Poole Overcomes Adversity to Finish Runner-Up at Charlotte

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent

CONCORD, N.C. – Sidelined by sponsorship at Kansas Speedway, Brennan Poole rebounded to finish runner-up at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

On the final restart of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200, Poole’s No. 30 Madvapes Toyota Tundra restarted on the outside. It negated the broken sway bar arm that hindered his performance below other trucks. Johnny Sauter’s stumble also relieved some pressure from behind.

Poole made quick work of Ben Rhodes and Matt Crafton. The 28-year-old quickly got on Kyle Busch’s back bumper. Poole dived to the inside in the middle of the corner, but his wounded truck slipped. He drifted back and held off Stewart Friesen to score his best career finish.

“We broke a sway bar arm at the very beginning of the race,” Poole explained. “The truck was just a handful. The guys made some good adjustments there. We found a little something in the second stage, and the same deal in the third stage.

“Just adjusted for the end of the race and found some grip on the top side of the track. Man, I used it up on the restarts. The truck just stayed with me. It was good, even with the broken sway bar arm. I struggled beside trucks with lateral grip because it was broke, but by myself I was okay.

“If I could get to the top, I was okay. But, if I got underneath trucks, it was tough. On that last restart, I was fifth, and Friesen pit. And I was like ‘awe man, he’s giving it to me!’ I knew I was going to have a shot at it. I got a good run, was pushing Kyle down the backstretch. I pulled off of him a little too soon and dove into the corner.”

After he qualified 17^th, Poole found himself behind. It wasn’t until after adjustments on pit road during the final stage that he broke into the top-10, despite a broken sway bar arm. Poole hovered around the back-half of the top-five, battling Sauter and Grant Enfinger for position.

The second-place finish is the first top-five for Poole and came in his 10^thcareer Truck Series race. The top-five allowed the NASCAR veteran to come full circle, his most recent NASCAR Xfinity Series top-10 came at Charlotte in 2017.