Posted on by Staff Report

Martin Truex Jr.’s hopes for a Pocono 400 repeat win fizzled in smoke Sunday afternoon with a mechanical issue at Pocono Raceway.

RELATED: Race results

Truex indicated over the radio to his Joe Gibbs Racing crew that his No. 19 Toyota had begun to falter just before the conclusion of Stage 2. He pulled his car to pit road and the team retired to the garage after 91 of a scheduled 160 laps.

“I don’t know. We just lost an engine there – dropped a cylinder down the backstretch and figured I might as well pit,” said Truex, who finished 35th in the 37-car field. “I thought maybe it was a possibility we were out of gas, but it started smoking out of the pipes and shut off. Tough day. TRD (Toyota Racing Development) does a great job of building engines and obviously they’re fast. Probably a fluke deal. I’m not sure, but we’ll go back to look at it. Frustrating day.”

Truex is a two-time winner at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track who scored his most recent Pocono victory last June. Truex is already a three-time winner this season, including last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600.

Truex failed to finish for just the second time this year, the first instance since the season-opening Daytona 500.

Posted on by Staff Report

Austin Dillon made an early exit midway through the first stage of Sunday’s Pocono 400, clanking the outside retaining wall after contact from Paul Menard’s No. 21 Ford at Pocono Raceway.

RELATED: Race results

Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet sustained severe damage after the nudge from Menard’s car. He exited the Monster Energy Series event after completing just 28 laps and finished last in the 37-car field.

“Yeah, he did. That’s disappointing,” Dillon told FOX Sports, when asked if contact between the two cars had occurred. “We had a pretty decent car, and the car’s killed, and 21 hit us. You can see everybody’s piled up in there, and he drove in too deep, missed the corner, hit me in in the back, took me out of the race.”

WATCH: Dillon exits race early

Dillon was unhurt, checked and released from the infield care center. When told by reporters that Menard had accepted blame over his team’s in-car communications, Dillon said it was little consolation.

“Well, it takes me out of the race, kills us in the points,” he said. “I know he’s close in points, too, and it’s all where it’s at. It’s disappointing. That’s all I’ve got to say about it. There’s nothing nice I have to say about him right now.”

For his part, Menard reiterated taking full responsibility for the incident in a post-race interview and said he planned to chat with Dillon as soon as possible — moments after exiting his race car with an 18th-place finish.

“I had the 11 (Denny Hamlin) coming on the inside of me,” Menard said. “Somebody got all jammed up — they checked up earlier than I thought and I (expletive) up.”

When asked if he would reach out to Dillon, Menard said, “I’m going to go talk to him.”

The two drivers were former teammates at Richard Childress Racing, with Menard’s tenure running from 2011-17 and Dillon joining the premier series full-time with RCR in 2014. The veteran Menard is in his second year driving for Wood Brothers Racing.

“Paul Menard’s been doing this for a long time,” Dillon said. “Was a teammate with him at some point. Just, I don’t know — he still hasn’t figured it out, I guess.”

Contributing: RJ Kraft at Pocono

Posted on by Staff Report

It was a sweep for Kyle Larson in Sunday’s Pocono 400 as he earned both of the first two stage victories at Pocono Raceway.

Kyle Busch led 37 of the 50 circuits that comprised Stage 2, but the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team gave up the lead to hit pit road in the closing laps. He was one of many drivers who stopped for tires and fuel rather than collect stage points.

Larson led the final three laps of the stage for his third stage win of the season.

RELATED: Truex Jr. exits early | Stage 2 results

Smoke billowed from Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota just before the end of Stage 2, and his No. 19 team took his car behind the wall with mechanical issues.

It’s the third time Larson has swept both stages in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event.

Finish Driver Team Points
1 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 10
2 Joey Logano Team Penske 9
3 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 8
4 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 7
5 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing 6
6 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing 5
7 Bubba Wallace Richard Petty Motorsports 4
8 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing 3
9 Daniel Hemric Richard Childress Racing 2
10 Daniel Suarez Stewart-Haas Racing 1

Stage 1

Kyle Larson earned his second stage victory of the season, winning Stage 1 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.

Larson took the lead following a round of pit stops that followed the Lap 20 competition caution, taking two tires to gain the track position and leading the final 27 circuits of the stage.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

Austin Dillon’s day ended on Lap 28 after contact from Paul Menard sent the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet hard in to the outside wall at the entrance of Turn 3. Dillon drove the car back to pit road but exited his machine on pit road after the crew confirmed damages were too severe to continue.

WATCH: Dillon says Menard took him out

Several drivers elected to pit before pit road closed with two laps remaining in the first stage, including Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin; they sacrificed coveted stage points to head the field in Stage 2.

Finish Driver Team Points
1 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 10
2 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 9
3 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 8
4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 7
5 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 6
6 Ryan Blaney Team Penske 5
7 Daniel Suarez Stewart-Haas Racing 4
8 Joey Logano Team Penske 3
9 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 2
10 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing 1
Posted on by Eric Johnson

Immediately after flashing beneath the green flag and starting last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 500, Erik Jones stood on the throttle of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Camry and drove it like a man possessed, motoring up into the fray and picking off one competitor after another. Rapidly making his way into the top 10, all seemed well with the world for the 23-year-old. Until Lap 22, that is.

“It was unfortunate because we had a really fast car to start the race,” said Jones from Pocono Raceway on Friday evening. “We just had a tire go down early and that ended our day. We had a flat at probably the worst possible spot on the track so it was unfortunate. We’ve been bringing good race cars to the races but we just haven’t been able to get the finishes we’re capable of. … Hopefully, Pocono on Sunday will be that race where we can get things headed back the right way.”

Pocono marks the 14th stop for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this year. Set to run on the anomalous 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle” based in pastoral Long Pond, Pennsylvania, Jones, currently 17th in the points standings, is pleased to be in the Keystone State.

RELATED: See the standings

“I’ve always been a fan of Pocono,” said Jones, who has an average finishing position of 11.2 in four starts at Pocono. “It’s a different race track, for sure. It doesn’t really relate anything else we do throughout the year, but as a driver, it’s a challenge. It’s fun. I really like coming here and trying to figure out how and trying to figure out how to get your car to drive the way you want it to in all three corners, especially with all three of them being so different.”

When asked about Pocono’s funky three-turn configuration — Turn 1 banked at 14 degrees, Turn 2 banked at 19 degrees and Turn 3 banked at 6 degrees — Jones admitted that one never knows what to expect when rolling out onto Pocono asphalt.

“Yeah, it is abnormal track. The three corners are so vastly different,  but with this new package, it makes it all unknown. It’s going to take a few laps to really figure out how get around here with this package and how much throttle you can carry and how much you have to lift. It’s going to be different figuring it out. …

“It’s really tough to win one of these things,” Jones furthered. “You need so many things to go your way. Not only do you have to have a fast race car and to be in a position to win it, it takes so much more than that. It’s staying out of trouble and having good pit stops and not having penalties. So many things to have a 400 or 500 mile race go your way. It’s a challenge.”

MORE: Sunday’s full starting lineup

With Pocono signaling the 14th start of the season, Jones and the No. 20 Camry have scored three top fives, led 44 laps and posted up an average finish of 16.2. Not bad, but the native of Byron, Michigan, as well as the men who twirl spanners and dial-in his race cars, are looking for much more.

“I can think of a few races where we had a shot to win and didn’t capitalize,” Jones said. “However, the summer months have been good to us in the past. We just need some luck on our side and have some things go our way, but as far as all that, I think everything has been pretty good. We’ve been bringing good and fast cars to the track and have been in positions that we’ve wanted to be in, but we just had some things go wrong. There is work to be done there just to improve things even more, but as far as bringing the cars we need to the race track, I feel like that’s something we’ve done pretty well each weekend.”

With three top 10 finishes in four starts on the 2.5-mile monolith, Jones and company are looking at Sunday afternoon’s race to reach for another gear.

“It’s a good place for us. We know we can run up front. In fact, that sounds like a plan to me.”

 

Posted on by Nick Giffen

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and
is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

NASCAR heads to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway for 400 miles at the Tricky Triangle (2 p.m. ET, FS1). This marks the first of three races this year at a 2.5-mile flat track, with the other two races coming in July at Pocono and in September at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Under the 2019 aero package, expect restarts to be wild with the draft coming heavily into play. However, after the cars get past the first handful of laps, passing may become difficult, according to Martin Truex Jr.

That doesn’t mean a car can’t come from the back of the field to the front. Since 2005, nine drivers have won from a starting position of 12th or worse in 28 races, while nine drivers have won from the front row.

Pit strategy frequently comes into play at Pocono, and as an extra wrinkle, there is a 50% chance of rain starting at 11 a.m. local time and lasting all the way through the evening. That means racing could be hard and aggressive after the second stage, and strategy could come into play even more than normal.

One major factor I’m looking at is practice. During the Gen-6 era of 2013 to present, 10 of the 12 Pocono race winners have met at least one of the two following criteria:

  • Final practice 10-lap average inside the top five
  • Single-lap speed averaged over all practice sessions inside the top eight

With all that said, here are two outright value bets to win the Pocono 400.

Brad Keselowski +800 to Win

Keselowski opened +700 at Westgate, but is now +800 despite solid practice times and a good qualifying result. In fact, Keselowski and Kyle Busch appear awfully similar on paper in regards to on-track results this weekend, but you get Keselowski at a bargain.

In opening practice, Keselowsi and Busch ran 21 and 22 laps, respectively, with each driver’s fastest lap coming between laps 15 and 17. In final practice, Kyle Busch ended up with the fastest 10-lap average, while Keselowski was second, with each driver making his 10-lap run at the start of the session.

Keselowski and Busch are the only two drivers that meet both of the practice criteria in the introduction, making them my two lead drivers to win. Additionally, they’ll both start inside the top five, so early track position will be in their favor.

Moving on to track history, Kyle Busch has the better Pocono results in the low-downforce era of the Gen-6 car, but Keselowski actually has a better average finish, more laps led, and more fastest laps than Busch at Pocono in the high-downforce era (2013-2015).

Certainly Kyle Busch should be the favorite to win, but Keselowski will probably be in the mix barring any major issues or strategic mishaps. I’d bet Keselowski down to his opening line of +700.

Ryan Blaney +2000 to Win

Like his Penske teammate, Blaney’s odds have dropped at the Westgate since opening lines were posted. However, there are more interesting details to Blaney’s line movement. He was bet down from +2000 to +1800 before any track activity took place.

After two strong practice sessions — he was second-fastest in opening practice and then posted the second-fastest 10-lap average in Happy Hour among drivers who’s 10-lap time came later in the session — he was displayed at +1600 at the Westgate.

Thanks to a mediocre 17th place qualifying effort, Blaney dropped to +2500 and has since been bet back to +2000. I loved Blaney at +2000 prior to the weekend, and I haven’t seen anything that makes me change my mind on him.

Blaney’s two best Pocono finishes came in the first Pocono race in 2017 (first) and 2018 (sixth), when he had his two strongest practice showings of his career at the track. This weekend, he’s equaled or bettered his previous practice ranks.

Blaney is a former Pocono winner who has shown plenty of speed this weekend, easily met one of the practice criteria, and missed the other by a single position. With strategy in play, I love this long-shot bet. There’s value here down to +1800.

Weather Gambles

Keep an eye on the weather leading up to the green flag. If reports look like there is a strong possibility of a rain-shortened race, a long-shot driver has a chance to win. This is not without precedent at the Tricky Triangle. Chris Buescher won in 2016 as a 1000-1 underdog in a fog-shortened race.

It should be stressed, these types of winners are extremely unlikely, but if weather is in play, and things break right, a very small bet on these plays is a lose-small, win-big proposition. I wouldn’t make these bets until we get a clearer picture of the race-day weather, but if a race-shortened race is a real possibility, here are two long-shot drivers I like as weather gambles.

  • Ryan Newman 200-1: Newman’s best track type is the flat tracks, especially in the higher downforce era of 2013-2015. Seven of his 16 top-five finishes during that time came at flat tracks. Six of his past seven wins have been at the flats, including a win at the other 2.5-mile track, Indianapolis, in 2013. He has the best driver rating and flat track average finish of all drivers listed at 100-1 or longer. Newman is notoriously hard to pass in a race where passing should be difficult should he wind up out front on a strategy play.
  • Daniel Hemric 500-1: Hemric has never finished worse than ninth in the Xfinity Series at the 2.5-mile flat tracks of Pocono and Indianapolis. He has the best average single-lap speed from the two practice sessions among all drivers listed at 200-1 or longer.
Posted on by RJ Kraft

LONG POND, Pa. — With one turn to go, it looked like Tyler Reddick had overcome every obstacle thrown in his path Saturday at the Pocono Green 250 Recycled by J.P. Mascaro & Sons.

Battle back from starting in the rear for a transmission change? Yep. He was in the top three by the end of Stage 1 on Lap 25.

Overcome a pass-through penalty on Lap 82 for an outside tire violation on pit road? Check.

Get by Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe on the final restart on Lap 102? Mission accomplished with a nifty slingshot-type move that seem to set the Richard Childress Racing driver for back-to-back wins following last weekend’s triumph at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

MORE: Race results | Custer cops dramatic win

But fighting a loose car on the final lap at Pocono Raceway in a NASCAR Overtime finish, Reddick shot up a bit off of Turn 3 — as a hard-charging Custer capitalized and drove by for the victory.

Which led Reddick to say he “just gave it away.”

“I just didn’t manage the last lap well,” Reddick said after finishing as the runner-up. “I made mistakes through the corner of Turn 1. Turn 2 was OK and I got really loose in Turn 3 trying to use brake to make my car turn in the last lap.”

A pit stop for left-side tires on Lap 96 set Reddick up to have a bit of advantage on Custer, Briscoe and Christopher Bell with some fresher Goodyears. And then another caution and a nifty move just after the Lap 102 restart set Reddick up for a potential victory before the final corner.

“Pretty much gave it right back to him (Custer) there,” Reddick said in a joking, yet matter-of-fact manner. “I’ve done that with Cole a few times on the last lap. One of these times I’ll quit giving it to him. It was fun to battle with him.”

The two drivers have had their share of on-track battles, most notably at Texas last fall where Custer edged out Reddick in a memorable finish.

“For how crazy our day was, all the issues we had to overcome, it says a lot about this team,” Reddick said. “We’ve been able to rebound and make things happen. … I know we wanted to win this race today and I made that mistake on the last lap. Second place isn’t a bad finish.”

The result — his ninth straight top-four finish in the series — saw Reddick extend his points lead to 76 over Bell heading into next week’s LTi Printing 250 (June 8 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Michigan International Speedway.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Cole Custer used a final-lap pass to seal victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday afternoon, surpassing Tyler Reddick in an overtime finish at Pocono Raceway for his third win of the season.

Custer started from the pole and led a race-high 58 of the 103 laps in the Pocono Green 250. His Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 Ford dipped low when Reddick bobbled in the final turn and was .226 seconds ahead at the checkered flag, clinching his first victory at the 2.5-mile track and the fifth win of his Xfinity Series career.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“Tyler gave me a real run for my money there,” Custer said. “I have no idea how he made it stick on that restart on the bottom passing me but he did. He was unbelievable on the brakes at the end. I was just able to kind of force a mistake a little bit trying to pack air on him. It was a fun end of the race. I wish I didn’t have to do it like that, but it probably made it exciting.”

Chase Briscoe, Custer’s SHR teammate, finished just behind Reddick in third place. Ryan Preece took fourth with Christopher Bell completing the top five finishers.

Reddick, the series points leader, started near the rear of the field after his Richard Childress Racing crew made a pre-race transmission change in his No. 2 Chevrolet. He quickly rallied, charging into the top five by the completion of Lap 11. Reddick stayed in contention, finishing third and second at the stage breaks, with only a Lap 79 penalty for an outside tire violation briefly slowing his promising run.

Reddick closed during a series of late-race caution flags, then took the lead on the final restart with a bold move under Custer’s No. 00 into Turn 1. Reddick led just one lap — the next-to-last lap — but faltered on the final turn with the checkers about to unfurl.

RELATED: Reddick: ‘I just gave it away’

“Take it and give it right back — I’ve done that with Cole a few times here on the last lap,” Reddick said, adding that tight handling conditions out front caused his final slip. “Maybe one of these times, I’ll quit giving it to him, but he had a really good car all day. It was fun to battle with him. Hope the fans enjoyed it because I didn’t, getting passed on the last corner, but that’s racing.”

Bell recovered after a Lap 17 spin in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota, an incident where he escaped with minor contact with the outside retaining wall exiting the first turn. Pit strategy helped him regain track position and he grabbed the lead shortly after the start of Stage 2.

MORE: Bell continues after spin

Brandon Jones, a JGR teammate of Bell’s, was less fortunate when he found trouble in Turn 1. Jones lost control of his No. 19 Toyota, which sustained heavy damage after clouting the barrier. He finished last in the 38-car field, credited with completing just six laps.

MORE: Severe impact sidelines Brandon Jones

Justin Allgaier led 27 laps and won Stage 2 in the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet. He overshot his pit stall on a late pit stop, then recovered from a late-race spin to finish 11th.

The Xfinity Series’ next race is the LTi Printing 250, scheduled for next Saturday (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Michigan International Speedway.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

LONG POND, Pa. — William Byron will start from the Busch Pole for the second straight week in Sunday’s Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Does the young star offer the upside worthy of a spot in your Fantasy Live lineup? We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration.

PLAY NOW: Set your lineup | How the game works | Tips to set your lineup

RJ Kraft’s Fantasy Live lineup for race day at Pocono:
1. Brad Keselowski
2. William Byron
3. Erik Jones
4. Chase Elliott
5. Kyle Larson
Garage: Denny Hamlin

Cars to the rear: Matt DiBenedetto (No. 95, engine change)

RELATED: Odds for Pocono | 10-lap averages | Podcast: Fantasy Fastlane

Analysis: So I’m switching out half of my original lineup for Pocono but the main theme here is about conserving usages. I hadn’t planned on playing Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick and I’m not veering from that — though, the bonus picks will attempt to give me some points production from one of those drivers. Out of my original lineup are Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman. Truex is starting 20th and with passing expected to be difficult, I want somebody with a better starting spot. I really weighed playing Blaney or Bowman despite their qualifying spots outside the top 12. I just think there’s better value to be had based on my usages with some other plays.

Keselowski, Elliott and Jones were in my original lineup. Based on the 10-lap averages of Keselowski and Elliott, their Pocono histories and the starting spot/history at Pocono for Jones, I feel good to stick with those three. The additions to my lineup start with the pole sitter, Byron. He’s qualified well of late, I have plenty of uses available and I feel like he can provide me with a solid source of stage points in Stage 1 — and we’ll see from there. Larson is more of hunch based on a good qualifying spot (seventh), solid history at Pocono and I just like the weekend stats from him more than Blaney or Bowman. I see a greater upside with that play. Hamlin gets my garage spot because he’ll start in the top six and I have the uses with him. The Pocono numbers haven’t been great for him of late but I think it’s worth the gamble. I gave Clint Bowyer significant consideration for this spot, as well.

For the bonus picks, I think strategy could throw some wrinkles here but to cover my bases since I am trying to save a use — we’ll take Kyle Busch for everything.

Each week in this space, we’ll also highlight two Props Challenge items for players.

MORE: Need Props help? The Action Network has you covered | Play the Props Challenge today

1. O/U 12.5 stage points for Chase Elliott. I’m still going over here. I realize he’s starting 12th, but I think he has one of the better cars based on 10-lap averages and he has a solid history at this track. He earned 19 stage points starting sixth in last year’s second race at the track. Given the roll he’s been on a late, I like trying to ride the wave with the Hendrick driver in this prop.

2. Toyota has won the last three Pocono races. Does this streak continue? I am a full-fledged “yes” on this based on my bonus pick of Kyle Busch. But I also like Jones and Hamlin’s chances to run up front, as well. While Truex is starting in the back half, he is the defending race winner. In fact, I’ll double down on this prop and the winner coming from the front two rows prop and take “yes” on both.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

On Saturday at Pocono Raceway, William Byron continued to assert his mastery of pole qualifying in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Charging around the 2.5-mile triangular track in 51.875 seconds (173.494 mph), Byron claimed the top starting spot for Sunday’s Pocono 400 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Starting lineup | Pocono schedule

“Pole day’s been good for us,” said Byron, who collected his third Busch Pole Award of the season and the third of his career after winning his second last week at Charlotte. “Keep racking those up and, hopefully, rack up a better result on race day, too.”

The Daytona 500 pole winner beat Kyle Busch (172.629 mph) for the No. 1 starting spot by .260 seconds. Now Byron faces the more difficult task of converting a pole into a victory.

“It’s all about execution, I feel like,” Byron said. “It’s on me to know what I need throughout the race, and I feel like I’m starting to learn a little bit of what it takes for the last 100 laps, instead of the first 80, which we’ve been pretty good at.”

It’s not that Byron doesn’t have experience at the Tricky Triangle. The 21-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., has raced ARCA, Xfinity and NASCAR Gander Outdoors trucks at Pocono. In 2016, he won from the pole in a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck.

“It’s somewhat similar to the package that we ran in the Truck Series,” Byron said of the competition package that debuted in the Cup series this year. “I went back and watched that (2016) race. They had a good truck for me at KBM, and we won that race.

“So hopefully we can lean on some of those notes that we had there and some of the things that I wanted in the car to translate that into the race this weekend. I do have some confidence going into this race track. I feel like it’s a place that feels like home for me.”

Clint Bowyer qualified third, followed by Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin, as Joe Gibbs Racing put three of its drivers in the top six. For Busch, the front-row start will be the first of his season.

Hamlin, who won twice from the pole at Pocono in his 2006 rookie season, simply hopes he can get through a race without the major issues that have plagued him recently.

“Just really want a smooth race from our standpoint,” said Hamlin, the 2019 Daytona 500 winner, who posted six top-fives in his first nine races before a rash of troubles knocked him down to seventh in the series standings.

“We’ve had blown tires and all kinds of crazy stuff happen. … If we have a smooth race, we know we’re going to have a good race, so we just hope to have a smooth one here and get back on the train we were on.”

Behind Hamlin on the grid, Kyle Larson, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon will start seventh through 10th, respectively. Defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. will go for his second-straight Cup victory from the 20th spot on the grid.