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| Denny Hamlin won at Pocono last fall. |
TV-Time: FOX, 3:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Pocono Raceway
Location: Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Let’s play two.
For the first time in NASCAR Cup Series history, they will have two races at a single track over one weekend. Pocono Raceway’s 2.5-mile tricky triangle gets the honor to debut what could be a common occurrence in future schedules for years to come.
It’s a win-win for everyone involved. The fans (TV only) get Cup racing two straight days and the drivers get a chance to mix up their schedule and perhaps shave off one or more weekends during a hectic year that begins in early February and runs almost to Thanksgiving with few weekends off.
“It’s very intriguing, I think, as you look at the weekend and you look at the shorter races, which means shorter stages, and you have the inversion,” said Saturday’s 9/2 race favorite Kevin Harvick. “The car itself having to be raced twice and the things that you’ll need to try to do to the car. And there are a lot of things to digest in order to keep yourself competitive from one day to the next. So it will be interesting to see how we all manage that.”
Handicapping Busch vs. Harvick
The changes immediately infuse some excitement to a track that doesn't have much passing. Saturday’s Organics 325 is 75 miles shorter than a normal Pocono race so the sense of urgency to make something happen quickly will be on every driver’s mind.
But the real fun is going to be Sunday’s Pocono 350 because the order of finish for lead lap cars on Saturday will be inverted for Sunday so the best cars will be having to do some major passing to move up, and I’m sure they will. That scenario sets up all kinds of differing strategies for teams.
“Kind of depends on what’s going on and what’s happening,” Kyle Busch said. “If you’re struggling along, or pit strategy throws you off and there’s three to go and you’re back in 15th, maybe you want the pole for the next day. We’ll see what happens with that. Obviously, you want as many points as you can possibly get.
“We’ve run real well there the last few years,” Busch continued. “We definitely want to keep that going and try to get a win. If you’re up in the front, or up in the top-five or whatever, you’re going to try to get as much as you can get there and not worry about the next day. You’ll just refocus the next day.”
Oddsmakers favor the No. 4
The Westgate SuperBook listed Harvick as the favorite even though he’s never won at Pocono in 38 Cup starts (12 top-fives, four runner-ups). It’s more about what he’s done using the race package featuring engines with 550 horsepower that includes two wins in eight races this season.
But Kyle Busch has had a much better recent history at Pocono that includes three wins in the last five Pocono races and leading laps in his last nine starts there. And then there’s the desperation of the defending Cup Champion not winning through 13 races so far. It burns him up internally.
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