Late-race decision powers Truex
Pocono win slows Harvick, Busch
LONG POND, Pa. – It’s news these days when anybody not named Kevin Harvick or Kyle Busch wins a NASCAR race, and Martin Truex Jr. made some big news Sunday.
Truex dominated the closing portion of the Pocono 400 and left Harvick and Busch in territory virtually unknown to them, putting Busch third and Harvick fourth at the finish.
For Truex, the defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, and virtually everyone else behind the wheel of a Cup car this year, it’s been a season for stargazing — watching as Harvick or Busch, depending on the week, drive by, seemingly oblivious to the people who are merely posing as competition.
Most striking about the Truex win Sunday, his second this season, was that the race had been colored in Harvick blue for most of the day. He led laps in chunks of 22 and 44 and seemed to be on rails toward the win on an unusual day that saw no accident cautions for the first 125 laps.
But a spate of cautions over the closing miles jumbled the equation and left Harvick hanging.
The closing scenario also blocked the victory door for Busch, who led 13 laps Sunday. Busch grabbed the lead from Harvick on a round of pit stops with 34 laps to go, but Busch’s ride at the front was foiled by a debris caution with 22 laps remaining.
Truex, Harvick, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott stayed out to retain track position during the round of stops while Busch and others pitted for tires.
At many tracks, four new tires would have enabled Busch to zip through traf- fic and move to the front, and he did appear super-fast on the 14-to-go restart. But his advance stalled at third place, and his expected challenge to the Truex lead never developed.
Busch expressed frustration at the caution after the race, implying that the debris might not have been significant enough to cause a yellow.
He said the decision to pit for fresh tires didn’t impact the finish. “Once I got back there, I couldn’t pass those guys,” Busch said. “Four tires didn’t do anything today. It was certainly about being out front.”
The more laps clicked off Sunday, the more it became evident that clean air at the front of the pack indeed would be the day’s kingmaker. That spot belonged to Truex for the final 21 laps. No one was a real threat after he turned back a brief challenge from secondplace Larson on a restart with seven laps to go.
“You’re always concerned on restarts, you just never know. So much can happen on those things,” Truex, who’s from nearby Mayetta, N.J., said in victory lane. “(Crew chief ) Cole (Pearn) made the call to stay out there (and not pit), and once we got clean air, man, this thing’s a rocket ship. I feel we’re getting back to what we did last year.”
Busch and Harvick combined to win nine of the season’s first 13 races. Truex called a halt to that train Sunday. Now the question will become: Can he make it a Big Three at the front over the coming summer stretch?
“The 4 (Harvick) and 18 (Busch) have done an unbelievable job all year,” Pearn said. “We’ve been close. Today let us know we’re working in the right direction.”
Pearn and team manager Joe Garone said the lap times of Harvick, Busch and Truex were remarkably identical for most of the day.
In that case, the driver out front carries a big stick, and Sunday, for a change, it was Truex.