Packing a Punch at Pocono...Pocono is one of the tracks we visit twice during the season. It always instills confidence in a driver when you go back to a place that you've ran previously in the year. Of course a top five finish in a previous race must mean that just a little bit of improvement will vault you to a win. There were no delusions of grandeur this time, just common sense racing and a desire for another top five finish to cap off a good pair of runs at the triangular shaped oval.
And a hard earned solid run was in the cards for the ECI Enterprises team, even after an especially eventful race. One might have surmised that a full moon was shining down had it not been the middle of the day in sim-racing time. Multiple cautions and aggressive driving were the order of the day and the AMSOIL Pontiac dodged at least five wrecks before becoming swept up in one off the third turn. All of this occurred before the the quarter of the race was over.
The race started with a poor connection and a caution on lap one. Seeing how the car was disappearing for other competitors, Kevin pitted his car and rode around the back of the pack. Yielding a tenth place starting place to ride around twenty second is an interesting proposition at best. At about the one quarter mark the track position caught up with us as the spinning car of Greg Sinclear washed up the track and pinched the AMSOIL Pontiac into the fourth turn concrete (see the image of the week). Pitting for damage, the team decided to employ a new strategy. Caution turned to green and the AMSOIL team decided to pit as soon as there would be enough fuel to run to the finish. This strategy put Kevin on the track alone, off sequence, but still on the lead lap. Even with the loss of time due to a lack of a drafting partner, this strategy paid off in the later stages of the race as he found himself in the top six when a late race caution slowed the field. Pitting for fresh tires, Kevin weaved his way back through the field. Charging hard to the finish he made a move under the lapped car of David Gray off turn two with four to go. Unfortunately David's car slapped the wall and rebounded across the track into the AMSOIL Pontiac.
