When you beat Kyle Busch head-to-head for a pole in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, you know you’ve done something. For Zane Smith, who has been checking off a lot of accomplishments over the last few years in the Truck Series ranks, a pole for Friday night’s Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville Speedway was just another notch in the belt.
The defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, who drives the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150, turned a fast lap of 19.797 seconds (95.561 mph), which was 0.031 sec. faster than the lap that Busch turned in his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado.
This will mark the second-consecutive pole for Smith, who secured the pole at Bristol Dirt a weekend ago through the qualifying Heat Races.
Friday’s qualifying run marks the 23-year-old’s third-career pole position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Ben Rhodes, another former NASCAR Truck Series champion, will start from the third position on the inside of Row 2 behind Smith and Busch.
Corey Heim and Matt DiBenedetto capped off the top-five qualifiers while Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Chase Purdy, Tanner Gray, and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top-10 in qualifying for Friday night’s Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville Speedway.
With Josh Reaume and the No. 34 Reaume Brothers Racing team withdrawing its entry to the race, 37 trucks took lap times. The lone truck that failed to lock into the field was the No. 90 truck driven by Justin Carroll.
Here is the complete starting lineup for the Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville Speedway
Qualifying Results: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville