Kimmel Hopes to Go Back-To-Back at Pocono

No. 44 Ansell/ Menards Toyota Camry

ARCA RACING SERIES – RACE 14 OF 20 – POCONO RACEWAY        

Coming off his 75th career win last Friday at Lucas Oil Raceway Park, Frank Kimmel returns to the Pocono Raceway looking for his second consecutive win and fourth career win at the Pennsylvania Triangle. Kimmel and the Ansell/Menards team enter the second Pocono event of 2012 riding a wave of impressive performances through the summer, and look to continue gaining on the championship point leaders.

In June, Kimmel battled back from a flat tire to finish 6th in the Pocono ARCA 200. Since the off weekend at the beginning of July, Kimmel has gained 95 points on the series point lead on the strength of three top five finishes. Leading up to his monumental 75th win, Kimmel scored a 5th place finish in Iowa and followed that effort up with an impressive 3rd at the Chicagoland Speedway. Kimmel and the #44 Thorsport Racing team come to Pocono to continue their momentum through the hot summer stretch of consecutive races, and look to improve on their effort in the June Pocono event.

Pocono Raceway has been the site of great success for the 75-time ARCA Racing Series race winner. Kimmel has scored three wins at the Tricky Triangle, the most recent of those coming in July 2006 when he won from the pole. In recent history, Kimmel has been a model of consistency at the 2.5 mile facility finishing inside the top ten in the last six consecutive ARCA events at Pocono, and finishing all but one lap. The 2012 edition of the Pennsylvania ARCA 125 will hold added intrigue for the nine-time champ, as he will look to accomplish something he has not done since 2008, win back-to-back races.

TOP FIVE STREAK: Kimmel returns to Pocono on a streak of three top five finishes dating back to Iowa Speedway on July 13th where he finished 5th. Before last week’s victory, Kimmel finished 3rd in the Ansell ActivArmr 150 at the Chicagoland Speedway. Starting with a 7th place finish at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Kimmel has a streak of four consecutive top ten finishes since finishing 11th at Winchester Speedway in June.

CHASING THE RECORDS: By taking his 75th career checkered flag in last week’s Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 in Indianapolis, Kimmel moved to within four wins of the all-time ARCA win record, held by Iggy Katona.  Kimmel can tie Katona’s all-time record of 43 pole awards this weekend during Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell on Friday at 5:15pm ET.

POINTS REPORT: After 13 of 20 races, Kimmel sits third in ARCA Racing Series points and trails point leader, Chris Buescher, by 65 points. As a result of his win at Lucas Oil Raceway Park, Kimmel gained 35 points after leading 43 laps en route to his first victory with Thorsport Racing. Kimmel has accumulated one win, six top fives, and ten top ten finishes thus far in 2012.

CHASSIS CHOICE: Kimmel will race Thorsport Racing’s A-2 chassis at Pocono, the car’s fourth appearance of 2012. Chassis A-2 has been raced to three top ten finishes in as many starts this season. (Pocono – 6th, Michigan – 7th, Chicagoland – 3rd).

SUMMER STREAK: During the three races in July, Kimmel scored one win, three top five finishes, and led in two events for a total of 66 laps. Those performances vaulted Kimmel and the Ansell/Menards Toyota team 95 points closer to the championship lead with seven races remaining.  GOING FOR BACK-TO-BACK: In his ARCA Racing Series career, Kimmel has scored consecutive race wins on 23 occasions. After breaking a 75 race winless streak, Kimmel will look to visit victory lane in back-to-back races at Pocono Raceway.

THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: Frank Kimmel

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT POCONO IN JUNE THAT YOU WILL TRANSFER TO THIS WEEKEND? “We don’t know if we’ll have a tire issue when we go back. We don’t know if the track has cured enough and lost a little bit of grip. We’re going to be aware of the tire issues and pay attention to that. The tires are going to need some attention, and our car was pretty good in the spring race. What we learned at Michigan and Chicago we are applying to the car, because we’ve raced this chassis at all those races.”

WHAT KIND OF PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGE DO YOU HAVE COMING OFF THE WIN AT INDY? “Confidence. We were all worried if we were doing the right things to the racecars and in the racecars. We were close several times, but could never get ourselves to break through. All that is gone now. That pressure is off Jeriod Prince and myself, and the entire team. The guys that work on the cars want to win, and everybody wants to see results. It wasn’t an easy one, we had to improve the car all race and really work for it. That’s what you have to do. It really increased our confidence to know that we can go out and win races now.”

Race Info

August 4, 2012

Pocono Raceway

2.5 Mile Oval

Pennsylvania ARCA 125

50 Laps/125 Miles

Broadcast Info:

Live Timing & Scoring at ARCARacing.com

Friday August 3rd: Practice – 1:40pm -3pm ET

Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell – 5:15 pm ET

Saturday August 4th: Race – 3 pmET – LIVE ON SPEED

Team Facts:

Current Driver Point Standings: 3rd

Chassis: A-2 (Recently Raced at Chicagoland – 3rd)

Engine: TRD (Toyota Racing Development) & TRIAD

Frank Kimmel ARCA RACING SERIES results at Pocono:

WINS: 3

POLES: 4

Top 5s: 18

Top 10s: 27

Total Appearances: 39

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