At The Tricky Triangle Crazy Is Crazy Does

POCONO, PENNSYLVANIA – Crazy is as crazy does.  The Pocono 400 sure saw some strange happenings this past Sunday.  With seven caution periods in the first half of the race, it appeared that it was to be a long grueling race, but then the next 80 laps only had one caution.  When you add the fuel management to the mix the top three cars – Logano, Busch and Truex – all ran out of gas. 

 In a race like this, staying power is what is needed, and Matt Kenseth seemed to have the biggest on Sunday; as was evident when he passed sputtering race leader Kyle Busch on the final lap to clinch his first win at the “Tricky Triangle.”  “I never thought I would ever win at Pocono,” exclaimed Matt Kenseth, “ and I never ever thought I would win a fuel mileage race. We did both today.”

After a 4-race winning streak, Joe Gibbs driver Kyle Busch led the race for 19 laps, including the final lap when he ran out of gas.  When Kyle was asked about the poor turn of events, he said “Man that is a bummer…We went for broke today and came up a little bit short.”  It turned out that when NASCAR allowed the race to go 63 laps without a caution period, a few of the cars did not have enough fuel to make it.

It is odd though that Kenseth and Keselowski made their final fuel stop at the same time as Busch, Logano and Truex, yet the latter three ran out of gas.  It appears that engine efficiency, driving style, and whether or not the fuel man was able to completely top off the tank played an important role.  But I’m sure that Mr. Gibbs was happy that Kenseth was the beneficiary of the battle.

Kyle Busch only has 5 races to clinch a spot in The Chase.  He is currently 13 points out of 30^th place.  Kyle’s work is cut out for him.