A doubleheader weekend can result in big gains or big losses.  In Kevin Harvick's case, it was a big gain.  Winning on Saturday and finishing second Sunday allowed him to expand his lead from 23 to 52 points.  That is over new second-place points man Ryan Blaney, despite the fact that Blaney didn't exactly have good finishes in either race (12th and 22nd).  He did lead laps and score stage points in both races, though.  Brad Keselowski is up two positions to third after finishing ninth and 11th in Pocono.  Chase Elliott remains in fourth despite a tough weekend.  Mechanical issues dropped Elliott to 26th on Saturday, but he recovered for a fourth-place finish Sunday.

Denny Hamlin is up one place to fifth after finishing second Saturday and winning Sunday's Pocono 350.  Joey Logano fell all the way from second to a tie for sixth after a terrible weekend.  A blown tire late Saturday resulted in a 36th-place finish, followed by a 24th-place finish Sunday.  He is tied with Martin Truex Jr., who had top 10 finishes in both races.  Alex Bowman remains in eighth.

Aric Almirola is up three positions to ninth after finishing third Saturday and fifth Sunday.  Kurt Busch remains 10th after earning his first playoff point of the year Sunday.  Kyle Busch dropped down to 11th after finishing fifth Saturday and crashing out Sunday.  Jimmie Johnson is down one place to 12th after a couple of mediocre runs in Pocono.

Clint Bowyer is still 13th after earning a couple of top 10 finishes.  Matt DiBenedetto is up one place to 14th after earning 17 stage points in Pocono and finishes of 13th and sixth.  William Byron is down one place to 15th despite a top 10 finish Sunday and a 14th on Saturday.  Erik Jones moved back into 16th despite crashing out on Saturday with a third-place finish Sunday.

Jones has the last spot in the playoffs at the moment.  His margin is 14 points over Austin Dillon, who finished 19th and 14th in Pocono.  Tyler Reddick had a terrible weekend with two finishes in the 30s that dropped him to 18th.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. moved up to 19th with finishes of 17th and 15th.  Chris Buescher dropped to 20th after crashing Sunday.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 581, 2) Ryan Blaney -52, 3) Brad Keselowski -67, 4) Chase Elliott -71, 5) Denny Hamlin -75, t-6) Joey Logano -81, t-6) Martin Truex Jr. -81, 8) Alex Bowman -117, 9) Aric Almirola -150, 10) Kurt Busch -151, 11) Kyle Busch -158, 12) Jimmie Johnson -191, 13) Clint Bowyer -194, 14) Matt DiBenedetto -197, 15) William Byron -209, 16) Erik Jones -240.
 

Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.

Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 23, 2) Kevin Harvick -7, 3) Joey Logano -9, 4) Brad Keselowski -10, 5) Chase Elliott -13, 6) Alex Bowman -14, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -16, 8) Ryan Blaney -17, 9) Clint Bowyer -21, t-10) Kurt Busch -22, t-10) Aric Almirola -22, t-10) Jimmie Johnson -22, t-10) William Byron, t-10) Tyler Reddick -22, t-10) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -22.

Stage Points: 1) Ryan Blaney 152, 2) Chase Elliott -10, 3) Joey Logano -11, 4) Martin Truex Jr. -14, 5) Alex Bowman -17, 6) Kevin Harvick -38, t-7) Brad Keselowski -55, t-7) Kyle Busch -55, 9) Aric Almirola -68, 10) Denny Hamlin -72, 11) William Byron -90, 12) Jimmie Johnson -99, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -101, 14) Clint Bowyer -102, 15) Tyler Reddick -104, 16) Erik Jones -107.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 528, 2) Denny Hamlin -35, 3) Brad Keselowski -42, 4) Kurt Busch -86, 5) Ryan Blaney -95, 6) Chase Elliott -101, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -104, t-8) Joey Logano -116, t-8) Aric Almirola -116, 10) Matt DiBenedetto -133, t-11) Kyle Busch -139, t-11) Clint Bowyer -139, 13) Alex Bowman -140, 14) Jimmie Johnson -140, 15) Erik Jones -151, 16) William Byron -154.

Race Winners: Denny Hamlin (Daytona, Darlington-2, Homestead, Pocono-2), Joey Logano (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Alex Bowman (Fontana), Kevin Harvick (Darlington-1, Atlanta, Pocono-1), Brad Keselowski (Charlotte-1, Bristol), Chase Elliott (Charlotte-2), Ryan Blaney (Talladega)

 
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.

Chase Briscoe stated at the beginning of the season that he needs at least eight wins this year to guarantee his future.  He's halfway there after recovering from a cut tire to claim his fourth win of the season Sunday.  With the chaos that affected the 91-lap race, Briscoe was able to regain the points lead.  His gap is only three points over Noah Gragson, who was caught up in the big wreck on Lap 53 and finished 22nd.  Ross Chastain finished second and won the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash for the second week in a row.  That moved him up to third in points.  Austin Cindric had the best car, but crashed out.  Earning 19 stage points allowed him to limit his losses, dropping only to fourth.

Harrison Burton remains in fifth despite crashing out early on Sunday.  He's 49 points behind Cindric, though.  Justin Haley remains in sixth despite getting parked for two laps and finishing 23rd.  Justin Allgaier moved up to seventh after coming back from a lap down to finish sixth.  Brandon Jones is down to eighth after crashing out on the first lap.

Michael Annett remains in ninth after finishing fifth, followed by Ryan Sieg.  Riley Herbst stays in 11th after a charge to ninth in the closing laps.  Myatt Snider moved up to 12th after finishing in a career-best fourth.

Snider is the last driver in the playoffs at the moment.  He has four points over both Daniel Hemric and Brandon Brown.  Hemric is ineligible for the playoffs due to missing races.  Neither driver finished on Sunday as Hemric was eliminated in the Lap 53 crash, while Brown had an oil tank leak and dropped out early.  Alex Labbe, despite an early crash, moved up to 15th, displacing Josh Williams, who crashed early.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Briscoe 499, 2) Noah Gragson -3, 3) Ross Chastain -33, 4) Austin Cindric -46, 5) Harrison Burton -95, 6) Justin Haley -98, 7) Justin Allgaier -113, 8) Brandon Jones -123, 9) Michael Annett -160, 10) Ryan Sieg -198, 11) Riley Herbst -205, 12) Myatt Snider -241, t-13) Daniel Hemric -245, t-13) Brandon Brown -245, 15) Alex Labbe -277, 16) Josh Williams -286.

Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
Note No. 2: Drivers in italics in the point standing sections are currently outside of the playoffs.

Playoff Points: 1) Chase Briscoe 22, 2) Noah Gragson -7, 3) Harrison Burton -12, 4) Brandon Jones -15, 5) Justin Haley -16, t-6) AJ Allmendinger -17, t-6) Justin Allgaier -17, 8) Austin Cindric -19, 9) Ryan Sieg -20, 10) Jeb Burton -21.

Stage Points: 1) Austin Cindric 152, 2) Noah Gragson -11, 3) Ross Chastain -18, 4) Chase Briscoe -23, 5) Justin Allgaier -27, 6) Brandon Jones -63, 7) Justin Haley -69, 8) Daniel Hemric -82, 9) Michael Annett -86, 10) Harrison Burton -90, 11) Ryan Sieg -93, 12) Riley Herbst -115, 13) Jeb Burton -130, 14) Myatt Snider -131, 15) Anthony Alfredo -138, 16) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -141.

Note: If he were eligible for points, Kyle Busch would be 12th in stage points.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Chase Briscoe 423, 2) Noah Gragson -8, 3) Harrison Burton -31, 4) Ross Chastain -34, 5) Justin Haley -54, 6) Austin Cindric -64, 7) Brandon Jones -84, 8) Michael Annett -100, 9) Justin Allgaier -104, 10) Riley Herbst -122, 11) Brandon Brown -127, 12) Ryan Sieg -129, 13) Myatt Snider -133, 14) Alex Labbe -160, 15) Josh Williams -161, 16) Jeremy Clements -165.

Note: If everyone were eligible for points, Brett Moffitt would be 16th in the old point standings.

Race Winners: Noah Gragson (Daytona, Bristol), Chase Briscoe (Las Vegas, Darlington, Homestead-2, Pocono), Harrison Burton (Fontana, Homestead-1), Brandon Jones (Phoenix), Kyle Busch (Charlotte), AJ Allmendinger (Atlanta), Justin Haley (Talladega)

Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.

Austin Hill was right there in the battle for the win Sunday morning at Pocono and finished second behind Brandon Jones, who is ineligible for points.  With many of his rivals crashing, he expanded his points lead up to 51 points over Ben Rhodes.  Rhodes had a quiet run to a fifth-place finish, but that was enough to move up one place.  Grant Enfinger has sole possession of third after finishing 11th.  Sheldon Creed gained five places to move up to fourth after winning the first two stages and finishing third.

Todd Gilliland remains in fifth after finishing a strong fourth, while Christian Eckes is down four places to sixth after crashing out of the lead.  Zane Smith is down one place to seventh after finishing 14th.  Tyler Ankrum is up two places to eighth after earning 13 stage points and finishing eighth.

Brett Moffitt dropped one place to ninth despite finishing seventh, while Johnny Sauter fell three places to 10th after finishing 13th.  He is the last driver currently in the playoffs.  Sauter has a nine-point lead over Derek Kraus, who finished 10th.  Stewart Friesen finished eighth and moved up to 12th.

Tanner Gray gained two places to 13th after finishing 12th, while Matt Crafton dropped three places to 14th after crashing out on the first lap and finishing 40th.  Raphael Lessard crashed early and dropped back to 15th, while Ty Majeski maintained 16th despite crashing out on Lap 12.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 253, 2) Ben Rhodes -51, 3) Grant Enfinger -61, 4) Sheldon Creed -64, 5) Todd Gilliland -66, 6) Christian Eckes -74, 7) Zane Smith -76, 8) Tyler Ankrum -79, 9) Brett Moffitt -83, 10) Johnny Sauter -85, 11) Derek Kraus -94, 12) Stewart Friesen -105, 13) Tanner Gray -111, 14) Matt Crafton -116, 15) Raphael Lessard -134, 16) Ty Majeski -139. 

Note No. 1: Drivers in bold have locked into the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series playoffs.

Note No. 2: Drivers in italics in the point standing sections are not in the playoffs.

Playoff Points: 1) Grant Enfinger 11, 2) Sheldon Creed -9.

Stage Points: 1) Austin Hill 60, 2) Christian Eckes -1, 3) Ben Rhodes -8, 4) Grant Enfinger -15, 5) Tyler Ankrum -21, 6) Todd Gilliland -26, 7) Matt Crafton -31, t-8) Sheldon Creed -32, t-8) Brett Moffitt -32, 10) Zane Smith -34, 11) Raphael Lessard -37, 12) Johnny Sauter -38, 13) Stewart Friesen -42, 14) Derek Kraus -49, 15) Tanner Gray -53, 16) Ty Majeski -54.

Note: If everyone were eligible for stage points, Kyle Busch would be third while Ross Chastain would be fourth. Chase Elliott would be in a tie for 10th.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 173, 2) Sheldon Creed -32, 3) Zane Smith -43, 4) Todd Gilliland -44, 5) Ben Rhodes -45, t-6) Grant Enfinger -49, t-6) Johnny Sauter -49, t-6) Derek Kraus -49, 9) Brett Moffitt -54, 10) Tyler Ankrum -61, 11) Tanner Gray -62, 12) Stewart Friesen -66, 13) Christian Eckes -74, 14) Matt Crafton -88, 15) Ty Majeski -89, 16) Raphael Lessard -100.

Note: If they were eligible for points, Ross Chastain would be second in Old School points, while Kyle Busch would be tied for third.

Race Winners: Grant Enfinger (Daytona, Atlanta), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, Homestead), Chase Elliott (Charlotte), Brandon Jones (Pocono)

Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

"We weren’t where we needed to be to start the race and lost a bunch of track position but we came back and made some great strategy calls to get in clean air and get out front and make some good laps. It is great to finally check Pocono off the list. Everybody at Stewart-Haas racing has done such a great job with all our cars over the last several years. I guess it takes special paint schemes to get to victory lane. I want to say hi to my family. I know Keelan raced all day and Delana and Piper and everybody at home. I am really proud of everybody and I am just glad it didn’t rain all day." - Kevin Harvick, race winner

"Bugga and I talked about it coming here. This was a great opportunity to score a lot of points with a double header. If you unload and you have a good car in the first race, you have an opportunity to score a lot of point in two days. Our Smithfield Ford Mustang was really, really fast. We opted to score a lot of points and that probably hurt us on strategy a little bit> I am proud of Bugga and these guys. They have been bringing some awesome race cars. I felt like we were tit for tat with the 4 when we were on older tires there and in clean air. I am proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing and Roush Yates engines and Ford Performance and everybody that helps this program out. We are just trying to keep the momentum going. Three top five’s in a row. I am really proud of my race team." - Aric Almirola, finished third

"We had some speed and there were laps that I could run with the 11 (Denny Hamlin), but the 11 could just do it lap after lap after lap where I was pushing everything I had to keep up with him there. I just couldn’t do it. I would make the tires mad and would start to fall back. We were just a little tight all day. We really fought tight early on, but we made some really good adjustments and got it a lot closer and got it a lot better. Our strategy there worked out to get us in the top-five, that was about all we could ask for out of today. We got some really good ideas for tomorrow hopefully that will help us out and hopefully get us some speed so we can keep up with those front guys." - Kyle Busch, finished fifth

"We started in a decent spot and lost some spots early. I thought we had a pretty decent SiriusXM Toyota early on and kind of had to do a little different strategy there. Stage one didn’t look too good, but I felt like we were pretty close with the car. We made some adjustments and got some track position through stage two, so we were able to get some decent stage points there. We were in a decent spot again towards the end and got a really bad vibration, so I was a little concerned that we were going to have a tire issue or something. Luckily, it held on and it wasn’t a great finish by any means, but a solid finish for sure and something we can work on for tomorrow." - Martin Truex Jr., finished sixth

"We didn’t start where we wanted to but we adjusted really well and I thought by the end we were one of the best cars. It was incredibly difficult to pass. I caught cars that I was a second faster than and then I just couldn’t pass. It was a big track position day. I think you saw that with the guys that started up front all finished up front. We tried to make some moves to make some passes and probably caught ourselves some spots. If we rode around all day we would have maybe got two or three more spots out of it. I appreciate the fact that my team has a lot of effort and was shooting for the stars." - Brad Keselowski, finished ninth

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.

"A lot of adversity early. We got some nose damage and had to fix that. Then we just worked on the car and got it better and better. It finished the race there a lot better than we finished yesterday and I thought we had a race-winning car yesterday. We knew after yesterday’s race and showing the speed that we had, just don’t mess it up and we’ve got a good shot today and that’s what we did." - Denny Hamlin, race winner

"I think for us our Head for the Mountains Busch Beer Ford was actually better than yesterday.  We had a really good car.  He just did the opposite of what we did.  We didn’t want to get caught with a caution and then wind up losing a little bit too much time in lap traffic with all the cars that hadn’t pitted and he was out there running clean laps and waited until right to the very end and wound up in front of us.  I’m proud of everybody on our team.  Yesterday that won us the race and today finished second." - Kevin Harvick, finished second

"Today was a lot better than yesterday for sure. It’s great to rebound like that. Unfortunately, I think we could have – definitely could have had two top-fives, and really, I think our primary car was quite a bit better than this car. I thought we could have probably contended both days a little more towards the win if we had our primary, but the Craftsman Camry was good. We made good changes overnight. We actually changed a lot of stuff and tried to kind of rebalance with what we had with this backup car. It’s nice to get a solid finish. I mean, we came off a good run at Talladega and went right back to a DNF and to come back here with a third. We just need to be consistent from here and keep it rolling." - Erik Jones, finished third

"It was good to have a solid run for our NAPA team after yesterday being so poor. Obviously, we would’ve liked to of been a little better, but after starting in the back, I was pleased how I was able to move forward and gain a lot of that track position back. It was a good rebound. Looking forward to getting back on track at Indy." - Chase Elliott, finished fourth

"Another top five.  I’m so proud of Buga and al the guys on this 10 team.  That’s four top fives in a row.  What a weekend we had here in Pocono, got a lot of stage points and finished third yesterday and fifth today.  We’re riding a wave of momentum and I’m just so happy and thankful for all of our partners — Smithfield, Ford, Mobil 1, Go Bowling, everybody that helps this whole program out and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.  I know you guys have been working so many hours trying to keep up with the pace of all these races, so just really proud.  We’ll go to Indy, a place that’s very similar to the tunnel turn at Pocono and felt like we were really good there this weekend.  I’m excited about Indy and another top five." - Aric Almirola, finished fifth

"It wouldn’t be a NASCAR race without some rain here lately.  It was a long weekend.  Two races back-to-back was pretty cool.  Knocked them both out in one weekend, but we got stage points in all four stages between the two races, so that’s good and I felt like we finished solid yesterday and today we had a good day.  We got stage points in both and the second stage we were actually anticipating possibly giving up the stage points for our strategy to have a good finishing position, but it worked out to where we still had some solid restarts and got up there to get at least a couple points, so everything helps.  That was big and today was just pretty much real smooth from start to finish, just was up there in that top 10 for most part start to finish for the day, so Greg and the team did a real solid job keeping us up there and having a real good strategy." - Matt DiBenedetto, finished sixth

"We ended up with a top-10 finish today which was good. It was definitely an improvement from yesterday – seven spots better to be exact – which is good. We still struggled a good portion of the race but I think we made the right calls and adjustments at the end. We had a lot of speed actually the last couple runs. I think the track kind of came to us and ultimately that’s what we needed. So we’ll go on to Indy and hopefully have a better run there." - William Byron, finished seventh

"It was an up and down day. So many people are on different pit strategies throughout the day here in Pocono. We had a top 10 car all day, just didn’t have the running positions to show for it. Greg (Ives) and the guys made great adjustments on pit road and really improved the car throughout the race. A top-10 finish today is good momentum for us going to Indy next weekend." - Alex Bowman, finished ninth

"This weekend did not go at all how we wanted it to, but I’m proud of the No. 8 Caterpillar team for never giving up at any point. Unfortunately, when I came across the line to take the green flag today I lost all power steering and had to drop back to protect the car. Right as I was going to hit pit road to see what we could do to fix the handling, the caution came out for rain, which almost ended up helping us. I was able to pit and give my team the entire yellow to work on the car. We figured out we would be able to replace the alternator belt right as the red flag came out. Once the yellow flag came back out, my team worked as fast as they could to make the repairs but we still ended up a handful of laps down by the time we could rejoin the field. From that point on it was just a matter of capitalizing on everything that came our way to gain as many spots as we possibly could. Every point matters in the fight to make the Playoffs, and we weren’t going to go down without a fight. We got trapped a little bit with how the race played out, but we gave it our all today to get everything we could. I wouldn’t want to be racing with any other group than the one I have right now and am looking forward to getting back after it at Indy next weekend." - Tyler Reddick, finished 35th

"I don’t know. The guys did an amazing job from yesterday to today. I guess it proves that if you get a little practice time in and we are going to be a force to be reckoned with so hopefully life gets back to normal eventually but we are in 2020, so it doesn’t surprise me getting crashed out of the lead. The M&M’s Camry was pretty fast today. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the guys did a great job. It’s just very frusterating and unfortunate. I know what happened but it doesn’t make any sense to talk about it. It will just come across in a bad way." - Kyle Busch, finished 38th (Crashed out)

"Yeah, I don’t exactly know. I was kind of rolling out there by myself, and I had a good gap between the guy in front of me and behind me, and it just stepped out getting into turn two there. It’s disappointing, but I’m really happy with the speed that we’ve had these last couple weeks. Obviously, yesterday here we were really fast, and we had another great car today, so these guys keep bringing really fast Rheem Camrys to the racetrack and we will have good shows." - Christopher Bell, finished 39th (Crashed out)

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.