NASCAR At Pocono Raceway Recap And Power Rankings Week 18

After a weather delay (rain) concluded moving the initial start time of the race back by 2 and a half hours, drivers were eager and excited to get on the track to get today’s NASCAR race started. They did not disappoint today with as many as 4 drivers not finishing to the end of the race (B. Poole #44, M. McDowell #71, B. Wallace #23, and R. Herbst #35) The ones that did certainly gave the sell-out crowd a memorable show from the wave of the green flag to the checkered flag at the end.

Table of Contents

1 Breaking Down The NASCAR Great American Getaway 400

Breaking Down The NASCAR Great American Getaway 400

Photo courtesy of NBCSports.com

Race winner: Chase Briscoe (No. 19, Joe Gibbs Racing) claimed the checkered flag, marking his first Cup oSeries victory with JGR after leading a race-high 72 laps of 160 at an average speed of 130.199 mph.
Chase and the #19 car have secured a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with today’s victory, being the 11th driver this season to do so.
Briscoe held off his teammate at JGR Denny Hamlin by a slim margin of 0.682 seconds in the final 34 laps demonstrating both dominance and composure. (all stats are courtesy of nascar.com)

Top 5 Finishers:

Chase Briscoe #19 [57 Pts](Joe Gibbs Racing)
Denny Hamlin #11[51 Pts](Joe Gibbs Racing) – secured the pole at the start of the race with a 52.144 s lap time and also set the fastest lap during the race. He showed a strong performance but fell just short, still, a solid runner‑up finish.
Ryan Blaney #12 [37 Pts] (Team Penske) – rallied to a strong third-place finish showcasing consistency as he made his way back onto the podium after a tight battle in the race.
Chris Buescher #17 [48 Pts](RFK Racing) – led multiple laps and had one of the fastest cars on the track however in the end could only make it to 4th place.
Chase Elliott #19 [43 Pts](Hendrick Motorsports) – secured his second consecutive top-five result this season

Rounding out the Top 10 are the following drivers: J. Nemechek #42 [6th, 31 Pts], K. Larson #5 [7th, 32 Pts], R. Preece #60 [8th, 29 Pts], B. Keselowski #6 [9th, 28 Pts] and A. Cindric #2 [10th, 31 Pts].

Photo courtesy of GPFans.com

All-in-all if you are a fan of NASCAR and have enjoyed races from the Pocono Raceway in the past I believe this race didn’t disappoint, it lived up to its reputation as “the tricky triangle”. Having several cautions on the day, and a handful of drivers making early exits, the excitement was never lacking and the quality of racing from the drivers they put on display Sunday afternoon was exceptional to say the least. Next week should be an interesting race filled with its own unique storylines and predictions going into it as the NASCAR Cup Series goes to Atlanta for the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday, June 28th @7pm ET.

Photo courtesy of Google Images

Here’s my Week 18 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings Top 16 Drivers heading into next weekend:

Denny Hamlin
Kyle Larson
Christopher Bell
William Byron
Ryan Blaney
Ross Chastain
Chase Briscoe
Chase Elliott
Chris Buescher
Ryan Preece
Josh Berry
Joey Logano
Alex Bowman
Erik Jones
John Hunter Nemechek
Tyler Reddick

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