Frustration Results in 22^nd Place Effort for Fox at Pocono

Long Pond, PA (June 6, 2010)- Steve Fox and the Universe Racing headed into the weekend at Pocono International Raceway for the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 in the ARCA Racing Series event, presented by RE/MAX and Menards with three goals in mind. The First was to qualify through time and second, to bring the car home in one piece. The third was to earn a top 20 finish, which nearly happened for the #28 FireHouse/Universe Towing Dodge Charger. As the old saying goes, ‘two out of three ain’t bad’.

Fox time trialed 21^st quickest on Friday and felt that he had a good piece for Saturday’s 200-mile event. Saturday morning Fox, along with several competitors, signed autographs prior to the drivers meeting before taking to the speedway. 

Typically plagued with yellow flags, the team set up the racecar for short runs. The plan for Fox was to take is easy over the first half of the event and then kick it up a notch for the second half. However, the cautions never fell into place and Mikey Kile, who led most of the race, set a blistering pace and nearly lapped the entire field. 

“Compared to Friday we were off all day”, said Fox. “The first half of race was pretty decent. The car ran well, but it was really loose in turn three”, he said. “The crew tried to adjust on it and it didn’t get any better”. 

There was added frustration during a green flag stop when the car fell off of the jack. “I got really frustrated at that point because we were running decent”, noted Fox. “That’s the way it goes and we’ll take what we learned and make it much better for July”. 

The timing of first caution flag didn’t help matters. “Many of the teams have already pitted and then the yellow came out”, said Fox. “It hurt us and we lost laps on those exchanges also”. 

Fox brought out the second and final yellow with 11 laps remaining. “The car was so loose in three and very tight in turn one. I drove it into one too hard and just scraped the wall and then went around”, said the driver. 

“At least the car’s in one piece and we have something to go off of for July when ARCA returns to Pocono. “We’re down a little bit on power, but didn’t show what we’re capable of. I expected a better result from the team and a better result for our great sponsors”, he said. “I feel like we let them down”. 

Fox summed up the day a positive note and has begun to focus on the next event in seven weeks. “It’s not the finish that we hoped for and doesn’t reflect on how well we could have run. All I can say is that we’ll get them next time”. 

Despite having a finish that was not to his liking, Fox praised team owner Tony Aquilino for all that he’s done. “Tony put a lot into this effort and he’s excited about returning in July. I really appreciate everything that he’s done for us”. 

Craig Goes took the lead following the last caution flag and took the checkers for his first career ARCA victory. Fox crossed the strip in the 22^nd position. 

In conjunction with Alex’s Lemonade Stand and following the event, Fox and a fellow competitor headed to a local Quarter Midget track to sign autographs for a child with cancer. 

Fox also noted that the team would have never been able to complete in the event if it weren’t for the team supporters, which include Universe Towing and Autobody, FireHouse, AFR Productions, American Truck, Valve Tech Sales LLC, Tri State Towing Equipment, Himmer Graphics, Weigand Combat Handguns, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, G-Force Racing Products, Long Island Skydiving and StockCar Racing Experience at Pocono Raceway.