SRT Motorsports - Sprint Cup Race Recap - Pocono

June 9, 2012 , Long Pond, Pa. -  Brad Keselowski rallied from a lap down and overcame two speeding penalties plus a few minor mechanical issues just for good measure to score a respectable 18th-place finish in the Pocono 400 Sunday afternoon at Pocono Raceway.

“I think our Dodge was actually really solid, maybe not a race-winning car but certainly a top 10-, top-five car but just didn’t get to show it,” said Keselowski. “My team did a great job through all the adversity today with the pit road stuff that went on with the timing lines. We got caught twice on that. I’m not sure what was going on there, so we’ll try and figure that out. Then we had some problems with the ignition and had to work on that. I don’t think we got it fixed but we got it drivable. And at the very end, we lost brakes. It was just one fight after another.”

The gritty performance by Keselowski and his Penske Racing team allowed the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger to move up to 10th-place in the Sprint Cup Series championship standings, 97 points behind leader Matt Kenseth and 17 behind ninth-place Clint Bowyer. He has a three point edge over 11th-place Carl Edwards.

NASCAR issued a staggering number of speeding penalties during the 400-mile, 160-lap race – 22 infractions, including two by Keselowski.

“There was one section where the majority was getting caught,” said Keselowski. “It was obvious that the section had some kind of issue because I know both times I got busted, I was under the limit with my tools that I have available. I was consistent down pit road, so if I was speeding in that sector, I would have been speeding in the others but it didn’t show that. I think there’s plenty of evidence to show that there is something wrong with the section timing whether they’re looking at who got busted or what I just said there. I’m sure that NASCAR will come back and look at it. Hopefully, we’ll have it fixed when we come back here in the fall.”

A.J. Allmendinger experienced one of the most frustrating days of his 2012 season. His problems started on the first lap in the race when Landon Cassill spun in Turn 3 and came across the track, collecting Allmendinger and Martin Truex Jr. Allmendinger was penalized for not lining up properly for the restart on Lap 7 and then was penalized for too fast exiting the pit lane while serving the penalty one lap later. The violations dropped Allmendinger a lap down but he made up the lost distance thanks to the second caution of the day on lap 15. Once he was back on the lead lap, Allmendinger hovered around 20th-place while crew chief Todd Gordon and his crew made adjustments on the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. But any chance for a good finish ended when he made heavy contact with the retaining wall in Turn 2 on lap 65. He was credited with a 31st-place finish in the final rundown.

“That might be one of the hardest hits I’ve had,” said Allmendinger. “Everybody at NASCAR, everybody at Penske, they do a good job with safety so I’m okay. I’ll be a little sore tomorrow but I’ll be fine.

“I’m not sure what happened. I think we blew a right-front. After we got in that accident at the start of the race, I think we had something knocked off just a little bit in the right-front. The toe was out just a little bit and the car was really tight. Unfortunately, it’s one of those I said ‘we need to pit soon, I think the right-front is going away’ and it went away.”

The accident at Pocono continued Allmendinger’s season of misfortune and bad luck, leaving the driver shaking his head in disbelief but he vowed to keep working hard to rebound.

“In my worst nightmare, I didn’t think the season would go this bad,” said Allmendinger. “You’ve got two options: you quit or you keep working harder. I’ve been six years in this. I’ve experienced bad stuff before in NASCAR, so I ain’t going to quit. We’ll just keep working harder. We’ve got to figure out how to turn it around.”

Joey Logano passed Mark Martin with four laps to go to win the Pocono 400, edging his rival by just .997 seconds. There were 21 lead changes among 10 drivers and the race was slowed by seven cautions for 35 laps.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Point Standings
(After 14 of 36 events)
1. Matt Kenseth 275
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -10
3. Greg Biffle -16
4. Denny Hamlin -19
5. Jimmie Johnson -30
6. Kevin Harvick -53
7. Martin Truex Jr. -58
8. Tony Stewart -75
9. Clint Bowyer -80
10. BRAD KESELOWSKI -97
25. A.J. ALLMENDINGER -218

Race Results
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Pocono 400
Pocono Raceway
Sunday, June 10, 2012
1. Joey Logano
2. Mark Martin
3. Tony Stewart
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Clint Bowyer
7. Matt Kenseth
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
9. Paul Menard
10. Jamie McMurray
18. BRAD KESELOWSKI
31. A.J. ALLMENDINGER

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