Around the Track: Pocono Raceway

Pocono Raceway is a unique, 2.5-mile triangular oval with three corners of different radius and three different degrees of banking.

The 3,740-foot frontstretch is the longest in NASCAR and leads into the 14-degree banking of Turn 1. The 3,055-foot Long Pond Straight leads to the daunting, 8 degree banking in the Tunnel Turn.

A 1,780-foot stretch leads to the critical Turn 3, which is banked 6 degrees. It leads onto the wide frontstretch, which is bisected at its mid-point by the start/finish line.

	JEFF BURTON •   Driver Page •   2005 Statistics Inside the Numbers Jeff Burton at Pocono Year Start Finish 2004 39 24   23 34 2003 16 14   19 6 2002 11 6   33 16 2001 8 10   18 36 2000 8 7   8 2 1999 8 36   18 36 1998 28 4   19 3 1997 18 2   20 3 1996 16 9   9 35 1995 37 36   23 27 1994 35 22   4 4 Averages 19.0 16.9 • Races -- 22 • Wins -- 0 • Top 5s -- 6 • Top 10s -- 11

The events at Pocono are exceptionally long races. I think it's too long, actually. That race could be 300 miles and be a good race.

New Hampshire is a 300-mile race, and Pocono could be 350 and I think the race would be better. I think 500 miles is a little too long.

The shorter the race, the more intensity you have and the better the action is. I wish the race were shorter because I think it would make the racing better.

Pocono is one of my favorite tracks. I really like Pocono. It's a lot of fun.

You have three great, big, long straightaways. You have three totally different corners and there's a challenge in every corner.

This year, we're not allowed to change gears because NASCAR is limiting our gear ratios.

In the past, we've been able to shift, and this year, they're not letting us shift. That's going to be a major impact in how these cars handle.

You're not going to have the benefit of downshifting going into Turn 1 to help get the car slowed down, nor will you have the benefit of the lower gear to get it off the corner.

The things are really going to bog down off the corner, and they're going to be hard to get slowed down going into 1. It's going to be totally different than what we've seen in the past.

Off every corner, we're going to be slower than we've ever been, because we'll be turning less RPM than we normally do. It's going to be a big challenge to figure it out.

They gave us the gear rule and they said, "Fourth gear is this ratio and third gear is this ratio," and they've made it to where if you shift, you'll blow the motor up.

It's such a big split that you can't shift. It's going to have a big impact on the race.

The driver is very important at Pocono, for sure -- and I always think a driver is more important in race conditions than they are in qualifying.

In qualifying, the cars stick better and they make more grip, and it's easier than it is after 30 laps on the tires.

Turn 1, you have to be careful not to get in too far. If you do, you tend not to be able to get in the groove you want to be in.

You need to accelerate through the middle as quickly as you can. There's a big bump in the middle of Turn 1 that causes some big problems, so you need to be able to run around that or have a good package that you can run through it.

The Tunnel Turn is a very aggressive turn. You drive in there really, really deep and get back on the throttle really, really quick. It's very aggressive.

Turn 3 is a long, sweeping corner that if you're not careful, you can over drive it and get your car messed up. It's three totally different mindsets for three totally different corners.

When we get into the race, Pocono is a place where it's hard to get a lap down, knock on wood.

You've got to be pretty far off at Pocono to get a lap down -- even if there isn't an early caution -- because it takes a minute to get around there. It takes a long time to get lapped.

ALSO The distinct corners make Pocono act as much like a road course as an oval, and a maxim in sports car racing states that one wants to work best in the corner that leads to the checkered flag.  •   Complete story, click here

It's one of those places where it's not so critical to be so good at the start of the race. Even if you don't qualify well there, it should be OK.

But, if you're going to have any success at Pocono, you have to have a good-handling car. You can't have success in a car that won't handle, I can promise you that.

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Pit road is really a non-factor at Pocono. It's easy to get on and there is no exit lane through Turn 1. It's one of the nicest pit roads that we have.

It's not a smooth pit road, and you can pick a pit that actually makes it difficult to jack up the car.

Pit road goes uphill and then it goes downhill, and if you're at the top of that hill, one of those pits is actually located on top of one of those hills and that can cause problems. You don't want to pick that pit.

You don't want to run out of gas. There, and the road courses, are just places where you can't run out of gas. If you run out on the front straightaway at Pocono, you won't make it back.

Having your car best at the end is really important. We have a lot of green-flag runs at Pocono, but there always seems to be a string of cautions late in the race.

You see a lot of different strategies develop throughout the race. Historically, it does change. It can be green, green, green, green all day and then all of a sudden you'll have three cautions at the end of the race, so it does make an impact.

Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet, will take fans Around the Track each race week during the 2005 Nextel Cup season.