The 2017 Axalta presents the Pocono 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on June 11, 2017, at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The race was contested over 160 laps on the triangular superspeedway, and was the 14th race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 15 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Toyota 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Gray Gaulding (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 34 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Bubba Wallace (i) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 55 Derrike Cope Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 72 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 83 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list

First practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 50.758 seconds and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 50.758 177.312 2 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 50.780 177.235 3 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 50.865 176.939Official first practice results

Qualifying

Kyle Busch scored the pole for the race with a time of 50.237 and a speed of .

Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 118 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 50.546 50.425 50.237 278 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 50.980 50.578 50.408 320 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 51.220 50.537 50.531 421 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 51.023 50.478 50.591 541 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas RacingFord 50.952 50.895 50.619 62 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 50.906 50.782 50.621 742 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 50.385 50.903 50.688 81 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 51.119 50.866 50.742 922 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 50.797 50.473 50.774 1031 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 50.952 50.936 50.840 1195 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 51.331 50.975 50.871 124 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 50.737 50.560 50.974 1327 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 50.949 50.982 — 1419 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 51.298 51.003 — 1577 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 51.151 51.075 — 1643 Bubba Wallace (i) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 51.176 51.094 — 173 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 51.295 51.101 — 1811 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 51.224 51.122 — 1948 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51.200 51.225 — 2014 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas RacingFord 51.354 51.257 — 2147 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 51.276 51.258 — 226 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 51.225 51.291 — 2317 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 51.298 51.502 — 2410 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 51.357 52.124 — 2524 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51.363 — — 265 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51.504 — — 2713 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 51.669 — — 2888 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51.774 — — 2937 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 51.830 — — 3032 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 51.898 — — 3138 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 52.046 — — 3272 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 52.114 — — 3323 Gray Gaulding (R) BK Racing Toyota 52.229 — — 3434 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 52.248 — — 3583 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 52.738 — — 3615 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Toyota 53.494 — — 3733 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 53.770 — — 3851 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 54.108 — — 3955 Derrike Cope Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 55.825 — — Official qualifying results

Final practice

Kyle Busch was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 51.305 seconds and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 51.305 175.421 2 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 51.345 175.285 3 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 51.367 175.210Official final practice results

Race First stage Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 3:22 p.m. Aside from an unscheduled pit stop by Joey Logano for a flat left-rear tire on the sixth lap, nothing unusual happened in the early stage of the race. It proceeded in an orderly fashion, only interrupted by a cycle of green flag stops on lap 14. Busch pitted from the lead on lap 18, followed by Kyle Larson pitted the next lap, and the lead moved to Erik Jones. He pitted on lap 36 and the lead cycled back to Busch. During the pit cycle, Ryan Newman and Bubba Wallace were handed pass through penalties for speeding on pit road. Both served them, but Wallace was hit with a second penalty – a stop and go – for speeding while completing his pass through.

Busch drove on to win the first stage and caution flew for the first time in the race on lap 50 for the culmination of the stage. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the lead under the caution by opting not to pit when the leaders did.

Second stage When the race returned to green on lap 57, Jones – on fresher tires – took the lead from Stenhouse driving down the Long Pond Straightaway. At the start/finish line the following lap, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s engine blew up as a result of a mis-shift and transmission failure. Moments later, Clint Bowyer tagged the wall with his right-rear corner exiting Turn 1. After those two events and Busch retaking the lead on lap 62, however, the second stage continued just as the first did. It was only broken up by a cycle of green flag stops on lap 91 when Busch pitted from the lead. Teammate Denny Hamlin followed suite the subsequent lap, giving the lead to Larson. On the 96th lap, Jimmie Johnson – running seventh – suffered brake failure hurdling down the frontstretch. He turned his car down into the grass to bleed off speed, which then turned up the track and slammed the wall hard in Turn 1. Moments later, Jamie McMurray suffered a similar brake failure going into Turn 1 and also pounded the Turn 1 wall. His car continued rolling down the Long Pond Straightaway when it caught fire in the engine compartment, prompting McMurray to park it on the apron and quickly exit the burning vehicle. These two events brought out the second caution, as well as a 23-minute and 25-second red flag to facilitate cleanup.

Rather than run out the remaining four laps of the stage under caution, NASCAR decided to run a one-lap shootout to end it. It restarted on lap 99, Larson won the second stage and caution flew for the third time for the conclusion of the stage. Busch bypassed pit road under the caution, having just pitted a few laps prior, and took back the lead.

Final stage

Back to green with 55 laps to go, the race settled into an orderly procession. As was the case in the first and second stage, the race was only broken up when race leader Busch commenced a cycle of green flag stops with 36 to go. Martin Truex Jr. did so as well four laps later, handing the lead to Brad Keselowski. He stayed out for 12 laps hoping to catch a caution, but didn't, pitted with 20 to go. Kasey Kahne suffered brake failure the following lap and belted the wall in Turn 1, bringing out the fourth caution. Busch opted not to pit and took the lead, as did Keselowski, while rest of the field pitted and Jones exited pit road first by taking two tires, followed by Ryan Blaney and everyone else taking 4 tires.

On the ensuing restart with 13 to go, Busch bolted ahead as Keselowski faltered. Blaney quickly pounced on and took second from Keselowski. Blaney on his fresher tires closed the gap to Busch on worn tires coming to 10 to go. After crossing the start/finish line, Blaney dropped down to the bottom of the track to pass to give himself the preferred groove going into Turn 1, but Busch blocked his move on the frontstretch and the battle continued. Blaney got to Busch's inside exiting Turn 1 and made contact going down the Long Pond Straightaway, even took the battle onto the apron. Blaney backed out going into Turn 2, but Busch left the bottom open, letting Blaney get back to his inside exiting Turn 2 and lost the lead to him on the Short Chute. Blaney spent the remaining nine laps holding off a charging Kevin Harvick to score his first ever victory and first for the Wood Brothers since Trevor Bayne winning the Daytona 500 in 2011.

Race results

Stage results

Stage 1 Laps: 50

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 102 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 93 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 84 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 75 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 66 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 57 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 48 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 39 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 210 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1Official stage one results

Stage 2 Laps: 50

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 102 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 93 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 84 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 75 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 66 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 57 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 48 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 39 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 210 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 1Official stage two results

Final stage results

Stage 3 Laps: 60