THE NEXT Winston Cup RACE
NEWS, STATS and INFO
THE RACE: Pocono 500
Winston Cup Race #15 of 34 for the 2000 season
Updated: often, leading up to the race
- Race: Sunday, June 18, 2000 in Long Pond, PA
- TV: TNN 1:00pm/et
- Posted Awards/Purse: $2,775,260
- Entry List: Entry List for the: Pocono 500 from NOL
- 1999 Race Winner: Bobby Labonte
- Race Speed Record: Alan Kulwicki, 1992, 144.023mph
- Track/Race Length: 2.5 mile oval, 200 laps, 500 miles
- Pit Road Speed: 45mph
Practice
- Practice: Friday, June 16th 11:00am – 2:00pm/et; Saturday, June 17th 9:30 -10:50am/et
- Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, June 17th, after the ARCA race, TV-none
Qualifying
- Qualifying Draw: Friday, June 16th at 10:30am/et
- Qualfying Order – Pocono 500: NASCAR Online and That’s Racin’
- First Round Qualifying: 1 lap for positions 1-25, Friday, June 16th at 3:00pm/et, TV-TNN tape delay on Saturday at 9:00am/et and live via MRN radio/internet
- NASCAR Online will have live lap-by-lap coverage of Winston Cup qualifying via the web
- Second-Round Qualifying: 1 lap for positions 26th-43rd, Saturday, June 17th at 11:30am/et
- Track/Race Qualifying Record: Sterling Marlin, June 1999, 170.506mph
- Last Year’s Pole Sitter: Sterling Marlin, 170.506mph
Track Specs:
Superspeedway: 2.5 mile tri-oval
Banking: turn 1: 14 degrees, turn 2: 8 degree, turn 3: 6 degrees;
Straights: Front – 3740 feet, Long Pond(between turns 1 and 2) – 3055 feet, North(between turns 2 and 3) – 1780 feet
- Track Homepage: Pocono Raceway
- Scanner Frequencies: are linked on my Racing Links Page/ Scanners Section
- Goodyear Tire Notes – Pocono 500(6-15-2000)
RACE BONUS INFO
- The NASCAR Winston Cup Leader Bonus is $140,000 at Pocono for leading the points and winning the
race.(Dale Jarrett last won the award, $10,000 at Daytona) The $340,000 annual award is paid at $10,000 per
race to the point leader at the end of each event if he is also the winner. The award increases by $10,000 each
week the it goes unclaimed. If the point leader is not the race winner at the end of the year, the balance of
the award is distributed among the top-10 finisher in the point standings(6-11-2000)
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WEATHER, TV/RADIO COVERAGE, LOCAL NEWS
Radio Coverage:
Motor Racing Network(MRN)
including RealAudio coverage
MRN Affiliate List for your local station
Satellite/Backhaul Listing’s:
Satellite/Backhaul Listing’s: Stutzman Computer Service/Sales – Racing Feed Locations
some Local Newspapers and other Sites that cover the Pocono area:
Citizens Voice
Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Pocono Record
Scranton Times
Times-Leader
WEATHER FORECASTS:
Weather forecast for Long Pond, PA by The Weather Channel
Weather Underground – Long Pond, PA
TRACK INFO FOR THE FANS:
Pocono Review by ARS Racing
Pocono 500 Pre-Race Story – Speedway
Illustrated with Gary DeHart
GoingToTheRace.com
Perfect Paranoia about television coverage of racing, rate the race coverage
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- Happy Hour for the Pocono 500 was rain shortened to 38 minutes. #28-Ricky Rudd was the fastest at 165.404mph. See the speeds at NASCAR Online(6-18-2000)
- 2nd Round Qualifying is over for the Pocono 500. #66- Darrell Waltrip was the fastest of the four cars who made an attempt with a speed of 167.103mph, but it was not fast enough to make the race and with no provisionals, DW goes home with his 4th DNQ. #97-Chad Little uses his 8th provisional in 15 races so far, 4th race in a row, for info on who has used provisionals at what race in 2000, see the Provisionals Used page. Others missing the race are #52-Bill Baird, didn’t make a 2nd round attempt as he wrecked in the morning practice and had no backup, and #72-Dwayne Leik, who also didn’t make a 2nd round attempt. Of the four cars that made the attempts, two were faster(#’s 66 and 71) and two were slower(#’s 9 and 60). So the field is set, see the starting grid at NASCAR Online or Racin’ Network(6-17-2000)
- Did ya Know? #43-John Andretti, #97-Chad Little and #55-Kenny Wallace are the only active drivers with 10 or more Winston Cup races at Pocono who have never posted a top-10 finish. Andretti and Little have had a best finish of 12th, while Wallace’s best is 15th(Infobeat/AP)(6-17-2000)
- More Pocono Stuff: 6 of all the 44 Pocono races have been won by the pole starter – 14%. Last Pocono 500 won by the pole winner: 1996, by Jeff Gordon. Most Pocono poles: Ken Schrader – 5. Average finish of pole winner: 10.9. 33 of the 44 Pocono races have been won from the Top 10 – 75%. Most DNFs in a race: 1982, 1985 – 18 cars. Fewest DNFs in a race: 1984, 1995, 1997 – 7 cars.(TNN)(6-16-2000)
- Pocono Stuff: Eight races have been won from the third starting position at the Pocono Raceway, the most of any starting position. The farthest back a winner has started is 27th – Terry Labonte started in this position and worked his way to victory lane in the 1995 Pocono 500. Second place – that’s Michael Waltrip’s best NASCAR Winston Cup Series career finish. It happened on 6/19/88 at Pocono Raceway(Racewire)(6-14-2000)
- Race ODDS: NASCAR Odds – Pocono 500(SportsFax News)(6-18-2000)
- Pocono 500 Quick Facts(TNN)(6-16-2000)
- From the TNN Site: Pocono 500 Race Stats by their stat guru Bill Sloboda(6-16-2000)
- WRAL: NASCAR – Pocono 500 Preview(6-14-2000)
- Pocono Race Fact Sheet (RaceWire)(6-14-2000)
- The Crew Chief Club
QUALIFYING, PRACTICE and RESULTS news and links
- The Pocono 500 is over. Wow, what an ending, on the final lap, #3-Earnhardt in the lead, #12-Mayfield in 2nd, going through turn three, Earnheardt down to the white line, Mayfield right on his tail, slightly bumps the #3 and gets Earnhardt out of shape, passed Earnhardt and wins his 3rd career race and 2nd of the year. Earnhardt raced up after the checkered flag along side of Mayfield and pointed at Mayfield. The final top five: #’s 12-Mayfield, 88-Jarrett, 28-Rudd, 3-Earnhardt and 6-Martin. After the race Earnhardt wsas interviewed and handled it well. See the results at NASCAR Online and Racin’ Network(6-19-2000)
- Some Pocono Race Notes as it was watched: Caution Lap 182 #27-Mike Bliss spun and backed into the wall and #11-Brett Bodine lost an engine. #44-Kyle Petty lost an engine on lap 145. #28-Ricky Rudd’s car was damaged during the Spencer spin as he hit Irwin when Irwin checked up during the spin, spent quite a bit of time in the pits to get the grill fixed, came in twice to stay on the lead lap, he dropped back to 26th still on the lead lap. Caution on lap 131 when #26-Jimmy Spencer spun out in front of #42-Irwin, who tapped him after Spencer hit the wall. On lap 97 #33-Joe Nemechek went to the garage with an engine problem, and #14-Rick Mast slowed down on the track when a rod on his shifter broke, went to the garage area to get it fixed and retunred to the track a few laps later. Caution at lap 72 for a piece of metal on the track. #75-Dallenbach returns to the track on lap 55, 35 laps down. #9-Compton was in the garage with a transmission problem on lap 41 and returned on lap 62. #18-Labonte was in the pits with the hood up, having an exhaust problem. #7-Waltrip has lost an engine on lap 34 and couldn’t get off the track and caused a caution at lap 36. #8-Earnhardt Jr fell back when the lugnuts fell off a wheel during the first pitstop and they had to be threaded by hand. #12-Mayfield took two tires on his pitstop to gain track position and the lead. Some Notes: Caution around lap 20 when #40-Marlin and #75-Dallenbach got together with Dallenbach backed into the wall, basically the whole field came in to pit during the caution. #55-Kenny Wallace was in the pits, hood up with a broken suspension part and went back out a lap down(lap 23). #93-Dave Blaney cut down a tire and had to pit. #32-Pruett pitted on lap 11 as his electrical problems and has just re-entered the race, three laps down. #3-Dale Earnhardt had to pit on lap 4 when Earnhardt thought the right front tire was rubbing the fender and the yellow Goodyear was gone on the tire, TNN reports that #6-Mark Martin and Earnhardt got together. #32-Scott Pruett’s car would not start at first, some kind of battery problem, but was able to get it fixed and made it out to the start(6-19-2000 2:00pm/et)
- Pocono Saturday Practice: #60-Geoffrey Bodine was the fastest with a speed at 167.078mph, which would had been 38th in 1st round qualifying. Speeds are much slower. See the speeds at NOL and Racin’ Network(6-17-2000)
- What happened to Baird in 1st Round? #52-Bill Baird, the former ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series champion crashed in Turn 2 in his #52 Dynatek Chevy while trying to qualify for his first NASCAR Winston Cup race. The crew is working to repair the team’s only car. Baird is not sure if something broke or if he cut a tire(NOL Notes)(6-17-2000)
- 1st Round Qualifying for the Pocono 500 is over. #2-Rusty Wallace is on the pole with a new track/race record of 171.625mph for his Bud Pole Award of the season. #43-Andretti, #28-Rudd, #6-Martin, #88-Jarrett, #31-Skinner, #24-Gordon, #99-Burton and #20-Stewart are also above the old track/race record(nine drivers above). Old record was 170.506mph by Sterling Marlin in June 1999. 1999 ARCA Champ, #52-Bill Baird, is attempting to make his first Cup start, but had some sort of problem when went out and has no speed listed. Looks like the wind tunnel test that the #14 Pontiac just went thru helped out some as Rick Mast will start 13th. Three teams are out of provisionals, #44-Petty made the race on first round. #27-Bliss is 36th fastest and on the bubble if 2nd round is run and #66-Waltrip is 37th fastest and must find some speed and hope 2nd round qualifying is not rained out. But it looks like rain Saturday morning in the Pocono’s, so this may be it for qualifying. If things stayed the same the following three drivers would miss the race, #66-Darrell Waltrip(42nd in owners points but out of provisionals), #72-Dwayne Leik(52nd in owners points), and #52-Bill Baird(no owners points). For info on provisionals, see my Provisional Status Page. See the 1st round results at NASCAR Online(NOL), That’s Racin’, Racin’ Network or SpeedVision(6-16-2000)
- Friday Pocono 500 Practice is over. #2-Rusty Wallace was the fastest in the three hour session with a speed of 171.242mph which is faster then the race and track record set last June by Sterling Marlin, a speed of 170.506mph. Wallace was the only driver to top the record qualifying speed. Slowest was #72-Dwayne Leik, attempting to make his first Cup start in the #72 Marcis Racing Chevy. See the speeds at NOL, That’s Racin’ or Racin’ Network(6-16-2000)
- Qualifying Order is up at That’s Racin’/NOL for the Pocono 500. Links are above. First scheduled out is #6-Mark Martin, last is #21-Elliott Sadler, 46 drivers are scheduled to make an attempt. No #85-Carl Long listed, so I guess he could not get the Dover car repaired in time to make it. Also no #15-Ted Musgrave, no idea why the team is not at Pocono, have not heard. Qualifying starts at 3:00pm/et is NOT on live TV but can be heard on MRN via the radio or the Internet. TNN will show qualifying Saturday morning at 9:00am/et tape delayed(6-16-2000)
- How to break a tie during qualifying? When drivers are tied for a starting spot during
qualifying, it is broken by owners points standings(not drivers). For
provisionals standings see the Jayski Provisional
Status page(2-20-2000) - Links: Practice speeds, qualifying and results can be found at these
sites: NASCAR Online,
TRACK/RACE NEWS
- Pocono Rain Info: It was the first time that a NASCAR event at Pocono has been postponed by rain and moved to Monday since the Coca-Cola 500 in July 1979(and only the second time ever). Cale Yarborough wound up winning the race ahead of Richard Petty and Buddy Baker. Three drivers who will compete in today’s Pocono 500 also competed in that race. Ricky Rudd finished fifth, while a pair of rookies — Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt — finished 23rd and 29th respectively. There have been three instances at Pocono where races were shortened by rain. The first NASCAR race there in August 1974 was shortened to 480 miles (192 of 200 laps). Only 375 miles (150 of 200 laps) were completed in the July 1986 event. In July 1991, the race was shortened to 447 miles(179 of 200 laps)(Times-Tribune)(6-19-2000)
- How to Calculate Track Speeds: use the formula Speed = Distance divided by Time. Distance is Track Length, and Lap Time into Hours. Once hour is 3600 seconds, so the calculation for a 48 second lap at Daytona(2.5 miles) would be: Speed = 2.5 x (3600/48), = 2.5 x 75 = 187.500mph. For a 19 second lap at Bristol(.533 miles): Speed = .533 x (3600/19), = .533 x 189.474 = a speed of 100.990mph
- Past track news: posted in the past at Past Track News – Pocono
DRIVER/TEAM NEWS
- #43 Assoc: the #43 STP/Cheerios/Betty Crocker Pontiac will feature the Weis Market logo this weekend at Pocono(Scranton Times Leader)(6-15-2000)
- #200: Kenny Wallace will attempt to make his 200th career Winston Cup start this weekend at Pocono in the #55 Square-D/Cooper Lighting Chevy(6-14-2000), Wallace made the race and made his 200th Cup start
- Baird to run at Pocono, has sponsor: Bill Baird will attempt to make the Pocono 500 at Pocono next week in the #52 Chevy. Dynatek Development Services, Inc. is a leading provider of services to the telecommunications industry based in Northeastern Ohio just north of Youngstown. Dynatek is sponsoring Baird in the #52. Dynatek is a provider of turnkey services for the wireless, fiber-optic, and cable industries. Currently Dynatek provides architectural, engineering, site acquisition, construction management, radio and base transceiver station installation/commissioning, and fiber/cable construction services. Dynateks auto racing plans include a continued relationship with Bill Baird Motorsport in Winston Cup events, as well as, other racing ventures in SCCA Touring Category (T-1) utilizing new 2001 model Z06 Corvettes developed and driven by Rupert Bragg-Smith of the Bragg-Smith Advanced Driving School, Inc., Chevrolets Official School For Corvette and Camaros, located just west of Las Vegas, Nevada. Similar Z06 Corvettes will be based in Youngstown, Ohio driven by Dynatek employees trained at the Bragg-Smith School(Bill Baird Site)(6-8-2000)
- #14 to the Wind Tunnel: The #14 AJ Foyt Conseco Pontiac team plans to take its Michigan car and another car from the team’s shop to a wind tunnel in Ottawa, Canada, after the race. The team will spend two days at the wind tunnel and then take the cars to Pocono(Roanoke Times)(6-10-2000)
- No #15: hearing the #15 Fenley-Moore Ford driven by Ted Musgrave will not race at Michigan this week but will make an attempt at Pocono next week(6-8-2000)
- Long at Pocono? #85-Carl Long hopes to run at Pocono next week if they can get the #85 Ford fixed in time. Long will run the #23 Red Line Oil truck this week at Texas(6-7-2000)
- 2nd Marcis car? hearing that Dwayne Leik, Jackman/Business mgr/PR for Marcis Racing, will attempt to make the Pocono 500 on June 18th in the #72 Chevy. Leik also attempted to make the California race in April but failed to make the race. Leik may also attempt a few other races in 2000(6-7-2000)
- #50 to skip Dover? UPDATE yes and.. The #50 Midwest Transit team may skip Dover next week to focus on Michigan(NOL Notbook)(5-29-2000)
UPDATE: Craven will run Michigan, then skip Pococo and Sears Point and return to action at the Pepsi 400 in Daytona(6-2-2000) - See the 2000 Team Chart which has links to past news for each team
PAINT SCHEME NEWS
- More Paint Scheme news can be found on Jayski’s Paint Scheme Gallery, choose current news
STATS and STUFF
- Stats: Driver Averages at Pocono(6-12-2000)
- NOL Stats: NASCAR by the Numbers
- Manu Lap Leaders: In 4525 laps ran so far in 2000, Ford drivers have led 1973 laps, Chevy drivers have led 1487 laps, and Pontiac drivers have led 1065 laps(6-13-2000)
- Top Fives: There have been 24 different Cup drivers(Pressley added from Michigan) score a Top-5 in 2000….1999’s total was 28 and 1998 year’s total number was 27(6-11-2000)
- Top Tens: There have been 31 different Cup drivers(Pressley and Andretti added from Michigan) score a Top-10 in 2000…..1999’s total was 40 and 1998’s total number was 41(6-11-2000)
- Provisonal Finishes in 2000: In 98 provisonal starts(14 races x 7), drivers have accumulated 0 Wins, 2 Top 5’s and 5 Top 10’s. See my Provisional Finishes Page for each race finish by the provisionals starters(6-11-2000)
- Lap Leader/Bonus Points: 39 drivers have led at least one Winston Cup lap in 2000. Only one driver who have made all 13 races have not lead a lap, #55-Kenny Wallace. To see who has led laps and who leads in the bonus points, see my Bonus Points Leaders Page(6-11-2000)
- Consecutive Starts: Terry Labonte has 650 consecutive Winston Cup starts, Dale Earnhardt is next with 627, followed by Ricky Rudd with 588 and Rusty Wallace at 497(6-11-2000)
- No Top Fives Since…. It has been a while since some drivers have had even a whiff of success on the Winston Cup circuit. Here are those with the longest streak of races without a top-five finish:
Driver Races Finish Track Date Since Dave Marcis 306 3rd Watkins Glen 8-10-87 Brett Bodine 180 2nd Indianapolis 8-6-94 Rick Mast 108 4th Martinsville 9-22-96 Kyle Petty 83 3rd Dover 9-21-97 Chad Little 74 2nd Texas 4-5-98 Darrell Waltrip 62 5th California 5-3-98 Hut Stricklin 60 2nd Darlington 9-1-96 Ken Schrader 56 4th Richmond 9-12-98 Dick Trickle 48 5th Rockingham 10-27-97 Derrike Cope 46 5th Atlanta 11-16-97 Ricky Craven 42 3rd Rockingham 10-27-97 Steve Grissom 40 4th New Hampshire 9-14-97 Ted Musgrave 40 5th Phoenix 10-25-98 Dave Marcis has not had a top 10 since April 10, 1994 in the Food City 500 at Bristol, he finished 10th. Regular Drivers Without a Career Top Five Driver Races Elliott Sadler 49 Cup drivers(not including 2000 rookies) (data compiled from UMI Press Guides, Winston Cup Updates)(6-11-2000) - 1999 winners who have not won in 2000: Terry Labonte, Joe Nemechek and John Andretti are the drivers who earned victories in 1999 and have not won yet in 2000. Two drivers who won in 1998 Bobby Hamilton and Ricky Rudd, have not won since(6-11-2000)
- No Wins Ever…. Some regular drivers in Winston Cup who have never won a Cup race and how many starts they have:
Driver Races Run Michael Waltrip 442 Rick Mast 319 Ted Musgrave 286* Dick Trickle 265* Hut Stricklin 264* Wally Dallenbach 206 Chad Little 203 Kenny Wallace 199 Robert Pressley 150 Johnny Benson 142 Steve Grissom 136* Ricky Craven 133 Mike Skinner 124 Todd Bodine 107* Kenny Irwin 84 Jerry Nadeau 83 David Green 76* Kevin Lepage 77 Steve Park 70 Elliott Sadler 49 *not a full time or regular Cup driver (6-11-2000)(UMI Press Guides Stats/Winston Cup Updates)
Driver Races Run Last Win Track Dave Marcis 472 2/21/82 Richmond Brett Bodine 308 4/22/90 North Wilkesboro Ken Schrader 283 6/2/91 Dover Derrike Cope 272* 6/3/90 Dover Darrell Waltrip 234 9/6/92 Darlington Jimmy Spencer 182 7/24/94 Talladega Bill Elliott 175 9/4/94 Darlington Kyle Petty 154 6/4/95 Dover Sterling Marlin 128 7/6/96 Daytona Geoffrey Bodine 110 8/11/96 Watkins Glen Bobby Hamilton 73 4/20/98 Martinsville Ricky Rudd 54 9/27/98 Martinsville *not a full time or regular Cup driver (6-11-2000)(UMI Press Guides Stats/Winston Cup Updates)
seasons with at least one win a year:
Have already won in 2000 and extended or started their streaks: Driver Years Last Win Rusty Wallace 15 Bristol, Mar 2000 Dale Jarrett 8 Daytona, Feb 2000 Jeff Gordon 7 Talladega, Apr 2000 Bobby Labonte 6 Rockingham, Feb 2000 Jeff Burton 4 Las Vegas, Mar 2000 Mark Martin 4 Martinsville, Apr 2000 Dale Earnhardt 3 Atlanta, Mar 2000 Tony Stewart 2 Michigan, June 2000 Ward Burton 1 Darlington, Mar 2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr 1 Texas, Apr 2000 Jeremy Mayfield 1 California, Apr 2000 Matt Kenseth 1 Charlotte, May 2000 Thru 1999 season: Driver Years Last Win Terry Labonte 6 Texas, Apr 1999 John Andretti 1 Martinsville, Apr 1999 Joe Nemechek 1 New Hampshire, Sept 1999 All Time Record is Richard Petty - 18 years from 1960-1977 (6-11-2000)(info gathered using the 2000 UMI Official NASCAR Preview and Press Guide and Winston Cup Updates)
Starting Position Race Driver 43 1950 Southern 500, Darlington Johnny Mantz 43 1953 Raliegh, NC Fonty Flock 38 provisional 1999 Jiffy Lube 300, Loudon Jeff Burton 38 1988 Firecracker 400, Daytona Bill Elliott 37 provisional 1999 NAPA 500, Atlanta Bobby Labonte 37 1995 Miller 500, Dover Kyle Petty 36 2000 Diehard 500, Talladega Jeff Gordon 35 2000 Cracker Barrel 500, Atlanta Dale Earnhardt (4-16-2000)