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- Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin enjoying dominant run at Pocono Raceway since 2019.
- “The Tricky Triangle” is the final seeding race for upcoming $1 million NASCAR In-Season Challenge.
Photo Michael Jaworecki/Myracenews
LONG POND, Pa. (June 16, 2025) – The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM at Pocono Raceway on Sunday will serve as the final and pivotal Cup Series race in determining the driver seedings for the upcoming $1 million NASCAR In-Season Challenge.
The top 32 drivers in the points standings following the Nashville race on June 1 qualified for the in-season tournament that pays $1 million to the winner. That was followed by three seeding races being televised on Amazon Prime – Michigan International Speedway (June 8), Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez (June 15) and Sunday at Pocono Raceway. The drivers will be seeded by their best finish in those three races with tiebreakers determined by the next-best finish, followed by the season points position.
Once seeded, the drivers will go “head to head” at EchoPark Speedway (32 drivers), the Chicago Street Course (16), Sonoma Raceway (8), Dover Motor Speedway (4) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2) with the one with the higher finish advancing to the next round.
Success in The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM could enhance several drivers’ seedings and provide a more suitable path to contend for the $1 million prize. The Cup Series drivers take to the 2.5-mile oval Saturday for split-field practices beginning at 12:35 p.m. ET and followed by qualifying at 1:45 p.m. The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM, a 400-mile, 160-lap race, will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday (TV: Amazon Prime, Radio: MRN, SiriusXM).
The race weekend will feature a NASCAR national series race each day, with the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series MillerTech Battery 200 on Friday (5 p.m.) and Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).
Here are the “Tricky 5” Storylines for The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM:
- “The Tricky Triangle” has been anything but for Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, especially since 2019.
During that nine-race period, he has compiled three wins (2019, ’20, ’23), two runner-up finishes (’20 and ’24) and has finished sixth or better in seven of those nine visits. That run of success would have been even better had he not been disqualified in post-race inspection and dropped to 35th after winning the 2022 race.
Hamlin’s last victory in 2023 allowed him to pass Jeff Gordon as the career wins leader at Pocono when he recorded his seventh. The victory total also ranks first for his most at any track, one ahead of Martinsville Speedway and two more than Richmond and Darlington.
Hamlin also may be motivated to win one for the newest addition to his family. He missed the Mexico City race following the June 11 birth of his third child and first son, whose name has yet to be revealed publicly. He becomes Hamlin’s third child with fiancée Jordan Fish, joining daughters Taylor and Molly.
- Cup Series points leader William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports has not won since the season-opening Daytona 500, but The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM could provide an excellent opportunity to return to Victory Lane.
Byron has yet to win at “The Tricky Triangle,” but he owns the best all-time finishing average among all drivers with at least two starts. In 11 career starts, he has an average finishing position of 9.4. He has six top-10 finishes, including three among the top five with a best of third in 2021.
He won his second Pocono pole in 2023 and led 60 laps before settling for a disappointing 14th-place finish. Last season, he started on the Pocono front row for the fourth time en route to a fourth-place finish.
He arrives at Pocono Raceway having posted top-10 finishes in three of his last four starts, including a runner-up finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
- As the Cup Series approaches the season’s midpoint, there are some notable drivers still in search of a victory and berth in the Playoffs. Given their past success at Pocono Raceway, it could be the race that takes care of both.
Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing is looking to snap a 73-race winless drought, dating to his victory at World Wide Technology Raceway in June of 2023. He is a four-time Cup Series race winner at Pocono Raceway (2017, ’18, ’19 & ’21), which is tied for fourth all-time. He also has 18 top-10 finishes, including 11 among the top five, in 37 career starts. Busch’s four career poles also are tied for second all-time. However, he has struggled on the 2.5-mile oval since joining RCR in 2023. He has not qualified better than 24th or finished better than 21st, but may have some “Tricky Triangle” magic left in him.
Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports is a previous Pocono Raceway winner (2022) and has 10 top-10 finishes in 15 career starts, including his last three visits. He is looking to end a 43-race winless streak dating to his win at Texas Motor Speedway in April of last season. He arrives coming off a third-place finish in Sunday’s race at Mexico City.
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, winless since Homestead-Miami Speedway in October of last season for a modest 18-race streak, may have the best shot of three. He comes into Pocono Raceway having finished ninth or better in his last four visits. That run is highlighted by runner-up finishes in 2022 and ’23. He was solid again last year, qualifying seventh and finishing sixth.
It is shaping up that it may take only a win to get in this year’s post-season field. Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen won Sunday at Mexico City to become the 10th winner on the season and stake claim on one of the 16 available spots. There are still 10 races remaining in the Cup Series regular season so it could get interesting.
- Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports approach the midpoint of the season having combined to win 10 of the first 16 races. JGR’s Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell share the Cup Series lead with Hendrick’s Kyle Larson at three victories each. William Byron, the series points leader, added the other win in the season-opening Daytona 500.
The organizations as a whole also have been strong in terms of top-five finishes. Hendrick Motorsports has combined for 23 with Larson leading the way with nine. Byron has seven, Chase Elliott four and Alex Bowman three. Elliott added a third-place finish and Bowman a fourth in Sunday’s race at Mexico City.
Joe Gibbs Racing has 21 with Hamlin and Bell tied at seven to pace the organization. Chase Briscoe has added five and Ty Gibbs two. Bell produced a runner-up finish at Mexico City.
- It will be interesting to see if the escalating feud between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. of HYAK Motorsports and Carson Hocevar of Spire Motorsports crosses the border with them heading into The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM.
During Sunday’s race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Hocevar punted Stenhouse Jr. on the 90th of 100 laps and that led to a heated post-race confrontation on pit road. A visibly upset Stenhouse Jr. walked down to Hocevar’s car, poked his head in the driver-side window and gave him a tongue lashing with a promise of physical retribution upon their return to the States.
“I just got left and in the marbles and slid a lot longer than I expected,” Hocevar said afterward. “So yeah, I mean, obviously number one, not somebody I would never want to hit again. But number two, just yeah, I wasn’t racing anything. I was just logging laps, just trying to wait on a yellow and maybe see if we could put our day back together.
“But yeah, I just hit a curb wrong and got in the marbles and slid all the way through the corner. So I tried to turn left and avoid him, but just really, really sloppy day by me, and then that was another incident of the day that was really just sloppy.”
The incident was the second in the last three races between the two. The other came at the June 1 race at Nashville Superspeedway, where Hocevar got into the back of Stenhouse Jr. to send him into the wall and end his day.
For tickets or additional information about The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM, please visitwww.poconoraceway.com.
