StatChat 2025 - The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono

By Adam Carabine

Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Blakeslee, Pennsylvania for the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Pocono is a 2.5-mile triangular speedway that opened in 1969.  The Cup Series first visited Pocono in 1974, and Richard Petty won the first race held there.  Last year’s winner at this race was Ryan Blaney.

Tomorrow’s race will be 160 laps long (for a total of 400 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 30 – 95 – 160.  Pit road speed is 55 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 70 mph.  The fuel window is between 37-42 laps.

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 4,331 laps, for 6,081.44 miles so far this season.  No driver has completed every single lap, but Chase Elliott is one lap behind, and William Byron and Tyler Reddick are each four behind.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Pocono:

William Byron	9.36 over 11 races
Brad Keselowski	10.78 over 27 races (1 win)
Denny Hamlin	11.26 over 35 races (7 wins)
Kyle Larson	11.65 over 17 races
Ryan Blaney	13.40 over 15 races (2 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Pocono:

Zane Smith	29.00 over 1 race
Cody Ware	28.80 over 5 races
Ross Chastain	28.56 over 9 races
Noah Gragson	27.67 over 3 races
Michael McDowell	25.82 over 22 races

While Pocono is entirely a unique track, for the purpose of this article we’re calling it an Intermediate.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

Denny Hamlin	11.96 over 343 races (29 wins)
Kyle Larson	12.27 over 181 races (18 wins)
Kyle Busch	12.38 over 359 races (29 wins)
Joey Logano	12.41 over 289 races (19 wins)
Chase Elliott	12.50 over 162 races (6 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

JH Nemechek	22.88 over 48 races
Ryan Preece	22.36 over 95 races
Ty Dillon	22.26 over 129 races
SVG	22.00 over 13 races
Josh Berry	21.25 over 30 races (1 win)

Denny Hamlin is the winningest driver at Pocono, having won 7 Cup Series races there.  Jeff Gordon has 6, Bill Elliott has 5, and Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Tim Richmond and Kyle Busch all each have 4.

Notable drivers who have not won at Pocono:

Kyle Larson	(has won at 18 other tracks)
Christopher Bell	(has won at 10 other tracks)
William Byron	(has won at 10 other tracks)
Tyler Reddick	(has won at 8 other tracks)
Ross Chastain	(has won at 6 other tracks)

Three drivers scored their first Cup Series win at Pocono.  Denny Hamlin in his 21st start, Chris Buescher in his 27th start, and Ryan Blaney in his 68th start.

Based on average finish, no drivers list Pocono as their BEST or WORST track.

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:

Drivers Faring Better than in 2024

Tyler Reddick	+620 pts
Chris Buescher	+518 pts
Bubba Wallace	+469 pts
William Byron	+415 pts
Chase Briscoe	+340 pts

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024

Brad Keselowski	-414 pts
Ty Gibbs	-305 pts
Alex Bowman	-251 pts
Joey Logano	-242 pts
Todd Gilliland	-240 pts

Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:

Best Career Year

William Byron	10.38
Christopher Bell	10.63
Chase Elliott	11.19
Ross Chastain	12.56
Chase Briscoe	14.50
Ryan Preece	18.63
JH Nemechek	19.50
Todd Gilliland	20.06

Worst Career Year

Cole Custer	24.38
Brad Keselowski	24.31
Carson Hocevar	22.81
Zane Smith	20.00
Ty Gibbs	19.75

Rookie of the Year Battle

SVG	242 (1 win)
Riley Herbst	196

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

Manufacturer Standings

Chevrolet	584
Toyota	568
Ford	541

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick	565
Joe Gibbs	554
Trackhouse	470
Penske	464
RFK	424
23XI	421
Spire	393
Front Row	379
Legacy MC	373
RCR	366
Kaulig	341
Hyak	290
Wood Bros	263
Haas Factory	202
Rick Ware	108

At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:

Stage Point Leaders

William Byron	163
Ryan Blaney	142
Kyle Larson	132
Denny Hamlin	117
Tyler Reddick	110
Bubba Wallace	100
Alex Bowman	91
Christopher Bell	89
Austin Cindric	85
Chase Elliott	84

Milestone Watch

Chase Elliott	Looking for his 20th Career Win
Erik Jones	Looking for his 40th Career Top 5
Joey Logano	Looking for his 170th Career Top 5
Carson Hocevar	Looking for his 10th Career Top 10

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

Winless Streaks

Justin Haley	157 races
Cole Custer	113 races
Bubba Wallace	95 races
Erik Jones	95 races
Kyle Busch	73 races
Michael McDowell	64 races
Daniel Suarez	50 races
Chase Elliott	43 races
Brad Keselowski	39 races
AJ Allmendinger	36 races

The race begins Sunday, June 22nd at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!