RIDGEWAY, Va. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Sarah Crabill/Getty Images for NASCAR photo —
When the chips were down, it was youthful exuberance rather than veteran talent that captured Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole at Martinsville Speedway.
19-year-old rookie Ben Rhodes, driving the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing, laid down a blistering lap of 19.659 seconds (96.322 mph) in the third and final round of knockout-style Keystone Light Pole Qualifying to edge out reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and lead the field for Saturday afternoon’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
The run gave Rhodes his first-career 21 Means 21 Pole Award in his , and the young gun’s lap in the final round was the fastest lap turned across all three rounds of qualifications. He is the sixth driver in NCWTS history to score his first pole at Martinsville.
“Man, this feels good,” the Louisville, Ky. native smiled after topping the second and third rounds en route to the pole. “Kyle Busch is a legend already in my mind, and just to be on the front row with him is an honor. This is an awesome achievement though. Alpha Energy Solutions is sponsoring the race, and being able to put this truck on the pole for them is huge.”
“This is all about great communication between all of us on this 41 team. It’s given us a great truck, it allowed our practice day to run smooth and hopefully we can keep ourselves up front, stay out of the mess and pull off a win later this afternoon.”
Busch still landed second-fastest (19.730/95.976) in his first Truck appearance of the season, notching his third-career front row start at the ‘Paper Clip’ as he seeks his first win in any of NASCAR’s top three series on the 0.526-mile oval. The 44-time NCWTS winner’s run also gave Toyota a lockout of the top two spots on the grid.
Daytona winner Johnny Sauter put the gremlins that haunted him in Atlanta behind him, rebounding to slot in third on the grid (19.753/95.864) ahead of Canadian Cameron Hayley (19.757/95.845), Rhodes’ teammate at ThorSport.
Round one leader Kyle Larson, driving a fourth entry for GMS Racing, made it two Sprint Cup regulars up front by rounding out the top five (95.845/95.757).
Daniel Suarez, William Byron, John Hunter Nemechek, Tyler Reddick, Matt Crafton, Spencer Gallagher and defending Martinsville pole winner Cole Custer, respectively, rounded out the dozen drivers who made it through all three rounds of time trials.
Tyler Young (19.894/95.184) was the first driver to miss the cut for the final round, falling 0.013 of a second shy of Byron in his quest to advance and run for the pole.
Other notable names stuck in the middle of the pack include 2015 Eldora winner Christopher Bell (14th), former Martinsville winner Timothy Peters, and championship contenders Daniel Hemric (17th) and Ryan Truex (18th). In addition, rookie sensations Rico Abreu and Justin Haley qualified 20th and 22nd, respectively.
The only incident of qualifying came with 10 minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the opening round, when Tommy Joe Martins backed into the outside SAFER Barrier just moments after setting the fastest lap (to that point) of the round in his No. 44
“I’m so sorry guys,” Martins radioed to his crew after the hard hit in turn one. “(The brake pedal) just went straight to the floorboard. It didn’t slow down an inch.”
Martins’ time held up to advance him to the second round, however, he was not able to make a lap after the crash — meaning that he will start 24th on the grid.
Points leader Parker Kligerman was the biggest name that failed to advance out of the first round, and he will start a disappointing 25th come race time Saturday afternoon.
“(We just had) false confidence before qualifying, right?” Kligerman admitted after his run. “I just felt like that when we had that first run, after the wreck happened … I thought we were fine when we posted a (20.157) but we just kept ticking back (on the speed charts). In terms of the race, we’re just going to do what we’ve been doing and try to march forward. I think we’ve got a good race truck — I felt like we had a good truck for qualifying, but it just didn’t work out. We won’t give up though; we’ll figure this out and be better come race time.”
Former Truck star Mike Bliss made the show (26th) in his first series start since 2009, while young gun Spencer Boyd made a bonzai run in the final moments of round one to break into the top 27 on speed for the Mittler Brothers team.
Trying to make it three family members in the same Truck race, sisters Paige and Claire Decker were among those issued points provisionals by NASCAR, as was 16-year-old Bryce Napier — who will start shotgun on the field in his series debut for MAKE Motorsports.
In contrast, with 38 trucks vying for 32 starting spots; Austin Wayne Self, Jordan Anderson, Travis Kvapil, Norm Benning, Chris Fontaine and Natalie Decker (cousin to Claire and Paige) were the six drivers who failed to make the starting grid.
RESULTS: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series; Coors Light Pole Qualifying; Martinsville Speedway; April 2, 2016
- Ben Rhodes
- Kyle Busch
- Johnny Sauter
- Cameron Hayley
- Kyle Larson
- Daniel Suarez
- William Byron
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Tyler Reddick
- Matt Crafton
- Spencer Gallagher
- Cole Custer
- Tyler Young
- Christopher Bell
- Ben Kennedy
- Timothy Peters
- Daniel Hemric
- Ryan Truex
- Kaz Grala
- Rico Abreu
- John Wes Townley
- Justin Haley
- Brandon Brown
- Tommy Joe Martins (NT)
- Parker Kligerman
- Mike Bliss
- Spencer Boyd
- Shane Lee (Provisional)
- Timmy Hill (Provisional)
- Paige Decker (Provisional)
- Claire Decker (Provisional)
- Bryce Napier (Provisional)
DNQ: Austin Wayne Self, Jordan Anderson, Travis Kvapil, Norm Benning, Chris Fontaine, Natalie Decker.
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 22-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 the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
Email Race Chaser Online: news@racechaseronline.com
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