Early Wreck at Phoenix Finishes Poole’s Playoff Run

Brennan Poole’s run at a championship in the 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series season ended in the garage after slamming the wall twice in the Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix Raceway.

Poole attempted to drive under the lapped car of Caesar Bacarella entering Turn 1 on Lap 23. Sandwiched between Cole Custer and Poole, and not knowing Poole was passing him, Bacarella turned down into the side of Poole.

The contact cut Poole’s right-front tire and he veered hard into the outside wall.

“I saw the 8 car go in, and we were going to kind of go to the top to go around him, and he slid up….I didn’t know really what was going to happen there,” Poole said. “So I tried to go underneath him, and we made a little contact and cut the right-front tire down. Bad luck, bad circumstances. I guess I could’ve been a little bit more cautious there. But we were just trying to get up there and get stage points and keep moving forward. Our car was actually pretty good. It’s just a bummer. I don’t know what else to say. Sometimes, lapped cars are in your way. You got to navigate around them and we just didn’t make that happen.”

Poole’s team fixed up the car enough to send him back out just before time expired on the five-minute repair clock, but he slammed the wall exiting Turn 4, took his car to the garage and retired from the race with a 38th-place finish.

“You’re just trying to salvage everything that you can, try to hope for the best,” Poole added. “It just cut the right-front tire down again. We put another tire on it and went into the wall again. Our car is pretty torn up and ended our championship hopes.”

He leaves Phoenix sixth in points.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

Tucker White
Tucker White
I've followed NASCAR for well over 20 years of my life, both as a fan and now as a member of the media. As of 2024, I'm on my ninth season as a traveling NASCAR beat writer. For all its flaws and dumb moments, NASCAR at its best produces some of the best action you'll ever see in the sport of auto racing. Case in point: Kyle Larson's threading the needle pass at Darlington Raceway on May 9, 2021. On used-up tires, racing on a worn surface and an aero package that put his car on the razor's edge of control, Larson demonstrated why he's a generational talent. Those are the stories I want to capture and break down. In addition to NASCAR, I also follow IndyCar and Formula 1. As a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, I'm a diehard Tennessee Volunteers fan (especially in regards to Tennessee football). If covering NASCAR doesn't kill me, down the road, watching Tennessee football will. I'm also a diehard fan of the Atlanta Braves, and I lived long enough to see them win a World Series for the first time since 1995 (when I was just a year old). I've also sworn my fan allegiance to the Nashville Predators, though that's not paid out as much as the Braves. Furthermore, as a massive sports dork, I follow the NFL on a weekly basis. Though it's more out of an obligation than genuine passion (for sports dorks, following the NFL is basically an unwritten rule). Outside of sports, I'm a major cinema buff and a weeb. My favorite film is "Blazing Saddles" and my favorite anime is "Black Lagoon."

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