Pocono Preview: Top 10 Predictions from Long Pond, PA

The NASCAR Sprint Cup and ARCA REMAX series are headed to Pocono this weekend for the second time this year.  Here are my top 10 predictions for what will happen at the track:

1. Denny Hamlin or Kasey Kahne will be on the pole.  Denny Hamlin or Kasey Kahne will win.  Some guys just have it figured out.

2. We will all have that sense of déjà vu, just like we’ve been there before…wait we have.  It was just a few weeks ago.

3. The Matiolli family will be there in force to shake every driver’s hand…and tell us that story about Bill France, Sr. saving them from financial ruin, thereby destining them to have two races at Pocono Raceway.

4. Qualifying will take forever…and ever.

5. The polka band will drive you crazy, playing the Pennsylvania Polka over and over again.  (Our family was once trapped with the band in an infield restaurant during a rainstorm.  It wasn’t pretty.)

6. The Long Pond Fire Department will be out in force on the back roads, stopping every car for a donation.  This is their biggest fundraiser of the year after all.  Note to self: take Route 80.

7. The ARCA race will be more exciting than the Cup race.  And yes, Scott Speed will paint his toenails again and win his third race in a row!

8. NO ONE will be happy with their car.  It is a “roval” after all or a “tricky triangle” as the track is now billing itself.  It’s just impossible to get your car right on every corner of this track.

9. It will be hotter than Hades again this weekend.   There will be rain, but only on the back stretch, not on the front stretch.  If it does rain, the track will weep and you too will be stuck in the infield with the polka band.

10. Any tire troubles at Pocono will seem like a breeze compared to what we all went through at the Brickyard last weekend!