Gio Ruggiero, in just his tenth career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start, has mastered qualifying, winning the pole for Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The Seekonk, Massachusetts-native put his No. 17 First Auto Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro at the top of the speed charts in single-vehicle qualifying, posting a lap time of 30.177 seconds (178.944mph) to earn his first career pole.
It’s the third straight year that TRICON Garage has collected the pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway, after Tanner Gray won it in back-to-back years (2023 and 2024). All three times, Jerame Donley has been the pole-winning crew chief.
STARTING LINEUP: NCEL 200 at Charlotte
Tanner Gray ended up one spot short of a third straight Charlotte pole, and will roll from the outside of the front row in Friday’s 200-mile contest from Charlotte, North Carolina. Corey Heim, another teammate at TRICON Garage, is set to start from third.
It’s the first time that TRICON Garage will start first, second, and third in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event.
Niece Motorsports teammates Ross Chastain (who was quickest in practice) and Kaden Honeycutt rounded out the top-five, and will start fourth and fifth.
Daniel Hemric, Layne Riggs, Rajah Caruth, Chandler Smith, and Jake Garcia completed the top-10.
Other notables include Ty Majeski (11th), Kyle Busch (12th), Brandon Jones (13th), Grant Enfinger (18th), Ben Rhodes (21st), Tyler Ankrum (23rd), and Matt Crafton (26th).
Frankie Muniz and Mason Maggio, teammates at Reaume Brothers Racing, did not make a lap in qualifying. Neither did Stewart Friesen and Luke Fenhaus, all of whom had mechanical gremlins.
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway will take place at 8:30 PM ET on FS1, NASCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
