By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Shane Lee started only his third XFINITY Series race Saturday at Pocono Raceway. And after starting the Pocono Green 250 from a career-worst 18th, he ended with a career-best finish in 12th.
And it came in a day of an unknown with the series running the restrictor plate package for only the second time. Despite the newness, Lee jumped positions right off the start in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“We knew with the rules package that we’d be good and be able to draft up through there,” Lee told Kickin’ The Tires. “Once the race started, we passed about four or five cars on the first lap and maintained that.”
The day featured two longer green-flag stints, the first being a 26-lap run to start the race and the second being a 35-lap run to end it. This showed off the nature of the aero package, which gave Lee a new look at plate racing despite running Talladega in May.
“It was a lot different,” he said. “Talladega, you don’t have to let off. Here, you’re still somewhat driving the car. We need a little work on this package to make sure it turns the whole time.”
Lee gained time through Turns 1 and 2 but struggled to nail down Pocono’s third and final corner.
“As the race went longer, the tighter we got out of Turn 3, which was our crutch all day,” he said. “Through Turn 1 and the tunnel turn, we could maintain with them, if not better than a lot of the cars that finished in front of us. Turn 3, we could just never get it figured out, we needed more turn and rotation down there.”
The conditions kept Lee from making that jump to the top 10 in the end. And through three starts, Lee feels top fives could’ve been on the table if not for bad luck.
“Bristol and Talladega, if we don’t blow a tire and run out of gas, we shouldn’t have finished no worse than fifth,” he said. “Today, we finished where we should’ve finished. Still needs a little more speed.”
Saturday was still his third straight top-15 finish to start his part-time career with RCR, which will next hit the track June 17 at Iowa Speedway.
“Overall, this Chevrolet and all the guys at RCR brought a pretty good car,” he said. “We come home 12th, we definitely want to be better than that but it was a good day.”