The last time Rajah Caruth started on pole in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Spire Motorsports driver ended the evening in Victory Lane.
Driving the No. 71 Chevrolet, Caruth will look to earn his second victory of the season at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, earning the pole for the TSport 200 with a lap of 22.863 seconds (108.017mph).
After being a disappointing 23rd-place on the speed charts in practice, Caruth blasted to the top of the speed charts, beating out former Indianapolis Raceway Park winner Grant Enfinger.
“I was honestly surprised,” said Caruth after qualifying. “I was enthused with our [truck] after a long run in practice. I’m really surprised by the qualifying speed. Gotta thank the men and women at Spire Motorsports, Team Chevy, [Rick and Linda Hendrick], and everyone behind me.”
“Hopefully have a good night this evening, and something good for my team to think about during the Olympic break.”
Fresh off a runner-up finish at Pocono Raceway last weekend, Grant Enfinger qualified on the outside of the front row for Friday’s 200-lap contest, matching the best-ever start for CR7 Motorsports.
Tyler Ankrum was third quickest in qualifying, with defending IRP winner Ty Majeski in fourth, and his ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton rounding out the top five.
Christian Eckes will start Friday’s 200-lap contest from sixth place, with Daniel Dye, Stewart Friesen, Corey Heim, and Chase Purdy rounding out the top-10.
Notables to qualify outside the top-10 include Nick Sanchez (11th), Sammy Smith (12th), Taylor Gray (13th), Ben Rhodes (15th), Ross Chastain (16th), Layne Riggs (17th), and Tanner Gray (21st).
Conor Daly (mechanical issue) and Matt Mills (practice incident) had problems that stopped them from posting a lap in qualifying on Friday. The Niece Motorsports teammates will start 34th and 35th.
With only 35 trucks entered in Friday’s penultimate event of the regular season, no drivers were sent home before the dropping of the green flag, which will happen at 8:30 pm ET on FS1.
