CONTACT ENDS JOHNSON’S DAY EARLY
In the second stage of Sunday’s race at Pocono, Jimmie Johnson found himself up the racetrack, losing position.
“I was in the outside lane,” he explained. “A couple of cars had gotten by me and I got real loose down in (Turn) 1.”
As he looked to get back toward the inside lane, teammate Kasey Kahne was right there, and the two made contact.
“With Jimmie, he was high and everybody was going by him on the inside and I followed the next car,” Kahne said. “So, I wasn’t exactly sure what happened.”
The contact ultimately resulted in Johnson heading toward the wall, and the ensuing damage sent the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS to the garage.
But the driver said he didn’t fault anyone – including another competitor who made contact earlier in the lap – as the No. 48 team was scored with a 35th-place finish.
“It’s just hard racing,” Johnson said. “Certainly not an intentional move by any stretch, but ended our day certainly and not the day we wanted here.”
KAHNE CLOSE TO TOP-10
Following his Brickyard 400 victory, Kahne was proud of the effort of the No. 5 team Sunday at Pocono.
“We had a strong car, just track position was tough,” he said.
Late in the race, Kahne was running inside the top five before making his green-flag pit stop, which put him back outside the top 15 as the field cycled through.
He got back to work, however, and nearly captured a top-10 finish, crossing the finish line in 11th.
“There at the end, I thought we had a great car,” he said. “The Great Clips Chevrolet was pretty good.”
EARNHARDT PRAISES STRATEGY
Throughout Sunday’s race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled the handling of his No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS. And a speeding penalty on pit road put the driver a lap down early in the race.
Still, he continued to work his way through the field, and he praised the work of crew chief Greg Ives and the No. 88 team throughout the event.
“I thought the strategy Greg used was really smart,” Earnhardt said. “There were runs where the balance was good. There were runs when the car drove well.”
Ultimately, he earned a 12th-place result.
“We had about a 15th-place car or 10th-place car and finished around there,” Earnhardt said.