July 27, 2019 | By Lee Spencer

NASCAR Notebook: Harvick has the provisional pole but can he finally win at Pocono?

Kevin Harvick kept the party going in the Poconos on Saturday.

After winning his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race of the season last Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Harvick picked up his first career pole at Pocono Raceway.

Now, he’s looking for his first career win at the 2.5-mile track.

“It has been a really good track for me and my guys and really the whole company knows that we’d love to cross this one off – one of the last two of tracks that we haven’t won at,” said Harvick of Pocono. He has yet to win at Kentucky Speedway as well.  “It’s been a successful race track and the first race this year we had a great car and the right strategy and jacked it up and the steering box broke. It’s just kind of been one thing after another like that.

“Tomorrow it’s gonna take a fast car, but it’s also gonna take everything falling your way so that you can get the strategy right. It’s restarts and pit strategy and all the normal Pocono things that you have to battle are still going to be the things you have to overcome. Track position and starting up front would obviously be nice to have.”

Ford swept the top-three in time trials. Aric Almirola posted the third-fastest lap followed by Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez.

Harvick never ran a qualifying lap in the first two practice sessions for the Gander RV 400. He and crew chief Rodney Childers elected to work on race setup then relied on his Stewart-Haas Racing teammates for data on the best route around the track.

Harvick bumped fellow Ford driver Joey Logano from the provisional pole with a lap of 174.058 mph (51.707seconds) for his fourth pole of the season and the 29th pole of his career.

“We scrambled today in practice and never even made a qualifying run in practice, so we worked on our race stuff as long as we could and never really felt like we got it 100 percent right,” Harvick added. “We weren’t bad, but I think as you look at that our car was pretty good after about lap six and I think as you get into the race tomorrow there’s gonna be a lot of two-tire strategies and a lot of green flag strategy. 

“There’s gonna be a lot of unique times that you pit, so keeping yourself inside that time limit of that pit window is important to try to fulfill that strategy and keep yourself up front.  We’ll see.  I think as you look at the things that track position has meant this year, I think obviously having that tomorrow will be very important.”

After wrecking in first practice and going to backup cars, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott qualified 29th and 23rd, respectively.

NOTE: NASCAR impounded the cars following qualifying. Harvick's pole is pending based on Sunday’s post-qualifying inspection.

On the outside looking in

Time is running out for Jimmie Johnson.

After consecutive 30th-place finishes, the seven-time NASCAR Cup champion is currently 17 points outside of the Playoff Zone with six races to determine the grid.

But Johnson displayed a glimmer of hope at Pocono Raceway on Saturday. After posting the sixth-fastest lap in both practice sessions in single-lap runs in the morning, he qualified in the same spot for the Gander RV 400 in the afternoon with a lap of 172.586 mph—his best effort since winning the pole in 2013.

Johnson describes Pocono as challenging. The 2.5-mile track hasn’t become any easier for the driver of the No. 48 Chevy in recent years. Despite three wins at Pocono in 35 starts, Johnson has also DNFed four times in his last 10 races. Over that same period, Johnson has one top-five and three top 10s.

The Triangle just got trickier

Pocono Raceway unveiled the schedule and new format for 2020’s doubleheader weekend.

The ARCA Menards Series will kick off the weekend with practice, qualifying and a 200-miler on Thursday. Friday will feature Monster Energy Cup Series practice and sole qualifying as well as Gander Outdoors Truck practice and qualifying. The Xfinity Series debuts on Saturday with practice followed by a 200-mile truck race and the first of two Cup events. The length of the first Cup race has yet to be determined.

The Xfinity Series both qualifies and runs a 90-lap (225 mile) feature on Sunday. The weekend concludes with the second Cup race—a 140-lap/350-mile feature with the drivers racing with the same cars from Race 1. The field will be set by inverting the lead lap finishers from the first Cup race. The lapped down cars will lineup in order of their finish in Race 1. Teams will retain their pit stalls from the first race.

“After (Race 1), we will give the competitors back their cars, and they can do all their maintenance,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “They can’t really run the 700 miles without having their cars back for general service and all that.

“So we’ll give them their cars back. They will likely change valve springs and work on any slight damage from the race and all the maintenance to prepare for 350-mile Race 2.”