In the hot weather, which is unusual for Pocono at this time of year. One of the big comments on the track was how hot the cars were in addition to the climate. The drivers looked wrung out and ready to fall over as they were interviewed after the race. 

Kahne had also fought back from a pit stop error where he had to come back to pit road as the team missed three lug nuts, mid-way through the race. This put Kahne back to 27^th, considerably far back from the leader at the time. 

Kahne had led the most laps for the event. Out of sequence pit stops, which is the norm for Pocono had Kahne in front a big portion of the event, then would be scored in the 20’s in the field. The last stop proved to be the key stop for Kahne to come charge through his pit stop and back in the top five as the drivers would come onto pit road to complete their stop. 

Kahne stared on the pole for the event to stay in the top five at the start of the race. In the last twenty laps of the event, Kahne would work his way trough the field to pass Brian Vickers (2^nd), Denny Hamlin (3^rd) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (4^th) with 15 to go.  

At that point, Kahne checked out and never looked back to win the race by over 4 seconds over Vickers. 

PRE RACE CHATTER 

While the first four months of the 2007 and 2008 season may be known The Tale Of Two Starts for Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), Sunday’s Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway could find the four-time series champion in the same place — Victory Lane. 

A year ago, Gordon arrived at Pocono having led the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings for nine consecutive weeks. He departed with his fourth victory of 2007, still firmly out front. 

This year has been anything except a continuation.  

Gordon began 2008 with a 39th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and has yet to win, clawing through the standings toward Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup eligibility (the top 12 in series points). 

But recent performances may portend big things. 

Gordon has jumped from 14th to sixth in the last four weeks. He returns to Pocono as the defending race champion and with momentum after last week’s fifth-place finish at Dover International Speedway. 

Gordon has four wins, two poles, 15 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes in 30 career starts at Pocono. He also ranks third in NASCAR Loop Data’s pre-race Driver Rating for Pocono (97.5) behind Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota) at 133.1 and Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota) at 103.2. 

Three tracks. Three states. Three national series. 

In three days. With three different teams. 

That’s Kyle Busch’s (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota) assignment as he prepares to compete in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Texas Motor Speedway, Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide event at Nashville Superspeedway and Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Pocono Raceway. 

Assuming no travel or weather gremlins, Busch will become the first driver to compete in all three NASCAR national series on the same weekend at different tracks. 

And that’s after participating in Wednesday’s fourth annual Old Spice Prelude to the Dream at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway — a Victory Junction Gang Camp fundraiser hosted by track owner and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart.

And a Thursday sponsor appearance. 

At Nashville, Busch will drive the No. 32 Toyota for Braun Racing. At Texas, he’ll drive the No. 51 Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports. Due to travel, he’ll participate in only one qualifying session, Friday at Pocono. Tennessee native Willie Allen will sub for him at Nashville and J.R. Norris will step in at Texas, both taking Busch’s seat during qualifying and practices for those series’ events. 

TO WIN YOU MUST QUALIFY WELL 

Kasey Kahne won the Coors Light Pole for the Pocono 500 with a speed of 170.219 mph / 52.873 seconds.  This is Kahne’s 15th pole in 158 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.  This is Kahne’s first pole of the season. His previous best start was second at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. 

Kahne now has eight top-10 starts this season. This is Kahne’s second pole and sixth top-10 start at Pocono Raceway. His previous pole came in June of 2004, which was a track qualifying record of 172.533 mph.  

Jimmie Johnson (second) notched his 11th top-10 start of 2008 and 10th at Pocono.

Mark Martin (third) notched his sixth top-10 start of 2008 and 29th at Pocono. Regan Smith (fourth) was the fastest-qualifying rookie. Joe Nemechek (fifth) was the fastest of those drivers required to make the field on time.  

NOW ONTO THE RACE!! 

Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Sam Hornish will all go to the back. Harvick for a battery change, the other two for going to backup cars. 

Kahne and Johnson lead the 43 drivers out of turn three down the 4,000 plus long straight away to the… 

GREEN FLAG Johnson has a great run through turn one, getting a five car lead on Kahne. Tony Stewart has jumped up four positions up to 8^th from his start of 12^th. Lap 2 Joe Nemechek started 5^th and has dropped to 9^th. 

Lap 3 Stewart has moved up to 6^th. Lap 4 Johnson leads by a half second over Kahne. In turn they lead the field by 2 seconds. A.J. Allmendinger is a bit loose going through turn one, but no issue. 

Lap 5 some early movers on the track Denny Hamlin from his start of 16^th to 12^th, Jeff Burton from 20^th to 16^th, Martin Truex Jr. from 25^th up to 19^th, Jeff Gordon from 38^th up to 27^th and David Gilliland from 42^nd up to 32^nd. 

Lap 9 Kahne is on Johnson’s bumper as they continue to pull away from the field to almost 3 seconds. Lap 10 your top 5 drivers are Johnson, Kahne, Mark Martin, Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

Laps 11 through 20 – Harvick and Kyle Busch, who started in the back has moved up to 35^th and 36^th, Hornish is still in the back. Some drivers that have slipped back in the pack – Nemechek is back to 11^th, Michael Waltrip from his start of 19^th back to 25^th and Bill Elliott from 29^th back to 42^nd. Lap 16 Kahne wants up front, Johnson points to the left telling him to go by. 

Battle for 9^th as Hamlin passes Kurt Busch for the position.  

Laps 21 through 30 – It’s pretty strange watching the cars on the long straights of Pocono as they drive crooked along the track, as the back end of the car is slid out to the right by a half foot. 

Kahne is a rocket as he leaves Johnson behind by 3 seconds and 3^rd place Martin by 5.5 seconds. The separation from Kahne back to 10^th place Kurt Busch is 15 seconds. As Kahne enters the tunnel turn, turn two, The last driver in 43^rd, Terry Labonte exits turn three.

Regan Smith who started 4^th has dropped back to 8^th, Scott Riggs from 9^th back to 13^th and Paul Menard from 17^th back to 21^st. We see pit stops begin as Riggs and Truex Jr. are in. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 27 for debris on the back. No lucky dog. Everyone heads into pit road. The race out of the pits is Kahne, Johnson, Martin, Earnhardt Jr. and Edwards. Trouble on pit road as Truex Jr.’s crew did not have the catch can in the car and will have to go to the back of the pack. 

Laps 31 through 40 – your top ten drivers are Riggs, who missed his pit stall, Kahne, Johnson, Martin, Earnhardt Jr., Edwards, Allmendinger, Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Hamlin.

GREEN FLAG lap 31 and by lap 32 Johnson overtake Kahne for 2^nd place at the start finish line. At the tunnel turn Kahne takes it back which leaves Riggs still in front. Pretty much single file on the track at the moment. 

Lap 34 Kahne is t he leader once again. Let’s give a shout out to Jeff Burton who is currently 11^th from his start of 20^th. Earnhardt Jr. takes over 4^th from Martin. Juan Pablo Montoya has moved up to 13^th from starting 21^st and Greg Biffle running 23^rd from starting 33^rd. 

Hamlin is up to 7^th from his start of 16^th.  

YELLOW FLAG lap 39 as Kurt Busch solo spins out in turn one. No lucky dog. Everyone is back in. Johnson, Martin, Stewart, Riggs and Edwards are the first five back out as we see several drivers taking two tires. 

Laps 41 through 50 – we hear that Earnhardt Jr. has lost his dashboard gauges.  

GREEN FLAG lap 43 as Johnson and Truex Jr. lead the single line of drivers into turn one. Stewart flies around Martin and Truex Jr. to take over 2^nd place. Edwards takes 4^th from Truex as he falls back in positions. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 46 as Kyle Busch tries to squeeze into the line and clips the front end of Jamie McMurray’s car near the start finish line.  

GREEN FLAG lap 50 as Johnson and Stewart lead our drivers single file past the start finish line. The rest of the top twenty drivers are – Martin, Edwards, Hamlin, Riggs, Jeff Gordon, Kahne, Kenseth, Biffle, Burton, Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Travis Kvapil, Clint Bowyer, Allmendinger, Blaney, Dario Franchitti (who has recovered from his accident from a few weeks ago), Montoya and Elliott Sadler. 

Laps 51 through 60 - We see some damage on Hamlin’s car as he had trouble on pit road with someone clipping his front end.  

YELLOW FLAG lap 56 as Sam Hornish Jr. is clipped on his front end by Patrick Carpentier in the tunnel turn. Everyone is back on pit road. The race to the track is won by Johnson followed by Kahne, Martin, Kenseth and Riggs. 

Laps 61 through 70 – 

GREEN FLAG lap 64 as Johnson and Brian Vickers (Who stayed out), jam through the gears heading into turn one. With different pit stop schedules being performed, Kenseth is up to 3^rd, Earnhardt Jr. has returned back to the top 5, running 5^th, Newman from the back, now running 11^th and Clint Bowyer up to 13^th from his start of 35^th. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 67 as Carpentier and Hornish tangle in the tunnel turn once again, but this time they collect Gilliland. The last time Carpentier came down on Hornish, this time around he slid up into Hornish Jr. 

We see some rain drops on the back side of the track. The rain comes over towards turn one now. We may see a brief delay. A huge rain cloud covers from turn one back to the tunnel turn. 

Laps 71 through 80 -  

RED FLAG as it looks like we will be going to have the drivers hang out for a bit. A short red flag session for about 10 minutes, and the drivers are back on track. 

GREEN FLAG lap 73 with Johnson and Vickers getting the show going once again. It still looks pretty dark here. Hamlin is on pit road, which will put him back to 40^th.  

Your top 10 drivers are Johnson. Vickers, Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr., Stewart, Martin, Biffle, Allmendinger, Edwards and Riggs. Lap 77 Johnson leads Vickers by 1 second and third place Kenseth by almost 2 seconds. 

Lap 79 Stewart makes his move for 4^th on the inside of Earnhardt Jr.  

YELLOW FLAG lap 80 as Bowyer slams the inside wall of the front straight, Montoya takes his car around to the end of pit road with his car burning up, fully engulfed by fire. Montoya makes it out of the car as the fire team is watching him walk towards them. They still wait as the car keeps burning. A minute or two later some other fire personnel extinguish the fire. 

Bowyer was loose under Paul Menard coming out of turn three, slide sideways in front of Montoya, who plowed into Bowyer. Kevin Harvick is lucky and missed by a few feet. Bowyer spins backwards into the inside wall and around a few times against it. 

Laps 81 through 90 

Back to pit road once again with several different strategies of two and four tire stops. The race back onto the track is Johnson, Biffle, Edwards, Stewart and Martin. 

GREEN FLAG lap 86 as Sadler, Bobby Labonte who stayed out along with Dave Blaney, Hamlin and Truex Jr. start in front of everyone else who pitted. Lap 88 Johnson has moved back into 4^th, Edwards 5^th. Lap 89 into lap 90 Hamlin takes the lead from Sadler. Johnson is looking to take second from Sadler as well. 

Laps 91 through 100 –  

Labonte slips back to 6^th as Edwards moves into 2^nd place, Martin into 5^th. Blaney is slipping back, currently 9^th. Lap 93 Kurt Busch blasts around Stewart and Kenseth to take over 9^th. 

Stewart and Kenseth battle for 10, which Stewart retains. Some side by side racing as Truex Jr., Burton, Newman and Menard battle for 14^th through 18^th. Hamlin leads Johnson by 2.5 seconds. 

Lap 100 (halfway home) your top 20 drivers are Hamlin, Johnson, Edwards, Sadler, Biffle, Kahne, Martin, Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Vickers, Labonte, Stewart, Blaney, Burton, Allmendinger, Truex Jr., Newman, Menard, Earnhardt Jr. and Kvapil. So far we have seen 10 lead changes among 7 leaders, 7 cautions of 27 laps and one red flag for 10 minutes. 

Laps 101 through 110 –  

Pit stops begin for those who did not stop on this last caution. Sadler and Labonte are in and out, lap 104 Stewart and Truex Jr. are in.  

YELLOW FLAG lap 105 as Michael Waltrip solo spins out of turn 1 into the outside wall with the back left corner of his car. The leaders are in again. The race back out is Earnhardt Jr., Biffle, Kahne, Edwards and Hamlin. 

Nemechek stays out for 5 bonus points. Sadler, Stewart, Labonte and Truex Jr. are in front of the pack as the caution came out at the right time for them to keep their positions in front of the field. 

GREEN FLAG lap 108 as Sadler and Stewart get the show going once again. Stewart takes the lead.  

Laps 111 through 120 – Kahne and Hamlin battle for 6^th through turns 2 and 3. Lap 112 Kahne overtakes Earnhardt Jr. as he struggles to get a hold of his setup and a car that won’t turn through the corners. Hamlin moves by Earnhardt as well. 

The back end of Earnhardt’s car slides out a bit, which allows Edwards to get by. The next lap Johnson gets past Earnhardt, as he drops to 9^th. Biffle has moved up to 2^nd, Kahne up to 4^th. 

Stewart leads the field by 2.2 seconds. Your movers of the race Biffle from starting 33^rd up to 2^nd, Sadler from 18^th to 4^th, Hamlin from 16^th to 5^th, Truex Jr. from 25^th up to 7^th, Burton 20^th to 11^th, Labonte from 37^th to 16^th and Blaney from 32^nd up to 20^th. 

Laps 121 through 130 – drivers slipping back in the pack are Earnhardt Jr. from 7^th down to 14^th, Martin from 3^rd to 15^th, Riggs from 9^th down to 19^th. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 121 as Franchitti bounces off of Gilliland in turn 3, hitting the outside wall. Jason Leffler is the lucky dog. The leaders head into pit road, except for Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Trouble on pit road for Biffle as he almost hits his tire changer then is clipped on the back by McMurray who was heading into his pit stall. The race back to the track is Kahne, Stewart, Biffle, Hamlin and Kenseth. 

GREEN FLAG lap 125 as Hendrick power of Johnson and Jeff Gordon bring us back up to speed. Kahne, Stewart and Biffle with fresh tires pass Gordon with ease. Kahne closes in on Johnson. At the same time, Kenseth, Edwards and Allmendinger pass Gordon, dropping him back to 9^th. 

A lap later Gordon will keep slipping back, around to 15^th. Lap 128 Kahne is back in the lead.  

YELLOW FLAG lap 129 as Franchitti and Hornish wreck in turn two. Montoya is the lucky dog. 

Laps 131 through 140 as half the field comes in for stops. The out of sequence stops keep Kahne and Stewart in the front. Kyle Busch is back on track. Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon made stops along with the guys in back. 

GREEN FLAG lap 133 as Kahne with Stewart lead our drivers back into turn one. Biffle takes over 2^nd place, Hamlin moves up to 5^th, passing Johnson. Lap 136 Johnson brings his car into pit road. This is a planned stop. Lap 137 Martin is in for a stop. 

Stewart moves over to let Edwards by to take over 3^rd place. Lap 138 Sadler is in for a stop. Lap 140 Waltrip is in.  

Laps 141 through 150 - Lap 141 Riggs is in. Lap 142 Robby Gordon makes his stop. Kahne leads Biffle by 3.2 seconds and 3^rd place Edwards by 5 seconds. Lap 145 some driers that are holding up pretty good would be Kurt Busch, who has moved back up in positions up to 7^th and Allmendinger running 8^th. 

Lap 148 Hamlin is in for a pit stop as well as Montoya. Lap 149 Stewart is in. Lap 150 (50 to go) your top 20 drivers are Kahne, Biffle, Edwards, Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Allmendinger, Burton, Newman, McMurray, Blaney, Harvick, Vickers, Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, David Ragan, Bobby Labonte, Menard, Regan Smith and Carpentier. Truex Jr. is in for a stop. 

Laps 151 through 160 – Lap 151 Kahne is in for his stop as well as Burton and Harvick. Lap 153 Menard and Carpentier are in for stops. Biffle is the leader. Lap 154 Terry Labonte is in for a stop. Lap 155 Kurt Busch, Newman, Reutimann is back in. Carpentier picked up a speeding ticket and will come back down pit road. 

Lap 155 Biffle is in along with Kenseth and Allmendinger. Lap 156 Bowyer is in. Edwards leads a lap. Edwards is in the next time around as well as McMurray. Lap 157 Ragan is in. 

Vickers is the leader at the moment. Lap 158 Michael McDowell is in. Lap 159 Blaney is in.  

Lap 160 (40 to go) the top five is Vickers, Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Smith.  

Lap 161 through 170 Kyle Busch is on pit road. Lap 164 Kahne has moved back into 4^th place. Lap 165 Vickers, Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon are in. They hope to go the distance and gamble the others will have to stop one more time. We also see about 8 other drivers come in. Biffle picks up a speeding ticket after his stop. 

Lap 166 Kahne is back as the leader, followed by Hamlin, Edwards, Kenseth and Burton. Lap 167 Johnson is in along with Martin for a stop. Lap 168 Sadler is in as well as Robby Gordon.

30 to go as Kahne, Hamlin, Edwards, Kenseth, Burton, Kurt Busch, Allmendinger, Stewart, Truex Jr. and Harvick are your top ten drivers.  

Laps 171 through 180 - Lap 171 Stewart is in for his last stop. Lap 172 Johnson is in. Stewart may have been caught speeding and is back on pit road. 

25 to go Kahne is in for his stop followed by Hamlin, Burton and Harvick. Edwards is the leader.  

YELLOW FLAG with 23 to go as Kyle Busch spins out in turn three. Edwards was about to come into pit road and turns just in time as the pit road light turns red. Newman, Kenseth, Edwards, Allmendinger, McMurray and Ragan are the first ones back to the track. With the pit stop sequences, they come back out 21^st on back. 

Edwards day may be done as it looks like he picked up a flat tire and will come back to pit road. 

20 to go as Vickers, Earnhardt Jr., Kahne, Bobby Labonte and Smith are your top five.  

GREEN flag 19 to go as Vickers and Earnhardt battle for the lead. Earnhardt takes it in turn one, with Vickers taking it back by turn two. 18 to go Kahne makes it by Earnhardt Jr. to take second. 

17 to go as Hamlin runs 4^th with two lapped drivers between him and Earnhardt Jr. 16 to go Earnhardt looks like his car is struggling in turn one. As he pushes up Hamlin takes 3^rd. 

15 to go Kahne takes the lead once again. Vickers, Hamlin and Earnhardt Jr. run within 3 seconds behind. 

12 to go Kahne is checking out from the field. He runs almost 2 seconds in front of the field. 

10 to go as Kahne has increased his lead to 2.2 seconds in front of Vickers, Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr., Burton and Johnson. 

8 to go Kahne is up to 2.6 seconds for his lead. Hamlin closes in on Vickers for 2^nd. Kenseth working on Bobby Labonte for 8^th. 

6 to go is now up to a 3.6 second lead over Vickers. 

5 to go Kahne is 3.7 seconds, it looks like the field is pretty well separated. 

4 to go Kahne is easy in to the corners and strong off. 

3 to go Kahne is 3.8 ahead of the now. Kenseth and Edwards take over 8^th and 9^th from Bobby Labonte. Earnhardt Jr. and Burton battle for 4^th. Burton took it for a moment and Earnhardt came back with the crossover to take it back. 

2 to go Kahne by almost 4 seconds 

WHITE FLAG for Kahne with over 4 seconds. 

Out of turn 3 Kahne heads down the front straight to take his win at Pocono. 

The rest of your top ten are Vickers, Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr., Burton, Johnson, Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Edwards and Martin. 

The race lasted for a bit more than four hours. We saw 23 lead changes among 12 leaders. We also saw 11 cautions for 40 laps with one Red Flag to boot. 

This is Kahne’s 9^th win for his career and the second this year. 

Kahne led the most laps with 69. Johnson led 59 followed by Vickers with 18, Hamlin 17, Stewart 14, Riggs 6, Sadler 6, Biffle 4, Edwards, Kenseth and Truex Jr. with two laps led and Blaney 1. 

Kasey Kahne won the Pocono 500, his ninth win in 158 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts. This is Kahne’s second win of the season. His previous win came at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (Kahne also won the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, a non-points event).  

Kahne now has seven top-10 finishes this season. This is Kahne’s first win and third top-10 finish at Pocono Raceway. His previous best finish was third on Aug. 1, 2004.

This is the 13th time the race winner at Pocono has won from the pole. The last to do so was Denny Hamlin in both Pocono races of 2006.  

Brian Vickers (second) notched his third top-10 finish of 2008 and fourth at Pocono.

Denny Hamlin (third) scored his eighth top-10 finish of 2008 and fifth at Pocono. Hamlin has never finished outside the top 10 at Pocono, and only once has he finished outside the top five – a sixth-place finish in June of last season.