Hamlin Seeks Series Sweep At Pocono

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota) has plenty of reasons

for optimism as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series arrives at Pocono

Raceway for this Sunday’s Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500.

So do Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge), Kyle Busch

(No 18 M&M’s Toyota) and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet).

Adding to the dynamics, the conclusion of Sunday’s race

marks the completion of the fifth of 10 races that make up the Race

to the Chase. Only five races will remain for drivers to make it into

the top 12 of the standings, which would make them eligible for the

Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

After June’s series stop at Pocono, Hamlin was in Victory Lane

for the fourth time in 2010, and had jumped from fifth to third in the

series standings. It also was his fourth career Pocono win, tying him

with Gordon as the leading active Pocono race winners.

Hamlin seems to have a charmed relationship with the unor-

thodox track, a triangle formed by three turns of different radius and

three different lengths of straight-aways. He scored his first and

second career wins at Pocono, sweeping both events in 2006. And

he’s the defending champion of Sunday’s Sunoco/American Red

Cross 400.

“Pocono is really unlike any other track, Hamlin said. “The turns all have their own characteristics but

they are all relatively flat and those are the kinds of corners that I feel I’m best on.

“Turn 1 is a very wide sweeping corner but it’s got a little bit of banking to it, so you need to have a car

that basically will stay up on the banking.

“The second corner, the tunnel turn, is very flat and it’s very fast. That’s really where you can gain a

lot of time on guys. And you know, it drives like a road-course kind of corner.

“The other corner is like a short track – almost like Phoenix in Turns 3 and 4 – it’s very flat and very

wide and it comes out sweeping to the long straightaway.

“It’s a lot like a mixture of race tracks, a track that rewards a guy who is very smooth on corner entry

and I think that’s where it kind of plays into my strengths.

“Pocono is also tricky because it’s easy to overlook how complex the track is and how fast you are

moving. You can’t take anything for granted at Pocono. If you lose focus, it will make life tough for you.”

While Gordon hasn’t won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race in more than a year, his four career Pocono

wins and two Pocono poles lend him some optimism.

“This track is a very challenging race track and always has been,” said Gordon. Owner of Hendrick

Motorsports, Rick Hendrick, has a total 11 Pocono wins dating back to 1986.

Kurt Busch has a pair of Pocono wins (2005, 2007). He qualified fourth, led three laps, and finished

sixth in June’s event. Busch’s car owner, Roger Penske, has a total of eight Pocono wins with four differ-

ent drivers, including Busch in 2007.

Kyle Busch has yet to win at Pocono but proved in June that he and his team have the place figured

out. Busch won his first Pocono Coors Light Pole Award in June, led three times for 32 laps, and finished

second to Hamlin.

The Race: The Sunoco Red Cross

Pennsylvania 500

The Place: Pocono Raceway

(2.5-mile triangle)

The Date: Sunday, August 1

The Time: 1 p.m. (ET)

Race Distance: 200 laps/500 miles

TV: ESPN, Noon (ET)

Radio: Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128,

WZZO-FM 95.1

2009 Polesitter: None (weather)

2009 Winner: Denny Hamlin

Schedule Prior To Race Day:

Friday—Practice, 12-1:30 p.m. and

Qualifying, 3:40 p.m. Saturday—Practice,

9-9:50 a.m. and 11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m.

Track Contact:

Bob Pleban, (570) 646-2300;

bpleban@poconoraceway.com

RACE 21 @ POCONO RACEWAY

• Race To The Chase Heats Up At: Pocono Raceway

• Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania Ready For It’s 100th Race

• McMurray Riding Major Momentum

• Loop Data: Harvick Hunting For Bonus Points

Denny Hamlin celebrated his fourth

win at Pocono Raceway earlier this

season.

This week’s Sunoco Red Cross Pennsyl-

vania 500 will be the 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup

Series race held in the Commonwealth of Penn-

sylvania. Sunday’s event also is the 66th series

event at Pocono Raceway.

Bill Elliott is the all-time leading Pocono

race winner with five victories there. Jeff Gordon

and Denny Hamlin lead active drivers with four

wins. Inactive drivers with four Pocono wins in-

clude Tim Richmond, Rusty Wallace and Darrell

Waltrip.

Active drivers with three Pocono wins in-

clude Bobby Labonte (No. 71 TaxSlayer.com

Chevrolet) and Geoff Bodine (No. 36 Tommy

Baldwin Racing Chevrolet). Inactive drivers

with three Pocono wins include Bobby Allison

and Dale Jarrett.

Langhorne Speedway, a one-mile dirt circle,

hosted 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races between

1949 and 1957. Herb Thomas and Dick Rathmann

were the series leading winners there with

three each.

Lincoln Speedway, a .500-mile dirt oval in

New Oxford, Pa., hosted seven events between

1955 and 1965, with Buck Baker winning two.

Heidelberg Raceway, a .500-mile dirt oval in

Carnegie, Pa. near Pittsburgh, held four events

between 1949 and 1960. Lee Petty won two.

The Reading (Pa.) Fairground’s .500-mile

dirt oval hosted an event in 1958 and 1959. Both

were won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior

Johnson.

Pennsylvania tracks that hosted one race

were the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds, .500-mile dirt

track (race won by Herb Thomas in 1953); New

Bradford Speedway, .333-mile dirt oval (race won

by Junior Johnson in 1958); Pine Grove Speed-

way, a .500-mile dirt oval in Shippenville, Pa.

(race won by Tim Flock in 1951); and Williams

Grove Speedway, a .500-mile dirt oval that

hosted an event in 1954, won by Herb Thomas.

With his second win of the season coming in

the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Jamie

McMurray (No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker

Boats Chevrolet) picked up 30 points and

moved from 18th to 16th in the series standings.

He is now 151 points behind current 12th-place

driver Clint Bowyer (No. 33 Wheaties Fuel

Chevrolet).

After this Sunday’s Sunoco Red Cross

Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway, five races

will remain for drivers to make the Chase for the

NASCAR Sprint Cup.

McMurray has had flashes of success at

Pocono, most notably a Coors Light Pole Award

in 2005. But he’s posted only three career top-10

finishes there with a best finish of ninth in 2004

and 2008. He also finished 10th at Pocono in

2005. In June’s event, McMurray qualified 18th

but finished 36th due to an accident.

A strong performance at Pocono this week-

end could extend the momentum his Earnhardt

Ganassi team needs to excel through the Race

to the Chase.

“Pocono is a unique track… and it’s the only

triangular race track we compete on all season

long,” McMurray said. “The unique layout of the

track forces us to look at a few different aspects

of our race car. Horsepower is the key at Pocono

and you need to have a fast and powerful car

since there are three different straightaways.”

McMurray noted that teammate Juan Pablo

Montoya (No. 42 Target Chevrolet) posted

finishes of eighth and second at Pocono in 2009,

which, with information sharing, could assist his

own team’s performance at “The Tricky Triangle”.

McMurray and principle team owner Chip

Ganassi have shared a history-making season

so far. At Indianapolis, McMurray became only

the third driver in 17 years to win both the Day-

tona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season.

The others are Dale Jarrett in 1996 and Jimmie

Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) in 2006.

Ganassi now has won an unprecedented

single-season “Triple Crown” that includes the

Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 (with Dario

Franchitti) and the Brickyard 400.

The Tracks That Make Up The 100

NASCAR Sprint Cup Races In Pennsylvania

Tracks # of Races

Pocono Raceway 65

Langhorne Speedway 17

Lincoln Speedway 7

Heidelberg Raceway 4

Reading Fairgrounds 2

Bloomsburg Fairgrounds 1

New Bradford Speedway 1

Pine Grove Speedway 1

Williams Grove Speedway 1

Four-time and defending NASCAR Sprint

Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and his

Chad Knaus-led team seem to be comfortably

aligned for a seventh consecutive appearance in

the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Since joining the series full-time in 2002,

Johnson has finished no lower than fifth in the

final standings. He arrives at Pocono Raceway

fourth in points and a five-win season to date.

With his 22nd-place finish last week at Indi-

anapolis, Johnson placed outside the top 20 in

his third consecutive race. He had finished 25th

at Chicagoland Speedway and 31st at Daytona.

The slide has dropped Johnson from second to

fourth in the point standings race. He hasn’t

posted three straight finishes outside the top 20

since Aug. 8 - Aug. 22, 2004 with finishes of 36th

at Indianapolis, and 40th at Watkins Glen and

Michigan.

“Man, you just never know each week,”

Johnson said.

“It doesn’t matter if the No. 11 (Denny

Hamlin) car has been on a roll at times and

we’ve been on a roll at times and the No. 29

(Kevin Harvick) whoever it is, nobody seems to

be able to sustain (good finishes) for a long time.

“The only saving grace I see right now is

that no one has been able to link together a long

stretch (of good finishes) outside of the No. 29.

He’s been awfully tough. Good thing this isn’t the

Chase. That’s a good thing I can look at. But we’ll

move on. We’ll be stronger. There’s no doubt

about it.”

Jamie McMurray celebrates after winning the

Brickyard 400 last weekend at Indianapolis

Motor Speedway.

Six races remain until

the field is set for NAS-

CAR’s “playoffs” – the

Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Though no driver has clinched a spot yet, a

number of them are mathematically comfortable.

For those few, it’s time to win. After race No. 26

at Richmond, the top 12 drivers will have their

points reset to 5,000, with 10 additional bonus

points added for each win during the regular

season.

Only 60 potential Chase bonus points re-

main.

Kevin Harvick (No. 31 Shell/Pennzoil

Chevrolet) certainly belongs in that “pretty safe

bet” group. The points leader has a hefty 536

point lead over the Chase cutoff, meaning only a

titanic slump would knock him out of the top 12.

He also has a 184-point lead over second place.

Problem is, if the Chase were to start today,

that lead would evaporate – and turn into a defi-

cit.

Harvick has two victories (for 20 bonus

points), which trails Jimmie Johnson’s and

Denny Hamlin’s five wins, and 50 bonus points.

The statistics suggest a third win could

come soon. Harvick certainly has the momentum,

scoring four top fives in the last five races – in-

cluding a runner-up finish last Sunday in Indian-

apolis. In those four finishes, Harvick has an

average finish of 2.8, a Driver Rating of 109.7, an

Average Running Position of 8.8 and a Laps in

the Top 15 percentage of 87.1%.

Harvick’s statistics at Pocono are similarly

stout. He finished fourth there in the series’ first

trip to the triangle, scoring a Driver Rating of

113.2, an Average Running Position of 6.4, while

running 195 of the 204 laps in the top 15.

He also cleared a hurdle that has blocked

him for the previous 18 Pocono races — he led a

lap. Harvick led five laps last June, the first of his

19-race Pocono career.

KURT’S ANGLE: Kurt Busch is in the

same situation. Currently a healthy 262 points

inside the top 12, Busch needs to focus on bonus

points. They could come this weekend. Busch

has two perfect Driver Ratings of 150.0 at Po-

cono, in his wins in 2005 and 2007.

With good performances over the next six

races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 AMP Energy/

National Guard Chevrolet) could find his way

into the top 12 in the series standings which

would earn him a 2010 Chase for the NASCAR

Sprint Cup berth.

Earnhardt’s struggles last Sunday at Indian-

apolis widened the gap between himself and a

place in the top 12.

In the process of posting an Average Run-

ning Position of just 18.4, Earnhardt was col-

lected in the late-race accident of Juan Pablo

Montoya, and dropped him to a 27th-place fin-

ish.

Arriving at Indianapolis, Earnhardt was only

15 points outside the top 12. After the event, he

dropped to 14th in points, 93 points outside the

Chase cutoff.

Earnhardt’s best career day so far at Po-

cono came in 2007, when he won the Coors

Light Pole Award and finished second in the

August event.

Rebounding with that type of day at Pocono

following last week’s disappointment would go a

long way to bringing an optimistic outlook back to

Earnhardt and the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports

team.

Like his Hendrick Motorsports teammate,

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin (No. 5 Go-

Daddy.com Chevrolet) also is in the mix for a

Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berth. Martin

had a successful day at Indianapolis without

much fanfare, qualifying third, leading once for 10

laps and finishing 11th to move from 14th to 13th

in the standings.

He arrives at Pocono 62 points behind Clint

Bowyer. A fourth-place finish helped Bowyer

stay inside the top 12. Still, as the driver occupy-

ing the final Chase eligible spot, Bowyer is in the

most vulnerable position of Chase eligible driv-

ers.

Bowyer and Tony Stewart (No. 14 Old

Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet) waged a battle

for fourth place last week, with Bowyer coming

out on top. Stewart arrives in Pocono ninth in

points.

Dale Earnhardt

Jr. is currently

14th in the

NASCAR Sprint

Cup Series driver

standings, 93

points out of

12th.

Mark Martin is 13th in the standings

►Crossing Over:

At least three full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup

Series drivers will be crossing over to the other

side of the garage at Pocono Raceway this

weekend.

Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser

Ford), and Elliott Sadler (No. 19

Stanley Ford) have entered Pocono’s inaugural

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event, the

Pocono Mountains 125, Saturday.

Hamlin will drive the No. 15 Billy Ballew

Motorsports Toyota; Kahne the No. 18 Kyle

Busch Motorsports/Toyota Dealers Toyota,

and Sadler the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc./Grand

Touring Vodka Chevrolet.

►Manufacturers’ Standings:

Chevrolet continues to hold sway in the

manufacturers’ standings after Jamie McMurray

won at Indianapolis last week, bringing Chevro-

let’s win total to 10 this season.

Toyota currently is second, 20 points be-

hind Chevrolet. Toyota teams have posted eight

wins this season.

Chevrolet has the most wins at Pocono

Raceway with 24, but Denny Hamlin gave Toy-

ota its first two wins at the 2.5-mile track, winning

in ‘09 and earlier this season.

►Fast Facts:

Nine drivers in the current top 12 of the

NASCAR Sprint Cup standings finished in the top

12 of the June event at Pocono Raceway.

They are, in order of current point standings:

1. Kevin Harvick, 3. Denny Hamlin, 4. Jimmie

Johnson, 5. Kurt Busch, 6. Kyle Busch, 7. Jeff

Burton, 9. Tony Stewart, 10. Carl Edwards, 12.

Clint Bowyer.