2018 Bubble Watch: Pocono

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series visits Pocono Raceway this weekend as the playoff race continues to take shape. With six regular-season races remaining, here's a look at the bubble picture heading into the race weekend.

Jimmie Johnson

Points above cutoff: +97
Pocono wins: 3
Average track start: 10.3 (Rank: 1 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 12.0 (Rank: 1 out of 12)
Notable: Johnson owns three Pocono wins, but his recent record features more bad than good with four DNFs due to crashes in the past eight races. The positive is that he did finish eighth here in June.

Chase Elliott

Points above cutoff: +95
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 14.0 (Rank: 4 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 13.0 (Rank: 2 out of 12)
Notable: Elliott is coming off his best all-around race of the season that saw him lead a season-best 23 laps, score his first stage win since last fall and finish fifth. He has four top-10 finishes in five career starts at Pocono.

Alex Bowman

Points above cutoff: +28
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 29.2 (Rank: 12 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 28.0 (Rank: 11 out of 12)
Notable: Bowman has enjoyed a summer surge -- five finishes of 11th or better over the past eight races -- though Pocono presents a sizeable challenge. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has never finished better than 25th in five starts and has only twice finished on the lead lap.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Points below cutoff: -28
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 21.9 (Rank: 9 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 22.7 (Rank: 8 out of 12)
Notable: Contact with the wall turned a promising day into something more sour for Stenhouse at New Hampshire, where instead of erasing the points gap on Bowman he fell further behind. He’ll have a chance to close ground at Pocono where he’s riding a streak of five consecutive finishes of 18th or better.

Paul Menard

Points below cutoff: -29
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 18.7 (Rank: 8 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 23.0 (Rank: 9 out of 12)
Notable: Menard can attest that the “Tricky Triangle” is in fact, tricky. Twenty-three times he’s raced at Pocono, and not once has he led a lap or finished inside the top five.

Ryan Newman

Points below cutoff: -74
Pocono wins: 1
Average track start: 11.2 (Rank: 2 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 13.2 (Rank: 3 out of 12)
Notable: Pocono has been a good track to Newman over the years, including a win from the pole in 2003. A repeat of that feat Sunday and he can punch his playoff ticket for a second straight year.

Daniel Suarez

Points below cutoff: -94
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 13.3 (Rank: 3 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 15.3 (Rank: 4 out of 12)
Notable: Suarez did well in this race a year ago, netting a seventh-place finish after starting eighth. Helping Suarez’s cause is both his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, know all about what it takes to run well at Pocono.

William Byron

Points below cutoff: -95
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 16.0 (Rank: 6 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 18.0 (Rank: 6 out of 12)
Notable: The Cup Series’ top rookie produced a respectable result (18th) in his Pocono debut in June. And Byron is no stranger to success on the 2.5-mile track, winning the Camping World Truck Series race here two years ago.

Jamie McMurray

Points below cutoff: -98
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 15.7 (Rank: 5 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 19.7 (Rank: 7 out of 12)
Notable: Qualifying has been a strong suit for McMurray recently at Pocono, with two third-place starts and an eighth in the past three races. If he can carry that speed over to the race, a good result Sunday is certainly obtainable.

Chris Buescher

Points below cutoff: -129
Pocono wins: 1
Average track start: 24.0 (Rank: 11 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 18.0 (Rank: 5 out of 12)
Notable: Buescher is no stranger to winning at Pocono, he took the checkered flag here in 2016. Although that upset victory came about via unusual circumstances, there is no reason Lady Luck cannot once again favor the JTG Daugherty Racing driver.

AJ Allmendinger

Points below cutoff: -138
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 22.1 (Rank: 10 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 23.3 (Rank: 10 out of 12)
Notable: It is has been a rough two-week stretch for Allmendinger, who finished 30th at Kentucky followed by a 36th at New Hampshire. The good news is that even if Pocono is more of the same, Watkins Glen awaits the week after -- offering a prime opportunity to reach Victory Lane.

Bubba Wallace

Points below cutoff: -138
Pocono wins: 0
Average track start: 17.5 (Rank: 7 out of 12 among bubble drivers)
Average track finish: 32.0 (Rank: 12 out of 12)
Notable: Pocono can be tough on rookies, a lesson Wallace learned in June when a missed shift caused his No. 43 car to experience an engine failure. He finished last, which leaves him nowhere to go but up on Sunday.