Yahoo Finance NASCAR will creatively invert part of the field before race No. 2 in Pocono's 2020 double-race weekend
Are you ready for the field to be partially inverted before a Cup Series race? You’re going to get your wish at Pocono in 2020.
The 2.5-mile triangular track is hosting both of its Cup races on the same weekend next season. On Saturday, the track and NASCAR announced some details for those two races. And one of those details stands out.
There will be just one qualifying session for the two races. That qualifying will set the field for the first race on Saturday, June 27. The following day’s starting lineup will be determined by the finishing order of Saturday’s race. With a twist.
NASCAR will invert the order of the cars that finished on the lead lap. So if the final car on the lead lap finished 22nd, the top 22 cars in Saturday’s race will start in reverse order on Sunday. And that car that finished 22nd will start first. The rest of the field will start where they finished on Saturday.
Given the uniqueness of the two races in two days idea, inverting the field is a fun idea for the second race. It should help break up any potential monotony.
Race No. 2 will be 350 miles
There’s no tentative distance for the first race of the weekend, but the second race is tentatively scheduled for 350 laps, or 50 miles shorter than each of the two Pocono races in 2019. If NASCAR runs 350 miles in the first race, our kind suggestion is to have different stage lengths for each of the races. Varying strategy would be a good thing.
The Truck Series will run ahead of the first Cup race on Saturday while the Xfinity Series will race ahead of the second Cup race on Sunday. ARCA is running just one race at Pocono in 2020 and that race will be on the Thursday preceding the weekend.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports
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