LONG POND, Pa. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR photo —
For the final 33 laps of Monday’s rain-delayed, rescheduled Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway, every crew chief on every pit box was sweating bullets as a fuel-mileage sprint to the finish broke out at the front of the field.
But in the end, none of that mattered as only one car ran out coming to the finish line and Stewart Haas Racing’s Kurt Busch stormed to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the season, leading the final 32 laps of the run and holding off fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 1.127 seconds at the checkered flag.
The win, the 28th of Busch’s Cup career, gives the Las Vegas native a nearly-assured spot on the Chase Grid and came at the hands of interim crew chief John Klausmeier – normally the team engineer for the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevrolet.
Busch used the same strategy perfected by Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski – pushing the clutch in entering the corners – to save enough fuel over the final run, grabbing the win and breaking a 34-race drought dating back to June of 2015 at Michigan.
“It’s tough to balance everything (with saving fuel and still maintaining leading pace) when you have a fast car and an interim crew chief, so this is a big win,” Busch said in victory lane. “The way the fuel mileage worked out, I didn’t know if we were going to have enough fuel to make it to the end, but it all worked out and we made it here to celebrate.”
“This is a wonderful win for us. We’ve been so close all year, and today was about putting it all together … from the pit crew to the engines and the guys at the shop working on the car. Today was a lot of fun to be up front and be competitive, and I’m looking forward to more of that going forward.”
The run to the finish was set up after a lap 116 caution flag, coming out when Austin Dillon broke a brake rotor and smashed the outside wall in turn one. That drew the leaders to pit road and saw Martin Truex Jr. come off the lane first, taking only two tires in an attempt to pick up track position after being mired deep in the field for much of the day. The strategy gamble would fall flat, however, when a reported broken inner valve stem caused a flat right rear tire and ended Truex’s hopes.
The restart with 39 circuits remaining saw Ty Dillon leading after staying out, and a bonzai move for second by Jimmie Johnson go sour as he tried to work around Casey Mears on the apron. Johnson got loose underneath the GEICO-sponsored entry and spun down to the inside exiting turn one, seemingly saving his car before hitting the inside SAFER Barrier with the left front corner and causing heavy damage to his Lowes Chevrolet.
Once Dillon pitted underneath that caution, it handed the point to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who brought the field back to green at 33 to go and got a shot from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott in the short chute as Elliott looked to make a move for the lead. However, it slowed both cars’ momentum and allowed Busch to shoot by both cars on the inside by the time they hit turn three, and from there Busch never looked back en route to the win.
Earnhardt hung on for second ahead of the Ford of Brad Keselowski, who rallied from two pit road penalties assessed by NASCAR for illegal body modifications on an early race pit stop to finish third.
Keselowski ultimately got around Elliott with 10 laps remaining and was chasing the leaders full-bore after being told by crew chief Paul Wolfe he was “good to go” throughout the final run.
“It was a long day, but overall a good weekend for our team,” Keselowski admitted. “I’m not sure I really know what happened (with the penalties) … but we fought back really well. At the end I think we were capable of winning the race because we had a really fast race car, but we just didn’t bring home the win.”
Elliott came home fourth after taking the lead for the first time on a lap 66 restart and leading 51 circuits on the day – the most of all drivers and more than he had lead in his prior 18 Cup starts combined.
Polesitter Joey Logano rounded out the top five, pacing the first 17 laps but never getting back to the front after the NASCAR-mandated competition caution early in the going.
A total of 10 cautions slowed the pace for 40 laps, with the most notable incident of the day coming on the 92nd round, when Tony Stewart got loose in the middle of a three-wide sandwich on a restart. He washed up into teammate Danica Patrick, who collected Landon Cassill as all three cars crashed into the wall on Long Pond Straightaway. The trio would all return to the race track later on, but finished 32nd (Patrick), 34th (Stewart) and 36th (Cassill).
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action on Sunday, June 12 with the FireKeepers Casino 400 from Michigan International Speedway. The event will be the first test of a new NASCAR rules package designed to remove rear skew from the suspension of the Cup cars. Busch is the defending winner.
RESULTS: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series; Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400; Pocono Raceway; June 6, 2016
- Kurt Busch
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Brad Keselowski
- Chase Elliott
- Joey Logano
- Kasey Kahne
- Matt Kenseth
- Carl Edwards
- Kevin Harvick
- Ryan Blaney
- Kyle Larson
- Ryan Newman
- Trevor Bayne
- Denny Hamlin
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Jamie McMurray
- Clint Bowyer
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- Ty Dillon
- Regan Smith
- David Ragan
- Casey Mears
- Chris Buescher
- Greg Biffle
- Josh Wise
- Reed Sorenson
- Jeb Burton
- Cole Whitt
- Kyle Busch
- Danica Patrick
- Paul Menard
- Tony Stewart
- Jimmie Johnson
- Landon Cassill
- Austin Dillon
- Michael Annett
- Brian Scott
- Matt DiBenedetto
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: [email protected]
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
Email Race Chaser Online: [email protected]
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