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Poor Ole' Pocono... | More >> | Recap Archives: 2005 | 2004 | 2003

Start - 11th | Competitors - 22| High - 9th | Low - 20th | Finish - 14th | analyzer report
Race Report - June 14th, 2005 - Race 14 of 33

Pocono is the closest track on the NASSCAR circuit to the coveted New York Market and even if the location is key, one thing rings true with the drivers of NASSCAR, they like Pocono. The track is a driver's track and to run fast laps here the driver has to be sure to hit their marks on each and every corner. While one might say this isn't much different for other tracks, Pocono is unique in that each corner is decidedly different and a driver can make a big impact on the outcome of the race.

The ECI Express AMSOIL team came off the trailer prepared for a good race. The car was middle of the pack in practice and Kevin had expressed that he was comfortable in the car and hoped that being smooth and consistent in race trim would allow him to find his way to the front runners by races end.

The first segment of the race had a green flag feel to it and everyone settled in for tight but controlled competition. ECI Chevy gained three positions from the eleventh place starting slot prior to pitting on lap nineteen. Ducking off the track with fellow driver Steve Wilson , Kevin slowed down to pit road speed and navigated down the long pit road and to the attention of the AMSOIL Crew.

Everything looked like a routine stop until without warning the AMSOIL mount was suddenly sideways and nosed into the pit wall at fifty-five miles per hour. When Kevin started to swing into the pit stall he was followed closely by Steve Wilson who was in the adjacent pit box. Steve, thinking he was pitting behind Kevin, made contact with the rear bumper and struck the car as it was turning into the pit stall.

As pit crew members coming over the wall took evasive action, the car bounced back into the pit lane and was struck again by Steve Wilson 's car. The second impact caused the car to slam against the barrier on the passenger's side. When it came to a rest it was sitting backwards in the pit box. The crew considered pitting the car backwards but NASSCAR quickly put a halt to that notion and Kevin had to pull out of the box, turn around, and then pull back into the box for repairs.

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Wilson was able to get around and complete his pit stop, Inglin wasn't as fortunate as after changing four tires and fuel the crew set to work fixing extensive damage on ever corner of the car. Kevin returned to the speedway in twentieth place and one lap down, a deficit that he wouldn't be able to recover from.

The race was only one quarter through and Kevin held on and eventually battled several other cars that were one lap down. In the middle stages he had a spirited battle with rookie Barrett Canning . Then toward the end he chased down Steve Baker with a handful of laps left to be the first car one lap down at the checkers.

Kevin Inglin, the pilot of the AMSOIL Chevy had this to say after the run:

"That was one of the hardest fought fourteenth place finish I have ever fought for. After the incident in the pit the car was junk and I did all I could to get as high as I could in the finish. It's a shame because we've been right with everyone and incidents like this have plauged us all year. In some respect it's disappointing to have this happen as Steve's spotter and crew should have prevented that. As a driver it's so difficult to gauge sometimes where the pit is especially when there's so much going on. I'd be more upset if I hadn't done this very thing a couple of weeks ago myself.

Steve came over after the race and we had a good laugh about it. I'm just happy none of our pit guys got hurt as that could have been a bad scene.

We're off to Michigan next week. It's one of my favorite tracks but we'll go with some caution as we've been snake bitten there lately and will count our blessings to get out of there with no trouble. Good or bad, I'm still having a blast this season and we've been running well each and ever week...our time will come. I sure would like to get this AMSOIL team into victory lane here in the series and we still have a bunch of opportunities to do it.

Until next week... "