17-Year-Old Racer Enjoys Strong Showing in First Visit to ‘Tricky Triangle’
Date: Friday, June 12
Event: Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150
Series: ARCA Menards Series
Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile triangle)
Length: 60 laps (150 miles)
Start/Finish: 5th / 3rd (Running, completed 60 of 60 laps)
Overview:
Carson Brown acquitted himself well in his first outing at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, finishing third in Friday’s Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150 ARCA Menards Series race at the aptly named “Tricky Triangle.” At 2.5 miles in length, Pocono is 1.5 miles longer than any previous oval Brown had ever competed on, and the first triangle he had experienced in his burgeoning racing career. Yet Brown assimilated quickly to Pocono’s quirky layout, qualifying fifth and then running as high as second in the 60-lap contest. With three distinct corners and a mammoth 3,740-foot frontstretch, Pocono delivers high speeds and heightened aerodynamics as the collective wake of 24 cars creates buffering not felt on the tracks Brown had experienced prior to Friday. After starting fifth, he dropped to seventh after 10 laps, but soon found his footing as the race wore on. A pit stop on lap 22 aided the handling of his No. 28 Distributor Wire & Cable Chevrolet from Pinnacle Racing Group (PRG), and by the time of the mandatory mid-race break, Brown had climbed back to third. In the final half of the race, Brown was able to track down Jake Bollman and take second place with eight laps to go. However, a hard-charging Gavan Boschele was soon on Brown’s bumper. Despite doing a yeoman’s job of holding off Boschele, Brown had to give up second as his Chevrolet slipped through the track’s Tunnel Turn on the penultimate lap, providing the opening Boschele needed. Brown finished a comfortable third, with Boschele ending up 14.342 seconds behind winner Gio Ruggiero.
Carson Brown, driver of the No. 28 Distributor Wire & Cable Chevrolet for Pinnacle Racing Group:
“The first half of the race we were honestly pretty decent, we just got put in some really bad positions with pushes not going our way and kind of just kept falling back – ended up falling back to seventh. But then just started picking them off one by one as the race went on and felt decent about it. Came in to pit, got even better, and then started picking even more off. Got to second there toward the end, but then the last 15 laps just struggled really, really bad with right-rear grip. Just something went away from us the last 15 laps and just couldn’t really get it back. It was just really, really loose, just struggling to get rear grip. I felt like I was swatting bees just trying to hang on to it, trying to get it to the end. Ended up P3 and really proud of all the guys because I felt like I was pretty good in clean air and dirty air as long as the pushes went my way, and as long as I had a little bit of clean air on my nose. I’m looking forward to doing it again. A big thank you to the PRG guys, Distributor Wire & Cable, everybody on this car. We just need a little bit more there at the end.”
Notes:
● This was Brown’s eighth career ARCA Menards Series start. He made his ARCA debut in March 2025 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida, when he finished sixth in the ARCA East season opener. Brown earned his first ARCA win March 5 at Phoenix Raceway in just his third career start.
● Brown’s average ARCA finish is now 3.5. He has never finished outside of the top-10.
● Brown qualified fifth for the Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150 with a time of 54.641 seconds at 164.711 mph. It was a .319-second pick-up from practice, where Brown’s best lap was 54.960 seconds at 163.755 mph. In eight career ARCA starts, Brown has never qualified lower than sixth.
Next Up:
Despite the checkered flag waving on the Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150 at Pocono, Carson Brown is still driving. Upon completing his post-race duties, Brown began the five-and-a-half-hour drive south to Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, Virginia, where he will compete in Saturday night’s zMAX CARS Tour event. Brown will drive the No. 5B Chevrolet in the Mini’s Mission Burn Rubber to Help Another 125 at the .4-mile asphalt oval. Brown’s next ARCA race comes July 10 with the Lime Rock ARCA 100 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. In between, Brown is back on the ASA Stars National Tour with a slate of Wisconsin races – June 21 at Slinger Speedway and June 23 at Madison International Raceway. With two wins and a second-place finish in the first three ASA races of the season, Brown holds a 78-point lead in the championship standings. Brown will also contest the first leg of the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown June 27 at South Boston Speedway. Across ARCA, ASA, the CARS Tour and select Late Model races, Brown is scheduled to compete in more than 50 pavement races in 2026.
