Superspeedway that drives like a road course:

The most unusual track layout on the NASCAR schedule. Pocono Raceway has a massive front straight that often sees cars going four, five and six wide. Add the high speeds to the challenging turns and you've got a 2.5 mile superspeedway that drives like a road course.

The Track:

Pocono Speedway is a 2.5 mile three-cornered speedway. The triangle-shaped track has three different corner lengths and bankings making it very difficult to set up a car and to drive well.


Pocono is, in a word, unique.

As difficult as it is to set up and drive Pocono frequently hosts some great racing with races often decided within the last couple of laps.

Race Distance:

200 laps = 500 miles

The Big Picture:

This is race number 14 of 36. We are halfway to the cutoff. It is time to make your move if you want to race for The Chase.

The current points top ten are: 1. Jimmie Johnson 1,912. 2. Greg Biffle 1,866. 3. Elliott Sadler 1,681. 4. Ryan Newman 1,672. 5. Tony Stewart 1,606. 6. Mark Martin 1,588. 7. Rusty Wallace 1,584. 8. Kurt Busch 1,579. 9. Carl Edwards 1,574. 10. Kevin Harvick 1,573.

Storylines:

You'll hear a lot this week about the long front straightaway. At 3,740 feet the NEXTEL Cup cars reach 200MPH. Drivers actually shift part way down the straight. This is hard on transmissions and a missed shift can end your day early.

The emphasis is truly on handling. Forget about turn one and the tunnel turn. The secret to being fast at Pocono is getting through the sweeping turn three which dumps you out onto the front stretch.

If you can be fast there you'll put together fast laptimes.

Media Coverage:

TV: FoX Sunday June 12th 1PM Eastern.

Radio: MRN and XM Satellite

Actual Race: 1:40PM Eastern

Last Year:

In 2004 Ryan Newman started on the pole but it was Jimmie Johnson who dominated most of the day to score the win. In fact, Jimmie swept both Pocono races in 2004 in fairly dominating fashion.

Predictions:

Johnson dominated both Pocono races in 2004 and it's going to take a hardware failure to keep him from doing it again. He has been fast all year and this is a track he knows and loves.

For my backup this week I'm going with a less obvious pick. Bobby Labonte has been having a horrible 2005 season but Pocono is just the place where he could get back on track. He swept both races in 1999 and won again in 2001. Even though he hasn't found victory lane here recently he has had some good runs.