Joey Coulter powers to first truck victory at Pocono

Joey Coulter powers to first truck victory at Pocono

Aug. 4, 2012 (EDITORS: Corrects "Buescher" to "Coulter" in 2nd graf; will be updated)

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

LONG POND, Pa. -- Pulling away after a strong restart with seven laps left in Saturday's Pocono Mountains 125 at Pocono Raceway, Joey Coulter notched his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, beating James Buescher to the finish line by 1.224 seconds.

Coulter charged from third to first moments after a restart on Lap 44 of 50 at the 2.5-mile triangular track, after a caution on Lap 39 that took series leader Timothy Peters out of the race. Peters was racing through the tunnel turn, got loose beneath another truck and spun into the wall, as two separate incidents in the same corner damaged five cars.

Nelson Piquet Jr. ran third after leading the field to the final restart. Piquet, who led 33 laps, survived a Lap 34 run-in with Todd Bodine (which knocked Bodine out of the race) but fell victim to Coulter on the final restart.

Matt Crafton and Denny Hamlin finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Ty Dillon, Parker Kligerman, John Wes Townley, Justin Lofton and Ross Chastain completed the top 10.