Kurt Busch Snags 14th Career Pole at Pocono; Paul Menard Scores Second
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[/media-credit]After crashing his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge in practice and having to pull out a backup car, Kurt Busch was despondent, especially thinking that if qualifying was rained out, he would start the 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway dead last.
But the racing gods were with him, the weather held, and Busch snagged his 14th career pole, with a speed of 171.579 mph and a time of 52.454 seconds. This was Busch’s first pole in 21 races at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’
“There were quite a bit of different emotions out there today, especially after having to bust out the backup car from yesterday’s mishap,” Busch said. “If it were raining today, we’d be starting last.”
“Now luckily the weather held out and we’re on the pole,” Busch said. “It’s an amazing swing of events and an honest thank you to my guys. To pull the backup out as a pole winning car is really something you wouldn’t hear about back in the day.”
Busch’s pole also signified the third straight pole for Penkse Racing and his teammate Brad Keselowski was the winner of last weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway. Busch admitted in the media center after his pole run that Penske Racing has indeed turned a corner.
“We haven’t changed a lot of things since Richmond and it’s just been some procedures and processes and maybe looking at the data a bit differently,” Busch said. “It’s great to come back out and get on the pole again.”
Busch also referenced his superstition, feeling that he was stuck on the ‘unlucky 13’ pole.
“To be number 14 already, really feels good,” Busch said.
Busch’s crew chief, Steve Addington, echoed his driver’s feelings about the pole run.
“I want to thank everybody on this Shell/Pennzoil Dodge,” Addington said. “The work they did to get this car ready was awesome.”
“To lay down a lap like that is pretty impressive,” Addington continued. “And that guy that sits behind the steering wheel isn’t too damn bad either.”
Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet, scored the outside pole, with a speed of 171.422 mph and a time of 52.502 seconds. This was Menard’s fifth top-10 start of 2011 and his first such start in nine races at Pocono.
“We definitely thought it would rain out qualifying today,” Menard said. “So, we tried to post a good time early in practice and felt that would be our qualifying run.”
“We were hoping for rain, honestly,” Menard continued. “To qualify second and actually put a lap down was pretty cool. It was much more meaningful that way.”
Four-time champion Jeff Gordon posted his 22nd top-10 start at Pocono Raceway. He qualified third in his No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, with a speed of 171.350 mph and a time of 52.524 seconds.
“I’ll be honest, prior to that run, I was kind of hoping it was going to rain,” Gordon said with a laugh. “We made a couple of qualifying runs yesterday and we weren’t really thrilled with the pace.”
“The track was definitely a lot different as it was hot and slick,” Gordon continued. “We did our fastest laps in race trim and so we weren’t really sure what to expect today.”
“We looked at the lap times and seeing just how fast the track was today, it gets you anxious when you ran a 54.10 and guys were running in the 52s,” Gordon said. “It was interesting because right before I left the truck I told Alan (Gustafson), ‘It looks like half a second per corner’ and as a driver, a half a second a corner just isn’t fathomable.”
“As a driver, to go out there and do that and put up a good lap and be third, I’m thrilled,” Gordon said. “I’m very, very happy.”
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota and past master of Pocono Raceway, qualified fourth with a speed of 171.174 mph and a time of 52.578 seconds.
Regan Smith, behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, continued his hot qualifying hand and rounded out the top five, with a speed of 171.164 mph and a time of 52.581 seconds.
| Starting Lineup | |||||
| 5-Hour Energy 500, Pocono Raceway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=14 | |||||
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Make | Speed | Time |
| 1 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | 171.579 | 52.454 |
| 2 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 171.422 | 52.502 |
| 3 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 171.35 | 52.524 |
| 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 171.174 | 52.578 |
| 5 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 171.165 | 52.581 |
| 6 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 171.057 | 52.614 |
| 7 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 170.836 | 52.682 |
| 8 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 170.532 | 52.776 |
| 9 | 0 | David Reutimann | Toyota | 170.348 | 52.833 |
| 10 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | 170.2 | 52.879 |
| 11 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | 170.177 | 52.886 |
| 12 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 170.126 | 52.902 |
| 13 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 169.908 | 52.97 |
| 14 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 169.872 | 52.981 |
| 15 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 169.856 | 52.986 |
| 16 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | 169.702 | 53.034 |
| 17 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | 169.671 | 53.044 |
| 18 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | 169.607 | 53.064 |
| 19 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 169.52 | 53.091 |
| 20 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 169.501 | 53.097 |
| 21 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 169.447 | 53.114 |
| 22 | 46 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | 169.444 | 53.115 |
| 23 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | 169.441 | 53.116 |
| 24 | 71 | Andy Lally* | Ford | 169.37 | 53.138 |
| 25 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 169.307 | 53.158 |
| 26 | 38 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Ford | 169.278 | 53.167 |
| 27 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 169.224 | 53.184 |
| 28 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | 169.176 | 53.199 |
| 29 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 169.17 | 53.201 |
| 30 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | 169.119 | 53.217 |
| 31 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 169.113 | 53.219 |
| 32 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 169.084 | 53.228 |
| 33 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | 168.932 | 53.276 |
| 34 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 168.89 | 53.289 |
| 35 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | 168.666 | 53.36 |
| 36 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | 168.218 | 53.502 |
| 37 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 167.773 | 53.644 |
| 38 | 37 | Tony Raines | Ford | 167.395 | 53.765 |
| 39 | 181 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | 167.264 | 53.807 |
| 40 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | 167.057 | 53.874 |
| 41 | 32 | Mike Bliss | Ford | 166.867 | 53.935 |
| 42 | 7 | Scott Wimmer+ | Dodge | 162.414 | 55.414 |
| 43 | 150 | T.J. Bell* | Toyota | 166.633 | 54.011 |
Brian Vickers Hopes Exhilaration of Daytona Skydive Carries Over to Pocono Win
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[/media-credit]Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, is still flying high after skydiving into Daytona International Speedway. He is now hoping that the exhilaration will just continue right into one of his better tracks Pocono Raceway.
“It was incredible,” Vickers said. “To be able to jump into Daytona was amazing.”
“Jumping into any other track would have been incredible but Daytona is the biggest event and the biggest track,” Vickers continued. “I thought it would be pretty appropriate and pretty cool to jump in there first.”
“To be able to see the track from that height was cool and it was beautiful,” Vickers said. “That picture is just burned in my mind for sure.”
Not only was the Daytona jump exhilarating for Vickers, but it was also a piece of unfinished business for the young driver. Finishing the Dover race this year also fell into that category as well.
“We had this scheduled last year and it got cancelled due to my health reasons,” Vickers said of his skydive. “So to be able to come back and finish it and to finish what we started meant a lot.”
“Jumping into Daytona and then finishing Dover were two very important things to me personally,” Vickers said. “Dover was the first race I missed so to finish that race and finish it well was important to me. Skydiving at Daytona was something we started in 2010 and to go back and finish that was very special.”
Vickers is counting on that exhilarating feeling from his jump carrying right over into his run at Pocono Raceway, one of his favorite tracks. In fact, Pocono is one of Vickers better tracks, having spent 73.4 percent of the laps in the top 15 in his last ten starts at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’
Vickers has started in the top ten in eight of his twelve starts at Pocono and he has had four top-five and five top-10 finishes. Pocono Raceway ranks second as far as top average-finish tracks for Vickers, with an average finish of 14.3 there.
“Pocono has been a good track for me,” Vickers said. “We’ve run well. I’ve sat on poles, we’ve been fast and I’ve finished second but we haven’t won here so there is unfinished business here too for sure.”
Vickers acknowledges that, as good as he is at Pocono, he along with all of the other drivers, will face some significant challenges. Among those are facing yet another potential fuel mileage race, as well as the new ability to shift.
“This race has been fuel strategy before but sometimes it’s just been a battle at the end,” Vickers said. “It just depends.”
“You can’t just plan on doing fuel strategy because it just depends on when the last caution falls,” Vickers continued. “It just depends on how the race plays out.”
“The shifting is going to be power shifting again and I think it’s better for the racing,” Vickers said. “We’ll see more passing.”
“I never understood why they stopped us from shifting,” Vickers continued. “It didn’t save anything or serve any purpose to my knowledge and it was harder to pass. It was a great decision to start shifting again.”
Another issue making the Triangle tricky in Vickers’ opinion is the heat, which is a bit of a carryover from the Kansas inferno of last weekend. Yet, Vickers definitely feels that plays right into his hands.
“It’s been very hot lately and the last couple of races have been very hot,” Vickers said. “I love it because I’m in the best shape of my life. It’s just an advantage that I have.”
Vickers also admitted that the heat not only makes the drivers miserably physically but can also lead to some heated emotions as well.
“There have been a lot of hot tempers lately,” Vickers said. “That’s just the emotional part of our sport.”
“It’s also just the personalities of each individual,” Vickers continued. “The hot head or temper has never been my thing.”
Vickers also acknowledged that the length of the race, the Five Hour Energy 500, can also take its toll, physically and emotionally.
“It’s a very long race and it’s actually too long,” Vickers said. “I love Pocono and I want to see them keep their race dates but I think to do that, they’re going to have to shorten the race.”
“The fans here are amazing and they almost always fill the stands,” Vickers continued. “I really enjoy racing on the track, but it’s too long. But it is what it is for now.”
Vickers’ final challenge at the ‘Tricky Triangle’ is figuring out his qualifying order strategy.
“You want to go out early for qualifying so you have to sandbag a little bit,” Vickers said. “But if it rains, you want to be in the front. So, it’s tough.”
“A lot of it is just going to be playing the weather and whoever makes the best guess for the weather will have that advantage,” Vickers continued. “If it looks like it’s going to rain, they’ll go as fast as they can to qualify late. But if it looks sunny and hot, you’ll see some guys lay off in practice.”
“It’s hard because you want to go fast,” Vickers said. “But there’s ways to do it without compromising the performance of the set up or the car.”
Vickers is also hoping, very earnestly, that Pocono will not only yield a good finish but will also help him continue to climb in the point standings. And, of course, he too has his eye on making the Chase, currently sitting 26th in the point standings, just 29 points shy of the 20th spot.
“We need to keep climbing,” Vickers said. “We got in a hole at the beginning of the year and we got into some wrecks early in the season. So, we need to get out of this hole.”
“I still think we can get there,” Vickers continued. “A win or two would put us in the Chase for the wild card and hopefully we can climb our way back up the hard way. But either way, I still think we have a shot at it.”
What was truly amazing to Vickers, however, was that he actually skydived into Daytona at 5,000 feet, which is just slightly longer than the front stretch of the Pocono Raceway at 3,740 feet.
“That’s crazy,” Vickers said. “It was exhilarating.”
Ron Hornaday Wins the WinStar World Casino 400k at Texas Motor Speedway
In a race that had a record number of leaders and lead changes, it was Ron Hornaday winning the WinStar World Casino 400k after a controversial call on the last lap.
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[/media-credit]On the final green white checkered finish, Johnny Sauter had the lead and chose to start on the outside. Before crossing the start finish line, Sauter came down in front of Hornaday, which is a no-no as according to the NASCAR rulebook. Rules states clearly that you must stay in your lane until you cross the line. As a result, Sauter was black flagged, handing the win over to Hornaday.
“I’m not going to go down that way and judge,” he said. “I saw him sliding down and once he figured it out, he went back up there. I kind of saved my stuff just in case that happened there. It’s just an unbelievable day. I’ll take it.”
The win marks the 48th career win for Hornaday and his third win at Texas Motor Speedway.
“The way our year has been going, we’re gaining on them, but we’re still not right yet,” he added. “These guys never lay back. Thanks to Kevin and Delana for believing in me.”
Sauter, meanwhile, was credited with a 22nd place finish as the last truck on the lead lap.
“He’s got a lane to race down there,” Sauter said of NASCAR’s call. “We both spun the tires. I was just trying to save the truck.”
Parker Kligermann, meanwhile, came home second as he scored his best career finish in 10 starts.
“I just wanna thank these guys right here,” Kligermann said. “We don’t go to the wind tunnel; we don’t do shake-rig testing. They gave me an awesome truck and its about making the best of these opportunities. I owe to them since Phoenix and to know that we’re one spot away from right there (victory lane), is good.”
David Mayhew also scored his best career finish in five starts as he finished third in his first start with Kevin Harvick Incorporated.
“We had a really good truck,” Mayhew said. “I gotta thank Kevin and Delana Harvick and all these guys at KHI. Without this opportunity, you won’t be able to run like guys like that. Those guys made awesome adjustments on pit road and kept working on it.”
For Brian Ickler, he was able to rebound to finish fourth after spinning out on lap 50 after contact with Todd Bodine.
“We had a good truck all weekend,” Ickler said. “Bodine and I got into it in there and we spun out but we came back up there. I gotta thank Kyle and Samantha for the opportunity. I get to this one more time at Iowa and can’t wait.”
Joey Coulter rounded out the top-five in fifth, matching the fifth place finish last week at Kansas. Ricky Carmichael finished sixth, followed by Ryan Sieg, Miguel Paludo, Justin Lofton and pole sitter James Buescher. Buescher came back to finish 10th after getting frontend damage midway through the race.
Buescher started the race from the pole, though on lap four, Austin Dillon took the lead before the first caution for oil on the track at lap five. The restart would come at lap 10 and Buescher would jump back to first, till lap 15 when Dillon grabbed it back.
The second caution came out on lap 23 for Chase Mattiolli going for a spin and all the leaders pitted with Steve Arpin, who was making his first ever Camping World Truck Series start, coming off pit road first. The restart came at lap 27 and by lap 31, Dillon was already back in the lead.
The third caution came out at lap 51 for Brian Ickler spinning and the leaders would pit again, though Dillon would hold serve. The restart came at lap 56, though another caution would come out at lap 59 for Ryan Sieg spinning. The restart would come at lap 63 and on lap 64, Johnny Sauter jumped into the lead.
The fifth caution came out at lap 66 for David Starr and Todd Bodine making contact.
“I shouldn’t had been back there racing them,” Bodine said. “I could’ve stayed behind him or went under and I chose the wrong one of the two.”
Some of the lead trucks pitted while nine didn’t, which handed the lead to Nelson Piquet Jr. when the restart came at lap 72. He was able to hold the lead till lap 75 when Miguel Paludo would take over the top spot, till he got passed by Joey Coulter at lap 83.
The sixth caution would come at lap 90 when Austin Dillon and Matt Crafton made contact as Crafton tried to slide up in front of Dillon, thinking he was clear.
“I guess he just got a run there the last second,” Crafton said. “He wasn’t there, he wasn’t there and then he was there and I tried to back off and tried to turn left, but couldn’t cause I was free and then I got hooked on the front straightaway. Kind of a hard way to go down.”
Once again, some drivers pitted while others stayed out, which handed the lead over to Ron Hornaday for the lap 95 restart, though he’d only hold it till lap 100 when Sauter would once again take it over.
The seventh caution would come out when Cole Whitt would blow up and everybody pitted, except Ryan Sieg who stayed out. The restart came with 55 to go and the race would only stay green for five laps as the eighth caution would fly when Justin Marks would go for a spin. Sieg pitted under the caution, giving the lead back to Hornaday. The restart came with 45 to go and with 37 to go, Sauter would go back to the front.
The ninth caution came out with 30 to go with Steve Arpin would get loose, making contact with Austin Dillon, sending them both into the grass. The restart came five laps later and Sauter would lead all the way to the final caution with seven to go when Clay Rogers got into the wall.
The race would go back to green with the green-white-checkered, which is where the call was made against Sauter. On the final lap, Travis Kvapil and Johanna Long made heavy contact with the wall as Kvapil got loose coming off of turn four.
Sauter now leads Whitt in the point standings by 12 points as they’re followed by Dillon, Crafton and Timothy Peters.
The next race for the Camping World Truck Series is on Thursday July 7th at Kentucky Speedway.
NASCAR’s Greatest and Most Memorable Race is Only a Dream Away
Beneath the array of the brightly colored paint schemes, one would think they just woke up in the middle of some far away garden oasis. Colors are so vivid and full of explosive vibrancy that it makes even the Rose Parade look like a black and white picture. Your eyes long to adjust to the beauty of the beast, which stands at just a stone’s throw away.
As you begin looking around to see if anyone is watching, it is then you strengthen your nerves in hopes of getting the chance to climb between the twisted mazes of steel, which seems to be calling your name. You already know that once inside, the world that you have dreamed, talked, and bragged about will take you by force and whisk you away into a land that only the few who can handle it have conquered.
Your knees start to quiver as slowly step closer and closer and all of a sudden you’re heart begins thumping harder and harder as you look beyond the small side window, and see the glistening metal eyelashes of the instrument cluster seductively inviting you to jump right in. You know at any moment you are about to enter a forbidden zone, as your senses begin to wonder what exactly it is going to takes place once the carbon fiber seat put its massive arms around you as the two of you become one.
Before reality sets in, you have already climbed inside and prepared yourself to see exactly what it is that compels these drivers to after crave the feeling of traveling at speeds in excess of 180 miles-per-hour. It doesn’t take long before the adrenaline starts pumping madly through your body as you reach over to push the start button, because you know at any moment the massive 850 hp, gas-guzzling monster will submit to your every desire. Your blood begins boiling as the first click from the starter energizes life into the fire-breathing dragon. Almost instantaneously the car begins shaking wildly and the veins in your body feel as though they are ready to burst as you rap the gas pedal, letting the engine know that you are now in control.
Your senses begin to speak in a foreign language, telling you to get ready for the ride of your life. Once you sink back into the seat, all you see are the rays from the sun trying to peek through the Plexiglas windshield, gently whispering to the rest of the car—we have a rookie. This is the moment of truth, and there is no backing out once this sleek racing machine has you in her grasp. Immediately your mind starts racing at the thought of letting the clutch out, and feeling the rush of 850 hungry ponies ready to explode out of the corral. The roar of the engine is so deafening you almost forget that this is your moment of glory, and no one is around to take it away.
The steering wheel begins to entice you as you slowly wrap your sweaty, glove covered fingers around its smooth, silky curves, along with your trembling legs begin to tremble while feeling the thunder of the Sunoco thirsty power plant slowly make its way out of the concrete covered pit stall. You look ahead and realize that there are no other cars around to help you through your paces, as you hear the racing gods calling out for you to mash the pedal, and hold on for dear life because you have just entered a zone that is beyond your wildest fantasies.
Is your mind playing tricks on you…or are you actually about ready to hit speeds that 60 years ago were unimaginable?? There is no speedometer to confirm what you believe—just the rush of the wind as it races through your tight-fitting helmet. A thought prances through your mind about what a great feeling each NASCAR driver must have as he makes his way around some the best tracks that America has to offer.
Then, in the twinkling of an eye, it’s all over. The rush of adrenaline is all gone in a matter of seconds and you begin to evaluate exactly what happened? Your body goes into a frenzy at the thought that the worse is about to happen and in a few short seconds it will all come to an abrupt halt. Time will continue as you roll around, looking for something to grab onto, and all you can hear is the annoying buzzing in your ears as you begin to scream in agony and pain…why me?
As you slowly open your eyes to make sure everything is alright it is then that you realize it was only a dream…
Alex Tagliani Wins Peak Performance Pole Award For Firestone Twin 275s at Texas
After winning the pole for the Indianapolis 500, Alex Tagliani makes it two in a row as he won the PEAK Performance Award Pole Award for the Firstone Twin 275s on June 11th at Texas Motor Speedway.
“It’s a tribute to how much effort and how much love the guys put in the car,” he said. “I watched them work the last two weeks and they worked harder than when they brought the car to Indianapolis. That’s what a team does. We’re going to continue to work hard and bring fast cars to the track. Being fast on an oval is great, but I won’t be happy until I can stick it to Will (Power) and the Penske cars on a road course that’s my next goal.”
Tagliani qualified his No. 77 Bowers and Wilkins cars for Sam Schmidt Motorsports at a speed of 215.186mph.
Defending champion Dario Franchitti will start second (214.801), followed by Will Power.
“It was a good run out there Verizon car,” Power said. “I was flat and on the white line for both laps. We have some work to do tonight in practice to find a good race trim, but we should be good. We get two shots at it tomorrow and I’m definitely ready to race.”
Takumo Sato and Ed Carpenter rounded out the top five.
“It was fantastic, very exciting,” Sato said. “The car was balanced and really felt good. After morning practice we were confident that we could have a good qualifying and after watching TK’s (Tony Kanaan’s) run I was even more confident. Now we really need to concentrate on getting a good car for the race which is a very different car from qualifying.”
“It’s been a good day for the Dollar General team,” Carpenter said. “I feel good about our car. We seem to have good speed. I wasn’t sure where we were going to end up, but it seems like everyone ran quicker during qualifying than we did in practice. I’m happy with our qualifying effort, but I always want to be faster. Either way we have a good starting spot for tomorrow night, and I think we have something for them.”
Wade Cunningham qualified eighth in his IZOD IndyCar Series debut.
“We bolted new tires on and tried to adjust the balance a little bit,” he said. “Time is quite tight in the session, so we didn’t have time to do everything we wanted. So really for us going into qualifying was like a bit of the unknown. We have a teammate who is on pole, and we knew what they were doing. But again, we didn’t want to make any hiccups that would penalize ourselves by making mistakes. We didn’t go as far as Alex did in qualifying set-up. So there’s a little bit of speed there and, also, I made a little mistake on my gearing entering the green flag which cost us a bit of time as well.”
The Firestone Twin 275s consists of two 114-lap races back-to-back with the first one taking the green flag at 7:45pm CT on Saturday June 11th and the second race will follow an hour after the first race is completed.
The race will be telecast live in High Definition at 8 p.m. (ET) by VERSUS. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM channel 94 and www.indycar.com. Live timing and scoring reports from the Firestone Twin 275s are available on the Internet at www.indycar.com.
Race #3 for NASCAR Canadian Tire Series: Keystone Light 200
This weekend’s race at Delaware Speedway on Saturday June 11th marks the third race of the 12 race schedule for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. It also marks the third visit to the half mile oval.
The past two visits there, defending series champion D.J. Kennington is two-for-two as he won both races after starting third in 2009 and on pole last season. In the 422 laps at Delaware, Kennington has led 246 of them and has nine victories overall. It was Delaware last year where the Canadian Tire Series began their season and the win marked the beginning of the championship run. Sitting seven in the points, 97 points behind Scott Steckly, Delaware is definitely a welcoming sight to the No. 17 team.
Meanwhile, it was Steckly winning race number one at Mosport Raceway and having a solid finish at Circuit ICAR to now lead the standings, 30 points over Don Thomson Jr. Steckly, the 2008 series champion, finished third in 2009 and 16th in 2010 so Delaware looks to be a mixed bag as he goes for his 10th career victory.
Thomson Jr. comes into Delaware Speedway with a new team this year, though is looking for more success to add to the last couple of years as he had had seven straight top-five finishes dating back to last year. Delaware hasn’t been the best track for Thomson, however, as he finished 21st last season after radiator issues and 10th in 2009.
The only other driver to have any type of success at Delaware besides Steckly is Mark Dilley, who holds the track record at 19.133 seconds, after winning the pole in 2009. He hasn’t been able to crack the top-10 in regards to finishing as he finished 16th in 2009 and 12th last season.
While most drivers come into Delaware Speedway with a lot of experience, rookie Steve Mathews doesn’t as he looks to continue the success he’s had this season this weekend. Last weekend, he finished 18th on the road course. Though at the first of the race on the oval, he got his second career top-10 of 10th.
“Delaware is a fun place to race and I am excited to return as I am comfortable and confident there after many late model races and a strong 2010 outing,” Mathews said in his team’s preview.
While race is set to be run Saturday, it won’t be televised till Sunday, June 26 at 1 p.m. ET on TSN.
Brennan Poole and Ty Dillon Make Up Front Row For Pocono ARCA 200
Last month, Brennan Poole made his first start at Salem Speedway and won. This weekend for his second start at Pocono, he is on the same route as he led practice and won the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell for the Pocono ARCA 200.
“It’s a lot of fun,” the Woodlands, Texas native said. “This is the biggest track I’ve ever been to, ever made laps on. It’s really exciting; this is really fast. The car’s been great all weekend. Billy Venturini’s given me a great race car. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’re just going to have to take it one lap at a time. We’ve got 80 laps, so we’ll see how it pans out.”
The 20-year old qualified his No. 25 Lacy Green/Scott Dobrin RE/MAX Toyota with a lap of 53.807 seconds (167.264 mph), beating Ty Dillon by 0.526 seconds for his first career pole. Poole’s lap marks a new track record since July 2003 with Kyle Busch set it at 170.849mph.
This marks the second pole in a row for Venturini Motorsports as they won the pole last weekend with Josh Richards at Chicagoland. This also marks their second in a row for Pocono Raceway as they won the pole last June with Mikey Kile.
This car is a brand new for the team as it was only completed Wednesday at 4:30a.m., less than 55 hours before the first practice. Poole led that opening practice with a best lap of 53.989 seconds, nearly one-half second ahead of Frank Kimmel. Poole credits all the practice that he did on the video games.
“I’ve watched a ton of video over the last week and I’ve been playing a lot of Xbox,” he said. “I probably ran about 500 laps before I even got here, on the computer. I started doing everything I possibly could before I got here as a driver. It helps out when you have great guys who can give you great cars. It makes your job a lot easier.”
Kimmel, meanwhile, qualified third, followed by Chris Buescher and Grant Enfinger.
“I’m pretty happy with our Ansell/Menards Ford,” Kimmel said after practice earlier in the day. “We’re a little tight in the corners in race trim and we continued to make adjustments to free it up. On that last qualifying run I think (crew chief) Bill (Kimmel) freed me up too much. I think we’ll be good on old tires, though. That will set up nicely for long green flag runs.”
Venturini Motorsports’ Hal Martin qualified sixth, followed by Tim George Jr., Chad Hackenbracht, Bobby Gerhart and Sean Corr.
The Pocono ARCA 200 begins at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow, with live timing and scoring coverage available at ARCARacing.com. SPEED will air same-day delay television coverage of the race at 8 p.m.
