NASCAR: Buescher wins fog-shortened Pocono race

Chris Buescher earned a surprise first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Pocono Raceway, in a race that ended prematurely due to dangerous weather conditions. The win also ends Front Row Motorsports' 118-race winless streak — the longest active drought in the Sprint Cup Series.

Buescher was in the lead with 129 of 160 laps completed when the yellow flag was shown, benefiting from being on a different pit stop strategy to the leaders.

The race had been postponed from its original Sunday start time due to wet weather making the track unusable, and rescheduled for Monday, but still started an hour late with similar weather conditions.

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It was halted again due to the weather conditions, but it was in fact fog that eventually ended the race, rather than rainfall. With radar indicating impending showers, NASCAR officials called the race.

Drops of rain had been spotted throughout the race earlier on, and there were rumors that the running was going to be stopped at the midway point, leading to a series of frantic pit stops preparing for the 80-lap mark.

Nevertheless, the race ran past the midway point and until 138 laps were complete, when a caution turned into the lengthy red-flag period.

Having started 22nd, reigning Xfinity Series champion Buescher went off sequence early after cutting a tire. But that put him in prime position when the race was stopped, having just taken the lead as those ahead of him completed their next pit stops.

Buescher nervously waited out the delay.

"It was stressful," said Buescher, who lost a lap because of a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 94 and regained it as the highest-scored lapped car under caution on Lap 109. “I tried not to get my hopes up because I know how these things can play out. Mother Nature can be really nice sometimes and really mean.

"If that sun would have come out, it would have changed our whole day."

These were the conditions faced toward the end of the race:

Buescher's previous-best Sprint Cup result was 14th at Indianapolis last weekend, and he is now 31st in the standings, six points adrift of the 30th – currently occupied by David Ragan – he would require to qualify for The Chase.

Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson had been fighting for the lead before stopping and ultimately finished second and sixth.

Regan Smith wound up third ahead of Kevin Harvick, while Tony Stewart completed the top-five in another strong run.

Joey Logano looked in the mix until a crash with Chase Elliott took him out of contention, while polesitter Martin Truex Jr tagged a wall early.

Jeff Gordon ran as high as seventh until a seat belt malfunction dropped him down the order, in what could be his last Cup race standing in for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Autosport.com contributed to this report. Quotes courtesy NASCAR Wire Service.