# 2014 Pocono 400

The 2014 Pocono 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on June 8, 2014, at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Contested over 160 laps on the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) triangular superspeedway, it was the 14th race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race, his second of the season and his first at Pocono. Brad Keselowski finished second, while Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson (who placed as the highest finishing rookie) rounded out the Top 5. Behind Larson, the other top rookies in the race were Austin Dillon (17th) and Michael Annett (20th).
Earnhardt Jr. was the fourth straight different driver from Hendrick Motorsports to win at Pocono, following Jeff Gordon's rain-shortened win in August 2012 and Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne in the June and August 2013 (respectively) races.

## Previous week's race

Jimmie Johnson held off a four-lap charge by Brad Keselowski to win the FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway. It was Johnson's second straight win after his Coca-Cola 600 victory the week before; he joined Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano as the only multiple race winners of the season. He led 272 of 400 laps in a performance he described as "incredible", with an "awesome" race car.

## Report
### Background

Pocono Raceway is a three-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked differently; the first is banked at 14°, the second turn at 8° and the final turn with 6°. However, each of the three straightaways are banked at 2°. The front stretch at Pocono Raceway is 3,740 feet long, the longest at the track. The back stretch, is 3,055 feet long, while the short stretch, which connects turn two with turn three, is only 1,780 feet long. Jimmie Johnson was the defending race winner after winning the race in 2013.

### Entry list

The entry list for the Pocono 400 was released on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, at 11:09 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-three drivers were entered for the race which meant no one failed to make the race.
| No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski (PC2) | Team Penske | Ford |
| 3 | Austin Dillon (R) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 7 | Michael Annett (R) | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet |
| 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford |
| 10 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet |
| 14 | Tony Stewart (PC3) | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 15 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota |
| 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush-Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush-Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 20 | Matt Kenseth (PC5) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
| 23 | Alex Bowman (R) | BK Racing | Toyota |
| 24 | Jeff Gordon (PC6) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 26 | Cole Whitt (R) | BK Racing | Toyota |
| 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 32 | Travis Kvapil | Go FAS Racing | Ford |
| 33 | David Stremme | Circle Sport | Chevrolet |
| 34 | David Ragan | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 36 | Reed Sorenson | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet |
| 38 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 40 | Landon Cassill (i) | Circle Sport | Chevrolet |
| 41 | Kurt Busch (PC4) | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 42 | Kyle Larson (R) | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 43 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford |
| 44 | J. J. Yeley (i) | Xxxtreme Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson (PC1) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 51 | Justin Allgaier (R) | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 55 | Brian Vickers | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota |
| 66 | Timmy Hill | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota |
| 77 | Dave Blaney | Randy Humphrey Racing | Ford |
| 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet |
| 83 | Ryan Truex (R) | BK Racing | Toyota |
| 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 98 | Josh Wise | Phil Parsons Racing | Ford |
| 99 | Carl Edwards | Roush-Fenway Racing | Ford |
| Official entry list ||||
| Key | Meaning |
| (R) | Rookie |
| (i) | Ineligible for points |
| (PC#) | Past champions provisional |

## Practice
### First practice

Brian Vickers was the fastest in first practice with a time of 49.764 and a speed of 180.854 mph (291.056 km/h).
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 55 | Brian Vickers | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 49.764 | 180.854 |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 49.938 | 180.223 |
| 3 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 50.052 | 179.813 |
| Official first practice results |||||||

## Qualifying

Denny Hamlin won the pole for the race with a time of 49.610 – a new track record – and a speed of 181.415 mph (291.959 km/h). "It's a tough balance, but we really just made the car a lot better," Hamlin said. "Each session our balance got a little bit better and we were able to get a little bit more speed out of it. That's kind of what you want to do, play it enough in the first few rounds to get to the final round where you go all out. Good job by our FedEx Ground Toyota team. We didn't test up here, we're one of the only teams that didn't test, but it's good to at least have a good Friday."

### Qualifying results

| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 50.360 | 50.010 | 49.610 |
| 2 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 50.104 | 49.700 | 49.612 |
| 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 50.430 | 49.798 | 49.637 |
| 4 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 50.193 | 50.001 | 49.770 |
| 5 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 50.123 | 50.085 | 49.858 |
| 6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 50.418 | 49.904 | 49.873 |
| 7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 50.255 | 50.089 | 50.048 |
| 8 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 50.507 | 50.174 | 50.121 |
| 9 | 55 | Brian Vickers | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 49.992 | 49.999 | 50.126 |
| 10 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 50.481 | 50.110 | 50.172 |
| 11 | 3 | Austin Dillon (R) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 50.428 | 50.201 | 50.188 |
| 12 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Toyota | 50.209 | 50.014 | 50.244 |
| 13 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 50.370 | 50.207 | — |
| 14 | 42 | Kyle Larson (R) | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 50.536 | 50.215 | — |
| 15 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 50.294 | 50.259 | — |
| 16 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 50.233 | 50.265 | — |
| 17 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet | 50.485 | 50.286 | — |
| 18 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 50.348 | 50.302 | — |
| 19 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 50.479 | 50.342 | — |
| 20 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 50.158 | 50.370 | — |
| 21 | 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 50.279 | 50.480 | — |
| 22 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 50.494 | 50.521 | — |
| 23 | 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 50.521 | 50.553 | — |
| 24 | 51 | Justin Allgaier (R) | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 50.529 | 50.765 | — |
| 25 | 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 50.549 | — | — |
| 26 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 50.571 | — | — |
| 27 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 50.588 | — | — |
| 28 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 50.610 | — | — |
| 29 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 50.801 | — | — |
| 30 | 7 | Michael Annett (R) | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 51.047 | — | — |
| 31 | 40 | Landon Cassill | Circle Sport | Chevrolet | 51.129 | — | — |
| 32 | 34 | David Ragan | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 51.159 | — | — |
| 33 | 32 | Travis Kvapil | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 51.175 | — | — |
| 34 | 23 | Alex Bowman (R) | BK Racing | Toyota | 51.231 | — | — |
| 35 | 38 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 51.249 | — | — |
| 36 | 36 | Reed Sorenson | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 51.441 | — | — |
| 37 | 98 | Josh Wise | Phil Parsons Racing | Ford | 51.503 | — | — |
| 38 | 44 | J. J. Yeley | Xxxtreme Motorsports | Chevrolet | 51.733 | — | — |
| 39 | 66 | Timmy Hill | Identity Ventures Racing | Toyota | 51.945 | — | — |
| 40 | 26 | Cole Whitt (R) | BK Racing | Toyota | 52.081 | — | — |
| 41 | 83 | Ryan Truex (R) | BK Racing | Toyota | 52.188 | — | — |
| 42 | 33 | Alex Kennedy | Circle Sport | Chevrolet | 53.037 | — | — |
| 43 | 77 | Dave Blaney | Randy Humphrey Racing | Ford | 0.000 | — | — |
| Official qualifying results ||||||||

## Practice (post-qualifying)
### Second practice

Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 50.764 and a speed of 177.291 mph (285.322 km/h).
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 50.764 | 177.291 |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 50.787 | 177.211 |
| 3 | 55 | Brian Vickers | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 50.823 | 177.085 |
| Official second practice results |||||||

### Final practice

Harvick was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 51.251 and a speed of 175.606 mph (282.610 km/h). Aric Almirola had to change his transmission after fluid started leaking out of it with 15 minutes left in practice. It was initially thought that he lost an engine.
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 51.251 | 175.606 |
| 2 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 51.269 | 175.545 |
| 3 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 51.296 | 175.452 |
| Official final practice results |||||||

## Race
### First half
#### Start

Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag at 1:20 p.m. but Brad Keselowski took the lead from him to lead lap one. The first caution of the day came out at lap 32 for a fire in the inside wall in turn 3. The fire apparently was in the area where pyrotechnics were launched during the pre-race ceremonies. After getting into the rear of Jamie McMurray and damaging the front of the car on the ensuing restart, points leader Matt Kenseth wound up going a lap down on lap 50. Keselowski led the first 56 laps until he came in to pit and Jeff Gordon took the lead for one lap before handing it to Tony Stewart.
The second caution of the race came out on lap 60 for debris in turn three in the middle of green flag stops. Debris on the back stretch, from J. J. Yeley's car, brought out the third caution of the race on lap 72. Stewart took the lead from Keselowski on the restart. A spin in turn 1 by Dave Blaney brought out the fourth caution on lap 80. Kurt Busch took the lead from Stewart on lap 84, before Stewart regained the lead from Busch five laps later. Rookie Kyle Larson led his first ever lap in Sprint Cup competition on lap 102, before Jimmie Johnson found his way to the lead for the first time at lap 109; he pitted not long after, ceding the lead to another rookie, Michael Annett.

### Second half

Stewart re-took the lead on lap 112 after the green flag stops cycled through, while team-mate Kevin Harvick had a flat tire four laps later. The fifth caution of the race came out on lap 118 for fluid on the race track. Stewart was too fast entering pit road and had to serve a drive-through penalty, handing the lead to Keselowski. Justin Allgaier led his first ever lap on lap 134, before Danica Patrick brought out the sixth caution, by crashing at turn three. The seventh caution of the race came out with 18 laps to go. Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle were involved.

#### Finish

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead from Brad Keselowski with five laps to go and took the checkered flag. He inherited the lead after Keselowski dropped back to try to remove the piece of trash on his grill. "That's unfortunate for him," Earnhardt said. "He had me beat. I couldn't get to him. It's real hard to pass here. I've lost some in strange ways. It feels good to win one like that. Brad definitely had the better car. I'll own up to that, but we won the race." Keselowski stated that his car "was running really hot" and that he thought it "was going to blow up".

### Race results

| Pos | Grid | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points |
| 1 | 8 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 160 | 47 |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 160 | 44 |
| 3 | 2 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 42 |
| 4 | 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 160 | 41 |
| 5 | 14 | 42 | Kyle Larson (R) | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 40 |
| 6 | 20 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 160 | 39 |
| 7 | 15 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 37 |
| 8 | 5 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 160 | 37 |
| 9 | 17 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 35 |
| 10 | 18 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 34 |
| 11 | 19 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 160 | 33 |
| 12 | 6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 160 | 32 |
| 13 | 12 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 32 |
| 14 | 4 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 30 |
| 15 | 28 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 160 | 29 |
| 16 | 13 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 160 | 28 |
| 17 | 11 | 3 | Austin Dillon (R) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 27 |
| 18 | 32 | 34 | David Ragan | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 160 | 26 |
| 19 | 9 | 55 | Brian Vickers | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 160 | 26 |
| 20 | 30 | 7 | Michael Annett (R) | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 24 |
| 21 | 21 | 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 23 |
| 22 | 22 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 160 | 22 |
| 23 | 25 | 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 21 |
| 24 | 29 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 160 | 20 |
| 25 | 26 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 160 | 19 |
| 26 | 23 | 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 18 |
| 27 | 24 | 51 | Justin Allgaier (R) | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 160 | 18 |
| 28 | 35 | 38 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 160 | 16 |
| 29 | 33 | 32 | Travis Kvapil | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 160 | 15 |
| 30 | 40 | 26 | Cole Whitt (R) | BK Racing | Toyota | 159 | 14 |
| 31 | 34 | 23 | Alex Bowman (R) | BK Racing | Toyota | 159 | 13 |
| 32 | 41 | 83 | Ryan Truex (R) | BK Racing | Toyota | 159 | 12 |
| 33 | 31 | 40 | Landon Cassill | Circle Sport | Chevrolet | 158 | 0 |
| 34 | 36 | 36 | Reed Sorenson | Circle Sport | Chevrolet | 158 | 10 |
| 35 | 37 | 98 | Josh Wise | Phil Parsons Racing | Ford | 158 | 9 |
| 36 | 39 | 66 | Timmy Hill | Identity Ventures Racing | Toyota | 158 | 8 |
| 37 | 16 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 158 | 7 |
| 38 | 38 | 44 | J. J. Yeley | Xxxtreme Motorsports | Chevrolet | 157 | 0 |
| 39 | 42 | 33 | Alex Kennedy | Circle Sport | Chevrolet | 156 | 5 |
| 40 | 7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 150 | 4 |
| 41 | 10 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 143 | 3 |
| 42 | 27 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 142 | 2 |
| 43 | 43 | 77 | Dave Blaney | Randy Humphrey Racing | Ford | 142 | 1 |

### Race statistics

* Lead changes: 21 among different drivers
* Cautions/Laps: 7 for 26
* Red flags: 0
* Time of race: 2 hours, 52 minutes and 7 seconds
* Average speed: 139.440 miles per hour (224.407 km/h)
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. took home $198.965 in winnings

## Media
### Television

TNT Sports :
| Booth announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lap-by-lap: Adam Alexander Color-commentator: Wally Dallenbach Jr. Color commentator: Kyle Petty | Matt Yocum Marty Snider Chris Neville Ralph Sheheen |

### Radio

MRN Radio :
| Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lead announcer: Joe Moore Announcer: Barney Hall Announcer: Jeff Striegle | Turn 1: Dave Moody Turn 2: Mike Bagley Turn 3: Buddy Long | Winston Kelly Steve Post Alex Hayden Woody Cain |

## Standings after the race

| | Pos | Driver | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Jeff Gordon | 498 |
| 1 | 2 | Matt Kenseth | 482 (−16) |
| 2 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 476 (−22) |
| | 4 | Jimmie Johnson | 475 (−23) |
| 3 | 5 | Brad Keselowski | 448 (−50) |
| 1 | 6 | Kyle Busch | 443 (−55) |
| 4 | 7 | Carl Edwards | 441 (−57) |
| 1 | 8 | Denny Hamlin | 420 (−78) |
| 3 | 9 | Joey Logano | 418 (−80) |
| | 10 | Kyle Larson (R) | 417 (−81) |
| | 11 | Ryan Newman | 411 (−87) |
| | 12 | Kevin Harvick | 403 (−95) |
| | 13 | Brian Vickers | 392 (−106) |
| 2 | 14 | Greg Biffle | 385 (−113) |
| | 15 | Austin Dillon (R) | 385 (−113) |
| 1 | 16 | Clint Bowyer | 383 (−115) |
| Pos | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1 | Chevrolet | 632 |
| 2 | Ford | 602 (−30) |
| 3 | Toyota | 569 (−63) |