Updated Aug. 6
While Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing might be the premier teams in Nextel Cup this year, Pocono showcased what is shaping up to be the battle to watch down the stretch run of the "regular season": Penske Racing vs. Dale Earnhardt Inc.
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| A huge win in Pocono puts Kurt Busch right back in the Chase. (AP) |
But on race day, it was all Busch; he led a race-high 175 laps en route to victory and jumped up to 12th in the standings, leap-frogging Earnhardt Jr., who despite a spin and a shock change during the race was able to rally for second.
With five races left before the Chase cutoff, Martin Truex Jr. is 11th with 2,437 points, 45 ahead of his DEI teammate Earnhardt Jr., 13th with 2,392.
Busch, with 2,399, holds a seven-point lead over Earnhardt Jr. and is 90 points ahead of his Penske teammate Ryan Newman, who lurks in 14th with 2,309.
Both Busch and Earnhardt Jr. are adamant their teams are stronger than where they're currently positioned.
Coincidentally, both were docked 100 points for infractions during the season.
"That situation has reminded me of what I can do in a race car and what I better do," Busch said. "And that is to drive it conservatively and get the best points finish I possibly can each and every day.
| Chase standings | |||
| Driver | Points | Deficit | |
| 1. Jimmie Johnson | 6,723 | --- | |
| 2. Jeff Gordon | 6,646 | -77 | |
| 3. Clint Bowyer | 6,377 | -346 | |
| 4. Matt Kenseth | 6,298 | -425 | |
| 5. Kyle Busch | 6,293 | -430 | |
| Complete Chase | Traditional points | |||
"We've thrown away quite a bit of points this year, (through) driver mistakes. Such as Charlotte, leading the most laps and wrecking, Daytona leading the most laps and wrecking. Texas; Phoenix, we had fuel mileage issues there and we took a top five car at both those tracks and finished in the teens. So we can add up our points. I'm not going to look back on that 100 points and think that it's a deficit, it's only turned us into a stronger program."
Despite dropping out of the top 12, Earnhardt Jr. insists he's not concerned.
"I think we're a better team than 12th or 13th now," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I think we're way better than that. We just had a lot of the bad luck and we cheated and got caught. So, you know, those type of things have hurt us a lot in the points."
"But we're way better than this and I think the cream is going rise to the top, so I ain't too worried about it."
Power Rankings after Pocono:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 1 |
| Even if Johnson were to finish last and Mark Martin were to win and lead the most laps in the next race at Texas, he would still hold the points lead by 23 points. | ||
| 2 | Mark Martin | 2 |
| There was a time when Martin had a bit of luck at Talladega. From 1988 through 2001 he had 18 top 10s in 28 races. In 12 races since 2002, he has just two top 10s with nine finishes outside the top 20. | ||
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | 3 |
| He has four victories in his past 12 trips to Talladega. However, he finished outside the top 10 in the eight races he did not win, with finishes of 19th or worse in his past four visits. | ||
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 4 |
| He captured second at Talladega in the spring of 2008, but has finished no better than 15th in his other five visits to the track. | ||
| 5 | Tony Stewart | 5 |
| Though he won last fall at Talladega, he has finished 22nd or worse in five of his last seven trips to the track with three DNFs by way of crash. | ||
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | 6 |
| He has led at least one lap in all eight of his visits to Talladega, but has just two top 10s to show for it with six finishes of 21st or worse. | ||
| 7 | Kurt Busch | 7 |
| He has three finishes of 21st or worse in his past four visits to Talladega after finishing outside the top 10 just three times in his first 14 trips. | ||
| 8 | Kasey Kahne | 8 |
| Sunday marked his second second-place finish at Talladega. In 12 starts at the track, those are his only top 10s. | ||
| 9 | Ryan Newman | 9 |
| His 36th-place finish Sunday was his sixth of 33rd or worse in 16 starts at Talladega. "We had this race back here in the spring and complained about cars getting airborne and now ironically I'm the guy that gets upside down," Newman said. "I wish NASCAR would do something. It was a boring race for the fans. That's not something anybody wants to see; at least I hope not. If they do, go home because you don't belong here." | ||
| 10 | Kyle Busch | 10 |
| His win in the spring of 2008 is his lone top 10 finish in 10 starts at Talladega. | ||
| 11 | Carl Edwards | 11 |
| After three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega between 2005-06, he has finished outside the top 10 in his past six trips to the track, but at least he wasn't flying into the catchfence like in his last visit. | ||
| 12 | Matt Kenseth | 12 |
| Like his Roush-Fenway Racing teammate Edwards, he had three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega between 2005-06, but has failed to finish in the top 10 at the track since. | ||
| 13 | Greg Biffle | 13 |
| Finished a Talladega career-best fourth on Sunday, his second consecutive top 10 at the track after finishing no better than 13th in his first 12 visits. | ||
| 14 | Clint Bowyer | 14 |
| He won't complain too much about a 12th-place finish considering he has finished 35th or worse in four of his eight visits. | ||
| 15 | Kevin Harvick | 15 |
| His 21st-place finish Sunday was his fifth consecutive finish of 20th or worse at Talladega. He has been running at the finish of all 18 of his starts at Talladega. | ||
