We had it all today….twilight racing, a race to the rain, a strategy race, and one of the longest days in Nextel Cup racing to boot. When they finally put us out of our misery, Jeff Gordon was declared the winner. Gordon won the Pocono 265 today while the rain fell yet again in turn 1. Somewhere in the gloaming a celebration ensued….This was Gordon’s 4th win of the season, his 4th at Pocono Raceway, and the 79th of his Cup career. Win #159 for Hendrick Motorsports (and their 10th this season) was worth $238,286 from the over $4.9M in posted awards (and Steve Letarte should lobby for a nice bonus from that chunk of change for his call to stay out and pit off-sequence with the rest of the field). Joe Nemechek (15th) had his best finish since he was 14th at Fontana in February. Ward Burton (33rd) had his best finish since he was 18th at Bristol in March (only five races). STREAKIN….Denny Hamlin has 5 Top-10’s in a row. Jeff Gordon has 9 Top-10’s in the last 10 races. Ryan Newman has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. The Rookie Report: Juan Pablo Montoya (20th) captures this award for the 6th time this season, moving him back into a tie with David Ragan at the top of the heap. Montoya was followed by Ragan (26th), Paul Menard (28th), David Reutimann (38th), and A. J. Allmendinger (39th). All five rookies made the race this week. This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is a lonely Mark Martin (+27). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Jimmie Johnson (-35), Dave Blaney (-29), and Brian Vickers (-26). Short race….short “Shaft”. The race for the exempt qualifying spots got tighter today. Scott Riggs (#10) is now only 20 points behind the 35th team in Owner Points (#70 Johnny Sauter). Jeff Gordon’s points lead is out to 242 after today as we had no driver move up (or fall out of) the “Chase”. Casey Mears (27th to 23rd) made the best move forward today, while Jamie McMurray (13th to 16th) and a talkative Kyle Petty (30th to 33rd) fell the most spots.(StockCarFans.com)(6-10-2007)
