LONG POND, Pennsylvania (June 13, 2011) – – A week after a phenomenal performance that ended with a heartbreaking finish at Chicagoland Speedway, CGH Motorsports’ driver Chad Hackenbracht rebounded nicely this past Saturday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in the Pocono ARCA 200.
More determined than ever following Chicagoland Speedway, the Mooresville, North Carolina-team led by crew chief Rob Torrey and director of competition Kevin Reed, the freshman team went to the 2.5-mile with plenty of ammunition and a plan.
In the lone practice session on Friday, Hackenbracht in his No. 58 CGH Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS would again for the second straight week would fall victim to circumstances outside of their control. However, the resilience of the team would not fold despite mounting the 11th fastest practice time.
With some slight changes to their automobile, Hackenbracht was one of the first to tackle the “Tricky Triangle” for Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying. During his one lap run, Hackenbracht clicked off a lap of 55.500 seconds at 162.162 miles per hour to officially land eighth in the starting grid and accelerate past his previous best qualifying positions of ninth at Kansas Speedway (2010) and earlier this year at Salem (Ind.) Speedway.
Mother Nature has played havoc with the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards for much of the season and Saturday proved to be no different. With a light mist in the air, the drop of the green flag for the seventh race of the season would waive shortly before 2:00 p.m.
The field almost immediately stretched out with the 19-year old finding a comfortable zone around Pocono (Pa.) Raceway to zone in on his competitors ahead of him. Locking the eighth position, early on, Hackenbracht would report to the team that his No. 58 Tastee Chocolate Apples Chevrolet Impala SS was tight in the center of the corner but loose all around.
Still maintaining a spot in the eighth position on lap 12, Hackenbracht would key the radio and report that his car was still loose ultimately leaving him unable to get back in the gas as quickly as he would like. Acknowledgement from the team would reinsure their driver that a chassis change would be made during the first round of pit stops.
That first caution flag waived on lap 18 with a trip to pit road on lap 19 with four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Quick work by the CGH crew returned the rising star to eighth in the lineup.
With light rain falling and fog present, the caution period extended over the next 12 laps, and initially, ARCA officials decided to drop the green flag on lap 32. After restarts to begin laps 32 and 33 were aborted, officials instructed drivers to drive down pit road to close lap 35 where the red flag would be issued as everyone waited for the fog to lift.
A short time later, the cars would be re-fired and moved from pit road. The green flag would fly on lap 38. Hackenbracht would maintain his eighth place position until the caution flag would waive on lap 50. Hackenbracht would instruct his team that during his run that his machine was still loose in the center of the corner.
Lap 53 offered the final trip to pit road for the field with four tires, fuel and another chassis adjustment on deck. A superb pit stop by the team would send the 2008 National Asphalt Legends champion back into the field in the seventh position.
Restarting the event on lap 57, Hackenbracht would defend his position before a caution flag waived two laps later for again dense fog around the facility. Red flag conditions would again adorn the field but ultimately the fog would force ARCA officials to consider the race complete on lap 59 with Hackenbracht scored in the seventh position.
“Overall, it was a good day,” said Hackenbracht, who in addition to recording his career best finish in the ARCA Racing Series also grabbed his second top-10 finish of the season. It’s a shame that we weren’t able to go back to racing, because I feel we could have earned a couple more spots, but we’ll take this finish and look for a top-five at Michigan.”
Reed, the 2010 ARCA Racing Series crew chief of the year offered praise about his team and driver. “Chad did a great job. He raced smart considering all of the circumstances. We feel like with the last change we made on the pit stop would allow us to climb into the top-five. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the green flag laps we needed.”
Next up for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is round eight of 19 on the 2011 schedule. The RainEater Wiper Blades 200 from the two-mile oval of Michigan International Speedway is set for Friday, June 17th at 5:00 p.m. Eastern live on SPEED. Hackenbracht will make his second career start in the “Irish Hills” and look to improve on his 20th place finish from last June.
Exiting Pocono, Hackenbracht has 17 career ARCA starts to his credit. In his previous 16 races, he has delivered two top-10 finishes at New Jersey Motorsports Park (May 2011) and Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (June 2010). The CGH Motorsports team has delivered top-20 finishes in six of the first seven races in 2011.
CGH Motorsports is actively seeking additional marketing partners for the full 2011 ARCA Racing Series schedule. Single, multi and full-season placements are available on the team’s No. 58 entries. Interested parties are urged to contact Jordan Dahl at 570.234.5449 or
