NASCAR hit the tricky triangle last weekend at Pocono Raceway and delivered an interesting race to say the least. There was plenty of strategy, crashes, action, and hard-fought battles through the field. In the mountains of Pennsylvania, there were plenty of things to watch across the three-turn 2.5-mile track. Between the on-track incident with Corey Lajoie and Kyle Busch, or pole sitter Ty Gibbs shooting chocolate milk out of his exhaust pipes, Pocono delivered. There’s a reason they keep coming back here and why it’s always well-rated among fans.
We saw a familiar face in victory lane, and some major bouncebacks as far as performances are concerned. Let’s go over which drivers showed up and showed out, and who disappointed. This is “Three Up, Three Down” after the Great American Getaway 400 from Pocono Raceway!
Three Up
#9 Chase Elliott
Embed from Getty ImagesNASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott, wouldn’t sit around after his top-20 finish streak was broken last week at Chicago. He fought his way to a P9 finish last weekend. He was one of just a few cars that could pass through the field, and he made his way up to the top 10 in a hurry on restarts if he wasn’t already there. Elliott even overcame a speeding penalty on pit road to get back up front before the end of the race. He also collected P5 and P2 in the first two stages. This is his first top-10 since Iowa a month ago. It’s good to see the #9 car back on the horse. They head into the Brickyard 400 with the regular season points lead +3 over teammate #5 Kyle Larson.
#11 Denny Hamlin
Embed from Getty ImagesDenny Hamlin had been on quite a skid in recent weeks. Since his engine exploded at Sonoma in June, he hadn’t finished in the top 10. His highest finish was P12 at Nashville in a race that had five overtime restarts. Last week at Pocono, he left with another playoff point with a stage two win, and a P2 finish overall. This was desperately needed for the 11 car, just to make sure they weren’t slowing down as we inch closer to the Olympic break. This should set up some big-time momentum heading into Indianapolis this week, the final race before the two weeks off.
#17 Chris Buescher
Embed from Getty ImagesChris Buescher did not have had an elite day by most metrics. Sure, you take home P11 all day after a weak P20 at Chicago last week, but it wasn’t everything you hoped for. He’s on the up not only for the bounce back, but also because his main opponent on the playoff line had a rough day. Ross Chastain finished this race with just one point taking home P36 after being involved in an accident. This along with Buescher gaining 26 points, leaves the #17 +17 over the #1. If a new winner comes through at any of the tracks coming up, this could very well be the battle for the last playoff spot. And right now, Buescher has the upper hand.
Three Down
#1 Ross Chastain
Embed from Getty ImagesWe talked above about Ross’s abysmal day, but it only gets worse from there. Not only did Buescher stretch this lead, but his lead above the cutline shrank immensely. Chastain now sits just +27 over the #23 of Bubba Wallace Jr, who netted a P10 at Pocono last weekend. What looked like a dire situation for Wallace just a few short weeks ago is one great race from him, and one bad race from Chastain, away from being in that last playoff seat. Chastain hasn’t found the top 10 since Loudon and has wrecked out of two of the last three races. His luck is going to have to turn around fast if he wants to stay out of trouble.
#7 Corey Lajoie
Embed from Getty ImagesI’m going to try and put this as nicely as I possibly can. What is Corey Lajoie doing in the NASCAR Cup Series? In this #7 car this year, he’s got an average finish of 23rd, one top-10 in 21 races (Daytona 500), just seven finishes in the top 20. His rookie teammate Carson Hocevar is running circles around him. Zane Smith in the #71 has been comparable. Lajoie is 99% of the time irrelevant to the race at hand and nowhere to be found. But when he does have eyes on him? It looks something like this:
Jeff Burton didn't sugarcoat what he thought about @CoreyLaJoie's move against @kylebusch at @PoconoRaceway. pic.twitter.com/8vRraZJcsD
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) July 15, 2024
His highlight of the 2024 season is turning Kyle Busch and his crew chief saying “he gets what he deserves” when Lajoie could’ve avoided all of this. He could’ve avoided wiping out four cars. There’s just no explaining this. On top of that, it was announced this week that he’ll be crew chiefed by the best in the game in Rodney Childers next year. There’ll be no more excuses. If Lajoie still isn’t competing for the NASCAR playoffs on points in 2025, he could very well be out of a ride. Some could argue he should be out of a ride now. With zero wins in the three major racing circuits in NASCAR.
#14 Chase Briscoe
Embed from Getty ImagesIs it just me, or has Chase Briscoe been relatively underwhelming since Christopher Bell broke the news that he’ll be racing in the #19 next year? With a top-15 finish, it’s not BAD. But the last several weeks just haven’t been the awe-inspiring races you’d want to see if you’re Joe Gibbs. Sure, a P2 at New Hampshire the week of the announcement is something that gets NASCAR fans excited. But that is his only top-10 finish since the all-star race back in May. Just two finishes inside the top 20. He’s gone from being a dark horse to a pretty distant longshot for the playoffs on points and is in must-win territory to punch his ticket, pending disasters on disasters from Chastain and Wallace. A top-15 could launch them to bigger and better places moving forward. But enthusiasm has been hard to come by from the #14 camp.
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