The 2016 Pocono Green 250 was the twelfth stock car race of the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and the first iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, at Pocono Raceway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race was decreased from 100 laps to 53 laps, due to inclement weather. Kyle Larson, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, would take the win, after leading when the race got called due to persistent rain showers. This was Larson's 4th career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, and his first of the season.[1] To fill out the podium, Erik Jones, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, and Ty Dillon, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 12 of 33 in the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series | |||
| Date | June 4, 2016 | ||
| Official name | First Annual Pocono Green 250 | ||
| Location | Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pennsylvania | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km) | ||
| Distance | 53 laps, 132 mi (213 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 100 laps, 250 mi (402 km) | ||
| Average speed | 118.421 mph (190.580 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||
| Time | 51.158 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| Laps | 27 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox | ||
| Announcers | Adam Alexander, Michael Waltrip, and Danica Patrick | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | MRN | ||
Background
edit
Pocono Raceway (formerly Pocono International Raceway), also known as The Tricky Triangle, is a superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It is the site of three NASCAR national series races and an ARCA Menards Series event in July: a NASCAR Cup Series race with support events by the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. From 1971 to 1989, and from 2013 to 2019, the track also hosted an Indy Car race, currently sanctioned by the IndyCar Series. Additionally, from 1982 to 2021, it hosted two NASCAR Cup Series races, with the traditional first date being removed for 2022.
Pocono is one of the few NASCAR tracks not owned by either NASCAR or Speedway Motorsports, the dominant track owners in NASCAR. Pocono CEO Nick Igdalsky and president Ben May are members of the family-owned Mattco Inc, started by Joseph II and Rose Mattioli.[2] Mattco also owns South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Practice
editFirst practice
editThe first practice session was held on Thursday, June 2, at 2:00 PM EST. The session would last for 55 minutes.[3] Kyle Busch, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 52.888, and an average speed of 170.171 mph (273.864 km/h).[4]
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch (i) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 52.888 | 170.171 |
| 2 | 20 | Erik Jones (R) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 53.013 | 169.770 |
| 3 | 2 | Paul Menard (i) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 53.216 | 169.122 |
| Full first practice results | ||||||
Final practice
editThe final practice session was held on Thursday, June 2, at 4:00 PM EST. The session would last for 55 minutes.[3] Erik Jones, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 52.049, and an average speed of 172.914 mph (278.278 km/h).[5] Two more practice sessions were originally going to be held on Friday, June 3, but were both cancelled due to inclement weather.
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Erik Jones (R) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 52.049 | 172.914 |
| 2 | 33 | Brandon Jones (R) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 52.540 | 171.298 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch (i) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 52.589 | 171.138 |
| Full final practice results | ||||||
Qualifying
editQualifying was held on Saturday, June 4, at 9:05 AM EST.[3] Since Pocono Raceway is at least 2 miles (3.2 km), the qualifying system was a single car, single lap, two round system where in the first round, everyone would set a time to determine positions 13–40. Then, the fastest 12 qualifiers would move on to the second round to determine positions 1–12.[6]
Erik Jones, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would win the pole after advancing from the preliminary round and setting the fastest lap in Round 2, with a lap of 51.158, and an average speed of 175.926 mph (283.125 km/h).[7]
Full qualifying results
editRace results
edit| Fin[8] | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 42 | Kyle Larson (i) | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 27 | Running | 0 |
| 2 | 1 | 20 | Erik Jones (R) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 53 | 0 | Running | 39 |
| 3 | 8 | 3 | Ty Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 38 |
| 4 | 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch (i) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 53 | 16 | Running | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | 22 | Joey Logano (i) | Team Penske | Ford | 53 | 7 | Running | 0 |
| 6 | 6 | 1 | Elliott Sadler | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 35 |
| 7 | 7 | 2 | Paul Menard (i) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 8 | 14 | 33 | Brandon Jones (R) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 33 |
| 9 | 3 | 19 | Daniel Suárez | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 53 | 0 | Running | 32 |
| 10 | 10 | 88 | Alex Bowman | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 31 |
| 11 | 16 | 98 | Aric Almirola (i) | Biagi-DenBeste Racing | Ford | 53 | 2 | Running | 0 |
| 12 | 13 | 48 | Brennan Poole (R) | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 29 |
| 13 | 11 | 44 | J. J. Yeley | TriStar Motorsports | Toyota | 53 | 0 | Running | 28 |
| 14 | 17 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 27 |
| 15 | 12 | 11 | Blake Koch | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 26 |
| 16 | 40 | 6 | Bubba Wallace | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 53 | 0 | Running | 25 |
| 17 | 19 | 01 | Ryan Preece (R) | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 24 |
| 18 | 22 | 28 | Dakoda Armstrong | JGL Racing | Toyota | 53 | 0 | Running | 23 |
| 19 | 29 | 4 | Ross Chastain | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 22 |
| 20 | 30 | 90 | Mario Gosselin | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 21 |
| 21 | 26 | 07 | Ray Black Jr. (R) | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 1 | Running | 21 |
| 22 | 25 | 78 | B. J. McLeod (R) | B. J. McLeod Motorsports | Ford | 53 | 0 | Running | 19 |
| 23 | 34 | 52 | Joey Gase | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 18 |
| 24 | 35 | 97 | Alex Guenette | Obaika Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 17 |
| 25 | 36 | 25 | Ryan Ellis | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Running | 16 |
| 26 | 27 | 46 | Brandon Gdovic | Precision Performance Motorsports | Chevrolet | 52 | 0 | Running | 15 |
| 27 | 24 | 0 | Garrett Smithley (R) | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 52 | 0 | Running | 14 |
| 28 | 38 | 15 | Todd Peck | B. J. McLeod Motorsports | Ford | 52 | 0 | Running | 13 |
| 29 | 15 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Chevrolet | 51 | 0 | Running | 12 |
| 30 | 39 | 74 | Mike Harmon | Mike Harmon Racing | Dodge | 50 | 0 | Running | 11 |
| 31 | 18 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 39 | 0 | Accident | 10 |
| 32 | 32 | 13 | T. J. Bell | MBM Motorsports | Dodge | 39 | 0 | Running | 9 |
| 33 | 23 | 16 | Ryan Reed | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 38 | 0 | Accident | 8 |
| 34 | 31 | 14 | J. J. Yeley | TriStar Motorsports | Toyota | 30 | 0 | Header | 7 |
| 35 | 28 | 89 | Morgan Shepherd | Shepherd Racing Ventures | Chevrolet | 29 | 0 | Vibration | 6 |
| 36 | 20 | 93 | Josh Wise (i) | RSS Racing | Chevrolet | 23 | 0 | Rear Gear | 0 |
| 37 | 37 | 70 | Derrike Cope | Derrike Cope Racing | Chevrolet | 22 | 0 | Running | 4 |
| 38 | 33 | 40 | Carl Long | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 21 | 0 | Brakes | 3 |
| 39 | 9 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 20 | 0 | Accident | 2 |
| 40 | 21 | 10 | Matt DiBenedetto (i) | TriStar Motorsports | Toyota | 6 | 0 | Transmission | 0 |
| Official race results | |||||||||
Standings after the race
edit- Drivers' Championship standings
| Pos | Driver | Points | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 | Daniel Suárez | 408 | |||||
|
|
2 | Elliott Sadler | 397 (-11) | |||||
 1
|
3 | Ty Dillon | 390 (-18) | |||||
 1
|
4 | Brendan Gaughan | 363 (-45) | |||||
| 2
|
5 | Erik Jones | 359 (-49) | |||||
|
|
6 | Brandon Jones | 357 (-51) | |||||
 4
|
7 | Justin Allgaier | 355 (-53) | |||||
|
|
8 | Brennan Poole | 343 (-65) | |||||
|
|
9 | Bubba Wallace | 308 (-100) | |||||
|
|
10 | Ryan Reed | 274 (-134) | |||||
| 2
|
11 | Blake Koch | 266 (-142) | |||||
|
|
12 | Ryan Sieg | 263 (-145) | |||||
| Official driver's standings | ||||||||
- Note: Only the first 12 positions are included for the driver standings.
References
edit- ^ "Kyle Larson wins rain-shortened Xfinity race at Pocono". ESPN.com. Associated Press. June 4, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
- ^ Pocono Raceway Staff
- ^ a b c "Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site – Pocono XFINITY Race Info Page". Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
- ^ Bonkowski, Jerry (June 2, 2016). "Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Paul Menard fastest in first Xfinity practice at Pocono". NASCAR Talk | NBC Sports. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
- ^ Bonkowski, Jerry (June 2, 2016). "Jones boys: Erik and Brandon Jones fastest in 2nd Pocono Xfinity practice". NASCAR Talk | NBC Sports. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
- ^ "NASCAR Qualifying Rules". ESPN.com. February 7, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
- ^ McFadin, Daniel (June 4, 2016). "Erik Jones wins pole for Xfinity Series race at Pocono". NASCAR Talk | NBC Sports. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
- ^ "2016 Pocono Green 250 – Racing Reference". Racing-Reference.info. Retrieved February 2, 2023.