 LONG
POND, PA (August 4, 2012) -- The stars finally aligned for young Chad
Hackenbracht on Saturday at Pocono Raceway. The 20-year-old driver from Ohio
used an early pit strategy, coming in on lap 8, to stop for service on the
race's only caution flag.
Once the race went green, Hackenbracht watched
as the other drivers who stayed out on the track during the early caution fall
out of contention when they were forced to pit later on in the event under
green.
The ARCA Series requires all drivers to pit once
before the 10-to-go mark which played a crucial role in the race's
outcome.
Brennan Poole looked to be on his way to
repeating as a winner at Pocono when he captured the pole for the Pennsylvania
ARCA 200.
Poole, who won at Pocono in June, topped the
speed chart for Saturday's race when he circled the 2.5-mile tri-oval in 52.220
seconds (172.348 mph).
Amazingly, it was Poole's third pole in three
career events at Pocono. The young Texas driver went on to win the June race
leading 77 of 80 race laps.
This time, Poole wasted no time motoring out
front of the 34-car starting field.
Poole had built a comfortable lead over Alex
Bowman when the race's first caution flew on lap 8 of the 50-lap race.
That's when Chad Hackenbracht, who had started
fifth, seized the opportunity and quickly ducked into the pits for service
while Poole stayed out to preserve the race lead.
The race featured five leaders among four
different drivers.
Drivers leading during the event included;
Brennan Poole 1-13, 21-37 (30 laps), Alex Bowman 14-20 (7 laps), Grant Enfinger
38 (1 lap) and Chad Hackenbracht 39-50 (12 laps).
Before the 10-to-go mark, many drivers were
forced to pit under green and as they did, Hackenbracht found himself out front
with more than a 26-second lead.
The only thing that could potentially prevent
him from capturing his first career win was a caution flag.
But the yellow would not come out.
As the end of the race neared, Hackenbracht
slowed his pace to conserve his fuel and tires ultimately crossing the finish
line 13.453 seconds ahead of Brennan Poole.
Unofficially, the runner-up finish for the pole sitter
propelled Poole into the lead in the ARCA standings over Chris Buescher by 15
points.
Poole was followed to the finish line by Alex
Bowman, Frank Kimmel and Chris Buescher to round out the top five.
A jubilant Chad Hackenbracht commented after the
race, "You know, my parents weren't able to make it to this race so we
don't know if they're going to make it to any of the other ones now. My dad's back
at home with a bad back, so I've got to say thanks to him and everything
they've done."
"(Crew chief) Kevin Reed's strategy played
out great. Every time we get in the lead, we have the chance to win and we have
something go wrong," said Hackenbracht.
Hackenbracht added, "Those last 10 laps, I
was just waiting for the caution. Finally, everything played into our hands and
we finally got our first win and got the monkey off our back. I hope we'll have
many more to come."
The ARCA Series goes from one of the largest
tracks (2.5-mile) to one of the smallest (.5-mile) on its schedule this
Saturday, August 11, at Berlin Raceway.
The ARCA Series is in its 60th season of
competition, while Hoosier has proudly been supplying tires to the series for
the past 18 consecutive seasons.
For more information about the ARCA Series
please visit www.arcaracing.com.
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