The Monster Energy Cup Series moves on to the Pocono Raceway this coming Sunday, and what’s going to make it even more interesting is the jockeying for position for the last few final spots for the playoffs. Meanwhile, below are some of the drivers you should be keeping an eye on.
Harvick is no fire right now. He has finished inside the top 20 in all of his last six seven races and inside the top five in six or those events, including his triumph last week in New Hampshire. He now paces all drivers with 32 playoff points and second with 791 total points in the series. Harvick has not won in 35 total races at Pocono, but he has 11 top 5s and 16 top 10s at the Pocono Raceway, and with the momentum he is riding right now, it would be hard to ignore Harvick’s potential to win this weekend.
Kyle Busch
Busch fell short of taking home sixth win of the season last week, when he finished just behind Harvick in New Hampshire, but it still was an undeniable strong finish from the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Save for a 33rd-place finish in Daytona, Busch has finished each of his past eight races fifth or better. That stretch also featured his wins in Charlotte and another in Chicago. He’s also won at Pocono Raceway before, topping The Overton’s 400 there last year.
Martin Truex Jr.
The last time Truex revved his car’ engine at Pocono, he won the event. That was just last June, when he paced all drivers during The Pocono 400 in which also held the lead for 31 laps. Since then, Truex raced in five more races and won twice. He finished 18th in Michigan and went fourth in Chicago and in New Hampshire last week. So far in his career, he has two wins in at Pocono with an average finish of 14.92.
Sleeper Pick
Chase Elliott
Elliott had never finished better than 11th place at New Hampshire, but he finally cracked past that hump with a fifth-place finish there last week. Elliott has yet to win a race so far this season, but based on his exploits last week, he could be putting a nice stretch of sound performances. Elliott also seems to like burning his car’s rubber at Pocono, as he has finished inside the top 10 in four his five career races there. HE had a career-best fourth-place campaign there back in 2016.
Long Shot Pick
Ryan Newman
Newman surprised folks last week with his second top-10 finish in three races after going sixth in New Hampshire. Two weeks prior to that, he went eighth in Daytona. Newman is on the outside looking in in the playoff race, as he currently sits just 46 points behind Rickey Stenhouse Jr. for the last spot in the postseason. Blaney has won once in 33 races at Pocono with nine top 5s and 14 top 10s.
Writer’s Prediction
Chase Elliott gets his first win of the year this weekend at Pocono. You might want to wager on this sleeper.
