Matt Kenseth Wins Fuel-Mileage Race at Pocono

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Matt Kenseth won a wild fuel-mileage race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon.  

Joey Logano led a race-high 97 laps during the Windows 10 400, but he ran out of fuel just three laps from the finish.  That handed the lead to Kyle Busch, who had won four of the last five races.

Photo courtesy Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Busch ran out of fuel after taking the white flag, and Kenseth was able to take the lead from his teammate coming out of Turn 1 with enough fuel to take the checkered flag.

“We had a very fast Dollar General Camry,” Kenseth said.  “Didn’t get to show it all day…but I felt we had fast cars here.  I never thought I’d ever win in Pocono and I never thought I’d win a fuel-mileage race, so we did both today.”

Busch, who challenged for the lead most of the day, saw himself within reach of a Chase spot before running out of fuel.  Following his 21st place finish, Busch still sits outside the top 30 in points, just 13 points away from locking himself into the Chase for the Sprint Cup with five races remaining before the cutoff in Richmond.

“I didn’t know we were that close,” Busch said.  “I wish I would have saved a little more and I wish I would have known the 22 [of Logano] was that far away from making it.”

“That’s a bummer…a shame we weren’t able to make it.”

Unofficial results:

1. Matt Kenseth

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Jeff Gordon

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

5. Greg Biffle

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Tony Stewart

10. Carl Edwards

11. Paul Menard

12. Kyle Larson

13. Austin Dillon

14. Landon Cassill

15. Jamie McMurray

16. Danica Patrick

17. David Ragan

18. Aric Almirola

19. Martin Truex Jr.

20. Joey Logano

21. Kyle Busch

22. Denny Hamlin

23. Ryan Newman

24. Justin Allgaier

25. Alex Bowman

26. Michael Annett

27. Cole Whitt

28. Casey Mears

29. Matt DiBenedetto

30. J.J. Yeley

31. Brett Moffitt

32. Travis Kvapil

33. David Gilliland

34. Reed Sorenson

35. Jeb Burton

36. Timmy Hill

37. Kurt Busch

38. Alex Kennedy

39. Sam Hornish Jr.

40. Trevor Bayne

41. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

42. Kevin Harvick

43. Kasey Kahne

Photo courtesy Tim Bradbury/Getty Images