Stock car races in the NASCAR Cup Series have been held at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania during numerous seasons and times of year since 1974.

From 1982 to 2021, a second race at the track (most often a , but last held as a event) was also part of the Cup Series schedule, held every June; it was replaced with a race at Gateway Motorsports Park starting in 2022.

Current race The Great American Getaway 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Denny Hamlin is the defending winner of the event.

History The race received its date in 1974 with some last minute planning, after failing to an agreement with the Trenton Speedway in New Jersey, Bill France Sr. called up Joseph Mattioli about a race being held at Pocono and the first NASCAR Cup Series race was held, the first winner was Richard Petty. He led 152 of the 192 laps ran as the race was called for rain with 8 laps to go.

In 1982, NASCAR added a second date to the schedule at Pocono for early June, replacing a race at Texas World Speedway. For a period of time, the two races were only separated as little as five weeks on the schedule. Before the double headers, the races were held seven weeks apart.

Starting in 2007, the first race was moved from its traditional July date into August, swapping dates with the Brickyard 400. This was because ESPN wanted to have their broadcast start off at Indianapolis over Pocono.

In 2008, Sunoco, the official NASCAR fuel supplier, based in Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia region of the American Red Cross, agreed to sponsorship of the race and charity events to benefit the American Red Cross South Pennsylvania-Philadelphia region. It marked the first time since 1996 that the event carried a title sponsor. Camping World took over title sponsorship of sponsorship through its Good Sam Club in 2011.

The race was a , 200 lap event from its inception in 1974, through the 2011 race. On August 10, 2011, it was announced that both Pocono races would be shortened to , beginning in 2012. The second race was shortened to for its last two years.

The Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, through its marketing arm Strike Ten Entertainment, signed on as the entitlement sponsor for the 2013 and 2014 races. In 2015, Microsoft signed a one-year deal to title the event with its new Windows 10 update, and in 2016 the race returned as the Pennsylvania 400. In early-July 2017, the Marine and Watersport franchise Overton's, which is owned by Camping World, signed a three-year deal to sponsor Pocono's second race weekend through 2019, which included not only the Cup race being renamed the Overton's 400, but the 150-mile Camping World Truck Series race being known as the Overton's 150. However, on February 6, 2018, it was announced that Gander Outdoors (another company owned by Camping World) would sponsor the Cup Series races, the Gander Outdoors 400, as well as the Truck Series race, the Gander Outdoors 150. The Overton's sponsorship was transferred to the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series races at Chicagoland Speedway in 2018.

In mid-2019, NASCAR and Pocono Raceway announced that the track would host a doubleheader weekend on the last weekend of June. On Saturday, the Truck event that is usually held in July and the first Cup race that is usually held in early June would run on Saturday. On Sunday, the Xfinity race that is run in June and the second Cup race followed. During this period, the race was shortened from 400 to 350 miles.

The Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau was the title sponsor of the race in 2021, with the name of the race being the "Explore the Pocono Mountains 350". In 2022, the race returned to being 400 miles in length and M&M's (and parent company Mars Inc.) sponsored the race to highlight their last year as a NASCAR sponsor, and the name of the race was the "M&M's Fan Appreciation 400", which saw the career-ending crash of Kurt Busch during qualifying and disqualifications of top two finishers Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, the first disqualification for a race winner since 1960, while the track's second race was dropped and moved to Gateway Motorsports Park. In 2023, HighPoint, one of the sponsors of Stewart–Haas Racing's No. 14 car driven by Chase Briscoe, became the title sponsor of the race. The IT company is based in North Jersey in Sparta a little over an hour from the track.

Notable moments

The 1973 ACME Super Saver 500 was one of four stock car races (1971–74) at Pocono under USAC sanction. The first three were won by Butch Hartman, Roger McCluskey, and Richard Petty. McCluskey's 1972 win came in a Plymouth Superbird and came when the race was run in conjunction with USAC's Schaefer 500 in late July when a hurricane postponed the IndyCar race. The 1974 ACME Super Saver 500 was run on April 24, 1974. Buddy Baker won the pole and led nine laps but finished 20th with a burned valve. USAC stock car series regular Butch Hartman led 124 laps before his clutch failed with eight to go. Ron Keselowski won the race having led 61 laps total. 1974: NASCAR shortened its races in the first half of 1974 due to the energy crisis; the crisis had passed and in July races, including Pocono, were put back to their full distance. Additionally, Pocono was not listed on the original 1974 NASCAR schedule; a race at Trenton Speedway was listed in several issues of Stock Car Racing magazine, notably the magazine's June 1974 issue. The Trenton date was subsequently switched to Pocono. Pocono broke 40 official lead changes in seven of the first nine NASCAR-sanctioned Pennsylvania 500s (1975–77, 1979–80, 1982–83). 1975: David Pearson's win came amid controversy; his Mercury, sponsored by race sponsor Purolator Filters, was leaking oil in the form of smoke throughout the race's final ten laps but NASCAR waited until two laps to go to wave a black flag at him, by which time it was too late, since drivers are allowed to stay out for three laps before heeding a black flag. Under current NASCAR rules, if a black flag is waved within the final five laps (offside (illegal pass before crossing start-finish line on start or restart), out of bounds (below double yellow line on restrictor plate tracks or cutting a chicane), or inappropriate driving), and the driver does not respond, he will be assessed a time penalty that will be calculated into final results (often a penalty that moves the driver to the last car on the lap they were running, or a lap penalty). 1976: The next year, 1976, Pearson led 14 times for 124 laps but blew a tire with two to go, giving Petty the win. Bobby Allison, nursing injuries sustained in a short track crash in Elko, MN weeks earlier, battled for the lead in the first 40 laps but during a pitstop took off with unsecured left side tires; they fell off in the track's Tunnel Turn. The lead changed 47 times among eight drivers. 1977: The 1977 running was sponsored by Coca-Cola. Darrell Waltrip won the pole, his first on a superspeedway (photos from the race were used by Sports Illustrated in an October piece on Waltrip). The lead changed 46 times among seven drivers as Benny Parsons held off a late charge from Richard Petty for the win. 1978: The 1978 running saw the fewest cautions (1) in track history. Darrell Waltrip edged David Pearson for the win. 1979: The 1979 running saw the most lead changes (56) in track history as rain postponed the race from Sunday to Monday. Dale Earnhardt suffered serious injuries on Lap 93 when his Chevrolet shot into the boilerplate wall in Turn Two. Darrell Waltrip, driving an Al Rudd Chevrolet after he crashed in Saturday practice and the DiGard team couldn't use a backup car, pitted under a late yellow for tires, dropping him from third to seventh; the race never restarted and Waltrip's pitstop cost him 19 points; he would lose the 1979 season championship by 11 points. 1980: Neil Bonnett escaped with the win on the final lap as Buddy Baker forearmed alongside up high but Cale Yarborough pushed Bonnett into the lead and Baker and Cale banged together. The lead changed 50 times among ten drivers. Meanwhile, Richard Petty crashed on lap 56 when the right front wheel snapped; Chuck Bown spun behind him and Darrell Waltrip T-boned Petty. Petty broke his neck but because he didn't want to be sidelined he hid his injury for months until an x-ray taken of him 4 weeks later found that the injury deteriorated over time. This resulted in officials making drivers be cleared by doctors after any kind of wreck no matter how hard the impacts are. 1982: Dale Earnhardt's chest injury in 1979 was followed by a leg injury in a tumble in Turn One with Tim Richmond; the crash pierced the boilerplate retaining wall, requiring 40 laps under caution to repair. The race was a ferocious affair as the lead changed 46 times and on several laps changed three times in one lap. Richard Petty ran low on gas in the final laps and Darrell Waltrip ran out on the final lap, securing the win for Bobby Allison. 1986: Richmond won the Pennsylvania 500 in 1983 and 1986; in 1986 he was involved in a crash in Turn Two with Richard Petty; he drove backwards to pit road and lost a lap, then got it back when Earnhardt crashed twice in a span of ten laps; he got four tires with five to go, then passed six cars before winning in a wild three-abreast finish with Ricky Rudd and Geoff Bodine. Neil Bonnett suffered an arm injury on the restart after Richmond's wreck; Morgan Shepherd spun in the Tunnel Turn and several cars plowed into the scene; Bonnett slid into the inside guardrail, flopped onto his side, and landed on four wheels. 1989: The track's boilerplate wall was pierced three times in 1989 - in June Geoff Bodine broke his leg (and didn't find this out until days later) in Turn One; in July Jimmy Horton pierced the wall in Turn Two; during the lengthy yellow for repairs a jack rabbit got onto the speedway near the start-finish line; it escaped initial attempt at capture by the track safety crew but was caught unharmed minutes later and released into the nearby forest. Later in the race in One Greg Sacks and Lake Speed hammered the wall in One and Sacks took a wild tumble reminiscent of Earnhardt's 1982 flip. The boilerplate was replaced by concrete in 1990. Geoff Bodine and Rusty Wallace battled on and off throughout the 500, but Bill Elliott ran both down in the final 20 laps; Bodine spun out of second with 15 to go, then with seven to go Wallace skidded through the Tunnel Turn and Elliott took the win, tying him with Richmond for most wins at Pocono. 1990: Bodine won the Pennsylvania 500 twice, in 1990 driving for Junior Johnson and in 1994 driving the car formerly owned by Alan Kulwicki. His 1990 win came in a spirited contest; the lead changed four times on Lap 117 between Bodine and Davey Allison and three times on Lap 180 between Bodine, Allison, and Rusty Wallace. 1992: Darrell Waltrip picked up his penultimate victory after a race marred by a frightening crash involving Davey Allison when Allison and Waltrip's cars contacted, sending Allison skidding into the grass and later flipping repeatedly before resting on the car roof. As a result of the accident, this led to Allison losing the points lead for the first time that season; as Bill Elliott moved into the points lead after this race. 1993: Dale Earnhardt won after a spirited affair; on several laps the lead changed twice to three times in a single lap between him, Ernie Irvan, Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, and a surprising Brett Bodine. Following the race he was given a Robert Yates Racing No. 28 flag and flew it while slowly driving clockwise around the track, a tribute to Davey Allison who had died in a helicopter accident days earlier, and Alan Kulwicki, who had died in a plane crash in April.