The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be in action for a holiday weekend at Daytona International Speedway this week. Check out the full schedule below, subject to change.
Note: All times are ET.
Thursday, July 5
1:05-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
2:05-2:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN1) (Results)
3:05-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
4:05-4:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN1) CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER
PRESS PASS (Watch live)
Noon: Tyler Reddick and Elliott Sadler
12:15 p.m.: Brandon Jones, Kaz Grala and Ryan Preece
12:30 p.m.: Austin Dillon
12:45 p.m.: Bubba Wallace
1 p.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
3:30 p.m.: Kyle Larson
Friday, July 6
2:10 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series pole qualifying, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO) CANCELED DUE TO RAIN
5:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole qualifying, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO) (Follow live)
7:30 p.m. NASCAR Xfinity Series Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 (100 laps, 250 miles), NBCSN (Canada: TSN2) (Follow live)
PRESS PASS (Watch live)
3 p.m.: Denny Hamlin
5:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying
9:45 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race
Saturday, July 7 7 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 (160 laps, 400 miles), NBC (Follow live)
PRESS PASS (Watch live)
4:30 p.m.: Medal of Honor Recipients
10 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race
Sitting on the pit wall in front of his team’s pit box after the race concluded, an exhausted Kevin Harvick was asked to run through the final lap of the second stage, considering teammate Kurt Busch wasn’t thrilled with how he went about it.
“I don’t know why we’d have a conversation (about it). Maybe you can tell me that,” Harvick said to Dave Burns of NBC. “I thought it was a good race there, and (we) got a stage point.”
In the closing laps of the second stage, Harvick ran down Busch and squeezed his way through, almost touching the wall exiting Turn 4 in the process, to collect the playoff point that went with winning the stage. Busch didn’t take kindly to Harvick risking both their runs to collect a single point.
“Championship. What the…I mean really?! That’s a teammate right there, everybody. Tune it into NBC live. That’s what a teammate does. Never expected that from a teammate. Never expected it, wow!”
It was the highlight of a strong run in the Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway for Harvick, who finished fifth in the first stage while dealing with a tight handling car early in it, and first in the second.
While he reeled in race leader Kyle Busch with roughly 40 laps to go, the handling of his car went back towards the tight side and couldn’t make the pass on Busch. A few laps later, Kyle Larson usurped him for second and he brought his car home to a third-place finish.
“Our car was just off all weekend. We had a tough time making the front end turn, and then we would wind up way too tight all the way through the corner or way too loose all the way through the corner. The guys did a good job and kept us in the game all day. We had a chance, we just wound up at the wrong side of it at the end.”
He led 39 of the 267 laps and earned 50 points.
Harvick leaves Chicagoland Speedway second in points, 61 behind Kyle Busch.
Kyle Busch parked his damaged car at the start/finish line, climbed out and retrieved the checkered flag, to a chorus of boos from the fans in attendance. In response, he turned to the NBC cameraman and gave a “boo-hoo” gesture.
“I don’t know what y’all are whining about,” Busch said, as he gestured towards the grandstands. “If you don’t even like that kind of racing, don’t even watch.”
He was cruising unchallenged to victory until Kyle Larson passed Kevin Harvick with less than 30 to go. Larson reeled him in but lost ground after making contact with the wall in Turn 2 with eight laps remaining. A group of lap traffic with four to go allowed Larson to pull back up to him. On the final lap, Larson pulled a slide move into Turn 1, came back up the track and put Busch into the wall. He quickly passed Busch down the backstretch, but Busch responded in part by bumping Larson in Turn 3. While he veered into the wall, Larson slid long enough for him to drive by and score his 48th career victory.
“I got really boxed in behind lapped cars and got really slowed, and I was just trying to get all I could there the last couple of laps. Larson tried to pull a slider, didn’t quite complete it. Slid up into me, used me. I kind of used him as a little bit of a brake going into (Turn) 3, and was able to come back for the victory.”
Busch wasn’t threatening for the lead most of the day, nor was he running Top-five for most of it, but his pit crew gained him track position on his final two stops to put him in position to win for the second time in his career at Chicagoland Speedway.
JOLIET, Ill. – JULY 01: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, races during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 1, 2018, in Joliet, Illinois. Photo: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
“Great thing for this Skittles Camry and all these guys. We were horrible today, absolutely horrendous. We just never gave up. We just always kept working on it, kept making the most of it. Got to where we needed it right there in the end and I was able to lead all those laps. If it wasn’t for lap traffic, it wouldn’t even have been a race.”
Larson recovered from his spin to finish second.
“Oh man, I’m not upset,” Larson said. “I had an opportunity there to slide in front of him and I figured I wouldn’t clear him or I would allow him to drive back underneath me. So I tried to get to his door and you know I opened the door for him to retaliate into (Turn) 3. I thought it was free game. I ran into him first, he got me after that, maybe a little bit worse than I got him, but that is alright. I love racing Kyle (Busch). I know all these fans are probably mad at him, but hey we put on a hell of a show for you guys and that was a blast. I had the top rolling there. I ran the right front off of it a little bit trying to run those guys down and (seeing the replay) yeah, that has got to be one of the best NASCAR finishes of all time. I know I’m on the short end of the stick again, but you know it was fun. Our Credit One Bank Chevy was amazing. Not great on the short runs, but man, on the long runs I could really get the top going and was able to get the top of (Turns) 3 and 4 figured out and really made up some time there. Just a lot of fun. My team did a great job, the pit crew was on it again, so thanks to them. Thanks to all you fans for coming out, it was a hot weekend, really hot, but we put on a good show for you.”
Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer rounded out the Top-five.
Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman rounded out the Top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
JOLIET, Ill. – JULY 01: Paul Menard, driver of the #21 Menards/Sylvania Ford, and Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 PPG Ford, lead the field to the green flag to start the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 1, 2018, in Joliet, Illinois. Photo: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
Paul Menard led the field to green at 2:34 p.m., but Ryan Blaney cleared him exiting Turn 2 to lead the first lap. Clint Bowyer reeled in Blaney and powered by his inside to take the lead, going into Turn 1, on Lap 19. He pitted from the lead on Lap 40, handing the lead to Brad Keselowski, who too pitted from the lead on Lap 47. Austin Dillon inherited the lead but pitted on Lap 61 and the lead cycled to Aric Almirola, who drove on to win the first stage.
Back to green on Lap 87, Kevin Harvick edged out teammate Almirola at the line to lead the lap, but Almirola cleared him exiting Turn 2 to take back the lead on Lap 89. Almirola pitted from the lead on Lap 122, but thanks to pitting a lap earlier, Harvick usurped him and cycled to the top spot.
The caution flew for the second time on Lap 128 for debris. Blaney exited the pits with the lead and led the field back to green on Lap 132. Almirola’s four new tires ran down Blaney’s two and edged him out at the line to retake the lead on Lap 136. Six laps later, however, he made an unscheduled stop for a possible loose wheel. Kurt Busch assumed the race lead. While he fended off most of Harvick’s advances, his teammate powered by his outside, and all but touches the outside wall exiting Turn 4, to win the second stage.
Back to green on Lap 168, Martin Truex Jr. shoved Busch past Harvick exiting Turn 2 to retake the lead. Two laps later, Kyle Larson edged him out at the line to take the lead. Harvick powered around him entering Turn 3 to retake the lead on Lap 177.
JOLIET, Ill. – JULY 01: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Skittles Red White & Blue Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 1, 2018 in Joliet, Illinois. Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images
The caution flew for the fourth time on Lap 178 when Denny Hamlin got loose and spun down the track, exiting Turn 2. Keselowski exited the pits first, after taking just right-side tires, and led the field back to green on Lap 182. Harvick powered by him on the outside exiting Turn 2 to retake the lead on Lap 187.
A caution flew for the fifth time with 59 laps to go, when Corey LaJoie hit the wall in Turn 2. Kyle Busch exited pit road with the race lead.
Back to green with 55 to go, Busch maintained a half-second gap over Harvick for roughly 15 laps. But with 40 to go, right about the time the cloud cover disappeared, Harvick started to reel him in. After a few laps, Harvick radioed to his team that his car was “just too tight.” Larson usurped Harvick for second and quickly ran down Busch. He made contact with the wall in Turn 2 with eight to go and lost time to Busch. Larson made the ground back up when Busch ran into a group of lapped cars, setting up the final lap finish.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted two hours, 50 minutes and 52 seconds, at an average speed of 140.636 mph. There were 24 lead changes among 10 different drivers, and five cautions for 23 laps.
Martin Truex Jr. gambled with risky pit strategy to win over a hard-charging Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer by 10.513 seconds. He earned his 18th career victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Truex earned his third career top spot honors at road courses, which puts him second among active drivers (Kyle Busch has four wins). This was his second consecutive road course win and second career win at Sonoma.
If stage cautions did not count, this race would have had the fewest caution flags with only one yellow flag for an on-track incident when the No. 47 car of A.J. Allmendinger stalled at the top of Turn 2. This caused the majority of the race, especially throughout the final stage, to focus primarily on pit strategy. Harvick and Bowyer started to charge through the field with fresher tires but ran out of laps and time to battle for the lead.
“I really feel like I treat everyone the same as I did that day,” Truex said after reflecting back on his 2013 win in Sonoma with Michael Waltrip Racing.
“Our guys understand what it takes, what kind of cars we need to build and what kind of approach we need to take to be prepared,” he continued, talking about his team’s performance. “It’s a little stressful when you’re in those situations because you never know what’s going to happen, but it all worked out, and pretty cool to get the win here today after last year. We thought a lot about that race last year, losing it, and it hurt. We left here and thought about it for a long time. To be able to come here and get it back was nice.
“I was just hoping for no cautions because we had a big lead. It’s funny when you get in those situations, this place is so tricky and so technical. But I still ran as hard as I thought I needed to.”
Cole Pearn, crew chief of the No. 78 5-Hour Energy Toyota, reacted to the growing bond of his team with Truex.
“Yeah, a caution could have came out and we would’ve been snookered the other way,” Pearn said as he chuckled about their situation. “We got a good relationship and we get along real well. When it comes to these races to call strategy, you call what you can at the time.”
Harvick led a total of 35 laps and came close to becoming the second Cup driver to win consecutive races at Sonoma. Jeff Gordon accomplished this feat with three consecutive wins in 1998-2000.
“I think everyone did a good job. Truex just had a better car,” Harvick said after finishing in the runner-up position. “At the beginning of the race, we could outrun him just a little bit. In the second stage, we started to struggle with the brakes on our car. Just a few things added up that didn’t work out for us today.”
Bowyer almost won back to back races after his victory at the rain-shortened event in Michigan but ended in the third position.
“We never got a restart to put on a show, so that was unfortunate,” Clint said after an impressive charge from his 19th place starting position. “You work your ass off and it’s hard to showcase that. Especially when you’re racing up there against my teammate Kevin and Martin. You don’t see mistakes out of those guys.”
Chase Elliott earned his first career top-five finish at a road course with a fourth-place effort. Kyle Busch finished in the fifth position. Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Stage 2 winner Denny Hamlin completed the top 10.
Stage 1 at Sonoma Raceway
Kyle Larson started on the pole and led the opening two laps. Heading up to Turn 2, Martin Truex Jr. got by to lead the majority of the first stage. Toward the closing laps of the first stage, roughly 15 drivers came to pit road for service early. Frontrunners, Truex and Kevin Harvick, were two that elected to come to pit road. A.J. Allmendinger inherited the lead and led the final four laps of the first stage.
A.J. Allmendinger earned his first stage win at Sonoma by electing to stay out as many leaders headed to pit road before it closed. That strategy will get them to the front of the pack as everyone else who stayed out must come to pit road for tires and fuel. However, he shared with the media his thoughts about his competition.
“We have a good short run car, but we need more to get ahead of [Kevin] Harvick and [Martin] Truex,” said Allmendinger.
Kasey Kahne and Gray Gaulding were caught speeding on pit road and had to restart the second stage at the end of the field. Only one car was off the lead lap and was the free pass for this first caution, the No. 52 of Cody Ware.
Turn of Events for Stage 2
As the green flag flew, the field went racing for only a few laps. Coming out of Turn 11, Allmendinger shifted from second to first, missing third gear and, as a result, lost the motor. Over the radio, all you could hear was a shaky voice.
“Guys, that was me.”
Allmendinger is one of few drivers who can look at Sonoma and Watkins Glen International as his best shots to qualify for the Playoffs. The No. 47 team had a short day and now sets its sights on the second road course on the schedule.
Jamie McMurray, after finishing both practice sessions and qualifying in the fourth position, mentioned over the radio during the caution that he hit the rev limiter and suddenly lost power and oil pressure. He went behind the wall as the Chip Ganassi Racing crew went to work on his Chevrolet.
With six laps to go in the second stage, Darrell Wallace Jr. tried to make a pass on Justin Marks but locked up the rear tires and lost control, spinning through Turn 11. No caution flag was waved as he was able to continue racing.
Similar to the first stage, some drivers began making their way to pit road during the closing laps. In the end, Denny Hamlin took over the race lead and won the second stage ahead of Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson.
Nerves Build During Final Stage
When pit stops cycled through, Harvick and Truex took over the lead once again. Bowyer fought his way up to third, followed by brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch. Drivers started going off track more often when getting more aggressive, such as Ryan Newman and Ryan Blaney. Blaney eventually started smoking, and shortly after, reported to his team that he lost power steering.
Cody Ware took his No. 52 Chevrolet behind the wall. Cole Whitt in the No. 72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet hit the wall while racing on the track, and dropped out of the race due to the heavy damage from the incident, but no caution was thrown for the crash as he was able to drive safely to pit road. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center.
All the drivers began to exercise their pit strategies. The entire field pitted on separate laps ranging from Lap 65 to 80. About a fourth of the field rolled the dice with planning for one pit stop during the final stage, while the rest of the field prepared for two stops during this stage. At one point after the last pit stop cycle, Truex grabbed the race lead by over a 30-second gap. Truex led the last 19 laps to seal the victory for his team.
“The last 10 laps of the race were easy,” Truex joked in the press interviews after the race.
Five Cup Series drivers raced in yesterday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race. Alex Bowman, who lost a motor after 10 laps in yesterday’s race, finished in the ninth position this afternoon. Aric Almirola, William Byron and Daniel Suarez all finished in the top five, but Erik Jones topped the double-duty drivers in today’s race with a seventh-place finish.
The next race on the schedule for the Cup Series is at Chicagoland Speedway on July 1.
A miscommunication to the pace car sent half the field down pit road while the other half remained on track. As a result, race leader Clint Bowyer came down pit road with the pace car, while Kyle Busch went around another lap. Although timing and scoring displayed Busch as the race leader, Bowyer was declared the winner of the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell took to Twitter after the race to explain the miscommunication.
Bowyer gambled for track position and took just right-side tires under the second stage break caution to take the lead on the ensuing restart. Harvick ran alongside him for the first lap on the restart, but got loose exiting Turn 4 and Bowyer drove away to his 10th career victory in 447 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts.
“It took something crazy on a restart to be able to get Kevin (Harvick). That was a gutsy call,” Bowyer said. “When we went out there on two tires I looked in the mirror and I was so far ahead of everybody else I was like, ‘Oh man, we are in trouble!’ The rain came just in enough time. I was trying to hold him off. I was cutting him off and taking his line away pretty bad. If it wasn’t for a win you wouldn’t be doing that. He was so much faster than me in one and two. I got down in three and just had to take his line because that bear was coming.”
It was his first career victory at Michigan.
Kevin Harvick led a race high of 49 laps and won the second stage, on his way to a runner-up finish.
“It was a good day for us,” Harvick said. “Our pit crew was solid. Rodney made a good call there in the middle of the second stage to keep the track position and be able to drive away and get the stage win. They had a good pit stop to close out there, and the 14 just gambled, rolled the dice that the rain must have been going to come, and he was able to keep me on the bottom there just by a little bit on the restart. Then it was just going to take me a few laps to work back by. But he did a good job hanging onto his car and the gamble paid off for him.”
Kurt Busch led 46 laps, on his way to a third-place finish.
“We had an excellent day all the way through,” Busch said. “No big mistakes, no rough moments. Pit stops were solid, adjustments were solid. Restarts, I’d say three quarters of the time I was on the inside lane, so that might have been a little bit where we were pinned down. But you have to make do with what you have, how the chips fall. I’m happy with our effort today. To finish third, rain shortened, of course you always want to go back racing again, but to see the two cars in front of me at the end, the 4 and the 14, that’s a big day for Stewart‑Haas Racing. It’s very special to finish 1‑2‑3. Tried to get to your outside when we were on the track, maybe get a picture with the 14, 4 and 41 to symbolize such a special day at Michigan. To win at Stewart‑Haas for Ford 1‑2‑3, it’s a huge day.”
Kyle Busch and Paul Menard rounded out the Top-five.
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray rounded out the Top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
Scheduled to go green at 2:14 p.m., the start was delayed for two hours by rain. The field rolled onto the race track half-past the hour and went green at 4:44 p.m. Up until the final 15 laps of the first stage, Kurt Busch led un-challeneged. Blaney posed Busch his first challenge of the day, however, exiting Turn 4 on Lap 46 and drove on to win the first stage.
Darrell Wallace Jr., who opted not to pit under the stage break caution, led the field back to green on Lap 65. Exiting Turn 2, however, Kevin Harvick drove around him to take the lead and won the second stage.
Clint Bowyer exited pit road with the race lead and led the field back to green on Lap 126.
“Being at the same tires on a restart against Kevin Harvick, you know what you’re up against. He was so much faster than me in (Turns) 1 and 2. I got down in 3, and 4 and I had to chop him off, take his line away. He got loose a couple of times. I’m like, ‘Man it better rain quick, because one more lap, he’s gonna get me.’”
Caution flew three laps later for a one-car (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) wreck in Turn 2, but rain forced NASCAR to throw the red flag.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted two hours and 15 seconds, at an average speed of 132.723 mph. There were nine lead changes among seven drivers, and eight cautions for 30 laps.
Kyle Busch leaves Michigan with a 75-point lead over Joey Logano.
Martin Truex Jr. didn’t have the strongest car in the race, though he won a stage, and didn’t pitch one of his signature clinic performances. But his team gambled in the closing laps by staying out under caution, and he held off drivers with fresher tires to win at Pocono.
He, along with Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, chose to stay out during a caution with 21 laps to go. He held off Larson on two consecutive restarts to score his 17th career victory in 455 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts.
“You’re always concerned on restarts. You just never know. So much can happen on those things, but we were luckily able to get a good one. Just can’t say enough about everyone on this team. Everybody, Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and all the guys really did a good job last night. We had a good practice yesterday. Really, it’s been a good weekend, overall. Just kind of been a sane weekend. I feel like we’re getting back to what we were doing last year.”
It’s his second career victory at Pocono Raceway.
“It’s always fun to win, but especially when you beat the best guys out there. Those two guys (Larson and Harvick) were so fast today. Honestly, we were all really equal. It was a matter of who could get out front. The 4 (Harvick) and I stayed (out) on tires. We felt like in practice, we were really fast on scuffs. So Cole made a good call there to stay out. Once we got out in clean air, this thing was like a rocket ship.”
Larson, Kyle Busch, Harvick and Brad Keselowski rounded out the Top-five.
“We weren’t quite as fast as what I thought we’d be after practice,” Larson said. “I ran probably sixth or seventh all day long and finished second. Was happy about that because I felt like obviously we were at a little bit of a disadvantage on tires there, but the track position overcame that. But I felt like if I didn’t have a good restart on any one of those, I would have fell back outside the top 5 from those guys on fresher tires. Happy we finished second but needed a lot more to kind of compete with the three guys that ran up front all day.”
“Just real unfortunate there that once we all thought we had that caution that brought us all down pit road for what we thought was the final stop of the day, we got tires, we beat everybody off pit road and was in control of the restart and then in control of the race when we were leading there, and all of a sudden about 10, 11 laps into that run, there was a caution in Turn 1 for what looked to me to be a shoe booty,” Busch said. “Somebody took their booty off, I guess, and chucked it out their window. That was kind of weird that we saw a caution for that, but safety comes first, so that just kind of derailed our strategy, if you will, and we lost this race last year on not pitting in that situation and getting beat by tires, and so we pitted this year for tires and got beat by those that didn’t pit.”
“We had a good car all day, just came down to really losing control of the race on the last pit stop,” Harvick said. “Really not pitting or pitting didn’t really seem to matter. We lost control to the 18 (Kyle Busch) and wound up losing a couple more spots on the restart starting on the inside, and that was the end of the day. Car was fast and everybody did a great job, it just didn’t work out.”
Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott rounded out the Top-10.
“My guys kept fighting all day long,” Johnson said. “That was a hard-fought eighth place finish. We just need to keep improving, but we’re slowly chipping away at it.”
RACE SUMMARY
LONG POND, Pa. – JUNE 03: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Duracell Ford, and Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, lead the field to green for the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 3, 2018 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Ryan Blaney led the field to green at 2:15 p.m. He led the first 11 laps, before Kevin Harvick used a run off Turn 3 to pass him down the frontstretch for the top spot. Blaney opted to pit early in the run and work the race like a road course race (fuel window was roughly 35 laps). While he was among a few drivers that pitted early in the fuel run, most of the field pitted 10 laps after Blaney, with Harvick pitting on Lap 26. Jimmie Johnson — who’d led a career total of 169,291 laps, entering this race — led his first lap of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season on Lap 27. When he pitted on Lap 29, Brad Keselowski took over the top spot. After he pitted from the lead on Lap 33, Harvick — who passed Kyle Busch exiting Turn 3 two laps prior — cycled back to the lead.
Martin Truex Jr. got a run down the short-chute to pass Harvick through Turn 3 to take the lead on Lap 43, and drove on to win the first stage on Lap 50. Keselowski took only two tires under the caution and exited pit road with the lead.
Back to green on Lap 57, Harvick got a run going into Turn 1 and took the lead back from Keselowski. Running third, Keselowski pitted on Lap 67 to short-pit the second stage. The rest of the leaders followed suite on Lap 78, with Harvick pitting from the lead the following lap, and handing the lead to Darrell Wallace Jr. Harvick ran him down and passed him to retake the lead on Lap 84, and drove on to win the second stage.
For most of the final stage, Harvick ran unchallenged. But after Derrike Cope got turned by Kyle Larson in Turn 3 with 36 laps to go, he lost the lead on pit road to Kyle Busch.
LONG POND, Pa. – JUNE 03: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Red White & Blue Toyota, pits during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 3, 2018 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
Back to green with 31 to go, Busch shot ahead of Harvick going into Turn 1. A crush panel in the middle of Turn 1 brought out the caution with 21 to go. Truex, Harvick, Chase Elliott and Larson opted to stay out, Blaney, Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon exited pits first by taking just two tires and Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Keselowski, the first cars on four new tires, rounded out the Top-10.
“…clean air is always super important here,” Larson said after the race. “He and the 4 (Harvick) were way better than I was at the end, but I was just able to kind of stay just low enough on exit I felt like to keep them tight behind me, so yeah, clean air is just important everywhere, but especially I feel like when you get to these fast tracks that are pretty flat.”
Martin Truex Jr. does celebratory burnouts on the front stretch at Pocono Raceway, to celebrate his victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. Photo: Kirk Schroll/SpeedwayMedia.com
Restarting with 17 to go, Truex shot out to a lead of over a second, while Harvick was usurped for second by Larson.
“…when you’re on the outside, the leader typically chooses the outside for the launch and to get going, and so he can control the guy on his inside and not get in a bad aero spot so that just makes that lane accelerate just that instant sooner, and that momentum just kind of rolls,” Busch said. “But I thought Larson and I had a pretty good run there on that final restart where I pushed him back up to the back of the 78, and he didn’t hit him enough in order to get him up the track a little farther so I could squeak on under there and have a three‑wide battle and probably a whole bunch of fire and flames and parts on the outside of the racetrack in Turn 2, but maybe next time.”
Rounding Turn 1 with 15 to go, Hamlin got loose in Turn 1 and made contact with Alex Bowman, sending him into the wall, while he slid down and hit the inside wall.
Restarting with 10 to go, Erik Jones got turned when he jumped out of line with Joey Logano, who was pushing him on the restart, spun down the track and hit the inside wall with his left-rear corner panel.
Back to green with seven to go, Truex swung down and back up the frontstretch to block Larson’s advance and drove on to victory.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted two hours and 52 minutes, at an average speed of 139.535 mph. There were 11 lead changes among seven different drivers, and six cautions for 23 laps.
LONG POND, Pa. – Just as he had done in winning his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race last June, Ryan Blaney kept Kevin Harvick behind him at Pocono Raceway when it mattered most.
Blaney sped around the 2.5-mile triangular track in 50.877 seconds (176.897 mph) in Friday’s knockout qualifying session to earn the top starting spot for Sunday’s Pocono 400 (2 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
In winning his first Busch Pole Award at the Tricky Triangle, his second of the season and the fourth of his career, Blaney beat Harvick (176.807 mph) by .026 seconds. Harvick, a five-time winner in the series this year, had the top speed in each of the previous two rounds.
But Pocono is becoming a special track for Blaney, who got his first taste of competition in a quarter midget on the dirt track outside Turn 3.
“I’ve always enjoyed this place,” Blaney said. “I enjoyed coming here to watch my dad (Dave Blaney) race. I made my first-ever start in a race car at the dirt track out there. So it’s been special to me.
“Me and Jeb Burton and Brandon McReynolds grew up racing scooters. There used to be a small Pocono with MRO (Motor Racing Outreach) in the infield over there. We used to race scooters around that. I have a lot of memories about this place.”
Blaney and his No. 12 team also have developed a knack for negotiating the track with three distinctly different turns.
“I feel like we have a pretty good line of communication with where we need to be from practice to qualifying to the race. I feel very comfortable, and the team feels very confident, and that’s always a good combination.”
Harvick had a pole-winning lap going until he slipped in Turn 3.
“I thought we did a really good job of trying to pick a pace and trying not to be a hero on every lap, and we were able to pick up a 10th (of a second) in each round,” Harvick said. “We got a little loose there in (Turn) 3, and I didn’t want to tug on the wheel any more just because of the fact I didn’t want it to get any looser.
“So I just let it slide to the center and had to wait and gave up a good solid 10th there. It was still a great lap for our Busch Beer Ford, and starting up front is a big deal here.”
Jamie McMurray qualified third in the No. 1 Chevrolet, followed by Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. Kyle Busch, who picked up his fourth victory of the season in last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, will roll off fifth beside brother Kurt Busch, who qualified sixth.
Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon completed the top 12.
