By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday! This weekend NASCAR travels to Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for “The Great American Getaway 400” at Pocono Raceway.
Also known as “The Tricky Triangle,” Pocono is a 2.5-mile triangle-shaped track, with each of its three turns modeled after other famous race tracks. It opened in 1968, with the Cup Series making their way there six years later. Richard Petty won the inaugural NASCAR race there in 1974.
Tomorrow’s race will be 160 laps long (for a total of 400 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 30 – 95 – 160. Pit road speed is 55 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 70 mph.
The NASCAR Cup Series has run 5,497 laps, for 6,838.91 miles so far this season. No driver has completed 100% of them, but Chase Elliott is just one lap short. Martin Truex Jr. is 5 laps short.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Pocono:
William Byron | 9.90 over 10 races (0 wins) |
Daniel Hemric | 10.00 over 2 races (0 wins) |
Ty Gibbs | 10.50 over 2 races (0 wins) |
Brad Keselowski | 10.92 over 26 races (1 win) |
Denny Hamlin | 11.53 over 34 races (7 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Pocono:
Ross Chastain | 27.63 over 8 races |
Corey LaJoie | 27.55 over 11 races |
Justin Haley | 27.00 over 3 races |
Austin Cindric | 27.00 over 2 races |
Michael McDowell | 26.14 over 21 races |
For the purposes of this article, despite Pocono being a completely unique track, we’re lumping it in with the Intermediate tracks.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:
Denny Hamlin | 11.99 over 326 races (27 wins) |
Kyle Larson | 12.22 over 164 races (15 wins) |
Kyle Busch | 12.31 over 342 races (29 wins) |
Joey Logano | 12.40 over 272 races (16 wins) |
Brad Keselowski | 12.43 over 263 races (19 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:
Zane Smith | 22.94 over 9 races |
JH Nemechek | 22.55 over 31 races |
Todd Gilliland | 21.35 over 37 races |
Noah Gragson | 21.23 over 26 races |
Harrison Burton | 21.22 over 37 races |
Denny Hamlin is the winningest driver at Pocono, having won 7 races there. He’s followed by Jeff Gordon with 6, and Bill Elliott with 5.
Notable drivers who have not won at Pocono:
Kyle Larson | (has won at 17 other tracks) |
William Byron | (has won at 10 other tracks) |
Christopher Bell | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
Ross Chastain | (has won at 4 other tracks) |
Three drivers earned their first ever Cup Series win at Pocono – Denny Hamlin in his 21st start, Chris Buescher in his 27th start, and Ryan Blaney in his 68th start.
Based on average finish, no drivers list Pocono as their BEST track or their WORST.
Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:
Drivers Faring Better than in 2023
Noah Gragson | +490 pts (incomplete 2023 season) |
Chase Elliott | +360 pts (incomplete 2023 season) |
Ty Gibbs | +232 pts |
Alex Bowman | +220 pts |
Todd Gilliland | +178 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2023
William Byron | -182 pts |
Kyle Busch | -179 pts |
Austin Dillon | -144 pts |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -122 pts |
Erik Jones | -102 pts (incomplete 2024 season) |
While some drivers may be doing better this year than they did in 2023, how does this year stack up against their entire career? This statistic does not include rookies, as this is their first full year in the Cup Series.
Drivers Having their BEST Career Year
Chase Elliott | 10.60 |
Tyler Reddick | 12.00 |
Alex Bowman | 13.80 |
Ty Gibbs | 14.10 |
Chase Briscoe | 17.35 |
Todd Gilliland | 18.90 |
Ryan Preece | 20.80 |
Drivers Having their WORST Career Year
Harrison Burton | 26.65 |
Austin Dillon | 25.20 |
Erik Jones | 22.28 |
Justin Haley | 21.90 |
Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year:
Josh Berry | 369 |
Carson Hocevar | 338 |
Zane Smith | 220 |
Kaz Grala | 166 |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Chevrolet | 725 |
Toyota | 716 |
Ford | 696 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Hendrick | 688 |
Joe Gibbs | 667 |
RFK | 598 |
23XI | 590 |
Penske | 564 |
Stewart-Haas | 555 |
Trackhouse | 540 |
RCR | 439 |
Front Row | 424 |
Spire | 422 |
Kaulig | 365 |
Legacy Motor Club | 358 |
Rick Ware | 344 |
JTG-Daugherty | 313 |
Wood Bros | 210 |
At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions. Here are the leaders this year:
Stage Point Leaders
Kyle Larson | 211 |
Denny Hamlin | 166 |
Ryan Blaney | 152 |
Christopher Bell | 148 |
Martin Truex Jr. | 147 |
Tyler Reddick | 134 |
Chase Elliott | 119 |
William Byron | 109 |
Brad Keselowski | 106 |
Ty Gibbs | 98 |
Milestone Watch
Austin Cindric | This will be his 100th Cup Series start |
Corey LaJoie | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Chase Elliott | Looking for his 20th Career Win |
Christopher Bell | Looking for his 10th Career Win |
Bubba Wallace | Looking for his 20th Career Top 5 |
Todd Gilliland | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Erik Jones | Looking for his 90th Career Top 10 |
Ty Gibbs | Looking for his 10th Career Top 5 |
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Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 125 races |
Chase Briscoe | 88 races |
Austin Dillon | 66 races |
Erik Jones | 65 races |
Bubba Walalce | 63 races |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 55 races |
Kyle Busch | 41 races |
Martin Truex Jr. | 36 races |
Michael McDowell | 32 races |
Chris Buescher | 30 races |
The race begins Sunday, July 14th at 2:30 pm EST (11:30 am PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
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