The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series raced the “Tricky Triangle” Sunday (7/29) and it was Kyle Busch coming out on top of the Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Several cars failed post-qualifying race inspection and had to start from back in the field as a result including Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Kevin was the talk of the garage as the car to beat in the race prior to that penalty.
It didn’t take Kevin long to show the talk was accurate as he raced through the field to get to the front. Chase Elliott was able to claim the win in stage one. Kevin did win stage two. However, a pit row incident with Aric Almirola again forced Kevin to restart the race from the back of the pack late in the race. While he was able to race back toward the front, he ran out of laps before he could challenge for the win.
Kyle Busch moved through the field from the back of the pack after the start of the race. His car needed adjustments through most of the race to give him a shot. His team made those adjustments and eventually Kyle got out front of the field.
A late race caution period put the race into NASCAR’s overtime of a green-white-checkered finish. When the green flag waived, Kyle was able to get to keep the lead of the race and defend his 2017 win of this race and bring his Pocono Raceway cup series win total to two and 2018 season win total to six.
Daniel Suarez claimed the second place finish with Alex Bowman finishing in third place. Kevin Harvick was able to get back close to the front for a fourth place finish while Erik Jones rounded out the top five. See the complete race results for the Gander Outdoors 400 here.
Following the race at the “Tricky Triangle” the “Big Three” for the cup series this year hold steady at the top of the point standings with Kyle Busch at #1, Kevin Harvick at #2 and Martin Truex Jr. at #3. Joey Logano also holds on this his 4th pace ranking while Clint Bowyer moves up to take over 5th place. See the complete Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
This week the drivers will race on the road course of Watkins Glen International in the GoBowling at The Glen Sunday afternoon, August 5th.
By: Buck Stevens
