Know Your Track: Pocono

Pocono Raceway

Track Name: Pocono Raceway

           

Nicknames: "The Tricky Triangle"

Location: Blakeslee, Pennsylvania

Capacity: 76,812

Date of First Race: August 4, 1974

Layout: Pocono is a 2.5 mile asphalt triangle. Its three turns vary in banking and are modeled after other tracks. Turn one (Trenton Speedway) is banked at 14 degrees, turn two (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) is banked at 8 degrees, and turn three (The Milwaukee Mile) is banked at 6 degrees. Each straightaway is varied in length as well.

Current Sprint Cup Races:

• June 7, 2015 - Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400, a 400 mile, 160 lap regular season points race. This is a Sunday afternoon event.
• August 2, 2015 - Pennsylvania 400, a 400 mile, 160 lap regular season points race. This is a Sunday afternoon event.

Most Wins:           

• All-Time: Jeff Gordon, 6 wins
• Active: Jeff Gordon, 6 wins
• Latest Winner: 
• 2014 Pocono 400: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• 2014 GoBowling.com 400: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Description: Pocono Raceway boasts a uniqueness that no other track can match. From its mammoth straightaways (the main straightaway is big enough to land a jumbo jet on) to its three quirky turns, to its location in the Pocono Mountains, nothing is quite like it. It was known as a track that only the most skilled and experienced drivers can win on, but Denny Hamlin shattered that claim when he won both races at the track in his rookie season of 2006.

Thanks to high speed straightaways, the track has also held claim to some of the most brutal crashes in recent memory, such Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Park tangling and Elliott Sadler getting the engine knocked out of his car (recorded as the hardest hit in NASCAR history).

The races at the track both used to be 500 mile races until a few years ago. The 500 mile races tended to really drag on with cars getting incredibly spread out on the 2.5 mile track. The constant threat of rain at the track (since it is in the mountains) also made it hard to complete the advertised 500 miles, so the track shortened the races to 400 miles and it's proved to be a great move.

Notable Races:

• 1987 Miller High Life 500 - Tim Richmond, the uber-talented, party guy of NASCAR at the time, would win the second to last race of his career at Pocono. Richmond had been battling HIV (unbeknownst to the public) and returned with good enough health to capture his 12th career victory in this race. He would win his final race at Riverside later that year before passing away at age 34 due to AIDS in 1989. 

Fun Facts: Many animals, including deer, turkeys, and even groundhogs have interrupted races or practices for scampering over the track multiple times.