Despite Promising Effort in Pocono Qualifying Round Busch Doesn’t Tame the Tricky Triangle
Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver Kurt Busch earned himself the fifth position for start of Sunday’s Good Sam Insurance 500 here at Pocono Raceway. This marks the 10th time that Busch has started in the top-five in 22 races on the “Tricky Triangle.”
Busch, fully admits “we’ve been struggling, this car (new PRS-758) has been tight with us all weekend. We’re going to jump out of our setup and go to Brad Keselowski’s (Penske Racing teammate) setup. He went through a rough wreck earlier this week (in a test at Road Atlanta); it’s great to see him in the car, pushing hard. These young kids, they’re made like rubber bands, they can bounce back from anything. So we’re going to have to go to his setup to get our car freed up enough to try and win this bad boy on Sunday.” Busch has a lot of sympathy for Brad because he went through a similar injury a while back.
Busch followed through on this game plan and Keselowski was able to secure a win on Sunday despite a tough week. Meanwhile, Johnson and Busch battled for third for the last several laps on the Pocono race. It appeared to be hard racing, with perhaps a little more chrome horn emphasis than usual here and there. In the end, Busch won the battle and took the third position.
Team Penske Secures Two Top Mid-Ohio Starting Spots
On an Ohio track this weekend Ryan Briscoe led the effort for Team Penske on Saturday by qualifying on the front row for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Teammate Will Power also turned in a solid qualifying result as he will start fourth on Sunday, while Helio Castroneves struggled with his car’s handling and qualified 15th.
As Sunday’s race progressed all three Team Penske drivers encountered bad luck. Power and Briscoe were racing among the leaders when they were caught out on track by a yellow caution flag. They were forced to surrender their first- and second-place positions to pit under caution and they eventually finished deeper in the field (Power 14th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Honda and Briscoe16th in the No. 6 Penske Truck Rental car.)
Meanwhile, teammate Helio Castroneves, who was forced to pit early in the race to repair damage after two cars made contact and struck the No. 3 Penske Truck Rental machine, finished 19th on Sunday. The team will rally again for the IZOD IndyCar Series Sunday, August 14, with the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
