 | Slideshow |
 | NASCAR champions Take a look at the drivers who have raced their ways to series titles since the circuit's inception. |
 | Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| INTERACTIVE |
 | NASCAR wives and girlfriends They're fixtures in pit row, but they don't drive on the track or work on the cars. Take a look at some notable NASCAR wives and girlfriends. |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
 | Slideshow |
 | Week in Sports Pictures A boxing champ celebrates, a kicker regrets, fans mourn a hero, and much more. more photos |
Keys to success at Pocono
Pocono's 2.5 miles make up a layout that is triangular in shape. There are three ends to the track. The first end is off of the front straight, which is 3,740 feet long, and leads to Turn 1, where the banking is 14 degrees. The next end, the “tunnel turn,” is banked at only eight degrees, and the last end is banked at just six degrees. So with these differences, 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 Sprint Cup circuit. Running 500 miles at this track is hard on the engines and hard on the brakes.
It used to be that teams were concerned over left-front tires going flat at Pocono but with the new car, and with changes made to rumble strips, and changes made to the tires by Goodyear this issue has pretty much ceased to exist.
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. If a crew chief miscalculates fuel mileage – even by half a lap – this long track will make them pay dearly for that miscalculation.
Overall, Pocono Raceway presents one of the most difficult challenges Cup drivers face as it's part superspeedway and part road course.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
LowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM NASCAR |
 Johnson signs extension with Hendrick through 2015 |
| Add NASCAR headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links