Carl Edwards chased Jimmie Johnson to a second place finish last week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This weekend, Carl Edwards battled his fellow drivers, and the rain, but in the end was able to take his #99 Office Depot Ford to victory lane in the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. This would be Edward's fourth victory this season; a victory using an "experimental" setup that crew chief Bob Osborn came up with. Edwards, who qualified fifteenth, ran in the top ten most of the race and was able to solidify his victory with excellent fuel strategy. The turning point of the race came when Carl Edwards, and the rest of the leaders, pitted before the red flag, giving them the fuel strategy to get them to the end of the race. The trip to victory lane would allow Edwards to move up to third in the standings, behind Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
After the tire debacle last weekend in the Allstate 400 at Indy Motor Speedway, drivers were eager to get back to racing, and were aggressive early in the race. The first caution of the day came on the first lap when Joe Nemecheck got into the left rear of Kevin Harvick's #29 Shell Penzoil Chevy in turn two. Harvick's car was mostly undamaged, aside from some minor fender damage. Nemecheck broke one of the struts on the front splitter. Both drivers were able to continue.
Only six laps later, the second caution of the race came out when Kurt Busch got aero loose coming out of turn three. This would be the second race in a row, that Kurt Busch would spin early in the race. Unlike last week, however, the elder Busch brother was able to continue without any damage to his #2 Dodge. The third caution of the race was a competition caution that came out on lap 21. NASCAR threw the competition caution because both Saturday practices were canceled due to rain.
Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, the inside and outside pole-setters, dominated early, with Johnson leading until lap 36 when Martin took advantage of four fresh tires and took the lead from Johnson. Once Martin took the lead, he took off in the clean air and gained a lead of over 5 seconds. Unfortunately for Martin, that lead was erased on lap 66 when debris in turn two brought out the fourth caution of the race. The fourth caution also allowed the other teams to work on their cars and begin to play some pit strategy.
Most of the exciting racing action of the race happened mid pack, as the drivers from eighth to twentieth place battle two, three, and four wide through the corners for position. On the restarts after the fourth and fifth cautions, drivers rallied for position, competing with each other's pit strategy. Unfortunately for Mark Martin, his front tire changer would have trouble on both stops, sending him mid pack. Martinhad a dominant car, but his #8 Chevy has struggled late in the race.
After the fifth restart, the Hendrick teammates of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson got in the clean air and lead the field to the halfway mark. Carl Edwards eventually crept up on both drivers and overtook them with 90 laps to go, to capture the race lead. Ten laps later, the drivers made a critical green flag pit stop, because rain started moving into the area. On lap 127, the weather finally arrived, bringing out the caution, and surprisingly, sending the leaders into the pits, while 19 other cars stayed out. This was a risky call because the teams didn't know if NASCAR would restart the race.
With 69 to go, the red flag came out. The drivers who pitted hoped the rain would move away. The drivers who stayed out, especially leader Kasey Kahne, hoped that the rain end the race. Unfortunately for those who stayed out, the race was restarted after the short rain delay.
On lap 135, the race went back to green, but that would not last for long.
For the second time this race, Joe Nemecheck put his car into the left rear of another driver, sending them spinning and bringing out the seventh caution of the race. This time, Paul Menard was the unlucky recipient of the contact that sent both drivers into the wall and into the garage. The wreck would end both driver's day.
With 45 laps to go, many of the leaders, who did not pit prior to the red flag, came onto pit lane, though some drivers did not come in, hoping to stretch their gas milage. Kurt Busch, one of the drivers that was trying to stretch the fuel milage, ran out of gas with 38 laps to go, though it put him on the same strategy that the leaders were on. Kurt Busch was not the only driver that had fuel issues, late in the race. As the race wound down, cars began to run out of fuel.
Points leader Kyle Busch, who had been struggling the entire race, ran out of fuel with two laps to go, was penalized, and then had trouble leaving pit road. Busch would finish 35th. Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were running in the top five on the final lap, but ran out of gas before they got to the line. Gordon would finish tenth and Earnhardt Jr. would finish twelfth.
Two of the most surprising finishes came from Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick. Stewart, who started 20th, flew under the radar most of the race and was able to sneak into a second place finish, Kevin Harvick, was able to recover from the earlier incident with Joe Nemecheck for a fourth place finish in Pocono.
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