NASCAR at Pocono: Live Results and Analysis From The Axalta 400

USA Today Sports
USA Today Sports

Follow along with the Beyond The Flag crew for live news, opinions and analysis from Monday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (Axalta 400) from Pocono Raceway.

Axalta 400 Race Coverage

KURT BUSCH WINS POCONO!!!

Related Story: NASCAR: Kurt Busch Wins Pocono, Complete Results

Lap 156 – Kurt Busch is pushing the clutch in to try to save fuel, Earnhardt is one second behind and Kes is closing on Earnhardt. Will Busch run out of fuel?


Lap 150 – Who is going to run out of fuel and who isn’t? Busch leads Earnhardt and Elliott but it’s going to come down to fuel and who can make it.

Lap 142 – Kenseth is the fastest car on the track right now, Busch might be in trouble in the lead as he seems to be short on fuel.

RUNNING ORDER – 41, 88, 24, 2 and 22.

Lap 135 – Elliott has faded, Busch leads and Earnhardt is .43 seconds behind.

Lap 131 – Busch gets the lead on the restart sending Earnhardt Jr. to second and Elliott to third.

GREEN FLAG!

CAUTION – Johnson gets loose and hits the inside wall, lots of damage on the No. 48 machine, Johnson will head to the garage.

Lap 123 – Johnson makes a big move to the bottom of the track as the field scrambles around the slower cars.

GREEN FLAG!

CAUTION – Austin Dillon has an issue and gets into the wall, the No. 3 machine is destroyed. Different tire strategies take Elliott from 1st to 7th coming off of pit road. Truex Jr. was first off but had a tire issue after leaving pit road. Looks like Ty Dillon and Casey Mears will be on the front row.

Lap 117 – 32 cars on the lead lap as the race is getting into its late stages.

Lap 113 – Elliott jumps back to the front and Busch moves into second, Johnson is third.

GREEN FLAG!

CAUTION – Kahne gets Newman loose and that causes Kyle Busch to get loose and into the wall. None of the frontrunners pit, it will be 24, 41, 88, 48, 20, 4, 19, 22, 42 and 2 when we go back to green.

Lap 108 – Chase Elliott jumps out in front of the pack.

GREEN FLAG!

CAUTION – Michael Annett’s car is destroyed after he has some issues.

Lap 100 – Chase Elliott back to the lead, there is still one more pit stop that needs to happen.

GREEN FLAG!

CAUTION – Stewart gets loose and gets into Danica Patrick, Landon Cassill also involved.

Lap 93 – Elliott pushes to the front.

GREEN FLAG!

CAUTION – Debris on the track, Elliott was on pit road. Elliott will be the leader heading back to green.

Lap 85 – Busch catches Elliott who makes it hard to pass, Kenseth makes it a three-car battle and Elliott prevails. Busch tells 24 team that he will “remember that” over in-car radio.

Lap 79 – Kyle Busch is catching Elliott now, only .32 seconds back.

Lap 74 – Chase Elliott leads by more than one second. Elliott comes into Pocono leading HMS in top-10 finishes (9) this season.

RUNNING ORDER: 24, 18, 20, 48 and 41.

Lap 67 – Kyle Busch is up to second and Kenseth is back to third.

GREEN FLAG – Kyle Busch makes it three-wide for the lead and Elliott is able to drive to the front.

CAUTION: Matt DiBenedetto spins, Harvick had yet to pit.

Lap 60 – Harvick, Annett and Wise have not pitted yet. Kenseth and Elliott will be 1-2 in a moment.

Lap 52 – Green flag stops are underway.

Lap 50 – Tony Stewart running 7th, great job by him.

Lap 44 – Green Flag stops will be coming soon.

Lap 41 – The drivers who had issues earlier are recovering. Kenseth continues to lead Elliott.

Lap 33 – Kenseth has a one-second lead on Elliott now, Johnson is 2.1 behind.

RUNNING ORDER: 20, 24, 48, 18 and 41.

Lap 29 – Larson finally pits, Keselowski pits and serves his penalty, Logano remains on the track despite the damage, Chase Elliott is up to second.

Lap 27 – Larson jumps back out to the lead, Logano losing a bunch of spots after contact on the restart.

GREEN FLAG!

CAUTION – Brian Scott spins. Larson is sticking to his plan and not pitting under caution, he will have to pit around lap 28 or 29. Keselowski was black flagged for an unapproved body modification.

Lap 21 – The six cars that stayed out, it’s only working for Larson who is leading. None of the others are in the top-10.

GREEN FLAG – Field pans out and Larson leads.

RACE OFF PIT ROAD: 20, 19, 48, 5 and 18. Six drivers did not pit including Kyle Larson and Greg Biffle.

CAUTION – Competition Caution is out

Lap 14 – Tony Stewart is running strong early in the race.

RUNNING ORDER: 22, 2, 41, 20, 19, 14, 4, 48, 24 and 11.

Lap 11 – AJ Allmendinger (+10) and Matt DiBenedetto (-8) are the biggest movers thus far.

Lap 8 – Logano leads, Kurt Busch up to 3rd.

GREEN FLAG – Loagno back to the lead! Harvick falls from 4th to 9th on the restart.

CAUTION – Matt DiBenedetto spins, he was running 34th.

Lap 3 – Keselowski is falling, already down 4th and Edwards is coming behind him.

Lap 1 – They fan out five-wide and Logano goes to the lead.

GREEN FLAG!

Pre-Race

12:08 AM ET – Logano is confident today, cars are on the track and it’s time to get racing.

12:01 AM ET – Drivers have started their engines.

11:59 AM ET – Pre-race festivities are over, green flag is at 12:11 PM.

11:51 AM ET – Drivers are getting ready on pit road.



When the green flag waves for the 2016 Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 it will be the 14th race of the NASCAR season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. NASCAR is coming off of a weekend where Martin Truex Jr. put himself into the record books with a dominating performance and victory in the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte. The win marked the first of the 2016 season for Truex Jr. and capped weeks of him nearly winning races.

NASCAR got lucky in Charlotte as rain was not an issue. However, that luck did not come with them to Pocono as it rained the majority of the day on Sunday. The result is a Monday race, which is unfortunate for those not able to attend today.

Below is some information that you will find useful before the start of the race.

TV Schedule

  • 11:30 AM ET -Axalta 400 pre-race festivities (Not Televised).
  • 12:00 PM ET – Axalta 400 race coverage on FS1.
  • 12:11 PM ET (approx.) – Green Flag and live race coverage on FS1.

Predictions and Insights

The Weather

  • Green Flag Temperature – approx. 71 degrees
  • Chance of Rain – 1% chance of rain between 12:00 PM and 5:00 PM (Eastern Time). There is a 15 % chance of rain after that.

Staff Predictions

  • Christopher Olmstead – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  • Alex Herbst – Brad Keselowski
  • Mike Hutton – Martin Truex Jr.
  • Brian Thornsburg – Kyle Larson
  • Martin Feigen – Brad Keselowski
  • Matthew Lovisa – Carl Edwards
  • Michael Guadalupe – Joey Logano
  • Spencer Frady – Denny Hamlin
  • Jeremy Flynn – Kyle Busch
  • Cole Mentzel – Denny Hamlin

Pre-Race Coverage

Pre-race coverage for the Axalta 400 will begin around 11:30 AM ET. While you’re waiting, check out all of the Pocono coverage from Beyond The Flag (the above links) and comment below and let us know who you think is going to win today.