“The Road to Richmond” will traverse the Tricky Triangle Sunday with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ second stop of the season at Pocono Raceway. The 500-miler at Pocono will mark the halfway point of the “Race to The Chase,” which culminates on Saturday night, September 10 at Richmond International Raceway with the Wonderful Pistachios 400 “One Last Race to Make The Chase.”
Known as the Tricky Triangle because of its unusual triangle shape featuring three turns of different radius and three different lengths of straight-aways, Pocono Raceway is a demanding track, testing a driver’s endurance and skill and the car’s horsepower. Chesterfield, Virginia native Denny Hamlin is always a favorite at Pocono with four career wins.
Hamlin, who currently sits 11th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings and would be the first driver to take a Wild Card position with one win, is looking to add to his win column this weekend. He has seven top-five finishes, eight top 10s and two pole awards to go along with his four victories at Pocono. With a series-best Driver Rating of 118.6 and an average finishing position of 9.2, Hamlin has a great shot to take the checkered flag on Sunday.
A couple drivers will battle Hamlin for Pocono supremacy, including five-time winner Jeff Gordon and two-time winner Kurt Busch. Both drivers are comfortably inside the top 12 and looking to gain the valuable bonus points that would come along with a victory. Gordon has five career wins at Pocono, with his most recent win coming in the June event. He returns to Pocono with 17 top fives, 26 top 10s and the fourth-best Driver Rating (101.3). Busch scored perfect Driver Ratings (150.0) in both of his victories at Pocono and has the third overall Driver Rating of 104.1 at the track.
For Gordon and Busch, the focus will be tackling the Tricky Triangle and getting to Victory Lane, but for Hamlin and several other drivers, the focus will remain on the Wild Card positions, without losing sight of the challenges on the track at Pocono.
Fresh off his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at Indianapolis, Paul Menard currently holds the final Wild Card spot, while sitting 14th in the points standings. David Ragan, currently 16th and Brad Keselowski, currently 21st, could rush in and take a Wild Card spot with a win this weekend.
Here is a look at drivers fighting for a Wild Card position and their stats at Pocono:
Paul Menard: While he does hold the finial Wild Card spot right now, Menard ranks 33rd in the Driver Ratings (55.5), with an average finish of 24.3. He did finish 14th in the June event, so there’s a chance he could break into the top-10 at the checkered flag.
David Ragan: He wasn’t the “favorite” for Daytona in July and he’s not the favorite this weekend either with a 61.7 Driver Rating that’s 27th overall. His average finish is 21.4, but he did bring home a top-20 finish in June.
Brad Keselowski: Probably the guy who has the most on the line, sitting 21st in points and needing to reach the top-20, with an additional win to even have a chance at a Wild Card spot. He’s 24th overall in the Driver Ratings (66.5) and has an average finish of 21.3. He finished 23rd at Pocono in June and will need to do better than that to break into the top-20 in points.
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