(formerly ''Pocono International Raceway'') is a
Superspeedway located in the
Pocono Mountains of
Pennsylvania at
Long Pond . It is the site of two annual
NASCAR Nextel Cup races held just weeks apart in
June and
July .
Pocono Raceway has a unique design. It could be said to be a
Tri-oval , but the turns are much more severe than those of a more typical tri-oval such as
Daytona and the track is really nearly a
Triangle . They have been likened somewhat to the hairpin-style turns of road courses. An additional complication is that none of the three turns are identical, nor are any of the three straights identical in length. The long frontstrech often requires a gear change due to the high
RPM s attained. The banking of each turn is considerably less than on many other long ovals. Although the track is long (2.5 miles) the sharp nature of the turns tends to make the overall speeds much lower than at other tracks of similar lengths thus
Restrictor Plates are not needed here.
The odd design makes the setup of the car and the crews' ability to make chassis adjustments even more crucial here than at many other tracks. Often it is the difference between a winning performance and near-disaster. Drivers tend to either love the track or hate it, largely depending on how well it suits their driving style and their crews' abilities.
Many fans and drivers contend that the 500-mile races at Pocono take too long, and that they would like to see them shortened to 400 miles. Some fans would not mind seeing the track disappear from the schedule altogether, or at least reduced to one race. Others have called for a
Busch Series or
Craftsman Truck Series support race to be held at Pocono, since it one of only two Nextel Cup oval tracks (along with
Indianapolis ) that is not on either the Busch or Craftsman Truck schedule. The only support event at Pocono is the
ARCA series.
Pocono is one of a very few NASCAR tracks not owned by either
Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or
International Speedway Corporation , the dominant track owners in NASCAR. It is owned by the Mattioli family, which also owns
South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia, and administers the
Music City Motorplex (formerly Nashville Speedway USA) at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee.
From
1971 to
1989 , the
CART series held a 500-mile race at Pocono. In 1989,
Emerson Fittipaldi set a qualifying track record of 211.715 mph. However, after the 1989 race, the track was criticized for its roughness and lack of safety features, and was removed from the CART schedule.
''See also:''
List Of NASCAR Race Tracks
