Fords Sweep Heat Races, but Red Bull - Swatch Takes P1

POCONO, PA --- After a rough weekend in Dover, Delaware, Beano Cup teams arrived at the scenic Pocono International Raceway for one of the longest 500 mile races of the season. A midweek merger resulted in the birth of Red Bull Swatch Racing, culminating in the team’s first career BCS pole. Patrick Britain edged Kevin Cargo for the pole with a time of 52.073 seconds. Last week’s winner Tim McDonnell would time his way in starting eighth, and Jeremy Hevener makes his first appearance back at the track by qualifying in fifteenth.

Heat one would begin with William Goshen and Kevin Bartelt leading the field to the start of the 40 lap event. Goshen would edge Bartelt for the lead on lap one, but that would be the last time the Advance Auto Parts Charger was anywhere near the front of the field. Bartelt would take the early lead as Charlie Krill, Matt Peyton and himself broke away early from the field. Krill would eventually sneak past Bartelt to lead a lap only to have Peyton pass him for the lead in the tunnel turn.

Green flag stops would begin on Lap 15 with Peyton and Bartelt leading the field down. The only caution of the day would occur just after stops were completed on Lap 19. Rich Forman would receive a tap from Jared Meade coming off of turn three, sending Forman down into Bryan Kosh. Both drivers would spin to the inside of the track, but would only sustain minor damage.

Peyton would bring the field back to the green with seventeen laps remaining.  Shortly after the restart, Kyle Buszkiewicz would stick his Fusion below Peyton heading into turn one, eventually passing him for the lead.  Both drivers would swap the lead a handful of times before final pit stops on Lap 34. Peyton would exit pit stops with the lead, but on the white flag lap, Buszkiewicz would power his Ford below Peyton in the tunnel turn and run side by side through the short shoot. Heading into turn three however, Buskiewicz had the clear advantage and would pull away for his first BCS heat win of the year. Peyton would hold on to second with Steven Lewis, Chaz Teets and Jared Meade rounding out the top five. Bryan Kosh would make a remarkable recovery to finish sixth. Pole sitter Goshen would be forced to fall back on his qualifying time to make the race. 

Heat two saw Jordan Toles and Brad Packard lead a field of twenty four cars to the start of the one hundred mile heat. Toles would get off to a horrible start and find Packard passing him high and Brad Fleischauer below him as they headed through turn one. When they made it back to the line to complete lap one however, Evan Beaulieu would be in front. This would be short lived as heading into turn one on lap 2, Sebastian Scholl drove his Guinness Fusion below Beaulieu to take the lead. Scholl would lead until green flag pit stops on Lap 14.

After stops cycled around, Scholl found himself with a three second cushion over second place runner Will Henderson. Scholl’s lead would grow to over four seconds and after another round of green flag stops, which lead would be extended to six seconds. The heat would end would Scholl winning unchallenged in the final laps, giving Ford its second win of the day.