NASCAR at Pocono 2017: Start Time, Ticket Info, Lineup, TV Schedule and More

Though Jimmie Johnson pulled in a checkered flag one week ago, it's Kyle Busch leading the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series into Pocono Raceway this Sunday for the Pocono 400.

Busch won Friday's pole, giving him two in a row and serious headway as the leaderboard battle heats up going into the summer months.

Johnson and Busch's respective dominance haven't been the headline act as of late, though, not with names such as Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. picking up wins recently. Call it a testament to the success of the new format, which has the leaderboard looking quite interesting despite three multi-race winners already.

Below, let's take a look at the noteworthy details surrounding Sunday's event, where the familiar faces aren't guaranteed much outside of an unpredictable push from the rest of the field.

Viewing Details

Where: Pocono Raceway

When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET

Watch: Fox Sports 1

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

Tickets: ScoreBig.com

Pocono 400

Pos.	Driver
1	1. Kyle Busch
2	2. Martin Truex Jr.
3	3. Matt Kenseth
4	4. Ryan Blaney
5	5. Kurt Busch
6	6. Brad Keselowski
7	7. Kyle Larson
8	8. Jamie McMurray
9	9. Joey Logano
10	10. Ryan Newman
11	11. Michael McDowell
12	12. Kevin Harvick
13	13. Paul Menard
14	14. Daniel Suarez
15	15. Erik Jones
16	16. Darrell Wallace Jr.
17	17. Austin Dillon
18	18. Denny Hamlin
19	19. Jimmie Johnson
20	20. Clint Bowyer
21	21. A.J. Allmendinger
22	22. Trevor Bayne
23	23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24	24. Danica Patrick
25	25. Chase Elliott
26	26. Kasey Kahne
27	27. Ty Dillon
28	28. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
29	29. Chris Buescher
30	30. Matt DiBenedetto
31	31. David Ragan
32	32. Cole Whitt
33	33. Gray Gaulding
34	34. Landon Cassill
35	35. Corey LaJoie
36	36. Reed Sorenson
37	37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
28	38. Cody Ware
39	39. Derrike Cope

2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Standings

DRIVER	POINTS
1. Jimmie Johnson	414
2. Martin Truex Jr.	545
3. Brad Keselowski	410
4. Kyle Larson	536
5. Joey Logano	348
6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	299
7. Ryan Newman	299
8.Kurt Busch	291
9. Austin Dillon	262
10. Kevin Harvick	429
11. Kyle Busch	416
12. Jamie McMurray	415
13. Chase Elliott	398
14. Denny Hamlin	361
15. Clint Bowyer	349
16. Matt Kenseth	328

Drivers to Watch

Kurt Busch

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Kyle soaks up most of the attention right now, but when it comes to drivers to watch this Sunday, observers need to keep a close eye on Kurt Busch. 

Kurt already took an unexpected victory this year when he lead just one lap on the way to stealing the checkered flag at the Daytona 500.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has looked great as of late, too, registering four top-10 finishes over his last six outings. He fell to 37th in Dover a week ago but started sixth, one of his better qualifying slots on the season.

Now for the kicker—Kurt is the defending champ at this race. He led 32 laps a year ago en route to the victory after starting ninth. This year he starts fifth, which is a bad sign for the rest of the field considering it's one of his favorite tracks due to the little details he enjoys.

"Just the fact that it's different in the way that each of the straightaways has its different length, the corners have their banking. It's not a typical oval in that you get to shift at an oval track. It blends a lot of road-racing techniques into an oval technique," Kurt said, according to MRN.com's Pete Pistone.

At the least, fans can expect Kurt to put up a serious fight over the full course of Sunday's event. Given his momentum and history at Pocono, it wouldn't come as too much of a shock to see him become the latest multi-race winner.

Kyle Busch

Mike McCarn/Associated Press

Now back to Kyle. 

He surprisingly hasn't been able to win a race yet this year—and no, we don't count the All-Star race he won. He does have a pair of runner-up finishes in Martinsville and Charlotte, but last week his pole position turned into a 16th-place performance.

Winning another pole could remedy Kyle's brief drought.

"It's all about the speed our guys have been bringing to the race track," he said, according to Tom Jensen of Fox Sports. "It's only going to get more hot and slick."

NASCAR captured the highlights of Kyle's pole victory:

It might seem like a common narrative held for weeks now, but he simply seems due for a win. He's hanging around the standings, but one has to think at some point the qualifying performances will translate.

Then again, Kyle will need to overcome a bit of personal history to win Sunday. He's never won at Pocono and has all of four top-five performances over 24 appearances. If he can transform qualifying performances into besting one of his personal hurdles, the rest of the series might have a major problem on its hands.

Jimmie Johnson

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Johnson found himself in Victory Lane last week in almost predictable fashion given his sheer historical dominance at Dover.

Now a three-time winner this year, Johnson has enough momentum to take down another race as soon as this weekend. He's had the occasional hiccup this year, but his starting 19th on Sunday isn't exactly a concern to write home about considering all three of his wins have come after qualifying outside the top 10.

A win this weekend would feel more important than usual for Johnson, though, who revealed recently he underwent a brief operation to clear out a small patch of skin cancer.

"Carcinoma doesn't spread. It doesn't go to the glands," Johnson said according to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "They just have to dig it out and you're good to go. Once I understood that, my reaction to the 'C' word calmed down."

The AP caught up with him on camera about the development: 

On one hand, seeing Johnson nab a fourth win on the year already would work strongly against the narrative the series is more competitive than usual thanks to the stage format.

On the other hand, though, it'd make for one of the top feel-good stories of the year.

Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.