Jeff Gordon held off Kurt and Kyle Busch to claim his 84th career win, tying for third on NASCAR’s all time wins list. With another win, he will move past Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison into sole possession of third. It was also his fifth career victory at Pocono, tying him with Bill Elliot for the most all time wins at the track.
Jimmy Johnson and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five, with Dale Earnhardt Jr finishing sixth, marking his third consecutive top 10. Sprint Cup points leader Carl Edwards blew an engine early on and finished in 37th.
Although Gordon got the win, many of the post race storylines will be swirling around Kyle Busch. First, he and Kevin Harvick were issued a warning by NASCAR after the two were seemingly bumping back and forth early in the race. This comes as both drivers are still on probation from a post race altercation between the two on May 7th at Darlington. In addition, NASCAR announced after the race that Busch’s #18 car had failed its post race inspection. NASCAR will examine the care further this week at its Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C.
Under the previous points system, Busch could have been docked as many as 25 points. Under the current system, where less points are available for each race, that penalty would likely be scaled back to a more proportionate level. Busch currently sits fifth in the Sprint Cup Standings.