. My math says that is 4 top 10's in the last 5 (including ASR). When Kyle doesn't spin out Kyle and stays on the track he has been fast. He will still need a strong run in the Chase which isn't something he is known for.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-7)- Jr had a great day again on Sunday which seems to be marking his second good run of the 2013 season (the first being his hot start to the year). Maybe this year Jr wont run into a concussion that stops his hot run in the Chase. He was also this weeks Driver Spotlight which targeted how he has made runs this year.
- Clint Bowyer (LW-4)- Well Bowyer has had a great season to date but he had a frustrating Sunday at Pocono. He didn't see much of the front down the stretch this week and ended up finishing the day 15th.
- Tony Stewart (LW-NR)- Well unranked to 7th, I wanted to get Smoke in last weeks rankings but lately the middle to lower rankings are packed with guys making runs at the spots. Smoke now has 3 straight top 10's (win, 4th, and 7th) plus if you add the ASR and Darlington he had finishes of 14th and 15th. He may not even need a WC spot if he goes on his patented summer run (13th currently).
- Carl Edwards (LW-5)- Well Carl has been the only Ford hanging tough week after week, but he fell off at Pocono and finished 18th. He is starting to fall off as other teams are figuring it out. Can he or any Ford team get it going? Biffle made some progress Sunday.
- Kurt Busch (LW-9)- Starting at the ASR 5th, 3rd, 12th, and this week 7th Kurt has got it going. He looked fast at times but never really found clean air up front and by the end of the day just started to cling to where he was.
- Joey Logano (LW-10)- Another top 10 from JoLo has his slowly climbing back into the standings (16th, up 2 from 18th). I still this JoLo will push for a win to make the WC spot interesting, but until then he is making some good top 10 runs week after week.
- Kasey Kahne (LW-8)- Well this fall isn't all his fault, as he had car problems very early in the race, Kahne is in a mini slump and needs to find his way back out.
- Greg Biffle (LW-NR)- Well I am a fan of Brad Keselowski, and he did have a good run going until he lost control of his car (but saved it) and fell back, but he didn't stay up towards the front so the Biff gets the spot. But BK didn't just lose the spot, the Biff definitely earned it as he had a fast car all day and made one heck of a run on the last restart.
Just Missed- Denny Hamlin, BK, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman
Take a look back at this weeks Week 14 Preview
Also look at some previous Driver Spotlights, some recently updated:
If you haven't yet, take a look at this past weeks "Heating Up" Article on the story lines are we get closer and closer to the Chase.
Behind the Wall this week:
- "Race For a Win" a two part series looking at this seasons win less drivers. Who and When will your favorite driver get a win?
- Also next week Nascar heads to Michigan for its annual June race where Dale Earnhardt Jr broke his win less streak last year. He also doesn't have a win since then so maybe he can get it going at MIS again. Take a peak back for new articles and next weeks Michigan Preview!
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