Drivers need to tunnel their vision to master Pocono

Oh that Pocono. Those sharp turns. A long straightaway. An even longer straightaway. Then there's that tunnel. Oh that Pocono.

Those are the challenges that await the grid for Sunday's running of the Pocono 500, the first of six consecutive races broadcast by TNT as part of its Summer Series schedule. NASCAR on TNT begins its coverage at 12:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR on TNT Live!, followed by TNT Countdown to Green at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Look of an oval, distinctions favorable of a road course. Pocono has a layout like no other on the circuit. (Check out NASCAR.COM's new track page for Pocono Raceway)

"Pocono has a lot of its own characteristics, to say the least," Kevin Harvick said. "It's a 2.5-mile tri-oval racetrack that has three pretty tricky turns. Turn 1 is really bumpy, the Tunnel Turn [2] has a pretty big curb and it is pretty easy to make a mistake there and Turn 3 is one of the flattest turns we deal with on the NASCAR circuit."

It's how well each drivers deal with the turns collectively that dictates their performance that day.

"It seems like you can always get your car good in two of the three corners, but the guys who are contending for the win are the guys who can get their car good for all three corners," said Tony Stewart, winner of the 2003 Pocono 500. "That's a very hard thing to do -- get your car good through all three sections of the racetrack."

Of the three turns, the Tunnel Turn is usually the one most drivers concentrate on the most.

"For me, the trickiest part of Pocono is the Tunnel Turn. You have to carry so much speed into that turn that there is not much room for error," Harvick said. "The Tunnel Turn is so much harder to get through now then it use to be. A couple of years ago there was a flat curb there and you could lean on it a little bit if you needed to.

"Now, there is a big curb there and if you hit it you're going to damage the skirting on the left-front. You will probably be forced up the racetrack as well and the chances of hitting the wall are pretty high."

It's also a combination of turns that is a concern.

"Everybody realizes how fast they're going into [Turn] 1. And they know that if they wreck they're going to wreck hard," Stewart said. "The Tunnel Turn is a little sneaky. It's a tight fit through there, and you don't really know how fast you're going until something bad happens.

"Getting through Turn 2 and the last corner of the race rack that's flat, long and sweeping -- those seem to be the toughest two corners to get through. And if you're a little bit off, you're a bunch off."

As for the straightaways, it's all about speed.

"If you're down on power at Pocono, you're a mid-pack car at best," Stewart said. "You need power to go down that front straightaway, and if you don't have it, you're done."

Twice this season Dale Earnhardt Jr. has retired early from a race due to engine failure. Twice at Dover he encountered tire problems that dropped him out of contention.

"Forget the 22nd-place finish [at Dover]," Earnhardt said. "That Bud car was among the top-five cars from the start of practice on Friday until the race ended. If the rain hadn't washed all the rubber off the concrete, I think we would have been right there battling Martin for the win and not wearing our tires down to the cords."

"Our engines have been strong and really pulling hard lately, and my cars have been handling great. We'll need every ounce of that horsepower at Pocono, where the straightaways seem to go for a day-and-a-half."

Good news for Junior and the rest of the racing community: Clear skies are forecast for Sunday at Long Pond, Pa. (CNN Weather)