POCONO RACE REPORT
- by Stenzo



STENZO MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW AT POCONO, DON'T YOU KNOW?!

Pocono Raceway (7/30/00) -- Stenzo made it a sweep at Pocono this weekend, winning for the second time in as many races here this year, after a hard fought battle with teammates Bob and Speed. After qualifying 16th, he made a deliberate charge toward the front early in the race, making his way up to fourth by lap 4, but got together with the third place car and brushed the wall while exiting turn one, slightly damaging his fender. The damage didn't prove to be too costly though, as he was able to maintain third place until he pitted, where he was able to repair the damage completely. He was then able to work his way back up to the front to finally take the lead for a total of 24 laps. And in an incident very similar to the race here in June, a late caution bunched the field back up for a shootout to the finish. And as he did earlier this year, Stenzo was able to hold off Speed's challenge, then pull away to a more than 3 second lead to grab the checkered flag for the fifth time this season. The win marks his 11th top 5 and 11th top 10 of the year, although he was only able to make up 5 points on series points-leader Speed.

Speed started from back in 21st, but once again demonstrated that he had a very fast car, as he moved up through the pack without much effort. But an incident with another car while exiting turn three caused him to spin into the pits, where he was promptly black flagged for speeding. Visibly upset, he came back around and served his penalty, but fell way back, although he was able to stay on the lead lap when a timely caution flag flew, allowing him to catch back up to the field. And as he had so skillfully done here earlier this year, he was able to work himself up toward the front again to make a bid for the win after a late-race caution. On the restart, Speed challenged Stenzo for the lead, and took it, but was only able to hold it for 1 lap before being passed again, and was forced to settle for 2nd place for the second time in as many races here this year. This marks Speed's 12th top 5 and 14th top 10 finish this season, and he still maintains a 258 point advantage over second place Stenzo.

Bob had a great qualifying run and started toward the front in the 5th spot. At the drop of the green flag, he quickly darted past the leaders and into the lead, where he stayed to lead a race-high total of 33 laps. Then as his tires slowly wore down, he began to fade a bit, until he finally had to come in for desperately needed tires and fuel. After returning to the track, he worked his way back up through the traffic, until he got involved in a wreck that occurred right in front of him, causing him to spin and lose valuable track position. However, he received no damage in the incident, and was able to march back up toward the front again, where he would eventually finish 3rd, with his best career finish at this track. This marks his 7th top 5 and 9th top 10 finish this year, as he extended his third place series points standing to 229 points over fourth place Coyote.

Like he did in the race here in June, Coyote had another bad qualifying run, and started back in 24th place. Once again, he had a very fast car, but very slowly and patiently passed cars as he made his way up through the pack toward the front. While racing hard for second place, he got tangled up with another car in the tunnel turn and wrecked, damaging his car and bringing out one of the 5 cautions flags. After pitting to repair the damage, he fell back in the pack, but was able to race his way back up late in the race to eventually finish 13th. This marks the first time this season he's finished out of the top 10 and higher than 20th, as all his previous finishes this year have either been in the top 10 or worse than 20th.