This article is part of our NASCAR Barometer series.
Kyle Busch was the car to beat in Sunday afternoon's Pocono 400. He couldn't top William Byron in Saturday's one-lap effort to start on pole but did enough to start on the front row and lead the most laps on Sunday, too. The win was his fourth of the season and once again moves him ahead of the rest of the field in the standings. It was a confident and mistake-free afternoon for him, while other contenders suffered trouble or made mistakes. Just one late restart was essentially all the stress he had to weather after cycling back to the lead after the final round of pit stops.
This week the series heads to Michigan International Speedway as the schedule marches toward the halfway mark. Stewart-Haas Racing Fords swept the wins at the circuit last season with Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick taking the honors. The team has yet to get into Victory Lane this season and will be desperate to change that trend and rekindle their 2018 success.
UPGRADE
Kyle Busch – Busch was the car to beat Sunday afternoon. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was among the fastest throughout the race and continually cycled to the front of the field as other strategies played out and fell short. After building a multisecond lead in the final laps, he had to make just one final restart to stay in front and ahead of teammate Erik Jones to claim his fourth win of the season. He'll go for No. 5