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Kurt Busch saves enough fuel, wins at Pocono
Kurt Busch has been having one of the best seasons of anyone in the Sprint Cup Series in 2016. He just didn't have a signature moment to go along with that excellence.
Busch now has two of those moments, as he went from third-to-first in one pass and saved enough fuel to hold off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski to win Monday's rain-delayed race at Pocono.
[Related: Quick Takeaways from Pocono]
After the race went green with 35 laps to go, many teams were in need of some fuel conservation. Busch was one of those drivers who needed to save some gas, so over the final laps of the race he used the clutch through the corners to idle the engine.
And while that tactic allowed Busch to save fuel, he was able to still hit his marks and not slow down significantly in the corners. Over the final 10 laps of the race, Junior, who was told he had enough gas to make it to the finish, couldn't get within a second of Busch.
But Busch had to first get the lead. That process happened shortly after the restart. Busch had a great car all day and had been near the front of the field. He just hadn't been at the front until Elliott and Junior were battling for the lead ahead of him.
[Related: Keselowski makes case for TV impartiality after hearing of Gordon's comments]
Junior had just passed his rookie teammate, who aggressively dove into turn 2 behind Junior to potentially force the 2014 Pocono winner into a mistake. While Junior kept Elliott at bay, Elliott's move was too aggressive. He slid up the track on the exit of the corner and opened the bottom lane for Busch.
"I wish I had been just a little more patient behind Dale," Elliott said. "I felt like I made a big mistake there in the tunnel [turn] and gave Kurt a big run."
Junior's momentum was temporarily blunted too, so Busch was able to get alongside Junior after he cleared Busch. After a drag race down Pocono's long front straightaway, Busch cleared Junior and wasn't challenged for the lead again as he led the final 32 laps.
"It's tough to balance everything," Busch said. "Fast car and an interim crew chief and the way that the fuel mileage played out, I didn't know if we were going to have enough fuel."
Busch's crew chief for the race was Johnny Klausmeier, one of his team engineers. Klausmeier was subbing for Tony Gibson as GIbson was forced to miss Monday's race because of a NASCAR-mandated suspension for loose lug nuts after the Charlotte race.
Busch entered Monday's race with 11 top-10 finishes in the first 13 races – the most of any driver in the Cup Series. But while Busch had been a mainstay within the top 10 all year, he had only led in four of those 13 races as drivers like his brother Kyle, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson all had logged multiple wins.
Had he somehow run out of fuel over the closing laps at Pocono, Busch wouldn't have fallen outside of the top three in the points standings and his Chase chances wouldn't have taken a hit. But now, thanks to a well-timed gamble, Busch's Chase footing is about as rock-solid as his season has been.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
