NASCAR Great American Getaway 400 preview: Favorite, underdog, top storylines

On Sunday, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series tackle the 2.5-mile "Tricky Triangle" of Pocono Raceway in the running of the Great American Getaway 400 (1 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Here's what you need to know ahead of the 16th race of the regular season.

Favorite: Denny Hamlin (+200, per BetMGM)

It sounds like a broken record at this point, but Hamlin once again finds himself as the favorite. That became even more obvious after he won his third consecutive pole and the 51st of his career on Saturday.

As Hamlin chases history on Sunday in pursuit of three straight wins for the first time in his career, there is an excellent chance he continues his reign at Pocono as the all-time wins leader there (seven). The 45-year-old is on an unprecedented stretch and it is hard to envision that not continuing in the Pocono Mountains as he looks to keep Tyler Reddick's 51-point lead within reach.

Underdog: Erik Jones (+4000, per BetMGM)

Jones is just 18 points outside the current "Chase" field with four top-13 finishes in his last five races, jumping from 25th to 18th in the standings as a result. A season-best runner-up at Michigan was just his latest impressive performance after running among the top 10 for most of the race.

With eight top 10s in 14 starts at Pocono, as well as the fifth-best average finish (11.25) and sixth-most points scored (131) in the Next Gen era, the "Tricky Triangle" has quietly been one of Jones' best tracks. After qualifying seventh and posting the third-best 10-lap average in Saturday's practice, the opportunity is in front of him to make even more gains on the bubble.

Christopher Bell plans to race following violent crash

After experiencing the hardest hit of the Next Gen era at Michigan, Bell plans on running all 400 miles of Sunday's race at Pocono. While he came out of the massive impact without a head injury, Bell did fracture his left wrist and injure his foot.

Despite the adversity, Bell will wear a cast and use a modified steering wheel that is designed with less material on the left-hand side. Joe Gibbs Racing O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Brandon Jones will be on standby for Bell, but all signs so far indicate that he intends to be behind the wheel for the duration of Sunday's race.

Kyle Larson looking to finally end winless streak

A lot has been made of the two-time Cup Series champion's uncharacteristic 39-race winless streak, but he has still led the second-most laps (573) behind Hamlin and showed blistering speed in Saturday's practice and qualifying session.

Larson led the way in practice and put his No. 5 Chevrolet on the front row alongside Hamlin. He also had the best 10-lap average, suggesting he should be among the contenders on Sunday at a track he has a pair of runner-up finishes at. 

Start time moved up two hours 

Due to the threat of inclement weather that is forecasted to hit the track in the late afternoon and early evening hours on Sunday, NASCAR made the decision on Saturday to start the race two hours earlier, moving the start time back from 3 p.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET.

This comes one year after rain delayed the 2025 Pocono race for multiple hours, although all 400 miles were eventually completed. With an earlier start time, the hope is that there is enough of a window to get this race completed in its entirety before the weather arrives.