Past Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champions try to join ‘Big 3’ in title conversation

Deservedly so, there is a lot of buzz about the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ “Big 3” as Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. have been dubbed for their 15 combined wins through the opening 20 races of the season.

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 3, 2018 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Truex is the reigning series champion and Harvick (2014) and Busch (2015) have hoisted the big trophy as well. With their dominating efforts there’s been a lot of buzz about how long they can carry on this effort. And it’s also raised deserving questions.

Which fellow members of the past-champion’s club will be next to win? And assuming these three advance all the way to the Homestead-Miami season finale with a shot at the title, who will be that fourth driver eligible to challenge for the Cup?

Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson arrives for Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as prepared as ever to snap a career-long winless streak and more importantly guarantee his position in the upcoming playoffs. He has three Pocono wins, but the last came in 2014 and he’s only led two laps of competition there since.

Johnson is ranked 14th in the playoff standings right now – 53 points behind 13th-place Aric Almirola and with only a precarious two-point edge over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. Their teammate Alex Bowman is 16th and in the final transfer spot.

Kurt Busch, the 2004 Monster Energy champion, also has three wins at Pocono, the last coming in 2016. And similar to Johnson, he hasn’t led a lap since that victory. The driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford does have seven top 10s in the last 11 races at the Tricky Triangle, but was 19th in June. Busch is ranked a solid eighth in the playoff standings and brings two top-10 finishes in the two races prior to Pocono.

Brad Keselowski is in playoff-prepared form points-wise, minus that automatic berth from a victory. In fact, in the seven previous seasons, the Team Penske driver had already hoisted a trophy by this point on the calendar. He seems perpetually ready to do so this season, just hampered by some uncharacteristically bad fortune of late. In the last four races, the 2012 series champ has two top-10 finishes and two finishes of 30th or worse.

The good news is he was fifth at Pocono last month and led 10 laps. He has a perfect six top-five finishes in the last six races at the track, including runner-up efforts in this particular race in 2015 and 2016.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Next Race: Gander Outdoors 400

The Place: Pocono Raceway (Long Pond, Pa.)

The Date: Sunday, July 29

The Time: 2:30 p.m. ET

TV: NBCSN

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 400 miles (160 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 50), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 100), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 160)

What to Watch For: Since this race in 2010, June winner Martin Truex Jr. is the only active driver with multiple victories here (2015 and 2018). … Retired driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the last to win back-to-back Pocono races (he swept the 2014 season). … Denny Hamlin won back-to-back races twice – sweeping the 2006 season and winning in 2009 (2nd race) and 2010 (1st race). … In the last 12 Pocono races, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with seven victories, including six consecutive wins (2012-15). Kurt Busch was the last to win in a Chevy in 2016. … Pocono is one of only two tracks on the schedule where Kevin Harvick has never won a Cup race. He also has never won a pole position there. … Four-time race-winner Denny Hamlin boasts the best driver rating (104.0) at Pocono. He leads the series in laps led (688) and fastest laps run (458) at the Tricky Triangle. … Hamlin and Carl Edwards are the only two drivers in Pocono’s long NASCAR history to win in their first start there. … A front row starting position has produced the most winners (31 percent). … Edwards’ win in 2005 from the 29th starting position is the deepest in the field a winner has come. … Kurt Busch leads all active drivers with five runner-up finishes. Harvick is second with four. … In the era of electronic scoring, Rusty Wallace’s 0.126-second win over Jeff Burton in July 2000 is the closest Margin of Victory.