Is This Toyota’s Race To Lose?
Toyota has won 70% of the last 10 Pocono races. They went 1-2 last year before being disqualified. Did the egregious mistake make a difference? Hard telling. That’s because they’ve been do dominant around the Tricky Triangle for the last decade.
Just last year, Toyota drivers led 66.2% of the laps (106-of-160). Joe Gibbs Racing in general led 102 of those 106 laps with all four drivers leading at least two laps. Kyle Busch led a race-high 63, Denny Hamlin led 21, Christopher Bell 14 and Martin Truex Jr. 2.
In the second race of the 2021 doubleheader weekend, all four once again led laps with Busch leading 30, Truex Jr. 19, Bell 3 and Hamlin 1.
With how strong that they’ve been on this track, is this their race to lose?
They dominated on Monday at Loudon with Truex so I’d guess so.
Can 23XI Racing Or Even Ty Gibbs Sneak In A Win?
Toyota has the power and Joe Gibbs Racing has been dominant, but don’t sleep on the 23XI Racing team. I think they truly can make a difference on Sunday.
Bubba Wallace was fifth in the second doubleheader of the 2021 race weekend and a respectable eighth after leading four laps last season. He’s done great on higher speed tracks this season too.
Tyler Reddick with RCR was 11th, ninth and second in his last three Pocono starts. He now has Toyota speed.
Also don’t sleep on Ty Gibbs. Yes, his three teammates enter as favorites, but Gibbs made his Cup debut here last July remember and he finished 16th despite having literally no laps in this car prior. Now, he’s in Kyle Busch’s car that was runner-up last year before the DQ and has nine top 10 finishes in his last 11 Pocono including four of his last 10 being wins at that. He was second and first respectively in 2021.
I think one of these three could easily win on Sunday.
Who’s The Top Chevrolet Team?
Hendrick Motorsports makes the most sense as the top team in the bowtie camp. They’ve won 2 of the last 3 races here by 2 different drivers. However, if you dig deeper, maybe they’re not the ones to watch for Chevy.
Chase Elliott won last year but that’s only because of the DQ for the two cars in front of him. He led no laps. Prior to last year, Elliott had no finishes better than 4th and 4 of his last 5 had seen him finish 12th or worse at that. Alex Bowman was 11th and William Byron 12th a year ago.
Kyle Larson has been strong, but can he carry them?
Trackhouse Racing may be the top team among the bowtie camp.
Despite finishing 32nd last year, Ross Chastain still won the second stage and led 16 laps before being in a crash late in the race to take him out of race winning contention. His teammate, Daniel Suarez, was third a year ago at the finish and also third and sixth respectively in the pair of stages too.
A sleeper Chevy team to watch is RCR.
They inherit Kyle Busch who has nine top 10 finishes in his last 11 Pocono including four of his last 10 being wins at that. He was second and first respectively in 2021 and while he crossed the finish line second a year ago after leading a race-high 63 laps, he was disqualified too. The car he’s now driving did finish runner-up though as a result. Austin Dillon also scored his first career top 10 finish on this track a year ago and was in the top 10 on Monday in Loudon too.
Is 1, 400 Miles Race, The Future Of Pocono?
As NASCAR has shifted from a traditional schedule to a more contemporary one, Pocono has shifted with it. We used to come here for a pair of 500 mile races. The redundancy and same race was finally shifted to 400 miles in 2012. Then in 2020 it was moved to just 1 weekend but a doubleheader. That lasted 2 years. This year for the second straight season, it’s 1 race on the race weekend.
I feel like this is right. Lets be honest, Pocono is a boring track. 500 miles was far too long. Hell, 400 miles is too long. I like the length of the doubleheaders. But to move away from coming here twice is also the right move.
You don’t need the same race twice in a span of 7-8 weeks. You just don’t. This region isn’t warm enough to move a race up too far in the spring and the racing sucks too much to have it as a playoff event. So you’re stuck with 2 races in the middle of the schedule.
Making it 1 race is great. For the second time since 1981, there’s just one race on the Tricky Triangle and that’s likely here to stay.
Will Next Gen Help The Racing At Pocono Again, Spark Indy Return?
It’s not like Pocono has featured many edge of your seat races so will the new car alleviate that? With some of the comments the drivers were making about the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval and this new car recently, I wonder if the racing will actually get worse.
That’s hard to do at Pocono but the way they talk about this car and the shifting too, it’s possible as well. If Pocono races well, it could open the door for a move back to the oval at Indy too.
In saying that, without the Indy oval on the schedule anymore and with no other tracks comparing so far to Pocono and with this being the 2nd race run with the Next Gen at the Tricky Triangle, throw away all past notes and even notes from what you’ve seen this season too. This weekend will look like nothing else.
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