NASCAR's two major races today were the Camping World Truck Series at Pennsylvania's Pocono Raceway and the Nationwide Series at Iowa Speedway, outside of Des Moines. Pocono is a 2.5-mile triangle, the same length as tri-oval Daytona and rectangular oval Indianapolis, while Iowa is a .875-mile oval. Pocono is also having a 400-mile Sprint Cup Series race tomorrow, the second of its two annual Cup races in the summer.
The scheduled 60-lap, 150-mile truck race had Kyle Larson on the pole, just like in the Cup race, and he and Austin Dillon led many of the opening laps. Filling in for an injured John Wes Townley was Clint Bowyer, who also got out front twice. Brad Keselowski driver Tyler Reddick, after leading one lap, soon lost a lap but eventually got it back. Less than two laps after a late-race restart, on which Dillon took the lead for good, Reddick and German Quiroga got together causing Reddick to spin and back into the wall. Reddick's crew repaired his truck and sent him back onto the track. The race restarted again with three laps left but on the Long Pond straight, Reddick spun Quiroga to get back at him and Tyler Young also got a piece of it. NASCAR parked Reddick for this incident and called him to the hauler after the race. The race ended with a green-white-checkered finish and Austin Dillon in victory lane, one week after his brother Ty Dillon won the Nationwide race at Indianapolis. The Dillons both drive #3 vehicles owned by grandfather Richard Childress.
The 250-lap, 218.8-mile Nationwide race was held in the evening. During qualifying, Trevor Bayne and Brad Keselowski battled for the pole, with Bayne beating out Keselowski in the final seconds. Keselowski was at Pocono in the morning for the final Cup practice, and then he flew to Iowa to drive Roger Penske's #22 car. Bayne led several laps but also ran into a couple of issues in the middle of the race. Sam Hornish Jr., who won the first Iowa race in May, also put Joe Gibbs' #54 car normally driven by Kyle Busch out front for 65 laps. There were two debris cautions and three single-car incidents. A spin by Robby Benton driver James Buescher set up a three-lap sprint to the finish. Joe Gibbs driver Michael McDowell took the lead at first, but Brad Keselowski passed him and took the checkered flag.
Tomorrow, NASCAR's focus is on the Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono, where all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers - Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne - have each won one of the last four Cup races at the Tricky Triangle, and they are trying to extend that streak to five. Hendrick is also going for two race wins in a row after Jeff Gordon's win at Indianapolis last week.
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