LONG POND, Pa. (Aug. 2, 2015) — With just under two laps remaining Martin Truex Jr. was safely running in second place in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
But as the race was approaching the checkered flag an unexpected turn of events occurred at the 2.5-mile triangular-shaped track. Race leader Joey Logano ran out of fuel on lap 157 of 160, moving Truex to second. One lap later Truex experienced the same problem and was forced to come down pit road for a splash of fuel. And a short time later Kyle Busch, who was leading the race at the time, also ran out of fuel.
The fuel issue wasn’t the only problem for Truex at the end of the race. He was initially shown with a 10th-place finish but was penalized after the race for speeding when he entered pit road for the final fuel stop. When the final results were posted by NASCAR, Truex was listed with a 19th-place finish, Logano 20th and Busch 21st.
“It seems that I never come out ahead on these fuel mileage races,” said Truex. “We thought we were going to be ok (for fuel). I am sure other teams who ran out felt the same way. Yeah, it’s disappointing but what I am going to take away from this race is how our Furniture Row guys kept on making our Chevrolet better and better during the weekend. We were a contender today and in the big picture that’s the most important point for our team as we head into the Chase. We were rolling today — just needed a little more fuel to make it an even better weekend.”
Crew chief Cole Pearn echoed the same feelings.
“We had a great car, I guess that’s a consolation,” said Pearn. “I wish we could have worked it out to get to victory lane. I thought we were saving enough (fuel) to make it, but obviously the No. 20 did (Matt Kenseth). Hindsight is 20-20. Everybody thought they were good on fuel, I am not really sure what the deal was there.”
Truex started the race from the 13th position and jumped into the top-10 on Lap 10. He ran solidly for the entire race, and led six laps.
Truex remains fifth in the driver points standings.
The Windows 10 400 race winner was Matt Kenseth. Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, AJ Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards.
There were eight caution flags for 32 laps and 18 lead changes among 13 drivers.
The next Sprint Cup Series race is Sunday, Aug. 9 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, the second and final road race of the season.
