Once again (for the 4th week in a row) fuel strategy and track position made the difference as Ryan Newman took two tires and fuel with 46 laps to go and made it last over Kurt Busch for the win in today’s Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. With the aide of a number of caution laps in the final 40 circuits, Newman grabbed his 3rd [actually his 4th] win of the season, the 5th of his Winston Cup career (he’s now tied for 58th all-time), and became the first driver to win from the pole twice this season (it’s only been done three times with Jeff Gordon winning Martinvsille earlier this year from the top-spot). Dale Earnhardt Jr (3rd) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Richmond in May. Michael Waltrip (4th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Las Vegas in March. Joe Nemechek (7th) had his best finish since he won the Richmond race in May. Todd Bodine (8th) had his best finish since he was 5th at Richmond last September. His Top-10 gives us 39 drivers to reach that mark this season… last year’s number was 42. Dave Blaney (9th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Darlington in March. Tony Raines (16th) had his best finish since he was 14th at Richimond in May. Christian Fittipaldi (24th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 29th at Chicagoland two weeks ago. STREAKIN….Jeff Burton has 4 Top-10’s in a row. Ryan Newman has 4 Top-5’s in the last 5 races. This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is _Nobody_. It takes a 20 position move to make “The Shaft”, and we had 4 drivers who were +19. DOWN: The Big Dropper was John Andretti (-28), followed by Mark Martin (-27), Bobby Labonte (-26), Casey Mears (-25), and Jeremy Mayfield (-23).( StockCarFans.Com Winston Cup Newsletter )(7-27-2003)
