Qualifying
The Busch brothers continued their NASCAR hot streaks as both drivers posted top five qualifying efforts.
Kyle Busch put his M&Ms Toyota on the pole next to Clint Bowyer in second. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch made up row number two and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Drop Of The Green
The 2010 Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 presented by Target took to Pocono Raceway under threatening skies. The skies opened up during the pace laps and NASCAR had to stop before they ever got started.
Kyle Busch lead the field into turn one over Clint Bowyer and held on for the early lead. Denny Hamlin carved his way past his teammate into second and starting chipping away at Kyle's lead.
Denny Hamlin claimed the top spot on lap five and continued to rule until the competition caution.
After the stops Kyle Busch won the race off pit road and then set sail putting a big lead on Bowyer and Hamlin. Clint Bowyer tracked him down and took over as the leader on lap 38. Bowyer then maintained the lead for the rest of the early going.
Storylines
Joe Gibbs Racing was poised to have a career best day. Never in the history of JGR had they had all three drivers finish in the top five. In today's 2010 Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 presented by Target Gibbs drivers were about to finish first, second and fifth.
Joey Logano was battling to stay in the top five when he and Kevin Harvick got together on the track spinning Logano out of his top finish.
After the race Logano drove his car up to Harvick's and got out to have some words with him. Logano isn't known for standing up for himself so it was good to see him taking a stand when he felt wronged.
Logano continued to have some harsh words for Harvick calling him "stupid" and claiming that "his wife wears the firesuit in the family."
Thank you Joey for putting some excitement in this Pocono snoozer.
Chasing The Checkers
After the final pit stops the race went green with 29 laps to go. Pit strategy shuffled the running order as some drivers stayed out, some got fuel only and some got fresh tires.
Shortly after the green flew Sam Hornish passed Kurt Busch for the lead. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch had dominated much of the race but restarted outside of the top ten.
Sam Hornish proved the value of track position as he continued to lead the next 16 laps. Denny Hamlin worked his way through the field and took the lead as the field came to twelve laps remaining.
Hamlin was coasting to the easy win when the caution flew just before he took the white flag. This set up a green-white-checkers finish with Hamlin and Tony Stewart side-by-side on the front row.
Hamlin got a solid restart and pulled a five carlength lead before Kyle Busch cleared Stewart in turn three.
The caution flew on the final lap for a huge pileup involving Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle and many others. This froze the field giving the win to Hamlin.
Top Ten
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Busch
- Tony Stewart
- Kevin Harvick
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kurt Busch
- Jeff Burton
- Juan Montoya
- Clint Bowyer
- A.J. Allmendinger
The Points
Kevin Harvick posted another strong top five finish and maintained his point lead over Kyle Busch.
At the opposite end of the top twelve Clint Bowyer gained one spot in the points to slide up into twelfth in the overall standings. Ryan Newman fell from the top twelve to fourteenth after being involved in that last lap crash.
The top twelve are now:
- Kevin Harvick
- Kyle Busch -19
- Denny Hamlin -136
- Matt Kenseth -164
- Kurt Busch -182
- Jimmie Johnson -214
- Jeff Gordon -236
- Jeff Burton -260
- Carl Edwards -334
- Greg Biffle -336
- Mark Martin -352
- Clint Bowyer -377
