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The drought is over.

Kyle Busch won his first race in more than a year, passing Kevin Harvick with fewer than 20 laps to go to win Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

The win locks the 2015 NASCAR champion into the playoffs. Prior to Sunday's race, Busch was the first winless driver in based on merit, but now he can begin focusing on winning the title as opposed to chasing a playoff spot. Busch was one of our picks to win Sunday.

"I never thought this day would happen," said Busch, who gave Toyota its 100th Cup win since its 2007 debut. "We've all been fighting all year long and just wasn't sure why. This is something I've been waiting for for a long, long time. It's been a frustrating year but an awesome day today."

With his first win at Pocono, the No. 18 driver has now won at 23 of the 24 active Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series tracks. Busch has still yet to make a trip to Victory Lane at Charlotte.

The race began with a huge first lap pile up started by Matt Kenseth. While Kenseth didn't sustain much damage, Aric Almirola was forced to bring his wrecked No. 43 into the garage as his day ended early. This was all following a record-14 caution day at Indianapolis last week that included a similar wreck on the final lap.

The rest of the race was relatively clean, with Busch edging out points leader Martin Truex Jr. in Stage 1 for his eighth mid-race win after leading 29 laps. Kenseth finished the stage on the lead lap despite the wreck. The No. 20 came into the pits late essentially sacrificing points for strategy. It paid off as Kenseth finished in the top 10.

Clint Bowyer earned 10 regular-season points as well as a playoff point after Truex Jr. pitted with three laps to go in Stage 2, handing the No. 14 it's first stage victory of the season. Had Truex Jr. stayed out he would have easily added his 15th mid-race win of the season. Regardless, the No. 78 is essentially a lock to start the playoffs in first place with a sizable lead.

Jimmie Johnson spun out early in Stage 2 after making contact with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne in turn 3. The seven-time NASCAR champion already has three wins this year and is sitting solid in second place when the playoffs begin however, he has now crashed out of three of the past four races.

Our pick to win this week, Kyle Larson, lost his drive shaft on lap 70. Larson had to take his No. 42 into the garage for repairs but was able to return after going multiple laps down. He continued to battle issues with his car upon making his way back onto the track.

Joey Logano hurt his playoff chances yet again after qualifying in the top 10. The No. 22 got caught speeding on pit road with less than 40 laps to go then made the decision to add fuel while serving the penalty, which is against the rules. Logano was forced to come back and serve the penalty a second time. It is all but certain that last year's championship runner-up will need another victory to clinch a shot at the title.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 12th in his final race in Long Pond.

Overton's 400 results

  1. Kyle Busch
  2. Kevin Harvick
  3. Martin Truex Jr.
  4. Denny Hamlin
  5. Brad Keselowski
  6. Clint Bowyer
  7. Daniel Suarez
  8. Erik Jones
  9. Matt Kenseth
  10. Chase Elliott
  11. Kasey Kahne
  12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  13. Kurt Busch
  14. Ryan Newman
  15. Danica Patrick
  16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  17. Ty Dillon
  18. Michael McDowell
  19. Paul Menard
  20. Trevor Bayne
  21. Austin Dillon
  22. David Ragan
  23. AJ Allmendinger
  24. Cole Whitt
  25. Corey LaJoie
  26. Jamie McMurray
  27. Joey Logano
  28. Chris Buescher
  29. Landon Cassill
  30. Ryan Blaney
  31. Gray Gaulding
  32. Stephen Leicht
  33. Kyle Larson
  34. Derrike Cope
  35. Jimmie Johnson
  36. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  37. Matt DiBenedetto
  38. Aric Almirola

2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Standings

POSITION

DRIVER

CAR #

POINTS

BEHIND

WINS

1.

Martin Truex Jr.

78

823

LEADER

3

2.

Kyle Larson

42

738

85

2

3.

Kevin Harvick

4

726

97

1

4.

Kyle Busch

18

723

100

1

5.

Brad Keselowski

2

649

174

2

6.

Denny Hamlin

11

649

174

1

7.

Chase Elliott

24

616

207

0

8.

Jamie McMurray

1

615

208

0

9.

Matt Kenseth

20

594

229

0

10.

Clint Bowyer

14

577

246

0

11.

Jimmie Johnson

48

566

257

3

12.

Ryan Blaney

21

529

294

1

13.

Joey Logano

22

525

298

1

14.

Kurt Busch

41

494

329

1

15.

Ryan Newman

31

491

332

1

16.

Erik Jones

77

469

354

0

The Associated Press contributed information to this report