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Pocono NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson takes dominant win

Jimmie Johnson was in imperious form as he utterly dominated proceedings on his way to NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Pocono

It was only Johnson's third win at the 'tricky triangle' but he will struggle to produce a more comprehensive performance.

The points leader started from pole after qualifying was washed out and made a sluggish getaway.

This allowed Carl Edwards to lead the opening nine laps, but once Johnson worked his way to the front he simply drove away from the field in his Hendrick Chevrolet.

That he 'only' led 128 of the 160 laps was due to Stewart-Haas putting Ryan Newman off sequence in the pitstops.

This gave him a false position at the head of the field during a long green-flag period, but meant he would need to pit one more time than his rivals, or hope for a yellow.

The yellows came in a flurry in the final 20 laps of the race and Newman held on to a top-five finish, but no one had the pace to deny Johnson.

A great final restart brought Greg Biffle into second. The Roush Fenway Ford man had to withstand a strong late fight with Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart to claim the runner-up spot.

There was also a great battle for fifth between Newman and the Busch brothers. Newman just came out ahead of Kyle, with Kurt taking seventh.

Paul Menard starting the weekend 10th in the points and in a Chase spot, but a last-lap puncture sent him into the wall and dropped him to 12th in points, with Biffle taking over the coveted 10th spot.


Results - 160 laps:

Pos Driver             Team/Car                       Time/Gap
 1.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet
 2.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            + 1.209s
 3.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           + 1.691s
 4.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       + 1.962s
 5.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       + 3.001s
 6.  Kyle Busch          Furniture Row Chevrolet      + 3.482s
 7.  Kurt Busch          Furniture Row Chevrolet      + 3.903s
 8.  Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota             + 4.527s
 9.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          + 4.821s
10.  Joey Logano         Penske Ford                  + 5.080s
11.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          + 5.591s
12.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           + 5.708s
13.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  + 6.208s
14.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  + 6.544s
15.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota               + 6.947s
16.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford                  + 7.089s
17.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   + 7.959s
18.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            + 8.660s
19.  Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota               + 9.181s
20.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                    + 9.453s
21.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                   + 9.779s
22.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                 + 10.089s
23.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               + 10.617s
24.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               + 11.013s
25.  Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota             + 11.644s
26.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford            + 11.847s
27.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota         + 12.124s
28.  David Stremme       Sway Toyota                  + 12.694s
29.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       + 13.049s
30.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          + 24.111s
31.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            + 26.208s
32.  David Reutimann     BK Toyota                    + 1 lap
33.  AJ Allmendinger     Phoenix Chevrolet            + 2 laps
34.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford               + 3 laps
35.  Timmy Hill          FAS Lane Ford                + 4 laps
36.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           + 19 laps
37.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford               + 39 laps

Retirements:

    Landon Cassill     Circle Sport Chevrolet         150 laps
    JJ Yeley           Baldwin Chevrolet              39 laps
    Michael McDowell   Parsons Ford                   23 laps
    Scott Riggs        Xxxtreme Ford                  18 laps
    Joe Nemecheck      NEMCO Toyota                   11 laps
    Jason Leffler      Humphrey Smith Toyota          8 laps

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