The Pennsylvania 500 is the second of two stock car races held at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, on the NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule, the other being the Pocono 500. Both the Pennsylvania 500 and Pocono 500 are unique in that they have no title sponsor, a decision made by track management in response to feedback from fans.

Pocono Raceway (formerly Pocono International Raceway) is a superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania at Long Pond. It is the site of two annual NASCAR Nextel Cup races held just weeks apart in June and July.

Many fans and drivers contend that the 500-mile races at Pocono take too long, and that they would like to see them shortened to 400 miles. Some fans would not mind seeing the track disappear from the schedule altogether, or at least reduced to one race. Others have called for a Busch Series or Craftsman Truck Series support race to be held at Pocono, since it is one of only two Nextel Cup oval tracks (along with Indianapolis) that is not on either the Busch or Craftsman Truck schedule. The only support event at Pocono is the ARCA series.

Pocono is one of a very few NASCAR tracks not owned by either Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or International Speedway Corporation, the dominant track owners in NASCAR. It is owned by the Mattioli family, which also owns South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia, and administers the Music City Motorplex in Nashville, Tennessee.

Outside of the NASCAR races, Pocono is used throughout the year by sports car and motorcycle clubs as well as racing schools. The tri-oval also has three separate infield sections of racetrack - North Course, East Course and South Course. Each of these infield sections use a separate portion of the tri-oval to complete the track. During regular non-race weekends, multiple clubs can use the track by running on different infield sections. Also some of the infield sections can be run in either direction, or multiple infield sections can be put together - such as running the North Course and the South Course and using the tri-oval to connect the two. This is the typical configuration for the Formula USA (FUSA) motorcycle race that is run on the track.