We’re halfway through NASCAR’s doubleheader weekend at Pocono, and little noteworthy has gone down. Kevin Harvick got the win yesterday, adding another notch to his belt after Aric Almirola and Joey Logano looked strong for the first half and more of the race. Today, they’ll be running the same cars, and will presumably be a bit more aggressive without the pressure of having to save those cars for the rest of the weekend, as they did yesterday.
Almirola’s a driver to watch today. Having led a large share of yesterday’s race, his car’s demonstrated some strength at the track, and having made the playoffs on points (rather than qualifying by winning a race) each of the last two years—his first two in the 10 Car for Stewart-Haas Racing—it’s not unusual to see him in the mix, even if he doesn’t win all that many races. One word of caution, if you read this and then place bets on the race: Almirola randomly won the pole for yesterday’s race, which may have had a lot to do with him leading so much. He’ll be starting 18th today, as the first 20 finishers from yesterday are flipped around in the starting grid.
The favorites are the usual suspects: Denny Hamlin, whose career was jump-started by sweeping Pocono his rookie year; Kevin Harvick, yesterday’s winner; Kyle Busch, the reigning Cup Series champion; etc. Almirola’s arguably the most interesting guy to watch, especially because of his traditional role in the storyline as a guy who’s always around but rarely doing much of note. So in the absence of a clear leading story, he’s where our eyes are.
Beyond what’s been said about the man in the Number 10, two little things you might wonder about if you’re watching the race:
The first: Stewart-Haas racing is owned in part by Tony Stewart. Remember that guy?
The second: You may hear references to Almirola’s Cuban heritage, and—as I have over the years, until I looked it up—wonder if he’s an immigrant, which seems like something that would be notable for a NASCAR driver. He’s not. But a number of his ancestors did emigrate from Cuba to the United States back around the time Fidel Castro was coming into power, which is interesting in its own right.
