Pennsylvania 400Pre-race notes: We're ready for a new style race at Pocono today. In the race at the "Tricky Triangle" in 2007, we will see just 400 miles compared to the usual 500-milers we saw in the past. That should definitely jumble up pit strategy and will make the crew chiefs have to think. Travis Kvapil is surging with 2 wins in the past 4 races, but there are plenty of other drivers on the Chase bubble that will be looking to step up their games today. After this race, there will be only 5 more chances to gain enough points to make the Chase.
Green flag - Kevin Harvick leads the 42-car field to the green flag.
Lap 1 - CAUTION FLAG #1: Crash in the tunnel turn! Dale Earnhardt Jr. and J.J. Yeley have gone sideways after Little E squeezed Yeley into the outside wall entering the tight, high-speed corner. We were worried about possible incidents early on here with the field tight, and double-wide. Todd Kluever and Johnny Sauter also got minor damage in this one, but all drivers will drive away.
Lap 3 - Derrike Cope and Elliott Sadler make contact on pit road. With everyone on the lead lap, pit road is a busy place under caution.
Lap 6 - Green flag is out. Some chose not to pit while others took fuel only or two tires. Casey Mears leads Jamie McMurray, Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, and Kvapil.
Lap 10 - Vickers to the lead. Kasey Kahne has made a trip to pit road.
Lap 16 - Harvick has raced his way back to the front.
Lap 29 - Sadler hits pit road.
Lap 35 - Jeff Gordon takes over the race lead as Kluever dives down to pit road.
Lap 36 - Looks like the first cycle of green flag stops is underway. Jeremy Mayfield, Paul Menard, Aric Almirola, and Yeley are making 4-tire stops.
Lap 37 - Harvick takes back the race lead as another large group pits. Ryan Newman, Johnson, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Joe Nemechek, Scott Wimmer, McMurray, Jon Wood, Sauter, and Kenny Wallace make stops.
Lap 38 - Huge group pits. This time it's Gordon, Mears, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Vickers, Kurt Busch, Kvapil, Kyle Petty, Carl Edwards, Jason Leffler, Martin Truex Jr., Scott Riggs, Bill Elliott, David Stremme, Reed Sorenson, Michael Waltrip, and Earnhardt Jr.
Lap 39 - Harvick gives up the race lead to Bobby Labonte as he stops along with Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Mike Bliss, Dave Blaney, and Derrike Cope.
Lap 40 - Labonte and Greg Biffle, the only two remaining cars in the pit cycle, make their way down pit road.
Lap 41 - Gordon cycles back to the front.
Lap 45 - Kahne makes a scheduled stop. He's a few laps off cycle because of a loose wheel.
Lap 47 - Newman to the lead.
Lap 54 - Gordon back in front.
Lap 58 - Newman has retaken command.
Lap 64 - Sadler stops. He and Kahne are the only off-cycle drivers.
Lap 68 - Gordon has motored his way around the 12 once again. Great racing for the lead these past 25 laps.
Lap 70 - Newman back in front once again. Next cycle of stops underway with Mayfield, Kluever, and Almirola.
Lap 71 - Vickers to the lead as both Gordon and Newman pit with Bowyer, Johnson, Nemechek, Wimmer, Wood, Sauter, Menard, and Yeley.
Lap 72 - Kvapil to the lead as Vickers gives up the race lead for 4 fresh Goodyears. Joining him on pit road are Mears, Kyle Busch, Wallace, Hamilton Jr., Truex Jr., Leffler, Riggs, STremme, Waltrip, Elliott, and McMurray. Truex Jr. and Hamilton Jr. made minor contact as Hamilton Jr. pulled into his pit box.
Lap 73 - Kvapil comes down and is followed by Burton, Harvick, Earnhardt Jr., Cope, Edwards, Kurt Busch, Petty, Bliss, Stewart, Blaney, and Sorenson. And CONTACT! Leffler creams Kvapil's left rear wheel, and his fender is crushed. He backs into his pit stall and he'll get repairs. Kvapil doesn't seem to have any damage luckily.
Lap 74 - Kenseth had cycled to the race lead but will not lead a lap as he pits and Labonte retakes the lead.
Lap 75 - Labonte and Biffle pit. It's pretty obvious that both Kenseth and Biffle are trying to push their fuel limits so they can gain 5 valuable bonus points for leading a lap.
Lap 76 - Bowyer has the lead as stops cycle through.
Lap 79 - Kahne pits.
Lap 80 - Vickers passes Bowyer for the lead as Sadler's rough day is finished off as he blows an engine. He was on the edge of being a legitimate Chase contender but that likely will finish him off. He'll need a miraculous rally over the next 5 races to come back.
Lap 86 - Another engine goes boom! This time it's Kyle Busch, whose 6 consecutive top 10 streak will end this afternoon.
Lap 88 - Newman to the lead.
Lap 89 - Vickers takes it right back. While there has been just one caution, nobody has distanced themselves from the field all that much and we've had good battles all race long.
Lap 101 - 60 to go. Here's a full-field rundown:
Lead lap - 25, 12, 07, 24, 31, 48, 2, 88, 33, 17, 99, 77, 29, 16, 45, 0, 18, 20, 34, 01, 21
-1 lap - 66, 78, 43, 15, 91, 22, 40, 42, 51, 1, 55, 8, 41, 74, 00
-2 laps - 9, 6, 11
-5 laps - 19
OUT - 5, 38
Lap 104 - Another round of stops begins with Johnson and Mayfield.
Lap 105 - Pitting this time by are Wimmer, Bowyer, Hamilton Jr., Kluever, and Wood.
Lap 106 - This lap's pittees: 25, 12, 11, 22, 24, 2, 77, 8, 01, 00, 78, and 15.
Lap 107 - Another large group to pit road contains these teams: 31, 42, 51, 55, 31, 1, 99, 29, 45, 74, 43, 91, and 40.
Lap 108 - Kenseth took over the race lead but this time will lead a lap as he stays on track. Pitting are Bliss, Sorenson, and Stewart.
Lap 109 - Bowyer takes the lead once again as Kenseth surrenders it to pit, along with Biffle and Labonte.
Lap 111 - Leffler makes his penultimate stop.
Lap 112 - Kahne makes a scheduled stop while Waltrip makes his second stop in 5 laps to fix a loose wheel.
Lap 114 - Vickers takes the lead.
Lap 122 - Bowyer has gotten back around the points leader.
Lap 128 - Vickers to the front.
Lap 129 - And Bowyer's gonna take it right back.
Lap 138 - Vickers takes the lead as Bowyer, Johnson and Mayfield all make their final pit stops of the race with 23 to go.
Lap 139 - Newman is the new leader as Vickers pits along with Hamilton Jr., Wimmer, and Nemechek. Vickers couldn't afford to let Bowyer have too much of an advantage with his fresh tires.
Lap 140 - Huge group pits. 12, 11, 24, 21, 22, 77, 29, 45, 1, 8, 78, and 00.
Lap 141 - This should be the last large group pit session of the day. It includes the 31, 2, 91, 43, 33, 15, 99, 40, 0, 42 ,51, 6, and 74 teams. Kenseth is the new race leader.
Lap 142 - Stewart, Labonte and Sorenson make their last pit stops.
Lap 143 - Kenseth, Biffle, and Waltrip pit. Looks like Biffle will never be able to get those 5 bonus points.
Lap 144 - Bowyer is back to the lead with a 1.4 second lead over Vickers.
Lap 145 - Leffler pits.
Lap 147 - Kahne pits.
Lap 151 - 10 laps to go. A couple feisty lapped cars, including Greg Biffle, held up Bowyer and his lead is down to half a second.
Lap 155 - 6 to go and Vickers is there.
Lap 156 - 5 to go as Vickers leads the lap and takes the race lead.
Lap 156 - CAUTION FLAG #2 - Debris in turn 3 has us under just the second caution flag of the day. Bowyer is going to try the crossover move to get around Vickers. Whichever drivers makes it back to the stripe first wins the race!
Lap 157 - And it's Bowyer! He made an awesome crossover move in turn 1 get to the inside of Vickers for the tunnel turn, and while Vickers had a lot of guts to drive it into the tunnel turn hard on the outside line, Bowyer had too much momentum and cleared him by the middle of 3.
Checkered flag - The race ends under caution following a lead change racing back to the stripe for the second week in a row. This time, it's Clint Bowyer who earns his first victory of 2007!
There is a typo on this, it should be Ken Schrader and not Kenny Wallace in the DNQ slot.
