By Adam Carabine
Best Turnaround
For the last few years, Pocono has been circled on everyone’s calendars, and not for a good reason. Mostly due to the design of the Gen-6 car, Pocono had become the race you circle for a good Sunday afternoon nap, rather than excitement at the track.
With passing being as difficult as it is, a lot of times Pocono was more of a parade than a race, with drivers just driving around in, well, triangles, counting down the laps to the finish.
However, recent developments in the Next-Gen car have led this to become a fairly exciting race. I found this weekend’s Cup Series activity at the Tricky Triangle to be a lot of fun, actually. Yes, track position was still key, and it was still hard to pass. But the differences in strategy made this a race that I might circle on next year’s calendar - for a good reason this time.
With the size of the track, you’re usually able to pit under green without going down a lap. That opens up a wide variety of pitting strategies, which makes for a more exciting race. You have some teams running for stage points, other teams trying to jump the end of the stage and pitting with a few laps to go.
Track position is always key, which maybe could be frustrating to some, but the creative ways that the strategists and crew chiefs of the NASCAR world have come up with to find it and keep it? Chefs Kiss
In the end, Ryan Blaney had the winning strategy, coming down pit road before the end of Stage Two, giving him great track position to stay in front and earn his second win on the season - ahead of a perennial Pocono favourite, Denny Hamlin.
Worst Corner
Each of Pocono’s turns are meant to be modeled after other famous turns at other tracks. Turn One is modeled after Trenton Speedway, Turn Two is modeled after Indianapolis (which coincidentally is the next track on the NASCAR schedule), and Turn Three is modeled after The Milwaukee Mile.
It’s a neat idea, and I think Pocono adds a much-needed uniqueness to the schedule.
However, Turn Two at Pocono differs from Indianapolis in one way, and that’s that there’s a tunnel underneath it (as Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. breathe a sigh of relief). What that means is that the surface across the turn is bumpy. And it seems to keep getting worse.
It might be one of the most difficult turns in NASCAR, to be honest. When you see the cars bottoming out, or just struggling to maintain any sort of grip as they’re taking the corner, and then also remember that they’re going about 140mph around that same corner, you know there are some clenched buttocks in those cars.
I may have called it the Worst Corner, but I live for things like this. The drivers might see it as the worst, because it is one of the hardest, but from the fan perspective, I think we should encourage little nuances like this. I’m sure that in the coming years, Pocono will likely repave the track, and fix the bumps through that turn, and I think that’s a shame.
A lot of what gives each track its character are the little unique differences. Take Sonoma, for example. For years it was likely the most abrasive surface on the schedule, which meant that tire wear and tire management played a huge role in determining the winner. There are other tracks where the surface is pretty smooth and tire wear isn’t a factor.
Variety being the spice of life, we shouldn’t try and fix these little ‘problems,’ as they may be seen by track officials. We should embrace them, as that’s what makes the sport unique, and that’s what makes each week a new exciting adventure.
Worst Paint Scheme
I get that Busch is a huge sponsor name, and when they ask you to do something, you do it. But it feels weird to see Ross Chastain talking about any other fruit than watermelons! Surely Busch should come up with a watermelon flavour to really maximize the potential crossover here.
Best Stats
Each week we look at some of the underlying driver stats from the race. This week, obviously Ryan Blaney won the race, but he also led the most laps (44), and had the most fast laps (22) on the day.
Our statistical winner of the day was Denny Hamlin. I think he had the fastest car of the day, but just wasn’t able to catch Blaney at the end. He led 31 laps, had an average running position of 5th (best of any driver on Sunday), and was one position shy of a perfect sweep of both stages, earning him a field-best 19 extra points.
A strange anomaly in the underlying stats was Chase Elliott seemingly passing everything and everyone. His pass differential showed that he passed other cars 55 times more than he was passed, and had 68 quality passes (passes while running in the Top 15) - both of which were the tops in the field.
The worst pass differential on the day belonged to Josh Berry, though it wasn’t entirely because he drove poorly. At one point he hit a restart with a flat tire and had to let the entire field pass him, limp it around (while it stayed green, so passing stats continued to rack up) to pit road. To be honest, his P20 on the day was impressive considering this!
And finally, today’s 13 DNFs were the most we’ve had in a single Cup Series race this season (so far).
Worst Look
Stacking pennies, and stacking up the field, Corey LaJoie had an interesting day to say the least. Let’s just say he’s probably glad that there is a tunnel under Turn Two.
It’s been a rough go for Lajoie and the 7 team over the last few weeks, though there could be some good news on the horizon. Spire announced this week that Rodney Childers, a hall-of-fame crew chief who won 37 races with Kevin Harvick, will be joining the 7 team next year. The veteran leadership that Childers brings will likely help the 7 team to become more relevant week in and week out.
However, this past weekend, LaJoie turned Kyle Busch on a restart, sending Busch spinning back into the rest of the field, resulting in the end of multiple drivers’ days.
I don’t want to criticize the move itself, as I want to recognize that a lot of these incidents happen so fast in real-time, that your decision making has little room for error. In this case, I believe that LaJoie made a mistake and it cost a few of his fellow drivers their day.
What I don’t like is the attitude about it, as the entire team doubled down on it over the radio afterward.
“He hooked himself,” Lajoie said over the radio to his team, to which they responded: “Fuck him, we ain’t worried about him, we’re worried about ourselves.”
The team went even further, with LaJoie’s crew chief Ryan Sparks adding: “You let him have [the spot] the first time. The second time he got what he deserved.”
Alex Bowman showed us last week at Chicago what it’s like to own up to your mistakes, and he stayed classy throughout the entire post-race. Maybe the 7 team should have been taking notes.
Biggest Full Circle (er… Triangle?)
Ryan Blaney’s first ever Cup Series win came at Pocono seven years ago. It was his 68th start, in his second full-time season with Wood Brothers Racing. Fast forward to this Sunday, and he finds himself back in Victory Lane (as the defending Cup Series Champion, no less) to celebrate his 12th career victory.
But even before he earned his first Cup Series win, Pocono has been a place of fond memories for Blaney. Back when he was just a young pup, he was winning on the Pocono Quarter Midget Track, which sits just outside of Turn 3. The 1/14th-mile clay track still stands today, and runs regular Friday night Quarter Midget races.
Blaney’s win at Iowa earlier this season happened in front of 70+ of his own family. This week he won in front of his fiancée Gianna’s family.
While Pocono isn’t necessarily a ‘home track,’ for Blaney, it’s clear that his fondness for the facility led him to find that extra gear, and he was rewarded with a checkered flag.
Best Answer
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