2021 Explore the Pocono Mountains 350

The 2021 Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on June 27, 2021, at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Contested over 140 laps on the 2.5 mi triangular racecourse, it was the 19th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Entry list

 * (R) denotes rookie driver.
 * (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

Qualifying
Chris Buescher was awarded the pole for the race as determined by the top 20 from Saturday's finishing order inverted.

Race
Owing to the top 20 finishers being inverted from the previous race to set the field, Chris Buescher started on the pole. Martin Truex Jr. won the first stage while William Byron won the second stage. The race came down to fuel mileage. Brad Keselowski had to pit from the lead, giving the lead to Byron. Byron then had to pit with three laps to go, handing the lead to Denny Hamlin. Hamlin pit coming to the white flag, giving the lead to Kyle Busch, who was also suffering from a transmission issue, had enough fuel for his second win of the season over Kyle Larson, who finished second despite suffering heating issues.

Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 30

Stage Two Laps: 55

Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 55

Race statistics

 * Lead changes: 12 among 10 different drivers
 * Cautions/Laps: 4 for 15
 * Red flags: 0
 * Time of race: 2 hours, 26 minutes and 49 seconds
 * Average speed: 143.036 mph

Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled the pit road duties from pit lane. Jac Collinsworth handled the features from the track.

Radio
MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Dave Moody called the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform inside the backstretch when the field raced down the backstretch. Kyle Rickey called the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 4 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Steve Post and Kim Coon worked pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Manufacturers' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
 * . – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.