Can The Wood Brothers Pick Up A Win Sunday?

The storied organization has been sitting idle at 99 NASCAR Cup Series wins for four years now. Ryan Blaney took this team to victory in the 2017 spring race at the Pocono Raceway. We return now this weekend with two opportunities for them to get to 100 career wins. Can they do it?

Matt DiBenedetto was 13th and sixth respectively last year and has a good shot at doing so either Saturday or Sunday. Hendrick Motorsports has eclipsed Petty Enterprises for most wins in the sport already, can the Wood Brothers get to 100 next?

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Can DiBenedetto/Almirola Shake Up Playoffs?

Right now, Matt DiBenedetto and Aric Almirola are sitting a good ways out of the playoff race. DiBenedetto, is 19th, but he’s not as close as he’d like. Almirola, is in a win or go home scenario the rest of the way himself. But, Pocono could be the place that either could steal a win this weekend.

DiBenedeto, was 13th and sixth respectively on this track last year.

After a dismal start to his season with five DNFs caused by incidents, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Almirola is looking to rebound this weekend at Pocono and build on his glimmer of success last weekend at Nashville. 

 

Almirola had his best race of the season last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway qualifying on the pole and finishing fourth – his first top five of the year.

 

Now Almirola is looking to keep the positive momentum going in this weekend’s doubleheader at Pocono Raceway. Last season, Almirola was stellar in the doubleheader posting the third-best average finish (4.0) in the two races behind Kevin Harvick (1.5) and Denny Hamlin (1.5). In total, Almirola has made 17 career starts at the Tricky Triangle posting two top fives and four top 10s.

If one or even both of them can steal wins, well that would turn this playoff race on its head.

See, the Chip Ganassi Racing boys have made up a ton of ground as of late. Kurt Busch has made up 57 points over the course of the last two races. He went from -83 to the cutline to -26 after scoring two straight top 10 finishes on the season. He had 12 finishes of 13th or worse in his 13 races prior. Now though, Busch, a former Pocono winner, is heating up. Can he keep it going?

His teammate Ross Chastain is too. Chastain has three top sevens in his last four races run. Last weekend, he was runner-up in Nashville to go from -93 leaving the Coke 600 to -50 now. Chastain, was happy to get a top five away from a road course too as the only top 10’s he’s had all season were on road courses. Now, can he keep moving up at Pocono? He won the Truck race in 2019 there and was runner-up in last year’s Xfinity Series race at the Tricky Triangle.

The Ganassi guys are coming, but if Almirola or DiBenedetto steal wins this weekend, then their gap to the bubble only grows as Chris Buescher likely gets bumped out and the RCR duo moves to the cutline.

Buescher’s last five finishes on the season are 17th, 13th, 8th, 16th and 36th respectively. He did score a top 10 in one of the two races at Pocono last year and 14th and 16th respectively in 2019.

Tyler Reddick has five top 10’s in his last eight starts on the season but only one top five as that came back in February in Homestead. He was only 30th and 35th respectively at Pocono last year. Austin Dillon is one spot ahead of him as he’s had only four top 10’s in his last nine tries on the season. His lone top five came in the season opener at Daytona. But, Dillon has been solid lately with five straight top 15 finishes and nine in the last 10 races. He only has one top 15 in his last four Pocono starts though.

Of the drivers without wins this season trying to lock themselves into the postseason, nine have previously won at Pocono Raceway, led by Denny Hamlin with six Cup victories and followed by Kurt Busch (three Cup wins), Kevin Harvick (one Cup win and one Xfinity win), Ryan Newman (one Cup win), Chris Buescher (one Cup win), Cole Custer (one Xfinity win), Chase Briscoe (one Xfinity win), Austin Dillon (one Truck win) and Ross Chastain (one Truck win).

So, how do the playoff standings look after two races this weekend? We have another inaugural race following in Road America which could shake this up even further.

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Will Both Races Look Similar?

Saturday’s race is 10 laps shorter than Sunday’s but I’d almost expect both to look similar to each other. Even with an invert of the field from Saturday to Sunday, the same guys found themselves to the front both days. If you’re good, you’re good. There’s no stopping it.

So, this time around, will both races look the same?

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Is This HMS’ Race To Lose?

Hendrick Motorsports went through a time where they could do no wrong at Pocono. But, as they did everywhere else, their stats dropped in recent years at the Tricky Triangle. Now, they’re back and look as good as ever heading to a track that they used to dominate at. Will they again this weekend?

Kyle Larson has nine top 12 finishes in 12 Pocono starts. All were with Ganassi. Imagine what he could do in a Hendrick car there.

He enters having won the last three points paying races as well as having six straight top two results too. Not included is an All-Star race win either. Larson, is dominating lately and it’s not been close. He swept the stages in Dover, Charlotte and Sonoma to go along with a stage win in Nashville.

If not for a caution at COTA, he, not Elliott wins. If not for Alex Bowman beating him off pit road at Dover, he wins there too and we’re talking about if Larson can win his sixth straight race on Saturday.

He looking to become just the ninth different driver in the Modern Era (1972-Present) to win four or more races consecutively and the 13th different driver to accomplish the feat all-time.

 

 

NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty holds the all-time record for the most consecutive races won in the NASCAR Cup Series at 10 straight in 1967. Currently, only NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty (10 consecutive wins in 1967 and six in 1971) and Bobby Allison (five consecutive wins in 1971) are the only two drivers all-time to win five or more consecutive races in the series. If Larson were to sweep the doubleheader this weekend at Pocono, he would become just the third driver in series history to win five consecutive races.

Chase Elliott has three fourth place finishes and seven top 10’s in 10 Pocono starts himself. William Byron has four top 10’s in his last five Pocono tries while Alex Bowman was ninth in the second race on the 2.5-mile track last year.

With how good that they’re running this season mixed with solid finishes lately with down equipment during that span, is this their race to lose on Saturday and Sunday?

If they win both, it’s to a road course to where HMS has won six of the last seven on them. If not for a fluke caution for “rain” at the end of the race at Daytona back in February, they’d have won seven straight.

Then we go back to Atlanta where Larson led almost the entire race before being passed by Ryan Blaney late in the race back in the spring.

One can make a case to where they could extend this win streak to 10 straight races including the All-Star race too.

Before we get there though, they’re to tie their NASCAR Cup Series Modern Era (1972-Present) consecutive wins record of six consecutive victories by the organization set back in 2007.

 

Hendrick Motorsport’s drivers have won the last five series events on the 2021 schedule – Alex Bowman (Dover), Chase Elliott (COTA) and Kyle Larson (Charlotte, Sonoma, Nashville) – making the 2021 season the fourth-time in the organization’s history to win five or more consecutive races in the series – twice in 2007 and once in 2014.

 

Six organizations in the Modern Era (1972-Presnt) have won four or more consecutive victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, led by Hendrick Motorsports with 7 different streaks of four or more wins. In total, in the Modern Era, streaks of four or more wins by a single organization has occurred 16 times. Hendrick Motorsports is the only organization in the Modern Era to win five or more Cup races consecutively. 

 

 

Hendrick Motorsport’s set the Modern Era record for the most consecutive NASCAR Cup Series wins with six straight victories in 2007. Now, Hendrick Motorsports has the opportunity to not only tie but surpass their series record in this weekend’s doubleheader at Pocono.

 

Hendrick Motorsports leads the series in wins at Pocono Raceway with 17 victories – Jeff Gordon (six), Tim Richmond (three), Jimmie Johnson (three), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (two), Kasey Kahne (one), Geoff Bodine (one) and Terry Labonte (one). Hendrick Motorsport’s most recent win at Pocono was in 2014 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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Can Hamlin/Harvick Find Victory Lane This Weekend

Last year, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin were dominating the sport at this time in late June. These were the 14th and 15th races of the year and with Harvick as well as Hamlin going 1-2 in both races at Pocono in 2020, it was also their sixth and seventh wins on the season too. Now as we come back to the same race weekend on the same dates on the schedule, they’re 0-for-17 this season.

Hamlin hasn’t won since the playoff race at Talladega last Fall. His winless streak is up to 22 races. Harvick, hasn’t won since the Bristol night race to conclude the opening round of the playoffs last year. His winless drought is up to 24. Can either stop that winless streak this weekend?

Harvick, was 0-for-38 at Pocono before his win in the Saturday race last year. But, it’s not like he was terrible on the Tricky Triangle. He has six top two finishes there in his last 13 including 10 of those 13 being in the top six.

Hamlin, has three straight top two results at Pocono himself.

If both come out of this weekend and cross into the second half of the year without a win, that would be very eye opening.