Frontstretch Newsletter: June 20, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition C |
What to Watch: June 20-22 |
For information on the NASCAR Cup Series The Great American Getaway 400, see the Frontstretch Folio below. - The NASCAR Xfinity Series will serve as primary support in Pocono. There will be one practice session Saturday morning at 10:05 a.m. ET, with qualifying following shortly afterwards. The
sessions will air live on The CW App, The CW’s website and on selected CW affiliates. Check your local listings for availability. Coverage of the Explore the
Pocono Mountains 250 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 3 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon on The CW. Race coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET, with the green flag around 3:40 p.m. ET. - The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will return to action this weekend in the tertiary role at Pocono. Teams already arrived Thursday, but all on-track activity is today. Live coverage of practice will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET this afternoon on FS2. Qualifying will begin shortly afterwards. Coverage of the MillerTech Battery 200 will begin at 5 p.m. ET Friday on FS1. The green flag will fall around 5:20 p.m. ET. - The NTT IndyCar Series will be at Road America this week. Opening practice is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET today with live coverage on FS2. Practice No. 2 will be Saturday at 11 a.m. ET on FS1. Qualifying will be at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Race day will begin with a warmup session
at 10 a.m. ET on FS1. Coverage of the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX. The green flag should be around 1:53 p.m. ET. - World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams are continuing their stay in South Dakota. This time, it is the BillionAuto.com Huset's High Bank Nationals presented by Menards, where big money is on the
line. Saturday night's A-Main winner will waltz out of Huset's Speedway with $250,000. Coverage will begin at 6 p.m. ET both tonight and Saturday night on DirtVision.
- The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series returns to action this weekend at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 after more than a month off. Coverage of the St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff will air on DirtVision at 6:45 p.m. ET tonight and 6:15 p.m. ET Saturday night.
FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND THROUGH OUR
COLLEAGUES:
POCONO: ELKHART LAKE: WATKINS GLEN: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter
page, @Frontstretch as well for updates on
Pocono! |
Around the World in Motorsports: June 19 |
- Garage 66 announced Thursday that David Starr will
return to the team to drive the No. 66 Ford next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. WNB Factory Wings N Burgers will serve as the primary. It will mark his first start in the Cup Series since Martinsville last year. - Rick Ware Racing announced Friday morning that they will carry primary sponsorship this weekend in Pocono from Costa Oil. The company has previously sponsored
Ryan Ellis in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but this will be the company's first primary sponsorship in Cup. - The finale of the Huset's Hustle for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Thursday night came down to a duel between Bill Balog and Buddy Kofoid. Balog started on pole and led early. Meanwhile, Kofoid was able to dispatch of Kyle Larson early and chase down
Balog. A battle developed between the two drivers. Slide jobs were exchanged, but Balog was able to keep the lead. Eventually, lapped traffic finally allowed Kofoid to make the move for the lead work. From there, he held on to take the win and $100,000. Kofoid won by .581 seconds over Balog. Larson was third, then David Gravel and Tyler Courtney. All four races at Huset's Speedway this week are for show-up points only. As a result, there is no change in the standings. - IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams have completed their practice sessions at Watkins Glen International. Session No. 1 Thursday saw Rebel Rock Racing's Robin Liddell go quickest in his Aston Martin with a lap at 105.819 mph. The lap was .146 seconds faster than the Porsche of Rennsport One's Jan Heylen, a former winner at
Watkins Glen in GT World Challenge America competition. Panam Motorsport's Caio Chaves was third in his Supra, followed by Team TGM's Matt Plumb and CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing's Jeff Westphal. Montreal Motorsport Group's Karl Wittmer was fastest in TCR with a lap at 105.214 mph, good enough for seventh overall. His lap was .829 seconds faster than KMW
Motorsports with TMR Engineering's Tim Lewis Jr. Bryan Herta Autosport's Mark Wilkins was third, then Victor Gonzalez Racing Team's Eric Powell. Precision Racing LA's Ryan Eversley was fifth. Session No. 2 just wrapped up a short while ago. In that session, Ibiza Farm Motorsports' Michael Cooper put down the fastest lap of the session at 107.116 mph right at the end of
the session. Cooper's lap was .184 seconds faster than Liddell. Chaves was third, then Winward Racing's Daniel Morad and Team TGM's Paul Holton. Montreal Motorsport Group was fastest once again in TCR, but this time, Louis-Phillippe Montour topped the
chart with a lap at 106.071 mph, sixth overall. Montour was .942 seconds faster than the Audi of Baker Racing's James Vance. Precision Racing LA's Celso Neto was third, then VGRT's Tyler Gonzalez and BHA's Parker Chase. |
Frontstretch Folio: The Great American Getaway 400
by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will make their only visit of the year to Pocono Raceway. Coverage of The Great American Getaway 400 will start with NASCAR Live at 1 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video. Race coverage follows at 2 p.m. ET and the green flag is scheduled to drop around 2:20 p.m. ET. In addition, the event can also be heard on your
local MRN affiliate or SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90). Drivers will compete for 160 laps (400 miles) en route to the checkered flag.
Records and facts Last year's The Great American Getaway 400
came down to pit strategy. With 46 laps to go, Todd Gilliland crashed to bring out a yellow. That brought the leaders in to pit. Ryan Blaney won the race off pit road and took the lead. Normally, you can't make it 44 laps on fuel at Pocono. What followed was three more cautions that allowed everyone to save fuel. Blaney was able to conserve enough to make it to the finish and take the win by 1.312 seconds over Denny Hamlin. Alex Bowman was third, then William Byron and Joey Logano. Among
active drivers, Hamlin has the most victories at Pocono with seven. They include a sweep during his rookie year in 2006. Kyle Busch has four wins, while Jimmie Johnson (not entered) has three. Blaney has two victories. Hamlin's seven wins
are the most all-time at Pocono. Jeff Gordon has six victories, while Bill Elliott has five wins. Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip, Kyle Busch and Tim Richmond have four each. Johnson, Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte, Geoff Bodine and Bobby Allison all have three. Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 2.5-mile tri-oval, 160 laps (400 miles)
Banking: 14 degrees in Turn 1, 8 degrees in Turn 2, 6 degrees in Turn 3.
Frontstretch: 3,740 ft., flat Long Pond Straightaway: 3,055 ft., flat North Straight: 1,780 ft.,
flat Grandstand Seating: 70,000
Pit Road Speed: 55
mph
Pace Car Speed: 65 mph
Opened: 1971 (first Cup race in 1974) Website: http://www.poconoraceway.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/poconoraceway Twitter: http://twitter.com/poconoraceway Pre-Race
Schedule: Practice: Saturday, June 21, 12:35 - 1:30 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video Qualifying: Saturday, June 21, 1:45 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video Say What?! "I think Pocono is another great opportunity to put together a strong week. It is a unique place, especially over the tunnel turn with how narrow the track gets, but it is a track we have had success at in the past. I hope that we can continue to build off of our top-five run in Mexico and if you look at the next couple of tracks, there are a lot of
places where we have had success. Atlanta, Chicago, Sonoma are real opportunities for us to earn some points, shake up the in season tournament, and win races for Spire Motorsports. I am really looking forward to this stretch." - Michael McDowell "Pocono Raceway is a challenging track from the standpoint of trying to get all three corners tied together with the racecar. It's tough on the drivers, and tough on the crew chiefs. You're never going to be completely comfortable with
Pocono Raceway because you've got to be able to deal with an issue in one of the three corners. Our No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / Winchester team will do a very good job of trying to get a happy medium between all three, but I think the Tunnel Turn is probably the most important." - Austin Dillon "Pocono is honestly one of my favorite tracks on the schedule. I feel like it’s somewhere where the No. 43 team
has run really strong at in this NextGen car and before. With where we’ve been running well this year, I feel like it’s really going to play into our hands to have another fast Toyota Camry XSE. I’m really just excited to get there and hopefully continue our climb through the points. We really are kind of scratching and clawing our way into the playoff picture here the past few weeks. Pocono’s really a great place to have a good run and even possibly challenge for the win. We have to have a good
strategy, and I think we will. I’m looking forward to it." - Erik Jones Phil
Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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