Pocono 400 Top Tier Elite Deadline Analysis
What I said about him earlier this week:
Denny Hamlin will be a very popular pick by fantasy NASCAR experts to win the Pocono 400. He’s a four-time winner and his career average finish is 9.7. Last year at Pocono Hamlin finished 15th and 19th. Don’t let those finishes scare you away though. He had a 5.5 average running position and led the most laps (141). Leading laps isn’t a rare occurrence for Hamlin at Pocono. In the last five races he’s paced the field for 339 laps and led in every race. His next closest competitor in this stat is Jimmie Johnson and he’s only led 119 laps. If you’re looking for a driver who starts up front don’t overlook Hamlin. He has a 5.9 average start and in the last six races he hasn’t started worse than 7th.
Starting Position:
5th
Practice 10 Lap Average Rankings:
*** FOR ALL DRIVERS I’m only counting Friday’s practices
Practice #1:
Only Joey Logano ran 10 consecutive laps
Happy Hour:
5th (174.893 MPH, only 9 drivers ran 10 consecutive laps)
Chassis Selection:
JGR doesn’t report chassis selections
Pit Stall Location:
Denny Hamlin will be pitting in pit stall #30. He has a clear entrance into his pit box and Bobby Labonte is pitting in front of him. As a general rule for all drivers this week I don’t see anyone having problems. Pit road is huge at Pocono.
Areas of concern:
During qualifying Denny Hamlin cut an oil line. If that problem resurfaces Sunday it could have devastating results.
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What I said about him earlier this week:
I don’t think there’s a safer pick than Jimmie Johnson for the Pocono 400. In the last nine races at the “Tricky Triangle” Johnson has 5 top fives and 8 top tens. His only finish outside the top ten in this stretch was a 13th place finish in 2009. Last season Jimmie Johnson finished 4th in both races and had a 6.5 average running position (3rd best). The only downside about Johnson at Pocono is that he hasn’t won since he swept the races in 2004.
Starting Position:
24th
Practice 10 Lap Average Rankings:
Practice #1:
Only Joey Logano ran 10 consecutive laps
Happy Hour:
1st (175.243 MPH)
Chassis Selection:
Jimmie Johnson is racing his chassis that won at Darlington this May.
Pit Stall Location:
Jimmie Johnson is pitting in pit stall #12. Landon Cassill it pitting behind him and Casey Mears is pitting in front of him.
Areas of concern:
Starting this far back will be a problem for Jimmie Johnson. It will put him in a position where he’ll have to get out of sequence with the competition in order to get track position. This will be a fuel mileage race and I’ve seen him run out of gas plenty of times.
