ON SITE: Sylvania 300 weekend presented by Mainely Motorsports
Joey Pole could live up to his name
Looks like Joey Polewarczyk Jr. has a chance to live up to his nickname.
The 19-year-old from Hudson, N.H., – nicknamed "Joey Pole" and making his debut with Dave Davis Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World East Series this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – was third fastest in the only 90-minute practice for the Heluva Good! Fall 125 on Thursday.
Only Brian Ickler, a three-time CWES winner this season, and Peyton Sellers in his Andy Santerre Motorsports entry were faster in the session. Qualifying is slated for 3:15 p.m. this afternoon.
"It went really well," Polewarczyk said after practice. "The car’s handling great. It’s really fast."
During a test session in August, Polewarczyk’s introduction to NHMS, he said the best lap times he turned were in the 30.5-second range. On Friday, he was a full tenth better with a top time of 30.455 seconds (125.063 mph) – just .002 seconds of Sellers’ best lap.
"We got the car handling well during the test session, and that’s where we picked up from," said Polewarczyk, who finished third, behind Kevin Harvick and Glen Luce in the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in July. "It’s a lot of fun racing with these guys. It’s top-notch equipment, and everybody here works really hard."
Polewarczyk, an American-Canadian Tour regular, has two ACT wins this season and is 7th in the series standings. After racing here on Friday, he’ll run the ACT event at Oxford on Saturday afternoon.
He made his East Series debut at Thompson on July 12, running 16th in a car owned by former series competitor Barney McCrae.
Polewarczyk said it hasn’t taken him that long to get comfortable on the big track.
"After a couple of laps, it’s no different than being anywhere else," Polewarczyk said.
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