LONG POND, Pa. – A look at all the action and results from Monday’s rescheduled Axalta 400 at Pocono Raceway:
WINNER: No crew chief, no problem. With crew chief Tony Gibson suspended for a lug nut violation, Kurt Busch picked up his first victory of the season – and with interim crew chief John Klausmeier atop his pit box. The win put Busch, who came into the Pocono race ranked second in the Sprint Cup Series standings, into the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Busch conserved fuel in the closing laps and held off Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"It's tough to balance everything," Busch said from victory lane. "We had a fast car and an interim crew chief. And we didn't know if we had enough fuel to make it. ... This was a wonderful win for us. We've been so close all year. It's just so much fun to drive and be up front."
Busch took the lead for good after he got by rookie Chase Elliott and then Earnhardt Jr. after the final restart.
"I feel like I had a car that could do it today," a disappointed Elliott said. "I wish I could have been a little bit more patient around Dale Jr. (on last restart). Just really proud that we had a super fast car that could compete all day."
Keselowski recovered from an early NASCAR penalty for illegal body modifications to finish third. However, NASCAR officials surrounded his No. 2 Ford on pit road after the race and would not let crew members near.
FUEL STRATEGY: The running order was repeatedly shaken up due to some drivers staying out, some drivers taking two tires and others taking four. At one point, it looked like fuel mileage wouldn’t factor into the race – but then Austin Dillon crashed into the wall with a brake problem right at the edge of a fuel window.
MULTI-CAR WRECK: Tony Stewart was running in ninth place on a restart with 69 laps to go when he got loose in the pack and wiggled right into Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Danica Patrick (who had nowhere to go). Both cars hit the wall, along with Landon Cassill. Stewart, who missed the first part of the season while recovering from surgery to repair a broken back, is trying to make the top 30 in the points standings and win a race in order to make the Chase in his final year.
OTHER CRASHES: Brian Scott’s car with a taxi cab paint scheme spun and crashed in Turn 1 on lap 21. He was forced to go to the garage after the incident. With 60 laps to go, Michael Annett had something break on his car entering Turn 1 and had a hard hit into the wall. With 51 laps to go, Kyle Busch hit the wall while in a three-wide situation following a restart. Jimmie Johnson also got loose on a restart and hit the inside wall.
MATT D’S BAD DAY: Matt DiBenedetto was involved in three incidents during the first 58 laps. He spun at the end of the second lap, but kept the No. 83 car off the wall and continued without any damage. But during a competition caution, he hit Martin Truex Jr. while the defending race winner was exiting a pit stall and stuffed the No. 78 into the pit road wall. Then on lap 59, DiBenedetto spun and wrecked – which finished off his bad day.
DELAY: The race originally was scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET Sunday but was postponed to noon Monday after persistent rain, mist and a band of strong storms washed out any chance of racing Sunday. That set up NASCAR’s first Monday race since April 2014 at Texas Motor Speedway, though two Saturday night races were postponed to Sundays last year.
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MONDAY'S RESULTS
Lap length: 2.5 miles
(Starting position in parentheses)
1. (9) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 160 laps.
2. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 160.
3. (1) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 160.
4. (13) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 160.
5. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 160.
6. (11) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 160.
7. (3) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 160.
8. (5) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 160.
9. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 160.
10. (14) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 160.
11. (21) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 160.
12. (22) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 160.
13. (24) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 160.
14. (10) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 160.
15. (25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 160.
16. (32) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 160.
17. (26) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 160.
18. (23) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 160.
19. (17) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 160.
20. (16) Aric Almirola, Ford, 160.
21. (28) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 160.
22. (35) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 160.
23. (34) David Ragan, Toyota, 160.
24. (29) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 160.
25. (18) Chris Buescher, Ford, 159.
26. (15) Greg Biffle, Ford, 159.
27. (38) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 159.
28. (40) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 159.
29. (39) Jeb Burton, Ford, 158.
30. (37) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, rear gear, 155.
31. (12) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 150.
32. (33) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 145.
33. (20) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 135.
34. (6) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 131.
35. (7) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, accident, 125.
36. (31) Landon Cassill, Ford, 121.
37. (19) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, accident, 117.
38. (36) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, accident, 102.
39. (30) Brian Scott, Ford, 81.
40. (27) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, accident, 57.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 125.49 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 11 minutes, 15 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 1.126 seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 40 laps.
Lead Changes: 14 among 10 drivers.
Lap Leaders: 0; J. Logano 1-17; K. Larson 18-25; M. Kenseth 26-53; K. Harvick 54-62; M. Kenseth 63-65; C. Elliott 66-86; Kyle Busch 87-89; C. Elliott 90-118; A. Allmendinger 119-120; T. Dillon 121-123; D. Earnhardt Jr 124-126; C. Elliott 127; D. Earnhardt Jr 128; Kurt Busch 129-160.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): C. Elliott 3 times for 51 laps; Kurt Busch 1 time for 32 laps; M. Kenseth 2 times for 31 laps; J. Logano 1 time for 17 laps; K. Harvick 1 time for 9 laps; K. Larson 1 time for 8 laps; D. Earnhardt Jr 2 times for 4 laps; T. Dillon 1 time for 3 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 3 laps; A. Allmendinger 1 time for 2 laps.
Top 16 in Points: K. Harvick, 490; Kurt Busch, 465; B. Keselowski, 442; C. Edwards, 437; Kyle Busch, 416; J. Johnson, 415; C. Elliott, 413; J. Logano, 410; M. Truex Jr, 403; M. Kenseth, 382; D. Earnhardt Jr, 381; D. Hamlin, 372; A. Dillon, 348; J. McMurray, 342; Blaney, 340; R. Newman, 338.
