Late surge carries Busch to victory in Pennsylvania 500
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) – Kurt Busch dominated at the beginning, surged back to the lead late and raced to his second win of the season Sunday in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. The defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champion led 110 of the first 150 laps on the 2.5-mile triangle and kept his fifth place spot in the points standings with six races left to decide the 10 drivers who will race for the title.
The “Chase for the Cup” begins at New Hampshire International Speedway on Sept. 18.
Busch passed second-place finisher Rusty Wallace coming out of turn three with 17 laps left and held on to the lead even as four cautions came out before the end, which forced three extra laps and the green-white checkered flag.
Perhaps driving his last race at Pocono, Mark Martin finished third and Carl Edwards followed his win on the mountaintop in June with a fourth-place finish.
“We couldn’t run with Kurt on the last set of tires,” Martin said.
The result was particularly impressive for Edwards who was forced to start at the back of the field because he skipped qualifying to compete in Saturday’s Busch Series race. Somehow, he made it near the front of the pack – just not far enough.
Jimmie Johnson maintained his overall points lead with a 12th place finish.
Busch had the strongest car from the beginning, taking the lead from polestitter Jamie McMurray on the first turn of the first lap.
Busch started second in his No. 97 Ford and needed just 113 laps to clinch the five bonus points awarded for leading the most laps. With 90 laps remaining, Busch pitted to fix a loose lugnut on the left front and had a 17.5-second stop, which slowed him down and allowed some of NASCAR’s old dogs to make a run.
Wallace, who will retire at the end of the season with four career Pocono wins, and Martin, who may be extending his farewell tour another year, both made hard charges. Wallace even led most of the last few laps and made it seem possible he could tie Bill Elliott for most career wins at Pocono.
Busch pushed Wallace hard and seemed poised to take the lead when the caution came out for debris from Matt Kenseth’s car, so Wallace kept his spot up front with 33 laps left.
His car just didn’t have enough left.
Jeff Gordon finished 13th and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was two laps off the leader in 32nd place as two of NASCAR’s most successful drivers are running out of time to crack the top 10 in NASCAR’s chase for the Nextel Cup Championship.
Busch, who also won at Phoenix, had his seventh top-five finish and successfully navigated a Pocono track that was sharply criticized by drivers this weekend.
NASCAR had the track patched near the treacherous tunnel turn before the race after it was damaged in Saturday’s ARCA stock-car race, causing some pre-race concern from a few drivers. The track’s reputation already took a hit after June’s race when drivers were victimized by blown or cut tires.
While some drivers said it was mostly the result of overaggressive driving, NASCAR tried another approach by installing a curb inside Turn 2 that seemed to give some drivers and their tires fits.
Gordon and Wallace were among the drivers who still blasted the track’s condition even after the alterations, though the curb and the small, patched turn failed to give the drivers any serious problems on Sunday.
“It’s pretty rough over there,” Martin said.
When Kyle Busch slammed into the turn one wall with 50 laps left, it was the first major accident of the race and brought out the caution. There were few tire woes though there were five straight debris cautions.