PREVIEW: Some unexpected double-duty efforts on hand at Pocono
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: NY Racing Team, @NYRacingTeam
Friday, June 20, 2025 (Green Flag 5:22 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 14 of 25
MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Spencer Boyd
ENTRY LIST
There are 35 trucks entered for 36 spots, so all will qualify. Despite the late entry of Mike Harmon Racing, creating the largest entry list in the series since Rockingham, it remains the 13th straight short field in 2025.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
The first of several double-duty efforts this weekend is Brandon Jones, who carries Spectracide as sponsor on TRICON’s “all-star” #1 entry. Jones, who remains full-time in XFINITY this Saturday, takes the place of 28th-place Michigan finisher Lawless Alan.
DRIVER CHANGE: #2-Reaume Brothers Racing
Cody Dennison returns for his sixth career start and first since a 29th-place showing in Charlotte. He again drives Josh Reaume’s #2, this time in place of 29th-place Michigan finisher Morgen Baird, who will focus on XFINITY this Saturday (see below).
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing
The second Reaume entry goes to Clayton Green, who returns for the first time since his season debut at Nashville, where he finished 27th in the team’s #2. This time, he runs the #22 in place of Josh Reaume himself, who finished 25th in Michigan.
RETURNING: #28-FDNY Racing
Team owner Jim Rosenblum was pleased to welcome back veteran crew chief and team owner Bob Rahilly, who was released from the hospital after burns suffered in a house fire in January. Rosenblum’s team, FDNY Racing, will make its first start of the year at his home track, rebounding from a DNQ in Daytona. Bryan Dauzat continues as driver for his sixth Pocono start.
DRIVER CHANGE: #44-Niece Motorsports
Conner Jones returns for the first time since his season debut with the same Al Niece effort at North Wilkesboro, where he came home 27th. This time, he takes the place of 26th-place Michigan finisher Ross Chastain, who was eliminated with crash damage in that race. This will be Jones’ first Truck Series start at Pocono.
DRIVER CHANGE: #66-ThorSport Racing
It’s another “Luke Change” at the ThorSport team as Luke Baldwin returns for his fourth start of the season, his first since a season-best 13th in North Wilkesboro. Baldwin takes the place of Luke Fenhaus, who won his first career pole in his most recent start at Michigan, then came home in 3rd.
RETURNING / NUMBER CHANGE: #69-Motorsports Business Management
After helping Scott Osteen build Floridian Motorsports, then fielding his own truck for Jeffrey Earnhardt at Charlotte last spring, Carl Long will again enter his own Truck Series entry. This time, he switches from Earnhardt’s #67 to the #69, a number that hasn’t started a Truck Series race since November 14, 2003, when Frank Kimmel finished 28th. Tyler Tomassi will drive MBM’s #69 after running three races earlier this year for Josh Reaume, most recently a 29th-place showing in Nashville.
RETURNING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Announced on Monday afternoon, Dawson Cram will pull double-duty with Trucks and XFINITY as Mike Harmon re-enters the Truck Series as a team owner for the first time since August 26, 2018, when Harmon himself finished 31st at Mosport (the team then withdrew from the next race in Las Vegas). The team has picked up at least one truck from G2G Racing – the blue Toyota most recently raced to a 31st-place finish Armani Williams at Homestead in 2023 – and former G2G co-owner Tim Viens says he will drive the truck later this year.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-Spire Motorsports
Patrick Emerling will make only his fourth Truck Series start, but his first for Spire Motorsports, carrying sponsorship from Goat Power Bikes. The entry list showed TBA in the driver’s column before the news of Emerling’s entry, his first since a series-best 19th-place finish for Charlie Henderson’s team at North Wilkesboro.
CUP INVADERS: #7-Carson Hocevar
Saturday, June 21, 2025 (Green Flag 3:40 P.M. ET, CW)
XFINITY Race 16 of 33
Explore The Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Dawson Cram
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for 38 spots, so all drivers will qualify.
MISSING: #9-JR Motorsports
JRM will not enter their part-time #9 entry one week after Daniel Suarez took their backup car to victory lane in front of the home crowd at Mexico City.
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
DRIVER SWAP: #91-DGM Racing x JIM
Garrett Smithley goes from spotting to driving in place of Josh Bilicki, who finished 24th last Saturday in Mexico City. Bilicki will also run this week, returning to Mario Gosselin’s #91 in place of 30th-place Andres Perez de Lara.
RETURNING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
The Hendrick team brings back its #17 entry which most recently finished 11th with Corey Day in Nashville. This time, it’s Cup Series regular Chase Elliott who makes his first XFINITY start since a runner-up finish in Darlington this past spring.
DRIVER CHANGE: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing
Justin Bonsignore returns to the XFINITY Series for the first time since Rockingham, where he was disqualified after he crashed out of the race. He takes the place of Ty Gibbs, whose strong weekend in Mexico City began with a leading 18 laps before latte-race crash damage left him 14th.
MISSING: #24-Sam Hunt Racing
The SHR team has not entered its part-time second entry with which Cup regular Christopher Bell finished last after mid-race engine trouble left his car smoking at the entrance to pit road.
MISSING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Austin Green and the part-time third entry at the Jordan Anderson team will also not make the trip to Pocono after a strong 7th-place finish in Mexico City.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
Carson Ware returns to the track for the first time since Charlotte, where he failed to qualify his last attempt with the Joey Gase effort. Ware recently unveiled new t-shirts of his #35 Costa Oil Ford, which will be locked-into Saturday’s race thanks to the 38-car entry list. Ware takes the place of Ruben Rovelo, who finished 37th in his series debut in Mexico.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Alpha Prime Racing
Mason Massey rejoins the XFINITY Series for the first time since his 24th-place showing in Nashville, and will again drive the #45 entry. He takes the place of Brad Perez, who earned a 26th-place finish in Mexico City.
DRIVER CHANGE: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
While the preliminary entry list showed TBA in the driver’s column, it’s Logan Bearden who will run the second Gase entry this week with KitchenAid as sponsor. Bearden takes the place of 33rd-place Mexico City finisher Sage Karam.
DRIVER CHANGE: #70-Cope Family Racing
Leland Honeyman, Jr. will make his 50th series start this Saturday as he rejoins the Cope team for the first time since his 32nd-place finish in Charlotte. He takes the place of Thomas Annunziata, who recovered from a spin coming to the green flag to finish 22nd in Mexico City.
RETURNING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Finally, after five DNQs and a withdrawal since both he and the Harmon team last started a XFINITY Series race in Las Vegas, taking 32nd, Dawson Cram will start Saturday’s race in Pocono. Both driver and team look for a rebound from last year’s race, where brake issues sent Cram into the wall on Lap 2.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Patrick Emerling completes his double-header with Bobby Dotter, carrying sponsorship from Camel Beach Outdoor Waterpark on the #07. Emerling takes the place of 15th-place Mexico City finisher Alex Labbe.
CUO INVADERS: #17-Chase Elliott
Sunday, June 22, 2025 (Green Flag 2:20 P.M. ET, PRIME)
CUP Race 17 of 36
The Great America Getaway 400 at Pocono
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Noah Gragson
ENTRY LIST
There are 37 drivers entered for Sunday’s race, meaning all will qualify. It is the 15th short field in 17 races in 2025.
DRIVER CHANGE: #11-Joe Gibbs Racing
With the birth of his third child and a 23rd-place finish by stand-in driver Ryan Truex in Mexico City, Denny Hamlin returns to one of his best tracks, and drives with returning sponsorship from Progressive Insurance. Hamlin, who won most recently in Michigan, has seven victories at Pocono.
RETURNING: #44-NY Racing Team
The lone “open” entry this Sunday is the Jonathan Cohen entry, which this week is driven by XFINITY Series regular Brennan Poole. This will be Poole’s first Cup start since October 15, 2023, when he drove for Rick Ware Racing in Las Vegas and finished 30th. He hasn’t raced in Cup at Pocono since 2020. The #44 team last ran in Nashville, where J.J. Yeley finished 34th.
MISSING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
Katherine Legge and the Live Fast team are not entered after a 32nd-place finish in Mexico City.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (June 20, 1999): Rusty Wallace picked up the 9th last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career when his #2 Miller Lite / Harley Davidson Ford crashed after 7 laps of the Pocono 500 at Pocono. It was his first Cup Series last-place finish in nearly two years, his last for nearly another two, and his first at Pocono since 1987.
