Pocono Raceway, NASCAR announce 2020 tentative weekend schedule

Photo by Justin Melillo / TRE

LONG POND, Pa. — A glimpse into the 2020 doubleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway was unveiled in the Pocono Raceway Media Center on Saturday afternoon.

Pocono Raceway C.E.O., Nick Igdalsky, Pocono Raceway President, Ben May, and NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, Scott Miller, sat together at the podium to discuss the tentative schedule, without revealing specific times for each on track activity.

Earlier in March, the 2020 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule was announced, with Pocono Raceway featuring a doubleheader weekend, the first of it’s kind in the top levels of NASCAR in the modern era.

Much was speculated as to whether the teams would qualify and race multiple cars, if they would be treated as two completely separate events, and how the weekend would work together with NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series competition.

Highlights from the announcement include:

• The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams will use one car for both races
• The Sunday race will be 350 miles (140 laps)
• The Saturday race is unknown at this point, but it is hoped that it will be the same as Sunday
• There will be one Qualifying session that will set the lineup for the Saturday MENCS race.
• The Sunday MENCS race lineup will be set by a finishing order invert of the lead lap cars. (Example: 20 cars finish on the lead lap on Saturday, 20th place will start on pole for Sunday, winner will start 20th.)
• Also for Sunday’s race, lap down finishers from Saturday will start where they finished in Race 1.
• The ARCA Racing Series will practice, qualify, and race all on Thursday, while the three NASCAR series will be scheduled Friday through Sunday.
• NGOTS will be an 80 lap event before MENCS on Saturday, and NXS will be a 90 lap event before MENCS on Sunday.

A question about any contingency plans for inclement weather was asked about during the announcement, but there are no current plans as of yet.

The weekend will take place from June 25th, 2020 to June 28th, 2020.