The Super Low Tier – Pocono

Justin Haley (Starting – 34th) At Pocono, look for Justin Haley to be the most competitive “Super Low Tier” performer. By that, I mean look for him to finish around 30th. This year minus his DNF races his average finish is 27.7. Since Talladega in his incident free races, Haley’s 4 for 4 at finishing between 28th to 30th. At Pocono, Haley has no Cup starts on his resume.

Quin Houff (Starting – 37th) Quin Houff really disappointed me last week at Nashville. Having a tire fall off on lap #1 from a professional race team should never happen. At Sonoma in the race prior to Nashville, Houff had rear gear problems. Over his last four incident free races this season his average finish is 31.25. At Pocono, Houff has four starts under his belt and in 3 of his 4 races he finished between 29th to 31st. Last year, Houff finished 31st in race #2 and crashed early in race #1 (40th). In 2019 his results were 29th and 31st.

BJ McLeod (Starting – 32nd) BJ McLeod has a pretty horrendous track record at Pocono and in 3 of his 4 races he’s finished 37th or worse. In 2020 his results were 37th and 39th. I don’t think he’ll be quite that bad this weekend since the #78 car is more competitive this year. In 4 of the last 5 races heading into the weekend, McLeod has finished between 28th to 32nd. His one outlier result over that stretch was due to an engine failure at Dover. Look for McLeod to be a low-thirties driver who might be able to finish marginally better.

Cody Ware (Starting – 35th) At Pocono, look for Cody Ware to be a low to mid-thirties driver. Over the last five races heading into the weekend his average result is 31.8, and he’s finished between 30th to 34th every race. At Pocono, Ware has one start on his resume and back in spring 2017 he completed 35 laps before his race was over due to a “vibration.”

Josh Bilicki (Starting – 33rd) At Pocono, Josh Bilicki has been fielding the slowest “Super Low Tier” car in recent races in terms of Total Speed Rankings. That said, he certainly hasn’t been the worst finisher. Over the last six races heading into the weekend his average finish is 31.3 which actually ranks as the 3rd best of the tier, among drivers entered this weekend. At Pocono, Bilicki had results of 32nd and 34th last year. In summer 2019 in his one other start he finished 35th.

James Davison (Starting – 36th) At Pocono, look for James Davison to be a low to mid-thirties driver. At ovals in 2021, Davison has has finished between 31st and 33rd over his last four races. At Pocono, Davison raced in both events last year and came home with results of 30th and 34th.

Garrett Smithley (Starting – 30th) At Pocono, look for Garrett Smithley to be a low to mid-thirties driver. Last year he competed in both Pocono races and came home with results of 32nd and 33rd. Over his last five races heading into the weekend, Smithley has a 30.2 average finish.

Timmy Hill (Starting – 38th) Remember Timmy Hill? Yep, he’s racing again for the first time since Talladega back in April! The #66 car will likely be the slowest car on the track and you can pencil him in for finishing at the tail end of the field just ahead of drivers who fall victim to attrition. At Pocono, Hill has five starts on his resume and in 3 of them he’s finished 35th or worse. Last year he finished 29th in race #2 and 35th in race #1. In both races the #66 ranked 37th in terms of Total Speed Rankings.