For just the fourth time in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career, Stewart Friesen will lead the field to the green flag, winning the pole for Friday’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
The 40-year-old racer posted the quickest time in Friday’s single-truck qualifying session from the 1.33-mile speedway, leading the field with a lap time of 30.117 seconds (158.980mph).
For Friesen, co-owner of Halmar Friesen Racing, it’s the fourth pole of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career and his first in more than five seasons, dating back to Martinsville Speedway in March 2019.
“It drove really good on the qualifying lap and they came on the radio and told me the time and said P1 for where we were at,” said Friesen. “and there [weren’t] many behind us, so proud of the whole Halmar team, everybody has been working really, really hard to turn this around.”
Grant Enfinger, driving the No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado for CR7 Motorsports qualified in the runner-up position for Friday’s 200-mile contest, the best-ever starting spot for the organization.
Christian Eckes posted the third-quickest time in qualifying as the penultimate truck to hit the racetrack, with Ty Majeski serving as the highest-placing Ford F-150, in fourth. Rajah Caruth completed the top five after being quickest in practice.
Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, Kaden Honeycutt, Daniel Dye, and Chase Purdy completed the top-10 and will start in the first five rows for Friday’s event.
RESULTS: Starting Lineup for Friday’s NCTS Rackley Roofing 200
Clint Bowyer, making his first NASCAR National Series start since the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season-finale, qualified in 11th, making a one-off return in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.
Brenden Queen was 12th, making his second of three scheduled starts in the No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage. Dawson Sutton will also make his second start Friday at Nashville, after posting a time quick enough to make the show.
Several drivers and teams had significant issues during time trials on Friday, which caused them to not post a lap in the session. Matt Mills and Ty Dillon both had mechanical issues, while Tanner Gray brushed the wall on his warmup lap.
However, the biggest incident occurred near the tail-end of the qualifying session, when Nick Sanchez, historically one of the series’ best qualifiers, made a mistake through the first set of corners, crashing his REV Racing entry into the Turn 2 wall.
REV Racing will have to unload a backup truck for Sanchez, who will be credited with a 33rd-place start but will have to drop to the rear of the pack.
Keith McGee, Bryan Dauzat, and Justin Carroll were the three drivers that failed to qualify for the Rackley Roofing 200, after 39 trucks showed up for 36 spots in the field.
