NHMS Fits Poole’s Approach
LOUDON, NH — Brennan Poole of The Woodlands, TX has a positive first impression of the Magic Mile from his first laps in the pace car this morning. The HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi driver has one top 10 in 11 starts. He is 21st in points entering Saturday’s Lakes Region 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“It’s been a good year,” Poole said. ” I’ve learned a lot and got to race with some pretty awesome talented guys so just trying to take everything in and continue to use that stuff week to week and build off that and I feel like it’s gone pretty well so far. We’ve had a couple of things out of our control happen that have kind of taken us away some good finishes that we had going, but that’s part of racing. So really proud of our DC Solar team and all the guys for working so hard for me and giving me some good cars a lot of times this year and so looking forward to this weekend at New Hampshire. I feel like we got a really good car for this go round and track seems to fit a little bit of my style and kind of what I grew up racing and so it’s pretty awesome to be up here.”
Poole feels that running part time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series puts him behind series regulars. He spends the first practice learning the track before working on the car in the second practice. If Poole has raced at a track before, he said it is “much easier” to find the groove and what the car needs.
He is sharing the car with Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson this season. Poole said Larson and the team’s work have led to getting the cars faster.
“Just being able to talk about some of the things that we’re feeling in the cars and make me feel good as a rookie to have some of the same feelings he’s been having. It just makes you have a little bit more confidence and so he’s been a confidence booster for me and he’s taught me a lot of things and has really kind of given me that extra boost that I need at times to run better.”
“It’s been tough. The XFINITY cars are a lot different than anything I ever raced before. … The racing is so different. The way the cars react in the air and around other cars, they’re just a little bit different so it’s been a challenge to learn how to side draft, learn how to keep my momentum up, learn how to when the makes passes, and catching the lapped traffic, and how to go around them.”
The ARCA cars he drove before have more grip and less side draft. A 12th at Kentucky last week was his best finish on a 1.5-mile track since ninth in his debut at Las Vegas.
“It just takes time and experience and seat time so this year I’ve been really working on that and just trying to absorb everything that I can each race to and then apply it the next week so that I can be better and get a better finish and I feel like that part of it’s going well. These guys are so good in XFINITY that man they’re so talented that it’s just really tough. They’re so good, but at least I’m learning a lot from those guys.”
Poole won six of his 35 ARCA Racing Series starts, including his debut at Salem and final start at Kentucky. He gained experience with radial tires and superspeedways. He finished third in 2012 points, his lone full season.
“Venturini gave me great opportunities in really good stuff. To be able to learn what I need to learn to make that next jump and to get me noticed to make the jump. …Being able to win some big races on some big tracks to build your confidence before you move into the next level and I was real fortunate to be able to win at places like Pocono, Michigan, and Kentucky.”
Things have been “pretty tough” for Poole recently. As a part time driver at Venturini Motorsports, Poole worked a number of jobs, including spotter and driver coach for Justin Boston. He subbed for teammate John Wes Townley last season, winning in his last appearance at Kentucky.
“this sport a lot of it has to do with confidence and the people who are around you so I feel like this year I’ve had some really good times where the confidence was super high and then of course I’ve got really good guys around me who are boosting me forward and making me better so I just feel I couldn’t be in a better position.”
Poole filmed video for Richard Childress Racing with a couple of cameras. The Dartfish program was used to overlay Ty Dillon’s best lap with another driver as a “ghost car.” The driver and team can analyze where time is lost. For rookies like Poole, it helps him adapt to new tracks faster.
“You could really see where maybe the faster car was beating you at or where they were kind of getting off the gas. Maybe you’re carrying too much speed in and having to stop in the middle and then they carry all of the momentum off and beat you down the straightaway so just like all those little things that you necessarily don’t see or feel it really becomes evident on the Dartfish.”
Poole’s father wanted him to be a golfer. He followed Lee Trevino’s theory of beating club champions before going pro. They traveled with a Suburban and a trailer to the races. Poole began in Quarter Midgets, Legend Cars and eventually dirt Modifieds.
“My dad wanted to take me around, race all the track champions and try to beat ’em and if I could beat ’em then chances are then maybe this is something I could do for a living.”
Poole regularly traveled to different tracks in Late Models. The 2011 champion dominated the old UARA STARS Late Model Series with 10 wins in three seasons.
“UARA Late Models was a really good time. A lot of fun times for me racing with a lot of great people and a lot of fun short tracks. Man, I love Hickory and I love Tri-County and Lonesome Pine and all those short tracks back in the southeast. So that was a lot of fun and Myrtle Beach that’s another one I really enjoyed. So I feel real fortunate that I was able to have as much success … I definitely miss those days. Late Model racing is so good and it’s really competitive.”
“I think I’ve been able to have such success moving forward because I’ve been to so many places that I’m able to adapt a little bit quicker. It just goes back to my dad. He did a really good job and made some really good decisions on teaching me things I needed to be taught and especially coming from no racing background basically just kind of going off other people’s theories and stuff like that he did a good job and put me in a good position to be successful and I am where I am now because of that.”
After this weekend, Poole has five races remaining. He has experience in ARCA at Kansas, and raced in XFINITY at Iowa, Richmond, and Kentucky earlier this year. He ran his rookie test at Charlotte. Justin Marks will run two road course events, with Larson completing the balance of the schedule.
“I feel like the last five that I got are really good tracks for me and I feel like we’re going to go have some strong runs to close out the year.”
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com