NASCAR CUP SERIES
POCONO ORGANICS CBD 325
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 26, 2021

ALEX BOWMAN CAPTURES THE WIN AT POCONO RACEWAY
Team Chevy Scores Sixth Consecutive NCS Win

LONG POND, Pa. (June 26, 2021) – In a last lap, last corner pass in his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, Alex Bowman scored his third victory of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) season in the Pocono Organics CBD 325 to kick off the NCS doubleheader race weekend at Pocono Raceway. The victory is the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s first victory at the 2.5-mile track known as the ‘Tricky Triangle’ and his fifth-career victory in 207 starts in NASCAR’s Premier Series.

The 28-year-old Phoenix native’s win marks the Camaro ZL1 1LE’s ninth trip to NCS victory lane thus far this season and the Bowtie Brand’s 804th all-time win in NCS history. The feat gives Hendrick Motorsports its sixth-consecutive victory, tying the organization’s Modern Era (1972-Present) record for most consecutive wins, last achieved in 2007. The string of victories started with Bowman after he captured the victory at Dover International Speedway on May 16, 2021.

Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, took the checkered flag in the third position in his No. 24 Axalta Color of the Year Camaro ZL1 1LE to give the Chevrolet driver his eighth top-five this season. Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, was the Stage Two winner and drove his way to a strong sixth-place finish. Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE, salvaged a ninth-place finish after a flat tire misfortunate while in the lead on the final lap, giving Team Chevy four of the top-10 finishers in the final running order.

Kyle Busch (Toyota) was second, Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was fourth and Ryan Blaney (Ford) rounded out the top-five of the 130-lap event.

The NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader race weekend at Pocono Raceway continues with the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 tomorrow, June 27, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

THE MODERATOR: We are now with our race winning driver, Alex Bowman.
We’ll go right to questions.

Q. Alex, when the 5 passed you with four laps to go, where on the track were you beating him and where was he beating you?
ALEX BOWMAN: I thought I could do an okay job of taking his air through two and three. But I was plowing tight through turn one. We were on two tires there. I was free most of the day. We had tightened the car up, then put two tires on. I just burned the front tires off of it trying to stay in front of him.
Yeah, I mean, I was okay for a bit, then the fronts fell off a lot. Grille screen folded in. I don’t know if that kind of played a hand in it as well. As soon as he got beside me, I knew with clean air he was going to be able to drive away from us pretty big.
Just tried to do all I could to keep him behind us as long as I could.

Q. You’ve won basically all three of these races on late-race situations, specifically here and Richmond. Is there anything that you feel like you’re doing late in those moments or that you’re learning how to manage those situations that’s gotten you these wins?
ALEX BOWMAN: I wish there was something that I was like, Yeah, I’m doing this. I think it’s all pretty situational. We were really strong on that short run to end Richmond. Here I just got a hell of a push from the 12 to be able to clear the 18. Hendrick horsepower doesn’t hurt by any means.
Obviously got pretty lucky there with Kyle’s misfortune. I mean, I feel like we’ve always been a team that ends the day better than we started the day. We’ve never been that like win stages type of team, but we’ve won our share of races here lately.
Yeah, I don’t know exactly what it is, but glad it’s working out lately.

Q. How did you adjust to what Kyle was doing to hold you off, especially his bumper tapping you a little bit?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, the Cup cars are super aero-dependent. If you don’t have a car in front of you, your car makes way more downforce than if you have a car right in front of you. Tried to take as much air away from him as I possibly could. A lot of time in the mirror trying to see where he’s running, trying to run similar lines as him to take the air away, keep him behind us. It honestly worked a lot longer than I thought it was going to. Didn’t work all the way to the end. Just got lucky that last lap.

Q. You were apologizing on the radio during that last lap. Have you ever gone from that kind of disappointed, that down, to that high in half a lap?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, it was like a hundred feet. I keyed up. I’m like, I’m sorry. He’s blown a tire (laughter).
I don’t really know what to think. This is the strangest win I’ve ever been a part of. I thought I was running second, which was still going to be a good day for us with how we struggled throughout the course of the day. Then he blows a tire, we win; can’t do a burnout because I have to race the car tomorrow. I typically stand on the roof of the car; can’t do that because I got to race the car tomorrow. I typically drink all the beers; can’t do all that because I got to race a car tomorrow (laughter).
I have to be way more responsible than I really want to be right now. It’s definitely been a unique win. But, yeah, I’ve never been in a situation like that. I was literally keyed up, apologizing for burning the front tires off the thing. Saw his crush panel fly out, him have a flat.
Yeah, I can’t believe it.

Q. Did you see whether he cut something?
ALEX BOWMAN: I don’t know. I don’t know if he ran something over or what the situation was. I saw sparks, tire come apart, crush panel exit the race car because the tire came apart. Kind of normal flat tire situation.

Q. What has been the key to this Hendrick run? Three drivers winning all these races. What is it like around the shop to be part of this winning streak?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, the morale is obviously super high at Hendrick Motorsports. It’s really cool to see it that way.
I think there’s not one thing. It’s each and every individual at Hendrick Motorsports from top to bottom in every department, it’s everybody at Chevrolet. Our engines are strong, bodies are great, chassis are great. The guys putting them together are doing a great job. Having Chad in a new role is really good. Mr. H and Jeff and everybody are giving us all the tools we need to put the parts and pieces together to go win races.
Yeah, it’s not one thing. It’s a culmination of everybody’s hard work. It’s cool to be a part of it and be the guy that gets to drive ’em.

Q. Over the course of your career you’ve had at times lamented your bad luck.
ALEX BOWMAN: I don’t know what to say about today (laughter).

Q. Just in general this season, how does it feel to be on the other side? You probably have seen other drivers when they say, You can do anything, just falls into wins. To have that feeling of coming out on the other side and enjoying it the opposite way, how does it feel?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, it feels pretty freaking good. I don’t really know what to think. Richmond, when that caution came out, I was kind of bummed. Thought we were going to struggle on the short run like we had been most of that day. Then we came away with a win.
Here I’m apologizing to my guys, we come out with a win. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s pretty interesting to be on the other side of it. I’ll take it. I’ve had my fair share of bad luck over the course of my career. Hence the whole “Bad Luck Bowman” thing.
Maybe that’s all behind me and it was just in preparation for this great luck that we have right now. Yeah, I’ll take it.

Q. You alluded to it out there, how cool it was to see these fans back again? While your celebration has to be muted because of another race, you enjoyed that moment. Could you feel the excitement, the people embracing this win?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, it’s really neat. I think Pennsylvania race fans in general are some of the best in the world. Whether it’s sprint car racing or Cup racing or whatever the situation is, PA fans are pretty dang awesome.
To see a packed grandstands, packed infield. I went through a run through the infield today, aside from everybody yelling “William Byron” at me, because they had us mixed up. Pretty normal for Pocono. I don’t know why Pocono people think I’m William. I guess I’m a little insulted because I feel like I’m way better looking than him.
PA fans are pretty awesome and it’s cool to see a packed house.

Q. Quite a duel here today. You held Kyle off for a long time. We saw that at Richmond. Greg talked about confidence. In dealing with you at times, confidence is up and down, it can be. What does it mean to have these types of performances at end of races? Until the tire blew, it didn’t work out. What does it mean for you from that standpoint?
ALEX BOWMAN: It’s pretty fair to say. It’s pretty hard to be confident coming running off of 15th to 20th at Nashville, right?
I think the guys have done a really good job of giving me fast race cars all year. Really, when you look at how we’re running as an organization, it’s hard to not be confident going to the racetrack. These couple races that we’ve won on late-race restarts, holding off some really fast race cars, it definitely gives me confidence. Getting the lead from a guy like Kyle Busch on a late restart is not easy to do. Definitely gives me confidence going forward.

Q. Obviously the announcement about Jeff Gordon, the role. He’s played an important role with the organization previously. Greg noted Jeff spent some time with him this week, helped him out. Don’t know how much you’ve consulted with Jeff, but any time recently any conversations with him?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, I don’t remember if it was the beginning of last year. I guess it was probably there were some really impactful conversations from me midway through last year, kind of through our summer struggles a little bit. Then early in ’19, as well.
Jeff is super helpful. He gets it from an organizational side, he gets it from a race car driver side. That’s been really cool. I don’t think I talked to him at all this week aside from I think he was at the meeting. Lots gone on this week, I can’t remember.
I got to fly home from Raceway Park in Indianapolis I guess two weeks ago with him now. That was really cool, to fly home with him and his parents, share old open-wheel racing stories. It’s been kind of cool to build that relationship with Jeff.
When I first started driving the 88 and kind of sharing it with him, I didn’t really know Jeff. That probably out of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, just with him having to wear so many different hats, having so much going on, like that relationship probably took the longest to build. But it’s really cool to get to lean on somebody with so much knowledge in so many different areas and have his help and advice.

Q. Obviously you ended up with a victory today. What do you feel about tomorrow? What do you have to do if Larson is as fast as he was today?
ALEX BOWMAN: We got to turn a little better at the end of the race. I think that was our biggest problem there, was just being a little tight off.
Yeah, starting 20th is going to be super difficult here. We’ll have a good pit stall, so that will be good. But we know we’re going to have a fast Ally Camaro. We know we’re going to have good pit stops, good strategy. I think Greg’s strategy was pretty on point today. I’m excited for it. I’m excited to go try to beat that 5 car again.

Q. Do you feel going into tomorrow’s race, the confidence that you have right now, do you believe wear and tear and fatigue is going to play a huge factor tomorrow?
ALEX BOWMAN: Somewhat. I feel like these Cup cars have come a long way. If you try to do a doubleheader 20 years ago, nobody’s stuff would have made it, right? Everybody seemed pretty successful with it last year. I put my guys in some terrible situations with it. I’m not sure there wasn’t a doubleheader that we didn’t go to a backup last year. Happy this is a little better situation for them. There’s not much damage on that thing to repair and start over with.
I mean, I think in what we do, if it was a hundred degrees here today, driver fatigue and pit crew fatigue might be a little different. But it was a nice day, not too hot, a little bit of a shorter race. I think everything will kind of be business as usual tomorrow.

Q. Did you feel like you learned enough about your car in traffic? What kind of adjustments do you feel you’re going to need to make for traffic?
ALEX BOWMAN: We ran like 12th all day. I feel like we were in traffic almost all day. Kind of took to the end for me to be able to kind of really drive the car how it is in clean air.
It’s a huge difference in how the race car drives. Yeah, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what it’s going to do in traffic. I experienced it all day. It’s only going to be tougher tomorrow.

Q. If you’re in the same position tomorrow on the final restart, do you pick the front row? Were you surprised that Larson didn’t pick the front row to get a push from you?
ALEX BOWMAN: I was really surprised he didn’t pick the front row. I was just surprised somebody didn’t, right? We were fourth. Somebody could have restarted second, and instead they restarted fourth and sixth. I was pretty surprised nobody took the bottom.
But, hell, I’ll take it. Thanks to Blaney for the push. He pushed me all the way to the center of one, never tried to get out of line, never tried to do anything, ultimately got us out front. Big thank you to him. Much appreciated.
But, yeah, I was pretty surprised. Obviously, I would do it over the same way I did.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Alex. Congratulations. Good luck tomorrow.
ALEX BOWMAN: Thanks, guys.

GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 LE and JEFF ANDREWS, GENERAL MANAGER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS – PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the winning crew chief for today’s race, Greg Ives.
Greg, wild one, wild finishes, restarts. Take us through your vantage from atop the box.

GREG IVES: Starting out the race, we definitely thought we had a good car. A little free taking off. Alex was pretty happy with it. We talked about the restarts and how difficult they were going to be making the right decision rather than the decision in the moment because that decision kind of hurts you two corners later.
We struggled with that. I think there was a little learning period for not only Alex but myself on how deep I can get him with pit strategy, how deep I can get him by just pitting. Obviously, the pit crew kind of understanding clean stops, even one or two spots is going to be so majorly important to getting the restarts.
At the end there, had a strategy in mind. You never know how it’s going to play out. Plans never always work. But our plan there was to minimize our stop and get enough fuel to make it to the end. We did that with two right-side tires. About 12 gallons is what we needed, maybe a little less with cautions there.
I think we were lined up fourth on that restart coming to the choose cone. He elected to take the bottom or third. I can’t even remember. It’s already pretty blurry for me. Yeah, he elected to take the bottom. That ultimately was the winning move, having Ryan Blaney behind us, getting that push, clearing Kyle Busch off of turn one.
It’s definitely an eventful day. We started free, ended a little tight on two tires. Honestly I probably didn’t need to touch the car. Looking back now, Sunday quarterbacking it, Saturday, sorry. In the end, yeah, lost the lead there to Kyle with three or four to go. Unfortunate for them to have that issue. They’ve been fast all year. We want to do it in the right manner. We raced clean, we raced hard. We have a lot of respect for them. Never gave up. Didn’t allow the 18 to get to us and pass us. Ultimately won the race.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Greg.
Q. Looking at Larson’s issue, what were you seeing with tire wear throughout the day? One would assume he was pushing hard to get by. Were you able to see any tire wear that may have made that make sense to you?
GREG IVES: Ultimately that was pretty surprising. From the tire standpoint, Goodyear had I think a pretty good handle on the tire. We didn’t see any cracks, didn’t see any chips popping out, any possible wear issues that would expose a potential failure.
But it’s all about circumstances. I think they pitted under green there, took four tires. Typically we were under some type of caution to be able to build air pressure up. Ultimately that left front didn’t hold on. I don’t think it’s any fault of the team’s, Goodyear or whatnot. I think it’s just sometimes circumstances.

THE MODERATOR: We are also joined by the general manager of Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Andrews.
This is Hendrick’s sixth straight points win, seventh if you include the All-Star Race. Congratulations.
We’ll continue with questions.

Q. What did you tell Alex when Kyle was really pushing him hard? What did you tell him to try to kind of hold Kyle off?
GREG IVES: Yeah, I mean ultimately, I was giving him little pointers through SMP on his driving style probably earlier in the race. It’s kind of hard to know. It’s kind of hard in the moment when you’re really focused on holding off Kyle to give him the pointers then.
I give credit to Kevin Hamlin, our spotter. Allowing Alex to feel comfortable with what he was doing, maybe not trying to — Kyle was really good through turn one, was able to close up and get a run. Kevin did a good job of maybe having Alex move down half a lane, take a little bit of air away from Kyle, and eventually get maybe a little tight off, hurt that run. Maybe Kyle slowed up a little bit, saved his tires. He definitely attacked us and got by us.
Mainly in those times you try to stay silent, you try to allow the spotter to have the radio, allow him to keep the driver focused. Through the tunnel turn, I can’t remember exactly when, Alex was kind of apologizing for getting a little too tight at the end, maybe burning the fronts off.
I came on Channel 2 to tell Kevin, The 5 is having an issue. Kevin definitely relayed that to him. It was very important to stay in the game and hold off the 18.
Like I said, unfortunate for the 5 team to have their issue. I’m happy that we were able to capitalize, but I know we got some work to beat them tomorrow.

Q. Do you know if Kyle cut the tire or being something as far as wear?
JEFF ANDREWS: We haven’t seen anything yet. We’re getting the left front off the car to get it to Goodyear. Certainly saw nothing of concern throughout the race that led us to wear-related type of failure. We’ll get it to Goodyear and take look at it and see.

Q. Is there any kind of feeling of vindication, a lot of chatter in the garage, They made Hendrick do this or that after Nashville to the cars? I know that is not rare when a team is on a streak, that there’s some chatter. Do you feel any sort of vindication of whatever we did or didn’t have to do, we’re still fast?
JEFF ANDREWS: I don’t know about vindication, if we feel vindication. Obviously, we’ve been a race team before that’s been in this position. We’ve been chasing several organizations before ourselves.
We certainly understand what it feels like. Hey, there was some great race cars out there today. I think you definitely saw gains in the JGR cars this week. We’ll keep pushing.
NASCAR and Jay Fabian, they do a great job of regulating this sport and keeping this sport in line. Any time they talk to you or want you to address something on your race cars, we go back and address that.

Q. Greg, all of Alex’s wins this season have come late in the race, taking advantage of circumstances. In a season where some of your top competitors are also your teammates, you kind of touched on this a minute ago, how important is it to remain focused that you might always be in the game regardless of the circumstances?
GREG IVES: Yeah, you know, somewhat of the metrics kind of get us in that position, we’re 11th or 12 in points, kind of hover around that 10th or 12th place starting position. Trying not to make excuses for it because we definitely need to do better with our cars.
I feel like that gets us a tick behind. We just got to continue to march forward. I pride ourselves on being a team that never really gives up, whether it’s pit road strategy, in the race car, on restarts. That’s what it takes. That’s when you’re the most vulnerable I guess, when the chips are down a little bit. You got to stay after it. You got to stay motivated and focused.
Coming off of Nashville, it was a struggle for us. Rather upset about our performance there. Somebody told me this week, You just got to continue to build comfort in knowing that we have a solid team and that we’re capable of coming back from anything.
Definitely saw that today with maybe some varying strategies, knowing that the vision at the end of the race was to put us up front or towards the front. We were able to accomplish that. Alex was able to make a decision on that choose cone it’s either win or we’re going back to 10th. If he didn’t clear ’em, it was going to be a really sad day.
Ultimately just keep marching forward. Number one thing I say is focus forward. If you look back at even this win, if we look back and cherish this win too long, tomorrow’s going to be a little early wake-up call that we got to get after it starting 20th.

Q. Greg, I know right there on the last lap Alex was on the radio apologizing before the race is over. Do you have to talk to him about that, saying anything about that, or is that more about good natured ribbing?
GREG IVES: Yeah, I mean, I love the fact that somebody can come on the radio and tell us what they’re feeling. In that moment, as any person would be, when you’re leading the race, towards the end of it, you put it on your shoulders.
Our team is looking at him to make it happen. Ultimately there’s probably some circumstances that could have led to a better race car on my side. That’s what I stay focused on.
But as far as Alex goes, I want him to wear his emotions on his sleeve sometimes. If he was sorry coming off of the tunnel turn that he didn’t make adjustments in the car to hold off Kyle, then that’s fine. But we have to definitely learn from it because we could be in that situation tomorrow. Come down to five to go, I hope he’s thinking and understanding what he needs to adjust to not only hold off Kyle but another faster car maybe with better tires, maybe even handling a little bit better.
We’ll definitely talk about it. Not so much about the emotion, but about the learning we need to do to continue to be better, especially in closing laps, holding onto the lead, getting that ultimate win.

Q. We saw the drive at the end of this race, holding off Kyle. We saw it at Richmond. What are things you’re seeing out of him late-race situations, what is he learning, what are you learning, that could be helpful later in the season?
GREG IVES: Ultimately, I feel like confidence. Anybody in here, when they have confidence in those situations, are going to perform at a higher level.
I think he’s coming into his own. I feel like his two wins at probably not our best racetracks, Dover I would say we run pretty well there, but it gives him a lot of confidence to say, Hey, give me the reins because I’m going to take care of this right here.
You don’t do that in the last 15 laps. You do that how you work, how you prepare, how you get ready for each and every race. Ultimately after this race, they were spraying champagne. He’s like, I got to hydrate and get ready for tomorrow. In the end that’s the mentality you have to have to stay on top. To be able to make the right decisions in those tough circumstances. He was able to make it.
You’re never sure how it’s going to work out. If you don’t give yourself the chance to win, you’re never going to.

Q. Jeff, will there be much difference with Jeff Gordon in his new role starting next year?
JEFF ANDREWS: I’m not certain about a difference, but any time certainly that you bring someone of that caliber further up in your organization, we’re really, really excited to have Jeff in that role. We look forward to his contributions to our company. I think we’ve already seen a lot of things he’s been involved in, behind the scenes, when he wasn’t working in his television job there.
For him to come to us now in that full-time role, he’s planning on being here tomorrow with us, to have watched him, to have been fortunate enough to have been with him through his career at Hendrick Motorsports, transitioning to a driver, getting more involved in ownership and leadership role now, it’s been an honor. I think all of us at Hendrick, from the drivers, crew chiefs, all the employees are super excited about what that means to our future.

GREG IVES: I can add on to that. Like I said, the 48 car had a tough Nashville, right? The greatest thing was Jeff gave me time to talk. He’s been through a lot of situations that involved winning, then involved tough days, right?
He was able to give me 20 minutes of his time, give me advice. Not only advice, but also how to maybe look at some different situations in the future because he’s experienced it.
I think it’s a huge impact for Hendrick Motorsports to have that guy that has accomplished so much, but also has had a long career. In a long career, you don’t always have — every day is not a success. You got to work through struggles. Those struggles make you better.

THE MODERATOR: Greg, Jeff, thank you for your time. Congratulations on this win.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series Race Report
Track: Pocono Raceway
Race: Pocono Organics CBD 325
Date: June 26, 2021

No. 2 Detroit Engines Ford Mustang – Brad Keselowski

Start: 18th
Stage 1: 20th
Stage 2: 10th
Finish: 10th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 130/130
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings (ahead of second): 10th (-210)
Sunday Starting Position: 11th

Notes:

• Brad Keselowski overcome an early race incident to score a 10th-place finish Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. The driver of the Detroit Engines Ford grabbed his sixth top-10 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season and his 14th in 23 races at Pocono. Keselowski remains 10th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, 210 points behind leader Denny Hamlin.
• Keselowski started 18th and immediately began moving toward the front. He was up to 11th at the time of the first caution on lap 10. Crew chief Jeremy Bullins chose pit for right-side tires and fuel. Keselowski restarted 24th on lap 12 but found trouble when he got into the back of Cole Custer just as the field completed lap 14. The contact damaged the front nose on the No. 2 Mustang. Keselowski pitted for repairs before the race went green and was credited with a 20th-place finish when Stage 1 concluded on lap 25. Bullins made the call to stay out during the stage caution and Keselowski restarted ninth when the race went green on lap 29.
• Keselowski and the Detroit Engines team did a good job to earn valuable stage points during Stage 2. The driver of the No. 2 Mustang was running sixth when the fourth yellow slowed the race on lap 54. Keselowski pitted during the caution for four tires and adjustments and restarted 11th on lap 57. Adjustments by Bullins improved the balance of Keselowski’s Ford and capitalized on a two-lap dash to end the stage to claim a 10th-place finish when the segment ended on lap 77. Keselowski remained on the track during the stage caution and restarted 10th when the race went green on lap 81.
• Keselowski got shuffled back to 17th on the restart and when he was stuck in traffic the balance on his Mustang was very tight. Bullins called his driver to pit road for a scheduled four-tire stop under green on lap 91 for another set of tires and to get Keselowski into clean air. He said his Mustang fired off strong, but the balance built tighter and tighter during the run.
• But the eighth and final caution on lap 109 was the break that Keselowski needed to get in position to score a respectable finish. He was 18th prior to the yellow flag then pitted and restarted 21st on lap 111. Keselowski used his fresher tires to slice through traffic and climb up the leaderboard. He completed his late-race rally with a pass around Tyler Reddick with five laps to go to grab 10th-place. The driver of the Detroit Engines Ford moved up 11 positions over the final 19 laps.

Quotes: “Our Detroit Engines Ford was really good. I got into the 41 (Cole Custer) early in the race and that got us behind.”

No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney

Start: 27th
Stage 1: 14th
Stage 2: 5th
Finish: 5th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 130/130
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings (ahead of second): 9th (-181)
Sunday Starting Position: 16th

Notes:

• Ryan Blaney rallied from a 27th-place starting position to finish fifth Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. With the field set by the qualifying metric, the driver of the No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang was forced to work hard to gain track position in the opening stage but scored points Stage 2 then grabbed his third top-five of the 2021 season. The team will start tomorrow’s race from the 16th position, in the Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang.
• After starting deep in the field and battling dirty air, Blaney pitted during the first caution on lap 10 for two tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment. Despite the stop Blaney was still able to rally forward to claim a 14th-place result when Stage 1 ended on lap 25. Blaney said his Menards/Richmond Ford was decent and crew chief Todd Gordon made the call to keep his driver on the track during the stage caution.
• Blaney would hit pit road again on lap 53 for tires and fuel, putting the team in a window to make it to the end of the race on one more stop. He continued to work forward in the running order, racing inside the top-10. A caution on lap 73 set up a two-lap dash to finish Stage 2. Blaney restarted inside the top-five and was credited with a fifth-place finish when the stage ended on lap 77.
• The No. 12 Menards team pitted as scheduled on lap 91. Gordon made the call for four tires and fuel plus a slight air pressure change to help the driver with rear handling for the run to the finish. Blaney had a great restart on lap 111 that put him in position to claim his top-five, which he did 19 laps later.

Quote: “Starting a long way back was challenging and trying to get on some certain strategies that might help us out. I thought our strategy was really good. We were really fast for that last caution. I got really tight after that. We needed a good day in our Menards Ford Mustang after last week for sure. This is definitely something to learn about for tomorrow and make some changes and hopefully have a really good run.”

No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang – Joey Logano

Start: 4th
Stage 1: 4th
Stage 2: 3rd
Finish: 7th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 130/130
Laps Led: 18
Point Standings (ahead of second): 4th (-106)
Sunday Starting Position: 14th

• Joey Logano claimed his eleventh top-10 finish of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season with a seventh-place finish Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. Logano started fourth, finished fourth and third in the opening two stages respectively before finishing seventh. The finish was Logano’s ninth at Pocono and will give him the 14th starting position on Sunday. The top 20 finishers from Saturday will be inverted to start the Sunday afternoon race.
• After starting the race from the fourth position, Logano ran inside the top-five for the majority of the opening stage. He reported the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang was just slightly free on corner entry but was running competitive enough lap times that the team elected to remain on the track during both early caution periods. Logano finished fourth in Stage 1 and he and crew chief Paul Wolfe elected to remain on the track at the end of the stage. He restarted as the leader when the race went green on lap 29.
• Logano pitted from the lead under green on lap 45 for his first stop of the day, taking four tires, an air pressure adjustment and fuel. The field was slowed by the fourth caution on lap 54, with Logano cycling back forward to the fourth position. A caution prior to the end of Stage 2 set up a two-lap dash to the finish and was also an opportunity for the team to cycle forward when two positions ahead of Logano pitted. The driver of the Shell-Pennzoil Ford finished third when Stage 2 ended on lap 77.
• The team pitted for a potential final stop at lap 90, taking four tires, fuel, plus a slight air pressure adjustment. Prior to the stop, Logano reported the balance of the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang was neutral overall. Logano continued on with a late caution setting up a restart with 19 laps to go which resulted in the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Mustang getting shuffled with the driver battling back for the seventh-place finish.

Quote: “We were okay. We ran about fifth most of the race. The Shell-Pennzoil Ford was pretty good the last run, but I just lost too much track position on the final restart. We were able to get some decent stage points. I think we were fourth and third in the two stages and then we finished seventh. Not what we want but it is a gain on our 550 package if you look at where we have been. We were able to run towards the front and see the front and actually pass some cars. That is a good sign. Progress is being made.”

Almirola 16th at Pocono 1
Smithfield Ford Driver Finishes Just Outside Top-15

Date: June 26, 2021
Event: Pocono Organics CBD 325 (Round 18 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile triangle)
Format: 130 laps, broken into three stages (25 laps/52 laps/53 laps)
Start/Finish: 11th / 16th (Running, completed 130 of 130 laps)
Point Standing: 27th (262 points, 467 out of first)
Race Winner: Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kurt Busch of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-25):

● Aric Almirola started 11th and finished 36th.

● Almirola fell to 16th on the restart with no help from behind, but he drove back to 14th before an early caution.

● The Smithfield driver raced to 11th before another caution was called.

● Almirola pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments with three laps to go in the stage and stayed on the lead lap.

● He opted not to pit at the end of the stage.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 26-52):

● Almirola started 12th and finished 21st.

● On the restart, Almirola was forced to the inside lane with no help from behind, ultimately losing the draft and falling to 19th.

● Almirola pitted for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments during a caution period on lap 54.

● Almirola restarted 19th and raced around the top-20 until a lap-60 caution.

● On lap 71, Almirola avoided an accident involving the No. 42 car and raced to 16th before the caution was called that same lap.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 53-130):

● Almirola started 20th and finished 16th.

● He pitted under green-flag conditions on lap 90 for fuel only, but radioed he was loose taking off.

● The caution was called with 22 laps to go with Almirola scored 19th.

● The Smithfield Ford driver pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and chassis adjustments to restart 20th.

● Almirola gained four more positions before the checkered flag waved.

Notes:

● Alex Bowman won the Pocono Organics CBD 325 to score his fifth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his first at Pocono. His margin over second-place Kyle Busch was .683 of a second.

● There were eight caution periods for a total of 25 laps.

● Thirty-one of the 38 drivers in the Pocono Organics CBD 325 finished on the lead lap.

● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after Pocono with an eight-point advantage over second-place Kyle Larson.

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“This Smithfield Ford team fought all day to find more speed and just didn’t have it today. Proud of everyone for working so hard to gain as many spots as we could. It’s a doubleheader weekend, so the work doesn’t stop now. We’ll regroup and see what we can do to build on tomorrow’s race. We’ll have a better starting spot with the field invert, so we’ll take that as a positive.”

Next Up:

The second event of the weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader at Pocono is the Pocono Mountains 350 on Sunday. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
POCONO ORGANICS CBD 325
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
JUNE 26, 2021

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
3rd WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA COLOR OF THE YEAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE
6th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
9th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
11th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 KALAHARI RESORTS & CONVENTIONS CAMARO ZL1 1LE

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
2nd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
3rd William Byron (Chevrolet)
4th Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
5th Ryan Blaney (Ford)

The NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader race weekend at Pocono Raceway continues with the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 tomorrow, June 27, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race Winner
ALEX, WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU SAW THE 5 GOING INTO THE WALL?
“Yeah, I hate to win one that way, but hell, yeah, I’ll take it.”

“Super proud of this Ally 48 team. Man, we kind of gave the lead away. Were on two tires, just got super tight. Tried to hold him off as long as I could. Can’t say enough about everybody at Team Hendrick right now, body shop, engine shop, chassis shop. Top to bottom, everybody is putting race cars on the racetrack.”

“Greg (Ives, Crew Chief) and all the guys did a really good job. We didn’t run that good all day, so I’m kind of in shock. I don’t know what to say to you guys. Hell, yeah, so cool to see all the fans out here. Always like to come to PA. It’s a cool place day, beautiful weather, great day for a race. Heck, yeah, I’ll take it.”

YOU APOLOGIZED TO YOUR GUYS. FOR ONCE, YOU HAD THE LUCK ON YOUR SIDE.
“Yeah, I don’t know what to think about that. “Bad Luck Bowman” had some luck there (smiling).
No, I mean, the 5 beat us. Their misfortune, it happens. That’s part of the sport. I’ll take it.”

YOU MENTIONED THESE FANS. HOW ABOUT WINNING IN FRONT OF THESE POCONO FANS?
“Cool. The place is packed. I went for a run in the infield. Typical Pocono, everybody called me William Byron (laughter).”

“Just enjoy it. So cool to see all the fans out, a bunch of fist pumps, high fives, running through the campground. I’m sure my trainer is going to make me run in the morning. So I’ll probably see some of you guys in the campground in the morning.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA COLOR OF THE YEAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rd
YOU GAINED THE MOST POINTS OF THE DAY. YOU SAID YOU WERE TOO TIGHT. WAS THAT ALL DAY OR AT THE END?
“The things we thought coming here, we wanted to be a little snug. So, we just kind of gained tight center off and it was hard to make the straightaways long with that, especially with the PJ1. It seems to make your car tighter. So, our Axalta Chevy was good, especially at the beginning; a little bit on the splitter. But we had the lead there and lost it. Just wasn’t quite able to pass the top two guys, I should say. So, it’s just part of it. Luckily, we get a chance to work on those things. It’s the first time for Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) and I here. It was a good run for us. We finished third and we’ll try to go win tomorrow.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 9th
WE SAW YOU TAKE A MANDATORY RIDE OVER HERE, KYLE. ULTIMATELY NINTH. THAT DOES NOT TELL THE STORY OF THE DAY.
“I guess disbelief still. I don’t know, a little bit laughable just because I can’t believe it.”

“Hate that we didn’t get another win. Would have been cool to win five in a row. Just wasn’t meant to be I guess today. Yeah, I felt something like right in the middle of the tunnel. Wasn’t quite sure what it was yet. It finally kind of shredded halfway through the short chute there. Couldn’t turn.”

“Hate that we didn’t get the win. Cool that Alex still did, a Hendrick car with another win. Cool to keep Mr. H’s streak going. Yeah, hate we didn’t get HendrickCars.com into Victory Lane, but we’ll try to start another streak tomorrow.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE ALL THE MOVES YOU HAD TO TRY ON HIM, ULTIMATELY GETTING HIM? DO YOU THINK THEY ABUSED THE TIRE AT ALL?
“No, I mean, I don’t think there were any tire issues all day. I must have just ran something over, I guess. I was having to work really hard to get by him. I was honestly happy to see him get to the lead because I had pulled away from him so much, that run up before the caution. But then he was really fast out front. Just fast enough I could never get to his inside. He was running low enough, I was a little bit choked down.”

“He was starting to get really tight through one. I was able to kind of use that to my advantage, fake him low a little bit, mess his angle up, get him tighter off of one. Was finally able to get by him. Thought we were going to get the win, but we didn’t.”

HOW ANXIOUS ARE YOU TO RE-CRANK THE HEATER AND GET THAT GOING FOR TOMORROW AFTERNOON?
“I guess that’s one thing that’s probably keeping me excited and not depressed, is that we get to go back again tomorrow. I’m sure our backup car will be just as good as that one. Feel like we learned a lot about our car today. The track came to us a lot. I think we should be good tomorrow.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6th
“I thought it was a solid day. It was one of those days where we stuck to our strategy. We were going to pit twice; use that track position from our finish last week at Nashville (Superspeedway). That helped us stay up front; helped us stay in rhythm. I battled every lap with loose conditions. The car wanted to just keep getting loose with the rear. We just had to stay out. We just didn’t want to sacrifice our track position. Good calls by Matt McCall (crew chief) – utilized the speed of the track and the car together to keep that track position and to have a solid points day.”

“We won a stage; we were up front. But we have to find a little more pizazz – get that rear stuck and that way I can be more on offense on restarts. Solid day for the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevy.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 KALAHARI RESORTS & CONVENTIONS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 11th
“My No. 8 Kalahari Resorts and Conventions team did a great job today coming up with a strategy that helped get us a good finish for the first race of the Pocono Raceway doubleheader weekend. I fired off a bit too tight, but we were able to make the right adjustments to loosen up our car closer to where it needed to be throughout the race. Dirty air definitely played a huge role in handling today. It was like a light switch sometimes when the car would snap from loose to tight, so that’s good to be aware of for tomorrow’s race, especially with how hard it was to pass today. We still need to do some work to figure out how to get over the bumps better since that was my other big issue today. But overall, my team did a good job figuring out a pit strategy that got us up into a good spot when it mattered at the end. I’m looking forward to getting another shot at this track tomorrow and seeing how much better we can make our Kalahari Resorts and Conventions Chevy.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 13th
“It was OK. I feel like the car was fast.”
“It’s a gamble. You have to gamble and you have to stick with it; and unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us today, but hopefully it does tomorrow. We had, what I felt like, a top-10 car, sometimes even a top-five. We ended up 13th. We have to make a couple of adjustments to be a little bit better for tomorrow.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 WORKRISE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 21st
“Workrise is for the people who get hard work done, and that’s definitely what the 3 Workrise Chevrolet team did today at Pocono Raceway. We battled with a tight-handling condition for most of the race, but Justin Alexander and the team never gave up. The pit crew was fast all day today as well. We earned Stage points at the end of Stage 1, then got caught with a caution after a pit stop and lost some track position. The whole time, our team used pit stops to make chassis adjustments to our Chevy. By the final Stage, our handling was okay everywhere except for Turn 1, where we were plowing on exit. It was a chore to earn track position, especially after we were issued a penalty for speeding on pit road during a green-flag stop. I’m glad that this weekend is a double-header and we have another shot at getting Workrise a win on Sunday. We’ll go back to the drawing board for tomorrow.”

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

BUSCH, HAMLIN DRIVE TO TOP-FIVE FINISHES IN FIRST POCONO EVENT
Kyle Busch scores two runner-up finishes at Pocono on Saturday

LONG POND, Pa. (June 26, 2021) – Kyle Busch (second) and Denny Hamlin (fourth) scored top-five finishes in the Pocono Organics CBD 325 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday afternoon.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Pocono Raceway
Race 18 of 36 – 130 laps, 325 miles

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Alex Bowman*
2nd, KYLE BUSCH
3rd, William Bryon*
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
5th, Ryan Blaney*
14th, BUBBA WALLACE
17th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
18th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
35th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Mini’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 2nd

Second in the truck race, and second here. You had a good view of what happened in front of you, but what more did you need today?

“Just more front turn. Our cars kind of die tight in traffic, and just wasn’t able to turn as well as I needed too late in the going in order to get a run on them. I couldn’t even get any closer than I was. I was trying like hell to get there and get into that mix, but I couldn’t even get there. I was just hindered by traffic and dirty air, stuff like that. Ben (Beshore, crew chief) and the guys gave me a great piece. It was fast early on. We made minimal changes to it all day long, so when you are well-balanced, and your car is good – that’s as much as we have for them right now. Last week we saw that we were off just a little bit, and we got our ass kicked. We certainly have some work forward, and trying to find some more, but thanks to everyone on this M&M’s Minis Toyota Camry. The guys did a great job. Thanks to Rowdy Energy, Stanley, Interstate Batteries and Rheem. We will get back after them tomorrow.”

Once you lost track position, how hard was it to get it back?

“It was just impossible to pass. We were a tick – just a little bit – slower than (Kyle) Larson and we were able to hold him off. The 48 (Alex Bowman) held him off forever and finally the 5 (Kyle Larson) got by and got away by 20 lengths or so. I was just dying tight behind those guys. I just could not do anything in traffic. We were just struggling in traffic. We don’t have what we need to slice through traffic. Everybody’s hindered, but it seems like us a little bit more. Everybody on this M&M’s Mini Toyota Camry team did a good job. We made some good calls and had a fast car from the start. A good handling race car. It felt good. We made small adjustments to it all day long and that’s all we had to run with those Hendrick cars again. Best in class. Thanks to Rowdy Energy, Stanley, Interstate Batteries and Rheem. We will go get them again tomorrow.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

What more did you need today Denny?

“Track position. We had the fastest car. Just that restart – I had the chance to start on the inside, but we just couldn’t accelerate on the restarts. I thought the smart move was to start on the outside in the third lane, so we could go, and it turns out we should have gone to the bottom. Our FedEx Camry wasn’t good on the restarts coming through the gears, so I don’t know that we would have got past the 18 (Kyle Busch) like the 48 (Alex Bowman) did, but I thought we had the fastest car, but we just could never really show it. We were running down that front pack big time, but it was a little bit too little, too late.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit ToyotaNewsroom.com

Harvick Eighth in First Round of Pocono Doubleheader
Driver of No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustangs Scores 13th Top-10 of Season
Date: June 26, 2021
Event: Pocono Organics CBD 325 (Round 18 of 36)Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile triangle)
Format: 130 laps, broken into three stages (25 laps/52 laps/53 laps)
Start/Finish: 3rd / 8th (Running, completed 130 of 130 laps)
Point Standing: 8th (552 points, 177 out of first)
Race Winner: Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kurt Busch of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-25):

● Kevin Harvick started third and finished fifth, earning six bonus points.

● After the competition caution came out on lap 10, Harvick said his No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang was a little loose.

● When the yellow caution flag waved again on lap 15, Harvick was fourth.

● “Just need a little bit of rear grip everywhere,” said Harvick during the caution.

● Held steady in fifth to finish the stage.

● Pitted for four tires and fuel with tire pressure adjustments at the conclusion of the stage. Also removed some tape from grille.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 26-52):

● Harvick started 20th and finished 13th.

● Varying pit strategies jumbled the running order, with some drivers opting to stay out or pit for only two tires.

● By lap 45, Harvick had the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang up to 15th.

● “Loose into (turn) one and loose into the tunnel (turn),” said Harvick while running 13th on lap 49.

● Caution on lap 54 allowed Harvick to pit for four tires and fuel on lap 55. Pulled some more tape from grille.

● Lined up 20th for lap-58 restart and picked up 19th before another caution on lap 61.

● “Balance (of car) is fine when I’m not in traffic,” said Harvick after a caution on lap 73 while running 15th.

● Harvick took advantage of caution and pitted on lap 74 for four tires and fuel. Pulled more tape off the grille.

● Was 18th for lap-76 restart and climbed to 13th by end of stage.

● Since Harvick pitted earlier, crew chief Rodney Childers kept him out on the racetrack upon the conclusion of the stage.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 53-130):

● Harvick started 11th and finished eighth.

● “Too tight in the tunnel (turn) and turn three,” said Harvick on lap 88 while running 11th.

● Harvick made a scheduled, green flag pit stop on lap 90 for fuel and a right-rear wedge adjustment. No tires.

● “Too tight in (turns) one and two, center out, but the back (of the car) wants to snap loose in (turn) one, so I’ve got two things going on,” said Harvick during a caution period on lap 109. He remained 11th.

● Caution allowed Harvick to pit for four tires and fuel on lap 110. He lined up 13th for lap-111 restart.

● Cracked the top-10 on lap 113.

● Passed Tyler Reddick for ninth on lap 123 and picked up eighth on the final lap when race leader Kyle Larson cut a tire, allowing Harvick to get past him just before the finish line.

Notes:

● Harvick earned his 13th top-10 of the season and his 21st top-10 in 41 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Pocono.

● Harvick’s 21 top-10s at Pocono are tied with Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch for the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

● This was Harvick’s fourth straight top-10 at Pocono.

● This was Harvick’s second straight top-10. He finished fifth in the series’ last race at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.

● Alex Bowman won the Pocono Organics CBD 325 to score his fifth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his first at Pocono. His margin over second-place Kyle Busch was .683 of a second.

● There were eight caution periods for a total of 25 laps.

● Thirty-one of the 38 drivers in the Pocono Organics CBD 325 finished on the lead lap.

● Hamlin remains the championship leader after Pocono with an eight-point advantage over second-place Larson.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Our Busch Light Ford Mustang was really good at the end. It just took us all day to kind of get the track position and get the loose into the center of the corner better. It took all day, but then we were able to get an OK finish out of it.”

Next Up:

The second event of the NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader at Pocono is the Pocono Mountains 350 on Sunday, June 27. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.