The Cup Series will travel to Pocono Raceway this weekend for another race at a large intermediate track. Hopefully the picks have better luck than they had in Michigan. All five drivers were running in the top-five near the end of Stage 1 at Michigan. Then all hell broke loose. Chris Buescher has a hood pin fall off, so he had to start Stage 2 in the back. Tyler Reddick was caught up in a wreck and Chase Elliott led the most laps but got loose and wrecked hard. We had fast cars, but the results sucked. It has to get better at the Tricky Triangle, right? I sure hope so. The Great American Getaway 400 can be seen Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on Prime.
STRATEGY FOR POCONO
Pocono Raceway is a horsepower track. This track has the longest straightaways in NASCAR. The draft comes into play, and there is plenty of room to race.
The Toyota’s have dominated the races on the intermediate tracks this year, but the Chevy’s and Fords are catching up. Pocono Raceway is the best track for Denny Hamlin, so it is going to be tough to fade him this weekend. Chase Briscoe dominated this race last year, so there is a chance that the Toyota’s will run well again Sunday. Do not count out the Hendrick Motorsports and RFK Racing cars. Pocono is one of the best tracks for Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski. I plan to play a few Toyota’s, but I will be using some of the other teams too.
Here are the picks for the race at Pocono Raceway…
DENNY HAMLIN (4): NASCAR almost needs to make Hamlin start in the back to give the other teams a fighting chance. Hamlin started in the back in the last two races and he still went to Victory Lane. Now he gets to compete at his best track. Hamlin has finished 2nd, 2nd and 1st in his last three races at Pocono Raceway. The No. 11 car has the speed to make it a hat trick of victories for Hamlin in the Cup Series.
TY GIBBS (6): The Toyota’s have been fast this year on the large intermediate tracks and that seems to be the case again this weekend. Gibbs posted the 7th fastest speed in practice and the No. 54 car qualified 4th for the race. Gibbs has been one of the best drivers this year on the large intermediate tracks, so he gets a spot in my Fantasy Live lineup Sunday.
CHASE BRISCOE (6): Briscoe dominated the race at Pocono last year. The No. 19 car led the most laps (72), scored17 Stage Points and went to Victory Lane. It looks like the No. 19 team brought similar speed to the track this weekend. Briscoe posted the 10th fastest speed in practice and the No. 19 car qualified 5th for the race. Briscoe has the speed and track position to score well for your Fantasy Live lineup Sunday.
CHRIS BUESCHER (7): Pocono is an important track for Buescher. He scored his first win in the Cup Series at Pocono in 2016. He has been good at this track ever since that race. Buescher finished 11th in 2024 and 4th last year. The No. 17 car looked fast last week in Michigan. That speed has transferred over to the race at Pocono Raceway. This is a good race to take a chance with Buescher in your Fantasy Live lineups.
WILLIAM BYRON (5): Byron ranks No. 5 in the Cup Series in speed on the large intermediate track, but his bad luck has caused him to finish outside the top-10 in many of the races. Can Pocono be the track where Byron turns it around? The No. 24 car posted the 8th fastest speed in practice and Byron qualified 9th for the race. He has the speed to run up front and score well for your Fantasy Live lineup.
(GARAGE PICK) RYAN BLANEY (7): Pocono Raceway has been a good track for Blaney. He won the race at the Tricky Triangle in 2024 and he finished 3rd last year. You really cannot fade Blaney at any track where the draft comes into play. I thought about using Tyler Reddick in the Garage, but I will save his allocation for the road courses.
* I wish I could use Kyle Larson this week, but I only have two allocations left with the No. 5 car. I would use Larson over Ryan Blaney if you have 4 or more allocations left with Larson.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.