Expect new package to provide great racing at Pocono

Kyle Busch is the 3/1 favorite to win at Pocono.

You can expect to see one of the best races ever at Pocono Speedway’s 2.5-mile tricky triangle in Sunday’s Pocono 400.

I can say that with little negative feedback just because I know most NASCAR fans can’t remember a great NASCAR race at Pocono, which has been running Cup races at the popular Pennsylvania holiday destination since 1974 and twice a season since 1982.

Most of us fondly remember the Pocono race in 2000 where Jeremy Mayfield did the intimidating to Dale Earnhardt by bumping him out of the way on the last turn of the last lap.

And while that was one of the best moments of the entire season, the memory of that 3 1/2-hour race I have is of Rusty Wallace leading 107 of the 200 laps in what was another typical snoozefest there. And it’s gotten worse in recent years such as only 11 lead changes in the first race last season and just 13 in the second race.

I don’t think any of us like watching just one driver run away with a race — unless having a bet on him — and the treatment for preventing boring races at Pocono this season is the new race package where the engines produce only 550 horsepower compared to the 750 HP the cars produced last season.

Aero ducts were also added to this weeks package in a change NASCAR made four weeks ago. The changes were all made to provide better side-by-side racing with more opportunities to pass.

The exact same package was used at Charlotte in last week’s Coca-Cola 600 that featured 30 lead changes among 11 drivers. Martin Truex Jr. took the checkered flag and led a race-high 116 of the 400 laps. But there was real suspense throughout the race where at one point it looked like Kevin Harvick had the best car, then it was Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott or Kyle Busch that had the best car.

There was also a hint of a 200-1 longshot with Ricky Stenhouse possibly winning before he finished fifth. A couple of 300-1 long shots were also in the mix with elite cars late as Chris Buescher finished sixth while Ryan Newman was lurking around the top-five in the final 100 laps.

But perhaps the most exciting moment was watching if Joey Logano (runner-up) could reel in Truex in the final laps. It wasn’t just about rooting for Logano, it was also about rooting for Team Penske to sweep Sunday after winning the Indy 500.

Team owner Roger Penske has never done the Indy-Charlotte sweep. Simon Pagenaud gave Penske his 18th Indy 500 win. By the way, it was also unique that both Pagenaud and Logano drove car No. 22.

Basically, Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 was the most exciting I’ve seen start to finish in NASCAR’s longest race of the year. It is possible I’m clouded with negative thoughts of recent 600s with Kyle Busch leading 377 of the 400 laps last season and Truex leading 392 of 400 in 2016 — yuck.

But I believe what I saw Sunday and it’s been an evolving process with several teams getting better and competing with the Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing who had a substantial early edge. I like seeing Buescher and JTG Daugherty Racing run competitively, and by the way, Buescher’s only career win was at Pocono in 2016, albeit a rain-shortened win. The Westgate SuperBook has him at 100-1 to win .
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