LONG POND, Pa. (AP Aug 4, 2013)) — Jeff Gordon had the inside line, a lead and his first win of the season in sight, usually a sure thing for Pocono’s top winner.
Kasey Kahne was about out of time to pass his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
”It was either to go for it and make it work,” Kahne said. ”Or not.”
Cruising from the outside, Kahne got the jump he needed, zipped past Gordon and pulled away with two laps left Sunday to win at Pocono Raceway.
Gordon nudged past Kahne after some thrilling two-wide racing and seemed poised to win at Pocono for the seventh time. After the final caution, Kahne was simply too fast, too strong to be denied his first win at Pocono since 2008.
So close to the checkered, this loss stung Gordon. Even worse, his runner-up finish came on his 42nd birthday in his 42nd career Pocono start.
Kurt Busch, who also celebrated a birthday, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five. The top five cars were Chevrolets.
Kahne’s 16th career win should make him a Chase lock.
Gordon hangs on to ninth in the standings, but could be out of a Chase spot if he falls outside the top 10 without a win.
Kahne took a moment in Victory Lane to remember his friend, Jason Leffler. Leffler was killed in June on a dirt track in New Jersey only days after racing in the Pocono Cup race.
Kahne and Leffler were friends and traveled together on the way home from the June race.
Unofficial Results…
1 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet 18 160 66 1 Running 48/5
2 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 22 160 7 1 Running 43/1
3 Kurt Busch 78 Chevrolet 5 160 9 1 Running 42/1
4 Ryan Newman 39 Chevrolet 4 160 2 1 Running 41/1
5 Dale Earnhardt Jr 88 Chevrolet 25 160 2 0 Running 40/1
6 Brad Keselowski 2 Ford 11 160 14 1 Running 39/1
7 Joey Logano 22 Ford 6 160 0 1 Running 37/0
8 Kyle Busch 18 Toyota 2 160 0 1 Running 36/0
9 Tony Stewart 14 Chevrolet 20 160 3 0 Running 36/1
10 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 7 160 0 -2 Running 34/0
11 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 3 160 0 0 Running 33/0
12 Marcos Ambrose 9 Ford 8 160 0 0 Running 32/0
13 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 1 160 43 0 Running 32/1
14 Clint Bowyer 15 Toyota 16 160 0 0 Running 30/0
15 Martin Truex Jr 56 Toyota 26 160 7 -2 Running 30/1
16 Jamie McMurray 1 Chevrolet 12 160 1 -1 Running 29/1
17 Kevin Harvick 29 Chevrolet 14 160 0 0 Running 27/0
18 Mark Martin 55 Toyota 28 160 0 0 Running 26/0
19 Bobby Labonte 47 Toyota 33 160 0 0 Running 25/0
20 Aric Almirola 43 Ford 10 160 1 -1 Running 25/1
21 David Ragan 34 Ford 30 160 1 2 Running 24/1
22 Matt Kenseth 20 Toyota 24 160 1 -1 Running 23/1
23 Dave Blaney 7 Chevrolet 32 160 3 1 Running 22/1
24 Casey Mears 13 Ford 29 160 0 0 Running 20/0
25 J.J. Yeley 36 Chevrolet 36 160 0 0 Running 19/0
26 Travis Kvapil 93 Toyota 23 160 0 0 Running 18/0
27 Timmy Hill 32 Ford 41 158 0 1 Running 17/0
28 Juan Pablo Montoya 42 Chevrolet 19 157 0 0 Running 16/0
29 Landon Cassill 40 Chevrolet 38 157 0 0 Running 0/0
30 David Stremme 30 Toyota 31 151 0 0 Running 14/0
31 David Reutimann 83 Toyota 35 141 0 -1 Running 13/0
32 Paul Menard 27 Chevrolet 21 127 0 0 Running 12/0
33 AJ Allmendinger 51 Chevrolet 15 122 0 0 Brakes 11/0
34 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 17 Ford 17 113 0 0 Running 10/0
35 Danica Patrick 10 Chevrolet 34 110 0 -1 Accident 9/0
36 Jeff Burton 31 Chevrolet 13 109 0 0 Accident 8/0
37 Joe Nemechek 87 Toyota 39 55 0 0 Accident 0/0
38 Tony Raines 33 Chevrolet 43 53 0 0 Brakes 0/0
39 David Gilliland 38 Ford 37 51 0 -1 Accident 5/0
40 Michael McDowell 98 Ford 27 44 0 0 Brakes 4/0
41 Josh Wise 35 Ford 40 44 0 0 Brakes 0/0
42 Alex Kennedy 19 Toyota 42 22 0 1 Vibration 2/0
43 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota 9 14 0 0 Accident 1/0
