Pocono lineup favors track history, road-course skill

This Sunday the Sprint Cup Series will make its first of two stops at the three-turn oval in Long Pond, Pa. The Pocono 500 will take place on the unusual 2.5-mile triangular track otherwise known at Pocono Raceway. This oval races nothing like an oval at all. In fact many drivers have been quoted as saying that this track races more like a road course than a typical oval.

As you can imagine, this quirk gives us a unique set of drivers to watch this weekend. We cannot rely on any other tracks run to this point in the schedule for indicators this Sunday. Our focus for the Pocono 500 will rely heavily on recent historical data at the facility as well as the hot streaks that drivers are riding entering this event.

We expect a heavy dose of Dodge teams running up front at Pocono, and they will likely be doing battle with the Chevrolets of Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing for this race title. Don't forget the Toyotas of Joe Gibbs Racing, as Denny Hamlin has been one of the more successful drivers in recent seasons at the Pennsylvania tri-oval.

Top Fantasy Racing Drivers for Pocono

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1. Tony Stewart
With three runner-up finishes to this point in the season, the time to win a race that counts in the championship points is now. Stewart has been flirting heavily with Victory Lane the last several races. He comes to Pocono this weekend as one of the favorites for the win. Stewart is a one-time winner at the 2.5-mile track. And when the Sprint Cup Series last visited Pocono, Stewart came away with a second-place finish.

2. Denny Hamlin
Hamlin will have to rebound from his disappointment last weekend at Dover, but the good news is that he had a very good car before tragedy struck. Pocono Raceway presents a huge rebound opportunity for the driver of the No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin is a two-time winner at Pocono and he's only finished worse than sixth once in his six career starts at the track.

3. Jimmie Johnson
The No. 48 team flexed its muscle at Dover last weekend as Johnson dominated much of the race and came away with his second win of the season. We'll see if the team is really heating up this weekend at Pocono Raceway. Johnson is a two-time winner at the Pennsylvania tri-oval, and he enters this race with three consecutive finishes of sixth or better at the facility.

Fantasy Report

With all the hype around Tony Stewart, Mike Bell says it's his teammate that may be the one to watch at Pocono.

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4. Kasey Kahne
The No. 9 Dodge team is building some momentum coming into this race. With good runs at Darlington, Charlotte and Dover, Kahne is heating up at a good time. He's the winner of this event one year ago, and he returned last August to lead laps and finish seventh. The new engine that Richard Petty Motorsports put in Kahne's Dodge will come in handy this weekend.

5. Mark Martin
While Martin has cooled off a bit since his big win at Darlington, he's been a consistent performer each week. Surprisingly, the veteran driver has never won in his 44 career starts at Pocono, but he's been a fixture in the top 10 there over the years. Martin's 31 top-10 finishes in those starts work out to an amazing 71 percent top-10 rate. Consider that he and crew chief Alan Gustafson will bring a good car to the tri-oval this Sunday, the upside seems pretty high.

6. Ryan Newman
The revitalized Newman will carry his five-race top-10 streak to Pocono this Sunday. While we like the driver of the No. 39 Chevrolet at other facilities than Pocono, that's no reason to overlook the surging driver in the Pocono 500. Newman boasts two career poles and one victory at the Pennsylvania tri-oval. He will likely extend his top-10 streak to six races this Sunday afternoon.

7. Jeff Gordon
Gordon lost his grip on the championship standings lead last week at the Monster Mile. No need to worry though, as this veteran driver will gather it up this weekend at Pocono. The three-turn oval is a driver's track, and we can't think of many better drivers than Gordon. He's led close to 900 laps at the facility over the years and he's a four-time winner of Pocono. A top-10 finish seems to be an easy proposition.

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8. Kurt Busch
Dodge will be well-represented this weekend in the Pocono 500. Not only will Kasey Kahne do battle with the mega-teams, but we expect to see Busch's nose in the middle of that fracas too. The driver of the No. 2 Dodge has a good career record at Pocono Raceway, with two victories at the 2.5-mile track in the last four years. He finished eighth in this event one year ago, and that was when Busch was mired in the worst slump of his career.

9. Brian Vickers
The driver of the No. 83 Toyota has always raced to his best ability at Pocono Raceway. Vickers enters this race in need of a good finish and he should get it on Sunday afternoon. He has four career top-fives in 10 starts at Pocono, and he finished runner-up in this race one year ago. Who knows, the time could be right for Vickers to tally his first victory for Red Bull Racing.

10. Carl Edwards
Edwards started to show some signs of life at Talladega a few weeks, before flying head-on into the fence at 200 mph. Since then he's been able to string together a couple of top-10 finishes at both Charlotte and Dover. Pocono Raceway gives the No. 99 team an opportunity to extend this streak. Edwards is a two-time winner at the 2.5-mile oval and as recently as last August.