How’s it going, race fans? After a week south of the border, the NASCAR Cup Series teams had to travel way up north to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, where lies the Tricky Triangle, Pocono Raceway. With frequent bumps in the asphalt, a brutal tunnel turn, and three distinct turns modeled after tracks like Trenton (Turn 1), Indianapolis (Turn 2), and Milwaukee (Turn 3), the track lives up to its tricky reputation. This is one of the more unique tracks on the NASCAR schedule that has been a proving ground for some of NASCAR’s greatest drivers. Denny Hamlin has won a few races here. Dale Earnhardt Jr. swept the races back in 2014. Ryan Blaney has also been very good here in the past. Who was able to rise to the occasion today?
There were a number of storylines heading into today’s race. For starters, pole sitter Denny Hamlin missed last week as his fiancée, Jordan, gave birth to the latest addition to their family, their first son. He came back and made a statement and was ready to continue the momentum from his win at Michigan two weeks ago. Chase Elliott dominated yesterday’s Xfinity Series race at the track but wasn’t able to get the job done. Could he seal the deal today? He rolled off 18th on the starting grid. Also, we had our first weather delay of the year since the 2025 Daytona 500. How did the cars react to the rubber being washed off the track?
Let’s go over all of that and more! Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway!
There were a variety of strategies heading into the finish of this race. Clearly, the fastest cars on the track were Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher. However, once they lost track position after their 1-2 finish in stage one, they were largely irrelevant. With the two of them mired back in traffic, the race was up for grabs. Chase Briscoe won the second stage while Brad Keselowski and Josh Berry also ran up front during the second stage.
To start the final stage, Hamlin and Buescher found themselves back near the front and in contention. Unfortunately for them, the track conditions changed drastically and they were no longer the class of the field. Also up there were Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. Larson, since his ill-fated double attempt, hasn’t looked like himself. But he was in contention for a top 10 finish late in this race, which is solid but not the kind of performance they were used to. A late race caution with just over 40 laps to go really turned the strategy game on its head.
Leader Brad Keselowski, in his fuel window, was hoping to stay out a few laps longer and really lean on the fresher Goodyear tires, as opposed to the more worn tires of his competitors. But, unfortunately, SVG spun at an inopportune time. The caution came out, spoiling the strategy of the number 6 Ford.
Briscoe cycled to the lead with Hamlin and Blaney behind him. But it was confirmed that Briscoe didn’t get enough fuel packed into the car and would be short to make it to the finish. Thus began a cat-and-mouse race to the finish. Briscoe led as we got inside 20 laps to go with his teammate, Denny Hamlin, breathing down his neck. Hamlin, in this run, set the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the Race. But with the dirty air coming into effect, Hamlin’s only hope of catching and passing Briscoe was if the 19 car ran out of gas.
Against all odds, Briscoe was able to hold on to the last drop. Briscoe wins at Pocono, marking his first win with Joe Gibbs Racing! This win also clinched him a spot in the 2025 postseason!
Denny Hamlin is the winningest driver in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series at Pocono Raceway. He has visited Victory Lane at the track a mind-boggling seven times. No offense to Richard Petty, but Hamlin has proven to be the King of Pocono Raceway. After missing last week’s race in Mexico City due to the birth of his son, Jameson, Hamlin returned to one of his best tracks with a lot of confidence as he put his number 11 Progressive Toyota on the pole for the 5th time at the track. This puts him in a three-way tie for most poles at Pocono of all time with Bill Elliott and Ken Schrader.
Hamlin led the field to the green flag and, despite Chris Buescher briefly looking to his inside, he held the lead for the whole first stage, leading all 30 of the opening laps. He won the opening stage, his fourth stage win of the year and only his second (despite his dominant numbers at the track) at Pocono Raceway. Things were off to a great start for the veteran driver of the number 11, who, by all accounts, is more committed to his team now at this late point in his career than he ever has been before. His recent performances in conjunction with the sheer speed he has displayed all year have a lot of pundits, including Prime Sports analyst Carl Edwards, wondering if this might be his year, finally, to win it all.
A handful of cars chose to flip the stage. During the stage break, they stayed out and assumed the race lead. Chris Buescher won the race off of pit road of the cars that pitted. This dropped Hamlin to restart the race in 8th. He was able to work his way back up to the 2nd position, where he finished.
Near the halfway point in the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Tricky Triangle, chaos broke out. On the backstretch, the Prime Video crew flashed to a massive wreck which left a number of very big names sitting the wrong way on the track. Some of these names include Kyle Busch, who has been having an abysmal last couple of years, and Christopher Bell who has seemingly cooled off in recent weeks. The wreck started when Kyle Busch was racing the 38 car of Zane Smith. The close quarter racing took air off the number 8 of Busch and he went around without contact. This collected the unexpecting drivers of Christopher Bell, Ty Dillon, and last week’s winner, Shane van Gisbergen. You can watch the incident in the video clip below.
Ty Dillon, who had a solid run last week at Mexico City, was the only one of these drivers to go to the garage for repairs. Busch, Bell, and SVG were able to continue. SVG ultimately lost a lap while Busch and Bell lived to fight another restart.
It all started with Riley Herbst. After an abysmal year, it looked as though Riley Herbst was starting to turn things around last week in Mexico City. Though the 29th place finish wasn’t what he and the 35 Monster Energy Team were looking for, it also wasn’t indicative to how well they were running prior to him getting caught up in someone else’s incident. Prior to crashing out late, Herbst was running in the top 15 and top 10 for most of the race. That was, by far, the best performance that team has shown all year long.
Even with last week’s disappointing finish, Herbst was hoping to build on whatever it was that they found south of the border. Riley started the race in 29th and had worked his way up to 26th (about the mean of how he’s performed so far this season) by the start of the second stage. That was when disaster struck, though. Heading into Turn 1 shortly after the stage restart, Riley Herbst had a right front tire go down. In one of the worst spots on the track to have an issue, Herbst’s 35 Toyota wouldn’t turn in the corner, sending him into the outside SAFER barrier. The only explanation given over the radio was that his brake rotors were running hot. He retired from the race and finished 37th.
Next to be bitten by the developing plague of brake/tire failures was Bubba Wallace, leading many fans and pundits to wonder if this was a 23XI-specific issue. It certainly didn’t do much in calming the nerves of the third 23XI car, Tyler Reddick, that’s for certain. Bubba has had an up and down year, as had the whole 23XI team. Starting out, Bubba was hands down the best 23XI car in the stable. However, as we got into the late spring and early summer months, the team noticeably fell off. Bad luck plagued them and they just weren’t generally as fast as they had been to kick off the year.
More recently, he started to turn things around. He finished 6th at Nashville, 4th at Michigan, and 14th at Mexico City. The latter might not seem all that impressive at first glance but considering how awful Bubba’s been on road courses in his career, it might as well be a win. He wasn’t able to build on that momentum at Pocono, however. He was fast in practice but floundered in qualifying and had to start in the back. About halfway through the second stage, his right front brake rotor exploded. This led to his tire going down and, just like his teammate a number of laps before him, Bubba slammed into the Turn 2 wall. He also retired from the race and was credited with a 36th-place finish.
For an extra kick in the pants, the third 23XI car, who was having a relatively solid day, Tyler Reddick in the 45 Monster Energy Beast Toyota, also had some brake rotor issues. Again, he came over the radio with concern over how his tires felt and his brake rotors overheating. Having seen what had happened to his teammates, Reddick and his 45 crew opted to act proactively and bring the car into the garage to change the rotors. He fell two laps down and pitted again, still expressing concern over his tires holding up.
That does it for NASCAR’s yearly one-off at the Tricky Triangle! What did you think of this one, race fans? How about Prime’s final broadcast of the 2025 season? What are your expectations heading into the TNT coverage? Let us know! And be sure to come back here at DailyDownforce.com! We have all the latest breaking news straight from the NASCAR garage. Up next: Atlanta Motor Speedway!
