Hendrick Motorsports set to extend impressive Pocono winning streak?
Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won the past five races at Pocono Raceway, with each of the organization's four drivers triumphing at least once.
So is a Hendrick driver the odds-on favorite to go to Victory Lane in Sunday's Axalta We Paint Winners 400?
The organization placed three of its drivers -- Kasey Kahne (third), Jeff Gordon (seventh) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (ninth) -- in the top 10 in Saturday's final practice.
Gordon (fourth) and four-time 2015 winner Jimmie Johnson (ninth) of Hendrick qualified in the top 10, with Kahne 12th and Earnhardt 20th.
But it's a Stewart-Haas Racing driver, Kurt Busch, who will start on the pole, and a SHR driver, Kevin Harvick, who has led each of the three practices in preparation for Sunday's 400-miler at the 2.5-mile triangular-shaped track.
So are the Hendrick boys likely to extend the organization's streak to six in a row at Pocono, or will a Stewart-Haas driver or perhaps someone else become the new king of the 3-turn "Tricky Triangle?"
"There are a lot of different competitors that can win right now," said Gordon, who is still seeking his first victory in this his final full season. "We've seen how strong Martin Truex Jr. has been lately. So, I'm certainly hoping that we continue our Hendrick dominance and streak here, and maybe this is our opportunity to get ourselves locked into the Chase. Right now, for us, all I'm focused on is just performing better each and every week and stepping up what we're doing, and getting a direction that we can go into in a positive way so we can make gains on not just trying to get ourselves in the top five, or into Victory Lane, but do it on a consistent basis."
Earnhardt swept last season's two races at the always-challenging Pennsylvania facility, and sounded cautiously optimistic on Friday about at least one of the Hendrick cars getting back to Victory Lane at Pocono.
"We've got four fast cars," the driver of the No. 88 Chevy said. "This is a horsepower racetrack where engines can make a difference. I feel like over the last several years we've had one of the best engine programs in the sport. So, I think we've just got really good stuff. Your car really, really shines here, whereas the driver is a little bit of the factor or a lot of the factor, especially on restarts and trying to work that difficult air when you're behind somebody and make a pass and set it up on a particular part of the racetrack where it will happen. But the car really shines here, and we've got some of the best equipment in the garage."
Johnson, who enters Sunday's race on the heels of a win last Sunday at Dover, called the likelihood of the Hendrick/Pocono streak continuing, "Pretty high."
"This has been a great track for all four Hendrick cars," said Johnson, a three-time winner at Pocono. "We've all had speed here over the years. Clearly, Junior dominated or swept both races last year. He had a very strong car in both events, and my memory is saying we were very strong, ourselves. So, you do that and then look outside of the Hendrick box and look at our SHR relationship and there are some fast cars over there, too."
The Stewart-Haas cars, while not formally part of the Hendrick stable, are powered by Hendrick engines and carry Hendrick chassis through a longstanding technical alliance, so it's not surprising that Busch and Harvick have had two of the weekend's strongest cars.
"We definitely have the strongest combination of what you would want for engine, chassis, and then it's up to us at Stewart-Haas to develop the downforce and then the balance of the cars handling," Busch said. "To have the Hendrick horsepower, that is key. That puts us up in the top echelon as well as the chassis design. We can't point any fingers at that side of things. They are the ones giving us the advantage to stay on top. Kevin Harvick is leading laps every week, we are doing well."
The last non-Hendrick driver to prevail at Pocono was Joey Logano, all the way back in June 2012. Logano, who won that race in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, will try to put a stop to the Hendrick juggernaut on Sunday afternoon in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford he took over in 2013.
Logano is not exactly brimming with confidence that it will happen, however.
Asked on Friday what it will take to beat back the Hendrick brigade, Logano replied, "Apparently a lot."
"This is one of those racetracks where aero and horsepower come into play a lot, and we've seen Hendrick be very good in those departments -- not that Penske isn't. I feel like we've had some fast race cars here in the past," Logano said. " ... We've been closer in the past; just apparently those (Hendrick) guys are a tick faster and they've had the right strategy. There's a lot that goes into winning at Pocono."
Unless you're a Hendrick driver.
