Sports / Motor Racing |
Gordon wins rain-hit Pocono 500(Reuters)Updated: 2007-06-12 09:01
Jeff Gordon captured his fourth victory of the NASCAR season at a rain-shortened Pocono 500 at Long Pond, Pennsylvania on Sunday. Gordon fended off a hard-charging Ryan Newman to win at Pocono Raceway, with the Nextel Cup race red-flagged after 106 laps of the scheduled 200-lap, 500-mile event. The race was plagued by rain all day and started three hours late. As light faded, the rains returned with Newman in hot pursuit of Gordon and the cars were sent back to pit road. After a final attempt to dry the track, NASCAR officials called an end to the race. It was the 10th win for Hendrick Motorsports in the last 12 Nextel Cup races and Gordon's fourth win at Pocono. He also won at Phoenix, Talladega and Darlington this year. It was a frustrating second place finish for Newman, the pole sitter, who appeared poised to catch Gordon if the skies had held. Newman has not won a race in almost two years. Gordon credited crew chief Steve Letarte for the win, as Letarte called the car into the pits for an early service call to fix a break problem. Gordon lost the lead during the stop, but regained it after the other cars made their scheduled stops. "Steve Letarte, he won this race today," Gordon told reporters. "I can't believe we just won this race." Martin Truex Jr. finished third and Casey Mears was fourth. A moment of silence was held before the race in memory of former NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr., who died on Monday.
|
|