"What an awesome race! - Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch soars to the front of the pack after starting near the rear of the field to win the Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway

It was a weekend of highs and lows for Kyle Busch. After qualifying in second position on Saturday, Busch was sent back to start in 28th place after the No.18 car failed its post-qualifying inspection. Meeting the challenge head-on, Busch cruised up the field to take over the lead on Lap 112 and held on to the end despite several late race restarts to claim the checkered flag for the Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway.

"My Toyota Camry was awesome," said Busch. "Had a lot of speed, but man, we fought it all weekend."

The win is the sixth of the season for Busch and ties him with Kevin Harvick, who also failed his post-qualifying inspection, for the Cup Series lead. It is also the 49th victory of his career, which ties him with Tony Stewart for 13th place on the NASCAR Cup Series all-time wins list.

"You keep reaching up the ladder," said Busch. "And you keep reaching more milestone drivers. Tony Stewart is one of the all-time best and one of the drivers I was a fan of growing up as well. It’s awesome to tie him."

Daniel Suarez inherited the pole after Busch and Harvick were penalized and used his position to finish in second place, a career best for the young driver.

"You know, we did a good job," said Suarez. "I feel like we put ourselves in position. We just have to put ourselves in position more often. If this starts to happen often, we are going to get one."

Suarez is a teammate of Busch within Joe Gibbs Racing and the race winner was impressed by the young driver's performance on Sunday.

"He (Suarez) could have won," said Busch. "I mean, he was right there with us all day long. He trailed us that whole run, and I couldn’t shake him. I couldn’t get away from him, and I was trying, but he was right there that whole time, and he stayed in front of Chase. Like he was good. … With Daniel and those guys, they had an awesome run, and they should be proud of that."

Alex Bowman finished in third place, a career-best finish for the driver of the No. 88 and the top finish of the day for a Chevrolet driver. With only five more races to go before The Chase For The Cup begins, Bowman increased his chances to qualify by moving a step ahead of the cut-off line.

"Obviously it was a great points day for us, but on top of that, it’s proof that we’re improving each and every week and continually getting better," Bowman said. "Obviously, we’re not doing it as quickly as we want to, but days like today make all the hard work for the guys back at the shop, the engine shop, the chassis shop, body shop, the whole road crew—days like today make it worth it."

Kevin Harvick had the fastest car in the field, but a series of events led to a disappointing fourth place finish. Harvick took the pole Saturday and then failed his post-qualifying inspection, forcing him to start in 29th. He raced into second place by the end of Stage One and ended Stage Two as the race leader. During the last race stage, the pit road issues for Stewart-Haas Racing reared their ugly head once again as Harvick collided with his teammate Aric Almirola on pit road. The accident sent Harvick to the rear of the field again before he roared past most of the competition to claim fourth place.

Erik Jones took fifth place after leading 11 laps earlier in the race. Jones also drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, giving the owner three spots in the top-five this week.

William Byron, Chase Elliott, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin round out the top-ten.

Bubba Wallace Jr. walked away from a frightening accident on Lap 154 which brought out the red flag to stop the race. Running in 22nd place at the time, Wallace lost his brakes driving down the front stretch and skidded through the grass around Turn One before re-entering the track to slam the passenger side of his car into the SAFER barrier. The collision was so violent large sections of his car went flying all over the track. Luckily Wallace was able to lower his safety net and exit what was left of his car as NASCAR emergency crews arrived at the scene.

"Hardest one of my career,” Wallace said of the crash. "I was just telling them here (in the care center) there is no feeling like being helpless in that situation going off into Turn 1, and it scared the hell out of me. I didn’t know if I was going to remember if I hit or not, so we are good. Bit my cheek, banged my foot off the pedal. I’m OK, though. I’ll wake up tomorrow and be a little sore, but the safety has come a long way. It’s good to be able to climb out of the car. The EMT’s were worried that I didn’t let the window net down fast enough, and I was like ‘Hell, that was the last thing I thought about—I’m sorry.’ Everything was good. They gave me an ultrasound—no twins or anything, so I’m good."

Chase Elliott was the winner of Stage One, while Kevin Harvick nabbed the checkered green for Stage Two. Both drivers will receive a bonus point for the postseason.

Click here for full race results.

With his victory Kyle Busch remains the leader of the NASCAR drivers points standings. Kevin Harvick sits in second place 48 points behind Busch, while Martin Truex Jr. is in third 129 points behind. Joey Logano remains in fourth place 201 points behind Busch.

You can see the updated Driver's Points Standings here.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will head to the Empire State next week for road course racing with GoBowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 5th.

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_{Photo credits: Dany3000 CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons}

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_{Author: @chops316
Editor: @liberty-minded}

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