Haley back in the winner’s circle
Friday turned out to be a good day for Justin Haley who was able to hold off a hard-charging Riley Herbst to win the ARCA ModSpace 150 at Pocono Speedway. The victory was his first at Pocono, second of the season and third of his career. He won at Springfield, Illinois, in August 2016, for Mason Mitchell Motorsports and at Talladega in May for MDM Motorsports.
Just three days before the race Haley was preparing for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday, when he received a call from Mason Mitchell asking the 18-year-old to take the wheel of his No.-78 car for Friday’s ARCA Series race at Pocono Raceway.
Haley didn’t disappoint, winning a very close run to the checkered flag. Starting second, Haley took the lead for good on a restart on lap 34, although Herbst made it interesting over the final two laps. With one lap to go, Herbst closed the gap of the leader to within 0.297 seconds, but Haley withstood the challenge on the final lap to earn the victory.
The race was initially delayed because of a hard rain that fell just before the scheduled start. After two hours-plus of track drying, the race started under caution before going under green on the fifth lap. The race was finished in one hour and six minutes as just two cautions for 11 laps slowed the pace.