Long Pond, Pa. — It’s difficult to know where to start spelling out the virtues of this weekend’s NEXTEL Cup event, especially if your wardrobe features Ford Blue. There is of course the best in class finish for Kurt Busch, who managed to make it the distance, rolling his Irwin Tools home in fifth place, but there was another side to the day.
"We did a great job today in the pits to make the right calls,” Busch said, underscoring the importance of a tight pit crew. “We were fast enough on the race track for a top 10, but we were able to maneuver into a top five with just a great handling car.
"We had good fuel mileage today and I just have to thank this Ford engine for sticking together,” Busch added of his D3 powered car. “We had our moments through the race, but we just didn't quite have enough speed to challenge, but a top five is a good day."
Busch drove the only Ford car that made it into the top-10.
With the good news on the record, the rest of the Pocono 500 did have a flip side for the Ford faithful.
Engine woes nipped at the heels of The Oval early and ultimately led to the field finishing under caution.
The first Ford driver to lose an engine was Mark Martin, who made 112 circuits of the 200 scheduled before a plum of smoke from his C3 class engine indicated that there would be no back-to-back victories for last week’s race winner.
The hit in the points for Martin was substantial and likely will contribute to his not being included in the final 10 runners for the championship.
"That's disgusting,” Martin said after retiring. “We've spent half of the races this year - I'll bet we've spent seven of the 14 in the garage and that's just terrible, but that's how it goes I guess. We got lucky and won last week and didn't break. That would have been my luck if it would have broke last week. Something uncharacteristic happened last week and I'm awful happy about that, but this does us in for the top 10 in points."
It’s difficult to argue with Martin’s assessment, as he’ll tote a 532-point deficit to Michigan for this week’s event.
Engine woes weren’t reserved for the C3 package as a pair of blown D3’s dashed good runs for Dale Jarrett and Jeff Burton. Jarrett lost his engine while running third at lap 195, Burton lost his a lap later, brining out the day’s final yellow flag.
"I don't know what to say. We had a good car and that's the way it goes some days. When things don't go your way, they just don't," said 26th place finisher, Jarrett.
Turning his attention to the positive Jarrett added, “It ran great and performed great all day. We needed just a little bit to get with those guys at the end, but I'm very happy because it's the first time we've run an in-house chassis this year and it worked really well. Hopefully, things are looking up for us."
However, Jarrett’s upbeat outlook was off set when reigning Cup champ Matt Kenseth got into a brush up with Chevy ace, Kevin Harvick. The two got nipping at each other during the final lap at speed when Harvick swung his car into Kenseth’s lane, without near enough room for the move. Kenseth took the spot back by leaning on the rear bumper of Harvick, loosening him up for the position.
But that wasn’t the end of it as Harvick spun Kenseth out of Pocono’s Turn 3 when the field came around for the caution for Burton’s engine, sending the No. 17 across the grass. Kenseth got his car pointed the right way and tried to regain his spot, which should have been frozen under the caution. The two kept fussing with each other as NASCAR tried to get the running order sorted out, but Kenseth sent Harvick spinning off the nose of his car. The move ensured that the two would be under NASCAR’s control at the end of the race. Kenseth was last seen at the NASCAR trailer, waiting his turn with officials.
Kenseth was scored with a 21st place finish, one behind Harvick. Despite Kenseth being scored ahead of Harvick at the time of the caution. Both cars were scored as the last ones on the lead lap.
