SPRINT CUP SERIES POCONO

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

How Sweep It Was: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Takes Aim At Pocono After Winning Both Its Races Last Season

Last August, Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrated with a broom in Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway after completing the season sweep with his second win of the year at the 2.5-mile track.

The triumph marked his third of four checkered flags collected on the season and his first sweep of a track since he won both Talladega races in 2002.

Earnhardt will attempt to start a new sweep and win his third consecutive race at Pocono in Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 (1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1).

He can join NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison (1982 – 83) and Tim Richmond (1986-87) as the only drivers to win three straight at Pocono.

Only seven drivers have swept Pocono in its history: Earnhardt Jr. (2014), Denny Hamlin (2006), Jimmie Johnson (2004), Bobby Labonte (1999), Tim Richmond (1986), Bill Elliott (1985) and Bobby Allison (1982).

No driver has swept Pocono twice. Earnhardt, Hamlin and Johnson are all aiming to be the first.

History In The Making: Johnson Continues To Etch His Name Among NASCAR Legends

Jimmie Johnson continues to chase and make history.

Last Sunday, the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion won his 10th-career race at Dover International Speedway, becoming the fifth driver ever to visit Victory Lane 10 or more times at a single track. The others are all NASCAR Hall of Famers: Richard Petty (Martinsville-15, North Wilkesboro-15, Richmond-13, Rockingham-11, Daytona-10), Darrell Waltrip (Bristol-12, Martinsville-11, North Wilkesboro-10), Dale Earnhardt (Talladega-10) and David Pearson (Darlington-10).

Johnson’s Dover checkered flag also marked the 74th win of his career. He trails Dale Earnhardt by just two victories for seventh on the all-time wins list.

This season, Johnson already has four wins through the first 13 races. In comparison, last year’s wins leader Brad Keselowski did not log his fourth of six victories until the regular season finale at Richmond – the 26th race of the season.

If Johnson can capture the NSCS championship, he would join Richard Petty and Earnhardt as the only drivers with seven premier series titles.

Harvick Readies For A Win After Another Second-Place Finish

Another week, another top-two finish for Kevin Harvick.

The No. 4 Chevrolet driver has nine top-two finishes on the season – tied with NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison (1972) and Cale Yarborough (1977) for the most ever through the first 13 races of a season.

Runner-up finishes are nice, but it has to be frustrating Harvick that he’s not racking up wins.

Harvick hasn’t visited Victory Lane since taking the checkered flag at Phoenix International Raceway in March. His only other win of the season came at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the week prior.

Despite coming up just short of wins, Harvick owns a commanding 44-point lead over Martin Truex Jr. in the points standings and will try to get back to Victory Lane in Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway - a track he has yet to conquer.

Harvick’s best Pocono finish was a runner-up showing last August.

Another eye-popping stat involving Harvick and runner-up finishes. … In the last six races Jimmie Johnson has won, Harvick has finished second.

Pocono Raceway Is Hendrick Heaven

Rick Hendrick might as well buy Pocono Raceway.

Over the past few years, his drivers have owned it, winning the last five races at the 2.5-mile track: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2014 sweep), Kasey Kahne (2013 summer), Jimmie Johnson (2013 spring) and Jeff Gordon (2012 summer).

The last non-Hendrick Motorsports driver to win at Pocono was Joey Logano, who took the checkered flag from the pole in the spring of 2012 for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Hendrick Motorsports’ 17 victories at Pocono are the most of any race team and almost double the total of the next-best organization (Joe Gibbs Racing, nine).

Hendrick has won at Pocono with seven different drivers including Tim Richmond, Geoff Bodine, Terry Labonte, Gordon, Kahne, Johnson and Earnhardt Jr.

Richmond captured HMS’ first Pocono win in June of 1986 and returned in July to sweep the track with another victory.

Numbers Never Lie: Hamlin Has Tricky Triangle Figured Out

Pocono Raceway is one of Denny Hamlin’s best tracks.

And Denny Hamlin is one of the best to ever race at Pocono.

At least that’s what the numbers say.

Judging by his statistics, it seems the Virginia native feels right at home at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track. In 18 starts at the Tricky Triangle, he’s earned more wins (four), poles (three) and top fives (nine) than he has at any track besides Martinsville.

But Hamlin’s pattern of Pocono dominance transcends personal significance. His four wins are tied for the third-most all-time at Pocono, behind only Jeff Gordon (six) and Bill Elliott (five), and no active driver lays claim to more Coors Light Pole Awards there than Hamlin’s three.

Running Up Front Should Soon Lead to Finishing First for Martin Truex Jr.

Ah, how times have changed.

Just last spring, Martin Truex Jr. had to be content with a ninth-place finish at Pocono, the second of only five top-10 finishes he would collect the entire season. This year, however, a mere top-10 showing will fall short of the satisfaction No. 78 is searching for at Pocono.

Currently second in the points standings, Truex is having a standout season by any standard of measure. In 13 starts, he’s finished outside of the top-10 only once, including a stretch of seven straight top 10s to start the season. He has already led more laps in 2015 (389) than he has in all but two total seasons throughout his 12-year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, and more than any driver this year not named Kevin Harvick (1,123), Kurt Busch (659) or Joey Logano (464).

Although the most important column on Truex’s stat sheet remains empty (he hasn’t won since Sonoma in 2013), history suggests he’ll eventually reap the rewards of running up front as long as he can keep up the pace. In the past 25 seasons, only one driver (Jeff Gordon, 2010) has finished a full season top-four in laps led without having a win to show for it.

Larson On The Rise: Can Talented Youngster Notch First Win At Pocono?

Kyle Larson ended a four-race top-10 drought with a season-best third-place showing last Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

The No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet driver has struggled after entering the season with high expectations stemming from his strong 2014 campaign in which he earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.

But maybe Dover is the turning point he can build momentum from.

Larson returns to Pocono Raceway – the site of his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Award - for Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners’” 400 as a legitimate threat to visit Victory Lane. He placed fifth at the Tricky Triangle after winning the pole last June and earned an 11th-place finish there last August.

Through 13 races, Larson ranks 20th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and has accumulated one top-five and four top-10 finishes. He missed the Martinsville race in March after he fainted at the end of an autograph session the day before.

Last year, Larson finished 17th in the final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings on the strength of eight top fives and 17 top 10s.

If Larson takes the checkered flag this weekend at Pocono, he would become the first graduate of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program and the NASCAR Next initiative to win at the sanctioning body’s top level.

Halfway Home: Sprint Cup Series Hits Midpoint of Regular Season

The comforting term “It’s still early” doesn’t really apply anymore – not when discussing opportunities to lock into the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Thirteen down, 13 to go. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season officially reached its midpoint as the checkered flag dropped at Dover to give Jimmie Johnson his series-leading fourth victory of the season.

It was a storyline-rich first half…

·         Nine different drivers have won a race, all but locking up a spot in the Chase.

·         Kevin Harvick opened the season with five consecutive finishes of second or better. Dating to the end of the 2014 season, Harvick cobbled together a string of eight consecutive top-two finishes, the longest streak since 1975.

·         Johnson is closing in on a hallowed NASCAR number – 76. That’s Dale Earnhardt’s career win total, which currently is good for seventh on the all-time list. Johnson’s four wins thus far puts his career total at 74.

·         After a rough 2014, Martin Truex Jr. is in the midst of a career-year. Though still searching for his first victory, Truex is second in the points and is on pace to obliterate his career-high of 19 top-10 finishes. He currently has 12.

·         Through 13 races, there have been a total of 55,701 green flag passes, the second-highest total through 13 races since the inception of loop data in 2005.

Each manufacturer – Chevrolet, Toyota and Ford – has at least two victories.