See where your favorite driver will pit from for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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.
LONG POND, Pa. – With three runner-up finishes and a seventh-place finish in last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600, Alex Bowman is one of the hottest drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series as the circuit heads to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s Pocono 400. (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Bowman has jumped 11 spots in the standings over the past four races and has earned the second-most points over that stretch – there’s that runner-up spot again – to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.
For the 26-year-old, the uptick in results wasn’t from the flip of a proverbial switch.
“I wish we could really pinpoint what the biggest difference has been,” Bowman told NASCAR.com at Pocono. “We’ve been unloading with fast race cars and just being better throughout the whole course of the weekend. Our cars have been really good.”
RELATED: Full schedule for Pocono | Bowman calls out Logano
The numbers back that up for not just Bowman, but Hendrick Motorsports as a whole. In the past four races, the Hendrick quartet of Elliott, Bowman, William Byron and Jimmie Johnson have a win, seven top fives and 12 top 10s as well as two of the last three Busch Pole Awards. In the season’s first nine races, the foursome combined for two top fives and seven top 10s.
“I think we’ve all been running better as a whole,” Elliott told media at Pocono. “All of us ran in the top 10 last weekend (at Charlotte). The results are what they are … and they’ve been better lately.”
Bowman notched three straight runner-up finishes at Talladega, Dover and Kansas. Being that close to Victory Lane might lead one to Monday Morning Quarterback every aspect of those races but he indicated there was only one he really poured over.
“I ran back through what I could have done better to try to hold Brad (Keselowski) off (at Kansas),” Bowman said. “Trying to hold someone that is on 30-lap fresher tires is tough. So it was obviously a bunch of good runs for us and we continue to improve. I think each and every week we have a shot to win.”
Prior to his consecutive trio of seconds, Bowman’s best Cup finish came at Pocono last summer. He finished third at the ‘Tricky Triangle’ in July of 2018. And while the rules package for this weekend is different from what he fared well with here last year, Bowman indicated his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was not driving much different after the initial practice.
“The package is really different but the cars really aren’t driving that much different,” Bowman said of driving at Pocono. “There’s still a ton of off-throttle time. We unloaded with something that we thought was going to be more like the last couple weeks and we quickly realized that we need a lot more downforce in the car and a lot more grip. We’re working on going back that way and we can look at our last year’s notes and go from there.”
One place Bowman has won is at the polls, taking the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race Fan Vote to earn the last spot in the field of the exhibition race. The fans have taken notice of the results.
The hunger to reach Victory Lane for a celebration like no other is something that burns stronger with as tantalizingly close as it’s gotten in recent weeks.
“That’s something you always think about is what that first Cup win will be like,” Bowman said. “I’ve been thinking about that for a long time and definitely not going to stop thinking about that until it happens.”
LONG POND, Pa. — The No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet of Chris Buescher and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Erik Jones failed pre-qualifying inspection twice Saturday at Pocono Raceway, and the car chief for each team has been ejected.
Since cars will be impounded after Busch Pole Qualifying, the pre-qualifying inspection also serves as pre-race inspection for Sunday’s Pocono 400 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
RELATED: Full Pocono schedule | Odds at Pocono
As a result of the inspection failures, both teams will be docked 15 minutes of practice time at next weekend’s event at Michigan International Speedway, and a crew member for each team is ejected for the remainder of the race weekend. The car chiefs for each team: Jason Overstreet (No. 20) and Doug Powers (No. 37) were the crew members ejected, according to a NASCAR spokesperson.
Jones comes into Pocono ranked 17th in the standings and is coming off a 40th-place finish at Charlotte. He had two top-six finishes before that in 2019. Buescher is 22nd in the standings and a winner at Pocono in 2016. He comes into Sunday’s race with two straight top-10 finishes on the season including a sixth-place result at Charlotte.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Fresh off his third victory of the season last weekend, Martin Truex Jr. could understandably carry a little swagger into Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for Sunday’s Pocono 400 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
But the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup champion is all business. The victories are what he expects at this point in his decorated 14-year full time career. And this Spring has been very bountiful for the New Jersey native.
Anyone still curious how the transition from his championship single-car team to the long-established championship Joe Gibbs Racing operation this season has certainly seen the coordinated effort of success. Truex hasn’t missed a beat.
RELATED: Final practice results | Full schedule for Pocono
“For me, I would say that for a transition going from one team to another, it’s been the least change I’ve ever had in my career just because of the alliance what we had with JGR,” Truex said. “The cars are the same basically. Parts and pieces, a lot of them are the same. There was a lot less change.
“Back in the day, you’d change teams and they did things different. You didn’t know what to expect. The feeling, the way they handled things, the way they built their cars … all those things are stuff that you get used to as a driver and those feels of things you like. For me, it’s really similar stuff.
“I knew what to expect,” he explained.
And that really made a huge difference. What seems most satisfying for Truex, who is the defending winner of the Pocono 400, is that he has had success in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry even when the team had to make adjustments. Even when he wasn’t necessarily the favorite.
“I think anytime you have success at a race track, it helps just because you kind of understand it a little bit,” Truex said. “That being said, with the new package, it is a lot different. There’s no question.
“But places that we’ve had success before, it seems to translate a little bit and I think a lot of that is just driver confidence and understanding the race track and team kind of understanding it as well. Hopefully we have the right approach. It’s going to be a tough weekend.”
That hasn’t necessarily proved to be any more challenging. Truex has eight top-10 finishes, including runner-up showings at Atlanta and Phoenix in addition to his three victories this season. He’s led 434 of his total 459 laps out front in just his three wins.
And his work at Pocono has set the bar of late. He has three top-10 finishes in the last four races on the 2.5-mile track and led laps in four of the last five races. He won in 2015 and 2018 and started from the front row three consecutive races from 2016-17.
“Being on a roll, it’s just a credit to the team and the hard work finally coming together,” Truex said. “Doing all the little things right.
“You know the pit crew has really come on strong and gelled as a unit and it takes everything at this level to win races and to put yourself in position consistently. Just coming together as a group and kind of starting to find that momentum. It’s one of those things in this sport that’s really hard to find and once you do, you want to do all you can to hang onto it because you never know when it’s going to go away.”
Kurt Busch set a course to the top of the speed chart in Friday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway.
Busch pushed the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet to a 172.712-mph lap, fastest in the 50-minute session on the 2.5-mile triangular circuit. Busch is a three-time Pocono winner, having tamed the triangle most recently in 2016.
RELATED: Final practice results | Full Pocono schedule
Brad Keselowski turned in the second-fastest lap, 171.798 mph in the Team Penske No. 2 Ford. Busch’s teammate Kyle Larson was third, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fourth, with series points leader Kyle Busch completing the fastest five in final practice for the Pocono 400 (Sunday, 2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
Defending race winner Martin Truex Jr., who prevailed in last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600, was 10th-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. He was also 10th-fastest in first practice earlier in the afternoon.
Busch Pole Qualifying is scheduled Saturday at 11:35 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
Suarez shows the way in first Pocono practice
Daniel Suarez landed atop the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard in Friday’s first practice at Pocono Raceway.
Suarez guided the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford to clock a best lap of 171.217 mph on the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track.
RELATED: Practice 1 results
Ryan Blaney, a former Pocono winner, was second-fastest in the 50-minute session at 171.090 mph in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford. Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski completed the top five in the opening tune-up for Sunday’s Pocono 400 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
Driver Matt Tifft and the Front Row Motorsports No. 36 Ford team were docked 15 minutes of practice time after two inspection failures last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
One of the hottest drivers in the garage with four consecutive top-seven finishes, Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman was a little hot under the collar Friday at Pocono Raceway following on-track tension at Charlotte with Team Penske’s Joey Logano.
In addressing his stance, Bowman said “he’ll get his for sure” in reference to Logano, currently second in the Monster Energy Series standings.
“Everybody has to race everybody hard with this package,” Bowman said in discussing what happened last week. “There’s not a lot of room for give and take. I thought the situation was, there was a good chunk of the race left, it was pretty unnecessary. Probably wouldn’t have been as mad as I was about it if he didn’t about crash us in practice, which I thought was really unnecessary.
“It’s all good and he’ll get his for sure.”
RELATED: Pocono schedule | Who topped practices at Pocono?
Bowman finished seventh in the Coca-Cola 600, moving up to 10th in the standings. He was 21st in the standings a month ago, but finished second, second, second and seventh over the last month.
“He about crashed us in practice and then he drove into Turn 1 and tried to turn us,” Bowman added. “I don’t know. I like Joey a lot and it is what it is. We’re all racing hard. I’m not super mad about it. I just thought it was dumb that’s all.”
In an interview with NASCAR.com on Friday afternoon at Pocono, Bowman further explained his position and indicated it wasn’t strictly based on events that occurred at Charlotte.
“Just a couple situations throughout the course of the year and then in practice last Saturday and then Sunday in the race, it’s just like really uncalled for and unnecessary because I race him really clean,” Bowman said.
“When I say he’s going to get his, I’m not going to go wreck the guy. It’s I’m going to race him exactly how he races me. He can have those big saves up the race track or he can stand on the brakes not to wreck us both in the corner instead of me being the one to do it.
“Shoot, I feel like I’ll have plenty of opportunities and I’m just going to be like the elephant and when it’s convenient for me, he’ll get it back.”
Contributing: RJ Kraft, NASCAR.com
See the order the cars will go off during single-car qualifying at Pocono Raceway on Saturday for the Pocono 400. Qualifying is at 11:35 a.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Click the print icon to see the full list.
Name: Mandy
Current City: Zanesville, Ohio
Member Since: 2014
Getting to know Mandy
How did you first become interested in NASCAR?
“I first became interested in NASCAR as a little kid when I would watch the races with my mom. She has always been a fan and would watch the races and go to the Daytona 500 every year, so it became a time for my family to spend together.”
What is your favorite part about NASCAR?
“I enjoy the experience of NASCAR, from the track to watching or listening from home. I enjoy the thrill you get watching the cars get the green flag at the beginning of the race. The best thing for me is the ability NASCAR has to bring different types of people together in an environment where you feel safe expressing your differences in drivers and can have fun while doing it.”
What is your favorite NASCAR memory?
“My favorite NASCAR memory would be the first time I went to the Daytona 500. I had already been to other tracks like Michigan, Martinsville, and Darlington; but nothing can compare to the sheer awesomeness of the Daytona International Speedway! The first race of the season and hearing the cars coming off turn four to the green still gives me chills.”
Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?
Memorabilia: “I have a race day program from every race I have attended. I display them on custom shelves on my wall along with a signed Kurt Busch car and hat.”
Sponsor: “I would say at this time my favorite NASCAR sponsor would be M&Ms because I like the kid friendly image they provide the sport. It gives my younger child someone to relate to and it’s something they recognize.”
What are some of your hobbies?
“I enjoy camping, fishing, and any outdoor activities really. I like spending time with my family and traveling. I enjoy history and when I have time, I like reading a good historical book.”
FROM ALL OF US AT NASCAR, WE THANK MANDY FOR HER CONTINUED SUPPORT AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM HER IN 2019!
Welcome, N.C. (May 31, 2019)—World Wide Technology (WWT), a market-leading technology solutions provider, in collaboration with Victory Junction, a camp committed to enriching the lives of children with chronic medical conditions and serious illnesses, today announced a special collaboration. Through a leadership donation to Victory Junction made by WWT founder and chairman David Steward and his family, Victory Junction will partner with Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. , driver of the Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Wallace will drive the No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in a select number of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) events in 2019. Victory Junction will retain partner benefits to be used for the benefit of their campers. More importantly, WWT’s support of Victory Junction provides the camp with a profound cause-driven opportunity to raise awareness, and funds for their mission to provide life-changing camp experiences. The relationship also brings exciting opportunities for a key partnership with Wallace and Richard Petty Motorsports.
From the moment Wallace first spent time at Victory Junction in 2015, the smiles and laughter heard throughout the lush 84 acres in the rolling hills of Randleman, N.C. left an indelible mark and impact on the Mobile, Ala. native.
“Victory Junction not only gives opportunities to children that have boundaries in their lives — it gives them a chance to be a kid,” said Wallace. “It’s just an incredible place.”
The Petty family established Victory Junction in honor of Adam Petty. Since opening in 2004, Victory Junction has delivered over 50,000 camp experiences to children and their families, and in celebration of their 15th anniversary season, WWT will leverage its strategic partnership with Wallace and Richard Petty Motorsports to donate to Victory Junction the creation and development of an advertising, fundraising and call-to-action campaign, “Feel Your Heart Race.”
“I remember when I was a kid, having a lot of fun going out and doing things with my friends, and Victory Junction provides that and gives each child the opportunity to simply be a kid,” said Wallace. “The camp makes these kids feel as special as they truly are. This is a great opportunity for NASCAR fans to support Victory Junction and make every kid feel special — to feel empowered. Fifteen years is a great accomplishment and I want to do my part to help Victory Junction reach another 15 years.”
“Investments in diversity are critical for the long-term viability and future competitiveness of WWT. The same applies to the sport of racing,” Steward said. “As the only African American NASCAR driver in over 40 years, we have been honored to support Bubba Wallace. With the Victory Junction alliance, we will celebrate and enable kids with diverse challenges and perspectives to reach their fullest abilities. ‘What you have done for the least of of them, you have done for me.’ Given our family’s long history with Variety the Children’s Charity, BJC Health System and St. Jude’s, it was an easy decision to get involved with Victory Junction,. Diversity matters. That is why we support Bubba. That is why we support Victory Junction.”
“NASCAR fans connect with drivers like Bubba and the causes they care about, so we’re excited for this opportunity to partner with Bubba Wallace, WWT and RPM,” Chad Coltrane, Victory Junction president and CEO, said. “Thanks to the generosity of the Steward family and WWT, we’ll be able to share the message of how Victory Junction helps children living with serious illnesses and medical conditions, and how fans can support that mission. We anticipate that other like-minded corporations and foundations will join WWT in the Victory Junction alliance in support of Bubba.”
“The Steward family is blessed to support Victory Junction and their amazing work empowering kids with serious illnesses,” said David Steward II, Polarity, Ltd CEO. “Given our family’s shared values with Bubba, the Petty family and Victory Junction leadership, this partnership is a natural fit. We are grateful for the opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the lives of the Victory Junction kids and their families. Together, we will show a global audience that diversity in all its forms is important.”
The partnership with Richard Petty Motorsports will commence at the Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on June 2. The No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will feature a colorful Victory Junction paint scheme. Wallace made his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut, and his first appearance as a driver at Richard Petty Motorsports at the 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle” on June 11, 2017.
The Pocono Raceway, Mattioli family, and Petty family hold a strong connection. In 2001, Pocono Raceway paid tribute to Adam Petty by re-naming the garage area in his honor. The great-grandson of Lee Petty, grandson of Richard Petty, and son of Kyle Petty, Adam was the only fourth generation athlete to compete in the highest level of his sport.
The Pocono 400 will be broadcast live on FS1 and FOX Sports GO on Sunday, June 2 at 2:00 p.m. (EST). It will also broadcast live at 1:00 p.m. (EST) on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.