In Defense of Brennan Poole

 In Defense of Brennan Poole

By Brian Cotnoir

When I think of NASCAR driver Brennan Poole one thing comes to mind: DC Solar.  The first time I can remember seeing Brennan Poole on track was in an Xfinity Race where he carried sponsorship from DC Solar.  Poole would have some success with the DC Solar sponsored car at Chip Ganassi Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but never seemed to find Victory Lane.   Meanwhile, drivers like Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain were able to get wins for Ganassi with DC Solar on board, but a little bit more on that later.

Brennan Poole is a talented racecar driver.   In 2011, he won in his first ever start in the ARCA Series at Salem Speedway in Indiana.    Due to Sponsorship issues, he mostly ran part-time for the powerhouse Venturini Racing team.  In 27 career ARCA starts Poole won 6 races for Venturini and finished in the Top 5 an impressive 66% of the the time!   

In 2015, Poole made the jump to the Xfinity Series where he drove part-time for H. Scott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi Racing (WOW, that's a mouthful).   His first season in the Xfinity Series yielded no Top 10's and an average finish of 18th place.  The following 2 seasons at Ganassi, Poole greatly improved his stats.  He finished 8th in in the final drivers standings in 2016 and 6th in the final drivers standings in 2017.  He was robbed--in my opinion--by NASCAR of his first career win at Talladega when he managed to avoid the wrecks of Elliot Sadler and Joey Logano who were battling for the win.   The win was taken away and he was relegated to a 3rd place finish.  His best finish was a 2nd place at Kentucky Speedway, where he finished runner up to Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Tyler Reddick.   Poole, would unfortunately lose his ride at Ganassi and his sponsorship from DC Solar who chose to sponsor drivers Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain instead.   Poole, wound up suing Ganassi Racing and settled out of court.   In 2018, DC Solar owner, Jeffrey Carpoff, was arrested on charges of embezzlement and fraud.   The seizure of DC Solar assets brought an end to the company and the sponsorship of Ganassi's Xfinity program.  In Poole's case, it was probably for the best, he would have still lost his ride at Ganassi even if he hadn't been dropped by the team.

Poole would run part-time for On Point Motorsports in the NASCAR Truck Series during the 2019 and 2020 seasons.   At the 8th race of the Season Poole nearly won the race, but finished runner-up to NASCAR Truck Series spoilsport, Kyle Busch.   During the 2020 season, Poole also made his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series with Premium Motorsports.  He qualified for every race, except the fall Bristol Race, which he was replaced by J.J. Yeley.    Poole did score his first career Top 10 in the Cup Series at Talladega, where he finished 9th in the fall race.    Poole would finish 32nd in the Final Drivers standings.  The 2021 season would be abysmal for Poole, who only made one start in the NASCAR Truck Series for On Point Motorsports where he finished 14th at Texas.

Personally, I feel Brennan Poole doesn't get enough credit.  He is a talented driver whose biggest fault is a lack of big name sponsorship.  He was robbed of a top-tier ride in the Xfinity Series by a fraudulent business owner, and then he was robbed of his first career NASCAR victory due to a piss-poor "scoring" explanation, and yet he still soldiers on.  He has scored Top 10's in underpowered, underfunded, and outdated equipment.  Poole deserves a 2nd chance in NASCAR, and I think companies should be lining up to want to sponsor him in the NASCAR Truck or Xfinity Series.

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