NASCAR Pocono Sunday, May 27, 2018

NASCAR MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES POCONO STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Most Pocono wins since repave (12 Races): 2 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Most Pocono 2nd-place finishes since repave: 4 Kevin Harvick (Winless)
• Most Pocono top 3 finishes since repave: 4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kevin Harvick & Brad Keselowski
• Most Pocono top 5 finishes since repave: 6 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Most Pocono top 10 finishes since repave: 8 Brad Keselowski
• Pocono 6/17: Ryan Blaney’s first career win in 68th career race
• Pocono 8/17: Kyle Busch finally won Pocono for first time in 26th try
• Kyle Busch: Pocono 7/17 winner – Ended career-longest winless streak at 36 races
• Kyle Busch: Pocono 7/17 winner – First of 5 wins last season (All 5 wins in 13 race span)
• Kyle Busch: 174 Pocono laps led last season (Martin Truex Jr. 2nd with 36) – 11 Other leaders 146 laps led
• Kevin Harvick winless in 34 Pocono races (1 of 2 tracks – Kentucky)
• 37 Different winners in 80 Pocono Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races
• 10 Different winners last 10 Pocono June races
• 2 Finished top 5 both Pocono races last season – Kevin Harvick & Brad Keselowski
• 7 Different winners from 6 different teams last 7 Pocono races (Joe Gibbs Racing won 2 of last 5 races)
• First Pocono win for 6 of last 8 winners including last 3
• First win of season for last 4 Pocono winners
• Drivers won first race of the season in 30 of 80 Pocono races (38%)
• First career victory for 2 of last 3 Pocono winners – Chris Buescher 8/16 & Ryan Blaney 6/17
• Kyle Busch ended career-long winless streak of 36 races at Pocono 7/17
• 3 of 4 Hendrick Motorsports drivers failed to finish last June – Earnhardt Jr. (Engine), Johnson (Crash) & Kahne (Crash)
• Chase Elliott finished 8th – Rest of team finished 35th or worse
• 4 Pit road speeding penalties by 2 drivers last Pocono June race – Ryan Newman & Darrell Wallace Jr.
• 10 Pit road speeding penalties by 9 drivers last Pocono July race – 2nd most penalties & drivers last season (Atlanta)
• Denny Hamlin finished 4th after pit road speeding penalty
• Martin Truex Jr. finished 6th after starting rear of field last Pocono June race (Engine)
• Hendrick Motorsports winless last 6 Pocono races – Won previous 5 Pocono races with 4 different drivers
• Kyle Busch won Pocono for first time in 26th try (7/17)
• Mid-race leader failed to win last 8 Pocono races
• Kyle Busch led at 10 to go last 2 Pocono races – 1 Win (7/17)
• Kyle Busch led most laps last 2 Pocono races (100 & 74) – Finished 9th & Winner
• Erik Jones: First career top 5 finish: 3rd – Pocono 6/17
• Joey Logano’s only Pocono win was last with Joe Gibbs Racing
• Brad Keselowski’s only Pocono win came 4 days after broken ankle
• Kurt Busch won 3 Pocono races with 3 car numbers, 3 teams, 3 manufacturers & 3 crew chiefs
• Jimmie Johnson vicious crash with 5 to go in Stage 2 last Pocono June race – Reminded him of Watkins Glen crash
• Martin Truex Jr. first win with Furniture Row Racing – Pocono 6/15
• 7 Finished top 10 both Pocono races last season – Kyle Busch, Elliott, Harvick, Jones, Kenseth, Keselowski & Truex Jr.
• Kyle Busch: 3 Straight Pocono top 10 finishes – 1 Win (8/17)
• Kevin Harvick: Finished 9th or better last 4 Pocono races – 3 Straight top 5 finishes
• Brad Keselowski: 5 Straight Pocono top 5 finishes
• Martin Truex Jr.: 1 Top 5 finish last 5 Pocono races – Finished 3rd last race
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. only repeat winner last 13 Pocono races (2 Wins) – 11 Others 1 win each
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. only driver to win more than one Pocono 400-mile race – 2 Wins
• Winner took lead for final time with 10 or fewer laps to go in 6 of last 12 Pocono races
• Only 4 cautions Pocono 6/17 – 2 Stage end & 2 Hendrick crashes (Johnson & Kahne)
• Final green run 55 laps Pocono 7/17
• Kyle Busch passed for final led change 2 of last 5 Pocono races – Winner 7/17
• Denny Hamlin passed for final lead change Pocono 7/17 – Finished 4th
• 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
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. won Pocono for first time in 29th try (6/14)
• Matt Kenseth won Pocono for first time in 32nd try (8/15)
• Ryan Blaney & Neil Bonnett won Pocono for first time in 3rd try – Both won with Wood Brothers Racing
• Driver starting 1st finished top 3 in 14 of last 24 Pocono races (58%) – 7 Wins
• Driver starting 1st finished top 10 in 18 of last 24 Pocono races (75%)
• 17 of 80 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 back-up car 6/09)
• Most consecutive Pocono wins: 3 – Bobby Allison (6/82, 7/82 & 6/83) & Tim Richmond (6/86, 7/86 & 6/87)
• 8 Pocono win streaks – Back-to-back Pocono wins
• Both Pocono races swept 7 times in same season – Last: 2014 by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Last to win back-to-back June races: Jeff Gordon (1996 & ’97) – Ryan Blaney won last June race
• Denny Hamlin led Pocono at mid-race 6 times – Only 1 win after leading at mid-race
• 6 Pocono races settled by last lap pass
• 4 Won first career race at Pocono including 2 of last 3 races – Chris Buescher 8/16 & Ryan Blaney 6/17
• Joey Logano led most laps 2 of last 3 Pocono August races (97 & 38) – Finished 20th & 37th
• Leader of most laps failed to win 10 of last 15 Pocono races including 4 of last 5
• Leader of first lap won 18 of 80 Pocono races (23%)
• Winner took lead for first time after lap 100 in 16 Pocono races
• Winner took lead for first time at lap 129 or after 3 of last 4 Pocono races
• Kurt Busch: 3 Pocono wins with 3 different numbers, teams, manufacturers & crew chiefs
• 7 Pocono races didn’t run full distance
• 5 Rescheduled Pocono races – 5 Different winners
• 3 Pocono Overtime finishes – Leader at scheduled distance won all 3
• Kyle Busch won Stage 1 both Pocono races last season
• Chevrolet leads all with 33 Pocono wins including 7 of last 11 races
• Ford won 2 of last 3 Pocono races
• Toyota won 5 Pocono races
• Last to win a Pocono race & championship in same season: Jimmie Johnson 6/13 Winner & 2013 Champion
• 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
• 17 Hendrick Motorsports wins (Most all-time) by 7 different drivers
• 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Pocono wins by 6 different drivers – Hamlin 4, B. Labonte 3, Kyle Busch 1, Kenseth 1, Logano 1 & Stewart 1
• 9 Team Penske Pocono wins by 5 different drivers – R. Wallace 4, Mayfield 2, Kurt Busch 1, Keselowski 1 & Newman 1
• 4 Roush Fenway Racing Pocono wins by 3 different drivers – Carl Edwards 2, Greg Biffle 1 & Kurt Busch 1
• 3 Wood Brothers Racing Pocono wins – David Pearson 8/75, Neil Bonnett 7/80 & Ryan Blaney 6/17
• 2 Richard Childress Racing Pocono wins – Dale Earnhardt 7/87 & 7/93
• 2 Stewart-Haas Racing Pocono wins – Tony Stewart 6/09 (First team win) & Kurt Busch 6/16