There are weekends that fans leave Pocono asking for more. The high speeds and tight corners sometimes leave the competition a little flat. After yesterday, the debate still raged, but the “Tricky triangle” gave us competitive racing.
But, who escaped the “Pocono-zone” without a scratch?
On The Gas…
1: Aric Almirola – With an average finish of 12.1 so far this season, and showing a lot of speed at times, the driver of the No. 10 Ford is making people take notice that Tony Stewart knew what he was doing. Now, if he can get off this roller coaster of in the top 10, out of the top 10 that he’s been on the last 7 races, Almirola may just find his way back to victory lane.
2: Brad Keselowski – There aren’t many better at Pocono that Brad Keselowski, Even though he hasn’t won since 2011, Keselowski continued an impressive streak this week. The No. 2 Ford finished 5th for the third straight race at the Northeast Pennsylvania track, and that made his average finish over the last 3 years, 3.6. Not bad, even without a win.
1: Martin Truex Jr. – We’ve been waiting on it, a battle between Harvick, Busch and Truex jr. A heads up battle between the three top players this season. Each one took their turn out front, but good strategy and a fast car at the end put Truex jr in victory lane for the second time this season, and crashing the dominators party.
Now, on the other hand, there are guys that feel like the Bermuda triangle would have been more fun this three cornered race track. Who was…
On The Brakes…
3: Erik Jones – Many thought this might be the week Jones would break through to victory lane. The sophomore driver for Joe Gibbs racing has shown signs of briliance on the track and was expected to build on that. Expectations…crashed. Jones was one lap off the pace after contact with Joey Logano on a restart, on a front stretch where the fan out 5 and 6 wide. That didn’t work.
2: Denny Hamlin – A lot of close side by side racing was seen throughout the day at pocono, but sometimes that can turn in to disaster, and Denny Hamlin found that out trying to squeeze underneath Alex Bowman just past the halfway point. Hamlin would spin hitting the inside and outside walls and coming home a disappointing 35th.
1: Darrell “Bubba” Wallace – He has fun…outside of the track, but a deadlast finish at Pocono following a missed shift. Wallace was trying to shift frmo 3rd to 4th, but went to second and the engines don’t like 10,000 plus RPM’s, The good news for Bubba, he’s not the only one. Harvick did it last year. The king still thinks they should get him an Automatic transmission.
Strange things happen in Pocono, and this year, close and good quality racing, that many fans were still not happy with. Maybe Michigan will turn their minds.
High speeds and plenty of racing room is up next. Off to the Irish Hills, hoping that mother nature cooperates.
