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With a triangle-shaped layout that features just three corners in all, Pocono Raceway has earned the right to be called "The Tricky Triangle" as one of NASCAR's top summertime destinations over the past 50 years. If last year -- let alone 50 -- is any indication, the long and challenging track nestled in the Pocono mountains should once again have tricks up its sleeve as the battle for the NASCAR playoffs intensifies.

One year after Chase Elliott became the first driver since 1960 to be awarded a Cup Series victory after the cars of both race winner Denny Hamlin and second-place finisher Kyle Busch failed post-race inspection, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Pocono for the annual HighPoint.com 400 and the second leg of a two-week stretch of races in the northeast. While Hamlin and Busch will both look for redemption after last year's stunning turn of events in post-race, Elliott will try to back up his victory from a year ago by taking the checkered flag -- leaving zero room for any more doubt of him being a Pocono winner, while also making room for himself on the NASCAR playoff grid.

How to Watch the NASCAR Cup Series at Pocono

Date: Sunday, July 23
Location: Pocono Raceway -- Long Pond, Pa. 
Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
TV: USA Network
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

What to Watch

  • Following last weekend's races at New Hampshire, restarts were a topic of conversation among NASCAR officials. The specific sticking point was a Lap 71 incident in the Xfinity Series race. After race leader John Hunter Nemechek held the rest of the field to a slow start in the restart zone, the ensuing stack-up of cars trying to lay back to get a jump on the car in front of them caused a multi-car pileup in midpack that took out several cars and damaged many more.

    While that incident was the most obvious example of a disorderly restart, NASCAR found that the procedure of restarts in the Cup Series race was hardly to their liking either. During an appearance on SiriusXM Radio, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer made it clear that the sanctioning body has issued a "stern communication" to race teams to clean up their restarts.

    "I don't think either race – the Cup race or the Xfinity – that our guys did a very good job on restarts," Sawyer said. "As we unfolded and looked through the SMT data and just the optics, it felt like it happened maybe in the second or third row where cars were laying back.

    "So as we get into Pocono this weekend, there will be a very stern communication line to our drivers in all three series that laying back is not going to be acceptable as we go into the final stages of our regular season and as we go into the playoffs."

    Restarts tend to be a delicate balance of trying to get as much momentum on the initial jump as possible without running into another car, and that remains true at Pocono given the width of the frontstretch and the ample passing opportunities it offers on starts and restarts. While NASCAR does not make a habit of intervening in starts and restarts, that may change if NASCAR is dissatisfied by what it sees in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series races leading into the Cup race this Sunday.

  • Since the beginning of June, Michael McDowell has been one of the hottest drivers in NASCAR among those not currently qualified for the playoffs. Four of McDowell's five top-10 finishes this season have come in his last six races, and he's only finished worse than 13th once in that span. That uptick in performance has McDowell in position to make the playoffs, as he is currently the last driver above the cut line by a single point over Daniel Suarez.

    That bodes well for McDowell entering Pocono, a track that has been among his best since his journeyman career blossomed into that of a steady and capable veteran. McDowell finished eighth in one of Pocono's double-header races in 2020 and sixth last year, with those finishes coming with two different crew chiefs -- Drew Blickensderfer and Blake Harris -- atop the pit box.

    Now paired with Travis Peterson and hitting his stride in the summertime, McDowell should be a factor again, which will be especially important if his two main rivals for a playoff spot reprise their performances here from a year ago. Suarez finished third the last time the Cup Series raced at Pocono, while Bubba Wallace had a strong car and led four laps before finishing eighth.

Pick to Win

(Odds via Caesars Sportsbook)

Denny Hamlin (+500): Hamlin is a bit of a low-hanging fruit considering he was first to cross the finish line here last year, but it would be dishonest to suggest the only reason he won was because of improprieties in the front fascia that gave Hamlin's car an aerodynamic advantage. Denny Hamlin's six Pocono wins are tied for the most all-time by one driver at this racetrack, and that mark includes the first two wins of Hamlin's career back in 2006.

With Martin Truex Jr.'s string of wins since May illustrating that Joe Gibbs Racing remains one of NASCAR's biggest forces, it's felt like Hamlin has been due to visit Victory Lane again for awhile. And if he delivers one of his signature Pocono performances this weekend, it'll mean the 50th win of his terrific career as well as a great deal of redemption after last year's indignity.