Location: Long Pond, Pa.
Track length: 2.5 miles
Race purse: $7,776,907
Race distance: 160 laps | 400 miles
Stages: 30 | 95 | 160
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Starting lineup: Ty Gibbs drives to pole position
Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
Defending winner: Denny Hamlin, July 2023
Key things to watch
Saturday sessions
Ty Gibbs rolled to his second career Cup Series pole, putting the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota through its paces at a speed of 170.039 mph. Both of his poles have come this season, with his first No. 1 starting spot arriving in May for the Coca-Cola 600. William Byron will start second in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet, and the second row will be two more JGR Toyotas, with Martin Truex Jr. third and Denny Hamlin fourth.
Practice was an eventful stretch for the field, which was split in half for a pair of 20-minute sessions. Tyler Reddick topped the speed chart at 168.231 mph, but his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota spun during practice, avoiding contact with the wall. Kyle Larson was another spinner, looping his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet off Turn 2 during the first 20-minute stint. Byron was second-fastest overall in practice, with Truex completing the top three. | Full Saturday recap
Big story line
Playoff pressure still percolates as teams make their case
Alex Bowman’s victory last week in the Chicago streets did another number on the Cup Series Playoffs picture, but it also completed a four-team sweep for Hendrick Motorsports in terms of postseason eligibility. The only other organization with all of its teams in the provisional playoff grid is Team Penske, which converted with victories by Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano in a lucrative five-week stretch.
Which other organizations have the oomph to put all of their drivers in the field? There are a handful of likely candidates, and their drivers are all along the bubble.
Six races remain before the 16-driver grid of championship hopefuls is set, and that half-dozen includes Sunday’s 400-miler at the famously triangular track in the Keystone State. Twelve drivers have secured clinching victories in the regular season thus far, and three drivers — Bowman, Blaney and Logano — have extricated themselves from bubble limbo with breakthroughs in the last four weeks.
Joe Gibbs Racing has two drivers in the win column this year, with Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin snagging three apiece. The rest of their four-car fleet is still looking for that first 2024 victory, led by veteran Martin Truex Jr., a two-time Pocono winner and the top points-earner currently winless. Ty Gibbs is right behind teammate Truex in the playoff picture, and a win — which seems on the verge, especially given his best final-round speed in Saturday’s Busch Light Pole qualifying session — would be a Cup Series career first.
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain is among those searching, aiming to join teammate Daniel Suárez in the win column. He’s plus-53 above the provisional elimination line and was in the late-race mix two weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway. Chastain is still seeking his first Pocono top-10 finish.
Chris Buescher sits as the last driver above the bubble line, plus-45, and also on the cusp in his bid to meet RFK Racing owner/driver Brad Keselowski in the playoff fold. His first Cup Series victory came at Pocono as a rookie in 2016, and he got hot just before the postseason last year, winning three of five to close out the regular-season campaign.
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