2021 Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 19 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	Explore the Pocono Mountains 350
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]
Year:	2021
Location:	Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Course Mi:	2.5
Course Km:	4
Distance Laps:	140
Distance Mi:	350
Distance Km:	563
Avg:	143.036mph
Pole Driver:	Chris Buescher
Pole Team:	Roush Fenway Racing
Grid From Inversion:	yes
Most Driver:	Brad Keselowski
Most Team:	Team Penske
Most Laps:	31
Car:	18
First Driver:	Kyle Busch
First Team:	Joe Gibbs Racing
Network:	NBCSN
Announcers:	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ratings:	1.49/2.446 million
Radio:	MRN
Booth Ann:	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Ann:	Dave Moody (1), Mike Bagley (2) and Kyle Rickey (3)

The 2021 Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on June 27, 2021, at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Contested over 140 laps on the 2.5miles triangular racecourse, it was the 19th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Manufacturer
00		Chevrolet
1		Chevrolet
2		Ford
3		Chevrolet
4		Ford
5		Chevrolet
6		Ford
7		Chevrolet
8		Chevrolet
9		Chevrolet
10		Ford
11		Toyota
12		Ford
14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Ford
15		Chevrolet
17		Ford
18		Toyota
19		Toyota
20		Toyota
21		Ford
22		Ford
23		Toyota
24		Chevrolet
34		Ford
37		Chevrolet
38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Ford
41		Ford
42		Chevrolet
43		Chevrolet
47		Chevrolet
48		Chevrolet
51	Cody Ware (i)	Chevrolet
52		Ford
53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Chevrolet
66	Timmy Hill (i)	Toyota
77	Justin Allgaier (i)	Chevrolet
78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Ford
99		Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying

Chris Buescher was awarded the pole for the race as determined by the top 20 from Saturday's finishing order inverted.

Starting Lineup

Pos		Driver	Manufacturer
1	17		Ford
2	34		Ford
3	19		Toyota
4	20		Toyota
5	10		Ford
6	47		Chevrolet
7	23		Toyota
8	99		Chevrolet
9	9		Chevrolet
10	8		Chevrolet
11	2		Ford
12	5		Chevrolet
13	4		Ford
14	22		Ford
15	1		Chevrolet
16	12		Ford
17	11		Toyota
18	24		Chevrolet
19	18		Toyota
20	48		Chevrolet
21	3		Chevrolet
22	43		Chevrolet
23	37		Chevrolet
24	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Ford
25	51	Cody Ware (i)	Chevrolet
26	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Ford
27	77	Justin Allgaier (i)	Chevrolet
28	15		Chevrolet
29	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Chevrolet
30	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Ford
31	00		Chevrolet
32	21		Ford
33	42		Chevrolet
34	52		Ford
35	66	Timmy Hill (i)	Toyota
36	7		Chevrolet
37	6		Ford
38	41		Ford
Official starting lineup

Race

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 30

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	10
2	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	9
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	8
4	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	6
6	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	5
7	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	4
8	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	3
9	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	2
10	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 55

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	8
4	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	7
5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	5
7	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	3
9	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	2
10	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Recap And Results

Before the final stage break at lap 74's pit stop it was discovered that Kyle Busch got stuck in 4th gear. During the stage break pit stop his team discovered he had lost his clutch so he was forced to leave it in 4th gear for the remainder of the race. With one lap before the restart he topped off on fuel, gambling that there would be no further caution flags to the end, however there was one final caution on lap 94 for debris with the final restart on lap 96. This led to a 44 lap green flag run. Kyle Busch was able to get enough good fuel milage to win the race, passing the leader, teammate Denny Hamlin who was coming to pit lane for fuel as they were about to take the white flag.^[7] ^[8]

Stage ThreeLaps: 55

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	19	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	140	44
2	12	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	140	38
3	11	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	140	50
4	13	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	140	33
5	7	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	140	38
6	16	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	140	38
7	20	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	140	30
8	23	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	140	29
9	10	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	140	31
10	14	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	140	28
11	3	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	140	41
12	18	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	140	35
13	21	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	140	24
14	17	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	140	32
15	8	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	140	24
16	5	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	140	32
17	2	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	140	25
18	32	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	140	19
19	1	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	140	18
20	15	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	140	17
21	24	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	140	16
22	37	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	140	15
23	36	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	139	14
24	38	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	139	13
25	27	77	Justin Allgaier (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	139	0
26	33	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	139	12
27	9	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	139	16
28	25	51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet	139	0
29	30	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	138	0
30	28	15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	137	7
31	22	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	136	6
32	4	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	135	12
33	31	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	135	4
34	26	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	134	3
35	34	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	132	2
36	29	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	122	0
37	35	66	Timmy Hill (i)	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	113	0
38	6	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	111	5
Official race results

Race statistics

Lead changes: 12 among 10 different drivers
Cautions/Laps: 4 for 15
Red flags: 0
Time of race: 2 hours, 26 minutes and 49 seconds
Average speed: 143.036mph

Media

Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled the pit road duties from pit lane. Jac Collinsworth handled the features from the track.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Dave Moody called the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform inside the backstretch when the field raced down the backstretch. Kyle Rickey called the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 4 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Steve Post and Kim Coon worked pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Denny Hamlin	761
	2	Kyle Larson	759 (–2)
	3	William Byron	690 (–71)
	4	Joey Logano	651 (–111)
1	5	Kyle Busch	650 (–112)
1	6	Chase Elliott	633 (–128)
	7	Martin Truex Jr.	606 (–155)
1	8	Ryan Blaney	586 (–175)
1	9	Kevin Harvick	585 (–176)
	10	Brad Keselowski	569 (–192)
	11	Alex Bowman	543 (–218)
	12	Austin Dillon	518 (–243)
	13	Tyler Reddick	470 (–291)
	14	Kurt Busch	430 (–331)
1	15	Chris Buescher	427 (–334)
1	16	Christopher Bell	424 (–337)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Chevrolet	702
2	Ford	655 (–47)
3	Toyota	650 (–52)

Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Notes and References

Web site: 2021 schedule . Jayski.com. . May 18, 2021.
Web site: Pocono Raceway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. May 18, 2021. January 3, 2013. April 29, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170429055158/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/pocono-raceway.html. dead.
Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. June 21, 2021. June 21, 2021.
Web site: Starting Lineup. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 26, 2021. June 26, 2021.
Web site: Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. June 27, 2021. June 27, 2021.
Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. June 27, 2021. June 27, 2021.
Web site: Kyle Busch Pocono 2 Race Recap. Kyle. Busch. 27 June 2021. 27 December 2021. kylebusch.com.
Web site: NASCAR at Pocono race results: Kyle Busch overcomes transmission issues, low fuel to win. Zac. Al-Khateeb. 27 June 2021. 27 December 2021. sportingnews.com.