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Todd Gilliland Leads FORTS USA 150 Practice at Pocono

www.arcaracing.com July 26, 2019

Todd Gilliland (No. 18 Frontline Enterprises Toyota) turned a hot lap with just a few moments remaining in the 90-minute practice session for this afternoon’s ARCA Menards Series FORTS USA 150 at Pocono Raceway. Gilliland, making a one-off start for Joe Gibbs Racing while the team’s regular superspeedway driver Riley Herbst is competing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Iowa Speedway, turned a lap at 52.178 seconds/172.486 miles per hour, over three-tenths of a second quicker than second-place Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota).

Gilliland is making his first ARCA Menards Series start since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

Eckes’s lap was 52.503 seconds/171.419 miles per hour, good enough for second. His Venturini Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman/828 Logistics Toyota), making his Pocono Raceway debut, timed in third quick at 52.860 seconds/170.261 miles per hour. The third Venturini Motorsports driver and current ARCA Menards Series championship leader Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) was fourth at 53.048 seconds/169.658 miles per hour, and Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford), also making his Pocono debut, rounded out the top five at 53.160 seconds/169.300 miles per hour.

Austin Wayne Self (No. 32 WinTron Chevrolet), Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet), Joe Graf, Jr. (No. 77 EAT SLEEP RACE Chevrolet), Raphael Lessard (No. 28 GMPartsNow.com Chevrolet), and Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Health Care/Liberty Village Ford) rounded out the top ten.

Lessard’s car stopped on track to bring out the first of two yellow flags through the session. Moments after going green, the final yellow of the session came out when debris was spotted at the end of pit road.

General Tire Pole Qualifying for the FORTS USA 150 is slated for 1:35 pm ET, with the green flag on the 60-lap feature event scheduled for 4 pm ET. The race will be televised live on FS1. ARCA for Me members can access live timing & scoring, live track updates, and live chat at ARCARacing.com. New users can register for free with a valid email address at ARCARacing.com/login.