Making just his second ARCA Menards Series start of the season in Friday afternoon’s General Tire #AnyWhereIsPossible 200 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, sophomore driver Ryan Huff is eager for a duplicate performance.
In his fourth career ARCA start last season, Huff started 13th at the 2.5-mile triangle and powered to a then career-best ninth-place finish.
A year later, Huff is more focused and experienced and hopes the two combined will lead to a career-best finish in his ninth career ARCA Menards Series start.
“I’m just excited about getting back on the track this weekend,” said Huff.
“Talladega feels like forever ago. We had a good car at Pocono last year and we’re bringing what I hope will be an even better car for Friday.”
Huff said that Pocono was one of the most challenging tracks of his young career, but it was a task he embraced.
“They don’t call Pocono the “Tricky Triangle” for nothing,” added Huff. “It’s definitely a rhythm track and you have to hit your points every lap. Almost treat every lap as if it was a qualifying lap. The draft plays a big role at Pocono and last year I was still getting used to that – so that’s where I am hoping the experience will come into play and perhaps help us with a better finish.”
Huff won’t partake in Thursday’s open-test at Pocono but isn’t that concerned.
“It just didn’t work out for us to participate in the test, but we’ll be at the track first thing on Friday to prepare for practice and qualifying,” explained Huff. “The goal is to make the car better from practice to qualifying – start our No. 36 H&H Excavation | Southeastern Services Ford Fusion near the front and see what happens in 80 laps.”
For the second consecutive race, Huff will work spotter Chris Monez. The two debuted together at Talladega in April.
“Chris came from a recommendation from a member of our team, and he has been great to work with,” added Huff. “His experience on the roof definitely made me a better driver at Talladega and I hope he can have that same impact on Friday at Pocono.
“I feel extremely comfortable with him and vice-versa. He isn’t scared to get on my case if I need it and even helps me provide better feedback to the team to make our program better overall. Being linked to a Cup spotter has certainly been an asset and something we’ll utilize for the rest of the season.”
The remainder of Huff’s 2021 ARCA Menards Series schedule is still being pieced together, but the Williamsburg, Va. native hopes to have a larger presence in the series.
“We’re still ironing out the details, but we’re hoping to make maybe Michigan our next race following Pocono,” Huff explained. “We have a few more ARCA events circled on our calendar.
“Hopefully, we can have some good runs in ARCA that will propel us forward to returning to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series later this year.”
H&H Excavation, a company owned by Huff will serve as the primary partner this weekend at Pocono. In addition, Southeastern Services, Outback Steakhouse and Hawkeye Graphics will serve as associate marketing partners for Huff’s second ARCA start at Pocono.
Since 2020, Huff has eight ARCA Menards Series starts to his credit with a career-best finish of eighth at Kansas Speedway in July 2020. He earned his first career top-10 finish at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in June 2020. Huff has started a career-best 11th three times. Despite competing in just seven races in 2020, Huff finished 14th in the championship standings.
For more on Ryan Huff, follow him on Twitter (@driverRyanHuff) and like him on Facebook (@driverRyanHuff).
The General Tire #AnyWhereIsPossible 200 (80 laps | 200 miles) is the eighth of 20 races on the 2021 ARCA Menards Series schedule. A quick forty-five practice session begins on Fri., Jun. 25 from 2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. General Tire pole qualifying is slated for 4:00 p.m., with the green flag set to wave shortly after 6:00 p.m. The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), while ARCARacing.com will stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire weekend festivities. All times are local (ET).
Ryan Huff PR
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