Busch wins at Pocono, ends Hendrick’s streak
Kyle Busch came through in the clutch. Even when he raced without one.
Busch busted Hendrick Motorsports’ winning streak and denied the organization a shot at NASCAR history when he raced to his second victory of the season Sunday at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
Busch took a broken Toyota to victory lane.
Busch, runner-up in Saturday’s opening Pocono race, ran into trouble early when a leak in the transmission left the car stuck in fourth gear. He needed an assist from a Joe Gibbs Racing crew member who slid in the passenger’s side window on one pit stop and tried to pry the stick back into gear.
The 2 1/2-mile tri-oval wreaked havoc on fuel and William Byron and Denny Hamlin all saw their shot at the checkered flag disappear over the final five laps when they ran out of gas.
Kyle Larson, whose blown tire on the last lap cost him a win Saturday, was second for Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick had won six straight Cup races, including Alex Bowman’s victory Saturday in the first race of Pocono’s doubleheader.
Brad Keselowski was third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Bubba Wallace was fifth in his best finish of the season for Michael Jordan’s 23IX team.
Formula One
Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen dominated the Styrian Grand Prix on Sunday in Spielburg, Austria, to win back-to-back races for the first time in his career.
With a clean start from pole, the Red Bull driver denied Lewis Hamilton an early attack and he remained ahead for the entire race, beating his Mercedes rival by more than 35 seconds.
Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas finished third ahead of Sergio Perez as Red Bull and Mercedes occupied the top four places for the second consecutive time.
It was Verstappen’s 14th career win and fourth of the season, increasing his lead over the seven-time world champion in the drivers’ standings to 18 points after eight races.
Xfinity
Austin Cindric won his fourth Xfinity Series race of the season, holding off a hard-charging Ty Gibbs on a Sunday full of big hits at Pocono Raceway.
Gibbs was second, followed by Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson and AJ Allmendinger.