POCONO 400 STARTING LINEUP: 1. Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota — This used to be one of the best places on earth for Hamlin, who won both poles and both races in 2006 and then races again in 2009 and 2010. But it hasn’t been his best place of late (until qualifying Friday) — last year he reached one of the lowest points of a lowly season with an early-race wreck. 2. Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet — Knowledge he will make the Chase for the Sprint Cup can at least help ease the pain of this season. Running well at one of his better tracks this weekend could help turn things around. 3. Brad Keselowski, Team Penske No. 2 Ford — Finished second to Jimmie Johnson last week at Dover. Wouldn’t be a total surprise if that’s the same result this weekend, although Johnson will have to come from deep in the field. 4. Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet — In 26 Cup races at Pocono, Harvick has led in only one of them. But we did learn after one of those races who wears the firesuit in his family. 5. Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet — The all-time Pocono NASCAR win leader with six, Gordon could easily add to that record Sunday. 6. Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota — Busch saw the musical “Book of Mormon” in New York on Thursday. Note to Busch: You cannot use most of those phrases and lyrics on your in-car radio. 7. Joey Logano, Team Penske No. 22 Ford — OK, be honest: Is he best known for winning here in June 2012 or the spat with Kevin Harvick in June 2010? Don’t be surprised if this is the first track where he has two Cup wins. 8. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet — A third and a fifth in the two Cup races at Pocono last year show he is poised for his first win ever at the track. 9. Brian Vickers, Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55 Toyota — Was fastest in practice and that’s a big deal. He did test at the track but it’s his first race there since 2011. 10. Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing No. 99 Ford — Still no word on his 2015 plans. What’s he waiting for? He does seem much more at ease this year, though, going through the process than he was a few years ago. 11. Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet — Hasn’t raced at Pocono since 2011 in the trucks. Judging from qualifying, the test a couple of weeks ago was well worth it. 12. Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet — A seventh last week at Dover had to be a little boost for this team. And Stewart was ninth at Pocono in August — the day before he broke his leg. He has four top 10s in last four races at the track. 13. Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford — Reiterated this week that he hopes to be able to work everything out to stay at Roush. Considering way team has run this year and Biffle’s mediocre Pocono history (albeit with one win), probably more likely he stays at Roush than wins this weekend. 14. Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet — Competing in the ARCA race Saturday because he has never been to Pocono before. Biggest challenge for him will be shifting. He’s not good at that. At all. 15. Ryan Newman, Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet — Has dropped from eighth to 11th in the standings the last two weeks. 16. Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 Chevrolet — She’s a former IndyCar driver so on a track with a corner modeled after Indy and another after the Milwaukee Mile, maybe she should be stronger at Pocono… but more likely if you want to see Patrick run strong, watch next week at Michigan. 17. Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Chevrolet — Appears this team is making progress getting in sync with Truex (and vice versa). But growing process is agonizing. 18. Jamie McMurray, Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet — His average finish is 21st at this track. He better finish better than that, though, considering teams tested at Pocono. 19. Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip Racing No. 15 Toyota — His spotter took the blame for the wreck last week at Dover that took out Kyle Busch. But if I’m Bowyer, I don’t ask for any favors from Busch for a while. 20. Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet — With back-to-back wins, does that mean he’s looking at back-to-back titles as well? Six-time still hasn’t figured out group qualifying, though. 21. AJ Allmendinger, JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 Chevrolet — Team is a little weary this weekend after testing Tuesday and Thursday at Sonoma. 22. Aric Almirola, Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford — Almirola a hot dog this weekend? It’s his first weekend with Smithfield brand Nathan’s on the hood. 23. Paul Menard, Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet — Organization tested at Pocono so he should be good this weekend. 24. Justin Allgaier, HScott Motorsports No. 51 Chevrolet — Even when this one-car team makes it just to second-round qualifying, that is considered a decent day. 25. Casey Mears, Germain Racing No. 13 Chevrolet — Team in a little bit of a slump the last few weeks and needs top 20 finish bad. 26. Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota — Finished outside the top 20 in both races last year. Not very strong in qualifying. His chance for his first win of 2014 won’t be Sunday. 27. Kasey Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet — The only reason this is the most opportune time for Kahne to get out of his sleep is because he can’t go back in time. If he could, he’d go back in time two weeks, two weeks he’d like to forget about — as well as wanting to forget about qualifying Friday. 28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford — Needs to run better or his dog (@DallasStenhouse on twitter) will be more popular than he is. 29. Marcos Ambrose, Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 Ford — Ambrose has finishes of 13th, 10th, 17th and 12th in his last four races at Pocono. Lacking speed, though, so even finishing that high might be optimistic. 30. Michael Annett, Tommy Baldwin Racing No. 7 Chevrolet — First NASCAR race ever at Pocono for Annett. 31. Landon Cassill, Mike Hillman Racing No. 40 Chevrolet — Starting spot ties for his second-best all season. If he can finish top 25, that would be a success for this underfunded team. 32. David Ragan, Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford — How rough a season has it been this year for Ragan? He hasn’t finished on the lead lap yet this year. Oof. 33. Travis Kvapil, Go FAS Racing No. 32 Ford — Just his second race in the last five events for this team. 34. Alex Bowman, BK Racing No. 23 Toyota — Like some of the other rookies, first trip to Pocono. 35. David Gilliland, Front Row Motorsports No. 38 Ford — See the comment on David Ragan and add one — he has finished on the lead lap once this year. 36. Reed Sorenson, Tommy Baldwin Racing No. 36 Chevrolet — His 24th last week at Dover was his best in his last eight races. 37. Josh Wise, Phil Parsons Racing No. 98 Chevrolet — His 28th last week was his fourth top 30 finish of the year. Probably would need to win an attrition battle to make it that high this week. 38. JJ Yeley, Xxxtreme Motorsport No. 44 Chevrolet — Power trouble: Has started three races, all of which ended with an engine failure. 39. Timmy Hill, Jay Robinson Racing No. 66 Toyota — Hill is the latest in a line of drivers to fill this seat. Next week at Michigan, Michael Waltrip Racing will field the car for Brett Moffitt, who was 22nd in Cup debut at Dover. 40. Cole Whitt, BK Racing No. 26 Toyota — Has finished 27th in each of the last two races. 41. Ryan Truex, BK Racing No. 83 Toyota — Two of the three BK Racing cars are starting 40th or worse as the team looks for more speed. 42. Alex Kennedy, Circle Sport Racing No. 33 Chevrolet — Kennedy has sponsorship for this race as well as the two road courses to drive this car. 43. Dave Blaney, Randy Humphrey Racing No. 77 Chevrolet — Finished a season-best 33rd last week at Dover. Starts shotgun on the field after a spin in qualifying.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 15:54:46 +0000
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