A little strategy with a side of luck nearly played to the advantage of the #88 UPS Racing Team as it left Pocono Raceway with a 28th-place finish in the Pennsylvania 500 on Sunday afternoon. Crew chief, Slugger Labbe, gambled on staying out during a caution period to secure a valuable track position for driver Dale Jarrett and allowed the UPS Team to finish on the lead lap in spite of extremely tight conditions in the waning laps.
Jarrett started the event in 38th place and without any practice the team used notes from the June race at Pocono to determine a setup for the start of the race. A loose and tight handling condition troubled the UPS Ford early. The team made a pit stop for four tires during the fourth caution around lap 75. The fifth caution followed quickly, and the team elected to stay out while most cars made a pit stop for tires. Jarrett led a couple of laps and lost a few positions but remained in the top 15 through the next several laps.
"The car was a handful early and anytime we put on fresh tires it felt like it was really pushing," Jarrett said. "But after a few laps and we got some heat in the tires, it got to where it handled better to the point that I could pass people on the track. Slugger (crew chief) made a good call to stay out and get track position during that one caution so considering where we started, it wasn't a bad day. The biggest thing is that we were able to make the car better with our adjustments at various points in the race and that was good."
After starting the race in 25th place, Elliott Sadler and the #38 M&M'S® Team slid through the field in the first 20 laps as Sadler battled an extremely loose race car. Sadler eventually finished the day in 32nd place. Meanwhile, Robert Yates Racing development driver, Stephen Leicht, started the event in 36th place and kept the #90 CitiFinancial Ford out of trouble and completed valuable laps to finish 33rd in his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series debut.
Denny Hamlin completed the Pocono sweep after starting from the pole, leading the majority of the laps and coming away with a second Pocono win. Jimmie Johnson continues to lead the NEXTEL Cup Series point standings by 97 points over Matt Kenseth.
The RYR championship points picture didn't change much as Jarrett fell one spot to 25th in the standings and Sadler remained 20th.
The NEXTEL Cup Series takes next weekend off before traveling to the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 13th running of the All State 400 at the Brickyard on August 6th. NBC will provide live television coverage with the green flag waving for the event at 2 p.m. EDT.
