Twitchy Race Reports

(LONG POND, PA)  Race #14 on the 2017 SMC Truck Series was at the Pocono Raceway for the Fastlane 75 a 30 lap sprint for the Trucks. There were 38 drivers who showed up for a shot at one of the 36 starting spots. It would see Nick Kohan make his 2017 debut and grab the pole with Michael Atkins Jr. 2nd, Devin Serra 3rd, Jake Douglas 4th, and Sam Maxwell rounded out the top 5 drivers. The race went green for most of the race which made for a fast paced event. The top 4 drivers of Kohan, Douglas, Atkins, and Serra drove away from the field by over 4 seconds while Maxwell, Mogard, and Chad Finley battled for 5th-7th grabbing the rest of the field by 5 second.

The green flag run provided a very spread out event for everyone. It also provided for green flag pit stops which came about half way through as drivers made their stops. After it cycled through it seen no change in the top 5. Chad Finley who was running 6th had problems and it ended up ending his night after contending for a top 5 finish. Also notable point leader going into the event Brad Cross also had a pit road penalty which cost him a shot at a solid finish as well.

The race appeared to be going caution free until with 4 to go when Dominic Lee had issues in which brought the yellow out. The race ended under yellow and it was Kohan making the most of his ASRS debut grabbing his 10th career ASRS Victory. Rounding out the top 5 was Jake Douglas 2nd, Michael Atkins, Jr. 3rd who needed a good run as he was in the final playoff spot coming into the nights action, Devin Serra 4th, and Sam Maxwell finished 5th.

The series point standings with just 4 races remaining before the 2017 Playoffs start look like this. Devin Serra took the point lead with Brad Cross falling to 2nd after his pit road issues, Sam Maxwell 3rd, Allan Young 4th, Jason Stewart 5th, Jim Foose 6th, Mitchell Brown 7th, and Michael Atkins Jr. sits in the 8th and final playoff spot. Just a couple drivers outside the top 8 have a shot at it and they are Jonathan Holstein who is 9th (-20 points), Jared Mogard 10th (-28 points), and Tom Giannini is also trying to make a very late push as he sits 11th in the standings (-44 points).

Next week the SMC Truck Series is off but the Xfinity Series kicks off their Playoffs with a road coarse event which will be a 35 lap event. Tune in two weeks from now to see who gets a step closer to the 2017 SMC Truck Series Playoffs as the Trucks will be in action from the Michigan International Speedway.