Pocono Raceway Facts

compiled by Mike Forde - NASCAR Media Services

At Pocono Raceway:
History
*Opened in 1968 as a three-quarter-mile track, Pocono Raceway held the first race on the 2.5-mile track in 1971.
*The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was in 1974.

Notebook
*There have been 63 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Pocono Raceway.
*There was one race from 1974 through 1981, and two per year since.
*All NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Pocono have been scheduled for 500 miles.
*Buddy Baker won the first pole at Pocono.
*There have been 35 different pole winners at Pocono, including David Pearson who won the pole there in June 1984 but did not race. Only 15 drivers have more than one pole there.
*The pole has been swept just three times: Bill Elliott (1985), Ken Schrader (1993), Denny Hamlin (2006).
*Richard Petty won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono.
*28 different drivers have won races at Pocono, led by Bill Elliott with five victories; 20 drivers have won more than once there.
*There have been six season sweeps at Pocono, including two of the past five seasons.
*Bobby Allison and Tim Richmond each won three consecutive races at Pocono.
*46 of 63 Pocono races have been won from a top-10 start; 14 by the pole winner, including Tony Stewart, who won this season’s June race – his first as a driver-owner (qualifying was canceled in June).
*The June 2005 race was won by Carl Edwards from the 29th starting position, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.
*Rick Hendrick leads all car owners with 11 Pocono victories.
*There have been two green-white-checkered finishes: June 2005 (201 laps) and July 2005 (203 laps).
*Denny Hamlin won his first two races at Pocono, claiming both victories from the pole. His last two races there, though, resulted in finishes outside the top 20 (23rd in 2008 and 38th in June).
*Mark Martin leads all drivers in top fives (19) and top 10s (31), but has yet to win at Pocono. His best finish was second, six times (most recently in August, 2004).
*Jimmie Johnson has an average finish of 9.6, the only active driver with more than one race there who has an average finish in the top 10.
*Marcos Ambrose finished sixth in this season’s June race, his only Pocono start.

NASCAR in Pennsylvania
There have been 98 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Pennsylvania.
137 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) have their home state recorded as Pennsylvania.
There are three race winners from Pennsylvania in NASCAR’s three national series: