Kyle Busch’s skid done with victory at Pocono
LONG POND, Pa. — Kyle Busch watched the number of laps he has led this season tick, tick, tick as it crossed 1,000, yet he only really cared about the lap he hadn’t led.
The last one.
“We’ve had speed. We’ve been right there,” Busch said. “We’ve been able to do what we should be doing, and that’s running up front.”
For all that time up front, Busch also had the longest losing streak of his career, a rare recession over his time building a résumé even NASCAR Hall of Famers would envy, with the 2015 Cup Series championship, 176 wins across three series and an elite ride for Joe Gibbs Racing.
He can add two more feats to the list — 13 straight years with a win on the top circuit and his first checkered flag at Pocono Raceway. Busch used a bump-and-run move on Kevin Harvick to take the lead with 16 laps left and held on to snap a 36-race losing streak overall and win Sunday.
“I never thought this day would happen,” Busch said.
Busch won from the pole and gave Toyota its 100th Cup Series win since its 2007 debut. Busch had Toyota’s first Cup Series win in March 2008 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Busch had never gone a full season without winning a race. Charlotte Motor Speedway is now the only active NASCAR track where he has failed to win a Cup Series points race.
Busch had seven top-five finishes this season and was runner-up to Austin Dillon in the Coca-Cola 600 at CMS. All the near misses have gnawed at Busch, who won this year’s AllStar race — also at CMS. But the exhibition doesn’t count in the season standings, and Busch was in a victory slump that dated to the 2016 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
He was racing for the lead last weekend at Indy when he wrecked with Martin Truex Jr., which led to a pit road altercation between members of both teams.
Truex was third at Pocono, followed by Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski.
Harvick, who hasn’t won in 34 career races at Pocono, said he had nothing for Busch down the stretch.
“There was no battle. He was way faster than we were,” Harvick said.
Newgarden again
LEXINGTON, Ohio — Josef Newgarden dominated at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to win the Honda Indy 200, his second straight IndyCar victory.
Newgarden was not challenged for most of the 90-lap event on the 2.2-mile course, finishing 5.156 seconds ahead of Team Penske teammate Will Power, who started in pole position. Newgarden, a native of Hendersonville, Tenn., has six career wins, including three this season.
Graham Rahal was third and Simon Pagenaud finished fourth.
Victory for Vettel
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel overcame steering difficulties to win the Hungarian Grand Prix and extend his championship lead over rival Lewis Hamilton by 14 points heading into the summer break.
The four-time Formula One champion started from pole position and held off teammate Kimi Raikkonen to earn his 46th career victory in the series. They were followed by Mercedes teammates Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fifth after knocking teammate Daniel Ricciardo out of the race on the first lap.