Hendrick Motorsports, undisputedly the hottest team in NASCAR Cup Series racing right now, will be up front for the first race of a Pocono Raceway doubleheader weekend on Saturday. Kyle Larson, winner of the last three points-paying Cup Series races, will start on the pole for the Pocono Organics CBD 325.
“I’ve always enjoyed Pocono because of its uniqueness; every corner is different,” Larson said. “I don’t know what to expect with this doubleheader weekend. I’ve done Xfinity and Cup races on the same weekend before, so I don’t think it will be much different. Physically, I won’t prepare differently. We’ll do a lot of preparation looking at data in advance of the first one, then I’m sure there will be a lot of discussion in the debrief Saturday of what went right and what went wrong as we prepare for Sunday’s race.”
NASCAR’s formula using the car owner points standings and the finishing order and fastest laps from the most recent race to set the starting grid results in an all-Hendrick front row for Saturday’s green flag. William Byron will flank teammate Larson on the front row to begin the quest to notch a sixth-straight HMS victory.
“I feel the doubleheader last year allowed us to learn a lot in that first race that we could then apply to the second one,” Byron said. “I feel like Pocono is a track that we are good at and on track to be successful every time we show up, we just need to get a little bit better to close the gap on the top guys. It’s honestly a track that both Rudy [Fugle, crew chief] and I have a lot of success at together and over our careers. I’m not too worried about it, though. I feel like having two races there may be a great opportunity for us.”
Ford drivers Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano will line up in row two for race one of the doubleheader. Kyle Busch will start fifth, joined in row three by Ross Chastain, who was runner-up to Larson the previous weekend at Nashville Superspeedway.
“There are certainly a lot of things over the years that we’ve worked on and there are definitely things we’ve fine-tuned on and gotten a lot better at, I think, starting in 2013 or 2014, and then, we’ve still kept that speed ever since for the most part,” Busch said. “We’ve run really well there. It’s a good track for us. I’ve learned a lot from my teammate Denny Hamlin who’s won there, and certainly working with Martin [Truex Jr.] and his guys has also brought on some new, fresh ideas, which help. It’s been a good track for us, and hopefully, we can carry our M&M’s Minis colors to victory lane there this weekend. Looking forward to having them on board with us and our #18 Toyota.”
Starting seventh through 10th will be Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell and series points leader Denny Hamlin.
“I’m looking forward to the doubleheader in Pocono,” Bell said. “It’s a place that I ran really well at last year. It’s a fun racetrack. I’m going there with [crew chief] Adam Stevens, who has run really well there in the past. It’s definitely one I have circled on the calendar.”
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