Brennan Poole Successful in ARCA Return, Wins Patriot Pumps 200 at Michigan
Brennan Poole wins the Patriot Pumps 200 at Michigan
After running up front and close racing with teammate Justin Boston, Brennan Poole would pick up the victory in the Patriot Pumps 200 at Michigan International Speedway on Friday afternoon.
“We should have had more wins than this,” Poole’s crew chief Kevin Reed said. “These guys are just flawless. We’ve been the fastest car at every track. Looking forward to next week with John Wes and then the week after with Kyle Benjamin.”
Poole made his way up to the second position behind Boston and was closing in on him. When Poole got underneath of Boston with 12 laps to go, Poole would get loose and slide up towards Boston. The air, not any contact, would cause Boston to get loose and go around on the backstretch. Poole would pick up the lead and was able to hold off Ryan Blaney and Frank Kimmel on the late race restart.
“The car was just really good today,” Poole said. “We struggled in traffic behind Justin and I got underneath him at the door and got loose – we never touched, but I thought we were done after that. I don’t know what my next opportunity will be – but I’m looking forward to the next one.”
Blaney would have the most dominant car all day long and would lead the most laps, however would lose the lead when his team decided to short pit with 32 laps to go. The caution would then come out four laps later and Blaney was able to get the lucky dog, requiring him to start at the tail end of the last line.
When it came time for the restart, Blaney started behind the lead lap cars, however was not at the tail end of the longest line. Therefore, ARCA deemed it an illegal start and required Blaney to back off till he fell back in line before allowing him to make his charge to the front.
“I learned a lot today,” Blaney said. “Definitely learned how the track changed throughout the race. I thought we had the dominant car all day. We were just riding out there at front. We came in early, short pitted and hoped it would string out.
“We were supposed to be start seventh and the guy who I was supposed to start in front of dropped down and ARCA said we should have started behind him. I burned my stuff up trying to get back up there and if we would have started where we were supposed to, we would have been fine.”
Points leader Frank Kimmel finished third while Boston made his way back up to fourth. Grant Enfinger rounded out the top five.
Tires were a concern throughout the day as three of the four cautions were due to drivers having flat tires. mason Mitchell had the fire problem on lap 25, followed by Tom Hessert on lap 42 and Spencer Gallagher with 28 laps to go.
“We were okay there, struggling a bit,” Hessert said. “We did a four tire stop and went into the run. I don’t know how long we were into that run, but we blew a tire going into the turn and hit the wall.”
The ARCA teams will now turn their attention to Road America as they get set to do battle on the road course.
Lap by Lap: Patriot Pumps 200 won by Brennan Poole
After some close racing with teammate Justin Boston, Brennan Poole would pick up the win in the Patriot Pumps 200 at Michigan International Speedway.
Green flag as Blaney and Poole are side-by-side for the lead. Blaney takes the lead off of turn two
Lap 4 Blaney leads Poole F Kimmel Boston Mitchell Mingus Hessert Enfinger Williams W Kimmel
Lap 15 Blaney leads Poole F Kimmel Boston Mitchell Enfinger Mingus Williams Hessert W Kimmel
Lap 25 Caution Mitchell gets into the wall. Leaders head down pit road. Blaney wins the race off pit road ahead of Kimmel Enfinger Poole off of pit road. Boat came off fifth but was busted for speeding on pit road. Williams doesn’t pit and takes over the lead.
Restart Lap 31 Blaney takes the lead from Williams
Lap 41 Blaney leads F Kimmel Boston Poole Williams Enfinger Gallagher W Kimmel Boat Mingus
Caution lap 42 Tom Hessert gets into the wall. Williams, Will Kimmel and Boat head down pit road
Restart lap 47
Lap 48 Williams makes an unscheduled pit stop
Lap 50 Blaney leads F Kimmel Boston Poole Enfinger Gallagher Mingus Boat W Kimmel Graham
45 to go Boston looks for second by Kimmel and completes the pass off of turn two. Poole takes third from Kimmel
44 to go Blaney leads Boston Poole F Kimmel Enfinger Gallagher Mingus Boat W Kimmel Graham
39 to go Blaney leads Boston Poole F Kimmel Gallagher Enfinger Mingus Boat W Kimmel. 9 cars on the lead lap
35 to go Boat makes an unscheduled pit stop
33 to go Blaney leads Boston Poole F Kimmel Gallagher Enfinger Mingus W Kimmel. Poole and Frank Kimmel both have vibration.
32 to go Blaney pits, handing the lead over to Boston.
29 to go Boston leads Poole F Kimmel Gallagher Enfinger Mingus W Kimmel. Blaney is first car one lap down.
Caution 28 to go Gallagher gets up into the wall. Blaney gets the lucky dog. Leaders head down pit road. Enfinger takes two tires and leads race off pit road. Boston second followed by Kimmel Poole with four tire.
Restart 22 to go Enfinger gets a good restart ahead of Boston
21 to go Enfinger and Boston are side-by-side and Boston to the lead off of turn two. Blaney busted for passing too early, has to drop back in position
19 to go Poole passes Enfinger for second behind Boston
18 to go Boston leads Poole F Kimmel Enfinger Mingus W Kimmel Blaney
12 to go Poole slides up the track and the air off of Poole’s car causes Boston to around for the spin.
Restart 8 to go Poole gets a good restart as Blaney passes Kimmel for second. Enfinger looks for third by Kimmel.
7 to go Enfinger gets loose underneath Kimmel in turns one and two, allowing Kimmel to keep third
6 to go Poole leads Blaney F Kimmel Enfinger Boston Mingus W Kimmel Carter
4 to go Boston gets fourth from Enfinger
2 to go Kevin Shinkle has a problem, but is able to get to pit road
Brennan Poole picks up the win ahead of Blaney, F Kimmel, Boston and Enfinger
Edwards grab pole for Quicken Loans 400
Fords have been less than impressive this season. Several Ford drivers have recently commented on the lack of performance. If there is one track that Ford seems to always run well at, it is Michigan International Speedway. Today was no exception. Edwards posted a fast lap of 202.452 mph to grab the 12th pole of his career. Edwards lap was a full tenth of a second over second place qualifier Kurt Busch. Edwards earned his first career victory at the two mile speedway, a race which was also Roush-Fenway Racing’s last victory at the track.
Joining Edwards in the top ten were fellow Ford drivers, Aric Almirola and Joey Logano who qualified fifth and sixth respectively. Running well at Michigan has always been a sense of pride for manufacturers, as MIS is in the backyard of their corporate headquarters.
Kurt Busch continues to impress with another solid qualifying effort. Busch will start second on Sunday in his Furniture Row Chevrolet. In the media center after qualifying, Busch said, “It was a great lap, it’s amazing how close it comes down to after a two mile run.” Busch also credited his team association with Richard Childress Racing as playing a big part of their recent success. He also pointed out that the 78 team gives a lot of valuable information back to RCR and that the association is a two way street. He also commented that RCR considers his team a fourth team car.
Kasey Kahne who led first practice posted a solid third place effort, the only Hendrick Motorsports driver in the top ten. Paul Menard, Kurt Busch’s “pseudo-teammate”, who is having the best season of his career will start fourth on Sunday. When asked if his lap was helped by cloud cover, Menard said, “It always helps when you have a little shade for sure. We had a really good car in practice; we just never could really get a clean lap to show it.” Rookie driver, Austin Dillon, also from the RCR camp, will start seventh. Dillon commented after qualifying, “I had to check up off of (turn) two, but really proud of that lap.”
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch led the Toyota camp and will start eighth and ninth Sunday. TRD, who builds engines for Joe Gibb Racing, recently dialed back horsepower in an attempt to help durability. The lower horsepower seems to be evident, as Toyotas have been very dominant in qualifying this season, but have been a little off since the change in the engine department.
The Quicken Loans 400 will go green Sunday at 1:00 pm local time and will be televised on TNT.
Kahne leads practice at Michigan, breaks 200 mph barrier
Hendrick Motorsports driver, Kasey Kahne, leads the first Gen-6 practice at Michigan International Speedway. Kahne drove his no. 5, Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet to a fast lap of 200.619 mph. Kahne was one of four drivers to break that barrier. The chatter around the garage area today is that we will see the track record broken this week.
Kahne’s Hendrick Teammates, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jimmie Johnson also had solid top ten runs with a fifth and eighth respectively. Jeff Gordon struggled in practice and only posted a 28th place run.
Kurt Busch continues to impress everyone in his no. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet. Busch laid down a lap of 200.239 mph, and was second fastest in practice one. Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick round out the top five in the early practice.
Veteran driver, Mark Martin, who has the second most starts, and he most wins here among active drivers, led the Toyota camp. Martin posted a lap of 199.861 mph which was good enough for sixth on the practice sheet. All eyes are on the Toyotas this week, as TRD announced last week they would dial back the horsepower to achieve better durability. At Pocono last Sunday, Toyota did not lead any laps, and had no drivers in the top five. Two statistics they have dominated this season.
Roush-Fenway driver, Carl Edwards was the only Ford driver in the top ten. Michigan is usually a track at which Ford usually runs very well. Ford teams have struggled with speed this season. Greg Biffle had a solid second place finish last week, but other than that and Edwards win earlier in the season at Phoenix, they haven’t had much to brag about. David Ragan did manage a victory at Talladega Superspeedway a few weeks ago, but being a restrictor plate track, it is definitely not a good barometer of a team’s overall performance.
Qualifying will take place at 3:35 pm on Friday afternoon, with happy hour practice session on Saturday.
Quicken Loans 400 Quick Facts Preview
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Michigan International Speedway this weekend for the fifteenth race of the 2013 points season, the Quicken Loans 400 held on Sunday June 16th.
Forty-four drivers will attempt to qualify for Sunday’s race, which means after qualifying one team will not be in the field.
Fifteen active Sprint Cup Series drivers have previous wins at Michigan, but none more than driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, Mark Martin.
The thirty-one year Sprint Cup Series veteran, Mark Martin, has the most wins at Michigan International Speedway among active drivers. His five win Michigan history lands him fourth in the most wins at this track among all NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers. Martin’s 31 top 10 finishes and 965 lead laps gives him the overall record for top 10 finishes at Michigan and third all-time in the most laps lead.
With a history of winning five poles at Michigan International Speedway, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Jeff Gordon holds the record for most poles won among active drivers and is third on the overall list behind former Sprint Cup Series champions David Pearson and Bill Elliot, who won 10 and 6 poles respectively.
Driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, Carl Edwards has been in Victory Lane twice at the Michigan International Speedway and has a best average finish among active drivers of 8.2.
Two-time Michigan International Speedway winner, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will look to repeat his success at Michigan from last year. Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard “Man of Steel” Chevrolet ended a long losing streak last year when he won the 2012 Quicken Loans 400, and is looking to end another losing streak this weekend.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers will qualify for the Quicken Loans 400 on Friday at 3:35 pm.
The Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway will get underway Sunday, June 16th at 1:00pm.
Could changes at JTG/Daugherty be permanent?
This week JTG/Daugherty Racing announced that AJ Allmendinger will drive the No. 47 Charter Communications Toyota Camry in the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The team co-owner, Tad Geschickter said, “We’re not replacing Bobby, he’s still our driver.” Geschickter continued saying, “It is a good opportunity for us to verify what Bobby thinks the main issue is.”
Labonte who has the second longest active consecutive start streak in the series at 704, only one start behind Jeff Gordon, will drive the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet for James Finch. When asked about the situation, Labonte commented, “They (JTG) have given me a great opportunity to help this team grow. It’s where my focus has been since racing with the team in 2011. I want to see this team get better and will do what I need to do to make that happen.” Labonte has 14 previous starts with the James Finch team, so he is familiar with most of the key team members.
This weekend’s switch could help both JTG and Labonte. It will give the team a chance to get feedback from a driver who has driven for other teams and see if there are any obvious differences that could be causing the team’s lack of performance. When asked if there were specific areas they were wanting AJ to assess, a JTG/Daugherty team representative said, “No, we’re just looking for an overall assessment.”
For Labonte, it will give him the opportunity to drive different equipment and see if he experiences a different feel behind the wheel. The team has had some solid finishes this season, in fact, many have been better than that of the No. 47 that Labonte usually drives, so it should give him a good gauge of what the car should be doing.
The big question is – What happens if Allmendinger performs well this weekend? Even though team officials say “Bobby is our driver”, could a strong run from AJ led to a more permanent change? There are several other factors to keep in mind as well. Labonte, who is 49, is obviously in the later stages of his career, has years of experience and is a former champion, but is that enough? As much as we hate to say it, AJ is younger, and perhaps more marketable in today’s NASCAR. AJ has also turned in some impressive performances in the recent past. Results that include four top twenty finishes in just five starts in the Phoenix Racing Chevy that Labonte is piloting this weekend. All these factors together could be the recipe that JTG/Daugherty needs to take the next step and start competing in the top twenty on a regular basis, a fact that Daugherty has said is a definite goal for the team.
I was very glad to hear Daugherty and Geschickter this week talking about how they want this team to improve. I’m glad they aren’t just racing for a weekly paycheck. They seem to really want this team to improve. If the JTG car is capable of competing at a higher level than it has been, and AJ turns in another impressive finish this weekend, we could see a changing of the guard at JTG.
Todd Anderson settling in at Front Row Motorsports
Todd Anderson who had been crew chief for the #93 BK Racing Toyota for driver Travis Kvapil since the teams inception, left the team after the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Todd has now been named crew chief for the #35 Front Row Motorsports Ford and driver Josh Wise. Anderson will make his debut atop the pit box at the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
When asked about why the change occurred Friday morning in the garage area at Michigan, Anderson said, “Yeah it was a deal where I was beating myself up knowing we could run a lot better because the cars were running better and we have the motor issues of blowing up and stuff, and that was a big thing at the beginning of the year we said that we could be down on horsepower but we just couldn’t blow up, and when the chassis is exceeding the limitations of the motor, I just couldn’t handle it.”
Todd was referring the fact that BK Racing is building their engines in house this season. There have been several failures this season. When I pointed out that it could very frustrating as a crew chief, Todd said, “Oh God, especially when you know a lot of times . . . the one that gets me the most is Bristol when we ran up to 15th place about half-way and we had a really good car there, I think we had a legitimate top ten car there and blew up there, it kills me, because we worked so hard to get it there.”
Anderson said he was settling in quickly as he already knew several of the guys on the team. The Front Row Motorsports team is essentially on equal footing with the BK Racing Team. Both teams are smaller operations that are trying to secure their foothold in NASCAR’s top series. Considering the mega-teams that currently have a stranglehold on the top twenty – that can be a very tall task. The recent success of Furniture Row team is proof positive that it can be done, but can it be done without a partnership with one of the aforementioned mega-teams? The team did find success earlier this season at Talladega Superspeedway when David Ragan took the win, with teammate David Gilliland right behind him in second.
Anderson is hoping to bring his knowledge and experience to Front Row Motorsports and hopefully put the #35 team consistently in the top twenty.
