For the second straight year, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing has secured the pole position for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
This year, it was courtesy of Connor Mosack, piloting the No. 81 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet Silverado RST, who captured his first career NASCAR National Series pole.
Mosack, running his first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Truck Series, was able to lay down the fastest lap of the afternoon in the final round of qualifying, posting a 31.969-second time (173.418mph).
It’s the 12th pole for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in 250 starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Blake Bainbridge, crew chief on the No. 81 Chevrolet, was also the crew chief when Daniel Dye scored the pole last Spring at Atlanta.
“It sounds pretty good,” Mosack said. “We still have work to do tomorrow but feel really good about the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet Silverado that we brought. MHR brought four really fast trucks, so, I feel like we have a really solid team behind us. Hopefully, we can work together tomorrow and keep them up front.”
Grant Enfinger will be starting alongside Mosack on the front row for Saturday’s Fr8 Racing 208. CR7 Motorsports, the team that fields Enfinger’s truck, has a technical alliance with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.
Daniel Hemric, a teammate of Mosack’s will roll from third place on Saturday, with Rajah Caruth and Jack Wood completing the top five.
With Tyler Ankrum in seventh, all four of the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing entries, and the fifth alliance-mate of Grant Enfinger, all managed to start inside the top seven.
“Bill has built a really strong culture at our team. I feel like, out of all of the teams I’ve driven for before, all four of us work together really well, and everybody seems to help each other more than I’ve seen in the past,” said Mosack. “I think that’s a big key to the success they’ve had in the past, and hopefully, we’ll continue to have it all year.”
Jake Garcia, placed his No. 13 Ford F-150 in sixth place, with the highest qualifying non-Chevrolet in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field.
Stewart Friesen qualified eighth for Saturday afternoon’s event, while two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch will start ninth, in his first of five starts this season.
Ben Rhodes, last weekend’s polesitter at Daytona, rounded out the top-10.
With only 32 drivers on the entry list for Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Atlanta, all will take the green flag on Sunday.
Justin Carroll, Keith McGee, and Bayley Currey all failed to post a time in qualifying due to various issues.
The Fr8 Racing 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will take place on Saturday, February 22 at 1:30 PM ET on FS1, The NASCAR Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
