Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the GoBowling.com 400, completing the Pocono sweep Sunday.
For the second time in as many races at Pocono Raceway it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrating in Victory Lane, winning the GoBowling.com 400.
Earnhardt won at Pocono in June, and his win Sunday gave him a season track sweep for the first time since taking both races in 2002 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Kevin Harvick finished runner-up while Joey Logano was in third.
"I can't believe we swept Pocono," Earnhardt said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. sprays champagne on victory lane (Bill Streicher-USA TODAY)
Calculated fuel strategy by crew chief Steve Letarte vaulted Earnhardt into second in the closing laps behind leader Greg Biffle. A caution for a crash involving AJ Allmendinger tightened the field and Earnhardt passed Biffle with 14 laps remaining, then pulled away.
Another yellow flag made things interesting as Earnhardt then had to fend off Harvick on the ensuing restart with three laps to go. They raced side-by-side into Turn 1, but Earnhardt finally cleared Harvick on the outside exiting Turn 2. Harvick doggedly pursued Earnhardt, but it was to no avail.
"With Kevin I'm racing one of the best," Earnhardt said. "That guy is going to get everything he can out of his car. I was anticipating him being right there on the inside going into (Turn) 1. I was just going to have to really get brave and drive it down in there and pray for it to stick. I drove it in there and we were able to clear him somehow."
The victory was Earnhardt's third of the season, the most wins he's had in a year since winning six times in 2004. Earnhardt was the fifth consecutive Hendrick Motorsports driver to win at Pocono.
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Crashes at Pocono ![]()
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Crashes at Pocono ![]()
Teammate Jeff Gordon had the best car Sunday, leading a race-high 63 laps. However, a faster final pit stop by Earnhardt's jumped him ahead of Gordon, who finished sixth.
"We come down pit road, just needed a splash of fuel," Earnhardt said. "A lot of guys needed to fill up their tanks. We were just able to leapfrog them."
Harvick was one of 13 drivers involved in a Lap 117 wreck. The crash began when Denny Hamlin got loose in Turn 2, leaving those behind him with nowhere to go. Others collected included Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski.
Gordon, who won the Brickyard 400 a week ago, maintained the Sprint Cup points lead. He holds a 17-point advantage over second-place Earnhardt with five regular season races remaining.
"We had the dominant car, but you had to have track position and you know, there at the end we didn't have it," Gordon said. "I think if we had started outside lanes there at the end, we would have had it. But with Dale getting out in front of us there through that pit sequence, there was nothing we could do. He was really good. Whoever got out front, him or me, was going to win this race."