NASCAR at Pocono live updates: Kyle Busch wins Sunday race

The second Cup race of NASCAR’s doubleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway is today. The Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 race is at 3:30 p.m. on NBCSN.

The race is 350 miles (140 Laps) with stages ending on laps 30, 85, 140. All times are Eastern.

We’ll have the latest updates here. Follow NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

Final Stage

6:17 p.m.: Kyle Busch wins the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 race.

6:15 p.m., Lap 137: William Byron pits for gas with two laps to go, dropping out of the lead spot. Kyle Busch leads.

6:10 p.m., Lap 132: Brad Keselowski, leading with eight laps to go, pits for a quick splash of fuel. William Byron and Denny Hamlin are up front. Keselowski is running seventh after the stop.

5:57 p.m., Lap 118: It’s a fuel strategy game now. Tyler Reddick pits from second with Brad Keselowski leading. A few teams will try to stretch their fuel to the end of this race, including Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin, both of whom could use a win. It appears William Byron will be a little short, but we’ll see if they try to make it.

5:49 p.m., Lap 106: William Byron is up to sixth, passing Kurt Busch, and appears to have the best fuel load. Others will pit ahead of them, including Kevin Harvick from second. He takes fuel only on his stop. Alex Bowman in the lead will also still need to pit.

5:42 p.m., Lap 102: Alex Bowman leads, followed by Kevin Harvick. There was no caution after Christopher Bell did a lot of wiggling around the track. He appeared to make contact with Ross Chastain after the restart (who then pitted for flat) and Bell went into the wall. Elliott and Bell then appeared to get together and Bell wiggled again and saved it. He pits now with tire rub. Elliott also pits for a flat.

5:31 p.m., Lap 93: The caution is out early in the final stage for debris on the track after Erik Jones cuts a tire. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson pit for fuel only. William Byron takes four tires. Chase Elliott fakes like he will pit then doesn’t, so he’ll line be behind Christopher Bell. Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman follow.

Story continues

Stage 2

5:20 p.m., Lap 85: William Byron wins Stage 2 followed by Denny Hamlin, who passes Brad Keselowski coming to the green-and-white checkered flag. Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola and Ross Chastain follow in the top 10 for points. Busch’s crew member dives into his car attempting to fix his shifter, but he can’t quite fix it. He has to make another stop with NASCAR requiring a shifter boot to be on that was removed.

4:59 p.m., Lap 67: William Byron leads this green flag pit cycle. He’s followed by Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, then Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. a few laps later. On Lap 74, leader Kyle Busch pits and says his shifter is stuck in fourth gear. He loses some time, but his team says they have a plan for a crew member to go in through a window and unpry it.

5:03 p.m., Lap 70: No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels tells Kyle Larson that they’re running a similar strategy as the No. 18 team yesterday with four tires after the stage, then they can take fuel only in the final stage. Daniels says he believes they’re “on par to be able to run top-10 or better by the end of this thing.” Larson, in 23rd, reports that his car is slow.

4:56 p.m., Lap 62: Kyle Busch continues to lead followed by William Byron, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman in the top-10.

4:47 p.m., Lap 52: Ryan Blaney makes an unscheduled pit stop saying he has a loose wheel. He runs in 34th and a lap down after pitting.

4:41 p.m., Lap 46: Austin Dillon pits from the top-10, followed by Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney. Kyle Busch has moved up to second and inherits the lead as Keselowski pits. Kyle Larson also pits from the bottom-20, with an apparent overheating issue, but his team gets him back out quickly and Larson says that his steer just feels tight and some bounce through Turn 1 (and doesn’t report other issues).

4:35 p.m., Lap 40: Brad Keselowski leads followed by Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr.

4:31 p.m., Lap 35: Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski leads Ryan Blaney on the outside lane for the restart racing against JGR’s Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch on the inside lane. Keselowski and Blaney stayed out during the stage break, and they run to the lead. Busch is saying his transmission is popping out of fourth gear, and his team says they’ll work on a plan to keep it in place.

Stage 1

4:24 p.m., Lap 30: Martin Truex Jr. wins the first stage at Pocono. William Byron, who pitted just before the end of the stage, avoids going down a lap by staying just ahead of Truex at the flag. In the top-10 for stage points after Truex is Aric Almirola followed by Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suárez and Joey Logano.

4:17 p.m., Lap 27: Denny Hamlin pits, followed by teammates Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch, as Martin Truex Jr. stays out in the lead. Hendrick Motorsports cars William Byron and Chase Elliott also pit, while Kyle Larson in 17th plans to pit after the stage break for his team to make repairs to his nose after early contact with Hamlin on the start.

4:10 p.m., Lap 14: Martin Truex Jr. leads after Michael McDowell led seven laps. Chris Buescher led the opening six laps. Buescher is in 17th and McDowell is back to fifth with Christopher Bell, Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski in the top four.

3:59 p.m., Lap 7: The race goes green again with Chris Buescher lined up on the outside lane again. He he goes high and falls back as Michael McDowell surges to the lead. Buescher’s No. 17 radio says Buescher got “pushed hard all the way to the corner” and he had to jam the brakes to avoid getting turned.

3:51 p.m., Lap 3: Chris Buescher, starting on the pole, leads the opening laps and the caution comes out early for Anthony Alfredo. He hit the outside wall and reported that he feels like his right front tire went down in the tunnel. Alfredo heads to pit road.

Pre-race

3:38 p.m.: Pre-race ceremonies are underway with the national anthem sung by Meghan Wotring at the track and another single jet flyover. Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau board chair Bill Colavito delivers the command to fire engines.

3 p.m.: NASCAR confirms that full-time Xfinity driver Justin Allgaier will fill in piloting the No. 77 today for Spire Motorsports. Justin Haley was slated drive in today’s Cup race, but Haley was involved in an accident on Lap 24 of 90 during today’s Xfinity race. Haley was released from the care center following the accident, but Spire will pivot to Allgaier driving out of an “abundance of caution,” according to reports. The No. 77 was slated to start 27th, and with the driver change, Allgaier will drop to the rear.

“I fit in the car, which is a plus,” Allgaier said on NBCSN.

2:35 p.m.: Austin Cindric wins NASCAR’s Xfinity race at Pocono for his fourth victory this year. He held off Ty Gibbs, who finished second and made a late run at the checkered flag. Gibbs finished 0.3 seconds behind Cindric, with Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson and A.J. Allmendinger finishing in the top-five. The Cup race is up next.

2:30 p.m.: NASCAR approved seven drivers to use a backup car for today’s Cup race: Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, Anthony Alfredo, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Newman and Cole Custer. They will drop to the rear at the start of today’s race.2:30 p.m.: Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell are starting in the front row for today’s race at Pocono due to the invert of the top-20 finishing teams from yesterday’s race at the same track. Buescher finished 20th (McDowell was 19th). Day 1 Pocono race winner Alex Bowman will start 20th today after securing his third win this season. It was the sixth points race win in a row for a Hendrick Motorsports driver. Bowman is looking to make it a weekend sweep, with the track promising that one fan will win $10,000 and five local charities will split $90,000 if he’s able to do so, per NBC Sports.

NASCAR at Pocono Day 2 starting order

*replacing Justin Haley

Source