Restarts at Pocono Can be a 'Game of Chicken'

​Ragan on Pocono"Pocono is tricky. All three corners are really different, you’re shifting and you’re using a lot of brakes. It’s really a test of everything on the race car. You’ve got to have good downforce and good splitter control from an aero perspective. But you’ve got those flat corners where lower center-of-gravity race cars are going to run faster. Engines are important. Brakes and transmissions are important. It’s where you see a lot of guys have mechanical problems because you’re pushing a lot of those parts and pieces to the extreme limits. It’s tricky, but it’s fun when you have a good handling car. It can be fun from a strategy perspective and how you’re racing other cars. But, if your car’s tough to drive, it can be a hard race, too.

"Restarts can be wild. Sometimes it’s a game of chicken. You get a good run and you want to put the car in front of you three-wide or four-wide, but you know that’s really not going to work and someone’s going to have to give or you’re going to tear some race cars up. There are some guys that are really aggressive and you’re going to watch out for that, and there are some guys that are a little more calculated and they’re going to make their pass at the right time. But you’ve got to be ready to go because those restarts are a good opportunity to pass. So, anytime you have restarts at Pocono, you better stand up and watch because it’s going to be exciting."

Ragan Pocono Stats
22 starts, 1 top-5, 1 top-10, 2 top-15s
Best finish: 5th