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LONG POND — They told Kurt Busch he was so short on fuel, he’d never make it to the finish line.
It turned out, he had enough in his tank to do a couple post-race burnouts.
So much for running out of gas on his way to victory lane.
Racing without his suspended crew chief, Busch masterfully saved enough fuel Monday to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season, magically holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski down the stretch to capture the Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway.
“It’s an amazing feeling when you get to drive into victory lane,” said Busch, who posted his third career victory at Pocono Raceway and joined Hall of Famer Rex White in 25th place on NASCAR’s all-time victory list with 28. “To be in position is what it’s all about. It’s a win. And it’s special. It’s hard to rank this against other wins. This one, it makes it more special because we were missing our crew chief.”
Veteran Tony Gibson was suspended by NASCAR over violations of lug nut policy for Busch’s run at Pocono, leaving team engineer Johnny Klausmeier to step in as crew chief in an event that was moved to Monday following Sunday’s rainout.
“It was nerve-racking, but it ended up really good,” Klausmeier said.
He admitted to sweating down the stretch.
Out of the race’s ninth and final re-start, Busch zoomed past rookie Chase Elliott and into the lead — when he was told by Klausmeier the car didn’t have enough gas to get through the remaining 18 laps.
“Johnny Klausmeier called a perfect race to gamble on fuel a little bit,” Busch said. “But he also gave me the ball, said, ‘Hey, we’re two laps short (on fuel), go get it for us.’ “
He did.
Masterfully conserving his tank by taking his foot off the gas for long stretches in the No. 41 Monster Energy Chevrolet, Busch still maintained a comfortable lead and easily fended off Earnhardt Jr. and Keselowski to win for the first time in 34 races — a span that covered nearly a full year.
“Well, 41 was up there trying to save some fuel,” said Earnhardt Jr., who swept both 2015 races at Pocono. “He couldn’t make it all the way running hard, and I didn’t know if we could. We all pitted around the same time. Really, we lost the race on the re-start. We certainly finished better than we should have. It certainly feels better than finishing 15th.”
That last re-start cost Elliott dearly.
He led for a race-high 38 laps before setting for fourth place.
“We certainly had, I feel, one of our best days of the year,” said Elliott, the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott. “Obviously, I made a big mistake there behind Dale in the tunnel after that (final) re-start. I wish I had been a little more patient and given ourselves a better chance, but you live and you learn.”
Joey Logano finished fifth, followed by Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth. Carl Edwards (8th), Kevin Harvick (9th) and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 10.
Keselowski overcame an early penalty for unapproved body modification — when his pit crew members rammed a dent into the side of his car in an apparent attempt to aid with aerodynamics — to place third. After the dent was pulled out to an acceptable degree, Keselowski worked his way back to the lead lap and shot past Elliott with nine laps to go for a top-three finish.
“I was just trying to keep the track position all day,” Keselowski said, “and unfortunately we weren’t able to do that, with whatever penalty (was called) there. But we were able to drive back up there towards the end and I thought we had a lot of speed. All in all, a pretty decent weekend for us.”
None of them, though, could beat Busch, who finished among the top 10 in 11 other races this season but couldn’t quite find a way to work his way to the front.
Until Monday.
”We’ve been in position this year so far, and we haven’t quite sealed the deal,” Busch said. “Today, we did. I knew I needed to do my best to preserve the fuel and to deliver the win. There really wasn’t a doubt (about fuel). I can honestly say Klausmeier gave me the confidence. He kept giving me numbers. I kept finding ways to think that I was saving fuel — I kept checking my mirror, kept checking my lap time on the dash. Klausmeier helped, the spotter helped and it all turned into a win here at Pocono.
“It feels great.”
