NASCAR Pocono Sunday, July 16, 2023
Pocono Raceway NASCAR Cup Series Stats Highlights
2022 Pocono
Chase Elliott
2022 Pocono winner – Started 3rd, finished 2nd in Stage 1 & 7th in Stage 2, took checkered 3rd, no laps led
Winner pit stops: Chase Elliott (4 Stops) 31, 62 (Green), 84, 121 (Green)
Top 5 Stage 1 & 2: Ryan Blaney 4th & 2nd, Erik Jones 5th & 3rd
Best free pass finisher: Aric Almirola 13th
Best finisher with pit road speeding penalty: Austin Cindric 31st
Best starting rear of field finisher: Erik Jones 9th
Best Hendrick: Chase Elliott 1st
Best Gibbs: Christopher Bell 4th
Best Stewart-Haas: Aric Almirola 13th
Best Penske: Joey Logano 20th
Most Pocono wins: 6 Jeff Gordon & Denny Hamlin
40 Different winners in 89 Pocono NASCAR Cup Series races
Denny Hamlin tied Jeff Gordon for 1st all-time in Pocono wins with 6th victory 6/28/20
Denny Hamlin: 6 Pocono wins – Career win number: 1st, 2nd, 5th, 12th, 34th & 41st (Age: 25, 25, 28, 29, 38 & 39)
Denny Hamlin & Kyle Busch took checkers 1-2 at 2022 Pocono – Disqualified to 35th & 36th
Kyle Busch won 4 of last 10 Pocono races
Joe Gibbs Racing won 5 of last 8 Pocono races
Leader of first lap won 18 of 89 Pocono races (20%)
Winner took lead for first time after lap 100 in 20 Pocono races (22%)
Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin & Richard Petty only drivers to win Pocono in first try
Ricky Rudd won Pocono for first time in 44th try – Most of all drivers
Kevin Harvick won Pocono for first time in 39th try (6/27/20) – 2nd most all-time before first Pocono win
17 of 89 Pocono races won from 1st starting position
Worst official start position of Pocono winner: 29th – Carl Edwards (6/05)
(Tony Stewart won after starting in the back in a backup car 6/09)
Most consecutive Pocono wins: 3 – Bobby Allison (6/82, 7/82 & 6/83) & Tim Richmond (6/86, 7/86 & 6/87)
9 Pocono win streaks – Back-to-back Pocono wins
4 Won first career race at Pocono – Jeremy Mayfield, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher & Ryan Blaney
7 Pocono races settled by last lap pass
Stage 1 winner failed to win last 8 Pocono races
Pocono Stage 2 winner winless in 11 Pocono races
Drivers won first race of the season in 30 of 89 Pocono races (34%)
Hendrick Motorsports: 19 Pocono wins with 9 different drivers
Joe Gibbs Racing: 16 Pocono wins with 6 different drivers
Stewart-Haas Racing first NCS win: Pocono 6/7/09 (Tony Stewart)
Chevrolet leads all with 34 Pocono wins
Ford 2nd with 24 Pocono wins
Toyota won 11 Pocono races including 7 last 10
7 Pocono races didn’t run full distance
5 Rescheduled Pocono races – 5 Different winners
5 Pocono Overtime finishes – Leader at scheduled distance won all 5
Kyle Busch tied Ron Hornaday Jr. in all-time NTS wins at 2018 Pocono (51)
7/18/93: First race after losing Davey Allison – Dale Earnhardt won & dedicated victory to the memory of Allison
7/17/94: Top 4 finishers on Hoosier tires
7/16/95: Dale Jarrett’s first win with Robert Yates Racing
6/12/11: Jeff Gordon tied Bobby Allison & Darrell Waltrip with 84th career win
6/2/19: Kyle Busch: 55th career win tied Rusty Wallace for 9th all-time
Richard Petty finished top 2 in first 4 Pocono races – 2 Wins
Pocono Raceway NASCAR Xfinity Series Stats Highlights
7 Different winners in 7 Pocono races
First win of season for 3 of 7 Pocono winners
No driver won Pocono & championship in same season
Drivers starting first 1 for 7 at Pocono – 2019 Cole Custer winner
2 Pocono races settled by last lap pass –
2017 Brad Keselowski over Kyle Larson & 2019 Cole Custer over Tyler Reddick
Most consecutive Pocono laps led: Kyle Busch led final 40 laps 2018
Best Rookie of the Year contender finish at Pocono: 2nd – Erik Jones 2016 & Ty Gibbs 2021