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Joey Coulter’s Dream Comes True with First Ever Truck Win at Pocono

[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”219″][/media-credit]With his mother Susan screaming “Burn out time” and “Oh, I love Pocono,” Joey Coulter’s dream of winning a race came true.

The driver of the No. 22 RCR/darrellgwynnfoundation.com Chevrolet got his first win in the 3rd annual Pocono Mountains 125 and the first win ever in his Truck Series career.

Coulter is the ninth different winner this season to visit Victory Lane and the fourth different first-time winner of 2012.

“It feels amazing and there’s no way to describe it,” Coulter said. “I just can’t thank everyone enough for the opportunity. I can’t thank them enough for sticking behind me.”

“It’s a dream come true,” Coulter continued. “Call me in three days when it finally hits me.”

Coulter acknowledged that his racing has always included his family and that indeed his mom was even more excited than he was.

“For us, it’s always been a family event,” Coulter said. “They’ve been the ones to help me get here.”

“To have them at the race track every weekend is a huge part of my career.”

Coulter’s mother Susan echoed the family pride in her son’s racing career and his first trip to Victory Lane.

“I am so proud of him,” Susan Coulter said of her winning son. “He’s worked so hard for this since he was 8 years old.”

“He did this one himself,” Susan Coulter continued. “We have the best team in the world. I’m so happy.

While Coulter’s family was ecstatic, team owner Richard Childress was equally proud of his young driver. And he also revealed that Coulter, in his opinion, is ready to go to the next level in the sport.

“Joey’s had a really fast truck for the last two years and misfortunes would take him out of the winner’s circle,” Childress said. “I’m really happy for his family and for the whole Coulter team.”

“We’re talking about running in the Nationwide Series with him next year,” Childress continued. “Sponsorship is the key to putting it together.”

An important part of that Coulter RCR team has been crew chief Harold Holly. Coulter fully credits Holly with “teaching him how to drive” when they first started together in the ARCA Series.

“This is as big as any of ‘em win-wise,” Holly said of the win. “We have such a strong support group.”

“I’m tickled to death.”

James Buescher, piloting the No. 31 Koike Aronson/Ransome Chevrolet, finished second. This was his second top-10 finish in three races at Pocono and his seventh top-10 finish for the season.

“The Chevy was decent but we were tight all day long,” Buescher said. “Just couldn’t get it to turn on exit on any corner.”

“I was just trying to keep up with Nelson and stayed out to lead a lap,” Buescher continued. “The truck was good but it wasn’t the fastest truck out there.”

“We’ll just dust it off, take it to Michigan and try to get back to it.”

Probably the most disappointed racer when the checkered flag flew was Nelson Piquet Jr., who sat on the pole and was by far the dominant truck for most of the race. Piquet Jr. finished third, scoring his first top-10 finish in two races at the ‘Tricky Triangle.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Piquet Jr. said. “There’s only one word that can describe it and that’s frustration.”

“The last restart was a bit of a problem,” Piquet continued. “It’s a shame.”

“It was another race that we could have won.”

Piquet Jr. was also involved with one of the more dramatic moments of the race when he and veteran Todd Bodine tangled, with Bodine getting the worst end or it, including a trip to the infield care center.

After exiting his race truck, Bodine hurled his helmet in the direction of Piquet, Jr.

“Nelson didn’t get a good run off two and I pulled down to start drafting,” Bodine said. “I should have known better not to trust Nelson to do the right thing, just move over and side draft with me.”

“You watch tomorrow in the Cup race and you’ll see it a million times,” Bodine continued. “I know Nelson feels like he owes me one, from Kansas I think.”

“We had a great truck,” Bodine said. “It’s a shame that ignorance has to take you out of the race.”

Without a doubt, Piquet Jr. had a different take on the incident.

“His spotter should have told him that I was behind him,” Piquet Jr. said. “There’s nothing I could have done.”

“The move he did was inexperienced,” Piquet continued. “With all the experience he has, there’s no explanation.”

“Not much to say,” Piquet said. “I couldn’t have done anything else.”

Ty Dillon, driving the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, was the highest finishing rookie driver. Dillon, teammate to race winner Joey Coulter, finished in the sixth spot.

“I’m kind of disappointed,” Dillon said. “I made a rookie mistake on the first lap that really put us behind.”

“I’m so proud of my teammate Joey Coulter though,” Dillon said. “That was awesome. I’m really happy for Joey. He’s put his time in.”

Dillon was most excited about gaining some points in the championship standings. He is now just eight points behind leader Timothy Peters.

“We’ve got some good momentum coming,” Dillon said. “I think we’ve found something.”

“We’re second, only 8 points out,” Dillon continued. “And we’ll keep trucking.”

Matt Crafton, in the No. 88 Jeld Wen/Menards Toyota, finished fourth and Danny Hamlin, driving the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 GNC Live Well/M&Ms Toyota rounded out the top five.

“The power of those guys in front of us was big,” Hamlin said. “We just didn’t have a great handling truck.”

“Hopefully now I can give them a little bit of feedback for what I feel like this program needs to work on.”

Unofficial Race Results
Pocono Mountains 125, Pocono Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=11
=========================================
Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
=========================================
1 4 22 Joey Coulter Chevrolet 47
2 5 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 43
3 1 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 43
4 9 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 40
5 16 18 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0
6 2 3 Ty Dillon * Chevrolet 38
7 17 29 Parker Kligerman Ram 37
8 11 9 John Wes Townley * Toyota 36
9 35 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 35
10 20 8 Ross Chastain * Toyota 34
11 14 23 Jason White Ford 34
12 18 98 Dakoda Armstrong * Toyota 32
13 3 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 31
14 15 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet 30
15 6 2 Tim George Jr. Chevrolet 29
16 25 27 C E Falk Chevrolet 28
17 19 99 Bryan Silas * Ford 27
18 23 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 26
19 10 9 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 25
20 34 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 24
21 32 159 Kyle Martel Chevrolet 0
22 8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 23
23 27 28 Wes Burton Chevrolet 21
24 7 5 Paulie Harraka * Ford 20
25 30 282 Sean Corr Ford 19
26 12 11 Todd Bodine Toyota 18
27 13 13 Johnny Sauter Toyota 17
28 21 93 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet 16
29 26 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 15
30 31 225 Brandon Knupp Chevrolet 0
31 22 7 Jeff Agnew Toyota 13
32 29 174 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
33 36 175 Adam Edwards Chevrolet 11
34 28 38 Chris Jones Chevrolet 10
35 33 0 Chris Lafferty Ram 9
36 24 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Ram 8

Coultor wins the Pocono Mountains 125

[media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll” align=”alignright” width=”275″][/media-credit]Joey Coulter captured his first career Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) win in the Poconos Mountain 125 race at Pocono Raceway on Saturday.

This is also the 26th career win for Richard Childress Racing (RCR) and the second in 2012.

“Joey’s had a really fast truck and it was misfortune that took him out of the winner’s circle. I’m really happy for his family. They’ve been there at every race pulling for him.” Childress said.

Coulter is the fourth first-time winner of 2012 and the ninth different winner this season.

While in victory lane Coulter was very happy with his No. 22 RCR team and thanked them all for the great work they did in putting him victory lane for the first time.

“As soon as the spotter said ‘green,’ I put the foot to the floor and just let the ECR [Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines] Chevrolet horsepower do the rest,” Coulter said. “We needed to make moves quick. Track position was real important.

Coultor’s mom joined them in victory lane and was very emotional for what her son has accomplished with his first win.

Timothy Peters who entered the weekend as the points leader was involved in a late race wreck which narrowed his points lead to 8 over Ty Dillon.

Unofficial Race Results
Pocono Mountains 125, Pocono Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=11
=========================================
Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
=========================================
1 4 22 Joey Coulter Chevrolet 47
2 5 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 43
3 1 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 43
4 9 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 40
5 16 18 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0
6 2 3 Ty Dillon * Chevrolet 38
7 17 29 Parker Kligerman Ram 37
8 11 9 John Wes Townley * Toyota 36
9 35 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 35
10 20 8 Ross Chastain * Toyota 34
11 14 23 Jason White Ford 34
12 18 98 Dakoda Armstrong * Toyota 32
13 3 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 31
14 15 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet 30
15 6 2 Tim George Jr. Chevrolet 29
16 25 27 C E Falk Chevrolet 28
17 19 99 Bryan Silas * Ford 27
18 23 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 26
19 10 9 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 25
20 34 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 24
21 32 159 Kyle Martel Chevrolet 0
22 8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 23
23 27 28 Wes Burton Chevrolet 21
24 7 5 Paulie Harraka * Ford 20
25 30 282 Sean Corr Ford 19
26 12 11 Todd Bodine Toyota 18
27 13 13 Johnny Sauter Toyota 17
28 21 93 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet 16
29 26 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 15
30 31 225 Brandon Knupp Chevrolet 0
31 22 7 Jeff Agnew Toyota 13
32 29 174 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
33 36 175 Adam Edwards Chevrolet 11
34 28 38 Chris Jones Chevrolet 10
35 33 0 Chris Lafferty Ram 9
36 24 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Ram 8

 

Power continues to show speed at Mid-Ohio, claims third pole of season

[media-credit name=”indycar.com” align=”alignright” width=”250″][/media-credit]Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was the sight of some fast IZOD IndyCar’s today.  Will Power, who led yesterday’s practice session, put his Penske Racing machine atop the speed charts with a lap of 1:05.647.  Power’s lap equates to a speed of 123.825 mph, demolishing last year’s pole speed of  119.405 set by Scott Dixon and setting a new IndyCar track record at Mid-Ohio.

This is Power’s third pole of the 2012 season and his first since Brazil back at the end of April.  Starting up front has proved vital in IndyCar’s  history at Mid-Ohio.  Since first sanctioning a race at the Lexington, Ohio road course in 2007,  four out of the five winners here have come from no further back then third on the starting grid.

Advancing to the Firestone Fast 6 at Mid-Ohio were Scott Dixon, Alex Tagliani, Will Power, Dario Franchitti, Simon Pagenaud, and Ryan Briscoe.  Power turned the most laps out of all six drivers, completing five laps in the final session and claiming pole for tomorrow’s Honda Indy 200.  Following in second was Franchitti, who posted a 1:05.895.

Only 8 one-thousandths of a second behind Franchitti was Simon Pagenaud for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.  After subbing in for the injured Justin Wilson last year, Pagenaud has been looking for a stable and structured weekend at Mid-Ohio this weekend.  The Sam Schmidt driver seems to be doing exactly that, before qualifying third for tomorrow’s race Pagenaud finished the first two practice sessions P4 and P2, respectively.

Alex Tagliani posted a 1:06.004, good enough to start fourth tomorrow, however after an unapproved engine change yesterday, Tagliani will have to start 14th on the grid.  Following Tagliani was Scott Dixon, with a best lap of 1:06.096.  Dixon has three victories at Mid-Ohio and has won from 6th on the grid before.  Scott will look to win again tomorrow at a venue he has been so dominant at in the past hermes outlet and improve his chances at a third IndyCar Championship.

Rounding out the Firestone Fast 6 was Ryan Briscoe, completing 4 laps in the final session and turning a best time of 1:06.200.

The Honda Indy 200 from Mid-Ohio can be seen on ABC tomorrow beginning at 12:30 pm.

Juan Pablo Montoya Vrooms to Pocono Cup Pole

[media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”219″][/media-credit]Driving the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, complete with his face adorning the box of the Kellogg’s Vroom Cereal box, Juan Pablo Montoya scored the Coors Light pole for the 39th annual Pennsylvania 400.

JPM qualified with a speed of 176.043 mph and a time of 51.124 seconds, winning his first pole in 12 races at Pocono. This was Montoya’s eighth pole in 202 NASCAR Cup Series races and he is now locked into the 2013 Shootout at Daytona.

“That was huge,” Montoya said. “Well to be honest to you I’m not sure if I’m more shocked that I’m on the pole right now or that I’m on the pole in Pocono.”

“This is a big boost for everybody on the Target team,” JPM continued. “We know we’re working hard but to actually get out there and get a pole, I just went through the hauler and they’re all happy and laughing.”

“We really needed something like this as a company,” Montoya said. “This is big for us.”

JPM admitted that he and his team played the strategy card in qualifying, particularly when it came to the unpredictable Pocono weather.

“We looked at the weather and we said it looks like it’s going to rain,” Montoya said. “And if it’s going to rain, we’ll go qualifying runs in the morning. And we did.”

“Do we have the fastest car out there?” Montoya continued. “No, but qualifying is the same as racing.”

“You’ve got to make the right calls and do whatever it takes to get it done,” JPM said. “And that’s what we did.”

Montoya spent time after his qualifying run in the ESPN booth, analyzing the time trials of his competitors. And he admitted that was just a tad bit stressful as he watched others try to unseat his P1 position.

“When the 48 went out and he was dead even with me, I thought I’m dead,” Montoya said. “Can you believe this last freaking car is going to be beat me?”

“But then he missed it and the smile started coming back.”

Both dad to be Denny Hamlin, behind the wheel of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, and Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Menards/Serta Chevrolet, credited going early in the qualifying run, along with some favorable cloud cover, with their second and third place time trials respectively.

Hamlin scored his 12th top-10 for the season and his 12th in 14 races at Pocono. Menard posted his fourth top-10 start at Pocono and his fourth in 21 races for the season.

“I’d like to say it was a good run but I’m a little bit disappointed in our run,” Hamlin said. “I think we reaped the benefits of going out early but knowing we were over a quarter second ahead going into the last corner and just missed it.”

“At least we are going to have a good qualifying spot.”

Menard had a bit more of a dicey time getting his P3 qualifying position. He had a problem during practice and had to go to a backup car.

“I wasn’t expecting to qualify in the top three in a backup car,” Menard said. “Obviously that shows the hard work and preparation of the 27 guys and everybody at RCR.”

“We had a good primary car and had a radiator hose that blew out of it and hit the wall,” Menard continued. “We had to pull out the backup car but luckily had two hours to get it ready between practices.”

“It was pretty good right off the truck,” Menard said. “It was the same car we tested with for two days here so we have some good data on it.”

“One of the biggest things that helped us was going out early,” Menard continued. “Standing on pit road, it was cloudy then and the cars that went before us, the sun came out I think.”

“A little bit of luck and a lot of hard work.”

Kasey Kahne, in the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, was the highest qualifying Hendrick Motorsports driver in the fourth position. Marcos Ambrose, in the No. 9 Stanley Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports rounded out the top five in qualifying at Pocono.

There was one driver, Stephen Leicht, who failed to qualify.

Starting Lineup
Pennsylvania 400, Pocono Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=21
===========================================
Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
===========================================
1 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 176.043 51.124
2 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 175.795 51.196
3 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 175.627 51.245
4 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 175.439 51.3
5 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 175.432 51.302
6 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 175.339 51.329
7 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 175.169 51.379
8 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 175.131 51.39
9 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 175.097 51.4
10 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 175.067 51.409
11 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 175.036 51.418
12 16 Greg Biffle Ford 174.964 51.439
13 43 Aric Almirola Ford 174.805 51.486
14 20 Joey Logano Toyota 174.795 51.489
15 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 174.618 51.541
16 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 174.561 51.558
17 99 Carl Edwards Ford 174.432 51.596
18 55 Mark Martin Toyota 174.419 51.6
19 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 174.314 51.631
20 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 174.277 51.642
21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 174.213 51.661
22 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 174.162 51.676
23 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 173.92 51.748
24 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 173.571 51.852
25 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 173.524 51.866
26 38 David Gilliland Ford 173.41 51.9
27 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 173.3 51.933
28 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 173.197 51.964
29 13 Casey Mears Ford 172.864 52.064
30 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 172.619 52.138
31 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 172.371 52.213
32 34 David Ragan Ford 172.038 52.314
33 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 171.917 52.351
34 26 Josh Wise* Ford 171.913 52.352
35 37 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 171.808 52.384
36 30 David Stremme Toyota 171.638 52.436
37 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 171.246 52.556
38 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 170.804 52.692
39 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 170.658 52.737
40 191 Reed Sorenson Ford 170.581 52.761
41 32 Jason White+ Ford 167.876 53.611
42 36 Tony Raines+ Chevrolet
43 98 Mike Skinner Ford 170.516 52.781