Kurt Busch set a new mark for domination at Pocono by leading 175 laps of the Pennsylvania 500 to push himself back into contention for a place in the Chase for the Championship.
The Penske driver took the lead on the opening lap of round 21 and was barely headed all race, taking his first victory of the season to claim the all-important twelfth spot in the enlarged Chase field at the expense of runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr, who proved unable to convert pole position into a long-awaited win for the #8 DEI entry. Showing the improvement in form that has followed a switch of crew chiefs at the Penske operation, Busch has finally overcome the 100-penalty he received for reckless driving at Dover to move into contention for a Chase spot.
His domination was threatened only by a problem in the pits late in the race, but Busch recovered from dropping to ninth on the road to re-pass Earnhardt on lap 153 and was never headed again as he collected his second career win at Pocono, but only his first since March last year.
If Busch knows that he still needs to maintain the run of form that has brought him three top ten finishes in four races if he is to cement his place in the post-season, Earnhardt is equally aware that he needs to prolong the form he showed at Pocono if he is to make the cut in five races' time at Richmond.
The Budweiser driver started from his first pole in almost five years, but had to be content with second after having nothing to offer Busch in the closing stages. Handling problems in the early stages saw the #8 Chevrolet spin, but Junior recovered to come home ahead of 2006 Pocono ace Denny Hamlin, who strengthened his hold on second in the regular season point standings behind Jeff Gordon, who chased the FedEx driver across the line.
![Kurt Busch at Indianapolis. [Pic Credit IMS Media/Chris Jones]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/252497.jpg)
