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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