Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

  • Denny Hamlin Wins in Wild Finish at The Glen

    Denny Hamlin Wins in Wild Finish at The Glen

    As hell broke loose behind, Denny Hamlin piloted along and scored the victory in the Empire State.

    The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took the lead with 10 laps to go and survived a myriad of late cautions to win the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen.

    He said winning a road course race for the first time in his career “means a lot. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was we didn’t win the first one. I just tried the best I could and overshot the corner and I didn’t want to do it this time and so I probably under drove and let those guys be a little closer than I should’ve. But, hated to see the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) turned around down there. They’ve been great Toyota teammates of ours and thanks to all of our teammates who tested here and obviously gave us a good baseline setup and a fast car.”

    When asked how he was able to go 41 laps on fuel, he said “Cautions. I just felt like this has always tended to be a lot of cautions at the end and I felt confident that we were going to get the caution laps that we needed to make it on fuel and we did.”

    He also described the final laps and restarts as “Hectic. Really, I didn’t do anything special. It was just the front two cars, the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 18 (Kyle Busch) just overshot the corner in that one restart and gave us an opportunity. And, then it was just about hitting my marks and making sure that I didn’t give those guys a chance like I gave Tony (Stewart) a chance at Sonoma. You know, really proud of this effort. This is a great sign of things to come. I feel like we’ll be a good threat in the Chase.”

    It’s his 28th career win, the second of the season and first at Watkins Glen International.

    Rounding turn 11, Martin Truex Jr. got turned by Brad Keselowski. This allowed Joey Logano, who led eight laps and had to overcome a speeding penalty early in the race, to finish runner-up in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    He said in his post-race media availability that the finish, be it the final lap or the final 15 laps, were “crazy anyway you look at it. Typical Watkins Glen. I mean, it’s just awesome, crazy racing, full contact. Just insane out there. So a lot of fun from the driver’s seat and I’m sure the fans loved it as well in front of a sold‑out grandstand. It was pretty cool when I pulled over for the red flag in front of the grandstands and I could hear just fans screaming and yelling and loving it. I thought, Man, this is really cool to be in the driver’s seat right now. Having those moments, I thought it was neat.”

    Teammate Keselowski, who led a race-high of 28 laps, rounded out the podium in his No. 2 Penske Ford.

    “I got right up to the bumper of the 78 and couldn’t do anything there and he made a move to get by the 11 on the inside and the 11 blocked him,” Keselowski said. “I went high and the 78 went high and by then I was already deep in the corner and got into him and turned him. That was really unfortunate and the last thing I wanted to see. This track here, when you drive into the corner, you commit and sometimes you don’t know what will happen when you commit. The last thing I wanted to do was turn him.”

    AJ Allmendinger overcame a speeding penalty to finish fourth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. After overshooting the inner loop near the beginning of the race, Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

    He said that he felt good about what he brought to Watkins Glen and that he “got some breaks there at the end. But our Haas Automation Chevy was really good. And that’s the great thing about Mobil 1, it helps with fuel mileage for sure, and that’s what got us the track position in the end. It is so chaotic here. You get under 10 laps and get restarts; you know it’s going to be a crash-fest there. But we were able to survive and got through a couple of them and got a couple of spots there coming to the line. I’ll take a top 5 here in the last run.”

    Kyle Busch led four laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Truex, who led one lap, recovered from his spin on the frontstretch on the final lap to bring his car home to a seventh-place finish in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Jamie McMurray finished eighth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Trevor Bayne finished ninth in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    “This is a good weekend,” Bayne said. “A fifth and a ninth. That is a good road course weekend for me considering I am not a road course ace. The thought was to try to get better and I think we did that this weekend. We made progress and that is really good. We are excited. Hopefully, we can keep getting better at these and contend for a win one day.”

    Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-10 in his No. 20 JGR Toyota.

    Kurt Busch, who led three laps, finished 11th. Carl Edwards, who led 25 laps, finished 15th. Danica Patrick, who led 11 laps, finished 21st.

    Coming to the finish, Allmendinger got onto the rumble strip on the inside of turn 11 that got his car loose, turned it into Kyle Larson’s car and sent the 42 car into the inside pit road wall.

    “I turned him,” Allmendinger said. “Not on purpose. The No. 78 started to spin and Kyle and I were racing for fifth there. He defended on the inside, which he should have. And I tried to cut under him off of the last corner and the No. 78 was coming back across the race track. I was under him. He turned. And I just clipped him. I’m just not very happy with myself on that. I don’t want to do that, especially for fourth place. And he did a great job. It’s on me. I never meant to do it. It’s not going to help the case. I know he’s going to be pissed off and he should be pissed off. I’d be.”

    Larson, as Allmendinger said, wasn’t happy.

    “We were running sixth coming to (Turn) 7; the No. 47 was behind me,” Larson said. “He is always aggressive. I figured he would be smart. Obviously, the No. 78 was spinning in front of us. That is a free spot for both of us and just dumped me. He had already ran me down to the front stretch wall once with about 15 to go or so. Pretty dumb move right there too, but I was the smarter one racing for points, lifted, could have wrecked him, but didn’t. I don’t know. I don’t know. He wrecked me earlier in the year at Vegas.  He has ran me hard, but we always race pretty well, but today was flat out stupid. I love his crew chief (Randall Burnett) to death; he was our engineer last year. It just sucks they are going to have to start building some more race cars because he has got a few coming.”

    The race lasted two hours, 27 minutes and 48 seconds at an average speed of 89.513 mph. There were nine lead changes among eight different drivers and eight cautions for 20 laps.

    Keselowski leaves Watkins Glen International the new points leader with a nine-point lead over Kevin Harvick.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/C1622_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Furniture Row Racing Expanding to Two-Car Team in 2017

    Furniture Row Racing Expanding to Two-Car Team in 2017

    Furniture Row Racing confirmed the worst kept secret in the NASCAR world of this past week in that Erik Jones will drive their second car in 2017.

    Speaking in the media center at Watkins Glen International, the team announced that they would expand to a second full-time team starting in 2017. The car will be the No. 77 Toyota and will be driven by the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion.

    “It’s all come together in the last month,” said team owner Barney Visser. “To find a driver like Erik, a sponsor like 5-hour Energy, along with our technical agreement with Gibbs, we think we’re going to be able to run right up where we need to run. We’re very excited to get it all pulled together here.”

    “I was anxious for this day,” Jones said about the announcement. “I’m excited to be here. It’s cool to be a part of Furniture Row and with them growing, and along with 5-hour Energy too. A big company like that is cool this early in my racing career and something that I’ve always wanted. It’s a good feel all around. To see it come together in the past month or so has been a pretty cool experience for me. I have a lot left to do this year, but I’m excited for next year.”

    Jones is signed to drive the car for just this season.

    On the status of getting a charter, Visser said there are “several charters out there that we’re hearing are available. We’ve been looking at it some. We’re not exactly sure where we’re going to be on that. We are going to get a charter, but we’re not sure who we’re going to get it from yet.”

    At the moment, no crew chief has been named to the team.

    “We’re certainly looking to see what the best fits would be in starting that process,” said FRR President Joe Garone. “There’s a lot of those kinds of things ahead of us. We’ll start tackling that after this announcement.”

  • Edwards Grabs the Sprint Cup Pole at The Glen

    Edwards Grabs the Sprint Cup Pole at The Glen

    Carl Edwards will lead the field to the green flag for tomorrow’s race at The Glen.

    The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International after posting a time of 1:09.689 and a speed of 126.562 mph. It’s his 20th career pole in 431 career Sprint Cup Series starts, fourth of 2016 and second at Watkins Glen International.

    Kyle Larson will start second in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:09.871 and a speed of 126.233 mph. Tony Stewart will start third in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:09.902 and a speed of 126.177 mph. Matt Kenseth will start fourth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 1:09.942 and a speed of 126.104 mph. Kyle Busch will round out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 1:09.945 and a speed of 126.099 mph.

    Denny Hamlin will start sixth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Joey Logano will start seventh in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Ryan Newman will start eighth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger will start ninth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray will round out the top-10 in his No. 42 CGR Chevrolet.

    Michael McDowell will start 11th in his No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski will round out the top-10 in his No. 2 Penske Ford.

    Landon Cassill didn’t post a time due to fuel pump issues and will start 40th.

    With 40 cars entered, no one was sent home.

    Twenty-one Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and eight Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field for tomorrow’s race.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/C1622_STARTROW.pdf”]

  • Buescher: ‘It is always big to be able to pull off a win’

    Buescher: ‘It is always big to be able to pull off a win’

    Asked what winning does for his confidence, Chris Buescher said it’s “always big to be able to pull off a win.”

    Speaking before the NASCAR media corp during his media availability, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford – coming off his first career Sprint Cup Series victory just four days earlier in the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway – talked about what winning the race does for him and his team.

    “I remember on the XFINITY side winning at Mid-Ohio. I am not a road course racer by trade, that isn’t how I grew up, but it brought in a new confidence for every racetrack we went to going forward,” Buescher said. “We still had a lot to learn on the ovals then and we actually didn’t get our first oval win in 2014, we had to wait until the next year. It is just a matter of getting the team jacked up and everybody on the same idea going forward that this is for real, a big moment.”

    He discussed how much more of an impact winning a race in a series with a Chase format has versus winning a race in a series with a season-long points format as he did last season in the XFINITY Series when he won the series title.

    “This win with the Chase being the way it is and the point system different from last year in XFINITY, a win basically turns our whole season around,” he said. “It changes everything. It is no longer one win and you move up a spot or two in points. It is one win and you potentially have a spot in the playoffs of our sport. We are not there yet because we have to get into that top-30 but with that win, it gets everybody excited to get to that point.”

    The victory will clinch a spot in the Chase for Buescher provided he’s 30th or higher in points by the time the checkered flag flies at Richmond on September 10.

    Buscher currently resides 31st in points, six points behind 30th place driver David Ragan. With both having a 27.8 average finish, he will have to finish each of the next five races at least one or two spots better than Ragan to out-point him. Both are evenly matched as they’ve both finished eight times in a position above their season to date finishing average. Ragan, however, has completed more laps than Buescher and had one less DNF.

    “We really shouldn’t have been out of it,” Buescher said. “It has just been some circumstances that have gotten us a little off track and from my standpoint, I was trying to add it up and my stock car racing career starting at 16 when I started racing ARCA, I have had three cars that we have had to throw away or at least front clip. That is a rather small number and we have gone through four this year alone. In that circumstance, we have just had really bad luck on superspeedways this season.”

  • Allmendinger Fastest in Final Cup Practice

    Allmendinger Fastest in Final Cup Practice

    AJ Allmendinger topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen International.

    The driver of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 1:09.149 and a speed of 127.551 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 1:09.187 and a speed of 127.481 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was third in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 1:09.222 and a speed of 127.416 mph. Kyle Busch was fourth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:09.241 and a speed of 127.381 mph. Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five in his No. 20 JGR Toyota with a time of 1:09.296 and a speed of 127.280 mph.

    Brad Keselowski was sixth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Michael McDowell was seventh in his No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet. Chase Elliott was eighth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Jeff Gordon was ninth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-10 in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 124.854 mph. Hamlin was second at an average speed of 124.353 mph followed by Keselowski was third at an average speed of 124.348 mph.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/C1622_PRACFINAL.pdf”]

  • Truex Fastest at Watkins Glen in First Sprint Cup Practice

    Truex Fastest at Watkins Glen in First Sprint Cup Practice

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen International.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 1:09.513 and a speed of 126.883 mph. Denny Hamlin was second in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:09.810 and a speed of 126.343 mph. Casey Mears was third in his No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet with a time of 1:10.058 and a speed of 125.896 mph. Carl Edwards was fourth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 1:10.193 and a speed of 125.654 mph. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 1:10.199 and a speed of 125.643 mph.

    Joey Logano was sixth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Brad Keselowski was seventh in his No. 2 Penske Ford. AJ Allmendinger was eighth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Kurt Busch was ninth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10 in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    Keselowski posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 124.223 mph. Edwards was second at an average speed of 124.194 mph. Ryan Blaney, whose fastest single lap was 25th fastest, was third at an average speed of 123.401 mph.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/C1622_PRAC1.pdf”]

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Pocono

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Pocono

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished second in the rain-delayed and rain-shortened Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono as Chris Buescher took the unlikely win.

    “It was an unlikely win by Buescher,” Keselowski said. “And I was the ‘unlikeliest,’ because no one ‘unliked’ it more than me since I finished second.”

    2. Kyle Busch: Busch led one lap and finished ninth at Pocono, posting his 14th top 10 of the year.

    “This day was all about Chris Buescher,” Busch said. “I’m not sure he realizes the magnitude of his victory. Despite the rain, it’s still going to take a while to soak in.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick came home fourth in the rain-shortened Pennsylvania 400, recording his ninth top-five result of the year.

    “I was without my crew chief Rodney Childers,” Harvick said. “He was suspended for the race for a lug nut violation. The lug nut issue wasn’t a big deal until Tony Stewart made it one. So, that’s just one more thing that Tony will get blamed for, and I hold him responsible for damages. Whether or not he accepts blame is another question entirely.”

    4. Joey Logano: Logano was wrecked by Chase Elliott when Elliott got loose in the Tunnel Turn and collected Logano’s No. 22 Penske Racing Ford. Logano finished 37th, 23 laps off the pace.

    “I never thought I’d be wrecked by Chase Elliott,” Logano said. “But, if you get dangerously close to a certain rookie, driver, I suppose you become ‘Chase eligible.’”

    5. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 10th at Pocono, one spot behind younger brother Kyle, in Monday’s Pennsylvania 400.

    “I’m not exactly sure if anyone knows how to pronounce ‘Buescher,’” Busch said. “Luckily, we’ll only have to say it once, because this is probably the last you’ll hear of him.”

    6. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished eighth at Pocono, as Joe Gibbs Racing placed three cars in the top 10.

    “This may be the greatest upset in NASCAR history,” Edwards said. “Buescher is a 22-year-old rookie who just outsmarted a field comprised mostly of veterans to pull off an unlikely win. Often, the outcome at Pocono is decided by fuel mileage. This year, it was all about suspension, because Buescher’s win was a ‘shock.’”

    7. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex started from the pole at Pocono and saw his day sour early when he blew a tire and hit the wall on lap 20.

    “Chris Buescher has the weather to thank for the win,” Truex said. “Ironically, it still rained on his parade.”

    8. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 16th at Pocono and has now gone 16 races since his last win.

    “That means Chris Buescher has more wins this year than me,” Johnson said, “as well as the same number of championships as me in the last five years. But luckily, I have six Sprint Cup championships to fall back on. Ironically, no one’s talked about the ‘Fall Of Jimmie Johnson’ since my last championship in autumn of 2010.”

    9. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished seventh at Pocono as rookie Chris Buescher won his first career Sprint Cup win.

    “Buescher may have just driven himself into the Chase,” Hamlin said. “More than likely, though, this may be his one moment of glory. But let’s face it. He had lots of help, like rain and the onset of darkness. So, if he wants to thank his ‘family,’ he should thank Mother Nature and Father Time.”

    10. Chris Buescher: Buescher won the Pennsylvania 400 by holding off on a pit stop as weather approached. NASCAR called the race with 22 laps remaining, giving Buescher his first Sprint Cup victory.

    “I have to thank the rain,” Buescher said, “as well as each and every cloud in the Pennsylvania sky, particularly Cloud 9, which is the one I’m on.”

  • Bad Day for Truex at Pocono

    Bad Day for Truex at Pocono

    What started as a strong weekend for Martin Truex Jr. ended in disaster pretty fast.

    After scoring the pole and posting the fastest time in final practice, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota had high hopes going into Pocono Raceway. He started off strong by leading the first 16 laps.

    But when the race restarted on lap 20, his day went downhill. He suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2.

    “A lug nut bounced off the ground, fell in behind the wheel behind a pit stop,” Truex said. “It’s just bad luck honestly. I knew something wasn’t right in (turn) one and two and I got real tight off of two on that restart and went down the back and was like, ‘Ah, it feels okay.’ And, as I got closer to the tunnel turn I felt it start to go down and by the time I let off and tried to slow down it was just going straight for the fence.”

    This would be a recurring trend for the rest of his day as he cut his left-front and made an unscheduled stop on lap 41 and cut another tire down around lap 100. He retired from the race and finished 38th.

    He leaves Long Pond, Pennsylvania eighth in points trailing Kevin Harvick by 132.

  • Chris Buescher Gambles to Score First Career Win at Pocono

    Chris Buescher Gambles to Score First Career Win at Pocono

    Eight days after earning a career-best finish at the Brickyard, Chris Buescher opted to play the weather card in the closing stages to win Monday’s weather-shortened Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.

    After coming off a career-best 14th place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford stayed out hoping for a late caution. He got his wish and scored the victory in the Pennsylvania 400.

    “That’s pretty awesome,” Buescher said in victory lane. “Wild circumstances here at Pocono. This is gonna change our whole year right here, so this puts us in a good situation where we had a good day. It was a lot of fun. The guys really toughed it out. We got a flat tire, but we’re headed in the right direction now, so that will help in points. We got a win here, so we’ll take it any way we can get it.

    “Yes, we’ve been definitely headed in the right direction,” he added on his team’s performance. “The last six or seven weeks have been really good for us. Kentucky was gonna be excellent for us, but is just didn’t play out. It’s pretty awesome to be here right now. I don’t know what to do right now. We don’t have any of the team here right now. The car is out on pit road. This is a little different way to celebrate.”

    It’s his first career win in 27 Sprint Cup Series starts, first top-10 finish both of the season and at Pocono Raceway. He’s the first non-Penske Ford driver to win a race since Aric Almirola at Daytona in July of 2014, the first reigning NASCAR XFINITY Series champion to win a race in the Sprint Cup Series since Brad Keselowski in 2011, the first ARCA Series champion to win in the Sprint Cup Series since Benny Parsons and the first Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender to win a race since Joey Logano at New Hampshire in 2009.

    He’s also the 80th different driver to win a race for Ford.

    Keselowski led eight laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

    “Probably five more laps and I think we would have been in great shape, but that’s the way it goes,” Keselowski said. “We had really good speed on the green flag pit stop cycle, which got us in a position to take over the lead and hopefully control the race, but there’s nothing you can do about the fog rolling in.

    “It’s been an interesting weekend here in Pocono. It’s been a lot of fun. I’m really proud of everybody on this Alliance Truck Parts Fusion team.”

    He also took time to congratulate the race winner.

    “I just told him (Chris Buescher) that if I couldn’t win it was cool to see him win,” he said in the media center. “I told him, ‘I can only imagine what’s going through your head right now.’ Just those kind of things. I think he was excited, but he’s kind of the humble, quiet, excited type of guy.”

    It’s his 13th top-10 finish of 2016 and seventh in 14 starts at Pocono.

    Regan Smith rounded out the podium in his No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet.

    “It’s been a strange weekend really weather wise,” Smith said of the race. “There were times yesterday I thought we were going to get to race and the track had like a pond underneath it apparently. I’m just proud of Tommy (Baldwin) and then the guys on the box for kind of realizing there was opportunity for a strategy play there. We have had a decent run today. We were a lot better than we were last time here.”

    It’s his second top-10 finish in 11 starts at Pocono.

    Kevin Harvick led seven laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

    “Our Mobil 1 Chevy has been really fast,” Harvick said. “Obviously, we had one caution come out at the wrong time and the fog here at the end; I felt like we were in a pretty good spot running down to (Turn) 2 and here comes the fog. That’s kind of the way that things have gone this year. It seems like when we have a really fast car we just have some weird circumstances, and today would fall right into that category if they called it right now.”

    Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet.

    “Well, I’m pretty happy with it,” Stewart said. “I’m not sure. I think we can gain a couple of spots, but I’m not sure that we might not go back a couple spots. We might average out at the end. If we end up fifth I’m pretty happy with this today.”

    Kyle Larson led 37 laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin finished seventh in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “My car was pretty fast,” Hamlin said of his Camry. “It’s fast by itself for a few laps and then we lose a little bit of speed, but I think we had a top-three or four car.”

    Carl Edwards finished eighth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Kyle Busch led one lap on his way to a ninth-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Kurt Busch, who dropped to the rear of the field at the start of the race for unapproved adjustments, rounded out the top-10 in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet. He set a new NASCAR record of finishing all laps in the first 21 races of the season.

    “It’s nice to be in position to have completed all the laps,” Busch said of the record. “That is done with a lot of team work. It’s not just one person. It starts at the shop with the quality of cars and congratulations to everybody that has helped be part of this sequence. All-in-all we are finishing on the lead lap, we are finishing top 10 every week. We just know that we need to find a little bit more to be competitive once the Chase starts. All-in-all I can’t say thank you enough to everybody on the No. 41 SHR car.”

    Ryan Newman, who led one lap, finished 12th. Austin Dillon, who led three laps, finished 13th. AJ Allmendinger, who led one lap, finished 14th. Greg Biffle, who led 14 laps, finished 25th. Joey Logano, who led a race-high of 38 laps, finished 37th. Martin Truex Jr., who started on the pole and led 16 laps, was caught up in an early accident and eventually retired from the race in 38th.

    Twenty-eight cars finished the race on the lead lap and 37 were running at the finish.

    The race lasted two hours, 42 minutes and 15 seconds at an average speed of 127.581 mph. There were 19 lead changes among 11 different drivers and seven cautions for 31 laps.

    Harvick leaves with a 22-point lead over Keselowski in the drivers points standings. Race winner Buescher leaves trailing the 30th-place Chase cutoff by six points.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/C1621_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Pennsylvania 400 Postponed to Monday

    Pennsylvania 400 Postponed to Monday

    It may seem like déjà vu, but we’re racing at Pocono on a Monday for a second time this season.

    NASCAR has postponed the Pennsylvania 400 to tomorrow at 11 a.m. due to rain showers. The track was about dry and track officials were dealing with weepers (water coming up out of the track surface) when the skies opened up.

    The amount of time it would have taken to dry the track again, forecasts for more rain and an 8 p.m. sunset forced NASCAR to push the start of tomorrow’s Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway to Monday.

    This is the 39th time a race has been pushed from its original date for rain, the second time a race has been pushed to Monday this season and the first time in NASCAR history that two races at the same track have been postponed by rain in the same season.

    Coverage of the race will resume tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. on NBCSN and at 10:45 on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 11:07.