Brennan Poole

Brennan Cole Poole (born April 11, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver, engineer, consultant, driver coach, spotter, crew chief, and team owner.

He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing.

Poole drove Dirt Modifieds in the IMCA ranks from 2007 to 2008 for his family's team at their hometrack of Houston Raceway Park, he scored 7 wins in 2008 and the Texas World Dirt Championship.

He also ran some select Dirt Late Model races on the side, in addition to his IMCA schedule.

From 2009 to 2010 Poole raced Late Model Stock Cars in the UARA-Stars ranks driving the No. 5 for Jamie Yelton where he would score the Rookie of the Year title in 2009 and the Most Popular Driver Award both years as well.

In 2010 he picked up his first win in at Tri-County and would go on to score 5 more coming at Hickory, Lonesome Pine, Kingsport, Dillon, and Greenville-Pickens and finish runner up in the points.

He was formerly a development driver for Venturini Motorsports from 2011 to 2014 as well as for Chip Ganassi Racing from 2015 to 2017.

In 2011, Poole formed his own race team driving the No. 7 and went onto score four wins at Hickory, Kingsport, Rockingham, and Lonesome Pine.

He clinched the championship at Rockingham after locking the championship up a week before at Concord.

Poole made his debut in the ARCA Racing Series at Salem Speedway in 2011, driving the No. 55 Chevrolet for Venturini Motorsports, in which Poole would lead 31 laps and win in his debut.

Poole ran three more races that year in Venturini's 25 car, scoring a pole and a top five finish at Pocono Raceway.

Poole ran the full 2012 schedule for Venturini in the 25 car, earning 15 top tens, three poles, and back-to-back wins at Elko Speedway and Pocono Raceway while going on to finish 3rd in points.

Poole ran part-time schedules over the next two years for Venturini.

At the Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack, Poole crossed the finish line in third but was awarded the win after it was determined that the two drivers who finished ahead of him, Kelly Kovski and A. J. Fike, jumped the final restart.

In 2014, Poole returned at Pocono Raceway in which he led 31 of 50 laps.

He returned again for the next six races as a substitute for John Wes Townley; Poole scored four top fives and a victory at Kentucky Speedway in his final ARCA start in the No. 15.

Poole was later penalized 25 driver points after his Kentucky car was found to be in violation of the minimum roof height rule.

Poole signed a contract with Team BCR Racing to run 10 races in the 2015 season to drive the No. 45 Ford Fusion for the team, replacing Grant Enfinger but would withdraw from the season opener at Daytona and never make a start after that.

In 2015, Poole was signed to drive in the Xfinity Series for HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi, with the operation being run out of Ganassi's NASCAR shop.

Poole shared the No. 42 ride with Ganassi Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson and Justin Marks.

In between starts he also traveled to Sprint Cup races as an observer with Ganassi's other Cup driver, Jamie McMurray.

On May 17, Poole was parked by NASCAR during the race at Iowa Speedway after intentionally turning J. J. Yeley into the outside wall in response to Yeley turning Poole into the wall earlier.

In total he scored two top tens and ten top-fifteen finishes during the season.

For 2016, Poole moved into a new No. 48 car for Ganassi full-time with sponsorship from DC Solar for the full season.

At Talladega, Poole finished third after crossing the finish line first after a last-lap caution.

NASCAR reviewed the finish and later awarded Elliott Sadler the win by virtue of being in first when the caution flag was displayed.

Poole finished eighth in points, scoring 17 top tens and four top fives.

He returned to CGR's No. 48 for 2017.

He won his first career series pole at Daytona International Speedway in July.

Poole advanced to the Round of 8 in the Xfinity Series playoffs, but fell out of the elimination race early after contact with Caesar Bacarella.

Poole finished sixth at Homestead, finishing sixth in points.

Poole returned to Venturini as a relief driver at Pocono Raceway in 2018, relieving Natalie Decker, who was recovering from surgery.

He nearly won the race which would’ve made Decker the first female winner in ARCA Racing Series history as she started the race but he ultimately struggled to gain his speed back after a late race caution as he was passing Harrison Burton for the lead.

On June 18, 2018, it was announced that Poole would sue Chip Ganassi Racing, and agency Spire Sports + Entertainment for breach of contract, alleging that CGR and Spire conspired to take away DC Solar's sponsorship from Poole and move it to the No. 42 CGR Cup Series team and that Spire's involvement representing both driver and team constituted a conflict of interest.

Ganassi and Spire both released statements through attorneys denying the claims, with CGR's statement saying the sponsorship of Poole ended "because he never won a race despite the advantages of the best equipment in the garage."

Poole, CGR, and Spire would later settle their dispute out-of-court at the end of 2018 following DC Solar's FBI raid, although terms were not released.

Poole tested for GMS Racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May of 2018 and was expected to run all the races that the suspended Spencer Gallagher would miss however he would ultimately not make a single start for the team.

After 5 seasons of not competing in the series he would return to run the entire West Coast Swing in the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro for Mike Harmon Racing.

Poole attempted his first race with MHR in the Production Alliance Group 300at Auto Club, but Poole missed the field.

He would successfully make the field the following week at Las Vegas.