|
 "Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) just told me to just keep saving
(fuel)," Kenseth said. "We talked about it a little bit before the
race and just saved as much as we could. So, again, just need to
thank all of my partners and all our sponsors on this car and
everybody back at Joe Gibbs Racing. Glad to get one here at Pocono."
It was the second win of the 2015 season for Kenseth and the fourth
consecutive victory for Joe Gibbs Racing, adding to Kyle Busch's
wins in the last three races.
Brad Keselowski finished second, Jeff Gordon was third, Dale
Earnhardt Jr. placed fourth and Greg Biffle rounded out the top
five.
Keselowski barely had enough fuel, running out just as he approached
the start/finish line for the last time.
"I did (run out), right as we were coming to the finish," Keselowski
said. "I think our fuel mileage is pretty strong and pretty equal
between all the Ford cars; it just didn't come together for Joey
today and it did for us."
Joey Logano and Busch, who ran up front throughout much of the race,
ran first and second with two laps remaining, both shutting off
their engines at points on the race track under green-flag
conditions. But it was all for naught, with Logano running out of
fuel with less than two laps to go, and Busch running out with about
half a lap remaining. As a result, Logano was credited with a
20th-place finish and Busch 21st.
"I guess our numbers, from what Todd (Gordon, crew chief) said, was
good enough to make it by a half a lap," Logano said. "I was saving
fuel just to cushion it. I thought I was going to be good and then I
started running out and knew we weren't going to make it. It was
tough."
Logano led a race-high 97 laps of the 160-lap race before running
out of fuel.
"We did everything right today," Logano said. "We had such a fast
Shell Pennzoil Ford and got clean air and stayed up there, and the
pit crew did awesome on pit road and kept me up where I needed to
be."
Martin Truex Jr., running third before Logano ran out of fuel, also
ran out fuel and wound up 19th.
Logano gave up the lead to pit for what his team expected to be the
last time on lap 123. Among others to pit on the same lap were Truex
and Busch, who were running second and third to Logano at the time
of the stops.
A slow stop for Truex when he slid through his pit stall allowed
Busch to get off pit road ahead of him to claim the second spot
behind Logano after the rest of the race field eventually cycled
through pit stops. With stops completed, Truex was a distant third,
six seconds behind the two front-runners.
Busch started on the pole, with Kevin Harvick next to him on the
front row. Harvick inherited the lead when Busch pitted during the
second caution of the race, a competition yellow flag on lap 15.
After his stop, Busch restarted outside the top 10 in 11th, with
Logano in 12th.
Throughout much of the remainder of the race, pit strategies varied,
putting several drivers at the front of the field, including Kurt
Busch, Keselowski and Danica Patrick. But for most of the race,
Logano led the way, with Kyle Busch not far behind.
When Kurt Busch was up front early in the race, he battled his
Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Harvick until Harvick lost his engine
right after taking the lead on lap 20.
[to top of second column] |
"Coming around turn two, I knew some issues but didn't realize they
were going to be that big," Harvick said. "But, all in all, I'm just
really proud of my team. The car was fast. You'll have days like
this."
Busch had problems of his own, spinning and then getting hit hard by
Sam Hornish Jr. on a restart on lap 65.
"Kurt was trying to hold on to it, and I saw that he got it
straightened back out and it is one of those things where everything
stops smoking long enough that you think he has it back under
control again and then it is just wobbling around on him.
Unfortunate for us, for sure."
The yellow flag waved often throughout the 160-lap race, with those
yellow flags separated into two groups, one group occurring in the
early laps and the other about halfway through. The first four
cautions came in the first 27 laps, the first of those leading to a
14-minute, 43-second red flag inside the first 10 laps when Kasey
Kahne made hard contact with the inside pit road retaining wall,
damaging the wall.
A second rash of cautions began with a debris caution on lap 61.
That yellow flag led to four cautions between laps 61 and 91, two of
those coming on restarts from the immediately preceding cautions.
Logano and Kyle Busch ran first and second after the final caution
of the race that came on lap 91. Busch lost a few positions on the
restart, including spots to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin
and Truex. Truex got by Hamlin for second, and Busch eventually
moved back up to third.
Other top-10 finishers included Jimmie Johnson in sixth, A.J.
Allmendinger in seventh, Clint Bowyer in eighth and Tony Stewart in
ninth.
NOTES: Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at
Pocono Raceway on Saturday. Kevin Harvick finished second. ... Busch
headed into Sunday's race as the winner of the last three races and
four of the last five. ... Martin Truex Jr. won the last time the
Sprint Cup Series visited Pocono in June. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr.
swept both Pocono races last year. ... Joey Logano finished in the
top five in six of the seven races leading up to Sunday's race at
Pocono. ... A Team Penske driver (Logano or Brad Keselowski)
finished second to Busch in the three most recent races before
Sunday.
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reserved.]
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