LONG POND, Pa. — Kurt Busch claimed his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in nearly a year on Monday at Pocono Raceway when he took the checkered flag in the Axalta We Paint Winners 400.
The race, originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon, was postponed a day because of rain and dense fog at the track.
“This is a wonderful win for us,” Busch said. “We have been so close all year. It’s a matter of just putting it all together — pit crew, engine. Thanks to Hendrick engines and Chevrolet and everybody that works on these bodies, the chassis, you name it.
“It’s just so much fun to drive and to be competitive and to be up front. Thanks a lot.”
The win came with interim crew chief, John Klausmeier, atop the pit box.
Klausmeier, normally a race engineer, filled-in for regular crew chief, Tony Gibson, who was serving a one-race suspension for a lug nut issue the previous race weekend at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
“Well, it’s special anytime you win,” Busch said. “For Tony Gibson to be out this week because of a lug nut issue, we had to overcome a lot.
“Johnny Klausmeier, our interim crew chief, our lead engineer — he stepped up, and when you do that, it makes you really feel about that team camaraderie, that team chemistry and that team effort.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, Brad Keselowski was third, Chase Elliott fourth, and Joey Logano finished fifth.
The first laps of the race were led by either Busch or Earnhardt and things started to get interesting during a restart melee on lap 122 when Jimmie Johnson got into the wall.
The yellow was re-displayed and when the race returned to green, Earnhardt was in the lead, while Busch restarted fourth. Busch took second from Chase Elliott and then got by Earnhardt to take the top spot soon after the race returned to green.
“I should have been able to hold that No. 41 (Busch) off on that final restart,” Earnhardt said. “Me and the No. 24 (Elliott) was racing pretty hard, and it gave the No. 41 the opportunity to get a run on us.
“I should have been able to defend that a little bit better. If I could have got in front of him, I don’t think he would have got by us. The car wasn’t all we hoped it would be, but it was good. They worked on it and improved it.”
Elliott led a race-high 51 laps after taking the top spot from Matt Kenseth on a restart that followed the fourth caution of the race that came out on lap 59.
Other drivers led laps through cycles during green-flag pit stops and varying pit strategies, but Elliott was usually up front until the ninth caution of the race came with Austin Dillon hit the wall on lap 117.
“I’m just really proud of the car we had today,” Elliott said. “What a fast NAPA Chevy and had a car that could compete for the lead all day. There were definitely times we were better than others.
“I wish once we had taken a couple of those green flags after the cautions, we could have got going and ran some laps. That is not how the day unfolded, so we will take it and move on.”
Drivers pitting for fuel only or two tires only shuffled Elliott outside the top-five for the lap 122 restart.
Team Penske teammates Keselowski and Logano started the race on the front row with Keselowski as the pole sitter.
Logano took the lead on the first lap and was up front for the first 17 laps before Kyle Larson stayed out during a competition caution for track position and restarted with the lead. Logano lost several additional pit stops during the yellow flag as several drivers took only two tires.
When the yellow flag waved again on lap 22, things looked bad for Team Penske, at least temporarily, as Keselowski was penalized for an illegal body modification on pit road and Logano drifted back through the field after suffering damage from an incident with Ryan Newman.
Larson gave up the lead for a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 27, handing the point over to Matt Kenseth and second to Elliott. Kevin Harvick also led laps before Elliott took command of the top spot.
Harvick was able to stay out for several laps during a cycle of green-flag pit stop to lead laps after overcoming a pit-road speeding penalty handed to him during an early-race caution.
NOTES: Like Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and A.J. Allmendinger also were without their regular crew chiefs at Pocono Raceway as their crew chiefs served suspensions handed to them because of rules infractions committed at Charlotte Motor Speedway. … The Axalta 400 featured a new tire compound for Pocono, and the race is the first at the track for the latest low-downforce aerodynamic package. Compounding those unknowns, weather issues throughout the weekend limited practice time. … Matt Kenseth was the most recent winner at Pocono, winning at the track in August 2015. Martin Truex Jr., who dominated and won last weekend’s race at Charlotte, was last year’s Axalta 400 winner. … Pocono is one of only two tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule at which reigning champion Kyle Busch has not won. The other is Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. … Kyle Larson won the rain-shortened NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Pocono on Saturday, leading 27 of the 53 completed laps.