Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

The Woodlands, TX(December 18, 2009) -- Steven Wallace, Kyle Grissom and Matt DiBenedetto are three of the former Rookie of the Year award winners in the UARA-STARS eight year history and the 2009 season added Brennan Poole to that stellar list.

Poole's Rookie of the Year honors in the UARA-STARS Series wasn't supposed to happen ... no, I don't mean that he didn't have the talent, I don't mean that he wasn't in the best equipment ... he simply wasn't supposed to be a competitor in the UARA this season. Original plans called for Poole to run the ASA Late Models, a straight rail Late Model series, but when those plans were squashed just before the season started Poole had to look for other options.

Poole's father, Tom then got in touch with an old east coast Legends racing friend, Josh Waring, who put Poole in touch with multi-time UARA-STARS Series winner, Jamie Yelton. Yelton had launched Fat Head Racing Development the previous season with another former Legends driver, Paddy Rodenbeck, but just before the season started he was still without a full-time development driver. Yelton and Poole quickly came to terms on a deal to put the younger Poole behind the wheel of the Fat Head Racing cars.

The then 17-year old, Poole made his way to the Carolina's from his home just outside of Houston, Texas and found himself being late to the dance and needing to jump right behind the wheel of a Late Model Stock Car for the first time in his life. That day came on March 5th, two days after the series first official test at Rockingham Speedway, but Poole made his debut on the close to home for Fat Head Racing, Hickory Motor Speedway. I was there to watch him make his debut in a Late Model Stock Car and the young man learned a lot throughout the test, getting a feel for these cars after moving from the USMTS Modifieds last season.

That session ended with Poole spinning and backing the Fat Head Racing car into the wall and destroying the rear clip, but that didn't keep the young driver for returning just two days later at Bristol Motor Speedway to test with the UARA-STARS Series. Poole was solid in this test and left without damaging his car, but his debut which was rained out at Hickory Motor Speedway for the first UARA race was then staged on the 1/2 mile of Bristol in front of the same crowd that had first witnessed the NASCAR Nationwide Series race just a couple of hours earlier.

Poole was running solidly inside the top ten before a lapped car spun in front of him and he was turned into it by another car behind him. From there, Poole had another top ten run going on the one-mile Rockingham Speedway, where he wasn't able to come and test. A cut tire late would suffer him the fate of finishing 16th after a 25th place finish a few weeks earlier at Bristol, but the young driver had served notice that he would be a top ten contender although the results weren't there to show it.

The next season races would leave Poole and his Fat Head Racing team reeling for a top ten as the young driver was shutout of a top ten finish through the midpoint in the season. 17th at Concord Speedway, 11th at Tri-County Motor Speedway, 17th at Dillon Motor Speedway, 22nd at Orange County Speedway, 14th at Hickory Motor Speedway, 15th at Lonesome Pine Raceway and 13th in the second stop of the season at Tri-County. Those weren't the finishes he and his team were looking for, but the finishes certainly didn't tell the story of his 2009 season in the first nine races.

A bad tire or two at Tri-County and Hickory, getting spun while running sixth at Lonesome Pine and so many more bizzare things happening to the young driver. None more so than in the fifth race of the season when Poole qualified on the outside pole at Dillon Motor Speedway in Dillon, SC after dominating the practice sessions and looking to be the driver to beat. All of that was thrown out the window when the UARA officials made a terrible call on the start of the race when pole sitter, Jamey Caudill spun his tires, nearly wrecking Poole and Poole was black flagged under the green and had to serve a trip down pit road.

Poole however managed to stay on the lead lap on the 4/10 mile track and once he got a caution and caught up to the end of the field for the restart. Poole then put on a clinic of how to drive through the field without rubbing fenders with anyone as he climbed from dead last on the field back to fourth position and looking for third. It was conceivable that he could still win this race, which would have certainly been a defining moment for the young driver as you rarely see a driver make his way from the rear to the front in the ultra-competitive UARA-STARS Series.

Poole however was making it work as he looked under Richard Boswell for the third position with about 50-laps to go, but as he made his way to the inside of Boswell he felt something in the engine and backed out of it to not hurt the engine and took his car down pit road. It was an anti-climatic finish to what was one of the greatest drives in UARA-STARS Series history, but for Poole an ignition issue cost him a chance at his first win and even a chance at his first top five.

That race and all of the bad finishes in his rear view mirror along with a stand alone non-UARA sanctioned win at Tri-County Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car race on May 8th was his past. Now it was time to focus on the future and as Poole and his team had before they simply kept digging, digging deep inside of all of them to overcome what to this point was a disappointing season. Now it was on to Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, NC, one of the toughest tracks a Late Model Stock Car competitor ever faces as it's a tight little 4/10 mile track with not much room for side-by-side racing.

Poole proved that he and his team were up for the task as he rallied to finish eighth, the first top ten finish of his UARA-STARS Series career in his 11th start on the tour.
 

Poole wasn't going to let his momentum end there as he carried that over to Myrtle Beach Speedway the following week and duplicated the eighth place effort. Momentum was on Poole's side, but now the series was headed to Newport Speedway in Newport, TN and if the young driver thought that Ace Speedway was a 'tough little joint', he hadn't seen anything yet.

Newport Speedway is a 3/10 mile, high banked bullring where only the best drivers survive turning head spinning fast laps and Poole looked to be up to the task. Poole would run a solid race after qualifying seventh and despite getting slammed into by another competitor early in the race and having a slow leak in his right front tire, the young driver drove his heart out and came away with another top ten, but more importantly his first career UARA-STARS Series top ten with a fifth place finish.

Then it was back to Dillon, where he was pumped up and thought he and his team would have a great chance to get that first win, but it turned out that was not to be as he struggled throughout practice and then turned in what to them was a disappointing eighth place finish. However it was another top ten extending his streak to four and as the series headed back to Hickory a few weeks later he would extend that streak to five on the UARA-STARS Series tour.

That streak was technically at six as Poole turned in the performance of his life in a non-UARA sanctioned race at Martinsville Speedway, the Bailey's 300. Tabbed as the "Daytona 500 of Late Model Stock Car racing", this race would go a long way to making Poole a household name in the Late Model Stock Car world. Poole first qualified inside the top ten, making the show on time, a huge feat for a true Late Model Stock Car rookie and then turned in a great effort in the race, leading laps in the second half of the race and then finishing third in his first start on the half mile.

After Hickory, the UARA-STARS Series took to the 3/8 mile concrete track of Kingsport Speedway in Kingsport, TN, a track that hadn't staged a race of any kind in over seven years. Poole had a great run going in this race on a track he had never seen before until the cars immediately in front of him caused an accordian effect and left him with substantial front end damage and ended his race early causing his top ten streak to come to an end with a 16th place finish.

Concord Speedway was up next on the schedule to finish the season out and Poole felt confident that he was going to be among the contenders for the win, but after practicing extremely strong, his engine let go late in practice and Poole's team owner, Yelton was left scrambling. Yelton secured an engine at the last minute and just before the UARA-STARS tour was ready to roll off for the final 150-lap race of the season, Poole's car was fired and ready to go. Poole was uncertain what the engine he was running would feel like and what to expect, but once he got going he knew he had a strong engine and was ready to make his charge from the rear of the field.

Poole's teams effort paid off as the young driver made laps and found himself running inside the top ten before too long and as the leaders continued to encounter troubles Poole found himself running second late in the race. Despite strong challenges on leader and roommate, Coleman Pressley, Poole was unable to get along side Pressley, but he would finish the season on a strong note with a second place finish.

It was exactly the way he and his team wanted to end the season and the second place effort would be enough to propel Poole to win the UARA-STARS Series Rookie of the Year award, which was one of his goals coming into the season. With guys like Wallace, Grissom and DiBenedetto having won this award in past seasons, Poole has to feel good to come away with the award and knows that this is something that he can list on his resume for the rest of his career. For Poole though, it's not enough and he'll be back in 2010 to make a run at the UARA-STARS Series championship and after the way he ended the 2009 season, can anyone really question him?

Brennan Poole's 2009 Season at a Glance:

Date Track Name Start/Finish
3/21/09 Bristol Motor Speedway 17th/25th
4/18/09 Rockingham Speedway 15th/16th
4/25/09 Concord Speedway 13th/17th
5/22/09 Tri-County Motor Speedway 12th/11th
5/30/09 Dillon Motor Speedway 2nd/17th
6/6/09 Orange County Speedway 10th/22nd
6/27/09 Hickory Motor Speedway 15th/14th
7/4/09 Lonesome Pine Raceway 7th/15th
7/17/09 Tri-County Motor Speedway 14th/13th
8/7/09 Ace Speedway 9th/8th
8/15/09 Myrtle Beach Speedway 19th/8th
8/29/09 Newport Speedway 7th/5th
9/19/09 Dillon Motor Speedway 8th/8th
10/18/09 Hickory Motor Speedway 7th/6th
11/7/09 Kingsport Speedway 7th/16th
11/14/09 - Concord Speedway 22nd/2nd

Average Start - 11th Average Finish - 12th