Kevin Harvick has three top-10s in his last five Pocono races. The Richard Childress Racing driver is gaining momentum with each run at the Pennsylvania track. Earlier in his career there wasn't much for Harvick to feel good about at Pocono, but he and his team have turned things around when racing at this venue and they appear to be locked in on what's needed to go fast.

Pocono is a track that Harvick's veteran RCR teammate Jeff Burton enjoys running. He doesn't shy away from the unique challenges presented at this layout. Rather he takes the stance that it's a challenge worth taking on full tilt, and in 27 starts at Pocono, Burton has posted six top-fives and 13 top-10s.

A real solid run by Kyle Busch would not surprise me, and my darkhorse is Juan Pablo Montoya.

Keys to success at Pocono
It used to be that drivers would shift into overdrive just past the start-finish line at Pocono's long straightaway, and then downshift upon entering Turn 1. But all that shifting is a thing of the past as NASCAR in 2005 mandated rear gear and specific gear ratios in the transmission.

So after the rule revision the racing model changed at Pocono, and without all the shifting that was required in the past, this venue has become easier on drivers although momentum coming off the corners has become a bigger issue.

Pocono's 2.5 miles make up a layout that is triangular in shape. The front straight is 3,740 feet long and leads to Turn 1, where the banking is 14 degrees. But Turn 2 is banked at only eight degrees, and Turn 3 at only six degrees. So besides having just three turns instead of the usual four, Pocono has those turns differing from each other to the point where there is no perfect setup for the cars. Racing successfully at this track is all about compromise on the setup.

It's a venue that the drivers enjoy because winning at Pocono depends on how well they are able to adjust to the different corners, and also on which driver can get the most out of his car given the compromises needed to succeed.

At Pocono, the driver is as important to winning as he is at any other track on the Nextel Cup circuit. Running 500 miles at this track is hard on the engines and hard on the brakes. Also, in the past tires have been an issue, especially left-front tires, but the track has made changes to its rumble strips that the cars run across. Those strips are there to try and keep the cars from winding up in the dirt. But the fact that they have been adjusted to go easier on the tires should result in less cut tires.

A driver doesn't want to run out of gas at Pocono because if he runs dry at the start-finish line, he can't coast all the way into the pits. It's just too long. Because fuel mileage can become a crucial factor in this race it puts extra pressure on crew chiefs to make sure they don't leave their car out that one extra lap where it runs out of gas on the frontstretch and can't coast back around.

Overall, Pocono Raceway presents one of the most difficult challenges Cup drivers face as it's part superspeedway and part road course.

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