NASCAR at Pocono 2015 Results: Winner, Standings, Highlights and Reaction – Bleacher Report

It was an excellent trip to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for Martin Truex Jr., as he was able to take home the checkered flag after leading 97 laps. 

The win is the first for Truex in 2015 and moves him closer to points leader Kevin Harvick in the Chase standings. The points race has been a tense battle with three drivers, including Truex, starting the day within 100 points of Harvick. 

Here’s how things stand following Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400:

Complete list of standings can be found at NASCAR.com.

Truex has been an anomaly on the track this year. He’s right in the mix for the points championship—a virtual lock to make the Chase—but he is going about it by being consistent instead of dominant. The 34-year-old now has 13 top-10 finishes in 14 starts after Sunday’s race. 

Jeff Gluck of USA Today acknowledged before midway through the race that Truex was on his way to leading the most laps in four consecutive points races:

Martin Truex Jr. headed toward leading the most laps for the fourth straight points race. But Harvick keeps cutting into his lead.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 7, 2015

That would end up being the case, with Truex leading the most laps to secure the bonus point, per NASCAR Stats:

Assuming there’s not a lengthy GWC finish, Martin Truex Jr. has clinched the extra bonus point for having the most laps led.

— NASCAR Stats (@NASCARStats) June 7, 2015

The difference is Truex was finally able to break through and get that elusive first win of the year. It’s his first victory in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race since June 2013, which seemed like a huge weight off his shoulders based on these post-race comments, per Furniture Row Racing:

“It feels unbelievable. I can’t thank all these guys enough in the Furniture Row Chevrolet. I knew we were gonna get one. –@MartinTruex_Jr

— Furniture Row Racing (@FR78Racing) June 7, 2015

Right behind Truex was Harvick, which has become an amazing pattern for the current points leader, as SB Nation’s Jordan Bianchi highlighted on Twitter:

With a second-place run today, Kevin Harvick now has 10 top-two finishes in 14 races this season. Read that sentence again. And again.

— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) June 7, 2015

Kurt Busch started the race from poll position after a shortened qualifying session and finished in fifth place, but he even acknowledged after the qualifying round that the track had problems, per the Associated Press (via ESPN):

There’s speed bumps the size that you would put in grocery store parking lots up on top of the track. The sooner you get over it, the better you’re going to be. I had to ignore the tunnel turn, and how bad the bumps are there, and get focused on the majority of the race track.

That held true on Sunday, even though Busch and others made it through the 160-lap race unscathed. There were six cautions that slowed things down to a crawl, though they did help provide excitement for the finish. 

Jimmie Johnson was one of the drivers who had problems, though it was an issue with his car, instead of the track, that slowed him down, as this highlight from NASCAR’s official Twitter shows:

Trouble for Six-Time. Sparks fly from @jimmiejohnson‘s car http://t.co/hOS1pJGHyx

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 7, 2015

The good news is Johnson’s crew got his car going again, and he was able to recover for a third-place finish. The six-time points champion did lose ground in the standings because Truex and Harvick finished atop the leaderboard. 

One driver who didn’t have much to celebrate was Carl Edwards, who started from the second position and moved into the top spot almost as soon as the green flag dropped, per NASCAR:

The green flag has dropped and we are live on @FoxSports1! http://t.co/fvGrCI8gAb

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 7, 2015

That was as good as things got for Edwards, as he ended up in 15th place despite leading more laps (16) than anyone other than Truex and Harvick. 

Danica Patrick also battled problems late in the race, taking away from what had been a solid effort up to that point. As the NASCAR highlight video below shows, she spun out on the first turn:

SPIN! Late race trouble for @DanicaPatrick. #NASCARreplay http://t.co/CIYjGhAxW5

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 7, 2015

That ended up dropping Patrick four laps off the pace and made her an afterthought in the finish. She is currently in 20th place in the points standings after Sunday’s result. 

This was Truex’s day once he moved into the lead. He wasn’t a wire-to-wire winner, but there was little doubt the veteran driver was going to end his winless drought on this day.

No other driver had enough juice in the tank to surpass him down the stretch, and he was able to go on cruise control once Harvick fell nearly two seconds behind with four laps to go. 

Coming out of the race, Harvick and Truex are setting up quite the battle for the top spot in the points standings. There are still three months left before the Chase begins, but even with a crowded field, those two drivers have separated themselves from the pack. 

Truex’s win adds another dimension to the drama, because that had been the one blemish on his otherwise stellar resume in 2015. Now, with the victory out of the way, he’s proved there’s no ceiling in his quest for his first Chase title.