Gallagher returns to familiar grounds at Pocono Raceway

[rebelracewriter]

Gallagher Returns to Familiar Grounds at Pocono Raceway

 

RACE INFORMATION
Event: Pocono Mountains 150
Date: Saturday, August 1, 2015
Venue: Pocono Raceway 2.5 Mile Tri-Oval
Length: 60 laps / 150 miles
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1
Points Position: 9th


Spencer Gallagher
No. 23 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet Silverado
Pocono Mountains 150 Event Preview Pocono Raceway

Pocono Return Saturdays Pocono Mountains 150 marks the sixth consecutive trip to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and the second visit by Spencer Gallagher, driver of the No. 23 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender sits ninth in the NCWTS standings midway through his first full-time season. One year ago, Gallagher notched a 15th-place finish in his debut at the Tricky Triangle.

Triangle Track Record For the fifth time this season, Gallagher returns to a venue where he has previous NCWTS experience. For a 25-year old rookie, Gallagher brings extensive experience into his second NCWTS Pocono start. Since 2012, Gallagher has compiled five starts in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards at the 2.5 mile triangle, and has a best finish of fifth to his credit, which came in August of 2013.

Halfway Home Saturdays return to the Poconos marks the halfway point in Gallaghers rookie campaign. Through 11 of 23 races, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender has compiled one top-five, three top-10, and seven top-15 finishes. Gallagher tallied his career-best finish of second in June at Gateway Motorsports Park and set the track qualifying record at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February.

Pocono Chassis Selection The Allegiant Travel team has selected to race chassis No. 022 at the Tricky Triangle. This Chevrolet was most recently utilized at Texas Motor Speedway where Gallagher drove it to a 12th-place finish. The Pocono Mountains 150 marks the third appearance of the season for chassis No. 022 after it was first raced at Kansas Speedway in May.

Qualifying Shake-Up Beginning this weekend at Pocono, the NCWTS will revert back to single-truck qualifying on tracks 1.5 miles in length and longer. Each truck will take one timed lap in round one, with the fastest 12 trucks advancing to round two to compete for the pole. Each truck will again take one timed lap to determine the Keystone Light Pole winner. The revised format returns to traditional single-truck qualifying while maintaining the suspense of the knockout format.

Social Media Be sure to follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @GMSRacingLLC, and Spencer Gallagher on Facebook and @23SpeedRacer on Twitter. For additional information on GMS Racing, visit www.GMSracing.net.

Tune-In Alert GMS Racing hosts a weekly webcast series as a behind-the-scenes experience for fans. "Before the Green Flag" features race previews and storylines leading up to race weekends with interviews from drivers and all of the personalities that make up GMS Racing. Before the Green Flag can be found on the GMSracing.net Multimedia page, GMS Racings Youtube Channel, and at GMSRacingLLC on Facebook and Twitter.

Meet Spencer Fans can visit the Team Chevrolet display in Pocono Raceways vendor display area where Gallagher is scheduled to participate in a Q&A session at 8:45 a.m. ET, prior to qualifying at 10 a.m. ET.

SPENCER GALLAGHER QUOTE:

On the challenges presented to a driver by the three distinct corners at Pocono Raceway:
"Pocono (Raceway) is such a unique racetrack, but with the surface as new as it is, the track shares some characteristics with places like Kansas (Speedway) and Michigan (International Speedway). It has so much grip, and all three corners are so fast which makes for a lot of on-throttle time in the corners. Restarts will be pretty wild with the long straightaways. Like most weeks, were going to need to make the most of our opportunities on restarts with the Allegiant Travel Chevrolet and with our fuel mileage calls on pit road to gain track position. GMS Racing has had fast Silverados all season on these downforce style racetracks, and this weekend is a prime opportunity for us to start knocking down solid finishes again.

On the revised qualifying format:
I really like the new format. Single-truck qualifying is more of a true indicator of who has the best truck and can lay down the best lap. These trucks are so sensitive aerodynamically, that the draft had a huge impact on qualifying times because everyone would make laps trying to get a draft. It was a game of timing your run off of pit road based on who was around you, now we can just focus on getting our Allegiant Travel Chevrolet to drive well and get as much speed in it as possible. This is a short race for us, only 60 laps, so qualifying is going to have an added importance this week.