Cale Gale ESR Race Report — Pocono Mountains 125 at Pocono Raceway

Cale Gale and the No. 33 Rheem team brought home a top-15 finish in their first trip to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (“The Tricky Triangle”) in a 50-lap shootout at the historic speedway on Saturday afternoon.  In an event where several veterans found themselves in trouble, Gale drove a clean race to pick up two positions in the points standings en route to a 14th-place finish.

Gale rolled off 15th for the Pocono Mountains 125.  With a neutral truck, the driver of the Rheem Chevrolet logged laps throughout the first half the event.  As the leaders began to make their way down pit road shortly after lap 20, Gale was called to the pits on lap 23 for four tires and fuel.  When the caution flag was displayed on lap 30, the Rheem team decided to bring their Chevrolet back down pit road to top it off with fuel to ensure that they would have enough gas if there was a green-white-checkered finish. 

As the race progressed, the Rheem Chevrolet continued to handle perfectly.  Meanwhile, things started to get crazy on the track as three cautions ensued during the final 20 laps.  Gale avoided two separate accidents on lap 40 to line up 11th for the final restart of the day.  With just seven laps remaining, drivers took it three- and four-wide driving into turn one at the Tricky Triangle.  In a heated battle for position, Gale fell to the 14th position as the 50-lap shootout came to an end at Pocono Raceway. 

“I’ve been to a lot of different tracks throughout my career, but Pocono Raceway was probably the most unique track that I’ve ever raced on,” commented Gale.  “We didn’t really know what to expect this weekend, but Jerry [Baxter, crew chief] and the guys put in a lot of time and hard work to build a strong Rheem Chevrolet and it paid off.  We were able to avoid all the on-track incidents this weekend and came home with a 14th-place finish.  The Rheem team picked up a couple spots in the point standings, which puts us in a good position as we head into Michigan [International Speedway] and Bristol [Motor Speedway]–two places that I’ve run very well at in the past.  I’m really looking forward to the next few weeks coming up in the NCWTS schedule.” 

After a short break with one weekend off, the NCWTS will be back in action at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, August 18. Live coverage of the VFW 200 will begin at 12:00 p.m. ET on SPEED, MRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, channel 90. As always, fans can visit www.teamesr.com, www.twitter.com/teamesr, or www.facebook.com/TeamESR for the latest news and updates about Cale Gale and the No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet Silverado team.

ESR