Kurt Busch Claims First Victory of Season

Kurt Busch felt like a game-show contestant who had to beat the clock to win a prize. Told his Chevrolet was two laps shy of having enough fuel for the finishing push, Busch did all he could to save, scrimp and stretch over the final five laps to give himself a shot at the win. He coasted, he kept his foot off the gas and he even turned his engine off when he headed into the turns at Pocono Raceway.

"I kept finding ways to think I was saving fuel," he said. "The way the fuel mileage played out, I didn't know if we'd have enough."

With an interim crew chief calling the shots, Busch found enough ways to make his gas last and won the Sprint Cup race Monday, his first victory of the season and a welcome dose of good news for Stewart-Haas Racing.

The 2004 champion, urged by his team to step on it hard for the final lap, somehow made it work on a track with the longest frontstretch in motorsports. There was no pain at the pump: Busch not only had enough fuel left to win but enough for victory burnouts and a celebratory lap around the track.

"I was like, whoa, how many laps shy are we? They said two," he said. "These are really long straightaways at Pocono and you have to manage saving fuel as well as maintaining lap time. So many thoughts can go through your head, but I just stuck with the checklist."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second, and Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano rounded out the top five in a race postponed one day because of rain.