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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