CONCORD, N.C. – The NASCAR Cup Series is on the road again and headed to Pocono Raceway this weekend, a track where Hendrick Motorsports has excelled at.
The organization leads all teams at the Pennsylvania track in wins (17), poles (12), top-fives (67) top-10s (118), laps led (3,224) and average finish (13.98).
Ahead of the trip to Pocono Raceway, check out some of the key facts, figures and moments from the organization’s history at the track.
- The organization’s 17 victories at Pocono were earned by seven different drivers, a feat which Hendrick Motorsports has also achieved at Charlotte Motor Speedway and is tied with Wood Brothers Racing at Daytona for the most all-time. Jeff Gordon, who was recently elected into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2019, found Victory Lane at the track six of those 17 times, which is also a record at the 2.5-mile triangle.
- Hendrick Motorsports owns the record for the most consecutive wins at Pocono Raceway with a five-race win streak that began with Gordon's August 2012 victory and ended with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s August 2014 win. The first four of those five straight races were won by four different Hendrick Motorsports drivers – Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Earnhardt. The feat has only been accomplished on one other occasion by Carl Keikhafer Racing at Martinsville Speedway from 1955 to 1956.
- Chase Elliott is set to make his fifth start at Pocono Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend. In his first four starts, the driver has collected one top-five finish and three top-10s. Elliott averages a starting position of 14.8 and a finishing position of 13.8 at the Pennsylvania track. During his rookie start at Pocono in June 2016, he led 51 laps en route to a fourth-place finish.
- While William Byron will make his first Cup Series start at the "Tricky Triangle” this weekend, the rookie has had success at the 2.5-mile triangle in the other national series events. In his lone Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway, Byron started fifth and finished 12th. The driver has one start at the Long Pond, Pennsylvania, track in the Camping World Truck Series in 2016, where he started on the pole and then led 44 of 60 laps en route to the victory. Byron also has one ARCA Racing Series start at the track in 2016, where he led three laps and finished eighth.
- At the “Tricky Triangle,” Johnson has found Victory Lane on three separate occasions, the most recent coming on June 9, 2013. The driver started on the pole and led 128 of 160 laps to earn his most recent win at the venue. Johnson also has 11 top-five finishes and 19 top-10s at the track.
- Alex Bowman has four starts in the NASCAR Cup Series at the “Tricky Triangle,” with a best finish of 25th back in 2015. The 25-year-old has one start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports in 2016, where he started and finished 10th. In 2012, Bowman ran two ARCA Racing Series events and captured a third-place finish in both events.
- At Pocono, the number 88 is no stranger to Victory Lane. Seven times a driver has won while driving the No. 88. Earnhardt swept the NASCAR Cup Series races at the track for Hendrick Motorsports in 2014, leading a combined total of 25 laps. A win for Bowman this weekend in the No. 88 car could tie the No. 11 car as the car number with the most wins at the “Tricky Triangle.”
- All four Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs have admirable backgrounds at Pocono Raceway. Chad Knaus has three Pocono victories with Johnson, Alan Gustafson picked up two wins with Gordon, Darian Grubb earned a win with Tony Stewart in 2009 and Greg Ives took home a runner-up result with Earnhardt in 2016.
- Hendrick Motorsports has found Victory Lane in the last two Cup Series races held on June 3 – Gordon at Dover in 2001 and Johnson at Dover in 2012.
- If Elliott, Byron or Bowman wins at Pocono, it will mark the ninth time a driver has recorded his first career Cup Series win while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing share the all-time record, having each sent eight first-time winners to Victory Lane in Cup Series competition.