2023 HighPoint.com 400 explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 21 of 36 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	HighPoint.com 400
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
Year:	2023
Location:	Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Course Mi:	2.5
Course Km:	4
Scheduled Laps:	160
Scheduled Mi:	400
Scheduled Km:	640
Avg:	119.363mph
Pole Driver:	William Byron
Pole Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Pole Time:	52.746
Most Driver:	William Byron
Most Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Most Laps:	60
Car:	11
First Driver:	Denny Hamlin
First Team:	Joe Gibbs Racing
Network:	USA
Announcers:	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Radio:	MRN
Booth Ann:	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Todd Gordon
Turn Ann:	Dave Moody (1), Mike Bagley (2) and Kyle Rickey (3)

The 2023 HighPoint.com 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on July 23, 2023, at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Contested over 160 laps on the 2.5miles speedway, it was the 21st race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

Pocono Raceway is a 2.5miles oval speedway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1970s. Nicknamed "The Tricky Triangle", the speedway has three distinct corners and is known for high speeds along its lengthy straightaways.

From 1982 to 2019, the circuit had two race weekends. In 2020, the circuit was reduced to one race meeting of two races. The first race was moved to World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis starting in 2022.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
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			Ford
15	J. J. Yeley (i)		Ford
16			Chevrolet
17			Ford
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
31			Chevrolet
34			Ford
38			Ford
41			Ford
42	Noah Gragson (R)		Chevrolet
43			Chevrolet
45			Toyota
47	nowrap			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51	Cole Custer (i)		Ford
54	Ty Gibbs (R)		Toyota
77			Chevrolet
78			Chevrolet
99			Chevrolet
Official entry list

Practice

Tyler Reddick was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 53.382 seconds and a speed of 168.596mph.^[10]

Practice results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	45				53.382	168.596
2	8				53.418	168.483
3	24				53.445	168.397
Official practice results

Qualifying

William Byron scored the pole for the race with a time of 52.746 and a speed of 170.629mph.^[11]

Qualifying results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	24			Chevrolet	52.865	52.746
2	19			Toyota	52.962	52.868
3	5			Chevrolet	53.014	52.918
4	4			Ford	52.857	53.019
5	20			Toyota	53.085	53.052
6	22			Ford	53.403	53.106
7	45			Toyota	52.804	53.141
8	11			Toyota	53.023	53.106
9	2			Ford	53.293	53.410
10	23			Toyota	52.823	0.000
11	54	Ty Gibbs (R)		Toyota	53.150	—
12	7			Chevrolet	53.197	—
13	6			Ford	53.410	—
14	12			Ford	53.425	—
15	34			Ford	53.524	—
16	16			Chevrolet	53.527	—
17	99			Chevrolet	53.588	—
18	17			Ford	53.691	—
19	31			Chevrolet	53.699	—
20	48			Chevrolet	53.718	—
21	1			Chevrolet	53.754	—
22	47			Chevrolet	53.777	—
23	3			Chevrolet	53.823	—
24	43			Chevrolet	53.864	—
25	8			Chevrolet	53.873	—
26	21			Ford	53.886	—
27	10			Ford	53.920	—
28	15	J. J. Yeley (i)		Ford	54.039	—
29	14			Ford	54.224	—
30	78			Chevrolet	54.315	—
31	51	Cole Custer (i)		Ford	54.324	—
32	42	Noah Gragson (R)		Chevrolet	54.358	—
33	77			Chevrolet	54.563	—
34	41			Ford	54.586	—
35	9			Chevrolet	0.000	—
36	38			Ford	0.000	—
Official qualifying results

Race

Race results

Stage results

Stage OneLaps: 30

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	10
2	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	7
5	16	A. J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	6
6	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	5
7	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	4
8	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	3
9	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	2
10	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 65

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	8
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	7
5	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	5
7	54	Ty Gibbs (R)	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	3
9	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	2
10	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage results

Stage ThreeLaps: 65

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	8	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	55
2	7	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	160	47
3	2	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	44
4	4	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	160	33
5	11	54	Ty Gibbs (R)	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	36
6	5	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	31
7	22	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	160	30
8	26	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	160	29
9	24	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	160	29
10	35	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	27
11	10	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	160	32
12	27	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	160	25
13	21	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	160	24
14	1	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	31
15	36	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	160	22
16	13	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	160	21
17	16	16	A. J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	160	26
18	18	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	160	21
19	15	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	160	23
20	3	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	27
21	25	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	160	16
22	32	42	Noah Gragson (R)	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	160	15
23	9	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	160	14
24	20	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	19
25	31	51	Cole Custer (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	160	0
26	28	15	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	160	0
27	12	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	10
28	33	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	18
29	29	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	160	8
30	14	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	160	10
31	34	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	159	6
32	30	78	B. J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	159	5
33	19	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	153	7
34	23	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	105	3
35	6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	48	12
36	17	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	37	1
Official race results

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 14 among 9 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 11 for 44 laps
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 21 minutes, and 4 seconds
• Average speed: 119.363mph

Media

Television

USA covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Kim Coon, Parker Kligerman and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

Radio

Radio coverage of the race was broadcast by Motor Racing Network (MRN) and was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Todd Gordon 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 3. Steve Post, Brienne Pedigo, and Jason Toy worked pit road for MRN.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Martin Truex Jr.	711
	2		681 (–30)
1	3	Denny Hamlin	656 (–55)
1	4	Christopher Bell	636 (–75)
1	5		613 (–98)
1	6	Kyle Busch	608 (–103)
1	7	Kyle Larson	601 (–110)
1	8	Kevin Harvick	601 (–110)
2	9	Ryan Blaney	591 (–120)
	10		575 (–136)
2	11	Tyler Reddick	563 (–148)
1	12	Brad Keselowski	560 (–151)
1	13	Chris Buescher	549 (–162)
	14		494 (–217)
	15	Bubba Wallace	465 (–246)
	16	Michael McDowell	455 (–256)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	786
	2	Toyota	729 (–57)
	3	Ford	704 (–82)

• 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

1. Web site: 2023 schedule . Jayski.com. . October 10, 2022.
2. Web site: Pocono Raceway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 5, 2022. January 3, 2013. April 29, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170429055158/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/pocono-raceway.htm. dead.
3. News: NASCAR releases 2023 Cup Series schedule highlighted by new Chicago, All-Star race stops . Taranto, Steven . September 14, 2022 . March 29, 2023 . CBS Broadcasting Inc.
4. News: NASCAR unveils 2023 schedule for its national series . September 14, 2022 . March 29, 2023 . National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC.
5. Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. July 17, 2023. July 17, 2023.
6. Web site: Practice Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. July 22, 2023. July 22, 2023.
7. Web site: Qualifying Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. July 22, 2023. July 22, 2023.
8. Web site: HighPoint.com 400 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. July 23, 2023. July 23, 2023.
9. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. July 23, 2023. July 23, 2023.
10. Web site: Utter. Jim. Tyler Reddick leads the way in Pocono Cup practice. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. July 22, 2023. Long Pond, Pennsylvania. July 22, 2023.
11. Web site: Utter. Jim. William Byron beats Martin Truex Jr. to Pocono Cup pole. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. July 22, 2023. Long Pond, Pennsylvania. July 22, 2023.