NASCAR returned to the Poconos for the final seeding race of its new In-Season Challenge. With a triple-header race weekend, storylines and drama popped up all over Pennsylvania. So, who were the biggest losers from NASCAR’s weekend at Pocono Raceway?
This weekend marked a major milestone for Brennan Poole as the fan-favorite driver was scheduled to make his first NASCAR Cup Series start since 2023. While this was with the NY Racing Team, most fans had high hopes for Poole, who is one of the most consistent drivers in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In life, we all experience warm and cold welcomes, and this weekend, Poole may have had the toughest start to a return to the Cup Series this season.
The No. 44 team had three inspection failures, which saw Poole not allowed to qualify: a pass-through penalty, loss of pit selection, and the ejection of his Car Chief. Poole did all that to finish 34th, 49 laps down, but hey, at least he had another solid outing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Let’s start this out as bluntly as we can. Corey, Scott (the No. 11 team Crew Chief), you should be 14-0 this year. That’s not an insult. It’s a compliment.
This weekend marked yet another weekend in which the No. 11 team led more than 20 laps, the eighth time this season and the 12th time leading laps into double digits in 2025. Heim also led the most laps at Pocono and won stage two. This performance, from a driver who has no business being stuck in this series, should be no surprise. So, how did it fall apart this time?
After Jake Garcia crashed with 25 to go, Heim lined up with pole sitter Layne Riggs. Now, these two had already gone at it at North Wilkesboro, with Riggs costing Heim the win, but this time, it was not his fault, nor any drivers, as Heim cut a right rear tire while under pace laps for the restart, finishing 23rd after another dominant outing.
Remember last season when everyone thought that it was going to be Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson duking it out for the championship? Well, that didn’t happen last season, and that’s definitely not happening this year. The Next Gen bug, the one that has bitten teams that showed so much promise in the early days of the car, has finally bitten 23XI Racing, and it really showed this past weekend.
We are one race away from the halfway point in 2025 (which is wild to say), and 23XI Racing is winless (which is also wild to say). Over the last two seasons, the two now three-car organizations won at least one race during the first half of the season. As for the roster, Tyler Reddick is not having a bad season, just winless. Bubba Wallace is showing improvement but has bad luck, and Riley Herbst is somehow worse than expected, so there’s that.
We all wanted Rowdy Busch back, right? Well, we got him, and it was interesting, to say the least.
This weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr played substitute teacher for Connor Zillisch, whose normal Crew Chief, Mardy Lindley, was serving a lug-nut, yes lug-nut, suspension. Earnhardt, who was the father that stepped up rather than the stepfather this weekend, called Zilisch home for his first win on an oval. This was after comments from Busch, who said that Earnhardt was “a warm body sitting on top of the box.”
Kyle, we aren’t calling you a loser for the context, as you went on to explain it, with good reason, on your X later. The future Hall of Famer clarified in that post, saying, “I’m referencing how silly the suspensions for cc are these days with all the technology they have to stay in contact with their teams.” But Kyle, for the love of all things, this is what you choose to be negative about? Let the people enjoy the moment; Dale Jr is in the stat book as a winning Crew Chief; it’s a great story for the future and a great story for the fans in attendance to give “I was there when __.”
Oh boy, Ty, here we are again.
So this weekend, Ty Gibbs once again took the crown of being the only JGR driver not to win in JGR equipment, or at all. Gibbs brought the No. 54 home, 14th, while his newest teammate, one whom fans questioned the signing of, Chase Briscoe, brought home the win. This means that Gibbs is the only driver who did not win at JGR in their career, winning a race in their career and winning a race in 2025.
Though he snapped his grueling stretch of mostly sub-top-25 finishes early on this season, Gibbs is not smelling the roses as of late. The no. 54 team currently sits 23rd in points. While he still moved up in the standings this weekend, he is notably behind fellow Toyota driver John Hunter Nemechek, who races for Legacy Motor Club. Let me put this out there once again: Ty Gibbs is behind an LMC car in Cup Series points. Honestly, we’re not sure if that’s a testament to LMC’s work on their program, but we do know that’s a bad showing on Gibbs.
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