Kyle Busch hangs on at Pocono, ties Rusty Wallace on all-time list with 55th win

By Staff Report NASCAR.com June 2, 2019 at 5:06 PM
Kyle Busch held on for his fourth victory of the Monster Energy Series season Sunday afternoon, prevailing at Pocono Raceway.

Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota led 79 of the 160 laps in the Pocono 400, holding on for a 2.224-second margin of victory. His third win at the 2.5-mile track was the 55th of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, moving him into a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace on the all-time list.

Brad Keselowski settled for second place in the Team Penske No. 2 Ford. Erik Jones, Chase Elliott and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five finishers in the 400-mile event.

Martin Truex Jr. entered Pocono as the defending race winner, buoyed by momentum from three wins in the last five points-paying races. His bid for victory evaporated after just 91 laps with an engine issue for his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. Truex placed 35th.

Kevin Harvick was in contention until his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford team absorbed a pit-road penalty for an uncontrolled tire on Lap 124. He served a pass-through penalty, dropping him out of the top 20 and off the lead lap. Harvick finished 22nd, the first driver one lap down.

Austin Dillon was the race’s first retiree. After a nudge from Paul Menard’s No. 21 Ford, Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet made sizable contact with the outside retaining wall. The damage was too great to repair, and Dillon took last in the 37-car field, completing just 28 laps.

Kyle Larson led 35 laps and won the race’s first two stages, but his Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet scraped the outside wall in a late-race restart, pitted and was scored 26th at the checkered flag.

The event was run with the threat of inclement weather in the vicinity of Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, but conditions for on-track activity remained dry. NASCAR officials moved the start time up 10 minutes for extra time in the event of a delay.

The series’ next race is the FireKeepers Casino 400, scheduled for next Sunday (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Michigan International Speedway.