{"id":65780,"date":"2021-06-24T10:08:39","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T17:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/?p=65780"},"modified":"2021-06-24T10:08:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T17:08:42","slug":"harvick-pocono-doubleheader-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/24\/harvick-pocono-doubleheader-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvick Pocono Doubleheader Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\"Kevin<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Event Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Event: Pocono Doubleheader <\/strong>(Rounds 18-19 of 36)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Layout: 2.5-mile triangle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Race No. 1: Pocono Organics CBD 325<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25ac  Time\/Date:  3 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 26\n\n\u25ac  Laps\/Miles:  130 laps\/325 miles\n\n\u25ac  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 25 laps \/ Stage 2: 52 laps \/ Final Stage: 53 laps<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Race No. 2: Explore the Pocono Mountains 350<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25ac  Time\/Date:  3:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 27\n\n\u25ac  Laps\/Miles:  140 laps\/350 miles\n\n\u25ac  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 30 laps \/ Stage 2: 55 laps \/ Final Stage: 55 laps<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf TV\/Radio: NBCSN \/ MRN \/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notes of Interest<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf This time last year, Pocono (Pa.) Raceway <\/strong>was one of the few tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule where Kevin Harvick<\/strong> hadn\u2019t yet won. He fixed that by leading the final 17 laps to take the checkered flag by .761 of a second over second-place Denny Hamlin in the first race of the doubleheader weekend. Harvick then followed up his win with a strong second-place finish on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf This year\u2019s doubleheader at Pocono will mark Harvick\u2019s 41st and 42nd <\/strong>career NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 2.5-mile triangle. Harvick has finished among the top-10 in half of his races at Pocono. He has 14 top-fives there as well, a stat that includes four second-place finishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Harvick has also enjoyed success outside of the NASCAR Cup Series at Pocono. He has made two career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at the track, winning from the pole in 2011 and finishing second in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Last year\u2019s doubleheader at Pocono was eagerly anticipated by the NASCAR industry. Two NASCAR Cup Series races on back-to-back days was going to be Pocono\u2019s calling card \u2013 and then COVID hit. In order to get in all of its 36 points-paying races during a truncated timeframe, doubleheaders also took place Aug. 8-9 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn and Aug. 22-23 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Pocono, however, was still the first, and now in 2021, is the only doubleheader on the calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf How\u2019d Harvick do at those other doubleheaders last year? <\/strong>He swept the Michigan races and won the second race at Dover after finishing fourth the day before. Harvick\u2019s average finish across the six races that comprised all the doubleheaders was 1.667.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf We know the doubleheader involves two races in two days, but how is the starting field for each race determined? <\/strong>Thankfully, we know that too. The starting lineup for the first race was determined by Metric Qualifying, with the numbers coming from each drivers\u2019 respective performance in last Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. So, who\u2019s ready for some math?! It involves 15 percent of the driver\u2019s fastest lap time position, 25 percent of the driver\u2019s final race finishing position, 25 percent of the car owner\u2019s final race position and 35 percent of the car owner\u2019s points position. Just like in golf, lowest score wins. In the case of the first race at Pocono, Nashville race winner Kyle Larson is on the pole. Harvick, who finished fifth at Nashville, will start third. But wait, there\u2019s more! The finishing order of the first Pocono race will determine the starting order of the second Pocono race. The top-20 finishers from Saturday\u2019s race will have their final finishing positions inverted for Sunday\u2019s race. So, the race winner will start 20th, second-place will start 19th, and so on. Drivers finishing between 21st and 40th on Saturday will start Sunday\u2019s race in the same order they finished on Saturday. All of that was very math-centric. Who\u2019s ready for an ice-cold Busch Light? Yes, we\u2019ve got that too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf The doubleheader does involve some quirks, but it\u2019s all good as they come at a quirky track.<\/strong> Pocono is the only triangular-shaped track on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar. Its layout was designed by two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Rodger Ward, who modeled each of its three turns after a different track. Turn one, which is banked at 14 degrees, is from the legendary Trenton (N.J.) Speedway. Turn two, banked at eight degrees, is a nod to the turns at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And turn three, banked at six degrees, is based on the corners at The Milwaukee Mile. The first race on the 2.5-mile triangle came in 1971, but it wasn\u2019t until Aug. 4, 1974 that NASCAR visited, with the inaugural race won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf There\u2019s a new logo on the front fender of the No. 4 Ford Mustang this weekend at Pocono<\/strong>. Unibet, a part of the Kindred Group, has partnered with Stewart-Haas Racing and Harvick to further grow its presence in the United States and, specifically, with motorsports. The Unibet brand is building on its years of European experience in the responsible gambling and player sustainability field and extending that mindset to its U.S. operations, with motorsports being a key platform. Unibet will have a larger presence on the No. 4 car later this year when it serves as the primary sponsor for Harvick at two NASCAR Cup Series races \u2013 Aug. 15 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Oct. 31 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Unibet will also serve as the primary sponsor for Harvick during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Aug. 14 at Indianapolis. Kindred is one of the top online gambling operators with business across Europe, the U.S. and Australia. Sports betting is legal in more than a dozen states and in line with sports betting\u2019s growth, Unibet wants to expand it user base, with the platform already available to residents in Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Jersey and Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before COVID struck and doubleheader race weekends became somewhat commonplace last year, Pocono was supposed to be the only doubleheader. It seemed groundbreaking at the time \u2013 two NASCAR Cup Series races on the same weekend. Was Pocono ahead of its time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe great part about Pocono is all of the competitors \u2013 the people that race \u2013 love going to Pocono. So when all of this talk started about losing races and changing races and Pocono went to the doubleheader, it probably saved them from losing a race. It also set the tone for a very unique weekend in how the cars are lined up and how you race. They were definitely ahead of their time because of the fact that we hadn\u2019t gone through COVID yet and we hadn\u2019t done what we\u2019re doing now, and they were going to do it. I think that unique layout and that schedule allowed them to keep both of their races.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2020 season began with just one doubleheader on the schedule \u2013 Pocono. But then Pocono became one of three doubleheader race weekends. What was it like running doubleheaders, and did you do anything differently in terms of your preparation?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were fortunate to run really well in the first race at Pocono and, from there, we knew what adjustments we needed to make for the second race. There was more rubber on the racetrack and you could see all of the competitors in the garage making their stuff better. But there\u2019s also a flip side to all of that \u2013 you can also make yourself worse. So, you have to be careful about how much you adjust on your cars. But we did really well in all the doubleheaders last year, and I think Pocono has always been a really good racetrack for us. And being able to do that two days in a row and finish first and second in those races and have a chance at winning both races was definitely more fun than losing. The hardest part is the guys in the garage turning the car around. For me, it\u2019s really not that big of a deal. But going through tech, getting your car prepared, doing the things that you can do to your racecar, working all night, showing back up and racing the next day, that\u2019s really when it becomes difficult on the crew and the guys in the garage more so than me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are doubleheaders a bit of a double-edged sword in that if you\u2019re really good in the first race, you ought to be really good in the second race, but if you\u2019re bad in the first race, you\u2019re also likely to be bad in the second race?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhether you\u2019re running good or you\u2019re running bad, there\u2019s really no difference, and I know people look at me funny when I say that, but you have to treat them the same. You have to treat a good day the same way you would treat a bad day, or else your preparation just gets lopsided and you just don\u2019t progress like you need to whether you\u2019re running good or bad. So you have to have that equal analysis of how you go about analyzing everything and how you go about doing everything just because of the fact that it all matters. It\u2019s all building blocks to the next one, and whether that\u2019s in a matter of 12 hours or it\u2019s a matter of six days, it\u2019s still relevant to what you\u2019re doing to that progression, because I think most people don\u2019t realize the amount of progression that comes in our sport on a week-to-week basis. Missing a week or having a person not be there for a week just backs you up, and you have to try to deliver as much information to each person as possible, and they have to take in as much information as possible and give it to you, and it doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s a 12-hour window or six days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What makes a lap at Pocono so challenging?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you look at Pocono, you know that you\u2019re going to have a challenge of getting your car to handle in all three corners. That\u2019s the biggest challenge when it comes to Pocono. You have to make sure you can get all you can coming to turn three because the straightaway after that is really, really long. You can kind of give up the tunnel turn, but you still need to be very good in all three corners. It\u2019s just a different style of racetrack than what we go to on a week-to-week basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You mentioned the tunnel turn \u2013 what makes it so difficult?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe tunnel turn is difficult just because you try to carry so much speed through there. It\u2019s not an extremely hard corner, but it\u2019s an extremely hard corner to carry speed through there without having the front end push or the back slide out. It\u2019s not an extremely hard corner until you try to go through there as fast as you can lap after lap. It\u2019s an easy corner to make a mistake. You can give up a lot of time there, but you can also make a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No. 4 Busch Light Team Roster<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Primary Team Members<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Driver: Kevin Harvick<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Bakersfield, California<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crew Chief: Rodney Childers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Car Chief: Robert \u201cCheddar\u201d Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Engineer: Dax Gerringer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Gibsonville, North Carolina<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Engineer: Stephen Doran<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Butler, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spotter: Tim Fedewa<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Holt, Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over-The-Wall Members<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rear Tire Changer: Daniel Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Concord, North Carolina<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tire Carrier: Jeremy Howard<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Delhart, Texas<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jack Man: Stan Doolittle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Ninety Six, South Carolina<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fuel Man: Evan Marchal<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Westfield, Indiana<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Road Crew Members<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mechanic: Richie Bean<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Bradford, Vermont<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tire Specialist: Jamie Turski<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Trumbull, Connecticut<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Engine Tuner: Robert Brandt<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Mobile, Alabama<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transporter Co-Driver: Rick Hodges<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transporter Co-Driver: Stephen Mitchell<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hometown: Woodville, Ohio<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Event Overview \u25cf Event: Pocono Doubleheader (Rounds 18-19 of 36) \u25cf Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway \u25cf Layout: 2.5-mile triangle \u25cf Race No. 1: Pocono Organics CBD 325 \u25cf Race No. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2345,2346,2342,1443],"tags":[7651,209,7650,437,8,7655],"class_list":["post-65780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cup-press-release","category-cup-preview","category-cup-series","category-nascar","tag-explore-the-pocono-mountains-350","tag-kevin-harvick","tag-pocono-organics-cbd-325","tag-pocono-raceway","tag-stewart-haas-racing","tag-weekend-doubleheader"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pyPEW-h6Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/49581996681_5ca735b94d_w-29.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65782,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65780\/revisions\/65782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}