Bobby Santos III earns the SIM Factory Pole Award
Starting Lineup
LONG POND PA (8-3-07) - Bobby Santos III earned his second career SIM Factory Pole Award Friday afternoon, beating intermittent rain showers and the rest of the 44 ARCA RE/MAX Series competitors for Saturday's Pennsylvania 200 at Pocono Raceway.
Santos, from Franklin, Massachussetts, driving a Bill Davis Racing Toyota Camry, toured the triangular shaped 2.5-mile track in 53.836 seconds, an average speed of 167.174 mph. Santos will be joined on the front row by fellow Toyota racer Josh Wise, marking the first time in the 55-year history of the ARCA sanctioning body that the Toyota nameplate will occupy the front row.
Santos, who will make his seventh career ARCA RE/MAX Series start on Saturday, earned his career first pole award at USA Int'l Speedway in Lakeland, Florida back in March. The Bill Davis Racing developmental driver is using the ARCA RE/MAX Series to transition from his open wheel racing background to stock cars.
"This is a pretty neat track," said Santos. "These stock cars are definitely unfamiliar to me. I'm used to open wheel cars but I'm having a lot of fun. I learned a couple of things in practice that helped me run a little faster in qualifying. I've always said that I just want to be able to race for a living. I grew up in open wheel stuff but I'm adjusting to this. It's definitely different. I still run some of my open wheel races and I think it helps me. I can bring stuff to this from that. All different types of racing has helped me."
Wise posted a 53.863 second lap around Pocono, narrowly missing the opportunity to earn his career first ARCA SIM Factory Pole Award.
"It's cool to be able to do this for Toyota," said Wise. "I'm going to be banging my head over the wall over this all night over three tenths of a second. It will be a long race tomorrow and that's what is important. It's been cool for me getting to work with a lot of different teams and a lot of different people, whether it be the trucks, or this ARCA deal. It's been a lot of fun this year. Growing up with open wheel stuff I've always basically set up my own cars and I feel like I can have a decent amount of input into what the car needs. In the end it's all in the crew chief's hands but it's good to know that I can give my say so too."
Friday's ARCA RE/MAX Series qualifying session was completed in full despite the presence of intermittent rain showers throughout the day.
"It's not so much a high speed but when you pull off pit road and the rain splatters over the wind shield it's on your mind but you just kind of block it out," said Wise.
Hendrick Motorsports developmental driver Lance Cassill was third quickest in the No. 87 HMS Racing Chevrolet.
"We had a great car in practice," said Cassill. "The guys worked really hard getting the car ready all day long. I really would like to make a point in appreciating all the guys in the shop, and then the Busch team coming out here to help me out. Hopefully we can keep the Stanley Chevrolet up front. Right now the most important thing is to get some laps in and get experience in these ARCA RE/MAX Series racecars. The important thing isn't where I race but getting the opportunity to race in a Hendrick car."
Phoenix, Arizona's Michael McDowell qualified fourth, followed by Spartanburg, South Carolina's Jeremy Clements. Roush Fenway Racing's Travis Kvapil will start sixth, followed by Evernham Motorsports' Erin Crocker, Justin Marks, Patrick Sheltra and Justin Allgaier.
The Pennsylvania 200, which marks the ARCA RE/MAX Series' 45th appearance at Pocono Raceway, is scheduled to roll off at 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, August 4th. The race will air LIVE on SPEED. All Grandstand tickets for Saturday's Pennsylvania 200 are $25 and c an be purchased at the Gate 8 Ticket Booth, gates open at 8am.
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