Martin Truex Jr. Wins the 2015 We Paint Winners 400 at Pocono

Martin Truex Jr. won the 2015 Axalta We Paint Winners 400, the 14th race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, at Pocono Raceway on 7 June 2015. Kevin Harvick finished second, Jimmie Johnson third, and Joey Logano and Kurt Busch completed the top five. The race covered 160 laps of the 2.5 mile triangular superspeedway, and it came after Harvick's runner-up finish at Dover.

Why was Pocono such an unusual track?

Pocono Raceway, known as the Tricky Triangle, is a triangular superspeedway in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. It hosts two Sprint Cup races, one in June and one in August, along with a Truck Series race in August. A Verizon IndyCar Series race has been held there since 2013.

Pocono is one of the few NASCAR tracks that is not owned by Speedway Motorsports or International Speedway Corporation, the two dominant owners in the sport. It is run by the Igdalsky siblings, Brandon, Nicholas and Ashley, with their cousins Joseph IV and Chase Mattioli. All of them are third-generation members of the family firm Mattco Inc, which was started by Joseph II and Rose Mattioli and also owns South Boston Speedway in Virginia.

The circuit has three separate infield sections, the North, East and South courses, each of which uses a different part of the tri-oval. Clubs and racing schools use the track outside race weekends. Some sections can run in either direction, and two can be joined to make a longer layout that uses the tri-oval as a connector.

Truex led the most laps, took the lead with 36 to go and ended a 69-race winless run at a track built like no other on the schedule.

What changed for the pit crews that weekend?

From this race onward, every pit crew member had to wear gloves, head socks and underwear certified by the SFI Foundation. Before this weekend only the gas can operator had to wear the full set of approved items.

The rule applied to the whole pit crew rather than to one person, so every team had to equip all of its crew members for the race.

The entry list appeared at 4:45 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, 1 June, with forty-three cars entered. It was the first race of the season in which no driver failed to qualify. Two drivers changed cars: Travis Kvapil drove the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford, and Ty Dillon drove the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport Chevrolet.

How did practice and qualifying go?

Kevin Harvick was fastest in the first practice at 50.867 seconds (176.932 mph, 284.744 km/h), but Tony Stewart crashed into the tyre barrier on the inside wall eighty-five minutes into the session. Stewart called it driver error after he got loose coming out of turn two. His team rolled out a backup car, and because the change came before qualifying he did not have to start from the back.

Kurt Busch took the pole with 50.676 seconds, a speed of 177.599 mph (285.818 km/h). Busch later said the car had been off balance, especially with new bumps in turn two. The set-up they returned to came from Danica Patrick's crew chief, Daniel Knost, and Busch credited the team's communication and hard work for the result. Brad Keselowski qualified seventh.

Qualifying ended early in the final round. Denny Hamlin spun in turn one with 39 seconds left, and only seven drivers had posted a time in that round when the session was stopped. Hamlin was placed ahead of four drivers who had not set a time, which raised questions about the policy. NASCAR executive Steve O'Donnell later discussed changing the policy on his regular radio appearance.

Harvick remained the benchmark in the later practices. He was fastest in the second session at 51.236 seconds and again in the final session at 51.144 seconds, a speed of 175.974 mph (283.203 km/h).

How did the first half of the race unfold?

The race was scheduled to start at 1:20 p.m. and got under way a minute later, with Busch leading the field to the green flag. Carl Edwards passed him in turn one, and Jeff Gordon briefly ran close behind before drifting away from the leaders.

Truex and Harvick reeled in Edwards, and Truex passed him on lap 16 to take the lead. On lap 21 Brad Keselowski made an unscheduled stop and rejoined in 37th place, which set off a wave of first pit stops. Kenseth and Logano were tagged for speeding and served drive-through penalties, while Paul Menard had to serve a stop-and-go penalty and made several trips down pit road. Truex made his first stop on lap 29 and handed the lead to Edwards, who pitted the next lap and passed it to Kasey Kahne. Kahne stopped on lap 32, and the lead went back to Harvick.

Debris from the splitter of Menard's car brought the first caution on lap 49. Truex left the pits with the lead after taking only two tyres. The second caution came on lap 69, when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dived into the tunnel turn to pass Casey Mears, got loose and slammed the wall. Harvick chose not to pit under that caution and kept the lead. Stenhouse said afterwards that his brakes had been fading and that he kept pumping them, and that by the time he reached Mears he was too busy catching a slide to pump them again.

Truex's lead over Harvick began to shrink by lap 65, as the field waited for the restart on lap 74.

What happened in the second half?

A third caution came on lap 88, when Jimmie Johnson cut a left-front tyre in turn two. Austin Dillon chose not to pit under the yellow flag and assumed the lead. On the restart Jeff Gordon passed him, and when Gordon pitted he handed the lead to Truex.

The fourth caution flew on the same lap, after Alex Bowman was turned by Brett Moffitt in turn three and spun. A fifth caution followed with 39 laps to go, when Sam Hornish Jr. cut a tyre going into turn one and hit the wall hard.

With 32 laps to go Brad Keselowski hit Moffitt in the left rear corner, sending him spinning. Tony Stewart was penalised for an uncontrolled tyre and had to restart from the rear. Danica Patrick then cut a right-rear tyre and backed into the turn one wall with 27 laps left. Patrick said she had been trying to climb back into the top ten when the car simply hopped the wall, and she described it as a day that hurt, since the team had been having a great race.

The last cautions were both in turn one. A. J. Allmendinger got loose with 20 laps to go and tapped Ryan Newman into the wall. On the final restart, with 16 laps left, Patrick spun out exiting turn three. She spun onto pit road, so the race stayed green, and Truex pulled away to snap a winless streak of 69 races.

Who finished where at Pocono?

Truex crossed the line first, with Harvick second and Johnson third. Logano and Busch finished fourth and fifth. The win was his third career victory and his first since the 2013 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma. It was also the second win for Furniture Row Racing, and its first since the 2011 Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington. Truex had taken the lead with 36 laps to go and led 97 laps in total, his fourth consecutive race as the lap leader.

Harvick had entered Pocono with a 44-point lead over Truex, after a runner-up finish at Dover. Johnson and Logano had been 76 points back and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 84 back. Truex's win left him 39 points behind Harvick, while Chevrolet kept a 59-point lead over Ford in the manufacturer standings.

Johnson rallied from a cut tyre and a brush with the wall to finish third. He said the team had not had the pace of Truex or Harvick that day, but that third after a damaged car was a result they were glad to take. Harvick said his team had lost ten positions in the late stages and struggled on the restarts, yet he judged second to be better than tenth.

The race had twelve lead changes among six different drivers and eight cautions for 31 laps. Truex's winnings were $201,810, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup leader bonus rolled over to $110,000 for the next event because no driver claimed it.

Race statistics and awards

Truex also took the American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award, while the other honours were spread around the field. Harvick took the Bake in the Race and Wide Open awards, Gordon was recognised for the biggest climb through the order, and Logano earned the Moog problem solver honour with crew chief Todd Gordon.

How did the drivers and teams react?

Truex said the win felt unbelievable, and he said he had always known the team would get one. He described himself as being on cloud nine after the race. He described the last year and a half as tough and said the victory helped him move past a difficult period, while staying thankful for the group he works with.

Harvick said the team had been frustrated not to win, but that being near the front almost every week was a rare position to be in. He added that second was better than tenth, after a day when the team lost ten spots and never made them back.

Johnson praised Truex for the way he kept going through a hard year, calling it a very popular win. He said Truex still walked into the garage every week with a smile and climbed into the car with the same attitude.

How was the race broadcast?

Fox Sports covered the race on Fox Sports 1 for American viewers, its seventh race at Pocono and its first there since 2006. Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and four-time Pocono winner Darrell Waltrip called the action from the booth, with Jamie Little, Chris Neville and Matt Yocum working pit road.

The Motor Racing Network had the radio call, simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore and Jeff Striegle called the race from the booth while the field ran down the front stretch. Radio announcers also worked from billboards outside turns one, two and three as the field passed, so listeners could follow the action around the track. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post worked pit road for the radio team.