Race Lineup

Explore the Pocono Mountains 350

Sunday, June 27th, 2021

Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA

  • 14 Ford
  • 6 Toyota
  • 18 Chevrolet

  • Race lineup was set based on Saturday’s race finish.

  • Positions 1 through 20: Drivers start from their inverted finishing position in Saturday's race. (1st starts 20th, 2nd starts 19th, etc)

  • Positions 21 through 38: Drivers start from their finishing position in Saturday's race.

  • Sunday, June 27th, 2021
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Kyle Busch hangs on to win at Pocono

With remarkable perseverance behind the wheel of a car stuck in fourth gear, Kyle Busch saved enough fuel to win Sunday's Explore the Pocono Mountains 350, the second leg of a weekend NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader at Pocono Raceway.

After William Byron and Denny Hamlin ran out of gas ahead of him, Busch cruised to an 8.654-second victory over Kyle Larson, who started from the rear of the field in a backup car after crashing while leading in the final corner of Saturday's race.

Busch brought his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to pit road for the last time on Lap 95, one circuit after Hamlin and Byron—and that one lap of extra fuel made all the difference.

"Yeah, stuck in fourth gear, about out of gas, just saving, just riding, playing the strategy the best we could with what was given to us," said Busch, who won for the second time this season, the fourth time at Pocono and 59th time in his career—most among active drivers and ninth all-time.

"Just can't say enough about everybody on my team, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota, TRD, all the work they're putting in.

"Sometimes these races aren't always won by the fastest car, but I felt we had the fastest car, even though we were in the back and behind and having to come through and persevere through being stuck in fourth gear, no clutch, all that stuff. It's all burned out. Nothing left in this M&M's Minis Camry.

"Really great to pull off another win here at Pocono. Feels good."

With the victory, Busch also snapped Hendrick Motorsports' six-race Cup Series winning streak.

Larson, also on a fuel-saving strategy in the closing laps, rallied for a runner-up finish after early contact with Hamlin's car dented the nose of his No. 5 Chevrolet. On a pit stop under caution, Larson's crew raised the hood of the car, pounded out the damage and secured it with tape.

"It's a surprising finish for us," Larson said. "Our HendrickCars.com Chevy was really loose for a majority of the race. Then we got a lot of nose damage there on one of the restarts. Was off on speed, I felt like after that.

"(Crew chief) Cliff (Daniels) and everybody did a really, really good job managing the race, coached me through saving fuel there at the end. Was hoping that the 18 (Busch) was going to run out. I saw the 11 (Hamlin) running out. I was, ‘OK, they're teammates, they got to be close to running out.'

"The 18 did pit a lap after us under caution. That actually probably won them the race. But, yeah, second-place finish… I thought we would be outside of the top 20 (at) a lot of points throughout the race today. We'll take it. Happy about the effort, for sure, all weekend."

Brad Keselowski led a race-high 31 laps but had to pit for fuel on Lap 132 of 140. As drivers ran out fuel over the final three laps, Keselowski held third at the finish, one spot head of fellow Ford driver Kevin Harvick.

"We ran a really good race but just didn't have enough fuel to make it to the end like those other guys did," Keselowski said. "They beat us on power and fuel mileage. We have a lot of work to do to keep up with those guys.

"I'm really proud of (crew chief) Jeremy Bullins and the team. They had the setup really well, and it put us in position and we ran a great race today and maximized our day."

Bubba Wallace ran fifth, the first top five for the 23XI team that debuted this year under the co-ownership of Hamlin and NBA superstar Michael Jordan.

Ryan Blaney, Saturday's winner Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano completed the top 10.

Despite finishing 14th after running out of fuel, Hamlin retained the series lead by four points over Larson. Sunday was another hard-luck story for the driver of the No. 11 Toyota.

"I mean, you're trying to win or you're trying to get the best finish that you can," Hamlin said. "But ultimately, we just didn't save enough. The 18 I think came in and got topped off because he had transmission issues. That was essentially the race."

  • Drivers Entered: 38
  • Laps Scheduled: 140
  • Margin of Victory: 08.654 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 26 Minutes 49 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 143.036
  • Cautions: 4 for 15 laps
  • Lead Changes: 12
  • Green Flag Passes: 2,302 (18.4 passes per green flag lap)

  • Pocono Raceway
  • 48th Annual Explore the Pocono Mountains 350
  • Race Winner: Kyle Busch
  • Age: 36
  • Team : No. 18 - M&M's Mini's Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing
  • Crew Chief: Ben Beshore
  • Kyle Busch won the 48th Annual Explore the Pocono Mountains 350, his 59th victory in 589 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his second victory and 11th top-10 finish in 2021.
  • This is his fourth victory and 17th top-10 finish in 34 races at Pocono Raceway.
  • Kyle Larson (second) posted his seventh top-10 finish in 14 races at Pocono Raceway. It is his 13th top-10 finish in 2021.
  • Brad Keselowski (third) posted his 14th top-10 finish in 24 races at Pocono Raceway.
  • Chase Briscoe (21st) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • The win today was Joe Gibbs Racing's 16th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono Raceway - Denny Hamlin (six wins), Kyle Busch (four), Bobby Labonte (three), Joey Logano (one), Tony Stewart (one) and Matt Kenseth (one).
  • 23XI Racing and Bubba Wallace scored their first top-five finish of the 2021 season and first for the organization in the series.
Start of the NASCAR Cup Series Pocono Organics CBD 325
Long Pond, Pennsylvania - June 26, 2021 : Start of the NASCAR Cup Series Pocono Organics CBD 325 at Pocono Raceway on June 26, 2021 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
Sean GardnerGetty Images
Race lineup for the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 at Pocono Raceway
START VEH # DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR TEAM CREW CHIEF
31 00 Quin Houff Chevrolet Mane 'n Tail / Spirit Untamed Starcom Racing George Church
15 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet Monster Energy Chip Ganassi Racing Matt McCall
11 2 Brad Keselowski Ford Detroit Engines Team Penske Jeremy Bullins
21 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet Workrise Richard Childress Racing Justin Alexander
13 4 Kevin Harvick Ford Busch Light Stewart-haas Racing Rodney Childers
12 5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet HendrickCars.com Hendrick Motorsports Cliff Daniels
37 6 Ryan Newman Ford Guaranteed Rate Rfk Racing Scott Graves
36 7 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet Nations Guard Spire Motorsports Ryan Sparks
10 8 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet Kalahari Resorts & Conventions Richard Childress Racing Randall Burnett
9 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts Hendrick Motorsports Alan Gustafson
5 10 Aric Almirola Ford Smithfield Stewart-haas Racing Mike Bugarewicz
17 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Ground Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gabehart
16 12 Ryan Blaney Ford Menards / Duracell Team Penske Todd Gordon
24 14 Chase Briscoe Ford HighPoint.com Stewart-haas Racing Johnny Klausmeier
28 15 James Davison Chevrolet Go FMX Rick Ware Racing Pat Tryson
1 17 Chris Buescher Ford Acronis Rfk Racing Luke Lambert
19 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's Mini's Joe Gibbs Racing Ben Beshore
3 19 Martin Truex Jr Toyota Reser's Fine Foods Joe Gibbs Racing James Small
4 20 Christopher Bell Toyota Rheem Joe Gibbs Racing Adam Stevens
32 21 Matt DiBenedetto Ford Motorcraft / Quick Lane Wood Brothers Racing Jonathan Hassler
14 22 Joey Logano Ford Shell Pennzoil Team Penske Paul Wolfe
7 23 Bubba Wallace Toyota DraftKings 23xi Racing Mike Wheeler
18 24 William Byron Chevrolet Axalta Color of the Year Hendrick Motorsports Rudy Fugle
2 34 Michael McDowell Ford ARRMA Front Row Motorsports Drew Blickensderfer
23 37 Ryan Preece Chevrolet Thomas' / Kroger Jtg Daugherty Racing Trent Owens
26 38 Anthony Alfredo Ford Death Wish Coffee Front Row Motorsports Seth Barbour
38 41 Cole Custer Ford HassTooling.com Stewart-haas Racing Mike Shiplett
33 42 Ross Chastain Chevrolet McDonald's Chip Ganassi Racing Phil Surgen
22 43 Erik Jones Chevrolet Medallion Bank Richard Petty Motorsports Jerry Baxter
6 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet Scott Brand Jtg Daugherty Racing Brian Pattie
20 48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet Ally Hendrick Motorsports Greg Ives
25 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet Nurtec ODT Rick Ware Racing Mike Hillman Sr
34 52 Josh Bilicki Ford Jacob Companies Rick Ware Racing Jason Houghtaling
29 53 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet RichMar Florists Rick Ware Racing Billy Plourde
35 66 Timmy Hill Toyota M&M Mechanical LLC Motorsports Business Management Johnny Roten
27 Justin Haley
30 78 BJ McLeod Ford ABTA.org Live Fast Motorsports Frank Kerr
8 99 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet CommScope Trackhouse Racing Travis Mack