Busch Saves Enough Fuel to Win at Pocono

Kyle Busch won the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 from Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon in the second race of the Pocono doubleheader.

Busch persevered through numerous struggles with his car throughout the race. In the second stage, Busch’s transmission got stuck in fourth gear and they lost the clutch.  That caused Busch to struggle getting on and off pit road along with restart issues.

While the team attempted to fix the issues, Busch pitted a lap later than the rest of the leaders.  Fuel became an issue over the final run, and Busch inherited the lead when William Byron and Denny Hamlin ran out of gas.

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Busch said he didn’t think he could win after struggling with the shifter all day.

“Just playing the strategy the best we could with what was given to us,” Busch said.  “I still felt like we had the fastest car even though we were in the back and behind.”

Busch said the biggest struggle throughout the race was getting caught back up to the field before the restarts with his car unable to accelerate properly.

“Trying to time the restart right,” Busch said.  “Leave pit road and then come back around and be at full speed by the time the field takes the start/finish line.  We were a little bit off on that.”

Kyle Larson finished second on Sunday, and said the difference may have been Busch’s late pit stop.

“I thought [Busch] was going to run out,” Larson said.  “I saw [Denny Hamlin] run out and…they’re teammates.  I guess the 18 did pit a lap after us under caution, so that actually probably won them the race.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kyle Larson

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Bubba Wallace

6. Ryan Blaney

7. Alex Bowman

8. Ryan Preece

9. Tyler Reddick

10. Joey Logano

11. Martin Truex Jr.

12. William Byron

13. Austin Dillon

14. Denny Hamlin

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Aric Almirola

17. Michael McDowell

18. Matt DiBenedetto

19. Chris Buescher

20. Kurt Busch

21. Chase Briscoe

22. Ryan Newman

23. Corey LaJoie

24. Cole Custer

25. Justin Allgaier

26. Ross Chastain

27. Chase Elliott

28. Cody Ware

29. BJ McLeod

30. James Davison

31. Erik Jones

32. Christopher Bell

33. Quin Houff

34. Anthony Alfredo

35. Josh Bilicki

36. Garrett Smithley

37. Timmy Hill

38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

James Gilbert/Getty Images

Bowman Surprises with Pocono Victory

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Alex Bowman won the Pocono Organics CBD 325 from Pocono Raceway in the first-half of the Pocono doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.

Bowman took the lead on the final restart and had a hard battle with teammate Kyle Larson for the lead over the final 20 laps.  Larson got around Bowman in the closing laps, and looked set to win his fourth-consecutive points race.

Headed into the final corner, Larson’s left-front tire came apart and that allowed Bowman to get by to get to victory lane.

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Bowman said he thought he had given the win away after Larson took the lead.

“We kind of gave the lead away; we were on two tires and just got super tight,” Bowman said.  “Tried to hold him off as long as I could.  We didn’t run that good all day, so I’m kind of in shock.”

Larson still finished ninth after riding the wall around the final turn. 

Larson said he was upset that his win streak came to an end after fighting his teammate for the lead.

“Hate that we didn’t get another win; would have been cool to win five in a row,” Larson said.  “One thing that’s kind of keeping me excited – and not depressed – is we get to go back again tomorrow.”

With no tire problems during the race on Saturday, Larson said he didn’t have any indication that the tire was going to come apart.

“I felt something right in the middle of the tunnel and wasn’t quite sure what it was yet,” Larson said.  “Then it kind of shredded halfway through the short-chute there and couldn’t turn.”

“Hate that we didn’t get the win, but cool that Alex still did.  Cool to keep Mr. H’s streak going.”

Unofficial results:
1. Alex Bowman

2. Kyle Busch

3. William Byron

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Kurt Busch

7. Joey Logano

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Kyle Larson

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Tyler Reddick

12. Chase Elliott

13. Daniel Suarez

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. Aric Almirola

17. Christopher Bell

18. Martin Truex Jr.

19. Michael McDowell

20. Chris Buescher

21. Austin Dillon

22. Erik Jones

23. Ryan Preece

24. Chase Briscoe

25. Cody Ware

26. Anthony Alfredo

27. Justin Haley

28. James Davison

29. Garrett Smithley

30. BJ McLeod

31. Quin Houff

32. Matt DiBenedetto

33. Ross Chastain

34. Josh Bilicki

35. Timmy Hill

36. Corey LaJoie

37. Ryan Newman

38. Cole Custer

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Larson Continues to Dominate, Wins in NASCAR's Return to Nashville

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Larson won the Ally 400 in NASCAR’s return to Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon.

Larson turned in another dominant performance on Sunday, and led a race-high 264 laps on his way to victory lane.

Larson was tasked with saving fuel over the final 70 laps, after a late pit stop forced many of the leaders to save almost 10 laps of fuel.  Larson quickly got out to a large lead, and he was able to save enough fuel over the final run.

Larson said his car was fast enough that he only had to defend the lead on restarts.

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“We never really had to run behind people,” Larson said.  “If one of my teammates had gotten out front, it probably would have been hard to pass them.”

The victory was Larson’s third in a row, in addition to his win in last weekend’s All-Star Race.

Larson said his team brought another strong car to continue his dominant summer.

“The Valvoline Chevrolet was really good,” Larson said.  “Our pit crew did an awesome job again…I just hope we can keep it going.”

Ross Chastain was the highest-finishing driver who pitted under the final stop to top-off on fuel, and he finished second.  After he got around the other leaders who were saving fuel, he was still five seconds behind Larson and ran out of laps to catch the eventual winner.

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Ross Chastain

3. William Byron

4. Aric Almirola

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

7. Daniel Suarez

8. Kurt Busch

9. Christopher Bell

10. Joey Logano

11. Kyle Busch

12. Austin Dillon

13. Chase Elliott

14. Ryan Newman

15. Alex Bowman

16. Corey LaJoie

17. Michael McDowell

18. Anthony Alfredo

19. Tyler Reddick

20. Erik Jones

21. Bubba Wallace

22. Denny Hamlin

23. Martin Truex Jr.

24. Brad Keselowski

25. Matt DiBenedetto

26. Garrett Smithley

27. Josh Bilicki

28. JJ Yeley

29. BJ McLeod

30. Joey Gase

31. Cole Custer

32. Chase Briscoe

33. Ryan Preece

34. Chad Finchum

35. David Starr

36. Justin Haley

37. Chris Buescher

38. Ryan Blaney

39. Quin Houff

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Larson Stays Hot, Wins at Sonoma

Kyle Larson won the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his second-consecutive victory.

Larson started on the pole on Sunday, and led a race-high 57 laps on his way to victory.

Larson had to hold off his teammate Chase Elliott in the closing laps.  Elliott, who has the most wins on road course among active drivers, tried to find a way around Larson over the final three restarts.

Larson said he didn’t like having to give Elliott so many chances over the final batch of restarts.

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“I felt like I did a good job the one before, and stretched it out a little bit,” Larson said.  “I didn’t want to give him another try at it, but he kept the pressure on.”

Larson was born in Southern California, and said it was special to pick up a victory at his home track.

“This will always be home to me, even if I live way out on the East Coast,” Larson said.  “To get back-to-back wins in the Cup Series is something I’ve always dreamt of doing, and to get it done feels great.”

Elliott said he didn’t know what else he could have done to get past his teammate and get to victory lane.

“I feel like we were a lot better there at the end than we were at the beginning,” Elliott said.  “I wish we could have gotten another spot but we’ll try again.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Chase Elliott

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Joey Logano

5. Kyle Busch

6. Kurt Busch

7. Ross Chastain

8. Denny Hamlin

9. Alex Bowman

10. Ryan Blaney

11. Erik Jones

12. Daniel Suarez

13. Austin Dillon

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Brad Keselowski

16. Chris Buescher

17. Chase Briscoe

18. Corey LaJoie

19. Tyler Reddick

20. Cole Custer

21. Ryan Preece

22. Kevin Harvick

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Christopher Bell

25. James Davison

26. Scott Heckert

27. Aric Almirola

28. Michael McDowell

29. Josh Bilicki

30. Ben Rhodes

31. Anthony Alfredo

32. Garrett Smithley

33. Ryan Newman

34. Cody Ware

35. William Byron

36. Quin Houff

37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images