NASCAR is back in the United States this week and they’ll transition from road course to triangle. Pocono, “The Tricky Triangle” is one of the most unique tracks on the circuit. Composed of three long straights, instead of the traditional four corners it has just three. The 2.5-mile track is nestled in the Poconos in the unincorporated Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. Let’s take a look at this week’s NASCAR picks, odds and best bets for The Great American Getaway at Pocono Raceway.
Shane Van Gisbergen essentially punched his playoff ticket with a win at Mexico last week, assuming there aren’t more than 15 or more winners + the regular season champion. Denny Hamlin applied for, and was granted the medical waiver needed to keep his playoff berth locked up and retain his point. He’ll be back in action at one of his best tracks.
NASCAR Picks: The Great American Getaway at Pocono Raceway Odds and Best Bets
Denny Hamlin +500
Kyle Larson +750
Ryan Blaney +800
William Byron +850
Christopher Bell +1000
Tyler Reddick +1200
Chase Elliott +1500
Joey Logano +1800
Chris Buescher +2100
Ty Gibbs +2100
Brad Keselowski +2100
Ross Chastain +2000
Carson Hocevar +2500
Chase Briscoe +2800
Kyle Busch +2900
Bubba Wallace +3100
Alex Bowman +3400
Josh Berry +4200
Austin Cindric +5000
Erik Jones +5000
Ryan Preece +5000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr +5500
Daniel Suarez +6000
Zane Smith +10000
Michael McDowell +10000
AJ Allmendinger +10000
Noah Gragson +14000
Shane Van Gisbergen +14000
Austin Dillon +21000
John Hunter Nemechek +21000
Todd Gilliland +21000
Cole Custer +21000
Justin Haley +21000
Riley Herbst +25000
Ty Dillon +34000
Cody Ware +50000
Brennan Poole +5000
NASCAR Picks: The Great American Getaway at Pocono Raceway Odds and Best Bets
William Byron Over Ryan Blaney (-105)
This one matches up two of the fastest drivers in the field against each other. Both drivers have been fast this year, and both have had great runs slip through their hands and miss out on wins. The one big difference, William Byron has been making it to the end of these races, and Blaney hasn’t. In 16 races this season Byron has finished better than Blaney in 10 of them. Blaney won this race last year, but the inconsistency has killed him with two sub-30th finishes in two of the three NextGen races here.
It’s been the same story for him this season with fast cars but bad finishes at Michigan, Charlotte and Las Vegas. Byron has had dominant days where the win evades him but he still secures top finishes. Byron has the best average finish (10.4) of all cup drivers this year and ranks #1 in overall speed this season according to IFantasyrace.com. They also rank him in the NextGen at Pocono as second in speed ranking, driver rating, and average running position. It’s a simple case of who can you trust more.
Total Speed Ranking Season To Date Top 10 (All races)
1) Byron
2) Bell
3) Larson
3) Reddick
5) Hamlin
6) Blaney
7) Elliott
8) Wallace
9) Preece
10) Chastain pic.twitter.com/O2J540xyOU— Ryan (@ifantasyrace) June 9, 2025
Denny Hamlin Top 5 (-110)
Hamlin has been lights out at Pocono his entire career, and even more so in the NextGen era. He began his career here sweeping both races in his rookie year in 2006. In the NextGen era he won two of the three races and finished second in the other. The asterisk on that is he was disqualified and stripped of that 2022 win and credited with a 35th place finish. I doubt some tape under the wrap made that big of a difference so I’m counting it as a win.
That being said, over the last eight races at Pocono, Hamlin has one finish outside of the top five, winning four of those races. In 35 starts he’s won eight times, finished second twice and has finished in the top five a staggering 17 times. On top of that, he’s riding the “baby bump” racers seem to get after having a child. He also won his last time out at Michigan, a track there’s a lot of take away from when it comes to Pocono. Hamlin is always in the mix for a top five at the end of a Pocono race.
2025 “Conventional Track ” Total Speed Rankings Season To Date
1) Byron
2) Hamlin
3) Blaney
4) Reddick
5) Larson*** Conventional means minus superspeedways and road courses. pic.twitter.com/GobwmBhZtF
— Ryan (@ifantasyrace) June 11, 2025
Ryan Preece Top 10 (+250)
Ryan Preece has had a stout season in his first year with the RFK Racing expansion team. He’s not had good finishes here at Pocono. But you have to throw out everything from before with him because this year is different. He finished top 10 in five of the eight intermediate tracks the series has visited so far in 2025. Including Michigan, Charlotte, Kansas, Las Vegas and Miami. Teammate and car owner Brad Keselowski has recently shown a lot of speed on the intermediates as well. At +250 for a guy who’s proven this year he’s always going to be in the mix for a top 10, I love the odds.
Tyler Reddick to Win (+1200)
I’ll be betting on both William Byron and Denny Hamlin this week for some of the reasons mentioned above. But Tyler Reddick also deserves a bet at this number. It’s been a let down year so far for the 2024 regular season champion. But the odds have slipped too far and now is the time to pounce. Coming to a track that’s been largely dominated by Toyota and Reddick’s car owner Denny Hamlin is a good start. Then you take into account Reddick has the best average finish here (3.3) in the NextGen (second best if you give Denny credit for the 22-win). Twice he’s finished in second place, and his teammate Bubba Wallace has shown big time speed improvements lately. If Reddick can put it all together this week, 12-1 is a steal.
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