Long Pond, PA (August 18, 2019) – Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrucci had a great ‘home’ race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, finishing fourth in the rain-shortened ABC Supply 500 after running in the top three for most of the event.
With qualifying having been cancelled due to rain on Saturday, the field started on points which meant that Ferrucci would be taking the green flag in 13th place.
The rookie had a solid start to what was scheduled to be a 200-lap race. Fortunately for the driver of the #19 Cly-Del Manufacturing car, he was able to avoid a five-car incident in front of him and move up to fifth place after the first lap.
Following a red flag for track repairs, Ferrucci took the Lap 9 restart in fourth place but would fall to fifth by the time he entered pit lane for his first stop at the end of Lap 34.
Once pit stops had cycled through, the 21-year-old driver ended up in third thanks to a pass on Scott Dixon who had just exited pit lane. Ferrucci then headed back to pit lane on Lap 68 from fourth place.
This time, Ferrucci cycled back up to second place once pit stops were completed, even keeping Simon Pagenaud at bay on a lap 83 restart. The rookie continued on in second until his final pit stop on Lap 105.
The driver from Woodbury, CT then fell back to fourth once everyone had made their stops and he was still sitting in that position when the red flag fell due to weather in the area. With a storm hitting Pocono Raceway the race was called with 128 laps complete.
“This weekend has been pretty amazing to have over 120 people here from family and friends to sponsors and to race in front of such a large crowd,” said Ferrucci. “Hats off to the whole team, we rolled the car off the trailer and it was fast. I’d say that’s a job well done and homework well researched. The #19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda was on rails. I think we definitely had a top three in us and we were fighting for a chance to win the race at one point. Obviously with the conditions and everything, I’m still happy to bring home a top five. It makes a huge difference in the rookie championship and moves us up to 12th overall. With three races to go and one more oval, we’ll see how much further we can move up.”
With his fourth-place finish, Ferrucci has closed the gap to within 13 points in the Rookie of the Year standings and sits 12th overall with 291 points.
There won’t be much time to rest for the Dale Coyne Racing crew as they head to the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 this coming weekend, August 24, 2019.
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