According to officials at Pocono Raceway, they don’t release the number of fans who stayed the extra day to watch the race, however they did receive a complement from NASCAR on the amount of people who did stay twice this summer. I knew something wasn’t right in (Turn) 1, and I got real tight on that restart and went down the back and was like, ‘Ah, it feels okay’.
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No need. He was declared the victor after about an 80-minute delay.
So a quiet driver ended up in a quiet Victory Lane in a garage since NASCAR couldn’t use the real Victory Lane because of the threat of lightning. Six-time Pocono victor Jeff Gordon will start 24th. “It’s not going to [sink in] for a while”, Buescher said of the win, which came in his 27th career Sprint Cup start.
Buescher entered the race outside the top 30 in points, and cracking the top 30 was one of the two major requirements of making the Chase. It is the best the three have collectively looked as a unit all season.
The limited resource Front Row Motorsports organization, which enjoyed victory once before when David Ragan won at Talladega, now finds itself in position to have their driver in the Chase.
The 23-year-old Buescher, a former ARCA champion, rested against a fence and was swarmed by fans and photographers wanting a picture with him before the race was even called.
CREW CHIEF: Buescher won with crew chief Bob Osborne, who used to work on the pit box for Carl Edwards.
“Been working toward this since – when we really decided we were going to do this as a career and not a hobby”.
“These things don’t come easy at all”, Byron said.
So it would make a lot of sense for Roush and Ford to hedge their bets with their best shot to make the Chase and send additional help to Buescher, if that’s even remotely possible.
Keselowski is a four-time victor this season, tied for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series lead with Kyle Busch.
On Lap 118, Dillon moved past Busch to take second place from there moved in on Larson and the two drivers who almost wrecked each other 60 laps earlier were running nose-to-tail. Six laps later, heavy fog rolled in and blanketed the 2½-mile triangular track to bring out the yellow flag.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever had that happen with this type of mechanism”, Gordon said, “where you just plug it in and it latches”. Martin Truex Jr.is on the pole and Kurt Busch tries to sweep Pocono in the track’s second Monday race of the season. But Jones remains the only series driver with more than one of those in 2016. He had multiple issues once he returned to the track and finished 38th. Truex said his No. 78 Toyota was strong enough to contend for a victory.
Goodyear said a valve stem on the inner liner of the tire was knocked off when Truex pitted, which caused the tire to go flat. You can equate some of that to being a rookie, but based on what teammate Landon Cassill has done (albeit with some bad luck), this is about what FRM is this season.
Jones wasn’t the only driver to take advantage of having a good vehicle at a stand-alone event. “I was literally on cruise control and driving away”.
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Greg Biffle: Knowing he needs a win to qualify for the Chase, he gambled on pit strategy for much of the race.
