Ryan Blaney Pulls Fox Out Of Hat To Win 36th Annual Pocono 400

Pre-race inspection on the Woods Brothers Ford at Pocono Raceway on the day the team would win it's 99th NASCAR Event and return to Victory Lane ending a 122 race drought. Dean Patton Photo.

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Long Pond, PA - RIS - Ryan Blaney pulls a Fox out of his hat at Pocono Raceway, and in so doing he takes the Woods Brothers Team to Victory Lane. It has been 122 races since this historic team has been there, and Ryan Blaney drove one heck of a race, and beats Kevin Harvick by a mere .14 of a second, to the Checkered Flag.

So, for his first win Ryan Blaney takes the #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center Ford and makes a statement to all…. he’s here, and he will be someone to pay attention to. For past few weeks I have been watching this young driver and sensed that he felt uncomfortable or had something else going on. Well, whatever I may have thought, he has proven how good he is and how good he will be. This win makes it the Woods Brothers 99th win in NASCAR. Wow, how cool is that? The last time Woods Brothers had a win was 2011 and that was with another young driver, Trevor Payne, when he won the Daytona 500.

Second place was Kevin Harvick in the #4 Busch Beer Ford, followed closely by Erik Jones; a rookie, wheeling the Game Stop/Cars 3 - Driven to Win Toyota #77. Fourth place finisher was Kurt Busch driving the HAAS-Automation Ford #41, with fifth going to Brad Keselowski in the Miller Lite Ford #2.

Martin Truex, Jr brought the Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota #78 home in Sixth. Seventh was Kyle Larson; who won the second stage of the event, but faded as the day wore on. Chase Elliott finished eighth bringing home the SunEnergy1 Chevrolet #24 in a solid run at Pocono. Kyle Busch who looked to be in command with 17 to go, but try as he might to hold off Blaney. Busch used blocks, running him down to the apron and all the tricks he had in his bag. Blaney would still make the pass and Kyle Busch would fade away and bring the M&Ms Red, White and Blue Toyota home in ninth. Rounding out the top ten would be Matt Kenseth the chauffeur of the DeWalt Flexvolt Toyota.

On a day where the outside temps would hit the middle 90’s and the inside the car temps probably hitting 130 one would think the veterans would prevail. With Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray suffering severe brake issues that caused a 30 minute Red Flag event after destroying their rides coming out of turn one and into turn two. At one point McMurray’s ride caught on fire from the damage and both rides dumped fluids onto the track surface. With fan fav Dale Earnhardt, Jr suffering Transmission failure it was surly going to take someone with much experience to win this one. Sorry folks we may very well be witness to the emergence of the next generation of NACAR superstars.

Blaney, Wallace, Jones, Suarez, and Larson…. names all fans of Motorsports will once again be hearing week in, week out. I don’t know, the folks at Pocono can be proud of this event, excitement, entertainment, and sheer fun in the Mountains of Pennsylvania…. they sure did nail this one. NASCAR is in good hands with the events held at Pocono Raceway this weekend, and if you were not there, you missed one heck of a great time. Remember, night time events included Concerts, Fireworks, plenty of kids activities, and did I mention, great racing? What a successful weekend and like i always claim….. See You At The Track!

Unofficial Race Results for the 36Th Annual Pocono 400 - Pocono Raceway - Long Pond, PA

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, Pts, Status, Tms, Laps, St1, St2, Playoff Pts
1) 4, Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 160, 40, Running, 1, , , 10, 5
2) 12, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Beer Ford, 160, 51, Running, , 2, 4, , 
3) 15, Erik Jones #, No. 77 GameStop/Cars 3 - Driven to Win Toyota, 160, 39, Running, 2, , 6, 20, 
4) 5, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford, 160, 40, Running, , 7, 8, , 
5) 6, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 160, 44, Running, 1, 3, 7, 11, 
6) 2, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota, 160, 39, Running, 1, , 3, 5, 
7) 7, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 160, 47, Running, 1, 4, 1, 9, 1
8) 25, Chase Elliott, No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet, 160, 40, Running, , 6, 5, , 
9) 1, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Red, White, & Blue Toyota, 160, 47, Running, 5, 1, 2, 100, 1
10) 3, Matt Kenseth, No. 20 DeWalt Flexvolt Toyota, 160, 31, Running, , 8, 10, , 
11) 23, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Little Hug Ford, 160, 26, Running, 1, , , 3, 
12) 18, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 160, 25, Running, 1, , , 1, 
13) 17, Austin Dillon, No. 3 DOW Chevrolet, 160, 25, Running, , 10, , , 
14) 10, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Kalahari Resorts & Conventions Chevrolet, 160, 23, Running, , , , , 
15) 14, Daniel Suarez #, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota, 160, 22, Running, 1, , , 1, 
16) 24, Danica Patrick, No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford, 160, 21, Running, , , , , 
17) 20, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas-Automation Ford, 160, 20, Running, , , , , 
18) 27, Ty Dillon #, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 160, 19, Running, , , , , 
19) 29, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Scott Products Chevrolet, 160, 18, Running, , , , , 
20) 13, Paul Menard, No. 27 Dutch Boy/Menards Chevrolet, 160, 17, Running, , , , , 
21) 22, Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford EcoBoost Ford, 160, 16, Running, , , , , 
22) 21, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, 160, 15, Running, , , , , 
23) 9, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 160, 14, Running, , , , , 
24) 11, Michael McDowell, No. 95 FDNY Foundation Chevrolet, 160, 13, Running, , , , , 
25) 31, David Ragan, No. 38 Overton's Ford, 159, 12, Running, , , , , 
26) 16, Darrell Wallace Jr.(i), No. 43 Smithfield Ford, 159, 0, Running, , , , , 
27) 34, Landon Cassill, No. 34 CSX Play It Safe Ford, 158, 10, Running, , , , , 
28) 35, * Corey LaJoie #, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota, 157, 9, Running, , , , , 
29) 33, Gray Gaulding #, No. 23 Addiction Campuses Toyota, 156, 8, Running, , , , , 
30) 32, Cole Whitt, No. 72 Chevrolet, 155, 7, Engine, , , , , 
31) 36, Reed Sorenson, No. 15 Energex Wood Pallet Fuel Toyota, 154, 6, Running, , , , , 
32) 30, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 IncredibleBank.com Ford, 153, 5, Drive Shaft, , , , , 
33) 39, * Derrike Cope, No. 55 StarCom Fiber Chevrolet, 153, 4, Running, , , , , 
34) 37, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 33 Hulu Chevrolet, 146, 3, Brakes, , , , , 
35) 26, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, 140, 4, Accident, , , 9, , 
36) 19, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, 95, 7, Accident, , 5, , , 
37) 8, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet, 95, 3, Accident, , 9, , , 
38) 28, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet, 58, 1, Engine, , , , , 
39) 38, * Cody Ware, No. 51 Clemson Tigers Chevrolet, 35, 1, Vibration, , , , , 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series; (#) Rookie; (*) non-franchise team

Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 48 Mins, 40 Secs.
Average Speed: 142.292 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.139 Seconds

Race Comments: Ryan Blaney won the Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway, his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. Before the start of the event, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field reasons indicated: No. 78 and 88 (engine change) and No.17 (unapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 4 for 18 laps: Laps: 52-56 (Stage 1 [37]); 97-99 (No. 48 Incident in Turn 1 [Red: 23:25] [14]); 102-105 (Stage 2 Conclusion [38]); 142-147 (No. 5 Incident in Turn 1 [47]).

 Lead Changes: 13 among 9 drivers: Kyle Busch 1-17; E. Jones # 18-34; Kyle Busch 35-53; R. Stenhouse Jr. 54-56; E. Jones # 57-59; Kyle Busch 60-90; D. Hamlin 91; D. Suarez # 92; K. Larson 93-101; Kyle Busch 102-124; M. Truex Jr. 125-129; B. Keselowski 130-140; Kyle Busch 141-150; R. Blaney 151-160.

American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Kyle Busch, No. 18 
Coors Light Pole Award: Kyle Busch, No. 18 179.151 mph

Ingersoll Rand Power Move: Ty Dillon, No. 13 5 positions
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Toyota Racing Development (TRD), No. 18

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Kevin Harvick, No. 4 
Moog Go the Extra Mile: Kurt Busch, No. 41 crew chief Tony Gibson, 0.385 seconds

Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap: Kyle Busch, No. 18 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Erik Jones, No. 77