Pocono 500 Race Report
Richard Petty Motorsports results:
- 5th - Kasey Kahne - Budweiser Dodge - now 7th in points
- 17th - AJ Allmendinger - Valvoline Dodge - now 26th in points
- 24th - Elliott Sadler - Stanley Dodge - now 25th in points
- 35th - Reed Sorenson - Air Force Dodge - now 28th in points
Notes:
- Denny Hamlin won Pocono's 500-mile race on Monday.
- Race was delayed a day because of rain on Sunday.
- Juan Montoya, Clint Bowyer, Sam Hornish and Kahne rounded out top five.
- The race ran under bright sunny skies.
- Rain cancelled qualifying on Friday. NASCAR set the field by points.
- The Sprint Cup Series will race next Sunday at Watkins Glen International.
NOTES AND QUOTES
KASEY KAHNE - No. 9 BUDWEISER DODGE CHARGER
- Kahne started eighth and finished fifth
- Kahne remained seventh in the championship point standings.
- Kahne led about 35 laps midway through the race.
- The Budweiser team kept Kahne in the top 10 throughout the entire race.
"It was good. We were in the top five all day with our Budweiser Dodge. That final restart was pretty wild. I was getting pushed and kind of blew Turn 1. I passed (Sam) Hornish and ran into (Juan Pablo) Montoya. He saved it, we kept going and the fastest car won I think."
ANOTHER TOP-FIVE FINISH FOR YOUR BUDWEISER DODGE RACE TEAM:
"The team does an awesome job. The cars have been great. Kenny Francis (Crew Chief) and Keith Rodden (Car Engineer), everybody behind the scenes have been doing a really good job. Our pit stops are flawless. The guys do a great job...in and off pit road really quick...so thanks to them, we keep rolling and we just need to keep it up each week and get into the Chase."
KENNY FRANCIS (Crew Chief, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
"I think they had a pretty good race here. It was pretty exciting on some of those restarts. Any time you're running second and have the field stretched out, you want to see the race keep going and not have cautions. It is what it is. We just dealt with it the best we could. It was a good race. We were on two tires there at the end and all those guys had four;we were at a little disadvantage. The guys (No. 9 team) did a great job, Kasey did a great job and we had a good finish."
AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 44 VALVOLINE DODGE CHARGER
- Allmendinger started 27th and finished 17th
- Fourth quickest in final practice on Saturday.
- Climbed as high 12th and appeared to be one of the fastest cars on the track.
- Battled throughout the race before a late charge to finish 17th.
"It's one of those positions you sometime find yourself in, whether or not to pit when there's a lot of cautions. It seems like every time we stayed out with the leaders, the people behind us would pit. It's tough when that happens. Tires make such a big difference the first five laps; after that they even out, but it's a big difference for those first few laps. It's not what we really wanted. We thought we had a better car than that. Everybody fought hard and we'll keep working."
ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 19 STANLEY DODGE CHARGER
- Sadler started 25th and finished 24th.
- Battled throughout the race alternating variety of tire strategies.
- Ran in the top five during a pit cycle, survived several near accidents.
"We worked really hard today; we tried a bunch of different things. Kevin Buskirk threw everything he knew trying to get the car to perform. We walked out of here with a decent finish. Obviously, we wanted to do better. Considering what we had to deal with today, we'll take it and move on to Watkins Glen."
REED SORENSON - No. 43 AIR FORCE DODGE CHARGER
- Sorenson started 26th and finished 35th
- Sorenson started quick passing six cars in the opening laps.
- Suffered some right side damage and lost spots midway through the race.
- Appeared to be climbing up the field ready for a good finish but was collected in a multicar crash with 20 laps remaining and the car couldn't be repaired.
"We had a pretty good car today. At the start, we were really fast, but got the right front damaged some and that put us back in the field. We were playing pit strategy there at the end. Another car checked up and I got into him and that just killed our day. Then we got caught in that big wreck because we were back there. We had some speed today, but it's frustrating we don't get to show the result of that speed."
MARK MCARDLE (Director of Competition, Richard Petty Motorsports)
"We had all four of the Dodges from Richard Petty Motorsports running competitively. Certainly, we were positioned for top-10 and top-20 type finishes. It's just the nature of racing, sometimes you get caught up in other people's problems and I'm afraid that's what happened to us today, in particular, the 43. I thought the 43 crew did a great job repairing the car to get back out there and pick up a position right at the very end of the race. We're proud of the 9 team. They did a good job again today, running fast enough to lead the race and certainly contend for the win. They were smart enough to make sure we took the points we need in order to continue our quest to put that No. 9 in the Chase."
RACE RESULTS
FINISH - DRIVER
1-Denny Hamlin
2-Juan Montoya
3-Clint Bowyer
4-Sam Hornish Jr.
5-Kasey Kahne
6-Brian Vickers
7-Mark Martin
8-Jeff Gordon
9-Kurt Busch
10-Tony Stewart
11-Matt Kenseth
12-Kevin Harvick
13-Jimmie Johnson
14-Ryan Newman
15-Greg Biffle
16-Kyle Busch
17-A.J. Allmendinger
18-Carl Edwards
19-Martin Truex Jr.
20-Jamie McMurray
21-Jeff Burton
22-David Ragan
23-Scott Speed *
24-Elliott Sadler
25-Casey Mears
26-Paul Menard
27-Joey Logano *
28-Dale Earnhardt Jr.
29-David Reutimann
30-John Andretti
31-Michael Waltrip
32-David Stremme
33-Robby Gordon
34-Marcos Ambrose
35-Reed Sorenson
36-Bobby Labonte
37-Patrick Carpentier
38-Sterling Marlin
39-Joe Nemechek
40-Dave Blaney
41-David Gilliland
42-Tony Raines
43-Mike Wallace
