NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece will start from the pole in the Pocono 350 Sunday, June 28.
The No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing pilot passed Jimmie Johnson and Bubba Wallace in the closing laps of Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 to secure the 20th spot. The top 20 finishers were inverted to set Sunday’s lineup, while those 21 on back will keep their starting position. As a result, Johnson and Wallace will start 21 and 22, respectively.
Though Preece earned the pole, he will have to drop to the rear on the pace laps due to an engine change.
Austin Dillon starts second alongside Preece, while Kurt Busch’s No. 1 car of Chip Ganassi Racing will begin third. Preece’s teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start fourth and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer rounds out the top five.
Ryan Newman starts sixth on Sunday and William Byron takes the seventh position. However, Byron also had to change engines and, like Preece, will drop to the rear. Matt DiBenedetto, who ran in the top five for much of Saturday’s race, will begin eighth. Ryan Blaney and Matt Kenseth complete the top 10 in the lineup.
Saturday’s victor Kevin Harvick will start 20th.
Several other drivers will have to start from the back:
Dropping to rear on pace laps for Cup with starting spot (still have tech to do):
1st-Preece (engine)
7th-Byron (engine)
25th-Elliott (transmission)
27th-Bowman (backup)
30th-Reddick (backup)
36th-Logano (backup)
38th-Jones (backup)
39th-McLeod (transmission)
40th-Houff (backup)— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 28, 2020
Cup Series Starting Lineup: Pocono 350
The Pocono 350 is set to begin on Sunday, June 28 at 4 p.m. ET and will air on Fox Sports 1.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.