RICK WARE RACING
The Great American Getaway 400
Date: July 14, 2024
Event: The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com (Round 21 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile triangle)
Format: 160 laps, broken into three stages 30 laps/65 laps/65 laps)
Race Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
RWR Race Finish:
● Justin Haley (Started 34th, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)
● Cody Ware (Started 35th, Finished 26th / Overheating, completed 134 of 160 laps)
RWR Points:
● Justin Haley (29th with 302 points)
● Cody Ware (39th with 28 points)
RWR Notes:
● This was Haley’s fourth NASCAR Cup Series start at Pocono. His best finish remains 21st, earned in 2021.
● Haley’s 22nd-place finish was a team-best for RWR at Pocono. The previous best finish was a 25th-place result, earned three times – 2019 with Bayley Currey, 2021 with Cody Ware and 2023 with Cole Custer.
● This was Ware’s fifth NASCAR Cup Series start at Pocono. His best finish remains 25th, earned in 2021.
Race Notes:
● Ryan Blaney won The Great American 400 presented by VisitPA.com to score his 12th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his second at Pocono. His margin of victory over second-place Denny Hamlin was 1.312 seconds.
● This was Ford’s 733rd all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its fourth of the season.
● This was Ford’s 25th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono. The manufacturer won its first race at Pocono on June 9, 1985 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who went on to sweep both races that season.
● There were eight caution periods for a total of 34 laps.
● Only 23 of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Chase Elliott leaves Pocono as the new championship leader with a three-point advantage over second-place Kyle Larson.
Sound Bites:
“We ended up with a decent finish for what we started the weekend with. We had a tough time in practice and qualifying, and that carried over a little to the race. It just felt like maybe we didn’t quite have the speed of some others so that’s something we’ll have to look into. But Chris (Lawson, crew chief) and the team did a good job of trying to get the car to a place where I could still make something out of the day. I wish we could’ve gotten another top-20, but we’ve got one more race before the break and a chance to enjoy a good finish over the time off.”– Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Walmart Health and Wellness Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“I felt like we had made some really good progress with the handling of the car and I felt pretty comfortable with what we had, especially as we started to get more cautions and chances to keep up with our adjustments. Unfortunately, we avoided all of the carnage on track only to have a piece of rotor or something knock a hole in our radiator. The team did everything they could to get us back out there and we made the best of our situation until the end.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 15 Jacob Construction Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
