LONG POND, Pa. — With his seventh top-10 finish of the ARCA Menards Series season in the books last weekend at Iowa Speedway, rookie driver Frankie Muniz and his Rette Jones Racing team travel to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway hunting their first top-five finish together.
For the ninth time in his young ARCA career, Muniz is set to embrace a new venue. Although Pocono Raceway has often been dubbed the “Tricky Triangle,” the former Malcolm in the Middle television actor is leaning on his Rette Jones Racing team to master the 2.5-mile triangle.
“I’m embracing the return to a bigger track on the ARCA Menards Series schedule,” said Muniz. “Honestly, I feel very confident about racing at Pocono Raceway. I’ve been told it’s a mixture of different types of race tracks all molded together. I’ve been told and experienced on the simulator where parts of the track drive like a road course, some characteristics of a short track and then some qualities of a superspeedway.”
“That is a lot to digest as a rookie driver, but I’m confident that with the support of my Rette Jones Racing team, I’ll be able to quickly adapt and contend for our strongest finish of the season.”
Despite Pocono being the second largest track on the circuit, Friday’s Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150 is a short 60-lap sprint.
“To prepare myself for Pocono, I watched some prior races and realized that the field can get pretty spread out. With the race being only 60 laps, you really can’t afford to get behind. I need to be on top of my game from lap one and keep ourselves in the hunt. When the opportunity arises near the end of the race, we need to make sure we are ready to capitalize and deliver another strong performance this season,” Muniz said.
Former ARCA championship-winning crew chief and co-owner Mark Rette has been extremely impressed with Muniz’s performances in the first nine races of the year and looks forward to seeing him strengthen his craft in his Pocono Raceway debut on Friday night.
“Pocono is a tricky track — they don’t call it the tricky triangle for nothing,” offered Rette. “As difficult as Pocono can be to master, I think Frankie will quickly find a rhythm and we make gains throughout the rest of the day.
“I want to thank Cole Custer and David Ragan for their help in getting Frankie situated and comfortable on the sim at Pocono earlier this week. Iowa did not go exactly as we hoped, so there’s a little bit of fire underneath us to go to Pocono and run well and put the Iowa finish in our rearview mirror.”
Entering Pocono, Muniz sits second in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings, 49 markers behind championship leader Jesse Love with 11 races remaining. Rette Jones Racing stands a respectable fourth in the ARCA Menards Series championship owner standings.