Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]

Forest City, NC(November 4, 2010) — Sometimes in racing things don’t add up and sometimes in racing relationships and partnerships that seem to be solid come apart at the seams for behind the scenes reasons that most people will never know or understand.

In 2009, Brennan Poole burst onto the scene in Late Model Stock Car racing and by the midpoint in the 2010 season everyone knew his name and he was finding his way to victory lane more often than nearly anyone else. Poole picked up six wins this season in the ultra-competitive UARA-STARS Series on six different tracks, which set a new UARA-STARS Series record for wins in a season. His record breaking didn’t stop there as the young Texas native picked up three wins a row in the UARA, something no one else had ever done.

Poole also became the first UARA-STARS Series regular to ever win a UARA race at the Greenville Pickens Speedway in Greenville, SC, all these records set while piloting a Jamie Yelton owned, Fat Head Racing Driver Development car. Poole quickly became the most successful driver in the history of the Fat Head Racing Driver Development program.

When the UARA-STARS Series season ended, Poole came up 28 points short of the series championship after a questionable mid-season disqualification cost him well over 100 points. Clearly he was the class of the field in the UARA, winning over a third of the 16-races. He also again for the second year in his second attempt qualified in the top 22 at Martinsville for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300, which is no easy task in the world of Late Model Stock Car racing.

While last fall there was some question as to whether Poole would return to Fat Head Racing, few doubted that Poole would be back behind the wheel of a David King tuned Late Model Stock Car for Yelton. However, when the green flag drops next season for the Fat Head Racing team it will do so without Poole behind the wheel of one of their ultra-successful cars.

Poole and Yelton have decided to part ways for the 2011 season and beyond and while many will be scratching their heads at Poole’s decision to leave, even Yelton understands it’s a business decision and hopes that Poole will have plenty of success in the future.

“I understand the deal,” said Yelton. “Sometimes decisions have to be made whether you like them or not. Brennan is a talented young driver and we’ll certainly miss him next season, but at the same time we had 12 wins this season with three different drivers and we feel like we’ll still be in a good position come next year.”

Certainly Yelton and his Fat Head Racing organization is sitting in a good position to capitolize on not only the success of Poole on the track, but also of veteran driver Matt McCall and newcomer, George Miedecke, who combined for 12 wins this season. Despite, Poole’s departure, Yelton is still looking for big things in the 2011 season.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff in the works here, that we hope to be able to announce soon,” continued Yelton. “2011 should be a big season for us at Fat Head Racing and as disappointed as we are to see Poole go, we hope that he has continued success on and off the track.”

Poole also had nothing, but good things to say about Fat Head Racing, but understood that there had come a time for a change and hopes that both Fat Head and himself continued to have success.

“We had a lot of success with Jamie(Yelton) and his guys at Fat Head Racing,” said Poole. “I’ve got nothing, but good things to say about all those guys, they gave me great equipment and we had a lot of fun together these last two seasons. It just came time to make a change with the direction that they were going and the direction we were looking to go.”

Poole said that right now he doesn’t know exactly what direction he was going for 2011 and beyond.

“We don’t have any certain plans right now,” commented Poole. “I know I’ll be in some good equipment whether we’re racing a Late Model Stock Car or something else and I’m looking forward to the next challenge.”

There’s no doubt with the talent Poole has that he’ll find himself in a competitive ride somewhere whether that is in a Late Model Stock Car, a Super Late Model or something in a higher division and we’ll let you know when something is finalized for Poole.

As for Yelton and his Fat Head Racing team, they’ve got some big plans for the 2011 season and beyond, some moves that will put them even more in the spotlight in Late Model Stock Car racing and we’ll be the first to bring you the news when the deal is complete.