Pocono 400

Pocono 400

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Venue	Pocono Raceway
Location	Long Pond, Pennsylvania, United States
First race	1982
Distance	400 miles (640 km)
Laps	160 (Stage 1: 50 Stage 2: 50 Stage 3: 60)
Previous names	Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500 (1982–1985) Miller High Life 500 (1986–1989) Miller Genuine Draft 500 (1990) Champion Spark Plug 500 (1991–1993) UAW-GM Teamwork 500 (1994–1996) Pocono 500 (1997–2009) Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 (2010) 5-hour Energy 500 (2011) Pocono 400 Presented by #NASCAR (2012)[1] Party in the Poconos 400 Presented by Walmart (2013) Pocono 400 (2014, 2018) Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 (2015–2016) Axalta presents the Pocono 400 (2017)
Most wins (driver)	Jeff Gordon (4)
Most wins (team)	Hendrick Motorsports (11)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chevrolet (18)
Circuit information
Surface	Asphalt
Length	2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Turns	3

The Pocono 400 is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The race is the first of two NASCAR Cup Series races at Pocono Raceway, with the other being the Gander Outdoors 400. First held as a 500-mile (800 km) race during the 1982 season, it served as a replacement for the 400-mile (640 km) race at Texas World Speedway. Starting in 2012, the race distance was reduced to 400 miles.^[2]

Past winners

Notable races

• 1982: Dale Earnhardt flipped over Tim Richmond going into turn one, and suffered a neck injury that he hid until the end of the season. Because of a 1984 Busch Clash crash involving Ricky Rudd where he hid his injuries, NASCAR changed the rules later that season mandating medical clearance from NASCAR officials before racing.
• 1988: Bobby Allison reported a flat tire before the race, tried to complete a lap, but he did not. Driving into the tunnel turn, Allison blew the tire and slammed the outside wall. Then, Jocko Maggiacomo T-boned Allison in the driver's side door and Allison suffered career-ending injuries.
• 2009: Tony Stewart became the first owner-driver to win since Ricky Rudd at Martinsville in 1998. It was also the first race in NASCAR's history to introduce double-file restarts.
• 2010: On the Long Pond straightaway, Kasey Kahne spun across the track on the last lap and went airborne, collecting Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman and others. Denny Hamlin won the race, which had been delayed for several hours due to rain.
• 2012: Twenty-two-year-old Joey Logano muscled his way past his mentor, 53-year-old Mark Martin, to score his second win (first in a race that was not truncated), on a newly repaved Pocono Raceway, snapping a 104-race winless streak. Logano started on the pole with a new track record, led 49 of the 160 laps, and won by about a second.
• 2014: Brad Keselowski dominated the race, leading 95 of 160 laps, but Earnhardt Jr. passed him with four laps to go to take the victory when Keselowski tried to use the lapped car of Danica Patrick to clean trash from his grille.
• 2015: Martin Truex, Jr. dominated the race, leading 97 of 160 laps en route to his victory. The race was aired on Fox Sports Television for the first time on FS1 after eight years on TNT, Brad Keselowski, running seventh, made an unscheduled stop on lap 21. Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano and Paul Menard were tagged for speeding on pit road. Kenseth and Logano were forced to serve drive-through penalties. Menard was given a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pits, then had to come a second time for speeding again. He cut down his left-front tire and came down pit road for a third time. Truex, Jr. made his first pit stop on lap 29 and handed the lead to Edwards. Edwards pitted on lap 30 and handed the lead to Kasey Kahne, who made his stop on lap 32. Then the lead was given back to Kevin Harvick.^[3]
• 2017: Ryan Blaney won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race after passing Kyle Busch with 10 laps to go and holding off Kevin Harvick for the final nine laps of the race.

Television broadcasters

References

External links

• Ratings and viewership for Pocono 500 since 2000