By the ‘Overtime with Owens’ Staff
LONG POND, PA – Chris Buescher overcame a speeding penalty exiting the pits on lap 94 and led only the final 12 laps to win Monday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, the Pennsylvania 400.
Buescher started 22nd and won the race after the 160-lap event was called official due to overwhelming amounts of fog at the track with 22 laps to go. The race was supposed to be held Sunday but inclement weather postponed it to Monday.
Following Buescher to round out the Top-10 finishers was Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwads, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch.
The win is Buescher’s first-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.
Now that Buescher has won a race, he needs to finish in the Top-30 in the Sprint Cup points standings before the first race of the 2016 Chase if he wants to compete for the 2016 Sprint Cup championship. After the win, Buescher is currently six points behind 30th-place David Ragan.
The race was supposed to be 160 laps for 400 miles, but the ending of the race with 22 laps to go made it only 138 laps for 345 miles.
Jeff Gordon, who has won six times at Pocono in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, finished 27th in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet filling in as a driver of the car for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ next race is on August 7 at Watkins Glen International.
BAD LUCK FOR THE 24
On lap 106, Chase Elliott spun exiting the track’s ‘Tunnel Turn’ (Turn 2) after making contact with Joey Logano’s No. 22 Penske Racing Ford. Elliott would then make contact with the inside wall. He would finish 33rd in the event while Logano would finisg in the 37th position. The wreck hurt Elliotts chase grid position. Fortunately, he is still in the Top-16 in the Chase Grid’s outlook.
Logan led the most laps in the event, leading 38, having led at three different points in the race Larson led the second-most laps, leading 37 He led at four different points in the race.
TO THE BACK
The No. 43 team of Aric Almirola and the No. 41 team of Kurt Busch had to drop to the rear of the field for the start of the event due to respective reasons. The No. 43 team had a rear differential change, while the No. 41 team made an unapproved adjustment, both happening pre-race.
FALLING BACK FROM THE POLE
After starting the race from the pole, Martin Truex Jr. had multiple incidents in the race, as he had an incident in Turn 2 on lap 21, and again in Turn 1 o lap 100. Truex won the pole for the race on Friday in qualfying with a speed in the final round of 179.244 MPH. He would ultimately finish in the 38th position.
FAST FACTS
- The time of the race was 2 Hrs, 42 Mins, and 15 Secs.
- There were 7 cautions for 31 caution laps.
- There were 19 lead changes among 11 drivers.
- The average speed of the event was 127.581 MPH.
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