In just his fifth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start, Hendrick Motorsports development driver Corey Day will be leading the field to green at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The 19-year-old driver managed to secure his first career NASCAR National Series pole ahead of Friday’s Ecosave 200, posting a time of 30.388 seconds (177.702mph) in his No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports.
It’s the sixth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole position for Spire Motorsports, the last four of which have now come with four different drivers – Chase Purdy, Rajah Caruth, Connor Zilisch, and now Corey Day.
STARTING LINEUP: Ecosave 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
“Oh man, I’m shaking,” Day said after climbing from his truck. “I just haven’t had the most success at this stuff, it’s really been a struggle for me, so it’s pretty awesome to get a pole and Brian Pattie definitely made my job easy there so hopefully we can carry it into tonight.”
Day ranked fifth place in the sole NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice session from the 1.5-mile racetrack in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was second quickest among 20 drivers on the 10-lap average speeds – slightly behind Tyler Ankrum.
In four prior NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts, all with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing at the tail-end of last season, Day recorded a best finish of 16th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Friday’s 200-mile contest will serve as the second traditional mile-and-a-half for the Clovis, California-native.
Tyler Ankrum, driving the No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing will roll from second place in Friday’s event, his second front-row start at the racetrack. Jake Garcia will start from third, with NASCAR Cup Series driver Justin Haley in fourth. Stewart Friesen rounded out the top five in qualifying.
Rajah Caruth, who collected his first career victory at Las Vegas last season, will roll from sixth, with defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ty Majeski set to start in seventh.
Rookie of The Year contenders Gio Ruggiero, Dawson Sutton, and Connor Mosack completed the top 10.
Other notables included Matt Crafton (11th), Daniel Hemric (12th), Ben Rhodes (15th), Corey Heim (16th), Chandler Smith (17th), Grant Enfinger (20th), Layne Riggs (23rd), and William Sawalich (25th).
The Ecosave 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will take place on Friday, March 14 at 9:00 PM ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
