Pit Road Week 14: Pocono

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 14

By Richard Tix

In racing, sometimes the guy with the best car does not always win. On Sunday, Dale Earnhardt Jr finally got the better end of that deal for once.  A hand full of times in recent years Jr has come up with the short end of the stick when he has had a great car and been the guy to beat. This time Brad Keselowski got to find out how that feels.

Keselowski had arguably the best car all day Sunday. BK ended up leading 95 laps on Sunday but not the one that counted. After the last restart BK picked up some debris on his grill and his temp's started to run hot. After a failed attempt at getting behind Danica (making Ricky really jealous) he lost his spot to Jr who was in the perfect place to pounce.

Jr was also running hot but never looked back on the way to his second win of 2014 and first since the Daytona 500. If you missed it or just need a refresher, here are the full race results of the Pocono 400. 

Pit Road: Power Rankings Week 14 (Week 13)

1. Jimmie Johnson (LW-2)- Well, JJ could have been #1 last week, but I held off and gave it to one of the most consistent guys so far in 2014 (Kenseth). One week later and Kenseth has a rough last restart and finishes 25th. So Kenseth fooled me. JJ has had a long road back to #1, but other drivers should be worried that he might stay there now.
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-6)- Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time. Don't get me wrong, Jr had a good car and deserved the win at Pocono, but no trash on BK's grill and Jr would have had another tough luck runner up finish. So far so good on his 2014 season.
3. Jeff Gordon (LW-3)- Another week and another top 10 for Gordon. The last few races he hasn't run as well as his first 11-12, but he is still getting it done.
4. Brad Keselowski (LW-8)- Man, had to hit BK hard when he watched Jr take advantage of his move behind Danica. BK thought he had to do something or he would blow up, unfortunately he lost the top spot and he never blew. This is all in hindsight, so a tough one for BK as he had the car to be beat. (I am also upset because they still haven't made a Redd's Die-Cast, and if he would have won they would have made a race win die cast, oh well).
5. Matt Kenseth (LW-1)- Rough last restart for Kenseth. He got shuffled way back and ended up finishing 25th. The 25th place finish is his worst finish since Talladega (37th) and only his second finish of worse than 13th.
6. Denny Hamlin (LW-12)- Denny Hamlin is finally coming around in 2014. He notched his second straight top 5 at Pocono (4th). DH never really had a bad "points day" to start the season, and now that he is contending he could get hot for the Summer run.
7. Kevin Harvick (LW-4)- Where do you put Harvick? When he is hot, he is hot. But then he has these bad luck outings. This time around Harvick salvaged his bad luck with a 14th place finish, but so many other guys around him are moving up. Only 3 guys win every 3 Chase races and get to automatically move on, so he will need to find some consistency by then.
8. Jamie McMurray (LW-NR)- Even with some bad luck at Dover (Miles the Monster throwing concrete) McMurray still has a nice three race stretch going (5th, 11th, and 10th this week). You wouldn't know it by where he is in the points (21st) but McMurray has had a bunch of fast cars this year.
9. Kyle Busch (LW-7)- Kyle finished 12th on Sunday but it was just that, and average day. He has been all over the charts this year, but he has the talent and car speed to contend, he just needs to find some consistency. 
10. Carl Edwards (LW-5)- Im not sure what to think of Carl Edwards right now. This week he ran into an accident, but he has not been a threat at almost every track on the season. He has found some nice finishes (1 win, 3 top 5's, and 7 top 10's) but not once have I thought, wow he is fast he could be a title contender. Carl can do it, but that team needs to get it together.
11. Joey Logano (LW-9)- See #9 Kyle Busch. JoLo has been fast, but his finishes have been all over. He and Penske Teammate Keselowski are 1 and 2 in starting position (BK- 6.1 and JoLo- 8.4) but sometimes he falls off during races and has to make huge adjustments. He had a problem on the last restart and went from the front to a 40th place finish.
12. Kyle Larson (LW-NR)- Back in the standings, Larson picked up another top 5 at Pocono, his 3rd of 2014. If his learning curve keeps up like this, he could find a win in 2014. I still think its a long shot to happen before the Chase starts though.

Dropping Out: Paul Menard and Aric Almirola

Just Missed: Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr, and Clint Bowyer

Honorable Mention: Kurt Busch

As always, here are some followers on Twitter who predicted that Dale Jr would win at Pocono.

Thanks for the Tweets folks. As always, thanks for reading and checking out the Blog. So who do you think should be number one? What did you think of the race?

Week 14 Preview: Pocono

Pocono Raceway

Pocono's 400

By Richard Tix

Well, Dover left us with a little bit of everything. From dominate, to close racing, to the strange. Now NASCAR heads to Pocono and ask's, "what turn four?"

The question is, can Jimmie Johnson keep up his hot streak after winning two straight? He is no slouch here at Pocono, and you will notice what list he is on (hint, its not the Bad category).  

If you believe (like myself) we wont have more than 16 drivers that win this year then we know 10 drivers are in the Chase. If you are still of the group that thinks more than 16 will win, then 3 drivers have locked down there spot in the Chase (Johnson, Logano, and Harvick).

So, what comes next? With the race to the Chase half way done I don't see 7 more guys winning a race in 2014. Each time a guy wins the percentage of a new driver winning a race goes down, and when a guy like Kenseth finally wins the percentage will go down dramatically.

How I see it possibly playing out. Matt Kenseth will get a win in the next 13 races, he is running too good not to. Greg Biffle, though he isn't running that well, has a decent shot at a win with some good tracks in the next 13 (including MIS twice). Smoke, Bowyer, and Newman may also be in the mix. But as you can see we are starting to get slim and that would just make 15 winners if each one of these guys got a win in the next 13.

Enough about the Chase race. Lets move onto Pocono and the Good, Middle, and Bad drivers (stats).

The Good, Middle, and Bad

(This is just a review of each drivers recent past performance, generally about 5-10 past races)

The Good

• Tony Stewart- Smoke has 8 top 10's in his last 10 starts at Pocono including 6 top 5's and a win in 2009. In the last 10 he also won the Pole twice so he knows how to get around the Tricky Triangle. We are heading into Summer so will Smoke get into his normal Summer Hot stretch?
• Jeff Gordon- In the last 10 Pocono races Gordon has 7 top 10's. 4 of those top tens were top 5's, and two of those were wins. Not bad right? Well even two of his top 10's were 6th place finishes so he just missed out on a few top 5's. The better news for Gordon fans, he was runner up here in the last Pocono race in August.
• Jimmie Johnson- Last year JJ swept the two Pocono race Poles while winning the first stop here. He also lead 171 of 320 laps in the two races. That means JJ was leading 47.5% of the time at Pocono in 2013. 
• Extra Credit- Ryan Newman

The Middle

• Kevin Harvick- In his last 9 starts at Pocono he hasn't finished worse then 17th but also hasn't finished better then 4th. In his last 10 he has only led a lap in one race (2010) and it was only 5 laps. Harvick may have a decent finish here, but contending for the win maybe asking a bit much.

The Bad

• Casey Mears- Zero top 10's in his last 10 starts at Pocono, worse yet is his average finish is 28th in that stretch. Even worse yet, in the last 10 Mears only has finihed in the top 20 once.
• AJ Allmendinger- His last 9 starts at Pocono hasn't been pretty. He has 1 top 10 and 2 top 20 in his last 9. His last three have been finishes of 33rd, 33rd, and 31st.

Track Stats

• Richard Petty won the first race at Pocono in 1974. He also won 2 of the first 3.
• Tim Richmond won three straight Pocono races (1986-1987). Won 4 career Pocono races.
• Carl Edwards won in 2005 from 29th position, the furthest spot back someone has won from.
• 5 straight different drivers have won at Pocono.
• Chevrolet has won 3 straight Pocono races (Kahne, Johnson, and Gordon)
• Most cautions was 13 in 1990 (winner Harry Gant) and 2005 (winner Kurt Busch).
• Race has been won from the Pole 6 times in the last 16 races.

More Articles

• TV/Race Schedule
• Driver Entry List
• Power Rankings
• Fantasy Preview- ThisSportz

2014 Pocono Raceway Entry List (Race One)

NASCAR Driver Entry List for Pocono

By Richard Tix

This week starts with a short list for the Pocono 400. List was from Jayski.com. Check the site out, they have anything you can't find here. 

More Articles:

• Power Rankings
• TV/Race Schedule: Pocono
• This Week in NASCAR: 6/2
• Dover's Monster Tamer

2014 Pocono Schedule (Race One)

Pocono 400

By Richard Tix

**All times are Eastern**

Friday June 6, 2014

• 12-1:20 pm- Sprint Cup Practice- Fox Sports 1
• 4:40 pm- Sprint Cup Qualifying- Fox Sports 1

Saturday June 7, 2014

• 9-10 am- Sprint Cup Practice- Fox Sports 1
• 11:30 am-12:20 pm- Final Sprint Cup Practice- Fox Sports 1

Sunday June 8, 2014

• 1 pm- Sprint Cup Race. Pocono 400- TNT