Brennan Poole returns to ARCA victory lane at Kentucky

Brennan Poole slowly inched away from the field to grab his sixth career ARCA victory at Kentucky Speedway Friday night.  Poole filled in for John Wes Townley in the No. 15 Zaxby’s Toyota and picked up his first win in 2014.

“These guys did it,” Poole said in his post-race interview on FOX Sports 1.  “I think God gave me some angels tonight.  He was pushing this baby because we were struggling in practice.”

Townley was in New Hampshire for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event and decided to skip the race at Kentucky.  The Georgia driver’s ARCA season was halted at Pocono last month after suffering a concussion in a qualifying accident for the ModSpace 125. He then missed the next three races and took him out of championship contention to recover and return at Madison.  Poole drove the No. 15 Toyota at Berlin, the week after Townley’s accident, and wheeled the car to a third-place finish.  He also serves as a driver coach and spotter for Venturini Motorsports, but gets behind the wheel once in a while like Friday night.

“I just want to thank Zaxby’s. They supported me all year,” Poole said.  “They’ve really believed in me, as much as they believe in John Wes.  It’s been an honor to race with them and help John Wes out and I feel so blessed.”

Another Venturini driver also had a strong run, with that being Daniel Suarez.  The NASCAR K&N East and Mexico Series competitor led the most laps on the night with 39 laps and came home in the fifth spot.

“There are a lot of fast cars,” Suarez said of ARCA.  “I’m very happy to have all of this learning process for this series.”

Suarez ran the race to gain additional experience in preparation for his full-time ride with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2015 and Kentucky is on their schedule twice.  ARRIS sponsored the No. 66 effort for Suarez Friday night.

The battle for the championship also became a little clearer, as points leader Mason Mitchell drove his No. 98 Ford to a third-place finish, while Grant Enfinger suffered engine problems and relegating him to a 30th-place finish.

“It’s unfortunate he had issues,” Mitchell said.  “I like to race guys hard to the end, but stuff happens.  It’s part of racing.”

Unofficially, Mitchell leaves Kentucky with a 200-point lead over Enfinger.  The No. 98 team won Chicagoland in July for Mitchell’s first career win and Enfinger has five wins on the season.  The two have been locked in a tight points battle all season, as Enfinger’s year got off to a bang with three straight victories to open the season.  Mitchell has been consistent and has only two did-not-finishes (DNF) on the year.

“We can’t relax at all,” Mitchell said of heading into the season finale.  “We just got to keep on digging hard and try to get a win at Kansas.”

The ARCA Racing Series heads next to the Kansas Speedway in October for their season finale and a champion will be crowned.

           

Kyle Magda