Editor's note: NASCAR on NBC broadcasters will offer opinions on upcoming races the remainder of the season. This week, analyst Kyle Petty tells what to expect in Sunday's Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway, which airs on NBCSN at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Pocono Raceway presents more than its fair share of unique challenges for drivers.
The way Kyle Petty sees it, it's a racetrack of compromises.
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The 2.5-mile track features three unique turns. The banking in those turns varies from 6 degrees to 14 degrees. Between them are long straightaways, including a frontstretch of 3,740 feet.
Trying to find the perfect line to race is difficult.
Drivers will be reminded of that again this weekend as they practice and qualify in preparation for Sunday's Pennsylvania 400 (NBCSN, 1:30 p.m. ET).
It's not called the Tricky Triangle for nothing.
Not only is the setup hard to chase, but other aspects are difficult to manage as well, including engines. While some of that changed over the years, the track's unique nature has not.
"It's just a racetrack of compromise where nothing is ever really perfect," said Petty, a veteran driver now working as an analyst for NASCAR on NBC's race coverage. "The driver has to make up a little, the team has to make up a little on pit road and a lot of it gets done on Friday and Saturday in the garage area."
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While Petty points out that he doesn't drive anymore, he does see changes to the racetrack itself.
The biggest change, though, lies in the rules changes being used this season.
"After they repaved and made it smoother and changed the curb across the tunnel and changed some of that stuff, obviously how you drove it changed a little bit," he said. "But I think the biggest change, for competitors, is how the rules package seems to change every year from an aero standpoint. … For me, looking at it from the outside, that is the biggest change is the tools that you have at your disposal to make the racetrack do what you want it to do."
In some ways, Pocono is a lot like Indy. For years, that fostered the belief (hope) that running well at one will equate to running well at the other. Both have long straightaways and flat corners. Both challenge drivers in different ways than other tracks.
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But will that translate to similar performance from one track to the next?
Several drivers had strong races at Pocono earlier this season, but then were not as much of a factor in Sunday's race at Indianapolis. Kyle Busch dominated in winning at the Brickyard. Will his win, or the strong runs of other competitors, translate into more of the same this Sunday?
"Just coming off of Indy, it probably is a little bit more of an indicator because you were just on a racetrack with long straightaways, short chutes, flat corners, so it's probably more of an indicator this race than it is the first race," Petty said. "I would say they are comparable but not close."
Kurt Busch won at Pocono earlier this season and finished 16th at Indy.
One thing will most likely be the same as it was last weekend — the interest in Jeff Gordon, who is driving in relief of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who continues to be sidelined with concussion-like symptoms.
Gordon admitted after last week's race — his first since November 2015 — that he had trouble with the restarts. Still, after retiring from racing at the end of last season and returning to cars with a new aero package, Gordon's 11th was impressive.
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Now, with more time in his car, Gordon should improve at Pocono. Whether he can steal a win remains to be seen, but Petty says one shouldn't lose sight of the fact that Gordon is filling a new role — and doing that well.
That's what his job will be again this weekend at Pocono.
"He may be the greatest racecar driver that ever lived, arguably," Petty said of Gordon. "But his job is to go out and run that car to the best of his ability and to the best of the car's ability and not get in a wreck and not tear it up and come home safe.
"That's what you do as a relief driver, or as a fill-in. You don't become a hero. Jeff's already a hero. ... He spoke of it last week that his restarts were off and that was something he was going to have to go home and think about this week, maybe do some stimulation and do some stuff and come back better this week. I think last week some of the rust was still there and he'll knock a little bit more of it off this week."