Pocono 500 Free Picks
The Sprint Cup Series makes the first of two stops at Pocono Raceway for the Pocono 500.
Pocono is one of the most unique and difficult tracks on the circuit with its 2.5-mile triangular shape. What makes Pocono so difficult is all three of its corners are completely different from each other and whoever is able to master all three usually wins the race.
Pocono is notorious for some of the most boring racing we will see all year, since it is known for long green runs with very little passing. Selecting drivers who qualify well is a must when handicapping this race. One thing we have noticed over the years is drivers that do well on the road courses usually do well here, so keep that in mind when making your picks.
Mark Martin 11/1
We really thought Mark Martin would do well last week but unfortunately his car wasn’t up to its usual self. But we are sure his team won’t let that happen again. In 44 starts at Pocono, Martin has an amazing 19 top five finishes, 31 top 10s and an average finish of 10.7, but for some reason he has never won a race here. One of the keys to winning at Pocono is plenty of horsepower under the hood and Hendrick Motorsports is known for pumping out plenty of it. Could that be the difference in claiming victory? We’d like to think so.
Kurt Busch 13/1
In both his wins at Pocono, Kurt Busch ran away from the field and completely dominated both races. With the way he has looked on other superspeedway tracks this year, we think he could do it again. Penske Racing really struggled last year while going through some major changes in their shop and his results at Pocono were not a good barometer of how well he runs here. This team has really come together this year and we think he could run away from the field once again.
Kasey Kahne 12/1
Richard Petty Motorsports finally made the change to the new Dodge motor last week at Dover and it showed since Kahne qualified and ran well at a track he had previously struggled with. Kahne has looked good lately on the superspeedway tracks and with the new motor we think he could easily repeat last years dominating win in this race.
Live Longshot
Brian Vickers 28/1
One thing Brian Vickers and his team is known for is having a car that is one of the best when it comes to long green runs. What better track for that than Pocono? Vickers has a very good history here, with four top 5s in 10 starts and an average finish of 14.5. If he can avoid the mistakes that have cost him countless opportunities to finish well, he could surprise the field at a very nice price.
2009 NASCAR Pocono 500 Race Information
Race Date: Sunday June 7, 2009
Location: Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Pre-Race: 12:30PM ET
Green Flag: Approx. 2:00PM ET
TV Coverage: TNT & TNT HD
Radio Coverage: MRN (Motor Racing Network)
Track Type: Oval
Capacity: 76,812
Posted: 6/3/09 5:00PM ET
