Four races among three divisions await the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, and Camping World Truck Series at Pocono Raceway. On Saturday, Todd Gilliland will lead the Truck field to green in the CRC Brakleen 150 while Kyle Larson does so for the Cup Series’ Pocono Organics CBD 325. Sunday’s Pocono Green 225 will see Harrison Burton on the Xfinity pole. The Xfinity event will be by the Cup Series’ second race, the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350, which will have its starting lineup set by invert of the top twenty from the Saturday round.
Cup: Larson seeking fourth straight from pole
Larson has been on a tear in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports. After the first fourteen races of the season featured eleven different winners including Larson, he has won every Cup event he has taken part in since late May. Riding a three-race win streak (four if including the All-Star Race), Larson will start on the pole at Pocono for the first time since his rookie year in 2014. In twelve starts, his best finish is second in 2018; he won the Xfinity race there in 2016.
Hendrick team-mate William Byron starts second at one of his stronger tracks. The 2019 Race #1 pole sitter has top tens in all but four starts at Pocono.
A trio of driver changes from Nashville took place. Cody Ware returns to his #51 Rick Ware Racing car after skipping Nashville to make his NTT IndyCar Series début (J.J. Yeley drove the #15), while James Davison is back in the #15 RWR machine last driven by Joey Gase. Timmy Hill will run his first Cup race since Talladega in April in MBM Motorsports‘ #66, who fielded the #66 for David Starr and the #13 for Chad Finchum at Nashville. Finchum, whose Nashville start marked his first Cup run of the season, is not entered at Pocono.
The Sunday race will have its starting lineup set by an inversion of the top twenty from Saturday, meaning Saturday’s twentieth place starts on the pole for Sunday. Such a plan was initially set for the 2020 weekend—Pocono’s first year with a doubleheader—before being switched out for cars on the lead lap as multiple tracks held doubleheaders to make up for lost dates due to COVID-19.
| Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| 1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 2 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
| 5 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 6 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 7 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 8 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 9 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 11 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 13 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet |
| 15 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 16 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 17 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 18 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford |
| 19 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 20 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota |
| 21 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 22 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 23 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 24 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 25 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 26 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 27 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford |
| 28 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 29 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 30 | 53 | Garrett Smithley* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 31 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 32 | 78 | B.J. McLeod* | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford |
| 33 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford |
| 34 | 77 | Justin Haley* | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 35 | 51 | Cody Ware* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 36 | 15 | James Davison | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 37 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet |
| 38 | 66 | Timmy Hill* | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
* – Ineligible for Cup points
Credit: Logan Riely/Getty Images
Xfinity: Burton on pole for second time
Burton, who finished third at Nashville last Saturday, rolls off the grid in first. He last started on the pole at Martinsville in April. The sophomore will hope his race goes better than his maiden Xfinity start at Pocono in 2020, where he finished thirty-second after crashing out; conversely, his lone Truck race there in 2019 saw him finish third.
Justin Allgaier starts second after finishing second. He has two top tens in five starts at Pocono with a best finish of second in 2017 and placing sixth in 2020.
With Kyle Busch once again focusing on the Cup Series after scoring his 100th Xfinity win at Nashville, Ty Gibbs is back in Joe Gibbs Racing‘s #54. Sam Mayer will run his first race in JR Motorsports‘ #8 as he prepares to contest the rest of the season in the car; Josh Berry, the #8’s previous driver, moves to Jordan Anderson Racing‘s #31 that he drove at Mid-Ohio. Santino Ferrucci is back in Sam Hunt Racing‘s #26 for the first time since Atlanta in March, while Blaine Perkins takes over the Our Motorsports #23 from Natalie Decker. Carson Ware is in SS-Green Light Racing‘s #17 for his first start of the season, which shifts Joe Graf Jr. back to his traditional #07. Whelen Euro Series points leader Loris Hezemans is in DGM Racing‘s #90. Jimmy Means Racing‘s #52 is being filled by Gase rather than the original full-timer Gray Gaulding, though the team has asserted that Gaulding is still within the organisation.
JD Motorsports drivers Colby Howard and Jeffrey Earnhardt, who failed to qualify at Nashville, are locked in. Hill and MBM’s #13, on the other hand, are not.
| Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| 1 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 2 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
| 4 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 5 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
| 6 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 7 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 8 | 1 | Michael Annett | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 9 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet |
| 10 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 11 | 11 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
| 12 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford |
| 13 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford |
| 14 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 15 | 61 | Austin Hill* | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Toyota |
| 16 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
| 17 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 18 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Martins Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 19 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 20 | 8 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 21 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 22 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
| 23 | 4 | Landon Cassill | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 24 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 66 | David Starr | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
| 26 | 26 | Santino Ferrucci | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota |
| 27 | 5 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 28 | 78 | Jesse Little | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota |
| 29 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet |
| 30 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
| 31 | 23 | Blaine Perkins | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 32 | 17 | Carson Ware | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet |
| 33 | 31 | Josh Berry | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet |
| 34 | 74 | Bayley Currey* | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
| 35 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr. | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet |
| 36 | 99 | Mason Massey | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota |
| 37 | 15 | Colby Howard | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 38 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 39 | 90 | Loris Hezemans | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
| 40 | 52 | Joey Gase | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet |
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points
Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Trucks: Gilliland on pole
Gilliland followed fellow Ford truck Ryan Preece to the finish at Nashville, which has rewarded him with the pole for Pocono. It is his second first-place start after Charlotte in May. He has three top tens in as many starts at Pocono, with his 2020 start ending with a fourth.
Zane Smith joins him on the front row. He finished fourteenth in his lone Pocono start last year. Preece starts eighth and hopes to go two-for-two after winning in his series début.
Busch is entered in the #51 for his own team while Christian Eckes returns to ThorSport Racing‘s #98, the latter of which bumps Grant Enfinger to CR7 Motorsports‘ #9. Bayley Currey is in Niece Motorsports‘ #45 and Tyler Hill is in the family-run #56. Todd Peck will run his first Truck race since 2018 in the #41 for Cram Racing Enterprises. FDNY Racing and the #28 for Bryan Dauzat return after last entering the seaosn opener at Daytona.
Drivers who DNQ’d at Nashville but are locked in for Pocono include Spencer Boyd, Jennifer Jo Cobb, and Josh Reaume.
| Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| 1 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 2 | 21 | Zane Smith | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
| 4 | 16 | Austin Hill | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Toyota |
| 5 | 88 | Matt Crafton | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
| 6 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota |
| 7 | 4 | John Hunter Nemechek | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Toyota |
| 8 | 17 | Ryan Preece* | David Gilliland Racing | Ford |
| 9 | 24 | Jack Wood | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
| 10 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
| 11 | 18 | Chandler Smith | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Toyota |
| 12 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
| 13 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 66 | Ty Majeski | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
| 15 | 23 | Chase Purdy | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
| 16 | 98 | Christian Eckes | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
| 17 | 15 | Tanner Gray | David Gilliland Racing | Ford |
| 18 | 26 | Tyler Ankrum | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
| 19 | 1 | Hailie Deegan | David Gilliland Racing | Ford |
| 20 | 25 | Josh Berry* | Rackley WAR | Chevrolet |
| 21 | 22 | Austin Wayne Self | AM Racing | Chevrolet |
| 22 | 51 | Kyle Busch* | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Toyota |
| 23 | 40 | Ryan Truex | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 24 | 19 | Derek Kraus | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Toyota |
| 25 | 12 | Tate Fogleman | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 26 | 02 | Kris Wright | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 27 | 45 | Bayley Currey | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 28 | 30 | Danny Bohn | On Point Motorsports | Toyota |
| 29 | 34 | Lawless Alan | Reaume Brothers Racing | Toyota |
| 30 | 56 | Tyler Hill | Hill Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 31 | 9 | Grant Enfinger | CR7 Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 32 | 41 | Todd Peck | Cram Racing Enterprises | Chevrolet |
| 33 | 3 | Howie DiSavino III | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet |
| 34 | 20 | Spencer Boyd | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 35 | 33 | Josh Reaume | Reaume Brothers Racing | Chevrolet |
| 36 | 10 | Jennifer Jo Cobb | Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing | Ford |
| 37 | 6 | Norm Benning | Norm Benning Racing | Chevrolet |
| 38 | 49 | Ray Ciccarelli | CMI Motorsports | Toyota |
| 39 | 28 | Bryan Dauzat | FDNY Racing | Chevrolet |
* – Ineligible for Truck points