Tired of the weekly domination from Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick? Well Sunday’s Pocono 400 winner might not exactly change your view of the domination that has permeated the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
Martin Truex Jr. won the second time this year and of there was any doubt who the third member of “The Big Three” was behind Busch and Harvick, the defending series champion ended the debate on Sunday.
Truex Jr. hasn’t exactly been off the radar this season but by his own admission there has been something a little off from last year’s record run to the title. His Pocono performance was a reminder of just how good the 78 team can and more than likely will be for the rest of the campaign.
Cup Series Standings | Stage Points
While a series of late race restarts generated excitement, drama and a variety of strategies it was clear again at Pocono how important “clean air” was in determining the outcome. Any driver that got to the top spot was able to stretch that margin out while the turbulent air in his wake left others to frustratingly watch them drive away.
Next week it’s a high speed weekend of racing at Michigan and the battle to get out front to exercise that advantage will more than likely once again involve Busch, Harvick and Truex Jr.
A familiar sight indeed.
- Truex Jr.’s second win means along with Kyle Busch and Harvick the trio has combined to win 11 of the first 14 races of the season. Austin Dillon, Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer are the other three winners, which means the veterans have swept Victory Lane so far in 2018. Three of the ballyhooed young drivers were in the top-10 Sunday with Kyle Larson second, Ryan Blaney sixth and Chase Elliott in the 10th spot. But in terms of challenging to get a win on the board, it’s been a pretty long drought for the youth movement so far in 2018.
- There were three Chevrolet drivers in the top-10 Sunday as the manufacturer continues to see some signs of progress. A change to the Hendrick Motorsports engine package a few weeks ago has started to bear some fruit and among the drivers finishing inside the first 10 was Jimmie Johnson, who also led laps for the first time this season. “My guys kept fighting all day long.” Johnson said. “That was a hard-fought eighth-place finish. We just need to keep improving, but we’re slowly chipping away at it.” That would describe the entire Chevy camp as they head to the shadow of the manufacturer’s home base with next week’s trip to Michigan.
- NASCAR officials confirmed over the weekend the All-Star Race rules package using a restrictor plate and other aerodynamic modifications could be used in as many as three times in the second half of the regular season (Read More). That’s a big change of sentiment from just a few weeks ago when both the sanctioning body and teams felt the earliest a change could be made was for 2019 thanks to the charter agreement between the organizations and NASCAR. Cost containment for teams has been cited as the biggest stumbling block for trying to implement the changes, which would cost teams additional funds that were not planned for in 2018 budgets. The second races at Pocono, Michigan and the regular season finale at Indianapolis appear to be the best bets for the package to be used again.
- Hopefully next Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, which features a variation of the ASR rules package that was very successful in last year’s NXS Indianapolis race, will deliver better results than what happened at Pocono. There were high expectations the package would create similar racing to last summer’s Indy outing but in reality there wasn’t any noticeable difference. True Kyle Busch ran away and dominated, but pack racing and the ability to use the draft to create passing did not materialize. The high-speed Michigan track is hoped to deliver a more entertaining race than what Saturday in Pocono turned out to be.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Motor Racing Network.
