LONG POND — There were a lot of unknowns heading into the NASCAR doubleheader at Pocono Raceway.
Sure, the 2.5-mile triangular track held a twinbill last year. But that was during the coronavirus pandemic with no fans and all sorts of protocols in place.
This year, Pocono operated at 100 percent capacity. How would the doubleheader work with fans in attendance?
Turns out just fine.
All of the track’s camping sites sold out. The grandstand was packed and close to a sellout. It created a great atmosphere.
“I think Pennsylvania race fans in general are some of the best in the world,” Alex Bowman said. “Whether it’s sprint car racing or Cup racing or whatever the situation is, PA fans are pretty dang awesome.
“To see a packed grandstands, packed infield, it’s cool. It’s really neat.”
Even Jeff Gordon took notice.
“Coming into this race track today got me very, very excited again,” said Gordon, who recently was named vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. “This reminds me of the older days, or that period of time that we all talk about when the sport was super-hot, that’s the feeling of energy I feel this weekend here at the track.”
Those in attendance were treated to three days of exciting racing that had incredible, unbelievable and intriguing outcomes:
• On Friday, Ty Gibbs and Chandler Smith tangled on a late-race restart, enabling Corey Heim to take the lead and go on to win the ARCA Series General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200.
• John Hunter Nemechek outdueled boss Kyle Busch on a restart with seven laps remaining to win the NASCAR Truck Series CRC Brakleen 150 on Saturday.
• Kyle Larson was half-a-lap from winning his fourth straight NASCAR Cup Series points race — five if you count the non-points All-Star Race — Saturday when he blew a tire, handing victory to Bowman, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
• Austin Cindric was cruising in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pocono Green 225 on Sunday when, with three laps left, David Starr’s car ran out of gas in front of him. Cindric had to slow down to avoid hitting Starr, which allowed Gibbs to close in on him and challenge for the win. Cindric, though, was able to hold on.
• Finally, Sunday’s Cup Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 became a fuel mileage race, wondering who might have enough gas to make it to the end and who couldn’t. Kyle Busch did and won despite driving with a broken clutch stuck in fourth gear for most of the race.
In August 2015, Busch was leading at Pocono when he ran out of gas on the final lap.
“It was a little bit of, I guess, vindication that we came back from that one to be able to win this one,” Busch said Sunday.
Eleven races at Pocono since and Busch has four wins, six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes.
“Any time you go to Pocono with Kyle Busch, you got a shot,” Busch’s crew chief Ben Beshore said. “He’s so good here. His results show it.”
Busch’s victory stopped the six-race winning streak for Hendrick Motorsports that started with Bowman at Dover. Chase Elliott followed at Austin, Texas. Larson then won three straight (Charlotte, Sonoma, Nashville) before Bowman won Saturday at Pocono.
William Byron appeared poised to continue that streak Sunday when he took the lead with eight laps left. However, he had to pit for fuel with three laps to go and wound up 12th. He placed third Saturday.
“The car was awesome,” Byron said. “I felt like we made some improvements from (Saturday) and worked on some things. A lot of positives to take for next week. It just didn’t work out (Sunday), but we’re going to get one soon.”
Even for all his woes over the weekend, Larson finished ninth and second in the two races. After the flat tire cost him the victory Saturday, he overcame damage to the nose of his car Sunday.
“Nothing went right except for our finish, so I’ll take that,” Larson said after Sunday’s race. “It was a struggle. I had a lot of frustrating moments, it was hard to ever get track position. But I’ve got to thank my guys for working hard and helping me get a second-place run.”
Hendrick drivers likely remain the favorites for the Cup Series playoffs over the season’s final 10 races. Busch likely has the best chance to deny them.
"exciting" - Google News
June 29, 2021 at 09:15AM
https://ift.tt/362Jzvc
NASCAR: Pocono produce exciting, successful doubleheader | Sports | republicanherald.com - Republican & Herald
"exciting" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2GLT7hy
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "NASCAR: Pocono produce exciting, successful doubleheader | Sports | republicanherald.com - Republican & Herald"
Post a Comment