Dale Earnhardt Jr. holds off Kevin Harvick to complete Pocono sweep

LONG POND, PA - AUGUST 03: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Michael Baker International Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway on August 3, 2014 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
LONG POND, PA - AUGUST 03:  Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Michael Baker International Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway on August 3, 2014 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.  (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
LONG POND, PA – AUGUST 03: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Michael Baker International Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway on August 3, 2014 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. played the pit strategy game better than anyone Sunday taking the lead with 14 laps to go and holding off a hard charging Kevin Harvick on a restart with two laps to go to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway. Having won in June, Earnhardt becomes the sixth driver to sweep the races at Pocono and the first since 2006.

The win was his third of the season and the 22nd of his NASCAR Cup Series career. The victory ties Earnhardt with Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski for the most series wins in 2014. The key to the win came with the pit strategy call by crew chief Steve Letarte on lap 120. Earnhardt pitted while most of the leaders stayed out. From there all he needed was a quick splash of fuel in the closing laps that eventually had him in fourth place. From there he was able to race his way to the front and the lead with 14 laps to go.

“He’s the guy you need to talk to,” Earnhardt said of his crew chief. “I’m in the car I can’t even figure out what is going on. I just trust what he does, decisions he makes. It started to make sense. A lot of these race tracks with the tires the way they are you’ve got to minimize the time you are on pit road during the race. That is what he was trying to do.” MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.