Xfinity heads to Pocono Raceway

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads north to Pocono Raceway for the Pocono Green 225 recycled by J.P. Mascaro & Sons on Saturday, June 27, 2020 at 12:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to kickoff a Sunday doubleheader with the Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series.

Coming off an exciting race weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, the series will hit the pavement for 225 miles of hard racing at the “Tricky Triangle.”

Last weekend’s race was won by Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley in the No. 11 Chevrolet with his teammate Ross Chastain in the No. 10 Chevrolet winning the weekend’s Dash 4 Cash installment.

The win marked the second of the season for the Kaulig Racing camp and automatically punches Haley’s ticket to the 2020 Playoffs. It was Haley’s seventh top-10 finish of the year and his first career victory in 47 Xfinity Series races. Haley led five times for 16 laps and started on the pole.

The race saw 12 different leaders and had 22 different lead changes. Chastain finished second, Jeb Burton finished third for JR Motorsports, Austin Cindric finished fourth for Team Penske and Brett Moffitt finished fifth for Our Motorsports.

Pocono has hosted only four NASCAR Xfinity Series races, the inaugural race was in 2016 and won by Kyle Larson for Chip Ganassi Racing. Erik Jones won the first pole award for the series at Pocono.

The four races have produced four different race winners and three different pole winners. Cole Custer won two of the four pole awards and is the only driver to have won the race from the pole (2019).

In 2019, there were six different leaders, the most of the four races run and it also had the most cautions (seven). The 2019 race has the closest margin of victory at 0.226 seconds.

Ford has two Xfinity Series wins at the track and Chevrolet and Toyota each have one. Each race was won by a different car owner, too.

Pocono Raceway is a 2.5-mile track with 14-degree banking in Turn 1, eight-degree banking in Turn 2 and six degrees of banking in Turn 3. The frontstretch is 3,740 feet, the backstretch is 3,055 feet and the shortstretch is 1,780 feet.

Sunday’s race will be 225 miles (90 laps). The first stage will end on Lap 20, second stage on Lap 40 and the final stage will conclude on Lap 90.

Starting Lineup

Dash 4 Cash finale at Pocono
The Dash 4 Cash program is back for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and this time the schedule is a little different compared to past years due to a revised 2020 schedule as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will wrap up this weekend at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 28 (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Dash 4 Cash kicked off at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Noah Gragson won the season’s first installment.

The second race of the Homestead-Miami Speedway doubleheader was the second installment and AJ Allmendinger grabbed the $100,000 bonus.

Last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, Allmendinger’s teammate Ross Chastain took home the money.

Pocono Raceway marks the finale for the 2020 Dash 4 Cash program and Justin Haley, Chastain, Alex Labbe and Austin Cindric are the four drivers competing for the $100,000.

Although Jeb Burton finished Talladega in a position that would qualify him to contend for the bonus at Pocono, he is not racing in this weekend’s race. Therefore Labbe rose into contention as the next-highest finishing Xfinity Series points racer who was also entered in Pocono.

Xfinity is making donation in each Dash 4 Cash race market to reaffirm their companywide commitment of connecting families, veterans and seniors to the digital tools necessary for navigating these challenging times.

At Pocono, the donations will go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Boys & Girls Clubs give young people in need the developmental tools to achieve great futures as productive, responsible citizens in the community. This donation will help ensure these academic and character-building programs continue through the crisis, so young people have the tools they need to live healthy lifestyles and contribute to the community.

Here’s a brief summary on the Dash 4 Cash initiative so far:

• NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers will compete for four positions in Dash 4 Cash eventsAtlanta Motor Speedway: Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, Brandon Jones and Harrison BurtonHomestead-Miami Speedway (2): AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley and Daniel HemricTalladega Superspeedway: AJ Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe, Brandon Jones and Ross Chastain
  • Pocono Raceway: Justin Haley, Ross Chastain, Jeb Burton and Austin Cindric 
• Of the four competing for Dash 4 Cash, the highest finisher wins the $100,000 prize

Dash 4 Cash Qualifiers for Pocono: 

• Justin Haley (No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet) – Haley will be making his second career Xfinity Series start at Pocono this weekend. Last season was his track debut and he finished ninth. Haley had two starts at the track in the Gander Trucks and finished fifth (2018) and 10th (2017).

• Ross Chastain (No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet) – Chastain has a lot of experience at Pocono among all three series. Chastain has four starts in the Xfinity Series at Pocono and a best finish of 11^th in 2018. In the Gander Trucks, Chastain finished 10^th in his first start at Pocono, finished fifth in his second start and last season, he won the race.

• Austin Cindric (No. 22 Team Penske Ford) – Cindric will be making his third start at Pocono this weekend. His first was in 2018 and he finished fourth and last season, he finished seventh. He made one start in the Gander Trucks at he track in 2017 and finished seventh.
• Alex Labbe (No. 90 DGM Racing Chevrolet) – Labbe has made just one start at Pocono Raceway in the Xfinity Series, finishing 18^th in 2018.

NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Playoff Outlook following Talladega

 

Rank	Driver	Points	Race Wins	Stage Wins	Playoff Pts.	Pts. from Cutoff
1	Chase Briscoe	454	3	2	17	IN ON WINS
2	Noah Gragson	469	2	5	15
3	Harrison Burton	399	2	0	10
4	Brandon Jones	375	1	2	7
5	Justin Haley	385	1	1	6
6	Austin Cindric	426	0	2	2	212
7	Ross Chastain	422	0	0	0	208
8	Justin Allgaier	337	0	4	4	123
9	Michael Annett	296	0	0	0	82
10	Ryan Sieg	273	0	2	2	59
11	Riley Herbst	257	0	0	0	43
12	Brandon Brown	250	0	0	0	36
13	Myatt Snider	214	0	0	0	-36
14	Josh Williams	210	0	0	0	-40
15	Alex Labbe	202	0	0	0	-48

 

Justin Haley’s win last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway made him the fifth different driver locked into the Playoffs with a race win. He joins Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones.

Austin Cindric is the highest-ranked driver in the Playoff points standings without a win, but his eight top 10s and six top-five finishes make it seem that a win isn’t far away for the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Myatt Snider is the first driver below the Playoff cutline currently with 214 points – 36 markers back from Brandon Brown in the final Playoff transfer spot (12^th).

JR Motorsport’s Noah Gragson leads the Xfinity Series standings with 469 points.

Closer, closer for Cindric

Austin Cindric is still on the hunt for his first win in the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and Pocono Raceway suits him very well.

The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford has six top fives and eight top 10s so far this season. He has an average start of 7.6 and an average finish of 10.3 and he has led 238 laps.

He’s sitting in third in the points standings for the series – the highest-ranked driver without a win and he has run upfront – leading the third-most percentage of laps this season (12.2%) sitting behind a pair of JR Motorsports teammates Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier.

This weekend’s Pocono 225 recycled by J.P. Mascaro & Sons on Sunday, June 27 (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be Cindric’s third Xfinity Series start at Pocono.

In his series track debut, Cindric finished fourth at Pocono in 2018 and last season, he finished seventh. In both races, he started from third.

Cindric has the third-best average running position at Pocono, behind Cup Series drivers Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. Cindric has the third-best driver rating behind Keselowski and Busch at 105.6. He’s also sitting right behind them in third for the fastest laps run, too.

Ryan Vargas back in Xfinity Series

Ryan Vargas and JD Motorsports announced that Vargas will be back behind the wheel in the Xfinity Series for JD Motorsports this weekend.

Vargas competed in three races last season for the team at Iowa Speedway, Road America Sports Car Course and Phoenix Raceway. He hasn’t run a race so far this season, but had been helping out with the team. On race weekend, Vargas would help as a crew member, working on the car and helping during pit stops for the team. He also competed for JD Motorsports in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series during the COVID-19 pause in sports.

Now, this weekend at Pocono, the 19-year-old he will make his first start of 2020 at The Tricky Triangle.

In his three starts last season with the team, he had an average finish of 20.3 and a best finish of 17^th at Iowa in July. Although the largest track he’s run on was the 1-mile oval of Phoenix Raceway, Vargas is ready to get started and get a good finish for the team.

“My goal is to gain as much experience as humanly possible on bigger tracks, and to do so we need to complete all the laps. Heading into Pocono this weekend with no prior experience on a track of that caliber is a little intimidating for sure, but I am confident in my team’s ability to put together a strong car capable of a good finish,” said Vargas.

Vargas will pilot the No. 15 Chevrolet with Cranio Care Bears, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to spread awareness and support to families and children that struggle with Craniosyntosis, as his primary sponsor as it is an organization close to his heart.