Race to the Chase Visits Pocono - The Sprint Cup Series Good Sam RV 500 Race Primer
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Business just picked up.
Last week at Indianapolis, Paul Menard became the 14th different winner in twenty races and in doing so jumped to the top of the wild card standings and into championship contention. He leapfrogged David Ragan (16th) and currently sits 14th in the standings.
Keeping a keen eye on the shuffling is 11th-place Clint Bowyer who would find himself on the outs if the Chase began today. Bowyer has just six races left to get his first win and earn a spot in NASCAR’s playoffs. The same can be said of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart, the only two winless provisional Chase spot holders.
Conventional wisdom states that each Chase team after Richmond will have at least one race victory. This leaves at least three spots open going into Pocono this Sunday for the Good Sam RV Insurance 500.
They’ll be chasing Jeff Gordon.
Find out why after the fold.
Gordon is the hottest driver in the paddock right now. A runner-up finish at Indy made it three top 10s in the last four races (and six in the last eight).
He won June’s Pocono race, tying Bill Elliott on the all-time Pocono wins list. A Pocono sweep would topple two milestones: He would be alone atop the all-time Pocono list, and alone in third on the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins list at 85.
Indy and Pocono share similar traits making Gordon the heavy favorite. In 36 starts, he has five wins, 17 top 5s and 26 top 10s - two poles. His average finish of 10.3 is third-best in the series while his driver rating of 101.3 is fourth best.
Gordon’s Hendrick teammate, Mark Martin is no stranger to Pocono.
Sunday will be his 50th career start at the Tricky Triangle and he’s always a contender. In 49 career starts, Martin has 19 top 5s and 33 top 10s. He’s still looking for his first win and has finished second six times, most recently in August 2004.
His average finish of 11.2 is fifth-best and greatly marred by 7 career DNFs.
Tony Stewart is starting to get hot with the weather and is coming off a second-straight top 10 at Indianapolis. The run has moved him to eight in the championship standings, 21 points ahead of 11th place Denny Hamlin.
In 26 Pocono starts, Stewart has two wins, five top 10s and 18 top 10s - two poles. His average finish of 11.9 is sixth-best in Sprint Cup while his driver rating of 102.4 is third-best.
Kevin Harvick is better at Pocono than a 14th place average indicates. He’s failed to finish at the end of two Pocono races and was hindered by fuel mileage in two others. As it stands, he has four top 5s and seven top 10s. His driver rating of 91.5 is tenth-best.
Good Sam RV Insurance 500 will be held at Pocono Speedway on Aug. 7 with the ESPN television broadcast beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST.
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