Kyle Larson found himself out in front when the Pocono Green 250 was called complete 47 laps early due to rain. The victory was Kyle Larson’s first win of the year in the first Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway. The yellow flag was raised for the fifth time on Lap 52, when a stormed saturated Turn 3 and moved over the entire venue. To make matters worse, another shower followed forcing NASCAR to shorten the contest.
NASCAR presented the checkered flag in the Pocono Green 250 to Kyle Larson when the race was red flagged after 53 of 100 scheduled circuits and then called off because of constant rain. The #42 EONOS sponsored, Chip Gnassi Racing owned hot-rod was the only car in the field who embraced the in-climate weather. Rules are rules and a win is a win, and as far as the snake-bitten driver was concerned, that was good enough.
“I’m happy with it,” Larson said. “Now that the race is over and we got the win, it can clear out so we can race on Sunday for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race … I had kept a gap on him (Erik Jones) for about four laps when he was in second.
“The rain was coming, and it was starting to sprinkle on his windshield. We weren’t quite to halfway yet when a race becomes official, so I wasn’t really saying much on the radio, but once we did get to halfway, it started coming down a lot harder. We were going to be racing a lot harder in the next lap or half a lap maybe, so I’m happy that it started pouring when it did.”
Erik Jones and his Sport Clips sponsored Toyota was the last car on the track that wanted to see the storm hang over the venue.. Jones’s #20 Joe Gibbs Racing machine was arguably the fastest car on the track when the weather interrupted the race. Although Kyle Larson officially led 27 laps, a race high, Jones was clearly faster at the mid-way point. Before the Pocono Green 250 was halted, Jones had moved from fourth on the Lap 44 restart to second place and was pressuring Larson for the lead when rain began to pelt the 2.5 mile tri-oval.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” said Jones, who has two wins, three runner-up finishes and a pair of thirds in 12 races this season. “You look at this whole year, and it’s kind of been a season of just missing it by that much. We’ve missed a few races with penalties and circumstance and the way things worked out, and today was another one of those days where I thought we had a good shot at the win, and the way it played out, it just didn’t work out for us.”
Kyle Busch, Xfinity Series’s most dominate driver, was fast once again. He drove his #18 NOS Energy drink sponsored Toyota to the front for 16 circuits in the shortened event. The Joe Gibbs Racing cars were clearly the ones to beat at the start of the race and were not disappointing their owner before the weather hit. Whether Busch would have found his way to the front after the full 100 circuits were tallied will remain a mystery.
Elliott Sadler and his JR Motorsports team finished out the race in the sixth position. Even though it appeared that the Chevrolet’s were as competitive as anybody, being they finished with six cars in the top ten, it was clear the two Toyota Camry hot-rods had a little more. The finish did help Sadler gain three points on the Xfinity points leader Daniel Suarez. Kyle Larson receives no Xfinity points for his effort because he is a Sprint Cup Series regular.
Daniel Suarez found himself slotted in the ninth spot when the storm decided the outcome. His #19 ARRIS Toyota showed speed throughout the weekend and had a good chance of finishing in a higher position but the circumstances ended that hope.
The Pocono Green 250 was completed when it was cancelled after 53 laps of the 100 scheduled. The race lasted one hour and seven minutes. The average speed of the field was 118.421 due to the five cautions for 14 laps. There were six lead changes among five different drivers and the margin of victory was decided under caution.
Final Running Order for the Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway:
1. (4) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 53 laps, 0 rating, 0 points.
2. (1) Erik Jones, Toyota, 53, 0, 39.
3. (8) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 38.
4. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 53, 0, 0.
5. (5) Joey Logano, Ford, 53, 0, 0.
6. (6) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 35.
7. (7) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 0.
8. (14) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 33.
9. (3) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 53, 0, 32.
10. (10) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 31.
11. (16) Aric Almirola, Ford, 53, 0, 0.
12. (13) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 29.
13. (11) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 53, 0, 28.
14. (17) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 27.
15. (12) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 26.
16. (40) Darrell Wallace Jr, Ford, 53, 0, 25.
17. (19) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 24.
18. (22) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 53, 0, 23.
19. (29) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 22.
20. (30) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 21.
21. (26) Ray Black Jr, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 21.
22. (25) B J McLeod, Ford, 53, 0, 19.
23. (34) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 18.
24. (35) Alex Guenette, Chevrolet, 53, 0, 17.
25. (36) Ryan Ellis, Ford, 53, 0, 16.
26. (27) Brandon Gdovic, Chevrolet, 52, 0, 15.
27. (24) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 52, 0, 14.
28. (38) Todd Peck, Ford, 52, 0, 13.
29. (15) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 51, 0, 12.
30. (39) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 50, 0, 11.
31. (18) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, accident, 39, 0, 10.
32. (32) T.J. Bell, Toyota, 39, 0, 9.
33. (23) Ryan Reed, Ford, accident, 38, 0, 8.
34. (31) Jeff Green, Toyota, garage, 30, 0, 7.
35. (28) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, vibration, 29, 0, 6.
36. (20) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, reargear, 23, 0, 0.
37. (37) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 22, 0, 4.
38. (33) Carl Long, Dodge, brakes, 21, 0, 3.
39. (9) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, accident, 20, 0, 2.
40. (21) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, transmission, 6, 0, 0.
