Information By: BRANDON LEE / RFK RACING – CONCORD, NC
Pocono Event Info:
Date: Sunday, July 14
Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Format: 160 Laps, 400 Miles, Stages: 30-65-65
TV: USA
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 12 p.m. ET, Practice (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 12:45 p.m. ET, Qualifying (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 2:30 p.m. ET, Race (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
The NASCAR Cup Series heads north to Pocono Raceway for the 21st points race of the season as ‘The Tricky Triangle’ hosts its lone race date on the calendar.
Just one race remains following Pocono (Indianapolis) before the two-week pause in the schedule for the Olympics.
Jack Roush has four Pocono wins all-time, while the three-turn track stands as one of Brad Keselowski’s best (former winner in 2011). Pocono was also the site of Chris Buescher’s first victory in the Cup Series, way back in 2016 in one of his first seasons in Cup.
6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: NEXLIZET
17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com
Keselowski at Pocono
Starts: 26
Wins: 1 (2011)
Top-10s: 15
Poles: 1 (2016)
Keselowski enters the weekend in line for his 27th Cup start at Pocono. He carries a 10.9 average finish, his second-best of any track on the circuit.
Most recently he finished 16th a season ago, and 14th in 2022. Overall he has 15 top-10s, 11 of which were in the top five, with one win at ‘The Tricky Triangle’ in 2011.
Keselowski has led laps in 14 different Cup races in Pocono, including a race-best 95 in 2014 when he ran second. That marked one of four P2 finishes at the track, with the other runner-up results coming in 2015, 2016 and 2019.
Keselowski has finished top-10 in five of the last eight Pocono races, and in 11 of the last 15.
He has one pole all-time (2016) with an average starting position of 11.9 and 11 starts inside the top-10.
Outside of Cup action, Keselowski made one start each in the Xfinity and Truck Series, winning the 2017 Xfinity race in the No. 22.
Buescher at Pocono
Starts: 13
Wins: 1 (2016)
Top-10s: 2
Poles: 1 (2021)
Pocono marks the site of Buescher’s first-ever Cup win, which came in 2016 while driving at Front Row Motorsports. After weather played a factor with 133 laps completed, NASCAR red-flagged and ultimately called the race early, giving Buescher his first-career victory in NASCAR’s top series.
Overall at Pocono, Buescher has two top-10s in 14 starts with an average result of 20.6. He finished 18th a season ago.
Buescher’s average qualifying effort stands at 19.5 with two career top-10 starting spots – including the pole in 2021 when NASCAR inverted the field after race one of a doubleheader, and in 2022 when he qualified fifth.
Buescher also made four ARCA starts at Pocono in 2011-12, recording one runner-up finish followed by a third-place run and two fifth-place finishes.
RFK Historically at Pocono
Cup Wins: 4 (Carl Edwards, 2005, 2008); Kurt Busch (2005); Greg Biffle (2010)
It’s Tricky, it’s Tricky (Tricky) Tricky (Tricky): RFK has run 222 Cup races at ‘The Tricky Triangle’ dating back to 1988. An RFK Ford has visited victory lane on four occasions in the Cup series, with the first coming in 2005 with Carl Edwards. Kurt Busch followed with a win in the July race of that same year, one of his three victories for Jack Roush in 2005. Three years later, Edwards found winners circle again in 2008, and Greg Biffle carded the organization’s most recent win at the 2.5-mile track back in 2010.
Runner-Up: RFK has finished in the second position 13 times at Pocono with six different drivers. All in all, RFK has finished first or second 17 times at the triangular track.
Tale of the Tape: Overall RFK has 73 top-10 and 45 top-five results at Pocono along with three poles and the four wins. Mark Martin earned back-to-back poles in 1990 and 1991, before capturing his third in 1996.
RFK Pocono Wins
- 2005-1 Edwards Cup
- 2005-2 Busch Cup
- 2008-2 Edwards Cup
- 2010-2 Biffle Cup
Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Chicago: Joey Hand – piloting the Stage 60 Ford – led RFK with a P4 finish Sunday at the Chicago Street Course. Keselowski restarted third inside five to go and was in line for a top-10, but was spun on the final lap to finish 18th. Buescher finished 20th.
Points Standings (6: 10th, 17: 13th): Keselowski sits P10 with a two-point gap to ninth, while Buescher is eight points off P12.