Motor Racing Digest

 

Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17

June 10, 2012

Joey Logano won the 31st Annual Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR, his second victory in 125 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Mark Martin had taken the lead from Logano on a restart with eight laps remaining, but was unable to take advantage of the clean air and pull away from Logano. Just four laps later, Logano bumped Martin forcing him up the track, to regain the lead and pull away to take the checkered flag. “I’d call that a bump-and-run,” Martin said. “It has been acceptable in this racing for a long time. It’s not how I would have done it. Certainly, had I had a fast enough car, he would have gotten a return.”

The win was Logano’s first since his rain-shortened victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2009, a span of 104 races.

“Holy crap, thank you, guys.” Logano said to his team over the radio after the win. “This feels awesome to finally win one.”

Martin held on for second followed by Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin.

Logano became the first driver to win from the pole since Ryan Newman at New Hampshire in July 2011 (31 races).

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had another strong car this week and was in a position to win, but under the final caution (22 laps remaining) he pitted for fuel while most of the leaders stay out. Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Steve Latarte agreed the stop was needed since they did not have enough fuel to finish the race. He restarted 16th, but was able to move through the field to finish eighth.

A bizarre fact from the race were the 22 pit-road speeding penalties as drivers appeared to have trouble with the final timing-segment leaving pit road. Jimmie Johnson was caught twice for the offense, costing him a lap, but was able to rebound for fourth. David Reutimann and Travis Kvapil each received three speeding penalties on the afternoon.

David Reutimann, driving the No. 51 in place of suspended Kurt Busch, started in 25th place and other than the speeding penalties had a quiet afternoon on his way to a 21st place finish.

Matt Kenseth surpassed teammate Greg Biffle as the new points leader with his seventh-place finish. Biffle finished a distant 24th and dropped to third in the standings behind Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr.

With the recent pressure on Logano to perform this season, this victory may have saved his job at Joe Gibbs Racing. In Victory Lane, Logano hoped his win sent a message to all those critics. “I hope it shuts them all up,” he said. “It means a whole lot.”

Results of the Pocono 400:

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Pts	Bpts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	1	20	Joey Logano	The Home Depot Toyota	160	48	5	RUNNING	4	49
2	6	55	Mark Martin	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota	160	43	1	RUNNING	1	4
3	22	14	Tony Stewart	MOBIL 1 / Office Depot Chevrolet	160	41		RUNNING
4	24	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet	160	40		RUNNING
5	5	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	160	40	1	RUNNING	2	21
6	16	15	Clint Bowyer	5-hour Energy Toyota	160	38		RUNNING
7	14	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford EcoBoost Fusion Ford	160	38	1	RUNNING	2	11
8	8	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard / Diet Mtn. Dew Chevrolet	160	37	1	RUNNING	3	36
9	3	27	Paul Menard	Menards / Sylvania Chevrolet	160	35		RUNNING
10	11	1	Jamie McMurray	Banana Boat Chevrolet	160	35	1	RUNNING	3	14
11	2	99	Carl Edwards	Kellogg’s / Cheez-It Ford	160	33		RUNNING
12	18	39	Ryan Newman	HAAS Automation Chevrolet	160	32		RUNNING
13	9	9	Marcos Ambrose	DeWalt Ford	160	31		RUNNING
14	21	29	Kevin Harvick	Rheem Chevrolet	160	30		RUNNING
15	20	31	Jeff Burton	The Armed Forces Foundation Chevrolet	160	29		RUNNING
16	7	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Chevrolet	160	28		RUNNING
17	17	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	160	28	1	RUNNING	1	3
18	31	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	160	26		RUNNING
19	12	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont Chevrolet	160	25		RUNNING
20	23	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	160	24		RUNNING
21	25	51	David Reutimann	Phoenix Construction Services Chevrolet	160	23		RUNNING
22	27	47	Bobby Labonte	Bubba Burgers Toyota	160	22		RUNNING
23	36	38	David Gilliland	ModSpace Motorsports Ford	160	22	1	RUNNING	1	2
24	13	16	Greg Biffle	3M / Rite Aid / NextCare Ford	160	21	1	RUNNING	2	19
25	42	10	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet	159	19		RUNNING
26	37	93	Travis Kvapil	Burger King / Dr Pepper Toyota	159	18		RUNNING
27	34	34	David Ragan	Taco Bell Ford	159	18	1	RUNNING	1	1
28	29	43	Aric Almirola	Transportation Impact Ford	158	16		RUNNING
29	10	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet	139	15		Accident
30	4	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Toyota	76	14		Engine
31	19	22	AJ Allmendinger	Shell Pennzoil Dodge	64	13		Accident
32	40	36	Tony Raines	SealWrap.com Chevrolet	47	12		Accident
33	43	33	Stephen Leicht	LittleJoesAutos.com Chevrolet	39	11		Brakes
34	30	98	Michael McDowell	Presbyterian Healthcare Ford	37	10		Rear Gear
35	26	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Ford	36	9		Brakes
36	32	49	JJ Yeley	America Israel Racing / JPO Absorbents Toyota	33	8		Accident
37	33	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota	30	0		Brakes
38	28	19	Mike Bliss(i)	Humphrey Smith Racing Toyota	26	0		Brakes
39	39	74	Stacy Compton	Turn One Racing / Country Suites Chevrolet	24	5		Transmission
40	38	23	Scott Riggs	North Texas Pipe Chevrolet	19	4		Overheating
41	41	32	Reed Sorenson(i)	Herr Foods / Hero Energy Shot Ford	12	0		Accident
42	35	26	Josh Wise	MDS Transport Ford	12	2		Brakes
43	15	83	Landon Cassill	Burger King – Real Fruit Smoothies Toyota	1	1		Accident