NASCAR Overton’s 400 at Pocono Raceway: What you need to know

Distance: 160 laps, or 400 miles.

Where: Pocono Raceway, a 2.5-mile, triangle-shaped track in Long Pond, Pa.

When: 3 p.m. Sunday.

TV: NBCSN.

Radio: MRN.

Last year’s winner: Chris Buescher.

Also this week: U.S. Cellular 250, Xfinity Series, Iowa Speedway, 3:30 p.m., Saturday, NBC. Overton’s 150, Camping World Trucks Series, Pocono Raceway, 1 p.m. Saturday, Fox.

Worth mentioning: Chris Buescher and Ryan Blaney won the last two races at Pocono, and both were first-time winners. If any winless driver is going to make it three in a row, it’s Chase Elliott. … From Elliott and everybody else, expect all manner of crazy strategies as drivers desperate to seal their playoffs position try to steal a win.

Who’s Hot/ Who’s Not

HOT

Matt DiBenedetto: His average finish (25.4) is 4.6 spots better this year than last year and 6.6 better than the year before that. Though he drives for an underfunded team with just 15 employees, DiBenedetto is one of only four drivers to finish in the top 10 in both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400, as pointed out by JeffGluck.com.

NOT

Erik Jones: Crashes in the last two races have dropped him three positions in the standings (when wins are counted). After finishing 39th in New Hampshire and 31 st at Indy, he’s in 19th , a distant 126 points out of 16th.

Matt Crossman

This story was originally published July 27, 2017 at 5:25 PM with the headline "NASCAR Overton’s 400 at Pocono Raceway: What you need to know."