Contrary to recent weeks, the margins in Cometic Gasket Pole Qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway were tight, with Ty Majeski narrowly besting Zane Smith for the pole in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200.
Majeski, driving the No. 66 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for ThorSport Racing — secured his second pole position of the season with a time of 30.284 seconds (178.312mph), edging out the series winningest driver this season, Zane Smith, by six-thousandths of a second.
Kyle Busch, a two-time champion in the NASCAR Cup Series, posted a time good enough for third place in his No. 51 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, with Niece Motorsports teammates Carson Hocevar and Ross Chastain rounding out the top-five.
For Niece Motorsports, the single-truck qualifying session is the first time that the organization will have two trucks starting inside the top-five – via qualifying — as well as the team’s first top-five starts of 2022.
Tanner Gray, Chandler Smith, Ryan Preece, Christian Eckes, and Matt DiBenedetto will round out the first five rows for Friday’s event, the 10th of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.
John Hunter Nemechek – who entered Charlotte with a streak of three consecutive pole positions — was unable to continue his streak, qualifying his No. 4 Pye-Barker Toyota Tundra in 15th.
Other notables included: Grant Enfinger (P11), Ben Rhodes (P12), Stewart Friesen (P13), Matt Crafton (P18), and Tyler Ankrum (P25).
Max Gutierrez – making his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut for AM Racing — qualified his No. 37 Toughbuilt Chevrolet Silverado in 31st-place.
Hailie Deegan was unable to post a time in qualifying after a mechanical issue in practice forced her David Gilliland Racing team to the garage. Luckily, with only 35 trucks entered, nobody was sent packing.
