Elliott Sadler held off Kasey Kahne during a second green-white-checkered finish to win the inaugural Pocono Mountains 125 Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway.
Just after the restart for the first two-lap overtime finish, Sadler got a push from behind by Justin Lofton and moved ahead of Kahne to take the lead. Johnny Sauter got loose and bumped into Ron Hornaday Jr., as Hornaday spun around and then slammed into the infield wall in turn three. That set up the second green-white-checkered attempt.
Sadler easily pulled away from Kahne after the final restart and beat his Richard Petty Motorsports teammate in the Sprint Cup Series by 0.45 seconds for his first truck win in his eighth start. MiamiHerald.com
Sadler’s win vindicated the faith of team owner Kevin Harvick and provided a welcome highlight in a two-year stretch that has seen Sadler struggle in a Sprint Cup car at Richard Petty Motorsports. Sadler announced July 9 that he will leave the No. 19 RPM Ford at the end of the season.
“It’s hard to put in words what this means to me,” said Sadler, whose last NASCAR victory was Sept. 5, 2004 in a Cup car at Fontana. “To have a tough couple years like we’ve had in the Cup Series, and things not go like we want to, as far as running up front, and winning races and leading laps and things like that. ...
“You sit at home a lot, wondering if you’re ever going to make it back to Victory Lane. Are you ever going to have that situation again? Are you ever going to be in that position again? This, to me—I know it’s recent, and it’s [Saturday]—but this is the biggest win in my career.
“There’s a lot of naysayers out there, and there’s a lot of people that write me off, not giving me a chance to make a comeback and be a strong presence again in this sport. To be able to come here and sit on the pole and win the race and race against people like Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin [who finished ninth], who I think are two of the best race car drivers we have in our sport, means a great deal to me.” NASCAR.com
The inaugural trucks race at Pocono Raceway was a hit with drivers despite a flurry of late mishaps around the 2.5-mile tri-oval. Kahne finished second, Crafton was third and points leader Todd Bodine wound up 12th.
“It was a ton of fun racing this truck for Kyle, and this is a really good team,” Kahne said. “We should have been battling Elliott. I had the best truck, but I didn’t win the race. I’m disappointed in myself for that.”
Aric Almirola finished fourth, followed by rookie Justin Lofton.
Mike Skinner, Austin Dillon, also a rookie in the series this year, Timothy Peters, Denny Hamlin and Jason White completed the top-10.
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NASCAR Truck Series: Pocono Mountains 125 at Pocono - Race-Results
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