NASCAR Cup Series

​This weekend’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway offers Paul Menard and the No. 21 Menards/Libman team a first of sorts. “It’s the first track we’ve been to besides Daytona for the second time as a group,” Menard said of himself and his team, which began working together at the start of this season. “Daytona is its own deal, but this weekend we will have a chance to work off our own notes from the race at Pocono in June."

Another race, another win for one of the Big Three. Twenty races down and just seven individual drivers with a tick in the win column. That means, at most, 13 drivers could have a victory by the time they decide who makes the Chase. Something tells me we will not reach anywhere close to that number of winners.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the top minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, and reigning Atlantic Division Champions of the American Hockey League, are excited to announce that the team will once again be hitting the asphalt, but this time the team will be the primary sponsor of two rides at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., this weekend.

Roush Fenway Racing gets set for NASCAR’s first split weekend of the season as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) treks to Pocono for the second time in eight weeks, while the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) heads back to Iowa for the second time in 40 days. A Jack Roush Ford has visited victory lane at the two tracks a combined nine times, including five times at Iowa and four times at Pocono.

Matt Kenseth will make his 38th start at Pocono Raceway this weekend, a track he’s visited victory lane once at along with 16 top-10 finishes.

Johnson on his 600th Cup start:“I’m not huge into milestones but I really can’t believe I am sitting here at 600 starts. All I ever wanted to do was win a race and now we are here with seven championships, 83 wins and hopefully there are many more to come. I’m proud to have come all this way with one sponsor in Lowe’s and hope that this weekend will be a good one for this No. 48 team. I definitely want to try to get more wins for Lowe’s before they exit the sport.”

Pocono Preview: The Series returns to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s 400-mile race around the 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle”. Hamlin is looking to rebound from his 35th-place finish that resulted from a late-race crash in the June event and add a fifth victory at Pocono to his impressive résumé of 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes at the Pennsylvania track.

KAHNE BY THE NUMBERS: In 29 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Pocono, Kasey Kahne has an average start of 11.8 and an average finish of 19.0. He’s completed 4,829 of 5,110 (94.5 percent) career laps, and has led for a total of 219 laps. Kahne has earned two poles, two wins (June 2008 and August 2013), five top-five and nine top-10 finishes at the 2.5-mile track located in Long Pond, PA.

Stenhouse has 11 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Pocono Raceway with an average starting position of 21.9 and average finishing position of 22.7.

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 - RACING AT POCONO RACEWAY: "It's always interesting because you never know what kind of weather you're going to get at Pocono Raceway," Allmendinger said. "The first race weekend this season in June, we had decent weather conditions. However, we have had some seasons where it's gotten really hot at the first race and really slick on the first weekend, and you go back for the second race weekend and it can be cooler."