Taking a Dip In Long Pond - The Sprint Cup Series 5-Hour Energy 500 Race Primer

They call it the Tricky Triangle.
By definition, Pocono Raceway is a 2.5-mile tri-oval with three turns, each with three distinct bankings (14°, 8°, and 6°). In short, it’s literally a triangle.
Having a car turn that turns in just one corner is difficult enough, making the prospects of solving all three next to impossible. That is the task that 43 crew chiefs will undertake for Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 500.

Veteran motorsports scribe Mike Hembree had a great line on Friday, writing, “Pocono Raceway is a road course disguised as an oval pretending to be a superspeedway and looking for all the world like a triangle.”

He continues:

And now there is a new element. Gear shifting generally has been frowned upon in recent years here, but, for this race, NASCAR has implemented changes to transmission gear ratios to encourage teams to put the shift back into their plans for Pocono.

Pocono has traditionally served as a test track for next month’s Brickyard 400. Indy mainstays Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, and Juan Pablo Montoya run well at Long Pond and previously ran well at the season’s first flat track at Phoenix.

Find out more after the jump!

A discussion of race favorites has to start with Denny Hamlin, who enters the weekend having won two of the last three Pocono races. He’s also been on a tear as of late, climbing out of a early season slump to 11th in the championship standings - just one point out of the top 10.
A victory here would not only catapult Hamlin into the top 10 but also immediately make him a contender with ten additional Chase for the Championship bonus points.
In 10 Pocono starts, Hamlin has four wins, seven top 5s and eight top 10s.His average finish of 8.2 is best in Sprint Cup and his driver rating is 98.8, fifth best in the sport. Throw two bad Pocono finishes in 2008 and 2009 and Hamlin has been nearly unbeatable.

Jeff Gordon is a fan of the new gear ratio rules. He’s had considerable success in previous seasons while shifting. In 36 starts, Gordon has four wins, 16 top 5s and 25 top 10s - two poles.

His average finish of 10.5 is third-best in the series while his driver rating of 98.5 is fifth best.

Mark Martin is no stranger to Pocono. Sunday will be his 49^th career start at the Tricky Triangle and he’s always had fast cars. In 48 starts, Martin has 19 top 5s and 33 top 10s. He’s still looking for his first win and has finished second here six times, most recently in August 2004. His average finish of 11.1 is fourth-best and only marred by 7 career DNFs. His driver rating (since it’s implement in 2004) is 96.4.

He was fast in Friday practice and could be a threat for his first Pocono victory. Stay tuned.

Tony Stewart is always good for a summer surge to the Chase for the Championship. That’s been especially true over the past six seasons where Smoke has had 10 top 10s in his last 11 starts. In 24 starts, Stewart has two wins, five top 10s and 18 top 10s - two poles.

His average finish of 11.5 is fifth-best in the series while his driver rating of 102.4 is third-best.

Kevin Harvick is better at Pocono than his 14.5 average finish indicates. He’s failed to finish at the end of two Pocono races and was bit by fuel mileage in two others. As it stands, he has four top 5s and seven top 10s. His driver rating (91.5) is tenth-best.

Keep an eye out for Juan Pablo Montoya. He figured this place out a few years back and has been pretty stout ever since.

The 5-Hour Energy 500 will be held from Pocono Speedway on June 12 with the TNT television broadcast starting at 1:00 p.m. EST.