Pocono Week of July 29, 2013

 

July 29, 2013

 Pocono  Week of July 29, 2013

 

Ryan Newman lived out one of his boyhood dreams on Sunday by winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway just two hours away from where he grew up in South Bend, Ind. With win in hand and a shot at capturing a Wild Card spot, Newman and the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series head to Pocono Raceway for the GoBowling.com 400 on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, ESPN, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Radio).

 

Newman’s five-second advantage over Jimmie Johnson during the last round of green-flag pit stops paved his way to victory.

 

After finishing runner-up at Indy, Johnson will boast a 75-point margin over Clint Bowyer when he arrives in Pocono where he’s won three times and posted 16 top 10s in 23 races, including a victory there in June.

 

With only 12 points separating Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski (eighth through 13th in the standings), fans can expect a lot of shuffling to occur over the next six weeks as all six fight for a position in top 10, or at least one of the Wild Card positions.

 

Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon are the only three drivers currently in the top 10 without wins in the first 20 races. Look for valiant efforts by all three drivers this Sunday, especially Gordon who boasts a record-high six wins at Pocono.

 

Austin Dillon moved into the points lead in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for the first time in his career after a 12^th-place finish at Indy. He hopes to further bolster his spot atop the standings with a win this weekend this Saturday in the U.S. Cellular 250 Presented by Enlist Weed Control (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Radio) at Iowa Speedway.   

 

NASCAR Next driver and NASCAR Drive for Diversity member Ryan Gifford makes his national series debut this weekend at Iowa, where he’ll drive the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

 

After a successful and historic week on the dirt of Eldora Speedway, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to the pavement with the Pocono Mountains 125 (1 p.m. ET, Saturday, SPEED, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Radio) at Pocono Raceway.

 

Points leader Matt Crafton, who holds a 48-point advantage over Jeb Burton, looks to continue his streak of top-10 finishes on Saturday. In each of the first 10 races, Crafton has finished 10th or better.