By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
NASCAR Cup Series rookie driver of the No. 15 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports, Brennan Poole is in his first full-time Cup season. The season may be on a temporary hiatus, but his journey to get to this point began as a young kid.
All drivers have a story, this is Brennan Poole’s story.
Early Career
A Texas native, Poole drove Dirt Modified’s in the UMP ranks from 2007 to 2008. In 2008, he had seven wins and earned the Texas World Dirt Championship.
(Photo Courtesy of: Lindsey Giannini)
In 2011, Poole went on to earn four UARA-Stars Late Model wins at Hickory, Kingsport, Rockingham and Lonesome Pine. Additionally, he also clinched the championship.
Poole spoke to Kickin’ the Tires on his time in modifieds and late models saying, “There is nothing cooler than dirt modified racing. USMTS was one of my favorites memories coming up as young racer. I would love to race one again.”
ARCA Days
That same year in 2011, Poole made his ARCA Menard’s Series debut at Salem Speedway in the No. 55 Renton Coil Springs / Midas Chevrolet for Venturini Motorsports. Poole started the event in second and led for 31 laps en-route to the victory in his series debut. He completed in 4 of 19 events that season, earning the one win, two top-five and two top-10 finishes.
In 2012, Poole returned to Venturini Motorsports for the full schedule, this time in the No. 25 car. He went on to earn back-to-back wins at Elko Speedway and Pocono Raceway. Overall that year, Poole earn three poles, two wins, eight top-five, 15 top-10 finishes and finish third in the points.
(Photo Courtesy of: Lindsey Giannini)
Poole also went on to run 12 more ARCA events from 2013 through 2014 for Venturini, earning three wins, eight top-five, and 10 top-10 finishes.
“I worked with great people that taught me a lot. ARCA gives you the big track experience before you go and race with some of the best in the business,” said Poole. “I learned how to do pit stops for the first time. It’s a great stepping stone into the top 3 series. Venturini motorsports always gave me fast cars and believed in my abilities. That trust created a lot of victories for us together.”
“Those two seasons (2013 & 2014) pushed me a lot,” expressed Poole. “I didn’t know how much longer I would be racing. The victories those years at Michigan, Springfield, and Kentucky helped me get the opportunity to move my career forward.”
Truck Series: 2015-2019 seasons
At Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 3, 2015 Poole made his NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series debut in the No. 21 Chevrolet for GMS Racing. Poole started the event in the 14th position and found himself finishing in a solid 11th place in his debut.
It would be a few more years before Poole raced in the truck series again, 2018 to be more specific. That season, he competed in two races at Texas and Homestead, finishing 15th and 19th, respectively.
2019 would see him competing in 13 of 23 events for On Point Motorsports, where he earned one top-five and four top-10 finishes with a season best finish of second at Charlotte Motor Speedway last May.
Truck Series: 2020
In 2020, Poole returned to On Point Motorsports in the No. 30 Toyota Tundra, competing in events at both Daytona and Las Vegas finishing 17th and 15. Poole has stated that things are indeed heading in the right direction and he also feels they’re close to a win this season.
“On Point Motorsports has come a long way. When we first started together last year the team didn’t really have much. None of us really had any truck experience. We just wanted to race and leave it all on the line each week to get better,” stated Poole. “We slowly started building some momentum last year and we finished the season off with a second place at Charlotte and a sixth in Las Vegas.”
“This year at Daytona we somehow ended up in every crash but still kept fighting until the very end. We had a plug wire go bad and lost engine power,” said Poole. “In Las Vegas we just missed it and our LF tire would start coming apart quickly into runs. I’m looking forward to getting back going again with them because I really feel any weekend could be ours.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series
The 2015 Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway saw Poole making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the No. 42 Chevrolet for HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi. He qualified 16th and went on to finish 9th in his series debut. 2015 saw him compete in 17 of 33 events and earn two top-ten finishes.
Poole went on to compete full-time in the No. 48 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing in both 2017 and 2018. In that time span he earned one pole, eight top-five and 34 top-10 finishes.
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Kickin’ the Tires asked Poole if he ever realized he had four top-five and 17 top-10 finishes in both 2016 and 2017, he said no, he hadn’t realized those statistics before.
“Yeah that’s pretty crazy,” said Poole. “I never really looked at it but I know I’m a pretty consistent driver. I think it’s a trait that pays off in a long season and even more so at the cup level.”
Other Racing
Poole made his asphalt modified debut at Bowman Gray Stadium in 2019 for On Point Motorsports but was credited with an unfortunate finish of 24th after encountering plug wire issues.
Additionally, he also made his first appearance in a late model stock for the first time since 2011 last September in a joint partnership between On Point Motorsports and DGR-Crosley. Poole went on to finish 15th in the event.
NASCAR Cup Series Debut
In December it was announced that Poole would race full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in the No. 15 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports. That meant that his series debut would come in the season-opening Daytona 500 this past February. He went on to qualify 34th for the ‘Great American Race’ and bring home his Chevrolet to a solid 16th place finish.
Poole said that yes, it’s a dream come true to be in the Cup Series.
“As a kid you always dream of being one of those drivers. You look up to them,” said Poole. “They are the best in the world. To be 1 of 40 drivers to have these experiences and compete at the highest level of stock car racing is the dream. I am very fortunate to do what I love to do.”
The West Coast Swing
Following Daytona was the ‘West Coast Swing’ for the NASCAR Cup Series, consisting of races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. Poole went on to finish 29th, 32nd and 31st, respectively in those three events and said he believes those races showed their capable or consistently running inside the Top-30.
It started out great at Las Vegas. We really put a solid race together and finished 29th. The next two races were more difficult for us having back to back parts failures,” stated Poole. “In Fontana we had a great start to race and we felt like we were in position to have another really great finish somewhere around 27th I’d say. The fuel pump ended up failing. After 25 laps I would lose fuel pressure and have to pit for more fuel.”
“Then in Phoenix after practice I didn’t feel that great about my car. When the races started, we were off a little bit but through some pit stops we got back on track and actually had good speed relative to those around us. We ended up have an alternator issue and had to change the battery out several times to make it to the finish. I really believe we could have been about 21st 22nd that day. I think the west coast swing showed we are capable of running inside the Top-30 consistently.”
Track Talk
Because Poole has competed in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series as well as the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he’s not new to some of these tracks. He told Kickin’ the Tires having the experience at tracks previously before joining the NASCAR Cup Series is huge.
“I think having experience at these race tracks before stepping foot in the cup car is huge,” said Poole. “It’s even more helpful when I get to drive the truck race before too. The extra track time just helps. A lot of the time the series are on the same tire and it helps you understand what’s going to happen as the races go on.”
Speaking of race tracks, Poole is most looking forward to a couple different tracks when racing resumes.
“In the cup car I’m for sure looking forward to Talladega,” said Poole. “The playing field will be leveled, and I’d like to see how we could do there after the 16th place finish in the Daytona 500. In the truck for sure Atlanta. I love worn out tracks.”
Rookie of the Year Battle
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year battle has a large class this season consisting of six drivers. Those six drivers include: Brennan Poole, Quin Houff, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer.
John Hunter Nemechek had said ‘Big 3 and what about me?’ during an on-air interview earlier in the season. Kickin’ the Tires asked Poole if he felt the same with so much of the talk early on being focused on Bell, Reddick and Custer.
“Well I appreciate you saying that. I think those guys have earned to be talked about as much as they are,” said Poole. “I know what my job is and that’s to get the best possible finish my team and I are capable of getting each week. That’s all I really focus on. If you do your job, they will start taking about you.”
Expectations and Goals
Poole knows which cars he’s expected to beat on the race track on any given week whether it be a Rick Ware Racing entry, StarCom Racing, or even a Front Row Motorsports car. When asked if he ever feels as if he’s running his own race each week, Poole agreed with that statement.
“I think that’s the best way of looking at it,” stated Poole. “I know the cars we are expected to beat, and I want to beat those guys. There are some cars right in front of us most weeks like the 32 and 96 who have more resources then us. If we can out run those teams then it’s a big day for us.”
Poole also explained what a good 2020 season for him would be once on track racing resumes.
“I think winning a truck race is something I really want to do for On Point Motorsports and for Remember Everyone Deployed,” said Poole. “On the cup side if we can end the year 30th or better in the points, I think that’s pretty big for our team.”
Keeping Busy During the Racing Hiatus
Athletes like many of us are currently in the same position when it comes to ‘Stay at Home’ orders and restrictions due to COVID-19. With the extra time during this hiatus, Poole and his girlfriend Lindsey have been having fun cooking (With their own version of The Food Network’s Chopped) and racing with a little remote controlled race track in their very own living room! If you follow Brennan on his Instagram account (brennancpoole) you’ve seen some of their own episodes of Chopped and the race track, but we asked him about it.
“The race track in the living room is just fun,” said Poole. “Little remote-controlled cars you drive with your phone (laughs). Honestly, I’ve been riding the bike and racing online. I’ve also played some Call of Duty with friends I have scattered around the country. We have been cooking a lot which has been fun. I keep judging Lindsey’s meals as if she’s on chopped. She hasn’t been chopped yet!” (laughs).