LONG POND, Pa.: With his career-best eighth-place finish in the books from last Saturday’s General Tire 200 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, ARCA Menards Series rookie Jason Kitzmiller heads to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway looking for more success in Friday night’s General Tire #ANYWHEREISPOSSIBLE 200.
Despite starting deep in the field at Talladega, patience and perseverance paid off for Kitzmiller and his Codie Rohrbaugh-led team. And knowing Pocono Raceway is a completely different monster, the team is adequately preparing for 80 laps of mental toughness.
“Man, it felt so good to have such a great finish last weekend at Talladega,” said Kitzmiller. “I can’t thank Codie and the entire CR7 Motorsports team for the opportunity. It was a lot of fun, but we also had to work for it.
“We played a strategy and while it kept us out of trouble, it took us from the lead pack. I know Pocono is going to be much different though.”
A new challenge indeed awaits Kitzmiller. Pocono didn’t earn its named the “Tricky Triangle” for nothing, but he also knows it’s something that can be conquered, even if in your rookie debut.
“I’ve been preparing as best as I can for Pocono,” added Kitzmiller. “Of course, I’m been talking to Codie a lot about it – but the only thing that is really going to help me is track time. I wish we were still having the test, but I know circumstances prevented that and we’ll have to work around that.
“Thankfully, we’ll have some practice before we jump in the race and I’ll use that as my saving grace to try and get comfortable and use the race to keep making adjustments to our car and put us in position to perhaps back up what we did last weekend at Talladega.”
Rohrbaugh, a veteran at Pocono in ARCA competition will also compete in Saturday’s NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series believes Kitzmiller will find his groove.
“There’s a big difference between Talladega and Pocono, but honestly, I think Jason will be fine,” Rohrbaugh offered. “I think it will take him a few laps to get comfortable but during the race, he’ll be able to find his groove and race the race track.
“Depending on how the race goes, we’ll likely be playing strategy so it will be making sure we can execute the factors like getting on and off pit road to our advantage in hopes of Jason another good finish and something for us to build on for the Truck race on Saturday.”
Marketing partnership(s) opportunities are available for the No. 97 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet and No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet for the 2020 ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series seasons and beyond. Interested inquiries are encouraged to contact at tonya@gcmulch.com or 304.257.8783.
The General Tire #ANYWHEREISPOSSIBLE 200 (80 laps | 200 miles) is the fourth of 20 races on the 2020 ARCA Menards Series schedule. Practice begins Fri., June 26 with an hour session from 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. The race is set to take the green flag shortly after 1:00 p.m. The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), while ARCARacing.com will stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire weekend festivities. All times are local (Eastern).
