Hendrick Motorsports dominated most of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway,
and three of its four drivers left the 500-mile event with top-10 finishes.
Jeff Gordon led his teammates across the finish line with a sixth-place result, while Mark took seventh
and Jimmie Johnson finished 10th. Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet,
left with 27th-place.
Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, lined up fourth for Sunday's event and was the race
leader within the first lap. Johnson, who started the race sixth in his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet,
joined Gordon as a front-runner and led a race-high 96 laps as he battled for his sixth win of
the 2010 season. Meanwhile, Martin and Earnhardt jockeyed for position inside the top 10 as the race unfolded.
But ultimately it was Gordon in the best position as the laps counted down. With 35 laps
to go, he was running first when a multi-car incident happened on the backstretch, prompting
NASCAR officials to wave the red flag. After a 17 minute and 20 second clean-up period, racing
resumed and the drivers headed for pit road.
A variety of strategies were employed, and Mark made the best progress off pit road, taking over the
third position for the restart on Lap 180. Gordon was 13th, while Johnson was 15th and Earnhardt was
24th. As the race wound down, the drivers worked hard to improve their positions.
Gordon, who led seven times for 39 laps, remains second in the driver standings, while Johnson
remains fourth. Mark ranks 13th, but trails 12th-place Clint Bowyer by only 34 points with five races
remaining till the cutoff for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Earnhardt is 14th and trails 12th-place
by 95 points.
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