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Joey
Logano Wins ARCA Race at Pocono
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LONG POND PA (6-6-09) -
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie Joey Logano turned his test and tune day Saturday
afternoon at Pocono Raceway into an ARCA RE/MAX Series triumph.
Logano, in the Venturini Motorsports-prepared Home Depot Toyota, entered the
Pocono ARCA 200 to get seat-time for the next-day Pocono 500 Cup race. The Middletown,
Connecticut driver got that and plenty more as he led the most laps en route to his second
series victory in his fourth series start.
"It's a good series to learn a lot," said Logano, who led 52 of 80
laps during the 200-mile race "For me, it helped me out a lot today to get some
experience for the Sprint Cup race coming up here tomorrow. I definitely had a great race
car today. We led, I'd say, most of the laps. The one time we got a little challenge but I
think we were able to adjust the car and make it better. All the guys did a great job, we
had good stops, came out first every time out of the pits so that was pretty cool. I had
fun out here and I learned a lot."
The challenge that Logano referred to came from rookie Parker Kligerman, who
after first-round pit stops, caught and passed Logano for the lead and began to pull away.
However, Kligerman had two left-front tires go down resulting in two unscheduled pit stops
that eventually relegated the Westport, Connecticut rookie to sixth in the final running
order.
Outside of the mid-race challenge from Kligerman, Logano had no immediate
challengers throughout the race, finishing nearly two seconds in front of second place
finisher and current point leader Justin Lofton.
"We had a good day," said Lofton, who led the first 14 laps.
"Eddie Sharp Racing prepares cars equally as good as anything on the Cup side, so I
can't complain. It's getting a little frustrating running second everywhere, but we're
building a pretty good point lead, so that's good. We only got a few laps of practice this
morning so that didn't help, but all in all, we had a really good day."
Patrick Sheltra, in the Buffalo Wings & Rings Dodge, finished third.
"Feel like our season is turning around for us," said Sheltra. "The guys on
the crew did a great job all day. We'll take it - good day for us."
Rookie Joey Coulter, after a tire went flat, battled back from one lap down
to finish a career-best fourth in the Darrell Gwynn Foundation-Tempest Cycles Chevrolet.
"It got a little scary when we had that tire go down but it was early
in the race and I knew once we made that pit stop we would need another caution so that we
could get the lucky dog and we just kind of worked from there," Coulter said.
"The pit crew did an awesome job and gained us I think like six spots the first stop
and then they gained us another one or two or maybe three the second stop."
Matt Merrell finished fifth in the ColinsHope.org Dodge.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series heads to Michigan Int'l Speedway next Friday, June 12
for the Racing For Wildlife 200 live on SPEED at 5:00 PM.
Don Radebaugh 419-450-0611
Jackie L. Franzil 419-574-2685
Official Finish, Pocono ARCA 200, Pocono Raceway, 6-6-09
Long Pond, Pa., - The official finish for Saturday's Pocono ARCA 200 at
Pocono Raceway for ARCA RE/MAX Series stock cars with starting position in parenthesis,
driver, hometown, type of car, laps completed, and reason out of race, if any:
1. (4) Joey Logano, Middletown, Conn., Toyota, 80; 2. (1) Justin Lofton, Westmorland,
Calif., Toyota, 80; 3. (8) Patrick Sheltra, Indiantown, Fla., Dodge, 80; 4. (13) Joey
Coulter, Miami Springs, Fla., Chevrolet, 80; 5. (2) Matt Merrell, Portland, Texas, Dodge,
80; 6. (6) Parker Kligerman, Westport, Conn., Dodge, 80; 7. (17) Robb Brent, Shelby
Township, Mich., Dodge, 80; 8. (23) Mikey Kile, Westlake, La., Chevrolet, 80; 9. (9) Craig
Goess, Greenville, N.C., Toyota, 80; 10. (28) Alli Owens, Daytona Beach, Fla., Toyota, 80;
11. (14) Steve Arpin, Fort Frances, Ont., Toyota, 80; 12. (30) Bobby Gerhart, Lebanon,
Pa., Chevrolet, 80; 13. (34) Sean Corr, Goshen, N.Y., Ford, 80; 14. (3) Frank Kimmel,
Clarksville, Ind., Ford, 79; 15. (5) Bryan Silas, Stuart, Fla., Ford, 79; 16. (16) Chase
Mille, Canton, Ga., Dodge, 78; 17. (12) Jeremy Petty, Smolan, Kan., Chevrolet, 78; 18.
(33) Kyle Martel, Lebanon, Pa., Chevrolet, 78; 19. (10) Tim George, Jr., New York, N.Y.,
Toyota, 78; 20. (32) Brian Kaltreider, Reading, Pa., Ford, 77; 21. (29) Kevin Belmont,
Langhorne, Pa., Ford, 77; 22. (15) Darrell Basham, Henryville, Ind., Chevrolet, 77; 23.
(21) Brent Cross, Cortland, N.Y., Chevrolet, 77; 24. (20) James Hylton, Inman, S.C., Ford,
75; 25. (27) Jason Basham, Henryville, Ind., Chevrolet, 75; 26. (37) Chad Beahr,
Mechanicsville, Va., Dodge, 72; 27. (19) Brad Smith, Shelby Township, Mich., Ford, 69; 28.
(7) Tom Hessert, Cherry Hill, N.J., Ford, 67; 29. (11) Stephan McCurley, Humble, Texas,
Chevrolet, 24, engine; 30. (24) Gabi DiCarlo, Phoenix, Ariz., Toyota, 19, brake line; 31.
(22) Barry Fitzgerald, Sykesville, Md., Ford, 18, overheating; 32. (18) Todd Antrican,
Lebanon, Ohio, Chevrolet, 18, brakes; 33. (36) Chuck Walker, Stanley, N.C., Ford, 12,
battery; 34. (25) Zachary Gibson, Richwood, Ohio, Ford, 8, accident; 35. (31) Marc Easton,
Saranac Lake, N.Y., Chevrolet, 7, handling; 36. (35) Chase Mattioli, Long Pond, Pa.,
Dodge, 1, accident; 37. (26) Tom Berte, New Berlin, Wis., Chevrolet, 0, accident.
Time of race: 1 hour, 41 minutes, 36 seconds; Margin of victory: 1.996 seconds; Lap
leaders: Lofton 1-14, Logano 15-34, Silas 35, Arpin 36-39, Kligerman 40-48, Logano 49-80.
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