Logano, Kyle Busch and Truex Jr. fall victim to dry fuel cells
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LONG POND, Pa. -- It was a tale of two races in Sunday's Windows 10 400 at Pocono Raceway, and the only thing that could slow Kyle Busch down was an empty fuel tank.
Eight cautions in the first 97 laps didn't allow drivers to get into much of a rhythm, but a 63-lap green-flag run to the finish set up a chaotic ending. The top drivers of the afternoon -- Joey Logano, Busch and Martin Truex Jr. -- all ran out of fuel late while running in the top three and plenty of others were close too. That misfortune allowed Matt Kenseth to lead the final lap and steal the victory.
Logano ran dry on Lap 158 with three laps to go, giving way to Busch for the lead. Except on the final lap, Busch ran out of gas. In between that, Truex Jr.’s fuel tank ran dry on Lap 159. All three stopped for service around Lap 124 during the lengthy green-flag run.
Pit road speeding penalties cost Logano and Truex better finishes than what the final results show. Those penalties were assessed after the finish, making them both the last cars on the lead lap.
"I don't know where we were on our strategy and all that stuff," Busch said on pit road after his 21st-place finish. "I got to debrief with Adam (Stevens, Busch's crew chief) first. I don't how close we were, if we were one lap short of making it, then I probably needed to save or do a better job of running those last 30 laps or so. He kept telling me to save my stuff, save my stuff. Just in case we had a yellow there and had to race.
"I didn't know we were going to be short on fuel but once the 22 (Logano) ran out, to try and save fuel in those three laps just wasn't going to happen. We were short. We ran out but we went down swinging and I can't fault my guys for that. An awesome call. They called the race right and another ... can of gas and we'd be winning another one."
Busch came into Pocono riding three straight victories and looking to be closing in a spot in the top 30 in the point standings. He will head to Watkins Glen 32nd in the standings, just 13 points out from getting into the top 30.
"We got greedy. I don't know how greedy, but that's the position we're in," Busch said.
For Logano, the result was another close-but-no-cigar type finish for the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. The 2015 Daytona 500 winner had a strong car all day, leading a race-high 97 laps but had to settle for 20th-place. This comes on the heels of two runner-up finishes to Busch in the previous three races.
"I guess our numbers, from what Todd (Gordon, crew chief) said, was good enough to make it by a half a lap," Logano said. "I was saving fuel just to cushion it. I thought I was going to be good and then I started running out and knew we weren't going to make it.
"We keep getting so close to these wins and they don't happen and it is so frustrating. The truth is that is if we keep racing hard and racing to the front we will win races. We were so close. You are counting down the laps in your head thinking you are going to make it but just didn't do it."
The pressure Busch was putting on Logano from second place didn't allow the 25-year-old to save as much and ultimately both were on the wrong side of the fuel game.
"You can only save so much and the 18 (Busch) was doing the same thing. He had to push me and I had to start saving a certain amount. He would catch me and then I would pull away a little bit. We were playing cat and mouse out there. It is not the way you want to race. You want to go to the gas and race hard. These fuel mileage races are always exciting, usually more so when you are on the winning end, not the losing end."
Truex, who won at Pocono in June, saw a silver lining when he led his first laps since that win. However, he came out 19th, marking his fifth finish outside the top 10 in the past six races. It's a disappointing statistic when compared to the No. 78 team's 14 top 10s in the first 15 races of the season.
"Once again on the wrong end of a fuel mileage race," Truex said, who finished fifth at Charlotte, when Carl Edwards rode to victory on a fuel mileage play. "We thought we were in good shape there. I saved the whole last run. The last 15, 20 laps I saved a lot. So not sure where we missed that."
But for Truex, who is currently sixth in the provisional Chase Grid, he was focused on the bigger picture from the weekend's work.
"Yeah, it's disappointing but what I am going to take away from this race is how our Furniture Row guys kept on making our Chevrolet better and better during the weekend," Truex said. "We were a contender today and in the big picture that's the most important point for our team as we head into the Chase. We were rolling; we just needed a little more fuel to make it an even better weekend."