Kyle Busch rebounds from penalty to win Pocono Xfinity race

Busch, who got sent to the rear of the field at the end of Stage 1 because of a speeding penalty, rallied to win Saturday’s Pocono Green 250, picking up his first series win at Pocono Raceway.

The win was Busch’s first of the 2018 season in his fourth start and 92nd of his career.

However, Busch's car later failed post-race inspection after failing the heights. That will likely result in an L1 penalty, but he will keep the victory.

“As good as our car was, I tried to screw it up early again this week,” Busch said in Victory Lane. “My guys are amazing at Joe Gibbs Racing. Everybody at the Xfinity shop – you guys are amazing.

“The car was on rails this week. It was last week, too, but we were able to overcome our deficit we had this weekend and get back to the front. Winning here at Pocono feels really, really good.”

Asked about his battle back through the field after his pit road speeding penalty, Busch said, “You are always kind of worried of something crazy or unpredictable happening. We just had to bide our time and be patient for a little bit.”

Chase Elliott ended up second, 2.8 seconds behind Busch. Daniel Hemric was third, Austin Cindric was fourth and pole-winner Cole Custer completed the top-five.

The race was the first at Pocono to use a new aero package that features front air ducts, restrictor-plates, larger rear spoilers and splitters from the 2014 season.

Busch finally made his way back into the lead with 40 of 100 laps left in the race, just before a caution involving Christopher Bell and Justin Allgaier.

“There was nothing I could have done there with Justin. We were just victims of Pocono restarts,” Bell said. “It just got really hairy. It was exciting. That’s why sometimes we love it and sometimes we hate it.”

With 30 laps left, Busch held more than a second lead over Custer.

With 13 laps to go, Hemric got around Custer and moved into the runner-up position behind Busch. Elliott got around Hemric the second spot with a lap to go.

Stage 2

With the help of a push from his teammate Cindric, Paul Menard passed Custer in Turn 3 on the last lap to take the Stage 2 victory.

Allgaier ended up third, Cindric fourth and John Hunter Nemechek completed the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, most of lead-lap cars elected to pit but Custer – who pit at the end of Stage 1 – stayed out and took over the lead when Stage 2 went to green on Lap 30.

Busch and Bell were both penalized for speeding on pit road during the stops and Reed had a crew member over the wall too soon, so all three had to restart from the rear of the field.

“Things are going to get awfully ugly here in a second,” Busch said during the break after the penalty.

Michael Annett spun off Turn 1 to bring out a caution on the restart. On the restart on Lap 35, Custer led on the restart followed by Elliott Sadler and Elliott.

Allgaier moved into the runner-up position shortly after the restart.

On Lap 39, Busch had made his way back into the Top 10 and Bell was up to 12th.

With five laps left in Stage 2, Custer maintained a small lead followed by Allgaier and Menard. Busch had made his way up to sixth.

Several teams elected to pit near the end of the stage so as they could stay out at the start of the final stage. Among them were Jones, Hemric, Bell and Michael Annett.

Stage 1

Busch dominated the competition on his way to lopsided Stage 1 victory over Bell.

Cindric finished third, Sadler fourth and Brandon Jones completed the top-five.

Custer, the pole-winner, took an early advantage in the race as Busch quickly moved into the runner-up position.

On Lap 3, Busch made his way around Custer for the lead as Jones moved into second.

With 10 to go in the first stage, Busch had built up a five-second lead over Bell, followed by Cindric, Custer and Sadler.

Custer elected to make a green-flag pit stop with two laps remaining in the stage, which should allow him to complete Stage 2 without having to stop again.

Alex Labbe had to start the race from the rear of the field for making unapproved adjustments after qualifying.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	100		64
2	23	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	100	2.852
3	21	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	100	3.283
4	12	Austin Cindric	Ford	100	5.756	1
5	00	Cole Custer	Ford	100	10.691	23
6	1	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	100	11.044
7	42	John Hunter Nemechek	Chevrolet	100	11.822	4
8	22	Paul Menard	Ford	100	11.935	3
9	9	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	100	18.040
10	11	Ryan Truex	Chevrolet	100	20.267
11	4	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	100	24.587
12	3	Shane Lee	Chevrolet	100	32.185
13	16	Ryan Reed	Ford	100	34.935
14	2	Matt Tifft	Chevrolet	100	35.833
15	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	100	37.434
16	61	Kaz Grala		100	40.604
17	39	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	100	45.850
18	36	Alex Labbé	Chevrolet	100	52.558
19	35	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	100	57.592
20	52	David Starr	Chevrolet	99	1 lap
21	90	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	99	1 lap
22	78	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	99	1 lap
23	28	Dylan Lupton	Ford	99	1 lap
24	19	Brandon Jones	Toyota	99	1 lap	5
25	8	Tommy Joe Martins	Chevrolet	99	1 lap
26	0	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	98	2 laps
27	15	Matt Mills	Chevrolet	98	2 laps
28	76	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	97	3 laps
29	45	Josh Bilicki	Toyota	96	4 laps
30	40	Chad Finchum	Toyota	96	4 laps
31	01	Vinnie Miller	Chevrolet	96	4 laps
32	55	Brandon Hightower	Toyota	95	5 laps
33	74	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	93	7 laps
34	38	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	68	32 laps
35	5	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	66	34 laps
36	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	61	39 laps
37	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	60	40 laps
38	60	Chase Briscoe	Ford	57	43 laps
39	66	Timmy Hill	Dodge	10	90 laps
40	93	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	4	96 laps