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Ryan Blaney hopes a trip to a track where he had his biggest NASCAR Cup Series success will end a slump. Blaney has only one top-10 finish in his last six races heading into the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway, the site of his lone Cup victory a year ago. His last two races have ended early because of an accident and an engine failure, but he appeared to put that behind him by winning the pole Friday. "You want to win every week, but when you come back to a place where you have had success, that definitely is nice," Blaney said. "Especially after the last couple of weeks -- we have struggled the last couple of races after having fast cars. "That is almost like an extra slap in the face when you have fast cars and have problems like that. It just makes it that much worse. The good news is we do have fast cars right now and it is a matter of putting everything together, from not getting into accidents to breaking." Blaney, third in the standings seven races into the season, is now 11th after 13 races. "We just need to find that little bit and put a weekend together," Blaney said. "As far as driving, I could do better. I make mistakes. I hit the wall. I wrecked myself at Kansas with a winning car. "I just have to be a little smarter, and I haven't been that this year. I need to get myself cleaned up a little, and if we make some gains on the car, we will be right there with being at the top." Here's the lineup breakdown for the race Sunday: 1. Ryan Blaney (Team Penske No. 12 Ford): He has a truck win and a Cup win at Pocono, so it's no surprise he's on the pole. He needs a boost after several rough weeks, and so far it has started off in the right direction. 2. Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford): Harvick has finished second in four of the last seven Pocono races, including both races last year. He's hoping he isn't following Mark Martin, who had seven second-place finishes without ever winning at Pocono. 3. Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet): This starting position could be a sign he will earn his first top-five finish in what will be his 31st career Pocono start. 4. Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota): His home state of New Jersey celebrated Martin Truex Jr. Day on Thursday. Truex has led laps in five of the last six Pocono races. 5. Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota): He won both poles at Pocono last year, but there is no reason to fret, he has led 174 laps in the last two Pocono races, including winning in July. 6. Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford): Busch was in Las Vegas for the Stanley Cup Final and hopes he has as much fun Sunday as he did ringing the siren. He has finished seventh or better (including a win in 2016) in his last five spring Pocono races. 7. Joey Logano (Team Penske No. 22 Ford): Logano is looking to reverse recent misfortunes at Pocono, where he has failed to finish in the top 20 in his last three starts. 8. Ryan Newman (Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet): He has started sixth and eighth in his last two Cup races. Now he just needs to reverse the trend of 30th-place finishes (four of last five Cup starts). 9. Clint Bowyer (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Ford): He finished sixth at Pocono last July, at a track where he has been inconsistent throughout his career. 10. Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota): Hamlin won in four of his first nine Pocono starts but hasn't won in his last 15, with an average finish of 13.7. 11. Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet): He posted a pair of top-10 finishes at Pocono last year. If he can do the same Sunday, it shows his team is finally finding its footing. 12. Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet): He's looking for his first top-10 finish at Pocono, where he has eight career starts. 13. Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet): Larson probably expected more in qualifying, but it's the second consecutive race where he has failed to make it to the final round in qualifying. 14. Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet): Coming off a ninth-place finish at Charlotte, he hasn't been in a Cup car at Pocono since 2015. 15. Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet): Johnson has crashed out of three of the last four (and four of the last seven) Pocono races. 16. William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet): Byron won a truck race at Pocono in 2016. 17. Brad Keselowski (Team Penske No. 2 Ford): Keselowski has five consecutive top-five finishes at Pocono, site of one of his greatest performances when he won with a broken ankle in 2011. 18. Daniel Suarez (Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota): He appears to like this place, having started eighth and finishing seventh last July. 19. Darrell Wallace Jr. (Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Chevrolet): Returning to the site of his NASCAR Cup debut, Pocono is just the second track this year (other than Daytona) where Wallace has had a previous Cup start. 20. Paul Menard (Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford): He has two top-10 finishes in 22 Pocono starts. 21. David Ragan (Front Row Motorsports No. 38 Ford): This ties his best Pocono starting spot since 2011. 22. Kasey Kahne (Leavine Family Racing No. 95 Chevrolet): He has two top-10s at Pocono and posted five top-15 finishes in his eight races since his last Pocono win in August 2013. 23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford): Continues to run quite respectable as he finished 10th at Charlotte, his fourth consecutive finish of 15th or better. 24. AJ Allmendinger (JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 Chevrolet): Allmendinger hit the wall on his qualifying lap in the second round. He has two top-10s in 20 career Pocono starts. 25. Erik Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota): He has posted top-10 finishes in each of his two Cup starts, in one Xfinity start, and two truck starts at Pocono. 26. Matt Kenseth (Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford): Kenseth hopes to build on a 17th-place finish at Charlotte, a much better result than his crash-shortened, frustrating season debut at Kansas. 27. Chris Buescher (JTG Daugherty Racing No. 37 Chevrolet): Buescher has finishes of 19th and 28th at Pocono since his fog-shortened race win in August 2016. 28. Cole Custer (Rick Ware Racing No. 51 Ford): Custer is making his second Cup start in this car, which gets plenty of support from Stewart-Haas Racing when Custer is in it. 29. Ty Dillon (Germain Racing No. 13 Chevrolet): He has never qualified well at Pocono (27th-30th in now five starts) but has finished better -- from 17th to 21st in his four races. 30. Michael McDowell (Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford): A little surprising he qualified this poorly. He finished 18th in the race last July. 31. Ross Chastain (Premium Motorsports No. 15 Chevrolet): Coming off what many would call a successful run with a 24th-place finish at Charlotte, just two laps down. 32. Matt DiBenedetto (Go Fas Racing No. 32 Ford): He didn't finish either Pocono race last year, so he's looking to just last 400 miles. 33. Landon Cassill (StarCom Racing No. 00 Chevrolet): Looking for his fourth top-25 finish of the season. 34. Aric Almirola (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 Ford): Pocono is not one of his best tracks as he has a career-best finish of 18th in 11 starts. 35. Cole Whitt (TriStar Motorsports No. 72 Chevrolet): This is Whitt's first race since Talladega, in the ride he shares with LaJoie. 36. Gray Gaulding (BK Racing No. 23 Toyota): This is his worst starting spot at a non-plate track this season. 37. J.J. Yeley (NY Racing No. 7 Chevrolet): Team owner Jay Robinson is now fielding this car for Yeley, who drove for Jonathan Cohen last week. This team has the points of the Premium Motorsports No. 55 team. 38. Derrike Cope (StarCom Racing No. 99 Chevrolet): This is the second start in a second car for this team for which Cope serves as a general manager.
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