After the race was called and Chris Buescher had sealed his first career Sprint Cup Series victory, fans enjoyed one of those rare days where the normal contenders are upset by one lucky driver.
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In his first year with Roush Fenway in 2014, Buescher was third in the rookie race in the Xfinity Series, then won the championship last year with two wins, beating back the challenge of the more heralded Elliott, among others.
“This is a day off of work to come up and see it in case of a rain delay”. We’ve always stated that we will make every effort to get a complete race in, and in this case since we hadn’t lost the track, we wanted to wait. It’s the second win for his team, Front Row Motorsports. The other came 118 races ago, when David Ragan won at Talladega in May 2013. “This is going to change our whole year right here … this puts us in a good situation where we had a good day”.
“Kyle Busch breaks an awesome record last week and I break an terrible record this week”, a disappointed Igdalsky said in the media center.
No matter how long Gibbs’ clear advantage lasts, it’s unlikely the rest of the series catches up before the end of the year, which makes this Sprint Cup title JGR’s to lose.
While NASCAR tracks don’t release attendance numbers, Igdalsky said Pocono was on pace for its biggest crowd in years.
Regan Smith finished second, Brad Keselowski was third, Bakersfield’s Kevin Harvick fourth and Tony Stewart was fifth, respectively.
Greg Biffle (16) leads the pack on an early restart during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pennsylvania 400 auto race at Pocono Raceway, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in Long Pond, Pa. Ragan, in his first season with BK Racing, has posted a 27.6 average finish over 21 starts, basically two positions better per race than Buescher.
Rain returned, along with lightning, during the red flag and fog remained, leading NASCAR to call the race official. Teams showed more urgency, knowing it could be halted due to the inclement conditions at any moment.
Buescher was out of sequence in pit strategy because he cut down a left-rear while trying to avoid an accident. He compounded matters by speeding off pit road and was assessed a pass-through penalty and fell one lap down. “I tried not to get my hopes up because I know how these things can play out”. I think he’s a pretty good driver that is in line to get an even better opportunity in his career.
“I never thought I’d be wrecked by Chase Elliott“, Logano said.
It turned out to be the right decision. He started second and led 61 laps.
After heavy rain Sunday morning, NASCAR and track personnel began track-drying activity and got the track mostly dry.
The cars were initially kept out on the track for six laps under caution and then eventually pulled to pit road. “It worked out really well”. We can get into this Chase now. The fog rolled across the track and created problems with visibility.
Pocono Raceway made the history in 2016 no track would ever want to make.
The Frenchman started from the pole, showing no signs of a back injury sustained in practice Friday.
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Buescher still must finish in the top 30 of the Sprint Cup standings in order to qualify for the season-ending Chase.
