 WINCHESTER,
IN (June 24, 2012) -- Alex Bowman led three times for 33 laps in the Herr's
Chase The Taste 200 en route to capturing his second victory of the year in
the ARCA Racing Series.
It was the Tucson, AZ driver's second win of the
year and fourth of his career. Bowman's earlier win this year was also on
another short track--Salem Speedway.
There were 32 cars on hand for qualifying with
25 of them posting times.
Chris Buescher captured the pole for the event
circling the 1/2-mile oval in 15.903 seconds or 113.186 mph.
Chad Hackenbracht was second in qualifying
followed by Brennan Poole and Erik Jones.
In fact, the top four qualifiers were separated
by just 44/100ths of a second.
The close qualifying times was also evidenced in
the 200-lap race which featured 11 leaders among five different drivers.
Leaders during the race included; Chris Buescher
1-35 (35 laps), Brennan Poole 36-91, 93, 95-108, 149 (72 laps), Alex Bowman 92,
94, 170-200 (33 laps), Erik Jones 109-148, 154-169 (56 laps) and Jared Marks
150-153 (4 laps).
In the end, Alex Bowman opted for a final
four-tire pit stop which aided his final push to the finish.
Bowman crossed the finish line 6.424 seconds
ahead of runner-up Brennan Poole.
After the race Bowman said, "I didn't win
that race. The pit crew guys did. I've just got to thank everybody at
Cunningham Motorsports."
Bowman added, "It's awesome to get St.
Jude's (Children's Research Hospital) back in Victory Lane, and it's really
cool to have the Impellizeri family here. It means a lot to me. Losing Scott
was pretty tough. He was one of my really good friends so I've got to dedicate
this win to him again."
Bowman concluded, "We were so evenly
matched with the #25 (Poole) that I kept trying to get around him. I got
somewhere around him one time when the caution came out. From there, their guys
beat us off pit road, but our guys made up for it with that four-tire pit stop
and I've got to thank Briggs Cunningham, Penske engines, Paul Andrews, Kerry
Scherer, my grandma (and) God."
Poole was actually much closer at the end than
the final margin indicated.
Poole was closing in on the race leader when he
suffered a flat right front tire on the race's final lap.
Despite that, Poole was able to limp home in
second followed by Erik Jones who finished third.
Chris Buescher finished in fourth followed by
Matt Lofton in fifth among the 32 cars that started the race.
The race had just four cautions for a total of
27 laps.
Brennan Poole remains atop the driver standings
with his runner-up finish, while Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Frank Kimmel and
Chad Hackenbracht round out the top five in the rankings.
The ARCA Series will resume action
this Sunday, July 1, on the road course at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud
to begin its 18th consecutive season as the exclusive tire provider to the ARCA
Series.
Members of the Hoosier Tire service team at
Winchester included; David
Wroblewski, Rick Tostevin, John Reynolds, Kevin Wroblewski, Chad Wright and
Mike Haenes.
To learn more about the ARCA Series and its
events you can visit www.arcaracing.com.
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