Jeff Gordon Wins at a Rainy Pocono

Jeff Gordon gets his fourth win of the season at Pocono today with pit strategy and a little luck from mother nature. It looks like nothing can go wrong for the #24 team of Jeff Gordon this season. Even starting 18th, at a track where passing is rare due to the long straightaways and high speeds, Jeff managed to move up in the field enough to put him in the position for him and crew chief Steve Letarte to make a critical and risky decision with impending rains coming into the area. They decided to short-pit along with teammate Casey Mears and others on lap 64 in hopes that they would luck into a rain, a rain that would conclude the race early and give them the lead despite faster cars such as Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlim, and Tony Stewart. The plan worked out, with rain coming and the race being called on lap 106, Gordon comes away with another win, his fourth of the season: tying him with Jimmie Johnson for the most wins so far this season.
It was an extremely risky call, but when you have a point lead like Gordon does you can afford to take some chances. If the race had gone green it is very unlikely that Gordon would have won, or even finished the race since he was developing brake problems early on that he said himself probably wouldn't have lasted. Denny Hamlin had a strong car as he did in the two Pocono races that he swept last year, but was passed by pole-sitter Ryan Newman, who in the end was able to catch up with Gordon and probably would have passed him within a lap or so of when the race was called. Martin Treux Jr. also had another good day, running third, a good showing a week after winning his first race. Casey Mears (also only two weeks off his first win just 2 weeks ago) and Tony Stewart rounded out the top 5. It was the most exciting victory at Pocono in years even if it was cut in half.