Posted on by Staff Report

Justin Haley’s hopes for a $100,000 bonus took a significant hit after a run-in with Riley Herbst left him with a two-lap penalty for rough driving in Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway.

RELATED: Official race results

Haley’s Kaulig Racing No. 11 Chevrolet had brushed with Herbst’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota exiting Turn 3, but Haley initiated further contact by veering left, bringing out the caution flag on Lap 49 in the 90-lap Pocono Green 225.

Herbst’s car tapped the frontstraight wall but stayed in the race. Haley, who scored his first Xfinity win last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, pitted during the yellow flag, but race officials held him for two laps as a penalty for over-aggressive driving.

Haley and crew chief Alex Yontz were also summoned to the NASCAR Xfinity Series hauler for a post-race consultation. Haley would go on to finish 23rd, while Herbst rebounded with a top-10 finish in ninth.

Haley was one of four drivers eligible for Xfinity’s Dash 4 Cash bonus along with Ross Chastain, Alex Labbe and Austin Cindric. Chastain took the $100,000 bonus at Pocono.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Brandon Jones held off Sheldon Creed during a fierce two-lap battle Sunday morning at Pocono Raceway and pulled away to win the rain-delayed Pocono Organics 150 at the 2.5-mile triangular track.

Jones sealed his first NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series victory when Creed’s Chevrolet got loose in the Tunnel Turn as they were racing side by side for the lead. Jones pulled out to a comfortable advantage through Turn 3 and arrived at the finish line with a .864-second margin over runner-up Austin Hill, who charged past Creed in the final corner.

RELATED: Official race results | Gander Trucks points

“That was a heck of a battle,” said Jones, a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor who has won twice there. “I know it was fun to watch on TV — it was really fun for me there.”

Despite driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, whose equipment is arguably the best in the Gander Truck Series, Jones said the expectations to win weren’t that weighty.

“It’s not really that much pressure, honestly,” Jones said. “There’s so much they provide for us. We were all on a call with him (owner Kyle Busch) last night after the Cup race. He gave us so much information that led to this win today.”

Jones inherited the lead from teammate Christian Eckes on Lap 49, when Eckes blew a right-rear tire in the Tunnel Turn and smacked the outside wall. The root cause of the incident may have been earlier contact between Eckes’ Toyota and Chase Purdy’s Chevrolet on pit road.

“It sucks, for sure,” said Eckes, who was 11 laps away from winning his first race in the series. “Probably caused by me. We had a little contact on pit road. It might have created a rub — I don’t know. They said everything was clear… We could never really get track position. We finally got there and blew a tire.”

Todd Gilliland and Ben Rhodes finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Ross Chastain, Brett Moffitt, Stewart Friesen, Tyler Ankrum and Derek Kraus completed the top 10.

After the record-tying ninth caution of the race for Tim Viens’ spin in Turn 1, Creed led the next-to-last lap, but Jones pulled even before the trucks got back to the first corner. Jones and Creed raced side by side until Creed lost traction and momentum in the Tunnel Turn.

Reigning and three-time series champion Matt Crafton didn’t make it through the first corner of the first lap. Contact between the Chevrolets of Austin Wayne Self and Codie Rohrbaugh sent Rohrbaugh’s truck sliding out of control up the track into Crafton’s No. 88 Ford, knocking Crafton into the outside wall.

Rohrbaugh and Crafton were eliminated seconds after the race began and retired in the 39th and 40th positions, respectively.

“My spotter said, ‘Three-wide, three-wide,’ and I thought I gave him enough room,” Crafton said after exiting the infield care center. “He got clipped in the left rear. That’s what he was telling me inside (the care center).

“Then he went and got me in the left rear and spun me. Wrong place, wrong time, so move on to Kentucky (Speedway).”

The field didn’t make it through the next restart lap on Lap 6 either. Raphael Lessard’s No. 4 Toyota took evasive action in Turn 3, clipped the infield grass with his left-side tires and shot up the track into Self’s Silverado, knocking both trucks out of the race.

“I tried to go on the inside of the 24 (Chase Purdy), and he was kind of slow and then just kind of blocked me a little bit,” Lessard said. “And I just kind of smacked the fence there.”

On Lap 12, Ty Majeski — running third after starting 19th — tried to block Grant Enfinger’s Ford on the frontstretch and paid a heavy price, nosing hard into the inside SAFER barrier. Before the 15-lap first stage was over, five of the 40 trucks were out of the race.

Up next, the Gander Truck Series heads to Kentucky Speedway on July 11 for the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 (6 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Notes: Rescheduled from Saturday because of rain, the race was the opening leg in a first-ever NASCAR tripleheader in which all three of the national series would race on the same track on the same day. … No major issues were found in post-race inspection. Jones’ winning No. 51 truck had one lug nut unsecured, which would result in a fine for crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. … Creed led the first 30 laps and won the first two stages but didn’t lead again until he took the top spot on Lap 59 of 60.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Multiple cars in the NASCAR Cup Series will drop to the rear before the start of Sunday’s Pocono 350 (4 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Because Sunday’s race is the second in a weekend doubleheader, teams are supposed to use the same car from the first race. Five teams, though, have been approved to go to a backup car and therefore will have to fall back before the green flag: the No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet of Quin Houff (supposed to start 40th), the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Tyler Reddick (supposed to start 30th), the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Erik Jones (supposed to start 38th), the No. 22 Team Penske Ford of Joey Logano (supposed to start 36th) and the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman (supposed to start 27th).

Also, four other drivers will lose their starting spot for different reasons. Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and B.J. McLeod’s No. 78 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Chevrolet had their transmissions changed. Elliott and McLeod were set to fire off 25th and 39th, respectively. Then, William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Ryan Preece’s No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet had their engines changed. Byron was going to start seventh, while Preece originally had the pole position.

Sunday’s lineup was based on the finishing results from Saturday, which included an inversion of the top 20 finishers.

RELATED: Official starting lineup for Sunday

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

With one race down in the Pocono Raceway doubleheader for the NASCAR Cup Series, drivers and teams will now quickly turn their attention to Sunday’s Pocono 350 (4 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

With NASCAR officials requiring teams to run the same car they competed with on Saturday, provided they don’t switch to a backup car from damages beyond repair, teams will work feverishly to complete the proper maintenance to get their machines ready.

The near hour delay to Saturday’s green flag time for inclement weather tightened the window for just how long teams are able work in the garage before it closes. NASCAR officials extended the closure of the Cup Series garage to 11 p.m. ET for cars that had to go through post-race inspection, a half-hour addition to their prep time. For all other teams, the garage was still set to shut down at 10:30 p.m. ET at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania triangle. It reopens bright and early Sunday at 7 a.m. ET.

RELATED: Pocono-1 results | Starting lineup for Sunday’s race

So just how much is everyone feeling the crunch? When asked about the tall task of getting the same car race-ready for Sunday during his post-race virtual media availability, Rodney Childers — crew chief for race winner Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford — began to not express much concern for making it happen.

But then he looked down at his watch, a little surprised to see what his time piece had displayed.

“Yeah, it’s going to be pretty tight, and I was supposed to be out there changing brakes and hubs. So, the longer I’m on here, the more behind we’re going to be,” Childers said with a grin.

“We’ll get it done,” Childers added. “I think from a body standpoint, there was a little bit more damage on the car than I thought there. There’s actually a hole in the nose that probably wasn’t helping at all. Somehow, we have to get that fixed tonight, along with all of our other maintenance stuff and engine stuff.”

On top of the challenge for the winning No. 4 team, Harvick will start 20th Sunday after the first 20 positions were inverted for Sunday’s starting lineup based on Saturday’s results. But after missing the setup a bit during the early stages of Saturday’s 325-miler, Harvick didn’t appear to sweat the double duty.

“We had great practice today being 20th,” Harvick said. “I think if you look at the track position, we were able to overcome that with the right decision. In the end, I think that’s what it’s going to boil down to. You’re going to have to have fast cars, you’re going to have to have the right strategy.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Based on the finishing results from Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, the official starting lineup is set for Sunday’s Pocono 350 (4 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM), the second race of a weekend doubleheader at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania venue.

RELATED: Official Pocono-1 results | Pocono weekend schedule

The starting lineup for Sunday’s Cup Series event will use the finishing order from Saturday’s 325-mile race as the basis for the lineup with one inversion:

  • Starting positions 1-20: The top 20 finishers from the Saturday event will be inverted for the start of the Sunday race
  • Starting positions 21-40: The bottom 20 finishers from the Saturday event will start from their finishing positions for the start of the June 27th race; any new entries will be placed at the tail of the field.

That means Ryan Preece, Saturday’s 20th-place finisher, will start from the pole position for Sunday’s 350-miler. After notching his third win of the 2020 season on Saturday, Kevin Harvick will start Sunday’s race from 20th.

UPDATE: Ryan Preece among cars sent to the rear

It’s not the first time this season that Preece and Harvick have swapped for first and 20th. When Darlington Raceway hosted two Cup Series races within four days in May, Harvick finished first with Preece 20th in the first race; Preece was on the pole with Harvick 20th in the starting lineup for the second Darlington race.

Note: Any driver that goes to a backup car will drop to the rear.

Position Driver Car # Team
1 Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing
2 Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing
3 Kurt Busch 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
4 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
5 Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
6 Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing
7 William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports
8 Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing
9 Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske
10 Matt Kenseth 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
11 Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing
12 Brad Keselowski 2 Team Penske
13 Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports
14 Clint Bowyer 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
15 Martin Truex Jr. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
16 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
17 Christopher Bell 95 Leavine Family Racing
18 Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
19 Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
20 Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
21 Jimmie Johnson 48 Hendrick Motorsports
22 Bubba Wallace 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
23 Corey LaJoie 32 Go Fas Racing
24 John Hunter Nemechek 38 Front Row Motorsports
25 Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports
26 Ty Dillon 13 Germain Racing
27 Alex Bowman 88 Hendrick Motorsports
28 Daniel Suarez 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing
29 Brennan Poole 15 Premium Motorsports
30 Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing
31 JJ Yeley 27 Rick Ware Racing
32 Josh Bilicki 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing
33 Garrett Smithley 53 Rick Ware Racing
34 James Davison 77 Spire Motorsports
35 Timmy Hill 66 MBM Motorsports
36 Joey Logano 22 Team Penske
37 Joey Gase 51 Petty Ware Racing
38 Erik Jones 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
39 B.J. McLeod 78 B.J. McLeod Motorsports
40 Quin Houff 00 StarCom Racing

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Benefiting from a two-tire pit stop with 36 laps left, Kevin Harvick held off charging Denny Hamlin over the final green-flag run to win for the first time at Pocono Raceway.

Harvick crossed the finish line in Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 just .761 seconds ahead of Hamlin to post his third victory of the season — tying Hamlin for the NASCAR Cup Series lead — and the 52nd of his career, 12th most all-time.

RELATED: Race results | Stage recaps

“We weren’t where we needed to be to start the race and lost a bunch of track position, but we came back and made some great strategy calls to get in clean air and get out front and make some good laps,” said Harvick, who led the final 17 laps after pit stops were complete. “It’s great to finally check Pocono off the list.

On Lap 94, Harvick entered the pits behind Aric Almirola, but with a two-tire stop, he swapped positions with his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, who needed four tires on the same stop. After pit stops cycled out, Harvick had the lead, Hamlin was second, and Almirola was far behind in third.

After the flip-flop of positions on pit road, Harvick was confident the two-tire strategy would pay dividends.

“I knew when we came out of the pits, and they told me how big of a lead we had (over Almirola),” Harvick said. “I saw the 11 (Hamlin) come out of the pits, and he was in second. … He caught us a little in traffic, but I knew I could be pretty patient with the gap we had.

“As I started to see everything cycle out and see with the track position we had with the fresher tires, you could kind of start to put it together in your mind as we started to run through the last stage and cars started to have to pit. Just a great call by (crew chief) Rodney Childers and all the guys up on the pit box for having the right strategy and getting us to Victory Lane.”

Though he led a race-high 61 laps and won the second stage, Almirola rolled across the stripe in third, 15.224 seconds behind Harvick’s No. 4 Ford.

“We opted to score a lot of points (in the stages), and that probably hurt us on strategy a little bit, but I’m really proud of Buga (crew chief Mike Bugarewicz) and these (crew) guys,” said Almirola, who also finished third last Sunday at Talladega.

“They’ve been bringing some awesome race cars. I felt like we were tit-for-tat there with the 4 (Harvick) when we were on older tires and in clean air… We’re trying to keep the momentum going — three top fives in a row. I’m really proud of my race team.”

Even though his car picked up a severe vibration in the late going, Hamlin whittled Harvick’s lead from more than two seconds to less than .3 seconds, as Harvick worked traffic late in the 130-lap event at the 2.5-mile triangular track.

“With about 15 or 20 (laps) to go, the vibration just got really, really bad,” Hamlin said. “It still would have been tough to pass. Even though we got there, it would have been tough to get around him.”

RELATED: Denny Hamlin discusses the vibration he had late at Pocono

Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Christopher Bell posted a career-best fourth-place finish, followed by Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. Clint Bowyer, Michael McDowell, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.

Cup drivers will race 350 miles at Pocono on Sunday in the same cars they used on Saturday — with the exception of those needing backups because of damage. The Pocono 350 will be the final event in an unprecedented tripleheader, with the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series starting the action in the rain-postponed Pocono Organics 150 at 9:30 a.m. ET.

The Pocono Green 225 NASCAR Xfinity Series race will follow at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by the Cup event at 4 p.m. ET. Never before have all three of NASCAR’s top touring series raced at the same track on the same day. All three races will be broadcast on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

With the starting order for Sunday’s Cup race determined by inverting the top 20 finishers from Saturday, Ryan Preece will start on the pole, and Harvick will take the green from 20th.

MORE: Sunday’s starting lineup

Joey Logano notched the other stage win, but his No. 22 Team Penske Ford scraped to pit road with a flat left-front tire with seven laps remaining, relegating him to a 36th-place finish.

The 130-lap race began 56 minutes after its scheduled start time of 3:54 p.m. ET because of pesky afternoon rain.

Notes: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage went without major issues. Two teams — the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 for Hamlin and the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Ford of seventh-finishing Clint Bowyer — were each found with one lug nut unsecured in a post-race check. Those infractions will mean a fine for their respective crew chiefs, according to guidelines in the NASCAR Rule Book.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Aric Almirola was able to hold off Stage 1 winner Joey Logano to record a Stage 2 victory in Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 at Pocono Raceway.

A caution with six laps remaining set up a two-lap sprint to the stage finish as Almirola hung on to his race lead in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to earn the fourth stage win of his NASCAR Cup Series career and first of the 2020 season.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

Logano finished second, ahead of Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto to round out the top-five drivers in the 52-lap stage.

The Lap 71 caution occurred when Erik Jones lost control of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, making contact with Tyler Reddick coming off of Turn 3. Reddick attempted to drive below Jones, but the two cars hooked, sending both machines hard into the inside frontstretch wall.

Jones was forced to retire from the race, while Reddick’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team made repairs in an attempt to reach minimum speed.

Finish Driver Team Points
1 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 10
2 Joey Logano Team Penske 9
3 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 8
4 Ryan Blaney Team Penske 7
5 Matt DiBendetto Wood Brothers Racing 6
6 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 5
7 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 4
8 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 3
9 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 2
10 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 1

Stage 1

Joey Logano earned victory in the first stage of Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 in partnership with Rodale Institute at Pocono Raceway.

Logano took the lead away from polesitter Aric Almirola after starting from the sixth position, earning his fourth stage win of the 2020 season. Almirola held on to finish second, followed by last Monday’s Talladega Superspeedway winner, Ryan Blaney. Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott completed the top five in order.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Preece and Christopher Bell hit pit road with three laps remaining in the Stage 1, setting themselves up for an alternate strategy to stay out for the beginning of Stage 2.

NASCAR officials threw a competition caution on Lap 12, but the front-runners elected to stay out for the final 10-lap dash to the stage conclusion. The stage also saw a second yellow-flag period after Quin Houff spun into the inside wall at the exit of Turn 2.

Saturday’s 130-lap event was delayed due to inclement weather after the scheduled green-flag time of 3:54 p.m. ET was pushed back to 4:50 p.m. ET.

Finish Driver Team Points
1 Joey Logano Team Penske 10
2 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 9
3 Ryan Blaney Team Penske 8
4 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 6
6 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing 5
7 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing 4
8 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 3
9 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 2
10 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 1

 

Posted on by Staff Report

The start of Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway was delayed due to inclement weather.

Rain fell in Long Pond, Pennsylvania and required track-drying efforts. The green flag for the Pocono Organics 325 in partnership with Rodale Institute was originally scheduled to wave at 3:54 p.m. ET. Coverage is on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Drivers were called to their cars at 4 p.m. ET with the national anthem at 4:15 p.m. ET and the green flag targeted for approximately 4:35 p.m. ET. However, lingering precipitation caused the race not to get underway until 4:50 p.m. ET.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Gander Trucks postponed to Sunday

The race is a 130-lap event at the “Tricky Triangle” for 325 miles.

Aric Almirola drew the pole position in a random draw and led the field to green in his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet when the time comes. Last Monday’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway, Ryan Blaney, fired off alongside Almirola in Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford.

Saturday marks the first of two NASCAR Cup Series races at Pocono. The second is scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The Saturday Cup race marks the 14th of the 2020 season and the 10th since the sport returned from the COVID-19 stoppage.

Posted on by Staff Report

Saturday’s scheduled NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway has been postponed a day due to rain, setting up a scheduled tripleheader Sunday with all three national series at the 2.5-mile triangular track.

RELATED: Pocono weekend schedule

The Pocono Organics 150 to benefit Farm Aid will now take place at 9:30 a.m. Sunday with TV coverage on FS1. The 60-lap Gander Trucks event will precede the NASCAR Xfinity Series race (12:30 p.m. ET, FS1) and the second scheduled NASCAR Cup Series race of the weekend (4 p.m. ET, FS1).

According to Racing Insights, Sunday will be the first time three NASCAR national series races will be raced on the same day at the same track. It will be the fifth time that three NASCAR national series races were run on the same day (the previous instances were at multiple tracks).

The first NASCAR Cup Series race of the weekend was scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET today with TV coverage on FOX but the start of the race was delayed.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day.