{"id":10397,"date":"2017-06-11T02:06:11","date_gmt":"2017-06-11T07:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=10397"},"modified":"2017-06-11T02:06:11","modified_gmt":"2017-06-11T07:06:11","slug":"race-preview-nascar-axalta-presents-the-pocono-400-at-pocono-raceway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/06\/11\/race-preview-nascar-axalta-presents-the-pocono-400-at-pocono-raceway\/","title":{"rendered":"Race preview: NASCAR – AXALTA presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of NASCAR<\/em><\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Race: AXALTA presents the Pocono 400<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The Place: Pocono Raceway<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The Date: Sunday, June 11<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The Time: 3 p.m. ET<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

TV: FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Distance: 400 miles (160 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 50), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 100), Final Stage (Ends on lap 160)<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson Continues To Etch Name In History<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Jimmie Johnson notched his 83rd career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win Sunday at Dover International Speedway, tying him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough for sixth on the all-time win list. The victory was also the 11th for Johnson at Dover, making him the third driver \u2013 along with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip \u2013 to amass 11 or more victories at a single track.<\/span><\/p>\n

The No. 48 Chevrolet driver will attempt to move up to fifth on the all-time wins list in Sunday\u2019s AXALTA presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In 30 starts at the “Tricky Triangle,” Johnson owns three wins, 11 top fives, 19 top 10s (active leader) and an average finish of 10.6.<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson leads the Monster Energy Series with three wins this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row\/Denver Mattress Toyota, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 9, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Another Race, Another Top Finish For Truex<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Martin Truex Jr. placed third in Sunday\u2019s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway for his third consecutive top-three finish.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the three-race stretch, Truex has led more laps than any other driver and has won three stages.<\/span><\/p>\n

The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing driver leads NASCAR in a myriad of categories through the first 13 races of the season: points (9 ahead of second-place Kyle Larson), stage wins (8), playoff points (18), average running position (7.1), driver rating (114.3), fastest laps run (455, 12.5%), laps led (871, 20.2%) and top 10s (9, tied with Brad Keselowski).<\/span><\/p>\n

Truex makes his next start at Pocono Raceway, where he won in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

Larson Logs Fifth Runner-Up Of 2017<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Larson is enjoying a breakout season, but his fourth full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series campaign has been filled with near misses.<\/span><\/p>\n

After leading a race-high 241 laps in the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway, Larson was beat by Jimmie Johnson on the restart and couldn\u2019t recover when the race ended under caution due to a late wreck. The result was Larson\u2019s fifth runner-up showing of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Axalta Chevrolet, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 10, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The 24-year-old Chevrolet driver will attempt to turn his luck around in Sunday\u2019s AXALTA presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. In six Pocono starts, Larson owns one top five and three top 10s. He has an average finish of 8.8 and has never finished lower than 12th.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the season, Larson claims one win, six top fives and eight top 10s in 13 starts. He leads the series with an 8.5 average finish and ranks second in the points standings (nine points behind Martin Truex Jr.).<\/span><\/p>\n

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Attempts To Pick Up The Pace At Pocono<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Following a disappointing start to his final full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has strung together a 10th (Charlotte) and an 11th-place (Dover) finish in his last two races.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019ll try to up his performance even more in Sunday\u2019s AXALTA presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway \u2013 a track where he\u2019s done very well the last six seasons. In his past 11 starts at the “Tricky Triangle,” Earnhardt has logged nine top-10 finishes, including two wins (season sweep in 2014) and a runner-up last June.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Kurt Busch, driver of the #41 Haas Automation\/Monster Energy Ford, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 9, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Kurt Busch Tries To Tame Tricky Triangle For Second Straight Season<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s June Pocono winner Kurt Busch will attempt to defend his victory at the track where he\u2019s won three times, logged 13 top fives (active leader) and recorded 18 top 10s in 31 career starts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Busch has struggled this season after winning the Daytona 500. The win in The Great American Race is his only top-five showing and he\u2019s led a mere six laps.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Busch produces a top-10 performance on Sunday, he\u2019ll become the 25th driver in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history to amass 250 or more top-10 finishes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Busch Goes For First Pocono Win<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

There are only two active tracks where Kyle Busch has never won a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points race \u2013 Charlotte and Pocono, the site of Sunday\u2019s AXALTA presents the Pocono 400.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Red, White, & Blue Toyota, qualifies for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 9, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Busch came close to notching a Pocono win in August of 2015, but ran out of gas while leading on the last lap. He almost finally won at Charlotte two weeks ago, but could not catch up to Austin Dillon in the waning laps and placed runner-up.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 24 Pocono starts, Busch has four top fives, nine top 10s and an 18.5 average finish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Etc.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Free Can Friday At Pocono: <\/i><\/b>All fans who bring an empty Monster Energy can, any size, to be recycled, will be granted free admission to Pocono Raceway on Friday. Fans can bring their Monster Energy can to be recycled at the redemption center located outside of Fan Fair behind the grandstands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leavine Family Racing To Honor FDNY Foundation At Pocono: <\/i><\/b>Leavine Family Racing and Michael McDowell will honor the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) by sporting a FDNY Foundation paint scheme at Pocono Raceway. The FDNY Foundation is the FDNY\u2019s non-profit partner that raises funds to support fire and life safety education and the professional development and training of members of the FDNY. Funding goes toward programs that look to advance the FDNY\u2019s goals of maintaining operational excellence, community outreach and increasing diversity.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Next Race: AXALTA presents the Pocono 400 The Place: Pocono Raceway The Date: Sunday, June 11 The Time: 3 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 400 miles (160 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 50), Stage 2 (Ends on lap […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,252],"class_list":["post-10397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-pocono-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/MENCS_Pocono_DWallaceJr_060917.jpg?fit=2941%2C1960&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-2HH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10397"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10407,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10397\/revisions\/10407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}