Competing in his fifth season with at least one start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Brennan Poole is within reach of a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at Richmond Raceway, the driver of the No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro will reach 100 career starts in the Xfinity circuit.
A native of The Woodlands, Texas, and the 2011 UARA-Stars champion, Poole made his inaugural presence in the NASCAR Xfinity circuit during the 2015 season when he joined HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi to pilot the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro for 15 events. By then, he had made a total of 35 starts in the ARCA Menards Series while garnering six victories. Making his debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, Poole started 16th and finished ninth, which would be his best result of the season. He went on to make a total of 17 starts throughout the 2015 Xfinity season, where he notched another top-10 result at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July by finishing 10th. He also achieved 10 top-15 results and an average-finishing result of 12.4.
In 2016, Poole campaigned in the Xfinity circuit on a full-time basis behind the wheel of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro for Chip Ganassi Racing. Commencing his rookie season by finishing 27th at Daytona International Speedway in February, Poole notched two 10th-place results during the first eight events on the schedule. Then at Talladega Superspeedway in April, he dodged a last lap carnage involving leaders Joey Logano and Elliott Sadler to edge Justin Allgaier in a photo finish and notch what would have been his first career victory in NASCAR. Poole, however, was relegated back to third place in the final running order after NASCAR awarded the win to Sadler by virtue of being in first place when the caution for the final lap wreck was displayed and since Poole had assumed the lead after the caution was displayed. Despite falling short of winning at Talladega, the Texan notched another third-place run at Road America in August along with an additional three top-five results and nine top-10 results during the final 17 regular-season events on the schedule before claiming a spot to the inaugural 2016 Xfinity Series Playoffs. With his title hopes evaporating despite claiming three consecutive top-20 results during the Round of 12, Poole earned three top-11 results during the final four events on the schedule before finishing in eighth place in the final standings. Overall, he achieved four top-five results, 17 top-10 results, 11 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.4 during his first Xfinity season.
Remaining at CGR for the 2017 season, Poole’s sophomore season commenced with a 26th-place run at Daytona after being involved in a late wreck. He rallied by posting four eighth-place runs during the following nine events. At Daytona in July, Poole notched his first career pole in the series and was running towards the front until he was bumped by William Byron and wrecked with Ty Dillon on the fronstretch. He rallied by finishing seventh. Throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, Poole’s highest on-track result was a fourth-place run at Iowa Speedway in July as he recorded 12 top-10 results before making his second consecutive appearance in the Xfinity Playoffs. During the Playoff opener at Kentucky Speedway in September, the Texan notched a career-best runner-up result after finishing 14.5 seconds behind teammate Tyler Reddick. He then claimed back-to-back fifth-place results before transferring to the Round of 8. Following two consecutive top-12 results during the Round of 8, Poole entered the round’s finale at Phoenix Raceway in November with a five-point advantage over the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 finale. During the 23rd lap at Phoenix, however, Poole’s hopes of transferring to the finale evaporated after he collided with Caesar Bacarella in Turn 1, which sent Poole’s No. 48 Chevrolet into the outside wall with a blown right-front tire and significant damage that terminated his run. He went on to finish sixth in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and in a career-best sixth place in the final championship standings. Ironically, Poole achieved the exact number of top-five runs (four) and top-10 results (17) from his rookie season while capping off the season with 14 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.5.
The following season, Poole lost his ride at CGR, but sued the team in June and alleged that the organization along with agency Spire Sports + Entertainment breached his contract by moving his sponsor DC Solar to sponsor CGR’s NASCAR Cup Series operations. With the settlement between all three parties being disputed out-of-court at the conclusion of the season, Poole proceeded by making a total of 27 starts in the NASCAR Truck Series from 2018 to 2021. He also campaigned in his first full-time season during the 2020 Cup season, where he finished 32nd in the final standings while competing for Premium Motorsports.
This past season, Poole returned to the Xfinity circuit with the intention of competing in the series’ three West Coast events for Mike Harmon Racing. He failed to qualify at Auto Club Speedway in February and at Phoenix in March, but managed to compete at Las Vegas in March, where he finished 37th following an early engine failure. Ultimately, Poole attempted to compete in 21 additional events with MHR, Jimmy Means Racing and JD Motorsports throughout the season, but successfully qualified for nine, beginning at Richmond Raceway in April and concluding at Phoenix in November. In a total of 10 starts, his best on-track result was a 14th-place run at Homestead with JD Motorsports in October.
Through 99 previous Xfinity starts, Poole has achieved a pole, eight top-five results, 36 top-10 results, 31 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.7 while he continues to pursue his first victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series. He has racked up an average-finishing result of 27.7 through the first six Xfinity events on this year’s schedule, with his best on-track result being a 13th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway two races ago, and is ranked in 27th place in the driver’s standings.
Poole is scheduled to make his 100th career start in the Xfinity Series at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, April 1, with the event’s coverage scheduled slated to occur at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.
