Kansas City, KS (October 3, 2012) — Brennan Poole, by one measure, has been the best speedway driver this season in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. Today, the 21-year-old showed the way in testing at Kansas Speedway.
Poole, testing his No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Toyota on the 1.5-mile oval, finished with the best lap of the morning session, and then the afternoon session as well, to lead a group of 28 entries that made laps throughout the day.
At 29.954 seconds (180.276 mph), Poole’s best morning lap was the only one to break 30 seconds, but one of 16 to go faster than Ken Butler III’s existing track qualifying record of 30.799 seconds (175.33 mph), set in 2008. Poole led the afternoon session – and therefore, the full day – with a late lap of 29.733 seconds (181.616 mph), helping him top Frank Kimmel, Kevin Swindell, Grant Enfinger, and Alex Bowman. Kimmel and Bowman are both past Kansas winners.
As was the case at Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway earlier this season, new pavement at Kansas made for times much faster than any seen before. When all was said and done for the day, the top 20 of 28 entries on the board today were faster than Butler’s 2008 ARCA qualifying record at Kansas.
Poole’s No. 25 car will enter the Kansas Lottery 98.9 on Friday, October 19 with a 95-point advantage in the Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge over ThorSport Racing’s No. 44 car, driven by Kimmel. Of six speedway races this year, Poole has won one, at Pocono in June.
In the sixth spot for the day was NASCAR Camping World Truck Series veteran Matt Crafton. He was followed by Ryan Reed, ARCA points leader Chris Buescher, Mason Mitchell, and Matt Lofton.
The full listing of best times and speeds for each entry is available below.
POS | NO | DRIVER/HOMETOWN | TEAM & CAR | TIME | SPEED |
1 | 25 | Brennan Poole/The Woodlands TX | Venturini Motorsports Toyota | 29.733 | 181.616 |
2 | 44 | Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN | Ansell-Menards Toyota | 29.806 | 181.172 |
3 | 55 | Kevin Swindell/Germantown TN | Venturini Motorsports Toyota | 29.840 | 180.965 |
4 | 44 | Grant Enfinger/Fairhope AL | Roush Yates Performance Parts Ford | 29.844 | 180.941 |
5 | 22 | Alex Bowman/Tucson AZ | Cunningham Motorsports Dodge | 29.935 | 180.391 |
6 | 44b | Matt Crafton/Tulare CA | ThorSport Racing Toyota | 30.001 | 179.994 |
7 | 15 | Ryan Reed/Bakersfield CA | Venturini Motorsports Ford | 30.045 | 179.730 |
8 | 17 | Chris Buescher/Prosper TX | Roulo Brothers Racing Ford | 30.136 | 179.188 |
9 | 6 | Mason Mitchell/W. Des Moines IA | Eddie Sharp Racing Toyota | 30.144 | 179.140 |
10 | 16 | Matt Lofton/Roxboro NC | Strutmasters.com Chevrolet | 30.175 | 178.956 |
11 | 16a | Kelly Bires/Mauston WI | Coulter Motorsports Chevrolet | 30.233 | 178.613 |
12 | 23 | Spencer Gallagher/Las Vegas NV | Allegiant Air Chevrolet | 30.243 | 178.554 |
13 | 92 | Brennan Newberry/Bakersfield CA | NTS Motorsports Chevrolet | 30.356 | 177.889 |
14 | 22a | Alex Bowman/Tucson AZ | Cunningham Motorsports Dodge | 30.375 | 177.778 |
15 | 15a | Ryan Reed/Bakersfield CA | Venturini Motorsports Ford | 30.478 | 177.177 |
16 | 44a | Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN | Ansell-Menards Toyota | 30.538 | 176.829 |
17 | 35 | John Wes Townley/Watkinsville GA | Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet | 30.559 | 176.707 |
18 | 36 | Ricky Ehrgott/Brandon FL | Allgaier Motorsports Dodge | 30.583 | 176.569 |
19 | 66 | Nelson Canache/Caracas Venezuela | Venturini Motorsports Toyota | 30.605 | 176.442 |
20 | 52 | Chad Boat/Phoenix AZ | Ken Schrader Racing Chevrolet | 30.770 | 175.496 |
21 | 32a | Chris Windom/West Lafayette IN | Win-Tron Racing Chevrolet | 30.958 | 174.430 |
22 | 99 | Brandon Davis/Huntington Beach CA | Roulo Brothers Racing Ford | 31.034 | 174.003 |
23 | 88 | Buster Graham/Lafayette LA | Batter’s Dream-RoushYatesParts.com Ford | 31.349 | 172.254 |
24 | 91 | Robert Bujdoso/Canfield OH | Checkered Express Ford | 31.349 | 171.412 |
25 | 94 | Milka Duno/Caracas Venezuela | Milka Way Toyota | 31.523 | 171.304 |
26 | 40 | Evan Pardo/Gatesville TX | Carter 2 Motorsports Dodge | 31.756 | 170.047 |
27 | 32 | Mason Mingus/Brentwood TN | Win-Tron Racing Toyota | 32.168 | 167.869 |
28 | 2 | Dustin Hapka/Grand Forks ND | Sure Step Chevrolet | 35.987 | 150.054 |
The Kansas Lottery 98.9 will be the final race on the 2012 schedule, but not the next one. The DuQuoin State Fairgrounds dirt in Illinois will host ARCA on Sunday, October 14 in a makeup of a rained-out race from Labor Day weekend.
ARCARacing.com will feature live timing and scoring coverage throughout the day, and ARCA Racing Network hosts Charlie Krall and Tim Clagg will deliver a live audio call for the 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. local) race on the site.
Five days later – on Friday – the season will close at Kansas, with race action starting at 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. local) on SPEED. ARCARacing.com will also feature live timing and scoring coverage for the season finale.
About Venturini Motorsports
Venturini Motorsports (VMS), fielding cars in the ARCA Racing Series, is one of the premier NASCAR driver development programs in the country. The 2012 season marks the team’s 30th Anniversary of competition in the ARCA Series. Multiple team championships and consistent on-track success, VMS has evolved into one of the most recognizable names in motorsports.
Since 2007, VMS has assisted in the career development of notable NASCAR drivers such as Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier, Steve Arpin, Brian Scott, Max Gresham, Miguel Paludo, Josh Richards, Ryan Blaney, and Scott Lagasse, Jr.
Official: www.VenturiniMotorsports.com | Twitter @VenturiniMotor | Facebook: Venturini Motorsports