Joey Polewarczyk Jr.: ACT Late Model Tour - Airborne Speedway Race Preview

Joey Polewarczyk Jr.: ACT Late Model Tour
Airborne Speedway Race Preview

Joey Polewarczyk Jr. of Hudson, N.H., and the ACT Late Model Tour head to the series' longest race with the Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300 at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., on September 12. Polewarczyk has made a second-half charge from obscurity to the Top-3 in the ACT point standings, just two points out of second. Polewarczyk posted his best career Airborne Speedway finish of fifth the last time the ACT was there, in July for the rain-delayed Spring Green 100, and he has won two of the series' last five points races. Last weekend. Polewarczyk led more than three-quarters of the Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road en route to posting an eighth-place finish.

WHO: Joey Polewarczyk Jr., Hudson, N.H.
TEAM: No. 97 Pole's Automotive/NH Precision Ford Fusion
BEST CAREER AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY FINISH: 5th (July 2010)
LAST RACE AT AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY: 5th (July 2010)

WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour Mohawk Casino Fall Foliage 300
WHERE: Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y. (.500-mile oval)
WHEN: 1 p.m., Sunday, September 12

ACT Late Model Tour
LAST RACE: Sunday, September 5, Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200, Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (8th-place finish)
NEXT RACE: Saturday, September 18, 2nd annual ACT Invitational, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H. (1.058-mile oval).
POINTS POSITION: 3rd

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JOEY, PIT STRATEGY CAME INTO PLAY AT THUNDER ROAD LAST WEEKEND AND IT LOOKS LIKE THE FALL FOLIAGE 300 COULD BE MORE OF THE SAME.

It's pit strategy -- again. It's just a long race. On a half-mile track, that's a long race and a lot of time. You've got to keep yourself good enough to make it the whole race, and the car's got to be good, too.

It's all about staying on the lead lap and getting in a place early where you can pace yourself. Ideally, Lap 180-200 is a great time to pit, but then you never really know how it's all going to work out. It will be interesting to see.

HAVE YOU GROWN TO LIKE AIRBORNE?

We learned a lot last time. We've never been really good there, but we've been trying new setups everywhere. We've changed things up a little bit -- and now we're really looking forward to it. It's definitely a good Ford track.

Last time we were there, I tried a bunch of different lines and I learned that the more you use the brake there, the better -- and where you use it is really important. I'm type of driver that likes to use as little brake as possible and just roll through the corners, because that's how I learned coming up from go-karts. But last time there, in practice it seemed nothing was working and I got mad and drove like an animal. Now, I just use a lot of brake and it works.

CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW FAR YOU'VE CLIMBED IN THE POINT STANDINGS?

Everyone counted us out in the beginning of year and wrote us off, as well they should have. We were horrible. There were times where we were really down as a team.

But we've worked our tails off, and we want to finish on a high note. Everyone is hitting on all cylinders. We won at Waterford and Beech Ridge, and hopefully we can keep that up. To now be just two points out of second -- with all that hard luck early in the year -- it says a lot about our team.