The NASCAR results were great for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who on Sunday got his first-ever win at the Tricky Triangle and an important win in the Sprint Cup chase.
Earnhardt passed Brad Keselowski with five laps to go to win the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. It was Junior’s second win of this season.
Earnhardt Jr. was helped by Keselowski’s yielding while attempting to clean his front grille.
“That’s unfortunate for him,” Earnhardt said. “He had me beat. I couldn’t get to him. It’s real hard to pass here. I’ve lost some in some strange ways. It feels good to win one like that.”
Keselowski said the temperature started to rise in his No. 2 Ford, which had debris on the front grille. When Keselowski pulled behind Danica Patrick’s lapped car to try to remove the debris, Earnhardt made his move .
“I tried to follow (Patrick) and just (slowed) too much. I thought I had more room than I did,” Keselowski said. “The team did a heck of a job. We had a really, really good car. It was really a flawless day other than my mess-up there.”
Keselowski ended up second in the race, with Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson rounding out the top five.
The NASCAR results were likely disappointing for Keselwoski, who led for 95 of the race’s 160 laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. led for just 11 laps, but finished strong.
It ended up being a wide-open race, with ten different drivers leading at least one lap. Larson, a Rookie of the Year contender, was in front for seven laps, while fellow rookie Justin Allgaier also led.
The win is important for Earnhardt, who joined Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Harvick, and Joey Logano in earning an all-important second win. In NASCAR’s new Chase for the Spring Cup format, wins take on greater emphasis than points.
The full NASCAR results from the Pocono 400 can be found here.