Heading into the homestretch of the Cup Series regular season schedule, teams face one of the zaniest four-race spans of the year beginning Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
With the race for the 16 Chase spots featuring about a dozen drivers floating above and below the cutline, teams face these tests over the month of June and into the July 4 holiday weekend.
Sunday, Pocono Raceway: The so-called Tricky Triangle is both fast and strategically demanding and one of the oddest designs in all of motorsports.
June 21, Naval Base Coronado, San Diego: In what will be one of the most dramatic visual races in recent NASCAR history, drivers will compete on a 3.4-mile course on the naval base, marking a unique visit to an active military installation.
June 28, Sonoma Raceway: It’s on to California Wine Country for the annual run across Sonoma’s 2.5-mile facility.
July 5, Chicagoland Speedway: After three races on the streets of Chicago, the Cup Series returns to Chicagoland in the far suburbs (actually, Joliet) for the first time in seven years.
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Chase Briscoe won at Pocono last year.’ expand=
With Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono the first on the schedule, the point race is tightening at the top and in the mushy middle, where a tightrope of sorts has developed around the cutline.
In the race for the regular season championship, with 11 events remaining, surging Denny Hamlin has trimmed Tyler Reddick’s lead to 51 points. Reddick dominated the first part of the season, but Hamlin, in second in points, has won two consecutive races, cutting Reddick’s lead to its smallest margin since the second race of the year.
Hamlin, apparently ignoring his age (44), has gained 78 points on Reddick in the past three races and rides the perfect setup this week. He practically owns Pocono, having won seven times there, one race more than Jeff Gordon, who’s second on the all-time Pocono win list.
Hamlin scored his first career Cup win in June 2006 at Pocono and will be a prohibitive favorite Sunday. He tied Kyle Busch for ninth all-time in Cup wins (63) with his Sunday victory. He would move into ninth alone with a Pocono win. His next target is a long bridge away—Dale Earnhardt with 76 wins.
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Denny Hamlin has closed the gap to leader Tyler Reddick by 78 points in three races.
Hamlin’s more obvious target, however, is what would be his first Cup championship.
Traveling down the point standings, positions 11 (Bubba Wallace) through 22 (Zane Smith) are relatively tight. Wallace is 49 points above the cutline, while Smith is 50 below.
The race immediately above and below the cutline involves Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Joey Logano. Cindric is three points above the line in 16th; Logano, surprisingly winless to date, is three points below the line in 17th. He has missed the playoffs only one time in the past 13 seasons.
Among those joining Logano in the outside-looking-in group are Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon. Joining Logano in the waiting-to-win club are Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Chase Briscoe.
Perhaps providing a hint that drivers are eyeing fewer chances to advance is the fact that the past three races have had a combined 34 caution flags. Twenty-four cars were involved in crashes at Nashville, and 27 wrecked at Michigan.
Mike Hembree has covered auto racing for numerous media outlets, including USA Today, NASCAR Scene, NBC Sports, The Greenville News and the SPEED Channel. He has been roaming garage areas and pit roads for decades (although the persistent rumor that he covered the first Indianapolis 500 is not true). Winner of numerous motorsports and other media awards, he also has covered virtually every other major sport. He lives near Gaffney, South Carolina and can be convinced to attend Bruce Springsteen concerts if you have tickets.