Jeff Gordon wins rain-shortened race at Pocono

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Jeff Gordon is the first one to admit that he's had a tough 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup series. But the four-time Sprint Cup champion caught a huge break here on Sunday during the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway. Just as an accident on a restart took out race leaders Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth, Gordon moved in front before the caution flag came out. The race was slowed under caution and then stopped altogether by a heavy thunderstorm. After waiting about 10 minutes, race officials, seeing a heavy downpour that would take hours to dry, decided to call the race and declare Gordon the winner. Gordon becomes the first five-time winner here at Pocono and revived his sagging chances for making the "Chase for the Cup." He is now 13th in points, but the win would give him a wild-card slot if the season ended today. Kasey Kahne finishe second, Martin Truex, Jr. third. The race was delayed at the start for nearly 90 minutes.