NASCAR at Pocono 2016: Winners and Losers from the Pennsylvania 400
Chris Buescher did what Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott—all young drivers with far more hype—have failed to do: win a race.
It doesn’t matter how he did it. When folks remember the 2016 version of the Pennsylvania 400, they’ll remember the weather, and they’ll remember Buescher bathed in Bud Light at the end.
Buescher stayed out during a series of pit stops as the fog rolled in with 22 laps to go. After a lengthy wait on pit road, NASCAR finally declared Buescher the winner.
“When they give you that trophy, there’s no asterisk on it,” NBCSN’s Jeff Burton said.
“He’s a good kid and an XFINITY champion,” Tony Stewart told NBCSN. “It doesn’t matter how you get your first win, you just want to get your first win.”
In a few words, the Pennsylvania 400 was a weird race. The weather stole much of the headlines, and it was Buescher who stole this race.
A win, they say, is a win.
Read on for this week’s winners and losers.
Loser: Inner Liner Valve Stems
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Moments after the restart following the competition caution, Martin Truex Jr. blew a right front tire and smashed into the wall.
The No. 78 lost his inner liner valve stem and lost air pressure fast.
“F—k me,” he said over the radio (h/t Jordan Bianchi of SB Nation).
Truex brought the now-famous T-Rex car to Pocono, the same one he drove to such dominance in the Coca-Cola 600 a month ago in Charlotte.
Truex led the first 15 laps of the Penn 400. But after he smashed into the wall, that monstrous, nearly extinct T-Rex was struck by a meteor called bad luck.
Jeff Gluck of USA Today tweeted, “I did not expect the bad luck to hit Truex so early today. After he led like 100 laps? Yes. But so early? No. Guy has no luck!”
About 20 laps later, Truex’s right front tire went down again.
Truex could not outrun the fog Monday.
Winner: Split Strategies
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The race at Pocono provided us with pit strategies that made the race more engaging to watch.
Some drivers, including Brad Keselowski and Greg Biffle, stayed out on the track. This strategy allowed Biffle to lead for 14 laps—seven more laps than his season total to date.
Later in the race, Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon surged to the front as others pitted. It also meant it was only a matter of time before Kevin Harvick came knocking on the door from the middle of the pack.
Then there was the gamble by Buescher, who by staying out caught lightning fog in a bottle and earned his first career win.
The size of this track allowed crew chiefs the option to experiment, depending on how far behind the leader they were on a lap. Most tracks see all the cars on the lead lap sharing the same strategy. The leader pits; the rest pit. Not at Pocono.
In any case, it made this race a bit more colorful to watch on the ol’ Insignia television.
Loser: Third Gear
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For a moment, it appeared Truex had a chance to make up ground Monday—until his right front tire went down again, thus ending his day. Paul Menard? Not a chance.
On the same restart that took out Truex, Menard met a worse fate. His transmission went MIA. He couldn’t shift into third gear. His next move was to the garage.
When he came back to the track, he was 17 laps down.
Menard sat in 23rd place in the driver standings, meaning he would have to win a race in order to make the Chase. For the early part of the race, Menard ran inside the top five, so his finish was what you might call a monumental disappointment.
Unfortunately for Menard fans, he didn’t get a chance to show how strong his car was in those first 15 laps.
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Winner: The No. 4 Pit Crew
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Big ups to Kevin Harvick’s pit crew.
Harvick, who had perhaps the best car on the track, lurked like Jaws from Part 4 with 22 laps to go. He was the likely winner of the race if NASCAR would have only waved the green flag.
Thanks to some privileged information on Twitter from crew chief Rodney Childers—who had to sit this race out as a penalty—we saw the No. 4 pit crew had the second-best four-tire pit stop of the day at 11.68 seconds.
The No. 4 team has cost Harvick potential wins the past few weeks because of mistakes on pit road. It was a testament to Harvick’s ability as a driver to overcome those mistakes and still have respectable finishes.
As the Chase starts to peek over the horizon, Stewart-Haas Racing must feel good that the No. 4 pit crew is matching the driver’s talent.
Should Harvick keep this up, he’ll be at Homestead with a chance for a second championship in three years.
Loser: The Rookie-Ness of Chase Elliott
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On Lap 106, Chase Elliott tried to go up the gut in the tunnel jump at the Tricky Triangle, but he got loose and slid up into Joey Logano.
This accomplished two things:
No. 1: It took Logano, a likely winner of the race, out of the Penn 400.
No. 2: It pushed Elliott further down the standings and closer to the Chase bubble. Just a few weeks ago, Elliott was a lock to make the Chase on points. Now that appears to be in danger if he keeps trending in this direction.
“Maybe one position isn’t worth it,” said NBCSN’s Jeff Burton during the broadcast. “In this situation, he needs to check up his speed a little bit. Right here he’s a little too aggressive. He was 62 points up, now he’s 45 up.”
“Came off [Turn] 1 and those guys were three-wide,” Elliott told NBCSN. “I thought Denny [Hamlin] had the best run, and I elected to push him. I thought that would be the best move to help drag me by. I thought I slowed down not to get loose, but I got into Joey, and I apologize to the 22 guys.”
Perhaps Elliott is feeling the pressure. Maybe he’s starting to wilt as the Sprint Cup nears its season finale at Richmond. But if he doesn’t wrench a tourniquet around the bleeding artery that is his season, he could find himself outside the Chase picture. And all of this after such a promising start to his rookie season in the No. 24 car.
“I need to evaluate my approach,” Elliott said on the broadcast. “Just poor decisions on my behalf. Best thing is to fix it, notice it and fix it. I need to rethink things and put ourselves in a better position. It’s not bad luck, just me putting us in bad spots.”
Winner: Hope Springs Up for AJ Allmendinger
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AJ Allmendinger finished 14th at Pocono, moving him a few points closer to the Chase bubble.
This must feel all kinds of good, and the timing could not be better for the No. 47 team.
Why?
Next week’s race is at Watkins-Glen—site of the second and final road course of the year. Allmendinger won his only Sprint Cup race at the Glen in 2014 and was one of the best cars this year at Sonoma, where he led 20 laps.
A gaffe on pit road cost him a chance at competing for the win. But if Allmendinger’s team can ride this little wave into the Finger Lakes, he could make it two wild-card winners in a row and make drivers looking to point into the Chase press that much more.
Loser: Click It or Ticket
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Jeff Gordon’s seat belt came undone during the race, which must have put the four-time Sprint Cup champ on edge. These guys get roughed up enough with the proper safety measures in place.
It must have been scary, but he remedied the situation. However, all he could manage on the day was a 27th-place finish. Not good. Not good at all given the strong finishes of Kyle Larson (sixth), Ryan Newman (12th) and Kasey Kahne (15th).
The No. 88 car slipped down three spots to 20th in the driver standings and 21st on the Chase Grid. That doesn’t include Buescher’s potential arrival on the Grid, which would drop the No. 88 team down yet another notch.
For Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans and for those who thought the second coming of Gordon would bring them glory, the harsh reality is the team won’t make the Chase this year. Junior’s recovery may keep him in the garage for the rest of the year, and Gordon is far too rusty.
The team trends in a terrible direction, and it appears there are too many holes in this sinking ship.
Winner: The Other Other Rookie
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For all the hype levied on Elliott and Ryan Blaney as the premier rookies on the Sprint Cup circuit, it was the other rookie—Buescher—who walked away from a Cup race with a win.
Lest we forget, Buescher isn’t a stranger to winning. He was the 2015 Xfinity Series champ, and it was crew chief Bob Osborne’s strategy to keep Buescher out on the track that earned the No. 34 driver his first win and Osborne’s 19th (18 with Carl Edwards).
“We’ll walk in here,” Buescher told NBCSN in the sheltered Victory Lane. “A lot of guys who were on a similar strategy as we were decided to pit. We were able to pull it off. This is going to stir up our whole year. Now we just have to get into the top 30 in points.”
He’s six points back now in 31st place. Buescher has five races to make up the deficit, and this win suddenly ups the ante for Frontrow Motorsports. It also puts increased pressure on those bubble drivers, as the cutline could sink yet another notch.
Buescher’s win was also kind of sad, like it was his party and nobody he invited showed up. There was the one Sprint girl, so, you know, that was cool. The trophy. An NBCSN reporter. A makeshift Victory Lane. No teammates.
“I haven’t seen them since I got out the car,” Buescher said. “I haven’t seen a single one of them!”
They would arrive, and they would shower Buescher in delectable Bud Light.
As if the Chase scenarios on the bubble weren’t already a gripping storyline, Buescher’s suddenly on the bubble too, but he’s got something all the other rookies don’t have: a win. That sweet, sweet win.
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