Speedway Digest Staff - Results from #54150

Race Highlights:

• Richard Childress Racing teammates finished first (Kevin Harvick), 12th (Jeff Burton) and 13^th (Paul Menard).
• According to NASCAR's post-race loop data statistics, Harvick averaged a 180.822 mph lap time ranking him second in the Speed in Traffic category and spent 396 Laps in the Top 15, positioning him fourth in the loop data category.
• Harvick earned the third-best Driver Rating (112.8), was third in Quality Passes (50), was the third-Fastest Driver Late in a Run (179.721 mph), fourth-Fastest Driver Early in a Run (184.211) and fifth-Fastest on Restarts (170.488 mph).
• Burton made 87 Green Flag Passes during the 600-mile event.
• Menard made 105 Green Flag Passes during the 400-lap event ranking him sixth overall.
• Menard ranked 11^th in Quality Passes during the 600-mile race with 38.
• Harvick earned his second victory of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and was followed to the finish line by Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano.
• The next Sprint Cup Series race is the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, June 2.  The 13th race of the 2013 season is scheduled to be televised live on FOX beginning at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio.

Trevor Bayne and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team overcame a back-row start because of a blown engine and a flat tire in happy hour practice, an unscheduled pit stop to remove trash from the grille in the early laps of the Coca-Cola 600, a loose-handling condition mid-race and a lack of wave-around opportunities to post a 16th-place finish in Sunday’s marathon race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The final result in the Wood Brothers’ 1,400th Sprint Cup start wasn’t exactly what Bayne and the team were hoping for, but the performances of driver and crew exceeded expectations.

In a race that saw many of the front-runners eliminated in crashes, Bayne dodged disaster on at least two occasions to bring his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion home unscathed. He was running just behind Aric Almirola and Mark Martin when the two touched on the frontstretch and triggered a multi-car melee with 74 laps to go. Bayne drove onto the apron and out of harm’s way.

With 66 laps remaining, he had to make another evasive maneuver to avoid being swept up in the crash that knocked Jimmie Johnson out of contention for the win.

On pit road, crew chief Donnie Wingo and his race strategists figured out adjustments to correct a loose-handling condition that contributed to Bayne being two laps down by the halfway point. But once they got the car back up to speed, the strategies employed by the teams on the lead lap closed the door on any wave-around opportunities for drivers like Bayne. If any leaders stay on the track during caution periods, there is no wave-around opportunity for drivers a lap or more behind to regain the lost ground.

“Trevor did a really good job missing those wrecks,” team co-owner Eddie Wood said. “And Donnie and the crew were able to make a couple of small adjustments and fix a car that was so loose that we thought there was something broken with the suspension."

“We were really happy to get that fixed, because if you have speed, all the rest will work out sooner or later.”

Wood pointed out that overcoming obstacles is what the annual 600-mile grind at Charlotte is all about.

“We started out in a bad spot because of the engine problems on Saturday, which meant that we basically had no happy hour practice,” he said. “Then we had to stop to get trash off the grille and got a lap down early. But everybody on the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team hung in there, and we were fast at the end."

“For us, it was a good thing that the race was 600 miles.”

Bayne and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew return to the Sprint Cup Series in three weeks for the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Wood Brothers Racing PR

When the 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season resumes with the NASCAR Hall of Fame 150 on Saturday, June 1, Brett Moffitt will have a score to settle with the legendary Bowman Gray Stadium.

The fifth-year driver from Grimes, Iowa has found success nearly everywhere the series has gone during his career. Moffitt’s nine wins have come at eight different tracks. But in the two previous events at “The Stadium” in Winston-Salem, N.C., it’s been nothing but heartache.

Two-thirds of the way through the inaugural Bowman Gray event in 2011, Moffitt was running third before a mechanical issue on a restart resulted in a wreck. The damage and lost track position was more than he could overcome as he finished 16th.

The Bowman Gray misfortune continued for Moffitt last year when he was running second at the white flag with a chance to challenge Corey LaJoie for the win, but was spun out by Darrell Wallace Jr. coming off Turn 2 and wound up relegated to a ninth-place finish.

In his remarkable - yet still relatively brief - career, Gresham Motorsports Park is only one track that Moffitt has raced at three or more times without earning a victory. This week’s NASCAR Hall of Fame 150 will be Moffitt’s third appearance at Bowman Gray, a place where he hopes to add to his wins list.

A Bowman Gray win would also end another drought for Moffitt, who for the first time in his career, has yet to reach Victory Lane through the first four races of a season. His overall winless streak is currently at a career-long 10 races with the last triumph a wire-to-wire win in Clearfield, Pa., last July.

Despite the lack of a win through the first quarter of the season, Moffitt has posted an average finish of fourth and brings a seven-point lead into the season standings to Bowman Gray.

NASCAR PR

Ryan Newman and the Quicken Loans team were able to overcome an ill-handling racecar in the first half of the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday night at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and turn what looked like a long night into a sixth-place finish.

After Newman’s disappointing finish last week in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, the Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team made drastic changes to the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS at the shop in the week leading up to the race as well as throughout Sunday night to allow Newman to score his sixth top-10 finish of the season and his ninth top-10 in 25 career Sprint Cup starts at Charlotte. Newman was quick to praise the outstanding work of the team.

Newman started the race from the 10th position, but he struggled early with a tight-handling racecar that saw him drop to as low as 31st and off the lead lap in the first 100 miles of the Sprint Cup Series’ longest race. A timely caution at lap 115 saw Newman in the “lucky dog” position – where the first car one lap down gets its lap back during a caution.

Not long after, a rope, which was part of a camera system suspended over the speedway, snapped and fell on the racing surface. The race was suspended for approximately 30 minutes before NASCAR gave the teams a 15-minute break to make repairs if their cars were damaged from the incident. Fortunately, Newman’s Quicken Loans Chevrolet was not damaged, but the Matt Borland-led team was able to take advantage of the break to make significant adjustments to their racecar that would pay dividends for the team when the race restarted.

As green-flag conditions dominated much of the second half of the event, Newman slowly worked his way toward the front. A late-race series of caution periods gave the crew a handful of opportunities to make additional, minor adjustments to their Quicken Loans machine, and Newman took advantage by working his way to the third position. In the closing laps, debris on the frontstretch forced NASCAR to display the caution flag. Crew chief Borland and Newman agreed to come to pit road to take on right-side tires to give themselves the best chance at scoring a top-five finish. While the move proved to be the one to make, Newman could not maintain the third position and fell back to sixth when the checkered flag waved.

“We had a really good Quicken Loans Chevrolet at the end of the race,” said Newman. “If that yellow hadn't come out, we would have probably ended up third. We took two tires under caution and couldn't quite get back to where we were. That is a great comeback after going a lap down early, and considering where we were one week ago here for the All-Star Race. The Quicken Loans guys did a great job. Tony (Stewart) had a great run, too. It was a solid night for Stewart-Haas Racing."

Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for SHR, finished seventh after leading once for six laps. It was his 13th top-10 in 29 career Sprint Cup starts at the 1.5-mile oval and his second top-10 this season.

Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 29th. It was Patrick’s 22nd career Sprint Cup start and her second at Charlotte.

Kevin Harvick won the Coca-Cola 600 to score his 21st career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his second at Charlotte.

Kasey Kahne finished 1.49 seconds behind Harvick in the runner-up spot, while Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. Newman, Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Marcos Ambrose comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 61 laps, with 12 drivers failing to finish the 400-lap race. The race was delayed three times for separate incidents which forced NASCAR to display the red flag. The first two of the three red-flag periods were for a camera cable that fell on the track and caused damage to a handful of cars. The first red flag was displayed for 10 minutes and 40 seconds with the second following quickly after the first and lasting 16 minutes and 22 seconds. The third red flag was displayed for an accident on lap 327, delaying the racing action for nine minutes and 13 seconds.

With round 12 of 36 complete, Newman continues to lead the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He rose one spot to 16th and has 315 points, 130 back of series leader Jimmie Johnson and 20 points behind 10th-place Brad Keselowski. Stewart also gained one spot to crack the top-20. He is 20th with 291 points, 154 out of first and 44 behind Keselowski. Patrick lost two positions and is now 30th with 211 points, 234 behind Johnson and 124 away from Keselowski.

Fourteen races remain before the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Only the top-10 in points are locked into the Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11th and 20th in points with the most wins. If multiple drivers have the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.

Patrick, who is competing for Rookie of the Year honors against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished 15 spots behind Stenhouse, who placed 14th.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the FedEx 400 benefitting Autism Speaks on Sunday, June 2 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m. 

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Danica Patrick just wants a little luck to go her way for a change.

Despite qualifying 24^th, Patrick, the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), was forced to start in the rear of the field for the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday night at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway due to an engine change the team made following first practice on Saturday. Patrick fought her way through the field despite being mired deep in traffic.

Thanks to a strong racecar, her efforts on the racetrack and a solid performance by her crew on pit road, Patrick appeared to be headed to a solid top-20 finish.

However, her efforts were foiled just past the three-quarter mark of the 400-lap race when she was caught up in a wreck at lap 319. Patrick was in the middle of a three-wide battle when she made contact with reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, who later took blame for the incident. Keselowski apparently came down on Patrick, which sent her nose first into the turn three outside retaining wall and led to extensive damage to her racecar.

Patrick’s GoDaddy Chevy sustained heavy right front and right fender damage, but she was able to drive her No. 10 Chevy to pit road for a series of lengthy repairs over the course of multiple pit stops. Patrick was able to continue but finished the race in a disappointing 29^th-place, 15 laps down to the leaders.

“We obviously started from the back, and track position was really important here at Charlotte,” said Patrick, who made her 22^nd career Sprint Cup start and her second at Charlotte. “We fought our way back to trying to be in a position to be on the lead lap. I felt like we were making real progress and starting to get the car to a place that was really good and had an accident, which is unfortunate because we were moving up. But there’s nothing we can do about it now. We just need some luck.”

Crew chief Tony Gibson was pleased with the GoDaddy team’s performance despite the wreck late in the race.

“We had a really good car,” Gibson said. “Our car was really strong all day – probably one of the best cars we had had since Kansas (Speedway in Kansas City). It’s tough. Keselowski said he didn’t know that they were three-wide. He came down and caught us, and we got tore up. At that point, our goal became to finish the race. Pit stops were good. Danica did an awesome job. All we could do was get the car fixed and try to finish the race and go on. That’s what we did. We will build on the high stuff from tonight. We had a good car. We’re showing some strength. We’re making our stuff better during the race, and that’s what we’ve got to do.

“I told Danica that one day we’ll be the windshield and not the bug. We’re making progress. We’re making gains. We just have to be ready for when it’s our turn, and we will be.

Patrick’s SHR teammate, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS, led a lap en route to scoring his sixth top-10 finish of the season and his ninth top-10 in 25 career Sprint Cup starts at Charlotte.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for SHR, finished seventh after leading once for six laps. It was his 13^th top-10 in 29 career Sprint Cup starts at the 1.5-mile oval and his second top-10 this season.

Kevin Harvick won the Coca-Cola 600 to score his 21^st career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his second at Charlotte.

Kasey Kahne finished 1.49 seconds behind Harvick in the runner-up spot, while Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. Newman, Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Marcos Ambrose comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 61 laps, with 12 drivers failing to finish the 400-lap race. The race was delayed three times for separate incidents which forced NASCAR to display the red flag. The first two of the three red-flag periods were for a camera cable that fell on the track and caused damage to a handful of cars. The first red flag was displayed for 10 minutes and 40 seconds with the second following quickly after the first and lasting 16 minutes and 22 seconds. The third red flag was displayed for an accident on lap 327, delaying the racing action for nine minutes and 13 seconds.

With round 12 of 36 complete, Newman continues to lead the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He rose one spot to 16^th and has 315 points, 130 back of series leader Jimmie Johnson and 20 points behind 10^th-place Brad Keselowski. Stewart also gained one spot to crack the top-20. He is 20^th with 291 points, 154 out of first and 44 behind Keselowski. Patrick lost two positions and is now 30^th with 211 points, 234 behind Johnson and 124 away from Keselowski.

Fourteen races remain before the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Only the top-10 in points are locked into the Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11^th and 20^th in points with the most wins. If multiple drivers have the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.

Patrick, who is competing for Rookie of the Year honors against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished 15 spots behind Stenhouse, who placed 14^th.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the FedEx 400 benefitting Autism Speaks on Sunday, June 2 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.

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In the longest race of the year, Tony Stewart scored his best finish of the year.

Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), finished seventh in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday night at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

Stewart started 25^th in the 43-car field and led once for six laps en route to his 13^th top-10 in 29 career Sprint Cup starts at the 1.5-mile oval. It was his second top-10 this season, and it bettered his previous season-best finish of eighth earned 10 races ago in March at Phoenix International Raceway.

How did it happen? “We finally got some stability in the car. One change there at the end of the race just made a huge, huge difference,” said Stewart, who took advantage of a late-race pit stop where he was the last car on the lead lap, allowing crew chief Steve Addington enough time to realign the car’s front-end geometry.

The small tweak produced big results, as Stewart rallied from 12^th after a lap-339 restart to crack the top-10 for the first time on lap 341. Stewart stayed among the top-10 for the remainder of the race, using a 10-lap dash to the finish following the race’s final restart on lap 390 to climb from 10^th to seventh before the checkered flag dropped. Stewart finished right behind his SHR teammate Ryan Newman, who came home sixth in the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS.

For SHR competition director Greg Zipadelli, it was the proverbial light at the end of tunnel after many trying weeks.

“All three of our cars made big improvements this week in terms of performance, and we ended up with a couple of good finishes,” Zipadelli said. “Danica (Patrick) had a bad day, but overall it was certainly an improvement.”

Newman’s sixth-place result was his sixth top-10 of the season and his ninth top-10 in 25 career Sprint Cup starts at Charlotte.

Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 15 laps down in 29^th after being collected in an accident on lap 320 that drastically affected her car’s handling.

Kevin Harvick won the Coca-Cola 600 to score his 21^st career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his second at Charlotte.

Kasey Kahne finished 1.49 seconds behind Harvick in the runner-up spot, while Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. Newman, Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Marcos Ambrose comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 61 laps, with 12 drivers failing to finish the 400-lap race. The race was delayed three times for separate incidents which forced NASCAR to display the red flag. The first two of the three red-flag periods were for a camera cable that fell on the track and caused damage to a handful of cars. The first red flag was displayed for 10 minutes and 40 seconds with the second following quickly after the first and lasting 16 minutes and 22 seconds. The third red flag was displayed for an accident on lap 327, delaying the racing action for nine minutes and 13 seconds.

With round 12 of 36 complete, Newman continues to lead the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He rose one spot to 16^th and has 315 points, 130 back of series leader Jimmie Johnson and 20 points behind 10^th-place Brad Keselowski. Stewart also gained one spot to crack the top-20. He is 20^th with 291 points, 154 out of first and 44 behind Keselowski. Patrick lost two positions and is now 30^th with 211 points, 234 behind Johnson and 124 away from Keselowski.

Fourteen races remain before the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Only the top-10 in points are locked into the Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11^th and 20^th in points with the most wins. If multiple drivers have the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.

Patrick, who is competing for Rookie of the Year honors against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished 15 spots behind Stenhouse, who placed 14^th.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the FedEx 400 benefitting Autism Speaks on Sunday, June 2 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.

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If it felt a little like the sky was falling for Kyle Busch during the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, then he wasn’t far from the truth. Busch, the driver of the M&M’s M’Prove America Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), overcame damage from a bizarre camera cable incident only to fall victim to an engine failure, leaving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team with a 38^th-place finish.

The annual Memorial Day weekend race started out well for Busch, who had qualified eighth for the 400-lap event but wasted no time in moving to the front of the field, racing into the top-five within the first 20 laps. He took the lead for the first time on lap 75 before settling into a comfortable pace in second-place on lap 80, even reporting that he was “just riding,” biding his time in the marathon event. A quick pit stop during caution on lap 115 placed the No. 18 Toyota back in the lead.

Then things got weird. Shortly after green-flag racing resumed, a television cable fell on the racing surface causing major damage to the No. 18 Toyota. The cable sliced the right side of the car from the wheel well back while also damaging the crush panels.

NASCAR displayed the red flag to allow safety crews to clear the cable from the track, which Busch used as an opportunity to climb from his M&M’s Toyota and use a cell phone to take pictures of the damage so the team could develop a repair plan. After surveying the number of cars with damage, NASCAR brought teams to the pits, where they had 15 minutes to work on their cars.

The No. 18 team replaced the right-front fender on the M&M’s Toyota and then checked the alignment. Busch returned to the field with the lead, and he maintained the position during the next several circuits around the track. As the event’s time made the transition from day to night, the handling on the car trended toward the tight side. Despite the slight handling issue, Busch never dropped further than third in the running order.

A little more than 100 laps after overcoming the camera cable issue, Busch encountered a terminal problem when the engine on the No. 18 Toyota broke.

“I commend NASCAR first of all for taking the initiative and letting us all repair our damaged cars from the issue that we had earlier in the race,” Busch said. “Appreciate that, but from there I thought we were about a fourth- or fifth-place car tonight. We had been running first, second or third most of the evening, but just catastrophic engine failure – it seems to be that time of year again. I hate it for all my guys. They worked too hard, and they always do. But Dave Rogers (crew chief) and these guys, they pour their hearts and souls into this deal, and it’s just so frustrating to see it end on a short note like that and not getting the finish that we needed. Now we go to Dover.”

Busch’s JGR companions – Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry, and Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry – finished fourth and 15^th, respectively.

Kevin Harvick won the Coca-Cola 600 to score his 21^st career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his second at Charlotte.

Kasey Kahne finished 1.49 seconds behind Harvick in the runner-up spot, while Kurt Busch, Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Marcos Ambrose comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 61 laps, with 12 drivers failing to finish the 400-lap race. The race was delayed three times for separate incidents which forced NASCAR to display the red flag. The first two of the three red-flag periods were for the fallen camera cable, the first of which lasted 10 minutes and 40 seconds and the second one lasting 16 minutes and 22 seconds. The third red flag was displayed for an accident on lap 327, delaying the racing action for nine minutes and 13 seconds.

With round 12 of 36 complete, Kenseth leads the JGR trio in the championship point standings. He is third with 394 points, 51 behind series leader Jimmie Johnson. Busch stands 11^th with 332 points, 113 out of first and three behind 10^th-place Brad Keselowski. Hamlin is 24^th with 238 points, 207 out of first and 97 behind Keselowski.

Fourteen races remain before the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Only the top-10 in points are locked into the Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11^th and 20^th in points with the most wins. If multiple drivers have the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the FedEx 400 benefitting Autism Speaks on Sunday, June 2 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m

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Travis Pastrana finished 33^rdin Saturday’s History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS) after contact with the wall forced the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) Ford Mustang to retire from the race with 37 laps remaining.

“My pride hurts more than anything,” said Pastrana.  “The guys gave me a good car.  I obviously slipped and spun out in qualifying and then we started out loose at the start of every run, but it would get better and better at the end.  I felt like we had a great car.  All of the guys really worked hard on it and it’s just really disappointing.  We knew we had to be in front of Nelson [Piquet] for the lucky dog and I didn’t want to be the one that caused it, but I just ran out of talent there.”  

For the second time in his NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) career, Pastrana visited the 1.5-mile track.  NNS teams had an open test session at the track on Wednesday, followed by two practice sessions on Thursday.  Pleased with the handling of the car, the team decided to sit out final practice in an effort to conserve tires for Saturday’s race.

NNS teams returned to the track on Saturday morning in order to qualify.  Pastrana was the 26^th driver to make a qualifying attempt.  Of the 26 cars, Pastrana was ninth fastest on his first lap, but was not able to complete his second lap as the car spun coming out of Turn 4.  After four fresh Goodyear tires, Pastrana started 25^th.

At the drop of the green flag, Pastrana remained in the top-25, radioing to the crew that the car was loose, but seemed to get better the longer it ran.  The first caution flag of the day was displayed on Lap 40, with the No. 60 team opting to come down pit road for four fresh tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment.  After a strong pit stop, the No. 60 restarted 17^th.

On the following green flag run, Pastrana was quiet on the radio, but continued to hold his ground in the top-18.  When the caution flag flew again, Pastrana made his way down pit road for the second time of the day for more tires and chassis adjustments.  Another strong pit stop had the No. 60 Ford Mustang restarting 15^th.

Upon returning to green flag conditions, Pastrana dropped back a few spots, but remained in the top-20.  The No. 60 ultimately lost a lap to the leader as green flag pit stops cycled through.  A caution on Lap 152 put Pastrana in position to race for the free pass in order to get back on the lead lap.  When the race restarted, the No. 60 broke loose off of Turn 2, sustaining severe damage and forcing the team to retire from the race early.  The No. 60 was credited with 33^rd.

Kyle Busch took home his sixth victory of the season, while NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano finished second and third, respectively.  Rookie Kyle Larson finished fourth, with Kevin Harvick following behind in fifth.  RFR teammate Trevor Bayne finished sixth, while Chris Buescher finished 38^th. 

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