Conversation with Poole Assists Bowman to Victory at Winchester;
For Immediate Release: Monday, June 25, 2012 News & Notes from Herr's Chase the Taste 200 (TOLEDO, Ohio) - Alex Bowman and Brennan Poole, two of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' top championship contenders, shared their thoughts on maneuvering Winchester Speedway with one another before Sunday's Herr's Chase the Taste 200. |
Given their short track success already this year - Bowman (No. 22 Cunningham Motorsports Dodge) won in Salem, Ind. and Poole (No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet) won in Elko New Market, Minn. - they certainly knew they might see each other near the front of Sunday's field. They may not have imagined, however, they would be so evenly matched. Of the final 165 of Sunday's 200 laps, Bowman and Poole combined to lead 105. At Lap 53, while Poole led, Bowman improved to second. For three consecutive laps just after that, they ran as tight as they would all race, separated by less than one tenth of a second. In all, the two ran first and second for 85 laps - 55 led by Poole and 30 by Bowman in his run to the finish and Victory Lane. "I couldn't pick a better driver to do that with," Bowman said in Victory Lane Sunday. "He's, in my opinion, one of the best out here. I try to learn as much as I can from him. He's got some more stock car experience than I do. He actually helped me out with some line stuff earlier today, talking about running lower in (Turns) 3 and 4, and it helped me early in the run." After such tight racing, Bowman made sure to thank Poole for racing him cleanly throughout the afternoon. Nine days earlier, Bowman might not have imagined he would be celebrating at Winchester, much less be in Winchester. Sponsorship concerns after the race at Michigan International Speedway left the Tucson, Ariz. driver wondering whether he would make the trip to drive the No. 22 Dodge. He said Sunday that he does not have similar worries as he looks forward to next Sunday's race at New Jersey Motorsports Park. "We'll be at New Jersey, and we should be strong there too," he said. "We've been working hard on getting the whole season funded, so we're getting close, especially with these last three runs we've had." Bowman was third at Pocono Raceway on June 9 and second at Michigan on June 15. Now, he is the 81st driver in ARCA Racing Series history with four career wins. ARCA Racing Series teams will practice twice Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park's Thunderbolt Raceway. Practices are scheduled from 11:20 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. and 1:40 to 2:40 on Saturday, with Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell following at 4:30. The 67-lap, 150-mile race - the fifth for ARCA on the New Jersey course - will start at 1 p.m. Sunday, with live timing and scoring and live audio coverage presented by the ARCA Racing Network available at ARCARacing.com. The ARCA event is one of several races scheduled over New Jersey's All-American Race Weekend presented by Global Barter Corporation. Top 10 Sees Little Movement: Alex Bowman's win in the Herr's Chase the Taste 200 made him the only driver to advance a position with the top 10 of the ARCA Racing Series standings. He moved to third, 20 points ahead of Frank Kimmel (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota). Brennan Poole entered the weekend 20 points ahead of Chris Buescher (No. 17 Reliance Tool/David Ragan Ford Ford), but saw that advantage trimmed in half when Buescher won the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell Saturday to earn 15 points. Poole, meanwhile qualified third and earned just five points. Both drivers led laps in Sunday's race, but Poole led the most and finished two spots ahead of Buescher - second over fourth - to increase his lead by 15 points, to 25, or 2090-2065. Bowman is 135 points behind Poole for the series lead. Chad Hackenbracht (No. 58 CGH Motorsports Chevrolet) is fifth, 180 points behind Poole. The sixth through 10th positions, respectively, are filled by Matt Lofton (No. 16 Strutmasters.com Chevrolet), Tom Hessert (No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet), Ryan Reed (No. 15 RaceHard.com Chevrolet), Jared Marks (No. 12 SRT Motorsports Dodge), and Spencer Gallagher (No. 23 Allegiant Air Chevrolet). The full and official ARCA Racing Series point standings will be released Tuesday. Flat Tire Can't Stop Poole: The only thing a flat tire just before the white flag in Sunday's Herr's Chase the Taste 200 did to Brennan Poole was pad Alex Bowman's victory margin. Poole held on for second place and maintained the ARCA Racing Series points lead even after losing the race by over six seconds. Just missing a chance to pull in front of Bowman off of pit road after finishing Lap 149 may have cost the points leader. "On our second pit stop, we didn't get as good of a pit stop as we needed to and we came out of the pits behind (Bowman)," he said. "I thought we had a car that could get around him and I was doing all I could." The Lap 199 flat tire forced Poole to make contact with the wall on Lap 200, but he did not relent in his pursuit of second place. "We kept digging after working so hard all day like that," he said. "I sailed in there and rode the wall all the way around and still finished second. It was a good points day for us, and we'll take it one day at a time and one lap at a time." Though Saturday and Sunday will represent Poole's first experience on a road course, he is looking forward to racing at New Jersey Motorsports Park. "I think it's going to be fun. I know (New Jersey)'s real good for rookies that have never done a lot of stock car road course racing before. It's flat and it's got a couple of tricky corners so I'm just going to go there and try to gain as much experience as I can. I'm excited to do something different. ARCA does so many different things with the dirt races and the road course and all these little short tracks and the superspeedways; it's pretty crazy." Poole and his Venturini Motorsports teammates plan to test on a road course Wednesday. Champions Honored in Pre-Race Ceremonies: Four ARCA Racing Series champions and a Winchester racing legend appeared before the Winchester Speedway crowd Sunday to be recognized as part of ARCA's 60th Anniversary Season. Nine-time champion Frank Kimmel, two-time champions Bobby Bowsher and Bill Venturini, and 1982 titlist Scott Stovall were all introduced, as was Tom Bigelow of Winchester. Bigelow, 72, won multiple USAC championships and even made ARCA starts as late as the 1990s. Jones Just Misses in History Bid, Earns Career High: At just 16 years and 25 days old, Erik Jones (No. 55 Paragon Corvette Restoration Chevrolet) seemed a likely candidate to become the youngest winner in ARCA Racing Series history. James Buescher won at USA International Speedway in 2007 at 16 years and 363 days old, but Jones led 56 laps in the second half of the race and looked to be in control. Taking just two tires on his final pit stop turned out to be his undoing, but a third-place finish was still a career high. "We had a good car and we took a little chance on a pit stop," said Jones, who has two top-fives in five career ARCA starts. "We took four (tires) on the first stop and everybody else took two. Running out front was good. You get a lot of good experience running out there. We held them off as long as we could, but got that caution with about 50 to go and just couldn't do any more. They all put four tires on. It's a good learning day and the team did a great job all day long with great pit stops." Jones' next event will be the Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway on Friday, July 13. Basham Improves Eight Spots, Wins Hard Charger: Darrell Basham (No. 34 Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet) seems to show his best when in his home state. The Henryville, Ind. product's most recent top-15 finish came at Salem last September, and he matched that result with a 14th-place finish in Sunday's Herr's Chase the Taste 200. He started 22nd, so his eight-spot gain accounted for a race best and the CGS Imaging Hard Charger of the Race Award. Buescher Wins Fifth Career Menards Pole, Finishes Fourth: Days after his first speedway win, Chris Buescher continued his momentum by winning the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell. The pole was the fifth of his career, following two at Salem (2009 and 2012), and one each at Toledo and Mansfield, Ohio in 2010. Buescher led the first 35 laps but finished fourth Sunday. "We're not over there (in Victory Lane) where Alex is, but overall, it's not too terribly bad," he said after Sunday's race. "It took a lot of adjusting to get it right, and we just needed to work on it throughout the race. We did and it really helped us. We were pretty good there in the end." Buescher led 16 laps late in last year's race at New Jersey Motorsports Park but finished 15th after an incident knocked him out of contention. Going back in several days has him motivated to get back to the front. "It's time for us to go win another one, and I think we've got a pretty good shot there. We've got a really good car and the Roulos do a nice job at that place. I'm not a road racer, but we've seemed to run pretty well." "Our teammate Brandon Davis comes from a road racing background as well, so we've got two shots at it, but don't be fooled. I'm not going to let him win and I hope he hears this," he said with a smile. "We're going to give him a run for his money." First ARCA Tripleheader: Two ARCA divisions raced Saturday at Winchester, with Danny Jackson winning in the ARCA Truck Series Landrum Springs 50 and Johnny VanDoorn driving to victory in the ARCA CRA Super Series Winchester 100. The three-race collection was the first since the completion of the new agreement between ARCA and the Champion Racing Association last year. Lofton Happy to Improve: Matt Lofton finished 14th at Salem Speedway in April, which was actually his last finish outside the top 15. Lofton has since been on a tear, scoring five top-fives in the last six races. He finished fifth in Sunday's Herr's Chase the Taste 200 at Winchester, a track very similar to Salem. "We get better and better," he said. "We went to Salem earlier this year and weren't very good, and this is a very comparable race track. We came back, regrouped, got our stuff together, and had a really good run today. You keep getting top-fives week after week and one of these days they're going to wreck when you need them to wreck." Lofton has no road course experience; as such, he does not expect to dominate in Sunday's race at New Jersey Motorsports Park. He's just looking to keep his car in one piece. "We're big-picture racing next week," he said. "I don't have any road course experience. Coulter Motorsports has a great track record (at New Jersey); they finished second there with Joey (Coulter) in 2010, so I'll lean on him as much as I can for some information and do as much homework as I can at the house. Mainly, my job next week is to just not hurt us." Mingus, Gallagher Among Those with Career Highs: Mason Mingus (No. 32 Call 811 Before You Dig Toyota) had a rough night in Saturday's ARCA CRA Super Series race at Winchester, finishing 20th of 23 cars after motor problems. He recovered in Sunday's ARCA Racing Series event with a career-best sixth-place finish, his third top-10 in five starts this year. "It was definitely a solid run," said the 17-year-old from Brentwood, Tenn. "We may have had the fastest car here; they were telling me my lap times. We just couldn't get it going when I put new tires on. We kept dropping back some spots. But we had an outstanding race car. The guys did an awesome job this weekend. Our crew chief Mark Rette, he couldn't even be here yesterday. He was at Road America helping Nelson Piquet Jr. get a win (in the NASCAR Nationwide Series). He came here today and did an outstanding job on top of the box." Mingus said spending time in the ARCA Racing Series and ARCA CRA Super Series cars Saturday helped him. Unlike many drivers, Mingus entered with previous experience at Winchester in the Super Series. "I jumped back and forth between both cars Saturday," he said. "That helped. Any seat time you can get helps even though it's a different car." Spencer Gallagher finished seventh, his second top-10 in a row after opening his career with 10 finishes outside the top 10. Austin Rettig (No. 01 Rettig Racing Dodge) earned his first top-15 in 13th, as did Larry Barford Jr. (No. 04 First Mariner Bank/Trauma Doc Dodge) in 15th. Joseph Hughs (No. 64 Jack Hughs Racing Dodge) was 16th in his career debut; fellow debut starter Landon Cling (No. 3 Wiley X Eyewear/Aluma Trailers Dodge) finished 20th. Dale Shearer (No. 73 Shearer Racing Ford) finished 17th, the best result of his career. Poole Keeps Special Award Leads: In addition to leading the ARCA Racing Series point standings, Brennan Poole continues to lead several major special award categories. Alex Bowman won the Team Messina Rookie Challenge for the race for a series-high fourth time this year, but Poole leads the overall points in the category, 234-222. Poole led 72 laps, more than any other driver, to win the Aaron's Lap Leader of the Race Award and extend his advantage in the year-long category. 2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com. The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama's Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota's Elko Speedway for the first time. Founded by John and Mildred Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in three professional touring series and local weekly events. CONTACT: Griffin Hickman, ARCA (419) 574-2685 (mobile) Don Radebaugh, ARCA (419) 450-0611 (mobile) |
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