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Notebook Gordon's quest for consecutive win record halted
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) -- Jeff Gordon had hoped to win the Pocono 500 on Sunday and move within a victory of a Winston Cup record. He won four times in a row in 1998 to share the mark with Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Bill Elliott and Mark Martin. Gordon wanted to be the first to do it twice. Now, he'll have to start all over again after a second-place behind Ricky Rudd at Pocono Raceway. "Yeah, I would love to have won three races in a row," Gordon said. "I want to win every race I'm in." He'll certainly have a good shot next Sunday on the road course in Sonoma, Calif., where the three-time series champion has not lost since 1997. He finished in the top two Sunday for the fifth time in his last six starts. Even though Gordon failed to win, he led the most laps -- 86. He led 143 of 200 laps while winning last week in Brooklyn, Mich., after showing the way for all but 19 of 400 the previous Sunday in Dover, Del. Gordon now has led 610 of the last 800 laps. He wasn't upset by his finish Sunday, especially after passing Rudd to win in Michigan. "When it's you day, it's your day," Gordon said. "Ricky probably should have won last week, so it's kind of ironic that he won this week."
Jarrett's dayDale Jarrett was hoping to slow the momentum of Jeff Gordon with a victory Sunday in the Pocono 500, but he was happy teammate Ricky Rudd was the one to do it. "They've been right on the verge of winning for a long time," Jarrett said of Rudd's team. Gordon, who took the Winston Cup points lead from Jarrett a week earlier with his second consecutive victory, now leads Jarrett by 36 points after 15 of 36 races. Both were victimized by caution flags that destroyed substantial leads Sunday, making it possible for Rudd to win. "Yeah, I hated to see that caution," Jarrett said of the yellow flag that bunched the field behind him with 42 laps remaining. "I thought we were in pretty good shape there, but that's the way it goes." More important to him than his third-place finish, is that Jarrett is almost fully recovered from a crash last month at Lowe's Motor Speedway that left him aching since with a cracked rib and torn chest muscle
You are what you eatSterling Marlin is a patient man putting up some pretty impressive numbers as the top Dodge driver in the automaker's return after a 16-year absence from Winston Cup racing. No Dodge has won on the circuit since 1977. Marlin is fourth in the series standings after a fourth-place finish Sunday in the Pocono 500. But even that couldn't make him feel good after a long day at Pocono International Raceway. He had a stomach ache, and plans to change his pre-race eating habits. "I'm not going to eat any more lobsters before the race, that's for sure," Marlin said. "It didn't taste right. I felt pretty rough the last 100 laps." But Marlin was happy with his finish, his eighth top-10 in 15 races this season. "We've got to keep working on our stuff and get it a little bit better," he said.
Pit stopsStarting at or near the front is advantageous at Pocono Raceway. The winner has come from the first two rows in 28 of 47 Pocono races. ... Dale Jarrett has finished in the top five in 11 or his last 12 races on the mountaintop. ... Hendrick Motorsports leads all teams in victories at Pocono with eight. Jeff Gordon and the late Tim Richmond won three times apiece for Hendrick, and Geoff Bodine and Terry Labonte once each. ... Bobby Labonte's sweep of the June and July races in 1999 was the first since Richmond won both in 1986. ... Pontiacs have not done so well at Pocono, with just five victories since the stock cars began racing on the triangular-shaped track in 1974. Chevrolets have won 17 races, and Fords 16, including Sunday and a sweep last year by Jeremy Mayfield and Rusty Wallace.
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