Since the formation of On Point Motorsports in 2018, Folsom, California native Brennan Poole has played a major part in building the team by competing in select NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races during the year.
With the team finally establishing some cohesion after several solid runs, owner Steven Lane has elected to field a car in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 with Poole behind the wheel, which the team hopes will lay the foundation for a solid driver development program heading into the next decade.
“On Point is trying to set up a Late Model Stock program to try and get some young kids through into the ARCA or Truck Series,” Poole said. “This is our first effort in building a car, so we’re going to come out here and test and see what we can do. If things go well, we will be back for the race.”
Poole is no stranger to competing in Late Models at Martinsville, as he had one of the strongest cars in his debut race back in 2009, where he led 34 laps before ultimately coming home in the third position behind race winner Jake Crum and Brandon McReynolds.
Although Poole was unable to find the same consistency in his next two ValleyStar Credit Union 300 starts, he would go on to record 10 victories and a championship in the UARA Stars Late Model Series, which opened the door for him to earn a part-time ride with Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series for 2011.
In his first start with the team, Poole led 31 laps in the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 at Salem Speedway and held off Ty Dillon and Frank Kimmel for an impressive first win. Poole managed to deliver five more victories for Venturini Motorsports over the next four years before he was tabbed by Chip Ganassi to share the #42 with Kyle Larson in the 2015 Xfinity Series season.
Poole spent the next two years with Ganassi before finding himself in the Truck Series with On Point Motorsports, where he has enjoyed modest success in 12 starts this year, with the highlight being a second-place finish to Kyle Busch in the 2019 North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
With several years of experience in the Xfinity and Truck Series on his side, Poole is eager to make his Late Model return to Martinsville with On Point Motorsports, but he expects to go through his fair share of learning curves during the test and race weekend having not competed in the race since 2011.
“It’s a little bit different from the last time I drove here, because the cars have a little bit more power, and there are different gear ratios,” Poole said. “I’ve talked with a few of my friends here, and they told me that I have to use a lot more brake now than in the past, but I’ll see what I can figure out, and I’ll try to make the car as good as I can.”
Poole expects just about every team in the garage area to put a heavy emphasis on qualifying with the Top 20 being automatically locked in to the main event next Saturday, but he does not think speed will be an issue with his #30 Late Model and is confident that he will continue his streak of qualifying on time and dodging the heat races.
Poole is fully anticipating plenty of attrition to take place once the 200-lap Late Model feature begins, but he plans to be patient during the opening stages and is optimistic that his Late Model will have enough speed to stay in front of the chaos and battle for the win against drivers like Lee Pulliam, Peyton Sellers and Timothy Peters.
“It’s all going to come down to how you can keep your momentum up through the corners,” Poole said. “You have to make the straightaways as long as you can with the brakes and gear ratios we have. For this race in particular, it’s also about long-run speed, and the end you still need to have the tires underneath you. Our guys have been working hard, and I think we’ll have a pretty good racecar.”
Depending on how the rest of his Truck Series schedule turns out, Poole wants to turn more laps in On Point Motorsports’ Late Model before the 2019 season concludes, and has not ruled out running the Myrtle Beach 400 on Nov. 16.
