NASCAR has experienced a lot of firsts during the 2020 Cup Series season thanks to the pandemic. This weekend’s doubleheader at Pocono Raceway will be yet another first.
The sport continues to move forward with a plan that will allow the season to include the normal 26 regular season races and 10 post-season races. While the goal is to end the season with a normal tally of 36 races, the path to get there has been and will continue to be anything but normal.
This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series will compete in two point paying races in two days. Both races will take place at the track nicknamed the “Tricky Triangle.” That means the drivers and teams will have double the challenge to figure out a track unlike any other.
Pocono Raceway’s nickname comes because the track only has three turns, thus it is a triangle. To make things even harder, the three turns all all unique as are the three straight-a-ways. Here are the track stats…
Pocono Raceway Data
Track Size: 2.5-miles
Banking/Turn 1: 14 degrees
Banking/Turn 2: 8 degrees
Banking/Turn 3: 6 degrees
Frontstretch Length: 3,740 feet
Backstretch Length: 3,055 feet
Shortstretch Length: 1,780 feet
While the track will remain the same for both races, the actual races will differ from each other. By the time the weekend is over, the drivers will have raced a total of 675 miles.
Saturday – Pocono Organics 325 Data
Season Race #: 14 of 36 (06-27-20)
Race Length: 130 laps / 325 miles
Stage 1 Length: 25 Laps
Stage 2 Length: 52 Laps
Final Stage: 53 Laps
Sunday – Pocono 350 Data
Season Race #: 15 of 36 (06-28-20)
Race Length: 140 laps / 350 miles
Stage 1 Length: 30 Laps
Stage 2 Length: 55 Laps
Final Stage: 55 Laps
With two races in two days at Pocono it is twice the chance for drivers to do well at the track and score points. Here are the active drivers that have performed the best at the track during their Cup Series careers.
Top 10 Driver Ratings at Pocono Raceway
Denny Hamlin ……………………….. 105.1
Erik Jones …………………………….. 103.6
Kurt Busch ……………………………. 100.7
Jimmie Johnson ………………………. 99.1
Kevin Harvick ………………………….. 98.6
Chase Elliott …………………………… 98.2
Kyle Busch ……………………………… 95.4
Brad Keselowski ……………………… 94.7
Joey Logano …………………………… 89.3
William Byron ………………………….. 88.3
Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2019 races (30 total) among active drivers at Pocono Raceway.
With two races at the same track it could be one driver adding two wins to his season total. Here are the active drivers that have won a race on the “Tricky Triangle” in NASCAR’s top division.
Active Drivers with Win(s) at Pocono Raceway
Denny Hamlin – 5 Wins
Jimmie Johnson – 3 Wins
Kurt Busch – 3 Wins
Kyle Busch – 3 Wins
Martin Truex Jr. – 2 Wins
Brad Keselowski – 1 Win
Chris Buescher – 1 Win
Joey Logano – 1 Win
Matt Kenseth – 1 Win
Ryan Blaney – 1 Win
Ryan Newman – 1 Win
Jeff Gordon is the all-time race winner at Pocono Raceway with six wins during his Hall of Fame career. If Denny Hamlin has a good weekend, he can tie Jeff. If Denny has a great weekend he can move past Jeff is just two days.
Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch or Kyle Busch has the chance to move up to a tie with Denny if any of them has a great weekend.
There are many more good weekend and great weekend stories that could be written. Which stories will be written will start at 2:30 p.m. central time (3:30 p.m. eastern time) Saturday, June 27th in the Pocono Organics 325. Sunday, June 28th starting at 3 p.m. central time (4 p.m. eastern time) the stories will continue and conclude at the end of the Pocono 350.
By: Buck Stevens
