LONG POND, Pa. – Brennan Poole may be 21, but he’s driving like he’s been a part of stock car racing for 20 years. The young driver, backed by ARCA power Venturini Motorsports mastered the 2.5-mile triangle with ease on Friday (June 8), shattering the ARCA track record in earning his first pole position of 2012. Pacing the field with a lap of 51.857 seconds at 173.854 mph, Poole continued his team’s momentum after a dominant victory at Elko Speedway last weekend.
“My car’s just strong,” said the 21-year-old, giving all the credit to a dedicated crew that’s now boosted him to the top of the point standings. “We hit our marks. It was a lot of fun – sideways through the tunnel turn, I was holding my breath.”
Kevin Swindell, Chad Hackenbracht, Matt Lofton and Frank Kimmel rounded out the top-five fastest qualifiers. Tom Hessert, second in the standings qualified a disappointing 18th, nearly four seconds off the pace of Poole’s lap. In fact, one of the big issues entering Saturday will be how the leaders and ARCA handle slower traffic; the difference between first and 25th on the grid was over eight seconds and a whopping 23 mph.
“It’s just going to be about anticipating on the track and figuring out where you’re going to catch lapped cars,” Poole said when asked about the vast difference in speed. “Hopefully, those guys will do their homework and for us, we’ve got to take it one lap at a time tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”
2012 POCONO ARCA 200 QUALIFYING SPEEDS
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