BRISTOL, Tenn. – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular Noah Gragson returned to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway and promptly put the field on notice, capturing the pole for the Zombie Auto 150 with a new track record.
Gragson went out in the third and final group during the multi-car qualifying session, touring the .533-mile concrete oval in 15.159 seconds (126.578 mph) and obliterating the track record that Harrison Burton set one year prior.
Burton’s previous track record was 15.710 seconds (122.139 mph). Gragson broke that mark by more than half a second.
“Honestly, my lap didn’t feel that fast,” Gragson admitted. “Everything feels fast around this place, but I didn’t think it was going to be track-record fast … and I surely didn’t think we’d break it by half a second! There are guys who get around this place really well, and my DGR-CROSLEY team was telling me ‘You’ve got to be perfect in qualifying,’ and thankfully we were. This Switch Toyota was on rails.”
“I think the extra laps I have here and the experience of racing a truck at this race track certainly helped me, because I’m not the best at getting around this place. I’m using this race tomorrow … hopefully to win, but also to get some extra track time and to hopefully be better when we come back for the Truck Series race in August.”
Friday’s qualifying effort marked Gragson’s first K&N East pole in his 16th attempt. He also has one career NASCAR K&N Pro Series West pole in 27 starts in that division.
In his first race with MDM Motorsports, Tyler Dippel showcased plenty of speed as well, timing in second-fastest in the No. 41 TyCar Trenchless Technologies Toyota with a lap of 15.230 seconds (125.988 mph).
The Wallkill, N.Y. native – who turned 18 last Friday – was all smiles after his run despite missing out on the pole to Gragson in the end.
“That was just driver,” admitted Dippel. “The car was perfect; I just missed it a tiny bit. I can’t thank the MDM guys and (crew chief) Jeff Stankiewicz enough for bringing such a badass race car to Bristol. I’m pumped to drive it tomorrow and I think we have a good shot to win. I haven’t been this happy to be at the race track in a long time.”
Todd Gilliland gave DGR-CROSLEY two out of the top three starting spots after his lap of 15.238 seconds (125.922 mph) in the No. 98 Mobil 1 Toyota, qualifying third ahead of Tyler Ankrum and Spencer Davis.
Brandon McReynolds, Burton, Cole Rouse, Tanner Thorson and Reid Lanpher completed the top 10.
Grant Quinlan rolls off 12th in Dippel’s former ride, the No. 30 Ford for Rette-Jones Racing, while NASCAR K&N Pro Series West points leader Derek Kraus qualified a disappointing 20th for Bill McAnally Racing.
Chase Cabre was unable to complete a lap after crashing on his qualifying run. He’ll start last in the 28-car field on Saturday evening.
The Zombie Auto 150 is scheduled for a 4 p.m. Eastern start on Saturday afternoon.
