Long Pond, Pa.
“It just kind of reminded us of how big a deal it is to win a championship in this sport,” Truex said.
Lost in the shuffle in a season where Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch have turned the Cup Series into a two-driver show, Truex came to Pocono and gave the field a reminder that he’s still a driver to beat in the championship race.
Truex stayed out on pivotal caution late in the race to take the lead, then pulled away off a restart with seven laps left to win on Sunday at Pocono Raceway and thrust himself into title contention.
“Just happy today that things kind of went our way a little bit for once,” Truex said.
Truex said it with a straight face, as the 37-year-old Furniture Row Racing driver is still having the type of season that — oh, all but two drivers — would love to produce. He won the fifth race of the season at Fontana and had runner-up finishes in each of the last two races headed into Pocono where he won his first race for FRR in 2015 and launched his journeyman-to-champion career metamorphosis.
Still, Busch and Harvick had made a habit of collecting checkered flags; the two former Cup champions combined to win nine of the first 13 races. And each driver spent enough time in front — Harvick led 89 laps; Busch 13 — that a one-two finish at Pocono seemed almost certain on the 2½-mile track.
Truex and Harvick each stayed out on a caution with 20 laps left in the race. Busch made a pit stop and surrendered the lead to Truex. Truex then held off a hard-charging Kyle Larson down the stretch and showed he’s still a threat to win his second straight title.
“We couldn’t get back up through there for anything back up to those guys,” Busch said.
The Harvick-Busch-Truex champions trio have won 10 of 14 races.
“I think three of those guys are definitely head-over-heels better than the rest of us,” Larson said.
Larson was second, followed by Busch and Harvick. Brad Keselowski was fifth.
Busch won the Xfinity Series race Saturday to help Toyota sweep the weekend.
But Pocono belonged to Truex and he won his 17th career Cup race.
“I hope they got a lot of Yuengling in victory lane,” he said over the radio about the Pennsylvania brewery. “We’re going to drink it all!”
He had it sprayed on him instead in victory lane.
“I feel like we’re getting back to what we were doing last year,” Truex said. “It’s always fun to win, especially when you beat the best guys out there.”
Hunter-Reay Ends IndyCar Drought
Detroit
Rossi, the pole winner, was struggling to hold off Hunter-Reay before the mishap at a right turn on lap 64 of 70. From there, it was smooth sailing for Hunter-Reay on the 2.35-mile street course. He finished more than 11 seconds ahead of second-place Will Power.
Ed Jones finished third, followed by Scott Dixon. Rossi fell to 12th and dropped out of the series points lead.
Power, the Indianapolis 500 champion, returned to the top of the season standings. He’d fallen from first to third after Saturday’s race, in which Dixon outlasted Hunter-Reay for the win.
The second half of Belle Isle’s Indy Car doubleheader was Sunday, and Hunter-Reay earned his 17th career win. It was the 59th for Andretti Autosport.
The race Sunday was delayed over a half-hour because the pace car crashed during a pace lap. There was another caution right after the start when Spencer Pigot spun. After that, the race was caution free the rest of the way.
Hunter-Reay’s last victory was at Pocono in 2015. He’s now finished in the top five six times in eight races in 2018.
Hunter-Reay and Rossi were second and third in Saturday’s race, and they were vying for the lead again Sunday when Rossi’s front left tire appeared to fail him and he was unable to make the turn.
It was another big day for Honda, which had the top six finishers Saturday. Power was the only Chevrolet in the top six this time.
Jones matched his highest finish of the season. He was also third at Long Beach.