Justin Haley and the Fraternal Order of Eagles team qualified in the 14th position at Pocono Raceway, but ultimately started from the back of the field due to unapproved adjustments. Haley, who led first practice and was the previous night’s winner in the ARCA Racing event, quickly made his way through the field following teammate Johnny Sauter. As he reached the end of the first stage on lap 15, Haley reported he was happy with the handling of the No. 24 Chevrolet and had no problem passing in the turns.
Crew chief Kevin Bellicourt brought his driver to pit road from the 13th position on lap 16, for four tires and fuel, returning to the field in the 16th position for the start of stage two. Haley advanced in to the top 10 but the team chose to pit early under green for right-side tires and fuel, electing to stay out under caution at the end of the second stage.
Haley took over the fourth position as the leaders came to pit road and held position within the top 10 for the first two laps under green before making contact with the No. 51 truck on lap 37. He visited his team on pit road to repair minor damage to the left front and returned to the field in the 17th position. He steadily worked his way back in to the 10th position where he crossed the line for his eighth top-10 finish of the season.
Quote
“We had a really fast Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet. We were decent in practice and had so much speed in qualifying, but unfortunately had to start at the back. We were able to get to the front pretty quick and Kevin (Bellicourt, crew chief) made a great call to pit early under green to get some track position. I just made a mistake there toward the end. I hate it for our team to mess up what could have been another top five, but even more messing up someone else’s day like that. We’ll just look at it as another learning experience and keep working.”
Additional Info
– Haley is 12th in the driver championship point standings, with 1 top-five and 8 top-10 finishes in 10 starts this season.
– With his 10th-place finish at Pocono, Haley has earned seven consecutive top 10s.
GMS Racing PR
