POCONO, PA—“Pocono was a frustrating race for me,” said Dominick Casola as he relived the Pennsylvania ARCA 200 run at Pocono Raceway. “After qualifying a disappointing 22nd I still felt strongly that WinTron Racing had provided me with a car that was capable of finishing in a top five position.”
When the checkered flag fell for the ARCA RE/MAX Series Casola was credited with a 21st place finish in a 41-car starting field, one lap down to the winner’s 80 laps on the two and one-half mile tri-oval track.
“Once the race got the green and we were able to finish a few laps it became pretty clear to me that we just did not have a car that was going to be much of a factor,” commented the frustrated racer. “I was working hard in the A. Casola Farms Dodge but we were just not making progress. It was clear to me that we had a mid-pack car and that was the best I could hope for. It was disappointing to me knowing how hard we had all worked.”
“It seemed that our Dodge was way down on power compared to the Toyotas and some of the Fords. The team kept trying all day to make some changes that would improve our performance but it just did not happen.”
A one hour rain delay did not help the situation changing track conditions dramatically. Casola was optimistic going into the Pennsylvania ARCA 200 coming off some recent strong finishes at the June Pocono race and Kentucky. The Holmdel, NJ racer has never finished worse than 14th in three previous outings and had two top-ten finishes.
“With some attrition and having run a very clean race staying out of trouble we had the car in 10th spot with just six laps to go,” said the 20-year-old. “Then things just turned bad. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove into my left rear while we were racing into Turn One. At 200 mph it was all I could do to keep it from being more serious than it was. The end result was the A. Casola Farms Dodge bounced off the wall.”
“It is upsetting when I drive a clean race and I get ‘stuffed’ by a stupid move on the part of another competitor. I just lose respect for a racer like that.”
“We tested pretty well at Nashville a couple weeks back so I am looking forward to a strong effort,” commented Casola. “Nothing would make me happier than to qualify well and race well. A top five finish would be an early birthday present to myself (he turns 21 on August 17). The Win-Tron team will be working hard to get the A. Casola Farms Dodge in perfect shape for Nashville. “I am a little down now, a little frustrated, disappointed, but I will snap out of it and be ready to give it my best effort at Nashville.”
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