On Saturday, it was a pit call that got Kevin Harvick the victory for the NASCAR Cup Series’ first race in a doubleheader weekend at the Pocono Raceway. 24 hours later, it was another aggressive pit call that worked against Harvick.
Harvick, hit pit lane on Lap 104 for the final time of Sunday’s Pocono 350. Denny Hamlin went 15 additional laps around the 2.5-mile track, which proved to be the winning move.
Hamlin, entered the pit sequence second, just as Harvick was on the final round of stops on Saturday. Yesterday, Aric Almirola took four tires to Harvick’s two and Harvick went on to win the 325 mile event.
On Sunday, by Hamlin running an extended stint, allowed him to come out of the pits on Lap 120 ahead of Harvick as he’d set sail to his sixth career Pocono win, tying him with Jeff Gordon for most all-time at the Tricky Triangle.
It was also his 41st career Cup Series victory, four of which coming this season alone, most among all drivers.
Harvick, had to settle for second for his fifth runner-up in his last 11 Pocono starts. He had none in his 27 prior starts.
Erik Jones bounced back following a crash on Saturday to finish third in his No. 20 Toyota on Sunday. It was Jones’ third top three finish in his last four Pocono starts and fourth top five in his last five Tricky Triangle starts overall. Also, Jones now has two top five finishes in his last three starts on the season too.
Chase Elliott finished fourth in his No. 9 Chevrolet while Almirola rounded out the top five in his No. 10 Ford.
Here are my main takeaways.
Hamlin vs. Harvick Show To Championship?
It seems like this is going to come down to Denny Hamlin vs. Kevin Harvick for the 2020 championship. Both made it to the final round last year but it was Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. who beat them both as they finished 1-2 respectively.
This season, Busch hasn’t won in 15 starts while Truex has just one trip to victory lane himself. Meanwhile, Hamlin and Harvick have combined to win seven of the 15 Cup races, including a weekend sweep at Pocono this weekend.
Harvick, beat Hamlin across the finish line in Saturday’s first race of the doubleheader race weekend while Hamlin bested Harvick on Sunday.
Hamlin, has four wins now this season to go along with four straight top five finishes and five in his last six starts on the season in his No. 11 Toyota overall. In fact, one could argue that both drivers are thriving more under these new conditions.
Prior to the lengthy COVID-19 break, Hamlin had a Daytona 500 win but was only 17th, sixth and 20th respectively in the three races after. Harvick, was solid, but not great. He was fifth, eighth, ninth and second respectively.
Then, we went for a 70 day hiatus between races. After that, these two have been on a terror.
All three of Harvick’s wins have some since the break to go along with three for Hamlin too. That’s six combined wins in 11 tries.
What makes them so good now compared to everyone else?
“I think the experience of our team definitely plays a huge role, Harvick said. “I think the experience of our organization plays a bigger role. We have a boss who has been through a lot of different situations that the company has had to navigate in order to move things around, change things, do a lot of things when Tony had his accidents.
“There were those types of situations where we had to put different drivers in the car. It was definitely not easy.
“I think when you look at a company that is able to navigate those types of times, this is a very similar situation with the same group of people. You listen to the things that are happening, the way the shop has to be organized and work, it’s difficult.
“To be able to take this quality of cars to the racetrack is definitely a huge credit to everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”
His crew chief Rodney Childers agreed.
“Well, I would say that we have the best group,” Childers said. “We haven’t had a lot of people that have come and gone. Overall we do have the best group, best shop guys, best pit crew, best road crew we’ve ever had. That’s what’s important. I think everybody knows the people side of it is the most important part.
“To say we’re in championship form? I don’t know what championship form is. Is championship form unloading off the truck, no practice and qualifying? Is championship form going back to the old schedule and doing the things that we’ve always done?”
Childers, said the experience of the group in this era of change, especially without practice is actually an advantage.
“I will say I feel like for the 4 team it is an advantage to unload and not have practice and those things,” Childers continued. “Our history of our team has been unloading good and doing a great job at the racetrack of details, all that stuff.
“I think some of this, since we went back to racing, has been in our hands and our wheelhouse a little bit. Obviously with being able to win three of them, coming close to even more, that part shows.”
Hamlin, also doesn’t favor practicing for the distant future either and notes that his car is great when it matters at the end.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had one top five finish in the first four races but eight over the last 11.
This could be the grouping to watch.
Harvick With Better Car On Sunday Than Saturday
Kevin Harvick said experience led him and his No. 4 Ford to victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Pocono Raceway. His teammate Aric Almirola led a race-high 61 laps but was on the wrong end of pit strategy at the end of the race.
Almirola, ran that sequence to his final stop long, meaning he’d need more fuel which in turn meant he’d be on pit road longer. As a result, they had to take four tires. Harvick, pitted on the same lap but didn’t need as much fuel because he pit later on the pit sequence prior.
So, Harvick took two tires. That was the winning move.
Harvick, only led 17 laps on Saturday, the final 17 at that. He admitted that his car was good but not great. That’s where the experience factor came in.
On Sunday, they had an opportunity to learn from 325 miles of racing on Saturday and adjust. That made what Harvick called as a better car on Sunday than his race winning one on Saturday.
This time, Denny Hamlin went longer on hit pit sequence as Harvick pit for the final time on Lap 104 on Sunday and Hamlin Lap 119. That was the winning move.
Harvick, had to settle for second.
Still, it was Harvick’s sixth top two finish in his last 11 Pocono starts, one of those being a win on Saturday and five others being runner-ups. In his previous 27 Pocono starts, his best finish was only third.
He’s now had eight top six finishes in his last nine Tricky Triangle starts overall, seven of those being in the top four.
Jones Rebounds For Solid Points Day
Erik Jones knew that he had a prime opportunity this weekend at the Pocono Raceway to solidify his playoff chances. He entered the doubleheader at the Tricky Triangle one point behind the cutoff line.
Now, he exits 14 points to the good.
But, it could have been better. See, this is Jones’ best track. Prior to 2020, he had five top eight finishes in six Pocono tries including a top three in both races a year ago and fifth in the second race for three straight top five finishes in 2018.
A win would have been nice. Toyota had five straight Pocono wins entering 2020 and a Jones win either Saturday or Sunday would automatically place him into the postseason.
So, to not win, well that would be frustrating, but to come back from a 38th place finish on Saturday, well it’s satisfying.
Jones, brought his No. 20 Toyota home third on Sunday for his fourth top five finish in his last five Pocono starts. Combine that with Tyler Reddick finishing 30th and 35th this weekend and you get Jones making up several points.
Good Points Weekend For Almirola
Aric Almirola hasn’t won since Talladega in 2018. His team knew that they’ve been strong, but not quite there yet in terms of guaranteeing a win. So, their plan heading into this weekend at the Pocono Raceway was to score as many points as they could.
See, Almirola is coming off of back-to-back top five finishes in the season and had three top 12 finishes in his last four Pocono starts. His previous best before that was 18th.
So, with five of the last six Cup race winners at Pocono coming from a top 10 starting spot, four of which from the top four, why not take the risk of most points?
It’s paid off.
Almirola, led the most laps (61) and scored the most points (53) out of anyone on Saturday but just didn’t win. He’d bring his No. 10 Ford home third.
On Sunday, he used strategy in the first stage since he started in 18th due to the invert, to finish second in Stage 2. His four stages run this weekend saw him finish first or second in three of them. That’s 28 additional points. In the end, he’d finish fifth for his fourth straight top five finish on the year. He scored 41 more points on Sunday, second most out of anyone.
“Yeah, before we came to Pocono, if you told me I was going to finish third, finish second in a stage, win a stage, I would have said, I’ll take it, let’s not even go,” Almirola said.
“We opted to go and score as many stage points as we could and try to out-point them today. It got us a couple spots short of a victory. Still had a really fast car, the Smithfield Ford Mustang. We’re keeping momentum going, three (4 now) top fives in a row. Really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”
On Saturday, Almirola started from the pole and led the first 19 laps around the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway. He even won a Stage and was second in the other. So, while the Florida native was happy to finish so well, he was also bummed to come up just short too.
“After the car we had, leading all the laps that we led today, man, it was a hard one to lose,” Almirola continued. “Just really proud of all of our race team, Buga and all the guys brought me a really fast car.”
In fact, if not for being on the wrong end of strategy at the ends, Almirola likely would have been the one pulling into victory lane instead of his teammate Kevin Harvick.
Almirola, had his best shot of a victory for the first time in 55 starts. Instead, a final pit call kept him away.
On the final round of pit stops, his crew chief called him to take four fresh Goodyear tires. The problem was, everyone else was taking two tires, even none for some too. With him being one of the final drivers among the leaders to have not pit yet, he should have known better to just take two like the rest.
But, Almirola had his crew chiefs back in saying it was the only decision they could make at that point.
“We might as well have taken four tires,” Almirola said of the pit call. “We couldn’t have taken two tires and got enough fuel in it. That was the right call.”
Harvick, Almirola’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, pit on the same lap as him and took just two tires. At that point, Almirola still thought he was in good shape.
“No, actually I thought we were in a really good spot, to be honest,” Almirola continued. “I knew we needed more fuel than everybody else because we stayed out to score stage points and ran long on our tank of fuel.
“To be honest, if a caution comes out with 10 laps to go or at any point once it all cycles out, we’re running third, I feel like we’re in the best position to win that race. We have four fresh tires and arguably the best car.
“I felt like that was a great call by Buga. It certainly gave us an opportunity to win.”
Instead, it worked against them. Harvick, had clean air and the position to lose. He’d quickly pull out to a six second lead and would cross the finish line 13 second ahead of Almirola in the end.
“It’s meaningful to run good any weekend,” Almirola said when asked about the pit call. “It’s hard to run top five. It’s hard to run top 10. It’s hard to win these races.
“Yeah, I’m certainly proud of Buga. I know this is a special place for him, being so close to home. Yeah, I’m happy that we ran as well as we did, especially when you have a car that good…
“The one thing that’s unique about this weekend is that we get another shot tomorrow.”
It wasn’t like Harvick had that much of a better car than Almirola. It’s just that Harvick had clean air and only a few laps to go. Harvick, didn’t even lead all day until he took over the top spot on Lap 114. Almirola, led 61 of the first 93 laps.
Almirola, if taken two tires, likely had this thing in the bag still. The Toyota’s behind all had vibrations and he would have exited pit lane ahead of Harvick.
Almirola, said that the relationship between himself and his new crew chief is great and is working just fine. The change of scenery for both to get paired to together seems to be working.
“Yeah, it’s a great relationship. We’ve worked really hard to build that relationship, all the way to back December when we found out we were going to be paired together. It started right then. We’ve talked almost every single day. We text back and forth, we communicate a lot. I think that helps.
“I am just so far different than Clint. Sometimes that’s all you need to kind of spark something, is a little bit change of chemistry. Buga is very passionate, very fired up, and cares deeply. I’m more even-keeled. I’m more laid back and easygoing. I feel like we certainly offset each other and bring a great balance to our relationship.”
He says it is tough though to lose with a car as good as he had, but he’s at peace with how well they’re running right now too.
“Yeah, it is tough. The wins will come. I’ve been around this sport long enough and watched. It’s hard to win these races. It’s hard to run in the top five consistently. We’ve done it three weeks in a row. It’s hard to run in the top 10 consistently.
“But you see those guys like the guys that you typically see that run in the top five a lot, they consistently put themselves in the top five, then they find themselves with chances to win. That’s our first goal. Our first goal is to consistently run in the top 10 or the top five, then that will put us in position to win races.
“I’m proud of the cars we’ve been bringing to the racetrack. I’m proud of my team. I’m just happy. When we get on these rolls like this where you consistently run in the top five, it just builds so much confidence in myself, in my crew chief, in my team guys. Everybody walks around with a little more pep in their step. That just continues to build.
“I think we’re on a good run right now.”
Panic Time For Kyle Busch?
This was going to be the race weekend that set the barometer for Kyle Busch. The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion had yet to win this year. In fact, other than his win in the season finale last year at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch hasn’t won in over a year.
But, Pocono was up and Busch had won three of the last five NASCAR Cup Series races on the 2.5-mile race track heading into this weekend.
Now that both races are behind us, Busch ended up 0-for-2. He’s also 0-for-15 on the year too.
When will this drought end? He’s only won just one race in his last 37 tries in NASCAR’s premiere series.
Part of that is the lack of practice time this year. Ever since the COVID-19 break ended, NASCAR has eliminated the use of practice. For Busch, his cars aren’t evolving during a race like he would have hoped and that’s because they’re chasing his No. 18 Toyota all day. In the past, they could get it dialed in during the practice sessions and hit the ground running.
On Saturday, he finished fifth but his race car wasn’t quite to his liking. The good news is, they could treat it like a glorified practice session, one that was 325 miles in length.
They’d have enough info to get his car dialed for Sunday’s race right?
Busch, didn’t have a good No. 18 Toyota early, but there they were in the lead on Lap 57, just prior to his first pit stop for tires. Unfortunately, a few laps later he was battling with a lapped car as well as Ryan Blaney in Turn 2 and crashed hard as a result.
“The guys did an awesome job from yesterday to today,” said Busch. “I guess it proves once you get a little practice time we can be a force.”
Busch, would finish 38th in the Pocono 350 and is winless with two good tracks for him coning up still. While he’s still setting up good in the playoff standings, the speed in his car hasn’t been there yet this year to win.
The defending Cup champion did look like he was going to have a shot at a win later in this race if things went to plan, but the problem is, as we sit here today we have no further practice sessions scheduled for any of the races left on the schedule.
Points Battle
We’re to the time of year where we need to start discussing points. We’re now past the halfway mark of the regular season and have 11 races remaining in it.
Heading into the weekend, Tyler Reddick led Erik Jones by one point for the 16th and final wildcard spot. Austin Dillon was 17th (-24) with Chris Buescher in 18th (-40).
Well, after Reddick and Jones crashed together on Lap 71 on Saturday, it really opened up the door.
Dillon could only muster a 19th place finish but did gain nine points and was only 13 points off 16th heading back to Pocono on Sunday.
Buescher, finished 10th and gained half of the points back and was -20.
On Sunday, Reddick had his power steering go out before we got started and spent the first six laps in the pits. He’d finish five laps down in 35th. Jones, finished third while Dillon was 14th.
Now, Jones holds a 14 point lead on the final spot over Reddick and a 26 point advantage over Dillon. Buescher, had a rough day. He’s now 43 points back again.
Another battle worth watching is the fight for 24th in owners points. John Hunter Nemechek held a decent lead coming into Pocono but Christopher Bell was coming.
How big is this battle?
Well, we’re not qualifying for races still and more times than not, we’re drawing for them. The top 12 in owners points draw for spots 1-12 for the race. The next grouping is 13-24. If you don’t get into the top 24, the best you can start is 25th and worst is 36th.
Bell, has started in Row 18 (35th or 36th place) four times in seven draws.
On Saturday, he started 36th but climbed to a fourth place run. Nemechek came home 24th.
Coming into Sunday, Bell was only 11 points out of 24th in owners points.
Unfortunately, he crashed on Lap 38 and finished 39th. He lost all that he gained on Saturday.
Michael McDowell is 25th in owners points and brought out the first caution of the day on Sunday on Lap 14. He’d finish last allowing Nemechek to pull away again.
Rough Weekend For Team Penske
Heading into the weekend, Team Penske could have been the sleeper team to watch at the Pocono Raceway. Brad Keselowski had six top five finishes in his last nine starts there and riding a streak of seven top 10 finishes in his last eight races on the season.
Ryan Blaney finally got a win in his No. 12 Ford on Monday in Talladega and had scored four straight top four finishes on the year and six in his last seven races.
Joey Logano was struggling a bit but could always turn it around.
Unfortunately, from the final stage of Saturday on, it was a weekend to forget for the Penske bunch.
Logano, was first and second respectively through the two stages on Saturday but had a tire go down in the closing laps and would finish six laps down in 36th.
Blaney, was third and fourth respectively in the two stages on Saturday but faded to 12th.
Keselowski, was eighth and 15th respectively but couldn’t take advantage of a faster than shown race car and had to settle for ninth.
Sunday? Well it wasn’t much better.
Logano, never was a factor and was 126th and 20th in the two stages. He had a pit penalty in the end and finished a disappointing 24th, one lap down. Logano has just two top 10 finishes in his last nine Pocono starts, no top fives in them. On the season, he has one top five finish in his last 11 starts including his last four results being 27th, 17th, 36th and 26th respectively.
Blaney, was second and 14th in the two stages but got into Kyle Busch on Lap 75 and had right side damage. He’d finish a lap down in 22nd.
Keselowski, misjudged the final pit sequence and had to pit from third with four laps-to-go. He’d finish 11th.
Solid Points Weekend For DiBenedetto
Matt DiBenedetto had a solid day on Saturday. His finishing position only said 13th, but he scored 10 stage points (7th, 5th place respectively) in the 325 mile race and walked away in a good playoff position.
That set up him with track position at the start of Sunday’s Pocono 350. DiBenedetto, used that to his advantage again in finishing sixth and ninth respectively in the two stages.
He’d bring his No. 21 Ford home with a top 10 in sixth. It’s his fourth top 10 of the season and fourth top 15 in his last five starts on the year too.
Now, DiBenedetto is +57 points up on the playoff bubble in 14th.
Nice Rebound For Hendrick Motorsports Sunday
The Hendrick Motorsports camp felt like they had something for the field this weekend at the Pocono Raceway. It started off looking like that on Saturday too. Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and William Byron were fifth, ninth and 11th respectively in the first stage of yesterday’s 325 mile race.
Byron, had good speed in the second stage but elected to go for pit strategy and clean air in the final stage, so gave away stage points to pit. Bowman, finished sixth and Elliott 10th.
Unfortunately, Jimmie Johnson had problems on pit road on his stop during that stage and for Elliott, he had an uncontrolled tire penalty on pit road after the stage ended. They were marred in the back and never rebounded.
Bowman, got into the wall twice in the final laps and had to pit.
Instead of all four getting top 20’s, three finished outside of the top 20 and had to come from the back on Sunday.
Johnson, finished 21st and had start there in Sunday’s race. Elliott was 25th and Bowman 27th.
That’s why they weren’t factors in Stage 1. They were 13-14-19-35 in the opening stage. For Stage 2, they were 11-16-18-19. They were just working strategy to position themselves up front in the end.
It worked.
They put three of their four cars in the top 10 and now head to Indy with some momentum back.
Chase Elliott brought his No. 9 Chevrolet home fourth for his sixth top 10 in his last eight pocono starts. His best finish may be fourth, but he’s done so three times at the Tricky Triangle.
Wiliam Byron finished seventh for his fourth top 10 in his last five Pocono starts and fifth top 11 in his last seven starts on the season too. Byron, is now 45 points to the good in the playoff standings.
Alex Bowman narrowly finished ninth for his second career Pocono top 10 and his third top 10 in his last five races on the season.
The only one to have struggled is Johnson who had an uncontrolled tire penalty on his final top stop and finished 16th. Since his win in 2013, he’s only had one top five at Pocono.
Johnson, still holds onto 12th in the standings by three points over Clint Bowyer, meaning he will get a starting spot in the top 6 Rows next Sunday in Indy for the Brickyard 400.
Key Stat
The race winner heading into Sunday had started in the top 10 in five of the last six Pocono races and 11 of the last 13 overall. But, with an invert, it shook the race up.
Denny Hamlin started 19th and won. Kevin Harvick stared 20th and finished second. Erik Jones (38th), Chase Elliott (25th) and Aric Almirola (18th) all finished in the top five and came from midpack too.
Pocono 350 Results
- 11 Hamlin
- 4 Harvick
- 20 Jones
- 9 Elliott
- 10 Almirola
- 21 DiBenedetto
- 24 Byron
- 14 Bowyer
- 88 Bowman
- 19 Truex Jr.
- 2 Keselowski
- 42 Larson
- 1 KuBusch
- 3 ADillon
- 47 Stenhouse Jr.
- 48 Johnson
- 41 Custer R
- 6 Newman
- 38 Nemechek R -1
- 43 Wallace -1
- 32 LaJoie -1
- 12 Blaney -1
- 13 TDillon -1
- 22 Logano -1
- 37 Preece -1
- 96 Suarez -1
- 15 Poole R -2
- 27 Yeley -2
- 66 Hill -3
- 77 Davison -4
- 00 Houff R -4
- 53 Smithley -4
- 51 Gase -4
- 7 Bilicki -4
- 8 Reddick R -5
- 17 Buescher -5
- 78 McLeod -7
- 18 KyBusch OUT
- 95 Bell R OUT
- 34 McDowell OUT
Race Review Online 
[…] Harvick, beat Hamlin across the finish line in last Saturday’s first race of the doubleheader race weekend while Hamlin bested Harvick on Sunday. […]
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