Getty Brennan Poole prepares for a race at Nashville Superspeedway.
Brennan Poole is celebrating the inaugural street race weekend in Chicago by bringing a new partner to NASCAR, one that will help him raise funds for an important cause.
The No. 6 JD Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro will have Van Der Hagen shaving products as the primary partner for the Xfinity Series race in Chicago. Poole will showcase an orange and white scheme with Van Der Hagen‘s windmill logo on the hood. He will also wear a matching firesuit as he takes on the purpose-built street course for the first time.
Who’s excited to see this beauty hit the track on Saturday? 🙋♀️
Read more about @vanderhagen and their partnership with @JDMotorsports01 and @brennanpoole here:
“It’s really cool because Van Der Hagen’s headquarters is in Chicago also,” Poole said ahead of the race weekend. “So I think it’s a perfect fit for them to also take part in this historic event in their city. It’s been a lot of fun working with them.
“Of course, I already use the product, so just a natural fit. I’ve got this crazy pirate ‘stache, trying to be like Jack Sparrow. I just started using their stuff and really enjoyed it, and then one thing led to another. So we’re certainly excited about that. We’re gonna be doing some fun stuff this weekend together.”
As part of the partnership, Van Der Hagen will hold an auction that runs until July 8. Race fans will have the opportunity to bid on Poole’s firesuit from the race weekend as all proceeds go to The Sea Turtle Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured sea turtles and the preservation of the delicate balance of the oceanic ecosystem.
“I do a lot of charity efforts through the racing program, whether I’ve done the Children’s Miracle Network hospital car that I ran in 2020 with all the kids’ drawings on it,” Poole said. “They drew and designed the car, and we did some stuff like that to raise money for it.
“We did a Miracle Mile campaign, we did a lot of stuff for the military, which has been important to me. So this is something that’s important to Van Der Hagen, and I was very excited to be able to be a part of it.”
Poole Has Delivered Consistent Performances on Road Courses
Van Der HagenBrennan Poole poses with his Van Der Hagen firesuit.
The Texas native has made nearly 200 starts across the three national series, headlined by 107 in the Xfinity Series. Eight of his starts in the second-tier series have been on road courses, and he has delivered some consistent performances.
Poole has four career top-10 finishes and one top-five in his Xfinity Series starts on road courses. All were with Chip Ganassi Racing. A third-place finish at Road America in 2017 stands out as his best performance.
Poole will now take on a new track, one where there is the potential for chaos. The tight confines and the 90-degree turns could lead to some multi-car incidents that bring the Xfinity Series race. They could also force the drivers to take a more cautious approach during the early stages.
“I think there’s some anxiety amongst us and the teams on what this is going to be like,” Poole continued. “Logistics, getting in and getting out of the track, and moving pit boxes and all that stuff. Going to work walking from the hotel to the grid is… I mean, it’s wild. So all that’s going to be different.
“I think for us and what was really the challenging part about Chicago was a lot of 90-degree corners. I mean, a lot of these corners is like driving in a square. You can’t see. You can’t see around — a lot of these corners are blind.
“And so that makes us have to think a little bit more about practice, qualifying, spacing yourself out, making sure if there is an accident, you get enough time to understand there’s an accident there before you come around a blind corner.”
Poole has his strategy in place. He isn’t going to be aggressive early in the race. Instead, he’s going to focus more on patience and avoiding any potential issues that may arise. He will aim to keep his car clean and then capitalize on mistakes by other drivers.
“Just being smart, being patient, taking care of your car, and then knowing when to go race,” Poole said. “I think once we get things a little spread out — I don’t think it’s gonna get crazy spread out like you see.
“But I think things will calm down, hopefully, at some point in the race and then that’s when I’m going to try to move forward. We’ll just see how it all pans out. But other than that, I think we’ll be in good shape. It’s just gonna be a difficult, challenging race, which makes it a lot of fun for the fans to watch because it is such an unknown.”
JD Motorsports Has Put Emphasis on 1 Important Detail
How do the teams prepare for the upcoming Chicago Street Race? There are several ways. Running the course in iRacing or the manufacturer simulator is one option. The crews also have to study the information they have about the course and prepare for anything that could damage their cars.
For JD Motorsports, there has been an extra emphasis on ride quality. The street course will be rough with the changes between sections of pavement, as well as the manhole covers in specific areas.
“I think the biggest thing for us this year, we have struggled with a little bit of ride quality at some of the rougher ovals,” Poole said. “So whether it was Fontana or Vegas, even at Charlotte, we struggled a bit with that.
“So there has been a lot of focus on the ride quality itself making sure that we’re going to be able to get into corners hard, brake, and not have to deal with so much of the bumps and locking up or wheel hopping and things like that.”
Poole has been fortunate in that he has had some time in the simulator. He has been able to focus on learning the course and memorizing where certain turns are. This isn’t the same as actually driving the course, but he has some confidence that he can deliver a solid finish if he avoids issues.
“We were really good at Portland,” Poole said. “We had a brake issue, but we were fast. I feel like [Portland] has got a couple of long straightaways within really technical parts of the track, and I think that’s going to be similar to Chicago so I feel like we’re going to be pretty decent.
“We had about a 15th — we were gonna run about 15th at Portland. We ran 22nd when we lost brakes. I have high expectations for the weekend but also know we have to make it through all the carnage to be there at the end for a good finish.”
Poole will have this opportunity to contend for a strong finish on July 1. He will take part in practice at 11 a.m. ET (USA) before qualifying at 12 p.m. ET (USA). The Xfinity Series race will then take place at 5 p.m. ET (USA) as Poole and the other drivers kick off a historic weekend.