David Levine raced his way to an 8th place finish at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, capturing his first Rookie of the Race award in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. It was his fifth career ARCA Racing top ten finish, and his first top ten on a Superspeedway.
“Awesome day! Started 15th and drove my Lira Motorsports hot rod to an 8th place finish and grabbed Rookie of the Race along with 35 points towards the rookie championship!!” Levine said. “If someone would have told me that Pocono would be where I would win my first Rookie of the Race award, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
David extended his lead in the SCOTT Rookie Challenge standings, and maintained his position at 5th in the driver points standings.
Learning the unique Northeast Pennsylvania track, known as the “Tricky Triangle”, began on Wednesday in the open test session for David. From the test session to the end of the race, his Lira Motorsports crew, led by Crew Chief Sam Schram, made dozens of adjustments on David’s car. However, it was two timely sets of adjustments that made the biggest difference for the 21-year old racer. The first set came at the end of practice on Friday, and the second set came in his final pit stop of the race.
“In the last 20 minutes of practice we changed everything in the front, and it made a huge difference,” David explained. “We had been changing stuff in the back and it was helping a little at a time, but that big swing increased my comfort level a couple notches.”
After qualifying 15th, David raced inside the top 11 for the majority of the race, and was in 11th when the fourth and final caution came out with 17 laps to go. Having gone one lap down a few laps earlier, he received the free pass, and came in to get four tires and a few adjustments for the closing laps.
“Consistency is the biggest thing in these races and we showed that we have a consistent and fast Ford Performance/TraqGear/Momo Ford Fusion,” David said after the race. “Sam wouldn’t tell me over the radio what changes he made on that final pit stop, but the car came to life and I was able to pick up three spots in the final laps to bring it home in 8th. I can’t thank my crew enough for being patient with me as I learned the track this week!”
David returns to action in just a few days for the ARCA Racing Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan International Speedway on Friday, June 12th.
Connect with David online… To find out more about David, explore his website at www.DavidLevineRacing.com. You can also catch up with him on facebook at /DavidLevineRacing and on twitter @DaveLevineRacin. Learn more about Lira Motorsports at www.LiraMotorsports.com.
