ROUND 2, Fight! Kyle Busch Comes Out On Top Of The Fuel Game!

It’s Sunday afternoon, a cup race was ran yesterday and we run another today forExplore the Pocono Mountains 350. One late change to the lineup was made as Justin Allgaier was called in to replace Justin Haley in the #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet after Haley went through a hard crash in the Xfinity Series race that took place earlier in the day. Haley is ok and the move was made from abundance of caution. Alex Bowman comes off winning the first race after his teammate, Kyle Larson, suffered a flat tire on the last lap of the race. Kurt Busch currently holds the last spot of the playoffs with pole sitter Chris Buescher sitting as the first one out. The stages are 30-55-55 with a total of 140 laps.

The top 20 from the first race were inverted so Chris Buescher started on the pole for race two at Pocono. On lap 2 the first caution came out as the rough weekend continues for rookie Anthony Alfredo as he blew a tire and smacked the wall in turn two. Buescher and McDowell lead the field back to the green flag on lap seven. Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell took the lead as Buescher went up the track, losing several positions. 13 laps in and Alex Bowman was reporting a vibration on his #48 Ally Chevrolet after winning the first race yesterday. One lap later, Martin Truex Jr took the lead from McDowell and then Christopher Bell made the move to 2^nd.  The rest of the stage was rather calm as Martin Truex Jr drove away, winning stage one. As they came to the line, William Byron successfully got himself back on the lead lap by passing the leader.

Stage 1 Results:

1. Martin Truex Jr
2. Aric Almirola
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Bubba Wallace
6. Michael McDowell
7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
8. Tyler Reddick
9. Daniel Suarez
10. Joey Logano

Stage two begun on lap 36 as there was a big battle up front on the restart. Brad Keselowski leads with Ryan Blaney running in 2^nd and Christopher Bell in 3^rd. Kyle Busch began having transmission issues shortly after the restart too, sending the crew scrambling to see what they can do to fix the problem. Despite the troubles, he was able to advance his position and move to 2^nd by lap 45. Kyle Busch would end up the leader not too long later, as he would be singing Steve Miller while leading. When Busch went to make a green flag pit stop, problems arose as his car was stuck in 4^th gear and he couldn’t shift down, making his exit from pit road very slow. This handed the lead off to William Byron with Brad Keselowski 2^nd and Denny Hamlin 3^rd. William Byron goes on to take stage two. Kyle Busch’s car sat on pit road, stuck in 4^th gear after trying to fix the shifter.

Stage 2 Results:

1. William Byron
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Christopher Bell
5. Chase Elliott
6. Martin Truex Jr
7. Kyle Larson
8. Kyle Busch
9. Aric Almirola
10. Ross Chastain

The race resumed on lap 91 with William Byron leading the field. Byron was able to pull away as restarting on the outside as been key all weekend. Hamlin settled into 2^nd and Elliott 3^rd. Issues for Erik Jones just a lap later having a flat left front tire with damage to the right rear quarter panel. Jones limped his car to pit road as the caution would wave from the incident. Corey Lajoie got into the back of Jones who ran into the back of Anthony Alfredo as they stacked up coming off turn one. Cole Custer also had damage on his right rear quarter panel from the incident. Many that came in under caution pit for fuel only as William Byron was an exception. This handed the lead off to Christopher Bell, since Chase Elliott did not maintain speed at the time. The next restart came at lap 97 with 44 laps to go. Alex Bowman had a huge push from Ross Chastain and takes the lead, looking to pick up where he left off from yesterday. Chastain and Bell made contact coming off turn three which gave the advantage to Kevin Harvick to move to 2^nd. Chastain ended up with a flat tire and this took him out of contention. Then Christopher Bell got loose off of turn three and had a flat from the same incident, giving his #20 Toyota damage. With 39 to go, Chase Elliott ended up with a flat right front and had to go down pit road as well. Ricky Stenhouse Jr went behind the wall with 29 laps to go with a down cylinder, a tough break as that 47 team is on the outside looking in for the playoffs. Bowman, among others, came to pit for a splash-n-go to make it to the end of the race. At this point in the race, it became a fuel strategy. Byron and Kurt Busch looked to stretch and save on fuel to see if one of them can score a win. With 20 laps left in the race, Brad Keselowski leads the way with many questions arising if these drivers could make it the rest of the way on fuel. Brad Keselowski went down pit road coming to eight laps to go, taking him out of contention. William Byron now leads going into “max save” mode on fuel, while Hamlin and Kyle Busch let loose and are charging. With five laps to go, Byron’s lead had shrunk to two seconds and was doing his best to hold it. Three laps to go, one driver reported low fuel pressure and that was the leader William Byron. Byron went down pit road and this gave the lead off to Denny Hamlin with two to go. Kyle Busch right behind him and chasing him down. Then Hamlin runs out of gas coming to turn three and Kyle Busch takes the lead. With the insane day he’s had, Kyle Busch prevails with a messed up transmission and goes on to win the second race of the Pocono Doubleheader! Kyle Larson finished in 2^nd, Brad Keselowski 3^rd, Kevin Harvick 4^th and Bubba Wallace get 23XI Racing’s best finish yet in 5^th. This is Kyle Busch’s 2^nd win of 2021. Kurt Busch still has the last spot in the playoffs but only by three points over Chris Buescher. Denny Hamlin now has a four point lead in the standings over Kyle Larson.