Pocono 400 Scores
| Finish | Driver | Qualifying | Grid | Laps Led | Completed | ARS | RSWC Points |
| 1 | Dixon | 7 | 17 | 38 | 160 | 83.70 | 25 |
| 2 | Kimball | 13 | 12 | 4 | 160 | 74.10 | 15 |
| 3 | Franchitti | 18 | 20 | 0 | 160 | 75.28 | 18 |
| 4 | Power | 4 | 4 | 15 | 160 | 61.03 | 8 |
| 5 | Newgarden | 16 | 15 | 0 | 160 | 62.20 | 12 |
| 6 | Pagenaud | 9 | 8 | 0 | 160 | 55.93 | 4 |
| 7 | Wilson | 20 | 22 | 0 | 160 | 61.61 | 10 |
| 8 | Castroneves | 6 | 6 | 0 | 160 | 47.46 | 1 |
| 9 | Carpenter | 15 | 14 | 0 | 160 | 49.57 | 2 |
| 10 | Andretti | 1 | 1 | 88 | 160 | 56.65 | 6 |
| 11 | de Silvestro | 10 | 9 | 0 | 160 | 34.91 | |
| 12 | Jakes | 14 | 13 | 0 | 160 | 36.24 | |
| 13 | Kanaan | 5 | 5 | 15 | 160 | 34.46 | |
| 14 | Briscoe | 23 | 19 | 0 | 159 | 39.82 | |
| 15 | Mann | 19 | 21 | 0 | 159 | 32.62 | |
| 16 | Bourdais | 12 | 11 | 0 | 159 | 23.02 | |
| 17 | Tagliani | 24 | 24 | 0 | 158 | 29.43 | |
| 18 | Rahal | 17 | 16 | 0 | 158 | 17.51 | |
| 19 | Vautier | 11 | 10 | 0 | 158 | 7.27 | |
| 20 | Hunter-Reay | 2 | 2 | 0 | 121 | 2.08 | |
| 21 | Viso | 22 | 23 | 0 | 104 | 11.16 | |
| 22 | Sato | 8 | 7 | 0 | 61 | 7.24 | |
| 23 | Saavedra | 21 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 2.75 | |
| 24 | Hinchcliffe | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.39 |
Observations
- Obviously, the hard-luck stories of the race are RHR and Kanaan, driver error (their own, in TK's case; and Sato's in Hunter-Reay's.) Mark Wilkinson over at New Track Record wrote an excellent piece this week called "Luck at Pocono," which covers the good luck and hard luck stories from the weekend.
- The shake-up between the Top 10 positions in the race and the distribution of RSWC Points is interesting. A few quick hitters:
1) Marco Andretti gets credit for running high and leading all those laps, pulling in 6 points from P10.
2) Carpenter grabs some points on an oval. Color me unsurprised.
3) Franchitti picks up 18 points based on a dismal qualifying effort, then buoyed by the fuel mileage of the new Honda engine.
- An analogy that I haven't heard made about this race (NB: hadn't when I typed it, just saw Marshall Pruet make it), which I'd like to posit here is that it bears a striking similarity to the 2012 Indianapolis 500 (the first, last, and only IndyCar race that I've actually attended: a fact that I hope to rectify next season). Here are the similarities that I see:
1) Early domination and eventual hard luck for Marco Andretti.
2) Honda wins it based on fuel mileage.
3) Chip Ganassi cars occupy several podium spots.
4) A surprising P7 finish for Justin Wilson.
- Really stellar performance by Josef Newgarden. Based on average running position, he had an about a P12 or so car. I believe that in a post-race interview on ABC, Jamie Little mentioned to Josef that they hadn't talked about him much at all, but that he'd had a good result. And, that was precisely my assessment of Newgarden's day. Just went out and kept chopping wood, as they say. Good run from #67.
RSWC Update
| Driver | RCWC Points | Points Back |
| Castroneves | 116 | 0 |
| Hunter-Reay | 109 | -7 |
| Dixon | 89 | -27 |
| Andretti | 80 | -36 |
| Sato | 76 | -40 |
| Kanaan | 74 | -42 |
| Pagenaud | 72 | -44 |
| Franchitti | 57 | -59 |
| Hinchcliffe | 55 | -61 |
| Newgarden | 55 | -61 |
| Wison | 53 | -63 |
| Conway | 43 | -73 |
| Kimball | 43 | -73 |
| Viso | 31 | -85 |
| Power | 29 | -87 |
| Carpenter | 28 | -88 |
| Rahal | 23 | -93 |
| Servia | 18 | -98 |
| Munoz | 12 | -104 |
| Bourdais | 8 | -108 |
| Jakes | 8 | -108 |
| Tagliani | 7 | -109 |
| de Silvestro | 6 | -110 |
| Hildebrand | 4 | -112 |
| Allmendinger | 4 | -112 |
| Briscoe | 1 | -115 |
Observations
- I wouldn't count Scott Dixon out of the chase for the Race Score World Championship. He was a real contender for most of the first quarter of the season, and with the abundance of twisty events (like those at which he excelled early) coming up, Dixon might just make a push.
- The same could be said for Simon Pagenaud.
- Both of my favorite feel-good stories are tied at 43 points. Charlie Kimball has really shown growth this season, and hopefully Mike Conway is back to destroying worlds at Toronto this weekend.
Prediction Review
#WhatTurn4 Prediction 1) We'll see an all-Chevy podium.
VERDICT -- I meant Honda. Heck, I even meant Ganassi. I swear... 0 for 1
#WhatTurn4 Prediction 2) RHR grabs the lead in the RSWC.
VERDICT -- I'm convinced he would have if Takuma Sato hadn't gone up and over the back of his car, much like JR Hildebrand did to Will Power in St. Pete. 0 for 2
#WhatTurn4 Prediction 3) Both Schmidt cars finish ahead of either RLL cars.
VERDICT -- Pagenaud does. Vautier doesn't. 0.5 for 3
#WhatTurn4 Prediction 4) Two of Simona, Kimball, and Vautier score RSWC Points.
VERDICT -- Kimball, for sure. Vautier, not at all. Simona, close. I said 2. I got 1. 1 for 4 (with just two halves...)
Stay Tuned
- The second double-header weekend of the season is coming up! Including standing starts on Saturday!
- Just like happened in Detroit, we'll do two predictions before the first race and two before the second. Maybe going back to a twisty circuit will improve my luck on predictions.
Later!!
-- Guido
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