LAS VEGAS — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images photo —
Matt Crafton led both rounds of knockout qualifying on Saturday afternoon to capture the Keystone Light Pole Award for Saturday night’s Rhino Linings 350 (10 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, PRN, SiriusXM) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Crafton’s lap of 30.613 seconds (176.396 mph) in the second and final round was not only the fastest lap of any truck in qualifying, it also netted the two-time and defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion his ninth career series pole and second of the 2015 season.
“This Toyota Tundra is really good,” Crafton said of his No. 88 Menards-sponsored chassis, which will lead the field to the green flag and has won both the prior races it has competed in this season. “I was really happy with it in race-trim, and it has good speed as well.”
“This says a lot about what Triad Racing Technologies can do. They’ve really stepped up their game (in the motor shop) over the last half of the season. They’ve brought some great horsepower and it’s making the truck drive really good through the bumps. I can put it just about everywhere I want to. It will drive real different though once you put 32 trucks out there on-track, so hopefully we’ve made the right adjustments for this night race.”
Crafton says that racing under the lights will test the field and show who can best tackle the transition from practicing and qualifying in the daytime sun to running 350 kilometers in the darkness.
“The track changes a ton from day to night. The last half of practice, you’ve got to basically throw it out, realistically,” he explained. “At night, it will free up a fair amount, and it’s really about staying on top of it as the race goes on.”
John Wes Townley put up a stellar effort on his final run, putting his No. 05 Zaxby’s entry on the front row for just the second time in his career (Oct. 2008 at Talladega) in qualifying second.
“I think we have a definite possibility of contending for the win tonight,” Townley smiled. “We’ve been tight all day and haven’t been able to really free it up enough on newer tires, but I feel like tonight that the track and the truck will come to us a lot. I think we have a really fast piece; I just have to stay out of trouble and race smart.”
“I was a little surprised we had front row speed, honestly. No one was really able to match their speeds from practice because of the cooler temperatures and the laps we had on the tires, but I knew we were going to be better than we were and it happened to put us on the front row. Can’t ask for more than that.”
Brandon Jones put up the third-fastest lap (30.738/175.678) in the final round, followed by the Toyota Tundras of Timothy Peters (30.771/175.490) and Christopher Bell (30.803/175.308), who rounded out the fast five.
Cameron Hayley qualified sixth ahead of Austin Theriault, Mason Mingus, Ben Kennedy and Las Vegas native Spencer Gallagher. Points contender Tyler Reddick (11th) and rookie Daniel Hemric (12th) also were among the dozen drivers vying for the pole in the last round of knockout qualifying.
Several big names failed to advance to the final round, however, including Toyota stablemates Johnny Sauter (13th) and Erik Jones (15th) — the championship leader entering the Las Vegas event.
The 19-year-old said his No. 4 Toyota Tundra was “down on power” from the early stages of practice, and will roll off from his worst starting position of the season on a paved track.
“We’ve got some serious motor issues that can’t really be fixed at the track,” Jones said after climbing from his truck. “I don’t know what happened. This is really the first time all year that we’ve been down [on power] like that. This is one of the best trucks that we have at the shop and we’ve just got some issues that we need to get sorted out in the next week.”
“The truck is okay — it drives alright — it’s just a matter of not having the speed to keep up with the field. We’ll fight hard tonight and try to get ourselves a good top 10 [finish] out of it, and if things work out maybe grab a top five. We just need to salvage a day here. We don’t have what we need but we’re going to work hard to make a good day out of it.”
Other notables who did not make the 12-driver cut included John Hunter Nemechek (16th), the returning Travis Pastrana (17th), Kyle Busch Motorsports rookie Matt Tifft (18th) and former series champion Travis Kvapil (21st).
With only 32 trucks in attendance, no drivers failed to qualify for the event.
RESULTS: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series; Keystone Light Pole Qualifying; Las Vegas Motor Speedway; October 3, 2015
- Matt Crafton
- John Wes Townley
- Brandon Jones
- Timothy Peters
- Christopher Bell
- Cameron Hayley
- Austin Theriault
- Mason Mingus
- Ben Kennedy
- Spencer Gallagher
- Tyler Reddick
- Daniel Hemric
- Johnny Sauter
- Brennan Poole
- Erik Jones
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Travis Pastrana
- Matt Tifft
- Chad Boat
- Tyler Young
- Travis Kvapil
- Ray Black Jr.
- Justin Jennings
- Jennifer Jo Cobb
- B.J. McLeod
- Korbin Forrister
- Jordan Anderson
- Caleb Roark
- Wayne Edwards
- Akinori Ogata
- Tyler Tanner
- Norm Benning
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 21-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
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