Matt Kenseth wins Pure Michigan 400 at MIS

Martin Truex was third and Austin Dillon, sent to the back at the beginning of the race because of an engine change, charged to finish fourth.

That made Kenseth, who had finished 22nd or worse in five of his last six Pocono races, the improbable victor. However, on turn one, David Ragan got loose, and skidded off the track.

“It took us a long time”, Gibbs said.

The second half of the race was mostly clean with only two more cautions thrown. Usually after qualifying, the afternoon before the race a few garages are busy. The race totaled eight cautions, well shy of the surprisingly high record of thirteen. Johnson was back out in 42nd two laps down. Busch was sixth in qualifying Friday, but going to the backup vehicle will force him to start from the back in Sunday’s race.

When teammate Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag at the end of the day, Busch crossed the line in the 11th spot.

After starting on the pole, Kenseth led the way until pitting during a competition caution on lap 21.

Kenseth pitted on Lap 165, which put Kyle Busch out front, ahead of Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But if Sunday’s race was a final exam before the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship next month, give NASCAR a failing grade.

However, when the green flag waved for the final time, Kenseth easily flew away from the pack.

Kevin Harvick qualified second and Joey Logano third.

Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick finished second and said he just didn’t have anything to match Kenseth in his post-race press conference.

Busch has never won at Pocono, but he’s on one incredible roll. NASCAR already has told the teams that with the exception of possible changes to the restrictor-plate race at Talladega, there will be no additional experiments. Joe Gibbs Racing is the only team with two drivers that have 3 or more wins.

NASCAR is sticking with its original 2015 rules package for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

O’Donnell said the sanctioning body will turn its attention now to another use of the low-downforce package in the upcoming race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The added drag caused the exhaust released by the cars to reach temperatures of nearly 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit. Biggest loser on Sunday in the Race for the Chase was Clint Bowyer and the No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota that crashed on Lap 125 ending up with a 41st place result. I know forcing fans to make a choice like this is a little freaky, but I also believe that by rooting for Kyle Busch at this point, you are showing the sport of NASCAR and everything it was built on a huge deal of disrespect. We’ll be following Bowyer’s fortunes for the rest of the season because we consider him a quasi-Missourian who competed on a number of local Missouri tracks on his way up the NASCAR ladder and because he has a home at the Lake of the Ozarks. He now stands in 33rd place, only 13 points back from 30th. JGR’s Carl Edwards also won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.