Martin Truex Jr. takes Pocono Cup race for second win of the season

LONG POND, Pa. – Highlights of Sunday’s Pocono 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway as the second half of the regular season begins:

WINNER: Martin Truex Jr., taking advantage of a spate of cautions near the end of the race, held on to win Sunday’s Pocono 400 for his second victory this season and second career win at the 2.5-mile track.

Truex led the last 21 laps and blocked a challenge from second-place Kyle Larson on a restart with seven laps to go.

“This is the first weekend in a while that everything made sense, we had kind of a game plan and everything went the way we thought it would,” Truex said.

Truex won at Auto Club Speedway in March, but three crashes have stained his seasonal résumé.

“The things we’ve had to battle back from and keep finishing in the top five are hard to do,” Truex said. “We’ve had more battles this year, more adversity. Last year (when he won the championship), it was almost like we couldn’t do anything wrong. This year we’ve had to work harder for it, but I feel like we’re still right there. We’re putting ourselves in a position to win.”

Following Larson in the top five were Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski. Three of those drivers have won 11 of the season's first 14 races, with Harvick recording five victories, Busch four and Truex two.

Harvick, like Truex and Larson, chose to stay out on the track and not change tires after the late cautions, but he felt an earlier pit stop might have cost him a chance for his first career Cup win at Pocono.

"We lost control of the race on pit road when we didn't come out first," said Harvick, who led a race-high 89 laps. "You win some and you lose some. Racing against guys like that, it's going to come down to splitting hairs and the 78 (Truex) and 18 (Busch) both were really good today."

LOGANO VS. JONES: Joey Logano bumped Erik Jones, sending him into a spin on a crowded restart with 10 laps to go, causing another caution.

BOWMAN VS. HAMLIN: A collision between Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman caused damage to both cars and brought out a caution with 14 laps to go.

DEBRIS SLOWS FIELD: The race’s first debris caution flew with 22 laps to go as Kyle Busch held the lead. Several drivers hit the small piece of debris.

KYLE TO THE FRONT: A quick pit stop put Kyle Busch in position to take the lead on a restart with 31 laps to go. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson trailed Busch.

TRYING TO COPE: Derrike Cope sparked the first race-event caution of the day when he slid out of turn three after contact from Kyle Larson with 36 laps to go. Cope stayed in the race.

WALLACE PARKS: Bubba Wallace parked with engine issues after 108 laps, picking up his first DNF of the season.

STAGE TWO: Kevin Harvick outran Kyle Busch to win the race’s second stage. Also in the top 10 were Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman.

STAGE ONE: Martin Truex Jr., master of stage racing during his championship run last year, scored his third stage win this season, leading the first 50-lap segment. He outran Kevin Harvick to the line by 1.15 seconds. Following in the top 10 were Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski.

Joey Logano ran out of gas near the end of the stage and lost a lap in the pits.

JOHNSON UP FRONT: Jimmie Johnson led laps 26 and 27. Normally, that’s not breaking news, but they’re the first laps the seven-time champion has led since last October at Martinsville Speedway.

POCONO 400 RESULTS

Sunday from the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway (starting position in parentheses):

1. (4) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 160 laps, 57 points.

2. (13) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 160, 43.

3. (5) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 160, 51.

4. (2) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 160, 52.

5. (17) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 160, 37.

6. (1) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 160, 38.

7. (34) Aric Almirola, Ford, 160, 30.

8. (15) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 160, 33.

9. (7) Joey Logano, Ford, 160, 28.

10. (11) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 160, 38.

11. (20) Paul Menard, Ford, 160, 26.

12. (12) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 160, 25.

13. (26) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 160, 24.

14. (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 160, 23.

15. (3) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 160, 22.

16. (21) David Ragan, Ford, 160, 21.

17. (27) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 160, 20.

18. (16) William Byron, Chevrolet, 160, 19.

19. (6) Kurt Busch, Ford, 160, 18.

20. (9) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 160, 32.

21. (30) Michael McDowell, Ford, 160, 16.

22. (24) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 160, 15.

23. (29) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 160, 14.

24. (18) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 160, 13.

25. (8) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 160, 12.

26. (28) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 160, 0.

27. (14) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 160, 11.

28. (31) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 159, 0.

29. (25) Erik Jones, Toyota, 159, 8.

30. (35) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 158, 7.

31. (33) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 157, 6.

32. (37) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 157, 0.

33. (36) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 157, 4.

34. (38) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 152, 3.

35. (10) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, accident, 146, 8.

36. (22) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, transmission, 120, 1.

37. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, brakes, 113, 1.

38. (19) Bubba Wallace Jr, Chevrolet, engine, 108, 1.

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Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 139.533 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 52 minutes, 0 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 2.496 seconds.

Caution Flags: 6 for 23 laps.

Lead Changes: 11 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: R.Blaney 1-11; K.Harvick 12-25; J.Johnson 26-27; B.Keselowski 28-34; K.Harvick 35-43; M.Truex 44-53; B.Keselowski 54-56; K.Harvick 57-78; B.Wallace 79-82; K.Harvick 83-126; Ky.Busch 127-139; M.Truex 140-160

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Harvick 4 times for 89 laps; M. Truex Jr. 2 times for 31 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 13 laps; R. Blaney 1 time for 11 laps; B. Keselowski 2 times for 10 laps; D. Wallace Jr. 1 time for 4 laps; J. Johnson 1 time for 2 laps.