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Tyler Reddick emerges as new Truck Series points leader

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings

LONG POND, Pa. — As Kyle Busch sat sidelined with a broken right leg and left foot from February until May, the prevailing question was "When will he win again?"
 
Now it’s "Will he ever lose?"

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In a race that began with major drama and ended with three overtime periods, Busch took the checkered flag in Saturday’s Pocono Mountains 150 at Pocono Raceway, winning in his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start since returning from the Feb. 21 accident at Daytona that kept him out of action.
 
It was the fourth straight NASCAR national series victory for the driver of his own No. 51 Toyota. Busch won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on July 19 at New Hampshire and swept last weekend’s XFINITY and Sprint Cup events at Indianapolis.
 
On Sunday he will try for his fourth straight Cup victory in the Windows 10 400 at Pocono (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).
 
With his fuel cell running low, Busch had to survive three straight attempts at green-white-checkered-flag finishes, with accidents interrupting the first two. Finally, on Lap 69 — 22.5 miles beyond the scheduled distance of 150 miles — Busch crossed the finish line 1.225 seconds ahead of runner-up Kevin Harvick.
 
The victory was Busch’s first at Pocono in any series, and it marked the 10th straight year he has one at least one race in each of NASCAR’s top three touring series.
 
"It’s great to win and put Toyota in Victory Lane," Busch said. "It’s my first Pocono win as well, so that was cool."
 
Busch was happy he got to watch the last few restarts in his rear view mirror, rather than through his windshield.
 
"They weren’t too bad from my seat, but it looked like, beyond me, it was crazy back there," Busch said. "I’m glad we were in a really good position."
 
Behind Harvick, Tyler Reddick ran third and snatched the series lead from two-time defending champion Matt Crafton, who was embroiled in the early drama.
 
Crafton and Brad Keselowski, Reddick’s teammate and truck owner, were racing in close quarters on Lap 5 when Harvick took them three-wide to the inside. In what appeared to be a no-fault accident, the left-front of Keselowski’s Ford snagged the right rear quarter of Crafton’s Toyota.
 
Both trucks smacked the outside wall. After repairs, Crafton finished 28th, 56 laps in arrears. While his crew was working on the Tundra, Crafton fumed, blaming Keselowski for the wreck to the point of accusing the 2012 Sprint Cup champion of deliberately trying to help Reddick win the Truck Series title.
 
"I guess maybe he wants to win a championship with that 19 truck (Reddick)," Crafton said, vowing to prevent a Reddick championship from happening. "That’s your Cup champion? That’s pretty much an idiot."
 
Keselowski dismissed Crafton’s comments, asserting he wouldn’t want to win a title by wrecking an opponent.
 
"I don’t know if I came down (the track) or he came up," Keselowski said. "It’s unfortunate …These trucks are expensive, and they cost a lot to fix. I feel badly for Matt and his team, but I don’t really know what (I could have done) differently."

RELATED: Keselowski, Crafton lock horns
 
Reddick leaves Pocono with an 11-point lead over Crafton. Polesitter Erik Jones, who battled Busch, his team owner, for most of the afternoon but was the victim of late contact that caused the fourth of five cautions, rallied to finish 10th and is third in the standings, 16 points behind Reddick.
 
Cameron Hayley posted a career-best fourth-place finish, one spot ahead of last year’s Pocono winner, Austin Dillon. Johnny Sauter, Timothy Peters, Matt Tifft, Daniel Hemric and Jones completed the top 10.

Posted on by Staff Report

See where drivers will pit for the U.S. Cellular 250 presented by New Holland

RELATED: Complete lineup at Pocono 

The pit stall assignments are out for Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250 presented by New Holland at Iowa Speedway (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra, MRN, SiriusXM) with pole-sitter Daniel Suarez getting his first pick on pit road for the second time this season.

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After snagging the lead from Ryan Blaney in the final 30 seconds of qualifying, Suarez, in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, chose the last pit stall off pit road, giving him an easy exit during stops.

Suarez is not the only one with an open-stall advantage as Brendan Gaughan (starting third) will service his No. 62 Chevrolet in stall 20, which also has an opening ahead of it.

Erik Jones (starting fifth), Chris Buescher (starting sixth) and Kenny Wallace (starting seventh) all have openings in front of their pit stalls.

Blaney was second in qualifying and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford will pit in the fourth pit box.

Elliott Sadler, in the No. 1 Ford, has the pit stall even with the start-finish line at the Brickyard. Sadler will lineup in the 15th position.

Posted on by Staff Report

Suarez, Blaney starting on front row; Kenny Wallace qualifies seventh

RELATED: Full qualifying results

Daniel Suarez soared past Ryan Blaney in the final 30 seconds of qualifying to earn himself the second Coors Light Pole Award of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver had a fast lap of 133.441 mph in 23.606 seconds during the qualifing session on Saturday at Iowa Speedway. 

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Team Penske‘s Blaney will join Suarez on the front row during the U.S. Cellular 250 Presented by New Holland (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, Sirius XM) after coming in second on the leaderboard with a speed of 133.373 mph (23.618 seconds).

Rounding out the top three during the XFINITY Series qualifying session was veteran Brendan Gaughan in his No. 62 Chevrolet (132.861 mph). For his eighth start at Iowa Speedway, Gaughan is looking for his first win at the track.

The drivers of the No. 33 Chevrolet, Brandon Jones (132.750 mph), and the No. 54, Drew Herring (132.760 mph), came in fourth and fifth, respectively. Herring was filling in for Erik Jones, who was en route from Pocono Raceway after the Camping World Truck Series Pocono Mountains 150 and was unable to participate in any of the practices or the qualifying round.

XFINITY Series points leader, Chris Buescher, was next on the leaderboard as he qualified sixth with a fastest lap of 132.364 mph.

Kenny Wallace was right behind Buescher with a strong seventh-place starting spot. Wallace will be racing for the last time as a full-time NASCAR driver Saturday night at Iowa Speedway as he recently announced his retirement. He is looking for his 10th career win.

Posted on by Staff Report

See where drivers will pit for the Pocono Mountains 150 (1 p.m. ET, FS1)

The Camping World Truck Series pit stall assignments are out for Saturday’s Pocono Mountains 150 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) and the 21 Means 21 Qualifying Pole Award winner Erik Jones chose the first pit stall off pit road.

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Jones chose a pit stall that has an empty space in front of him, as did Kyle Busch (stall 7), Austin Dillon (stall 12), Kevin Harvick (stall 17), John Hunter Nemechek (stall 22), John Wes Townley (stall 31) and Daniel Hemric (stall 37).

Caleb Roark chose the first stall onto pit road (stall 40) with three empty spaces behind him.

Posted on by Staff Report

KBM teammates will line up 1-2

RELATED: Full Pocono lineup

Erik Jones won the 21 Means 21 Pole Qualifying Award at Pocono Raceway on Saturday and will lead the field to green in the Camping World Truck Series Pocono Mountains 150 (Saturday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). 

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This is the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver’s first pole at Pocono and his fourth of the 2015 season.

Lining up next to Jones on the front row will be the 18-year-old’s boss and mentor, Kyle Busch, who qualified second.

Truck Series points leader and two-time series champion Matt Crafton will start the race third. 

Brad Keselowski will line up fourth. 

Defending race winner Austin Dillon qualified fifth for the race. Dillon and Kevin Harvick, who qualified seventh, are the only two previous Pocono winners in the field. 

The Truck Series ran a single-car qualifying format on Saturday, which they were supposed to run at Kentucky Speedway a few weeks ago before it got rained out.

Driver of the No. 03 Timothy Viens failed to qualify. 

Tune into FOX Sports 1 at 1 p.m. ET as the green flag drops for the Pocono Mountains 150 (MRN, SiriusXM).

Posted on by Staff Report

Edwards, Busch fastest among “Tricky Triangle” competitors

RELATED: Practice 3 results | Sunday’s Pocono starting lineup

Kyle Busch slapped the right side wall hard midway through the final Sprint Cup Series practice session at Pocono Raceway on Saturday.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver brought his No. 18 Toyota back to the garage for major damage fixes. After the repairs, his team sent the Coors Light Pole Award winner back out onto the track — where he zoomed to the top of the leaderboard.

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In an all-JGR sweep across two sessions, Busch joined Carl Edwards as a practice topper with a best speed of 175.240 mph. “Rowdy”, winner of three straight races, was followed by his brother, Kurt, at 175.067 mph.

Edwards (174.920 mph), Kevin Harvick (174.771 mph) and Jimmie Johnson (174.584 mph) rounded out the top five.

Early in the session, Jeb Burton lost control of his No. 26 ride and rocketed toward pit road, hitting the inside wall in a bizarre accident.

“That was my fault,” Burton told NASCAR on NBC. “ … I just screwed up.”

Burton will switch to a backup car and start at the tail of the field.

Tony Stewart’s team also decided to switch out the transmission in his No. 14 Chevrolet. He was 18th in the session at 173.157 mph.

Tune in Sunday for the Windows 10 400 at Pocono (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra).

Practice 2 | Results

Joe Gibbs Racing continued its streak of recent dominance, placing its four drivers atop the leaderboard in Saturday’s first Sprint Cup Series practice session at Pocono Raceway.

It’s Kyle Busch that has won the past three races, but it was Carl Edwards (175.812 mph) that earned the best speed nod. Matt Kenseth was next at 175.418 mph, followed by Busch (175.408 mph) and Denny Hamlin (175.298 mph). Busch will start first in Sunday’s Windows 10 400 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra) after winning Friday’s Coors Light Pole Award.

Kurt Busch (175.285 mph) and Ryan Newman (175.104 mph) rounded out the top five.

Martin Truex Jr., the spring Pocono winner, was 11th at 174.547 mph.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. swept the "Tricky Triangle" last year but has not found that same speed this weekend, placing 23rd in Saturday’s opening session at 173.718 mph.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Ryan Reed post-race: ‘I told him we can race like that and I’m totally fine’

NEWTON, Iowa — What opened up as a reasonably clean, meandering NASCAR XFINITY Series race turned into a regular Saturday night showdown, a swashbuckling smashfest in three acts that left bruises on fenders and egos alike at Iowa Speedway.
 
After traveling 205 of an overtime 260 laps with a harmless three caution periods, short-track bedlam erupted in the late stages, potentially re-opening an old rift between teammates, ruffling the feathers of the defending series champion and sparking a post-race shove further back in the pack.

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The earliest sign that the U.S. Cellular 250 would not go quietly into the good Iowa night came with 21 laps left in regulation, when reigning champ Chase Elliott tangled with rookie Brandon Jones on the frontstretch in a contest for sixth place. Elliott, already frustrated by his late fade as the only front-runner to make a two-tire stop in the last exchange, keyed his radio to tell his JR Motorsports crew: "I’m pretty upset right now. That’s all I’m going to say."
 
Told that Jones accepted full blame over the his own radio, Elliott replied: "Yeeeeppp. They can tell that to the points tally."
 
Jones was apologetic again after the race, telling NASCAR.com that he felt he was clear as he slid up the race track on the exit of Turn 4. He said he didn’t have a chance to issue an apology in person with ninth-place finisher Elliott after the race.
 
"I think he probably went back to his hauler, but I’ll get back up with him (later) and try to explain what happened, for sure," said Jones, who finished 20th in just his second XFINITY start. "Me and Chase are really good friends and I didn’t mean for that to happen, but can’t do anything now about it. We’ll go to the next one."
 
The next one in terms of post-race flare-ups should make for another interesting team meeting this week at Roush Fenway Racing. Points leader Chris Buescher and teammate Bubba Wallace, who locked horns in May at Dover International Speedway, collided again with two laps left, pushing the race into overtime. Wallace, damaged in an earlier incident with Erik Jones entering pit road, caught the worst of it with fellow teammate Ryan Reed and the retiring Kenny Wallace sliding behind him in the aftermath.
 
Wallace dismounted from his No. 6 Ford post-race, exchanged words with Buescher’s crew chief Scott Graves, and leaned in to Buescher’s window for a succinct post-race talk.
 
"I think he said, ‘good job.’ I just grabbed him really quick," Wallace said. "We screwed up so bad in this race. It was miserable. I let my guys down. I got into Erik there on pit road and that put us in a corner. Just hate it, man. I screwed up tonight. Just paying for it."
 
Asked about any potential tension within the Roush ranks, Wallace smiled and shrugged: "He’s racing. We’re racing hard. That’s it. Nothing to it. I just told him good job and we’ll go to Watkins Glen."
 
Buescher, the winner here at the .875-mile track in May, was aiming for a rare Iowa season sweep, but on the first green-white-checkered attempt that followed, his No. 60 was heavily damaged by the sliding car of Brennan Poole. He limped home to a 13th-place finish, two spots behind Wallace, but retained his lead in the XFINITY standings.
 
"Our guys did a heck of a job and we brought back a heck of a car to Iowa and we should’ve been in really good contention for this thing," Buescher said. "You know, it’s just tough. We had so many restarts there late. Guys are just, they’re tough — just dive-bomb it in there and it’s tough."
 
Pressed for specifics about his contact with Wallace, Buescher declined to tell: "I’m not talking about that one. … Nope. Nothing to say."
 
Caught in part of the crossfire was Reed, who soldiered to a 19th-place finish and had fireworks of his own to come. In trying to assess the hard-nosed racing between Buescher and Wallace, he said he felt certain the issues would be resolved in time.
 
"They’re both great drivers and I have a lot of respect for both of them and get along with both of ’em. I can’t really get in the middle of it, but at the same time, I understand how it can be racing teammates," Reed said. "You want to run everyone as hard as you can, just seems, like you said, they’re magnets and I’m not sure why it’s like that. They’re both great drivers, I have a lot of respect for them, and I’m sure they’ll get through it."
 
Reed’s issues weren’t over, though, as his No. 16 Ford scraped across the start-finish line in 19th-place at the checkered flag. Very little cool-down happened on the cool-down lap, with Reed marching over to the No. 4 Chevrolet and giving its driver, Ross Chastain, a swift shove.
 
"There were a lot of wrecks there at the end. It’s part of short-track racing," Reed said. "My getting at the 4, like I said in my other interview, it’s kind of the pot calling the kettle black because I got into the 20 (Kenny Wallace), but the 20 was very unintentional. I just went up to the 4 and he just flat-out told me, ‘Hey man, it was a green-white-checkered,’ so I have a hard time with that. I have a really hard time with going in there and just intentionally banzai-ing someone and punting them out of the way. It’s fine. I told him we can race like that and I’m totally fine with that."
 
Chastain claimed said he wanted to see video of the incident before making a judgment call.
 
"I haven’t seen a replay yet, so I can’t say too much. I don’t want to because I don’t want to overstep what I don’t know," Chastain told NASCAR.com. "What I remember — and it might be completely wrong — is I got to the bottom of (Turn) 1 and the 16 was right outside of me. I thought we were pretty low on the race track and we might’ve gotten together a little bit. It looks like there’s a little mark on my fender, and I just got by him and there was mayhem and chaos everywhere. I don’t know. Until I see a replay, I don’t know.
 
"Me and him have raced hard all year. It’s good for us that we’re racing against guys like that because people think we shouldn’t be, but we are. When we come to a track like Iowa, we can show what this team’s made out of. I’m proud of my guys. I hate it that he got torn up, but I didn’t feel like I was too in the wrong, but I’ll have to watch a replay to see."

Posted on by Zack Albert

Saturday’s race start of favorable stretch for points leader

NEWTON, Iowa — The last time Chris Buescher visited Iowa Speedway, he was savoring the laurels of his second career victory and leaving the track as the new NASCAR XFINITY Series points leader.

Back in Iowa some 10 weeks and eight races later, he’s still atop the XFINITY heap without much major movement in the standings since. With the season entering its second half, no one — either Buescher or the other title contenders — has been able to manufacture a significant charge.

"I hope it’s us," Buescher said of the likelihood of a late-season points swing. "There’s really no telling right now. I don’t know where these next races are going to go. I know from our side of it, we’re prepared for it and we are looking forward to it. We feel like this could be a really good stretch for us. We’ll see how it plays out."

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Buescher aims to retain or build upon his 25-point lead over defending series champion Chase Elliott in Saturday night’s U.S. Cellular 250 presented by New Holland (8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, MRN, SiriusXM). He’ll try to accomplish that goal at a .875-mile track that’s been kind to his Roush Fenway Racing team (five wins in the last nine Iowa races) and Ford teams in general (seven wins in 11 Iowa races total).

"We’ve had some pretty good runs here in the XFINITY Series. It’s just a place that we seem to have something that works pretty well for all of our teams," Buescher said. "We come here each and every time and we always have some kind of shot with one of our team cars to be able to get a win. It is nice. It’s a good short track. We love coming to race here. It puts on some of the best racing that we have all year."

Buescher’s springtime spike — which included a stretch of eight top-10 finishes in a 10-race span — has cooled off somewhat as summer temperatures have risen. The 22-year-old Texas native has gone four races without a top 10 and hasn’t led a lap in six weeks.

But if anything, Buescher said the five races coming up on the XFINITY schedule might be considered a favorable stretch. Among them are three road courses (Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio and Road America) and two short tracks (Iowa and Bristol). He’ll also return to Mid-Ohio as the defending race winner, aiming to repeat at the site of his first XFINITY victory.

With five drivers within 57 points of the lead, it would be hard to blame Buescher for playing the racing equivalent of a prevent defense for the 15 races left in the 33-race schedule. But Buescher insists that the No. 60 team’s approach is unlikely to waver down the stretch.

"The points are something you have to pay attention to, to an extent," Buescher said. "I don’t particularly like points racing. It’s not our focus. That’s not the one thing that we’re going to go chase each and every week. We’re out here to go win races and be competitive every week, and if you can do that, you end up in a really good spot in the points battle and you can play it from there. So we’re to a point in the year where we’ve put ourselves in the right situations.

"We’ve got a little bit of a cushion — not much — and we can look at that when we go to races. For weekends that we don’t have the best run or the run we were hoping for — like we had at Indy, we were able to salvage and not lose much. When we get into races like that, you have to pay attention to it and know that when it comes down to the end, every point’s going to count. At the same time, when we’re trying to go out here and win these races, you can’t lean on the points too much. You’ve got to go try and maximize everything you can. If you can win a race, you’re going to get more points than anybody else."

Posted on by Fraser Nye

MWR co-owner not leaving team, ‘taking anything’ to CGR

LONG POND, Pa. — Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Rob Kauffman said on Saturday at Pocono Raceway that he plans to integrate MWR and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, in which he has purchased an interest.

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Meeting with media for the first time since MWR issued a statement two days ago that the team and CGR would "operate separately and compete agains each other for the remainder of the 2015 season" while "evaluating ways to field the most competitive race teams possible" for 2016 and beyond, Kauffman emphasized that he continued to work with Waltrip.

"First and foremost, I think it’s important to realize that Michael and I own Michael Waltrip Racing," Kauffman said. "We control Michael Waltrip Racing together. We’re business partners. We’re great personal friends. So any idea that like I’m leaving or taking anything is actually misplaced. 

"What we’re really doing is integrating the businesses, trying to get the most competitive product on track, do the best for all of our partners and that’s really our focus. It’s a competitive business as everybody knows. It’s competitive on track as well as off track."

The timing of the statement was an attempt to keep both organizations focused on 2015, "getting hopefully one to two cars in the Chase and doing a great job for our partners," Kauffman said.

"We’ve been very excited about the developments over the summer we’ve had with the teams," Kauffman continued. "They’re running well. And there’s hundreds of people working back in Charlotte. We want to keep them focused on what they need to do."

Through the first 20 races, CGR’s Jamie McMurray sits 11th in the provisional Chase Grid, the top winless driver in the points standings. MWR’s Clint Bowyer holds the final spot in the Chase in 16th place. McMurray’s teammate, Kyle Larson, is 20th, and MWR’s David Ragan is 24th in points. With all four teams in the top 30 in the standings, each one is a victory away from making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Looking to the future of the two race teams, Kauffman said those plans are still under consideration with their performance helping determine 2016 plans.

"In terms of our plans, whether we have three cars, four cars; two roofs, one roof, that’s all yet to be determined," Kauffman said. "And how we do in the 2015 season will help determine whether that happens. If we do a great job, that will be one outcome. If we do a less great job, probably another. I think it will be pretty obvious to people."

Posted on by Fraser Nye

Catch up before Sunday’s Windows 10 400 (1:30 p.m ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM)

What: 42nd annual Windows 10 400

Where: Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pennsylvania

When: Sunday, August 2, 2015

TV/Radio: NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR

Distance: 160 laps (400 miles)

Green Flag: 1:46 p.m. ET

Pit Road Speed: 55 mph

Caution Car Speed: 70 mph

Fuel Window: 32 laps

Competition caution: Lap 15 (Track was washed Saturday night)

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On The Front Row (Full lineup)

1. Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota (178.416 mph)
2. Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet (178.168 mph)

To the rear

Jeb Burton, BK Racing No. 26 Toyota (going to backup car)

Failed to Qualify

None

Fastest in Practice (Full practice results)
First Practice: Brad Keselowski, Team Penske No. 2 Ford (176.606 mph)
Second Practice: Carl Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota (175.812 mph)
Third Practice: Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota (175.240 mph)

Bumps be gone

Two months ago, drivers complained about bumps in Turn 2 over Pocono’s new waterfall entrance. The track paved over the section, and the racers have recognized the work done. "They did a great job repairing or improving the bumps and issues they had over in the Tunnel (Turn) especially on the apron," said an appreciative Dale Earnhardt Jr. But June winner Martin Truex Jr. may have lost an advantage, saying, "A few differences in the race track with the Tunnel Turn being smooth again, I think that certainly makes it a little bit easier on everybody else."

Second consecutive sweep?

Earnhardt won both races in 2014, and Truex will attempt to become the eighth driver to complete the season sweep at the Tricky Triangle. In addition to the two Juniors, the six other drivers who have achieved the Pocono sweep are Bobby Allison (1982), Bill Elliott (1985), Tim Richmond (1986), Bobby Labonte (1999), Jimmie Johnson (2004) and Denny Hamlin (2006). 

Four-Time’s last time

The all-time wins leader at Pocono, Jeff Gordon, will attempt to make his seventh trip to Richard Petty Victory Lane in his last start at the track. Gordon’s last win at the Tricky Triangle came three years ago in this race when he snapped a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott for lead. The facility incorporated "GORDON" into the start/finish line, and it has a "Thank you Jeff 24" sign greeting patrons and race teams as they drive out of the track under the Tunnel Turn.

Birthday bonanza

A win would be an early birthday present for Gordon, who turns 44 next Tuesday, as well as his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, who turns 40 next Wednesday when fellow Hendrick crew chief, Chad Knaus, turns 44 as well. Last year’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year winner, Kyle Larson, celebrated his 23rd birthday on Friday, and 38th-place qualifier Jeb Burton will join him at that age next Thursday. A two-time Pocono winner, Kurt Busch, turns 37 next Tuesday.

Four in a row

Coors Light Pole Award winner Kyle Busch will attempt to become the first driver to win four consecutive Sprint Cup Series races since Jimmie Johnson won four Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races in a row in the fall of 2007. Other drivers with wins across a month of consecutive Sundays include NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough. Others to turn the trick have been Harry Gant, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Billy Wade. If Busch wins, he’ll go for five in a row at Watkins Glen and try to become the first driver to accomplish the feat since another NASCAR Hall of Famer, Bobby Allison, did it in 1971. Richard Petty holds the record with 10.

Taking the fifth

Kyle Busch and Harvick haven’t won on five of 23 Sprint Cup Series tracks, and Pocono is one they have in common. In addition to the Tricky Triangle, Harvick is winless at Dover, Kentucky, Sonoma and Texas while Busch hasn’t gone to Victory Lane at Charlotte, Homestead-Miami, Kansas and Martinsville.

Chevy seeks milestone

The Bowtie Brigade has won six consecutive races at the track, and if it wins on Sunday, it will make the 750th victory for the manufacturer. Seventy-six different drivers have won in a Chevy, which has claimed 38 manufacturer titles including the last 12. Gordon boasts the most wins with 92, followed by Johnson with 74, Earnhardt (73), Waltrip (60) and Yarborough (48).

Next new winner? 

Through 20 races, 10 drivers have won their way into the Chase with Kyle Busch on the cusp of making the top 30 and becoming the 11th driver to make the playoffs, leaving five spots with six events until the field is set. Of top 30 drivers without a win in 2015, Larson has the best average finish of eighth. The second-best driver in that group is two-time Pocono winner, Stewart, with a 12.1 average finish. Another former winner, Ryan Newman, is third with a 12.4 average finish.

Double-duty dudes

JJ Yeley skipped Saturday’s practices to head to Iowa and run the XFINITY race. Four drivers competed in Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono: Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Harvick and Brad Keselowski. 

Driver Rating

Best driver rating average at Pocono based on races since 2005:

1. Denny Hamlin, 108.3
2. Jimmie Johnson, 106.9
3. Kurt Busch, 105.9

Defending race winner

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet

Former Pocono winners in the field

Jeff Gordon (6); Denny Hamlin (4); Jimmie Johnson (3); Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards (2); Ryan Newman, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr. (1).