NASCAR's best still trying to figure out how to tackle 'Tricky Triangle' of Pocono

LONG POND, Pennsylvania — Pocono Raceway did not earn the moniker "The Tricky Triangle" for no reason. 

The 2.5-mile track features long straightaways, three unique corners, and strategy that can befuddle even the best crew chiefs. 

Even stars of the NASCAR Cup Series who have taken many trips to Pocono are still left wondering how to conquer what is perhaps the most unique track on the circuit. 

"You have to understand that it's a place of its own," said Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith. "It's tricky, and there's no other way around it than how it is. You just attack the weekend as its own." 

Christopher Bell has finished no worse than 12th at Pocono in the Next-Gen era, but says the Next-Gen car presented new challenges for teams at the track. 

"Especially with the Next-Gen car, it's a little bit different than what we had before," Bell said. "It's very difficult with this Next-Gen car because the bumps have developed over the course of the years. Running down on the yellow line, it gets rough. You have that old PJ1 residue that's in the top of turns 3 and one that comes into play. It's tough for the crew chiefs to give the drivers what they want for all three corners. It's a lot of compromises. It's a very sketchy racetrack." 

Tyler Reddick has finished 11th or better in his last five Pocono starts, including an average finish of 3.33 in the Next-Gen era. The two-time Xfinity Series champion said comfort in being uncomfortable is the key to getting around Pocono. 

"The name of the game is being comfortable on the edge," Reddick said. "This track has a lot of speed. You have a lot of time to think about driving it in really deep into turn 1. Down the frontstretch here, it's really easy to hype yourself up." 

Austin Cindric will start squarely in the middle of the pack in 19th. At Pocono, that could be a bigger challenge than it would be at other racetracks, given how big a role strategy plays at the facility and how wild restarts can get. 

"I think strategies generally get jumbled up quite a lot," Cindric said. "It is a difficult track to restart in the middle of the pack. There's so many factors out of your control, and that's where a lot of the wrecks happen. Being able to put yourself in a position to continue to move forward in the early stages of the race opens up those strategies." 

Whether it be strategy, bumps, restarts or handling, one thing is clear — no matter how good of a driver you are, Pocono is guaranteed to give you all it has. 

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.