Kyle’s number Inspections shift lineup; Suarez will start on pole
LONG POND, Pa. — Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick shared laughs side by side on a podium only days after they were tangled up in bump-and-run racing on a NASCAR track.
The would-be front-row starters were connected again Saturday at Pocono Raceway when their cars failed post-qualifying inspection and their times were disallowed.
Harvick had turned a lap of 177.750 mph to briefly win the pole position for today’s Cup Series race, and Busch was a few ticks behind him, but now they’ll start at the rear of the field. Seven-time season champion Jimmie Johnson joined Busch and Harvick among the whopping 13 drivers whose cars failed inspection and will start at the bottom of the lineup in order of team owners’ points.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Daniel Suarez will start first, making him the first Mexican driver to win a pole in the Cup Series. With 400 miles of racing on a 2 1/2-mile tri-oval ahead, though, there’s ample time for Busch and Harvick to find their way to the front.
“I’ve screwed it up here a lot,” Harvick said.
He could pin this mistake on his team. Harvick, the 2014 Cup Series champion, has 43 victories at NASCAR’s highest level but has yet to win a Cup Series race at Pocono (0-for-35) or Kentucky Speedway (0-for-8). He does have two runner-up finishes and two fourth-place showings in his past four races at Pocono.
“My guys put a lot of effort into coming to Kentucky and Pocono every year just because they know that the last two years, they have been the tracks that are still on the list,” Harvick said. “They know it would be nice to have that race completed.”
Busch then leaned over and needled Harvick that he’d have to win at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the new road course to complete the series sweep. Busch has won at every active Cup Series track on the schedule, but some critics have saide the milestone won’t count until he wins on the new layout this year. “That’s fair,” Harvick said. Harvick had been a favorite to get that coveted checkered flag in the No. 4 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing. He leads the series with six wins this year and is coming off a win last week in New Hampshire, where he zipped to the front with a textbook bump-and-run maneuver on Busch in the waning laps
Harvick has made a habit of reeling off victories this year, winning three straight races early in the season and two straight in May.
Busch won the Camping World Trucks Series race on Saturday then hit 177.434 in qualifying and joined Harvick on the front row. Busch has five wins this season in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota and has formed with Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. what has been dubbed the Big Three of NASCAR. The trio have won 15 of 20 Cup Series races in 2018.
“You have to embrace it at this point,” Harvick said. “A lot of people show up in the grandstands wanting to see him race me and me race with him. Martin’s right in there as well. I’d rather be in the Big Three than not. I’d rather be winning races and in the conversation, because I’ve been on the other side and it’s way less fun.”
Suarez, winless in 56 Cup Series races, has never started better than third in his two-year career. He’s 20th in the standings with four top-10 finishes this season and likely would need a win to make the playoffs.
“We know we can run well and run in the front,” Suarez said. “The results haven’t been there, but this is a good thing for us.”
Bell wins again
AMES, Iowa — Christopher Bell’s hot run in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series isn’t over yet — even though nearly everything that could go against him did down the stretch at Iowa Speedway on Saturday.
Bell moved back out front in overtime to win a wild race at Newton’s bull ring, becoming the first Xfinity Series regular with three straight victories since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1999.
Coming off victories in Kentucky and New Hampshire, Bell led 94 of 257 laps. He has four wins overall this season, best in the series.
“When it’s your day, it’s your day,” Bell said. “I’ll take them any way I can get them, man.”
Bell fell back to fourth in the first attempt at overtime before a red flag halted the race. He retook control in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota, going low to beat Justin Allgaier — the winner of the June race in Iowa.
Allgaier was second, followed by Kyle Benjamin and Ross Chastain.
Bell seized the top spot early in the final stage and, after a clean final pit stop, seemed set to cruise to a victory if the race stayed green. It didn’t, and Bell nearly got knocked out of the race in the first of three late incidents that set up a thrilling finish.
Bell avoided a nearly disastrous crash with 14 laps left when Chase Briscoe spun out right in front of him. Bell somehow kept his car largely clean, and he held first on a restart with nine laps left before Garrett Smithley spun out to draw another flag that brought on overtime.
Allgaier got the best of the field on that restart, though, emerging from the pack on the high groove to grab the lead. That wouldn’t last — Max Tullman and Matt Tifft drew the red flag with a big crash before the first overtime lap could be completed.
When the race resumed, Bell and Allgaier bumped before Bell jumped ahead.
“(Bell) drove into me and tried to put me into the wall,” Allgaier said. “It’s disappointing to be in that position, especially when you think you know how somebody is going to race you … unfortunately that’s Iowa. And (Bell) definitely had the best car. No questions asked.”
LONG POND, Pa. — Kyle Busch stood on the window ledge of his truck, raised his arms in triumph, then slapped an appropriate number on the roof for a record-tying celebration.
Driving the No. 51 Toyota for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports team, he earned his 51st career win in Camping World Truck Series competition, matching the series record.
Busch held off Erik Jones down the stretch to win Saturday at Pocono.
“It’s kind of funny the way the numbers work out, isn’t it?” Busch said.
He matched NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Ron Hornaday Jr., who needed 296 starts to reach his 51st win. Busch won his in just his 145th career start. Busch now has 191 combined victories at NASCAR’s top three levels.
He was pushed hard by Jones down the stretch, and they battled side by side for the lead. Busch shook off Jones — the two are teammates in Cup Series competition for Joe Gibbs Racing — and pulled away over the final laps to win for the second time in the series this season.