TRACK: Pocono Raceway (2.5-mile Triangle Oval) DISTANCE: 130 Laps – STAGE 1: 30 Laps, Stage 2: 55 Laps, FINAL STAGE 55  LAPS 350 Miles)
WEATHER: RAIN 40%, 77 degrees high

Starting Lineup

Betting favorites

Kyle Busch

Busch has seven straight top 10 finishes in Pocono including three of his last six being wins. What’s plagued him was not having practice much this season. He had 325 miles of it on Saturday.

Martin Truex Jr. 

He won this race in 2015 and 2018. Furthermore, he has five top six finishes in his last seven tries on the Tricky Triangle.

Kevin Harvick

He won Saturday, so why not Sunday? Harvick, has seven top six finishes, six of which being in the top four, his last eight Pocono starts.

Denny Hamlin

Pocono has been his playground. Hamlin, has five wins there including in this race a year ago. He was second on Saturday.

Brad Keselowski

He’s been solid at Pocono. Keselowski, won in 2011 and has six top five finishes in his last 10 starts since. Also, over his last 10 starts at Pocono, Keselowksi has three runner-ups and three fifth place finishes too. He has a top 10 in nine of those 10 starts and eight in his last nine of the season. He’ll start towards the front on Sunday.

Betting long shots

Ryan Blaney

This is the site of his first career Cup win. He’s had a top 12 in all but one of his nine Pocono starts. Also, he was in the top four in both stages on Saturday and starts ninth on Sunday.

Kurt Busch

He’s been a top 10 machine this season. Busch, also has 10 top 10 finishes in his last 18 Pocono starts as well including seven of which being in the top five. He rolls off third.

William Byron

Why not here? Three of his last four Pocono starts have seen him finish in the top 10. He rolls off seventh on Sunday and has the best crew chief in terms of strategy.

Clint Bowyer

In his last six Pocono starts, Bowyer has a top 11 in five of them, three of those being in the top seven.

Aric Almirola

Four top 12 finishes in five tries makes him a sleeper pick. He led a race-high 61 laps on Saturday.

Matt DiBenedetto

This isn’t normally a great track for him, but DiBenedetto was seventh and fifth respectively in the first two stages on Saturday and starts eighth on Sunday.

Pocono 350 Race Preview

The first part of the doubleheader weekend is in the books. Race No. 1 on Saturday went off without a hitch. Now, instead of having two race weekends spread apart by two months, NASCAR is back again 24 hours later.

We don’t have much to base this race off of now because we’ve never seen anything like it. How much will attrition play a factor? What about an inverted field? Five of the last seven race winners have come from the top 10. In fact, since 2014, 11 of the 14 Cup Series races have been won from a top 10 starting spot with one of those two not being Chris Buescher’s fluke rain shortened win in 2016.

Now, the best cars from Saturday’s race will be coming from further back on Sunday. The lineup isn’t determined by qualifying or by owner’s points which rewards the best cars on the season to start up front like Saturday did.

Yes, the race is longer on Sunday than on Saturday, but only by 25 additional miles.

Strategy was key to the win on Saturday and will be the main way these top contenders make their ways up on Sunday.

Stat To Watch

Starting position matters at Pocono. Five of the last six race winners have come from the top 10. In fact, since 2014, 11 of the 14 Cup Series races have been won from a top 10 starting spot with one of those two not being Chris Buescher’s fluke rain shortened win in 2016.

Maybe, we get a better race on Sunday because of this. Some names starting in the top 10 on Sunday are Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Custer, William Byron and Matt DiBenedetto. Combined, they have three career Cup wins.

Plus, Pocono has rewarded first time winners recently with Chris Buescher and Ryan Blaney earned earning their first career Cup victories on this track since 2016.

When inverting, like we did in race 2 of Darlington and Charlotte, both winners started 16th and 19th respectively. That’s great news for the top cars but not so good if you’re risking a bet on longer odds up front.

They Said It

“I think you will have to make some changes to your stuff,” Kyle Busch said between race 1 on Saturday and race 2 on Sunday. “The first race, there’s only going to be the Truck Series rubber, it’s only 60 laps, so there’s just going to be a little rubber down. Then, we’re going to put a lot of rubber down with our race. Then you’ll have the Xfinity race the next day, and then you’ll have our race. Over the course of all those miles, I think the main similarities between the two days is going to be just that – they’re a day apart rather than a month apart. There’s a difference between the Pocono racetrack when it’s a month apart, but when it’s day one to day two, there are going to be big differences in day one to day two, so you have to take a lot of different things into account.”

In terms of what adjustments to make?

“Obviously springs, shocks, bars, whatever you can change, all that sort of stuff. Making some adjustments. Knowing how much that track changes in that first race will give you a basis to how much you expect it to change in the second race barring any weather or the track. It’s 68 degrees one day and a 90 degrees on the other, there are going to be some big differences you’re going to want to adjust for and compensate for. Having a good notebook I think will certainly help us and our team, and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) being on board since 2015, since we started running good there. I think we could have a good idea of what to do with our M&M’S Minis Toyota.”